diff --git a/server/__tests__/llm-cache-billing.test.js b/server/__tests__/llm-cache-billing.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1aab26c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/__tests__/llm-cache-billing.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,260 @@
+/**
+ * Cache-hit accounting contract for llm.complete().
+ *
+ * A cache hit makes no API call and incurs no provider charge, but it still
+ * flows through every caller that persists `res.usage` into `agent_runs` — and
+ * from there into `GET /api/usage`, which is meant to be the basis for tiered
+ * billing. Before this was pinned down, a hit returned the ORIGINAL call's
+ * usage verbatim, so the ledger charged full price for a request that never
+ * left the process while `llm.getStats()` (which skips recordUsage() on the
+ * cached path) reported it as free. The two meters disagreed by exactly the
+ * cached volume.
+ *
+ * The semantics these tests fix in place are cost-based: we bill for money that
+ * left the building, not for value delivered.
+ *
+ *   - a hit reports `usdCents: 0` — nothing is charged
+ *   - it keeps `inputTokens` / `outputTokens` — the work is still visible
+ *   - it carries `cachedUsdCents` — the saving stays auditable
+ *   - `stats.cached` accumulates the same volume, so the persisted ledger and
+ *     the in-memory counters RECONCILE instead of merely differing
+ *
+ * That last point is the one worth guarding: zeroing the cost alone still left
+ * the ledger's token columns unexplainable from getStats().
+ *
+ * No network: every test primes the cache directly, so complete() returns from
+ * the cache branch before any provider is reached.
+ */
+
+const { test } = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert/strict');
+
+const LLM_PATH = require.resolve('../llm');
+const VIDEO_PATH = require.resolve('../agents-v2/content-video');
+
+const MODEL = 'claude-sonnet-4-5';
+
+function freshLlm() {
+  delete require.cache[LLM_PATH];
+  // `../cache` is deliberately NOT reloaded: complete() and this test must
+  // share the one defaultCache singleton for priming to be visible.
+  const llm = require('../llm');
+  require('../cache').defaultCache.clear();
+  llm.resetStats();
+  return llm;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Store a result under the exact key complete() will compute, so the next
+ * matching call is served from cache. `usage` mirrors a live call's shape:
+ * real token counts and a real, non-zero cost.
+ */
+function primeCache(llm, messages, usage) {
+  const key = llm.cacheKey('anthropic', MODEL, messages, undefined);
+  require('../cache').defaultCache.set(key, {
+    provider: 'anthropic',
+    model: MODEL,
+    text: 'cached answer',
+    toolUses: [],
+    raw: {},
+    usage,
+    stopReason: 'end_turn',
+  }, 60_000);
+  return key;
+}
+
+// temperature 0 is what makes a call cacheable at all; provider/model are
+// explicit so the assertions do not depend on ambient env vars.
+const hit = (messages) => ({
+  provider: 'anthropic', model: MODEL, messages, temperature: 0,
+});
+
+test('cache hit: bills nothing, keeps tokens, and reports the avoided spend', async () => {
+  const llm = freshLlm();
+  const messages = [{ role: 'user', content: 'cache-billing: zero cost' }];
+  primeCache(llm, messages, { inputTokens: 1000, outputTokens: 500, usdCents: 111 });
+
+  const res = await llm.complete(hit(messages));
+
+  assert.equal(res.fromCache, true, 'served from cache');
+  assert.equal(res.usage.usdCents, 0, 'a cache hit must not be billed');
+  assert.equal(res.usage.billedUsdCents, 0);
+  assert.equal(res.usage.cachedUsdCents, 111, 'the saving stays auditable');
+  // Tokens survive: they are what the ledger reports as work done.
+  assert.equal(res.usage.inputTokens, 1000);
+  assert.equal(res.usage.outputTokens, 500);
+  assert.equal(res.text, 'cached answer', 'the cached payload itself is intact');
+});
+
+test('cache hit: stays out of the billed counters', async () => {
+  const llm = freshLlm();
+  const messages = [{ role: 'user', content: 'cache-billing: not billed' }];
+  primeCache(llm, messages, { inputTokens: 1000, outputTokens: 500, usdCents: 111 });
+
+  await llm.complete(hit(messages));
+  const stats = llm.getStats();
+
+  assert.equal(stats.totalUsdCents, 0, 'no money left the building');
+  assert.deepEqual(stats.byProvider, {}, 'no provider was called');
+  assert.deepEqual(stats.byModel, {});
+});
+
+test('cache hit: counted in stats.cached so the two meters reconcile', async () => {
+  const llm = freshLlm();
+  const messages = [{ role: 'user', content: 'cache-billing: reconcile' }];
+  primeCache(llm, messages, { inputTokens: 1000, outputTokens: 500, usdCents: 111 });
+
+  const res = await llm.complete(hit(messages));
+
+  // What a caller persists into agent_runs, mirroring agent-runtime/index.js.
