diff --git a/hosts/piha/runtime/brain-watchdog/docker-compose.override.yml b/hosts/piha/runtime/brain-watchdog/docker-compose.override.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ed6604
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hosts/piha/runtime/brain-watchdog/docker-compose.override.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+services:
+  brain-watchdog:
+    mem_limit: 64m
+    restart: unless-stopped
diff --git a/hosts/piha/services.yaml b/hosts/piha/services.yaml
index 03fea12..5dcad97 100644
--- a/hosts/piha/services.yaml
+++ b/hosts/piha/services.yaml
@@ -29,3 +29,14 @@ services:
       config_path: /opt/homelab/config/node-agent
       data_path: /opt/homelab/state
       logs_path: /opt/homelab/events
+
+  brain-watchdog:
+    role: control-plane-watchdog
+    deployment_model: docker-compose
+    exposure: private
+    offline_required: false
+    depends_on:
+      local: []
+      external: [control-plane]
+    runtime:
+      config_path: /opt/homelab/config/brain-watchdog
diff --git a/inventory/topology.yaml b/inventory/topology.yaml
index 19d11c1..614fbe1 100644
--- a/inventory/topology.yaml
+++ b/inventory/topology.yaml
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ nodes:
     roles:
       - infra
       - monitoring
+    services:
+      - node-agent
+      - ha-diag-agent
+      - brain-watchdog
 
   solaria:
     roles:
@@ -28,6 +32,17 @@ nodes:
       - edge
       - ingress
       - control-plane
+    services:
+      # Repo-managed GitOps services (hosts/vps/services.yaml is authoritative)
+      - node-agent
+      - control-plane       # executor, observer, supervisor, operator-ui
+      - node_exporter
+      - stability-agent
+      - npm                 # Nginx Proxy Manager — public ingress, TLS termination
+      - outline             # Team wiki (outline + postgres + redis)
+      - joplin              # Note sync server (joplin-server + postgres)
+      - ai-cluster          # AI workers: codex-worker, openclaw, planner-worker,
+                            # service-ops-worker, redis, mosquitto
 
   chelsty-infra:
     site: chelsty
diff --git a/services/brain-watchdog/Dockerfile b/services/brain-watchdog/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6fe6d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/brain-watchdog/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+FROM python:3.11-slim
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+COPY src/ src/
+
+ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+
+CMD ["python", "-m", "brain_watchdog.main"]
diff --git a/services/brain-watchdog/docker-compose.yml b/services/brain-watchdog/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..19a8d86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/brain-watchdog/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+services:
+  brain-watchdog:
+    build: .
+    container_name: brain-watchdog
+    restart: unless-stopped
+
+    env_file:
+      - /opt/homelab/config/brain-watchdog/.env
+
+    volumes:
+      - brain_watchdog_data:/data
+
+    healthcheck:
+      test:
+        - "CMD"
+        - "python"
+        - "-c"
+        - |
+          import os, time, json, sys
+          p = '/data/state.json'
+          if not os.path.exists(p): sys.exit(1)
+          age = time.time() - os.path.getmtime(p)
+          sys.exit(0 if age < 300 else 1)
+      interval: 1m
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 3
+      start_period: 30s
+
+volumes:
+  brain_watchdog_data:
diff --git a/services/brain-watchdog/env.example b/services/brain-watchdog/env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f09c999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/brain-watchdog/env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+CONTROL_PLANE_URL=
+STALE_THRESHOLD=600
+INTERVAL=60
+FAILS_BEFORE_ALERT=3
+TG_TOKEN=
+TG_CHAT_ID=
+HEALTHCHECKS_URL=
diff --git a/services/brain-watchdog/healthcheck.sh b/services/brain-watchdog/healthcheck.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e3c1ab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/brain-watchdog/healthcheck.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Healthy if state.json was written within the last 5 minutes.
+python -c "
+import os, time, sys
+p = '/data/state.json'
+if not os.path.exists(p):
+    sys.exit(1)
+age = time.time() - os.path.getmtime(p)
+sys.exit(0 if age < 300 else 1)
+"
diff --git a/services/brain-watchdog/service.yaml b/services/brain-watchdog/service.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0eec949
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/brain-watchdog/service.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+service:
+  name: brain-watchdog
+  owner_node: piha
+  exposure: private
+  description: >
+    External watchdog for the control-plane on VPS. Queries /summary over
+    Tailscale and alerts via Telegram Bot API directly — no dependency on the
+    control-plane itself. Freshness is computed locally from last_update epoch.
+
+  dependencies:
+    - control-plane   # external — on VPS; deliberately untrusted for liveness
+
+  healthcheck:
+    type: docker
+    interval: 60s
+    timeout: 10s
+    retries: 3
+    start_period: 30s
+
+  restart_policy: unless-stopped
+
+  persistence:
+    paths:
+      - /data   # state.json: fail_count, alerted, last_ok
+
+  runtime:
+    env_vars:
+      - CONTROL_PLANE_URL     # Tailscale IP + port of operator-ui (required)
+      - STALE_THRESHOLD       # seconds before brain is considered stale (default: 600)
+      - INTERVAL              # poll interval seconds (default: 60)
+      - FAILS_BEFORE_ALERT    # consecutive failures before Telegram alert (default: 3)
+      - TG_TOKEN              # Telegram Bot API token (required)
+      - TG_CHAT_ID            # Telegram chat/user ID (required)
+      - HEALTHCHECKS_URL      # optional healthchecks.io ping URL
diff --git a/services/brain-watchdog/src/brain_watchdog/__init__.py b/services/brain-watchdog/src/brain_watchdog/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/services/brain-watchdog/src/brain_watchdog/main.py b/services/brain-watchdog/src/brain_watchdog/main.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96ed3b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/brain-watchdog/src/brain_watchdog/main.py
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+"""
+brain-watchdog: external watchdog for the control-plane on VPS.
