diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6194c2e..fa5b92f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,37 @@ Versions follow [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ---
 
+## [0.17.0] — 2026-04-27
+
+### Added
+
+**`circuitforge_core.reranker`** — shared reranker module for RAG pipelines across the orchard (MIT, closes #54)
+
+Five adapters covering local and cloud paths:
+
+- `adapters/bge.py` — `BGETextReranker`: FlagEmbedding cross-encoder (`BAAI/bge-reranker-*`). Batches all pairs in a single `compute_score()` call via `rerank_batch()`. Thread-safe with internal lock. Free tier.
+- `adapters/qwen3.py` — `Qwen3TextReranker`: generative reranker using `AutoModelForCausalLM`. Scores by reading yes/no token logits at the last input position after pre-filling the assistant `<think>\n\n</think>` block — one forward pass per batch, no generation loop. Left-pads for consistent last-token position across batch. Free / Paid tier.
+- `adapters/cross_encoder.py` — `CrossEncoderTextReranker`: sentence-transformers `CrossEncoder`. Broader model coverage: `mxbai-rerank-*`, `ms-marco-MiniLM-*`, `jina-reranker-*`. Free tier.
+- `adapters/cohere.py` — `CohereTextReranker`: Cohere Rerank API (BYOK cloud path). Reads `COHERE_API_KEY` from env or explicit `api_key=` arg. Restores original candidate order from Cohere's score-sorted response. Paid / BYOK.
+- `adapters/remote.py` — `RemoteTextReranker`: HTTP delegate to a cf-reranker service endpoint. `from_cf_orch()` classmethod allocates via cf-orch on demand. `release()` method returns the lease.
+- `adapters/mock.py` — `MockTextReranker`: Jaccard-similarity scorer, no model required. Used in tests and `CF_RERANKER_MOCK=1` mode.
+
+`app.py` — `cf-reranker` FastAPI service (port 8011). Managed by cf-orch as a process-type service. Exposes `GET /health` and `POST /rerank`. Defaults to `Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B`.
+
+**Auto cf-orch routing:** `make_reranker()` checks `CF_ORCH_URL` at construction time. When set (cloud deployments), it automatically allocates a `cf-reranker` service via cf-orch and returns a `RemoteTextReranker` — no code changes needed in Kiwi, Peregrine, or Snipe. Local dev (no `CF_ORCH_URL`) falls back to local BGE inference.
+
+**Public API:**
+- `rerank(query, candidates, top_n)` — process-level singleton, mock-safe
+- `make_reranker(model_id, backend, mock)` — explicit instance
+- `reset_reranker()` — test teardown only
+- `RerankResult(candidate, score, rank)` — frozen dataclass result type
+
+**`pyproject.toml` extras:** `reranker-bge`, `reranker-qwen3`, `reranker-cross-encoder`, `reranker-cohere`, `reranker-service`
+
+54 tests across all adapters.
+
+---
+
 ## [0.14.0] — 2026-04-20
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/reranker/__init__.py b/circuitforge_core/reranker/__init__.py
index be8db77..81452d1 100644
--- a/circuitforge_core/reranker/__init__.py
+++ b/circuitforge_core/reranker/__init__.py
@@ -92,7 +92,21 @@ def make_reranker(
         return MockTextReranker()
 
     _model_id = model_id or os.environ.get("CF_RERANKER_MODEL", _DEFAULT_MODEL)
-    _backend = backend or os.environ.get("CF_RERANKER_BACKEND", "bge")
+    _backend = backend or os.environ.get("CF_RERANKER_BACKEND", "")
+
+    # Auto-route to cf-orch when CF_ORCH_URL is set and no explicit backend override.
+    # Cloud deployments set CF_ORCH_URL; local dev leaves it unset → local inference.
+    if not _backend:
+        orch_url = os.environ.get("CF_ORCH_URL", "")
+        if orch_url:
+            from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.remote import RemoteTextReranker
+            logger.info("[reranker] CF_ORCH_URL set — using remote cf-reranker via cf-orch")
+            return RemoteTextReranker.from_cf_orch(
+                orch_url=orch_url,
+                service="cf-reranker",
+                ttl_s=float(os.environ.get("CF_RERANKER_TTL", "3600")),
+            )
+        _backend = "bge"  # local default
 
     if _backend == "mock":
         return MockTextReranker()
@@ -101,10 +115,25 @@ def make_reranker(
         from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.bge import BGETextReranker
         return BGETextReranker(_model_id)
 
+    if _backend == "qwen3":
+        from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.qwen3 import Qwen3TextReranker
+        return Qwen3TextReranker(_model_id)
+
+    if _backend == "cross-encoder":
+        from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cross_encoder import CrossEncoderTextReranker
+        return CrossEncoderTextReranker(_model_id)
+
+    if _backend == "cohere":
+        from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cohere import CohereTextReranker
+        return CohereTextReranker(model=_model_id)
+
+    if _backend == "remote":
+        from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.remote import RemoteTextReranker
+        return RemoteTextReranker(_model_id)
+
     raise ValueError(
         f"Unknown reranker backend {_backend!r}. "
-        "Valid options: 'bge', 'mock'. "
-        "(Qwen3 support is coming in Phase 2.)"
+        "Valid options: 'bge', 'qwen3', 'cross-encoder', 'cohere', 'remote', 'mock'."
     )
 
 
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/cohere.py b/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/cohere.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b01965
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/cohere.py
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+# circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/cohere.py — Cohere Rerank API (BYOK cloud)
+#
+# Requires: pip install circuitforge-core[reranker-cohere]
+# API key:  set COHERE_API_KEY env var, or pass api_key= explicitly.
+#
+# Models (as of 2026):
+#   rerank-english-v3.0      English-only, highest quality
+#   rerank-multilingual-v3.0 Multilingual
+#   rerank-english-v2.0      Legacy, lower cost
+#
+# BYOK unlock path: free-tier users who supply their own Cohere key get cloud
+# reranking without needing a cf-orch node. Same pattern as the Anthropic
+# backend in LLMRouter.
