diff --git a/group_vars/all/16_ai.yml b/group_vars/all/16_ai.yml
index 8c47b2dcb1..c79faa45c5 100644
--- a/group_vars/all/16_ai.yml
+++ b/group_vars/all/16_ai.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ LITELLM_LMSTUDIO_BACKEND: >-
 AI_LOCAL_MODELS:
   - alias: qwen2.5:0.5b
     name: qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct
+    repo: lmstudio-community/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct-GGUF
+    url: https://huggingface.co/lmstudio-community/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct-GGUF/resolve/main/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct-Q8_0.gguf
     source: https://huggingface.co/lmstudio-community/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct-GGUF
     file: Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct-Q8_0.gguf
     sha256: "1d96e30253a76970864323987e3e77eeaf170312952fd61d18d343c25cfd6e52"
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/shell/import.sh b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/shell/import.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 5e9e848d40..0000000000
--- a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/shell/import.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-#
-# Hand a pre-fetched GGUF to LM Studio, idempotent.
-# Runs ON THE HOSTING NODE (delegated); targets the local container via
-# `container exec` / `container cp`.
-#
-# Required env, supplied by the calling Ansible task:
-#   LMSTUDIO_LOCAL_CID  resolved container id, local to this node
-#   MODEL_FILE          node-side path to the fetched .gguf
-#   MODEL_USER_REPO     HuggingFace "user/repo" the file belongs to
-#   MODELS_DIR          models folder inside the container, under the
-#                       volume target declared in meta/volumes.yml
-set -euo pipefail
-
-ADDRESS="${LMSTUDIO_LOCAL_CID:?LMSTUDIO_LOCAL_CID env var (container id) required}"
-BASE="$(basename "${MODEL_FILE}")"
-TARGET="${MODELS_DIR}/${MODEL_USER_REPO}/${BASE}"
-
-if container exec "$ADDRESS" test -f "${TARGET}"; then
-	echo "PRESENT:${BASE}"
-	exit 0
-fi
-
-if [ ! -f "${MODEL_FILE}" ]; then
-	echo "ABSENT:${BASE}"
-	exit 0
-fi
-
-# nocheck: container-cp - MODEL_FILE is fetched on the node this script runs on
-container cp "${MODEL_FILE}" "${ADDRESS}:/tmp/${BASE}"
-
-printf 'y\n' | container exec -i "$ADDRESS" lms import "/tmp/${BASE}" --yes --copy --user-repo "${MODEL_USER_REPO}"
-container exec "$ADDRESS" rm -f "/tmp/${BASE}"
-echo "IMPORTED:${BASE}"
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/test/.nocheck b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/test/.nocheck
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a0fdb0bf8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/test/.nocheck
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# nocheck: role-files-layout - Role test harness with test.sh as its entry point; the CLI runner stages roles/<id>/files/test/ by path.
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/test/test.sh b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/test/test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fc83bfc748
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/files/test/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+#
+# Env (rendered into test.env from templates/test.env.j2):
+#   LMSTUDIO_CONTAINER        resolved container id on this node
+#   LMSTUDIO_PORT             the daemon's HTTP port
+#   LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_MODELS  JSON array of model names the daemon must serve
+#   LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_BLOBS   JSON array of <repo>/<file> paths under models/
+#   LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_DIGESTS JSON array of sha256, aligned with the blobs
+#   RETRIES                   attempts       (default 30)
+#   SLEEP_SECONDS             wait between   (default 10)
+
+set -uo pipefail
+
+RETRIES="${RETRIES:-30}"
+SLEEP_SECONDS="${SLEEP_SECONDS:-10}"
+MODELS_DIR=/root/.lmstudio/models
+
+[ -n "${LMSTUDIO_CONTAINER}" ] || {
+	echo "[FATAL] LMSTUDIO_CONTAINER unset; the harness did not resolve a container" >&2
