diff --git a/docs/source/users/index.md b/docs/source/users/index.md
index 01e32e013..a9bf6c1d3 100644
--- a/docs/source/users/index.md
+++ b/docs/source/users/index.md
@@ -1087,6 +1087,11 @@ Specify default embedding model
 jupyter lab --AiExtension.default_embeddings_model=bedrock:amazon.titan-embed-text-v1
 ```
 
+Specify default completions model
+```bash
+jupyter lab --AiExtension.default_completions_model=bedrock-chat:anthropic.claude-v2
+```
+
 Specify default API keys
 ```bash
 jupyter lab --AiExtension.default_api_keys={'OPENAI_API_KEY': 'sk-abcd'}
diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/extension.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/extension.py
index d96d83b7f..635a0c336 100644
--- a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/extension.py
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/extension.py
@@ -151,6 +151,16 @@ class AiExtension(ExtensionApp):
         config=True,
     )
 
+    default_completions_model = Unicode(
+        default_value=None,
+        allow_none=True,
+        help="""
+        Default completions model to use, as string in the format
+        <provider-id>:<model-id>, defaults to None.
+        """,
+        config=True,
+    )
+
     default_api_keys = Dict(
         key_trait=Unicode(),
         value_trait=Unicode(),
@@ -214,6 +224,7 @@ def initialize_settings(self):
         defaults = {
             "model_provider_id": self.default_language_model,
             "embeddings_provider_id": self.default_embeddings_model,
+            "completions_model_provider_id": self.default_completions_model,
             "api_keys": self.default_api_keys,
             "fields": self.model_parameters,
             "embeddings_fields": self.model_parameters,