diff --git a/private_gpt/settings/settings.py b/private_gpt/settings/settings.py
index 4cf192a3e..875ab171d 100644
--- a/private_gpt/settings/settings.py
+++ b/private_gpt/settings/settings.py
@@ -350,6 +350,10 @@ class AzureOpenAISettings(BaseModel):
 class UISettings(BaseModel):
     enabled: bool
     path: str
+    default_mode: str = Field(
+        "RAG",
+        description="The default mode.",
+    )
     default_chat_system_prompt: str = Field(
         None,
         description="The default system prompt to use for the chat mode.",
diff --git a/private_gpt/ui/ui.py b/private_gpt/ui/ui.py
index 2c1dcd3e2..1e3804ad4 100644
--- a/private_gpt/ui/ui.py
+++ b/private_gpt/ui/ui.py
@@ -98,10 +98,12 @@ def __init__(
 
         self._selected_filename = None
 
+        self._default_mode = settings().ui.default_mode
         # Initialize system prompt based on default mode
-        self.mode = MODES[0]
+        self.mode = self._default_mode
         self._system_prompt = self._get_default_system_prompt(self.mode)
 
+
     def _chat(
         self, message: str, history: list[list[str]], mode: Modes, *_: Any
     ) -> Any:
@@ -390,7 +392,7 @@ def _build_ui_blocks(self) -> gr.Blocks:
 
             with gr.Row(equal_height=False):
                 with gr.Column(scale=3):
-                    default_mode = MODES[0]
+                    default_mode = self._default_mode
                     mode = gr.Radio(
                         [mode.value for mode in MODES],
                         label="Mode",