+	exit 2
+}
+
+in_container() {
+	container exec "${LMSTUDIO_CONTAINER}" "$@"
+}
+
+json_items() {
+	python3 -c 'import json,sys; [print(x) for x in json.loads(sys.argv[1])]' "$1"
+}
+
+serves_model() {
+	in_container curl -fsS --connect-timeout 5 --max-time 30 "http://127.0.0.1:${LMSTUDIO_PORT}/v1/models" 2>/dev/null |
+		python3 -c 'import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print("\n".join(m.get("id","") for m in d.get("data",[])))' 2>/dev/null |
+		grep -qxF "$1"
+}
+
+failed=0
+
+echo "=== 1. the CLI authenticates against its own daemon ==="
+attempt=1
+auth_out=""
+while [ "${attempt}" -le "${RETRIES}" ]; do
+	if auth_out="$(in_container /app/.bundle/lms ls 2>&1)"; then
+		echo "[OK]   lms ls authenticated"
+		break
+	fi
+	if printf '%s' "${auth_out}" | grep -q 'authPacket'; then
+		echo "[FAIL] the daemon rejected its own CLI: $(printf '%s' "${auth_out}" | grep -m1 authPacket)" >&2
+		echo "       a second daemon shares /root/.lmstudio and rewrote .internal/lms-key-2" >&2
+		exit 1
+	fi
+	attempt=$((attempt + 1))
+	[ "${attempt}" -le "${RETRIES}" ] && sleep "${SLEEP_SECONDS}"
+done
+if [ "${attempt}" -gt "${RETRIES}" ]; then
+	echo "[FAIL] lms ls never succeeded after ${RETRIES} attempts: ${auth_out}" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "=== 2. every declared blob is in place with its declared digest ==="
+mapfile -t blobs < <(json_items "${LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_BLOBS}")
+mapfile -t digests < <(json_items "${LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_DIGESTS}")
+for i in "${!blobs[@]}"; do
+	path="${MODELS_DIR}/${blobs[$i]}"
+	if ! in_container test -f "${path}"; then
+		echo "[FAIL] ${blobs[$i]} is not in the model store" >&2
+		failed=1
+		continue
+	fi
+	actual="$(in_container sha256sum "${path}" 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}')"
+	if [ "${actual}" != "${digests[$i]}" ]; then
+		echo "[FAIL] ${blobs[$i]} hashes to ${actual}, declared ${digests[$i]}" >&2
+		failed=1
+		continue
+	fi
+	echo "[OK]   ${blobs[$i]} present and matching"
+done
+
+echo "=== 3. the daemon serves every declared model ==="
+mapfile -t models < <(json_items "${LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_MODELS}")
+for model in "${models[@]}"; do
+	attempt=1
+	while [ "${attempt}" -le "${RETRIES}" ]; do
+		if serves_model "${model}"; then
+			echo "[OK]   ${model} is served"
+			break
+		fi
+		attempt=$((attempt + 1))
+		[ "${attempt}" -le "${RETRIES}" ] && sleep "${SLEEP_SECONDS}"
+	done
+	if [ "${attempt}" -gt "${RETRIES}" ]; then
+		echo "[FAIL] ${model} is on disk but /v1/models never listed it" >&2
+		echo "       the daemon did not index the store it was given at startup" >&2
+		failed=1
+	fi
+done
+
+[ "${failed}" -eq 0 ] || exit 1
+echo "[OK]   svc-ai-lmstudio serves every declared model from the seeded store"
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/meta/tests.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/meta/tests.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..712dbdf2f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/meta/tests.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+cli:
+  container_service_key: lmstudio
+  timeout: 900
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/meta/volumes.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/meta/volumes.yml
index ae7259ecdf..0250216548 100644
--- a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/meta/volumes.yml
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/meta/volumes.yml
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 ---
-# nocheck: embedded-state-on-nfs model blobs written once on pull and read back afterwards
 lmstudio_data:
   type: volume
+  name: lmstudio_data
+  # nocheck: nfs-false-data-loss  Reason: per-daemon state LM Studio rewrites in place (lms-key-2, settings.json, extensions/plugins, bin/lms, server-logs), regenerated on every start; the models it indexes live in lmstudio_models
+  nfs: false
   mounts:
     - service: lmstudio
       target: /root/.lmstudio
 
-lmstudio_internal:
