diff --git a/src/gateway/mod.rs b/src/gateway/mod.rs
index af7cf91..eac6571 100644
--- a/src/gateway/mod.rs
+++ b/src/gateway/mod.rs
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ pub async fn run_gateway(host: &str, port: u16, config: Config) -> Result<()> {
         );
     }
 
-    let addr = format!("{host}:{port}");
-    let listener = TcpListener::bind(&addr).await?;
+    let listener = TcpListener::bind(format!("{host}:{port}")).await?;
+    let actual_port = listener.local_addr()?.port();
+    let addr = format!("{host}:{actual_port}");
 
     let provider: Arc<dyn Provider> = Arc::from(providers::create_provider(
         config.default_provider.as_deref().unwrap_or("openrouter"),
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ pub async fn run_gateway(host: &str, port: u16, config: Config) -> Result<()> {
 
     if let Some(ref tun) = tunnel {
         println!("🔗 Starting {} tunnel...", tun.name());
-        match tun.start(host, port).await {
+        match tun.start(host, actual_port).await {
             Ok(url) => {
                 println!("🌐 Tunnel active: {url}");
                 tunnel_url = Some(url);
@@ -312,6 +313,111 @@ async fn send_response(
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
+    use tokio::net::TcpListener as TokioListener;
+
+    // ── Port allocation tests ────────────────────────────────
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn port_zero_binds_to_random_port() {
+        let listener = TokioListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let actual = listener.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+        assert_ne!(actual, 0, "OS must assign a non-zero port");
+        assert!(actual > 0, "Actual port must be positive");
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn port_zero_assigns_different_ports() {
+        let l1 = TokioListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let l2 = TokioListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let p1 = l1.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+        let p2 = l2.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+        assert_ne!(p1, p2, "Two port-0 binds should get different ports");
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn port_zero_assigns_high_port() {
+        let listener = TokioListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let actual = listener.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+        // OS typically assigns ephemeral ports >= 1024
+        assert!(
+            actual >= 1024,
+            "Random port {actual} should be >= 1024 (unprivileged)"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn specific_port_binds_exactly() {
+        // Find a free port first via port 0, then rebind to it
+        let tmp = TokioListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let free_port = tmp.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+        drop(tmp);
+
+        let listener = TokioListener::bind(format!("127.0.0.1:{free_port}"))
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+        let actual = listener.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+        assert_eq!(actual, free_port, "Specific port bind must match exactly");
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn actual_port_matches_addr_format() {
+        let listener = TokioListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let actual_port = listener.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+        let addr = format!("127.0.0.1:{actual_port}");
+        assert!(
+            addr.starts_with("127.0.0.1:"),
+            "Addr format must include host"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            !addr.ends_with(":0"),
+            "Addr must not contain port 0 after binding"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn port_zero_listener_accepts_connections() {
+        let listener = TokioListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let actual_port = listener.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+
+        // Spawn a client that connects
+        let client = tokio::spawn(async move {
+            tokio::net::TcpStream::connect(format!("127.0.0.1:{actual_port}"))
+                .await
+                .unwrap()
+        });
+
+        // Accept the connection
+        let (stream, _peer) = listener.accept().await.unwrap();
+        assert!(stream.peer_addr().is_ok());
+        client.await.unwrap();
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn duplicate_specific_port_fails() {
+        let l1 = TokioListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let port = l1.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+        // Try to bind the same port while l1 is still alive
+        let result = TokioListener::bind(format!("127.0.0.1:{port}")).await;
+        assert!(result.is_err(), "Binding an already-used port must fail");
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn tunnel_gets_actual_port_not_zero() {
+        // Simulate what run_gateway does: bind port 0, extract actual port
+        let port: u16 = 0;
+        let host = "127.0.0.1";
+        let listener = TokioListener::bind(format!("{host}:{port}")).await.unwrap();
+        let actual_port = listener.local_addr().unwrap().port();
+
+        // This is the port that would be passed to tun.start(host, actual_port)
+        assert_ne!(actual_port, 0, "Tunnel must receive actual port, not 0");
+        assert!(
+            actual_port >= 1024,
+            "Tunnel port {actual_port} must be unprivileged"
+        );
+    }
+
+    // ── extract_header tests ─────────────────────────────────
 
     #[test]
     fn extract_header_finds_value() {
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 2a02f27..1c66172 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ enum Commands {
 
     /// Start the gateway server (webhooks, websockets)
     Gateway {
-        /// Port to listen on
+        /// Port to listen on (use 0 for random available port)
         #[arg(short, long, default_value = "8080")]
         port: u16,
 
@@ -234,9 +234,11 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
         } => agent::run(config, message, provider, model, temperature).await,
 
         Commands::Gateway { port, host } => {
-            info!("🚀 Starting ZeroClaw Gateway on {host}:{port}");
-            info!("POST http://{host}:{port}/webhook  — send JSON messages");
-            info!("GET  http://{host}:{port}/health    — health check");
+            if port == 0 {
+                info!("🚀 Starting ZeroClaw Gateway on {host} (random port)");
+            } else {
+                info!("🚀 Starting ZeroClaw Gateway on {host}:{port}");
+            }
             gateway::run_gateway(&host, port, config).await
         }