diff --git a/stacks/lobe-chat/.env.example b/stacks/lobe-chat/.env.example
index 9089c66..9e1ec71 100644
--- a/stacks/lobe-chat/.env.example
+++ b/stacks/lobe-chat/.env.example
@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@ SYSTEM_AGENT=topic=openai/summarizer,translation=openai/gen,agentMeta=openai/gen
 # invisible until it is listed here AND the container is bounced. Keep it to
 # LIVE, CHAT-CAPABLE models: a retired name left here becomes a picker entry
 # that 400s on click, and TTS/embedding/reranker seats cannot chat at all.
-OPENAI_MODEL_LIST=-all,+gen,+gen-reasoning,+char-rp,+summarizer,+summarizer-large,+classifier,+image-judge,+coder-fast,+chat-judge,+sec,+sec-reasoning
+OPENAI_MODEL_LIST=-all,+gen,+gen-reasoning,+sec,+sec-reasoning,+char-rp,+char-rp-reasoning,+summarizer,+summarizer-large,+classifier,+chat-judge,+selene-1-mini-8b,+image-judge,+qwen-image-bench,+coder-fast,+gen-frontier,+gen-frontier-reasoning,+glm-5.2,+glm-5.2-reasoning,+glm-5.1,+glm-5.1-reasoning,+glm-5-turbo,+glm-4.7,+glm-4.5-air,+kimi-k3,+kimi-k3-gen-api
diff --git a/stacks/lobe-chat/compose.yaml b/stacks/lobe-chat/compose.yaml
index e039ad4..df62b0e 100644
--- a/stacks/lobe-chat/compose.yaml
+++ b/stacks/lobe-chat/compose.yaml
@@ -16,13 +16,18 @@
 #   "does". If it turns out UI-only it fails the operator's manageable-by-agent
 #   criterion even while winning on weight.
 #
-# ⚠️ CREDENTIAL POSTURE — deliberately NOT the shared all-agents key.
-#   That key reaches the PAID passthroughs (GLM, Kimi) and a LAN-exposed chat UI
-#   holding it would let anyone who can reach the port spend vendor credits on a
-#   pool shared across every project. This stack uses a purpose-minted LiteLLM
-#   virtual key (`key_alias: lobe-chat-esh`) scoped to the 20 free LOCAL models.
-#   Verified at mint time: `gen` answers; `glm-5.2`, `kimi-k3` and `gen-frontier`
-#   all return "key not allowed to access model".
+# ⚠️ CREDENTIAL POSTURE — CHANGED 2026-08-21, read this before assuming.
+#   This stack uses a purpose-minted LiteLLM virtual key (`key_alias:
+#   lobe-chat-esh`), originally scoped to the free LOCAL models so a LAN-exposed
+#   chat UI could not spend vendor credits. THAT IS NO LONGER TRUE: on the
+#   operator's instruction the key was moved to the `all-proxy-models` access
+#   group, so it now reaches EVERYTHING behind the gateway, paid passthroughs
+#   (GLM, Kimi, gen-frontier) included, with `max_budget: None`. A paid call
+#   from this UI spends real vendor credits and nothing caps it. The UI is
+#   LAN-exposed behind ACCESS_CODE and nothing else. A ceiling is available from
+#   infra-ops on request; uncapped is the operator's call, not an oversight.
+#   The access group also auto-includes future models and only ever resolves
+#   LIVE ones, so the key no longer needs editing when a seat is added.
 #   Secrets live in the vault, never in git:
 #     secret get esh-docker-vm/lobe-chat-litellm-key
 #     secret get esh-docker-vm/lobe-chat-access-code
@@ -72,13 +77,26 @@ services:
       # ⚠️ THIS NEVER AUTO-DISCOVERS. `-all` clears Lobe's catalogue and each
       # `+name` re-adds ONE model, so a seat added to LiteLLM stays invisible
       # here until this list is edited and the container bounced. That is the
-      # price of the pin, paid deliberately: an unpinned picker offers models
-      # that fail on click. Two consequences to remember when editing:
-      #   - a RETIRED model left in this list becomes a visible entry that 400s
-      #     (char-rp-reasoning + char-rp-fable did exactly that until 2026-08-21)
-      #   - the list is curated to LIVE, CHAT-CAPABLE seats: no TTS, embedding or
-      #     reranker models (they cannot chat), and no paid passthroughs.
-      - OPENAI_MODEL_LIST=${OPENAI_MODEL_LIST:--all,+gen,+gen-reasoning,+char-rp,+summarizer,+summarizer-large,+classifier,+image-judge,+coder-fast,+chat-judge,+sec,+sec-reasoning}
+      # price of the pin, paid deliberately: an unpinned picker offers Lobe's
+      # built-in OpenAI catalogue, all of which fails against the gateway.
+      #
+      # 2026-08-21 (operator: "pass everything through, lobe is a test surface
+      # for me"): the list is now EVERY chat-capable model the gateway serves,
+      # paid passthroughs included. Membership is decided by LiteLLM's declared
+      # `mode` from /v1/model_info, not by taste — chat + completion are in;
+      # audio_speech (ext-tts, tts-1, tts-1-hd, gpt-4o-mini-tts), embedding
+      # (qwen3-embedding) and rerank (reranker*) are out because they cannot
+      # answer a chat request at all. Re-derive the list from `mode` when
+      # editing rather than appending by hand.
+      #
+      # Distinguish the two failure shapes before removing a name:
+      #   400 = not configured in LiteLLM at all -> genuinely gone, drop it
+      #         (char-rp-fable, 2026-08-21)
+      #   500 = configured but its upstream seat is down -> KEEP it, or the list
+      #         rots every time a seat bounces (char-rp + char-rp-reasoning were
+      #         500ing on 2026-08-21 with ana-ml2:8016 refusing connections;
+      #         seat under maintenance, both deliberately retained)
+      - OPENAI_MODEL_LIST=${OPENAI_MODEL_LIST:--all,+gen,+gen-reasoning,+sec,+sec-reasoning,+char-rp,+char-rp-reasoning,+summarizer,+summarizer-large,+classifier,+chat-judge,+selene-1-mini-8b,+image-judge,+qwen-image-bench,+coder-fast,+gen-frontier,+gen-frontier-reasoning,+glm-5.2,+glm-5.2-reasoning,+glm-5.1,+glm-5.1-reasoning,+glm-5-turbo,+glm-4.7,+glm-4.5-air,+kimi-k3,+kimi-k3-gen-api}
       # SYSTEM AGENT — the background model Lobe uses for auto-naming
       # conversations (topic), history summarization, translation, query
       # rewrite, thread naming, and assistant-meta generation. ITS DEFAULT IS