+# nocheck: embedded-state-on-nfs content-addressed model blobs only; every writer fetches against the sha256 AI_LOCAL_MODELS declares and the play fails unless the store reads back at that digest, so concurrent writers of one file write identical bytes
+lmstudio_models:
   type: volume
-  name: lmstudio_internal
-  # nocheck: nfs-false-data-loss  Reason: regenerable per-daemon cache, rebuilt in full on first start against an empty volume; shared, a second daemon overwrites the auth key lms-key-2 and the first one's CLI is rejected
-  nfs: false
-  backup: false
+  name: lmstudio_models
   mounts:
     - service: lmstudio
-      target: /root/.lmstudio/.internal
+      target: /root/.lmstudio/models
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/00_core.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/00_core.yml
index 16942c364d..e29cf2a6f2 100644
--- a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/00_core.yml
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/00_core.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 ---
 - include_tasks: utils/once/flag.yml
 
+- name: "⬇️ Seed the shared model store before the daemons index it"
+  ansible.builtin.include_tasks:
+    file: utils/preseed.yml
+    apply:
+      delegate_to: "{{ LMSTUDIO_NFS_SERVER }}"
+      run_once: true
+  when: LMSTUDIO_PRESEED_ENABLED | bool
+
 - name: "🔧 Setup container network for {{ application_id }}"
   include_tasks: "{{ lookup('path_absolute', 'roles/sys-svc-compose/tasks/utils/network/routine.yml') }}"
   vars:
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/01_manager_ops.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/01_manager_ops.yml
index ac3c91c989..a4362e07d8 100644
--- a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/01_manager_ops.yml
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/01_manager_ops.yml
@@ -1,26 +1,10 @@
 ---
-- name: "🔍 Resolve {{ application_id }} hosting node + container id"
-  ansible.builtin.include_tasks: "{{ lookup('path_absolute', 'roles/sys-svc-compose/tasks/utils/swarm/resolve_host_cid.yml') }}"
-  vars:
-    resolve_service_key: "{{ entity_name }}"
-    resolve_output_prefix: LMSTUDIO
-    resolve_compose_cid: "{{ LMSTUDIO_CONTAINER }}"
+- name: "🔍 Resolve every node that hosts an {{ application_id }} task"
+  ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/nodes.yml
 
-- name: "🌱 Seed the models from the node cache before preloading"
-  ansible.builtin.include_tasks:
-    file: utils/seed.yml
-    apply:
-      delegate_to: "{{ LMSTUDIO_HOST_NODE }}"
-
-- name: "⬇️ Preload the LM Studio models"
-  block:
-    - name: "⬇️ Preload the LM Studio models (first pass)"
-      ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/preload.yml
-  rescue:
-    - name: "🐝 Re-raise the preload failure unchanged in swarm" # nocheck: rescue-recovery a timed-out transfer leaves the daemon reporting 0.00% for every further pull, and restarting the container it owns is the only lever the role has, though CI job 105558224377 shows a restart returning rc 0 without clearing it; the generic capture cannot even try, so swarm re-raises here instead, because under any_errors_fatal a rescued host keeps running while every other host is already marked failed, and compose ends the block by preloading again so an unrecovered failure still re-raises
-      ansible.builtin.fail:
-        msg: "{{ ansible_failed_result.msg | default('LM Studio preload failed') }}"
-      when: DEPLOYMENT_MODE == 'swarm'
-
-    - name: "♻️ Recover the wedged transfer and preload again"
-      ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/recover.yml
+- name: "⬇️ Preload LM Studio on each hosting node"
+  ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/preload/node.yml
+  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_HOST_NODES }}"
+  loop_control:
+    loop_var: lmstudio_node
+    label: "{{ lmstudio_node }}"
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/cid.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/cid.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e29b8fafba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/cid.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+- name: "🔍 Resolve the LM Studio container on '{{ lmstudio_node }}'"
