diff --git a/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/ChatDropdowns.tsx b/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/ChatDropdowns.tsx
index 22b2d614f..676caa4df 100644
--- a/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/ChatDropdowns.tsx
+++ b/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/ChatDropdowns.tsx
@@ -1,93 +1,24 @@
 import * as React from 'react';
-import { shallow } from 'zustand/shallow';
 
-import { ListItemButton, ListItemDecorator, Typography } from '@mui/joy';
-import BuildCircleIcon from '@mui/icons-material/BuildCircle';
-import SettingsIcon from '@mui/icons-material/Settings';
-
-import { DLLMId, DModelSourceId } from '~/modules/llms/llm.types';
-import { SystemPurposeId, SystemPurposes } from '../../../../data';
-import { useModelsStore } from '~/modules/llms/store-llms';
-
-import { AppBarDropdown, DropdownItems } from '~/common/layout/AppBarDropdown';
-import { useChatStore } from '~/common/state/store-chats';
-import { useUIPreferencesStore, useUIStateStore } from '~/common/state/store-ui';
+import { useChatLLMDropdown } from './useLLMDropdown';
+import { usePersonaIdDropdown } from './usePersonaDropdown';
 
 
 export function ChatDropdowns(props: {
   conversationId: string | null
 }) {
 
-  // external state
-  const { chatLLMId, setChatLLMId, llms } = useModelsStore(state => ({
-    chatLLMId: state.chatLLMId,
-    setChatLLMId: state.setChatLLMId,
-    llms: state.llms,
-  }), shallow);
-
-  const { zenMode } = useUIPreferencesStore(state => ({ zenMode: state.zenMode }), shallow);
-  const { systemPurposeId, setSystemPurposeId } = useChatStore(state => {
-    const conversation = state.conversations.find(conversation => conversation.id === props.conversationId);
-    return {
-      systemPurposeId: conversation?.systemPurposeId ?? null,
-      setSystemPurposeId: state.setSystemPurposeId,
-    };
-  }, shallow);
-  const { openLLMOptions, openModelsSetup } = useUIStateStore(state => ({
-    openLLMOptions: state.openLLMOptions, openModelsSetup: state.openModelsSetup,
-  }), shallow);
-
-  const handleChatModelChange = (event: any, value: DLLMId | null) =>
-    value && props.conversationId && setChatLLMId(value);
-
-  const handleSystemPurposeChange = (event: any, value: SystemPurposeId | null) =>
-    value && props.conversationId && setSystemPurposeId(props.conversationId, value);
-
-  const handleOpenLLMOptions = () => chatLLMId && openLLMOptions(chatLLMId);
-
-  // build model menu items, filtering-out hidden models, and add Source separators
-  const llmItems: DropdownItems = {};
-  let prevSourceId: DModelSourceId | null = null;
-  for (const llm of llms) {
-    if (!llm.hidden || llm.id === chatLLMId) {
-      if (!prevSourceId || llm.sId !== prevSourceId) {
-        if (prevSourceId)
-          llmItems[`sep-${llm.id}`] = { type: 'separator', title: llm.sId };
-        prevSourceId = llm.sId;
-      }
-      llmItems[llm.id] = { title: llm.label };
-    }
-  }
+  // state
+  const { chatLLMDropdown } = useChatLLMDropdown();
+  const { personaDropdown } = usePersonaIdDropdown(props.conversationId);
 
   return <>
 
     {/* Model selector */}
-    <AppBarDropdown
-      items={llmItems}
-      value={chatLLMId} onChange={handleChatModelChange}
-      placeholder='Models …'
-      appendOption={<>
-
-        {chatLLMId && (
-          <ListItemButton key='menu-opt' onClick={handleOpenLLMOptions}>
-            <ListItemDecorator><SettingsIcon color='success' /></ListItemDecorator><Typography>Options</Typography>
-          </ListItemButton>
-        )}
-
-        <ListItemButton key='menu-llms' onClick={openModelsSetup}>
-          <ListItemDecorator><BuildCircleIcon color='success' /></ListItemDecorator><Typography>Models</Typography>
-        </ListItemButton>
-
-      </>}
-    />
+    {chatLLMDropdown}
 
     {/* Persona selector */}
-    {systemPurposeId && (
-      <AppBarDropdown
-        items={SystemPurposes} showSymbols={zenMode !== 'cleaner'}
-        value={systemPurposeId} onChange={handleSystemPurposeChange}
-      />
-    )}
+    {personaDropdown}
 
