diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4e7e489afa..a22a7f2564 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ _Living section — bullets land here as PRs merge into `release/v3.8.47` (paral
 - **fix(providers):** `fusion` combo strategy silently returned a panel member's raw answer instead of the configured `config.judgeModel` synthesis ([#6455](https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute/issues/6455)) — `handleFusionChat()`'s single-survivor "degrade gracefully" path (added for #6454) returned the lone panel answer directly whenever only one panelist succeeded, regardless of whether an explicit `judgeModel` was configured; with the default `minPanel: 2` and a 2-model panel, any single flaky/rate-limited panelist forced this path on every request, so the configured judge (e.g. `auto/claude-opus`) was never invoked and the client-visible `.model` reflected whichever panelist happened to survive. The judge is now still invoked to synthesize a lone surviving answer whenever `judgeModel` is explicitly configured; the cheap direct-answer shortcut is kept only for the implicit case (no `judgeModel` set, where the "judge" is just `panel[0]`). Regression guard: `tests/unit/fusion-judge-model-6455.test.ts` + updated `tests/unit/combo-fusion-strategy.test.ts`. (thanks @chirag127)
 - **feat(combo):** sanitized diagnostic trace on an auto-combo terminal failure — instead of an opaque 503, a terminal combo failure now returns a whitelist-projected trace (candidate pool size, attempted count, excluded provider/reason codes, attempt order, and a terminal-reason code) via the new `errorResponseWithComboDiagnostics()`/`sanitizeComboDiagnostics()` in `open-sse/utils/error.ts` — provider/model ids and enumerated reason codes only, never keys/tokens/bodies, length- and count-capped. A reasoning-budget-exhausted panel now returns an actionable "increase max_tokens" message rather than a blind retry-limit 503. Regression guard: `tests/unit/combo-diagnostics-trace.test.ts`. ([#6545](https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute/pull/6545)) — see PR. (thanks @developerjillur)
 - **fix(providers):** image/diffusion models discovered from an upstream catalog (e.g. HuggingFace's live `/v1/models`) are no longer advertised as chat models ([#6457](https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute/issues/6457)) — the chat catalog builder defaulted synced models with no modality info to `endpoints: ["chat"]`, so `huggingface/stabilityai/stable-diffusion-xl-base-1.0` showed up in the chat `/v1/models` listing and returned `400 "not a chat model"` when called. `catalog.ts` now skips any synced model already registered as an image model for that provider (via the new `isRegisteredImageModel()`), leaving `getAllImageModels()` to list it with the correct `type: "image"`. Regression guard: `tests/unit/image-model-not-in-chat-catalog-6457.test.ts`.
+- **fix(resilience):** combo session stickiness never released a pin on a credits-exhausted/banned/expired account, permanently defeating failover for that conversation ([#6692](https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute/issues/6692)) — `applySessionStickiness()` (`open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts`) gated the sticky pin only on 5h/weekly usage-percentage headroom, which is orthogonal to account availability: a `credits_exhausted`/`banned`/`expired` connection, or one still inside its `rateLimitedUntil` cooldown, reports perfectly healthy headroom, so the pin was force-promoted back to the front of the target list on every subsequent turn. `clearStickyBinding()` also had zero call sites in `combo.ts`'s failure paths, so a quality-validation-rejected 200 (a masked daily-cap refusal) never released the pin either. The gate now also resolves the bound connection's terminal status/cooldown via a new injectable fetcher seam (fail-open on lookup errors, mirroring the existing saturation fetcher), and `combo.ts`'s two dispatchers (`handleComboChat`/`handleRoundRobinCombo`) release the pin immediately at both their connection-exhaustion classification point and their quality-validation-failure branch via the new `releaseStickyPinOnFailure()`. Regression guard: `tests/unit/repro-6692-sticky-terminal.test.ts` + extended `tests/unit/combo-session-stickiness.test.ts`.