+  ansible.builtin.shell: |
+    {% if DEPLOYMENT_MODE == 'swarm' %}
+    container ps \
+      --filter "label=com.docker.swarm.service.name={{ lmstudio_service_name }}" \
+      --filter status=running \
+      --format '{{ "{{.ID}}" }}' | head -1
+    {% else %}
+    echo {{ LMSTUDIO_CONTAINER | quote }}
+    {% endif %}
+  register: lmstudio_node_cid
+  changed_when: false
+  retries: 30
+  delay: 2
+  until: DEPLOYMENT_MODE == 'compose' or (lmstudio_node_cid.stdout | trim) | length > 0
+  delegate_to: "{{ lmstudio_node }}"
+
+- name: "🔧 Target '{{ lmstudio_node }}' for the next LM Studio step"
+  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
+    LMSTUDIO_HOST_NODE: "{{ lmstudio_node }}"
+    LMSTUDIO_LOCAL_CID: "{{ lmstudio_node_cid.stdout | trim }}"
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/nodes.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/nodes.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b3ee1a6726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/nodes.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+---
+- name: "🔧 Resolve the swarm service name of '{{ entity_name }}'"
+  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
+    lmstudio_service_name: "{{ lookup('container_service', application_id, entity_name) if DEPLOYMENT_MODE == 'swarm' else '' }}"
+
+- name: "⏳ Wait until every LM Studio task has converged"
+  ansible.builtin.include_tasks: "{{ lookup('path_absolute', 'roles/sys-svc-compose/tasks/utils/swarm/wait_converged.yml') }}"
+  vars:
+    wait_service_key: "{{ entity_name }}"
+    wait_service_name: "{{ lmstudio_service_name }}"
+
+- name: "🔍 List every node that runs an LM Studio task"
+  ansible.builtin.shell: |
+    container service ps {{ lmstudio_service_name | quote }} \
+      --filter desired-state=running \
+      --format '{{ "{{.Node}}" }}' | sort -u
+  register: lmstudio_node_scan
+  changed_when: false
+  retries: 30
+  delay: 2
+  until: (lmstudio_node_scan.stdout | trim) | length > 0
+  delegate_to: "{{ STACK_HOST }}"
+  when: DEPLOYMENT_MODE == 'swarm'
+
+- name: "🔧 Set the LM Studio hosting nodes"
+  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
+    LMSTUDIO_HOST_NODES: >-
+      {{ (lmstudio_node_scan.stdout_lines | map('trim') | select | list)
+         if DEPLOYMENT_MODE == 'swarm' else [inventory_hostname] }}
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload/node.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload/node.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb48dfd0a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload/node.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+---
+- name: "🔍 Resolve the container before preloading on '{{ lmstudio_node }}'"
+  ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/cid.yml
+
+- name: "🗄️ Measure the space the model store offers on '{{ lmstudio_node }}'"
+  ansible.builtin.shell: > # nocheck: container-exec-resolver  runtime-resolved CID, delegated to the hosting node
+    container exec {{ LMSTUDIO_LOCAL_CID | quote }} df -P -B1 /root/.lmstudio/models
+  register: lmstudio_store_space
+  changed_when: false
+  retries: 30
+  delay: 2
+  until: lmstudio_store_space.rc == 0
+  delegate_to: "{{ lmstudio_node }}"
+  when: not (LMSTUDIO_PRESEED_ENABLED | bool)
+
+- name: "🛑 Refuse to preload models the store on '{{ lmstudio_node }}' cannot hold"
+  vars:
+    _free: "{{ lmstudio_store_space.stdout_lines[1].split()[3] | int }}"
+    _required: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_LARGEST_BYTES | int }}"
+  ansible.builtin.fail:
+    msg: >-
+      The model store on {{ lmstudio_node }} has
+      {{ (_free | int / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) | round(1) }} GiB free, less than the
+      {{ (_required | int / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) | round(1) }} GiB the largest
+      declared model needs. Shrink AI_LOCAL_MODELS in group_vars/all/16_ai.yml or
+      give the node more disk.
