diff --git a/.github/actionlint.yaml b/.github/actionlint.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 8b2ecb7a..00000000
--- a/.github/actionlint.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-# actionlint configuration. https://github.com/rhysd/actionlint/blob/main/docs/config.md
-paths:
-  .github/workflows/**/*.{yml,yaml}:
-    ignore:
-      # `copilot-requests` is the permission that lets GITHUB_TOKEN call
-      # GitHub Copilot. actionlint 1.7.12 does not know the scope yet.
-      - 'unknown permission scope "copilot-requests"'
diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli/action.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index f51e9426..00000000
--- a/.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli/action.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-name: Set up Copilot CLI
-description: >-
-  Installs a pinned GitHub Copilot CLI and `copilot-locked`, a launcher that
-  runs it with everything that lets it act switched off.
-
-inputs:
-  version:
-    description: The @github/copilot npm version to install.
-    required: false
-    default: "1.0.88"
-
-outputs:
-  launcher:
-    description: Absolute path of `copilot-locked`. Pass it as `copilot-cli-path` to actions/ai-inference.
-    value: ${{ steps.install.outputs.launcher }}
-
-runs:
-  using: composite
-  steps:
-    - name: Install Copilot CLI
-      id: install
-      shell: bash
-      env:
-        COPILOT_CLI_VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
-      run: |
-        # Pinned: the AI workflows run with write tokens next to text anyone
-        # can write, so a new CLI release must not change what they execute
-        # until someone bumps this on purpose. The package ships prebuilt
-        # binaries as optional dependencies and needs no install scripts.
-        npm install --global --no-audit --no-fund --ignore-scripts "@github/copilot@${COPILOT_CLI_VERSION}"
-
-        # The prompts carry issue bodies, pull request text and translations.
-        # Without repository instructions (AGENTS.md would be read as orders),
-        # built-in MCP servers (the GitHub server holds the token) or temp-dir
-        # access, and in prompt mode, which denies every tool that needs
-        # approval, the model can answer but cannot act.
-        launcher_dir="$RUNNER_TEMP/copilot-launcher"
-        mkdir -p "$launcher_dir"
-        cat > "$launcher_dir/copilot-locked" <<'EOF'
-        #!/usr/bin/env bash
-        exec copilot "$@" \
-          --no-custom-instructions \
-          --disable-builtin-mcps \
-          --no-auto-update \
-          --disallow-temp-dir
-        EOF
-        chmod +x "$launcher_dir/copilot-locked"
-        echo "$launcher_dir" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
-        echo "launcher=$launcher_dir/copilot-locked" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
-        copilot --version
diff --git a/.github/prompts/release-notes.prompt.yml b/.github/prompts/release-notes.prompt.yml
index 1eb38b2c..d4928cd3 100644
--- a/.github/prompts/release-notes.prompt.yml
+++ b/.github/prompts/release-notes.prompt.yml
@@ -30,9 +30,3 @@ messages:
       ### Documentation
       ### Dependencies
       ### Developer Experience
-# `auto` lets the Copilot CLI pick. Deliberately not a pinned model id: it is
-# the only value valid on every Copilot plan (Free and Student get auto
-# selection only), and it cannot go stale the way `openai/gpt-4.1` did when
-# GitHub Models was retired on 2026-07-30 and took both of these workflows
-# down with it.
-model: auto
diff --git a/.github/prompts/telegram-release-summary.prompt.yml b/.github/prompts/telegram-release-summary.prompt.yml
index 8295ec13..8567f51d 100644
--- a/.github/prompts/telegram-release-summary.prompt.yml
+++ b/.github/prompts/telegram-release-summary.prompt.yml
@@ -20,9 +20,3 @@ messages:
       {{commits}}
 