 - **fix(test):** replace the bare `expect(true).toBe(true)` tautology in `playground-api-tab.test.tsx`'s SSE test and close the `check:test-masking` gap that let it slip through for a full cycle ([#6404](https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute/issues/6404)) — a prior pass (#6548) had already swapped the literal to `expect(sendBtn).toBeDefined()`, but that stayed just as vacuous: the test's fetch mock returned an empty `/v1/models` list, so `ApiTab`'s Send button is always `disabled` (`!selectedModel`) and the SSE branch never runs — the "SSE infra is verified" comment was never true. The test now mocks a real model, drives the model `<select>` to enable Send, asserts `sendBtn.disabled === false` before clicking, and asserts the streamed SSE delta (`"Hello!"`) actually reached the response editor. Root cause on the detector side: `check-test-masking.mjs`'s tautology subcheck only compares base-vs-HEAD counts within a PR's own diff (`headExtTaut > baseExtTaut`) and no-ops locally when `GITHUB_BASE_SHA`/`GITHUB_BASE_REF` are unset ("sem base ref — pulando") — so a tautology merged once, or checked with a bare local run, was invisible forever after. Added a new always-on, PR-independent absolute-floor scan (`scanBareTautologies` + `countBareTautologies`) over every git-tracked test file for the bare `expect(true).toBe(true)` / `assert.equal(1,1)` / `assert.strictEqual(1,1)` patterns specifically (deliberately excluding `assert.ok(true)`, which has ~15 pre-existing verified-legitimate try/catch-fallback uses repo-wide and stays governed by the lenient diff-only subcheck) — verified zero pre-existing hits repo-wide once this file was fixed, so the new floor is safe to enforce unconditionally. Regression guard: `tests/unit/check-test-masking.test.ts` (new `scanBareTautologies`/`countBareTautologies` cases) + `tests/unit/ui/playground-api-tab.test.tsx`. (thanks @chirag127)
 - **fix(oauth):** Codex/ChatGPT (and every other OAuth provider) connection stays stuck showing "Auth Failed" even after a genuinely successful token refresh ([#6352](https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute/issues/6352)) — `updateProviderCredentials()` (the shared `onPersist` callback for the manual "Refresh token" route, the reactive per-request refresh in `chat.ts`, and the Codex/Claude auth-file importers) correctly reused the stored `refresh_token`, persisted the new `access_token`, and replaced a rotated `refresh_token`, but never cleared the stale `testStatus`/`lastError*`/`errorCode` fields left over from a prior expired/invalid refresh or upstream 401/403 — only the separate background health-check sweep did that clearing. A successful refresh now resets `testStatus` to `"active"` and clears `lastError`, `lastErrorAt`, `lastErrorType`, `lastErrorSource`, and `errorCode` (an explicit `testStatus` from the caller still wins). Regression guard: `tests/unit/codex-oauth-refresh-persist-6352.test.ts`.
 - **perf(health):** short-TTL (1s) cache for the frequently-polled `GET /api/monitoring/health` payload — rebuilding it every request (DB reads + status aggregation across 8 subsystems) was wasteful under rapid polling; the cache stays near-real-time and is invalidated immediately on `DELETE` (circuit-breaker reset) so a manual reset is reflected at once. Regression guard: `tests/integration/monitoring-health-cache.test.ts`. ([#6553](https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute/pull/6553)) — see PR. (thanks @developerjillur)
diff --git a/open-sse/services/combo.ts b/open-sse/services/combo.ts
index 9ba5e7bd66..0beb8bfb79 100644
--- a/open-sse/services/combo.ts
+++ b/open-sse/services/combo.ts
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ import { getSessionConnection } from "./sessionManager.ts";
 import {
   applySessionStickiness,
   recordStickyBinding,
+  clearStickyBinding,
+  peekStickyConnectionId,
   resolveDisableSessionStickiness,
 } from "./combo/sessionStickiness.ts";
 import { selectQuotaShareTarget } from "./combo/quotaShareStrategy.ts";
@@ -205,6 +207,26 @@ export {
   validateComboDAG,
 } from "./combo/comboStructure.ts";
 
+/**
+ * #6692: release a session-stickiness pin the moment its bound connection is
+ * the one that just failed. applySessionStickiness() only re-checks health on
+ * the NEXT turn (lazily) — without this, a terminal/quality-rejected
+ * connection stays pinned until that lazy recheck fires, and a masked
+ * daily-cap 200-body rejection never trips the lazy recheck's DB-backed
+ * testStatus gate at all (the connection row itself isn't marked unhealthy).
