diff --git a/.env.sample b/.env.sample
index be3fdec8..92384631 100644
--- a/.env.sample
+++ b/.env.sample
@@ -133,9 +133,20 @@ GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=
 # Optional — Embedding
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-# Base URL for the embedding API (omit for OpenAI default)
+# Base URL for the embedding API (omit for OpenAI default). Any
+# OpenAI-compatible /embeddings gateway works, e.g. to route through OpenRouter:
+#   EMBEDDING_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
+#   EMBEDDING_MODEL=openai/text-embedding-3-small
+#   EMBEDDING_API_KEY=<your OpenRouter key>
 # EMBEDDING_BASE_URL=
 
+# Embedding model name (default: text-embedding-3-small). Override when a
+# gateway namespaces the model differently (OpenRouter needs the "openai/"
+# prefix). The replacement MUST emit 1536-dim vectors (the stored column is
+# halfvec(1536)) and be the same underlying model as whatever produced your
+# existing vectors — otherwise semantic search silently degrades.
+# EMBEDDING_MODEL=
+
 # Timeout per embedding API call (ms)
 # EMBEDDING_TIMEOUT_MS=
 
diff --git a/SELF_HOST.md b/SELF_HOST.md
index 0c1902cd..76244dfb 100644
--- a/SELF_HOST.md
+++ b/SELF_HOST.md
@@ -51,6 +51,20 @@ cp .env.sample .env
 Set the required values:
 
 - `EMBEDDING_API_KEY` — your OpenAI (or compatible) API key.
+- Optional: route embeddings through an OpenAI-compatible gateway instead of
+  OpenAI directly by setting `EMBEDDING_BASE_URL` plus `EMBEDDING_MODEL` (some
+  gateways namespace model names). For OpenRouter:
+
+  ```bash
+  EMBEDDING_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
+  EMBEDDING_MODEL=openai/text-embedding-3-small
+  EMBEDDING_API_KEY=<your OpenRouter key>
+  ```
+
+  The model must emit 1536-dim vectors (the stored column is `halfvec(1536)`)
+  and must be the same underlying model that produced your existing vectors —
+  switching to a genuinely different model puts stored and query vectors in
+  different vector spaces and silently degrades semantic search.
 - Optional: `EMBEDDING_TOKENIZE_THREADS` controls worker threads used for OpenAI
   tokenization/truncation. It auto-sizes by default
   (`max(1, min(available CPU cores - 1, 4))`); set `0` to run inline in very
diff --git a/packages/server/config.ts b/packages/server/config.ts
index c18a935e..3a3cf4df 100644
--- a/packages/server/config.ts
+++ b/packages/server/config.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,18 @@
 /**
  * Embedding model configuration.
  * All engines use the same embedding model for consistency.
+ *
+ * `model` is the default only — it is overridable per-deploy via EMBEDDING_MODEL
+ * (see buildEmbeddingConfig), because an OpenAI-compatible gateway may namespace
+ * the same underlying model differently (OpenRouter, for instance, serves
+ * text-embedding-3-small as "openai/text-embedding-3-small").
+ *
+ * `dimensions` is deliberately NOT configurable: the memory table's embedding
+ * column is halfvec(1536), so a different width would not round-trip. Any
+ * replacement model must emit 1536-dim vectors, and it must be embedding-
+ * compatible with whatever produced the vectors already stored — mixing models
+ * silently degrades semantic search, since stored and query vectors would live
+ * in different vector spaces.
  */
 export const embeddingConstants = {
   model: "text-embedding-3-small",
diff --git a/packages/server/start.test.ts b/packages/server/start.test.ts
index e7d57529..de429fd7 100644
--- a/packages/server/start.test.ts
+++ b/packages/server/start.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ const TOUCHED_ENV = [
   "EMBEDDING_TIMEOUT_MS",
   "EMBEDDING_MAX_PARALLEL_CALLS",
   "EMBEDDING_BASE_URL",
+  "EMBEDDING_MODEL",
 ] as const;
 
 describe("buildEmbeddingConfig", () => {
@@ -68,4 +69,28 @@ describe("buildEmbeddingConfig", () => {
       "EMBEDDING_API_KEY is required",
     );
   });
+
+  test("defaults model to text-embedding-3-small", () => {
+    expect(buildEmbeddingConfig().model).toBe("text-embedding-3-small");
+  });
+
+  test("forwards an explicit EMBEDDING_MODEL (gateway-namespaced name)", () => {
+    process.env.EMBEDDING_MODEL = "openai/text-embedding-3-small";
+    expect(buildEmbeddingConfig().model).toBe("openai/text-embedding-3-small");
+  });
+
+  test("falls back to the default model when EMBEDDING_MODEL is empty", () => {
+    process.env.EMBEDDING_MODEL = "";
+    expect(buildEmbeddingConfig().model).toBe("text-embedding-3-small");
+  });
+
+  test("keeps dimensions at 1536 regardless of the model override", () => {
+    process.env.EMBEDDING_MODEL = "openai/text-embedding-3-small";
+    expect(buildEmbeddingConfig().dimensions).toBe(1536);
+  });
+
+  test("forwards EMBEDDING_BASE_URL for gateway routing", () => {
+    process.env.EMBEDDING_BASE_URL = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1";
+    expect(buildEmbeddingConfig().baseUrl).toBe("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1");
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/server/start.ts b/packages/server/start.ts
index 02fe7bfc..40b8f48d 100644
--- a/packages/server/start.ts
+++ b/packages/server/start.ts
@@ -73,6 +73,14 @@ function parseIntEnv(
  * Build the embedding config from environment variables. Requires
  * EMBEDDING_API_KEY (the server won't boot without it). Used as the default
  * when `StartServerOptions.embeddingConfig` is not supplied.
+ *
+ * The provider is always the OpenAI SDK client, which speaks the
+ * OpenAI-compatible /embeddings protocol — so pointing EMBEDDING_BASE_URL at a
+ * gateway (e.g. OpenRouter's https://openrouter.ai/api/v1) plus that gateway's
+ * key in EMBEDDING_API_KEY is all that's needed to route through it.
+ * EMBEDDING_MODEL exists because gateways rename models (OpenRouter wants
+ * "openai/text-embedding-3-small"). Dimensions stay fixed at 1536 to match the
+ * halfvec(1536) column — see embeddingConstants.
  */
 export function buildEmbeddingConfig(): EmbeddingConfig {
   const apiKey = process.env.EMBEDDING_API_KEY;
@@ -109,7 +117,7 @@ export function buildEmbeddingConfig(): EmbeddingConfig {
 
   return {
     provider: "openai",
-    model: embeddingConstants.model,
+    model: process.env.EMBEDDING_MODEL || embeddingConstants.model,
     dimensions: embeddingConstants.dimensions,
     apiKey,
     baseUrl: process.env.EMBEDDING_BASE_URL,
diff --git a/scripts/embed-query.ts b/scripts/embed-query.ts
index 3f67b040..0405d5fb 100644
--- a/scripts/embed-query.ts
+++ b/scripts/embed-query.ts
@@ -64,7 +64,9 @@ if (!apiKey) {
 
 const embedding = await generateEmbedding(query, {
   provider: "openai",
-  model: "text-embedding-3-small",
+  // Mirror the server's EMBEDDING_MODEL override so a query vector generated
+  // here matches the model that produced the stored vectors.
+  model: process.env.EMBEDDING_MODEL || "text-embedding-3-small",
   dimensions: 1536,
   apiKey,
   baseUrl: process.env.EMBEDDING_BASE_URL,