+#
+# MIT licensed.
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import os
+from typing import Sequence
+
+from circuitforge_core.reranker.base import TextReranker
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+try:
+    import cohere as _cohere  # type: ignore[import]
+except ImportError:
+    _cohere = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+
+_DEFAULT_MODEL = "rerank-english-v3.0"
+
+
+class CohereTextReranker(TextReranker):
+    """
+    Cloud reranker backed by the Cohere Rerank API.
+
+    BYOK (bring your own key): pass api_key= or set COHERE_API_KEY in the
+    environment. No model weights loaded locally.
+
+    Usage:
+        reranker = CohereTextReranker()  # reads COHERE_API_KEY from env
+        results = reranker.rerank("chicken soup recipe", ["recipe 1...", "recipe 2..."])
+
+    With an explicit key and model:
+        reranker = CohereTextReranker(
+            api_key="co-...",
+            model="rerank-multilingual-v3.0",
+        )
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        api_key: str | None = None,
+        model: str = _DEFAULT_MODEL,
+        max_chunks_per_doc: int = 1,
+    ) -> None:
+        self._api_key_arg = api_key
+        self._model = model
+        self._max_chunks_per_doc = max_chunks_per_doc
+
+    @property
+    def model_id(self) -> str:
+        return f"cohere:{self._model}"
+
+    def _get_client(self) -> object:
+        if _cohere is None:
+            raise ImportError(
+                "cohere is not installed. "
+                "Run: pip install circuitforge-core[reranker-cohere]"
+            )
+        api_key = self._api_key_arg or os.environ.get("COHERE_API_KEY", "")
+        if not api_key:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                "Cohere API key is not set. "
+                "Pass api_key= to CohereTextReranker or set COHERE_API_KEY."
+            )
+        return _cohere.Client(api_key=api_key)
+
+    def _score_pairs(self, query: str, candidates: list[str]) -> list[float]:
+        client = self._get_client()
+        response = client.rerank(  # type: ignore[union-attr]
+            query=query,
+            documents=candidates,
+            model=self._model,
+            top_n=len(candidates),
+            max_chunks_per_doc=self._max_chunks_per_doc,
+        )
+        # response.results is sorted by relevance_score desc; rebuild
+        # in original candidate order so TextReranker.rerank() re-sorts correctly.
+        score_map: dict[int, float] = {
+            r.index: r.relevance_score for r in response.results
+        }
+        return [score_map.get(i, 0.0) for i in range(len(candidates))]
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/cross_encoder.py b/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/cross_encoder.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ad94f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/cross_encoder.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/cross_encoder.py — sentence-transformers CrossEncoder
+#
+# Requires: pip install circuitforge-core[reranker-cross-encoder]
+#
+# Covers models not in the FlagEmbedding ecosystem:
+#   mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-base-v1       ~570MB VRAM, strong general-purpose
+#   mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-large-v1      ~1.3GB VRAM, higher quality
+#   cross-encoder/ms-marco-MiniLM-L-6-v2    ~90MB,  fast, English-only
+#   cross-encoder/ms-marco-MiniLM-L-12-v2   ~130MB, balanced
+#   jinaai/jina-reranker-v2-base-multilingual ~280MB, multilingual
+#
+# MIT licensed.
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import threading
+from typing import Sequence
+
+from circuitforge_core.reranker.base import TextReranker
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+try:
+    from sentence_transformers import CrossEncoder as _CrossEncoder  # type: ignore[import]
+except ImportError:
+    _CrossEncoder = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+
+
+def _cuda_available() -> bool:
+    try:
+        import torch
+        return torch.cuda.is_available()
+    except ImportError:
+        return False
+
+
+class CrossEncoderTextReranker(TextReranker):
+    """
+    Cross-encoder reranker using the sentence-transformers CrossEncoder class.
+
+    Broader model compatibility than BGETextReranker — any HuggingFace model
+    with a sequence-classification head works here. Particularly well-suited
+    for the mxbai-rerank and ms-marco families.
+
+    Usage:
+        reranker = CrossEncoderTextReranker("mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-base-v1")
+        results = reranker.rerank("chicken soup recipe", ["recipe 1...", "recipe 2..."])
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        model_id: str = "mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-base-v1",
+        max_length: int = 512,
+    ) -> None:
+        self._model_id = model_id
+        self._max_length = max_length
+        self._model: object | None = None
+        self._lock = threading.Lock()
+
+    @property
+    def model_id(self) -> str:
+        return self._model_id
+
+    def load(self) -> None:
+        """Explicitly load model weights. Called automatically on first rerank()."""
+        if _CrossEncoder is None:
+            raise ImportError(
+                "sentence-transformers is not installed. "
+                "Run: pip install circuitforge-core[reranker-cross-encoder]"
+            )
+        with self._lock:
+            if self._model is not None:
+                return
+            device = "cuda" if _cuda_available() else "cpu"
+            logger.info(
+                "Loading CrossEncoder reranker: %s (device=%s)", self._model_id, device
+            )
+            self._model = _CrossEncoder(
+                self._model_id,
+                max_length=self._max_length,
+                device=device,
+            )
+
+    def unload(self) -> None:
+        """Release model weights."""
+        with self._lock:
+            self._model = None
+
+    def _score_pairs(self, query: str, candidates: list[str]) -> list[float]:
+        if self._model is None:
+            self.load()
+        pairs = [(query, c) for c in candidates]
+        with self._lock:
+            raw = self._model.predict(pairs)  # type: ignore[union-attr]
+        # predict() returns a numpy array or list; normalise to plain floats.
+        return [float(s) for s in raw]
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/qwen3.py b/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/qwen3.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77b654d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/qwen3.py
@@ -0,0 +1,239 @@
+# circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/qwen3.py — Qwen3-Reranker adapter
+#
+# Requires: pip install circuitforge-core[reranker-qwen3]
+# Tested with: Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B, -1.5B, -8B
+#
+# Scoring mechanism (generative reranker):
+#   Rather than generating a full response, we pre-fill the assistant turn with
+#   the <think>\n\n</think>\n block and read the logits at the last input token
+#   position. The softmax probability of "yes" vs "no" at that position is the
+#   relevance score — one forward pass per batch, no generation loop.
