diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b6b1966c..76f2dfa4 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -213,14 +213,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "rustls-webpki",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
+ "serde_nanos",
  "serde_repr",
  "thiserror 2.0.18",
+ "time",
  "tokio",
  "tokio-rustls",
  "tokio-stream",
  "tokio-util",
  "tokio-websockets",
  "tracing",
+ "tryhard",
  "url",
 ]
 
@@ -4310,6 +4313,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "zmij",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "serde_nanos"
+version = "0.1.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a93142f0367a4cc53ae0fead1bcda39e85beccfad3dcd717656cacab94b12985"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "serde_path_to_error"
 version = "0.1.20"
@@ -4546,7 +4558,10 @@ name = "swarm-controller"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
+ "async-nats",
  "axum",
+ "futures-util",
+ "reqwest 0.13.1",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "tokio",
@@ -5070,6 +5085,16 @@ version = "0.2.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "e421abadd41a4225275504ea4d6566923418b7f05506fbc9c0fe86ba7396114b"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tryhard"
+version = "0.5.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9fe58ebd5edd976e0fe0f8a14d2a04b7c81ef153ea9a54eebc42e67c2c23b4e5"
+dependencies = [
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "tokio",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tungstenite"
 version = "0.29.0"
diff --git a/docs/gateway.md b/docs/gateway.md
index 0bbbf6a8..91d9085f 100644
--- a/docs/gateway.md
+++ b/docs/gateway.md
@@ -200,8 +200,6 @@ nginx obtains and auto-renews certs via the ACME HTTP-01 challenge on `port` (de
 
 Mutual exclusion: `tls.certDir` set together with `tls.acme.enable = true` fails an assertion — pick one external TLS source (or neither, for the self-signed default).
 
-**Swarm peers**: CA-signed certs are trusted by default — this hive's entry in `swarm.hives` needs no `certFingerprint`.
-
 ### Self-signed TLS (default)
 
 On by default, and listens on `httpsPort` (default 443) on every vhost beside the plain-http `port` (default 80).
@@ -252,12 +250,6 @@ security.acme.certs."example.com".group = "nginx";
 
 or make the key world-readable (`0644`) if your threat model allows it. nginx errors out at startup on a key it can't read — the error is explicit in the journal, not a silent failure.
 
-**Swarm directory entry**: when using a CA-signed cert, this hive's entry needs no `certFingerprint` — the standard CA bundle validates:
-
-```nix
-services.hyperhive.swarm.hives.example = { domain = "example.com"; };  # no certFingerprint needed
-```
-
 ### Fronting with an external TLS terminator
 
 There is no http-only mode (see [TLS modes](#tls-modes) above). Two paths
diff --git a/docs/swarm/README.md b/docs/swarm/README.md
index 95776d2d..748478b7 100644
--- a/docs/swarm/README.md
+++ b/docs/swarm/README.md
@@ -107,9 +107,8 @@ swarm service name has to be wired into: [`ui.md`](ui.md).
 
 ```nix
 services.hyperhive.swarm.hives = {
-  pr1ma = { domain = "pr1ma.example.com"; };                          # this host, per hiveName
-  lab   = { domain = "lab.example.com"; };                            # CA-trusted (Let's Encrypt etc.)
-  edge  = { domain = "edge.corp"; certFingerprint = "sha256:…"; };    # self-signed leaf, pinned
+  pr1ma = { domain = "pr1ma.example.com"; };   # this host, per hiveName
+  lab   = { domain = "lab.example.com"; };     # a second hive in the swarm
 };
 ```
 
@@ -128,76 +127,30 @@ contain you derives every hive as a peer and you peer with yourself.
 conventionally `<name>.<swarm.domain>`, but a wrong domain that
 evaluates cleanly points at a real machine that isn't the one you meant.
 
-**`certFingerprint`** (`"sha256:…"`, optional) pins that hive's TLS
-_leaf_. Scopes **only** to hive-c0re's own peer HTTPS checks (the P33RS
-dashboard links + agent peer discovery below); matrix federation never
-consults it. Omit it for any hive under the swarm root CA or a public
-CA — which is the normal case.
-
-> **There is no per-hive CA field.** Trust inside a swarm comes from the
-> swarm root ([`ca.md`](ca.md)): every hive chains to it, so one anchor
-> replaces the O(n²) pinning. What that genuinely drops is trusting a
-> hive whose root this swarm does *not* own — another swarm's, or one
-> keeping its own CA. That is a cross-swarm problem and wants a
-> mechanism designed for it, not a field that happened to work.
-
-### Fingerprint format
-
-The value is the string `sha256:` followed by exactly 64 hexadecimal
-digits — the SHA-256 digest of the peer's DER-encoded TLS leaf
-certificate. The hex is case-insensitive (upper or lower both parse),
-carries no colon separators between bytes, and any value not matching
-this shape is ignored with a warning rather than weakening trust.
-
-```
-sha256:b1946ac92492d2347c6235b4d2611184a3f5b6cae6c19d6e3c2f0a8e7d4c9f12
-```
-
-Generate it from the peer's certificate with openssl. The
-`-fingerprint -sha256` output is uppercase and colon-separated, so
-strip the colons, lowercase, and prepend the `sha256:` prefix:
-
-```sh
-# from a PEM/CRT file
-openssl x509 -in peer.crt -noout -fingerprint -sha256 \
-  | sed 's/^.*=//; s/://g' | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' | sed 's/^/sha256:/'
-
-# straight from the live endpoint (port 443)
-echo | openssl s_client -connect peer.example.com:443 -servername peer.example.com 2>/dev/null \
-  | openssl x509 -noout -fingerprint -sha256 \
-  | sed 's/^.*=//; s/://g' | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' | sed 's/^/sha256:/'
-```
-
-Pin the leaf certificate, not an intermediate or the CA — the
-digest must match the exact cert the peer serves on its HTTPS
-endpoint. When the peer rotates its cert, update the pin to the new
-fingerprint (or switch the peer to a CA-trusted cert and drop the
-field).
-
-The nix module serialises the attrset to a `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` JSON
-array (`[{ domain, cert_fingerprint }]`) injected into the c0re
-environment and forwarded to agent containers.
+> **There is no per-hive CA field, and no per-hive cert pinning.** Trust
+> inside a swarm comes from the swarm root ([`ca.md`](ca.md)): every
+> hive chains to it, so one anchor replaces per-hive pinning entirely.
+> What that genuinely drops is trusting a hive whose root this swarm
+> does *not* own — another swarm's, or one keeping its own CA. That is
+> a cross-swarm problem and wants a mechanism designed for it. (An
+> earlier `certFingerprint` field existed for exactly that gap, pinning
+> a peer's TLS leaf for hive-c0re's own peer HTTPS checks — removed
+> along with the dashboard feature it existed to serve, since nothing
+> else ever consumed it.)
 
 ## What the config does at runtime
 
-1. **Dashboard P33RS tab** — hive-c0re reads `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` and
-   surfaces it as the peer list in the dashboard's state API. The
-   dashboard shows a P33RS tab (hidden when the list is empty) with a
-   card per peer linking to `https://{domain}/`. Wire format + module
-   pointer: `docs/web-ui/dashboard.md` § P33RS tab.
+1. **Swarm-wide hive roster** — swarm-controller reads this same
+   directory and serves it at `GET /api/hives`; `swarm-ui`'s overview
+   page renders it (`docs/swarm/ui.md`). This is the operator-facing
+   "what hives exist" surface — a per-hive dashboard "peer hives"
+   display existed here once and was removed in favour of it.
 
-2. **Agent identity** — the same `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` env var is
-   forwarded to agent containers, so agent code can discover peer
-   hives and address them with qualified names (`agent@domain`). See
-   `hive-agent/src/identity.rs`'s module doc for the label/domain
-   helpers.
-
-3. **Matrix federation** — when `matrix.enable` is on, tuwunel
+2. **Matrix federation** — when `matrix.enable` is on, tuwunel
    federates with the peer's matrix server (discovered via the peer's
    `.well-known/matrix/server` delegation, which the gateway serves).
    Federation validates the peer's TLS certificate against the matrix
-   **container's** trust bundle — independently of `certFingerprint`,
-   which it never consults.
+   **container's** trust bundle, independent of this directory.
 
    ⚠️ **That container currently trusts no swarm-internal CA**, so a
    self-signed gateway certificate does not federate. The swarm root
@@ -208,6 +161,10 @@ environment and forwarded to agent containers.
    issue. Until then, federation needs CA-issued certs (ACME). See
    `docs/matrix.md` for federation firewall + TLS requirements.
 
+3. **WireGuard mesh** (optional) — `swarm.wireguard.enable` reads each
+   entry's `wireguardPublicKey`/`wireguardEndpoint`/`wireguardAddress`
+   to configure `wg-hive`. See "WireGuard inter-hive mesh" below.
+
 ## One directory, not a bilateral declaration
 
 Both hives hold the **same** `hives` attrset; neither declares the
@@ -264,7 +221,6 @@ services.hyperhive = {
     };
     edge = {
       domain             = "edge.corp";
-      certFingerprint    = "sha256:…";           # TLS trust (unchanged)
       wireguardPublicKey = "base64keyB=";
       wireguardEndpoint  = "203.0.113.42:51820";
       wireguardAddress   = "10.100.0.2/32";
@@ -290,9 +246,10 @@ services.hyperhive = {
   (not inside agent containers; containers reach peers via the host's
   routing table).
 - UDP port 51820 (or `listenPort`) is opened on the host firewall.
-- `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` gains a `wireguard_address` field for each mesh
-  peer so hive-c0re can reach intra-swarm services without a public
-  DNS round-trip.
+- `swarm-wireguard.nix` reads each entry's `wireguardAddress` directly
+  from `services.hyperhive.swarm.peerHives` to build `wg-hive`'s
+  `allowedIPs`, so intra-swarm traffic can route over the mesh address
+  rather than the public domain.
 - `persistentKeepalive = 25` is set by default; override or null to
   disable (not needed when both sides have public IPs and no NAT).
 
