diff --git a/app/services/task_inference.py b/app/services/task_inference.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d7cf3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/services/task_inference.py
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+# app/services/task_inference.py
+# BSL 1.1 — LLM feature
+"""Task-based service allocation via the cf-orch coordinator.
+
+Calls POST /api/inference/task instead of a hardcoded service type.
+The coordinator resolves model_id and service_type from assignments.yaml.
+
+Fallback contract (for callers):
+  - 404 → TaskNotRegistered  (fall back to direct client.allocate())
+  - other error → RuntimeError
+  - CF_ORCH_URL unset → RuntimeError (guard with os.environ.get first)
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import os
+from collections.abc import Generator
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+import httpx
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class TaskNotRegistered(Exception):
+    """Coordinator returned 404 for a product/task pair.
+
+    Means the task is not yet in assignments.yaml. Callers should fall
+    back to direct service allocation (client.allocate()).
+    """
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class Allocation:
+    url: str
+    allocation_id: str
+    service: str
+
+
+def _orch_url() -> str:
+    return os.environ.get("CF_ORCH_URL", "").rstrip("/")
+
+
+@contextmanager
+def task_allocate(
+    product: str,
+    task: str,
+    *,
+    service_hint: str,
+    ttl_s: float = 120.0,
+) -> Generator[Allocation, None, None]:
+    """Context manager: allocate a service via task-based routing.
+
+    Calls POST /api/inference/task, yields Allocation, releases on exit.
+    Supports both `with task_allocate(...) as alloc:` and manual
+    `ctx = task_allocate(...); alloc = ctx.__enter__()` patterns.
+
+    **Sync-only**: uses the synchronous httpx API. Do not call from an
+    ``async def`` handler without wrapping in ``asyncio.to_thread``. Current
+    call sites (``llm_router.py``, ``vl_model.py``) are synchronous.
+
+    Args:
+        product: CF product name (e.g. "kiwi")
+        task: Task identifier (e.g. "meal_plan", "ocr")
+        service_hint: Service type for the release DELETE call. The
+            coordinator response does not include service_type, so the
+            caller provides it. When the coordinator is updated to return
+            service in the response (cf-orch#63), this becomes unused.
+        ttl_s: Allocation TTL in seconds.
+
+    Raises:
+        TaskNotRegistered: Coordinator returned 404.
+        RuntimeError: Coordinator unreachable, returned non-404 error, or
+            returned a malformed (non-JSON / missing fields) response.
+        RuntimeError: CF_ORCH_URL is not set.
+    """
+    base = _orch_url()
+    if not base:
+        raise RuntimeError("CF_ORCH_URL is not set")
+
+    try:
+        resp = httpx.post(
+            f"{base}/api/inference/task",
+            json={"product": product, "task": task, "payload": {}},
+            timeout=30.0,
+        )
+    except httpx.RequestError as exc:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"cf-orch unreachable: {exc}") from exc
+
+    if resp.status_code == 404:
+        raise TaskNotRegistered(
+            f"No assignment for product={product!r} task={task!r} — "
+            "ensure cf-orch#61/62 are deployed and coordinator reloaded"
+        )
+    if not resp.is_success:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"cf-orch /api/inference/task failed: "
+            f"HTTP {resp.status_code} — {resp.text[:200]}"
+        )
+
+    try:
+        data = resp.json()
+        alloc = Allocation(
+            url=data["url"],
+            allocation_id=data["allocation_id"],
+            service=data.get("service") or service_hint,
+        )
+    except (KeyError, ValueError) as exc:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"cf-orch /api/inference/task returned malformed response: {exc} — "
+            f"body: {resp.text[:200]}"
+        ) from exc
+
+    try:
+        yield alloc
+    finally:
+        try:
+            httpx.delete(
+                f"{base}/api/services/{alloc.service}/allocations/{alloc.allocation_id}",
+                timeout=10.0,
+            )
+        except Exception as exc:
+            logger.debug("cf-orch task allocation release failed (non-fatal): %s", exc)
diff --git a/tests/services/test_task_inference.py b/tests/services/test_task_inference.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4159c4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/services/test_task_inference.py
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+"""Tests for app/services/task_inference.py"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+
+
+def _ok_resp(url: str = "http://node:8080", allocation_id: str = "alloc-123") -> MagicMock:
+    m = MagicMock()
+    m.status_code = 200
+    m.is_success = True
+    m.json.return_value = {
+        "url": url,
+        "allocation_id": allocation_id,
+        "gpu_id": 0,
+        "started": True,
+        "warm": False,
+    }
+    return m
+
+
+def _err_resp(status_code: int, text: str = "error") -> MagicMock:
+    m = MagicMock()
+    m.status_code = status_code
+    m.is_success = False
+    m.text = text
+    return m
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_yields_allocation_on_200(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() yields Allocation with url, allocation_id, service on 200."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=_ok_resp()) as mock_post, \
+         patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.delete") as mock_del:
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text") as alloc:
+            assert alloc.url == "http://node:8080"
+            assert alloc.allocation_id == "alloc-123"
+            assert alloc.service == "cf-text"
