diff --git a/litellm/config.yaml b/litellm/config.yaml
index a93aa2d9..1bcce938 100644
--- a/litellm/config.yaml
+++ b/litellm/config.yaml
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@ general_settings:
 litellm_settings:
   # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
   # FALLBACK CHAINS (cascading, in order of escalation)
-  # Simple → medium → complex → reasoning → advanced → openrouter-auto
+  # Simple → medium → complex → reasoning → advanced → local-qwen-3.6 → ollama → openrouter-auto
   # When one tier fails, LiteLLM tries the next model in the chain.
-  # All tiers fall back through increasingly capable models, then to openrouter-auto.
-  # local-qwen-3.6 (35B) disabled 2026-06-08 — frees 23GB RAM/GTT.
+  # Static safety-net entries in model_list (local-qwen-3.6 per tier) guarantee
+  # each agent tier has at least one deployment even during OpenRouter outages.
   # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
   cache: true
   cache_params:
@@ -36,31 +36,31 @@ litellm_settings:
     - agent-complex-core
     - agent-reasoning-core
     - agent-advanced-core
+    - local-qwen-3.6
     - llm-routing-ollama
     - openrouter-auto
-    - local-qwen-3.6
   - agent-medium-core:
     - agent-complex-core
     - agent-reasoning-core
     - agent-advanced-core
+    - local-qwen-3.6
     - llm-routing-ollama
     - openrouter-auto
-    - local-qwen-3.6
   - agent-complex-core:
     - agent-reasoning-core
     - agent-advanced-core
+    - local-qwen-3.6
     - llm-routing-ollama
     - openrouter-auto
-    - local-qwen-3.6
   - agent-reasoning-core:
     - agent-advanced-core
+    - local-qwen-3.6
     - llm-routing-ollama
     - openrouter-auto
-    - local-qwen-3.6
   - agent-advanced-core:
+    - local-qwen-3.6
     - llm-routing-ollama
     - openrouter-auto
-    - local-qwen-3.6
 
 model_list:
 - litellm_params:
@@ -151,88 +151,83 @@ model_list:
     is_public_model_group: true
 
 # ================================================================================
-# AGENT TIER DEPLOYMENTS — safety-net entries (one per tier)
-# The DB roster sync (router/main.py) is the DYNAMIC source of truth and
-# registers the full AA-scored deployment pool at startup via LiteLLM's
-# /model/new admin API. These static entries guarantee each tier name exists
-# even before the first roster sync runs (prevents "model not found" on cold
-# start). Each tier gets exactly ONE reliable free model that is always
-# available. The roster sync adds the remaining AA-scored models on startup.
-#
-# TIER THRESHOLDS (normalized AA score):
-#   n >= 80 → agent-advanced-core
-#   n >= 75 → agent-reasoning-core
-#   n >= 68 → agent-complex-core
-#   n >= 60 → agent-medium-core
-#   else    → agent-simple-core
-#
-# CURRENT AA SCORES (2026-06-08, max=55.0):
-#   minimax/minimax-m2.5:free          → 55.0 (norm=100.0) — advanced safety net
-#   moonshotai/kimi-k2.6:free           → 54.0 (norm=98.2)  — reasoning safety net
-#   nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b   → 48.0 (norm=87.3)  — complex safety net
-#   google/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it:free      → 40.0 (norm=72.7)  — medium safety net
-#   nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b:free → 28.0 (norm=50.9)  — simple safety net
+# AGENT TIER STATIC SAFETY-NET — one local-qwen-3.6 deployment per tier.
+# The dynamic roster sync (router/main.py) is the PRIMARY source of agent-tier
+# deployments and registers AA-scored OpenRouter free models at startup via
+# LiteLLM's /model/new API. These static entries guarantee each tier has at
+# least one model (the local classifier) even if OpenRouter is unreachable at
+# startup — preventing cold-start "Model NotFoundError" failures.
 # ================================================================================
 