@@ -330,6 +287,39 @@ What it serves, why it is a unix socket rather than a port, and the
 socket-directory constraint that governs where `socketPath` may point:
 [`swarm-controller/README.md`](../../swarm-controller/README.md).
 
+### Per-hive status (`GET /api/hives/status`)
+
+One row per hive in `swarm.hives`, saying when it last reported and what
+it said. Hives publish upward through the swarm queue; the controller
+never reaches down to collect, so a hive that cannot reach the swarm
+still knows its own state — you just cannot see it from here.
+
+⚠️ **Nothing publishes yet.** The read path is in place; the hive-side
+publisher lands in a later change. Until it does, every hive reads
+`never_reported`.
+
+| freshness | what to do about it |
+|---|---|
+| `fresh` | nothing — reported within `staleAfterSeconds` |
+| `stale` | the hive stopped reporting. Its last payload is still shown, so check `age_seconds` and the payload for what it managed to say |
+| `never_reported` | this hive has never reported at all — normally a deployment that hasn't happened, not an outage |
+| `unknown` | something is publishing under a name that is not in `swarm.hives` — a typo in the roster, or a hive that was removed and is still running |
+
+Every row also carries `last_seen_unix` and `age_seconds` if you want to
+apply your own threshold. The timestamp is the one the queue recorded on
+arrival, not one the hive put in its own payload.
+
+Set `services.hyperhive.swarm.controller.staleAfterSeconds` (default
+`120`) **above the rate hives publish at**, or everything reads `stale`
+between reports. It takes effect on the next request; nothing has to
+re-publish.
+
+The endpoint answers **503** when this host has no swarm queue
+configured, or has one and cannot read it — deliberately not an empty
+list, which would look like a silent swarm rather than a controller that
+cannot see. The body says which. Status survives a controller restart:
+it is stored in the queue, not in the daemon.
+
 ## Cross-references
 
 - `docs/snapshot-store.md` — the swarm's `btrfs receive` endpoint, and
@@ -337,6 +327,8 @@ socket-directory constraint that governs where `socketPath` may point:
 - `docs/conventions.md` § Hive identity — env vars, qualified labels
 - `docs/matrix.md` — matrix federation, TLS cert auto-generation,
   firewall posture
-- `docs/web-ui/dashboard.md` § P33RS tab — dashboard surface
+- `docs/swarm/ui.md` — the swarm-wide hive roster, now the operator
+  surface for "what hives exist" (superseded the per-hive dashboard's
+  old "peer hives" display)
 - `docs/gateway.md` — nginx vhosts and the `.well-known/matrix/`
   auto-discovery scheme
diff --git a/docs/web-ui/README.md b/docs/web-ui/README.md
index cfdf1e99..98aac13f 100644
--- a/docs/web-ui/README.md
+++ b/docs/web-ui/README.md
@@ -18,9 +18,7 @@ The **dashboard** itself (`/dashboard.html`) is where you'll spend most
 of your time. It's a single page with exactly four tabs:
 
 - **SW4RM** — every agent, live. This is the default tab and the one
-  you'll check most. When the hive has peer hives configured, they show
-  up here too, as a card list under the main container list — not a
-  separate tab.
+  you'll check most.
 - **Y3R C4LL** — anything waiting on *you*: pending approvals and
   agent questions. If an agent needs a decision from you, it's here.
 - **P3RM1SS10NS** — what tools and system-level access each agent has.
diff --git a/docs/web-ui/dashboard.md b/docs/web-ui/dashboard.md
index 1428aff2..5d827a8c 100644
--- a/docs/web-ui/dashboard.md
+++ b/docs/web-ui/dashboard.md
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 The dashboard is served at `/dashboard.html` (with the home page at `/`).
 It has a fixed chrome header at the top and a `<main>` that shows exactly
 one tab pane at a time. The URL hash (`#swarm`, `#call`, `#system`,
-`#permissions`, `#schedules`, `#peers`, `#settings`) drives which pane is
+`#permissions`, `#schedules`, `#settings`) drives which pane is
 active; hash changes don't reload the page. FL0W, L0GS, and the optional
 M4TR1X client are separate pages reachable from the H0M3 hub at `/`, not
 from the dashboard tab strip.
@@ -19,11 +19,10 @@ from the dashboard tab strip.
   `◆ SCH3DUL3S ◆`. In-page tabs only — the SYST3M panels moved to the
   standalone **C0R3** page (`/core.html`), and FL0W / L0GS / ST4TS /
   S3TT1NGS / M4TR1X live on their own pages too, all reachable from the
-  H0M3 hub (not the tab strip). Peer hives render as a headline under
-  SW4RM rather than a tab. Count pills on SW4RM
+  H0M3 hub (not the tab strip). Count pills on SW4RM
   (container count), Y3R C4LL (pending approvals + questions + unread
-  operator messages), and SCH3DUL3S (active schedules); P33RS and
-  S3TT1NGS have no count.
+  operator messages), and SCH3DUL3S (active schedules); S3TT1NGS has no
+  count.
 - **Banner-thin** (`░▒▓█▓▒░ HYPERHIVE / HIVE-C0RE / WE ARE THE WIRED ░▒▓█▓▒░`)
   — sits below the tab strip.
 - **Server-warnings banner** — a generic, sticky top-of-page strip shown
@@ -642,44 +641,6 @@ the model id, longest match wins) mapping to
 `{ input, output, cache_read, cache_write }` USD-per-million-token
 prices. Models not covered fall back to hive-c0re's built-in estimate.
 
-## P33R H1V3S (within the SW4RM tab)
-
-Peer hives in this swarm. Not its own tab — a headline block
-(`#peers-block`) rendered under the SW4RM tab's container list (see
-"Chrome header" above: "Peer hives render as a headline under SW4RM
-rather than a tab"). The block is hidden when the
-`state.peer_hives` array from `/api/state` is empty — i.e. when
-`services.hyperhive.swarm.hives` holds no hive other than this one.
-When at least one peer is present the `hidden` attribute is removed
-and the cards render.
-
-**P33R H1V3S** — each peer renders as a card row: a hexagon icon
-(`⬡`), the peer's DNS domain as the primary name, and the peer
-dashboard HTTPS URL as a clickable secondary link. Clicking the
-URL opens the peer hive's dashboard in a new tab.
-
-### Backend wiring
-
-The host daemon reads `services.hyperhive.swarm.peerHives` from the
-nix config (the `swarm.hives` directory minus this hive), serialises
-each entry as `{ name, url }` into `state.peer_hives: Vec<PeerHiveView>`,
-and includes the field in the `/api/state` snapshot. `tabs.js`
-reads `state.peer_hives` on every `refreshState` call and calls
-`swarm.js::renderPeerHives(peers)`, which rebuilds the `#peers-section`
-div from scratch.
-
-The `name` field is the peer's DNS domain (its entry's `domain`, not
-the attrset key — the key is the hive's name); `url`
-is `https://{domain}/`. Both are derived from the env var
-`HYPERHIVE_PEERS` (a JSON array of `{ domain, cert_fingerprint }`
-objects) that the nix module writes into the c0re container
-environment. `cert_fingerprint` is null for CA-trusted (e.g.
-Let's Encrypt) peers and non-null to pin a self-signed cert.
-`parse_peer_hives()` in `hive-c0re/src/dashboard/state_snapshot.rs`
-converts each entry to the
-`PeerHiveView { name: domain, url: "https://domain/" }` shape the
-frontend reads.
-
 ## S3TT1NGS tab
 
 Operator-local preferences. State lives in the browser's
diff --git a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/dashboard.html b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/dashboard.html
index e3f3007d..d9bd8b53 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/dashboard.html
+++ b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/dashboard.html
@@ -100,15 +100,6 @@
       <div id="containers-section">
         <p class="meta">loading…</p>
       </div>
-      <!-- Peer hives (federated swarms). The headline block is hidden
-           entirely when nothing is federated; renderPeerHives then drops
-           a quiet "no peer hives configured" note into #peers-section. -->
-      <div id="peers-block" hidden>
-        <h2>◆ P33R H1V3S ◆</h2>
-        <div class="divider">══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════</div>
-        <p class="meta">peer hives in this swarm. click a card to open that hive's dashboard.</p>
-      </div>
-      <div id="peers-section"></div>
     </section>
 
     <!-- Y3R C4LL: things blocked on operator decision. Approvals +
diff --git a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/swarm.js b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/swarm.js
index 6fca671e..d7d2ea2d 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/swarm.js
+++ b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/swarm.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // SW4RM (containers) domain — extracted from tabs.js.
-// Agent topology, container-row rendering, selection bar, peer-hives block,
-// and all live-update apply handlers for container-state, transient, and
+// Agent topology, container-row rendering, selection bar, and all
+// live-update apply handlers for container-state, transient, and
 // job-queue-rollup ops. See docs/web-ui.md::Container row for the
 // rendering contract.
 
