From bee423818000811bce130958a31afa346ffaba67 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tin Chi Lo <tin@berri.ai>
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:06:44 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] docs(complexity-router): state why equal tier boundaries are
 accepted

The ascending check uses <=, so a zero-width band passes. The test claimed that takes the
tier out of rotation without saying how: the strict < below it claims every lower score, and
everything from that value up falls through to the tier above, so nothing routes there. The
validator allows it because a non-decreasing set is coherent where a decreasing one asks for
a tier starting above the tier above it. Also asserts the whole resolved triple rather than
one key, so a later normalization of equal boundaries would fail here.
---
 .../router_strategy/complexity_router/config.py |  9 +++++----
 .../router_strategy/test_complexity_router.py   | 17 ++++++++++++++---
 2 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/litellm/router_strategy/complexity_router/config.py b/litellm/router_strategy/complexity_router/config.py
index 6caa9e519f8..1e0f6dc9769 100644
--- a/litellm/router_strategy/complexity_router/config.py
+++ b/litellm/router_strategy/complexity_router/config.py
@@ -1115,10 +1115,11 @@ class ComplexityRouterConfig(BaseModel):
 
     @model_validator(mode="after")
     def _validate_tier_boundaries_ascend(self) -> "ComplexityRouterConfig":
-        # The score-to-tier mapping is a sequential comparison chain, so a boundary that sits below the one
-        # under it makes the tier between them unreachable and silently sends its traffic to a costlier tier.
-        # Resolved, not raw: omitting a key is the common way to arrive here, since the omitted key is filled
-        # from a shipped default that knows nothing about the boundary the operator did set.
+        # The score-to-tier mapping is a sequential comparison chain, so a boundary below the one under it
+        # asks for a tier starting above the tier above it, which no score satisfies, and the stranded tier's
+        # traffic silently lands on a costlier one. Equal boundaries pass: an empty band is coherent.
+        # Resolved, not raw, because filling an omitted key from a shipped default is the usual way an
+        # operator arrives here without having written anything out of order.
         resolved: Final = resolve_tier_boundaries(self.tier_boundaries)
         simple_medium, medium_complex, complex_reasoning = (
             resolved["simple_medium"],
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/router_strategy/test_complexity_router.py b/tests/test_litellm/router_strategy/test_complexity_router.py
index 1a73b31b9d4..28ecccb0dc7 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/router_strategy/test_complexity_router.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/router_strategy/test_complexity_router.py
@@ -661,8 +661,15 @@ class TestEffectiveTierBoundaries:
                 },
             )
 
-    def test_equal_boundaries_are_allowed(self, mock_router_instance):
-        """Collapsing a tier to an empty band is a deliberate way to take it out of rotation."""
+    def test_equal_boundaries_are_accepted_and_close_the_band(self, mock_router_instance):
+        """Equal boundaries are accepted, and they leave the tier between them unreachable.
+
+        With simple_medium == medium_complex, MEDIUM's band is zero width: the strict `<` below it
+        already claims every lower score for SIMPLE, and every score from that value up falls
+        through to COMPLEX. The validator still allows it because a non-decreasing set is coherent,
+        it just describes an empty band, where a decreasing pair asks for a tier that starts above
+        the tier above it and no score can satisfy that.
+        """
         router = ComplexityRouter(
             model_name="test-complexity-router",
             litellm_router_instance=mock_router_instance,
@@ -671,7 +678,11 @@ class TestEffectiveTierBoundaries:
                 "tier_boundaries": {"simple_medium": 0.25, "medium_complex": 0.25, "complex_reasoning": 0.50},
             },
         )
-        assert router._effective_tier_boundaries()["medium_complex"] == 0.25
+        assert dict(router._effective_tier_boundaries()) == {
+            "simple_medium": 0.25,
+            "medium_complex": 0.25,
+            "complex_reasoning": 0.50,
+        }
 
     def test_defaults_stay_ordered_and_within_the_scoring_range(self):
         """The tiers only all remain reachable while the boundaries ascend."""