+  when:
+    - not (LMSTUDIO_PRESEED_ENABLED | bool)
+    - _free | int < _required | int
+
+- name: "⬇️ Preload the LM Studio models on '{{ lmstudio_node }}'"
+  block:
+    - name: "⬇️ Preload the LM Studio models (first pass)"
+      ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/preload/pull.yml
+  rescue:
+    - name: "🐝 Re-raise the preload failure unchanged in swarm" # nocheck: rescue-recovery a timed-out transfer leaves the daemon reporting 0.00% for every further pull, and restarting the container it owns is the only lever the role has, though CI job 105558224377 shows a restart returning rc 0 without clearing it; the generic capture cannot even try, so swarm re-raises here instead, because under any_errors_fatal a rescued host keeps running while every other host is already marked failed, and compose ends the block by preloading again so an unrecovered failure still re-raises
+      ansible.builtin.fail:
+        msg: "{{ ansible_failed_result.msg | default('LM Studio preload failed') }}"
+      when: DEPLOYMENT_MODE == 'swarm'
+
+    - name: "♻️ Recover the wedged transfer and preload again"
+      ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/preload/recover.yml
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload/pull.yml
similarity index 100%
rename from roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload.yml
rename to roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload/pull.yml
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/recover.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload/recover.yml
similarity index 95%
rename from roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/recover.yml
rename to roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload/recover.yml
index cea5918d25..e8f526456f 100644
--- a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/recover.yml
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preload/recover.yml
@@ -25,4 +25,4 @@
     resolve_compose_cid: "{{ LMSTUDIO_CONTAINER }}"
 
 - name: "⬇️ Preload the LM Studio models (after the restart)"
-  ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/preload.yml
+  ansible.builtin.include_tasks: utils/preload/pull.yml
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preseed.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preseed.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..49fa570841
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/preseed.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+---
+- name: "📁 Create the shared model store before the daemons start"
+  ansible.builtin.file:
+    path: "{{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_MODELS_PATH }}/{{ model.repo }}"
+    state: directory
+    mode: "0755"
+  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS }}"
+  loop_control:
+    loop_var: model
+    label: "{{ model.file }}"
+
+- name: "📁 Create the staging directory beside the model store"
+  ansible.builtin.file:
+    path: "{{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_STAGING_PATH }}"
+    state: directory
+    mode: "0755"
+
+- name: "🔍 Read what the shared model store already holds"
+  ansible.builtin.stat:
+    path: "{{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_MODELS_PATH }}/{{ model.repo }}/{{ model.file }}"
+    checksum_algorithm: sha256
+  register: lmstudio_present
+  changed_when: false
+  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS }}"
+  loop_control:
+    loop_var: model
+    label: "{{ model.file }}"
+
+- name: "🗄️ Measure the free space the shared model store offers"
+  ansible.builtin.command: "df -P -B1 {{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_MODELS_PATH | quote }}"
+  register: lmstudio_export_space
+  changed_when: false
+
+- name: "🛑 Refuse to fetch models the shared store cannot hold"
+  vars:
+    _free: "{{ lmstudio_export_space.stdout_lines[1].split()[3] | int }}"
+    _absent: >-
+      {{ lmstudio_present.results
+         | rejectattr('stat.exists')
+         | map(attribute='model.bytes') | map('int') | sum }}
+    _required: "{{ (_absent | int) + (LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_LARGEST_BYTES | int) }}"
+  ansible.builtin.fail:
+    msg: >-
+      The shared model store on {{ LMSTUDIO_NFS_SERVER }} has
+      {{ (_free | int / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) | round(1) }} GiB free but needs
+      {{ (_required | int / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) | round(1) }} GiB: it is missing
+      {{ (_absent | int / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) | round(1) }} GiB of declared models,
+      plus {{ (LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_LARGEST_BYTES | int / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) | round(1) }}
+      GiB for the largest one while it stages. Shrink AI_LOCAL_MODELS in
+      group_vars/all/16_ai.yml or grow the export.