@@ -1049,43 +1049,6 @@ function addBulkButton(parent, btnClass, label, enabled, selected, opts) {
   parent.append(btn);
 }
 
-// ─── peer hives ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-// Peer hives: render link cards as a headline section under SW4RM
-// (state.peer_hives). Called on every state refresh. When nothing is
-// federated, the "P33R H1V3S" headline block is hidden entirely and a
-// quiet grey note replaces the cards.
-export function renderPeerHives(peers) {
-  const block = $('peers-block');
-  const root = $('peers-section');
-  if (!root) return;
-  root.replaceChildren();
-  const hasPeers = Array.isArray(peers) && peers.length > 0;
-  if (block) block.hidden = !hasPeers;
-  if (!hasPeers) {
-    root.append(el('p', { class: 'empty' }, 'no peer hives configured'));
-    return;
-  }
-  const ul = el('ul', { class: 'containers' });
-  for (const p of peers) {
-    const li = el('li', { class: 'container-row' });
-    const head = el('div', { class: 'head' });
-    const icon = el('span', { class: 'container-icon' }, '⬡');
-    const nameEl = el('span', { class: 'name' }, p.name || p.url);
-    const linkEl = el('a', {
-      href: p.url,
-      target: '_blank',
-      rel: 'noopener noreferrer',
-      class: 'meta',
-      title: 'open ' + p.name + ' dashboard',
-    }, p.url);
-    head.append(icon, nameEl);
-    li.append(head, el('div', { class: 'meta' }, linkEl));
-    ul.append(li);
-  }
-  root.append(ul);
-}
-
 // ─── tickers ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 // 30s ticker for agent status-age chips. Renderers stamp `data-set-at`
diff --git a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/tabs.js b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/tabs.js
index b0056ca4..ec241fe3 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/tabs.js
+++ b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/tabs.js
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ import {
   applyRebuildQueueChanged, applyContainerStateChanged, applyContainerRemoved,
   applyTransientSet, applyTransientCleared,
   renderContainers, renderContainersFromState,
-  renderSelectionBar, renderPeerHives,
+  renderSelectionBar,
 } from './swarm.js';
 
 // mdNode (in common.js) reads `window.marked` for the markdown side
@@ -201,9 +201,6 @@ window.marked = marked;
       // synchronous read (e.g. the compose autocomplete pulls agent
       // names from here instead of refetching on every keystroke).
       window.__hyperhive_state = s;
-      // Peer hives render as a headline section under SW4RM (no longer
-      // a tab); renderPeerHives shows/hides its own headline block.
-      renderPeerHives(s.peer_hives || []);
       renderServerWarnings(s.server_warnings);
       // (The M4TR1X surface is reachable from the H0M3 hub now, not the
       // dashboard tab strip — home.js gates its tile on matrix_gui_enabled.)
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/dashboard/state_snapshot.rs b/hive-c0re/src/dashboard/state_snapshot.rs
index 56b74cc5..95ece62e 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/dashboard/state_snapshot.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/dashboard/state_snapshot.rs
@@ -120,12 +120,6 @@ pub(super) struct StateSnapshot {
     /// var, set from `services.hyperhive.swarm.name`. `None` when
     /// unset — chrome omits the swarm segment of the breadcrumb.
     swarm_name: Option<String>,
-    /// Peer hives in the same swarm. Parsed from `HYPERHIVE_PEERS`
-    /// (JSON array of `{domain,cert_fingerprint}` objects, emitted by
-    /// the c0re NixOS module from `services.hyperhive.swarm.peerHives`
-    /// — the swarm's `hives` directory minus this hive).
-    /// Empty on single-hive deploys. Feeds the P33RS dashboard tab.
-    peer_hives: Vec<PeerHiveView>,
     /// Server-level warnings for the dashboard's top-of-page banner
     /// (currently host disk-pressure; more producers can be added
     /// backend-side). Empty when all clear. Built by
@@ -161,18 +155,6 @@ async fn infra_container_views() -> Vec<InfraContainerView> {
     infra_containers
 }
 
-/// One peer hive for the P33RS dashboard tab. Derived from
-/// `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` env; `url` is the peer's HTTPS dashboard root.
-/// `cert_fingerprint` is `Some("sha256:<hex64>")` when the operator
-/// pinned the peer's leaf in `services.hyperhive.swarm.hives`, which a
-/// hive under the swarm root CA does not need.
-#[derive(Serialize)]
-struct PeerHiveView {
-    name: String,
-    url: String,
-    cert_fingerprint: Option<String>,
-}
-
 /// `OpQuestion` + computed `question_refs` / `answer_refs`. Built
 /// from the snapshot read; the live channel attaches the same
 /// fields directly on `QuestionAdded` / `QuestionResolved`.
@@ -442,64 +424,11 @@ pub(super) async fn api_state(
         swarm_name: std::env::var("HYPERHIVE_SWARM_NAME")
             .ok()
             .filter(|s| !s.is_empty()),
-        peer_hives: parse_peer_hives(),
         server_warnings,
         infra_containers,
     })
 }
 
-/// Parse `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` env var into dashboard-ready `PeerHiveView`
-/// entries. The env var is a JSON array of `{domain, cert_fingerprint}`
-/// objects emitted by the c0re NixOS module from
-/// `services.hyperhive.swarm.peerHives`. Each entry becomes
-/// `{ name: domain, url: "https://domain/" }` for the P33RS tab.
-/// Returns empty vec when unset (single-hive deploy).
-fn parse_peer_hives() -> Vec<PeerHiveView> {
-    #[derive(serde::Deserialize)]
-    struct Raw {
-        domain: String,
-        cert_fingerprint: Option<String>,
-    }
-    let Ok(json) = std::env::var("HYPERHIVE_PEERS") else {
-        return Vec::new();
-    };
-    let Ok(raw): Result<Vec<Raw>, _> = serde_json::from_str(&json) else {
-        tracing::warn!("HYPERHIVE_PEERS is not valid JSON; ignoring");
-        return Vec::new();
-    };
-    raw.into_iter()
-        .map(|r| {
-            let cert_fingerprint = r.cert_fingerprint.and_then(|fp| {
-                if validate_cert_fingerprint(&fp) {
-                    Some(fp)
-                } else {
-                    tracing::warn!(
-                        domain = %r.domain,
-                        fingerprint = %fp,
-                        "HYPERHIVE_PEERS: invalid cert_fingerprint format \
-                         (expected `sha256:<64 hex chars>`); ignoring fingerprint"
-                    );
-                    None
-                }
-            });
-            PeerHiveView {
-                name: r.domain.clone(),
-                url: format!("https://{}/", r.domain),
-                cert_fingerprint,
-            }
-        })
-        .collect()
-}
-
-/// Validate a TLS certificate fingerprint string from `HYPERHIVE_PEERS`.
-/// Accepts `sha256:<64 hex chars>` (upper or lower case).
-fn validate_cert_fingerprint(fp: &str) -> bool {
-    let Some(hex) = fp.strip_prefix("sha256:") else {
-        return false;
-    };
-    hex.len() == 64 && hex.chars().all(|c| c.is_ascii_hexdigit())
-}
-
 /// Group live containers by their assigned web UI port; clusters with
 /// more than one member are port-hash collisions the operator needs
 /// to resolve by renaming. Manager (fixed at 8000) and sub-agents
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs b/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
index 8ea3dbe5..f4ece83b 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
@@ -703,7 +703,6 @@ const FORWARDED_VARS: &[&str] = &[
     "HIVE_FORGE_URL",
     "HIVE_FORGE_PUBLIC_URL",
     "HIVE_MATRIX_URL",
-    "HYPERHIVE_PEERS",
     "HYPERHIVE_HIVE_DOMAIN",
     "HYPERHIVE_HIVE_NAME",
     "HYPERHIVE_SWARM_NAME",
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/hive-c0re/environment.nix b/nix/host-modules/hive-c0re/environment.nix
index 46be1d8e..41003e78 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/hive-c0re/environment.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/hive-c0re/environment.nix
@@ -209,25 +209,3 @@ in
     in
     "${s.address}:${toString s.port}";
 }
-// lib.optionalAttrs (config.services.hyperhive.swarm.peerHives != { }) {
-  # Peer hives serialised as a JSON array of {domain, cert_fingerprint,
-  # wireguard_address?} objects. Consumed by hive-agent::identity::peers()
-  # + the dashboard's peer_hives StateSnapshot field (P33RS tab).
-  # `cert_fingerprint` is null for CA-trusted hives; `wireguard_address`
-  # is omitted when not part of the mesh.
-  #
-  # Reads `peerHives` — `swarm.hives` minus this hive — so the "not me"
-  # filter is the one derived in ../swarm.nix rather than a fifth copy.
-  HYPERHIVE_PEERS = builtins.toJSON (
-    lib.mapAttrsToList (
-      _name: p:
-      {
-        inherit (p) domain;
-        cert_fingerprint = p.certFingerprint;
-      }
-      // lib.optionalAttrs (p.wireguardAddress != null) {
-        wireguard_address = p.wireguardAddress;
-      }
-    ) config.services.hyperhive.swarm.peerHives
-  );
-}
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/hive-forge/default.nix b/nix/host-modules/hive-forge/default.nix
index 33d096f2..9fce8702 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/hive-forge/default.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/hive-forge/default.nix
@@ -849,7 +849,24 @@ in
             };
             # `FORGEJO_CUSTOM` (not `GITEA_CUSTOM` — forgejo renamed it)
             # is how the CLI finds the app.ini upstream's module wrote.
-            environment.FORGEJO_CUSTOM = "/var/lib/forgejo/custom";
+            #
+            # `SSL_CERT_FILE` for the same reason `forgejo.service` has it,
+            # and it was missing here: registering the login source makes an
+            # **outbound HTTPS call** — the CLI fetches
+            # `<issuer>/.well-known/openid-configuration` to validate the
+            # provider before writing the row. That URL is a swarm service
+            # name served under the swarm CA, which the default system store
+            # has never heard of, so without this the unit fails every single
+            # time with `x509: certificate signed by unknown authority` and no
+            # restart can help it.
+            #
+            # The trust belongs to every process that makes the call, not to
+            # the service that happens to be the obvious consumer. Same
+            # binary, same host, different unit — and only one of them had it.
+            environment = {
+              FORGEJO_CUSTOM = "/var/lib/forgejo/custom";
+            }
+            // lib.optionalAttrs useSelfSigned { SSL_CERT_FILE = forgeCaBundle; };
             path = [
               cfg.package
               pkgs.coreutils
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/options.nix b/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/options.nix
index b6616656..ae9c7b8b 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/options.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/options.nix
@@ -242,10 +242,6 @@ in
             config.security.acme.certs."example.com".directory;
           ```
 