+ * Exported for the two failure branches in handleComboChat + handleRoundRobinCombo.
+ * peekStickyConnectionId guards against clearing an unrelated pin when the
+ * failing target isn't actually the currently sticky-bound connection.
+ */
+export function releaseStickyPinOnFailure(
+  messageHash: string | null | undefined,
+  failedConnectionId: string | null | undefined
+): void {
+  if (!messageHash || !failedConnectionId) return;
+  if (peekStickyConnectionId(messageHash) !== failedConnectionId) return;
+  clearStickyBinding(messageHash);
+}
+
 const DEFAULT_MODEL_P95_MS: Record<string, number> = {
   "grok-4-fast-non-reasoning": 1143,
   "grok-4-1-fast-non-reasoning": 1244,
@@ -1669,6 +1691,10 @@ export async function handleComboChat({
                 "COMBO",
                 `Model ${modelStr} returned 200 but failed quality check: ${quality.reason}`
               );
+              // #6692: a quality-rejected 200 never marks the connection row
+              // unhealthy, so the sticky pin's lazy headroom recheck would never
+              // catch it either — release it here, on the failing response.
+              releaseStickyPinOnFailure(_sticky.messageHash, effectiveConnectionId);
               recordComboRequest(combo.name, modelStr, {
                 success: false,
                 latencyMs: Date.now() - startTime,
@@ -2027,6 +2053,10 @@ export async function handleComboChat({
             exhaustedLogLevel: "info",
             structuredError,
           });
+          // #6692: this connection was just classified as provider/connection-level
+          // exhausted — if it's the currently sticky-bound one, release the pin now
+          // rather than waiting for the next turn's lazy headroom/status recheck.
+          releaseStickyPinOnFailure(_sticky.messageHash, targetWithConnection.connectionId);
 
           // #2101: Prevent infinite fallback loops with 400 Bad Request errors that are genuinely
           // body-specific (malformed JSON, bad format, missing required fields).
@@ -2758,6 +2788,19 @@ async function handleRoundRobinCombo({
               "COMBO-RR",
               `${modelStr} returned 200 but failed quality check: ${quality.reason}`
             );
+            // #6692: same rationale as handleComboChat's quality-fail branch —
+            // a quality-rejected 200 never marks the connection row unhealthy,
+            // so release the sticky pin here rather than on the next turn.
+            {
+              const rrSelectedConnectionId =
+                result.headers?.get("X-OmniRoute-Selected-Connection-Id") ||
+                result.headers?.get("x-omniroute-selected-connection-id") ||
+                undefined;
+              releaseStickyPinOnFailure(
+                _rrSessionSticky.messageHash,
+                rrSelectedConnectionId || target.connectionId
+              );
+            }
             recordComboRequest(combo.name, modelStr, {
               success: false,
               latencyMs: Date.now() - startTime,
@@ -2984,6 +3027,8 @@ async function handleRoundRobinCombo({
           exhaustedLogLevel: "debug",
           structuredError,
         });
+        // #6692: mirrors handleComboChat's exhaustion-point release above.
+        releaseStickyPinOnFailure(_rrSessionSticky.messageHash, targetWithConnection.connectionId);
 
         // Transient errors → mark in semaphore so round-robin stops stampeding this target.
         if (
diff --git a/open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts b/open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts
index 5bb8779a94..2b9f746133 100644
--- a/open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts
+++ b/open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,14 @@
  *   orderTargetsByHeadroom (quotaStrategies.ts), so the open-sse leaf has no
  *   static edge into src/lib/quota. For tests the fetcher is injected via
  *   __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests.
+ * • Terminal-status gate (#6692): headroom alone is orthogonal to account
+ *   availability — a credits_exhausted/banned/expired connection (or one still
+ *   inside its rate-limit window) reports perfectly healthy 5h/weekly
+ *   utilization, so the headroom-only gate kept re-promoting a dead connection
+ *   forever. The connection's testStatus/rateLimitedUntil is now resolved via
+ *   the same dynamic-import-with-injectable-override seam (fail-open on lookup
+ *   errors, mirroring resolveSaturation) and gates the pin alongside headroom.
+ *   For tests the fetcher is injected via __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests.
