diff --git a/docs/secret-backends.md b/docs/secret-backends.md
index d53d358..78df3bf 100644
--- a/docs/secret-backends.md
+++ b/docs/secret-backends.md
@@ -118,8 +118,110 @@ That's the whole point of keeping plaintext around — it's the trust root:
    token itself. DB access is now equivalent to OpenBao token access (a single
    key), not equivalent to all API keys in the system.
 
-Follow-up work (not shipped yet) replaces static token auth with Kubernetes
-ServiceAccount auth so no bootstrap token is needed at all.
+#### Kubernetes ServiceAccount auth (no bootstrap token)
+
+`auth: kubernetes` removes the chicken-and-egg entirely: mcpd exchanges its
+projected ServiceAccount JWT for an OpenBao token at
+`auth/<authMount>/role/<role>`, so there is no static credential in the database
+at all. The token is cached for its lease and re-minted lazily with a 60s grace
+window.
+
+```yaml
+kind: secretbackend
+name: bao-k8s
+type: openbao
+isDefault: true
+config:
+  url: https://bao.example
+  auth: kubernetes
+  role: mcpctl
+  authMount: kubernetes-worker0   # defaults to `kubernetes`
+```
+
+Note that the daily **rotator does not apply** to these backends — there is no
+stored token to rotate. That has a consequence for monitoring, see below.
+
+## Reliability
+
+Remote backends are network dependencies on the critical path of nearly
+everything: server env resolution, LLM api keys, chat, git providers, code
+repos, webhooks. Three mechanisms keep an outage from cascading.
+
+### Request hardening
+
+Every call carries a timeout (default 5s) and retries `5xx`/`429`/network
+failures with full-jitter exponential backoff (3 attempts). A **sealed** OpenBao
+answers `503`, so this covers unseal windows and failovers.
+
+The `403` path is separate and deliberately single-shot: the driver purges its
+cached token, re-authenticates and retries **once**. That is a credential
+refresh, not a backend-unavailable condition — looping on it would hide a
+genuinely revoked grant.
+
+### Value cache with stale-while-error
+
+Resolved values are cached per backend (default TTL 5 minutes, LRU-bounded).
+Past the TTL the backend is always consulted; if it fails *as a transport
+failure*, the last known-good value is served instead of throwing.
+
+| Failure | Behaviour |
+|---|---|
+| Backend unreachable / timeout / exhausted 5xx | Serve last known-good, mark degraded, log `BACKEND_UNREACHABLE` once |
+| Secret deleted (404) | **Evict and throw.** Never served stale — that would resurrect a revoked credential |
+| 403 after a token refresh | Throw. Revoked grants must stay loud |
+| Nothing cached yet | Throw |
+
+The stale window is unbounded on purpose: a cap would mean a long outage
+eventually takes mcpd down anyway.
+
+`plaintext` backends are not cached — their `read()` is an identity function
+over the row the caller already supplied.
+
+**Cold cache is the known gap.** If mcpd restarts *while* the backend is
+unreachable, nothing has a last-known-good value and secret-bearing servers fail
+to start. That is deliberate: booting a server with an empty credential is worse
+(gitea-mcp once ran for weeks with an empty `GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN`, answering
+`tools/list` and reporting healthy while every authenticated call failed). mcpd
+mitigates it by warming the cache at boot — one read per referenced secret — so
+an outage that starts *after* startup is fully absorbed.
+
+### Health: `live` vs `ready`
+
+```bash
+curl $MCPD/api/v1/secretbackends/<id>/health
+```
+
+```json
+{ "live": true, "liveDetail": "active",
+  "ready": false, "readyDetail": "OpenBao list: HTTP 403 permission denied",
+  "cache": { "entries": 9, "servingStale": 0 },
+  "rotation": { "rotatable": false, "lastRotationError": null } }
+```
+
+- **`live`** — unauthenticated `sys/health`. Distinguishes *down* from *sealed*
+  from *standby*.
+- **`ready`** — a real read with our credentials.
+
+The two are separate because `live && !ready` is a distinct, important state: a
+re-initialised OpenBao hands back valid-looking tokens that grant nothing.
+Collapsing them into one boolean is what let that go unnoticed for four days.
+
+`mcpctl status` renders the probe directly:
+
+```
+Secrets:    bao-k8s* ✓ reachable, default ✓ reachable
+Secrets:    bao-k8s* ⚠ degraded — serving 7 cached secret(s)
+Secrets:    bao-k8s* ✗ unreachable: sealed
+Secrets:    bao-k8s* ✗ auth failed: HTTP 403 permission denied
+Secrets:    bao-k8s* ? unknown
+```
+
+> **Historical note.** This verdict used to come solely from
+> `tokenMeta.lastRotationError`, which only the rotator writes — and the rotator
+> skips `auth: kubernetes` backends. The Secrets line was therefore *incapable*
+> of going red for a k8s-auth backend, and reported OpenBao healthy while it was
+> unreachable. `?` (probe failed) renders yellow, never green: not knowing is not
+> health.
 
 ## Migration — `mcpctl migrate secrets`
 
diff --git a/src/cli/src/commands/status.ts b/src/cli/src/commands/status.ts
index a523d9d..c2ce0b3 100644
--- a/src/cli/src/commands/status.ts
+++ b/src/cli/src/commands/status.ts
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ interface ServerLlm {
  * of the last credential-rotation failure (e.g. a dead OpenBao token).
  */
 interface SecretBackendInfo {
+  id: string;
   name: string;
   type: string;
   isDefault?: boolean;
@@ -60,6 +61,22 @@ interface SecretBackendInfo {
   } | null;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Live probe result from GET /api/v1/secretbackends/:id/health.
+ *
+ * `live` and `ready` are deliberately separate: a backend that is reachable but
+ * whose credentials no longer grant anything is the failure mode that hid an
+ * OpenBao re-init for four days. `null` means the probe itself failed, which we
+ * report as unknown rather than pretending it means healthy.
+ */
+interface SecretBackendHealth {
+  live: boolean;
+  liveDetail?: string;
+  ready: boolean;
+  readyDetail?: string;
+  cache?: { entries: number; servingStale: number; oldestStaleSince?: number | null } | null;
+}
+
 /**
  * Result of a live "say hi" probe against a server LLM. `ok` says we got a
  * 200 + non-empty content back; `say` is the trimmed first 16 chars of the
@@ -99,6 +116,7 @@ export interface StatusCommandDeps {
   probeServerLlm: (mcpdUrl: string, name: string, token: string | null) => Promise<ServerLlmHealth>;
   /** Fetch SecretBackends from mcpd to surface backend health. Null on error. */
   fetchSecretBackends: (mcpdUrl: string, token: string | null) => Promise<SecretBackendInfo[] | null>;
+  probeSecretBackend: (mcpdUrl: string, id: string, token: string | null) => Promise<SecretBackendHealth | null>;
   isTTY: boolean;
 }
 
@@ -275,6 +293,38 @@ function defaultFetchSecretBackends(mcpdUrl: string, token: string | null): Prom
   });
 }
 
+/**
+ * Live-probe one SecretBackend. Resolves to null on any unhappy path — same
+ * never-throw discipline as the other probes here, and `null` renders as
+ * "unknown", never as healthy.
+ */
+function defaultProbeSecretBackend(mcpdUrl: string, id: string, token: string | null): Promise<SecretBackendHealth | null> {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    let req: http.ClientRequest;
+    const headers: Record<string, string> = { Accept: 'application/json' };
+    if (token !== null) headers['Authorization'] = `Bearer ${token}`;
+    try {
+      req = httpDriverFor(mcpdUrl).get(`${mcpdUrl}/api/v1/secretbackends/${id}/health`, { timeout: 5000, headers }, (res) => {
+        if (res.statusCode !== 200) { resolve(null); res.resume(); return; }
+        const chunks: Buffer[] = [];
+        res.on('data', (chunk: Buffer) => chunks.push(chunk));
+        res.on('end', () => {
+          try {
+            resolve(JSON.parse(Buffer.concat(chunks).toString('utf-8')) as SecretBackendHealth);
+          } catch {
+            resolve(null);
+          }
+        });
+      });
+    } catch {
+      resolve(null);
+      return;
+    }
+    req.on('error', () => resolve(null));
+    req.on('timeout', () => { req.destroy(); resolve(null); });
+  });
+}
+
 /**
  * POST a tiny "say hi" prompt to /api/v1/llms/<name>/infer and decide if
  * the LLM actually serves inference. Returns ok=true when the response is
@@ -386,6 +436,7 @@ const defaultDeps: StatusCommandDeps = {
   fetchProviders: defaultFetchProviders,
   fetchServerLlms: defaultFetchServerLlms,
   fetchSecretBackends: defaultFetchSecretBackends,
+  probeSecretBackend: defaultProbeSecretBackend,
   probeServerLlm: defaultProbeServerLlm,
   isTTY: process.stdout.isTTY ?? false,
 };
@@ -448,7 +499,7 @@ function formatProviderStatus(name: string, info: ProvidersInfo, ansi: boolean):
 }
 
 export function createStatusCommand(deps?: Partial<StatusCommandDeps>): Command {
-  const { configDeps, credentialsDeps, log, write, checkHealth, checkLlm, fetchModels, fetchProviders, fetchServerLlms, probeServerLlm, fetchSecretBackends, isTTY } = { ...defaultDeps, ...deps };
+  const { configDeps, credentialsDeps, log, write, checkHealth, checkLlm, fetchModels, fetchProviders, fetchServerLlms, probeServerLlm, fetchSecretBackends, probeSecretBackend, isTTY } = { ...defaultDeps, ...deps };
 
   return new Command('status')
     .description('Show mcpctl status and connectivity')
@@ -482,6 +533,30 @@ export function createStatusCommand(deps?: Partial<StatusCommandDeps>): Command
             })))
           : null;
 
+        // Same live probe the table view uses. `healthy` is derived from the
+        // probe, NOT from tokenMeta.lastRotationError — that field is only ever
+        // written for token-auth backends, so scripts consuming it were told
+        // every kubernetes-auth backend was healthy unconditionally.
+        const secretBackendsWithHealth = secretBackends !== null
+          ? await Promise.all(secretBackends.map(async (b) => {
+              const health = await probeSecretBackend(config.mcpdUrl, b.id, token);
+              return {
+                name: b.name,
+                type: b.type,
+                healthy: health !== null && health.live && health.ready,
+                live: health?.live ?? null,
+                ready: health?.ready ?? null,
+                servingStale: health?.cache?.servingStale ?? 0,
+                error: health === null
+                  ? 'health probe failed'
+                  : !health.live ? (health.liveDetail ?? 'unreachable')
+                  : !health.ready ? (health.readyDetail ?? 'auth failed')
+                  : null,
+                rotationError: b.tokenMeta?.lastRotationError ?? null,
+              };
+            }))
+          : null;
+
         const llm = llmLabel
           ? llmStatus === 'ok' ? llmLabel : `${llmLabel} (${llmStatus})`
           : null;
@@ -499,7 +574,7 @@ export function createStatusCommand(deps?: Partial<StatusCommandDeps>): Command
           llmStatus,
           ...(providersInfo ? { providers: providersInfo } : {}),
           ...(serverLlmsWithHealth !== null ? { serverLlms: serverLlmsWithHealth } : {}),
-          ...(secretBackends !== null ? { secretBackends: secretBackends.map((b) => ({ name: b.name, type: b.type, healthy: !b.tokenMeta?.lastRotationError, error: b.tokenMeta?.lastRotationError ?? null })) } : {}),
+          ...(secretBackends !== null ? { secretBackends: secretBackendsWithHealth } : {}),
         };
 
         log(opts.output === 'json' ? formatJson(status) : formatYaml(status));
@@ -530,7 +605,7 @@ export function createStatusCommand(deps?: Partial<StatusCommandDeps>): Command
 
       if (!llmLabel) {
         log(`LLM:        not configured (run 'mcpctl config setup')`);
-        await renderSecretBackendsSection(secretBackendsPromise, isTTY);
+        await renderSecretBackendsSection(secretBackendsPromise, isTTY, config.mcpdUrl, token);
         await renderServerLlmsSection(serverLlmsPromise, config.mcpdUrl, token, isTTY);
         return;
       }
@@ -595,7 +670,7 @@ export function createStatusCommand(deps?: Partial<StatusCommandDeps>): Command
         }
       }
 