-          When using an external CA cert, other hives can declare this
-          one in `services.hyperhive.swarm.hives` without
-          `certFingerprint` — the standard CA bundle validates.
-
           Mutual exclusion with `tls.acme.enable` — set one or the other,
           not both.
         '';
@@ -301,10 +297,6 @@ in
               };
             };
             ```
-
-            After enabling, this hive's entry in `swarm.hives` can omit
-            `certFingerprint` — Let's Encrypt certs are CA-trusted
-            by default.
           '';
         };
 
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/swarm-controller.nix b/nix/host-modules/swarm-controller.nix
index 30f7ca86..89a6a655 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/swarm-controller.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/swarm-controller.nix
@@ -33,6 +33,39 @@ let
     SWARMCTL_AUTHELIA_UNIT = autheliaCfg.unit;
   };
 
+  natsCfg = config.services.hyperhive.swarm.nats;
+
+  # The controller's own OAuth2 client. It is NOT a hive: the per-hive
+  # clients the roster issues belong to hives, and the responder's client
+  # belongs to the responder. One identity per principal — the rule is that
+  # a principal's credentials all derive from the same identity, not that
+  # the swarm has one.
+  queueClientId = "swarm-controller";
+
+  # Both halves have to be here: authelia to have minted the secret, and the
+  # queue to connect to. Same guard, and the same reasoning, as `autheliaEnv`
+  # above — a value set on a host that runs neither would point at a file
+  # that does not exist and produce a daemon that retries forever.
+  queueLocal = autheliaCfg.enable && natsCfg.enable;
+
+  # `LoadCredential` and not a copy-oneshot, which is where this deliberately
+  # differs from the callout responder: that one delivers INTO a container,
+  # so it has to copy across a filesystem boundary. The controller is a plain
+  # host unit, so systemd can hand it the file directly — fewer moving parts,
+  # and the secret never gains a second on-disk copy to forget about.
+  queueEnv = lib.optionalAttrs queueLocal {
+    # The queue container shares the host netns, so loopback is correct here
+    # and is not the `localhost`-means-the-wrong-thing trap that applies
+    # inside agent containers.
+    SWARM_CONTROLLER_NATS_URL = "nats://127.0.0.1:${toString natsCfg.port}";
+    SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_TOKEN_ENDPOINT = "${autheliaCfg.url}/api/oidc/token";
+    SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_CLIENT_ID = queueClientId;
+    # `%d` is systemd's credentials directory: root reads the plaintext at
+    # unit start and the daemon's own user sees it 0400, without the unit
+    # ever being able to read the rest of authelia's state dir.
+    SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE = "%d/queue-client.secret";
+  };
+
   # Wrapped rather than documented: every one of these values is derived
   # from an option this deployment already set, so making the operator
   # re-supply them on the command line would be asking them to repeat the
@@ -113,6 +146,25 @@ in
       '';
     };
 
+    staleAfterSeconds = lib.mkOption {
+      type = lib.types.ints.positive;
+      default = 120;
+      description = ''
+        How old a hive's last status snapshot may be before
+        `GET /api/hives/status` reports it as `stale` rather than `fresh`.
+
+        This is a statement about how often hives *publish*, not about how
+        patient a reader is — set it above the publishing cadence or every
+        hive reads stale between offers. It is an option and not a
+        constant precisely because that cadence is a property of the
+        deployment.
+
+        Freshness is derived when the endpoint is read, never stored, so
+        changing this takes effect for the next request; no hive has to
+        re-publish anything.
+      '';
+    };
+
     links = lib.mkOption {
       type = lib.types.listOf (
         lib.types.submodule {
@@ -174,6 +226,23 @@ in
     # exactly what it must not inherit.
     environment.systemPackages = [ swarmctlConfigured ];
 
+    # One declaration, two readers — the controller knows which client id it
+    # authenticates under, so making the operator restate it in authelia's
+    # client list would be a second source of truth for a string whose
+    # mismatch is an opaque 401 from the token endpoint. Same shape as the
+    # queue's own client declaration.
+    services.hyperhive.swarm.authelia.oidc.clients = lib.mkIf autheliaCfg.enable [
+      {
+        id = queueClientId;
+        description = "HyperHive swarm controller";
+        # `client_credentials`: a daemon authenticating as itself, with
+        # nobody to redirect. Declared rather than inferred from an empty
+        # redirect list, because authelia permits only the grants a client
+        # names and an omitted `grant_types` means authorization-code alone.
+        kind = "machine";
+      }
+    ];
+
     systemd.services.swarm-controller = {
       description = "hyperhive swarm-level controller daemon";
       wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
@@ -181,6 +250,14 @@ in
 
       serviceConfig = {
         ExecStart = "${cfg.package}/bin/swarm-controller";
+
+        # Only when the queue is actually reachable from here. An absent
+        # credential is not a failure: the daemon logs that no queue is
+        # configured and serves its HTTP surface, which is the correct
+        # behaviour on the hosts that do not run one.
+        LoadCredential = lib.mkIf queueLocal [
+          "queue-client.secret:${autheliaCfg.hostClientSecretDir}/${queueClientId}.secret"
+        ];
         User = "swarm-controller";
         Group = "swarm-controller";
         Restart = "on-failure";
@@ -218,23 +295,35 @@ in
         ];
       };
 
-      environment.SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET = cfg.socketPath;
-      # The swarm's hive directory, JSON-encoded — same shape hive-c0re
-      # already builds for HYPERHIVE_PEERS (../hive-c0re/environment.nix),
-      # just the full directory (this daemon has no "self" hive to
-      # exclude, unlike a per-hive c0re's peer list) rather than
-      # peers-minus-self. Consumed by `GET /api/hives`
-      # (swarm-controller/src/main.rs::load_hives).
-      environment.SWARM_CONTROLLER_HIVES = builtins.toJSON (
-        lib.mapAttrsToList (name: h: {
-          inherit name;
-          inherit (h) domain;
-        }) config.services.hyperhive.swarm.hives
-      );
-      # The merged links list — see `links`' description above for who
-      # contributes to it. Consumed by `GET /api/links`
-      # (swarm-controller/src/main.rs::load_links).
-      environment.SWARM_CONTROLLER_LINKS = builtins.toJSON cfg.links;
+      # Queue coordinates (`queueEnv`) merge in last and are present only
+      # where the queue and its IdP both run. The daemon refuses a PARTIAL
+      # set rather than treating it as absent, which is why they are built
+      # as one attrset and never assigned individually.
+      environment = {
+        SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET = cfg.socketPath;
+        # The swarm's hive directory, JSON-encoded — the full directory
+        # (this daemon has no "self" hive to exclude, unlike
+        # `swarm.peerHives`, `swarm.hives` minus this hive) rather than
+        # peers-minus-self. Consumed by `GET /api/hives`
+        # (swarm-controller/src/main.rs::load_hives).
+        SWARM_CONTROLLER_HIVES = builtins.toJSON (
+          lib.mapAttrsToList (name: h: {
+            inherit name;
+            inherit (h) domain;
+          }) config.services.hyperhive.swarm.hives
+        );
+        # The merged links list — see `links`' description above for who
+        # contributes to it. Consumed by `GET /api/links`
+        # (swarm-controller/src/main.rs::load_links).
+        SWARM_CONTROLLER_LINKS = builtins.toJSON cfg.links;
+        # Staleness threshold for `GET /api/hives/status` — see
+        # `staleAfterSeconds`' description. Set unconditionally rather
+        # than inside `queueEnv`: it is not a queue coordinate, and
+        # nothing about it is unsafe to define on a host whose queue is
+        # off (the daemon just has nothing to apply it to).
+        SWARM_CONTROLLER_STALE_AFTER_SECS = toString cfg.staleAfterSeconds;
+      }
+      // queueEnv;
     };
   };
 }
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/swarm-peers-removed.nix b/nix/host-modules/swarm-peers-removed.nix
index b4866ad2..a23adaf6 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/swarm-peers-removed.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/swarm-peers-removed.nix
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ in
 
         services.hyperhive.swarm.hives.<name> = {
           domain = "<the old attrset key>";
-          # certFingerprint / wireguard* carry over unchanged
+          # wireguard* carries over unchanged
         };
 
       Still set: ${lib.concatStringsSep ", " (lib.attrNames peers)}
@@ -61,9 +61,7 @@ in
       (services.hyperhive.swarm.ca — see docs/swarm/ca.md): every hive
       under it chains to it, so a per-hive CA is dead weight. What this
       genuinely drops is trusting a hive whose root this swarm does NOT
-      own — another swarm's, or one keeping its own CA. certFingerprint
-      does not cover that: it pins a leaf for hive-c0re's own HTTPS
-      checks and does not reach Matrix federation.
+      own — another swarm's, or one keeping its own CA.
 
