diff --git a/cmd/mavend/chat_degrade_test.go b/cmd/mavend/chat_degrade_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c376aa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/mavend/chat_degrade_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/llm"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/router"
+)
+
+// The chat path must answer when llama-server is down (Vikunja #45 step 4).
+// Both halves of a turn call the model — the router and the replier — and each
+// has its own floor: the cascade falls to the classifier, the replier falls to
+// the stub. This wires a client at a closed port so both floors are exercised
+// by a dial error rather than by a stubbed error value.
+func TestChatAnswersWithNoLlamaServer(t *testing.T) {
+	h, _, _ := newClarifyHandler(t)
+	dead := llm.New("http://127.0.0.1:1", 500*time.Millisecond)
+	emb := router.NewHashEmbedder(1024)
+	h.recall.embedder = emb
+	h.router = buildRouter(emb, h.matcher, 0.55, pickLLMRouter(true, dead))
+	h.replier = newLLMReplier(dead, nil)
+
+	ctx := withDialogueID(context.Background(), dialogueIDFor(sourceText, "web"))
+	for _, utt := range []string{
+		"привет",
+		"запиши что кофе закончился",
+		"что у меня сегодня",
+	} {
+		reply := h.handleText(ctx, "web", utt)
+		if reply == "" {
+			t.Errorf("%q answered with nothing; a dead model must degrade to the stub", utt)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// daemonAPI.Chat reports an error only when the voice path was never wired.
+// A turn that reaches handleText always carries text, which is what keeps
+// mavweb's /api/chat off its error branch when the model is down.
+func TestChatAPIErrsOnlyWhenUnwired(t *testing.T) {
+	d := &daemonAPI{}
+	if _, err := d.Chat(context.Background(), "web", "привет"); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an unwired daemon must say so")
+	}
+	d.chatFn = func(context.Context, string, string) string { return "" }
+	if _, err := d.Chat(context.Background(), "web", "привет"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a wired daemon must not error: %v", err)
+	}
+}