diff --git a/tests/test_auth_session.py b/tests/test_auth_session.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8add6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_auth_session.py
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+"""Session cookie sign/verify — security-critical edges that the
+existing test suite uses as a fixture (``sign_session(1)`` for cookies)
+but doesn't actually probe.
+
+Covers:
+- Round-trip: sign(user_id) → verify → user_id
+- Tampered cookie → None (not raised)
+- Expired cookie → None (via itsdangerous max_age)
+- Garbage / non-serializer-format input → None
+- Wrong-salt isolation: a pending cookie can't be unlocked by the
+  session verifier (and vice versa)
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from itsdangerous import URLSafeTimedSerializer
+
+from app import auth
+
+
+def test_session_signed_token_round_trips():
+    cookie = auth.sign_session(42)
+    assert auth.verify_session(cookie) == 42
+
+
+def test_session_token_is_opaque_url_safe():
+    """Sanity: the serializer produces a URL-safe string with at least
+    two dot-separated segments (payload.timestamp.signature). Not a
+    semantic test, but catches a future swap to an un-encoded format."""
+    cookie = auth.sign_session(7)
+    assert "." in cookie
+    assert " " not in cookie
+
+
+def test_tampered_session_cookie_returns_none():
+    """Flip a single character in the signature segment and verify
+    the cookie no longer authenticates — without exceptions leaking."""
+    cookie = auth.sign_session(99)
+    # Flip the last character (signature segment).
+    tampered = cookie[:-1] + ("a" if cookie[-1] != "a" else "b")
+    assert auth.verify_session(tampered) is None
+
+
+def test_garbage_session_cookie_returns_none():
+    assert auth.verify_session("not-a-real-cookie") is None
+    assert auth.verify_session("") is None
+    assert auth.verify_session("a.b.c") is None
+
+
+def test_expired_session_cookie_returns_none(monkeypatch):
+    """Forge a cookie with an ancient timestamp and confirm the TTL
+    check rejects it. We bypass sign_session() so the timestamp is
+    in our control rather than `now`."""
+    s = auth._serializer()
+    # itsdangerous stores the issued-at timestamp in a base62 segment.
+    # Easier than hand-building: monkeypatch the SESSION_TTL_SECONDS
+    # to a negative value so any freshly-signed cookie is "expired"
+    # the moment we verify it.
+    cookie = auth.sign_session(123)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(auth, "SESSION_TTL_SECONDS", -1)
+    assert auth.verify_session(cookie) is None
+
+
+def test_session_serializer_isolated_from_pending_serializer():
+    """A pending-verify cookie must not authenticate as a session
+    (different salts), and vice versa — otherwise the half-finished
+    OTP flow becomes a free login."""
+    pending = auth.sign_pending("u@x", 5)
+    session = auth.sign_session(5)
+    assert auth.verify_session(pending) is None
+    assert auth.verify_pending(session) is None
+
+
+def test_session_cookie_signed_with_different_secret_rejected(monkeypatch):
+    """Defence-in-depth: signing with a different secret produces a
+    cookie that the live verifier (using the configured secret)
+    rejects. Confirms we're actually checking the HMAC, not just the
+    payload format."""
+    rogue = URLSafeTimedSerializer("totally-different-secret",
+                                    salt="cassandra-session-v1")
+    rogue_cookie = rogue.dumps({"uid": 1})
+    assert auth.verify_session(rogue_cookie) is None
diff --git a/tests/test_cadence_policy.py b/tests/test_cadence_policy.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..19b9990
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cadence_policy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+"""Cadence policy — the gate that ai_log_job and indicator_summary_job
+use to throttle OpenRouter spend outside active market hours.
+
+Pure-function module, so tests just construct timestamps and assert on
+the (should_run, reason) tuple. Uses the default policy (active window
+07:00-21:00 UTC weekdays, no off-hours runs without 4+ hours since
+last success, weekends 12+ hours).
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
+
+import pytest
+
+from app.services.cadence import DEFAULT_POLICY, NEWS_POLICY, CadencePolicy
+
+
+def _utc(year, month, day, hour, minute=0):
+    return datetime(year, month, day, hour, minute, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+
+
+# Pick reference timestamps used across tests. Wednesday 12:00 UTC is
+# squarely inside the active window; Wednesday 03:00 is off-hours;
+# Saturday 12:00 is weekend.