+  const persisted = {
+    cost_usd_cents: res.usage.usdCents || 0,
+    input_tokens: res.usage.inputTokens || 0,
+    output_tokens: res.usage.outputTokens || 0,
+  };
+
+  const stats = llm.getStats();
+  const billedTokens = Object.values(stats.byProvider)
+    .reduce((sum, b) => sum + b.inputTokens, 0);
+
+  // Money: the ledger and getStats() agree outright.
+  assert.equal(persisted.cost_usd_cents, stats.totalUsdCents);
+  // Tokens: the ledger records volume the billed counters deliberately skip.
+  // It reconciles only once the cached bucket is added back — which is the
+  // whole reason that bucket exists.
+  assert.equal(persisted.input_tokens, billedTokens + stats.cached.inputTokens);
+  assert.equal(stats.cached.calls, 1);
+  assert.equal(stats.cached.inputTokens, 1000);
+  assert.equal(stats.cached.outputTokens, 500);
+  assert.equal(stats.cached.usdCents, 111, 'cached.usdCents is spend AVOIDED');
+});
+
+test('repeat hits on one key keep reporting the full saving', async () => {
+  const llm = freshLlm();
+  const messages = [{ role: 'user', content: 'cache-billing: repeat' }];
+  primeCache(llm, messages, { inputTokens: 1000, outputTokens: 500, usdCents: 111 });
+
+  const first = await llm.complete(hit(messages));
+  const second = await llm.complete(hit(messages));
+
+  // Guards against zeroing the STORED entry instead of a per-hit copy, which
+  // would silently decay the audit trail to zero after the first read.
+  assert.equal(first.usage.cachedUsdCents, 111);
+  assert.equal(second.usage.cachedUsdCents, 111);
+  assert.equal(second.usage.usdCents, 0);
+
+  const stats = llm.getStats();
+  assert.equal(stats.cached.calls, 2);
+  assert.equal(stats.cached.usdCents, 222, 'avoided spend accumulates per hit');
+  assert.equal(stats.totalUsdCents, 0, 'still nothing billed');
+});
+
+test('resetStats clears the cached bucket too', async () => {
+  const llm = freshLlm();
+  const messages = [{ role: 'user', content: 'cache-billing: reset' }];
+  primeCache(llm, messages, { inputTokens: 1000, outputTokens: 500, usdCents: 111 });
+
+  await llm.complete(hit(messages));
+  assert.equal(llm.getStats().cached.calls, 1);
+
+  llm.resetStats();
+  assert.deepEqual(llm.getStats().cached, {
+    calls: 0, inputTokens: 0, outputTokens: 0, usdCents: 0,
+  });
+});
+
+test('cache hit with no usage on the stored entry does not fabricate one', async () => {
+  const llm = freshLlm();
+  const messages = [{ role: 'user', content: 'cache-billing: no usage' }];
+  primeCache(llm, messages, undefined);
+
+  const res = await llm.complete(hit(messages));
+
+  assert.equal(res.fromCache, true);
+  assert.equal(res.usage, undefined, 'absent usage stays absent');
+  // Nothing to count, but the hit still happened.
+  const stats = llm.getStats();
+  assert.equal(stats.cached.calls, 1);
+  assert.equal(stats.cached.usdCents, 0);
+  assert.equal(stats.totalUsdCents, 0);
+});
+
+test('a non-cacheable call (temperature > 0) never consults the cache', async () => {
+  const llm = freshLlm();
+  const messages = [{ role: 'user', content: 'cache-billing: hot temperature' }];
+  primeCache(llm, messages, { inputTokens: 1000, outputTokens: 500, usdCents: 111 });
+
+  // Same prompt, non-zero temperature: complete() must fall through to the
+  // provider rather than serving the primed entry. With no API key set that
+  // surfaces as a throw, which is exactly the proof we want — and it documents
+  // why the bug stayed latent: every agent but community's classify pass sends
+  // a non-zero temperature, so almost nothing is cacheable today.
