diff --git a/src/router/RouterRuntime.ts b/src/router/RouterRuntime.ts
index 6965b3796..10255e268 100644
--- a/src/router/RouterRuntime.ts
+++ b/src/router/RouterRuntime.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
   DEFAULT_SUBAGENT_POLICY,
   type RouterConfig,
   type RouterModelRef,
+  type RouterTokenSaverConfig,
 } from "./config/schema.js";
 import type {
   PilotDeckCustomRouter,
@@ -99,6 +100,22 @@ export type RouterRuntime = {
   shutdown(): Promise<void>;
 };
 
+function isTierDowngrade(
+  tiers: RouterTokenSaverConfig["tiers"] | undefined,
+  previousTier: string | undefined,
+  nextTier: string,
+): boolean {
+  if (!tiers || !previousTier) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  // Tier declaration order is the router's low-to-high capability order.
+  const tierOrder = Object.keys(tiers);
+  const previousIndex = tierOrder.indexOf(previousTier);
+  const nextIndex = tierOrder.indexOf(nextTier);
+  return previousIndex >= 0 && nextIndex >= 0 && nextIndex < previousIndex;
+}
+
 export function createRouterRuntime(
   config: RouterConfig,
   deps: RouterRuntimeDeps,
@@ -218,6 +235,8 @@ export function createRouterRuntime(
   function maybePreserveStickyForCache(
     current: RouterModelRef | undefined,
     next: RouterModelRef,
+    previousTier: string | undefined,
+    nextTier: string,
     messages: CanonicalModelRequest["messages"],
     lastUsage: import("../model/index.js").CanonicalUsage | undefined,
   ): { selection: RouterModelRef; mutation?: RouterMutationsLog["cacheAwareSwitch"] } {
@@ -229,6 +248,13 @@ export function createRouterRuntime(
       return { selection: next };
     }
 
+    // Cache savings may justify retaining a stronger model on a downgrade,
+    // but must never veto a judge-requested capability upgrade. If direction
+    // cannot be established, prefer the fresh judge decision over stale state.
+    if (!isTierDowngrade(config.tokenSaver?.tiers, previousTier, nextTier)) {
+      return { selection: next };
+    }
+
     const estimatedInputTokens = countMessagesTokens(messages);
     const observedInputTokens = lastUsage?.inputTokens ?? 0;
     const observedCacheReadTokens = lastUsage?.cacheReadTokens ?? 0;
@@ -364,6 +390,7 @@ export function createRouterRuntime(
       : sticky?.stickyProvider && sticky.stickyModel
       ? { id: `${sticky.stickyProvider}/${sticky.stickyModel}`, provider: sticky.stickyProvider, model: sticky.stickyModel }
       : undefined;
+    const previousTokenSaverTier = sticky?.tokenSaverTier ?? input.metadata?.previousTier;
     let selection: RouterModelRef | undefined =
       custom?.provider && custom.model
         ? { id: `${custom.provider}/${custom.model}`, provider: custom.provider, model: custom.model }
@@ -444,6 +471,8 @@ export function createRouterRuntime(
             const cacheAware = maybePreserveStickyForCache(
               previousStickySelection,
               selection,
+              previousTokenSaverTier,
+              tokenSaver.tier,
               input.request.messages,
               baseUsage,
             );
diff --git a/tests/router/cache-aware-switching.spec.ts b/tests/router/cache-aware-switching.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c8d033323
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/router/cache-aware-switching.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import test from "node:test";
+
+import type { CanonicalModelRequest, ModelRuntime, ModelRuntimeOptions } from "../../src/model/index.js";
+import { createRouterRuntime } from "../../src/router/RouterRuntime.js";
+import type { RouterConfig } from "../../src/router/config/schema.js";
+
+const capabilities = {
+  supportsToolUse: true,
+  supportsStreaming: true,
+  supportsParallelToolCalls: false,
+  supportsThinking: false,
+  supportsJsonSchema: false,
+  supportsSystemPrompt: true,
+  supportsPromptCache: true,
+  maxContextTokens: 8192,
+  maxOutputTokens: 1024,
+};
+
+const modelRuntime: ModelRuntime = {
+  async *stream(_request: CanonicalModelRequest, _options?: ModelRuntimeOptions) {},
+  async complete() {
+    throw new Error("not used");
+  },
+  getCapabilities() {
+    return capabilities;
+  },
+  getMultimodal() {
+    return { input: ["text"] };
+  },
+  getProviderProtocol() {
+    return "openai";
+  },
+  getProviderBaseUrl(provider: string) {
+    return `https://${provider}.invalid`;
+  },
+};
+
+test("cache-aware switching never blocks a judge-requested tier upgrade", async () => {
+  const decision = await decideAcrossTurns({