+_WED_NOON = _utc(2026, 5, 27, 12)        # Wednesday 12:00
+_WED_PRE_DAWN = _utc(2026, 5, 27, 3)     # Wednesday 03:00
+_SAT_NOON = _utc(2026, 5, 30, 12)        # Saturday 12:00
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# is_active_window
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_active_window_weekday_noon_is_active():
+    assert DEFAULT_POLICY.is_active_window(_WED_NOON) is True
+
+
+def test_active_window_weekday_predawn_is_off_hours():
+    assert DEFAULT_POLICY.is_active_window(_WED_PRE_DAWN) is False
+
+
+def test_active_window_weekend_always_off_hours():
+    """Weekends bypass the hour check — even Saturday noon is throttled."""
+    assert DEFAULT_POLICY.is_active_window(_SAT_NOON) is False
+
+
+def test_active_window_boundary_inclusive_start_exclusive_end():
+    """07:00 UTC is the first active hour; 21:00 is the first off-hour.
+    Locks the half-open interval semantics in place."""
+    assert DEFAULT_POLICY.is_active_window(_utc(2026, 5, 27, 7)) is True
+    assert DEFAULT_POLICY.is_active_window(_utc(2026, 5, 27, 21)) is False
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# min_gap_hours
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_min_gap_uses_zero_during_active_window():
+    assert DEFAULT_POLICY.min_gap_hours(_WED_NOON) == 0.0
+
+
+def test_min_gap_uses_off_hours_value_at_night():
+    assert DEFAULT_POLICY.min_gap_hours(_WED_PRE_DAWN) == 4.0
+
+
+def test_min_gap_uses_weekend_value_on_saturday():
+    assert DEFAULT_POLICY.min_gap_hours(_SAT_NOON) == 12.0
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# should_run — the function jobs call
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_should_run_first_ever_call_always_proceeds():
+    ok, reason = DEFAULT_POLICY.should_run(None, now=_WED_NOON)
+    assert ok is True
+    assert "no prior" in reason.lower()
+
+
+def test_should_run_during_active_window_always_proceeds():
+    """Default policy has active_gap_h=0, so even a run from 1 minute ago
+    is allowed when we're in the active window."""
+    last = _WED_NOON - timedelta(minutes=1)
+    ok, reason = DEFAULT_POLICY.should_run(last, now=_WED_NOON)
+    assert ok is True
+    assert "active" in reason
+
+
+def test_should_run_off_hours_too_soon_is_throttled():
+    """Off-hours requires 4+ hours since last success. 1 hour ago → no."""
+    last = _WED_PRE_DAWN - timedelta(hours=1)
+    ok, reason = DEFAULT_POLICY.should_run(last, now=_WED_PRE_DAWN)
+    assert ok is False
+    assert "throttled" in reason
+    assert "off-hours" in reason
+
+
+def test_should_run_off_hours_after_gap_proceeds():
+    last = _WED_PRE_DAWN - timedelta(hours=5)
+    ok, reason = DEFAULT_POLICY.should_run(last, now=_WED_PRE_DAWN)
+    assert ok is True
+    assert "off-hours" in reason
+
+
+def test_should_run_weekend_requires_12h_gap():
+    """Weekend gap is 12h. 6h is too soon; 13h is enough."""
+    ok6, _ = DEFAULT_POLICY.should_run(
+        _SAT_NOON - timedelta(hours=6), now=_SAT_NOON,
+    )
+    ok13, _ = DEFAULT_POLICY.should_run(
+        _SAT_NOON - timedelta(hours=13), now=_SAT_NOON,
+    )
+    assert ok6 is False
+    assert ok13 is True
+
+
+def test_should_run_naive_datetime_treated_as_utc():
+    """The DB column comes back as a naive datetime in some test paths;
+    the policy must coerce it to UTC rather than crash on tz subtraction."""
+    naive_last = _WED_PRE_DAWN.replace(tzinfo=None) - timedelta(hours=5)
+    ok, _ = DEFAULT_POLICY.should_run(naive_last, now=_WED_PRE_DAWN)
+    assert ok is True
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# NEWS_POLICY — tighter gaps so 3 runs/hour during the active window.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_news_policy_active_gap_is_twenty_minutes():
+    # 20 minutes = 1/3 hour. Verify a 15-min-ago run is throttled but
+    # a 21-min-ago one is allowed.
+    last_15 = _WED_NOON - timedelta(minutes=15)
+    last_21 = _WED_NOON - timedelta(minutes=21)
+    assert NEWS_POLICY.should_run(last_15, now=_WED_NOON)[0] is False
+    assert NEWS_POLICY.should_run(last_21, now=_WED_NOON)[0] is True
+
+
+def test_news_policy_off_hours_gap_is_three_hours():
+    last_2h = _WED_PRE_DAWN - timedelta(hours=2)
+    last_4h = _WED_PRE_DAWN - timedelta(hours=4)
+    assert NEWS_POLICY.should_run(last_2h, now=_WED_PRE_DAWN)[0] is False
+    assert NEWS_POLICY.should_run(last_4h, now=_WED_PRE_DAWN)[0] is True
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Bespoke policy — confirms the dataclass is reconfigurable for callers
+# (the audit flagged this as risky to over-fit to defaults).