       Format: one short opening sentence, a blank line, then bullets starting with "- " (one per line). Nothing else.
-# `auto` lets the Copilot CLI pick. Deliberately not a pinned model id: it is
-# the only value valid on every Copilot plan (Free and Student get auto
-# selection only), and it cannot go stale the way `openai/gpt-4.1` did when
-# GitHub Models was retired on 2026-07-30 and took both of these workflows
-# down with it.
-model: auto
diff --git a/.github/scripts/ai-infer.sh b/.github/scripts/ai-infer.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b2d66e5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/ai-infer.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Sends one prompt to a free OpenRouter model and writes the answer to a file.
+#
+#   bash .github/scripts/ai-infer.sh SYSTEM_PROMPT_FILE USER_PROMPT_FILE OUTPUT_FILE
+#
+# Needs the OPENROUTER_API_KEY secret in AI_API_KEY. GitHub Models was retired
+# on 2026-07-30, and Copilot through the workflow token needs an org policy
+# that bills the org.
+#
+# Free models allow 20 requests a minute and 1000 a day (the account has
+# bought credits), and the free list changes: when a model goes, pick another
+# `:free` id from https://openrouter.ai/models (i18n-review.yml has the same
+# list). A free model is often rate-limited upstream, so OpenRouter tries the
+# fallbacks in order. AI_MODEL and AI_FALLBACK_MODELS override them.
+#
+# The user prompt is cut to AI_PROMPT_MAX_BYTES, so put the least important
+# context at its end.
+#
+# Exits 0 with a non-empty answer in OUTPUT_FILE, 1 otherwise. The caller
+# decides how to degrade. Nothing the model or the prompt says is printed to
+# the log without `::stop-commands::` around it, because a log line that
+# starts with `::` is a workflow command.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [ "$#" -ne 3 ]; then
+  echo "usage: $0 SYSTEM_PROMPT_FILE USER_PROMPT_FILE OUTPUT_FILE" >&2
+  exit 2
+fi
+
+system_file=$1
+user_file=$2
+out_file=$3
+api_url=${AI_API_URL:-https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions}
+model=${AI_MODEL:-nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b:free}
+fallbacks=${AI_FALLBACK_MODELS:-minimax/minimax-m3.1-flash:free,google/gemma-4-31b-it:free}
+max_bytes=${AI_PROMPT_MAX_BYTES:-120000}
+timeout_seconds=${AI_TIMEOUT_SECONDS:-300}
+
+: > "$out_file"
+
+if [ -z "${AI_API_KEY:-}" ]; then
+  echo "::error::AI_API_KEY is not set (the OPENROUTER_API_KEY secret)"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+scratch=$(mktemp -d)
+trap 'rm -rf "$scratch"' EXIT
+
+# Prints untrusted text without letting a line act as a workflow command.
+quote_log() {
+  local stop_token
+  stop_token="ai-infer-$(od -An -N12 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d ' \n')"
+  echo "::stop-commands::$stop_token"
+  printf '%s\n' "$1"
+  echo "::$stop_token::"
+}
+
+user_bytes=$(wc -c < "$user_file")
+if [ "$user_bytes" -gt "$max_bytes" ]; then
+  echo "::warning::User prompt cut from $user_bytes to $max_bytes bytes"
+fi
+# A cut can split a UTF-8 sequence; iconv -c drops the broken tail (and exits
+# 1 when it does).
+head -c "$max_bytes" "$user_file" | tr -d '\000' |
+  { iconv -f UTF-8 -t UTF-8 -c 2> /dev/null || true; } > "$scratch/user.txt"
+
+jq -n \
+  --rawfile system "$system_file" \
+  --rawfile user "$scratch/user.txt" \
+  --arg model "$model" \
+  --arg fallbacks "$fallbacks" \
+  '{
+    model: $model,
+    models: ([$model] + ($fallbacks | split(",") | map(gsub("^\\s+|\\s+$"; "")) | map(select(length > 0)))),
+    messages: [
+      {role: "system", content: $system},
+      {role: "user", content: $user}
+    ],
+    temperature: 0,
+    max_tokens: 8192
+  }' > "$scratch/request.json"
+
+# The key goes to curl on stdin, so it is not in the process list. curl
+# retries 429 and 5xx answers and honours Retry-After.
+status=0
+http_code=$(
+  printf 'header = "Authorization: Bearer %s"\n' "$AI_API_KEY" |
+    curl -sS --config - \
+      --max-time "$timeout_seconds" \
+      --retry 2 --retry-max-time 120 \
+      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+      --data-binary "@$scratch/request.json" \
+      -o "$scratch/response.json" \
+      -w '%{http_code}' \
+      "$api_url"
+) || status=$?
+
+if [ "$status" -ne 0 ]; then
+  if [ "$status" -eq 28 ]; then
+    echo "::error::The model API did not answer in ${timeout_seconds}s"
+  else
+    echo "::error::The model API could not be reached (curl exit $status)"
+  fi
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+error=$(jq -r '.error.message // empty' "$scratch/response.json" 2> /dev/null || true)
+if [ "$http_code" != "200" ] || [ -n "$error" ]; then
+  echo "::error::The model API answered HTTP $http_code"
+  if [ -n "$error" ]; then
+    quote_log "${error:0:500}"
+  fi
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! jq -j '.choices[0].message.content // empty' "$scratch/response.json" > "$out_file" 2> /dev/null; then