  *
  * No barrel import — consistent with the other combo/* helpers.
  *
@@ -79,6 +87,83 @@ export function __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests(fetcher: SaturationFetche
   _fetcherOverride = fetcher;
 }
 
+// ─── Connection terminal-status gate (#6692) ─────────────────────────────────
+
+/** Minimal connection health shape the terminal-status gate needs. */
+export interface StickyConnectionHealth {
+  testStatus?: string | null;
+  rateLimitedUntil?: string | null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Injectable connection-health fetcher seam (for unit tests).
+ * Returns StickyConnectionHealth or undefined when unknown/lookup failed.
+ */
+export type ConnectionHealthFetcher = (
+  connectionId: string,
+  provider: string
+) => Promise<StickyConnectionHealth | undefined>;
+
+/** Overrides the default connection-health fetcher for tests; null = use production fetcher. */
+let _connectionFetcherOverride: ConnectionHealthFetcher | null = null;
+
+/** Test-only: inject the connection-health fetcher; pass null to restore default. */
+export function __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests(
+  fetcher: ConnectionHealthFetcher | null
+): void {
+  _connectionFetcherOverride = fetcher;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Statuses that mean the account is DURABLY dead, not just transiently rate
+ * limited — mirrors TERMINAL_PIN_STATUSES used by the LKGP/context-cache pin
+ * (combo.ts:558). Duplicated here (rather than imported) so this leaf keeps no
+ * static edge into combo.ts, which itself imports this module.
+ */
+const TERMINAL_STICKY_STATUSES = new Set(["credits_exhausted", "banned", "expired"]);
+
+/**
+ * Resolve the sticky-bound connection's health by fetching its provider_connections
+ * row. Uses the same dynamic-import pattern as resolveSaturation so this leaf has
+ * no static dependency on src/lib/db. Fail-open (undefined) on any error.
+ */
+async function resolveConnectionHealth(
+  connectionId: string,
+  provider: string
+): Promise<StickyConnectionHealth | undefined> {
+  if (_connectionFetcherOverride) return _connectionFetcherOverride(connectionId, provider);
+
+  try {
+    const mod = await import("../../../src/lib/db/providers");
+    const getProviderConnections = mod.getProviderConnections as (
+      filter: Record<string, unknown>
+    ) => Promise<StickyConnectionHealth[]>;
+    const connections = (await getProviderConnections({
+      provider,
+      isActive: true,
+    })) as Array<StickyConnectionHealth & { id?: string }>;
+    return connections.find((c) => c.id === connectionId);
+  } catch {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Pure: is the sticky-bound connection durably unhealthy right now? Fail-open
+ * (false) when the connection is unknown — an unresolved lookup must never drop
+ * a healthy pin.
+ */
+export function isStickyConnectionTerminallyUnhealthy(
+  conn: StickyConnectionHealth | undefined,
+  now: number
+): boolean {
+  if (!conn) return false;
+  const status = typeof conn.testStatus === "string" ? conn.testStatus : "";
+  if (TERMINAL_STICKY_STATUSES.has(status)) return true;
+  const rl = conn.rateLimitedUntil ? new Date(String(conn.rateLimitedUntil)).getTime() : 0;
+  return Number.isFinite(rl) && rl > now;
+}
+
 /**
  * Resolve the HeadroomSaturation for a connection by fetching both the 5h and
  * weekly utilisation signals. Uses the same dynamic-import pattern as
@@ -186,6 +271,17 @@ export function clearStickyBinding(messageHash: string): void {
   stickyMap.delete(messageHash);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Read-only peek at the connectionId currently bound to `messageHash`, without
+ * mutating the store or checking TTL/health. Lets combo.ts's failure paths
+ * confirm a just-failed target is the ACTUAL sticky-bound connection before
+ * calling clearStickyBinding (#6692) — clearing on an unrelated target's
+ * failure would drop a still-healthy pin.
+ */
+export function peekStickyConnectionId(messageHash: string): string | null {
+  return stickyMap.get(messageHash)?.connectionId ?? null;
+}
+
 /** Reset the entire store (for testing). */
 export function clearAllStickyBindings(): void {
   stickyMap.clear();
@@ -228,9 +324,10 @@ export interface ApplyStickinessResult {
  * Algorithm:
  * 1. Derive the message hash from the first user message.
