diff --git a/docs/runbooks/apiserver-audit-logging.md b/docs/runbooks/apiserver-audit-logging.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e8d732cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/runbooks/apiserver-audit-logging.md
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# Runbook: kube-apiserver Audit Logging
+
+**Status:** enabled 2026-06-06 on `k8s-master` (10.0.20.100, the single
+control-plane node). Motivated by the novelapp incident — a workload was
+deleted with no way to attribute it, because apiserver audit logging had never
+been on (see post-incident note below).
+
+## What is configured
+
+- **Audit policy:** `infra/scripts/k8s-apiserver-audit-policy.yaml` (source of
+  truth), deployed to `/etc/kubernetes/audit-policy.yaml` on k8s-master.
+  Low-write by design: drops reads (get/list/watch), high-churn resources
+  (events, leases, endpointslices, token/subjectaccess reviews), and probe
+  URLs; logs everything else (create/update/patch/delete) at **Metadata**
+  level (who/verb/resource/namespace/name/time/sourceIP — no bodies).
+  `omitStages: [RequestReceived]` → one line per mutating request.
+- **kube-apiserver static-pod manifest** (`/etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml`):
+  `--audit-policy-file=/etc/kubernetes/audit-policy.yaml`,
+  `--audit-log-path=/var/log/kubernetes/audit/audit.log`,
+  `--audit-log-maxage=30 --audit-log-maxbackup=10 --audit-log-maxsize=100`
+  (≤1 GB on disk, 30-day rotation), plus the `audit-policy` (File, RO) and
+  `audit-logs` (DirectoryOrCreate) hostPath volumes/mounts.
+- **Persistence across `kubeadm upgrade`:** the same flags + volumes are in the
+  `kubeadm-config` ConfigMap (`kube-system`), `ClusterConfiguration.apiServer.{extraArgs,extraVolumes}`
+  (v1beta4). Without this, a control-plane upgrade regenerates the manifest and
+  silently drops audit (and oidc). The OIDC flags are recorded there too (see
+  below).
+- **Shipping to Loki:** the Alloy DaemonSet
+  (`infra/stacks/monitoring/modules/monitoring/alloy.yaml`) tails
+  `/var/log/kubernetes/audit/audit.log` (it schedules on the control-plane node
+  and mounts host `/var/log`). Query in Loki/Grafana with
+  `{job="kubernetes-audit"}`.
+
+## How to attribute a change ("who deleted X, when")
+
+```
+# In Loki (Grafana Explore or logcli), last 24h:
+{job="kubernetes-audit"} |= "delete" |= "<resource-name>"
+```
+Each entry is a JSON `audit.k8s.io/v1` Event: `user.username`, `verb`,
+`objectRef.{resource,namespace,name}`, `requestReceivedTimestamp`,
+`sourceIPs`, `userAgent`. On-node fallback (Loki down):
+`sudo grep <name> /var/log/kubernetes/audit/audit.log` on k8s-master.
+
+Note: direct `kubectl`/dashboard calls now show the real identity (user SA or
+OIDC email). Pre-2026-06-06 deletions are NOT recoverable (audit was off).
+
+## CRITICAL gotcha that blocked this (and OIDC) for weeks
+
+`kubelet` runs **every** non-dotfile in its `staticPodPath`
+(`/etc/kubernetes/manifests`) as a static pod. A stray
+`kube-apiserver.yaml.bak.<epoch>` left in that directory (from an earlier manual
+edit) was a **second** manifest defining pod `kube-apiserver`. kubelet ran the
+older `.bak` copy and ignored edits to the real `kube-apiserver.yaml` — so newly
+added flags (the OIDC flags, then these audit flags) never reached the running
+process even though the file clearly had them. Symptom: the running apiserver's
+`/proc/<pid>/cmdline` (or `crictl inspect` args) is SHORTER than the manifest's
+`command:` list. Fix: move any `*.bak`/backup OUT of `/etc/kubernetes/manifests/`.
+**Always back up control-plane manifests to a sibling dir (e.g.
+`/etc/kubernetes/`), never inside `manifests/`.** This also un-blocked OIDC
+(memory id=4042) as a side effect.
+
+## Rollback
+
+Backups live in `/etc/kubernetes/apiserver-manifest-archive/` on k8s-master
+(the 27-arg pre-audit known-good, and the 36-arg desired). To disable audit:
+remove the `--audit-*` flags + audit volumes from the manifest (kubelet
+restarts the apiserver in ~30-40s), and remove them from `kubeadm-config`. A bad
+manifest edit only needs the known-good copied back over
+`/etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml`.