+  echo "::error::The model API returned a body that is not JSON"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$(tr -d '[:space:]' < "$out_file")" ]; then
+  echo "::error::The model returned an empty answer"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+answered_by=$(jq -r '.model // "unknown"' "$scratch/response.json")
+echo "Model $answered_by answered with $(wc -c < "$out_file") bytes"
diff --git a/.github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh b/.github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 5a1b2e46..00000000
--- a/.github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,104 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-# Sends one prompt to GitHub Copilot and writes the answer to a file.
-#
-#   bash .github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh SYSTEM_PROMPT_FILE USER_PROMPT_FILE OUTPUT_FILE
-#
-# Needs .github/actions/setup-copilot-cli (for `copilot-locked`), the job
-# permission `copilot-requests: write`, and the workflow token in
-# COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN. COPILOT_MODEL picks the model (default `auto`, the
-# only value every Copilot plan accepts).
-#
-# GitHub Models (models.github.ai) was retired on 2026-07-30. It answered 410
-# after that, and later 200 with a body that is not JSON, so every workflow
-# that still called it degraded on every run. Copilot is what the workflow
-# token can reach now.
-#
-# The prompt goes to the CLI as one argument, and Linux caps one argument at
-# 128 KiB. The user prompt is cut to fit COPILOT_PROMPT_MAX_BYTES, so put the
-# least important context at its end.
-#
-# Exits 0 with a non-empty answer in OUTPUT_FILE, 1 otherwise. The caller
-# decides how to degrade. Nothing the model or the prompt says is printed to
-# the log without `::stop-commands::` around it, because a log line that
-# starts with `::` is a workflow command.
-set -euo pipefail
-
-if [ "$#" -ne 3 ]; then
-  echo "usage: $0 SYSTEM_PROMPT_FILE USER_PROMPT_FILE OUTPUT_FILE" >&2
-  exit 2
-fi
-
-system_file=$1
-user_file=$2
-out_file=$3
-model=${COPILOT_MODEL:-auto}
-max_bytes=${COPILOT_PROMPT_MAX_BYTES:-120000}
-timeout_seconds=${COPILOT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS:-300}
-
-: > "$out_file"
-
-if [ -z "${COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN:-}" ]; then
-  echo "::error::COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN is not set"
-  exit 1
-fi
-if ! command -v copilot-locked > /dev/null 2>&1; then
-  echo "::error::copilot-locked is not on PATH; run .github/actions/setup-copilot-cli first"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-system_bytes=$(wc -c < "$system_file")
-budget=$((max_bytes - system_bytes - 2))
-if [ "$budget" -lt 1024 ]; then
-  echo "::error::The system prompt ($system_bytes bytes) leaves no room for the user prompt"
-  exit 1
-fi
-user_bytes=$(wc -c < "$user_file")
-if [ "$user_bytes" -gt "$budget" ]; then
-  echo "::warning::User prompt cut from $user_bytes to $budget bytes to fit one argument"
-fi
-
-scratch=$(mktemp -d)
-workdir=$(mktemp -d)
-trap 'rm -rf "$scratch" "$workdir"' EXIT
-
-# NUL bytes cannot travel in an argument, and a cut can split a UTF-8
-# sequence; iconv -c drops the broken tail (and exits 1 when it does).
-{
-  cat "$system_file"
-  printf '\n\n'
-  head -c "$budget" "$user_file" | tr -d '\000' | { iconv -f UTF-8 -t UTF-8 -c 2> /dev/null || true; }
-} > "$scratch/prompt.txt"
-prompt=$(cat "$scratch/prompt.txt")
-
-# An empty working directory: the file tools that need no approval have
-# nothing to read.
-status=0
-(
-  cd "$workdir"
-  timeout --kill-after=15 "$timeout_seconds" \
-    copilot-locked -p "$prompt" -s --no-ask-user --model "$model"
-) > "$out_file" 2> "$scratch/stderr.txt" || status=$?
-
-if [ "$status" -ne 0 ]; then
-  if [ "$status" -eq 124 ]; then
-    echo "::error::Copilot CLI timed out after ${timeout_seconds}s"
-  else
-    echo "::error::Copilot CLI exited with status $status"
-  fi
-  if [ -s "$scratch/stderr.txt" ]; then
-    stop_token="copilot-stderr-$(od -An -N12 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d ' \n')"
-    echo "::stop-commands::$stop_token"
-    echo "Copilot CLI stderr (last 2000 bytes):"
-    tail -c 2000 "$scratch/stderr.txt"
-    echo
-    echo "::$stop_token::"
-  fi
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-if [ -z "$(tr -d '[:space:]' < "$out_file")" ]; then
-  echo "::error::Copilot CLI returned an empty answer"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "Copilot answered with $(wc -c < "$out_file") bytes"
diff --git a/.github/scripts/extract-json.py b/.github/scripts/extract-json.py
index 5ec70c0f..b22592e8 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/extract-json.py
+++ b/.github/scripts/extract-json.py
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 
     python3 .github/scripts/extract-json.py ANSWER_FILE OUTPUT_FILE
 
