diff --git a/src/selfhost/ai.ts b/src/selfhost/ai.ts
index 7a27f8064..6010ee256 100644
--- a/src/selfhost/ai.ts
+++ b/src/selfhost/ai.ts
@@ -796,7 +796,29 @@ export function providerNameFromBaseUrl(baseUrl: string | undefined): "ollama" |
   return "openai-compatible";
 }
 
+// ALIASES of one value -- different providers' names for the same number, so `maxNumber` (below) is the right
+// combinator. The uncached portion of the prompt only; see the two cache tiers directly below.
 const INPUT_TOKEN_KEYS = ["input_tokens", "inputTokens", "prompt_tokens", "promptTokens"] as const;
+/** #10235: Anthropic (and therefore Claude Code) splits one prompt across THREE counters -- `input_tokens`
+ *  carries only the portion that was neither read from nor written to the prompt cache. With caching active,
+ *  which it is for every review the CLI runs, essentially the whole prompt lands in these two instead.
+ *
+ *  Measured on edge-nl-01 before this fix: `claude-code` recorded a total of 2048 input tokens across 1000
+ *  calls -- an average of exactly 2.0, against 1051 output tokens per call and $225 of real spend. An average
+ *  of 2.0 over a thousand calls is not a measurement, it is a constant, and every derived figure
+ *  (cost-per-token, input:output ratio, `loopover_ai_input_tokens_total`) was wrong by ~3 orders of magnitude.
+ *
+ *  These are genuine input tokens: the model processed them, and they are billed (cache reads at a reduced
+ *  rate). Each tier is its OWN alias group because the three are ADDITIVE COMPONENTS of one prompt, not names
+ *  for one value -- they must be summed with each other and max'd only within a group. Folding them into
+ *  INPUT_TOKEN_KEYS would take the maximum of the three and silently under-report again, just less severely.
+ *
+ *  Deliberately NOT applied to `coerceByokUsage` (src/services/ai-review.ts): that path documents its own
+ *  reason for skipping these keys -- `callAiProvider` never sends `cache_control`, so the provider never
+ *  populates them there -- and it feeds BYOK_MODEL_PRICING_USD_PER_MTOK, where a cache read bills at a
+ *  different rate than fresh input. The divergence between the two paths is intentional. */
+const CACHE_READ_INPUT_TOKEN_KEYS = ["cache_read_input_tokens", "cacheReadInputTokens"] as const;
+const CACHE_CREATION_INPUT_TOKEN_KEYS = ["cache_creation_input_tokens", "cacheCreationInputTokens"] as const;
 const OUTPUT_TOKEN_KEYS = ["output_tokens", "outputTokens", "completion_tokens", "completionTokens"] as const;
 const TOTAL_TOKEN_KEYS = ["total_tokens", "totalTokens"] as const;
 const COST_KEYS = ["total_cost_usd", "totalCostUsd", "cost_usd", "costUsd"] as const;
@@ -819,6 +841,24 @@ function maxNumber(record: Record<string, unknown>, keys: readonly string[]): nu
   return out;
 }
 
+/**
+ * The full prompt size for one usage envelope: the uncached portion plus both cache tiers (#10235).
+ *
+ * Returns undefined only when the envelope reports NO input counter at all, so a provider that never emits
+ * these keys is completely unaffected and an absent count is never turned into a fabricated 0 (#10207's rule).
+ * A tier that is present but zero contributes a real zero, which is why absence is tested per tier rather than
+ * falsiness.
