diff --git a/.agents/skills/housekeeping/SKILL.md b/.agents/skills/housekeeping/SKILL.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0df826a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.agents/skills/housekeeping/SKILL.md
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+---
+name: housekeeping
+description: The daily sweep of this repo: prunes merged branches, closes spent signal issues and empty milestones, and lists what is stale. Use when asked what housekeeping did, why a branch or issue was closed, how to run the sweep by hand, or what to do with the stale list.
+---
+
+# Housekeeping
+
+Deterministic: `.github/time/housekeeping.py` decides, never a model. Every step is idempotent, so a second run finds nothing to do.
+
+## Trigger
+
+- `housekeeping.yml`: daily, a jittered minute after the Astra tick (13:13 UTC), and `workflow_dispatch`. It runs
+  `python3 .github/time/housekeeping.py` with the heartbeat's env, as the `time` user.
+- `TIME_MODE=live` makes it act. Anything else (the default) is a dry run: it prints `would delete ...` / `would close ...`
+  in the run log and changes and comments nothing.
+- By hand: Actions → housekeeping → Run workflow, or locally with `GITHUB_REPOSITORY`, `GITHUB_TOKEN`, `TIME_TOKEN` set.
+
+## What the sweep does
+
+1. **Branches.** Deletes every branch whose PR merged into the default branch (`time/card-*`, `ceo/*`, `labs/*`, anything
+   with a merged PR; merges made through the MCP keep their head branch, Time's own merges delete it). Never the default
+   branch, `gh-pages`, a protected branch, a branch with an open PR, or a branch that has commits after its merge.
+2. **Signal issues.** Closes `signal` issues ("want the next version?") older than `TIME_VENTURE_MEASURE_DAYS` (default 7)
+   whose venture has no signups: no 👍 from a person and no early-access issue for its slug. One closing line names the count.
+   Issues with signups are left to the venture loop.
+3. **Milestones.** Closes milestones with no open issues and at least one closed one. An empty, never-used milestone stays.
+4. **Stale list.** No action, one comment on the Astra log (#57): `needs-human` untouched for over 3 days, open PRs idle
+   7 days or more, cards parked after their automatic retries, `error` cards older than 2 days. An empty list posts no comment.
+
+Each run ends with one line on the Astra log: branches deleted, issues closed, milestones closed, stale count. A step that
+fails is logged and the others still run; the job exits 1.
+
+## What the steward does with the stale list
+
+Housekeeping never acts on it. Read it on #57 once a day and for each entry either:
+
+- **`needs-human` card or PR:** decide it (merge, close, or comment `/time retry` to send it back to the worker) and remove the label.
+- **Idle PR:** merge it, push it, or close it. A PR nobody wants closes; its branch goes at the next sweep.
+- **Parked card:** read why it stopped, fix the card (smaller, clearer `DONE:`) or close it.
+- **`error` card:** comment `/time retry`, or close it if the error is not worth another try.
+
+## The workflow
+
+The workflow file is the CEO's merge. It is the heartbeat's job with this step in place of `time.py heartbeat`:
+
+```yaml
+name: housekeeping
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "17 13 * * *"   # a few minutes after the Astra tick (13:13)
+  workflow_dispatch:
+concurrency:
+  group: housekeeping
+  cancel-in-progress: false
+jobs:
+  sweep:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 10
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
+        with:
+          sparse-checkout: .github/time
+          persist-credentials: false
+      - run: python3 .github/time/housekeeping.py
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          TIME_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TIME_TOKEN }}   # branch and issue writes go out as the `time` user
+          TIME_MODE: ${{ vars.TIME_MODE }}
+          TIME_VENTURE_MEASURE_DAYS: ${{ vars.TIME_VENTURE_MEASURE_DAYS }}
+```
+
+Tests: `python3 .github/time/test_housekeeping.py` (offline fake forge).