-Copilot answers in text. Even when told to return only JSON, a model can wrap
-it in a markdown fence or put a sentence before it. This skips anything around
+A model answers in text. Even when told to return only JSON, it can wrap the
+object in a markdown fence or put a sentence before it. This skips anything around
 the first object that parses. Exits 0 when it wrote one, 1 when there is none.
 """
 
diff --git a/.github/scripts/render-prompt.sh b/.github/scripts/render-prompt.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5e9cacf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/render-prompt.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Turns a .github/prompts/*.prompt.yml file into the two prompt files
+# ai-infer.sh takes, with {{version}} and {{commits}} filled in.
+#
+#   bash .github/scripts/render-prompt.sh PROMPT_FILE VERSION COMMITS_FILE SYSTEM_OUT USER_OUT
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [ "$#" -ne 5 ]; then
+  echo "usage: $0 PROMPT_FILE VERSION COMMITS_FILE SYSTEM_OUT USER_OUT" >&2
+  exit 2
+fi
+
+prompt_file=$1
+version=$2
+commits_file=$3
+system_out=$4
+user_out=$5
+
+yq '.messages[] | select(.role == "system") | .content' "$prompt_file" > "$system_out"
+# Python, not bash ${//}: commit subjects may hold `&`, which bash 5.2
+# replaces with the matched text.
+yq '.messages[] | select(.role == "user") | .content' "$prompt_file" |
+  python3 -c '
+import sys
+version = sys.argv[1]
+with open(sys.argv[2], encoding="utf-8", errors="replace") as fh:
+    commits = fh.read()
+sys.stdout.write(sys.stdin.read().replace("{{version}}", version).replace("{{commits}}", commits))
+' "$version" "$commits_file" > "$user_out"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/issue-validation.yml b/.github/workflows/issue-validation.yml
index 466c27d5..20fa4e5b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/issue-validation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/issue-validation.yml
@@ -13,14 +13,6 @@ on:
 permissions:
   contents: read
 