-      await renderSecretBackendsSection(secretBackendsPromise, isTTY);
+      await renderSecretBackendsSection(secretBackendsPromise, isTTY, config.mcpdUrl, token);
       await renderServerLlmsSection(serverLlmsPromise, config.mcpdUrl, token, isTTY);
     });
 
@@ -609,21 +684,50 @@ export function createStatusCommand(deps?: Partial<StatusCommandDeps>): Command
   async function renderSecretBackendsSection(
     backendsPromise: Promise<SecretBackendInfo[] | null>,
     ansi: boolean,
+    mcpdUrl: string,
+    token: string | null,
   ): Promise<void> {
     const backends = await backendsPromise;
     if (backends === null || backends.length === 0) return;
-    const parts = backends.map((b) => {
-      const err = b.tokenMeta?.lastRotationError;
-      const tag = b.isDefault ? `${b.name}*` : b.name;
-      if (err) {
-        const short = err.split('\n')[0]?.slice(0, 80) ?? 'error';
-        return ansi ? `${tag} ${RED}✗ ${short}${RESET}` : `${tag} ✗ ${short}`;
-      }
-      return ansi ? `${tag} ${GREEN}✓${RESET}` : `${tag} ✓`;
-    });
+    const healths = await Promise.all(backends.map((b) => probeSecretBackend(mcpdUrl, b.id, token)));
+    const parts = backends.map((b, i) => renderOneBackend(b, healths[i] ?? null, ansi));
     log(`Secrets:    ${parts.join(', ')}`);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Render one backend's status line.
+   *
+   * This used to be `tokenMeta.lastRotationError ? red : green`, which was a
+   * hard-coded green tick for every `auth: kubernetes` backend — the rotator
+   * only writes that field for token-auth backends, so it was never set and
+   * `mcpctl status` reported OpenBao healthy even when it was unreachable.
+   * Rotation state is now one clause among several, not the only signal.
+   */
+  function renderOneBackend(b: SecretBackendInfo, health: SecretBackendHealth | null, ansi: boolean): string {
+    const tag = b.isDefault === true ? `${b.name}*` : b.name;
+    const paint = (colour: string, text: string): string => (ansi ? `${colour}${text}${RESET}` : text);
+    const rotationErr = b.tokenMeta?.lastRotationError ?? '';
+    const rotationClause = rotationErr === ''
+      ? ''
+      : ` (rotation: ${rotationErr.split('\n')[0]?.slice(0, 60) ?? 'error'})`;
+
+    if (health === null) {
+      // The probe itself failed. Unknown is not healthy — say so.
+      return `${tag} ${paint(YELLOW, '? unknown')}${rotationClause}`;
+    }
+    if (!health.live) {
+      return `${tag} ${paint(RED, `✗ unreachable: ${health.liveDetail ?? 'no detail'}`)}${rotationClause}`;
+    }
+    if (!health.ready) {
+      return `${tag} ${paint(RED, `✗ auth failed: ${(health.readyDetail ?? 'no detail').slice(0, 60)}`)}${rotationClause}`;
+    }
+    const stale = health.cache?.servingStale ?? 0;
+    if (stale > 0) {
+      return `${tag} ${paint(YELLOW, `⚠ degraded — serving ${String(stale)} cached secret(s)`)}${rotationClause}`;
+    }
+    return `${tag} ${paint(GREEN, '✓ reachable')}${rotationClause}`;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Print a "Server LLMs:" section listing mcpd-managed Llm rows by tier
    * with a per-LLM "say hi" liveness probe. Distinct from the mcplocal-side
diff --git a/src/cli/tests/commands/status.test.ts b/src/cli/tests/commands/status.test.ts
index d627b55..b6b5ee9 100644
--- a/src/cli/tests/commands/status.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/tests/commands/status.test.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ function baseDeps(overrides?: Partial<StatusCommandDeps>): Partial<StatusCommand
     fetchServerLlms: async () => null,
     probeServerLlm: async () => ({ ok: true, ms: 12, say: 'hi' }),
     fetchSecretBackends: async () => null,
+    probeSecretBackend: async () => ({ live: true, ready: true, cache: { entries: 0, servingStale: 0 } }),
     isTTY: false,
     ...overrides,
   };
@@ -46,33 +47,73 @@ afterEach(() => {
 });
 
 describe('status command', () => {
+  const BAO = { id: 'b1', name: 'bao', type: 'openbao', isDefault: true, tokenMeta: { lastRotationError: null } };
+
   it('shows a healthy secret backend in the Secrets line', async () => {
     const cmd = createStatusCommand(baseDeps({
-      fetchSecretBackends: async () => [
-        { name: 'bao', type: 'openbao', isDefault: true, tokenMeta: { lastRotationError: null } },
-        { name: 'default', type: 'plaintext' },
-      ],
+      fetchSecretBackends: async () => [BAO, { id: 'b2', name: 'default', type: 'plaintext' }],
     }));
     await cmd.parseAsync([], { from: 'user' });
     const out = output.join('\n');
     expect(out).toContain('Secrets:');
-    expect(out).toContain('bao* ✓');
-    expect(out).toContain('default ✓');
+    expect(out).toContain('bao* ✓ reachable');
+    expect(out).toContain('default ✓ reachable');
   });
 
   it('flags a dead secret-backend token in the Secrets line', async () => {
     const cmd = createStatusCommand(baseDeps({
       fetchSecretBackends: async () => [
-        { name: 'bao', type: 'openbao', isDefault: true, tokenMeta: { lastRotationError: 'BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD: rejected the stored token\nmore detail' } },
+        { ...BAO, tokenMeta: { lastRotationError: 'BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD: rejected the stored token\nmore detail' } },
       ],
     }));
     await cmd.parseAsync([], { from: 'user' });
     const out = output.join('\n');
-    expect(out).toContain('bao* ✗');
     expect(out).toContain('BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD');
     expect(out).not.toContain('more detail'); // only first line, truncated
   });
 
+  it('reports an unreachable backend even when rotation never errored', async () => {
+    // THE bug: a kubernetes-auth backend never writes tokenMeta.lastRotationError,
+    // so this line used to render a green tick with OpenBao completely down.
+    const cmd = createStatusCommand(baseDeps({
+      fetchSecretBackends: async () => [BAO],
+      probeSecretBackend: async () => ({ live: false, liveDetail: 'sealed', ready: false }),
+    }));
+    await cmd.parseAsync([], { from: 'user' });
+    const out = output.join('\n');
+    expect(out).toContain('bao* ✗ unreachable: sealed');
+    expect(out).not.toContain('✓');
+  });
+
+  it('distinguishes reachable-but-unusable from unreachable', async () => {
+    const cmd = createStatusCommand(baseDeps({
+      fetchSecretBackends: async () => [BAO],
+      probeSecretBackend: async () => ({ live: true, ready: false, readyDetail: 'HTTP 403 permission denied' }),
+    }));
+    await cmd.parseAsync([], { from: 'user' });
+    expect(output.join('\n')).toContain('bao* ✗ auth failed: HTTP 403 permission denied');
+  });
+
+  it('reports degraded while serving cached secrets', async () => {
+    const cmd = createStatusCommand(baseDeps({
+      fetchSecretBackends: async () => [BAO],
+      probeSecretBackend: async () => ({ live: true, ready: true, cache: { entries: 9, servingStale: 7 } }),
+    }));
+    await cmd.parseAsync([], { from: 'user' });
+    expect(output.join('\n')).toContain('bao* ⚠ degraded — serving 7 cached secret(s)');
+  });
+
+  it('reports unknown — never healthy — when the probe itself fails', async () => {
+    const cmd = createStatusCommand(baseDeps({
+      fetchSecretBackends: async () => [BAO],
+      probeSecretBackend: async () => null,
+    }));
+    await cmd.parseAsync([], { from: 'user' });
+    const out = output.join('\n');
+    expect(out).toContain('bao* ? unknown');
+    expect(out).not.toContain('✓');
+  });
+
   it('omits the Secrets line when mcpd returns no backends', async () => {
     const cmd = createStatusCommand(baseDeps({ fetchSecretBackends: async () => null }));
     await cmd.parseAsync([], { from: 'user' });
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/bootstrap/warm-secret-cache.ts b/src/mcpd/src/bootstrap/warm-secret-cache.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..665f984
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/bootstrap/warm-secret-cache.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/**
+ * One-shot: resolve every secret that a running server depends on, so the
+ * value cache holds a last-known-good copy before anything needs it.
+ *
+ * The caching driver absorbs a backend outage by serving the last value it saw
+ * — but only for secrets it has actually seen. Without this, a cold mcpd (fresh
+ * deploy, pod reschedule, crash-restart) has an empty cache, and if the backend
+ * is unreachable at that moment every secret-bearing server fails to start.
+ *
+ * This is the honest mitigation, and it is deliberately partial: if the backend
+ * is ALSO down at boot, this changes nothing and instances fail loudly, which
+ * is correct. The alternatives — persisting last-known-good to Postgres or to
+ * disk — are just "plaintext secrets at rest" wearing a hat, which is the thing
+ * we are trying to move away from.
+ *
+ * Best-effort by construction: a failure here must never block startup, and the
+ * warm is per-secret so one bad reference doesn't abandon the rest.
+ */
+import type { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
+import type { SecretService } from '../services/secret.service.js';
+import type { ServerEnvEntry } from '../validation/mcp-server.schema.js';
+
+export interface WarmLog {
+  info: (msg: string) => void;
+  warn: (msg: string) => void;
+}
+
+export async function warmSecretCache(
+  prisma: PrismaClient,
+  secrets: SecretService,
+  log: WarmLog,
+): Promise<{ warmed: number; failed: number }> {
+  const servers = await prisma.mcpServer.findMany({
+    where: { replicas: { gt: 0 } },
+    select: { name: true, env: true },
+  });
+
+  // Distinct (secret, key) pairs — several servers commonly share one secret,
+  // and there is no point paying for the same read more than once.
+  const refs = new Map<string, { name: string; key: string }>();
+  for (const server of servers) {
+    for (const entry of (server.env ?? []) as ServerEnvEntry[]) {
+      const ref = entry.valueFrom?.secretRef;
+      if (ref === undefined) continue;
+      refs.set(`${ref.name}/${ref.key}`, { name: ref.name, key: ref.key });
+    }
+  }
+  if (refs.size === 0) return { warmed: 0, failed: 0 };
+
+  let warmed = 0;
+  let failed = 0;
+  for (const ref of refs.values()) {
+    try {
+      // Value deliberately discarded — we only want it in the cache.
+      await secrets.resolve(ref.name, ref.key);
+      warmed++;
+    } catch {
+      // Expected when the backend is down, or when a server references a
+      // secret that no longer exists. Neither should block startup, and both
+      // surface loudly at instance-start time anyway.
+      failed++;
+    }
+  }
+
+  log.info(`secret cache warm: ${String(warmed)} resolved, ${String(failed)} unavailable`);
+  return { warmed, failed };
+}
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/main.ts b/src/mcpd/src/main.ts
index 02a92a5..16964bd 100644
--- a/src/mcpd/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/main.ts
@@ -25,11 +25,13 @@ import { SecretBackendService } from './services/secret-backend.service.js';
 import { SecretMigrateService } from './services/secret-migrate.service.js';
 import { bootstrapSecretBackends } from './bootstrap/secret-backends.js';
 import { backfillSecretKeyNames } from './bootstrap/secret-key-names.js';
+import { warmSecretCache } from './bootstrap/warm-secret-cache.js';
 import { registerSecretBackendRoutes } from './routes/secret-backends.js';
 import { registerSecretMigrateRoutes } from './routes/secret-migrate.js';
 import { SecretBackendRotator } from './services/secret-backend-rotator.service.js';
 import { SecretBackendRotatorLoop } from './services/secret-backend-rotator-loop.js';
 import { registerSecretBackendRotateRoutes } from './routes/secret-backend-rotate.js';
+import { registerSecretBackendHealthRoutes } from './routes/secret-backend-health.js';
 import { LlmRepository } from './repositories/llm.repository.js';
 import { LlmService } from './services/llm.service.js';
 import { InferenceTaskRepository } from './repositories/inference-task.repository.js';
@@ -474,16 +476,32 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
       },
     },
     secretRefResolver: secretResolverBridge,
+  }, {
+    // Cache-transition events go through pino so BACKEND_UNREACHABLE /
+    // BACKEND_RECOVERED land in ErrorLogBuffer and `mcpctl errors`.
+    log: {
+      warn: (obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string): void => { app.log.warn(obj, msg); },
+      info: (obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string): void => { app.log.info(obj, msg); },
+    },
   });
   const secretService = new SecretService(secretRepo, secretBackendService);
   const secretMigrateService = new SecretMigrateService(secretRepo, secretBackendService);
   const secretBackendRotator = new SecretBackendRotator({
     backends: secretBackendService,
     secrets: secretService,
+    log: {
+      error: (obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string): void => { app.log.error(obj, msg); },
+      warn: (msg: string): void => { app.log.warn(msg); },
+    },
   });
   const secretBackendRotatorLoop = new SecretBackendRotatorLoop({
     backends: secretBackendService,
     rotator: secretBackendRotator,
+    log: {
+      info: (msg: string): void => { app.log.info(`[rotator] ${msg}`); },
+      warn: (msg: string): void => { app.log.warn(`[rotator] ${msg}`); },
+      error: (obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string): void => { app.log.error(obj, msg); },
+    },
   });
   const llmAdapters = new LlmAdapterRegistry();
   // LlmService takes the adapter registry so create()/update() can run an
@@ -673,6 +691,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
   registerSecretRoutes(app, secretService);
   registerSecretBackendRoutes(app, secretBackendService);
   registerSecretBackendRotateRoutes(app, secretBackendRotator);
+  registerSecretBackendHealthRoutes(app, secretBackendService);
   registerSecretMigrateRoutes(app, secretMigrateService);
   registerLlmRoutes(app, llmService);
   registerAgentRoutes(app, agentService);
@@ -960,6 +979,18 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
     app.log.error({ err }, 'secret keyNames backfill failed');
   });
 
