diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 4485d779..5c884f98 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "docker>=7.1.0",
   "textual>=6.0.0",
   "requests>=2.32.0",
+  "socksio>=1.0.0",
   "cvss>=3.2",
   "caido-sdk-client>=0.2.0",
 ]
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@ module = [
     "docker.*",
     "caido_sdk_client.*",
     "pydantic_settings.*",
+    "socksio.*",
 ]
 ignore_missing_imports = true
 disable_error_code = ["import-untyped"]
diff --git a/strix/config/models.py b/strix/config/models.py
index 7f6227f3..f308b542 100644
--- a/strix/config/models.py
+++ b/strix/config/models.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import logging
 import os
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
@@ -20,6 +21,9 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from strix.config.settings import Settings
 
 
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
 class StrixProvider(MultiProvider):
     """Route any non-OpenAI prefix through LiteLLM with the prefix preserved,
     so users type ``deepseek/deepseek-chat`` rather than
@@ -63,7 +67,13 @@ DEFAULT_MODEL_RETRY = ModelRetrySettings(
 def configure_sdk_model_defaults(settings: Settings) -> None:
     """Apply Strix config to SDK-native defaults."""
     llm = settings.llm
-    set_tracing_disabled(True)
+    try:
+        set_tracing_disabled(True)
+    except ImportError as exc:
+        # Disabling tracing eagerly initializes an httpx client that may need an
+        # optional transport (e.g. socksio for SOCKS proxies). Tracing is already
+        # being turned off, so a failure here is non-fatal — log and continue.
+        logger.warning("Could not disable SDK tracing: %s", exc)
     _configure_litellm_compatibility()
     if llm.api_key:
         set_default_openai_key(llm.api_key, use_for_tracing=False)
diff --git a/tests/test_model_config.py b/tests/test_model_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3d82437b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_model_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+"""Tests for SDK model configuration, including SOCKS-proxy startup resilience."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+
+import socksio
+
+from strix.config import models
+
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    import pytest
+
+
+def _make_settings() -> SimpleNamespace:
+    """Build a minimal settings stub with no API key / base configured."""
+    llm = SimpleNamespace(api_key=None, api_base=None, model=None)
+    return SimpleNamespace(llm=llm)
+
+
+def test_socksio_importable() -> None:
+    """socksio must be declared so httpx can build a SOCKS transport at startup."""
+    assert socksio is not None
+
+
+def test_configure_tolerates_tracing_import_error(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    """A missing SOCKS transport during tracing init must not crash startup.
+
+    With a SOCKS proxy env var set, ``set_tracing_disabled`` eagerly builds an
+    httpx client that can raise ImportError. That failure is non-fatal and must
+    be swallowed so the rest of the SDK configuration still runs.
+    """
+
+    def _raise(_disabled: bool) -> None:
+        raise ImportError("Using SOCKS proxy, but the 'socksio' package is not installed")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(models, "set_tracing_disabled", _raise)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(models, "_configure_litellm_compatibility", lambda: None)
+
+    # Should not raise despite set_tracing_disabled blowing up.
+    models.configure_sdk_model_defaults(_make_settings())
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index cc7cb0a1..70f7ef56 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -2045,6 +2045,15 @@ wheels = [
     { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/e9/44/75a9c9421471a6c4805dbf2356f7c181a29c1879239abab1ea2cc8f38b40/sniffio-1.3.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:2f6da418d1f1e0fddd844478f41680e794e6051915791a034ff65e5f100525a2", size = 10235, upload-time = "2024-02-25T23:20:01.196Z" },
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "socksio"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/f8/5c/48a7d9495be3d1c651198fd99dbb6ce190e2274d0f28b9051307bdec6b85/socksio-1.0.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:f88beb3da5b5c38b9890469de67d0cb0f9d494b78b106ca1845f96c10b91c4ac", size = 19055, upload-time = "2020-04-17T15:50:34.664Z" }
+wheels = [
+    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/37/c3/6eeb6034408dac0fa653d126c9204ade96b819c936e136c5e8a6897eee9c/socksio-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:95dc1f15f9b34e8d7b16f06d74b8ccf48f609af32ab33c608d08761c5dcbb1f3", size = 12763, upload-time = "2020-04-17T15:50:31.878Z" },
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "sse-starlette"
 version = "3.3.3"
@@ -2093,6 +2102,7 @@ dependencies = [
     { name = "pydantic-settings" },
     { name = "requests" },
     { name = "rich" },
+    { name = "socksio" },
     { name = "textual" },
 ]
 
@@ -2118,6 +2128,7 @@ requires-dist = [
     { name = "pydantic-settings", specifier = ">=2.13.0" },
     { name = "requests", specifier = ">=2.32.0" },
     { name = "rich" },
+    { name = "socksio", specifier = ">=1.0.0" },
     { name = "textual", specifier = ">=6.0.0" },
 ]