diff --git a/features/steps/tdd_context_tier_defaults_1443_steps.py b/features/steps/tdd_context_tier_defaults_1443_steps.py
index 2e7f9e930..475544231 100644
--- a/features/steps/tdd_context_tier_defaults_1443_steps.py
+++ b/features/steps/tdd_context_tier_defaults_1443_steps.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ def step_given_default_tier_budget(context: Any) -> None:
     context.budget = TierBudget()
 
 
-@then("I inspect the budget defaults")
+@when("I inspect the budget defaults")
 def step_then_inspect_budget_defaults(context: Any) -> None:
     assert hasattr(context, "budget")
     context._budget_hot: int = context.budget.max_tokens_hot
diff --git a/src/cleveragents/application/services/context_tier_settings.py b/src/cleveragents/application/services/context_tier_settings.py
index d52f74831..6c3b65f9c 100644
--- a/src/cleveragents/application/services/context_tier_settings.py
+++ b/src/cleveragents/application/services/context_tier_settings.py
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ from cleveragents.domain.models.acms.tiers import TierBudget
 # Default budget when settings are not provided
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-DEFAULT_MAX_TOKENS_HOT = 8000
-DEFAULT_MAX_DECISIONS_WARM = 500
-DEFAULT_MAX_DECISIONS_COLD = 5000
+DEFAULT_MAX_TOKENS_HOT = 16000
+DEFAULT_MAX_DECISIONS_WARM = 100
+DEFAULT_MAX_DECISIONS_COLD = 500
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Default runtime policy values