diff --git a/.agents/skills/bearings/SKILL.md b/.agents/skills/bearings/SKILL.md
index f543ebf32..82b672025 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/bearings/SKILL.md
+++ b/.agents/skills/bearings/SKILL.md
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ It never tears down a task, merges a PR, dispatches new work, or mutates any tas
      If today's file already exists, delete it first, then create a new file from scratch.
    - The chat response is the concise four-section digest defined by the contract below: materially shorter than the report file, complete as a current snapshot, internally consistent with the file, and linked to that file for the full picture.
    - For a richer review surface, optionally offer a Lavish board with `lavish-axi` when the report has enough structure to deserve one, but the markdown file is the required artifact and the four-section chat digest is the required minimum.
+     Arm any board's feedback as a watcher check with `bin/fm-lavish-check.sh <task-id> <board-file>` rather than a bare `lavish-axi poll`, so the watcher re-arms the poll every sweep and queued feedback drains on arm.
+     Never treat a poll return with empty `prompts` as the captain's feedback, because a browser layout-warning returns an armed poll early with no prompts.
+     Never arm two polls on one board file, because concurrent drains race and can duplicate or drop a send.
 
 ## Chat-response contract
 
diff --git a/bin/fm-lavish-check.sh b/bin/fm-lavish-check.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..14b70a00e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/fm-lavish-check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Generate and register a per-board Lavish feedback watcher check, or classify a
+# poll result. The generated check lives at state/<task-id>.check.sh.
+#
+# Why this exists: `lavish-axi poll` is a single-shot long-poll - it returns and
+# the process exits on the FIRST wake event, and browser-generated layout_warnings
+# share that wake with real user sends. So a warnings event can return an armed
+# poll with empty prompts; a human send that then lands with no poll armed waits
+# in the queue until the next arm. Modeling the poll as a watcher check makes the
+# watcher re-arm it every sweep (reap-proof), drain-on-arm delivers any queued
+# prompts, and warnings-only returns stay silent - so real feedback reaches
+# firstmate within one sweep without a long-lived poll process to be reaped.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   fm-lavish-check.sh <task-id> <board-file>    generate+register state/<task-id>.check.sh
+#   fm-lavish-check.sh --classify <board-file>   read `lavish-axi poll` output on stdin,
+#                                                print a wake line ONLY when real user
+#                                                prompts arrived
+#
+# The generated check invokes this same script in --classify mode, so the wake
+# decision has exactly one owner (lavish_classify below).
+set -u
+
+# The per-poll wait bound baked into generated checks. Short is fine: drain-on-arm
+# delivers anything already queued immediately, so this only caps how long one
+# sweep waits for feedback that arrives mid-poll. Must stay well under the
+# watcher's FM_CHECK_TIMEOUT (default 30s).
+# ponytail: fixed 5s; if node cold-start makes checks flaky, raise here and regenerate.
+FM_LAVISH_POLL_TIMEOUT_MS=5000
+
+# Single owner of the wake decision: emit a wake line iff `lavish-axi poll`
+# reported real user prompts. Its text digest renders a non-empty send as a
+# `prompts[N]{...}:` header line (N>=1) and an empty one as `prompts: []`, so the
+# presence of the bracketed-count header is the signal. Warnings-only, waiting,
+# ended-without-prompts, empty, and unrecognized output all stay silent.
+# ponytail: parses lavish-axi's human-readable poll digest (no --json flag exists
+# in 0.1.42); if a future version changes that header, update this one matcher.
+lavish_classify() {
+  local board=$1 out count
+  out=$(cat)
+  count=$(printf '%s\n' "$out" | sed -n 's/^prompts\[\([0-9][0-9]*\)\].*/\1/p' | head -1)
+  case "$count" in
+    ''|*[!0-9]*) count=0 ;;
+  esac
+  if [ "$count" -gt 0 ]; then
+    printf 'lavish-feedback %s: %s prompt(s)\n' "$(basename -- "$board")" "$count"
+  fi
+  return 0
+}
+
+if [ "${1-}" = --classify ]; then
+  if [ "$#" -ne 2 ]; then
+    echo "usage: fm-lavish-check.sh --classify <board-file>" >&2
+    exit 2
+  fi
+  lavish_classify "$2"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+# --- generate mode ----------------------------------------------------------
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+FM_ROOT="${FM_ROOT_OVERRIDE:-$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/.." && pwd)}"
+FM_HOME="${FM_HOME:-${FM_ROOT_OVERRIDE:-$FM_ROOT}}"
+STATE="${FM_STATE_OVERRIDE:-$FM_HOME/state}"
+
+# shellcheck source=bin/fm-pr-lib.sh
+. "$SCRIPT_DIR/fm-pr-lib.sh"
+
+if [ "$#" -ne 2 ] || ! fm_pr_task_id_valid "${1-}"; then
+  echo "usage: fm-lavish-check.sh <task-id> <board-file>" >&2
+  exit 2
+fi
+ID=$1
+BOARD_RAW=$2
+
+# An absolute path to the existing board is enough: the Lavish server realpaths
+# both the session-open path and the poll path, so any path to the same file
+# yields the same session key.
