diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1922198..65d8a0b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,9 +19,15 @@ go install github.com/happyhackingspace/dit/cmd/dit@latest
 ```go
 import "github.com/happyhackingspace/dit"
 
-// Load classifier (finds model.json automatically)
+// Load classifier. On first call, if no model.json is found in the current
+// directory (walked up to the nearest go.mod) or in ~/.dit/, the pretrained
+// model is downloaded from Hugging Face to ~/.dit/model.json (~93MB, one-time)
+// and reused on subsequent calls.
 c, _ := dit.New()
 
+// Or load an explicit file (no network, no search).
+c, _ := dit.Load("path/to/model.json")
+
 // Classify page type
 page, _ := c.ExtractPageType(htmlString)
 fmt.Println(page.Type)  // "login"
diff --git a/dit.go b/dit.go
index 05ad6a4..a9331d9 100644
--- a/dit.go
+++ b/dit.go
@@ -15,15 +15,26 @@
 package dit
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"log/slog"
+	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/happyhackingspace/dit/captcha"
 	"github.com/happyhackingspace/dit/classifier"
 	"github.com/happyhackingspace/dit/internal/htmlutil"
 )
 
+// downloadTimeout bounds the total time spent fetching the model.
+const downloadTimeout = 1 * time.Minute
+
+// ModelURL is the canonical download location for the pretrained model.
+const ModelURL = "https://huggingface.co/datasets/happyhackingspace/dit/resolve/main/model.json"
+
 // Classifier wraps the form and field type classification models.
 type Classifier struct {
 	fc *classifier.FormFieldClassifier
@@ -59,12 +70,62 @@ type PageResultProba struct {
 
 // New loads the classifier from "model.json", searching the current directory
 // and parent directories up to the module root, then ~/.dit/model.json.
+// If no model is found locally, it is downloaded from ModelURL to
+// ~/.dit/model.json and loaded from there. The download is a one-time cost
+// per machine; subsequent calls reuse the cached file.
 func New() (*Classifier, error) {
-	path, err := FindModel("model.json")
-	if err != nil {
+	if path, err := FindModel("model.json"); err == nil {
+		return Load(path)
+	}
+
+	dest := filepath.Join(ModelDir(), "model.json")
+	slog.Info("Model not found, downloading", "url", ModelURL, "dest", dest)
+	if err := Download(dest); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("dit: %w", err)
 	}
-	return Load(path)
+	return Load(dest)
+}
+
+// Download fetches the pretrained model from ModelURL and writes it to dest,
+// creating parent directories as needed. A partial file is removed on error.
+func Download(dest string) error {
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0755); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("create model dir: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), downloadTimeout)
+	defer cancel()
+	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, ModelURL, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("download model: %w", err)
+	}
+	resp, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("download model: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
+
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		return fmt.Errorf("download model: HTTP %d", resp.StatusCode)
+	}
+
+	f, err := os.Create(dest)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("create model file: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	written, err := io.Copy(f, resp.Body)
+	if err != nil {
+		_ = f.Close()
+		_ = os.Remove(dest)
+		return fmt.Errorf("download model: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := f.Close(); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("close model file: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	slog.Info("Model downloaded", "size", fmt.Sprintf("%.1fMB", float64(written)/1024/1024))
+	return nil
 }
 
 // ModelDir returns the default model storage directory (~/.dit).
diff --git a/internal/cli/data.go b/internal/cli/data.go
index 4306653..acf6168 100644
--- a/internal/cli/data.go
+++ b/internal/cli/data.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/happyhackingspace/dit"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
@@ -115,8 +116,8 @@ func dataDownload(dataFolder string) error {
 	}
 	slog.Info("Training data extracted", "files", count, "folder", dataFolder)
 
-	slog.Info("Downloading model", "url", modelURL)
-	modelResp, err := http.Get(modelURL)
+	slog.Info("Downloading model", "url", dit.ModelURL)
+	modelResp, err := http.Get(dit.ModelURL)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("download model: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/internal/cli/run.go b/internal/cli/run.go
index 912cdd0..a2590c4 100644
--- a/internal/cli/run.go
+++ b/internal/cli/run.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 	"log/slog"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -17,8 +16,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
-const modelURL = "https://huggingface.co/datasets/happyhackingspace/dit/resolve/main/model.json"
-
 func (c *CLI) newRunCommand() *cobra.Command {
 	var modelPath string
 	var threshold float64
@@ -93,7 +90,7 @@ func (c *CLI) newRunCommand() *cobra.Command {
 			slog.Debug("HTML fetched", "target", target, "bytes", len(htmlContent))
 
 			start := time.Now()
-			cl, err := loadOrDownloadModel(modelPath)
+			cl, err := loadModel(modelPath)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -159,49 +156,12 @@ func isStdinTerminal() bool {
 	return fi.Mode()&os.ModeCharDevice != 0
 }
 
-func loadOrDownloadModel(modelPath string) (*dit.Classifier, error) {
+func loadModel(modelPath string) (*dit.Classifier, error) {
 	if modelPath != "" {
 		slog.Debug("Loading custom model", "path", modelPath)
 		return dit.Load(modelPath)
 	}
-
-	cl, err := dit.New()
-	if err == nil {
-		return cl, nil
-	}
-
-	dest := filepath.Join(dit.ModelDir(), "model.json")
-	slog.Info("Model not found, downloading", "url", modelURL, "dest", dest)
-
-	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0755); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("create model dir: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	resp, err := http.Get(modelURL)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("download model: %w", err)
-	}
-	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
-
-	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("download model: HTTP %d", resp.StatusCode)
-	}
-
-	f, err := os.Create(dest)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("create model file: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	written, err := io.Copy(f, resp.Body)
-	if err != nil {
-		_ = f.Close()
-		_ = os.Remove(dest)
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("download model: %w", err)
-	}
-	_ = f.Close()
-
-	slog.Info("Model downloaded", "size", fmt.Sprintf("%.1fMB", float64(written)/1024/1024))
-	return dit.Load(dest)
+	return dit.New()
 }
 
 type fetchOptions struct {
diff --git a/internal/cli/up.go b/internal/cli/up.go
index 6494f44..77e7252 100644
--- a/internal/cli/up.go
+++ b/internal/cli/up.go
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ func (c *CLI) selfUpdate() error {
 	modelDest := filepath.Join(dit.ModelDir(), "model.json")
 	if _, err := os.Stat(modelDest); err == nil {
 		slog.Info("Updating cached model")
-		modelResp, err := http.Get(modelURL)
+		modelResp, err := http.Get(dit.ModelURL)
 		if err == nil {
 			defer func() { _ = modelResp.Body.Close() }()
 			if modelResp.StatusCode == http.StatusOK {