correctly show "no models found" message when dataset is empty

backend/app/services/leaderboard.py

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 from app.core.cache import cache_config
 from typing import List, Dict, Any
 import datasets
-from fastapi import HTTPException
 import logging
 from app.config.base import HF_ORGANIZATION
 from app.core.formatting import LogFormatter
@@ -42,7 +41,9 @@ class LeaderboardService:
 
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(LogFormatter.error("Failed to fetch leaderboard data", e))
-            raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail=str(e))
+
+            # Return fallback data when no results are available yet
+            return []
 
     async def get_formatted_data(self) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
         """Get formatted leaderboard data"""
@@ -104,7 +105,9 @@ class LeaderboardService:
 
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(LogFormatter.error("Failed to format leaderboard data", e))
-            raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail=str(e))
+
+            # Return fallback data when no results are available yet
+            return []
 
     async def transform_data(self, data: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         """Transform raw data into the format expected by the frontend"""