diff --git a/hive-agent/src/disk_watch.rs b/hive-agent/src/disk_watch.rs
index 2a8f6d1f..a3cc2f20 100644
--- a/hive-agent/src/disk_watch.rs
+++ b/hive-agent/src/disk_watch.rs
@@ -57,6 +57,13 @@ const TODO_KEY: &str = "usage";
 /// Only directories at least this large are worth naming. Coarse on
 /// purpose: the listed set shouldn't churn while a build runs.
 const BIG_DIR_BYTES: u64 = 5 << 30;
+/// Floor on the agent's total footprint (sum across every `roots()`
+/// tree) below which the todo never fires, regardless of any single
+/// subdir crossing `BIG_DIR_BYTES` on its own — an agent whose whole
+/// tree is this small cannot meaningfully move a large filesystem's
+/// usage even by deleting everything it owns, so naming one oversized
+/// subdir inside a small total isn't worth a turn to act on.
+const MIN_AGENT_FOOTPRINT_BYTES: u64 = 3 * BIG_DIR_BYTES;
 /// At most this many directories are named in the todo.
 const MAX_LISTED: usize = 5;
 /// Directories deeper than this (relative to a scan root) are summed into
@@ -119,21 +126,23 @@ fn probe() -> Option<String> {
     if pct < WARN_PCT {
         return None;
     }
-    summary_for(pct, &big_dirs())
+    summary_for(pct, agent_footprint_bytes(), &big_dirs())
 }
 
 /// Pure rendering half of [`probe`]: the todo text for a given usage
-/// percentage + set of oversized directories. Separated so the threshold
-/// and — more importantly — the *stability* of the summary are unit-tested
-/// without a real filesystem.
+/// percentage, total agent footprint, and set of oversized directories.
+/// Separated so the thresholds and — more importantly — the *stability*
+/// of the summary are unit-tested without a real filesystem.
 ///
 /// Silent unless the agent owns something worth deleting. A full disk the
 /// agent did not fill is not its problem to solve: it cannot free host
 /// bytes, so the todo would only ever cost a turn to conclude "not
 /// actionable". The shared store filling up is the host's signal, not an
-/// agent's.
-fn summary_for(pct: u64, dirs: &[PathBuf]) -> Option<String> {
-    if pct < WARN_PCT || dirs.is_empty() {
+/// agent's. Same reasoning extends to [`MIN_AGENT_FOOTPRINT_BYTES`]: a
+/// small total footprint means there is nothing here worth the bother
+/// even when one subdir happens to cross [`BIG_DIR_BYTES`] on its own.
+fn summary_for(pct: u64, footprint: u64, dirs: &[PathBuf]) -> Option<String> {
+    if pct < WARN_PCT || dirs.is_empty() || footprint < MIN_AGENT_FOOTPRINT_BYTES {
         return None;
     }
     let bucket = pct / BUCKET_PCT * BUCKET_PCT;
@@ -201,6 +210,26 @@ fn roots() -> Vec<PathBuf> {
     kept
 }
 
+/// Sum of bytes under every `roots()` tree combined — the agent's total
+/// footprint on the filesystem [`probe`] measured. A second full walk
+/// alongside [`big_dirs`]'s own: both are already gated behind
+/// `pct >= WARN_PCT`, so neither runs on a healthy disk, and the extra
+/// walk trades a little redundant `read_dir` work for keeping this and
+/// [`big_dirs`] as two small, independently obvious functions instead of
+/// one that returns a tuple nobody asked for.
+fn agent_footprint_bytes() -> u64 {
+    let mut budget = SCAN_BUDGET;
+    let mut discard = Vec::new();
+    let mut total: u64 = 0;
+    for root in roots() {
+        let Ok(md) = std::fs::metadata(&root) else {
+            continue;
+        };
+        total = total.saturating_add(dir_bytes(&root, md.dev(), 0, &mut budget, &mut discard));
+    }
+    total
+}
+
 /// Walk the agent's own tree and return the directories worth naming:
 /// at least [`BIG_DIR_BYTES`], deepest-first (a `target/` dir, not the
 /// `/agents/<label>` that contains it), capped at [`MAX_LISTED`].
@@ -284,14 +313,26 @@ mod tests {
         PathBuf::from(s)
     }
 