 - model_name: agent-advanced-core
   litellm_params:
-    model: openrouter/google/gemma-4-31b-it:free
-    request_timeout: 20
+    api_base: LLAMA_CLASSIFIER_URL_PLACEHOLDER
+    api_key: local-token
+    model: openai/local-qwen-3.6
+    request_timeout: 300
   model_info:
-    supports_vision: false
-    supports_reasoning: true
-    supports_function_calling: true
     mode: chat
-    max_tokens: 262144
-    max_input_tokens: 262144
+    max_tokens: 524288
+    max_input_tokens: 524288
+    supports_function_calling: true
+    supports_reasoning: true
+    supports_vision: true
     is_public_model_group: true
 - model_name: agent-reasoning-core
   litellm_params:
-    model: openrouter/google/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it:free
-    request_timeout: 20
+    api_base: LLAMA_CLASSIFIER_URL_PLACEHOLDER
+    api_key: local-token
+    model: openai/local-qwen-3.6
+    request_timeout: 300
   model_info:
-    supports_vision: false
-    supports_reasoning: true
-    supports_function_calling: true
     mode: chat
-    max_tokens: 262144
-    max_input_tokens: 262144
+    max_tokens: 524288
+    max_input_tokens: 524288
+    supports_function_calling: true
+    supports_reasoning: true
+    supports_vision: true
     is_public_model_group: true
 - model_name: agent-complex-core
   litellm_params:
-    model: openrouter/nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b:free
-    request_timeout: 20
+    api_base: LLAMA_CLASSIFIER_URL_PLACEHOLDER
+    api_key: local-token
+    model: openai/local-qwen-3.6
+    request_timeout: 300
   model_info:
-    supports_vision: false
-    supports_reasoning: true
-    supports_function_calling: true
     mode: chat
-    max_tokens: 262144
-    max_input_tokens: 262144
+    max_tokens: 524288
+    max_input_tokens: 524288
+    supports_function_calling: true
+    supports_reasoning: true
+    supports_vision: true
     is_public_model_group: true
 - model_name: agent-medium-core
   litellm_params:
-    model: openrouter/google/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it:free
-    request_timeout: 20
+    api_base: LLAMA_CLASSIFIER_URL_PLACEHOLDER
+    api_key: local-token
+    model: openai/local-qwen-3.6
+    request_timeout: 300
   model_info:
-    supports_vision: false
-    supports_reasoning: true
-    supports_function_calling: true
     mode: chat
-    max_tokens: 262144
-    max_input_tokens: 262144
+    max_tokens: 524288
+    max_input_tokens: 524288
+    supports_function_calling: true
+    supports_reasoning: true
+    supports_vision: true
     is_public_model_group: true
 - model_name: agent-simple-core
   litellm_params:
-    model: openrouter/nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b:free
-    request_timeout: 20
+    api_base: LLAMA_CLASSIFIER_URL_PLACEHOLDER
+    api_key: local-token
+    model: openai/local-qwen-3.6
+    request_timeout: 300
   model_info:
-    supports_vision: false
-    supports_reasoning: true
-    supports_function_calling: true
     mode: chat
-    max_tokens: 256000
-    max_input_tokens: 256000
+    max_tokens: 524288
+    max_input_tokens: 524288
+    supports_function_calling: true
+    supports_reasoning: true
+    supports_vision: true
     is_public_model_group: true
 
 redis_settings:
diff --git a/pod.yaml b/pod.yaml
index 75981ee1..8eb4449f 100644
--- a/pod.yaml
+++ b/pod.yaml
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ spec:
       value: LITELLM_UI_PASSWORD_PLACEHOLDER
     - name: OLLAMA_API_KEY
       value: OLLAMA_API_KEY_PLACEHOLDER
+    - name: OPENROUTER_API_KEY
+      value: OPENROUTER_API_KEY_PLACEHOLDER
     - name: SERVER_ROOT_PATH
       value: /llm-routing/litellm
     - name: PROXY_BASE_URL
diff --git a/start-stack.sh b/start-stack.sh
index 4eac51a0..657095be 100755
--- a/start-stack.sh
+++ b/start-stack.sh
@@ -613,7 +613,16 @@ render_router_config() {
 }
 