+  // One-shot: pre-populate the secret value cache so a later backend outage is
+  // absorbed rather than cascading into instance ERROR loops. Best-effort — if
+  // the backend is already down at boot this is a no-op and instances fail
+  // honestly. See bootstrap/warm-secret-cache.ts.
+  warmSecretCache(
+    prisma,
+    secretService,
+    { info: (m: string): void => { app.log.info(m); }, warn: (m: string): void => { app.log.warn(m); } },
+  ).catch((err: unknown) => {
+    app.log.warn({ err }, 'secret cache warm failed (non-fatal)');
+  });
+
   // Graceful shutdown
   setupGracefulShutdown(app, {
     disconnectDb: async () => {
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/routes/secret-backend-health.ts b/src/mcpd/src/routes/secret-backend-health.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a0e457
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/routes/secret-backend-health.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/**
+ * GET /api/v1/secretbackends/:id/health — a live probe of a secret backend.
+ *
+ * Exists because the only health signal we had was `tokenMeta.lastRotationError`,
+ * and the rotator writes that field ONLY for `auth: 'token'` backends
+ * (`SecretBackendRotator.isRotatable()`). A `kubernetes`-auth backend therefore
+ * never wrote it and rendered a hard-coded green tick in `mcpctl status` — even
+ * with OpenBao completely unreachable.
+ *
+ * Two signals, deliberately separate, mirroring the liveness/readiness split
+ * that instance health probes already use:
+ *
+ *   live   — is the backend reachable at all?      (unauthenticated)
+ *   ready  — can we actually read through it?      (uses our credentials)
+ *
+ * A backend that is `live` but not `ready` is the exact shape of a re-initialised
+ * OpenBao that left us holding valid-looking tokens granting nothing. Collapsing
+ * the two into one boolean is what hid that for four days.
+ *
+ * RBAC: no special mapping needed — `mapUrlToPermission` falls through to the
+ * generic `secretbackends` resource, so a GET requires `view:secretbackends`.
+ */
+import type { FastifyInstance } from 'fastify';
+import type { SecretBackendService } from '../services/secret-backend.service.js';
+import { NotFoundError } from '../services/mcp-server.service.js';
+
+interface TokenMetaShape {
+  lastRotationAt?: string;
+  lastRotationError?: string | null;
+  rotatable?: boolean;
+}
+
+export function registerSecretBackendHealthRoutes(
+  app: FastifyInstance,
+  backends: SecretBackendService,
+): void {
+  app.get<{ Params: { id: string } }>('/api/v1/secretbackends/:id/health', async (request, reply) => {
+    try {
+      const backend = await backends.getById(request.params.id);
+      const driver = backends.driverFor(backend);
+
+      const live = await driver.healthCheck?.() ?? { ok: true, detail: 'no probe' };
+      // Only probe readiness if the backend answered at all — otherwise the
+      // auth check just re-reports the same outage with a confusing message.
+      const ready = live.ok
+        ? await driver.authCheck?.() ?? { ok: true, detail: 'no probe' }
+        : { ok: false, detail: 'not probed (backend unreachable)' };
+
+      const meta = (backend.tokenMeta ?? {}) as TokenMetaShape;
+      const cache = backends.cacheStatsFor(backend);
+
+      return {
+        backend: backend.name,
+        type: backend.type,
+        live: live.ok,
+        liveDetail: live.detail,
+        ready: ready.ok,
+        readyDetail: ready.detail,
+        // Present only for cached (remote) backends; plaintext has no cache.
+        cache: cache ?? null,
+        rotation: {
+          rotatable: meta.rotatable ?? false,
+          lastRotationAt: meta.lastRotationAt ?? null,
+          lastRotationError: meta.lastRotationError ?? null,
+        },
+      };
+    } catch (err) {
+      if (err instanceof NotFoundError) {
+        reply.code(404);
+        return { error: err.message };
+      }
+      reply.code(502);
+      return { error: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err) };
+    }
+  });
+}
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend-rotator-loop.ts b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend-rotator-loop.ts
index 2fae8ce..0cbef82 100644
--- a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend-rotator-loop.ts
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend-rotator-loop.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,11 @@ export interface SecretBackendRotatorLoopDeps {
   /** Override in tests. */
   setTimeout?: (cb: () => void, ms: number) => NodeJS.Timeout;
   clearTimeout?: (t: NodeJS.Timeout) => void;
-  log?: { info: (msg: string) => void; warn: (msg: string) => void };
+  log?: {
+    info: (msg: string) => void;
+    warn: (msg: string) => void;
+    error: (obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string) => void;
+  };
 }
 
 const DEFAULT_INTERVAL_MS = 24 * 3600 * 1000;
@@ -36,7 +40,7 @@ export class SecretBackendRotatorLoop {
   private readonly timers = new Map<string, NodeJS.Timeout>();
   private readonly setT: (cb: () => void, ms: number) => NodeJS.Timeout;
   private readonly clearT: (t: NodeJS.Timeout) => void;
-  private readonly log: { info: (msg: string) => void; warn: (msg: string) => void };
+  private readonly log: NonNullable<SecretBackendRotatorLoopDeps['log']>;
   private stopped = false;
 
   constructor(private readonly deps: SecretBackendRotatorLoopDeps) {
@@ -44,9 +48,11 @@ export class SecretBackendRotatorLoop {
     this.clearT = deps.clearTimeout ?? ((t) => global.clearTimeout(t));
     this.log = deps.log ?? {
       // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-      info: (m) => console.log(`[rotator] ${m}`),
+      info: (m: string): void => { console.log(`[rotator] ${m}`); },
       // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-      warn: (m) => console.warn(`[rotator] ${m}`),
+      warn: (m: string): void => { console.warn(`[rotator] ${m}`); },
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+      error: (obj: Record<string, unknown>, m: string): void => { console.error(JSON.stringify({ level: 'fatal', ...obj, message: m })); },
     };
   }
 
@@ -70,13 +76,10 @@ export class SecretBackendRotatorLoop {
       this.deps.rotator.healthCheck(b.id)
         .then((res) => {
           if (!res.ok) {
-            // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-            console.error(JSON.stringify({
-              level: 'fatal',
-              kind: 'BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD',
-              backend: b.name,
-              message: res.message ?? 'unknown',
-            }));
+            this.log.error(
+              { kind: 'BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD', backend: b.name },
+              res.message ?? 'unknown',
+            );
             this.log.warn(`backend '${b.name}' health check failed: ${res.message ?? 'unknown'}`);
           }
         })
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend-rotator.service.ts b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend-rotator.service.ts
index 0a8ed11..27a8989 100644
--- a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend-rotator.service.ts
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend-rotator.service.ts
@@ -53,18 +53,37 @@ export interface TokenMeta {
   rotatable?: boolean;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Structured logger. Must be a real pino-shaped logger in production: the
+ * `BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD` fatals below used to go out via bare `console.error`,
+ * which bypasses the pino multistream feeding `ErrorLogBuffer` — so the one
+ * failure `mcpctl errors` exists to surface was the one it never saw.
+ */
+export interface RotatorLog {
+  error(obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string): void;
+  warn(msg: string): void;
+}
+
 export interface SecretBackendRotatorDeps {
   backends: SecretBackendService;
   secrets: SecretService;
   fetch?: typeof globalThis.fetch;
   now?: () => Date;
+  log?: RotatorLog;
 }
 
 export class SecretBackendRotator {
   private readonly now: () => Date;
+  private readonly log: RotatorLog;
 
   constructor(private readonly deps: SecretBackendRotatorDeps) {
     this.now = deps.now ?? (() => new Date());
+    this.log = deps.log ?? {
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+      error: (obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string): void => { console.error(JSON.stringify({ level: 'fatal', ...obj, message: msg })); },
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+      warn: (msg: string): void => { console.warn(msg); },
+    };
   }
 
   /** True iff this backend is a wizard-provisioned token-auth openbao with rotation enabled. */
@@ -144,15 +163,16 @@ export class SecretBackendRotator {
         : err;
       const wrappedMsg = wrapped instanceof Error ? wrapped.message : String(wrapped);
       await this.recordError(backendId, meta, wrappedMsg);
-      // Loud, structured log so the operator sees it in `kubectl logs deploy/mcpd`.
-      // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-      console.error(JSON.stringify({
-        level: 'fatal',
-        kind: tokenDead ? 'BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD' : 'BACKEND_ROTATION_FAILED',
-        backend: backend.name,
-        url: cfg.url,
-        message: wrappedMsg,
-      }));
+      // Loud and structured, through pino so it also lands in ErrorLogBuffer
+      // and therefore in `mcpctl errors` — not just in `kubectl logs`.
+      this.log.error(
+        {
+          kind: tokenDead ? 'BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD' : 'BACKEND_ROTATION_FAILED',
+          backend: backend.name,
+          url: cfg.url,
+        },
+        wrappedMsg,
+      );
       throw wrapped;
     }
 
@@ -164,7 +184,7 @@ export class SecretBackendRotator {
         // Log but don't fail the rotation — the new token is already live.
         const msg = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
         // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-        console.warn(`rotation: revoke old accessor '${oldAccessor}' on backend '${backend.name}' failed (continuing): ${msg}`);
+        this.log.warn(`rotation: revoke old accessor '${oldAccessor}' on backend '${backend.name}' failed (continuing): ${msg}`);
       }
     }
 
