diff --git a/alchemy.run.ts b/alchemy.run.ts
index 9e6faf3..4b7806b 100644
--- a/alchemy.run.ts
+++ b/alchemy.run.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,35 @@ import * as Effect from "effect/Effect";
 // `alchemy dev` runs Waku's own dev server (Command.Dev) and serves from it.
 // Run under bun (`bun run deploy` / `bun run dev`) so the CLI loads this .ts
 // config natively.
+// ENS resolver API. v2 bundles the TS entry with rolldown, so no build step
+// (unlike the Waku site). Stays on workers.dev for now — the api.ensideas.com /
+// api.instantens.com cutover is a deliberate follow-up (those hostnames
+// currently serve the live `instant-ens-api` worker, managed from a separate
+// repo).
+//
+// Declared out here (rather than inline in the stack) so the worker's runtime
+// env type can be inferred from these bindings — see {@link ApiEnv}.
+const apiWorker = (rpcs: Cloudflare.KV.Namespace, stage: string) =>
+  Cloudflare.Worker("api", {
+    name: `ens-ideas-api-${stage}`,
+    main: "apps/api/src/worker.ts",
+    compatibility: { flags: ["nodejs_compat"], date: "2025-11-17" },
+    // Hourly health-check pass, once for the whole fleet.
+    crons: ["0 * * * *"],
+    env: {
+      ETHEREUM_RPC_URL: process.env.ETHEREUM_RPC_URL!,
+      RATE_LIMITER: Cloudflare.RateLimit("RATE_LIMITER", {
+        namespaceId: 1001,
+        simple: { limit: 1000, period: 60 },
+      }),
+      RPCS: rpcs,
+    },
+    url: true,
+  });
+
+/** The api worker's runtime bindings, inferred from the config above. */
+export type ApiEnv = Cloudflare.InferEnv<ReturnType<typeof apiWorker>>;
+
 export default Alchemy.Stack(
   "ens-ideas",
   {
@@ -56,24 +85,11 @@ export default Alchemy.Stack(
       url: true,
     });
 
-    // ENS resolver API. v2 bundles the TS entry with rolldown, so no build
-    // step (unlike the Waku site). Stays on workers.dev for now — the
-    // api.ensideas.com / api.instantens.com cutover is a deliberate follow-up
-    // (those hostnames currently serve the live `instant-ens-api` worker,
-    // managed from a separate repo).
-    const api = yield* Cloudflare.Worker("api", {
-      name: `ens-ideas-api-${stage}`,
-      main: "apps/api/src/worker.ts",
-      compatibility: { flags: ["nodejs_compat"], date: "2025-11-17" },
-      env: {
-        ETHEREUM_RPC_URL: process.env.ETHEREUM_RPC_URL!,
-        RATE_LIMITER: Cloudflare.RateLimit("RATE_LIMITER", {
-          namespaceId: 1001,
-          simple: { limit: 1000, period: 60 },
-        }),
-      },
-      url: true,
-    });
+    // Holds the health-checked RPC list. KV rather than the Cache API because
+    // the cron that refreshes it runs in one colo, and the Cache API is
+    // per-colo — every other colo would never see it.
+    const rpcs = yield* Cloudflare.KV.Namespace("rpcs");
+    const api = yield* apiWorker(rpcs, stage);
 