+ */
+function totalInputTokens(entry: Record<string, unknown>): number | undefined {
+  const tiers = [
+    maxNumber(entry, INPUT_TOKEN_KEYS),
+    maxNumber(entry, CACHE_READ_INPUT_TOKEN_KEYS),
+    maxNumber(entry, CACHE_CREATION_INPUT_TOKEN_KEYS),
+  ];
+  if (tiers.every((tier) => tier === undefined)) return undefined;
+  return tiers.reduce<number>((sum, tier) => sum + (tier ?? 0), 0);
+}
+
 function mergeUsage(out: CliUsage, record: Record<string, unknown>): void {
   const nested = [
     record,
@@ -829,7 +869,7 @@ function mergeUsage(out: CliUsage, record: Record<string, unknown>): void {
     asRecord(record.usageMetadata),
   ].filter((entry): entry is Record<string, unknown> => Boolean(entry));
   for (const entry of nested) {
-    const inputTokens = maxNumber(entry, INPUT_TOKEN_KEYS);
+    const inputTokens = totalInputTokens(entry);
     if (inputTokens !== undefined) out.inputTokens = Math.max(out.inputTokens ?? 0, inputTokens);
     const outputTokens = maxNumber(entry, OUTPUT_TOKEN_KEYS);
     if (outputTokens !== undefined) out.outputTokens = Math.max(out.outputTokens ?? 0, outputTokens);
diff --git a/src/services/ai-review.ts b/src/services/ai-review.ts
index 7d22d6cf5..144fbb8a9 100644
--- a/src/services/ai-review.ts
+++ b/src/services/ai-review.ts
@@ -2009,7 +2009,11 @@ function priceByokUsageUsd(
  *  the already-camelCase envelope `coerceAiUsage` reads from `env.AI.run()`. Anthropic's `usage` can also
  *  carry `cache_creation_input_tokens`/`cache_read_input_tokens`, priced differently than `input_tokens` —
  *  intentionally not read here, since `callAiProvider` never sends `cache_control`, so Anthropic never
- *  populates them on this path. Private to this file, but not private in effect: `ai-slop.ts`'s BYOK branch
+ *  populates them on this path. #10235: the CLI-subprocess path (`mergeUsage`, src/selfhost/ai.ts) now DOES
+ *  sum those two tiers, because Claude Code caches internally and was therefore reporting ~2 input tokens per
+ *  call. That divergence is deliberate, not drift: reading them here would be dead code today, and if
+ *  `cache_control` is ever introduced it would mis-price, since the sum below feeds
+ *  BYOK_MODEL_PRICING_USD_PER_MTOK at the fresh-input rate while a cache read bills at a reduced one. Private to this file, but not private in effect: `ai-slop.ts`'s BYOK branch
  *  depends on this normalization too, indirectly, via `callAiProvider`'s returned `usage` field — if this
  *  ever moves, update both call sites. */
 function coerceByokUsage(
diff --git a/test/unit/selfhost-ai.test.ts b/test/unit/selfhost-ai.test.ts
index d80647a76..7b43be2f9 100644
--- a/test/unit/selfhost-ai.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/selfhost-ai.test.ts
@@ -1618,6 +1618,36 @@ describe("branch coverage — defaults + edge inputs", () => {
       ),
     ).toEqual({ inputTokens: 12, outputTokens: 6, totalTokens: 18, costUsd: 0.09, model: "gpt-5" });
   });
+
+  it("REGRESSION (#10235): sums the prompt-cache tiers into inputTokens, instead of reporting the uncached remainder", () => {
+    // The real Claude Code result frame. `input_tokens` carries ONLY what was neither read from nor written to
+    // the prompt cache, so with caching active -- which it is on every review -- it degenerates to a handful of
+    // tokens. Measured on the Orb before this fix: 2048 input tokens across 1000 claude-code calls, an average
+    // of exactly 2.0, against 1051 output tokens per call and $225 of real spend.
+    expect(
+      extractCliUsage(
+        JSON.stringify({
+          type: "result",
+          usage: { input_tokens: 2, cache_read_input_tokens: 41_820, cache_creation_input_tokens: 1_140, output_tokens: 1051 },
+          model: "claude-sonnet-5",
+        }),
+      ),
+    ).toEqual({ inputTokens: 42_962, outputTokens: 1051, model: "claude-sonnet-5" });
+  });
+
+  it("sums the cache tiers only when present, leaving every other provider untouched (#10235)", () => {
+    // codex and the OpenAI-compatible providers emit no cache keys at all: their figure must be byte-identical
+    // to before, which is what makes this safe to apply at the shared extraction point.
+    expect(extractCliUsage(JSON.stringify({ usage: { input_tokens: 20, output_tokens: 7 } }))).toEqual({ inputTokens: 20, outputTokens: 7 });
+    // A cache tier alone, with no uncached remainder reported, still yields the real prompt size.
+    expect(extractCliUsage(JSON.stringify({ usage: { cache_read_input_tokens: 900 } }))).toEqual({ inputTokens: 900 });
+    // camelCase aliases resolve the same way the other key groups already do.
+    expect(extractCliUsage(JSON.stringify({ usage: { inputTokens: 5, cacheReadInputTokens: 10, cacheCreationInputTokens: 20 } }))).toEqual({ inputTokens: 35 });
+    // A genuinely reported 0 in one tier contributes a real 0 rather than dropping the whole reading.
+    expect(extractCliUsage(JSON.stringify({ usage: { input_tokens: 0, cache_read_input_tokens: 700, cache_creation_input_tokens: 0 } }))).toEqual({ inputTokens: 700 });
+    // No input counter of any kind stays ABSENT -- never a fabricated 0 (#10207).
+    expect(extractCliUsage(JSON.stringify({ usage: { output_tokens: 4 } }))).toEqual({ outputTokens: 4 });
+  });
   it("claudeErrorStatus: subtype + unknown fallbacks", () => {
     expect(claudeErrorStatus(JSON.stringify({ is_error: true, subtype: "sub" }))).toBe("sub");
     expect(claudeErrorStatus(JSON.stringify({ is_error: true }))).toBe("unknown");