@@ -249,7 +269,7 @@ export class SecretBackendRotator {
     } catch (inner) {
       // Don't mask the original error — just log the DB failure.
       // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-      console.warn(`rotation: failed to persist lastRotationError (${message}): ${inner instanceof Error ? inner.message : String(inner)}`);
+      this.log.warn(`rotation: failed to persist lastRotationError (${message}): ${inner instanceof Error ? inner.message : String(inner)}`);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend.service.ts b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend.service.ts
index fcf5d97..c1578a1 100644
--- a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend.service.ts
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backend.service.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import type { SecretBackend } from '@prisma/client';
 import type { ISecretBackendRepository } from '../repositories/secret-backend.repository.js';
 import type { SecretBackendDriver } from './secret-backends/types.js';
 import { createDriver, type DriverFactoryDeps } from './secret-backends/factory.js';
+import { CachingSecretBackendDriver, type CachingDriverOptions, type CacheStats } from './secret-backends/caching.js';
 import { NotFoundError, ConflictError } from './mcp-server.service.js';
 
 export class SecretBackendInUseError extends Error {
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ export class SecretBackendService {
   constructor(
     private readonly repo: ISecretBackendRepository,
     private readonly driverDeps: DriverFactoryDeps,
+    private readonly cacheOpts: CachingDriverOptions = {},
   ) {}
 
   async list(): Promise<SecretBackend[]> {
@@ -87,12 +89,34 @@ export class SecretBackendService {
     this.driverCache.delete(id);
   }
 
-  /** Get the driver for a given backend id, creating + caching on first call. */
+  /**
+   * Get the driver for a given backend id, creating + caching on first call.
+   *
+   * Remote backends are wrapped in `CachingSecretBackendDriver` so a backend
+   * outage degrades to "serving last known-good" instead of failing every
+   * caller. `plaintext` is deliberately NOT wrapped: its `read()` is an
+   * identity function over the DB row passed in by the caller, so a value cache
+   * there would serve pre-update data with nothing to invalidate it.
+   *
+   * Config changes invalidate for free — `update()` and `delete()` drop this
+   * map, and the value cache lives inside the driver instance, which is right:
+   * if `url`/`mount`/`pathPrefix` change, the cached names now mean something
+   * different.
+   */
   driverFor(backend: SecretBackend): SecretBackendDriver {
     const cached = this.driverCache.get(backend.id);
     if (cached) return cached;
-    const driver = createDriver(backend, this.driverDeps);
+    const base = createDriver(backend, this.driverDeps);
+    const driver = backend.type === 'plaintext'
+      ? base
+      : new CachingSecretBackendDriver(base, { ...this.cacheOpts, backendName: backend.name });
     this.driverCache.set(backend.id, driver);
     return driver;
   }
+
+  /** Cache state for a backend, for the health endpoint. Never exposes values. */
+  cacheStatsFor(backend: SecretBackend): CacheStats | undefined {
+    const driver = this.driverFor(backend);
+    return driver instanceof CachingSecretBackendDriver ? driver.stats() : undefined;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/caching.ts b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/caching.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22b4276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/caching.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,198 @@
+/**
+ * Caching + stale-while-error decorator for any `SecretBackendDriver`.
+ *
+ * ## Why this exists
+ *
+ * `SecretService.resolveData()` calls `driver.read()` on *every* use, and every
+ * consumer funnels through it: server env resolution, LLM api keys, chat, git
+ * providers, code repos, webhooks. With a remote backend that means one network
+ * round-trip per secret per call, and — worse — any OpenBao blip propagates
+ * straight through. An instance that restarts during a blip fails env
+ * resolution, gets marked ERROR, and enters a 30s×5-then-5min backoff
+ * (`instance.service.ts`), so a few seconds of backend unavailability turns
+ * into minutes of degraded service.
+ *
+ * ## Semantics
+ *
+ * - **Fresh** (age < ttlMs): served from memory, no network.
+ * - **Stale-while-error**: past the TTL we always try the backend first. If it
+ *   answers, we refresh. If it fails *as a transport failure*
+ *   (`SecretBackendUnavailableError`), we serve the last known-good value
+ *   instead of throwing. This is the part that actually stops the ERROR storm.
+ * - **`SecretNotFoundError` evicts and rethrows.** Never served stale — that
+ *   would resurrect a deliberately deleted or revoked credential, which is
+ *   strictly worse than an outage.
+ * - **Any other error rethrows, without stale.** A 403 that survives a token
+ *   refresh means our grants were revoked; papering over it with cached data is
+ *   exactly how an upstream OpenBao re-init once went unnoticed for four days.
+ * - **No negative caching.** A miss must re-check; retry/backoff already lives
+ *   in the driver.
+ *
+ * The stale window is deliberately unbounded. A cap would mean a long outage
+ * eventually takes mcpd down anyway, which defeats the purpose, and the
+ * revoked-credential case is already handled definitively by `SecretNotFound`.
+ *
+ * ## What this does NOT fix
+ *
+ * A cold cache during an outage. If mcpd restarts while the backend is
+ * unreachable, nothing has a last-known-good value and secret-bearing servers
+ * fail to start — honestly, with a loud error. That is the correct behaviour:
+ * booting a server with an empty credential is the failure mode that had
+ * gitea-mcp reporting healthy while every authed call failed. The mitigation is
+ * to warm this cache at boot, not to invent a value.
+ *
+ * Values live in heap in cleartext for the TTL, so the map is bounded (LRU) and
+ * values are never logged.
+ */
+import type { SecretBackendDriver, SecretData, ExternalRef } from './types.js';
+import { SecretNotFoundError, SecretBackendUnavailableError } from './types.js';
+
+export interface CachingDriverLog {
+  warn(obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string): void;
+  info(obj: Record<string, unknown>, msg: string): void;
+}
+
+export interface CachingDriverOptions {
+  /** How long a value is served without consulting the backend. */
+  ttlMs?: number;
+  /** LRU bound — these are plaintext credentials held in memory. */
+  maxEntries?: number;
+  /** Backend name, for log context only. */
+  backendName?: string;
+  now?: () => number;
+  log?: CachingDriverLog;
+}
+
+interface CacheEntry {
+  data: SecretData;
+  fetchedAt: number;
+  /** Set when we last served this past its TTL because the backend was down. */
+  staleSince: number | undefined;
+}
+
+export const DEFAULT_CACHE_TTL_MS = 300_000;
+export const DEFAULT_CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES = 500;
+
+const NOOP_LOG: CachingDriverLog = { warn: () => undefined, info: () => undefined };
+
+export interface CacheStats {
+  entries: number;
+  servingStale: number;
+  oldestStaleSince: number | undefined;
+}
+
+export class CachingSecretBackendDriver implements SecretBackendDriver {
+  readonly kind: string;
+
+  private readonly entries = new Map<string, CacheEntry>();
+  private readonly ttlMs: number;
+  private readonly maxEntries: number;
+  private readonly backendName: string;
+  private readonly nowFn: () => number;
+  private readonly log: CachingDriverLog;
+
+  constructor(private readonly inner: SecretBackendDriver, opts: CachingDriverOptions = {}) {
+    this.kind = `cached:${inner.kind}`;
+    this.ttlMs = opts.ttlMs ?? DEFAULT_CACHE_TTL_MS;
+    this.maxEntries = opts.maxEntries ?? DEFAULT_CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES;
+    this.backendName = opts.backendName ?? inner.kind;
+    this.nowFn = opts.now ?? ((): number => Date.now());
+    this.log = opts.log ?? NOOP_LOG;
+  }
+
+  async read(input: { name: string; externalRef: ExternalRef; data: SecretData }): Promise<SecretData> {
+    const now = this.nowFn();
+    const cached = this.entries.get(input.name);
+
+    if (cached !== undefined && now - cached.fetchedAt < this.ttlMs) {
+      this.touch(input.name, cached);
+      return cached.data;
+    }
+
+    try {
+      const data = await this.inner.read(input);
+      if (cached?.staleSince !== undefined) {
+        // Edge-triggered: only on the transition back to healthy.
+        this.log.info(
+          { kind: 'BACKEND_RECOVERED', backend: this.backendName, secret: input.name,
+            staleForMs: now - cached.staleSince },
+          `secret backend '${this.backendName}' recovered; '${input.name}' is live again`,
+        );
+      }
+      this.store(input.name, { data, fetchedAt: now, staleSince: undefined });
+      return data;
+    } catch (err) {
+      if (err instanceof SecretNotFoundError) {
+        // Definitive. Drop the stale copy so we can never hand it out later.
+        this.entries.delete(input.name);
+        throw err;
+      }
+      if (!(err instanceof SecretBackendUnavailableError) || cached === undefined) {
+        throw err;
+      }
+      if (cached.staleSince === undefined) {
+        cached.staleSince = now;
+        this.log.warn(
+          { kind: 'BACKEND_UNREACHABLE', backend: this.backendName, secret: input.name,
+            ageMs: now - cached.fetchedAt, reason: err.message },
+          `secret backend '${this.backendName}' unreachable; serving cached '${input.name}'`,
+        );
+      }
+      this.touch(input.name, cached);
+      return cached.data;
+    }
+  }
+
+  async write(input: { name: string; data: SecretData }): Promise<{ externalRef: ExternalRef; storedData: SecretData }> {
+    const result = await this.inner.write(input);
+    // Cache what a subsequent read() would return — the values just written —
+    // not `storedData`, which remote drivers deliberately leave empty.
+    this.store(input.name, { data: input.data, fetchedAt: this.nowFn(), staleSince: undefined });
+    return result;
+  }
+
+  async delete(input: { name: string; externalRef: ExternalRef }): Promise<void> {
+    await this.inner.delete(input);
+    this.entries.delete(input.name);
+  }
+
+  async list(): Promise<Array<{ name: string; externalRef: ExternalRef }>> {
+    return this.inner.list();
+  }
+
+  async healthCheck(): Promise<{ ok: boolean; detail?: string }> {
+    return this.inner.healthCheck?.() ?? { ok: true, detail: 'no probe' };
+  }
+
+  async authCheck(): Promise<{ ok: boolean; detail?: string }> {
+    return this.inner.authCheck?.() ?? { ok: true, detail: 'no probe' };
+  }
+
+  /** Cache state for the backend health endpoint. Never exposes values. */
+  stats(): CacheStats {
+    let servingStale = 0;
+    let oldestStaleSince: number | undefined;
+    for (const e of this.entries.values()) {
+      if (e.staleSince === undefined) continue;
+      servingStale++;
+      if (oldestStaleSince === undefined || e.staleSince < oldestStaleSince) oldestStaleSince = e.staleSince;
+    }
+    return { entries: this.entries.size, servingStale, oldestStaleSince };
+  }
+
+  /** Move an entry to the MRU end of the insertion-ordered Map. */
+  private touch(name: string, entry: CacheEntry): void {
+    this.entries.delete(name);
+    this.entries.set(name, entry);
+  }
+
+  private store(name: string, entry: CacheEntry): void {
+    this.entries.delete(name);
+    this.entries.set(name, entry);
+    while (this.entries.size > this.maxEntries) {
+      const oldest = this.entries.keys().next();
+      if (oldest.done === true) break;
+      this.entries.delete(oldest.value);
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/openbao.ts b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/openbao.ts
index 93e902c..34ddedc 100644
--- a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/openbao.ts
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/openbao.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
  */
 import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
 import type { SecretBackendDriver, SecretData, ExternalRef, SecretRefResolver } from './types.js';
+import { SecretNotFoundError, SecretBackendUnavailableError } from './types.js';
 
