diff --git a/auditor/checks/kimi_architect.ts b/auditor/checks/kimi_architect.ts
index be08c1f..c5562fa 100644
--- a/auditor/checks/kimi_architect.ts
+++ b/auditor/checks/kimi_architect.ts
@@ -50,22 +50,38 @@ const MAX_PRIOR_FINDINGS = 50;
 // gateway as a fallback for when Ollama Cloud is upstream-broken.
 const KIMI_PROVIDER = process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_PROVIDER ?? "ollama_cloud";
 const KIMI_MODEL = process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_MODEL ?? "kimi-k2.6";
-// Big-diff promotion: when the diff exceeds OPUS_THRESHOLD_CHARS, swap
-// to OPUS_MODEL for that audit. 2026-04-27 3-way bake-off (Kimi vs
-// Haiku vs Opus on a 32K diff) showed Opus is the only model that
-// catches cross-file ramifications + escalates `block` severity on
-// real architectural risks. ~5x the spend per audit, only worth it
-// when the diff is big enough to have those risks.
+// Cross-lineage alternation. 2026-04-27 J's call: Opus is too
+// expensive to auto-fire (~$0.30/audit). Kimi K2.6 via Go-sub is
+// effectively free; Haiku 4.5 via Zen is ~$0.04. Alternate between
+// them so we get cross-lineage signal (Moonshot vs Anthropic) on
+// every PR's audit history without burning the budget.
 //
-// Defaults: Haiku for normal diffs (fast, cheap, ~$0.02), Opus for
-// > 100k chars. Disable promotion: set OPUS_THRESHOLD_CHARS very high.
-const OPUS_MODEL = process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_OPUS_MODEL ?? "claude-opus-4-7";
-const OPUS_PROVIDER = process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_OPUS_PROVIDER ?? "opencode";
-const OPUS_THRESHOLD_CHARS = Number(process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_OPUS_THRESHOLD_CHARS) || 100_000;
+// Default: Kimi K2.6 on even audits, Haiku 4.5 on odd. Each PR's
+// audits flip between vendors as new SHAs come in.
+//
+// Frontier models (Opus 4.7, GPT-5.5, Gemini 3.1) are NOT in the
+// auto path. Operator hands distilled findings to a frontier model
+// manually when high-leverage decisions need it. Removing Opus from
+// auto-promotion saves ~$1-3/day on the daemon at our cadence.
+//
+// Override the alternation entirely with LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_MODEL
+// (forces one model regardless of audit count); set
+// LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_ALT_MODEL to the alternate.
+const ALT_MODEL = process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_ALT_MODEL ?? "claude-haiku-4-5";
+const ALT_PROVIDER = process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_ALT_PROVIDER ?? "opencode";
+const FORCE_DEFAULT = process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_MODEL !== undefined && process.env.LH_AUDITOR_KIMI_MODEL !== "";
 
-function selectModel(diffLen: number): { provider: string; model: string; promoted: boolean } {
-  if (diffLen > OPUS_THRESHOLD_CHARS) {
-    return { provider: OPUS_PROVIDER, model: OPUS_MODEL, promoted: true };
+function selectModel(diffLen: number, auditIndex: number = 0): { provider: string; model: string; promoted: boolean } {
+  // Operator override — env-pinned model wins.
+  if (FORCE_DEFAULT) {
+    return { provider: KIMI_PROVIDER, model: KIMI_MODEL, promoted: false };
+  }
+  // Alternate Kimi (default, even index) ↔ Haiku (alt, odd index).
+  // diffLen kept in the signature for future "big diff → Haiku
+  // anyway" logic; not used yet so we don't auto-burn on big PRs.
+  void diffLen;
+  if (auditIndex % 2 === 1) {
+    return { provider: ALT_PROVIDER, model: ALT_MODEL, promoted: true };
   }
   return { provider: KIMI_PROVIDER, model: KIMI_MODEL, promoted: false };
 }
@@ -141,7 +157,20 @@ export async function runKimiArchitectCheck(
       : [{ check: "kimi_architect" as CheckKind, severity: "info", summary: "kimi_architect cached — 0 findings", evidence: [`cache: ${cachePath}`] }];
   }
 
-  const selected = selectModel(diff.length);
+  // Alternate model based on how many audits this PR has had — gives
+  // cross-lineage signal (Kimi/Moonshot ↔ Haiku/Anthropic) on every
+  // PR's audit history. Count is derived from existing kimi_verdicts
+  // files for this PR; cheap O(N_PRs) directory read.
+  let auditIndex = 0;
+  try {
+    const dir = "/home/profit/lakehouse/data/_auditor/kimi_verdicts";
+    if (existsSync(dir)) {
+      const all = require("node:fs").readdirSync(dir) as string[];
+      auditIndex = all.filter((f) => f.startsWith(`${ctx.pr_number}-`)).length;
+    }
+  } catch { /* default 0 — Kimi */ }
+
+  const selected = selectModel(diff.length, auditIndex);
   let response: { content: string; usage: any; finish_reason: string; latency_ms: number };
   try {
     response = await callKimi(buildPrompt(diff, priorFindings, ctx), selected.provider, selected.model);