       Still set on: ${lib.concatStringsSep ", " withCaCert}
     '';
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/swarm-wireguard.nix b/nix/host-modules/swarm-wireguard.nix
index 1f393131..e6d982c7 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/swarm-wireguard.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/swarm-wireguard.nix
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 # The WireGuard inter-hive mesh for the local host. Split out of
 # ./swarm.nix because the two are different concerns with different
-# audiences: that file declares WHO the peers are (data hive-c0re
-# serialises into HYPERHIVE_PEERS and the dashboard renders), while
-# this one is plain host networking that a machine which runs no hive
-# at all --- the snapshot store, for one --- still needs.
+# audiences: that file declares WHO the peers are (consumed by
+# swarm-controller's hive roster and, here, the mesh), while this one
+# is plain host networking that a machine which runs no hive at all
+# --- the snapshot store, for one --- still needs.
 #
 # The two stay coupled by data, not by structure: the per-peer
 # `wireguard*` fields live on the peer submodule in ./swarm.nix, since
@@ -80,9 +80,9 @@
   # networking, not a c0re feature: a swarm host that runs no hive —
   # the snapshot store, for one — still has to join the mesh, and under
   # the old `c0re.enable` gate it silently got no `wg-hive` interface
-  # at all. Nothing below is c0re-specific; the peer data
-  # c0re consumes (HYPERHIVE_PEERS / HIVE_PEER_CA_PATHS) is rendered in
-  # ./hive-c0re and stays gated there.
+  # at all. Nothing below is c0re-specific; the peer data c0re consumes
+  # (HIVE_PEER_CA_PATHS) is rendered in ./hive-c0re and stays gated
+  # there.
   config = lib.mkIf config.services.hyperhive.swarm.wireguard.enable {
     assertions = [
       {
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/swarm.nix b/nix/host-modules/swarm.nix
index d3502e45..2d785c5f 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/swarm.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/swarm.nix
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@
 # could hold different endpoints for the same third hive and nothing
 # detected it. One entry per hive makes that unrepresentable.
 #
-# Consumed by hive-c0re's environment (HYPERHIVE_PEERS — see
-# ./hive-c0re), identity.rs + the dashboard's P33RS tab, and the mesh in
-# ./swarm-wireguard.nix. The mesh lives there rather than here because
-# bringing up an interface is host networking rather than swarm
-# bookkeeping, and a host that runs no hive still needs it.
+# Consumed by swarm-controller's own hive directory (its `/api/hives`,
+# swarm-controller.nix) and the mesh in ./swarm-wireguard.nix. The mesh
+# lives there rather than here because bringing up an interface is
+# host networking rather than swarm bookkeeping, and a host that runs
+# no hive still needs it.
 {
   lib,
   config,
@@ -75,8 +75,10 @@ in
               defaultText = lib.literalExpression ''"''${name}.''${services.hyperhive.swarm.domain}"'';
               example = "lab.example.com";
               description = ''
-                Public DNS domain this hive occupies — used for dashboard
-                links, peer HTTPS checks and Matrix federation discovery.
+                Public DNS domain this hive occupies — used for
+                swarm-controller's hive roster, agent identity
+                (qualified `agent@domain` labels), and Matrix federation
+                discovery.
 
                 Defaults to `<name>.<swarm.domain>`, the convention every
                 hive in a swarm follows, so a conventional directory is
@@ -85,33 +87,6 @@ in
               '';
             };
 
-            certFingerprint = lib.mkOption {
-              type = lib.types.nullOr lib.types.str;
-              default = null;
-              example = "sha256:b1946ac92492d2347c6235b4d2611184a3f5b6cae6c19d6e3c2f0a8e7d4c9f12";
-              description = ''
-                Expected TLS certificate fingerprint for this hive's HTTPS
-                endpoint. Null = trust the CA bundle — which for a hive
-                inside the swarm CA hierarchy is the normal case, since
-                every hive under the swarm root already chains to it.
-                Set it to pin a leaf that no CA in the bundle vouches for.
-
-                Format: the literal `sha256:` followed by exactly 64
-                hex digits (case-insensitive, no colon separators) — the
-                SHA-256 digest of the DER-encoded leaf certificate.
-                Generate with `openssl x509 -noout -fingerprint -sha256`,
-                then strip the colons and prepend `sha256:`. A malformed
-                value is ignored with a warning rather than weakening
-                trust. See docs/swarm/README.md for the full recipe.
-
-                Scopes only to hive-c0re's own peer HTTPS checks — it does
-                NOT help Matrix federation, which validates against the
-                container's trust bundle. There is no per-hive CA field to
-                cover that case any more: the swarm root is the trust path
-                (see ./swarm-ca.nix).
-              '';
-            };
-
             wireguardPublicKey = lib.mkOption {
               type = lib.types.nullOr lib.types.str;
               default = null;
@@ -146,9 +121,9 @@ in
               description = ''
                 IP address (with prefix) of this hive's host on the
                 WireGuard mesh. Used as the `allowedIPs` for its
-                WireGuard config entry and injected into `HYPERHIVE_PEERS`
-                so hive-c0re can route intra-swarm traffic to the mesh
-                address rather than the public domain. Required to include
+                WireGuard config entry (`./swarm-wireguard.nix`), so
+                intra-swarm traffic can route over the mesh address
+                rather than the public domain. Required to include
                 a hive in the mesh (entries missing this field are
                 silently excluded from `wg-hive`).
               '';
diff --git a/swarm-controller/Cargo.toml b/swarm-controller/Cargo.toml
index 0c3b628f..507858d3 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/Cargo.toml
+++ b/swarm-controller/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,7 +10,15 @@ path = "src/main.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
 anyhow.workspace = true
+# `kv` (which pulls `jetstream`) on top of the workspace's feature set: the
+# queue is this daemon's *store*, not just its transport - a hive's last
+# status snapshot is read out of a JetStream KV bucket. Declared here rather
+# than in the workspace entry so the auth-callout responder, which speaks
+# neither, does not claim to need them.
+async-nats = { workspace = true, features = ["kv"] }
 axum.workspace = true
+futures-util.workspace = true
+reqwest.workspace = true
 serde.workspace = true
 serde_json.workspace = true
 tokio.workspace = true
diff --git a/swarm-controller/src/main.rs b/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
index 49ab4141..dd42e1f7 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
+++ b/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use utoipa::{OpenApi, ToSchema};
 use utoipa_axum::{router::OpenApiRouter, routes};
 
+mod queue;
+mod status;
+
 /// Where the daemon binds, overridable via `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.
 ///
 /// A compiled-in default is legitimate here and is *not* the mistake that
@@ -101,13 +104,17 @@ struct AppState {
     /// Loaded once at startup (`load_links`); same synchronization story
     /// as `hives`.
     links: Arc<Vec<ServiceLink>>,
+    /// `None` when this deployment wired up no swarm queue — the only
+    /// state in which `/api/hives/status` cannot answer at all. A queue
+    /// that is merely *unreachable* still yields a reader, because
+    /// `async-nats` reconnects underneath it.
+    status: Option<Arc<status::StatusReader>>,
 }
 
 /// Env var the controller's NixOS module sets from
-/// `services.hyperhive.swarm.hives`, JSON-encoded — same shape hive-c0re
-/// already builds for `HYPERHIVE_PEERS`
-/// (nix/host-modules/hive-c0re/environment.nix), just the full directory
-/// (this daemon has no "self" to exclude) rather than peers-minus-self.
+/// `services.hyperhive.swarm.hives`, JSON-encoded — the full directory
+/// (this daemon has no "self" to exclude) rather than peers-minus-self
+/// (`services.hyperhive.swarm.peerHives`, which other consumers use).
 const HIVES_ENV: &str = "SWARM_CONTROLLER_HIVES";
 
 /// Parses [`HIVES_ENV`] into the swarm's hive directory. Unset or
@@ -192,6 +199,59 @@ async fn get_links(State(state): State<AppState>) -> Json<Vec<ServiceLink>> {
     Json((*state.links).clone())
 }
 
+/// Why the status route answers 503 rather than an empty list.
+///
+/// "I cannot reach the store" and "every hive is silent" are different
+/// answers, and rendering the second when the first is true is exactly
+/// the smoothing this endpoint exists to avoid — a caller would draw a
+/// swarm-wide outage out of a local one. The cause is carried in the
+/// body because a bare 503 on an operator-facing diagnostic is how a
+/// misconfiguration costs an afternoon; it is a queue/JetStream error
+/// string, and this surface is already behind the swarm's SSO.
+struct StatusUnavailable(String);
+
+impl axum::response::IntoResponse for StatusUnavailable {
+    fn into_response(self) -> axum::response::Response {
+        (axum::http::StatusCode::SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, self.0).into_response()
+    }
+}
+
+/// What each hive last said about itself, read from the swarm queue at
+/// request time.
+///
+/// Every hive in the roster gets a row whether or not it has ever
+/// reported — see the `status` module for why absence, not presence, is
+/// the case this is built around.
+#[utoipa::path(
+    get,
+    path = "/api/hives/status",
+    responses(
+        (status = 200, description = "a row per hive, freshness derived now", body = Vec<status::HiveStatus>),
+        (status = 503, description = "no swarm queue is configured here, or its store could not be read", body = String),
+    ),
+    tag = "hives"
+)]
+async fn get_hives_status(
+    State(state): State<AppState>,
+) -> Result<Json<Vec<status::HiveStatus>>, StatusUnavailable> {
+    let Some(reader) = state.status.as_ref() else {
+        return Err(StatusUnavailable(
+            "no swarm queue is configured on this host".to_owned(),
+        ));
+    };
+    match reader
+        .view(&state.hives, std::time::SystemTime::now())
+        .await
+    {
+        Ok(rows) => Ok(Json(rows)),
+        Err(e) => {
+            let detail = format!("{e:#}");
+            tracing::warn!(error = %detail, "reading the swarm status bucket failed");
+            Err(StatusUnavailable(detail))
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() -> Result<()> {
     tracing_subscriber::fmt()
@@ -230,14 +290,51 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
         .with_context(|| format!("chmod {}", path.display()))?;
     tracing::info!(socket = %path.display(), "swarm-controller listening");
 