   </>;
 }
diff --git a/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/useLLMDropdown.tsx b/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/useLLMDropdown.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc468d658
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/useLLMDropdown.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+import * as React from 'react';
+import { shallow } from 'zustand/shallow';
+
+import { ListItemButton, ListItemDecorator } from '@mui/joy';
+import BuildCircleIcon from '@mui/icons-material/BuildCircle';
+import SettingsIcon from '@mui/icons-material/Settings';
+
+import { DLLM, DLLMId, DModelSourceId } from '~/modules/llms/llm.types';
+import { useModelsStore } from '~/modules/llms/store-llms';
+
+import { AppBarDropdown, DropdownItems } from '~/common/layout/AppBarDropdown';
+import { useUIStateStore } from '~/common/state/store-ui';
+
+
+function AppBarLLMDropdown(props: {
+  llms: DLLM[],
+  llmId: DLLMId | null,
+  setLlmId: (llmId: DLLMId | null) => void,
+  placeholder?: string,
+}) {
+
+  // build model menu items, filtering-out hidden models, and add Source separators
+  const llmItems: DropdownItems = {};
+  let prevSourceId: DModelSourceId | null = null;
+  for (const llm of props.llms) {
+    if (!llm.hidden || llm.id === props.llmId) {
+      if (!prevSourceId || llm.sId !== prevSourceId) {
+        if (prevSourceId)
+          llmItems[`sep-${llm.id}`] = { type: 'separator', title: llm.sId };
+        prevSourceId = llm.sId;
+      }
+      llmItems[llm.id] = { title: llm.label };
+    }
+  }
+
+  const handleChatLLMChange = (_event: any, value: DLLMId | null) => value && props.setLlmId(value);
+
+  const handleOpenLLMOptions = () => props.llmId && useUIStateStore.getState().openLLMOptions(props.llmId);
+
+  const handleOpenModelsSetup = () => useUIStateStore.getState().openModelsSetup();
+
+  return (
+    <AppBarDropdown
+      items={llmItems}
+      value={props.llmId} onChange={handleChatLLMChange}
+      placeholder={props.placeholder || 'Models …'}
+      appendOption={<>
+
+        {props.llmId && (
+          <ListItemButton key='menu-opt' onClick={handleOpenLLMOptions}>
+            <ListItemDecorator><SettingsIcon color='success' /></ListItemDecorator>
+            Options
+          </ListItemButton>
+        )}
+
+        <ListItemButton key='menu-llms' onClick={handleOpenModelsSetup}>
+          <ListItemDecorator><BuildCircleIcon color='success' /></ListItemDecorator>
+          Models
+        </ListItemButton>
+
+      </>}
+    />
+  );
+}
+
+export function useChatLLMDropdown() {
+  // external state
+  const { llms, chatLLMId, setChatLLMId } = useModelsStore(state => ({
+    llms: state.llms,
+    chatLLMId: state.chatLLMId,
+    setChatLLMId: state.setChatLLMId,
+  }), shallow);
+
+  const chatLLMDropdown = React.useMemo(
+    () => <AppBarLLMDropdown llms={llms} llmId={chatLLMId} setLlmId={setChatLLMId} />,
+    [llms, chatLLMId, setChatLLMId],
+  );
+
+  return { chatLLMId, chatLLMDropdown };
+}
+
+export function useTempLLMDropdown(props: { initialLlmId: DLLMId | null }) {
+  // local state
+  const [llmId, setLlmId] = React.useState<DLLMId | null>(props.initialLlmId);
+
+  // external state
+  const llms = useModelsStore(state => state.llms, shallow);
+
+  const chatLLMDropdown = React.useMemo(
+    () => <AppBarLLMDropdown llms={llms} llmId={llmId} setLlmId={setLlmId} />,
+    [llms, llmId, setLlmId],
+  );
+
+  return { llmId, chatLLMDropdown };
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/usePersonaDropdown.tsx b/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/usePersonaDropdown.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..11050bef7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/apps/chat/components/applayout/usePersonaDropdown.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+import * as React from 'react';
+import { shallow } from 'zustand/shallow';
+
+import { SystemPurposeId, SystemPurposes } from '../../../../data';
+
+import { AppBarDropdown } from '~/common/layout/AppBarDropdown';
+import { useChatStore } from '~/common/state/store-chats';
+import { useUIPreferencesStore } from '~/common/state/store-ui';
+
+
+function AppBarPersonaDropdown(props: {
+  systemPurposeId: SystemPurposeId | null,
+  setSystemPurposeId: (systemPurposeId: SystemPurposeId | null) => void,
+}) {
+
+  // external state
+  const { zenMode } = useUIPreferencesStore(state => ({
+    zenMode: state.zenMode,
+  }), shallow);
+
+  const handleSystemPurposeChange = (_event: any, value: SystemPurposeId | null) => props.setSystemPurposeId(value);
+
+  return (
+    <AppBarDropdown
+      items={SystemPurposes} showSymbols={zenMode !== 'cleaner'}
+      value={props.systemPurposeId} onChange={handleSystemPurposeChange}
+    />
+  );
+
+}
+
+export function usePersonaIdDropdown(conversationId: string | null) {
+  // external state
+  const { systemPurposeId } = useChatStore(state => {
+    const conversation = state.conversations.find(conversation => conversation.id === conversationId);
+    return {
+      systemPurposeId: conversation?.systemPurposeId ?? null,
+    };
+  }, shallow);
+
+  const personaDropdown = React.useMemo(() =>
+      systemPurposeId ? <AppBarPersonaDropdown
+        systemPurposeId={systemPurposeId}
+        setSystemPurposeId={(systemPurposeId) => {
+          if (conversationId && systemPurposeId)
+            useChatStore.getState().setSystemPurposeId(conversationId, systemPurposeId);
+        }}
+      /> : null,
+    [conversationId, systemPurposeId],
+  );
+
+  return { personaDropdown };
+}
\ No newline at end of file