-env:
-  # GitHub Models (models.github.ai) was retired on 2026-07-30, and every call
-  # to it here had degraded since. Both AI jobs now ask GitHub Copilot through
-  # the workflow token (`copilot-requests: write`). `auto` lets Copilot pick:
-  # it is the only value every Copilot plan accepts and it cannot go stale the
-  # way the pinned `openai/gpt-4.1` did.
-  COPILOT_MODEL: auto
-
 jobs:
   # Decides what happens to a new issue before triage answers it. Minor
   # problems never close an issue: a feature filed as a bug (or the reverse)
@@ -39,7 +31,6 @@ jobs:
     permissions:
       contents: read
       issues: write
-      copilot-requests: write
     outputs:
       action: ${{ steps.decide.outputs.action }}
     steps:
@@ -97,27 +88,21 @@ jobs:
             cat /tmp/issue-body.txt
           } > /tmp/user.txt
 
-      # continue-on-error: an install failure is an outage like any other.
-      # The Copilot step records it and the run turns red at the end.
-      - name: Set up Copilot CLI
-        continue-on-error: true
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli
-
-      - name: Ask Copilot
+      - name: Ask the model
         env:
-          COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          AI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
         run: |
           # Fail-open: an outage or an answer that is not JSON must never close
           # or delete a contributor's issue. It is recorded and turns the run red below.
-          if ! bash .github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh /tmp/system.txt /tmp/user.txt /tmp/raw.txt; then
-            printf '%s\n' "the Copilot call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
+          if ! bash .github/scripts/ai-infer.sh /tmp/system.txt /tmp/user.txt /tmp/raw.txt; then
+            printf '%s\n' "the model call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
             echo '{"action": "keep", "kind": "unclear"}' > /tmp/result.json
             exit 0
           fi
 
           if ! python3 .github/scripts/extract-json.py /tmp/raw.txt /tmp/result.json; then
-            echo "::error::Copilot returned no JSON object; keeping the issue"
-            printf '%s\n' "Copilot returned output that was not JSON" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
+            echo "::error::The model returned no JSON object; keeping the issue"
+            printf '%s\n' "the model returned output that was not JSON" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
             echo '{"action": "keep", "kind": "unclear"}' > /tmp/result.json
           fi
 
@@ -136,7 +121,7 @@ jobs:
           action = r.get('action')
           if action not in ('keep', 'close', 'delete'):
               with open('/tmp/ai-degraded', 'a') as fh:
-                  fh.write('Copilot returned no known action; the issue was kept open\n')
+                  fh.write('The model returned no known action; the issue was kept open\n')
               action = 'keep'
           kind = r.get('kind')
           reasons = [' '.join(str(x).split())[:300] for x in (r.get('reasons') or []) if str(x).strip()][:10]
@@ -147,7 +132,7 @@ jobs:
               issue_text = normalize(open('/tmp/issue-title.txt').read() + '\n' + open('/tmp/issue-body.txt').read())
               if len(quote) < 2 or quote not in issue_text:
                   with open('/tmp/ai-degraded', 'a') as fh:
-                      fh.write('Copilot asked to delete the issue without quoting it; it was kept open, check it by hand\n')
+                      fh.write('The model asked to delete the issue without quoting it; it was kept open, check it by hand\n')
                   action = 'keep'
               else:
                   open('/tmp/insult-quote.txt', 'w').write(quote)
@@ -256,19 +241,12 @@ jobs:
     permissions:
       contents: read
       issues: write
-      copilot-requests: write
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 #v7.0.1
         with:
           persist-credentials: false
 
-      # continue-on-error: an install failure is an outage like any other.
-      # The Copilot steps record it and the run turns red at the end.
-      - name: Set up Copilot CLI
-        continue-on-error: true
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli
-
       - name: Check if first-time contributor
         id: check-first-time
         env:
@@ -460,7 +438,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Stage 1 (triage and file selection)
         env:
-          COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          AI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
         run: |
           # The triage call returns ONLY JSON. It classifies the issue and picks a
           # short list of source files for the composer to read.
@@ -477,14 +455,14 @@ jobs:
 