+    // Connect to the swarm queue when this deployment wired one up.
+    //
+    // Deliberately NOT fatal on failure: the controller's HTTP surface is
+    // useful without the queue, and a hive that cannot be read from renders
+    // as `unknown` rather than as an outage of this daemon. What IS fatal is
+    // a half-set environment — `QueueConfig::from_env` refuses that, because
+    // silently behaving like an unconfigured host is how every hive ends up
+    // reading `never_reported` with nothing to point at.
+    let status = match queue::QueueConfig::from_env()? {
+        None => {
+            tracing::info!("no swarm queue configured; status aggregation is off");
+            None
+        }
+        Some(cfg) => match queue::connect(cfg).await {
+            Ok(client) => {
+                // NOT "connected": `retry_on_initial_connect` returns a client
+                // before any connection has been established, so claiming a
+                // connection here would put "connected to the swarm queue" in
+                // the journal moments before every request 503s with "not
+                // connected" — and a reader would rightly distrust the second
+                // line rather than the first. The connection's real state is
+                // reported by the status endpoint, which checks it per request.
+                tracing::info!("swarm queue configured; connecting in the background");
+                Some(Arc::new(status::StatusReader::new(
+                    client,
+                    status::StatusReader::stale_after_from_env(),
+                )))
+            }
+            Err(e) => {
+                tracing::warn!(error = format!("{e:#}"), "swarm queue unreachable");
+                None
+            }
+        },
+    };
+
     let state = AppState {
         hives: Arc::new(load_hives()),
         links: Arc::new(load_links()),
+        status,
     };
 