  * 2. Look up the sticky binding for that hash.
- * 3. If found, fetch saturation for that connection.
- * 4. If headroom > threshold → move the matching target to index 0.
- *    Otherwise → clear the binding (rebind on next success).
+ * 3. If found, fetch saturation AND connection health for that connection.
+ * 4. If headroom > threshold AND the connection is not durably unhealthy
+ *    (#6692: terminal testStatus / still rate-limited) → move the matching
+ *    target to index 0. Otherwise → clear the binding (rebind on next success).
  * 5. On any error → fall through unchanged (fail-open).
  *
  * In production the saturation fetcher is resolved via dynamic import of
@@ -272,13 +369,22 @@ export async function applySessionStickiness(
       return { targets: orderedTargets, messageHash, stuck: false };
     }
 
-    // Gate: headroom must be above threshold
+    // Gate: headroom must be above threshold AND the connection must not be
+    // durably unhealthy (#6692 — credits_exhausted/banned/expired/rate-limited
+    // accounts report healthy 5h/weekly utilization, so headroom alone never
+    // catches them).
     const stickyTarget = orderedTargets[stickyIdx];
-    const sat = await resolveSaturation(connectionId, stickyTarget.provider);
+    const [sat, connHealth] = await Promise.all([
+      resolveSaturation(connectionId, stickyTarget.provider),
+      resolveConnectionHealth(connectionId, stickyTarget.provider),
+    ]);
     const headroom = computeHeadroom(sat);
 
-    if (headroom <= STICKINESS_HEADROOM_THRESHOLD) {
-      // Connection saturated — rebind on next success
+    if (
+      headroom <= STICKINESS_HEADROOM_THRESHOLD ||
+      isStickyConnectionTerminallyUnhealthy(connHealth, Date.now())
+    ) {
+      // Connection saturated or durably unhealthy — rebind on next success
       clearStickyBinding(messageHash);
       return { targets: orderedTargets, messageHash, stuck: false };
     }
diff --git a/tests/unit/combo-session-stickiness.test.ts b/tests/unit/combo-session-stickiness.test.ts
index ede8def020..39f486836f 100644
--- a/tests/unit/combo-session-stickiness.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/combo-session-stickiness.test.ts
@@ -13,12 +13,14 @@
  * - applySessionStickiness: no user message → normal ordering, no crash
  * - applySessionStickiness: different hashes → can map to different connections
  * - applySessionStickiness: saturation fetch error → fail-open
- * - recordStickyBinding / clearStickyBinding lifecycle
+ * - applySessionStickiness: terminal connection status / rateLimitedUntil → rebind (#6692)
+ * - recordStickyBinding / clearStickyBinding / peekStickyConnectionId lifecycle
  */
 
 import test from "node:test";
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
 import type { HeadroomSaturation } from "../../open-sse/services/combo/headroomRanking.ts";
+import type { StickyConnectionHealth } from "../../open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts";
 
 const mod = await import("../../open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts");
 const {
@@ -27,7 +29,9 @@ const {
   recordStickyBinding,
   clearStickyBinding,
   clearAllStickyBindings,
+  peekStickyConnectionId,
   __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests,
+  __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests,
   STICKINESS_HEADROOM_THRESHOLD,
 } = mod;
 
@@ -51,16 +55,26 @@ function injectSat(sat: HeadroomSaturation | undefined): void {
   __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests(async (_id: string) => sat);
 }
 
+function injectConnectionHealth(byId: Record<string, StickyConnectionHealth | undefined>): void {
+  __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests(async (connectionId: string) => byId[connectionId]);
+}
+
 // ─── Test lifecycle ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 test.beforeEach(() => {
   clearAllStickyBindings();
   // Default: healthy connection (headroom = 0.5)
   injectSat({ util5h: 0.3, util7d: 0.2 });
+  // Default: unknown to the connection-health fetcher (fail-open, never terminal).
+  // Without this override every test would hit the real dynamic-import → DB path
+  // (resolveConnectionHealth's production branch), which is slow and non-deterministic
+  // for a unit suite that otherwise makes zero DB calls.
