diff --git a/src/components/AutoFavoriteSection.tsx b/src/components/AutoFavoriteSection.tsx
index e1027fca1..273ccc442 100644
--- a/src/components/AutoFavoriteSection.tsx
+++ b/src/components/AutoFavoriteSection.tsx
@@ -121,9 +121,6 @@ const AutoFavoriteSection: React.FC<AutoFavoriteSectionProps> = ({ baseUrl }) =>
 
   const getTargetDescription = () => {
     if (!status?.localNodeRole) return '';
-    if (status.localNodeRole === DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE) {
-      return t('automation.auto_favorite.target_all', 'all 0-hop nodes');
-    }
     return t('automation.auto_favorite.target_routers', '0-hop Router, Router Late, and Client Base nodes');
   };
 
@@ -238,6 +235,23 @@ const AutoFavoriteSection: React.FC<AutoFavoriteSectionProps> = ({ baseUrl }) =>
                   })}
               </div>
             )}
+            {status.localNodeRole === DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE && (
+              <div style={{
+                marginLeft: '1.75rem',
+                marginBottom: '1rem',
+                padding: '0.75rem 1rem',
+                background: 'var(--ctp-surface0)',
+                border: '1px solid var(--ctp-sapphire)',
+                borderLeft: '4px solid var(--ctp-sapphire)',
+                borderRadius: '6px',
+                color: 'var(--ctp-sapphire)',
+                fontSize: '13px',
+                lineHeight: '1.5',
+              }}>
+                {t('automation.auto_favorite.client_base_tip',
+                  'For maximum benefits, you should manually Favorite your local nearby CLIENT and CLIENT_MUTE nodes.')}
+              </div>
+            )}
           </>
         )}
 
diff --git a/src/server/constants/autoFavorite.ts b/src/server/constants/autoFavorite.ts
index a1ce7e447..c3b7f5de5 100644
--- a/src/server/constants/autoFavorite.ts
+++ b/src/server/constants/autoFavorite.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,20 @@
 import { DeviceRole } from '../../constants/index.js';
 
-/** Roles that benefit from zero-cost hop favoriting */
+// NOTE: AUTO_FAVORITE_LOCAL_ROLES and ZERO_HOP_RELAY_ROLES currently hold the
+// same members but describe two distinct concepts — keep them separate.
+// AUTO_FAVORITE_LOCAL_ROLES = which *local* roles may run auto-favorite at all;
+// ZERO_HOP_RELAY_ROLES = which *target* roles actually relay and so are worth
+// favoriting. They are free to diverge (e.g. a relay role you wouldn't enable
+// the feature on, or vice versa), so do not deduplicate them into one set.
+
+/** Local node roles for which the auto-favorite feature is available */
 export const AUTO_FAVORITE_LOCAL_ROLES: Set<number> = new Set([
   DeviceRole.ROUTER,
   DeviceRole.ROUTER_LATE,
   DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE,
 ]);
 
-/** Roles eligible as zero-cost relay favorites (for ROUTER/ROUTER_LATE local) */
+/** Target roles eligible as zero-cost relay favorites (applies to every eligible local role) */
 export const ZERO_HOP_RELAY_ROLES: Set<number> = new Set([
   DeviceRole.ROUTER,
   DeviceRole.ROUTER_LATE,
@@ -28,8 +35,8 @@ interface AutoFavoriteTarget {
  * - Target must be 0-hop (hopsAway === 0)
  * - Target must not have been received via MQTT
  * - Target must not already be favorited
- * - For ROUTER/ROUTER_LATE local: target must also be ROUTER/ROUTER_LATE/CLIENT_BASE
- * - For CLIENT_BASE local: any role is eligible
+ * - Target must be a relay role (ROUTER/ROUTER_LATE/CLIENT_BASE) regardless of the local role.
+ *   CLIENT and CLIENT_MUTE never relay, so they are never auto-favorited (issue #3774).
  */
 export function isAutoFavoriteEligible(
   localRole: number | undefined | null,
@@ -47,10 +54,8 @@ export function isAutoFavoriteEligible(
   if (target.isFavorite) {
     return false;
   }
-  if (localRole === DeviceRole.ROUTER || localRole === DeviceRole.ROUTER_LATE) {
-    if (target.role == null || !ZERO_HOP_RELAY_ROLES.has(target.role)) {
-      return false;
-    }
+  if (target.role == null || !ZERO_HOP_RELAY_ROLES.has(target.role)) {
+    return false;
   }
   return true;
 }
diff --git a/src/server/meshtasticManager.autoFavorite.test.ts b/src/server/meshtasticManager.autoFavorite.test.ts
index c1dea07c6..dd7ad0d64 100644
--- a/src/server/meshtasticManager.autoFavorite.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/meshtasticManager.autoFavorite.test.ts
@@ -19,14 +19,22 @@ describe('isAutoFavoriteEligible', () => {
     expect(isAutoFavoriteEligible(DeviceRole.ROUTER, { hopsAway: 0, role: DeviceRole.CLIENT, isFavorite: false })).toBe(false);
   });
 
-  it('returns true for 0-hop CLIENT when local is CLIENT_BASE (any role eligible)', () => {
-    expect(isAutoFavoriteEligible(DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE, { hopsAway: 0, role: DeviceRole.CLIENT, isFavorite: false })).toBe(true);
+  it('returns false for 0-hop CLIENT when local is CLIENT_BASE (issue #3774)', () => {
+    expect(isAutoFavoriteEligible(DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE, { hopsAway: 0, role: DeviceRole.CLIENT, isFavorite: false })).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for 0-hop CLIENT_MUTE when local is CLIENT_BASE (issue #3774)', () => {
+    expect(isAutoFavoriteEligible(DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE, { hopsAway: 0, role: DeviceRole.CLIENT_MUTE, isFavorite: false })).toBe(false);
   });
 
   it('returns true for 0-hop ROUTER when local is CLIENT_BASE', () => {
     expect(isAutoFavoriteEligible(DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE, { hopsAway: 0, role: DeviceRole.ROUTER, isFavorite: false })).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  it('returns true for 0-hop CLIENT_BASE when local is CLIENT_BASE', () => {
+    expect(isAutoFavoriteEligible(DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE, { hopsAway: 0, role: DeviceRole.CLIENT_BASE, isFavorite: false })).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it('returns false for multi-hop node regardless of role', () => {
     expect(isAutoFavoriteEligible(DeviceRole.ROUTER, { hopsAway: 2, role: DeviceRole.ROUTER, isFavorite: false })).toBe(false);
   });