diff --git a/apps/aether-gateway/src/orchestration/attempt.rs b/apps/aether-gateway/src/orchestration/attempt.rs
index 0d3213488..53f081a06 100644
--- a/apps/aether-gateway/src/orchestration/attempt.rs
+++ b/apps/aether-gateway/src/orchestration/attempt.rs
@@ -74,17 +74,44 @@ pub(crate) fn local_attempt_slot_count(transport: &GatewayProviderTransportSnaps
     local_attempt_slots_from_transport(transport).unwrap_or(1)
 }
 
+/// For endpoint/provider table fields, `2` is the legacy admin default and is
+/// treated as "not explicitly configured" so existing local-execution behaviour
+/// (one attempt slot per candidate) stays unchanged. Values `0`, `1`, and `>2`
+/// are treated as explicit.
+const LEGACY_DEFAULT_MAX_RETRIES: u32 = 2;
+
+/// Upper bound on local attempt slots. This is intentionally stricter than
+/// admin max_retries validation to prevent unbounded pre-materialization from
+/// arbitrarily large JSON config values.
+const MAX_LOCAL_ATTEMPT_SLOTS: u32 = 99;
+
 fn local_attempt_slots_from_transport(transport: &GatewayProviderTransportSnapshot) -> Option<u32> {
-    transport
+    let rules = transport
         .provider
         .config
         .as_ref()
         .and_then(|config| config.get("failover_rules"))
-        .and_then(Value::as_object)
+        .and_then(Value::as_object);
+
+    rules
         .and_then(|value| value.get("max_retries"))
         .and_then(Value::as_u64)
         .and_then(|value| u32::try_from(value).ok())
-        .map(|value| value.max(1))
+        .or_else(|| {
+            transport
+                .endpoint
+                .max_retries
+                .and_then(|value| u32::try_from(value).ok())
+                .filter(|&value| value != LEGACY_DEFAULT_MAX_RETRIES)
+        })
+        .or_else(|| {
+            transport
+                .provider
+                .max_retries
+                .and_then(|value| u32::try_from(value).ok())
+                .filter(|&value| value != LEGACY_DEFAULT_MAX_RETRIES)
+        })
+        .map(|value| value.clamp(1, MAX_LOCAL_ATTEMPT_SLOTS))
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
@@ -190,11 +217,172 @@ mod tests {
     }
 
     #[test]
-    fn build_local_attempt_identities_require_explicit_failover_rule_for_expansion() {
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_falls_back_to_endpoint_max_retries() {
         let identities =
             build_local_attempt_identities(2, &sample_transport(Some(5), Some(3), None));
 
-        assert_eq!(identities, vec![ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(2, 0)]);
+        assert_eq!(
+            identities,
+            vec![
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(2, 0),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(2, 1),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(2, 2),
+            ]
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_falls_back_to_provider_max_retries() {
+        let identities = build_local_attempt_identities(0, &sample_transport(Some(4), None, None));
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            identities,
+            vec![
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(0, 0),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(0, 1),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(0, 2),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(0, 3),
+            ]
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_endpoint_overrides_provider() {
+        let identities =
+            build_local_attempt_identities(7, &sample_transport(Some(10), Some(3), None));
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            identities,
+            vec![
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(7, 0),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(7, 1),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(7, 2),
+            ]
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_default_two_treated_as_unset() {
+        let identities =
+            build_local_attempt_identities(5, &sample_transport(Some(2), Some(2), None));
+
+        assert_eq!(identities, vec![ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(5, 0)]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_endpoint_two_falls_back_to_provider_ten() {
+        let identities =
+            build_local_attempt_identities(1, &sample_transport(Some(10), Some(2), None));
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            identities,
+            vec![
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 0),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 1),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 2),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 3),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 4),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 5),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 6),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 7),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 8),
+                ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 9),
+            ]
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_failover_rules_zero_produces_one_slot() {
+        let identities = build_local_attempt_identities(
+            1,
+            &sample_transport(
+                Some(5),
+                Some(4),
+                Some(json!({
+                    "failover_rules": {
+                        "max_retries": 0
+                    }
+                })),
+            ),
+        );
+
+        assert_eq!(identities, vec![ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(1, 0)]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_endpoint_zero_produces_one_slot() {
+        let identities =
+            build_local_attempt_identities(3, &sample_transport(Some(5), Some(0), None));
+
+        assert_eq!(identities, vec![ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(3, 0)]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_provider_zero_produces_one_slot() {
+        let identities = build_local_attempt_identities(3, &sample_transport(Some(0), None, None));
+
+        assert_eq!(identities, vec![ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(3, 0)]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_provider_ten_creates_ten_slots() {
+        let identities = build_local_attempt_identities(2, &sample_transport(Some(10), None, None));
+
+        assert_eq!(identities.len(), 10);
+        assert_eq!(identities[0], ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(2, 0));
+        assert_eq!(identities[9], ExecutionAttemptIdentity::new(2, 9));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_failover_rules_over_limit_clamped_to_max() {
+        let identities = build_local_attempt_identities(
+            0,
+            &sample_transport(
+                Some(3),
+                Some(5),
+                Some(json!({
+                    "failover_rules": {
+                        "max_retries": 1000
+                    }
+                })),
+            ),
+        );
+
+        assert_eq!(identities.len(), 99);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_failover_rules_u32_max_clamped_to_max() {
+        let identities = build_local_attempt_identities(
+            0,
+            &sample_transport(
+                None,
+                None,
+                Some(json!({
+                    "failover_rules": {
+                        "max_retries": u32::MAX
+                    }
+                })),
+            ),
+        );
+
+        assert_eq!(identities.len(), 99);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_endpoint_over_limit_clamped_to_max() {
+        let identities =
+            build_local_attempt_identities(0, &sample_transport(None, Some(2000), None));
+
+        assert_eq!(identities.len(), 99);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn build_local_attempt_identities_provider_over_limit_clamped_to_max() {
+        let identities =
+            build_local_attempt_identities(0, &sample_transport(Some(5000), None, None));
+
+        assert_eq!(identities.len(), 99);
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/crates/aether-scheduler-core/src/request_candidate.rs b/crates/aether-scheduler-core/src/request_candidate.rs
index e97d9d777..1d3c6fc17 100644
--- a/crates/aether-scheduler-core/src/request_candidate.rs
+++ b/crates/aether-scheduler-core/src/request_candidate.rs
@@ -72,6 +72,17 @@ pub struct ReportRequestCandidateStatusRecordInput {
     pub now_unix_ms: u64,
 }
 