+BOARD=$(cd "$(dirname -- "$BOARD_RAW")" 2>/dev/null && printf '%s/%s' "$(pwd -P)" "$(basename -- "$BOARD_RAW")") || BOARD=
+if [ -z "$BOARD" ] || [ ! -f "$BOARD" ]; then
+  echo "error: board file not found: $BOARD_RAW" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+[ -d "$STATE" ] && [ ! -L "$STATE" ] || { echo "error: state directory is unavailable" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+# The board and helper paths are baked as single-quoted shell literals; the whole
+# file's bytes are then hash-bound by fm-check-register.sh, so any later edit is
+# rejected by the watcher. ponytail: a single quote in either path would break the
+# quoting - firstmate .lavish/*.html boards never contain one, so refuse rather
+# than carry an escaping routine that would never run.
+case "$BOARD$SCRIPT_DIR" in
+  *\'*) echo "error: single quote in a path is unsupported" >&2; exit 1 ;;
+esac
+
+CHECK="$STATE/$ID.check.sh"
+umask 077
+TMP=$(mktemp "$STATE/.fm-lavish-check.XXXXXX") || exit 1
+trap '[ -z "${TMP:-}" ] || rm -f -- "$TMP"' EXIT HUP INT TERM
+
+cat > "$TMP" <<EOF
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Auto-generated by fm-lavish-check.sh - do NOT edit; regenerate to change.
+# Per-board Lavish feedback poll, re-armed by the watcher every sweep. The short
+# timeout means drain-on-arm delivers any queued prompts each sweep; the wake
+# decision (real prompts vs warnings-only) is owned by fm-lavish-check.sh.
+set -u
+out=\$(lavish-axi poll '$BOARD' --timeout-ms $FM_LAVISH_POLL_TIMEOUT_MS 2>/dev/null) || out=
+printf '%s' "\$out" | '$SCRIPT_DIR/fm-lavish-check.sh' --classify '$BOARD'
+exit 0
+EOF
+
+chmod 0700 "$TMP" || exit 1
+mv -f -- "$TMP" "$CHECK" || exit 1
+TMP=
+
+if ! "$SCRIPT_DIR/fm-check-register.sh" "$ID" >/dev/null; then
+  echo "error: could not register the Lavish feedback check" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+printf 'armed: state/%s.check.sh (%s)\n' "$ID" "$(basename -- "$BOARD")"
diff --git a/tests/fm-lavish-check.test.sh b/tests/fm-lavish-check.test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..13067ff33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fm-lavish-check.test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Behavior tests for bin/fm-lavish-check.sh.
+set -u
+
+# shellcheck source=tests/lib.sh
+. "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/lib.sh"
+
+TMP_ROOT=$(fm_test_tmproot fm-lavish-check)
+
+BIN="$ROOT/bin/fm-lavish-check.sh"
+
+classify() {
+  # classify <lavish-axi-poll-text> -> stdout of --classify for a fixed board label.
+  printf '%s' "$1" | "$BIN" --classify "work-status-board.html"
+}
+
+# Samples are the real `lavish-axi poll` text digest (0.1.42): a non-empty send
+# renders a `prompts[N]{...}:` header, an empty one renders `prompts: []`.
+PROMPTS_2=$'session:\n  status: feedback\nprompts[2]{uid,prompt,selector,tag,text}:\n  "",a,"",message,""\n  "",b,"",message,""\nnext_step: "apply the changes"'
+SEND_AND_END_1=$'session:\n  status: ended\nprompts[1]{uid,prompt,selector,tag,text}:\n  "",final,"",message,""\nnext_step: "final feedback"'
+WARNINGS_ONLY=$'session:\n  status: feedback\nprompts: []\nlayout_warnings[1]{selector,kind,overflowPx,viewportWidth,severity,persistent}:\n  #x,overlapping-text,3,1200,error,false\nnext_step: "fix overflow"'
+WAITING=$'session:\n  status: waiting\nnext_step: "No user feedback arrived before the optional timeout."'
