diff --git a/tests/test_graceful_degradation.py b/tests/test_graceful_degradation.py
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+"""
+Graceful-degradation tests.
+
+Every external dependency — STT, LLM, TTS — is reachable over the network and
+can be down. The gateway's rule is that a dead dependency degrades the call
+rather than killing it, and says so: each failure publishes an `ERROR` event
+naming the service, so a down Speaches reads as "transcription failed" rather
+than "the AI is making bad decisions".
+
+The behaviour is already implemented across the services; these tests exist so a
+later refactor can't quietly remove it. The failure mode being guarded against is
+silent: an un-caught exception in one of these paths aborts a live phone call.
+"""
+
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+
+from config import Settings
+from core.event_bus import EventBus
+from models.events import EventType
+
+
+def _gateway():
+    """A gateway stand-in with a real event bus, so events can be asserted."""
+    gw = MagicMock()
+    gw.settings = Settings(database_url="sqlite+aiosqlite:///:memory:")
+    gw.event_bus = EventBus()
+    gw.call_manager = MagicMock()
+    gw.call_manager.add_transcript = AsyncMock()
+    return gw
+
+
+def _hold_slayer(gateway, transcription):
+    from services.audio_classifier import AudioClassifier
+    from services.hold_slayer import HoldSlayerService
+
+    return HoldSlayerService(
+        gateway=gateway,
+        call_manager=gateway.call_manager,
+        sip_engine=MagicMock(),
+        classifier=AudioClassifier(gateway.settings.classifier),
+        transcription=transcription,
+        settings=gateway.settings,
+    )
+
+
+async def _errors_for(bus: EventBus, coro):
+    """Run `coro` while subscribed, returning the ERROR events it published."""
+    import asyncio
+
+    sub = bus.subscribe(event_types={EventType.ERROR})
+    try:
+        result = await coro
+        seen = []
+        while True:
+            try:
+                seen.append(sub._queue.get_nowait())
+            except asyncio.QueueEmpty:
+                break
+        return result, seen
+    finally:
+        bus.unsubscribe(sub)
+
+
+class TestClassifierWithoutSTT:
+    """The classifier is spectral: it must not depend on STT at all."""
+
+    def _classifier(self):
+        from services.audio_classifier import AudioClassifier
+
+        return AudioClassifier(Settings(database_url="sqlite+aiosqlite:///:memory:").classifier)
+
+    def test_classify_takes_only_audio(self):
+        # A transcript parameter would make STT a hard dependency of hold
+        # detection — the thing this checkbox is about.
+        import inspect
+
+        params = set(inspect.signature(self._classifier().classify_chunk).parameters)
+        assert params == {"audio_data"}
+
+    async def test_classifies_with_no_stt_service_anywhere(self):
+        # Silence is the cheapest deterministic input; the point is that a
+        # classification is produced at all with no STT in the picture.
+        result = await self._classifier().classify(b"\x00\x00" * 16000)
+        assert result.audio_type is not None
+
+
+class TestTranscriptionDegradation:
+    async def test_hold_slayer_transcribe_returns_empty_on_failure(self):
+        gw = _gateway()
+        stt = MagicMock()
+        stt.transcribe = AsyncMock(side_effect=RuntimeError("Connection refused"))
+        svc = _hold_slayer(gw, stt)
+
+        text, errors = await _errors_for(gw.event_bus, svc._transcribe("call-1", b"\x00" * 320))
+
+        assert text == ""  # empty transcript, not an exception
+        assert len(errors) == 1
+        assert errors[0].data["service"] == "transcription"
+
+    async def test_error_event_names_the_service(self):
+        # "transcription failed" vs "the AI decided badly" — the whole reason
+        # transcribe() raises instead of swallowing.
+        gw = _gateway()
+        stt = MagicMock()
+        stt.transcribe = AsyncMock(side_effect=RuntimeError("Connection refused"))
+        svc = _hold_slayer(gw, stt)
+
+        _, errors = await _errors_for(gw.event_bus, svc._transcribe("call-1", b"\x00" * 320))
+        assert "Connection refused" in errors[0].data["error"]
+
+    async def test_service_error_survives_a_dead_event_bus(self):
+        # Degradation reporting must not itself become a failure path.
+        gw = _gateway()
+        gw.event_bus.publish = AsyncMock(side_effect=RuntimeError("bus down"))
+        stt = MagicMock()
+        stt.transcribe = AsyncMock(side_effect=RuntimeError("stt down"))
+        svc = _hold_slayer(gw, stt)
+
+        assert await svc._transcribe("call-1", b"\x00" * 320) == ""
+
+    async def test_transcription_marks_itself_unavailable(self):
+        # /health reads this flag; a failure that doesn't record itself makes
+        # the probe lie.
+        import httpx
+
+        from services.transcription import TranscriptionService
+
+        svc = TranscriptionService(Settings(database_url="sqlite+aiosqlite:///:memory:").speaches)
+        client = MagicMock()
+        client.post = AsyncMock(side_effect=httpx.ConnectError("refused"))
+        svc._client = client
+        svc._client.is_closed = False
+
+        with pytest.raises(Exception):
+            await svc.transcribe(b"\x00" * 320)
+        assert svc.available is False
+
+
+class TestReceptionistDegradation:
+    def _receptionist(self, gateway, **kw):
+        from services.receptionist import ReceptionistService
+
+        return ReceptionistService(gateway=gateway, **kw)
+
+    async def test_llm_failure_falls_back_to_a_usable_decision(self):
+        gw = _gateway()
+        svc = self._receptionist(gw)
+        call = MagicMock(id="call-1", remote_number="+15551234567")
+
+        llm = MagicMock()
+        llm.chat_json = AsyncMock(side_effect=RuntimeError("LLM down"))
+        import services.llm_client as llm_mod
+
+        original = llm_mod.get_llm
+        llm_mod.get_llm = lambda: llm
+        try:
+            result, errors = await _errors_for(
+                gw.event_bus, svc._classify(call, "I need to speak to someone", None)
+            )
+        finally:
+            llm_mod.get_llm = original
+
+        # A decision still comes back, so the call can proceed.
+        assert result["recommended_action"] in {"ring", "message", "reject"}
+        assert errors[0].data["service"] == "llm"
+
+    async def test_no_transcription_service_yields_empty_not_crash(self):
+        # transcription=None is a valid wiring (STT not configured).
+        gw = _gateway()
+        svc = self._receptionist(gw, transcription=None)
+        assert svc.transcription is None
+
+
+class TestHealthReportsDegradation:
+    """A degraded gateway must read as degraded — /health may not lie."""
+
+    def test_availability_helper_distinguishes_unknown_from_down(self):
+        # Four distinct states, because "not wired up" and "wired up but the
+        # remote is refusing connections" are different operator problems.
+        import main
+
+        assert main._availability(None) == "not attached"
+        assert main._availability(MagicMock(available=None)) == "unknown (no requests yet)"
+        assert main._availability(MagicMock(available=True)) == "ok"
+        assert main._availability(MagicMock(available=False)) == "unreachable"