           # An outage must not fail the run here: fall through to the safe
           # classification below and let the last step report it.
-          if bash .github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh /tmp/triage-system.txt /tmp/triage-user.txt /tmp/triage-raw.txt; then
+          if bash .github/scripts/ai-infer.sh /tmp/triage-system.txt /tmp/triage-user.txt /tmp/triage-raw.txt; then
             if ! python3 .github/scripts/extract-json.py /tmp/triage-raw.txt /tmp/triage.json; then
               echo "::error::Triage returned no JSON object; using fallback classification"
               printf '%s\n' "triage returned output that was not JSON" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
               rm -f /tmp/triage.json
             fi
           else
-            printf '%s\n' "the triage Copilot call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
+            printf '%s\n' "the triage model call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
           fi
 
           if [ ! -s /tmp/triage.json ]; then
@@ -608,7 +586,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Stage 2 (compose response)
         id: compose
         env:
-          COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          AI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
           ISSUE_AUTHOR: ${{ github.event.issue.user.login }}
           IS_FIRST_TIME: ${{ steps.check-first-time.outputs.is_first_time }}
         run: |
@@ -631,9 +609,9 @@ jobs:
 
           # Same as triage: an outage must not fail the run. When no comment can
           # be composed the remaining steps are skipped instead.
-          if ! bash .github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh /tmp/composer-system.txt /tmp/composer-user.txt /tmp/ai-comment.txt; then
+          if ! bash .github/scripts/ai-infer.sh /tmp/composer-system.txt /tmp/composer-user.txt /tmp/ai-comment.txt; then
             echo "::error::Skipping the triage comment"
-            printf '%s\n' "the composer Copilot call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
+            printf '%s\n' "the composer model call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
             echo "has_comment=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
             exit 0
           fi
@@ -691,7 +669,6 @@ jobs:
     permissions:
       contents: read
       pull-requests: write
-      copilot-requests: write
     steps:
       # pull_request_target runs in the base repository's context: this is the
       # trusted base branch. The pull request is only ever read as text.
@@ -700,12 +677,6 @@ jobs:
         with:
           persist-credentials: false
 
-      # continue-on-error: an install failure is an outage like any other.
-      # The Copilot step records it and the run turns red at the end.
-      - name: Set up Copilot CLI
-        continue-on-error: true
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli
-
       - name: Check if first-time contributor
         id: check-first-time
         env:
@@ -771,7 +742,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Analyze PR with AI
         id: analyze
         env:
-          COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          AI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
           PR_TITLE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}
           PR_BODY: ${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}
           PR_AUTHOR: ${{ github.event.pull_request.user.login }}
@@ -835,9 +806,9 @@ jobs:
 
           # An outage must not red-cross an otherwise healthy pull request here:
           # skip the review comment; the last step reports the degradation.
-          if ! bash .github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh /tmp/pr-system.txt /tmp/pr-user.txt /tmp/ai-comment.txt; then
+          if ! bash .github/scripts/ai-infer.sh /tmp/pr-system.txt /tmp/pr-user.txt /tmp/ai-comment.txt; then
             echo "::error::Skipping the review comment"
-            printf '%s\n' "the PR review Copilot call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
+            printf '%s\n' "the PR review model call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
             echo "has_comment=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
             exit 0
           fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/notify-telegram.yml b/.github/workflows/notify-telegram.yml
index 531b2600..943ea4be 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/notify-telegram.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/notify-telegram.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ on:
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
-  copilot-requests: write
 
 jobs:
   notify:
@@ -126,31 +125,15 @@ jobs:
           echo "previous-tag=${PREV_TAG}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "Collected $(wc -l < commits.txt) commits between ${PREV_TAG} and ${TAG}."
 