+
+Editing the apiserver manifest restarts the apiserver → ~30-40s API blip on this
+single-control-plane cluster. Always edit from a backup + watch
+`curl -sk https://10.0.20.100:6443/livez` before declaring success.
diff --git a/scripts/k8s-apiserver-audit-policy.yaml b/scripts/k8s-apiserver-audit-policy.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7c210f44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/k8s-apiserver-audit-policy.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# kube-apiserver audit policy -- k8s-master (10.0.20.100), single control-plane.
+#
+# Goal: a durable "who/when/what" trail for MUTATIONS (create/update/patch/
+# delete) so resource deletions can be attributed even though direct
+# kubectl-to-apiserver calls otherwise leave no trace (see the 2026-06-06
+# novelapp incident: a dashboard delete was attributable, a direct-kubectl
+# recreate was not). Deployed OUTSIDE Terraform (the k8s VMs are not TF-managed,
+# see memory id=1575); this file is the source of truth, scp'd to
+# /etc/kubernetes/audit-policy.yaml and wired into the apiserver static-pod
+# manifest + the kubeadm-config ConfigMap (so "kubeadm upgrade" preserves it).
+#
+# Tuned for LOW WRITE VOLUME (the cluster's sdc HDD is write-sensitive, see
+# memory id=559): reads are dropped entirely, high-churn resources and probe
+# endpoints are dropped, and the verbose RequestReceived stage is omitted, so
+# only one Metadata-level line is written per mutating request.
+apiVersion: audit.k8s.io/v1
+kind: Policy
+# Only emit the post-execution stage -- halves volume vs logging both stages.
+omitStages:
+  - RequestReceived
+rules:
+  # 1. Never log read-only verbs -- the overwhelming majority of traffic and
+  #    irrelevant to "who changed/deleted X".
+  - level: None
+    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]
+
+  # 2. Drop high-churn / low-value resources even on writes.
+  - level: None
+    resources:
+      - group: ""
+        resources: ["events", "endpoints", "nodes/status", "pods/status"]
+      - group: "coordination.k8s.io"
+        resources: ["leases"]
+      - group: "discovery.k8s.io"
+        resources: ["endpointslices"]
+      - group: "metrics.k8s.io"
+      - group: "authentication.k8s.io"
+        resources: ["tokenreviews"]
+      - group: "authorization.k8s.io"
+        resources: ["subjectaccessreviews", "selfsubjectaccessreviews"]
+
+  # 3. Drop noisy non-resource probe / discovery URLs.
+  - level: None
+    nonResourceURLs:
+      - "/healthz*"
+      - "/readyz*"
+      - "/livez*"
+      - "/version"
+      - "/metrics"
+      - "/openapi/*"
+      - "/swagger*"
+
+  # 4. Everything else (every create/update/patch/delete on real resources):
+  #    record WHO (user + sourceIP + userAgent), WHAT (resource/namespace/name),
+  #    WHEN, and the verb -- at Metadata level (no request/response bodies, so
+  #    each entry stays small).
+  - level: Metadata
diff --git a/stacks/monitoring/modules/monitoring/alloy.yaml b/stacks/monitoring/modules/monitoring/alloy.yaml
index cd9d223b..e146d498 100644
--- a/stacks/monitoring/modules/monitoring/alloy.yaml
+++ b/stacks/monitoring/modules/monitoring/alloy.yaml
@@ -222,11 +222,14 @@ alloy:
         forward_to = [loki.write.default.receiver]
       }
 
-      // Kubernetes audit log collection from /var/log/kubernetes/audit.log
-      // Requires alloy.mounts.varlog=true to mount /var/log from the host
+      // Kubernetes audit log collection from /var/log/kubernetes/audit/audit.log
+      // (kube-apiserver --audit-log-path on k8s-master; rotated siblings stay in
+      // the audit/ subdir). Requires alloy.mounts.varlog=true to mount /var/log
+      // from the host. Enabled 2026-06-06 once apiserver audit actually started
+      // writing — see infra/scripts/k8s-apiserver-audit-policy.yaml.
       local.file_match "audit_logs" {
         path_targets = [{
-          __path__ = "/var/log/kubernetes/audit.log",
+          __path__ = "/var/log/kubernetes/audit/audit.log",
           job      = "kubernetes-audit",
           node     = env("HOSTNAME"),
         }]