 /** Best-effort read of a response body for error messages. Empty on parse failure. */
 async function bodyText(res: Response): Promise<string> {
@@ -77,10 +78,23 @@ export interface OpenBaoDriverDeps {
   readServiceAccountToken?: (path: string) => Promise<string>;
   /** Clock for cache TTL — overridable in tests. */
   now?: () => number;
+  /** Per-request timeout. Without one, an unreachable OpenBao hangs every caller. */
+  timeoutMs?: number;
+  /** Total attempts for retryable failures (network / 5xx / 429). 1 disables retry. */
+  maxAttempts?: number;
+  /** Base for exponential backoff between retries; full jitter is applied. */
+  backoffBaseMs?: number;
+  /** Test seam — real sleeps would make the retry tests take seconds. */
+  sleep?: (ms: number) => Promise<void>;
 }
 
 const SA_TOKEN_DEFAULT_PATH = '/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token';
 const TOKEN_RENEW_GRACE_MS = 60_000;
+const DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS = 5_000;
+const DEFAULT_MAX_ATTEMPTS = 3;
+const DEFAULT_BACKOFF_BASE_MS = 200;
+/** Statuses worth retrying: the backend is up but cannot answer right now. */
+const RETRYABLE_STATUS = new Set([429, 500, 502, 503, 504]);
 
 export class OpenBaoDriver implements SecretBackendDriver {
   readonly kind = 'openbao';
@@ -98,6 +112,10 @@ export class OpenBaoDriver implements SecretBackendDriver {
   private readonly resolver: SecretRefResolver | undefined;
   private readonly readSaToken: (path: string) => Promise<string>;
   private readonly nowFn: () => number;
+  private readonly timeoutMs: number;
+  private readonly maxAttempts: number;
+  private readonly backoffBaseMs: number;
+  private readonly sleep: (ms: number) => Promise<void>;
 
   // Cached vault token + when (epoch ms) it should be considered expired and refetched.
   private cachedToken: string | undefined;
@@ -131,13 +149,19 @@ export class OpenBaoDriver implements SecretBackendDriver {
     if (deps.secretRefResolver !== undefined) this.resolver = deps.secretRefResolver;
     this.readSaToken = deps.readServiceAccountToken ?? ((path) => readFile(path, 'utf-8').then((s) => s.trim()));
     this.nowFn = deps.now ?? (() => Date.now());
+    this.timeoutMs = deps.timeoutMs ?? DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS;
+    this.maxAttempts = deps.maxAttempts ?? DEFAULT_MAX_ATTEMPTS;
+    this.backoffBaseMs = deps.backoffBaseMs ?? DEFAULT_BACKOFF_BASE_MS;
+    this.sleep = deps.sleep ?? ((ms: number): Promise<void> => new Promise((r) => { setTimeout(r, ms); }));
   }
 
   async read(input: { name: string; externalRef: ExternalRef; data: SecretData }): Promise<SecretData> {
     const path = this.pathFor(input.name);
     const res = await this.request('GET', `/v1/${this.mount}/data/${path}`);
     if (res.status === 404) {
-      throw new Error(`OpenBao: secret '${input.name}' not found at ${path}`);
+      // Definitive answer, not a transport failure — the caching decorator
+      // must evict rather than serve a stale value here.
+      throw new SecretNotFoundError(`OpenBao: secret '${input.name}' not found at ${path}`);
     }
     if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`OpenBao read ${path}: HTTP ${res.status} ${await bodyText(res)}`);
     const body = await res.json() as { data?: { data?: SecretData } };
@@ -174,10 +198,50 @@ export class OpenBaoDriver implements SecretBackendDriver {
       }));
   }
 
+  /**
+   * LIVENESS. Deliberately unauthenticated: `sys/health` needs no token, and
+   * routing it through `request()` (as this used to) took a login first — so an
+   * expired role reported as "OpenBao is down", and every probe cost a login.
+   *
+   * OpenBao encodes its state in the status code, so map it rather than
+   * collapsing everything to ok/not-ok.
+   */
   async healthCheck(): Promise<{ ok: boolean; detail?: string }> {
     try {
-      const res = await this.request('GET', '/v1/sys/health');
-      return { ok: res.ok, detail: `HTTP ${res.status}` };
+      const headers: Record<string, string> = {};
+      if (this.namespace !== undefined) headers['X-Vault-Namespace'] = this.namespace;
+      const res = await this.fetchImpl(`${this.url}/v1/sys/health`, {
+        method: 'GET',
+        headers,
+        signal: AbortSignal.timeout(this.timeoutMs),
+      });
+      switch (res.status) {
+        case 200: return { ok: true, detail: 'active' };
+        case 429: return { ok: true, detail: 'standby' };
+        case 472: case 473: return { ok: true, detail: 'replication secondary' };
+        case 501: return { ok: false, detail: 'not initialized' };
+        case 503: return { ok: false, detail: 'sealed' };
+        default: return { ok: res.ok, detail: `HTTP ${String(res.status)}` };
+      }
+    } catch (err) {
+      return { ok: false, detail: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err) };
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * READINESS. Exercises the capability we actually depend on — read/list under
+   * `<mount>/<pathPrefix>/` — using the credentials we hold.
+   *
+   * `list()` rather than `auth/token/lookup-self` on purpose: lookup-self only
+   * proves the token exists, not that its policy still grants anything. The
+   * four-day outage in e51b924 was exactly a live token whose grants had been
+   * dropped by an upstream re-init. The existing read policy already permits
+   * this call, so it needs no bao-side change.
+   */
+  async authCheck(): Promise<{ ok: boolean; detail?: string }> {
+    try {
+      await this.list();
+      return { ok: true, detail: `readable at ${this.mount}/${this.pathPrefix}` };
     } catch (err) {
       return { ok: false, detail: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err) };
     }
@@ -206,11 +270,28 @@ export class OpenBaoDriver implements SecretBackendDriver {
     const loginUrl = `${this.url}/v1/auth/${this.k8sAuthMount}/login`;
     const headers: Record<string, string> = { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' };
     if (this.namespace !== undefined) headers['X-Vault-Namespace'] = this.namespace;
-    const res = await this.fetchImpl(loginUrl, {
-      method: 'POST',
-      headers,
-      body: JSON.stringify({ role: this.k8sRole, jwt }),
-    });
+    // Bounded like every other call: a hung login is indistinguishable from a
+    // hung read to the caller, and this one used to have no timeout at all.
+    let res: Response;
+    try {
+      res = await this.fetchImpl(loginUrl, {
+        method: 'POST',
+        headers,
+        body: JSON.stringify({ role: this.k8sRole, jwt }),
+        signal: AbortSignal.timeout(this.timeoutMs),
+      });
+    } catch (err) {
+      throw new SecretBackendUnavailableError(
+        `OpenBao kubernetes login (role=${this.k8sRole!}): ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`,
+        { cause: err },
+      );
+    }
+    if (RETRYABLE_STATUS.has(res.status)) {
+      throw new SecretBackendUnavailableError(
+        `OpenBao kubernetes login (role=${this.k8sRole!}): HTTP ${String(res.status)}`,
+        { lastStatus: res.status },
+      );
+    }
     if (!res.ok) {
       const text = await res.text().catch(() => '');
       throw new Error(`OpenBao kubernetes login (role=${this.k8sRole!}): HTTP ${String(res.status)} ${text}`);
@@ -229,30 +310,77 @@ export class OpenBaoDriver implements SecretBackendDriver {
     return clientToken;
   }
 
-  private async request(method: string, path: string, body?: unknown): Promise<Response> {
-    const token = await this.getToken();
+  /** Build a fresh RequestInit — headers must not be shared across attempts. */
+  private buildInit(method: string, token: string, body?: unknown): RequestInit {
     const headers: Record<string, string> = { 'X-Vault-Token': token };
     if (this.namespace !== undefined) headers['X-Vault-Namespace'] = this.namespace;
     if (body !== undefined) headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/json';
-
-    const init: RequestInit = { method, headers };
+    const init: RequestInit = { method, headers, signal: AbortSignal.timeout(this.timeoutMs) };
     if (body !== undefined) init.body = JSON.stringify(body);
+    return init;
+  }
 
-    const res = await this.fetchImpl(`${this.url}${path}`, init);
+  /** Full-jitter exponential backoff, so concurrent callers don't resonate. */
+  private backoffFor(attempt: number): number {
+    return Math.random() * this.backoffBaseMs * Math.pow(2, attempt - 1);
+  }
 
-    // If the cached token expired between cache-check and request (k8s clock
-    // skew, server-side revocation, etc.), purge cache and retry once.
-    if (res.status === 403 && this.cachedToken !== undefined) {
-      this.cachedToken = undefined;
-      this.cachedTokenExpiresAt = 0;
-      const fresh = await this.getToken();
-      const retryHeaders: Record<string, string> = { 'X-Vault-Token': fresh };
-      if (this.namespace !== undefined) retryHeaders['X-Vault-Namespace'] = this.namespace;
-      if (body !== undefined) retryHeaders['Content-Type'] = 'application/json';
-      const retryInit: RequestInit = { method, headers: retryHeaders };
-      if (body !== undefined) retryInit.body = JSON.stringify(body);
-      return this.fetchImpl(`${this.url}${path}`, retryInit);
+  private async request(method: string, path: string, body?: unknown): Promise<Response> {
+    const url = `${this.url}${path}`;
+    let lastStatus: number | undefined;
+    let lastErr: unknown;
+
+    for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= this.maxAttempts; attempt++) {
+      let res: Response;
+      try {
+        const token = await this.getToken();
+        res = await this.fetchImpl(url, this.buildInit(method, token, body));
+      } catch (err) {
+        // Network failure, DNS failure, or our own AbortSignal firing.
+        lastErr = err;
+        if (attempt < this.maxAttempts) {
+          await this.sleep(this.backoffFor(attempt));
+          continue;
+        }
+        throw new SecretBackendUnavailableError(
+          `OpenBao ${method} ${path}: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)} (after ${String(attempt)} attempt(s))`,
+          { cause: err },
+        );
+      }
+
+      // If the cached token expired between cache-check and request (k8s clock
+      // skew, server-side revocation, etc.), purge cache and retry once. This
+      // is deliberately OUTSIDE the retry budget: it is a credential refresh,
+      // not a backend-unavailable condition, and it must stay single-shot so a
+      // genuinely revoked grant fails loudly instead of looping.
+      if (res.status === 403 && this.cachedToken !== undefined) {
+        this.cachedToken = undefined;
+        this.cachedTokenExpiresAt = 0;
+        const fresh = await this.getToken();
+        return this.fetchImpl(url, this.buildInit(method, fresh, body));
+      }
+
+      // The backend is up but cannot answer right now — 503 is also what a
+      // sealed OpenBao returns, which used to be an immediate hard failure.
+      if (RETRYABLE_STATUS.has(res.status) && attempt < this.maxAttempts) {
+        lastStatus = res.status;
+        await this.sleep(this.backoffFor(attempt));
+        continue;
+      }
+      if (RETRYABLE_STATUS.has(res.status)) {
+        throw new SecretBackendUnavailableError(
+          `OpenBao ${method} ${path}: HTTP ${String(res.status)} after ${String(attempt)} attempt(s)`,
+          { lastStatus: res.status },
+        );
+      }
+
+      return res;
     }
-    return res;
+
+    /* c8 ignore next 5 -- unreachable: every loop exit above returns or throws */
+    throw new SecretBackendUnavailableError(
+      `OpenBao ${method} ${path}: exhausted ${String(this.maxAttempts)} attempt(s)`,
+      lastErr !== undefined ? { cause: lastErr, ...(lastStatus !== undefined ? { lastStatus } : {}) } : (lastStatus !== undefined ? { lastStatus } : {}),
+    );
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/types.ts b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/types.ts
index bab41d5..8d91ce9 100644
--- a/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/types.ts
+++ b/src/mcpd/src/services/secret-backends/types.ts
@@ -46,8 +46,24 @@ export interface SecretBackendDriver {
   /** List everything the backend knows about. Used for migration + drift detection. */
   list(): Promise<Array<{ name: string; externalRef: ExternalRef }>>;
 
