models: bare enso is the default, and one place decides it

CTO call, reversing the cost-led pin to enso-flash: a Hanzo session opens on
the rung that picks best. DEFAULT_MODEL = "enso".

The default was previously restated in three places that disagreed with each
other and with the constant, so changing the constant alone changed nothing a
user could see:

  - lib/providers.ts said enso-flash
  - app/playground/page.tsx hardcoded "enso" plus a whole hand-written model
    list, and that list had drifted onto upstream vendor names — "DeepSeek V4
    Pro" (DeepSeek), "Llama 4 Maverick" (Meta), "Gemma 4" (Google) — shipped
    live in the /playground chunk, which is the one picker a signed-out human
    can open
  - app/chat/page.tsx hardcoded "enso" labelled "Enso (auto)" plus its own
    parallel SelectItem list

Both pages now read useModels() + DEFAULT_MODEL. The hand-written lists are
gone, which also closes the brand leak: buildModelsFrom only ever admits
zen/enso/claude/gpt, so an upstream name cannot re-enter the picker.

The fourth restatement was subtler and was why a fresh SIGNED-IN session never
displayed the default at all. resolveSmartRouting(null, null) returned
enabled:true, so /v1/routing-defaults {present:false} put every new session on
the `auto` sentinel and the popover read "Auto · smart routing" — DEFAULT_MODEL
was dead text on that path. With no org policy a new session now opens on
DEFAULT_MODEL. `auto` is NOT a second spelling of Enso: it is ai's own
cross-family cheapest-capable router (controllers/auto_route.go), a different
mechanism at a different layer, so it survives as an explicit pick and as an
org policy (defaultSessionRouting) — it just no longer wins the default slot.
Its row stopped borrowing Enso's name in the hint.

FALLBACK_MODELS now leads with enso and carries the three rungs the family
actually serves. Measured at the family service itself — enso.enso.svc:8080
GET /v1/models, the catalog api.hanzo.ai proxies:

  enso        min_tier trial   $4/$20 per Mtok
  enso-flash  (free)           $2/$4
  enso-ultra  min_tier paid    $5/$25

So the accepted cost delta is 2x in / 5x out, and the default clears its own
tier gate: commerce maps the starter plan to `trial`, and familyTierAllowed
fails open when commerce cannot name a tier.

enso-pro is deliberately NOT listed. ai synthesizes a listing entry for it from
a pin (controllers/zen_client.go ensoFam.pins) so it appears in an authenticated
/v1/models, but the family catalog has no such SKU and a pick would pass through
verbatim and fail at generation. A picker entry that cannot serve is worse than
an absent one; list it when the family serves it.

Tests updated — they encoded the old decision. 47 suites / 395 tests green,
tsc --noEmit clean, next build clean.

Co-authored-by: Hanzo Dev <dev@hanzo.ai>

Author: Hanzo

app/chat/page.tsx

@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ import { DropdownMenu, DropdownMenuContent, DropdownMenuItem, DropdownMenuTrigge
 import { Select, SelectContent, SelectItem, SelectTrigger, SelectValue } from "@/components/overlay";
 import { Textarea } from "@hanzo/ui";
 import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
+import { DEFAULT_MODEL } from "@/lib/providers";
+import { useModels } from "@/lib/hooks/use-models";
 import { type BotAgent, TEAM_PRESETS, getBotGateway } from "@/lib/bot-gateway";
 
 interface Message {
@@ -83,12 +85,12 @@ export default function ChatPage() {
           role: "assistant",
           content: "Here are key strategies for optimizing React performance:\n\n1. **Code Splitting & Lazy Loading**\n   - Use React.lazy() and Suspense for route-based splitting\n   - Implement dynamic imports for heavy components\n\n2. **Memoization Techniques**\n   - Use React.memo() for expensive components\n   - Apply useMemo() for costly computations\n   - Utilize useCallback() for function references\n\n3. **Virtual List Rendering**\n   - Implement react-window or react-virtualized for long lists\n   - Only render visible items in viewport\n\n4. **State Management**\n   - Keep state as local as possible\n   - Use context API judiciously\n   - Consider state management libraries for complex apps\n\n5. **Bundle Optimization**\n   - Tree shaking and dead code elimination\n   - Minimize bundle size with tools like webpack-bundle-analyzer\n\nWould you like me to elaborate on any of these techniques?",
           timestamp: new Date(Date.now() - 3500000),
-          model: "enso"
+          model: DEFAULT_MODEL
         }
       ],
       createdAt: new Date(Date.now() - 86400000),
       updatedAt: new Date(Date.now() - 3500000),
-      model: "enso"
+      model: DEFAULT_MODEL
     },
     {
       id: "2",
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ export default function ChatPage() {
       messages: [],
       createdAt: new Date(Date.now() - 259200000),
       updatedAt: new Date(Date.now() - 259200000),
-      model: "enso"
+      model: DEFAULT_MODEL
     }
   ]);
 