     return { site: site.url, api: api.url };
   })
diff --git a/apps/api/src/checkRpc.test.ts b/apps/api/src/checkRpc.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb88178
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/checkRpc.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import { afterEach, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { checkRpc } from "./checkRpc";
+
+afterEach(() => vi.unstubAllGlobals());
+
+it("returns false when the RPC is rate-limited", async () => {
+  vi.stubGlobal("fetch", async () => new Response("rate limited", { status: 429 }));
+  expect(await checkRpc("https://rate-limited.example", 1000)).toBe(false);
+});
+
+it("returns false when the RPC network call fails", async () => {
+  vi.stubGlobal("fetch", async () => {
+    throw new Error("boom");
+  });
+  expect(await checkRpc("https://down.example", 1000)).toBe(false);
+});
diff --git a/apps/api/src/checkRpc.ts b/apps/api/src/checkRpc.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdc2fc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/checkRpc.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import { createClient, http } from "viem";
+import { mainnet } from "viem/chains";
+import { getEnsAddress, normalize } from "viem/ens";
+
+const VITALIK = "0xd8da6bf26964af9d7eed9e03e53415d37aa96045";
+
+/**
+ * True if the RPC is reachable and correctly serves the ENS universal-resolver
+ * `eth_call` (forward-resolving `vitalik.eth`). This is the bar for a usable
+ * endpoint — plenty of public RPCs are up but revert or lack ENS support.
+ */
+export async function checkRpc(url: string, timeout = 5000): Promise<boolean> {
+  try {
+    const client = createClient({
+      chain: mainnet,
+      transport: http(url, { retryCount: 0, timeout }),
+    });
+    const address = await getEnsAddress(client, { name: normalize("vitalik.eth") });
+    return address?.toLowerCase() === VITALIK;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/apps/api/src/common.ts b/apps/api/src/common.ts
index 8e36d7f..1397fee 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/common.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/common.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import type { ApiEnv } from "../../../alchemy.run.ts";
+
 export type ResolveResult = {
   address: string | null;
   name: string | null;
@@ -6,13 +8,8 @@ export type ResolveResult = {
   error?: string;
 };
 
