diff --git a/src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/combos/page.tsx b/src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/combos/page.tsx
index 0d73fd9dc4..9125fcea08 100644
--- a/src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/combos/page.tsx
+++ b/src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/combos/page.tsx
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import Modal from "@/shared/components/Modal";
 import Toggle from "@/shared/components/Toggle";
 import Tooltip from "@/shared/components/Tooltip";
 import { useCopyToClipboard } from "@/shared/hooks/useCopyToClipboard";
-import { filterActiveConnections } from "@/shared/utils/connectionStatus";
+import { filterUsableConnections } from "@/shared/utils/connectionStatus";
 import { FieldLabelWithHelp, WeightTotalBar } from "./parts";
 import { useComboProxyAssignments } from "./useComboProxyAssignments";
 import { ResponseValidationEditor, type ResponseValidationValue } from "./ResponseValidationEditor";
@@ -771,10 +771,7 @@ export default function CombosPage() {
 
       if (combosRes.ok) setCombos((combosData.combos || []).filter((c) => !c.isHidden));
       if (providersRes.ok) {
-        const active = filterActiveConnections(providersData.connections || []).filter(
-          (c) => c.testStatus === "active" || c.testStatus === "success"
-        );
-        setActiveProviders(active);
+        setActiveProviders(filterUsableConnections(providersData.connections || []));
       }
       if (metricsRes.ok) setMetrics(metricsData.metrics || {});
       setProviderNodes(nodesData.nodes || []);
diff --git a/src/shared/utils/connectionStatus.ts b/src/shared/utils/connectionStatus.ts
index 0d871ae130..a2a4ff1446 100644
--- a/src/shared/utils/connectionStatus.ts
+++ b/src/shared/utils/connectionStatus.ts
@@ -24,3 +24,17 @@ export function filterActiveConnections<T extends ConnectionActiveFlag>(
   if (!Array.isArray(connections)) return [];
   return connections.filter((connection) => connection?.isActive !== false);
 }
+
+/**
+ * Filters connections down to the ones a builder UI can actually route to:
+ * enabled (`isActive !== false`) AND last tested healthy ("active"/"success").
+ * Both gates must be applied together — filtering on `testStatus` alone keeps
+ * disabled connections that carry a stale healthy status.
+ */
+export function filterUsableConnections<T extends ConnectionActiveFlag>(
+  connections: T[] | null | undefined
+): T[] {
+  return filterActiveConnections(connections).filter(
+    (connection) => connection.testStatus === "active" || connection.testStatus === "success"
+  );
+}
diff --git a/tests/unit/connection-status-filter-active-2526.test.ts b/tests/unit/connection-status-filter-active-2526.test.ts
index 24d3d05b9d..ff0e5eb2e3 100644
--- a/tests/unit/connection-status-filter-active-2526.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/connection-status-filter-active-2526.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { test } from "node:test";
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
 
-import { filterActiveConnections } from "@/shared/utils/connectionStatus";
+import { filterActiveConnections, filterUsableConnections } from "@/shared/utils/connectionStatus";
 
 // Ported from decolua/9router#2526 — the combos builder listed provider
 // connections the user had explicitly disabled, because the page only
@@ -25,23 +25,26 @@ test("filterActiveConnections returns an empty list for invalid input", () => {
   assert.deepEqual(filterActiveConnections(null), []);
 });
 
-test("combos page fetchData filter mirrors filterActiveConnections + testStatus gate", () => {
+test("filterUsableConnections applies the isActive gate before the testStatus gate", () => {
   // Regression for the exact bug: a disabled connection with a stale
-  // "active" testStatus must NOT survive the combined filter used in
-  // src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/combos/page.tsx fetchData().
+  // "active" testStatus must NOT survive the combined filter that
+  // src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/combos/page.tsx fetchData() calls.
   const connections = [
     { id: "healthy", isActive: true, testStatus: "active" },
+    { id: "healthy-success", isActive: true, testStatus: "success" },
     { id: "disabled-but-stale-status", isActive: false, testStatus: "active" },
     { id: "disabled-success-status", isActive: false, testStatus: "success" },
     { id: "enabled-not-tested", isActive: true, testStatus: "untested" },
+    { id: "legacy-no-isActive", testStatus: "active" },
   ];
 
-  const result = filterActiveConnections(connections).filter(
-    (c) => c.testStatus === "active" || c.testStatus === "success"
-  );
-
   assert.deepEqual(
-    result.map((c) => c.id),
-    ["healthy"]
+    filterUsableConnections(connections).map((c) => c.id),
+    ["healthy", "healthy-success", "legacy-no-isActive"]
   );
 });
+
+test("filterUsableConnections returns an empty list for invalid input", () => {
+  assert.deepEqual(filterUsableConnections(undefined), []);
+  assert.deepEqual(filterUsableConnections(null), []);
+});