diff --git a/.github/workflows/model-pins.yml b/.github/workflows/model-pins.yml
index be1a042..945ad4c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/model-pins.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/model-pins.yml
@@ -53,21 +53,25 @@ jobs:
       - name: Self-test the detector
         run: node scripts/ci/test-model-pin-audit.mjs
 
-      # dotfiles has no package.json on purpose. Install ai-ration into a
-      # scratch dir and point the audit at it — the same shape ui-defects.yml
-      # uses for playwright. The vendor query lives in ai-ration precisely so
-      # this repo does not grow a second copy of it.
-      - name: Install ai-ration
+      # dotfiles has no package.json on purpose. Install ai-kit into a scratch
+      # dir and point the audit at it — the same shape ui-defects.yml uses for
+      # playwright. The vendor query lives in ai-kit precisely so this repo does
+      # not grow a second copy of it.
+      #
+      # Installed from GitHub rather than npm: ai-kit v0.3.0 is tagged and built
+      # but not on the registry, because the repo has no NPM_TOKEN. Switch this
+      # to `npm i ai-kit` once it does.
+      - name: Install ai-kit
         if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
         run: |
           mkdir -p "$RUNNER_TEMP/air" && cd "$RUNNER_TEMP/air"
           npm init -y >/dev/null
-          npm i --no-audit --no-fund github:maonakamoto/ai-ration#v0.2.1 >/dev/null
+          npm i --no-audit --no-fund github:maonakamoto/ai-kit#v0.3.0 >/dev/null
 
       - name: Audit the fleet's pins
         if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
         env:
-          AI_RATION_FROM: ${{ runner.temp }}/air
+          AI_KIT_FROM: ${{ runner.temp }}/air
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           # Absent keys are handled, not fatal: the vendor is reported UNCHECKED
           # rather than clean. "I could not look" is not "nothing is wrong".
diff --git a/SHARED.md b/SHARED.md
index c4f43ae..f9b29bd 100644
--- a/SHARED.md
+++ b/SHARED.md
@@ -23,14 +23,22 @@ the inventory underneath it is **generated**, and the number it produces is a
 | Package | Install | Replaces |
 |---|---|---|
 | [`ai-forms`](https://github.com/maonakamoto/ai-forms) | `npm i github:maonakamoto/ai-forms#v0.1.0` | per-app "fill this form from prose" + conversational refinement. Headless — ships **no markup**, so each app keeps its own styling. |
-| [`ai-ration`](https://github.com/maonakamoto/ai-ration) | `npm i github:maonakamoto/ai-ration#v0.2.0` | LLM free-tier survival: multi-vendor fallback chain, the three kinds of 429, per-user fair-share rationing, `modelCost()` so a fallback can never silently bill. |
+| [`ai-kit`](https://github.com/maonakamoto/ai-kit) | `npm i github:maonakamoto/ai-kit#v0.3.0` | **the AI layer, in one install** — which model to call, whether the vendor still lists it, the three kinds of 429, fair-share of a free tier, and (re-exported) `ai-forms`. Renamed from `ai-ration` 2026-08-26: the name described one of five modules, and the package had one adopter while five repos that skipped it went down together to a retired model id. |
 | [`threadkit`](https://github.com/maonakamoto/threadkit) | `npm i threadkit` | multi-participant message threads where *permission is participation*, not a role or an ownership column. Headless pure functions, so "who may read this" is unit-testable instead of buried in a `WHERE` clause. AI participants obey the same visibility rules. **ESM-only.** |
 | [`limitkit`](https://github.com/maonakamoto/limitkit) | `npm i github:maonakamoto/limitkit#v0.1.0` | the fleet's **12 hand-rolled rate limiters** (this file's own "next extraction" row). Sliding/fixed windows over an injectable two-method `Store`; **bounded** memory default (the unbounded-Map leak is impossible by construction); standard `X-RateLimit-*` + `Retry-After` headers — what orangecat's ADR-0002 specified seven months before anything enforced it; `clientIp()`. Refusals count nothing, so a hammered key recovers. Ships no middleware and **no limit values** — how many attempts a route allows is app semantics, asserted locally. |
 