 render_pod_yaml() {
-    export WORKDIR HOME LITELLM_MASTER_KEY UI_USERNAME UI_PASSWORD POSTGRES_PASSWORD NEXTAUTH_SECRET SALT ENCRYPTION_KEY LANGFUSE_INIT_USER_PASSWORD MINIO_ROOT_USER MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD OLLAMA_API_KEY LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY CLASSIFIER_INPUT_MAX_CHARS REDIS_AUTH CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD PUBLIC_BASE_URL ROUTING_DOMAIN POD_NAME DATA_ROOT ROUTER_IMAGE ROUTER_PORT LITELLM_PORT LANGFUSE_WEB_PORT LANGFUSE_WORKER_PORT POSTGRES_PORT VALKEY_CACHE_PORT VALKEY_LF_PORT CLICKHOUSE_HTTP_PORT CLICKHOUSE_TCP_PORT CLICKHOUSE_INTERSERVER_PORT MINIO_S3_PORT MINIO_CONSOLE_PORT
+    export WORKDIR HOME LITELLM_MASTER_KEY UI_USERNAME UI_PASSWORD
+    export POSTGRES_PASSWORD NEXTAUTH_SECRET SALT ENCRYPTION_KEY
+    export LANGFUSE_INIT_USER_PASSWORD MINIO_ROOT_USER MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD
+    export OLLAMA_API_KEY OPENROUTER_API_KEY LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY
+    export CLASSIFIER_INPUT_MAX_CHARS REDIS_AUTH CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD
+    export PUBLIC_BASE_URL ROUTING_DOMAIN POD_NAME DATA_ROOT
+    export ROUTER_IMAGE ROUTER_PORT LITELLM_PORT LANGFUSE_WEB_PORT
+    export LANGFUSE_WORKER_PORT POSTGRES_PORT VALKEY_CACHE_PORT VALKEY_LF_PORT
+    export CLICKHOUSE_HTTP_PORT CLICKHOUSE_TCP_PORT CLICKHOUSE_INTERSERVER_PORT
+    export MINIO_S3_PORT MINIO_CONSOLE_PORT
     python3 - "$WORKDIR/pod.yaml" <<'PY'
 import os, sys, urllib.parse, json
 uid = os.getuid()
@@ -637,6 +646,7 @@ placeholders = [
     "SALT_PLACEHOLDER",
     "ENCRYPTION_KEY_PLACEHOLDER",
     "OLLAMA_API_KEY_PLACEHOLDER",
+    "OPENROUTER_API_KEY_PLACEHOLDER",
     "LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY_PLACEHOLDER",
     "LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY_PLACEHOLDER",
     "MINIO_USER_PLACEHOLDER",
@@ -680,6 +690,7 @@ text = text.replace("NEXTAUTH_SECRET_PLACEHOLDER", yaml_scalar(os.environ["NEXTA
 text = text.replace("SALT_PLACEHOLDER", yaml_scalar(os.environ["SALT"]))
 text = text.replace("ENCRYPTION_KEY_PLACEHOLDER", yaml_scalar(os.environ["ENCRYPTION_KEY"]))
 text = text.replace("OLLAMA_API_KEY_PLACEHOLDER", yaml_scalar(os.environ["OLLAMA_API_KEY"]))
+text = text.replace("OPENROUTER_API_KEY_PLACEHOLDER", yaml_scalar(os.environ["OPENROUTER_API_KEY"]))
 text = text.replace("LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY_PLACEHOLDER", yaml_scalar(os.environ["LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY"]))
 text = text.replace("LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY_PLACEHOLDER", yaml_scalar(os.environ["LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY"]))
 text = text.replace("MINIO_USER_PLACEHOLDER", yaml_scalar(os.environ["MINIO_ROOT_USER"]))