diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e621dd3..969edff 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ database/target
 *.db-shm
 *.db-wal
 .env
+# Server-local LLM config (llm.example.toml is the template)
+/llm.toml
 # Server-local TTS pronunciation overrides (tts_pronunciations.example.json is the template)
 /tts_pronunciations.json
 /tmp
diff --git a/llm.example.toml b/llm.example.toml
index 5a5682c..c0429b4 100644
--- a/llm.example.toml
+++ b/llm.example.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # ImageApi LLM configuration. Copy to `llm.toml` next to `.env` (or point
-# LLM_CONFIG_PATH at it). Every key is optional; omitted keys use the
-# defaults shown in the comments.
+# LLM_CONFIG_PATH at it). Every key is optional: delete any line to get its
+# default. The values below are an example llama-swap setup, not the
+# defaults; each key's default is in its trailing `default:` comment.
 #
 # Secrets stay in env: OPENROUTER_API_KEY enables the hybrid backend.
 #
@@ -15,61 +16,61 @@
 # Local stack for chat, vision describe and embeddings: "ollama" | "llamacpp".
 # Global on purpose: don't flip it without re-embedding (mixed vector spaces
 # break similarity search).
-backend = "llamacpp"
+backend = "llamacpp"                   # default: "ollama"
 
 # Small model pinned for /photos/search/unified query translation, so it can
-# stay loaded alongside CLIP. Unset = the client's selected model.
-unified_search_model = "gemma4-e4b"
+# stay loaded alongside CLIP.
+unified_search_model = "gemma4-e4b"    # default: unset (the client's selected model)
 
 [llamacpp]
-url = "http://localhost:9292/v1"      # unset = llama.cpp client + TTS disabled
-chat = "qwen3.8-27b-abliterated"      # default chat model (default "chat")
-vision = "qwen3.8-27b-code-vision"    # describe_photo model (default: chat)
-timeout_secs = 180
+url = "http://localhost:9292/v1"       # default: unset (llama.cpp client + TTS disabled)
+chat = "qwen3.8-27b-abliterated"       # default: "chat"
+vision = "qwen3.8-27b-code-vision"     # default: unset (uses `chat`); describe_photo model
+timeout_secs = 180                     # default: 180
 
 # The picker shows every llama-swap model with `kind: chat` metadata (param
 # aliases like `:sub` / `:fast` are always hidden), minus `exclude`.
 # `include`, if set, is a strict allowlist instead.
 [llamacpp.picker]
-exclude = ["nemotron3.5-lightning-30b-A3B"]
-# include = ["qwen3.8-27b-code", "gemma4-31"]
+exclude = ["nemotron3.5-lightning-30b-A3B"]   # default: []
+# include = ["qwen3.8-27b-code", "gemma4-31"] # default: unset (show everything)
 
 [embedding]
 # Must all agree with what the stored corpus was embedded with. Changing any
 # of them means `cargo run --bin reembed_embeddings`.
-model = "embed"                        # llama-swap id (Ollama always uses nomic-embed-text:v1.5)
-dim = 768                              # 768 nomic v1.5 | 1024 Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B
-# Prefixes default to empty. Set them only together with a re-embed; a
-# corpus embedded without them won't match queries embedded with them.
-query_prefix = ""      # nomic v1.5: "search_query: " | Qwen3: "Instruct: <task>\nQuery: "
-document_prefix = ""   # nomic v1.5: "search_document: " | Qwen3: ""
+model = "embed"        # default: "embed" (llama-swap id; Ollama always uses nomic-embed-text:v1.5)
+dim = 768              # default: 768 (nomic v1.5) | 1024 for Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B
+# Set prefixes only together with a re-embed; a corpus embedded without them
+# won't match queries embedded with them.
+query_prefix = ""      # default: "" | nomic v1.5: "search_query: " | Qwen3: "Instruct: <task>\nQuery: "
+document_prefix = ""   # default: "" | nomic v1.5: "search_document: " | Qwen3: ""
 
 [tts]
 # Chatterbox behind llama-swap; needs llamacpp.url but not backend = "llamacpp".
-model = "chatterbox"
-voice = "m"            # default voice when a request omits one (unset = server default)
-ref_seconds = 30       # max voice-clone reference clip length
-timeout_secs = 600     # long chunked text takes minutes
+model = "chatterbox"   # default: "chatterbox"
+voice = "m"            # default: unset (server default); used when a request omits one
+ref_seconds = 30       # default: 30; max voice-clone reference clip length
+timeout_secs = 600     # default: 600; long chunked text takes minutes
 
 [ollama]
-primary_url = "http://localhost:11434"
-primary_model = "nemotron-3-nano:30b"
-# Tried on connection failure. fallback_model unset = reuse primary_model.
-# fallback_url = "http://server:11434"
-# fallback_model = "llama3.2:3b"
-timeout_secs = 120
+primary_url = "http://localhost:11434"   # default: "http://localhost:11434"
+primary_model = "nemotron-3-nano:30b"    # default: "nemotron-3-nano:30b"
+# Tried on connection failure.
+# fallback_url = "http://server:11434"   # default: unset (no fallback)
+# fallback_model = "llama3.2:3b"         # default: unset (reuse primary_model)
+timeout_secs = 120                       # default: 120
 
 [openrouter]
-default_model = "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"
-allowed = ["openai/gpt-4o-mini", "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5", "google/gemini-2.5-flash"]
-max_tokens = 16384     # 0 = uncapped (OpenRouter reserves credit against it)
-# base_url = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"
-# embedding_model = "openai/text-embedding-3-small"
-# http_referer = "https://your-site.example"
-# app_title = "ImageApi"
+default_model = "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"   # default: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"
+allowed = ["openai/gpt-4o-mini", "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5", "google/gemini-2.5-flash"]  # default: []
+max_tokens = 16384     # default: 16384; 0 = uncapped (OpenRouter reserves credit against it)
+# base_url = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"          # default: unset (OpenRouter's public API)
+# embedding_model = "openai/text-embedding-3-small"  # default: unset
+# http_referer = "https://your-site.example"         # default: unset
+# app_title = "ImageApi"                             # default: unset
 
 [agentic]
-max_iterations = 12          # tool-loop cap for agentic insight generation
-chat_max_iterations = 6      # per chat turn; per-request values are clamped to it
-chat_default_num_ctx = 32768 # assumed window when neither request nor backend reports one
-chat_turn_timeout_secs = 300 # reconnectable chat turns are dropped after this
+max_iterations = 12          # default: 12; tool-loop cap for agentic insight generation
+chat_max_iterations = 6      # default: 6; per chat turn, per-request values are clamped to it
+chat_default_num_ctx = 32768 # default: 32768; assumed window when neither request nor backend reports one
+chat_turn_timeout_secs = 300 # default: 300; reconnectable chat turns are dropped after this