+  injectConnectionHealth({});
 });
 
 test.after(() => {
   __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests(null);
+  __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests(null);
 });
 
 // ─── deriveMessageHash ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -320,3 +334,105 @@ test("messageHash is returned in result even when no binding exists", async () =
   assert.ok(r.messageHash !== null, "hash should be derivable and returned");
   assert.match(r.messageHash!, /^[a-f0-9]{16}$/);
 });
+
+// ─── Terminal connection-status gate (#6692) ─────────────────────────────────
+//
+// Root cause: headroom (5h/weekly usage %) is orthogonal to account
+// availability — a credits_exhausted/banned/expired connection, or one still
+// inside its rateLimitedUntil cooldown, reports perfectly healthy headroom,
+// so the pre-fix headroom-only gate re-promoted a durably dead connection
+// forever. See tests/unit/repro-6692-sticky-terminal.test.ts for the full
+// end-to-end repro.
+
+test("#6692: credits_exhausted sticky connection is rebound even with full headroom", async () => {
+  injectSat({ util5h: 0.0, util7d: 0.0 }); // full headroom — would pass the old gate
+  injectConnectionHealth({ "conn-A": { testStatus: "credits_exhausted" } });
+
+  const targets = [makeTarget("conn-A"), makeTarget("conn-B")];
+  const messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Terminal status test" }];
+  const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+  recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-A");
+
+  const result = await applySessionStickiness(targets, messages);
+  assert.equal(result.stuck, false, "credits_exhausted must release the pin");
+
+  // Binding must actually be cleared (not just skipped this call).
+  assert.equal(peekStickyConnectionId(hash), null);
+});
+
+test("#6692: banned / expired statuses also release the pin", async () => {
+  for (const status of ["banned", "expired"]) {
+    clearAllStickyBindings();
+    injectSat({ util5h: 0.0, util7d: 0.0 });
+    injectConnectionHealth({ "conn-A": { testStatus: status } });
+
+    const targets = [makeTarget("conn-A"), makeTarget("conn-B")];
+    const messages = [{ role: "user", content: `Status ${status}` }];
+    const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+    recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-A");
+
+    const result = await applySessionStickiness(targets, messages);
+    assert.equal(result.stuck, false, `${status} must release the pin`);
+  }
+});
+
+test("#6692: connection still inside rateLimitedUntil window releases the pin", async () => {
+  injectSat({ util5h: 0.0, util7d: 0.0 });
+  const future = new Date(Date.now() + 60_000).toISOString();
+  injectConnectionHealth({ "conn-A": { rateLimitedUntil: future } });
+
+  const targets = [makeTarget("conn-A"), makeTarget("conn-B")];
+  const messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Cooling down" }];
+  const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+  recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-A");
+
+  const result = await applySessionStickiness(targets, messages);
+  assert.equal(result.stuck, false, "an in-window rateLimitedUntil must release the pin");
+});
+
+test("#6692: rateLimitedUntil in the past does NOT release the pin", async () => {
+  injectSat({ util5h: 0.0, util7d: 0.0 });
+  const past = new Date(Date.now() - 60_000).toISOString();
+  injectConnectionHealth({ "conn-A": { rateLimitedUntil: past } });
+
+  const targets = [makeTarget("conn-A"), makeTarget("conn-B")];
+  const messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Cooldown expired" }];
+  const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+  recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-A");
+
+  const result = await applySessionStickiness(targets, messages);
+  assert.ok(result.stuck, "an expired rateLimitedUntil must not block reuse");
+  assert.equal(result.targets[0].connectionId, "conn-A");
+});
+
+test("#6692: connection-health fetch error → fail-open (pin preserved)", async () => {
+  injectSat({ util5h: 0.0, util7d: 0.0 });
+  __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests(async () => {
+    throw new Error("db unavailable");
+  });
+
+  const targets = [makeTarget("conn-A"), makeTarget("conn-B")];
+  const messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Fetch error path" }];
+  const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+  recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-A");
+
+  // The production resolveConnectionHealth catches internally and returns
+  // undefined (never throws) — mirrors resolveSaturation's own internal
+  // try/catch. This test injects a THROWING override to prove
+  // applySessionStickiness's outer try/catch also fails open end-to-end
+  // (same behavior as the existing "saturation fetch error" case above:
+  // total fail-open/no-op, never a crash).
