diff --git a/backend/src/services/synthesis.rs b/backend/src/services/synthesis.rs
index be01c52..1ff12b5 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/synthesis.rs
+++ b/backend/src/services/synthesis.rs
@@ -1064,6 +1064,104 @@ fn sanitize_error_message(msg: &str) -> String {
     }
 }
 
+/// Parse the LLM classification response and assign articles to categories.
+///
+/// Returns a HashMap of category_key → Vec<ScrapedNewsItem>.
+/// Invalid indices are ignored. Unknown categories default to "Autre".
+/// Case-insensitive category matching.
+fn parse_classification_response(
+    response: &serde_json::Value,
+    articles: &[ScrapedNewsItem],
+    categories: &[String],
+    max_per_category: i32,
+    filled_counts: &mut HashMap<String, usize>,
+) -> HashMap<String, Vec<ScrapedNewsItem>> {
+    let max = max_per_category as usize;
+    let mut result: HashMap<String, Vec<ScrapedNewsItem>> = HashMap::new();
+
+    // Build category name → key mapping (case-insensitive)
+    // "Autre" always maps to "category_autre"
+    // User categories map to "category_0", "category_1", etc.
+    // The index skips "Autre" — only user categories get numeric keys
+    let mut name_to_key: HashMap<String, String> = HashMap::new();
+    let mut user_cat_idx = 0;
+    for cat in categories {
+        let key = if cat == "Autre" {
+            "category_autre".to_string()
+        } else {
+            let key = format!("category_{}", user_cat_idx);
+            user_cat_idx += 1;
+            key
+        };
+        name_to_key.insert(cat.to_lowercase(), key);
+    }
+
+    let assignments = response
+        .get("assignments")
+        .and_then(|a| a.as_array())
+        .cloned()
+        .unwrap_or_default();
+
+    let mut assigned_indices = std::collections::HashSet::new();
+
+    for assignment in &assignments {
+        let index = match assignment.get("index").and_then(|i| i.as_u64()) {
+            Some(i) => i as usize,
+            None => continue,
+        };
+        if index >= articles.len() || assigned_indices.contains(&index) {
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        let cat_name = assignment
+            .get("category")
+            .and_then(|c| c.as_str())
+            .unwrap_or("Autre")
+            .to_string();
+
+        let cat_key = name_to_key
+            .get(&cat_name.to_lowercase())
+            .cloned()
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| "category_autre".to_string());
+
+        // Resolve the display name for counting
+        let cat_display = categories
+            .iter()
+            .find(|c| c.to_lowercase() == cat_name.to_lowercase())
+            .cloned()
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| "Autre".to_string());
+
+        let filled = filled_counts.get(&cat_display).copied().unwrap_or(0);
+        if filled >= max {
+            // Category full — assign to Autre if Autre has room
+            let autre_filled = filled_counts.get("Autre").copied().unwrap_or(0);
+            if autre_filled < max {
+                result.entry("category_autre".to_string()).or_default().push(articles[index].clone());
+                *filled_counts.entry("Autre".to_string()).or_insert(0) += 1;
+                assigned_indices.insert(index);
+            }
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        result.entry(cat_key).or_default().push(articles[index].clone());
+        *filled_counts.entry(cat_display).or_insert(0) += 1;
+        assigned_indices.insert(index);
+    }
+
+    // Unclassified articles → Autre
+    for (i, article) in articles.iter().enumerate() {
+        if !assigned_indices.contains(&i) {
+            let autre_filled = filled_counts.get("Autre").copied().unwrap_or(0);
+            if autre_filled < max {
+                result.entry("category_autre".to_string()).or_default().push(article.clone());
+                *filled_counts.entry("Autre".to_string()).or_insert(0) += 1;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    result
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
@@ -1823,4 +1921,89 @@ mod tests {
         let result = limit_articles_per_source(parsed, 3);
         assert_eq!(result[0].1.len(), 2, "Unparseable URLs should be kept");
     }
+
+    // ── parse_classification_response tests ─────────────────────
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classification_assigns_articles_to_categories() {
