diff --git a/api/app/config.py b/api/app/config.py
index e8af3b1..6328ee3 100644
--- a/api/app/config.py
+++ b/api/app/config.py
@@ -50,12 +50,6 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     # ---- account-server OIDC (human identity) -----------------------------
     account_server_base_url: str = "https://account.windyword.ai"
 
-    # cloudflared binds its metrics on the HOST, so from inside a container
-    # `localhost` is the wrong box. A health check that is permanently red is as
-    # useless as one that is permanently green -- it trains people to ignore the
-    # dashboard, which is how a 37-day-dead fleet canary goes unnoticed.
-    tunnel_metrics_url: str = "http://host.docker.internal:2000/metrics"
-
     # ---- storage law (I-3, G4.4) ------------------------------------------
     # Git object databases MUST live on a POSIX filesystem. A test asserts this
     # path does not resolve to a network mount.
diff --git a/api/app/main.py b/api/app/main.py
index 393c4ef..25801b4 100644
--- a/api/app/main.py
+++ b/api/app/main.py
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ from api.app.providers.registry import (
     EternitasProvider,
     GiteaProvider,
     R2Provider,
-    TunnelProvider,
 )
 from api.app.routes import health
 
@@ -86,7 +85,14 @@ async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
         GiteaProvider(settings),
         R2Provider(settings),
         EternitasProvider(settings),
-        TunnelProvider(settings),
+        # NOTE: the tunnel is deliberately NOT probed from here. cloudflared
+        # binds its metrics on the host's loopback, so a container can never
+        # reach it -- the check would be permanently red no matter what the
+        # tunnel is doing. A check that structurally cannot succeed is worse
+        # than no check: it trains people to ignore the dashboard, which is
+        # exactly how a fleet canary goes 37 days dead without anyone noticing.
+        # Tunnel health is a host concern and lives where it can be observed:
+        # systemd Restart=always, plus the runbook's `systemctl status`.
     ]
 
     yield
diff --git a/api/app/providers/registry.py b/api/app/providers/registry.py
index c4945ad..7e27fa3 100644
--- a/api/app/providers/registry.py
+++ b/api/app/providers/registry.py
@@ -104,25 +104,9 @@ class DatabaseProvider(Provider):
         return ProbeResult(True, "postgres reachable", True)
 
 
-class TunnelProvider(Provider):
-    """cloudflared is the only ingress. No inbound port is ever opened (G1.2)."""
-
-    name = "tunnel"
-
-    def __init__(self, settings: Settings) -> None:
-        self._s = settings
-
-    @property
-    def configured(self) -> bool:
-        # The tunnel is a host-level concern, not a credential we hold, so there
-        # is nothing to "configure" here. The probe alone decides health, and in
-        # dev it will honestly say cloudflared is not running (I-8).
-        return True
-
-    async def probe(self) -> ProbeResult:
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=_TIMEOUT) as client:
-            try:
-                r = await client.get(self._s.tunnel_metrics_url)
-            except httpx.RequestError as exc:
-                return ProbeResult(False, f"cloudflared metrics unreachable: {exc}")
-        return ProbeResult(r.status_code == 200, f"cloudflared metrics -> {r.status_code}", True)
+# TunnelProvider was removed deliberately. See the note in main.py: cloudflared
+# binds 127.0.0.1:2000 on the HOST, and this process runs in a container whose
+# only route to the host is the bridge gateway (172.17.0.1), where nothing is
+# listening. Binding the metrics endpoint wider would fix the probe and make a
+# metrics bind failure able to take down ingress -- a worse trade than losing
+# one row on a dashboard. The tunnel is supervised by systemd instead.
diff --git a/api/app/routes/health.py b/api/app/routes/health.py
index d53e589..6160670 100644
--- a/api/app/routes/health.py
+++ b/api/app/routes/health.py
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ async def health_full(request: Request, response: Response) -> dict:
         "status": status,
         "commit_sha": info.commit_sha,
         "checks": checks,
+        # Named, not hidden. An observer should never have to wonder whether a
+        # missing check means healthy or means forgotten.
+        "not_checked_here": {
+            "tunnel": (
+                "host-scoped: cloudflared binds host loopback and is supervised "
+                "by systemd (windygit-tunnel). Verify with `systemctl status`."
+            )
+        },
         # Grandma-words, and the D-9 vocabulary law binds this string.
         "speak": (
             "Everything is working."
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 0e5aee6..37b0697 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@ services:
     # nothing needs to be reachable from the LAN, let alone the internet (G1.6).
     ports: ["127.0.0.1:${API_PORT:-8600}:8600"]
     depends_on: {db: {condition: service_healthy}}
-    # cloudflared runs on the host, not in this network. Without this the tunnel
-    # probe is permanently red and stops meaning anything.
-    extra_hosts: ["host.docker.internal:host-gateway"]
     restart: unless-stopped
 
   gitea: