diff --git a/cmd/agentbbs/health_test.go b/cmd/agentbbs/health_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..977d3a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/agentbbs/health_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/profullstack/agentbbs/internal/store"
+)
+
+func TestHandleHealth(t *testing.T) {
+	st, err := store.Open(filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "test.db"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	a := &app{st: st}
+
+	rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	a.handleHealth(rec, httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/api/health", nil))
+	if rec.Code != http.StatusOK || rec.Body.String() != `{"status":"ok","db":"ok"}` {
+		t.Fatalf("healthy: %d %s", rec.Code, rec.Body.String())
+	}
+	if cc := rec.Header().Get("Cache-Control"); cc != "no-store" {
+		t.Fatalf("Cache-Control = %q", cc)
+	}
+
+	st.Close()
+	rec = httptest.NewRecorder()
+	a.handleHealth(rec, httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/api/health", nil))
+	if rec.Code != http.StatusServiceUnavailable || rec.Body.String() != `{"status":"error","db":"down"}` {
+		t.Fatalf("closed store: %d %s", rec.Code, rec.Body.String())
+	}
+}
diff --git a/cmd/agentbbs/main.go b/cmd/agentbbs/main.go
index 675fbcf..58538b6 100644
--- a/cmd/agentbbs/main.go
+++ b/cmd/agentbbs/main.go
@@ -272,6 +272,7 @@ func main() {
 		mux.HandleFunc("/verify", a.handleVerify)
 		mux.HandleFunc("/irc-auth", a.handleIRCAuth) // Ergo auth-script: members-only gate
 		mux.HandleFunc("/healthz", func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) { _, _ = w.Write([]byte("ok")) })
+		mux.HandleFunc("/api/health", a.handleHealth) // Caddy proxies it: status.profullstack.com
 		// OpenAccess descriptor for the BBS host itself (Caddy proxies the
 		// well-known path here); the files host serves the same one.
 		mux.Handle(files.OpenAccessPath, files.OpenAccessHandler())
@@ -2395,3 +2396,19 @@ func remoteIP(s ssh.Session) string {
 	}
 	return s.RemoteAddr().String()
 }
+
+// handleHealth is the public health check status.profullstack.com polls via
+// Caddy: it proves this process (the one serving SSH :22) is up and its SQLite
+// store answers a query within 3s. Never returns error details.
+func (a *app) handleHealth(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+	w.Header().Set("Cache-Control", "no-store")
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(r.Context(), 3*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	if err := a.st.Ping(ctx); err != nil {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusServiceUnavailable)
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"error","db":"down"}`))
+		return
+	}
+	_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"ok","db":"ok"}`))
+}
diff --git a/internal/store/store.go b/internal/store/store.go
index 12fec43..f403dd7 100644
--- a/internal/store/store.go
+++ b/internal/store/store.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 package store
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"database/sql"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
@@ -235,6 +236,8 @@ type Store interface {
 	// SetFilesSetting writes a Files service setting. Idempotent upsert.
 	SetFilesSetting(key, value string) error
 
+	// Ping runs a trivial query, for the public health check.
+	Ping(ctx context.Context) error
 	Close() error
 }
 
@@ -1175,4 +1178,9 @@ func (s *sqliteStore) SetFilesSetting(key, value string) error {
 	return err
 }
 
+func (s *sqliteStore) Ping(ctx context.Context) error {
+	var one int
+	return s.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, "select 1").Scan(&one)
+}
+
 func (s *sqliteStore) Close() error { return s.db.Close() }
diff --git a/setup.sh b/setup.sh
index 8b20c3b..987bd12 100755
--- a/setup.sh
+++ b/setup.sh
@@ -807,6 +807,12 @@ ${DOMAIN} {
 		reverse_proxy http://${HTTP_ADDR}
 	}
 
+	# Public health check (status.profullstack.com): answered by the agentbbs
+	# process itself after a SQLite query, so a 200 proves the BBS is up.
+	handle /api/health {
+		reverse_proxy http://${HTTP_ADDR}
+	}
+
 	# IRC over WebSocket: Caddy terminates TLS and proxies to Ergo's loopback
 	# WebSocket listener, so web clients hit wss://${DOMAIN}/irc and agents get a
 	# WebSocket transport without exposing another public port. (No-op if IRC=0;