diff --git a/tools/server/README.md b/tools/server/README.md
index 7b944c35b..17ad93df6 100644
--- a/tools/server/README.md
+++ b/tools/server/README.md
@@ -1040,7 +1040,7 @@ To know the `id` of the adapter, use GET `/lora-adapters`
 
 Returns information about the loaded model. See [OpenAI Models API documentation](https://platform.openai.com/docs/api-reference/models).
 
-The returned list always has one single element.
+The returned list always has one single element. The `meta` field can be `null` (for example, while the model is still loading).
 
 By default, model `id` field is the path to model file, specified via `-m`. You can set a custom value for model `id` field via `--alias` argument. For example, `--alias gpt-4o-mini`.
 
diff --git a/tools/server/server.cpp b/tools/server/server.cpp
index 4531dbf93..1ecf048db 100644
--- a/tools/server/server.cpp
+++ b/tools/server/server.cpp
@@ -4368,7 +4368,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     const auto handle_models = [&params, &ctx_server, &state, &res_ok](const httplib::Request &, httplib::Response & res) {
         server_state current_state = state.load();
-        std::string model_meta;
+        json model_meta = nullptr;
         if (current_state == SERVER_STATE_READY) {
             model_meta = ctx_server.model_meta();
         }