diff --git a/api/_cors.test.mjs b/api/_cors.test.mjs
index 61f85c1ad..751f4de2d 100644
--- a/api/_cors.test.mjs
+++ b/api/_cors.test.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { strict as assert } from 'node:assert';
 import test from 'node:test';
-import { getCorsHeaders, isDisallowedOrigin } from './_cors.js';
+import { getCorsHeaders, getPublicCorsHeaders, isDisallowedOrigin } from './_cors.js';
 
 function makeRequest(origin) {
   const headers = new Headers();
@@ -38,3 +38,9 @@ test('requests without origin remain allowed', () => {
   const req = makeRequest(null);
   assert.equal(isDisallowedOrigin(req), false);
 });
+
+test('getPublicCorsHeaders returns ACAO: * with no Vary', () => {
+  const headers = getPublicCorsHeaders();
+  assert.equal(headers['Access-Control-Allow-Origin'], '*');
+  assert.equal(headers['Vary'], undefined, 'Should not include Vary header');
+});
diff --git a/middleware.ts b/middleware.ts
index c59fa7e84..985c17147 100644
--- a/middleware.ts
+++ b/middleware.ts
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ export default function middleware(request: Request) {
   if (BOT_UA.test(ua)) {
     return new Response('{"error":"Forbidden"}', {
       status: 403,
-      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=86400' },
     });
   }
 
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ export default function middleware(request: Request) {
   if (!ua || ua.length < 10) {
     return new Response('{"error":"Forbidden"}', {
       status: 403,
-      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=86400' },
     });
   }
 }
diff --git a/server/cors.ts b/server/cors.ts
index 02ff381b8..2dbfea393 100644
--- a/server/cors.ts
+++ b/server/cors.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,20 @@ export function getCorsHeaders(req: Request): Record<string, string> {
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * CORS headers for public cacheable responses (no per-user variation).
+ * Uses ACAO: * so Vercel CDN stores ONE cache entry per URL instead of one per
+ * unique Origin. Eliminates Vary: Origin cache fragmentation.
+ */
+export function getPublicCorsHeaders(): Record<string, string> {
+  return {
+    'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
+    'Access-Control-Allow-Methods': 'GET, POST, OPTIONS',
+    'Access-Control-Allow-Headers': 'Content-Type, Authorization, X-WorldMonitor-Key, X-Widget-Key, X-Pro-Key',
+    'Access-Control-Max-Age': '3600',
+  };
+}
+
 export function isDisallowedOrigin(req: Request): boolean {
   const origin = req.headers.get('origin');
   if (!origin) return false;
diff --git a/server/gateway.ts b/server/gateway.ts
index 799700b3a..83fe77e63 100644
--- a/server/gateway.ts
+++ b/server/gateway.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
  */
 
 import { createRouter, type RouteDescriptor } from './router';
-import { getCorsHeaders, isDisallowedOrigin, isAllowedOrigin } from './cors';
+import { getCorsHeaders, getPublicCorsHeaders, isDisallowedOrigin, isAllowedOrigin } from './cors';
 // @ts-expect-error — JS module, no declaration file
 import { validateApiKey } from '../api/_api-key.js';
 import { mapErrorToResponse } from './error-mapper';
@@ -370,13 +370,18 @@ export function createDomainGateway(
         // bypassing auth entirely.
         const reqOrigin = request.headers.get('origin') || '';
         const cdnCache = isAllowedOrigin(reqOrigin) ? TIER_CDN_CACHE[tier] : null;
-        if (cdnCache) mergedHeaders.set('CDN-Cache-Control', cdnCache);
+        if (cdnCache) {
+          mergedHeaders.set('CDN-Cache-Control', cdnCache);
+          // For non-premium public GET routes: use ACAO: * to eliminate
+          // per-origin CDN cache fragmentation. Premium routes keep per-origin
+          // CORS to prevent cache-level auth bypass.
