diff --git a/packages/claude-code-plugin/hooks/lib/tiny_actor_card.py b/packages/claude-code-plugin/hooks/lib/tiny_actor_card.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3b674e2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/claude-code-plugin/hooks/lib/tiny_actor_card.py
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+"""TinyActorCard contract and mood-to-face mapping for ASCII actor scenes (#1270).
+
+Provides a stable, reusable data contract for the Tiny Actor Grid.
+Face generation is deterministic from ``eye + mood``.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import Optional
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Constants
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+DEFAULT_EYE: str = "\u25cf"  # ●
+DEFAULT_EYE_ASCII: str = "o"
+
+# Unicode mouth glyphs keyed by mood
+_MOOD_MOUTHS: dict[str, str] = {
+    "speaking": "\u203f",  # ‿
+    "reviewing": "\u2304",  # ⌄
+    "proposing": "\u2040",  # ⁀
+    "unsure": "_",
+    "blocked": "x",
+}
+
+# ASCII mouth glyphs keyed by mood
+_MOOD_MOUTHS_ASCII: dict[str, str] = {
+    "speaking": "_",
+    "reviewing": ".",
+    "proposing": "~",
+    "unsure": "_",
+    "blocked": "x",
+}
+
+_DEFAULT_MOOD = "unsure"
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Dataclass
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class TinyActorCard:
+    """Immutable card representing a single actor in the Tiny Actor Grid."""
+
+    agent_id: str
+    label: str
+    face: str
+    eye: str
+    mood: str
+    quote: Optional[str] = None
+    color_ansi: Optional[str] = None
+    is_moderator: bool = False
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Face builder
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def build_face(
+    mood: str,
+    eye_glyph: Optional[str] = None,
+    *,
+    eye_fallback: Optional[str] = None,
+    ascii_mode: bool = False,
+) -> str:
+    """Build a deterministic face string from *mood* and optional eye glyph.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    mood:
+        Mood key (``speaking``, ``reviewing``, ``proposing``, ``unsure``,
+        ``blocked``).  Unknown moods fall back to ``unsure``.
+    eye_glyph:
+        Unicode eye character (e.g. ``★``).  Ignored when *ascii_mode* is
+        ``True``.
+    eye_fallback:
+        ASCII single-char eye used when *ascii_mode* is ``True``.
+        Defaults to ``o``.
+    ascii_mode:
+        When ``True``, produce a pure-ASCII face.
+    """
+    if ascii_mode:
+        eye = eye_fallback or DEFAULT_EYE_ASCII
+        mouth = _MOOD_MOUTHS_ASCII.get(mood, _MOOD_MOUTHS_ASCII[_DEFAULT_MOOD])
+        return f"{eye}{mouth}{eye}"
+
+    eye = eye_glyph or DEFAULT_EYE
+    mouth = _MOOD_MOUTHS.get(mood, _MOOD_MOUTHS[_DEFAULT_MOOD])
+    return f"{eye}{mouth}{eye}"
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Factory
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def create_actor_card(
+    agent_id: str,
+    label: str,
+    *,
+    mood: str = _DEFAULT_MOOD,
+    eye_glyph: Optional[str] = None,
+    eye_fallback: Optional[str] = None,
+    quote: Optional[str] = None,
+    color_ansi: Optional[str] = None,
+    is_moderator: bool = False,
+    ascii_mode: bool = False,
+) -> TinyActorCard:
+    """Create a :class:`TinyActorCard` with a deterministic face.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    agent_id:
+        Agent identifier (e.g. ``"security-specialist"``).
+    label:
+        Short display name (e.g. ``"Security"``).
+    mood:
+        Mood key — defaults to ``"unsure"``.
+    eye_glyph:
+        Unicode eye glyph from agent JSON ``visual.eye``.
+    eye_fallback:
+        ASCII eye character for fallback rendering.
+    quote:
+        Optional status text or quote.