-  /** Optional: health probe. Used by `mcpctl describe secretbackend`. */
+  /**
+   * Optional LIVENESS probe: is the backend reachable at all?
+   *
+   * Must NOT require authentication — the whole point is to separate "the
+   * backend is down/sealed" from "our credentials stopped working". Compare
+   * `authCheck()`, which is the readiness half.
+   */
   healthCheck?(): Promise<{ ok: boolean; detail?: string }>;
+
+  /**
+   * Optional READINESS probe: can we actually read through this backend with
+   * the credentials we hold?
+   *
+   * A backend that answers `healthCheck()` but fails here is the exact shape of
+   * the incident where a re-initialised OpenBao left mcpd holding valid-looking
+   * tokens that granted nothing. Reporting one signal for both hides it.
+   */
+  authCheck?(): Promise<{ ok: boolean; detail?: string }>;
 }
 
 /** Stored config for a SecretBackend row; dispatched on `type`. */
@@ -66,3 +82,40 @@ export interface BackendRow {
 export interface SecretRefResolver {
   resolve(secretName: string, key: string): Promise<string>;
 }
+
+/**
+ * The backend gave a definitive answer: this secret (or key) does not exist.
+ *
+ * Callers may treat this as final. The caching decorator EVICTS on this and
+ * never serves a stale value for it — serving stale here would resurrect a
+ * deliberately deleted or revoked credential, which is strictly worse than an
+ * outage.
+ */
+export class SecretNotFoundError extends Error {
+  constructor(message: string, options?: { cause?: unknown }) {
+    super(message, options);
+    this.name = 'SecretNotFoundError';
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * The backend could not be reached or did not answer: DNS/TCP failure, request
+ * timeout, or an exhausted retry budget against 5xx/429.
+ *
+ * This is the ONLY error the caching decorator will serve a stale value for.
+ * The distinction has to be typed rather than string-matched: a mis-classified
+ * "not found" would resurrect deleted secrets, and a mis-classified auth
+ * failure would silently paper over a backend whose grants were revoked — the
+ * failure mode that let an OpenBao re-init break every secret write for four
+ * days (commit e51b924).
+ */
+export class SecretBackendUnavailableError extends Error {
+  /** HTTP status of the last attempt, when the failure was an HTTP response. */
+  readonly lastStatus: number | undefined;
+
+  constructor(message: string, options?: { cause?: unknown; lastStatus?: number }) {
+    super(message, options?.cause !== undefined ? { cause: options.cause } : undefined);
+    this.name = 'SecretBackendUnavailableError';
+    this.lastStatus = options?.lastStatus;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backend-health-route.test.ts b/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backend-health-route.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..809b3f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backend-health-route.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import Fastify from 'fastify';
+import type { FastifyInstance } from 'fastify';
+import type { SecretBackend } from '@prisma/client';
+import { registerSecretBackendHealthRoutes } from '../src/routes/secret-backend-health.js';
+import { SecretBackendService } from '../src/services/secret-backend.service.js';
+import type { ISecretBackendRepository } from '../src/repositories/secret-backend.repository.js';
+import type { SecretBackendDriver } from '../src/services/secret-backends/types.js';
+
+let app: FastifyInstance;
+afterEach(async () => { await app?.close(); });
+
+function backendRow(overrides: Partial<SecretBackend> = {}): SecretBackend {
+  return {
+    id: 'b1', name: 'bao-k8s', type: 'openbao',
+    config: { url: 'http://bao.example:8200', auth: 'kubernetes', role: 'mcpctl' },
+    isDefault: true, description: '', version: 1,
+    createdAt: new Date(), updatedAt: new Date(),
+    ...overrides,
+  } as SecretBackend;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Build the route over a service whose driver is stubbed. We override
+ * `driverFor` rather than the factory so the test drives the two probes
+ * directly — the point here is the route's reporting, not driver internals.
+ */
+async function buildApp(
+  probes: Pick<SecretBackendDriver, 'healthCheck' | 'authCheck'>,
+  row: SecretBackend = backendRow(),
+): Promise<FastifyInstance> {
+  const repo = {
+    findById: vi.fn(async (id: string) => (id === row.id ? row : null)),
+  } as unknown as ISecretBackendRepository;
+  const svc = new SecretBackendService(repo, {
+    plaintext: { listAllPlaintext: async () => [] },
+    secretRefResolver: { resolve: async () => 'tok' },
+  });
+  vi.spyOn(svc, 'driverFor').mockReturnValue({ kind: 'openbao', ...probes } as SecretBackendDriver);
+  vi.spyOn(svc, 'cacheStatsFor').mockReturnValue({ entries: 3, servingStale: 0, oldestStaleSince: undefined });
+
+  const a = Fastify();
+  registerSecretBackendHealthRoutes(a, svc);
+  await a.ready();
+  return a;
+}
+
+describe('GET /api/v1/secretbackends/:id/health', () => {
+  it('reports live+ready when the backend is fully working', async () => {
+    app = await buildApp({
+      healthCheck: async () => ({ ok: true, detail: 'active' }),
+      authCheck: async () => ({ ok: true, detail: 'readable at secret/mcpctl' }),
+    });
+    const res = await app.inject({ method: 'GET', url: '/api/v1/secretbackends/b1/health' });
+    expect(res.statusCode).toBe(200);
+    expect(res.json()).toMatchObject({ backend: 'bao-k8s', live: true, ready: true });
+  });
+
+  it('reports NOT live when OpenBao is sealed — regardless of rotation state', async () => {
+    // The bug this endpoint exists for: a kubernetes-auth backend never writes
+    // tokenMeta.lastRotationError, so the old status line stayed green here.
+    app = await buildApp({
+      healthCheck: async () => ({ ok: false, detail: 'sealed' }),
+      authCheck: async () => ({ ok: true, detail: 'should not be consulted' }),
+    });
+    const body = (await app.inject({ method: 'GET', url: '/api/v1/secretbackends/b1/health' })).json();
+    expect(body.live).toBe(false);
+    expect(body.liveDetail).toBe('sealed');
+    expect(body.ready).toBe(false);
+    expect(body.readyDetail).toMatch(/not probed/);
+    expect(body.rotation.lastRotationError).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it('distinguishes reachable-but-unusable (revoked grants) from unreachable', async () => {
+    app = await buildApp({
+      healthCheck: async () => ({ ok: true, detail: 'active' }),
+      authCheck: async () => ({ ok: false, detail: 'OpenBao list: HTTP 403 permission denied' }),
+    });
+    const body = (await app.inject({ method: 'GET', url: '/api/v1/secretbackends/b1/health' })).json();
+    expect(body).toMatchObject({ live: true, ready: false });
+    expect(body.readyDetail).toMatch(/403/);
+  });
+
+  it('surfaces cache state so degraded serving is visible', async () => {
+    app = await buildApp({
+      healthCheck: async () => ({ ok: true }),
+      authCheck: async () => ({ ok: true }),
+    });
+    const body = (await app.inject({ method: 'GET', url: '/api/v1/secretbackends/b1/health' })).json();
+    expect(body.cache).toMatchObject({ entries: 3, servingStale: 0 });
+  });
+
+  it('404s for an unknown backend', async () => {
+    app = await buildApp({ healthCheck: async () => ({ ok: true }), authCheck: async () => ({ ok: true }) });
+    const res = await app.inject({ method: 'GET', url: '/api/v1/secretbackends/nope/health' });
+    expect(res.statusCode).toBe(404);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backend-rotator-loop.test.ts b/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backend-rotator-loop.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..197ff47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backend-rotator-loop.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+/**
+ * SecretBackendRotatorLoop had no coverage at all, despite being the boot-time
+ * detector added after an upstream OpenBao re-init silently broke every secret
+ * write for four days (e51b924). These pin the behaviours that matter when that
+ * recurs: the boot health check fires, it reports through the injected logger
+ * (so `mcpctl errors` sees it), and stop() genuinely stops.
+ */
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
+import type { SecretBackend } from '@prisma/client';
+import { SecretBackendRotatorLoop } from '../src/services/secret-backend-rotator-loop.js';
+import type { SecretBackendService } from '../src/services/secret-backend.service.js';
+import type { SecretBackendRotator } from '../src/services/secret-backend-rotator.service.js';
+
+function backend(overrides: Partial<SecretBackend> = {}): SecretBackend {
+  return {
+    id: 'b1', name: 'bao', type: 'openbao',
+    config: { url: 'http://bao.example:8200', rotation: { enabled: true, tokenRole: 'r', intervalHours: 24 } },
+    isDefault: true, description: '', version: 1,
+    createdAt: new Date(), updatedAt: new Date(),
+    ...overrides,
+  } as SecretBackend;
+}
+
+interface Harness {
+  loop: SecretBackendRotatorLoop;
+  rotator: { isRotatable: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>; isOverdue: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>; healthCheck: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>; rotateOne: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn> };
+  logs: { info: string[]; warn: string[]; error: Array<{ obj: Record<string, unknown>; msg: string }> };
+  timers: Array<{ cb: () => void; ms: number }>;
+  cleared: number;
+}
+
+function harness(opts: {
+  rows?: SecretBackend[];
+  rotatable?: boolean;
+  overdue?: boolean;
+  health?: { ok: boolean; message?: string } | Error;
+} = {}): Harness {
+  const rows = opts.rows ?? [backend()];
+  const logs: Harness['logs'] = { info: [], warn: [], error: [] };
+  const timers: Harness['timers'] = [];
+  const state = { cleared: 0 };
+
+  const rotator = {
+    isRotatable: vi.fn(() => opts.rotatable ?? true),
+    isOverdue: vi.fn(() => opts.overdue ?? false),
+    healthCheck: vi.fn(async () => {
+      if (opts.health instanceof Error) throw opts.health;
+      return opts.health ?? { ok: true };
+    }),
+    rotateOne: vi.fn(async () => ({})),
+  };
+
+  const loop = new SecretBackendRotatorLoop({
+    backends: {
+      list: async () => rows,
+      getById: async (id: string) => rows.find((r) => r.id === id) ?? rows[0]!,
+    } as unknown as SecretBackendService,
+    rotator: rotator as unknown as SecretBackendRotator,
+    setTimeout: ((cb: () => void, ms: number) => { timers.push({ cb, ms }); return { id: timers.length } as unknown as NodeJS.Timeout; }),
+    clearTimeout: (() => { state.cleared++; }),
+    log: {
+      info: (m) => { logs.info.push(m); },
+      warn: (m) => { logs.warn.push(m); },
+      error: (obj, msg) => { logs.error.push({ obj, msg }); },
+    },
+  });
+
+  return { loop, rotator, logs, timers, get cleared() { return state.cleared; } } as Harness;
+}
+
+/** The boot health check is fire-and-forget; let its microtasks settle. */
+const settle = async (): Promise<void> => { await Promise.resolve(); await Promise.resolve(); await Promise.resolve(); };
+
+describe('SecretBackendRotatorLoop', () => {
+  it('stays idle when nothing is rotatable', async () => {
+    const h = harness({ rotatable: false });
+    await h.loop.start();
+    expect(h.logs.info.join(' ')).toMatch(/no rotatable backends/);
+    expect(h.timers).toHaveLength(0);
+    expect(h.rotator.healthCheck).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('runs a boot-time health check for every rotatable backend', async () => {
+    const h = harness({ rows: [backend(), backend({ id: 'b2', name: 'bao2' })] });
+    await h.loop.start();
+    await settle();
+    expect(h.rotator.healthCheck).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
+  it('emits BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD through the logger, not console', async () => {
+    // The regression that made `mcpctl errors` blind to it: this used to be a
+    // bare console.error, which bypasses the pino stream feeding ErrorLogBuffer.
+    const h = harness({ health: { ok: false, message: 'token rejected' } });
+    await h.loop.start();
+    await settle();
+    expect(h.logs.error).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(h.logs.error[0]?.obj).toMatchObject({ kind: 'BACKEND_TOKEN_DEAD', backend: 'bao' });
+    expect(h.logs.error[0]?.msg).toBe('token rejected');
+  });
+
+  it('does not log a fatal when the backend is healthy', async () => {
+    const h = harness({ health: { ok: true } });
+    await h.loop.start();
+    await settle();
+    expect(h.logs.error).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it('survives a health check that throws', async () => {
+    const h = harness({ health: new Error('network down') });
+    await expect(h.loop.start()).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+    await settle();
+    expect(h.logs.warn.join(' ')).toMatch(/health check threw: network down/);
+  });
+
+  it('rotates immediately when a backend is overdue, and still schedules', async () => {
+    const h = harness({ overdue: true });
+    await h.loop.start();
+    await settle();
+    expect(h.rotator.rotateOne).toHaveBeenCalledWith('b1');
+    expect(h.timers).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
+  it('does not rotate on boot when not overdue', async () => {
+    const h = harness({ overdue: false });
+    await h.loop.start();
+    await settle();
+    expect(h.rotator.rotateOne).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(h.timers).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
+  it('never schedules sooner than the 60s floor, even with adversarial jitter', async () => {
+    // intervalHours tiny + default jitter would otherwise produce a negative delay.
+    const rows = [backend({ config: { url: 'u', rotation: { enabled: true, tokenRole: 'r', intervalHours: 0.0001 } } } as Partial<SecretBackend>)];
+    for (let i = 0; i < 50; i++) {
+      const h = harness({ rows });
+      await h.loop.start();
+      expect(h.timers[0]?.ms).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(60_000);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('stop() clears timers and suppresses further scheduling', async () => {
+    const h = harness();
+    await h.loop.start();
+    expect(h.timers).toHaveLength(1);
+
+    h.loop.stop();
+    expect(h.cleared).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+
+    // The `stopped` guard has never been exercised: a firing timer must not
+    // reschedule after stop().
+    const before = h.timers.length;
+    await h.loop.rotateNow('b1').catch(() => undefined);
+    expect(h.timers).toHaveLength(before);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backends.test.ts b/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backends.test.ts
index 0f86075..43785a2 100644
--- a/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backends.test.ts
+++ b/src/mcpd/tests/secret-backends.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
 import { PlaintextDriver } from '../src/services/secret-backends/plaintext.js';
 import { OpenBaoDriver } from '../src/services/secret-backends/openbao.js';
+import { SecretNotFoundError, SecretBackendUnavailableError } from '../src/services/secret-backends/types.js';
 