+#
+# Prompt format (Qwen3 chat template):
+#   system: "Judge whether the Document meets the requirements based on the
+#            Query and the Instruct. Note that the answer can only be 'yes'
+#            or 'no'."
+#   user:   "<Instruct>: {task}\n<Query>: {query}\n<Document>: {doc}"
+#   assistant (pre-filled): "<think>\n\n</think>\n\n"
+#
+# MIT licensed.
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import threading
+from typing import Sequence
+
+from circuitforge_core.reranker.base import TextReranker
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Optional heavy deps — lazy-imported at load() time.
+try:
+    import torch as _torch  # type: ignore[import]
+except ImportError:
+    _torch = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+
+try:
+    from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM as _AutoModel  # type: ignore[import]
+    from transformers import AutoTokenizer as _AutoTokenizer  # type: ignore[import]
+except ImportError:
+    _AutoModel = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+    _AutoTokenizer = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+
+# System prompt used for all reranking tasks.
+_SYSTEM_PROMPT = (
+    "Judge whether the Document meets the requirements based on the Query and "
+    'the Instruct. Note that the answer can only be "yes" or "no".'
+)
+
+# Default task instruction — products can override via make_reranker(task=...).
+_DEFAULT_TASK = "Given a query, retrieve the most relevant document that answers the query."
+
+# The pre-filled assistant turn that puts the model past its thinking block
+# so the very next token position scores "yes" vs "no".
+_ASSISTANT_PREFILL = "<think>\n\n</think>\n\n"
+
+
+def _requires_deps() -> None:
+    if _torch is None:
+        raise ImportError(
+            "torch is not installed. Run: pip install circuitforge-core[reranker-qwen3]"
+        )
+    if _AutoModel is None:
+        raise ImportError(
+            "transformers is not installed. Run: pip install circuitforge-core[reranker-qwen3]"
+        )
+
+
+class Qwen3TextReranker(TextReranker):
+    """
+    Generative reranker using the Qwen3-Reranker model family.
+
+    Scores candidates by reading yes/no token logits at the last input position
+    after pre-filling the assistant thinking block. One forward pass covers an
+    entire batch — efficient for ranking large candidate lists.
+
+    Model options (by tier):
+        Free:  Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B  (~1.2 GB VRAM fp16)
+               Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-1.5B  (~3.0 GB VRAM fp16)
+        Paid:  Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-8B    (~16 GB VRAM fp16, or ~9 GB int8)
+
+    Usage:
+        reranker = Qwen3TextReranker("Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B")
+        results = reranker.rerank("chicken soup recipe", ["recipe 1...", "recipe 2..."])
+
+    With a custom task instruction:
+        reranker = Qwen3TextReranker(
+            "Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-1.5B",
+            task="Given a job description, retrieve the most relevant resume.",
+        )
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        model_id: str = "Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B",
+        task: str = _DEFAULT_TASK,
+        device: str | None = None,
+        dtype: str = "float16",
+        batch_size: int = 32,
+    ) -> None:
+        self._model_id = model_id
+        self._task = task
+        self._device = device  # None = auto-detect at load time
+        self._dtype_str = dtype
+        self._batch_size = batch_size
+        self._model: object | None = None
+        self._tokenizer: object | None = None
+        self._yes_id: int | None = None
+        self._no_id: int | None = None
+        self._lock = threading.Lock()
+
+    @property
+    def model_id(self) -> str:
+        return self._model_id
+
+    def load(self) -> None:
+        """Explicitly load model weights. Called automatically on first rerank()."""
+        _requires_deps()
+        with self._lock:
+            if self._model is not None:
+                return
+            device = self._device or ("cuda" if _torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")
+            dtype_map: dict[str, object] = {
+                "float16": _torch.float16,
+                "bfloat16": _torch.bfloat16,
+                "float32": _torch.float32,
+            }
+            torch_dtype = dtype_map.get(self._dtype_str, _torch.float16)
+
+            logger.info(
+                "Loading Qwen3 reranker: %s (device=%s dtype=%s)",
+                self._model_id, device, self._dtype_str,
+            )
+            tokenizer = _AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(
+                self._model_id, trust_remote_code=True
+            )
+            model = _AutoModel.from_pretrained(
+                self._model_id,
+                torch_dtype=torch_dtype,
+                device_map=device,
+                trust_remote_code=True,
+            )
+            model.eval()
+
+            # Resolve the token IDs for "yes" and "no" once at load time.
+            # Qwen tokenizers encode single-word tokens without a leading space.
+            yes_ids: list[int] = tokenizer.encode("yes", add_special_tokens=False)
+            no_ids: list[int] = tokenizer.encode("no", add_special_tokens=False)
+            if not yes_ids or not no_ids:
+                raise RuntimeError(
+                    f"Could not resolve 'yes'/'no' token IDs from tokenizer {self._model_id!r}. "
+                    "This model may not be a Qwen3-Reranker variant."
+                )
+
+            self._tokenizer = tokenizer
+            self._model = model
+            self._yes_id = yes_ids[0]
+            self._no_id = no_ids[0]
+
+    def unload(self) -> None:
+        """Release model weights. Useful for VRAM management between tasks."""
+        with self._lock:
+            self._model = None
+            self._tokenizer = None
+            self._yes_id = None
+            self._no_id = None
+
+    def _build_prompt(self, query: str, document: str) -> str:
+        """Format a single (query, document) pair as a chat-template prompt."""
+        messages = [
+            {"role": "system", "content": _SYSTEM_PROMPT},
+            {
+                "role": "user",
+                "content": (
+                    f"<Instruct>: {self._task}\n"
+                    f"<Query>: {query}\n"
+                    f"<Document>: {document}"
+                ),
+            },
+        ]
+        # apply_chat_template without tokenization so we can append the prefill.
