diff --git a/hive-ag3nt/src/events.rs b/hive-ag3nt/src/events.rs
index 0469d2f..2fdda22 100644
--- a/hive-ag3nt/src/events.rs
+++ b/hive-ag3nt/src/events.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 //! showing "connecting…" until the first event arrives.
 
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
-use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, AtomicU64, Ordering};
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, AtomicI64, AtomicU64, Ordering};
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 
 use rusqlite::{Connection, params};
@@ -323,6 +323,11 @@ pub struct Bus {
     /// `tool_call_count` + `tool_call_breakdown_json` columns on the
     /// per-turn stats sink.
     tool_calls: Arc<Mutex<std::collections::HashMap<String, u64>>>,
+    /// Unix timestamp of the most recent completed turn (set by
+    /// `record_turn_usage`). Used by the auto-reset heuristic in
+    /// `turn.rs` to compute how long the session has been idle and
+    /// whether the prompt cache has gone cold. `0` = no turn yet.
+    last_turn_ended_unix: Arc<AtomicI64>,
 }
 
 impl Bus {
@@ -350,6 +355,7 @@ impl Bus {
             last_cost_usage: Arc::new(Mutex::new(None)),
             skip_continue_once: Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false)),
             tool_calls: Arc::new(Mutex::new(std::collections::HashMap::new())),
+            last_turn_ended_unix: Arc::new(AtomicI64::new(0)),
         }
     }
 
@@ -422,9 +428,17 @@ impl Bus {
     pub fn record_turn_usage(&self, ctx: TokenUsage, cost: TokenUsage) {
         *self.last_ctx_usage.lock().unwrap() = Some(ctx);
         *self.last_cost_usage.lock().unwrap() = Some(cost);
+        self.last_turn_ended_unix.store(now_unix(), Ordering::Relaxed);
         self.emit(LiveEvent::TokenUsageChanged { ctx, cost });
     }
 
+    /// Unix timestamp of the most recent completed turn (`record_turn_usage`
+    /// call), or `0` if no turn has finished yet.
+    #[must_use]
+    pub fn last_turn_ended_unix(&self) -> i64 {
+        self.last_turn_ended_unix.load(Ordering::Relaxed)
+    }
+
     /// Walk a stream-json value for `tool_use` blocks and bump the
     /// per-turn counter for each one we find. Called by the stdout
     /// pump on every parsed line. Cheap when the line isn't an
diff --git a/hive-ag3nt/src/turn.rs b/hive-ag3nt/src/turn.rs
index 6eac490..d42bc7c 100644
--- a/hive-ag3nt/src/turn.rs
+++ b/hive-ag3nt/src/turn.rs
@@ -54,6 +54,27 @@ const RATE_LIMIT_MARKERS: &[&str] = &[
 /// capacity limits.
 const DEFAULT_RATE_LIMIT_SLEEP_SECS: u64 = 300;
 
+/// Token watermark for *auto session-reset*. When context is at or above this
+/// many tokens AND the prompt cache has gone cold (idle time >= `CACHE_TTL_SECS`),
+/// the harness drops `--continue` so the next turn starts fresh. Running any
+/// turn (even a checkpoint) before the reset would re-upload the full context
+/// and warm the cache, defeating the cost purpose — so the reset happens
+/// immediately with no preceding turn. Default is ~50% of a 200k-token
+/// window; override via `HIVE_AUTO_RESET_WATERMARK_TOKENS`, or set to `0`
+/// to disable.
+const DEFAULT_AUTO_RESET_WATERMARK_TOKENS: u64 = 100_000;
+
+/// Assumed prompt-cache TTL. Claude caches prompt prefixes — ~5 minutes on
+/// the API (pay-per-token), ~1 hour on Claude Max (subscription). When the
+/// idle gap exceeds this, the cache prefix has likely expired and the next
+/// turn re-uploads the full transcript regardless of whether we resume or
+/// start fresh. A fresh session with a small context is therefore equally
+/// cheap but gives the model a clean slate. Default is 3600s (1h) matching
+/// the subscription TTL; API (pay-per-token) users should set
+/// `HIVE_CACHE_TTL_SECS=300`. Override via `HIVE_CACHE_TTL_SECS`; set to
+/// `0` to disable (always resume).
+const DEFAULT_CACHE_TTL_SECS: u64 = 3600;
+
 /// Token watermark for *proactive* compaction. Once a turn finishes with
 /// the last inference's context size at or above this many tokens,
 /// `drive_turn` runs one dedicated notes-checkpoint turn (so the agent
@@ -191,6 +212,26 @@ pub fn rate_limit_sleep_secs() -> u64 {
         .unwrap_or(DEFAULT_RATE_LIMIT_SLEEP_SECS)
 }
 