@@ -114,7 +116,9 @@ export default function ChatPage() {
   const [sidebarCollapsed, setSidebarCollapsed] = useState(
     () => typeof window !== "undefined" && !window.matchMedia("(min-width:1024px)").matches
   );
-  const [selectedModel, setSelectedModel] = useState("enso");
+  // Default and list both come from the one catalog — no literals here.
+  const { models } = useModels();
+  const [selectedModel, setSelectedModel] = useState(DEFAULT_MODEL);
   const messagesEndRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
   const textareaRef = useRef<HTMLTextAreaElement>(null);
   const [isStreaming, setIsStreaming] = useState(false);
@@ -501,12 +505,11 @@ export default function ChatPage() {
                     <SelectValue />
                   </SelectTrigger>
                   <SelectContent>
-                    <SelectItem value="enso">Enso (auto)</SelectItem>
-                    <SelectItem value="claude-opus-4.8">Claude Opus 4.8</SelectItem>
-                    <SelectItem value="claude-5-sonnet">Claude Sonnet 5</SelectItem>
-                    <SelectItem value="claude-haiku-4.5">Claude Haiku 4.5</SelectItem>
-                    <SelectItem value="gpt-5.2">GPT-5.2</SelectItem>
-                    <SelectItem value="gpt-5.4">GPT-5.4</SelectItem>
+                    {models.map((m) => (
+                      <SelectItem key={m.value} value={m.value}>
+                        {m.label}
+                      </SelectItem>
+                    ))}
                   </SelectContent>
                 </Select>
 

app/playground/page.tsx

@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ import { DropdownMenu, DropdownMenuContent, DropdownMenuItem, DropdownMenuTrigge
 import { Tabs, TabsContent, TabsList, TabsTrigger } from "@hanzo/ui";
 import { ScrollArea } from "@hanzo/ui";
 import { HanzoLogo } from "@/components/HanzoLogo";
+import { DEFAULT_MODEL } from "@/lib/providers";
+import { useModels } from "@/lib/hooks/use-models";
 import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
 import Link from "next/link";
 import { toast } from "@hanzo/ui";
@@ -76,8 +78,11 @@ export default function PlaygroundPage() {
   const [isGenerating, setIsGenerating] = useState(false);
   const [selectedPreset, setSelectedPreset] = useState("default");
 
+  // Left pane opens on the product default — DEFAULT_MODEL, never a literal.
+  // The right pane is the CONTRAST it is compared against, so it names a
+  // deliberately different model rather than restating the default.
   const [leftConfig, setLeftConfig] = useState<ModelConfig>({
-    model: "enso",
+    model: DEFAULT_MODEL,
     temperature: 0.7,
     maxTokens: 2048,
     topP: 1,
@@ -99,19 +104,11 @@ export default function PlaygroundPage() {
   const [results, setResults] = useState<ComparisonResult[]>([]);
   const [activeResult, setActiveResult] = useState<ComparisonResult | null>(null);
 
-  // Current models served by api.hanzo.ai/v1 (values are the gateway model ids).
-  const models = [
-    { value: "enso", label: "Enso (smart routing)", provider: "Hanzo" },
-    { value: "enso-flash", label: "Enso Flash", provider: "Hanzo" },
-    { value: "claude-opus-4.8", label: "Claude Opus 4.8", provider: "Anthropic" },
-    { value: "claude-5-sonnet", label: "Claude Sonnet 5", provider: "Anthropic" },
-    { value: "claude-haiku-4.5", label: "Claude Haiku 4.5", provider: "Anthropic" },
-    { value: "gpt-5.2", label: "GPT-5.2", provider: "OpenAI" },
-    { value: "gpt-5.4", label: "GPT-5.4", provider: "OpenAI" },
-    { value: "deepseek-v4-pro", label: "DeepSeek V4 Pro", provider: "DeepSeek" },
-    { value: "llama-4-maverick", label: "Llama 4 Maverick", provider: "Meta" },
-    { value: "gemma-4-31b", label: "Gemma 4", provider: "Google" }
-  ];
+  // The live gateway ladder — the same list the builder's picker reads, shaped
+  // by the one catalog rule set in @/lib/providers. Never a hand-written list:
+  // the previous one had drifted onto upstream vendor names (a brand leak) and
+  // onto ids the gateway no longer serves.
+  const { models } = useModels();
 
   const presets = [
     { value: "default", label: "Default", description: "Balanced settings" },
@@ -207,7 +204,6 @@ export default function PlaygroundPage() {
               <SelectItem key={model.value} value={model.value}>
                 <div className="flex items-center justify-between w-full">
                   <span>{model.label}</span>
-                  <Badge variant="outline" className="ml-2 text-xs">{model.provider}</Badge>
                 </div>
               </SelectItem>
             ))}