+    color_ansi:
+        ANSI colour name (``red``, ``green``, …).
+    is_moderator:
+        ``True`` for Buddy / moderator cards.
+    ascii_mode:
+        Produce a pure-ASCII face when ``True``.
+    """
+    face = build_face(
+        mood,
+        eye_glyph=eye_glyph,
+        eye_fallback=eye_fallback,
+        ascii_mode=ascii_mode,
+    )
+    eye = (eye_fallback or DEFAULT_EYE_ASCII) if ascii_mode else (eye_glyph or DEFAULT_EYE)
+
+    return TinyActorCard(
+        agent_id=agent_id,
+        label=label,
+        face=face,
+        eye=eye,
+        mood=mood,
+        quote=quote,
+        color_ansi=color_ansi,
+        is_moderator=is_moderator,
+    )
diff --git a/packages/claude-code-plugin/tests/test_tiny_actor_card.py b/packages/claude-code-plugin/tests/test_tiny_actor_card.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..249ad4f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/claude-code-plugin/tests/test_tiny_actor_card.py
@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+"""Tests for TinyActorCard contract and mood-to-face mapping (#1270)."""
+import os
+import sys
+
+import pytest
+
+# Ensure hooks/lib is on path
+_tests_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+_lib_dir = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(_tests_dir), "hooks", "lib")
+if _lib_dir not in sys.path:
+    sys.path.insert(0, _lib_dir)
+
+from tiny_actor_card import TinyActorCard, build_face, create_actor_card
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# build_face — mood-to-face mapping
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+DEFAULT_EYE = "\u25cf"  # ●
+
+
+class TestBuildFaceMoods:
+    """build_face returns the correct face for each mood."""
+
+    def test_speaking_mood(self):
+        assert build_face("speaking") == f"{DEFAULT_EYE}\u203f{DEFAULT_EYE}"
+
+    def test_reviewing_mood(self):
+        assert build_face("reviewing") == f"{DEFAULT_EYE}\u2304{DEFAULT_EYE}"
+
+    def test_proposing_mood(self):
+        assert build_face("proposing") == f"{DEFAULT_EYE}\u2040{DEFAULT_EYE}"
+
+    def test_unsure_mood(self):
+        assert build_face("unsure") == f"{DEFAULT_EYE}_{DEFAULT_EYE}"
+
+    def test_blocked_mood(self):
+        assert build_face("blocked") == f"{DEFAULT_EYE}x{DEFAULT_EYE}"
+
+    def test_unknown_mood_falls_back_to_unsure(self):
+        assert build_face("nonexistent") == f"{DEFAULT_EYE}_{DEFAULT_EYE}"
+
+
+class TestBuildFaceCustomEye:
+    """build_face with custom eye_glyph replaces the default eye."""
+
+    def test_star_eye(self):
+        assert build_face("speaking", eye_glyph="\u2605") == "\u2605\u203f\u2605"
+
+    def test_diamond_eye(self):
+        assert build_face("reviewing", eye_glyph="\u25c6") == "\u25c6\u2304\u25c6"
+
+    def test_buddy_eye(self):
+        # Buddy uses ◕ (U+25D5)
+        assert build_face("proposing", eye_glyph="\u25d5") == "\u25d5\u2040\u25d5"
+
+
+class TestBuildFaceAsciiFallback:
+    """build_face ASCII fallback mode produces safe ASCII faces."""
+
+    def test_speaking_ascii(self):
+        assert build_face("speaking", ascii_mode=True) == "o_o"
+
+    def test_reviewing_ascii(self):
+        assert build_face("reviewing", ascii_mode=True) == "o.o"
+
+    def test_proposing_ascii(self):
+        assert build_face("proposing", ascii_mode=True) == "o~o"
+
+    def test_unsure_ascii(self):
+        assert build_face("unsure", ascii_mode=True) == "o_o"
+
+    def test_blocked_ascii(self):
+        assert build_face("blocked", ascii_mode=True) == "oxo"
+
+    def test_ascii_with_eye_fallback(self):
+        assert build_face("speaking", eye_fallback="O", ascii_mode=True) == "O_O"
+
+    def test_ascii_unknown_mood(self):
+        assert build_face("whatever", ascii_mode=True) == "o_o"
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# TinyActorCard — dataclass contract
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestTinyActorCard:
+    """TinyActorCard dataclass holds the expected fields."""