+  const result = await applySessionStickiness(targets, messages);
+  assert.equal(result.stuck, false, "a connection-health fetch error must fail open, not crash");
+});
+
+test("peekStickyConnectionId: reflects the current binding without mutating it", () => {
+  const messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Peek test" }];
+  const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+
+  assert.equal(peekStickyConnectionId(hash), null, "no binding yet");
+  recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-peek");
+  assert.equal(peekStickyConnectionId(hash), "conn-peek");
+  // Peeking again must not clear or otherwise mutate the binding.
+  assert.equal(peekStickyConnectionId(hash), "conn-peek");
+});
diff --git a/tests/unit/repro-6692-sticky-terminal.test.ts b/tests/unit/repro-6692-sticky-terminal.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3d816e6df7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/repro-6692-sticky-terminal.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+/**
+ * TDD repro probe for issue #6692 — "Combo session stickiness never releases a
+ * credits-exhausted account (failover stops working)".
+ *
+ * Root cause (verified by code read): applySessionStickiness's ONLY eligibility
+ * gate for keeping a sticky pin was a 5h/weekly usage-PERCENTAGE headroom check
+ * (open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts). It never inspected connection
+ * testStatus / rateLimitedUntil / terminal state. clearStickyBinding()
+ * (sessionStickiness.ts) had zero call sites anywhere in combo.ts's failure/
+ * retry path (confirmed via repo-wide grep) — only the two internal branches
+ * inside applySessionStickiness itself (connection missing from pool, or low
+ * headroom) ever cleared a binding.
+ *
+ * This test reproduces the reported symptom using ONLY the real, exported
+ * sessionStickiness.ts API, driven exactly the way combo.ts drives it in
+ * production:
+ *   - recordStickyBinding() is called after a SUCCESSFUL turn (mirrors
+ *     combo.ts:1879 / combo.ts:2830).
+ *   - The bound connection's 5h/weekly utilization is healthy (fresh windows),
+ *     exactly as it would be for an account that is durably dead for a reason
+ *     ORTHOGONAL to 5h/weekly utilization (credits_exhausted / banned / a
+ *     per-day soft cap — reporter #2's exact scenario).
+ *   - The connection-health fetcher (the fix's new injectable seam, mirroring
+ *     __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests) reports the bound connection as
+ *     credits_exhausted — exactly what a real provider_connections row would
+ *     report once markAccountUnavailable() has classified the terminal error.
+ *
+ * Expected (correct) behavior: once a sticky-bound connection is known
+ * terminally unhealthy, the pin must release and failover must move to the
+ * next healthy target.
+ *
+ * Actual (BEFORE the fix): applySessionStickiness re-promoted the dead
+ * connection anyway, because headroom was the only gate it consulted — this
+ * test failed RED on the pre-fix code (result.stuck === true, dead connection
+ * stayed at position 0).
+ */
+
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import type { HeadroomSaturation } from "../../open-sse/services/combo/headroomRanking.ts";
+import type { StickyConnectionHealth } from "../../open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts";
+
+const mod = await import("../../open-sse/services/combo/sessionStickiness.ts");
+const {
+  deriveMessageHash,
+  applySessionStickiness,
+  recordStickyBinding,
+  clearAllStickyBindings,
+  __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests,
+  __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests,
+} = mod;
+
+function makeTarget(
+  connectionId: string
+): import("../../open-sse/services/combo/types.ts").ResolvedComboTarget {
+  return {
+    kind: "model",
+    stepId: `step-${connectionId}`,
+    executionKey: `key-${connectionId}`,
+    modelStr: `gpt-4/${connectionId}`,
+    provider: "openai",
+    providerId: null,
+    connectionId,
+    weight: 1,
+    label: null,
+  };
+}
+
+function injectSat(sat: HeadroomSaturation | undefined): void {
+  __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests(async (_id: string) => sat);
+}
+
+function injectConnectionHealth(byId: Record<string, StickyConnectionHealth | undefined>): void {
+  __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests(async (connectionId: string) => byId[connectionId]);
+}
+
+test.beforeEach(() => {
+  clearAllStickyBindings();
+});
+
+test.after(() => {
+  __setStickinessHeadroomFetcherForTests(null);
+  __setStickinessConnectionFetcherForTests(null);
+});
+
+test("BUG #6692: sticky pin survives a terminal (credits_exhausted) account — headroom-only gate keeps re-promoting the dead connection instead of failing over", async () => {
+  // Healthy 5h/weekly utilization (fresh windows) — exactly what a
+  // credits_exhausted / banned / daily-soft-capped account reports on THESE
+  // axes, since the terminal state is orthogonal to 5h/weekly percentage
+  // utilization (issue #6692, both reporters).