components/editor/ask-ai/index.tsx

@@ -122,7 +122,8 @@ export function AskAI({
   // a concrete id = routing off, unset = follow the org default. A NEW session
   // (unset) opens on the org's server-driven default (`/v1/routing-defaults`) —
   // Auto when the org defaults routing on, else the concrete default model.
-  // Fail-soft: with no org policy known this stays on Auto, exactly as before.
+  // With no org policy known that is DEFAULT_MODEL — a new session opens on
+  // Enso, the rung that picks best, not on the separate `auto` router.
   const [storedModel, setModel] = useLocalStorage<string>("model");
   // A dead id persisted by an older build (e.g. a retired `gpt-*-codex`) is
   // treated as UNSET so we open on smart-routing/default instead of sending an

components/editor/ask-ai/settings.tsx

@@ -137,16 +137,16 @@ export function Settings({
             </p>
           )}
 
-          {/* Auto (Enso smart routing) is the default and a first-class VALUE of
-              the persisted `model` — the builder's "Routed: …" banner and the
-              smart-routing card read it. Enso auto-picks the best model AND the
-              provider per request, so there is no separate provider choice. The
-              dropdown below is an optional explicit override (family-grouped:
-              Enso / Zen / Anthropic / OpenAI). */}
+          {/* `auto` is a first-class VALUE of the persisted `model` — the
+              builder's "Routed: …" banner and the smart-routing card read it. It
+              is the gateway's OWN cross-family router (cheapest capable across
+              Enso / Zen / Anthropic / OpenAI), which is NOT what Enso does, so
+              it says so rather than borrowing Enso's name. It is no longer the
+              fresh-session default: that is Enso, in the list below. */}
           <div className="rounded-xl border border-border bg-card/60 p-1">
             <ModelRow
               label="Auto · smart routing"
-              hint="Enso picks the best model & provider per request"
+              hint="Routes each request to the cheapest capable model"
               selected={isAuto}
               onClick={() => onModelChange(AUTO_MODEL)}
             />

lib/providers.ts

@@ -24,17 +24,21 @@ export type ModelOption = {
 };
 
 // The model the builder opens on when neither storage nor the gateway pick one.
-// enso-flash, not bare enso, for two measured reasons:
-//   1. Tier. The enso ladder is gated per SKU in ai (`controllers/family_tier.go`,
-//      min_tier from discovery): enso-flash is FREE — everyone — while `enso` is
-//      trial+ and enso-ultra is paid-only. A signed-out or free-plan visitor can
-//      only be served the flash rung, so it is the only correct fresh-session
-//      default; anything above it defaults the builder to a denial.
-//   2. Cost. api.hanzo.ai GET /v1/models prices enso-flash at $2/$4 per Mtok and
-//      enso at $4/$20 — 5x on output, and output is what a builder generates.
-// Both are Enso, both stream, and both pass isBuildModel/resolveModelId, so the
-// picker lists this and a user who wants the bigger rung still picks it.
-export const DEFAULT_MODEL = "enso-flash";
+// Bare `enso` — the rung that picks best. This is the ONE place the default
+// lives; no page, component or env var restates it.
+//
+// It costs more than the flash rung and that is the accepted trade. Measured at
+// the family service itself (enso.enso.svc:8080 GET /v1/models, the catalog the
+// gateway proxies): enso is $4/$20 per Mtok against enso-flash's $2/$4 — 2x in,
+// 5x out. Output dominates a builder's spend, so this is a real 5x.
+//
+// Tier: the same catalog marks enso `min_tier: "trial"`. Commerce maps the
+// starter plan to `trial` (ai `controllers/family_tier.go` commerceTierToLadder),
+// and a new account lands on starter with its auto-credit, so a signed-in user
+// clears this gate. `familyTierAllowed` also fails OPEN when commerce cannot
+// name a tier. Signed-out visitors never generate — /v1/generate is the auth
+// seam — so no reachable session defaults to a denial.
+export const DEFAULT_MODEL = "enso";
 