+struct ReportCandidateExtraDataInput {
+    client_api_format: Option<String>,
+    provider_api_format: Option<String>,
+    upstream_url: Option<String>,
+    mapped_model: Option<String>,
+    key_name: Option<String>,
+    header_rules: Option<Value>,
+    body_rules: Option<Value>,
+    proxy: Option<Value>,
+}
+
 pub fn execution_error_details(
     error: Option<&ExecutionError>,
     body_json: Option<&Value>,
@@ -153,7 +164,7 @@ pub fn resolve_report_request_candidate_slot(
         proxy,
     } = metadata;
     let request_id = request_id?;
-    let synthesized_extra_data = build_report_candidate_extra_data(
+    let synthesized_extra_data = build_report_candidate_extra_data(ReportCandidateExtraDataInput {
         client_api_format,
         provider_api_format,
         upstream_url,
@@ -162,7 +173,7 @@ pub fn resolve_report_request_candidate_slot(
         header_rules,
         body_rules,
         proxy,
-    );
+    });
     let created_at_unix_ms = matched_candidate
         .as_ref()
         .map(|candidate| candidate.created_at_unix_ms)
@@ -316,16 +327,16 @@ pub fn build_local_request_candidate_status_record(
         .filter(|value| !value.is_empty())?;
     let metadata = parse_request_candidate_report_context(report_context)?;
     let candidate_index = metadata.candidate_index?;
-    let extra_data = build_report_candidate_extra_data(
-        metadata.client_api_format.clone(),
-        metadata.provider_api_format.clone(),
-        metadata.upstream_url.clone(),
-        metadata.mapped_model.clone(),
-        metadata.key_name.clone(),
-        metadata.header_rules.clone(),
-        metadata.body_rules.clone(),
-        metadata.proxy.clone(),
-    );
+    let extra_data = build_report_candidate_extra_data(ReportCandidateExtraDataInput {
+        client_api_format: metadata.client_api_format.clone(),
+        provider_api_format: metadata.provider_api_format.clone(),
+        upstream_url: metadata.upstream_url.clone(),
+        mapped_model: metadata.mapped_model.clone(),
+        key_name: metadata.key_name.clone(),
+        header_rules: metadata.header_rules.clone(),
+        body_rules: metadata.body_rules.clone(),
+        proxy: metadata.proxy.clone(),
+    });
     let created_at_unix_ms = started_at_unix_ms.or(finished_at_unix_ms);
 
     Some(UpsertRequestCandidateRecord {
@@ -526,17 +537,18 @@ fn next_candidate_index(candidates: &[StoredRequestCandidate]) -> u32 {
         .unwrap_or_default()
 }
 
-fn build_report_candidate_extra_data(
-    client_api_format: Option<String>,
-    provider_api_format: Option<String>,
-    upstream_url: Option<String>,
-    mapped_model: Option<String>,
-    key_name: Option<String>,
-    header_rules: Option<Value>,
-    body_rules: Option<Value>,
-    proxy: Option<Value>,
-) -> Option<Value> {
-    let mut extra_data = Map::with_capacity(8);
+fn build_report_candidate_extra_data(input: ReportCandidateExtraDataInput) -> Option<Value> {
+    let ReportCandidateExtraDataInput {
+        client_api_format,
+        provider_api_format,
+        upstream_url,
+        mapped_model,
+        key_name,
+        header_rules,
+        body_rules,
+        proxy,
+    } = input;
+    let mut extra_data = Map::with_capacity(10);
     extra_data.insert("gateway_execution_runtime".to_string(), Value::Bool(true));
     extra_data.insert("phase".to_string(), Value::String("3c_trial".to_string()));
     if let Some(client_api_format) = client_api_format {