+  const origKey = process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY;
+  delete process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY;
+  try {
+    await assert.rejects(
+      () => llm.complete({ provider: 'anthropic', model: MODEL, messages, temperature: 0.7 }),
+      /ANTHROPIC_API_KEY not set/
+    );
+  } finally {
+    if (origKey !== undefined) process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = origKey;
+  }
+  assert.equal(llm.getStats().cached.calls, 0, 'no cache hit was recorded');
+});
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Downstream: agents must not re-inflate a zero cost back into a charge.
+
+/** Load content-video against a stubbed ../llm, then restore the real one. */
+function withStubbedLlm(completeImpl, fn) {
+  const original = require.cache[LLM_PATH];
+  delete require.cache[VIDEO_PATH];
+  require.cache[LLM_PATH] = {
+    exports: { complete: completeImpl, isConfigured: () => true },
+    loaded: true, id: LLM_PATH, filename: LLM_PATH, children: [], parent: null,
+  };
+  try {
+    return fn(require('../agents-v2/content-video'));
+  } finally {
+    delete require.cache[VIDEO_PATH];
+    if (original) require.cache[LLM_PATH] = original;
+    else delete require.cache[LLM_PATH];
+  }
+}
+
+const VIDEO_RESULT = (usage) => ({
+  text: '',
+  usage,
+  toolUses: [{
+    name: 'compose_video',
+    input: { title: 'T', hook: 'H', beats: [{ voiceover: 'v', visual: 'x' }], cta: 'C' },
+  }],
+});
+
+test('content-video: a zero-cost script is not re-billed at the 25c estimate', async () => {
+  // `|| 25` treated a legitimate zero — a cache hit, or any model missing from
+  // llm's PRICING table — as "cost unknown" and charged the estimate anyway.
+  const out = await withStubbedLlm(
+    async () => VIDEO_RESULT({ inputTokens: 1000, outputTokens: 500, usdCents: 0, cachedUsdCents: 111 }),
+    (agent) => agent.run(
+      { brief: 'b', include_voiceover: false },
+      { emit: () => {}, logger: console }
+    )
+  );
+
+  assert.equal(out.cost.usdCents, 0, 'zero cost must survive into the agent output');
+  assert.equal(out.cost.inputTokens, 1000, 'tokens still reported');
+  assert.equal(out.cost.outputTokens, 500);
+});
+
+test('content-video: genuinely absent usage still falls back to the estimate', async () => {
+  const out = await withStubbedLlm(
+    async () => VIDEO_RESULT(undefined),
+    (agent) => agent.run(
+      { brief: 'b', include_voiceover: false },
+      { emit: () => {}, logger: console }
+    )
+  );
+
+  assert.equal(out.cost.usdCents, 25, 'unknown cost is still estimated, not zeroed');
+});
diff --git a/server/agents-v2/content-video.js b/server/agents-v2/content-video.js
index 3629dc2..0a8857f 100644
--- a/server/agents-v2/content-video.js
+++ b/server/agents-v2/content-video.js
@@ -135,7 +135,12 @@ Write the video package. Call compose_video.`;
 
     ctx.emit('progress', { step: 'complete', message: 'Video package ready' });
 
-    const scriptCost = res.usage?.usdCents || 25;
+    // `??`, not `||`: zero is a real answer, not a missing one. A cache hit
+    // reports usdCents 0 by design, and so does any live call on a model absent
+    // from llm's PRICING table (or one small enough to round to zero). `||`
+    // read all three as "unknown" and charged the 25¢ estimate anyway, billing
+    // for spend that never happened. Only genuinely absent usage falls back.
+    const scriptCost = res.usage?.usdCents ?? 25;
     const voiceCharCount = includeVoice && audioDataUrl
       ? [pkg.hook, ...pkg.beats.map(b => b.voiceover), pkg.cta].filter(Boolean).join(' ').length
       : 0;
diff --git a/server/llm/index.js b/server/llm/index.js
index fcdf4c3..cf61a45 100644
--- a/server/llm/index.js
+++ b/server/llm/index.js
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@
  *   - Tool use / function calling (Anthropic + OpenAI both supported)
  *   - Retry with exponential backoff on 429/5xx
  *
+ * Metering contract: a cache hit is FREE. It reports `usdCents: 0` and is kept
+ * out of the billed counters, because no request was made and no provider
+ * charged us. Its token counts and `cachedUsdCents` (the spend avoided) survive
+ * for visibility, and `stats.cached` accumulates the same volume so the
+ * persisted ledger in `agent_runs` stays reconcilable against getStats(). Only
+ * calls with `temperature` 0 or absent are cacheable at all — see complete().