-/**
- * Runtime bindings the worker receives. `RATE_LIMITER` is the native
- * Cloudflare Rate Limiting binding; `ETHEREUM_RPC_URL` is a plain env string.
- * Declared explicitly so runtime code stays decoupled from the Alchemy stack
- * config (the deploy graph in the root `alchemy.run.ts`).
- */
-export interface Env {
-  ETHEREUM_RPC_URL: string;
-  RATE_LIMITER: RateLimit;
-}
+/** KV key holding the health-checked RPC list the cron writes. */
+export const RPCS_KEY = "healthy";
+
+/** Runtime bindings the worker receives, inferred from the stack config. */
+export type Env = ApiEnv;
diff --git a/apps/api/src/ethereumTransport.test.ts b/apps/api/src/ethereumTransport.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6f7f2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/ethereumTransport.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+import { afterEach, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { createClient, numberToHex } from "viem";
+import { mainnet } from "viem/chains";
+import { ethereumTransport } from "./ethereumTransport";
+
+const PAID_RPC_URL = "https://paid.mock/";
+const paidHost = new URL(PAID_RPC_URL).host;
+const freeRpcUrls = [
+  "https://free-a.mock/",
+  "https://free-b.mock/",
+  "https://free-c.mock/",
+];
+const freeHosts = freeRpcUrls.map((url) => new URL(url).host);
+
+afterEach(() => vi.unstubAllGlobals());
+
+// Stub global fetch, recording the host of every RPC request and delegating the
+// response to `respond(host)`. The JSON-RPC id is echoed so viem accepts it.
+function stubFetch(respond: (host: string) => { status: number; result?: unknown }) {
+  const calls: string[] = [];
+  vi.stubGlobal("fetch", async (input: string | Request, init?: RequestInit) => {
+    const url = new URL(typeof input === "string" ? input : input.url);
+    calls.push(url.host);
+    const id = JSON.parse(String(init?.body ?? "{}")).id ?? 1;
+    const { status, result } = respond(url.host);
+    if (status !== 200) return new Response("rate limited", { status });
+    return new Response(JSON.stringify({ jsonrpc: "2.0", id, result }), {
+      headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+    });
+  });
+  return calls;
+}
+
+const blockNumber = numberToHex(123n);
+
+function requestBlockNumber(rpcs: readonly string[] = freeRpcUrls) {
+  const client = createClient({
+    chain: mainnet,
+    transport: ethereumTransport(rpcs, PAID_RPC_URL),
+  });
+  return client.request({ method: "eth_blockNumber" });
+}
+
+it("serves from a free RPC and never touches the paid endpoint when free RPCs work", async () => {
+  const calls = stubFetch((host) =>
+    host === paidHost ? { status: 429 } : { status: 200, result: blockNumber }
+  );
+
+  expect(await requestBlockNumber()).toBe(blockNumber);
+  expect(calls).not.toContain(paidHost);
+  expect(freeHosts).toContain(calls[0]);
+  expect(calls).toHaveLength(1); // first (random) free RPC answered — no rotation needed
+});
+
+it("falls back to the paid endpoint only after every free RPC is rate-limited", async () => {
+  const calls = stubFetch((host) =>
+    host === paidHost ? { status: 200, result: blockNumber } : { status: 429 }
+  );
+
+  expect(await requestBlockNumber()).toBe(blockNumber);
+  // every free RPC was attempted, then the paid endpoint last
+  expect(new Set(calls.slice(0, -1))).toEqual(new Set(freeHosts));
+  expect(calls.at(-1)).toBe(paidHost);
+});
+
+it("goes straight to the paid endpoint when there are no free RPCs (cold KV)", async () => {
+  const calls = stubFetch(() => ({ status: 200, result: blockNumber }));
+
+  expect(await requestBlockNumber([])).toBe(blockNumber);
+  expect(calls).toEqual([paidHost]);
+});
diff --git a/apps/api/src/ethereumTransport.ts b/apps/api/src/ethereumTransport.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..804f571
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/ethereumTransport.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import { fallback, http, type Transport } from "viem";
+
+/**
+ * viem transport that spreads ENS lookups across the given free public RPCs in a
+ * random order, only falling back to the paid endpoint when every free RPC fails
+ * (e.g. rate-limited). viem's `fallback` already retries each transport zero
+ * times and advances to the next on any non-user error, so a 429 rolls over
+ * transparently — keeping paid RPC usage, and cost, to a minimum.
+ *
+ * The random shuffle spreads load across the pool: without it `fallback` always
+ * hits the first URL first and would hammer it into rate limits. A stateless
+ * Worker can't do true round-robin (no shared counter), so per-request
+ * randomization is the pragmatic equivalent.
+ */
+export function ethereumTransport(
+  rpcUrls: readonly string[],
+  paidRpcUrl?: string
+): Transport {
+  const free = shuffle(rpcUrls).map((url) => http(url));
+  return fallback(paidRpcUrl ? [...free, http(paidRpcUrl)] : free);
+}
+
+function shuffle<value>(items: readonly value[]): value[] {
+  const result = [...items];
+  for (let i = result.length - 1; i > 0; i--) {
+    const j = Math.floor(Math.random() * (i + 1));
+    [result[i], result[j]] = [result[j], result[i]];
+  }
+  return result;
+}
diff --git a/apps/api/src/fetchChainlistRpcs.test.ts b/apps/api/src/fetchChainlistRpcs.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ed61fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/fetchChainlistRpcs.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import { afterEach, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { fetchChainlistRpcs } from "./fetchChainlistRpcs";
+
+afterEach(() => vi.unstubAllGlobals());