+
+    def test_all_fields_present(self):
+        card = TinyActorCard(
+            agent_id="security-specialist",
+            label="Security",
+            face="\u2605\u203f\u2605",
+            eye="\u2605",
+            mood="speaking",
+            quote="analyzing",
+            color_ansi="yellow",
+            is_moderator=False,
+        )
+        assert card.agent_id == "security-specialist"
+        assert card.label == "Security"
+        assert card.face == "\u2605\u203f\u2605"
+        assert card.eye == "\u2605"
+        assert card.mood == "speaking"
+        assert card.quote == "analyzing"
+        assert card.color_ansi == "yellow"
+        assert card.is_moderator is False
+
+    def test_optional_fields_default(self):
+        card = TinyActorCard(
+            agent_id="test",
+            label="Test",
+            face="o_o",
+            eye=DEFAULT_EYE,
+            mood="unsure",
+        )
+        assert card.quote is None
+        assert card.color_ansi is None
+        assert card.is_moderator is False
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# create_actor_card — factory function
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestCreateActorCard:
+    """create_actor_card factory builds valid cards."""
+
+    def test_creates_card_with_defaults(self):
+        card = create_actor_card("frontend-developer", "Frontend")
+        assert card.agent_id == "frontend-developer"
+        assert card.label == "Frontend"
+        assert card.mood == "unsure"  # default mood
+        assert card.eye == DEFAULT_EYE
+        assert card.face == f"{DEFAULT_EYE}_{DEFAULT_EYE}"
+        assert card.quote is None
+        assert card.color_ansi is None
+        assert card.is_moderator is False
+
+    def test_creates_card_with_custom_mood(self):
+        card = create_actor_card("backend-developer", "Backend", mood="speaking")
+        assert card.mood == "speaking"
+        assert card.face == f"{DEFAULT_EYE}\u203f{DEFAULT_EYE}"
+
+    def test_creates_card_with_eye_glyph(self):
+        card = create_actor_card(
+            "security-specialist", "Security", eye_glyph="\u2605"
+        )
+        assert card.eye == "\u2605"
+        assert card.face == "\u2605_\u2605"
+
+    def test_creates_card_with_all_options(self):
+        card = create_actor_card(
+            "test-engineer",
+            "Test",
+            mood="proposing",
+            eye_glyph="\u25c6",
+            quote="running tests",
+            color_ansi="green",
+            is_moderator=False,
+        )
+        assert card.agent_id == "test-engineer"
+        assert card.face == "\u25c6\u2040\u25c6"
+        assert card.quote == "running tests"
+        assert card.color_ansi == "green"
+
+    def test_buddy_moderator_card(self):
+        card = create_actor_card(
+            "buddy",
+            "Buddy",
+            mood="speaking",
+            eye_glyph="\u25d5",
+            is_moderator=True,
+        )
+        assert card.is_moderator is True
+        assert card.eye == "\u25d5"
+        assert card.face == "\u25d5\u203f\u25d5"
+
+    def test_ascii_mode_card(self):
+        card = create_actor_card(
+            "test", "Test", mood="speaking", ascii_mode=True
+        )
+        assert card.face == "o_o"
+
+    def test_ascii_mode_with_eye_fallback(self):
+        card = create_actor_card(
+            "test",
+            "Test",
+            mood="reviewing",
+            eye_fallback="O",
+            ascii_mode=True,
+        )
+        assert card.face == "O.O"
+        assert card.eye == "O"