diff --git a/infra/earnings_archive.tf b/infra/earnings_archive.tf
index 3c3b1d50..07bbc8aa 100644
--- a/infra/earnings_archive.tf
+++ b/infra/earnings_archive.tf
@@ -51,10 +51,29 @@ resource "google_storage_bucket" "earnings_archive" {
   force_destroy               = false
   public_access_prevention    = "enforced"
 
-  # NO lifecycle_rule: the 35-01 gate was signed `approve` with NO retention cap
-  # (D-27.9 amendment, no conditions) — the archive is retained indefinitely.
-  # Contrast the transient earnings-audio-handoff bucket (cloud_run.tf) which
-  # reaps at age = 1 day.
+  # NO general lifecycle-delete rule: the 35-01 gate was signed `approve` with NO
+  # retention cap (D-27.9 amendment, no conditions) — the ARCHIVE is retained
+  # indefinitely. Contrast the transient earnings-audio-handoff bucket
+  # (cloud_run.tf) which reaps at age = 1 day.
+  #
+  # ONE narrow exception, scoped by prefix to `earnings/_preflight/` ONLY: the
+  # archive-repo CLIs (earnings-archive commit 944d6fa) write a unique
+  # per-invocation credential-probe object (`probe-<uuid>.txt`, ~9 bytes) before
+  # touching any source feed, and the cleanup delete is deliberately
+  # best-effort — so probe leftovers can accumulate when deletes fail (codex
+  # review P3, 2026-07-14). These are ephemeral credential probes, NOT archive
+  # artifacts (audio lives under `earnings/audio/`, transcripts under
+  # `earnings/transcripts/` — neither matches this prefix), so reaping them
+  # does not touch the D-27.9 retained-archive decision.
+  lifecycle_rule {
+    condition {
+      age            = 1
+      matches_prefix = ["earnings/_preflight/"]
+    }
+    action {
+      type = "Delete"
+    }
+  }
 
   labels = {
     phase = "35"