 describe('PlaintextDriver', () => {
   const driver = new PlaintextDriver({ listAllPlaintext: async () => [{ name: 'a', data: { k: 'v' } }] });
@@ -242,3 +243,91 @@ describe('OpenBaoDriver', () => {
     });
   });
 });
+
+describe('OpenBaoDriver: resilience', () => {
+  const resolver = { resolve: vi.fn(async () => 'test-vault-token') };
+  /** No real sleeping — otherwise the backoff tests take seconds. */
+  const noSleep = async (): Promise<void> => undefined;
+
+  function driverWith(fetchFn: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>, opts: Record<string, unknown> = {}): OpenBaoDriver {
+    return new OpenBaoDriver(
+      { url: 'http://bao.example:8200', tokenSecretRef: { name: 'bao', key: 'token' } },
+      { fetch: fetchFn as unknown as typeof fetch, secretRefResolver: resolver, sleep: noSleep, ...opts },
+    );
+  }
+
+  it('maps a 404 read to SecretNotFoundError', async () => {
+    const fetchFn = vi.fn(async () => new Response('', { status: 404 }));
+    await expect(driverWith(fetchFn).read({ name: 'gone', externalRef: '', data: {} }))
+      .rejects.toThrow(SecretNotFoundError);
+  });
+
+  it('purges the token cache and retries once on 403 — outside the retry budget', async () => {
+    // This path existed but was never covered; it is the revocation/re-init case.
+    let n = 0;
+    const fetchFn = vi.fn(async () => {
+      n++;
+      if (n === 1) return new Response('', { status: 403 });
+      return new Response(JSON.stringify({ data: { data: { token: 'ok' } } }), { status: 200 });
+    });
+    const d = driverWith(fetchFn);
+    await expect(d.read({ name: 's', externalRef: '', data: {} })).resolves.toEqual({ token: 'ok' });
+    expect(fetchFn).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
+  it('retries a 503 (sealed) and succeeds', async () => {
+    let n = 0;
+    const fetchFn = vi.fn(async () => {
+      n++;
+      if (n < 3) return new Response('', { status: 503 });
+      return new Response(JSON.stringify({ data: { data: { token: 'ok' } } }), { status: 200 });
+    });
+    await expect(driverWith(fetchFn).read({ name: 's', externalRef: '', data: {} }))
+      .resolves.toEqual({ token: 'ok' });
+    expect(fetchFn).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+  });
+
+  it('throws SecretBackendUnavailableError once the retry budget is exhausted', async () => {
+    const fetchFn = vi.fn(async () => new Response('', { status: 503 }));
+    await expect(driverWith(fetchFn, { maxAttempts: 3 }).read({ name: 's', externalRef: '', data: {} }))
+      .rejects.toThrow(SecretBackendUnavailableError);
+    expect(fetchFn).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+  });
+
+  it('classifies a network/abort failure as SecretBackendUnavailableError', async () => {
+    const fetchFn = vi.fn(async () => { throw new DOMException('timed out', 'TimeoutError'); });
+    await expect(driverWith(fetchFn, { maxAttempts: 2 }).read({ name: 's', externalRef: '', data: {} }))
+      .rejects.toThrow(SecretBackendUnavailableError);
+    expect(fetchFn).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
+  it('passes an AbortSignal on every request', async () => {
+    const fetchFn = vi.fn(async () => new Response(JSON.stringify({ data: { data: {} } }), { status: 200 }));
+    await driverWith(fetchFn, { timeoutMs: 1234 }).read({ name: 's', externalRef: '', data: {} });
+    const [, init] = fetchFn.mock.calls[0] as [unknown, RequestInit];
+    expect(init.signal).toBeInstanceOf(AbortSignal);
+  });
+
+  it('healthCheck is unauthenticated and maps OpenBao status codes', async () => {
+    const cases: Array<[number, boolean, string]> = [
+      [200, true, 'active'],
+      [429, true, 'standby'],
+      [501, false, 'not initialized'],
+      [503, false, 'sealed'],
+    ];
+    for (const [status, ok, detail] of cases) {
+      const fetchFn = vi.fn(async () => new Response('', { status }));
+      const result = await driverWith(fetchFn).healthCheck();
+      expect(result).toEqual({ ok, detail });
+      // The whole point of the split: no token is minted for a liveness probe.
+      const [, init] = fetchFn.mock.calls[0] as [unknown, RequestInit];
+      expect((init.headers as Record<string, string>)['X-Vault-Token']).toBeUndefined();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('authCheck reports false when the token can no longer list', async () => {
+    const fetchFn = vi.fn(async () => new Response('', { status: 403 }));
+    const result = await driverWith(fetchFn).authCheck();
+    expect(result.ok).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/mcpd/tests/secret-cache.test.ts b/src/mcpd/tests/secret-cache.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fbbf047
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcpd/tests/secret-cache.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,198 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
+import {
+  CachingSecretBackendDriver,
+  type CachingDriverLog,
+} from '../src/services/secret-backends/caching.js';
+import {
+  SecretNotFoundError,
+  SecretBackendUnavailableError,
+  type SecretBackendDriver,
+  type SecretData,
+} from '../src/services/secret-backends/types.js';
+
+/** Minimal fake backing driver whose read() behaviour the tests drive. */
+function makeInner(overrides: Partial<SecretBackendDriver> = {}): SecretBackendDriver & {
+  read: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
+  write: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
+  delete: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
+} {
+  return {
+    kind: 'fake',
+    read: vi.fn(async () => ({ token: 'live' } as SecretData)),
+    write: vi.fn(async () => ({ externalRef: 'ref', storedData: {} as SecretData })),
+    delete: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+    list: vi.fn(async () => []),
+    ...overrides,
+  } as never;
+}
+
+function makeLog(): CachingDriverLog & { warns: Array<Record<string, unknown>>; infos: Array<Record<string, unknown>> } {
+  const warns: Array<Record<string, unknown>> = [];
+  const infos: Array<Record<string, unknown>> = [];
+  return { warns, infos, warn: (o) => { warns.push(o); }, info: (o) => { infos.push(o); } };
+}
+
+const REQ = { name: 'gitea-creds', externalRef: 'secret/mcpctl/gitea-creds', data: {} };
+
+describe('CachingSecretBackendDriver', () => {
+  it('serves from cache within the TTL without touching the backend', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    let now = 1_000;
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 5_000, now: () => now });
+
+    expect(await d.read(REQ)).toEqual({ token: 'live' });
+    now += 4_999;
+    expect(await d.read(REQ)).toEqual({ token: 'live' });
+
+    expect(inner.read).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it('refetches once the TTL has elapsed', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    let now = 1_000;
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 5_000, now: () => now });
+
+    await d.read(REQ);
+    now += 5_001;
+    await d.read(REQ);
+
+    expect(inner.read).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
+  it('serves the stale value when the backend is unavailable', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    let now = 1_000;
+    const log = makeLog();
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 1_000, now: () => now, log, backendName: 'bao' });
+
+    await d.read(REQ);
+    inner.read.mockRejectedValue(new SecretBackendUnavailableError('bao down'));
+    now += 10_000;
+
+    // This is the whole point: no throw, so instance.service never marks ERROR.
+    expect(await d.read(REQ)).toEqual({ token: 'live' });
+    expect(log.warns[0]?.kind).toBe('BACKEND_UNREACHABLE');
+  });
+
+  it('logs BACKEND_UNREACHABLE only on the transition, not on every stale read', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    let now = 1_000;
+    const log = makeLog();
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 1_000, now: () => now, log });
+
+    await d.read(REQ);
+    inner.read.mockRejectedValue(new SecretBackendUnavailableError('bao down'));
+    for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) { now += 2_000; await d.read(REQ); }
+
+    expect(log.warns.filter((w) => w.kind === 'BACKEND_UNREACHABLE')).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
+  it('logs BACKEND_RECOVERED once the backend answers again', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    let now = 1_000;
+    const log = makeLog();
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 1_000, now: () => now, log });
+
+    await d.read(REQ);
+    inner.read.mockRejectedValue(new SecretBackendUnavailableError('bao down'));
+    now += 2_000;
+    await d.read(REQ);
+
+    inner.read.mockResolvedValue({ token: 'rotated' });
+    now += 2_000;
+    expect(await d.read(REQ)).toEqual({ token: 'rotated' });
+    expect(log.infos.filter((i) => i.kind === 'BACKEND_RECOVERED')).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
+  it('NEVER serves stale for a deleted secret — evicts and rethrows', async () => {
+    // Regression guard. Serving stale here would resurrect a revoked
+    // credential, which is strictly worse than an outage.
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    let now = 1_000;
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 1_000, now: () => now });
+
+    await d.read(REQ);
+    inner.read.mockRejectedValue(new SecretNotFoundError('gone'));
+    now += 2_000;
+
+    await expect(d.read(REQ)).rejects.toThrow(SecretNotFoundError);
+    expect(d.stats().entries).toBe(0);
+
+    // And the entry really is gone — a later unavailable error has nothing to serve.
+    inner.read.mockRejectedValue(new SecretBackendUnavailableError('bao down'));
+    await expect(d.read(REQ)).rejects.toThrow(SecretBackendUnavailableError);
+  });
+
+  it('does not serve stale for a non-transport error (e.g. revoked grants)', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    let now = 1_000;
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 1_000, now: () => now });
+
+    await d.read(REQ);
+    inner.read.mockRejectedValue(new Error('OpenBao read: HTTP 403 permission denied'));
+    now += 2_000;
+
+    await expect(d.read(REQ)).rejects.toThrow(/403/);
+  });
+
+  it('rethrows on a cold cache even when the backend is unavailable', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner({ read: vi.fn(async () => { throw new SecretBackendUnavailableError('bao down'); }) as never });
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner);
+
+    await expect(d.read(REQ)).rejects.toThrow(SecretBackendUnavailableError);
+  });
+
+  it('write() refreshes the cache so a read-after-write does not lag', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 60_000 });
+
+    await d.read(REQ);
+    await d.write({ name: REQ.name, data: { token: 'brand-new' } });
+
+    expect(await d.read(REQ)).toEqual({ token: 'brand-new' });
+    expect(inner.read).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it('delete() evicts', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 60_000 });
+
+    await d.read(REQ);
+    await d.delete({ name: REQ.name, externalRef: REQ.externalRef });
+
+    expect(d.stats().entries).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('bounds the map with an LRU eviction', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 60_000, maxEntries: 2 });
