diff --git a/lib/cron-heartbeat.ts b/lib/cron-heartbeat.ts
index 6df0fa4..864684e 100644
--- a/lib/cron-heartbeat.ts
+++ b/lib/cron-heartbeat.ts
@@ -102,3 +102,22 @@ export function getAllHeartbeats(): Heartbeat[] {
     runCount: r.run_count,
   }));
 }
+
+/**
+ * Off-host state of the daily DB backup, carried inside its heartbeat note.
+ *
+ * The note itself is prose for whoever reads /health. This token is the one
+ * part `lib/health.ts` parses, and it lives here — beside the contract it
+ * rides on — so the writer and the reader cannot drift apart into two string
+ * literals in two files.
+ */
+export type OffHostState = "none" | "ok" | "fail";
+
+export function offHostToken(state: OffHostState): string {
+  return `offhost=${state}`;
+}
+
+export function readOffHost(note: string | null | undefined): OffHostState | null {
+  const m = /\boffhost=(none|ok|fail)\b/.exec(note ?? "");
+  return m ? (m[1] as OffHostState) : null;
+}
diff --git a/lib/health.ts b/lib/health.ts
index 00ac5dd..a40077f 100644
--- a/lib/health.ts
+++ b/lib/health.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { getDb } from "./db";
 import { rateLimitSnapshot } from "./rate-limit";
-import { getHeartbeat } from "./cron-heartbeat";
+import { getHeartbeat, readOffHost } from "./cron-heartbeat";
 import { assetCoverage, isCallableAsset } from "./prices";
 import { todayAiSpendUsd } from "./grok";
 import { recentAuditRuns, type AuditRun } from "./audit-log";
@@ -132,6 +132,34 @@ function applyContentStaleness(
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * Third opinion, for the backup only: did the copy leave the box?
+ *
+ * Same failure shape as the one above. The heartbeat answers "did the cron
+ * run" and the verification answers "would this file restore" — neither
+ * answers "does a copy exist anywhere the host's disk isn't". Snapshots land
+ * in ~/backups/alpha, on the same volume as the DB they copy, so with
+ * BACKUP_REMOTE unset the row reported `ok` for something one disk failure
+ * away from nothing.
+ *
+ * Capped at `warn`, never `fail`, for the same reason as content staleness:
+ * the cron is healthy and ?strict=1 must not 503 a monitor over a
+ * configuration gap. But `ok` overstated it, and this is the one row whose
+ * whole job is to be true before someone needs it.
+ */
+function applyOffHostGap(
+  subsystem: SubsystemHealth,
+  heartbeat: ReturnType<typeof getHeartbeat>
+): SubsystemHealth {
+  if (subsystem.status === "fail") return subsystem;
+  if (readOffHost(heartbeat?.lastNote) !== "none") return subsystem;
+  return {
+    ...subsystem,
+    status: "warn",
+    note: `${subsystem.note ? subsystem.note + " " : ""}사본이 원본과 같은 호스트에 있습니다 — BACKUP_REMOTE 미설정. 호스트 손실 시 둘 다 사라집니다.`,
+  };
+}
+
 /** Event-driven crons may be legitimately quiet for days; a fortnight of
  *  nothing is a warning, six weeks is a stopped subsystem. */
 const CONTENT_WARN_SEC = 14 * 24 * 3600;
@@ -536,7 +564,7 @@ export function getSystemHealth(): {
           ? `마지막 실행 ${hb.lastStatus}. ${hb.lastNote ?? ""}`.trim()
           : "heartbeat 없음 — cron 첫 실행 대기 중.",
       });
-      return applyHeartbeatFailure(sub, hb);
+      return applyOffHostGap(applyHeartbeatFailure(sub, hb), hb);
     })(),
     (() => {
       // Liveness of the weekly audit cron — deliberately NOT its citation
diff --git a/scripts/backup-db.ts b/scripts/backup-db.ts
index 945d76e..b618f01 100644
--- a/scripts/backup-db.ts
+++ b/scripts/backup-db.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ import path from "node:path";
 import { execFile } from "node:child_process";
 import { promisify } from "node:util";
 import { loadScriptEnv } from "../lib/script-env";
+// Type-only: the value side stays behind the dynamic import below, which
+// must not run before loadScriptEnv() has put DB_PATH in the environment.
+import type { OffHostState } from "../lib/cron-heartbeat";
 
 loadScriptEnv();
 