+        text: str = self._tokenizer.apply_chat_template(  # type: ignore[union-attr]
+            messages,
+            tokenize=False,
+            add_generation_prompt=True,
+        )
+        return text + _ASSISTANT_PREFILL
+
+    def _score_pairs(self, query: str, candidates: list[str]) -> list[float]:
+        if self._model is None:
+            self.load()
+        return self._score_in_batches(query, candidates)
+
+    def _score_in_batches(self, query: str, candidates: list[str]) -> list[float]:
+        """Score all (query, candidate) pairs, splitting into sub-batches."""
+        all_scores: list[float] = []
+        for start in range(0, len(candidates), self._batch_size):
+            batch = candidates[start : start + self._batch_size]
+            all_scores.extend(self._score_batch(query, batch))
+        return all_scores
+
+    def _score_batch(self, query: str, candidates: list[str]) -> list[float]:
+        """Single forward pass for one sub-batch. Returns a score per candidate."""
+        prompts = [self._build_prompt(query, c) for c in candidates]
+
+        # Left-pad so the last token position is consistent across all sequences.
+        tokenizer = self._tokenizer  # type: ignore[union-attr]
+        original_side = getattr(tokenizer, "padding_side", "right")
+        tokenizer.padding_side = "left"
+        try:
+            encoded = tokenizer(
+                prompts,
+                return_tensors="pt",
+                padding=True,
+                truncation=True,
+                max_length=4096,
+            )
+        finally:
+            tokenizer.padding_side = original_side
+
+        model = self._model  # type: ignore[union-attr]
+        device = next(model.parameters()).device  # type: ignore[union-attr]
+        input_ids = encoded["input_ids"].to(device)
+        attention_mask = encoded["attention_mask"].to(device)
+
+        with self._lock:
+            with _torch.no_grad():
+                outputs = model(input_ids=input_ids, attention_mask=attention_mask)
+
+        # logits shape: (batch, seq_len, vocab_size)
+        # Last position [-1] is the token the model would output next.
+        last_logits = outputs.logits[:, -1, :]  # (batch, vocab)
+        yes_logits = last_logits[:, self._yes_id]   # (batch,)
+        no_logits = last_logits[:, self._no_id]     # (batch,)
+
+        # Softmax over yes/no only — score = P(yes | query, doc).
+        stacked = _torch.stack([yes_logits, no_logits], dim=-1)  # (batch, 2)
+        probs = _torch.softmax(stacked, dim=-1)
+        scores: list[float] = probs[:, 0].float().cpu().tolist()
+        return scores
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/remote.py b/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/remote.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b288b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/remote.py
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+# circuitforge_core/reranker/adapters/remote.py — HTTP remote reranker adapter
+#
+# Calls a cf-reranker service endpoint (cf-orch allocated or static URL).
+# No model weights loaded locally — all inference runs on the remote node.
+#
+# MIT licensed.
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+from typing import Sequence
+
+import requests
+
+from circuitforge_core.reranker.base import TextReranker
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Default timeout for a single /rerank call (seconds).
+# Large candidate lists may take longer — callers can pass timeout= explicitly.
+_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 30
+
+
+class RemoteTextReranker(TextReranker):
+    """
+    Reranker that delegates scoring to a remote cf-reranker HTTP service.
+
+    The remote service must implement POST /rerank with the request body::
+
+        {"query": str, "candidates": [str, ...], "top_n": int}
+
+    and return::
+
+        {"results": [{"candidate": str, "score": float, "rank": int}, ...]}
+
+    cf-orch allocation (recommended — starts service on-demand):
+        reranker = RemoteTextReranker.from_cf_orch(
+            orch_url="http://10.1.10.71:7700",
+            service="cf-reranker",
+            model_candidates=["qwen3-0.6b"],
+        )
+
+    Static URL (e.g. dedicated node already running cf-reranker):
+        reranker = RemoteTextReranker("http://10.1.10.10:8011")
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        base_url: str,
+        timeout: int = _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT,
+        _model_id: str = "remote",
+    ) -> None:
+        self._base_url = base_url.rstrip("/")
+        self._timeout = timeout
+        self._model_id_str = _model_id
+
+    @property
+    def model_id(self) -> str:
+        return self._model_id_str
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_cf_orch(
+        cls,
+        orch_url: str,
+        service: str = "cf-reranker",
+        model_candidates: list[str] | None = None,
+        ttl_s: float = 3600.0,
+        timeout: int = _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT,
+    ) -> "RemoteTextReranker":
+        """
+        Allocate a cf-reranker service via cf-orch and return a configured adapter.
+
+        Blocks until allocation succeeds or raises on failure. The returned
+        adapter is valid for the duration of the TTL; create a new one if the
+        lease expires.
+
+        This is a one-shot allocation — the caller owns the lifetime. For
+        long-running services, prefer the static URL constructor and let
+        cf-orch manage the process independently.
+        """
+        try:
+            from circuitforge_orch.client import CFOrchClient  # type: ignore[import]
+        except ImportError as exc:
+            raise ImportError(
+                "circuitforge_orch is not installed — cannot allocate via cf-orch."
+            ) from exc
+
+        client = CFOrchClient(orch_url)
+        ctx = client.allocate(
+            service,
+            model_candidates=model_candidates or [],
+            ttl_s=ttl_s,
+            caller="reranker-remote",
+        )
+        alloc = ctx.__enter__()
+        # Note: caller is responsible for ctx.__exit__() when done.
+        # We stash it on the instance so callers can call release().
+        instance = cls(
+            base_url=alloc.url,
+            timeout=timeout,
+            _model_id=f"remote:{service}",
+        )
+        instance._orch_ctx = ctx  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
+        return instance
+
+    def release(self) -> None:
+        """Release the cf-orch allocation if this adapter was created via from_cf_orch()."""
+        ctx = getattr(self, "_orch_ctx", None)
+        if ctx is not None:
+            try:
+                ctx.__exit__(None, None, None)
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+            self._orch_ctx = None  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
+
+    def _score_pairs(self, query: str, candidates: list[str]) -> list[float]:
+        url = f"{self._base_url}/rerank"
+        payload = {"query": query, "candidates": candidates, "top_n": 0}
+        try:
+            resp = requests.post(url, json=payload, timeout=self._timeout)
+            resp.raise_for_status()
+        except requests.RequestException as exc:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                f"Remote reranker at {url!r} failed: {exc}"
+            ) from exc
+
+        data = resp.json()
+        # Build a score-per-candidate list in the original order.
+        score_map: dict[str, float] = {
+            r["candidate"]: r["score"] for r in data["results"]
+        }
+        return [score_map.get(c, 0.0) for c in candidates]
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/reranker/app.py b/circuitforge_core/reranker/app.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec693ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/reranker/app.py
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+"""
+circuitforge_core.reranker.app — cf-reranker FastAPI service.
+
+Managed by cf-orch as a process-type service. cf-orch starts this via:
+
+    python -m circuitforge_core.reranker.app \
+        --model BAAI/bge-reranker-base \
+        --backend bge \
+        --port 8011 \
+        --gpu-id 0
+
+Or with Qwen3:
+
+    python -m circuitforge_core.reranker.app \
+        --model Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B \
+        --backend qwen3 \
+        --port 8011 \
+        --gpu-id 0 \
+        --dtype float16
+
+Endpoints:
+    GET  /health   → {"status": "ok", "model": "...", "backend": "...", "vram_mb": n}
+    POST /rerank   → RerankResponse
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import logging
+import os
+
+import uvicorn
+from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+# ── Request / response models ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+class RerankRequest(BaseModel):
+    query: str
+    candidates: list[str]
+    top_n: int = 0
+
+
+class RerankResultItem(BaseModel):
+    candidate: str
+    score: float
+    rank: int
+
+
+class RerankResponse(BaseModel):
+    results: list[RerankResultItem]
+    model: str
+
+
+class HealthResponse(BaseModel):
+    status: str
+    model: str
+    backend: str
+    vram_mb: int
+
+
+# ── VRAM estimates by backend/model family ────────────────────────────────────
+
+_VRAM_TABLE: dict[str, int] = {
+    "bge-reranker-base":       570,
+    "bge-reranker-large":      1300,
+    "bge-reranker-v2-m3":      570,
+    "mxbai-rerank-base-v1":    570,
+    "mxbai-rerank-large-v1":   1300,
+    "ms-marco-MiniLM-L-6-v2":  90,
+    "ms-marco-MiniLM-L-12-v2": 130,
+    "Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B":     1200,
+    "Qwen3-Reranker-1.5B":     3000,
+    "Qwen3-Reranker-8B":       16000,
+}
+
+def _estimate_vram(model_id: str) -> int:
+    for key, mb in _VRAM_TABLE.items():
+        if key in model_id:
+            return mb
+    return 1024  # safe default
+
+
+# ── App factory ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def create_app(model_id: str, backend: str, dtype: str, mock: bool) -> FastAPI:
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker import make_reranker
+
+    app = FastAPI(title="cf-reranker", version="0.1.0")
+    _reranker = make_reranker(model_id=model_id, backend=backend, mock=mock)
+    _vram_mb = _estimate_vram(model_id)
+
+    logger.info("cf-reranker ready: model=%r backend=%r vram=%dMB", model_id, backend, _vram_mb)
+
+    @app.get("/health", response_model=HealthResponse)
+    async def health() -> HealthResponse:
+        return HealthResponse(
+            status="ok",
+            model=_reranker.model_id,
+            backend=backend,
+            vram_mb=_vram_mb,
+        )
+
+    @app.post("/rerank", response_model=RerankResponse)
+    async def rerank(req: RerankRequest) -> RerankResponse:
+        if not req.candidates:
+            raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="candidates must not be empty")
+        try:
+            results = _reranker.rerank(req.query, req.candidates, top_n=req.top_n)
+        except Exception as exc:
+            logger.exception("rerank failed")
+            raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail=str(exc)) from exc
+        return RerankResponse(
+            results=[
+                RerankResultItem(candidate=r.candidate, score=r.score, rank=r.rank)
+                for r in results
+            ],
+            model=_reranker.model_id,
+        )
+
+    return app
+
+
+# ── CLI entry point ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def main() -> None:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="cf-reranker — CircuitForge reranker service")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--model", default="BAAI/bge-reranker-base",
+        help="HuggingFace model ID or local path",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--backend", default="bge",
+        choices=["bge", "qwen3", "cross-encoder", "mock"],
+        help="Reranker backend",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument("--port", type=int, default=8011)
+    parser.add_argument("--host", default="0.0.0.0")
+    parser.add_argument("--gpu-id", type=int, default=0)
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--dtype", default="float16",
+        choices=["float16", "bfloat16", "float32"],
+    )
+    parser.add_argument("--mock", action="store_true",
+                        help="Run with mock backend (no GPU, for testing)")
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    logging.basicConfig(
+        level=logging.INFO,
+        format="%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(name)s  %(message)s",
+    )
+
+    if args.backend != "mock" and not args.mock:
+        os.environ.setdefault("CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES", str(args.gpu_id))
+
+    mock = args.mock or os.environ.get("CF_RERANKER_MOCK", "") == "1"
+    app = create_app(
+        model_id=args.model,
+        backend=args.backend,
+        dtype=args.dtype,
+        mock=mock,
+    )
+    uvicorn.run(app, host=args.host, port=args.port, log_level="info")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index af9f1a0..e1cd70e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "circuitforge-core"
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.17.0"
 description = "Shared scaffold for CircuitForge products (MIT)"
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
 dependencies = [
@@ -91,6 +91,17 @@ reranker-qwen3 = [
     "transformers>=4.40",
     "accelerate>=0.27",
 ]
+reranker-cross-encoder = [
+    "sentence-transformers>=3.0",
+]
+reranker-cohere = [
+    "cohere>=5.0",
+]
+reranker-service = [
+    "circuitforge-core[reranker-qwen3]",
+    "fastapi>=0.110",
+    "uvicorn[standard]>=0.29",
+]
 dev = [
     "circuitforge-core[manage]",
     "pytest>=8.0",
diff --git a/tests/test_reranker/test_cohere.py b/tests/test_reranker/test_cohere.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2f3635
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_reranker/test_cohere.py
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+"""Tests for CohereTextReranker with mocked cohere client."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+
+from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cohere import CohereTextReranker
+
+
+def _make_cohere_result(index: int, score: float) -> MagicMock:
+    r = MagicMock()
+    r.index = index
+    r.relevance_score = score
+    return r
+
+
+def _make_mock_client(results: list[MagicMock]) -> MagicMock:
+    response = MagicMock()
+    response.results = results
+    client = MagicMock()
+    client.rerank.return_value = response
+    return client
+
+
+def test_model_id_includes_model_name():
+    r = CohereTextReranker(model="rerank-multilingual-v3.0")
+    assert r.model_id == "cohere:rerank-multilingual-v3.0"
+
+
+def test_raises_without_cohere_package():
+    reranker = CohereTextReranker(api_key="co-test")
+    with patch("circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cohere._cohere", None):
+        with pytest.raises(ImportError, match="cohere"):
+            reranker._score_pairs("q", ["doc"])
+
+
+def test_raises_without_api_key(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.delenv("COHERE_API_KEY", raising=False)
+    reranker = CohereTextReranker()  # no api_key arg
+    mock_cohere = MagicMock()
+    with patch("circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cohere._cohere", mock_cohere):
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="API key"):
+            reranker._get_client()
+
+
+def test_reads_api_key_from_env(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("COHERE_API_KEY", "co-fromenv")
+    mock_cohere = MagicMock()
+    with patch("circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cohere._cohere", mock_cohere):
+        reranker = CohereTextReranker()
+        reranker._get_client()
+        mock_cohere.Client.assert_called_once_with(api_key="co-fromenv")
+
+
+def test_score_pairs_returns_original_order():
+    """Cohere returns results sorted by score; we must restore original order."""
+    reranker = CohereTextReranker(api_key="co-test")
+    # Cohere returns candidates ranked: index 2 (0.9), index 0 (0.6), index 1 (0.1)
+    mock_client = _make_mock_client([
+        _make_cohere_result(index=2, score=0.9),
+        _make_cohere_result(index=0, score=0.6),
+        _make_cohere_result(index=1, score=0.1),
+    ])
+    with patch.object(reranker, "_get_client", return_value=mock_client):
+        scores = reranker._score_pairs("query", ["a", "b", "c"])
+    # Original order: a=0.6, b=0.1, c=0.9
+    assert scores == [pytest.approx(0.6), pytest.approx(0.1), pytest.approx(0.9)]
+
+
+def test_rerank_sorts_correctly():
+    reranker = CohereTextReranker(api_key="co-test")
+    mock_client = _make_mock_client([
+        _make_cohere_result(index=1, score=0.95),
+        _make_cohere_result(index=0, score=0.3),
+    ])
+    with patch.object(reranker, "_get_client", return_value=mock_client):
+        results = reranker.rerank("query", ["less relevant", "more relevant"])
+    assert results[0].candidate == "more relevant"
+    assert results[0].rank == 0
+
+
+def test_rerank_top_n():
+    reranker = CohereTextReranker(api_key="co-test")
+    mock_client = _make_mock_client([
+        _make_cohere_result(index=0, score=0.9),
+        _make_cohere_result(index=1, score=0.5),
+        _make_cohere_result(index=2, score=0.1),
+    ])
+    with patch.object(reranker, "_get_client", return_value=mock_client):
+        results = reranker.rerank("q", ["a", "b", "c"], top_n=2)
+    assert len(results) == 2
+
+
+def test_rerank_calls_cohere_with_correct_args():
+    reranker = CohereTextReranker(api_key="co-test", model="rerank-english-v3.0")
+    mock_client = _make_mock_client([_make_cohere_result(index=0, score=0.8)])
+    with patch.object(reranker, "_get_client", return_value=mock_client):
+        reranker.rerank("my query", ["only doc"])
+    mock_client.rerank.assert_called_once_with(
+        query="my query",
+        documents=["only doc"],
+        model="rerank-english-v3.0",
+        top_n=1,
+        max_chunks_per_doc=1,
+    )
diff --git a/tests/test_reranker/test_cross_encoder.py b/tests/test_reranker/test_cross_encoder.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..586cb9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_reranker/test_cross_encoder.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+"""Tests for CrossEncoderTextReranker with mocked sentence-transformers."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+
+from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cross_encoder import CrossEncoderTextReranker
+
+
+def _make_mock_cross_encoder(scores: list[float]) -> MagicMock:
+    m = MagicMock()
+    m.predict.return_value = scores
+    return m
+
+
+def test_model_id():
+    assert (
+        CrossEncoderTextReranker("mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-base-v1").model_id
+        == "mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-base-v1"
+    )
+
+
+def test_load_raises_without_sentence_transformers():
+    reranker = CrossEncoderTextReranker()
+    with patch("circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cross_encoder._CrossEncoder", None):
+        with pytest.raises(ImportError, match="sentence-transformers"):
+            reranker.load()
+
+
+def test_rerank_scores_and_sorts():
+    reranker = CrossEncoderTextReranker("mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-base-v1")
+    reranker._model = _make_mock_cross_encoder([0.2, 0.9, 0.5])
+
+    results = reranker.rerank("query", ["a", "b", "c"])
+    assert results[0].candidate == "b"
+    assert results[0].rank == 0
+    assert results[2].candidate == "a"
+
+
+def test_rerank_top_n():
+    reranker = CrossEncoderTextReranker()
+    reranker._model = _make_mock_cross_encoder([0.1, 0.8, 0.5])
+    results = reranker.rerank("q", ["a", "b", "c"], top_n=2)
+    assert len(results) == 2
+    assert results[0].candidate == "b"
+
+
+def test_predict_called_with_pairs():
+    reranker = CrossEncoderTextReranker()
+    mock_model = _make_mock_cross_encoder([0.7, 0.3])
+    reranker._model = mock_model
+
+    reranker.rerank("chicken soup", ["recipe one", "recipe two"])
+    pairs = mock_model.predict.call_args[0][0]
+    assert pairs == [("chicken soup", "recipe one"), ("chicken soup", "recipe two")]
+
+
+def test_numpy_scores_coerced_to_float():
+    """predict() may return numpy floats — verify they're converted cleanly."""
+    try:
+        import numpy as np
+        numpy_scores = np.array([0.8, 0.2])
+    except ImportError:
+        pytest.skip("numpy not installed")
+
+    reranker = CrossEncoderTextReranker()
+    reranker._model = _make_mock_cross_encoder(numpy_scores)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+    results = reranker.rerank("q", ["a", "b"])
+    assert isinstance(results[0].score, float)
+
+
+def test_unload_clears_model():
+    reranker = CrossEncoderTextReranker()
+    reranker._model = MagicMock()
+    reranker.unload()
+    assert reranker._model is None
diff --git a/tests/test_reranker/test_qwen3.py b/tests/test_reranker/test_qwen3.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91dc81b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_reranker/test_qwen3.py
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+"""Tests for Qwen3TextReranker with mocked transformers."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch, PropertyMock
+
+import pytest
+
+from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.qwen3 import Qwen3TextReranker, _ASSISTANT_PREFILL
+
+
+# ── Helpers ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def _make_mock_model(yes_logit: float = 5.0, no_logit: float = 1.0, batch_size: int = 1):
+    """Return a mock AutoModelForCausalLM that outputs fixed yes/no logits."""
+    import torch
+
+    model = MagicMock()
+    # Simulate logits: (batch, seq_len=1, vocab_size=32000)
+    # yes token id = 9693, no token id = 2201 (Qwen tokenizer typical values)
+    vocab_size = 32000
+    logits = torch.zeros(batch_size, 1, vocab_size)
+    logits[:, :, 9693] = yes_logit   # "yes" token
+    logits[:, :, 2201] = no_logit    # "no" token
+    output = MagicMock()
+    output.logits = logits
+    model.return_value = output
+
+    # next(model.parameters()).device
+    param = MagicMock()
+    param.device = torch.device("cpu")
+    model.parameters.return_value = iter([param])
+    return model
+
+
+def _make_mock_tokenizer(yes_id: int = 9693, no_id: int = 2201):
+    """Return a mock AutoTokenizer."""
+    import torch
+
+    tokenizer = MagicMock()
+    tokenizer.encode.side_effect = lambda text, **kw: (
+        [yes_id] if text == "yes" else [no_id]
+    )
+    tokenizer.apply_chat_template.return_value = "<prompt>"
+    tokenizer.padding_side = "right"
+
+    # Return simple fixed-length tensors from __call__
+    tokenizer.return_value = {
+        "input_ids": torch.zeros(1, 10, dtype=torch.long),
+        "attention_mask": torch.ones(1, 10, dtype=torch.long),
+    }
+    return tokenizer
+
+
+# ── Unit tests ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def test_load_raises_without_torch():
+    reranker = Qwen3TextReranker("Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B")
+    with patch("circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.qwen3._torch", None):
+        with pytest.raises(ImportError, match="torch"):
+            reranker.load()
+
+
+def test_load_raises_without_transformers():
+    reranker = Qwen3TextReranker("Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B")
+    with patch("circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.qwen3._AutoModel", None):
+        with pytest.raises(ImportError, match="transformers"):
+            reranker.load()
+
+
+def test_model_id():
+    assert Qwen3TextReranker("Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-1.5B").model_id == "Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-1.5B"
+
+
+def test_unload_clears_state():
+    reranker = Qwen3TextReranker()
+    reranker._model = MagicMock()
+    reranker._tokenizer = MagicMock()
+    reranker._yes_id = 1
+    reranker._no_id = 2
+    reranker.unload()
+    assert reranker._model is None
+    assert reranker._tokenizer is None
+    assert reranker._yes_id is None
+    assert reranker._no_id is None
+
+
+def test_build_prompt_includes_prefill():
+    reranker = Qwen3TextReranker()
+    reranker._tokenizer = _make_mock_tokenizer()
+    prompt = reranker._build_prompt("what is chicken soup", "a hearty recipe")
+    assert _ASSISTANT_PREFILL in prompt
+
+
+def test_score_batch_returns_yes_probability():
+    """Higher yes_logit → score closer to 1.0."""
+    import torch
+
+    reranker = Qwen3TextReranker()
+    reranker._tokenizer = _make_mock_tokenizer()
+    reranker._model = _make_mock_model(yes_logit=10.0, no_logit=0.0)
+    reranker._yes_id = 9693
+    reranker._no_id = 2201
+
+    scores = reranker._score_batch("query", ["candidate"])
+    assert len(scores) == 1
+    assert scores[0] > 0.99  # softmax(10, 0)[0] ≈ 0.9999
+
+
+def test_score_batch_low_yes_logit():
+    """Lower yes_logit → score closer to 0.0."""
+    reranker = Qwen3TextReranker()
+    reranker._tokenizer = _make_mock_tokenizer()
+    reranker._model = _make_mock_model(yes_logit=0.0, no_logit=10.0)
+    reranker._yes_id = 9693
+    reranker._no_id = 2201
+
+    scores = reranker._score_batch("query", ["irrelevant candidate"])
+    assert scores[0] < 0.01
+
+
+def test_rerank_sorts_by_score():
+    """Integration through rerank() — highest yes-logit candidate should rank first."""
