diff --git a/sgl-router/src/core/mod.rs b/sgl-router/src/core/mod.rs
index 923324814..ab7191d8e 100644
--- a/sgl-router/src/core/mod.rs
+++ b/sgl-router/src/core/mod.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ pub mod circuit_breaker;
 pub mod error;
 pub mod job_queue;
 pub mod metrics_aggregator;
+pub mod model_card;
 pub mod model_type;
 pub mod retry;
 pub mod token_bucket;
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ pub use circuit_breaker::{
 };
 pub use error::{WorkerError, WorkerResult};
 pub use job_queue::{Job, JobQueue, JobQueueConfig};
+pub use model_card::{ModelCard, ProviderType};
 pub use model_type::{Endpoint, ModelType};
 pub use retry::{is_retryable_status, BackoffCalculator, RetryError, RetryExecutor};
 pub use worker::{
diff --git a/sgl-router/src/core/model_card.rs b/sgl-router/src/core/model_card.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bd9809bdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sgl-router/src/core/model_card.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,549 @@
+//! Model card definitions for worker model configuration.
+//!
+//! This module defines [`ModelCard`] which consolidates model-related configuration
+//! that was previously scattered in `WorkerMetadata.labels` HashMap.
+//!
+//! Also defines [`ProviderType`] for vendor-specific API transformations.
+//!
+//! Inspired by Dynamo's ModelDeploymentCard but simplified for router needs.
+
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+
+use super::model_type::{Endpoint, ModelType};
+
+/// Provider type for external API transformations.
+///
+/// Different providers have different API formats and requirements.
+/// This enum identifies which vendor's API format to use for transformations.
+///
+/// Note: `None` (when used as `Option<ProviderType>`) means native/passthrough -
+/// no transformation needed. This is the case for local SGLang backends.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, Hash, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "lowercase")]
+pub enum ProviderType {
+    /// OpenAI API - strip SGLang-specific fields
+    #[serde(alias = "openai")]
+    OpenAI,
+    /// xAI/Grok - special handling for input items
+    #[serde(alias = "xai", alias = "grok")]
+    XAI,
+    /// Anthropic Claude - different API format
+    #[serde(alias = "anthropic", alias = "claude")]
+    Anthropic,
+    /// Google Gemini - special logprobs handling
+    #[serde(alias = "gemini", alias = "google")]
+    Gemini,
+    /// Custom provider with string identifier
+    #[serde(untagged)]
+    Custom(String),
+}
+
+impl ProviderType {
+    /// Get provider name as string
+    pub fn as_str(&self) -> &str {
+        match self {
+            Self::OpenAI => "openai",
+            Self::XAI => "xai",
+            Self::Anthropic => "anthropic",
+            Self::Gemini => "gemini",
+            Self::Custom(s) => s.as_str(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Detect provider from model name (heuristic fallback).
+    /// Returns `None` for models that don't match known external providers
+    /// (i.e., models served by local/native backends).
+    pub fn from_model_name(model: &str) -> Option<Self> {
+        let model_lower = model.to_lowercase();
+        if model_lower.starts_with("grok") {
+            Some(Self::XAI)
+        } else if model_lower.starts_with("gemini") {
+            Some(Self::Gemini)
+        } else if model_lower.starts_with("claude") {
+            Some(Self::Anthropic)
+        } else if model_lower.starts_with("gpt")
+            || model_lower.starts_with("o1")
+            || model_lower.starts_with("o3")
+        {
+            Some(Self::OpenAI)
+        } else {
+            None // Native/local model, no provider transformation needed
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl std::fmt::Display for ProviderType {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "{}", self.as_str())
+    }
+}
+
+/// Model card containing model configuration and capabilities.