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_custom_policy_with_active_gap_throttles_within_window():
+    """active_gap_h=0.5 means even during the active window a run from
+    20 minutes ago is throttled — verifies the gate isn't hardcoded to
+    'always run during active'."""
+    p = CadencePolicy(active_gap_h=0.5)
+    last = _WED_NOON - timedelta(minutes=20)
+    ok, reason = p.should_run(last, now=_WED_NOON)
+    assert ok is False
+    assert "throttled" in reason
diff --git a/tests/test_openrouter_transport.py b/tests/test_openrouter_transport.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dfc14b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_openrouter_transport.py
@@ -0,0 +1,256 @@
+"""Transport-layer tests for app.services.openrouter.
+
+The companion file `test_openrouter_prompt.py` covers prompt building;
+this one covers the HTTP plumbing: provider chain selection, endpoint
+resolution, the per-call retry/parse path in `_call_provider`, and
+fallback behaviour in `call_llm`. Network requests are intercepted with
+``httpx.MockTransport`` so nothing hits the wire.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+import httpx
+import pytest
+
+from app.config import get_settings
+from app.services import openrouter as ot
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# _estimate_cost_usd
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_estimate_cost_known_model_uses_table_rates():
+    # deepseek-v4-flash table: 0.07/M input, 0.28/M output.
+    # 1000 in + 2000 out = 0.000_07 + 0.000_56 = 0.000_63.
+    cost = ot._estimate_cost_usd("deepseek-v4-flash", 1000, 2000)
+    assert cost == pytest.approx(0.00063, rel=1e-9)
+
+
+def test_estimate_cost_handles_provider_prefixed_model_name():
+    # OpenRouter-style model strings use the slash-prefixed form.
+    cost = ot._estimate_cost_usd("deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash", 1000, 2000)
+    assert cost == pytest.approx(0.00063, rel=1e-9)
+
+
+def test_estimate_cost_unknown_model_returns_none():
+    assert ot._estimate_cost_usd("never-heard-of-this-model", 100, 200) is None
+
+
+def test_estimate_cost_missing_tokens_returns_none():
+    assert ot._estimate_cost_usd("deepseek-v4-flash", None, 200) is None
+    assert ot._estimate_cost_usd("deepseek-v4-flash", 100, None) is None
+    assert ot._estimate_cost_usd("deepseek-v4-flash", None, None) is None
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# _provider_chain / llm_configured / active_model
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def _configure(monkeypatch, **overrides):
+    """Apply a small bundle of LLM settings for one test."""
+    s = get_settings()
+    defaults = {
+        "LLM_PROVIDER": "deepseek",
+        "LLM_FALLBACK": "openrouter",
+        "DEEPSEEK_API_KEY": "",
+        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "",
+        "DEEPSEEK_MODEL": "deepseek-v4-flash",
+        "OPENROUTER_MODEL": "deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash",
+        "DEEPSEEK_URL": "https://api.deepseek.com/chat/completions",
+    }
+    defaults.update(overrides)
+    for k, v in defaults.items():
+        monkeypatch.setattr(s, k, v, raising=False)
+
+
+def test_provider_chain_drops_providers_without_keys(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-deepseek")  # openrouter key missing
+    assert ot._provider_chain() == ["deepseek"]
+    assert ot.llm_configured() is True
+
+
+def test_provider_chain_lists_primary_then_fallback(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch,
+               DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-deepseek", OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-openrouter")
+    assert ot._provider_chain() == ["deepseek", "openrouter"]
+
+
+def test_provider_chain_skips_duplicate_when_primary_equals_fallback(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch, LLM_FALLBACK="deepseek", DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk")
+    assert ot._provider_chain() == ["deepseek"]
+
+
+def test_llm_configured_false_when_no_keys(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch)  # both keys empty
+    assert ot.llm_configured() is False
+    assert ot._provider_chain() == []
+    assert ot.active_model() == "unknown"
+
+
+def test_active_model_reflects_primary(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch,
+               LLM_PROVIDER="openrouter", OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or",
+               DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="")
+    assert ot.active_model() == "deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash"  # OPENROUTER_MODEL
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# _endpoint_for
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_endpoint_for_unknown_provider_raises(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk")
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="Unknown LLM provider"):
+        ot._endpoint_for("anthropic")
+
+
+def test_endpoint_for_provider_without_key_raises(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch)  # both keys empty
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="DEEPSEEK_API_KEY not set"):
+        ot._endpoint_for("deepseek")
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="OPENROUTER_API_KEY not set"):
+        ot._endpoint_for("openrouter")
+
+
+def test_endpoint_for_openrouter_includes_attribution_and_no_train_headers(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch, OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or")
+    url, key, model, headers = ot._endpoint_for("openrouter")
+    assert url.endswith("/chat/completions")
+    assert key == "sk-or"
+    assert headers["X-OR-Allow-Training"] == "false"
+    assert "HTTP-Referer" in headers and "X-Title" in headers
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# _call_provider (through call_llm so retry doesn't fire — happy paths only)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def _mock_post(callback):
+    """Wrap a callback into an httpx.MockTransport. Callback receives the
+    request and returns either an httpx.Response or raises."""
