diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/AiAssistant.vue b/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/AiAssistant.vue
index e8f5ca1739..e7984bde59 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/AiAssistant.vue
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/AiAssistant.vue
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ import { copyToClipboard } from "@/lib/common/clipboard";
 import { AI_TABLE_MENTION_CANDIDATE_LIMIT, AI_TABLE_MENTION_SCHEMA_LIMIT, filterAiTableMentionCandidates, formatAiTableMention, parseAiTableMentions, type AiTableMention } from "@/lib/ai/aiTableMentions";
 import { handleAiTableReferenceDropEvent } from "@/lib/ai/aiTableReferenceDrop";
 import { DBX_TABLE_REFERENCE_DROP_EVENT, clearActiveTableReferencePayload } from "@/lib/editor/queryEditorTableDrop";
-import { isAiPromptImeCompositionEvent, shouldSubmitAiPromptOnKeydown } from "@/lib/ai/aiPromptKeyboard";
+import { canSubmitAiPrompt, isAiPromptImeCompositionEvent, shouldSubmitAiPromptOnKeydown } from "@/lib/ai/aiPromptKeyboard";
 import { isActionableWriteProposalMessage, isActionableWriteSqlProposal, looksLikeActionProposal, looksLikeWriteSqlProposal, shouldGrantWriteSqlOnShortAffirmative } from "@/lib/ai/aiProposalDetect";
 import { visibleToActualIndex } from "@/lib/ai/aiMessageEdit";
 import { shouldShowReasoningCharCount, reasoningCharCountClass } from "@/lib/ai/aiReasoningPresentation";
@@ -728,6 +728,15 @@ const previewImageAttachment = ref<AiImageAttachment | null>(null);
 const isAttachmentDragging = ref(false);
 const pendingAttachmentReads = ref(0);
 const isAttachmentProcessing = computed(() => pendingAttachmentReads.value > 0);
+const canSubmitPrompt = computed(() =>
+  canSubmitAiPrompt({
+    prompt: prompt.value,
+    contextItemCount: selectedMentions.value.length + selectedSqlFileMentions.value.length + selectedCsvAttachments.value.length + selectedImageAttachments.value.length,
+    isAttachmentProcessing: isAttachmentProcessing.value,
+    hasTab: !!props.tab,
+    hasConnection: !!props.connection,
+  }),
+);
 let browserAttachmentDragDepth = 0;
 let attachmentDraftEpoch = 0;
 let attachmentReadQueue: Promise<void> = Promise.resolve();
@@ -3871,12 +3880,7 @@ async function openExternalUrl(url: string) {
             <button v-if="isGenerating" class="h-7 w-7 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-destructive text-destructive-foreground flex items-center justify-center" :title="t('ai.stopGenerating')" @click="cancelStream">
               <Square class="h-3.5 w-3.5" />
             </button>
-            <button
-              v-else
-              class="h-7 w-7 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-foreground text-background flex items-center justify-center disabled:opacity-30"
-              :disabled="isAttachmentProcessing || (!prompt.trim() && !selectedMentions.length && !selectedSqlFileMentions.length && !selectedCsvAttachments.length && !selectedImageAttachments.length) || !props.tab?.database"
-              @click="send"
-            >
+            <button v-else class="h-7 w-7 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-foreground text-background flex items-center justify-center disabled:opacity-30" :disabled="!canSubmitPrompt" @click="send">
               <ArrowUp class="h-4 w-4" />
             </button>
           </div>
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/__tests__/aiPromptSubmission.spec.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/__tests__/aiPromptSubmission.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..057c4db829
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/__tests__/aiPromptSubmission.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { canSubmitAiPrompt } from "@/lib/ai/aiPromptKeyboard";
+
+const aiAssistantSource = readFileSync(new URL("../../../components/editor/AiAssistant.vue", import.meta.url), "utf8");
+
+function submissionState(overrides: Partial<Parameters<typeof canSubmitAiPrompt>[0]> = {}) {
+  return {
+    prompt: "",
+    contextItemCount: 0,
+    isAttachmentProcessing: false,
+    hasTab: true,
+    hasConnection: true,
+    ...overrides,
+  };
+}
+
+describe("AI prompt submission eligibility", () => {
+  it("allows text and attachment submissions without requiring a tab-local database", () => {
+    expect(canSubmitAiPrompt(submissionState({ prompt: "show current users" }))).toBe(true);
+    expect(canSubmitAiPrompt(submissionState({ contextItemCount: 1 }))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("rejects empty, processing, and missing-context submissions", () => {
+    expect(canSubmitAiPrompt(submissionState())).toBe(false);
+    expect(canSubmitAiPrompt(submissionState({ prompt: "ask", isAttachmentProcessing: true }))).toBe(false);
+    expect(canSubmitAiPrompt(submissionState({ prompt: "ask", hasTab: false }))).toBe(false);
+    expect(canSubmitAiPrompt(submissionState({ prompt: "ask", hasConnection: false }))).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("wires the click button to the shared eligibility rule", () => {
+    expect(aiAssistantSource).toContain("const canSubmitPrompt = computed(() =>");
+    expect(aiAssistantSource).toContain(':disabled="!canSubmitPrompt"');
+    expect(aiAssistantSource).not.toMatch(/:disabled=.*props\.tab\?\.database/);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/aiPromptKeyboard.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/aiPromptKeyboard.ts
index 8c3bf2ee10..0503182cc2 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/aiPromptKeyboard.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/aiPromptKeyboard.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,18 @@ export interface AiPromptKeydownLikeEvent {
   keyCode?: number;
 }
 
+export interface AiPromptSubmissionState {
+  prompt: string;
+  contextItemCount: number;
+  isAttachmentProcessing: boolean;
+  hasTab: boolean;
+  hasConnection: boolean;
+}
+
+export function canSubmitAiPrompt(state: AiPromptSubmissionState): boolean {
+  return !state.isAttachmentProcessing && state.hasTab && state.hasConnection && (state.prompt.trim().length > 0 || state.contextItemCount > 0);
+}
+
 export function isAiPromptImeCompositionEvent(event: AiPromptKeydownLikeEvent, compositionActive = false): boolean {
   return compositionActive || !!event.isComposing || event.keyCode === 229 || event.key === "Process";
 }