diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6b69b61..3a0c49c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -28,9 +28,15 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   locally and free; provider env vars only needed for the Tier 3 LLM Judge),
   and the CLI section is reframed as "Train guardrails from your test
   results". Contributing/CLA wording cleaned up.
+- **Removed unsourced performance claims** from the README tagline, tier
+  diagram, and package summary ("sub-millisecond latency", per-tier timings,
+  "~85% of prompt injections", "~10-15% of traffic"). Until we publish
+  benchmarks, performance language is qualitative and architecture-grounded
+  only: local tiers are free with no LLM call; the Tier 3 judge is the only
+  tier with token cost and is invoked only on escalation.
 - Package summary now reads "Multi-tier firewall for AI agents — blocks prompt
-  injections, jailbreaks, and scope violations with sub-millisecond latency
-  for most requests."
+  injections, jailbreaks, and scope violations; fast local tiers screen every
+  request, only uncertain cases reach an LLM judge."
 
 ## [0.2.1] — 2026-05-12
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1942656..6da6ded 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 <h3 align="center">humanbound-firewall</h3>
 
 <p align="center">
-  Multi-tier firewall for AI agents. Blocks prompt injections, jailbreaks, and scope violations with sub-millisecond latency for most requests.
+  Multi-tier firewall for AI agents. Blocks prompt injections, jailbreaks, and scope violations — fast local tiers screen every request; only the uncertain ones reach an LLM judge.
   <br/>
   <strong>4-tier architecture</strong> &middot; <strong>pluggable models</strong> &middot; <strong>guardrails trained from your own test data</strong>
 </p>
@@ -45,22 +45,22 @@ Every user message passes through four tiers before reaching your agent:
 ```
 User Input
     |
-[ Tier 0 ]  Sanitization                    ~0ms, free
+[ Tier 0 ]  Sanitization                    no model call, free
     |        Strips invisible control characters, zero-width joiners, bidi overrides.
     |
-[ Tier 1 ]  Basic Attack Detection          ~15-50ms, free
+[ Tier 1 ]  Basic Attack Detection          local model inference, free
     |        Pre-trained models (DeBERTa, Azure Content Safety, Lakera, etc.)
     |        Pluggable ensemble — add models or APIs, configure consensus.
-    |        Catches ~85% of prompt injections out of the box.
+    |        Catches the bulk of generic prompt injections out of the box.
     |
-[ Tier 2 ]  Agent-Specific Classification   ~10ms, free
+[ Tier 2 ]  Agent-Specific Classification   local model inference, free
     |        Trained on YOUR agent's adversarial test logs and QA data.
     |        Catches attacks Tier 1 misses. Fast-tracks legitimate requests.
     |        You provide the model — we provide the training orchestrator.
     |
-[ Tier 3 ]  LLM Judge                       ~1-2s, token cost
+[ Tier 3 ]  LLM Judge                       LLM call, token cost
              Deep contextual analysis against your agent's security policy.
-             Only called when Tiers 1-2 are uncertain (~10-15% of traffic).
+             Only called when Tiers 1-2 are uncertain — a small fraction of traffic.
 ```
 
 Each tier either makes a confident decision or escalates. No forced decisions.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7944fd4..84d06ce 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 [project]
 name = "humanbound-firewall"
 version = "0.2.2"
-description = "Multi-tier firewall for AI agents — blocks prompt injections, jailbreaks, and scope violations with sub-millisecond latency for most requests"
+description = "Multi-tier firewall for AI agents — blocks prompt injections, jailbreaks, and scope violations; fast local tiers screen every request, only uncertain cases reach an LLM judge"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = "Apache-2.0"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"