+
+it("keeps only mainnet https URLs without api-key placeholders", async () => {
+  const chains = [
+    {
+      chainId: 1,
+      rpc: [
+        { url: "https://good.example" },
+        { url: "https://keyed.example/${API_KEY}" },
+        { url: "http://insecure.example" },
+        { url: "wss://ws.example" },
+      ],
+    },
+    { chainId: 10, rpc: [{ url: "https://optimism.example" }] },
+  ];
+  vi.stubGlobal("fetch", async () => Response.json(chains));
+
+  expect(await fetchChainlistRpcs()).toEqual(["https://good.example"]);
+});
+
+it("throws on a non-ok chainlist response", async () => {
+  vi.stubGlobal("fetch", async () => new Response("nope", { status: 500 }));
+  await expect(fetchChainlistRpcs()).rejects.toThrow();
+});
diff --git a/apps/api/src/fetchChainlistRpcs.ts b/apps/api/src/fetchChainlistRpcs.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95165bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/fetchChainlistRpcs.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+const CHAINLIST_URL = "https://chainlist.org/rpcs.json";
+const MAINNET_CHAIN_ID = 1;
+
+// Cap how many candidates we test so the health-check pass stays well under the
+// Workers per-invocation subrequest limit.
+const MAX_CANDIDATES = 40;
+
+type ChainlistChain = { chainId: number; rpc: { url: string }[] };
+
+/**
+ * Fetches chainlist's Ethereum mainnet RPCs, keeping usable public HTTPS URLs
+ * (dropping API-key-templated ones). These are candidates to be health-checked
+ * before use — chainlist lists many that are down or don't support ENS.
+ */
+export async function fetchChainlistRpcs(): Promise<string[]> {
+  const response = await fetch(CHAINLIST_URL, {
+    headers: { accept: "application/json" },
+  });
+  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`chainlist ${response.status}`);
+
+  const chains: ChainlistChain[] = await response.json();
+  const mainnet = chains.find((chain) => chain.chainId === MAINNET_CHAIN_ID);
+
+  return (mainnet?.rpc ?? [])
+    .map((entry) => entry.url)
+    .filter((url) => url.startsWith("https://") && !url.includes("${"))
+    .slice(0, MAX_CANDIDATES);
+}
diff --git a/apps/api/src/refreshRpcs.test.ts b/apps/api/src/refreshRpcs.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3dafe5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/refreshRpcs.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+import { expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+vi.mock("./checkRpc", () => ({ checkRpc: vi.fn() }));
+vi.mock("./fetchChainlistRpcs", () => ({ fetchChainlistRpcs: vi.fn() }));
+
+import { checkRpc } from "./checkRpc";
+import { fetchChainlistRpcs } from "./fetchChainlistRpcs";
+import { refreshRpcs } from "./refreshRpcs";
+import { RPCS_KEY, type Env } from "./common";
+
+function makeEnv() {
+  const put = vi.fn();
+  return { env: { RPCS: { put } } as unknown as Env, put };
+}
+
+it("stores only the candidates that pass the health check", async () => {
+  vi.mocked(fetchChainlistRpcs).mockResolvedValue([
+    "https://good.example",
+    "https://bad.example",
+    "https://good.example", // chainlist can repeat an endpoint
+  ]);
+  vi.mocked(checkRpc).mockImplementation(
+    async (url) => url === "https://good.example"
+  );
+  const { env, put } = makeEnv();
+
+  await refreshRpcs(env);
+
+  expect(put).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+    RPCS_KEY,
+    JSON.stringify(["https://good.example"])
+  );
+});
+
+it("stores an empty list when nothing is healthy, so the resolver uses the paid RPC", async () => {
+  vi.mocked(fetchChainlistRpcs).mockResolvedValue(["https://bad.example"]);
+  vi.mocked(checkRpc).mockResolvedValue(false);
+  const { env, put } = makeEnv();
+
+  await refreshRpcs(env);
+
+  expect(put).toHaveBeenCalledWith(RPCS_KEY, JSON.stringify([]));
+});
diff --git a/apps/api/src/refreshRpcs.ts b/apps/api/src/refreshRpcs.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c81dc47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/refreshRpcs.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { checkRpc } from "./checkRpc";
+import { fetchChainlistRpcs } from "./fetchChainlistRpcs";
+import { RPCS_KEY, type Env } from "./common";
+
+/**
+ * Health-check every chainlist candidate and store the survivors for the
+ * resolver to rotate through. Runs on a cron so the pass happens once for the
+ * whole fleet — the Cache API is per-colo, so doing this on the request path
+ * would re-run it in every data center.
+ */
+export async function refreshRpcs(env: Env): Promise<void> {
+  const candidates = [...new Set(await fetchChainlistRpcs())];
+  const healthy = (
+    await Promise.all(
+      candidates.map(async (url) => ((await checkRpc(url)) ? url : null))
+    )
+  ).filter((url): url is string => url !== null);
+
+  await env.RPCS.put(RPCS_KEY, JSON.stringify(healthy));
+}
diff --git a/apps/api/src/router.ts b/apps/api/src/router.ts
index e06c836..b98d80f 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/router.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/router.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import { AutoRouter, IRequestStrict, status, json, cors } from "itty-router";
-import { createClient, http, isAddress } from "viem";
+import { createClient, isAddress } from "viem";
 import { mainnet } from "viem/chains";
+import { ethereumTransport } from "./ethereumTransport";
 import { resolveAddress } from "./resolveAddress";
 import { resolveName } from "./resolveName";
 import { resolveUrl } from "./resolveUrl";
-import type { Env } from "./common";
+import { RPCS_KEY, type Env } from "./common";
 