     let (router, api) = OpenApiRouter::<AppState>::with_openapi(ApiDoc::openapi())
         .routes(routes!(health))
         .routes(routes!(get_hives))
+        .routes(routes!(get_hives_status))
         .routes(routes!(get_links))
         .split_for_parts();
     // Just the JSON, not the UI — Swagger UI itself is nginx-hosted from
diff --git a/swarm-controller/src/queue.rs b/swarm-controller/src/queue.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6291f43d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swarm-controller/src/queue.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,206 @@
+//! The controller's client end of the swarm message queue.
+//!
+//! The queue admits every non-responder client through `auth_callout`: a
+//! client presents a token at CONNECT, the callout responder introspects it
+//! against authelia and mints a user JWT if it is good. So the controller is
+//! an ordinary client and needs an identity of its own — it is not a hive, and
+//! the per-hive clients issued from the roster are not its to use.
+//!
+//! Two things about that shape drive everything here:
+//!
+//! - **A token expires.** Authelia issues `client_credentials` access tokens
+//!   with `expires_in: 3599`. Authentication happens at CONNECT, so a
+//!   long-lived connection is fine — but a *reconnect* an hour later needs a
+//!   token that was minted an hour later.
+//! - **`async-nats` re-runs an auth callback per connection attempt** (it is
+//!   handed that attempt's nonce). So the refresh belongs in the callback and
+//!   not in a timer: there is no window in which the client holds a token it
+//!   minted for a previous connection.
+//!
+//! The alternative — mint once, pass a static `auth_token`, own the reconnect
+//! loop — fails in the way this subsystem exists to prevent: the controller
+//! keeps serving, its status data quietly stops updating, and nothing says so
+//! until someone reads a dashboard.
+
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+use anyhow::{Context, Result, bail};
+
+/// Only the one field this needs; authelia returns several.
+#[derive(serde::Deserialize)]
+struct TokenResponse {
+    access_token: String,
+}
+
+/// Where the controller finds the queue and what it authenticates with.
+///
+/// Every field comes from an environment variable the NixOS module sets, the
+/// same way `load_hives` takes the roster — a config change is a redeploy, and
+/// this process reads no file it was not pointed at.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct QueueConfig {
+    /// `nats://host:port` for the swarm queue.
+    pub url: String,
+    /// Authelia's token endpoint, e.g. `https://auth.<swarm>/api/oidc/token`.
+    pub token_endpoint: String,
+    /// The controller's own `OAuth2` client id.
+    pub client_id: String,
+    /// File holding the client secret's PLAINTEXT.
+    ///
+    /// A path and not a value: the secret is minted on the authelia host and
+    /// read here, and putting it in the environment would publish it to
+    /// anything that can read `/proc/<pid>/environ`.
+    pub client_secret_file: PathBuf,
+}
+
+impl QueueConfig {
+    /// Read the config from the environment, or `None` when the queue was not
+    /// wired up for this deployment.
+    ///
+    /// `None` rather than an error on purpose: the controller serves its HTTP
+    /// surface on hosts where the queue is not enabled, and refusing to start
+    /// there would trade a missing feature for a dead daemon. What must NOT
+    /// happen is a *half* configuration silently behaving like an absent one —
+    /// hence the explicit partial check below.
+    pub fn from_env() -> Result<Option<Self>> {
+        let url = std::env::var("SWARM_CONTROLLER_NATS_URL").ok();
+        let token_endpoint = std::env::var("SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_TOKEN_ENDPOINT").ok();
+        let client_id = std::env::var("SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_CLIENT_ID").ok();
+        let secret = std::env::var("SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE").ok();
+
+        match (url, token_endpoint, client_id, secret) {
+            (None, None, None, None) => Ok(None),
+            (Some(url), Some(token_endpoint), Some(client_id), Some(secret)) => Ok(Some(Self {
+                url,
+                token_endpoint,
+                client_id,
+                client_secret_file: PathBuf::from(secret),
+            })),
+            // A partially-set environment is a deployment bug, and the failure
+            // it would otherwise produce is the expensive kind: the controller
+            // comes up "fine", never connects, and every hive reads as having
+            // never reported. Naming the missing variables costs one line.
+            _ => bail!(
+                "swarm queue is half-configured: SWARM_CONTROLLER_NATS_URL, \
+                 _OIDC_TOKEN_ENDPOINT, _OIDC_CLIENT_ID and \
+                 _OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE must be set together or not at all"
+            ),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Mint a fresh access token for the controller's own client.
+///
+/// `client_credentials`, because there is no user here: the controller
+/// authenticates as itself. Authelia refuses the `openid` scope for this grant
+/// (a machine client receives an access token and never an id-token), so no
+/// scope is requested.
+async fn mint_token(http: &reqwest::Client, cfg: &QueueConfig) -> Result<String> {
+    // Read per call rather than caching: the file is small, and a cached
+    // secret would survive a rotation that the operator believes took effect.
+    let secret = tokio::fs::read_to_string(&cfg.client_secret_file)
+        .await
+        .with_context(|| {
+            format!(
+                "reading the queue client secret from {}",
+                cfg.client_secret_file.display()
+            )
+        })?;
+
+    let response = http
+        .post(&cfg.token_endpoint)
+        .form(&[
+            ("grant_type", "client_credentials"),
+            ("client_id", cfg.client_id.as_str()),
+            ("client_secret", secret.trim()),
+        ])
+        .send()
+        .await
+        .context("requesting an access token from authelia")?;
+
+    // The body carries authelia's own error description, and it is far more
+    // useful than the status alone: a wrong grant says `unauthorized_client`,
+    // a wrong secret says `invalid_client`, and those point at different
+    // config.
+    let status = response.status();
+    let body = response.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
+    if !status.is_success() {
+        bail!("authelia refused the controller's token request ({status}): {body}");
+    }
+
+    let parsed: TokenResponse =
+        serde_json::from_str(&body).context("parsing authelia's token response")?;
+    Ok(parsed.access_token)
+}
+
+/// Connect to the swarm queue, minting a token for each connection attempt.
+pub async fn connect(cfg: QueueConfig) -> Result<async_nats::Client> {
+    // A timeout, because this client runs INSIDE the auth callback: a token
+    // endpoint that accepts the connection and then never answers would hang
+    // the callback, and with it the connection attempt that invoked it, with
+    // no retry and nothing in the log to say why. Failing fast lets
+    // `async-nats` do what it already does well — back off and try again.
+    // 10s is generous for a form POST to a local IdP.
+    let http = reqwest::Client::builder()
+        .timeout(std::time::Duration::from_secs(10))
+        .build()
+        .context("building the token-endpoint HTTP client")?;
+    let url = cfg.url.clone();
+
+    let client = async_nats::ConnectOptions::with_auth_callback(move |_nonce| {
+        let http = http.clone();
+        let cfg = cfg.clone();
+        async move {
+            let token = mint_token(&http, &cfg)
+                .await
+                // The callback's error type carries a string, so the context
+                // chain would be lost; flatten it rather than dropping it.
+                .map_err(|e| async_nats::AuthError::new(format!("{e:#}")))?;
+            let mut auth = async_nats::Auth::new();
+            auth.token = Some(token);
+            Ok(auth)
+        }
+    })
+    // The controller and the queue are separate units on (possibly)
+    // separate hosts, and nothing orders them. Without this, a queue that
+    // comes up one second later leaves the controller permanently
+    // queue-less until someone restarts it — a boot-order race that
+    // presents as "status has been unavailable since Tuesday".
+    //
+    // It also composes with the callback above rather than fighting it:
+    // each background attempt is a connection attempt, so each one mints
+    // its own token instead of retrying a stale one.
+    .retry_on_initial_connect()
+    .connect(&url)
+    .await
+    .with_context(|| format!("connecting to the swarm queue at {url}"))?;
+
+    Ok(client)
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// The all-unset case is the common one — most hosts do not run the queue.
+    #[test]
+    fn an_absent_environment_is_not_an_error() {
+        // Guard: this test would pass vacuously inside a configured
+        // environment, so it asserts the variables really are unset first.
+        for k in [
+            "SWARM_CONTROLLER_NATS_URL",
+            "SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_TOKEN_ENDPOINT",
+            "SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_CLIENT_ID",
+            "SWARM_CONTROLLER_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE",
+        ] {
+            if std::env::var(k).is_ok() {
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+        assert!(
+            QueueConfig::from_env()
+                .expect("absent is not an error")
+                .is_none()
+        );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/swarm-controller/src/status.rs b/swarm-controller/src/status.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b7d322aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swarm-controller/src/status.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,543 @@
+//! Swarm-wide view of what each hive last said about itself.
+//!
+//! Hives **offer** a snapshot upward; this daemon never reaches down to
+//! collect one. That direction is the design, not an implementation
+//! detail: the hive gateway has gone down in a way where every recovery
+//! channel ran through the one broken thing, so a status path that
+//! depended on the controller would have gone dark exactly when it was
+//! needed to diagnose the controller's own network. A hive computes its
+//! status locally regardless of whether the swarm can be reached.
+//!
+//! **The queue is the store.** A hive publishes into a `JetStream` KV
+//! bucket, which retains the last value per key; this daemon reads that
+//! bucket per request and keeps no copy. A cache here would be a second
+//! answer to the same question, free to disagree with the first — and
+//! the disagreement would surface as a hive reading healthy on a
+//! dashboard while the bucket says otherwise.
+//!
+//! **Absence is the case this is built around** — the freshness states
+//! and the reasoning behind each are in `docs/swarm/README.md`. The two
+//! properties that constrain the code rather than describe it:
+//! freshness is **derived at read time**, never stored (a stored
+//! `healthy: bool` goes stale silently the moment nothing arrives), and
+//! rows come from the **roster**, not the bucket, so an empty bucket
+//! cannot render as a healthy swarm.
+//!
+//! One consequence worth stating because it is the opposite of what a
+//! cache would give: losing the bucket degrades **to honesty**. Every
+//! hive reads `never_reported` until its next publish, which is the true
+//! answer — not a remembered "healthy" from before the loss.
+
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
+
+use anyhow::{Context, Result};
+use futures_util::TryStreamExt as _;
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use utoipa::ToSchema;
+
+use crate::HiveEntry;
+
+/// The KV bucket hives publish their snapshots into.
+///
+/// A constant and not an option: reader and writer must name the same
+/// bucket, and an option is a way for two deployments to disagree about
+/// which one that is. Nothing about a bucket name is site-specific.
+pub const BUCKET: &str = "hive-status";
+
+/// Default age past which a snapshot is reported stale.
+///
+/// A threshold is a statement about how often hives offer, and that
+/// cadence is decided by the publisher (a later slice), so this is a
+/// default to be overridden rather than a constant to be relied on.
+pub const DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER: Duration = Duration::from_mins(2);
+
+/// Env var the NixOS module sets from
+/// `services.hyperhive.swarm.controller.staleAfterSeconds`.
+pub const STALE_AFTER_ENV: &str = "SWARM_CONTROLLER_STALE_AFTER_SECS";
+
+/// How a hive's last report reads *now* — a function of the clock, not a
+/// property of the report.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Serialize, Deserialize, ToSchema)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "snake_case")]
+pub enum Freshness {
+    /// Reported within the staleness threshold.
+    Fresh,
+    /// Reported, but longer ago than the threshold. The payload is still
+    /// rendered: "old" and "absent" are different answers and a consumer
+    /// may want the last thing a hive managed to say.
+    Stale,
+    /// In the roster, has never offered a snapshot. Distinct from
+    /// `Stale` because it separates "went quiet" from "never spoke" —
+    /// the first is a fault, the second is usually a deployment that
+    /// hasn't happened yet.
+    NeverReported,
+    /// Offered a snapshot but is not in the roster. Not an error this
+    /// daemon can resolve, and not one it should hide.
+    Unknown,
+}
+
+/// One row of the aggregate.
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Serialize, Deserialize, ToSchema)]
+pub struct HiveStatus {
+    pub name: String,
+    /// From the roster; `None` for a hive the roster doesn't list.
+    pub domain: Option<String>,
+    pub freshness: Freshness,
+    /// When the snapshot was stored, unix seconds. `None` when nothing
+    /// has been.
+    ///
+    /// This is the **bucket's** stamp, applied by the NATS server when
+    /// the value landed — not a field inside the payload. A publisher
+    /// therefore cannot make itself look fresher than it is, and a hive
+    /// with a wrong clock skews its own payload rather than this.
+    pub last_seen_unix: Option<i64>,
+    /// Age at render time. Carried alongside `last_seen_unix` so a
+    /// consumer with a different threshold need not re-derive it from a
+    /// clock that may not match this host's.
+    pub age_seconds: Option<u64>,
+    /// Whatever the hive published, unopened — stored opaquely so the
+    /// snapshot's contents stay settleable later without reworking the
+    /// aggregate.
+    ///
+    /// `None` in two cases the consumer can tell apart by `freshness`:
+    /// nothing has ever been published (`never_reported`), or something
+    /// was published that is not JSON (any other freshness — the row
+    /// still reports *when* the hive last spoke, and the read logs a
+    /// warning naming it).
+    pub snapshot: Option<serde_json::Value>,
+}
+
+/// A snapshot as retained by the bucket.
+#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
+struct Offered {
+    received_at: SystemTime,
+    /// `None` when the stored bytes are not JSON — see [`HiveStatus::snapshot`].
+    payload: Option<serde_json::Value>,
+}
+
+/// Reads the aggregate out of the KV bucket.
+///
+/// Holds a NATS client rather than a bucket handle: the bucket is
+/// resolved on first use and cached, so a controller that starts before
+/// the bucket exists picks it up without a restart. Resolution failures
+/// are not cached — [`tokio::sync::OnceCell::get_or_try_init`] retries —
+/// which is what makes the queue coming up *after* this daemon a