-      # The Copilot CLI is not preinstalled on GitHub-hosted runners, and
-      # ai-inference v3 shells out to it.
-      - name: Set up Copilot CLI
-        id: copilot
-        if: steps.gate.outputs.skip != 'true'
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli
-
       - name: Generate summary with AI
-        id: ai
         if: steps.gate.outputs.skip != 'true'
-        uses: actions/ai-inference@2c43c91ae16266ca159d311430343c67a5ffa222 # v3
-        with:
-          prompt-file: .github/prompts/telegram-release-summary.prompt.yml
-          input: |
-            version: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.tag }}
-          file_input: |
-            commits: ./commits.txt
-          # Runs the CLI without AGENTS.md as instructions, without the GitHub
-          # MCP server and without auto-update; see setup-copilot-cli.
-          copilot-cli-path: ${{ steps.copilot.outputs.launcher }}
         env:
-          # The Copilot CLI reads its credential from the environment; the
-          # workflow token carries it under the `copilot-requests` permission
-          # granted above, so no PAT is needed.
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          AI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
+          TAG: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.tag }}
+        run: |
+          bash .github/scripts/render-prompt.sh .github/prompts/telegram-release-summary.prompt.yml \
+            "$TAG" commits.txt "$RUNNER_TEMP/system.txt" "$RUNNER_TEMP/user.txt"
+          bash .github/scripts/ai-infer.sh "$RUNNER_TEMP/system.txt" "$RUNNER_TEMP/user.txt" "$RUNNER_TEMP/summary.txt"
 
       - name: Post release announcement to Telegram
         if: steps.gate.outputs.skip != 'true'
@@ -159,20 +142,13 @@ jobs:
           TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID: ${{ secrets.TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID }}
           TAG: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.tag }}
           REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
-          AI_RESPONSE_FILE: ${{ steps.ai.outputs.response-file }}
-          AI_RESPONSE: ${{ steps.ai.outputs.response }}
         run: |
           if [ -z "$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN" ] || [ -z "$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" ]; then
             echo "::warning::TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN or TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID is not set — skipping Telegram notification."
             exit 0
           fi
 
-          # Prefer the file output — `response` can be truncated for longer summaries.
-          if [ -n "$AI_RESPONSE_FILE" ] && [ -f "$AI_RESPONSE_FILE" ]; then
-            SUMMARY=$(cat "$AI_RESPONSE_FILE")
-          else
-            SUMMARY="$AI_RESPONSE"
-          fi
+          SUMMARY=$(cat "$RUNNER_TEMP/summary.txt")
 
           if [ -z "${SUMMARY//[[:space:]]/}" ]; then
             echo "::error::AI summary is empty"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-ai-policy.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-ai-policy.yml
index c9fc66f4..9476e0b2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-ai-policy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-ai-policy.yml
@@ -7,9 +7,6 @@ on:
 permissions:
   contents: read
   pull-requests: write
-  # GitHub Models (models.github.ai) was retired on 2026-07-30; the workflow
-  # token reaches GitHub Copilot through this permission instead.
-  copilot-requests: write
 
 # `edited` and `synchronize` can arrive back to back. Queue rather than cancel,
 # so a run is never stopped between commenting and closing.
@@ -17,11 +14,6 @@ concurrency:
   group: pr-ai-policy-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
   cancel-in-progress: false
 
-env:
-  # `auto` lets Copilot pick. It is the only value every Copilot plan accepts
-  # and it cannot go stale the way the pinned `openai/gpt-4.1` did.
-  COPILOT_MODEL: auto
-
 jobs:
   check-ai-policy:
     # Nobody is exempt: maintainers are checked like everyone else. The one
@@ -105,15 +97,9 @@ jobs:
           {"compliant": true, "violations": []}
           PROMPT
 