+/// Resolve the auto-reset watermark: `HIVE_AUTO_RESET_WATERMARK_TOKENS` if
+/// set to a valid integer, else `DEFAULT_AUTO_RESET_WATERMARK_TOKENS`. `0`
+/// disables auto-reset entirely.
+fn auto_reset_watermark_tokens() -> u64 {
+    std::env::var("HIVE_AUTO_RESET_WATERMARK_TOKENS")
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|s| s.trim().parse::<u64>().ok())
+        .unwrap_or(DEFAULT_AUTO_RESET_WATERMARK_TOKENS)
+}
+
+/// Resolve the assumed cache TTL: `HIVE_CACHE_TTL_SECS` if set, else
+/// `DEFAULT_CACHE_TTL_SECS`.
+fn cache_ttl_secs() -> u64 {
+    std::env::var("HIVE_CACHE_TTL_SECS")
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|s| s.trim().parse::<u64>().ok())
+        .filter(|&v| v > 0)
+        .unwrap_or(DEFAULT_CACHE_TTL_SECS)
+}
+
 /// Resolve the proactive-compaction watermark: `HIVE_COMPACT_WATERMARK_TOKENS`
 /// if set to a valid integer, else `DEFAULT_COMPACT_WATERMARK_TOKENS`. A
 /// value of `0` disables proactive compaction.
@@ -201,21 +242,26 @@ fn compact_watermark_tokens() -> u64 {
         .unwrap_or(DEFAULT_COMPACT_WATERMARK_TOKENS)
 }
 
-/// Drive one turn end-to-end. Two compaction paths layer on top of the
-/// raw `run_turn`:
+/// Drive one turn end-to-end. Three paths layer on top of the raw `run_turn`:
 ///
-/// - **Reactive** — `run_turn` returns `PromptTooLong`: the session is
-///   already past the context window and *no* turn can run on it, so we
-///   compact immediately and retry the same wake-up prompt once. No
+/// - **Auto-reset (pre-turn)** — context is large AND the prompt cache has
+///   gone cold (idle gap ≥ cache TTL). Resuming would re-upload the full
+///   transcript uncached at the same cost as a fresh start. The harness runs
+///   one checkpoint turn (agent flushes state), then arms a one-shot
+///   `request_new_session` so the actual turn starts fresh.
+/// - **Reactive (on overflow)** — `run_turn` returns `PromptTooLong`: the
+///   session is already past the context window and *no* turn can run on it,
+///   so we compact immediately and retry the same wake-up prompt once. No
 ///   notes-checkpoint turn is possible here — the detail is gone.
-/// - **Proactive** — the turn finished cleanly but its context size has
-///   crept past the watermark: while the session is still healthy we
-///   give the agent one dedicated turn to checkpoint its `/state` notes,
-///   then compact. This keeps a later turn from hitting the reactive
-///   path (where there is no chance to save anything first).
+/// - **Proactive (post-turn)** — the turn finished cleanly but its context
+///   size has crept past the watermark: while the session is still healthy we
+///   give the agent one dedicated turn to checkpoint its `/state` notes, then
+///   compact. This keeps a later turn from hitting the reactive path (where
+///   there is no chance to save anything first).
 ///
 /// Both the sub-agent and manager loops call this.
 pub async fn drive_turn(prompt: &str, files: &TurnFiles, bus: &Bus) -> TurnOutcome {
+    maybe_auto_reset(bus);
     let outcome = match run_turn(prompt, files, bus).await {
         TurnOutcome::PromptTooLong => {
             if let Err(e) = compact_session(files, bus).await {
@@ -284,6 +330,45 @@ async fn maybe_checkpoint_and_compact(files: &TurnFiles, bus: &Bus) {
     }
 }
 
+/// Pre-turn auto-reset check. If context is large AND the prompt cache has
+/// gone cold (idle time >= cache TTL), arm `request_new_session` so the
+/// next wake-up turn starts fresh. No preceding checkpoint turn — running
+/// any turn before the reset would re-upload and re-warm the cache, which
+/// defeats the cost-optimisation purpose entirely.
+fn maybe_auto_reset(bus: &Bus) {
+    let watermark = auto_reset_watermark_tokens();
+    if watermark == 0 {
+        return; // auto-reset disabled
+    }
+    let Some(ctx_tokens) = bus.last_ctx_usage().map(|u| u.context_tokens()) else {
+        return; // no usage reading yet — first turn, nothing to reset
+    };
+    if ctx_tokens < watermark {
+        return;
+    }
+    let last_ended = bus.last_turn_ended_unix();
+    if last_ended == 0 {
+        return; // no completed turn yet
+    }
+    // Compute idle seconds using the same clock as now_unix (unix epoch, i64).
+    let now = std::time::SystemTime::now()
+        .duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH)
+        .map(|d| d.as_secs())
+        .unwrap_or(0);
+    let idle_secs = now.saturating_sub(u64::try_from(last_ended).unwrap_or(0));
+    let ttl = cache_ttl_secs();
+    if idle_secs < ttl {
+        return;
+    }
+    bus.emit(LiveEvent::Note {
+        text: format!(
+            "context {ctx_tokens} tokens, idle {idle_secs}s >= cache TTL {ttl}s \
+             — dropping session (cache cold, fresh start is equally cheap)"
+        ),
+    });
+    bus.request_new_session();
+}
+
 /// Emit the per-turn `TurnEnd` event + log line. Single owner so the
 /// agent and manager loops agree on outcome semantics.
 pub fn emit_turn_end(bus: &Bus, outcome: &TurnOutcome) {