diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7429841..8eb0591 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -143,7 +143,10 @@ gate:
 #   enabled: false
 model:
   name: deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro
-  cascade: [anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6]
+  cascade:
+    - mistralai/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct
+    - google/gemma-3-27b-it
+    - qwen/qwen3-32b
   apiBase: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1    # ignored from config by default; see note below
   consensus: 1            # >1: only findings multiple models agree on survive
 ```
diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index 107a60e..bd7761f 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use crate::envelope::Severity;
 
 pub const DEFAULT_MODEL: &str = "deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro";
+pub const DEFAULT_CASCADE: [&str; 3] = [
+    "mistralai/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct",
+    "google/gemma-3-27b-it",
+    "qwen/qwen3-32b",
+];
 pub const DEFAULT_API_BASE: &str = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1";
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Serialize, Deserialize)]
@@ -118,7 +123,7 @@ impl Default for Config {
             gate_fail_on: GateLevel::Severity(Severity::Error),
             gate_on_error: OnError::Block,
             model: DEFAULT_MODEL.to_string(),
-            cascade: Vec::new(),
+            cascade: DEFAULT_CASCADE.iter().map(|m| (*m).to_string()).collect(),
             api_base: DEFAULT_API_BASE.to_string(),
             consensus: 1,
             guardrails: None,
@@ -464,8 +469,10 @@ gate:
 
 model:
   name: deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro
-  # cascade:
-  #   - anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6
+  cascade:
+    - mistralai/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct
+    - google/gemma-3-27b-it
+    - qwen/qwen3-32b
   # apiBase: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1   # any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (Ollama, vLLM, Azure).
   #                                         # Ignored from config by default (a repo could redirect
   #                                         # the inference credential). Prefer POSTIL_API_BASE; to
@@ -546,6 +553,10 @@ mod tests {
         f.write_all(content.as_bytes()).unwrap();
     }
 
+    fn default_cascade() -> Vec<String> {
+        DEFAULT_CASCADE.iter().map(|m| (*m).to_string()).collect()
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn defaults_are_low_noise() {
         let c = Config::default();
@@ -557,6 +568,22 @@ mod tests {
         ));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn defaults_keep_primary_and_retry_roster_order() {
+        let c = Config::default();
+        assert_eq!(c.model, DEFAULT_MODEL);
+        assert_eq!(c.cascade, default_cascade());
+        assert_eq!(
+            c.model_chain(),
+            vec![
+                "deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro",
+                "mistralai/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct",
+                "google/gemma-3-27b-it",
+                "qwen/qwen3-32b",
+            ]
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn postil_yaml_wins_over_coderabbit() {
         let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
@@ -598,6 +625,8 @@ mod tests {
         let mut c = Config::default();
         c.apply_file(f).unwrap();
         assert_eq!(c.max_findings, 20);
+        assert_eq!(c.model, DEFAULT_MODEL);
+        assert_eq!(c.cascade, default_cascade());
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/tests/e2e.rs b/tests/e2e.rs
index b834ad6..5afe37d 100644
--- a/tests/e2e.rs
+++ b/tests/e2e.rs
@@ -662,10 +662,33 @@ async fn garbage_output_fails_closed_after_repair_attempt() {
     let env: Value =
         serde_json::from_str(&String::from_utf8(out.get_output().stdout.clone()).unwrap()).unwrap();
     assert_eq!(env["findings"][0]["path"], ".postil/model-output");
-    assert_eq!(env["usage"]["promptTokens"], 160);
-    assert_eq!(env["usage"]["completionTokens"], 60);
-    // Initial call + repair call.
-    assert_eq!(server.received_requests().await.unwrap().len(), 2);
+    assert_eq!(env["usage"]["promptTokens"], 640);
+    assert_eq!(env["usage"]["completionTokens"], 240);
+    // Initial call + repair call for each default model in the retry roster.
+    let requests = server.received_requests().await.unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(requests.len(), 8);
+    let models: Vec<String> = requests
+        .iter()
+        .map(|request| {
+            request.body_json::<Value>().unwrap()["model"]
+                .as_str()
+                .unwrap()
+                .to_string()
+        })
+        .collect();
+    assert_eq!(
+        models,
+        vec![
+            "deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro",
+            "deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro",
+            "mistralai/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct",
+            "mistralai/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct",
+            "google/gemma-3-27b-it",
+            "google/gemma-3-27b-it",
+            "qwen/qwen3-32b",
+            "qwen/qwen3-32b",
+        ]
+    );
 }
 
 #[tokio::test]