diff --git a/.feature-base/CREATED_AT.txt b/.feature-base/CREATED_AT.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9eb469af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.feature-base/CREATED_AT.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+2026-06-15 12:22:14 CST
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/types/llm.ts b/packages/shared/src/types/llm.ts
index 3d1d4cc1..a999d42a 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/types/llm.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/types/llm.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ export interface ModelDefinition {
   reasoning?: boolean;
   inputTypes?: Array<'text' | 'image'>;
   description?: string;
+  /** Model quality tier for routing decisions */
+  tier?: import('./model-catalog.js').ModelTier;
 }
 
 export interface EnhancedProviderSettings {
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/types/model-catalog.ts b/packages/shared/src/types/model-catalog.ts
index 9a3afbe2..cb50bf41 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/types/model-catalog.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/types/model-catalog.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,155 @@
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Model Tier & Task Routing types
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Capability tier for a model — used for routing & UI grouping. */
+export type ModelTier = 'base' | 'pro' | 'max';
+
+/** Cost bucket — UI-only, derived from pricing data. */
+export type CostTier = '$' | '$$' | '$$$' | '$$$$';
+
+/** Task type used by the routing engine to select a model per use-case. */
+export type ModelTaskType =
+  | 'text_chat'
+  | 'text_reasoning'
+  | 'text_coding'
+  | 'text_translation'
+  | 'text_summary'
+  | 'image_recognition'
+  | 'image_generation'
+  | 'audio_tts'
+  | 'audio_stt'
+  | 'video_generation'
+  | 'embedding'
+  | 'web_search';
+
+/** Routing strategy for `auto` mode in `TaskRoutingConfig`. */
+export type RoutingStrategy =
+  | 'always_max'
+  | 'always_cheapest'
+  | 'balanced'
+  | 'cache_optimized';
+
+/** How multi-modal tasks (text+vision, text+image-gen, etc.) are dispatched. */
+export type MultiModalStrategy = 'unified' | 'specialized';
+
+/** Pricing unit for a model — token-based, request-based, per-image, etc. */
+export type PricingType = 'token' | 'request' | 'image' | 'audio' | 'video' | 'free' | 'local' | 'variable' | 'unknown';
+
+/** Confidence level for a price quote. */
+export type PriceConfidence = 'exact' | 'estimated' | 'unknown';
+
+/** Assignment of a (provider, model) pair — optionally with a fallback — for a single task type. */
+export interface TaskModelAssignment {
+  provider: string;
+  model: string;
+  fallback?: { provider: string; model: string };
+}
+
+/** Per-task-type routing configuration — managed by the routing UI. */
+export interface TaskRoutingConfig {
+  mode: 'auto' | 'manual' | 'hybrid';
+  assignments: Partial<Record<ModelTaskType, TaskModelAssignment>>;
+  autoStrategy: RoutingStrategy;
+  defaultTier: ModelTier;
+  multiModalStrategy?: MultiModalStrategy;
+}
+
+/** Global routing configuration — controls tier-based model selection. */
+export interface RoutingConfig {
+  strategy: RoutingStrategy;
+  defaultTier: ModelTier;
+  tierOverrides?: Record<string, ModelTier>;
+  budgetLimit?: number;
+  preferCacheHit: boolean;
+  taskRouting?: TaskRoutingConfig;
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Normalized cost for multi-modal models (token, image, audio, video, etc.)
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Normalized cost representation for a model — supports token, per-request, per-image, per-minute, etc. */
+export interface NormalizedCost {
+  inputPer1MTokens?: number;
+  outputPer1MTokens?: number;
+  cachedReadPer1MTokens?: number;
+  cachedWritePer1MTokens?: number;
+  perRequest?: number;
+  perImage?: number;
+  perMinute?: number;
+  per1MChars?: number;
+  perSecond?: number;
+  pricingType: PricingType;
+  isFree: boolean;
+  isLocal: boolean;
+  priceConfidence: PriceConfidence;
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Model quality scores (from benchmarks like Arena AI)
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Quality metrics for a model — combines benchmark Elo and derived tier. */
+export interface ModelQuality {
+  overallElo?: number;
+  codingElo?: number;
+  visionElo?: number;
+  qualityScore: number;
+  tier: ModelTier;
+  lastUpdated: string;
+  source?: 'arena' | 'heuristic' | 'user_override';
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Provider capability declaration
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Static capability declaration for an LLM provider (what modalities it supports). */
+export interface ProviderCapabilities {
+  chat: boolean;
+  vision: boolean;
+  imageGeneration: boolean;
+  tts: boolean;
+  stt: boolean;
+  videoGeneration: boolean;
+  embedding: boolean;
+  reasoning: boolean;
+  promptCaching: boolean;
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Unified ModelProfile: merges catalog + benchmark + cost data
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/**
+ * Unified model profile: merges catalog data (from LiteLLM) + benchmark scores
+ * (from Arena AI) + normalized cost. This is the canonical shape consumed by
+ * the routing engine and the UI.
+ */
+export interface ModelProfile {
+  id: string;
+  provider: string;
+  displayName: string;
+  family: string;
+  mode: string;
+  maxInputTokens: number;
+  maxOutputTokens: number;
+  cost: NormalizedCost;
+  capabilities: CatalogModelCapabilities;
+  quality: ModelQuality;
+  taskTypes: ModelTaskType[];
+  derived: {
+    costEfficiency: number;
+    costTier: CostTier;
+    latencyClass: 'fast' | 'medium' | 'slow';
+  };
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Catalog types (existing, enhanced)
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 export interface CatalogModelCapabilities {
   vision: boolean;
   functionCalling: boolean;
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/utils/config.ts b/packages/shared/src/utils/config.ts
index 0d340d03..b64bc20f 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/utils/config.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/utils/config.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { readFileSync, writeFileSync, mkdirSync, existsSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { resolve, join } from 'node:path';
 import { homedir } from 'node:os';
+import type { RoutingConfig, TaskRoutingConfig } from '../types/model-catalog.js';
 
 export interface MarkusConfig {
   org: {
@@ -31,6 +32,10 @@ export interface MarkusConfig {
     timeoutMs?: number;
     /** Allow automatic fallback to other providers/models when the primary fails (default: true) */
     autoFallback?: boolean;
+    /** Global routing config (strategy, tier overrides, budget, task routing). */
+    routing?: RoutingConfig;
+    /** Shortcut for the per-task routing block. */
+    taskRouting?: TaskRoutingConfig;
   };
   server: {
     apiPort: number;