+    return httpx.MockTransport(callback)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_call_llm_returns_parsed_log_result(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-deepseek", LLM_FALLBACK="")
+
+    def handler(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
+        body = json.loads(request.content.decode())
+        assert body["model"] == "deepseek-v4-flash"
+        return httpx.Response(200, json={
+            "choices": [{"message": {"content": "hello"}, "finish_reason": "stop"}],
+            "usage": {"prompt_tokens": 100, "completion_tokens": 200},
+        })
+
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient(transport=_mock_post(handler)) as client:
+        result = await ot.call_llm(client, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
+
+    assert result.content == "hello"
+    # Model is prefixed with the answering provider for ledger traceability.
+    assert result.model == "deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash"
+    assert result.prompt_tokens == 100
+    assert result.completion_tokens == 200
+    # DeepSeek doesn't return cost — estimated from tokens.
+    # 100 * 0.07 + 200 * 0.28 = 7 + 56 = 63 → 0.000063.
+    assert result.cost_usd == pytest.approx(0.000063, rel=1e-9)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_call_llm_uses_upstream_cost_when_provided(monkeypatch):
+    """When the upstream supplies usage.cost (OpenRouter), we trust it
+    and skip the per-model table estimate."""
+    _configure(monkeypatch, LLM_PROVIDER="openrouter",
+               OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or", LLM_FALLBACK="")
+
+    def handler(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
+        return httpx.Response(200, json={
+            "choices": [{"message": {"content": "ok"}, "finish_reason": "stop"}],
+            "usage": {"prompt_tokens": 50, "completion_tokens": 50, "cost": 0.0042},
+        })
+
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient(transport=_mock_post(handler)) as client:
+        result = await ot.call_llm(client, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
+
+    assert result.cost_usd == 0.0042
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_call_llm_falls_back_to_reasoning_field_when_content_null(monkeypatch):
+    """Thinking models sometimes return null `content` plus a populated
+    `reasoning` block — we surface the reasoning so the caller still gets
+    something usable rather than treating the row as empty."""
+    _configure(monkeypatch, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-d", LLM_FALLBACK="")
+
+    def handler(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
+        return httpx.Response(200, json={
+            "choices": [{
+                "message": {"content": None, "reasoning": "deep thought"},
+                "finish_reason": "stop",
+            }],
+            "usage": {"prompt_tokens": 10, "completion_tokens": 20},
+        })
+
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient(transport=_mock_post(handler)) as client:
+        result = await ot.call_llm(client, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
+    assert result.content == "deep thought"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_call_llm_raises_when_no_provider_configured(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch)  # both keys empty
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="No LLM provider configured"):
+            await ot.call_llm(client, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# call_llm fallback chain — patch _call_provider to bypass the retry/sleep
+# decorator and exercise the cross-provider failover logic directly.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_call_llm_falls_back_to_secondary_when_primary_raises(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch,
+               DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-d", OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or")
+
+    calls = []
+    success = ot.LogResult(
+        content="from-fallback", model="openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash",
+        prompt_tokens=1, completion_tokens=2, cost_usd=0.0,
+    )
+
+    async def fake(_client, provider, _messages, _model, _max_tokens):
+        calls.append(provider)
+        if provider == "deepseek":
+            raise RuntimeError("primary down")
+        return success
+
+    with patch.object(ot, "_call_provider", fake):
+        async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+            result = await ot.call_llm(client, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
+
+    assert calls == ["deepseek", "openrouter"]
+    assert result.content == "from-fallback"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_call_llm_raises_last_exception_when_chain_exhausted(monkeypatch):
+    _configure(monkeypatch,
+               DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-d", OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or")
+
+    async def fake(_client, provider, _messages, _model, _max_tokens):
+        raise RuntimeError(f"{provider} broken")
+
+    with patch.object(ot, "_call_provider", fake):
+        async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+            with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="openrouter broken"):
+                await ot.call_llm(client, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])