+
+Runs on PIHA; queries /summary directly over Tailscale and alerts via
+Telegram Bot API without going through the control-plane itself.
+Never trusts the self-reported "status" field — freshness is computed
+locally from last_update epoch vs. time.time().
+"""
+
+import json
+import os
+import time
+import urllib.error
+import urllib.request
+from pathlib import Path
+
+CONTROL_PLANE_URL = os.environ["CONTROL_PLANE_URL"].rstrip("/")
+STALE_THRESHOLD = int(os.environ.get("STALE_THRESHOLD", "600"))
+INTERVAL = int(os.environ.get("INTERVAL", "60"))
+FAILS_BEFORE_ALERT = int(os.environ.get("FAILS_BEFORE_ALERT", "3"))
+TG_TOKEN = os.environ["TG_TOKEN"]
+TG_CHAT_ID = os.environ["TG_CHAT_ID"]
+HEALTHCHECKS_URL = os.environ.get("HEALTHCHECKS_URL", "").strip()
+
+STATE_FILE = Path("/data/state.json")
+
+
+def load_state() -> dict:
+    if STATE_FILE.exists():
+        try:
+            return json.loads(STATE_FILE.read_text())
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+    return {"fail_count": 0, "alerted": False, "last_ok": 0.0}
+
+
+def save_state(state: dict) -> None:
+    STATE_FILE.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    STATE_FILE.write_text(json.dumps(state))
+
+
+def http_get(url: str, timeout: int = 10) -> tuple[int | None, dict | None]:
+    try:
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=timeout) as resp:
+            return resp.status, json.loads(resp.read())
+    except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc:
+        return exc.code, None
+    except Exception:
+        return None, None
+
+
+def send_telegram(message: str) -> bool:
+    url = f"https://api.telegram.org/bot{TG_TOKEN}/sendMessage"
+    payload = json.dumps(
+        {"chat_id": TG_CHAT_ID, "text": message, "parse_mode": "HTML"}
+    ).encode()
+    req = urllib.request.Request(
+        url, data=payload, headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"}
+    )
+    try:
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=10) as resp:
+            return resp.status == 200
+    except Exception as exc:
+        print(f"[telegram] send failed: {exc}", flush=True)
+        return False
+
+
+def ping_healthchecks() -> None:
+    if not HEALTHCHECKS_URL:
+        return
+    try:
+        urllib.request.urlopen(HEALTHCHECKS_URL, timeout=10)
+    except Exception as exc:
+        print(f"[healthchecks] ping failed: {exc}", flush=True)
+
+
+def check() -> tuple[bool, str]:
+    """Return (ok, human-readable reason).  Never reads 'status' field."""
+    status, body = http_get(f"{CONTROL_PLANE_URL}/summary")
+
+    if status is None:
+        return False, "panel unreachable (connection error)"
+
+    if status != 200:
+        return False, f"panel returned HTTP {status}"
+
+    if not body:
+        return False, "panel returned empty / invalid JSON"
+
+    raw = body.get("last_update")
+    if raw is None:
+        return False, "summary missing last_update field"
+
+    try:
+        last_update_ts = float(raw)
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        return False, f"last_update not parseable: {raw!r}"
+
+    age = time.time() - last_update_ts
+    if age > STALE_THRESHOLD:
+        return False, (
+            f"brain stale: last update {int(age // 60)}m ago "
+            f"(threshold {STALE_THRESHOLD // 60}m)"
+        )
+
+    return True, f"ok (age {int(age)}s)"
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    print(
+        f"[brain-watchdog] starting — "
+        f"url={CONTROL_PLANE_URL} "
+        f"stale_threshold={STALE_THRESHOLD}s "
+        f"interval={INTERVAL}s "
+        f"fails_before_alert={FAILS_BEFORE_ALERT}",
+        flush=True,
+    )
+    state = load_state()
+
+    while True:
+        ok, reason = check()
+        ts = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ", time.gmtime())
+        print(f"[{ts}] {'OK  ' if ok else 'FAIL'} — {reason}", flush=True)
+
+        if ok:
+            if state["alerted"]:
+                send_telegram(
+                    "✅ <b>brain-watchdog: control-plane RECOVERED</b>\n"
+                    f"{reason}"
+                )
+                print("[telegram] sent recovery alert", flush=True)
+            state["fail_count"] = 0
+            state["alerted"] = False
+            state["last_ok"] = time.time()
+            save_state(state)
+            ping_healthchecks()
+        else:
+            state["fail_count"] = state.get("fail_count", 0) + 1
+            save_state(state)
+
+            if state["fail_count"] >= FAILS_BEFORE_ALERT and not state["alerted"]:
+                sent = send_telegram(
+                    "🚨 <b>brain-watchdog: control-plane DOWN</b>\n"
+                    f"Reason: {reason}\n"
+                    f"Consecutive failures: {state['fail_count']}\n"
+                    f"URL: <code>{CONTROL_PLANE_URL}</code>"
+                )
+                if sent:
+                    state["alerted"] = True
+                    save_state(state)
+                    print("[telegram] sent alert", flush=True)
+
+        time.sleep(INTERVAL)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()