+        called_url = mock_post.call_args[0][0]
+        assert called_url == "http://coord:7700/api/inference/task"
+        mock_del.assert_called_once()
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_uses_service_from_response_when_present(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() uses service from response dict over service_hint when available."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    resp = _ok_resp()
+    resp.json.return_value["service"] = "cf-vision"
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=resp), \
+         patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.delete"):
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with task_allocate("kiwi", "ocr", service_hint="cf-docuvision") as alloc:
+            assert alloc.service == "cf-vision"
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_404_raises_task_not_registered(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() raises TaskNotRegistered on coordinator 404."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=_err_resp(404)):
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate, TaskNotRegistered
+        with pytest.raises(TaskNotRegistered):
+            with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text"):
+                pass
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_503_raises_runtime_error(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() raises RuntimeError on non-404 coordinator errors."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=_err_resp(503, "no GPU")):
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="HTTP 503"):
+            with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text"):
+                pass
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_release_called_on_clean_exit(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() DELETEs the allocation on clean context exit."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=_ok_resp(allocation_id="xyz")), \
+         patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.delete") as mock_del:
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text"):
+            pass
+        release_url = mock_del.call_args[0][0]
+        assert "cf-text" in release_url
+        assert "xyz" in release_url
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_release_called_when_inner_block_raises(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() DELETEs the allocation even when the inner block raises."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=_ok_resp(allocation_id="abc")), \
+         patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.delete") as mock_del:
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+            with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text"):
+                raise ValueError("inner error")
+        mock_del.assert_called_once()
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_release_failure_is_swallowed(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() does not propagate DELETE failures."""
+    import httpx as _httpx
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=_ok_resp()), \
+         patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.delete",
+               side_effect=_httpx.RequestError("gone", request=MagicMock())):
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text") as alloc:
+            assert alloc.url == "http://node:8080"
+        # no exception raised
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_no_orch_url_raises_runtime_error(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() raises RuntimeError when CF_ORCH_URL is not set."""
+    monkeypatch.delenv("CF_ORCH_URL", raising=False)
+    from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="CF_ORCH_URL"):
+        with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text"):
+            pass
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_network_error_raises_runtime_error(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() wraps httpx.RequestError in RuntimeError."""
+    import httpx as _httpx
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post",
+               side_effect=_httpx.RequestError("timeout", request=MagicMock())):
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="unreachable"):
+            with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text"):
+                pass
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_malformed_json_raises_runtime_error(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() raises RuntimeError when coordinator returns non-JSON on 200."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    bad_resp = MagicMock()
+    bad_resp.status_code = 200
+    bad_resp.is_success = True
+    bad_resp.text = "<html>proxy error</html>"
+    bad_resp.json.side_effect = ValueError("not json")
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=bad_resp):
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="malformed"):
+            with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text"):
+                pass
+
+
+def test_task_allocate_missing_url_field_raises_runtime_error(monkeypatch):
+    """task_allocate() raises RuntimeError when coordinator response is missing url field."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("CF_ORCH_URL", "http://coord:7700")
+    bad_resp = MagicMock()
+    bad_resp.status_code = 200
+    bad_resp.is_success = True
+    bad_resp.text = '{"allocation_id": "x"}'
+    bad_resp.json.return_value = {"allocation_id": "x"}  # missing "url"
+    with patch("app.services.task_inference.httpx.post", return_value=bad_resp):
+        from app.services.task_inference import task_allocate
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="malformed"):
+            with task_allocate("kiwi", "meal_plan", service_hint="cf-text"):
+                pass