diff --git a/backend/src/services/synthesis.rs b/backend/src/services/synthesis.rs
index 464a0fc..cc71fe3 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/synthesis.rs
+++ b/backend/src/services/synthesis.rs
@@ -314,6 +314,9 @@ async fn run_generation_inner(
     // Step 7b: Filter out homepage URLs (path == "/" or empty)
     let parsed = filter_homepage_urls(parsed);
 
+    // Step 7c: Limit articles per source for diversity
+    let parsed = limit_articles_per_source(parsed, settings.max_articles_per_source);
+
     // Step 8: Scrape + rewrite pass
     //
     // Always run the full pipeline: the search pass URLs can be hallucinated
@@ -486,6 +489,89 @@ fn filter_homepage_urls(
     result
 }
 
+/// Limit the number of articles from the same domain across all categories.
+///
+/// Spreads articles across categories first (at most 1 per domain per category),
+/// then fills remaining slots from dropped articles in encounter order.
+fn limit_articles_per_source(
+    parsed: Vec<(String, Vec<NewsItem>)>,
+    max_per_source: i32,
+) -> Vec<(String, Vec<NewsItem>)> {
+    let max = max_per_source as usize;
+
+    // Pass 1: keep at most 1 article per domain per category
+    let mut kept: Vec<(String, Vec<NewsItem>)> = Vec::new();
+    let mut dropped: Vec<(usize, NewsItem)> = Vec::new(); // (category_index, item)
+    let mut domain_counts: std::collections::HashMap<String, usize> =
+        std::collections::HashMap::new();
+
+    for (cat_idx, (cat_key, items)) in parsed.into_iter().enumerate() {
+        let mut cat_kept = Vec::new();
+        let mut seen_in_cat: std::collections::HashSet<String> = std::collections::HashSet::new();
+
+        for item in items {
+            let domain = extract_domain(&item.url);
+            if let Some(ref d) = domain {
+                if seen_in_cat.contains(d) {
+                    dropped.push((cat_idx, item));
+                    continue;
+                }
+                seen_in_cat.insert(d.clone());
+            }
+            cat_kept.push(item);
+        }
+
+        kept.push((cat_key, cat_kept));
+    }
+
+    // Cap enforcement: if any domain exceeds max after pass 1 (when categories > max),
+    // keep the first max articles in category order, drop the rest.
+    let mut cap_counts: std::collections::HashMap<String, usize> = std::collections::HashMap::new();
+    for (_, items) in &mut kept {
+        items.retain(|item| {
+            let domain = extract_domain(&item.url);
+            match domain {
+                Some(ref d) => {
+                    let count = cap_counts.entry(d.clone()).or_insert(0);
+                    if *count >= max {
+                        false
+                    } else {
+                        *count += 1;
+                        true
+                    }
+                }
+                None => true, // keep unparseable URLs
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    // Use cap_counts as the authoritative domain counts going forward
+    let mut domain_counts = cap_counts;
+
+    // Pass 2: fill from dropped articles, back into their original category
+    for (cat_idx, item) in dropped {
+        if let Some(d) = extract_domain(&item.url) {
+            let count = domain_counts.get(&d).copied().unwrap_or(0);
+            if count < max {
+                *domain_counts.entry(d).or_insert(0) += 1;
+                kept[cat_idx].1.push(item);
+            }
+        } else {
+            // Unparseable URL — keep it
+            kept[cat_idx].1.push(item);
+        }
+    }
+
+    kept
+}
+
+/// Extract the domain (host) from a URL, or None if unparseable.
+fn extract_domain(url: &str) -> Option<String> {
+    url::Url::parse(url)
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|u| u.host_str().map(|h| h.to_lowercase()))
+}
+
 /// Resolve the LLM provider and decrypt the user's API key.