@@ -124,7 +127,7 @@ async function main() {
     return;
   }
 
-  const { recordHeartbeat } = await import("../lib/cron-heartbeat");
+  const { recordHeartbeat, offHostToken } = await import("../lib/cron-heartbeat");
   const src = process.env.DB_PATH;
   if (!src || !fs.existsSync(src)) {
     const note = `DB_PATH 없음 또는 파일 없음: ${src ?? "(unset)"}`;
@@ -180,6 +183,7 @@ async function main() {
   // warning — the local copy still exists, but the box is a single point of
   // failure again and someone has to know.
   let offHost = "off-host 미설정 (BACKUP_REMOTE)";
+  let offHostState: OffHostState = "none";
   let status: "ok" | "error" = "ok";
   if (remote) {
     const rsync = process.env.BACKUP_RSYNC_BIN || "rsync";
@@ -188,9 +192,11 @@ async function main() {
         timeout: 15 * 60_000,
       });
       offHost = `off-host 복사 완료 → ${remote}`;
+      offHostState = "ok";
       console.log(offHost);
     } catch (err) {
       offHost = `off-host 복사 실패 → ${remote}: ${(err as Error).message.slice(0, 200)}`;
+      offHostState = "fail";
       console.error(offHost);
       status = "error";
     }
@@ -201,7 +207,7 @@ async function main() {
   }
 
   const removed = prune(dir, keep);
-  const note = `${path.basename(dest)} ${sizeMb}MB · ${check.note} · ${offHost} · 정리 ${removed}건 (보관 ${keep})`;
+  const note = `${offHostToken(offHostState)} · ${path.basename(dest)} ${sizeMb}MB · ${check.note} · ${offHost} · 정리 ${removed}건 (보관 ${keep})`;
   console.log(`Heartbeat: ${status} — ${note}`);
   recordHeartbeat("alpha-backup-cron", status, note);
   if (status === "error") process.exitCode = 1;
diff --git a/tests/offhost.test.ts b/tests/offhost.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1dbbb54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/offhost.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/**
+ * The off-host marker in the backup heartbeat note.
+ *
+ * scripts/backup-db.ts writes this token and lib/health.ts reads it, and the
+ * whole point of the row is to be true before someone needs it. A silent
+ * drift between writer and reader would put the row back where it was —
+ * reporting `ok` for a copy sitting on the same disk as the original.
+ *
+ * Pure string work. The DB_PATH dance below exists only because
+ * lib/cron-heartbeat.ts imports lib/db, which mkdirs its data directory at
+ * module load; the temp path keeps that out of the checkout.
+ */
+
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { after, before, describe, it } from "node:test";
+
+type Heartbeat = typeof import("../lib/cron-heartbeat");
+
+let hb: Heartbeat;
+let tmpDir: string;
+
+before(async () => {
+  tmpDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "alpha-offhost-test-"));
+  process.env.DB_PATH = path.join(tmpDir, "test.sqlite");
+  hb = await import("../lib/cron-heartbeat");
+});
+
+after(() => {
+  fs.rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+});
+
+describe("off-host marker", () => {
+  it("round-trips every state", () => {
+    for (const state of ["none", "ok", "fail"] as const) {
+      assert.equal(hb.readOffHost(hb.offHostToken(state)), state);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("reads the note backup-db.ts actually writes", () => {
+    // Verbatim shape from scripts/backup-db.ts: token first, then prose.
+    const note =
+      "offhost=none · alpha-daily-20260825T180000Z.sqlite 17.6MB · " +
+      "integrity ok, posts=978 · off-host 미설정 (BACKUP_REMOTE) · 정리 0건 (보관 14)";
+    assert.equal(hb.readOffHost(note), "none");
+  });
+
+  it("follows the token, not the prose", () => {
+    // The prose says 미설정 and the token says otherwise. The token wins,
+    // because prose is for people and gets rewritten; this is the contract.
+    const note = "offhost=ok · off-host 미설정 이라는 옛 문구가 남아 있어도";
+    assert.equal(hb.readOffHost(note), "ok");
+  });
+
+  it("returns null when there is no token", () => {
+    // Heartbeats written before the token existed carry no verdict, and an
+    // absent token is not evidence of an absent copy. health.ts leaves the
+    // row alone rather than guessing; the next 03:00 run supplies the truth.
+    assert.equal(hb.readOffHost("integrity ok, posts=978"), null);
+    assert.equal(hb.readOffHost(null), null);
+    assert.equal(hb.readOffHost(undefined), null);
+  });
+});