diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index e6cd7e7..2a041bb 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Commander AI Lab — Environment Variables
+# Commander AI Lab - Environment Variables
 # Copy this file to .env and fill in your API keys.
 # .env is gitignored and will NOT be committed.
 
@@ -12,19 +12,21 @@ PPLX_API_KEY=your-perplexity-api-key-here
 
 # CORS allowed origins (comma-separated)
 # Default: http://localhost:5173,http://localhost:8080
+# Add your LAN IP if accessing from another machine on your network
 ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:5173,http://localhost:8080
 
-# DeepSeek Brain (primary AI opponent)
-# Default timeout raised to 120s for local models (deepseek-r1:14b ~50-57s/response)
+# ── Dual-Model AI Brain ─────────────────────────────────────
+# Primary brain: GPT-OSS 20B (turn planner / decision maker)
 BRAIN_API_BASE=http://localhost:11434
-BRAIN_MODEL=deepseek-r1:14b
-BRAIN_TIMEOUT=120.0
-BRAIN_MAX_TOKENS=1024
+BRAIN_MODEL=gpt-oss:20b
 BRAIN_TEMPERATURE=0.3
+BRAIN_MAX_TOKENS=1024
+BRAIN_TIMEOUT=120.0
 
-# Validator Brain (move validation, optional)
-VALIDATOR_ENABLED=false
+# Validator brain: DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-14B (legality + explanation)
+VALIDATOR_ENABLED=true
 VALIDATOR_API_BASE=http://localhost:11434
 VALIDATOR_MODEL=deepseek-r1:14b
-VALIDATOR_TIMEOUT=120.0
+VALIDATOR_TEMPERATURE=0.0
 VALIDATOR_MAX_TOKENS=2048
+VALIDATOR_TIMEOUT=120.0