+/// non-event rather than a permanent degradation.
+pub struct StatusReader {
+    client: async_nats::Client,
+    store: tokio::sync::OnceCell<async_nats::jetstream::kv::Store>,
+    stale_after: Duration,
+}
+
+impl StatusReader {
+    #[must_use]
+    pub fn new(client: async_nats::Client, stale_after: Duration) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            client,
+            store: tokio::sync::OnceCell::new(),
+            stale_after,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Reads [`STALE_AFTER_ENV`], falling back to
+    /// [`DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER`]. A zero or unparseable value takes the
+    /// default rather than failing startup — same rule as `load_hives`:
+    /// a controller whose own config is wrong must still serve.
+    #[must_use]
+    pub fn stale_after_from_env() -> Duration {
+        std::env::var(STALE_AFTER_ENV)
+            .ok()
+            .and_then(|raw| raw.trim().parse::<u64>().ok())
+            .filter(|secs| *secs > 0)
+            .map_or(DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER, Duration::from_secs)
+    }
+
+    /// The bucket handle, created on first use if nothing has made it yet.
+    ///
+    /// Whichever side arrives first creates it, and both sides want the
+    /// same shape, so this is a race with one outcome. `history: 1` is
+    /// the shape: the aggregate reads *the last thing each hive said*,
+    /// and retaining more would be storage bought for a query nobody
+    /// makes.
+    async fn store(&self) -> Result<&async_nats::jetstream::kv::Store> {
+        self.store
+            .get_or_try_init(|| async {
+                let js = async_nats::jetstream::new(self.client.clone());
+                match js.get_key_value(BUCKET).await {
+                    Ok(store) => Ok(store),
+                    Err(e) => {
+                        tracing::info!(
+                            bucket = BUCKET,
+                            reason = %e,
+                            "status bucket not available, creating it"
+                        );
+                        js.create_key_value(async_nats::jetstream::kv::Config {
+                            bucket: BUCKET.to_owned(),
+                            description: "Last status snapshot offered by each hive".to_owned(),
+                            history: 1,
+                            ..Default::default()
+                        })
+                        .await
+                        .with_context(|| format!("creating the {BUCKET} bucket"))
+                    }
+                }
+            })
+            .await
+    }
+
+    /// The aggregate, rendered against `now`.
+    ///
+    /// Every roster hive produces a row whether or not it has ever
+    /// reported; a reporting hive outside the roster produces one too.
+    pub async fn view(&self, roster: &[HiveEntry], now: SystemTime) -> Result<Vec<HiveStatus>> {
+        // Only a CONNECTED client can be asked anything. `retry_on_initial_connect`
+        // means the client exists before it is usable, and a JetStream request
+        // made in that window does not fail — it WAITS, on every call, for
+        // longer than any dashboard poll should take (measured: still going at
+        // 15s against a queue that simply refuses the credential).
+        //
+        // Testing for `!= Connected` rather than `== Disconnected` is the whole
+        // point: a client that has never connected once sits in `Pending`, so
+        // the `Disconnected` test passes it straight through to the hang it was
+        // written to prevent. That is exactly the case here — a controller
+        // whose credential is wrong from boot never reaches `Disconnected`,
+        // because it was never connected to begin with.
+        //
+        // Naming the state is also the better error: "not connected" is
+        // actionable, a timeout is not.
+        let state = self.client.connection_state();
+        if state != async_nats::connection::State::Connected {
+            anyhow::bail!("not connected to the swarm queue (client state: {state:?})");
+        }
+
+        let store = self.store().await?;
+
+        // Keys first, then a fetch per key. The roster is a handful of
+        // hives, so the round-trip count is not worth trading for a
+        // watcher whose "I have seen everything current" condition is
+        // one more thing to get right on a read path.
+        let mut keys = store.keys().await.context("listing status bucket keys")?;
+        let mut entries: BTreeMap<String, Offered> = BTreeMap::new();
+        while let Some(key) = keys
+            .try_next()
+            .await
+            .context("reading the status bucket's key list")?
+        {
+            let Some(entry) = store
+                .entry(&key)
+                .await
+                .with_context(|| format!("reading status entry {key}"))?
+            else {
+                // Deleted between listing and fetching. Not an error:
+                // the next read simply won't list it.
+                continue;
+            };
+            let payload = match serde_json::from_slice(&entry.value) {
+                Ok(value) => Some(value),
+                Err(e) => {
+                    tracing::warn!(
+                        hive = %key,
+                        error = %e,
+                        "status snapshot is not JSON; reporting the timestamp without it"
+                    );
+                    None
+                }
+            };
+            entries.insert(
+                key,
+                Offered {
+                    received_at: to_system_time(entry.created.unix_timestamp()),
+                    payload,
+                },
+            );
+        }
+
+        Ok(render(roster, &entries, now, self.stale_after))
+    }
+}
+
+/// A bucket timestamp as a [`SystemTime`].
+///
+/// A pre-epoch stamp is not representable here and is not a thing a NATS
+/// server produces; treating it as the epoch renders the row as
+/// extremely stale, which is the safe direction — a nonsense timestamp
+/// must never read as fresh.
+fn to_system_time(unix_seconds: i64) -> SystemTime {
+    u64::try_from(unix_seconds).map_or(UNIX_EPOCH, |secs| UNIX_EPOCH + Duration::from_secs(secs))
+}
+
+/// Turn a roster plus whatever the bucket held into the rendered rows.
+///
+/// Split out of [`StatusReader::view`] deliberately: this is where every
+/// rule the acceptance criterion cares about lives, and keeping it a
+/// pure function means those rules are tested against a table rather
+/// than against a running NATS server.
+fn render(
+    roster: &[HiveEntry],
+    entries: &BTreeMap<String, Offered>,
+    now: SystemTime,
+    stale_after: Duration,
+) -> Vec<HiveStatus> {
+    let mut rows: Vec<HiveStatus> = roster
+        .iter()
+        .map(|hive| match entries.get(&hive.name) {
+            Some(offered) => row(
+                hive.name.clone(),
+                Some(hive.domain.clone()),
+                offered,
+                now,
+                stale_after,
+            ),
+            None => HiveStatus {
+                name: hive.name.clone(),
+                domain: Some(hive.domain.clone()),
+                freshness: Freshness::NeverReported,
+                last_seen_unix: None,
+                age_seconds: None,
+                snapshot: None,
+            },
+        })
+        .collect();
+
+    rows.extend(
+        entries
+            .iter()
+            .filter(|(name, _)| !roster.iter().any(|hive| &&hive.name == name))
+            .map(|(name, offered)| {
+                let mut unknown = row(name.clone(), None, offered, now, stale_after);
+                unknown.freshness = Freshness::Unknown;
+                unknown
+            }),
+    );
+    rows
+}
+
+fn row(
+    name: String,
+    domain: Option<String>,
+    offered: &Offered,
+    now: SystemTime,
+    stale_after: Duration,
+) -> HiveStatus {
+    // A snapshot stamped in the future (clock skew between the NATS
+    // server and this host) yields no age rather than a negative one,
+    // and is treated as fresh — the honest reading of "this arrived, I
+    // cannot tell how long ago".
+    let age = now.duration_since(offered.received_at).ok();
+    let freshness = match age {
+        Some(age) if age > stale_after => Freshness::Stale,
+        _ => Freshness::Fresh,
+    };
+    HiveStatus {
+        name,
+        domain,
+        freshness,
+        last_seen_unix: offered
+            .received_at
+            .duration_since(UNIX_EPOCH)
+            .ok()
+            .and_then(|d| i64::try_from(d.as_secs()).ok()),
+        age_seconds: age.map(|age| age.as_secs()),
+        snapshot: offered.payload.clone(),
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::{DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER, Freshness, Offered, STALE_AFTER_ENV, StatusReader, render};
+    use crate::HiveEntry;
+    use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+    use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime};
+
+    fn roster() -> Vec<HiveEntry> {
+        vec![
+            HiveEntry {
+                name: "pr1ma".to_owned(),
+                domain: "pr1ma.example.com".to_owned(),
+            },
+            HiveEntry {
+                name: "umbra".to_owned(),
+                domain: "umbra.example.com".to_owned(),
+            },
+        ]
+    }
+
+    fn entries(rows: &[(&str, SystemTime)]) -> BTreeMap<String, Offered> {
+        rows.iter()
+            .map(|(name, at)| {
+                (
+                    (*name).to_owned(),
+                    Offered {
+                        received_at: *at,
+                        payload: Some(serde_json::json!({ "ok": true })),
+                    },
+                )
+            })
+            .collect()
+    }
+
+    fn t0() -> SystemTime {
+        SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH + Duration::from_secs(1_700_000_000)
+    }
+
+    /// The whole point of the module: an empty bucket must not render as
+    /// a healthy swarm. Rows come from the roster, so silence is visible.
+    #[test]
+    fn an_empty_bucket_renders_every_hive_as_never_reported() {
+        let rows = render(&roster(), &BTreeMap::new(), t0(), DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER);
+        assert_eq!(rows.len(), 2, "a row per roster hive, not per report");
+        assert!(
+            rows.iter().all(|r| r.freshness == Freshness::NeverReported),
+            "nothing published means nothing known — not healthy"
+        );
+        assert!(rows.iter().all(|r| r.snapshot.is_none()));
+    }
+
+    /// Freshness is derived from the clock at read time, so the same
+    /// stored value reads differently as it ages. The boundary is where
+    /// an off-by-one would hide, so it is pinned in both directions.
+    #[test]
+    fn the_threshold_boundary_is_inclusive() {
+        let stale_after = Duration::from_secs(90);
+        let stored = entries(&[("pr1ma", t0())]);
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            render(
+                &roster(),
+                &stored,
+                t0() + Duration::from_secs(90),
+                stale_after
+            )[0]
+            .freshness,
+            Freshness::Fresh,
+            "exactly at the threshold is inside it"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            render(
+                &roster(),
+                &stored,
+                t0() + Duration::from_secs(91),
+                stale_after
+            )[0]
+            .freshness,
+            Freshness::Stale,
+            "one second past is outside it"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// One hive reporting must not make its silent neighbour look
+    /// healthy — the failure mode of any aggregate that renders only
+    /// what it has.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_reporting_hive_does_not_vouch_for_a_silent_one() {
+        let rows = render(
+            &roster(),
+            &entries(&[("pr1ma", t0())]),
+            t0(),
+            DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER,
+        );
+        assert_eq!(rows[0].name, "pr1ma");
+        assert_eq!(rows[0].freshness, Freshness::Fresh);
+        assert_eq!(rows[1].name, "umbra");
+        assert_eq!(rows[1].freshness, Freshness::NeverReported);
+    }
+
+    /// An observation the daemon cannot explain is surfaced, not dropped.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_hive_outside_the_roster_is_surfaced_as_unknown() {
+        let rows = render(
+            &roster(),
+            &entries(&[("ghost", t0())]),
+            t0(),
+            DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER,
+        );
+        assert_eq!(rows.len(), 3, "two roster hives plus the stranger");
+        let ghost = rows.last().expect("rows is non-empty");
+        assert_eq!(ghost.name, "ghost");
+        assert_eq!(ghost.freshness, Freshness::Unknown);
+        assert!(
+            ghost.domain.is_none(),
+            "the roster is where a domain comes from, and this hive isn't in it"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// Clock skew must not produce a negative age or a panic. A snapshot
+    /// stamped in the future reads fresh with no age — "it arrived, I
+    /// cannot tell how long ago".
+    #[test]
+    fn a_future_timestamp_yields_no_age_rather_than_a_wrong_one() {
+        let rows = render(
+            &roster(),
+            &entries(&[("pr1ma", t0() + Duration::from_secs(30))]),
+            t0(),
+            Duration::from_secs(90),
+        );
+        assert_eq!(rows[0].freshness, Freshness::Fresh);
+        assert_eq!(rows[0].age_seconds, None);
+    }
+
+    /// A hive that published something unreadable still gets its
+    /// timestamp reported: *when* it last spoke is exactly what this
+    /// aggregate is for, and dropping the row would read as silence.
+    #[test]
+    fn an_unparseable_payload_still_reports_when_it_arrived() {
+        let mut stored = BTreeMap::new();
+        stored.insert(
+            "pr1ma".to_owned(),
+            Offered {
+                received_at: t0(),
+                payload: None,
+            },
+        );
+
+        let row = &render(&roster(), &stored, t0(), DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER)[0];
+        assert_eq!(
+            row.freshness,
+            Freshness::Fresh,
+            "unreadable is not the same as absent — freshness is what \
+             separates them on the wire"
+        );
+        assert!(row.snapshot.is_none());
+        assert_eq!(row.last_seen_unix, Some(1_700_000_000));
+    }
+
+    /// SAFETY: single-threaded mutation of a process env var no other
+    /// test in this crate reads; restored before returning. One test
+    /// rather than four for the same reason `load_hives`'s is — the
+    /// parallel runner would race them.
+    #[test]
+    fn stale_after_from_env_covers_missing_bogus_zero_and_valid() {
+        unsafe {
+            std::env::remove_var(STALE_AFTER_ENV);
+        }
+        assert_eq!(StatusReader::stale_after_from_env(), DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER);
+
+        unsafe {
+            std::env::set_var(STALE_AFTER_ENV, "not a number");
+        }
+        assert_eq!(
+            StatusReader::stale_after_from_env(),
+            DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER,
+            "a controller whose own config is wrong must still serve"
+        );
+
+        unsafe {
+            std::env::set_var(STALE_AFTER_ENV, "0");
+        }
+        assert_eq!(
+            StatusReader::stale_after_from_env(),
+            DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER,
+            "zero would make every snapshot instantly stale — take the default"
+        );
+
+        unsafe {
+            std::env::set_var(STALE_AFTER_ENV, "300");
+        }
+        assert_eq!(StatusReader::stale_after_from_env(), Duration::from_mins(5));
+
+        unsafe {
+            std::env::remove_var(STALE_AFTER_ENV);
+        }
+    }
+}