diff --git a/app/tiers.py b/app/tiers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c55b5ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/tiers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+"""Snipe feature gates. Delegates to circuitforge_core.tiers."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+from circuitforge_core.tiers import can_use as _core_can_use, TIERS  # noqa: F401
+
+# Feature key → minimum tier required.
+FEATURES: dict[str, str] = {
+    # Free tier
+    "metadata_trust_scoring":    "free",
+    "hash_dedup":                "free",
+    # Paid tier
+    "photo_analysis":            "paid",
+    "serial_number_check":       "paid",
+    "ai_image_detection":        "paid",
+    "reverse_image_search":      "paid",
+    "saved_searches":            "paid",
+    "background_monitoring":     "paid",
+}
+
+# Photo analysis features unlock if user has local vision model (moondream2 (MD2) or similar).
+LOCAL_VISION_UNLOCKABLE: frozenset[str] = frozenset({
+    "photo_analysis",
+    "serial_number_check",
+})
+
+
+def can_use(
+    feature: str,
+    tier: str = "free",
+    has_byok: bool = False,
+    has_local_vision: bool = False,
+) -> bool:
+    if has_local_vision and feature in LOCAL_VISION_UNLOCKABLE:
+        return True
+    return _core_can_use(feature, tier, has_byok=has_byok, _features=FEATURES)
diff --git a/tests/test_tiers.py b/tests/test_tiers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf8d3cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_tiers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+from app.tiers import can_use, FEATURES, LOCAL_VISION_UNLOCKABLE
+
+
+def test_metadata_scoring_is_free():
+    assert can_use("metadata_trust_scoring", tier="free") is True
+
+
+def test_photo_analysis_is_paid():
+    assert can_use("photo_analysis", tier="free") is False
+    assert can_use("photo_analysis", tier="paid") is True
+
+
+def test_local_vision_unlocks_photo_analysis():
+    assert can_use("photo_analysis", tier="free", has_local_vision=True) is True
+
+
+def test_byok_does_not_unlock_photo_analysis():
+    assert can_use("photo_analysis", tier="free", has_byok=True) is False
+
+
+def test_saved_searches_require_paid():
+    assert can_use("saved_searches", tier="free") is False
+    assert can_use("saved_searches", tier="paid") is True