+    /// A footprint comfortably over the floor, for tests that aren't
+    /// exercising the floor itself.
+    const BIG_FOOTPRINT: u64 = MIN_AGENT_FOOTPRINT_BYTES * 2;
+
     #[test]
     fn under_threshold_is_silent() {
-        assert!(summary_for(WARN_PCT - 1, &[p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")]).is_none());
+        assert!(
+            summary_for(
+                WARN_PCT - 1,
+                BIG_FOOTPRINT,
+                &[p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")]
+            )
+            .is_none()
+        );
     }
 
     #[test]
     fn at_threshold_speaks_up() {
-        let s = summary_for(WARN_PCT, &[p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")]).expect("todo");
+        let s =
+            summary_for(WARN_PCT, BIG_FOOTPRINT, &[p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")]).expect("todo");
         assert!(s.contains("over 80% full"));
         assert!(s.contains("tens of GiB"));
         assert!(s.contains("tell the operator"));
@@ -302,7 +343,35 @@ mod tests {
     /// free host bytes, so naming no directories means saying nothing.
     #[test]
     fn full_disk_with_nothing_big_of_ours_is_silent() {
-        assert!(summary_for(99, &[]).is_none());
+        assert!(summary_for(99, BIG_FOOTPRINT, &[]).is_none());
+    }
+
+    /// The bug this exists for (hive-agent#4635's report): one subdir can
+    /// cross `BIG_DIR_BYTES` on its own while the agent's whole footprint
+    /// stays small enough that deleting it wouldn't move a large
+    /// filesystem's usage at all — that must stay silent too.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_small_total_footprint_is_silent_even_with_a_named_dir() {
+        assert!(
+            summary_for(
+                90,
+                MIN_AGENT_FOOTPRINT_BYTES - 1,
+                &[p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")]
+            )
+            .is_none()
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_footprint_at_the_floor_speaks_up() {
+        assert!(
+            summary_for(
+                90,
+                MIN_AGENT_FOOTPRINT_BYTES,
+                &[p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")]
+            )
+            .is_some()
+        );
     }
 
     /// The anti-nag property: usage drifting inside one bucket must render
@@ -311,23 +380,23 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn drift_inside_a_bucket_is_identical() {
         let dirs = [p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")];
-        let a = summary_for(85, &dirs).expect("todo");
-        let b = summary_for(89, &dirs).expect("todo");
+        let a = summary_for(85, BIG_FOOTPRINT, &dirs).expect("todo");
+        let b = summary_for(89, BIG_FOOTPRINT, &dirs).expect("todo");
         assert_eq!(a, b);
     }
 
     #[test]
     fn crossing_a_bucket_changes_the_summary() {
         let dirs = [p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")];
-        let a = summary_for(89, &dirs).expect("todo");
-        let b = summary_for(90, &dirs).expect("todo");
+        let a = summary_for(89, BIG_FOOTPRINT, &dirs).expect("todo");
+        let b = summary_for(90, BIG_FOOTPRINT, &dirs).expect("todo");
         assert_ne!(a, b);
         assert!(b.contains("over 90% full"));
     }
 
     #[test]
     fn big_dirs_are_named() {
-        let s = summary_for(90, &[p("/agents/x/state/wt/target")]).expect("todo");
+        let s = summary_for(90, BIG_FOOTPRINT, &[p("/agents/x/state/wt/target")]).expect("todo");
         assert!(s.contains("/agents/x/state/wt/target"));
         assert!(s.contains("du -sh"));
     }
@@ -376,7 +445,8 @@ mod tests {
         let dir = tempfile::tempdir().expect("tempdir");
         let todos = Todos::open(&dir.path().join("state.sqlite")).expect("open");
         let wake = Notify::new();
-        let summary = summary_for(90, &[p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")]).expect("todo");
+        let summary =
+            summary_for(90, BIG_FOOTPRINT, &[p("/agents/a/state/hh/target")]).expect("todo");
 
         reconcile(&todos, &wake, Some(&summary));
         assert_eq!(todos.list(Some(SUBSYSTEM)).expect("list").len(), 1);