diff --git a/HANDOFF.md b/HANDOFF.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..58f7664a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/HANDOFF.md
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+# 🤝 HANDOFF: Deacon Heartbeat MOTD Feature
+
+## Current State
+Just finished a productive session enhancing all tmux status bars with:
+- Mail subject previews (instead of just counts)
+- Current work display (in_progress issues from beads)
+- Compact formatting (removed redundant role icons)
+- Cat emoji (😺) for polecat counts
+
+All pushed to main.
+
+## Next Task: Deacon Heartbeat MOTD
+
+The deacon gets a heartbeat/nudge every ~minute. It's a thankless patrol role.
+Make it more fun by adding rotating motivational/educational messages.
+
+### Requirements
+1. Add MOTD (Message of the Day) tips to deacon heartbeat
+2. Rotate through messages - don't repeat consecutively
+3. Mix of:
+   - Gratitude: "Thanks for everything you do!"
+   - Encouragement: "This is Gas Town's most critical role."
+   - Inspiration: "You are the heart of Gas Town! Be watchful!"
+   - Educational tips about Gas Town architecture and theory of operation
+
+### Where to Look
+- Deacon heartbeat logic: likely in `internal/daemon/` or `internal/cmd/deacon.go`
+- Look for where nudges/heartbeats are sent to deacon
+- The message appears in the deacon's tmux pane
+
+### Example Messages to Include
+- "Thanks for keeping the town running!"
+- "You are Gas Town's most critical role."
+- "You are the heart of Gas Town! Be watchful!"
+- "Tip: Polecats are ephemeral workers - spawn freely, kill liberally."
+- "Tip: Witnesses monitor polecats; you monitor witnesses."
+- "Tip: The Refinery handles merge conflicts so polecats don't have to."
+- "Tip: Beads track work across all agents via git-synced issues."
+- "Tip: Mail routes through town-level beads at ~/gt/.beads/"
+- "Tip: Wisps are ephemeral molecules for patrol cycles - never synced."
+- "Tip: Each rig has its own Witness, Refinery, and beads."
+
+### Implementation Ideas
+- Create a slice of messages in a new file (e.g., `internal/deacon/motd.go`)
+- Use time-based or counter-based rotation
+- Maybe store last index in a file to avoid repeats across restarts
+- Or just random selection with simple dedup (don't repeat last message)
+
+### Also Note
+There's a sqlite migration bug in the mail system - "duplicate column name: replies_to".
+May need to fix that or delete the db to reset.
+
+Good luck! 🦉