diff --git a/cmd/bd/compact.go b/cmd/bd/compact.go
index 3c54e0d6..a482bb02 100644
--- a/cmd/bd/compact.go
+++ b/cmd/bd/compact.go
@@ -782,7 +782,7 @@ func init() {
 	compactCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&compactApply, "apply", false, "Apply mode: accept agent-provided summary")
 	compactCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&compactAuto, "auto", false, "Auto mode: AI-powered compaction (legacy)")
 	compactCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&compactPrune, "prune", false, "Prune mode: remove expired tombstones from issues.jsonl (by age)")
-	compactCmd.Flags().IntVar(&compactOlderThan, "older-than", 0, "Prune tombstones older than N days (default: 30)")
+	compactCmd.Flags().IntVar(&compactOlderThan, "older-than", -1, "Prune tombstones older than N days (0=all, default: 30)")
 	compactCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&compactPurgeTombstones, "purge-tombstones", false, "Purge mode: remove tombstones with no open deps (by dependency analysis)")
 	compactCmd.Flags().StringVar(&compactSummary, "summary", "", "Path to summary file (use '-' for stdin)")
 	compactCmd.Flags().StringVar(&compactActor, "actor", "agent", "Actor name for audit trail")
diff --git a/cmd/bd/compact_tombstone.go b/cmd/bd/compact_tombstone.go
index c0d4de30..3d5d26a2 100644
--- a/cmd/bd/compact_tombstone.go
+++ b/cmd/bd/compact_tombstone.go
@@ -175,10 +175,16 @@ func previewPruneTombstones(customTTL time.Duration) (*TombstonePruneResult, err
 func runCompactPrune() {
 	start := time.Now()
 
-	// Calculate TTL from --older-than flag (0 means use default 30 days)
+	// Calculate TTL from --older-than flag
+	// -1 (default) = use 30 day default, 0 = expire all, >0 = N days
 	var customTTL time.Duration
-	if compactOlderThan > 0 {
-		customTTL = time.Duration(compactOlderThan) * 24 * time.Hour
+	if compactOlderThan >= 0 {
+		if compactOlderThan == 0 {
+			// --older-than=0 means "expire all tombstones"
+			customTTL = 1 * time.Nanosecond
+		} else {
+			customTTL = time.Duration(compactOlderThan) * 24 * time.Hour
+		}
 	}
 
 	if compactDryRun {