+    previousTier: "simple",
+    nextTier: "reasoning",
+    modelPricing: {
+      "test/simple": { input: 1, cacheRead: 0.1 },
+      "test/reasoning": { input: 10, cacheRead: 1 },
+    },
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(decision.tokenSaverTier, "reasoning");
+  assert.equal(decision.model, "reasoning");
+  assert.equal(decision.mutations.cacheAwareSwitch, undefined);
+});
+
+test("cache-aware switching can retain the current model on a tier downgrade", async () => {
+  const decision = await decideAcrossTurns({
+    previousTier: "reasoning",
+    nextTier: "simple",
+    modelPricing: {
+      "test/reasoning": { input: 10, cacheRead: 0.1 },
+      "test/simple": { input: 1, cacheRead: 0.5 },
+    },
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(decision.tokenSaverTier, "reasoning");
+  assert.equal(decision.model, "reasoning");
+  assert.equal(decision.mutations.cacheAwareSwitch?.action, "kept_sticky");
+});
+
+test("cache-aware switching still allows a cost-effective tier downgrade", async () => {
+  const decision = await decideAcrossTurns({
+    previousTier: "reasoning",
+    nextTier: "simple",
+    modelPricing: {
+      "test/reasoning": { input: 10, cacheRead: 2 },
+      "test/simple": { input: 1, cacheRead: 0.5 },
+    },
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(decision.tokenSaverTier, "simple");
+  assert.equal(decision.model, "simple");
+  assert.equal(decision.mutations.cacheAwareSwitch?.action, "switched");
+});
+
+async function decideAcrossTurns(input: {
+  previousTier: "simple" | "medium" | "complex" | "reasoning";
+  nextTier: "simple" | "medium" | "complex" | "reasoning";
+  modelPricing: NonNullable<RouterConfig["stats"]>["modelPricing"];
+}) {
+  const judgeTiers = [input.previousTier, input.nextTier];
+  let judgeCall = 0;
+  const judgeRuntime = {
+    async complete() {
+      const tier = judgeTiers[judgeCall++];
+      return {
+        role: "assistant" as const,
+        content: [{ type: "text" as const, text: `<tier>${tier}</tier>` }],
+        finishReason: "stop" as const,
+      };
+    },
+  } as unknown as ModelRuntime;
+
+  const router = createRouterRuntime(createConfig(input.modelPricing), {
+    modelRuntime,
+    judgeRuntime,
+  });
+
+  try {
+    const firstDecision = await router.decide({
+      sessionId: "cache-aware-tier-direction",
+      isMainAgent: true,
+      request: createRequest([
+        { role: "user", content: [{ type: "text", text: "first task" }] },
+      ]),
+    });
+    assert.equal(firstDecision.tokenSaverTier, input.previousTier);
+
+    router.observeUsage("cache-aware-tier-direction", {
+      inputTokens: 1_000,
+      outputTokens: 10,
+      cacheReadTokens: 1_000,
+      totalTokens: 2_010,
+    });
+    const previous = router.invalidateSticky("cache-aware-tier-direction");
+
+    const decision = await router.decide({
+      sessionId: "cache-aware-tier-direction",
+      isMainAgent: true,
+      metadata: {
+        previousTier: previous.previousTier,
+        previousProvider: previous.previousProvider,
+        previousModel: previous.previousModel,
+      },
+      request: createRequest([
+        { role: "user", content: [{ type: "text", text: "first task" }] },
+        { role: "assistant", content: [{ type: "text", text: "first response" }] },
+        { role: "user", content: [{ type: "text", text: "second task" }] },
+      ]),
+    });
+    assert.equal(judgeCall, 2);
+    return decision;
+  } finally {
+    await router.shutdown();
+  }
+}
+
+function createRequest(messages: CanonicalModelRequest["messages"]): CanonicalModelRequest {
+  return {
+    provider: "test",
+    model: "default",
+    messages,
+  };
+}
+
+function createConfig(
+  modelPricing: NonNullable<RouterConfig["stats"]>["modelPricing"],
+): RouterConfig {
+  const tierModel = (tier: string) => ({
+    model: { id: `test/${tier}`, provider: "test", model: tier },
+  });
+
+  return {
+    enabled: true,
+    scenarios: {
+      default: { id: "test/default", provider: "test", model: "default" },
+    },
+    tokenSaver: {
+      enabled: true,
+      judge: { id: "test/judge", provider: "test", model: "judge" },
+      defaultTier: "medium",
+      judgeTimeoutMs: 5_000,
+      tiers: {
+        simple: tierModel("simple"),
+        medium: tierModel("medium"),
+        complex: tierModel("complex"),
+        reasoning: tierModel("reasoning"),
+      },
+      cacheAwareSwitching: { enabled: true, minSavingsRatio: 0 },
+    },
+    stats: { enabled: false, modelPricing },
+  };
+}