diff --git a/deploy/2026.08.21.03.md b/deploy/2026.08.21.03.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f163876f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/2026.08.21.03.md
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# 2026.08.21.03 — a drill
+
+**No code change.** This release exists to watch the watcher fire, and to exercise the claim rule that
+landed after the last one.
+
+There is nothing to bump but the version and this file, and that is deliberate rather than lazy: a tag
+whose `package.json` disagrees with it makes the commander stop, and a tag with no plan beside it makes it
+stop too, so the smallest honest release is still a version and a plan.
+
+## What is being tested
+
+- The watcher noticing a tag and spawning an agent on its own, with nobody watching the composer.
+- `scripts/deploy-claim.sh` taking the claim before anything is deployed, and the deploy recording success
+  through the same script.
+- A second pass over the same version being refused rather than repeated.
+
+## Every host
+
+1. `git pull --ff-only`
+2. `bun run plugins:update`
+3. `pm2 restart officer`
+
+`officer` only. No `bun install`, no `db:push` — nothing in this range touches a schema, a dependency or
+the lockfile, and `git diff deploy/2026.08.21.02..HEAD` is two files.
+
+## Then check
+
+`pm2 jlist`: `officer` is `online` and its `restart_time` moved. Nothing else restarted.
+
+`scripts/deploy-claim.sh state 2026.08.21.03` says `done`.
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 610d30d5..a2396911 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "officer",
-  "version": "2026.08.21.02",
+  "version": "2026.08.21.03",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "workspaces": [