+ *
  * NOT supported: streaming. Every provider call is a single fetch + json().
  * (This header claimed "Streaming via async iterator" for a long time; it was
  * never implemented, and Conductor's plan-progress SSE had to fall back to
@@ -32,10 +39,29 @@ const DEFAULT_PROVIDER = process.env.LLM_DEFAULT_PROVIDER ||
    process.env.GOOGLE_AI_API_KEY ? 'google' : null);
 
 // Usage accumulator (reset via resetStats)
+//
+// `byProvider` / `byModel` / `totalUsdCents` meter money that actually left the
+// building: recordUsage() runs on the live-call path only, so a cache hit adds
+// nothing to them. But a cache hit still reports its original token counts (see
+// complete()), and those reach `agent_runs` — so with cached volume tracked
+// nowhere, this meter and the persisted ledger could never be reconciled; the
+// ledger would just look inexplicably larger with no way to say why.
+//
+// `cached` closes that gap. It counts hits separately, and its `usdCents` is
+// spend *avoided* rather than spend incurred. Within one process lifetime, over
+// the runs that process recorded, both of these hold:
+//
+//   SUM(agent_runs.cost_usd_cents) === totalUsdCents
+//   SUM(agent_runs.input_tokens)   === Σ byProvider[*].inputTokens + cached.inputTokens
+//
+// Money agrees outright; tokens agree once cached volume is added back.
+const emptyCacheBucket = () => ({ calls: 0, inputTokens: 0, outputTokens: 0, usdCents: 0 });
+
 const stats = {
   byProvider: {},   // provider → { calls, inputTokens, outputTokens, usdCents }
   byModel: {},
   totalUsdCents: 0,
+  cached: emptyCacheBucket(),   // cache hits: free, but not invisible
 };
 
 function recordUsage(provider, model, inputTokens, outputTokens, usdCents) {
@@ -51,6 +77,19 @@ function recordUsage(provider, model, inputTokens, outputTokens, usdCents) {
   stats.totalUsdCents += usdCents;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Record a cache hit. Deliberately NOT recordUsage(): no request was made, so
+ * no provider charged us, and folding this into the billed buckets would
+ * reintroduce exactly the over-billing this separation exists to prevent.
+ * `avoidedUsdCents` is what the hit would have cost had it gone out live.
+ */
+function recordCacheHit(inputTokens, outputTokens, avoidedUsdCents) {
+  stats.cached.calls += 1;
+  stats.cached.inputTokens += inputTokens;
+  stats.cached.outputTokens += outputTokens;
+  stats.cached.usdCents += avoidedUsdCents;
+}
+
 function getStats() {
   return JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(stats));
 }
@@ -59,6 +98,7 @@ function resetStats() {
   stats.byProvider = {};
   stats.byModel = {};
   stats.totalUsdCents = 0;
+  stats.cached = emptyCacheBucket();
 }
 
 // Pricing per 1M tokens. Update as prices change.
@@ -371,8 +411,17 @@ async function complete({
       // cents for a request that never left the process, and disagree with
       // getStats(). Report zero spend, keep the token counts for visibility,
       // and let `fromCache` explain the discrepancy to anyone comparing.
+      //
+      // The stored entry is never mutated — `usage` below is a fresh object on
+      // every hit, built from the original — so `cachedUsdCents` stays accurate
+      // across repeat hits on the same key rather than decaying to zero.
+      const base = cached.usage || {};
+      const avoidedUsdCents = base.usdCents || 0;
+      // Tracked here, not in the billed buckets, so the persisted ledger's
+      // token counts remain reconcilable against getStats(). See `stats`.
+      recordCacheHit(base.inputTokens || 0, base.outputTokens || 0, avoidedUsdCents);
       const usage = cached.usage
-        ? { ...cached.usage, usdCents: 0, billedUsdCents: 0, cachedUsdCents: cached.usage.usdCents || 0 }
+        ? { ...base, usdCents: 0, billedUsdCents: 0, cachedUsdCents: avoidedUsdCents }
         : cached.usage;
       return { ...cached, usage, fromCache: true };
     }
@@ -455,4 +504,7 @@ module.exports = {
   resetStats,
   computeCostCents,
   PRICING,
+  // exported for tests — lets a test prime defaultCache for the exact key
+  // complete() will look up, so cache-hit accounting is testable offline.
+  cacheKey,
 };
diff --git a/server/usage-ledger.js b/server/usage-ledger.js
index ef4367b..abb8600 100644
Binary files a/server/usage-ledger.js and b/server/usage-ledger.js differ