+        use crate::models::synthesis::ScrapedNewsItem;
+        let articles = vec![
+            ScrapedNewsItem { title: "A".into(), url: "https://a.com/1".into(), summary: "s".into(), original_title: "t".into(), scraped_content: "c".into() },
+            ScrapedNewsItem { title: "B".into(), url: "https://b.com/2".into(), summary: "s".into(), original_title: "t".into(), scraped_content: "c".into() },
+        ];
+        let categories = vec!["AI News".to_string(), "Autre".to_string()];
+        let response = serde_json::json!({
+            "assignments": [
+                {"index": 0, "category": "AI News"},
+                {"index": 1, "category": "Autre"}
+            ]
+        });
+        let mut filled = HashMap::new();
+        let result = parse_classification_response(&response, &articles, &categories, 4, &mut filled);
+        assert_eq!(result.get("category_0").map(|v| v.len()), Some(1));
+        assert_eq!(result.get("category_autre").map(|v| v.len()), Some(1));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classification_unknown_category_goes_to_autre() {
+        use crate::models::synthesis::ScrapedNewsItem;
+        let articles = vec![
+            ScrapedNewsItem { title: "A".into(), url: "https://a.com/1".into(), summary: "s".into(), original_title: "t".into(), scraped_content: "c".into() },
+        ];
+        let categories = vec!["AI News".to_string(), "Autre".to_string()];
+        let response = serde_json::json!({
+            "assignments": [{"index": 0, "category": "Unknown Category"}]
+        });
+        let mut filled = HashMap::new();
+        let result = parse_classification_response(&response, &articles, &categories, 4, &mut filled);
+        assert_eq!(result.get("category_autre").map(|v| v.len()), Some(1));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classification_respects_max_per_category() {
+        use crate::models::synthesis::ScrapedNewsItem;
+        let articles: Vec<ScrapedNewsItem> = (0..5).map(|i| ScrapedNewsItem {
+            title: format!("Art{}", i), url: format!("https://a.com/{}", i),
+            summary: "s".into(), original_title: "t".into(), scraped_content: "c".into(),
+        }).collect();
+        let categories = vec!["AI News".to_string(), "Autre".to_string()];
+        let response = serde_json::json!({
+            "assignments": (0..5).map(|i| serde_json::json!({"index": i, "category": "AI News"})).collect::<Vec<_>>()
+        });
+        let mut filled = HashMap::new();
+        let result = parse_classification_response(&response, &articles, &categories, 2, &mut filled);
+        assert_eq!(result.get("category_0").map(|v| v.len()), Some(2));
+        assert!(result.get("category_autre").map(|v| v.len()).unwrap_or(0) > 0);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classification_invalid_index_ignored() {
+        use crate::models::synthesis::ScrapedNewsItem;
+        let articles = vec![
+            ScrapedNewsItem { title: "A".into(), url: "https://a.com/1".into(), summary: "s".into(), original_title: "t".into(), scraped_content: "c".into() },
+        ];
+        let categories = vec!["AI News".to_string(), "Autre".to_string()];
+        let response = serde_json::json!({
+            "assignments": [{"index": 99, "category": "AI News"}]
+        });
+        let mut filled = HashMap::new();
+        let result = parse_classification_response(&response, &articles, &categories, 4, &mut filled);
+        // Index 99 is invalid → article 0 is unclassified → goes to Autre
+        assert_eq!(result.get("category_autre").map(|v| v.len()), Some(1));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classification_case_insensitive() {
+        use crate::models::synthesis::ScrapedNewsItem;
+        let articles = vec![
+            ScrapedNewsItem { title: "A".into(), url: "https://a.com/1".into(), summary: "s".into(), original_title: "t".into(), scraped_content: "c".into() },
+        ];
+        let categories = vec!["AI News".to_string(), "Autre".to_string()];
+        let response = serde_json::json!({
+            "assignments": [{"index": 0, "category": "ai news"}]
+        });
+        let mut filled = HashMap::new();
+        let result = parse_classification_response(&response, &articles, &categories, 4, &mut filled);
+        assert_eq!(result.get("category_0").map(|v| v.len()), Some(1));
+    }
 }