+  when: _free | int < _required | int
+
+- name: "⬇️ Fetch the models into the shared store"
+  get_url_retry:
+    url: "{{ model.url }}"
+    dest: "{{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_MODELS_PATH }}/{{ model.repo }}/{{ model.file }}"
+    tmp_dest: "{{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_STAGING_PATH }}"
+    checksum: "sha256:{{ model.sha256 }}"
+    mode: "0644"
+  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS }}"
+  loop_control:
+    loop_var: model
+    label: "{{ model.file }}"
+  register: lmstudio_fetch
+  changed_when: false
+  failed_when: false
+
+- name: "🪞 Fetch from a mirror when the source did not deliver"
+  get_url_retry:
+    url: "{{ item.1 }}"
+    dest: "{{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_MODELS_PATH }}/{{ item.0.repo }}/{{ item.0.file }}"
+    tmp_dest: "{{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_STAGING_PATH }}"
+    checksum: "sha256:{{ item.0.sha256 }}"
+    mode: "0644"
+  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS | subelements('mirrors', skip_missing=True) }}"
+  loop_control:
+    label: "{{ item.0.file }} from {{ item.1 }}"
+  register: lmstudio_fetch_mirror
+  changed_when: false
+  failed_when: false
+
+- name: "🔍 Read back what the shared model store now holds"
+  ansible.builtin.stat:
+    path: "{{ LMSTUDIO_SHARED_MODELS_PATH }}/{{ model.repo }}/{{ model.file }}"
+    checksum_algorithm: sha256
+  register: lmstudio_seeded
+  changed_when: false
+  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS }}"
+  loop_control:
+    loop_var: model
+    label: "{{ model.file }}"
+
+- name: "🛑 Fail when no source delivered a declared model"
+  vars:
+    _missing: >-
+      {{ lmstudio_seeded.results
+         | rejectattr('stat.exists')
+         | map(attribute='model.file') | list }}
+    _said: >-
+      {{ (lmstudio_fetch.results | map(attribute='msg') | select | list)
+         + (lmstudio_fetch_mirror.results | default([]) | map(attribute='msg') | select | list) }}
+  ansible.builtin.fail:
+    msg: >-
+      The shared model store on {{ LMSTUDIO_NFS_SERVER }} is missing
+      {{ _missing | join(', ') }}. What the sources answered:
+      {{ _said | join(' | ') }}
+  when: _missing | length > 0
+
+- name: "🛑 Fail when a seeded model does not match its checksum"
+  ansible.builtin.fail:
+    msg: >-
+      {{ item.model.file }} in the shared model store on {{ LMSTUDIO_NFS_SERVER }}
+      hashes to {{ item.stat.checksum }}, but AI_LOCAL_MODELS declares
+      {{ item.model.sha256 }}.
+  loop: "{{ lmstudio_seeded.results | selectattr('stat.exists') | list }}"
+  loop_control:
+    label: "{{ item.model.file }}"
+  when: item.stat.checksum != item.model.sha256
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/seed.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/seed.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 41d2501a3c..0000000000
--- a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/tasks/utils/seed.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
----
-- name: "📁 Create the model cache directory on the hosting node"
-  ansible.builtin.file:
-    path: "{{ LMSTUDIO_MODEL_CACHE_DIR }}"
-    state: directory
-    mode: "0755"
-
-- name: "🗄️ Measure the free space the models have to fit into"
-  ansible.builtin.command: "df -P -B1 {{ LMSTUDIO_MODEL_CACHE_DIR | quote }}"
-  register: lmstudio_cache_space
-  changed_when: false
-
-- name: "🛑 Refuse to fetch models the hosting node cannot hold"
-  vars:
-    _free: "{{ lmstudio_cache_space.stdout_lines[1].split()[3] | int }}"
-    _required: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_REQUIRED_BYTES | int }}"
-  ansible.builtin.fail:
-    msg: >-
-      The declared LM Studio models need {{ (_required | int / 1024 / 1024 / 1024)
-      | round(1) }} GiB on {{ LMSTUDIO_HOST_NODE }} but only {{ (_free | int / 1024
-      / 1024 / 1024) | round(1) }} GiB is free. That is
-      {{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_COPIES_ON_DISK }} times the
-      {{ (LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_BYTES | int / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) | round(1) }} GiB the
-      models declare, because the node cache, the staging copy inside the container
-      and the models volume all exist at once during the import. Shrink
-      AI_LOCAL_MODELS in group_vars/all/16_ai.yml or give the node more disk.