+///
+/// Consolidates fields previously scattered in `WorkerMetadata.labels`:
+/// - `model_id` -> `id`
+/// - `tokenizer_path` -> `tokenizer_path`
+/// - `chat_template` -> `chat_template`
+/// - `reasoning_parser` -> `reasoning_parser`
+/// - `tool_parser` -> `tool_parser`
+///
+/// # Example
+///
+/// ```
+/// use sglang_router_rs::core::{ModelCard, ModelType, ProviderType};
+///
+/// let card = ModelCard::new("meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct")
+///     .with_display_name("Llama 3.1 8B Instruct")
+///     .with_alias("llama-3.1-8b")
+///     .with_model_type(ModelType::VISION_LLM)
+///     .with_context_length(128_000)
+///     .with_tokenizer_path("meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct");
+///
+/// assert!(card.matches("llama-3.1-8b"));
+/// assert!(card.model_type.supports_vision());
+/// assert!(card.provider.is_none()); // Local model, no external provider
+/// ```
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+pub struct ModelCard {
+    // === Identity ===
+    /// Primary model ID (e.g., "meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct")
+    /// Previously: labels.get("model_id")
+    pub id: String,
+
+    /// Optional display name (e.g., "Llama 3.1 8B Instruct")
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub display_name: Option<String>,
+
+    /// Alternative names/aliases for this model
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Vec::is_empty")]
+    pub aliases: Vec<String>,
+
+    // === Capabilities ===
+    /// Supported endpoint types (bitflags)
+    #[serde(default = "default_model_type")]
+    pub model_type: ModelType,
+
+    /// Provider hint for API transformations.
+    /// `None` means native/passthrough (no transformation needed).
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub provider: Option<ProviderType>,
+
+    /// Maximum context length in tokens
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub context_length: Option<u32>,
+
+    // === Tokenization & Parsing (previously in labels) ===
+    /// Path to tokenizer (e.g., HuggingFace model ID or local path)
+    /// Previously: labels.get("tokenizer_path")
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub tokenizer_path: Option<String>,
+
+    /// Chat template (Jinja2 template string or path)
+    /// Previously: labels.get("chat_template")
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub chat_template: Option<String>,
+
+    /// Reasoning parser type (e.g., "deepseek", "qwen")
+    /// Previously: labels.get("reasoning_parser")
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub reasoning_parser: Option<String>,
+
+    /// Tool/function calling parser type (e.g., "llama", "mistral")
+    /// Previously: labels.get("tool_parser")
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub tool_parser: Option<String>,
+
+    /// User-defined metadata (for fields not covered above)
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub metadata: Option<serde_json::Value>,
+}
+
+fn default_model_type() -> ModelType {
+    ModelType::LLM
+}
+
+impl ModelCard {
+    /// Create a new model card with minimal configuration.
+    ///
+    /// Defaults to `ModelType::LLM` and no provider (native/passthrough).
+    pub fn new(id: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            id: id.into(),
+            display_name: None,
+            aliases: Vec::new(),
+            model_type: ModelType::LLM,
+            provider: None,
+            context_length: None,
+            tokenizer_path: None,
+            chat_template: None,
+            reasoning_parser: None,
+            tool_parser: None,
+            metadata: None,
+        }
+    }
+
+    // === Builder-style methods ===
+
+    /// Set the display name
+    pub fn with_display_name(mut self, name: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        self.display_name = Some(name.into());
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Add a single alias
+    pub fn with_alias(mut self, alias: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        self.aliases.push(alias.into());
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Add multiple aliases
+    pub fn with_aliases(mut self, aliases: impl IntoIterator<Item = impl Into<String>>) -> Self {
+        self.aliases.extend(aliases.into_iter().map(|a| a.into()));
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set the model type (capabilities)
+    pub fn with_model_type(mut self, model_type: ModelType) -> Self {
+        self.model_type = model_type;
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set the provider type (for external API transformations)
+    pub fn with_provider(mut self, provider: ProviderType) -> Self {
+        self.provider = Some(provider);
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set the context length
+    pub fn with_context_length(mut self, length: u32) -> Self {
+        self.context_length = Some(length);
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set the tokenizer path
+    pub fn with_tokenizer_path(mut self, path: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        self.tokenizer_path = Some(path.into());
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set the chat template
+    pub fn with_chat_template(mut self, template: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        self.chat_template = Some(template.into());
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set the reasoning parser type
+    pub fn with_reasoning_parser(mut self, parser: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        self.reasoning_parser = Some(parser.into());
