diff --git a/docs/deploy-source.md b/docs/deploy-source.md
index 1561387..057f902 100644
--- a/docs/deploy-source.md
+++ b/docs/deploy-source.md
@@ -106,6 +106,28 @@ exactly as it is today.
   to GitHub `master`; land it in Gitea and let it mirror.
 - **A merge that is only a Gitea merge** is not live until the mirror runs. Check
   `scripts/verify-deploy.sh` before calling a site change published.
+- **The first mirrored deploy switches on a cron that deletes production
+  rows.** `vercel.json` carries two crons. `/api/the-nook/lifecycle`
+  (13:00 UTC) is already on the tree Vercel builds today, so it runs.
+  `/api/analytics-retention` (12:00 UTC, added in `1d9287a`, FRE-369) is
+  only on Gitea master: the first deploy that follows the mirror starts
+  calling it, and the next 12:00 UTC runs
+  `DELETE FROM VisitorAnalytics WHERE created_at < datetime('now','-365 days')`
+  against the production database. Not staged, not reversible — whatever is
+  older than the window
+  is gone the first time it fires. The window is
+  `ANALYTICS_RETENTION_DAYS`, and unset, non-positive, or over 730 each
+  resolve to the 365-day default (`src/server/analytics-retention.ts`).
+  365 is the conservative end — picked so that switching the schedule on is
+  not itself a data-loss event — but conservative still means *over a year
+  old gets deleted*. Set the window in Vercel **before** the first mirrored
+  deploy if 365 is not what you want. The cron call is authorized with
+  `Authorization: Bearer <ANALYTICS_RETENTION_SECRET ?? CRON_SECRET>`
+  (`src/routes/api/analytics-retention.ts`), and the endpoint fails closed:
+  with no secret configured every call is a 401, so a missing secret is a
+  table that quietly stops being pruned, never an unauthenticated bulk
+  delete. Vercel supplies `CRON_SECRET` to its own crons and production
+  already runs the 13:00 job, so assume the secret is there and it runs.
 - **The FRE-371 fix's actual exploitability in production** depends on how the
   edge sets `x-forwarded-for`/`cf-connecting-ip`. That is measured and gated by
   the Security Engineer, not assumed here.
@@ -114,6 +136,15 @@ exactly as it is today.
 
     scripts/verify-deploy.sh
 
-It is read-only and needs no credentials. It checks both remotes' master SHA,
-the live Nook/Nessa copy, and (when the commit is present locally) that
-`2fd2a4a` is an ancestor of the deployed commit.
+It is read-only and needs no credentials — that is what makes it safe to run
+from an agent run as well as by the operator, and it is why the checks stay
+read-only. It checks both remotes' master SHA, that `https://freno.me/`
+answers a direct 200, the live Nook/Nessa copy, and (when the commit is
+present locally) that `2fd2a4a` is an ancestor of the deployed commit.
+
+The root probe is there because every other check can stay green while the
+root deploy is broken. It is status-only, and it deliberately does not probe
+`https://freno.me/terms`: `SITEMAP_ROUTES.main` in
+`src/lib/sitemap-routes.ts` has no `/terms` — Terms of Use is a Nessa
+surface (`nessa.freno.me/terms`), so a 404 on the root domain's `/terms` is
+the design, not a defect.
diff --git a/scripts/verify-deploy.sh b/scripts/verify-deploy.sh
index 079b71c..799b32c 100755
--- a/scripts/verify-deploy.sh
+++ b/scripts/verify-deploy.sh
@@ -3,11 +3,13 @@
 #
 # Proves, in one run:
 #   1. Gitea master and GitHub master are the same commit (the mirror converged).
-#   2. The live site serves copy that only exists on the reconciled line:
+#   2. The root domain answers on its own terms: https://freno.me/ returns a direct 200,
+#      so a broken root deploy cannot read as green while the subdomains look fine.
+#   3. The live site serves copy that only exists on the reconciled line:
 #      NOOK-1038's scoped remote claim (GitHub-only before the merge) *and*
 #      FRE-997's "Supported agents" (Gitea-only before the merge). Both at once
 #      can only come from the merge commit.
-#   3. The served tree therefore contains FRE-371 (`2fd2a4a`), which is an
+#   4. The served tree therefore contains FRE-371 (`2fd2a4a`), which is an
 #      ancestor of that merge — checked locally when the commit is in the object
 #      store, so run this from a freno-dev checkout.
 #
@@ -17,6 +19,7 @@ set -uo pipefail
 
 GITEA_REMOTE="${GITEA_REMOTE:-https://git.freno.me/Mike/freno-dev.git}"
 GITHUB_REMOTE="${GITHUB_REMOTE:-https://github.com/mikefreno/freno-dev.git}"
+ROOT_HOST="${ROOT_HOST:-https://freno.me}"
 NOOK_HOST="${NOOK_HOST:-https://nook.freno.me}"
 NESSA_HOST="${NESSA_HOST:-https://nessa.freno.me}"
 
@@ -43,6 +46,17 @@ fi
 
 echo
 echo "== live copy =="
+# The root is every other surface's entry point and deploys from the same tree, so it is
+# probed first. No -L: a redirect away from 200 is the failure we want to see, not a pass.
+root_code=$(curl -sS -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' "$ROOT_HOST/" 2>/dev/null)
+if [ "$root_code" = "200" ]; then
+  ok "$ROOT_HOST/ serves 200"
+elif [ -z "$root_code" ] || [ "$root_code" = "000" ]; then
+  bad "$ROOT_HOST/ gave no response, expected 200"
+else
+  bad "$ROOT_HOST/ returned $root_code, expected 200 (green subdomains do not cover the root)"
+fi
+
 page=$(curl -sS "$NOOK_HOST/" 2>/dev/null)
 case "$page" in
   *"One-click setup for Tailscale and authorized known hosts"*)