+ENDED_NO_PROMPTS=$'session:\n  status: ended\nprompts: []'
+
+test_classify_real_prompts_wakes() {
+  local out
+  out=$(classify "$PROMPTS_2")
+  assert_contains "$out" "work-status-board.html" "wake line lost the board label"
+  assert_contains "$out" "2 prompt(s)" "wake line lost the prompt count"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check --classify: real prompts wake firstmate with a count"
+}
+
+test_classify_send_and_end_with_prompts_wakes() {
+  local out
+  out=$(classify "$SEND_AND_END_1")
+  assert_contains "$out" "1 prompt(s)" "Send & End final feedback should still wake"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check --classify: ended-with-prompts (Send & End) wakes"
+}
+
+test_classify_warnings_only_is_silent() {
+  local out
+  out=$(classify "$WARNINGS_ONLY")
+  [ -z "$out" ] || fail "warnings-only return must stay silent, got: $out"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check --classify: warnings-only (empty prompts) stays silent"
+}
+
+test_classify_waiting_is_silent() {
+  local out
+  out=$(classify "$WAITING")
+  [ -z "$out" ] || fail "waiting return must stay silent, got: $out"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check --classify: waiting stays silent"
+}
+
+test_classify_ended_without_prompts_is_silent() {
+  local out
+  out=$(classify "$ENDED_NO_PROMPTS")
+  [ -z "$out" ] || fail "ended-without-prompts must stay silent, got: $out"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check --classify: ended-without-prompts stays silent"
+}
+
+test_classify_empty_and_unrecognized_are_silent() {
+  local out
+  out=$(classify '')
+  [ -z "$out" ] || fail "empty input must stay silent, got: $out"
+  out=$(classify $'just some noise\nno header here')
+  [ -z "$out" ] || fail "unrecognized input must stay silent, got: $out"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check --classify: empty and unrecognized input stay silent"
+}
+
+test_classify_prompts_word_mid_line_is_silent() {
+  # The header match is line-anchored: `prompts[N]` inside a next_step sentence
+  # must NOT be read as real feedback.
+  local out
+  out=$(classify $'session:\n  status: waiting\nnext_step: "re-run to collect prompts[5] later"')
+  [ -z "$out" ] || fail "a mid-line prompts[N] must stay silent, got: $out"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check --classify: a mid-line prompts[N] does not wake"
+}
+
+test_generate_creates_registered_check() {
+  local home board out check trust
+  home="$TMP_ROOT/gen-ok"
+  mkdir -p "$home/state"
+  board="$home/board.html"
+  printf '<html><body>b</body></html>' > "$board"
+  out=$(FM_HOME="$home" "$BIN" lavish-demo-1 "$board" 2>&1) \
+    || fail "generate failed: $out"
+  assert_contains "$out" "armed: state/lavish-demo-1.check.sh" "generate did not report armed"
+  check="$home/state/lavish-demo-1.check.sh"
+  trust="$home/state/lavish-demo-1.check-trust"
+  assert_present "$check" "check script was not created"
+  assert_present "$trust" "check was not registered (trust file missing)"
+  [ -x "$check" ] || fail "generated check is not executable"
+  [ ! -L "$check" ] || fail "generated check must be a regular file, not a symlink"
+  assert_grep "lavish-axi poll" "$check" "generated check does not poll"
+  assert_grep "board.html" "$check" "generated check lost the board path"
+  assert_grep "--classify" "$check" "generated check does not delegate the wake decision"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check: generate creates a registered, executable per-board check"
+}
+
+test_generate_refresh_is_idempotent() {
+  local home board
+  home="$TMP_ROOT/gen-refresh"
+  mkdir -p "$home/state"
+  board="$home/board.html"
+  printf '<html></html>' > "$board"
+  FM_HOME="$home" "$BIN" lavish-demo-2 "$board" >/dev/null 2>&1 || fail "first generate failed"
+  FM_HOME="$home" "$BIN" lavish-demo-2 "$board" >/dev/null 2>&1 || fail "refresh (regenerate) failed"
+  assert_present "$home/state/lavish-demo-2.check-trust" "refresh left the check unregistered"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check: regenerating an existing board check is idempotent"
+}
+
+test_generate_rejects_missing_board() {
+  local home
+  home="$TMP_ROOT/gen-missing"
+  mkdir -p "$home/state"
+  FM_HOME="$home" "$BIN" lavish-demo-3 "$home/nope.html" >/dev/null 2>&1
+  expect_code 1 $? "missing board file should exit 1"
+  assert_absent "$home/state/lavish-demo-3.check.sh" "no check should be written for a missing board"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check: missing board file is refused"
+}
+
+test_generate_rejects_invalid_id() {
+  local home board
+  home="$TMP_ROOT/gen-badid"
+  mkdir -p "$home/state"
+  board="$home/board.html"
+  printf '<html></html>' > "$board"
+  FM_HOME="$home" "$BIN" "bad id" "$board" >/dev/null 2>&1
+  expect_code 2 $? "invalid task id should exit 2 (usage)"
+  pass "fm-lavish-check: invalid task id is refused"
+}
+
+test_classify_real_prompts_wakes
+test_classify_send_and_end_with_prompts_wakes
+test_classify_warnings_only_is_silent
+test_classify_waiting_is_silent
+test_classify_ended_without_prompts_is_silent
+test_classify_empty_and_unrecognized_are_silent
+test_classify_prompts_word_mid_line_is_silent
+test_generate_creates_registered_check
+test_generate_refresh_is_idempotent
+test_generate_rejects_missing_board
+test_generate_rejects_invalid_id