-  when: _free | int < _required | int
-
-- name: "⬇️ Warm the model cache on the node, best effort"
-  get_url_retry:
-    url: "{{ model.source }}/resolve/main/{{ model.file }}"
-    dest: "{{ LMSTUDIO_MODEL_CACHE_DIR }}/{{ model.file }}"
-    checksum: "sha256:{{ model.sha256 }}"
-    mode: "0644"
-  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS }}"
-  loop_control:
-    loop_var: model
-    label: "{{ model.file }}"
-  changed_when: false
-  failed_when: false
-
-- name: "🪞 Warm the model cache from a mirror when the source stayed silent"
-  get_url_retry:
-    url: "{{ item.1 }}/resolve/main/{{ item.0.file }}"
-    dest: "{{ LMSTUDIO_MODEL_CACHE_DIR }}/{{ item.0.file }}"
-    checksum: "sha256:{{ item.0.sha256 }}"
-    mode: "0644"
-  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS | subelements('mirrors', skip_missing=True) }}"
-  loop_control:
-    label: "{{ item.0.file }} from {{ item.1 }}"
-  changed_when: false
-  failed_when: false
-
-- name: "📋 Hand the warmed model to LM Studio"
-  ansible.builtin.script: shell/import.sh
-  environment:
-    LMSTUDIO_LOCAL_CID: "{{ LMSTUDIO_LOCAL_CID }}"
-    MODEL_FILE: "{{ LMSTUDIO_MODEL_CACHE_DIR }}/{{ model.file }}"
-    MODEL_USER_REPO: "{{ model.source | regex_replace('^https://huggingface\\.co/', '') }}"
-    MODELS_DIR: "{{ LMSTUDIO_MODELS_DIR }}"
-  loop: "{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS }}"
-  loop_control:
-    loop_var: model
-    label: "{{ model.file }}"
-  changed_when: false
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/templates/test.env.j2 b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/templates/test.env.j2
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4913d84187
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/templates/test.env.j2
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+LMSTUDIO_CONTAINER={{ CLI_LOCAL_CID }}
+LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_BLOBS='{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS | map(attribute='repo') | zip(LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS | map(attribute='file')) | map('join', '/') | list | to_json }}'
+LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_DIGESTS='{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS | map(attribute='sha256') | list | to_json }}'
+LMSTUDIO_EXPECTED_MODELS='{{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS | map(attribute='name') | list | to_json }}'
+LMSTUDIO_PORT={{ LMSTUDIO_PORT }}
diff --git a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/vars/main.yml b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/vars/main.yml
index 3c55763554..b55d6d4644 100644
--- a/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/vars/main.yml
+++ b/roles/svc-ai-lmstudio/vars/main.yml
@@ -8,12 +8,14 @@ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS: "{{ lookup('config', application_id, 'services.lmstudio
 LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_ASYNC_TIME: "{{ lookup('config', application_id, 'services.lmstudio.preload_async_time') }}"
 LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_FLOOR_SECONDS: "{{ lookup('config', application_id, 'services.lmstudio.preload_floor_seconds') }}"
 LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MIN_BYTES_PER_SECOND: "{{ lookup('config', application_id, 'services.lmstudio.preload_min_bytes_per_second') }}"
-LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_BYTES: >-
-  {{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS | map(attribute='bytes') | map('int') | sum }}
-LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_COPIES_ON_DISK: 3
-LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_REQUIRED_BYTES: >-
-  {{ (LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_BYTES | int) * (LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_COPIES_ON_DISK | int) }}
-LMSTUDIO_CONFIG_DIR: "{{ lookup('container', application_id, 'directories.config') }}"
-LMSTUDIO_MODEL_CACHE_DIR: "{{ [ LMSTUDIO_CONFIG_DIR, 'models' ] | path_join }}"
-LMSTUDIO_HOME_DIR: "{{ lookup('volume', application_id, 'lmstudio_data').target }}"
-LMSTUDIO_MODELS_DIR: "{{ [ LMSTUDIO_HOME_DIR, 'models' ] | path_join }}"
+LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_LARGEST_BYTES: >-
+  {{ LMSTUDIO_PRELOAD_MODELS | map(attribute='bytes') | map('int') | max }}
+LMSTUDIO_NFS_SERVER: "{{ (groups['svc-storage-nfs-server'] | default([]))[0] | default(inventory_hostname) }}"
+LMSTUDIO_SHARED_MODELS_PATH: "{{ [ STORAGE_NFS_STATE_PATH, lookup('volume', application_id, 'lmstudio_models').name ] | path_join }}"
+LMSTUDIO_SHARED_STAGING_PATH: "{{ [ STORAGE_NFS_STATE_PATH, '.lmstudio-staging' ] | path_join }}"
+LMSTUDIO_PRESEED_ENABLED: >-
+  {{ (DEPLOYMENT_MODE == 'swarm')
+     and (storage.backend == 'nfs')
+     and ((groups['svc-storage-nfs-server'] | default([])) | length > 0)
+     and (lookup('volume', application_id, 'lmstudio_models').nfs is not false)
+     and (application_id not in lookup('roles_with_placement', 'manager')) }}
diff --git a/tests/external/roles/test_ai_local_models_downloadable.py b/tests/external/roles/test_ai_local_models_downloadable.py
index cc44488f16..4f013d6788 100644
--- a/tests/external/roles/test_ai_local_models_downloadable.py
+++ b/tests/external/roles/test_ai_local_models_downloadable.py
@@ -41,25 +41,26 @@ def _models() -> list[dict]:
     return [entry for entry in (entries or []) if isinstance(entry, dict)]
 
 
-def _repo_path(source: str) -> str:
-    """Return ``user/repo`` for a HuggingFace source, else the empty string."""