+  injectSat({ util5h: 0.05, util7d: 0.05 }); // headroom = 0.95, well above threshold
+
+  // The bound connection is durably dead (credits_exhausted); the fallback
+  // connection is unknown to the health fetcher (fail-open → healthy).
+  injectConnectionHealth({ "conn-exhausted": { testStatus: "credits_exhausted" } });
+
+  // Upstream strategy ordering already ranks conn-healthy first (a terminally
+  // dead account naturally scores worse on the normal ordering signals too) —
+  // conn-exhausted is only ever tried first because the sticky pin FORCE-
+  // PROMOTES it. That force-promotion, not the base ordering, is the bug.
+  const targets = [makeTarget("conn-healthy"), makeTarget("conn-exhausted")];
+  const messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Multi-turn conversation, turn 1" }];
+  const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+  assert.ok(hash, "hash must be derivable");
+
+  // Turn 1 (production: combo.ts success branch, e.g. combo.ts:1879):
+  // conn-exhausted served the first turn successfully → sticky-bound.
+  recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-exhausted");
+
+  // Turn 2 (production): conn-exhausted now returns credits_exhausted /
+  // banned / a masked daily-cap refusal — the provider_connections row is
+  // updated by markAccountUnavailable() with testStatus=credits_exhausted,
+  // which the injected connection-health fetcher above simulates.
+
+  // Turn 3 (production): the next request in the same conversation calls
+  // applySessionStickiness() again. Desired behavior: the terminally dead
+  // connection must NOT be re-promoted over the naturally-better ordering.
+  const result = await applySessionStickiness(targets, messages);
+
+  assert.equal(
+    result.stuck,
+    false,
+    "sticky pin must release once the bound connection is terminally exhausted, " +
+      "not only when 5h/weekly headroom is low (issue #6692)"
+  );
+  assert.equal(
+    result.targets[0].connectionId,
+    "conn-healthy",
+    "the terminally dead sticky pin must NOT be force-promoted over the naturally-ordered healthy target"
+  );
+});
+
+test("BUG #6692 (rate-limited variant): sticky pin releases while the bound connection is still inside its rateLimitedUntil window", async () => {
+  injectSat({ util5h: 0.05, util7d: 0.05 });
+  const future = new Date(Date.now() + 60_000).toISOString();
+  injectConnectionHealth({ "conn-cooling": { rateLimitedUntil: future } });
+
+  const targets = [makeTarget("conn-healthy"), makeTarget("conn-cooling")];
+  const messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Another conversation" }];
+  const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+
+  recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-cooling");
+
+  const result = await applySessionStickiness(targets, messages);
+
+  assert.equal(result.stuck, false, "pin must release while the connection is still cooling down");
+  assert.equal(result.targets[0].connectionId, "conn-healthy");
+});
+
+test("healthy sticky connection (unknown to the connection-health fetcher) still stays pinned — fail-open preserved", async () => {
+  injectSat({ util5h: 0.05, util7d: 0.05 });
+  injectConnectionHealth({}); // unknown connection → fail-open → not terminal
+
+  const targets = [makeTarget("conn-a"), makeTarget("conn-b")];
+  const messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Healthy conversation" }];
+  const hash = deriveMessageHash(messages)!;
+
+  recordStickyBinding(hash, "conn-a");
+
+  const result = await applySessionStickiness(targets, messages);
+
+  assert.equal(result.stuck, true, "a healthy/unknown connection must remain pinned");
+  assert.equal(result.targets[0].connectionId, "conn-a");
+});