 // The Hanzo gateway (api.hanzo.ai) serves the Zen/Enso ladder + connected
 // providers AND — since DO GenAI funded the proprietary catalog — a CURATED set
@@ -99,16 +103,21 @@ export type SmartRoutingState = {
 // never touched (follow the org default). `defaults` is the server-driven org
 // policy, or null when unknown (older cloud-api / fetch failed).
 //
-// Fail-soft: with no org policy, behave exactly as before — the user's local
-// preference alone, defaulting to on (smart routing was the prior default).
+// With no org policy the fresh session opens on DEFAULT_MODEL, not on `auto`.
+// `auto` used to win this slot, which meant the default model was never the
+// thing a new user saw — the composer said "Auto" and DEFAULT_MODEL was dead
+// text. Two answers to "what runs my prompt?"; the model default is the one the
+// product states, so it wins. `auto` survives as an explicit pick and as an org
+// policy (`defaultSessionRouting`) — it is a different router (ai's own
+// cross-family one), not a second spelling of Enso.
 // When the org disables routing, the toggle is off and locked regardless of any
 // local preference. Otherwise the user's override wins, else the org default.
 export function resolveSmartRouting(
   localPref: boolean | null,
   defaults: RoutingDefaults | null
 ): SmartRoutingState {
   if (!defaults) {
-    return { enabled: localPref ?? true, toggleDisabled: false };
+    return { enabled: localPref ?? false, toggleDisabled: false };
   }
   if (!defaults.autoRoutingActive) {
     return { enabled: false, toggleDisabled: true };
@@ -210,10 +219,17 @@ export function buildModelsFrom(
 // source of truth; the gateway is. Keep it to the current Zen 5 ladder. It MUST
 // carry DEFAULT_MODEL: the offline path returns DEFAULT_MODEL verbatim, so a
 // default missing from this list would name a model the picker cannot show.
+// The enso rungs here are the three the family service actually serves
+// (enso.enso.svc:8080 GET /v1/models → enso, enso-flash, enso-ultra). `enso-pro`
+// is deliberately ABSENT: ai synthesizes a listing entry for it from a pin
+// (`controllers/zen_client.go` ensoFam.pins) but the family has no such SKU, so
+// a pick would pass through verbatim and fail at generation. A picker entry that
+// cannot serve is worse than an absent one — list it only once the family does.
 export const FALLBACK_MODELS: ModelOption[] = [
+  { value: "enso", label: "Enso" },
   { value: "enso-flash", label: "Enso Flash" },
+  { value: "enso-ultra", label: "Enso Ultra" },
   { value: "zen5-coder", label: "Zen 5 Coder" },
-  { value: "enso", label: "Enso" },
   { value: "zen5-flash", label: "Zen 5 Flash" },
   { value: "zen5", label: "Zen 5" },
   { value: "zen5-pro", label: "Zen 5 Pro" },

tests/integration/api/models.test.ts

@@ -50,13 +50,18 @@ describe("BFF: GET /v1/models", () => {
     expect(res.status).toBe(200);
     expect(body.ok).toBe(true);
     expect(body.fallback).toBe(true);
-    // Offline default is DEFAULT_MODEL verbatim — enso-flash, the free rung of the
-    // enso ladder — and it IS a FALLBACK_MODELS entry, so the offline default is
+    // Offline default is DEFAULT_MODEL verbatim — bare `enso`, the rung that
+    // picks best — and it IS a FALLBACK_MODELS entry, so the offline default is
     // selectable in the picker.
-    expect(body.defaultModel).toBe("enso-flash");
-    expect(body.models).toHaveLength(10);
+    expect(body.defaultModel).toBe("enso");
+    expect(body.models).toHaveLength(11);
     const offlineIds = body.models.map((m: { value: string }) => m.value);
+    // The three enso rungs the family actually serves. `enso-pro` is listed by
+    // ai from a pin but the family has no such SKU, so it must NOT appear.
+    expect(offlineIds).toContain("enso");
     expect(offlineIds).toContain("enso-flash");
+    expect(offlineIds).toContain("enso-ultra");
+    expect(offlineIds).not.toContain("enso-pro");
     expect(offlineIds).toContain("zen5-coder");
     expect(res.headers.get("cache-control")).toBe("no-store");
   });
@@ -121,7 +126,7 @@ describe("BFF: GET /v1/models", () => {
     const body = await res.json();
     expect(res.status).toBe(200);
     expect(body.fallback).toBe(true);
-    expect(body.models).toHaveLength(10);
+    expect(body.models).toHaveLength(11);
   });
 
   it("falls back (200) when the gateway serves no build models", async () => {

tests/unit/smart-routing.test.ts

@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ import { resolveSmartRouting } from "../../lib/providers";
  * server-driven org policy (null = unknown / older cloud-api).
  */
 
-test("fail-soft: no org policy → local preference only, default on", () => {
-  // prior behavior: smart routing was the default when nothing is set
+test("fail-soft: no org policy → local preference only, default OFF", () => {
+  // A fresh session with no org policy opens on DEFAULT_MODEL (Enso), not on
+  // the separate `auto` router — otherwise the stated product default is never
+  // what a new user actually gets.
   assert.deepEqual(resolveSmartRouting(null, null), {
-    enabled: true,
+    enabled: false,
     toggleDisabled: false,
   });
   assert.deepEqual(resolveSmartRouting(true, null), {