 ///
 /// If the user has a preferred provider in settings, looks for a key matching
@@ -1297,4 +1383,110 @@ mod tests {
         let sanitized = sanitize_json_null_bytes(json.clone());
         assert_eq!(sanitized, json);
     }
+
+    // ── limit_articles_per_source tests ────────────────────────────
+
+    #[test]
+    fn source_limit_spreads_across_categories() {
+        let parsed = vec![
+            ("category_0".into(), vec![
+                NewsItem { title: "A1".into(), url: "https://openai.com/blog/a".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+                NewsItem { title: "A2".into(), url: "https://openai.com/blog/b".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+                NewsItem { title: "A3".into(), url: "https://openai.com/blog/c".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+                NewsItem { title: "A4".into(), url: "https://techcrunch.com/x".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+            ]),
+            ("category_1".into(), vec![
+                NewsItem { title: "B1".into(), url: "https://openai.com/research/d".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+                NewsItem { title: "B2".into(), url: "https://openai.com/research/e".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+                NewsItem { title: "B3".into(), url: "https://theverge.com/y".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+            ]),
+        ];
+
+        let result = limit_articles_per_source(parsed, 3);
+
+        // Count openai.com articles across all categories
+        let openai_count: usize = result.iter()
+            .flat_map(|(_, items)| items)
+            .filter(|i| i.url.contains("openai.com"))
+            .count();
+        assert_eq!(openai_count, 3, "Should keep exactly 3 openai.com articles");
+
+        // Both categories should have at least 1 openai article (spread)
+        let cat0_openai = result[0].1.iter().filter(|i| i.url.contains("openai.com")).count();
+        let cat1_openai = result[1].1.iter().filter(|i| i.url.contains("openai.com")).count();
+        assert!(cat0_openai >= 1, "Category 0 should have at least 1 openai article");
+        assert!(cat1_openai >= 1, "Category 1 should have at least 1 openai article");
+
+        // techcrunch and theverge should be untouched
+        let tc_count: usize = result.iter().flat_map(|(_, items)| items).filter(|i| i.url.contains("techcrunch")).count();
+        assert_eq!(tc_count, 1);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn source_limit_all_different_domains() {
+        let parsed = vec![
+            ("category_0".into(), vec![
+                NewsItem { title: "A".into(), url: "https://a.com/1".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+                NewsItem { title: "B".into(), url: "https://b.com/2".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+            ]),
+        ];
+
+        let result = limit_articles_per_source(parsed, 3);
+        assert_eq!(result[0].1.len(), 2, "Nothing dropped when all domains are unique");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn source_limit_max_one() {
+        let parsed = vec![
+            ("category_0".into(), vec![
+                NewsItem { title: "A".into(), url: "https://openai.com/a".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+                NewsItem { title: "B".into(), url: "https://openai.com/b".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+            ]),
+            ("category_1".into(), vec![
+                NewsItem { title: "C".into(), url: "https://openai.com/c".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+            ]),
+        ];
+
+        let result = limit_articles_per_source(parsed, 1);
+        let total: usize = result.iter().flat_map(|(_, items)| items).filter(|i| i.url.contains("openai.com")).count();
+        assert_eq!(total, 1, "max=1 should keep exactly 1 openai article");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn source_limit_more_categories_than_max() {
+        // 5 categories, each with 1 openai article, max=2
+        let parsed: Vec<(String, Vec<NewsItem>)> = (0..5)
+            .map(|i| (
+                format!("category_{}", i),
+                vec![NewsItem {
+                    title: format!("Art{}", i),
+                    url: format!("https://openai.com/{}", i),
+                    summary: "s".into(),
+                }],
+            ))
+            .collect();
+
+        let result = limit_articles_per_source(parsed, 2);
+        let total: usize = result.iter().flat_map(|(_, items)| items).count();
+        assert_eq!(total, 2, "Should cap at max_per_source even with more categories");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn source_limit_empty_input() {
+        let result = limit_articles_per_source(vec![], 3);
+        assert!(result.is_empty());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn source_limit_unparseable_urls_kept() {
+        let parsed = vec![
+            ("category_0".into(), vec![
+                NewsItem { title: "Good".into(), url: "https://openai.com/a".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+                NewsItem { title: "Bad".into(), url: "not-a-url".into(), summary: "s".into() },
+            ]),
+        ];
+
+        let result = limit_articles_per_source(parsed, 3);
+        assert_eq!(result[0].1.len(), 2, "Unparseable URLs should be kept");
+    }
 }