+          if (!PREMIUM_RPC_PATHS.has(pathname)) {
+            const pub = getPublicCorsHeaders();
+            for (const [k, v] of Object.entries(pub)) mergedHeaders.set(k, v);
+            mergedHeaders.delete('Vary');
+          }
+        }
         mergedHeaders.set('X-Cache-Tier', tier);
-
-        // Keep per-origin ACAO (already set from corsHeaders above) and preserve Vary: Origin.
-        // ACAO: * with no Vary would collapse all origins into one cache entry, bypassing
-        // isDisallowedOrigin() for cache hits — Vercel CDN serves s-maxage responses without
-        // re-invoking the function, so a disallowed origin could read a cached ACAO: * response.
       }
       mergedHeaders.delete('X-No-Cache');
       if (!new URL(request.url).searchParams.has('_debug')) {
diff --git a/tests/cors-public-headers.test.mts b/tests/cors-public-headers.test.mts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6d17c9cb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cors-public-headers.test.mts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import { describe, it } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { resolve, dirname } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const corsSrc = readFileSync(resolve(__dirname, '..', 'server', 'cors.ts'), 'utf-8');
+
+describe('getPublicCorsHeaders', () => {
+  it('returns ACAO: * without Vary header', () => {
+    // Verify the function body contains ACAO: * and does NOT include Vary
+    const fnMatch = corsSrc.match(/export function getPublicCorsHeaders[\s\S]*?^}/m);
+    assert.ok(fnMatch, 'getPublicCorsHeaders function not found in server/cors.ts');
+    const fnBody = fnMatch![0];
+    assert.match(fnBody, /'Access-Control-Allow-Origin':\s*'\*'/, 'Should set ACAO: *');
+    assert.doesNotMatch(fnBody, /Vary/, 'Should NOT include Vary header');
+  });
+
+  it('includes same Allow-Methods as getCorsHeaders', () => {
+    const pubMethods = corsSrc.match(/getPublicCorsHeaders[\s\S]*?Allow-Methods':\s*'([^']+)'/);
+    const perOriginMethods = corsSrc.match(/getCorsHeaders[\s\S]*?Allow-Methods':\s*'([^']+)'/);
+    assert.ok(pubMethods && perOriginMethods, 'Could not extract Allow-Methods from both functions');
+    assert.equal(pubMethods![1], perOriginMethods![1], 'Allow-Methods should match between public and per-origin');
+  });
+
+  it('includes same Allow-Headers as getCorsHeaders', () => {
+    const pubHeaders = corsSrc.match(/getPublicCorsHeaders[\s\S]*?Allow-Headers':\s*'([^']+)'/);
+    const perOriginHeaders = corsSrc.match(/getCorsHeaders[\s\S]*?Allow-Headers':\s*'([^']+)'/);
+    assert.ok(pubHeaders && perOriginHeaders, 'Could not extract Allow-Headers from both functions');
+    assert.equal(pubHeaders![1], perOriginHeaders![1], 'Allow-Headers should match between public and per-origin');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/tests/gateway-cdn-cors.test.mts b/tests/gateway-cdn-cors.test.mts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..699fd17a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/gateway-cdn-cors.test.mts
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+import { describe, it } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { resolve, dirname } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const src = readFileSync(resolve(__dirname, '..', 'server', 'gateway.ts'), 'utf-8');
+
+// Extract the GET 200 cache block (between "response.status === 200 && request.method === 'GET'" and the next closing brace at indentation 4)
+const cacheBlock = (() => {
+  const start = src.indexOf("response.status === 200 && request.method === 'GET' && response.body");
+  if (start === -1) return '';
+  return src.slice(start, start + 3000);
+})();
+
+describe('gateway CDN CORS policy', () => {
+  it('sets ACAO: * when CDN-Cache-Control is present and route is not premium', () => {
+    assert.match(