 **Adopted:** `ai-forms` — fleetcrown, evig, aoz-housing, surf-your-life.
-`ai-ration` — fleetcrown, **and this repo** (`model-pin-audit.mjs` calls
+`ai-kit` — fleetcrown, **and this repo** (`model-pin-audit.mjs` calls
 `checkCatalog`; the audit needed exactly the vendor query the package owns, so
-writing a second one here would have been this file's own sin). `threadkit` — **nobody yet**.
+writing a second one here would have been this file's own sin).
+
+**On merging packages.** `ai-kit` absorbed `ai-ration` and re-exports
+`ai-forms`, because to an app "which model do we call", "AI chat" and "AI form
+fill" are ONE feature — AOZ adopted the form half, hand-rolled the rest, and was
+taken down by the half it skipped. `threadkit` and `limitkit` are deliberately
+NOT merged in: neither is about AI, and an app throttling its login form should
+not install a model catalogue to do it. Merge by what a consumer needs together,
+never by "these are all shared utilities". `threadkit` — **nobody yet**.
 `limitkit` — fleetcrown (proving consumer; its old limiter had the unbounded
 Map). **Next adopter should be orangecat** — it closes ADR-0002 by making its
 Upstash client a 12-line `Store` adapter and deleting three of its four
diff --git a/scripts/ci/model-pin-audit.mjs b/scripts/ci/model-pin-audit.mjs
index d80e4bc..296cc0d 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/model-pin-audit.mjs
+++ b/scripts/ci/model-pin-audit.mjs
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@
  * runs in repos somebody still touches, and the repos that rot quietly are
  * precisely the ones nobody touches. This one needs no adoption at all.
  *
- * WHY IT REUSES ai-ration
- * -----------------------
+ * WHY IT REUSES ai-kit
+ * --------------------
  * `checkCatalog` already answers this, already distinguishes the three states
  * that matter, and already carries the scars — its own docstring records four
  * of nine default pins gone and a consumer silently failing for eight days.
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
  * ----------------------
  * That a listed model WORKS. Existence is cheap; capability is not. A model
  * can be listed and still refuse tool calls — of nine free models probed for
- * ai-ration's default chain, five answered only via a text protocol. If the
+ * ai-kit's default chain, five answered only via a text protocol. If the
  * surface is a tool loop, probe with a real tool call before pinning. This
  * audit catches the retirement, not the mismatch.
  *
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
  *
  * Env: GH_OWNER (default maonakamoto), GH_LIMIT (default 100),
  *      FLEET_ROOT (default ~/dev, --local only),
- *      AI_RATION_FROM (path to a repo that installs ai-ration),
+ *      AI_KIT_FROM (path to a repo that installs ai-kit),
  *      GROQ_API_KEY / OPENROUTER_API_KEY (to read the catalogues).
  */
 import { execFile } from "node:child_process";
@@ -410,17 +410,23 @@ function localFiles(repo) {
   }));
 }
 
-// ── The catalogue, via ai-ration ─────────────────────────────────────────────
+// ── The catalogue, via ai-kit ─────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-function loadAiRation() {
+function loadAiKit() {
   const candidates = [
+    process.env.AI_KIT_FROM,
+    // Renamed from ai-ration in v0.3.0. The old paths stay in the list so a
+    // checkout that has not been renamed still resolves — a rename should not
+    // turn a working audit into a silent exit 2.
     process.env.AI_RATION_FROM,
     join(homedir(), "dev", "fleetcrown"),
+    join(homedir(), "dev", "ai-kit"),
     join(homedir(), "dev", "ai-ration"),
   ].filter(Boolean);
 
   for (const root of candidates) {
     for (const entry of [
+      join(root, "node_modules", "ai-kit", "dist", "index.js"),
       join(root, "node_modules", "ai-ration", "dist", "index.js"),
       join(root, "dist", "index.js"),
     ]) {
@@ -428,8 +434,8 @@ function loadAiRation() {
     }
   }
   console.error(
-    "✗ ai-ration not found. Set AI_RATION_FROM=/path/to/a/repo that installs it,\n" +
-      "  or build it once: (cd ~/dev/ai-ration && npm i && npm run build)",
+    "\u2717 ai-kit not found. Set AI_KIT_FROM=/path/to/a/repo that installs it,\n" +
+      "  or build it once: (cd ~/dev/ai-kit && npm i && npm run build)",
   );
   process.exit(2);
 }
@@ -525,7 +531,7 @@ function report(judged) {
   if (gone.length) {
     lines.push("");
     lines.push("A pin is a scheduled outage. The durable fix is a chain across VENDORS —");
-    lines.push("see SHARED.md → ai-ration. Repinning buys time until the next retirement.");
+    lines.push("see SHARED.md → ai-kit. Repinning buys time until the next retirement.");
   }
 
   return lines.join("\n");
@@ -534,7 +540,7 @@ function report(judged) {
 // ── Main ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 export async function main() {
-  const { checkCatalog } = await loadAiRation();
+  const { checkCatalog } = await loadAiKit();
 
   const repos = LOCAL ? localRepos() : await remoteRepos();
   const findings = [];