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set the tool parser type
+    pub fn with_tool_parser(mut self, parser: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        self.tool_parser = Some(parser.into());
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set custom metadata
+    pub fn with_metadata(mut self, metadata: serde_json::Value) -> Self {
+        self.metadata = Some(metadata);
+        self
+    }
+
+    // === Query methods ===
+
+    /// Check if this model matches the given ID (including aliases)
+    pub fn matches(&self, model_id: &str) -> bool {
+        self.id == model_id || self.aliases.iter().any(|a| a == model_id)
+    }
+
+    /// Check if this model supports a given endpoint
+    pub fn supports_endpoint(&self, endpoint: Endpoint) -> bool {
+        self.model_type.supports_endpoint(endpoint)
+    }
+
+    /// Get the display name or fall back to ID
+    pub fn name(&self) -> &str {
+        self.display_name.as_deref().unwrap_or(&self.id)
+    }
+
+    /// Check if this is a native/local model (no external provider)
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn is_native(&self) -> bool {
+        self.provider.is_none()
+    }
+
+    /// Check if this model uses an external provider
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn has_external_provider(&self) -> bool {
+        self.provider.is_some()
+    }
+
+    /// Check if this is an LLM (supports chat)
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn is_llm(&self) -> bool {
+        self.model_type.is_llm()
+    }
+
+    /// Check if this is an embedding model
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn is_embedding_model(&self) -> bool {
+        self.model_type.is_embedding_model()
+    }
+
+    /// Check if this model supports vision/multimodal
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn supports_vision(&self) -> bool {
+        self.model_type.supports_vision()
+    }
+
+    /// Check if this model supports tools/function calling
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn supports_tools(&self) -> bool {
+        self.model_type.supports_tools()
+    }
+
+    /// Check if this model supports reasoning
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn supports_reasoning(&self) -> bool {
+        self.model_type.supports_reasoning()
+    }
+}
+
+impl Default for ModelCard {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self::new("default")
+    }
+}
+
+impl std::fmt::Display for ModelCard {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "{}", self.name())
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_new() {
+        let card = ModelCard::new("llama-3.1-8b");
+        assert_eq!(card.id, "llama-3.1-8b");
+        assert_eq!(card.model_type, ModelType::LLM);
+        assert!(card.provider.is_none()); // Native by default
+        assert!(card.aliases.is_empty());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_builder() {
+        let card = ModelCard::new("meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct")
+            .with_display_name("Llama 3.1 8B")
+            .with_alias("llama-3.1-8b")
+            .with_alias("llama3.1")
+            .with_model_type(ModelType::VISION_LLM)
+            .with_context_length(128_000)
+            .with_tokenizer_path("meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct")
+            .with_reasoning_parser("deepseek")
+            .with_tool_parser("llama");
+
+        assert_eq!(card.name(), "Llama 3.1 8B");
+        assert_eq!(card.aliases.len(), 2);
+        assert!(card.supports_vision());
+        assert_eq!(card.context_length, Some(128_000));
+        assert_eq!(
+            card.tokenizer_path.as_deref(),
+            Some("meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct")
+        );
+        assert_eq!(card.reasoning_parser.as_deref(), Some("deepseek"));
+        assert_eq!(card.tool_parser.as_deref(), Some("llama"));
+        assert!(card.is_native()); // No provider set
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_with_provider() {
+        let card = ModelCard::new("gpt-4o").with_provider(ProviderType::OpenAI);
+
+        assert!(card.has_external_provider());
+        assert!(!card.is_native());
+        assert_eq!(card.provider, Some(ProviderType::OpenAI));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_matches() {
+        let card = ModelCard::new("gpt-4o")
+            .with_alias("gpt-4o-2024-08-06")
+            .with_alias("gpt-4-turbo");
+
+        assert!(card.matches("gpt-4o"));
+        assert!(card.matches("gpt-4o-2024-08-06"));
+        assert!(card.matches("gpt-4-turbo"));
+        assert!(!card.matches("gpt-3.5"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_supports_endpoint() {
+        let llm = ModelCard::new("llama").with_model_type(ModelType::LLM);
+        assert!(llm.supports_endpoint(Endpoint::Chat));
+        assert!(llm.supports_endpoint(Endpoint::Completions));
+        assert!(!llm.supports_endpoint(Endpoint::Embeddings));
+
+        let embed = ModelCard::new("bge").with_model_type(ModelType::EMBED_MODEL);
+        assert!(embed.supports_endpoint(Endpoint::Embeddings));
+        assert!(!embed.supports_endpoint(Endpoint::Chat));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_name_fallback() {
+        let card_with_name = ModelCard::new("model-id").with_display_name("Display Name");
+        assert_eq!(card_with_name.name(), "Display Name");
+
+        let card_without_name = ModelCard::new("model-id");