 const { preflight, corsify } = cors();
 
@@ -18,9 +19,11 @@ export const router = AutoRouter<
 });
 
 router.get("/ens/resolve/:address", async ({ url, params }, env) => {
+  // Kept fresh by the cron. Empty (cold KV) just means straight to the paid RPC.
+  const healthy = (await env.RPCS.get<string[]>(RPCS_KEY, "json")) ?? [];
   const client = createClient({
     chain: mainnet,
-    transport: http(env.ETHEREUM_RPC_URL),
+    transport: ethereumTransport(healthy, env.ETHEREUM_RPC_URL),
   });
 
   const lowercaseAddress = params.address.toLowerCase();
diff --git a/apps/api/src/worker.test.ts b/apps/api/src/worker.test.ts
index c91b4bb..5d2b9d4 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/worker.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/worker.test.ts
@@ -14,29 +14,12 @@ const testDir = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
 let mf: Miniflare;
 
 beforeAll(async () => {
-  // alchemy.run.ts is only imported for types, and executes a deployment if
-  // actually run — stub it out of the bundle.
   const bundle = await build({
     entryPoints: [join(testDir, "worker.ts")],
     bundle: true,
     format: "esm",
     write: false,
     conditions: ["workerd", "worker", "browser"],
-    plugins: [
-      {
-        name: "stub-alchemy-run",
-        setup(build) {
-          build.onResolve({ filter: /alchemy\.run(\.ts)?$/ }, () => ({
-            path: "alchemy-run",
-            namespace: "stub",
-          }));
-          build.onLoad({ filter: /.*/, namespace: "stub" }, () => ({
-            contents: "export const worker = {};",
-            loader: "js" as const,
-          }));
-        },
-      },
-    ],
   });
 
   // Every eth_call reverse-resolves to vitalik.eth.
@@ -59,6 +42,9 @@ beforeAll(async () => {
       },
     ],
     bindings: { ETHEREUM_RPC_URL: "https://rpc.mock/" },
+    // Left empty: a cold RPC list is exactly the case where the resolver should
+    // go straight to the paid endpoint (the mocked RPC below).
+    kvNamespaces: ["RPCS"],
     ratelimits: {
       RATE_LIMITER: { namespace_id: "1001", simple: { limit: RATE_LIMIT, period: 60 } },
     },
diff --git a/apps/api/src/worker.ts b/apps/api/src/worker.ts
index acca666..8596fa3 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/worker.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/worker.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { refreshRpcs } from "./refreshRpcs.ts";
 import { router } from "./router.ts";
 import type { Env } from "./common.ts";
 
@@ -39,4 +40,12 @@ export default {
 
     return res;
   },
+
+  async scheduled(
+    _controller: ScheduledController,
+    env: Env,
+    _ctx: ExecutionContext
+  ): Promise<void> {
+    await refreshRpcs(env);
+  },
 };