diff --git a/database/migrations/002_drop_token_version.sql b/database/migrations/002_drop_token_version.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b11b015
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database/migrations/002_drop_token_version.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+\c dcntrlized;
+
+-- 002_drop_token_version.sql — remove the rotation counter.
+--
+-- Contract decision (2026-10-18): `rotateSubscribeToken` is gone. The subscribe
+-- token is minted once at creation and lives as long as the alert; subscribers
+-- are never evicted and there is no rotation lifecycle. `token_version` was the
+-- rotation counter and has no remaining reader: no query, view or wire field
+-- depends on it (the API stopped serialising `tokenVersion` in the same change).
+--
+-- `001_alarm_schema.sql` is already applied to the dev database and is never
+-- edited in place, so the column is dropped here instead of being removed from
+-- the CREATE TABLE. A fresh database applies 001 (which still creates the
+-- column) and immediately drops it below; that is intentional and keeps the
+-- migration history append-only. The CHECK constraint
+-- `alerts_token_version_positive` disappears with the column.
+--
+-- Idempotent: guarded on the schema/column existing, so re-applying the whole
+-- sequence (or applying this file alone to a virgin database) is a clean no-op.
+
+DO $$
+BEGIN
+    IF EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM pg_namespace WHERE nspname = 'alarm') THEN
+        ALTER TABLE alarm.alerts DROP COLUMN IF EXISTS token_version;
+    END IF;
+END
+$$;
diff --git a/src/internal/alarmtoken/token.go b/src/internal/alarmtoken/token.go
index d288918..04b2766 100644
--- a/src/internal/alarmtoken/token.go
+++ b/src/internal/alarmtoken/token.go
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 //     constant-time over the digest.
 //   - the SUBSCRIBE token is 24 random bytes, base64url (32 chars). It is
 //     stored in plaintext on purpose: it is shared through the QR code with
-//     every subscriber, and rotation is a cheap UPDATE (token_version). It is
+//     every subscriber and is minted once per alert — there is no rotation
+//     (subscribers are permanent for the lifetime of the alert). It is
 //     still compared in constant time so a timing oracle cannot be used to
 //     recover it byte by byte.
 package alarmtoken
diff --git a/src/internal/qrpayload/qrpayload.go b/src/internal/qrpayload/qrpayload.go
index 112e433..8efda38 100644
--- a/src/internal/qrpayload/qrpayload.go
+++ b/src/internal/qrpayload/qrpayload.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 //
 // The fragment (not the query string) carries the token so the secret is never
 // sent to the host if a scanner ever resolves the URL in a browser. Build is
-// used by createAlert/getAlert/rotateSubscribeToken, and Parse is used by any
+// used by createAlert/getAlert, and Parse is used by any
 // component that accepts a scanned payload (the Android client's scanner and
 // the service's own tests).
 //