-      # continue-on-error: a failed install must not stop the deterministic
-      # trailer scan from acting. The Copilot step then records the outage.
-      - name: Set up Copilot CLI
-        continue-on-error: true
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli
-
-      - name: Ask Copilot
+      - name: Ask the model
         env:
-          COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          AI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
           TRAILER_HIT: ${{ steps.trailers.outputs.hit }}
         run: |
           {
@@ -128,15 +114,15 @@ jobs:
           # The model half of this check is fail-open: an outage or an answer
           # that is not JSON must never close a pull request. The deterministic
           # trailer scan still stands on its own below.
-          if ! bash .github/scripts/copilot-infer.sh /tmp/system.txt /tmp/user.txt /tmp/raw.txt; then
-            printf '%s\n' "the Copilot call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
+          if ! bash .github/scripts/ai-infer.sh /tmp/system.txt /tmp/user.txt /tmp/raw.txt; then
+            printf '%s\n' "the model call failed" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
             echo '{"compliant": true, "violations": []}' > /tmp/result.json
             exit 0
           fi
 
           if ! python3 .github/scripts/extract-json.py /tmp/raw.txt /tmp/result.json; then
-            echo "::error::Copilot returned no JSON object; treating as compliant"
-            printf '%s\n' "Copilot returned output that was not JSON" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
+            echo "::error::The model returned no JSON object; treating as compliant"
+            printf '%s\n' "the model returned output that was not JSON" >> /tmp/ai-degraded
             echo '{"compliant": true, "violations": []}' > /tmp/result.json
           fi
           echo "Policy response validated"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-notes-generator.yml b/.github/workflows/release-notes-generator.yml
index 26d3800c..095828e8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-notes-generator.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-notes-generator.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ on:
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
-  copilot-requests: write
 
 jobs:
   generate-release-notes:
@@ -79,44 +78,24 @@ jobs:
           git log --pretty=format:"- %s (%h by %an)" "$PREVIOUS_TAG".."$CURRENT_TAG" --no-merges > commits.txt
           echo "Collected $(wc -l < commits.txt) commits"
 
-      - name: Set up Copilot CLI
-        id: copilot
-        if: steps.get-release.outputs.is-prerelease == 'false'
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-copilot-cli
-
       - name: Generate release notes with AI
         id: generate-notes
         if: steps.get-release.outputs.is-prerelease == 'false'
-        uses: actions/ai-inference@2c43c91ae16266ca159d311430343c67a5ffa222 # v3
-        with:
-          prompt-file: .github/prompts/release-notes.prompt.yml
-          input: |
-            version: ${{ steps.get-previous-tag.outputs.current-tag }}
-          file_input: |
-            commits: ./commits.txt
-          # Runs the CLI without AGENTS.md as instructions, without the GitHub
-          # MCP server and without auto-update; see setup-copilot-cli.
-          copilot-cli-path: ${{ steps.copilot.outputs.launcher }}
         env:
-          # The Copilot CLI reads its credential from the environment; the
-          # workflow token carries it under the `copilot-requests` permission
-          # granted above, so no PAT is needed.
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          AI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
+          VERSION: ${{ steps.get-previous-tag.outputs.current-tag }}
+        run: |
+          bash .github/scripts/render-prompt.sh .github/prompts/release-notes.prompt.yml \
+            "$VERSION" commits.txt "$RUNNER_TEMP/system.txt" "$RUNNER_TEMP/user.txt"
+          bash .github/scripts/ai-infer.sh "$RUNNER_TEMP/system.txt" "$RUNNER_TEMP/user.txt" "$RUNNER_TEMP/notes.txt"
 
       - name: Update release with generated notes
         if: steps.get-release.outputs.is-prerelease == 'false'
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          RESPONSE_FILE: ${{ steps.generate-notes.outputs.response-file }}
-          RESPONSE_OUTPUT: ${{ steps.generate-notes.outputs.response }}
           RELEASE_ID: ${{ steps.get-release.outputs.release-id }}
         run: |
-          # Prefer reading from the response file to avoid output truncation
-          if [ -n "$RESPONSE_FILE" ] && [ -f "$RESPONSE_FILE" ]; then
-            RELEASE_NOTES=$(cat "$RESPONSE_FILE")
-          else
-            RELEASE_NOTES="$RESPONSE_OUTPUT"
-          fi
+          RELEASE_NOTES=$(cat "$RUNNER_TEMP/notes.txt")
 
           # An empty answer would PATCH the release body to nothing and wipe
           # the notes the release already has.