+
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'a' });
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'b' });
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'a' });   // 'a' becomes most-recently-used
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'c' });   // evicts 'b'
+
+    expect(d.stats().entries).toBe(2);
+    inner.read.mockClear();
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'a' });
+    expect(inner.read).not.toHaveBeenCalled();   // 'a' survived
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'b' });
+    expect(inner.read).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1); // 'b' was evicted
+  });
+
+  it('reports stale count and age via stats()', async () => {
+    const inner = makeInner();
+    let now = 1_000;
+    const d = new CachingSecretBackendDriver(inner, { ttlMs: 1_000, now: () => now });
+
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'a' });
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'b' });
+    expect(d.stats()).toMatchObject({ entries: 2, servingStale: 0 });
+
+    inner.read.mockRejectedValue(new SecretBackendUnavailableError('down'));
+    now += 2_000;
+    await d.read({ ...REQ, name: 'a' });
+
+    expect(d.stats()).toMatchObject({ entries: 2, servingStale: 1, oldestStaleSince: 3_000 });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/mcpd/tests/warm-secret-cache.test.ts b/src/mcpd/tests/warm-secret-cache.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dfc6a95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcpd/tests/warm-secret-cache.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { warmSecretCache } from '../src/bootstrap/warm-secret-cache.js';
+import type { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
+import type { SecretService } from '../src/services/secret.service.js';
+
+function prismaWith(servers: Array<{ name: string; env: unknown }>): PrismaClient {
+  return { mcpServer: { findMany: vi.fn(async () => servers) } } as unknown as PrismaClient;
+}
+const noLog = { info: (): void => undefined, warn: (): void => undefined };
+
+const envRef = (name: string, secret: string, key: string): unknown =>
+  ({ name, valueFrom: { secretRef: { name: secret, key } } });
+
+describe('warmSecretCache', () => {
+  it('resolves every distinct secret ref exactly once', async () => {
+    const prisma = prismaWith([
+      { name: 'gitea', env: [envRef('GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN', 'gitea-creds', 'GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN')] },
+      // Two servers sharing one secret must not cost two reads.
+      { name: 'a', env: [envRef('T', 'shared', 'TOKEN')] },
+      { name: 'b', env: [envRef('T', 'shared', 'TOKEN')] },
+    ]);
+    const resolve = vi.fn(async () => 'value');
+    const result = await warmSecretCache(prisma, { resolve } as unknown as SecretService, noLog);
+
+    expect(resolve).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(result).toEqual({ warmed: 2, failed: 0 });
+  });
+
+  it('ignores inline env values', async () => {
+    const prisma = prismaWith([{ name: 's', env: [{ name: 'PLAIN', value: 'x' }] }]);
+    const resolve = vi.fn(async () => 'v');
+    expect(await warmSecretCache(prisma, { resolve } as unknown as SecretService, noLog))
+      .toEqual({ warmed: 0, failed: 0 });
+    expect(resolve).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('never throws when the backend is down — startup must not block', async () => {
+    const prisma = prismaWith([
+      { name: 'a', env: [envRef('T', 's1', 'K')] },
+      { name: 'b', env: [envRef('T', 's2', 'K')] },
+    ]);
+    const resolve = vi.fn(async () => { throw new Error('bao unreachable'); });
+    await expect(warmSecretCache(prisma, { resolve } as unknown as SecretService, noLog))
+      .resolves.toEqual({ warmed: 0, failed: 2 });
+  });
+
+  it('keeps going after one bad reference', async () => {
+    const prisma = prismaWith([
+      { name: 'a', env: [envRef('T', 'missing', 'K')] },
+      { name: 'b', env: [envRef('T', 'present', 'K')] },
+    ]);
+    const resolve = vi.fn(async (n: string) => {
+      if (n === 'missing') throw new Error('no such secret');
+      return 'v';
+    });
+    expect(await warmSecretCache(prisma, { resolve } as unknown as SecretService, noLog))
+      .toEqual({ warmed: 1, failed: 1 });
+  });
+
+  it('only considers servers with replicas > 0', async () => {
+    const prisma = prismaWith([]);
+    await warmSecretCache(prisma, { resolve: vi.fn() } as unknown as SecretService, noLog);
+    const findMany = (prisma.mcpServer.findMany as unknown as ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>);
+    expect(findMany.mock.calls[0]?.[0]).toMatchObject({ where: { replicas: { gt: 0 } } });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/mcplocal/tests/smoke/secret-resilience.smoke.test.ts b/src/mcplocal/tests/smoke/secret-resilience.smoke.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..358bf84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcplocal/tests/smoke/secret-resilience.smoke.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+/**
+ * Smoke tests: secret-backend health honesty + value caching, against live mcpd.
+ *
+ * Covers the two behaviours that unit tests cannot prove, because both are
+ * about what the REAL backend and the REAL CLI do together:
+ *
+ *   1. `mcpctl status` reports a probed verdict, not a hard-coded tick. The bug
+ *      being guarded is that the verdict used to come from
+ *      `tokenMeta.lastRotationError`, which a `kubernetes`-auth backend never
+ *      writes — so the line was structurally incapable of going red.
+ *   2. The value cache does not corrupt reads, and a delete really evicts.
+ *
+ * Deliberately does NOT take the real backend down. Simulating an outage
+ * against shared infrastructure to satisfy a test would be worse than the bug.
+ *
+ * Target: mcpd direct (`--direct`), same skip-if-unreachable discipline as the
+ * other smokes here.
+ *
+ * Run with: pnpm test:smoke
+ */
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest';
+import http from 'node:http';
+import https from 'node:https';
+import { execSync } from 'node:child_process';
+
+const MCPD_URL = process.env.MCPD_URL ?? 'https://mcpctl.ad.itaz.eu';
+const SECRET_NAME = `smoke-cache-${Date.now().toString(36)}`;
+
+interface CliResult { code: number; stdout: string; stderr: string }
+
+function run(args: string): CliResult {
+  try {
+    return { code: 0, stdout: execSync(`mcpctl --direct ${args}`, { encoding: 'utf-8', timeout: 30_000, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'] }).trim(), stderr: '' };
+  } catch (err) {
+    const e = err as { status?: number; stdout?: Buffer | string; stderr?: Buffer | string };
+    return {
+      code: e.status ?? 1,
+      stdout: e.stdout ? String(e.stdout) : '',
+      stderr: e.stderr ? String(e.stderr) : '',
+    };
+  }
+}
+
+function healthz(url: string, timeoutMs = 5000): Promise<boolean> {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    const parsed = new URL(`${url.replace(/\/$/, '')}/healthz`);
+    const driver = parsed.protocol === 'https:' ? https : http;
+    const req = driver.get(
+      { hostname: parsed.hostname, port: parsed.port || (parsed.protocol === 'https:' ? 443 : 80), path: parsed.pathname, timeout: timeoutMs },
+      (res) => { resolve((res.statusCode ?? 500) < 500); res.resume(); },
+    );
+    req.on('error', () => resolve(false));
+    req.on('timeout', () => { req.destroy(); resolve(false); });
+  });
+}
+
+let mcpdUp = false;
+
+describe('secret resilience smoke', () => {
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    mcpdUp = await healthz(MCPD_URL);
+    if (!mcpdUp) {
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+      console.warn(`\n  ○ secret resilience smoke: skipped — ${MCPD_URL}/healthz unreachable. Set MCPD_URL to override.\n`);
+    }
+  }, 20_000);
+
+  afterAll(() => {
+    if (!mcpdUp) return;
+    run(`delete secret ${SECRET_NAME}`);
+  });
+
+  it('status reports a probed backend verdict, not an unconditional tick', () => {
+    if (!mcpdUp) return;
+    const result = run('status');
+    expect(result.code, result.stderr).toBe(0);
+    const line = result.stdout.split('\n').find((l) => l.startsWith('Secrets:'));
+    expect(line, 'status must include a Secrets: line').toBeDefined();
+    // The verdict must be one the live probe can produce. A bare "name ✓" with
+    // no qualifier is the OLD rendering and means the probe was not consulted.
+    expect(line).toMatch(/reachable|degraded|unreachable|auth failed|unknown/);
+  });
+
+  it('reports live and ready separately per backend in JSON output', () => {
+    if (!mcpdUp) return;
+    const result = run('status -o json');
+    expect(result.code, result.stderr).toBe(0);
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(result.stdout) as {
+      secretBackends?: Array<{ name: string; healthy: boolean; live: boolean | null; ready: boolean | null }>;
+    };
+    expect(parsed.secretBackends, 'JSON status must carry secretBackends').toBeDefined();
+    for (const b of parsed.secretBackends ?? []) {
+      // Both signals present and independent — not one boolean copied twice.
+      expect(b, `backend ${b.name}`).toHaveProperty('live');
+      expect(b, `backend ${b.name}`).toHaveProperty('ready');
+      expect(b.healthy).toBe(b.live === true && b.ready === true);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('caching does not corrupt repeated reads, and delete evicts', () => {
+    if (!mcpdUp) return;
+    const created = run(`create secret ${SECRET_NAME} --data TOKEN=cache-probe-value`);
+    expect(created.code, created.stderr).toBe(0);
+
+    // Two reads back-to-back: the second is a cache hit. Both must agree.
+    const first = run(`describe secret ${SECRET_NAME} --show-values`);
+    const second = run(`describe secret ${SECRET_NAME} --show-values`);
+    expect(first.code, first.stderr).toBe(0);
+    expect(second.code, second.stderr).toBe(0);
+    expect(first.stdout).toContain('cache-probe-value');
+    expect(second.stdout).toContain('cache-probe-value');
+
+    // Delete must evict — a cached value surviving a delete is exactly the
+    // "resurrected revoked credential" failure the cache guards against.
+    const deleted = run(`delete secret ${SECRET_NAME}`);
+    expect(deleted.code, deleted.stderr).toBe(0);
+    const after = run(`describe secret ${SECRET_NAME} --show-values`);
+    expect(after.code, 'reading a deleted secret must fail, not serve cache').not.toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('exposes the per-backend health endpoint used by status', () => {
+    if (!mcpdUp) return;
+    const backends = run('get secretbackends -o json');
+    expect(backends.code, backends.stderr).toBe(0);
+    const rows = JSON.parse(backends.stdout) as Array<{ id: string; name: string }>;
+    expect(rows.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    // describe must surface the same probe, for every backend type — the old
+    // Token health block was gated on tokenMeta.rotatable and so rendered
+    // nothing at all for kubernetes-auth backends.
+    const described = run(`describe secretbackend ${rows[0]?.name ?? ''}`);
+    expect(described.code, described.stderr).toBe(0);
+  });
+});