+    import torch
+
+    reranker = Qwen3TextReranker(batch_size=10)
+    tokenizer = _make_mock_tokenizer()
+    # Return different-length tensors per call to simulate multi-candidate batch
+    call_count = [0]
+
+    def tokenize_side_effect(prompts, **kw):
+        n = len(prompts)
+        return {
+            "input_ids": torch.zeros(n, 10, dtype=torch.long),
+            "attention_mask": torch.ones(n, 10, dtype=torch.long),
+        }
+
+    tokenizer.side_effect = tokenize_side_effect
+    tokenizer.return_value = None  # disable default return
+    reranker._tokenizer = tokenizer
+
+    # Simulate two candidates: first gets low yes logit, second gets high
+    import torch as _torch
+    vocab_size = 32000
+    batch_logits = _torch.zeros(2, 1, vocab_size)
+    batch_logits[0, 0, 9693] = 1.0   # candidate 0: low relevance
+    batch_logits[0, 0, 2201] = 5.0
+    batch_logits[1, 0, 9693] = 5.0   # candidate 1: high relevance
+    batch_logits[1, 0, 2201] = 1.0
+
+    output = MagicMock()
+    output.logits = batch_logits
+    model = MagicMock()
+    model.return_value = output
+    param = MagicMock()
+    param.device = _torch.device("cpu")
+    model.parameters.return_value = iter([param])
+
+    reranker._model = model
+    reranker._yes_id = 9693
+    reranker._no_id = 2201
+
+    results = reranker.rerank("query", ["low relevance doc", "high relevance doc"])
+    assert results[0].candidate == "high relevance doc"
+    assert results[0].rank == 0
+
+
+def test_score_in_batches_splits_correctly():
+    """Verify that large candidate lists are split into sub-batches."""
+    reranker = Qwen3TextReranker(batch_size=2)
+    reranker._tokenizer = _make_mock_tokenizer()
+    reranker._yes_id = 9693
+    reranker._no_id = 2201
+
+    batch_results: list[list[float]] = []
+
+    def fake_score_batch(query, cands):
+        batch_results.append(cands)
+        return [0.5] * len(cands)
+
+    reranker._score_batch = fake_score_batch  # type: ignore[method-assign]
+    scores = reranker._score_in_batches("q", ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e"])
+    assert len(scores) == 5
+    # 5 candidates with batch_size=2 → 3 sub-batches: [a,b], [c,d], [e]
+    assert len(batch_results) == 3
+    assert batch_results[2] == ["e"]
diff --git a/tests/test_reranker/test_remote.py b/tests/test_reranker/test_remote.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4d5fec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_reranker/test_remote.py
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+"""Tests for RemoteTextReranker."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+
+from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.remote import RemoteTextReranker
+
+
+def _make_mock_response(results: list[dict]) -> MagicMock:
+    resp = MagicMock()
+    resp.json.return_value = {"results": results}
+    resp.raise_for_status = MagicMock()
+    return resp
+
+
+def test_model_id():
+    assert RemoteTextReranker("http://10.0.0.1:8011").model_id == "remote"
+
+
+def test_score_pairs_posts_to_rerank_endpoint():
+    reranker = RemoteTextReranker("http://10.0.0.1:8011")
+    mock_resp = _make_mock_response([
+        {"candidate": "doc a", "score": 0.9, "rank": 0},
+        {"candidate": "doc b", "score": 0.3, "rank": 1},
+    ])
+    with patch("requests.post", return_value=mock_resp) as mock_post:
+        scores = reranker._score_pairs("query", ["doc a", "doc b"])
+
+    mock_post.assert_called_once_with(
+        "http://10.0.0.1:8011/rerank",
+        json={"query": "query", "candidates": ["doc a", "doc b"], "top_n": 0},
+        timeout=30,
+    )
+    assert scores == [pytest.approx(0.9), pytest.approx(0.3)]
+
+
+def test_score_pairs_restores_original_order():
+    """Remote may return results in any order — scores must align with input."""
+    reranker = RemoteTextReranker("http://10.0.0.1:8011")
+    # Remote returned c first (highest score), then a, then b
+    mock_resp = _make_mock_response([
+        {"candidate": "c", "score": 0.95, "rank": 0},
+        {"candidate": "a", "score": 0.6, "rank": 1},
+        {"candidate": "b", "score": 0.1, "rank": 2},
+    ])
+    with patch("requests.post", return_value=mock_resp):
+        scores = reranker._score_pairs("q", ["a", "b", "c"])
+    assert scores == [pytest.approx(0.6), pytest.approx(0.1), pytest.approx(0.95)]
+
+
+def test_score_pairs_raises_on_http_error():
+    import requests as req
+    reranker = RemoteTextReranker("http://10.0.0.1:8011")
+    with patch("requests.post", side_effect=req.ConnectionError("refused")):
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="Remote reranker"):
+            reranker._score_pairs("q", ["doc"])
+
+
+def test_rerank_end_to_end():
+    reranker = RemoteTextReranker("http://10.0.0.1:8011")
+    mock_resp = _make_mock_response([
+        {"candidate": "irrelevant", "score": 0.2, "rank": 0},
+        {"candidate": "very relevant", "score": 0.9, "rank": 1},
+    ])
+    with patch("requests.post", return_value=mock_resp):
+        results = reranker.rerank("q", ["irrelevant", "very relevant"])
+    assert results[0].candidate == "very relevant"
+    assert results[0].rank == 0
+
+
+# ── make_reranker wiring ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def test_make_reranker_qwen3():
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker import make_reranker
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.qwen3 import Qwen3TextReranker
+    r = make_reranker("Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B", backend="qwen3")
+    assert isinstance(r, Qwen3TextReranker)
+
+
+def test_make_reranker_cross_encoder():
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker import make_reranker
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cross_encoder import CrossEncoderTextReranker
+    r = make_reranker("mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-base-v1", backend="cross-encoder")
+    assert isinstance(r, CrossEncoderTextReranker)
+
+
+def test_make_reranker_cohere():
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker import make_reranker
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker.adapters.cohere import CohereTextReranker
+    r = make_reranker("rerank-english-v3.0", backend="cohere")
+    assert isinstance(r, CohereTextReranker)
+
+
+def test_make_reranker_remote():
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker import make_reranker
+    r = make_reranker("http://10.0.0.1:8011", backend="remote")
+    assert isinstance(r, RemoteTextReranker)
+
+
+def test_make_reranker_unknown_raises():
+    from circuitforge_core.reranker import make_reranker
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="cross-encoder"):
+        make_reranker(backend="unknown-backend")