+        assert_eq!(card_without_name.name(), "model-id");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_is_llm() {
+        let llm = ModelCard::new("llama").with_model_type(ModelType::LLM);
+        assert!(llm.is_llm());
+
+        let embed = ModelCard::new("bge").with_model_type(ModelType::EMBED_MODEL);
+        assert!(!embed.is_llm());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_default() {
+        let card = ModelCard::default();
+        assert_eq!(card.id, "default");
+        assert_eq!(card.model_type, ModelType::LLM);
+        assert!(card.provider.is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_serialization() {
+        let card = ModelCard::new("gpt-4o")
+            .with_display_name("GPT-4o")
+            .with_alias("gpt4o")
+            .with_provider(ProviderType::OpenAI)
+            .with_context_length(128_000);
+
+        let json = serde_json::to_string(&card).unwrap();
+        let deserialized: ModelCard = serde_json::from_str(&json).unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(deserialized.id, "gpt-4o");
+        assert_eq!(deserialized.display_name, Some("GPT-4o".to_string()));
+        assert_eq!(deserialized.aliases, vec!["gpt4o"]);
+        assert_eq!(deserialized.provider, Some(ProviderType::OpenAI));
+        assert_eq!(deserialized.context_length, Some(128_000));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_serialization_native() {
+        // Native model (no provider) should not include provider in JSON
+        let card = ModelCard::new("llama-3.1");
+        let json = serde_json::to_string(&card).unwrap();
+
+        // Provider should be omitted from JSON when None
+        assert!(!json.contains("provider"));
+
+        let deserialized: ModelCard = serde_json::from_str(&json).unwrap();
+        assert!(deserialized.provider.is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_model_card_display() {
+        let card = ModelCard::new("model-id").with_display_name("Display Name");
+        assert_eq!(format!("{}", card), "Display Name");
+    }
+
+    // === ProviderType tests ===
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_provider_type_as_str() {
+        assert_eq!(ProviderType::OpenAI.as_str(), "openai");
+        assert_eq!(ProviderType::XAI.as_str(), "xai");
+        assert_eq!(ProviderType::Anthropic.as_str(), "anthropic");
+        assert_eq!(ProviderType::Gemini.as_str(), "gemini");
+        assert_eq!(
+            ProviderType::Custom("my-provider".to_string()).as_str(),
+            "my-provider"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_provider_type_from_model_name() {
+        // External providers
+        assert_eq!(
+            ProviderType::from_model_name("grok-beta"),
+            Some(ProviderType::XAI)
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            ProviderType::from_model_name("Grok-2"),
+            Some(ProviderType::XAI)
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            ProviderType::from_model_name("gemini-pro"),
+            Some(ProviderType::Gemini)
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            ProviderType::from_model_name("claude-3-opus"),
+            Some(ProviderType::Anthropic)
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            ProviderType::from_model_name("gpt-4o"),
+            Some(ProviderType::OpenAI)
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            ProviderType::from_model_name("o1-preview"),
+            Some(ProviderType::OpenAI)
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            ProviderType::from_model_name("o3-mini"),
+            Some(ProviderType::OpenAI)
+        );
+
+        // Native/local models - no provider
+        assert_eq!(ProviderType::from_model_name("llama-3.1"), None);
+        assert_eq!(ProviderType::from_model_name("mistral-7b"), None);
+        assert_eq!(ProviderType::from_model_name("deepseek-r1"), None);
+        assert_eq!(ProviderType::from_model_name("qwen-2.5"), None);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_provider_type_serialization() {
+        // Test standard variants
+        let openai = ProviderType::OpenAI;
+        let json = serde_json::to_string(&openai).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(json, "\"openai\"");
+        let deserialized: ProviderType = serde_json::from_str(&json).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(deserialized, ProviderType::OpenAI);
+
+        // Test custom variant
+        let custom = ProviderType::Custom("my-provider".to_string());
+        let json = serde_json::to_string(&custom).unwrap();
+        let deserialized: ProviderType = serde_json::from_str(&json).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(
+            deserialized,
+            ProviderType::Custom("my-provider".to_string())
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_provider_type_aliases() {
+        // Test serde aliases
+        let xai: ProviderType = serde_json::from_str("\"grok\"").unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(xai, ProviderType::XAI);
+
+        let anthropic: ProviderType = serde_json::from_str("\"claude\"").unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(anthropic, ProviderType::Anthropic);
+
+        let gemini: ProviderType = serde_json::from_str("\"google\"").unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(gemini, ProviderType::Gemini);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_provider_type_display() {
+        assert_eq!(format!("{}", ProviderType::OpenAI), "openai");
+        assert_eq!(format!("{}", ProviderType::XAI), "xai");
+    }
+}