-    if not source.startswith(_HUGGINGFACE_PREFIX):
+def _repo_path(entry: dict) -> str:
+    """Return the HuggingFace ``user/repo`` this entry pins, else empty.
+
+    Args:
+        entry: one AI_LOCAL_MODELS declaration.
+    """
+    url = str(entry.get("url") or "")
+    if not url.startswith(_HUGGINGFACE_PREFIX):
         return ""
-    return source[len(_HUGGINGFACE_PREFIX) :].strip("/")
+    return str(entry.get("repo") or "").strip("/")
 
 
 def _download_url(entry: dict) -> str:
-    return f"{entry['source'].rstrip('/')}/resolve/main/{entry['file']}"
+    return str(entry["url"])
 
 
 def _mirror_urls(entry: dict) -> list[str]:
-    """Every extra base a deploy falls back to, in declaration order."""
+    """Every extra URL a deploy falls back to, in declaration order."""
     mirrors = entry.get("mirrors") or []
-    return [
-        f"{str(base).rstrip('/')}/resolve/main/{entry['file']}"
-        for base in mirrors
-        if isinstance(base, str)
-    ]
+    return [str(url) for url in mirrors if isinstance(url, str)]
 
 
 def _upstream_digests(repo_path: str) -> tuple[str, object]:
@@ -133,11 +134,14 @@ class TestAiLocalModelsDownloadable(unittest.TestCase):
         unpinned = []
         for entry in models:
             alias = str(entry.get("alias") or "<no alias>")
-            source = entry.get("source")
+            url = entry.get("url")
+            repo = entry.get("repo")
             file_name = entry.get("file")
             digest = entry.get("sha256")
-            if not isinstance(source, str) or not urlsplit(source).scheme:
-                unpinned.append(f"{alias}: 'source' is not an absolute URL")
+            if not isinstance(url, str) or not urlsplit(url).scheme:
+                unpinned.append(f"{alias}: 'url' is not an absolute URL")
+            if not isinstance(repo, str) or len(repo.strip("/").split("/")) != 2:
+                unpinned.append(f"{alias}: 'repo' is not '<publisher>/<repo>'")
             if not isinstance(file_name, str) or not file_name:
                 unpinned.append(f"{alias}: 'file' is missing")
             if not isinstance(digest, str) or not _SHA256.match(digest):
@@ -149,21 +153,21 @@ class TestAiLocalModelsDownloadable(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertFalse(
             unpinned,
             f"{len(unpinned)} model declaration(s) in {_AI_VARS_FILE} cannot be "
-            f"fetched with a checksum. Each entry needs 'source', 'file' and "
-            f"'sha256':\n" + "\n".join(f"  {line}" for line in unpinned),
+            f"fetched with a checksum. Each entry needs 'url', 'repo', 'file' "
+            f"and 'sha256':\n" + "\n".join(f"  {line}" for line in unpinned),
         )
 
     def test_every_pin_matches_what_upstream_serves(self) -> None:
         models = [
             entry
             for entry in _models()
-            if isinstance(entry.get("source"), str)
+            if isinstance(entry.get("url"), str)
             and isinstance(entry.get("file"), str)
             and isinstance(entry.get("sha256"), str)
         ]
         self.assertTrue(models, f"{_AI_VARS_FILE} declares no pinned model")
 
-        repo_paths = [_repo_path(entry["source"]) for entry in models]
+        repo_paths = [_repo_path(entry) for entry in models]
         with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=_MAX_WORKERS) as pool:
             api = list(pool.map(_upstream_digests, repo_paths))
             reach = list(pool.map(_reachable, [_download_url(e) for e in models]))