+      cacheBlock,
+      /getPublicCorsHeaders/,
+      'Cache block should call getPublicCorsHeaders for CDN-cached routes',
+    );
+    assert.match(
+      cacheBlock,
+      /!PREMIUM_RPC_PATHS\.has\(pathname\)/,
+      'Should guard public CORS behind premium path check',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('deletes Vary header when CDN-Cache-Control is present and route is not premium', () => {
+    assert.match(
+      cacheBlock,
+      /mergedHeaders\.delete\('Vary'\)/,
+      'Should delete Vary header for non-premium CDN-cached routes',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('preserves per-origin ACAO for premium routes even with CDN-Cache-Control', () => {
+    // The ACAO: * block is guarded by !PREMIUM_RPC_PATHS.has(pathname),
+    // so premium routes skip it and keep per-origin CORS from corsHeaders
+    assert.match(
+      cacheBlock,
+      /if\s*\(!PREMIUM_RPC_PATHS\.has\(pathname\)\)/,
+      'Public CORS should only apply when NOT a premium path',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('preserves per-origin ACAO for no-store tier', () => {
+    // no-store tier has cdnCache = null, so the ACAO: * block never runs
+    const tierMap = src.match(/'no-store':\s*null/);
+    assert.ok(tierMap, 'no-store CDN tier should be null (no CDN-Cache-Control)');
+  });
+
+  it('preserves per-origin ACAO for POST requests', () => {
+    // The entire GET 200 block is guarded by request.method === 'GET'
+    assert.match(
+      cacheBlock,
+      /request\.method\s*===\s*'GET'/,
+      'CDN cache block only applies to GET requests',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('imports getPublicCorsHeaders from cors module', () => {
+    assert.match(
+      src,
+      /import\s*\{[^}]*getPublicCorsHeaders[^}]*\}\s*from\s*'\.\/cors'/,
+      'gateway.ts should import getPublicCorsHeaders',
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/tests/middleware-bot-cache.test.mts b/tests/middleware-bot-cache.test.mts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..969497ec5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/middleware-bot-cache.test.mts
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import { describe, it } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { resolve, dirname } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const src = readFileSync(resolve(__dirname, '..', 'middleware.ts'), 'utf-8');
+
+describe('middleware bot responses', () => {
+  it('bot UA returns 403 with Cache-Control header', () => {
+    // Find the bot UA block (BOT_UA.test(ua)) followed by its Response
+    const botBlock = src.match(/if\s*\(BOT_UA\.test\(ua\)\)[\s\S]*?return new Response[\s\S]*?\}\);/);
+    assert.ok(botBlock, 'BOT_UA response block not found');
+    assert.match(botBlock![0], /Cache-Control/, 'Bot 403 should include Cache-Control header');
+    assert.match(botBlock![0], /max-age=86400/, 'Bot 403 should cache for 24h');
+  });
+
+  it('short UA returns 403 with Cache-Control header', () => {
+    // Find the short UA block
+    const shortBlock = src.match(/ua\.length\s*<\s*10\)\s*\{[\s\S]*?return new Response[\s\S]*?\}\);/);
+    assert.ok(shortBlock, 'Short UA response block not found');
+    assert.match(shortBlock![0], /Cache-Control/, 'Short UA 403 should include Cache-Control header');
+    assert.match(shortBlock![0], /max-age=86400/, 'Short UA 403 should cache for 24h');
+  });
+
+  it('social preview bots are allowed on /api/story', () => {
+    assert.match(src, /SOCIAL_PREVIEW_UA\.test\(ua\)/, 'Should check for social preview bots');
+    assert.match(src, /SOCIAL_PREVIEW_PATHS\.has\(path\)/, 'Should allow social bots on specific paths');
+  });
+
+  it('public API paths bypass bot filtering', () => {
+    assert.match(src, /PUBLIC_API_PATHS\.has\(path\)/, 'Should bypass bot filter for public paths');
+  });
+});