diff --git a/server/db/schema.sql b/server/db/schema.sql
index bfe0b9f..267a7d5 100644
--- a/server/db/schema.sql
+++ b/server/db/schema.sql
@@ -1642,3 +1642,47 @@ UPDATE email_config
  WHERE refresh_token_enc IS NOT NULL
    AND credential_enc IS NULL
    AND status <> 'unconfigured';
+
+-- ── Per-channel notification preferences (ENGAGEMENT.md §4.5, Phase 3) ──────
+--
+-- G8: `notification_subscriptions` above has no channel dimension. It answers
+-- "which streams does this user want pushed", and the shipped Android client's
+-- wire shape (`{ streams: [...] }`) is frozen around exactly that question. This
+-- table answers the general one — which streams AND triggers, on which channel,
+-- in which mode — and the old table becomes its push projection: every write to
+-- one fans out to the other (`notificationChannelPrefs.model`).
+--
+-- `stream_id` names a stream OR a trigger id, ONE namespace (§7.2, settled in
+-- Phase 2). That decision is what keeps this primary key single-keyed: under two
+-- namespaces it would have needed a `kind` discriminator, and `news.post` would
+-- have meant two different rows forever.
+--
+-- **A row exists only where a user has expressed something.** Absence is not
+-- "off" — it is "the channel's `defaultMode`", which lives in
+-- `src/engagement/channels.js` and nowhere else (§3.1, G9: per-channel defaults
+-- differ). All three of core's channels default 'off' today, so absence and off
+-- coincide; that is a fact about the current declarations, not about this table,
+-- and code must not assume it. The column DEFAULT below is the value a write with
+-- no mode takes, not the value a missing row means.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS notification_channel_prefs (
+  user_id    INT          NOT NULL,
+  stream_id  VARCHAR(64)  NOT NULL,
+  channel    VARCHAR(32)  NOT NULL,
+  mode       ENUM('off','instant','digest') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'off',
+  updated_at DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+  PRIMARY KEY (user_id, stream_id, channel),
+  CONSTRAINT fk_ncp_user FOREIGN KEY (user_id) REFERENCES users(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+  INDEX idx_ncp_channel (channel, mode)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;
+
+-- Carry the existing push subscriptions across, once. Same shape as the
+-- announce_jobs -> announce_job_legs backfill above: an INSERT IGNORE ... SELECT,
+-- so replaying this file on every boot is a no-op after the first, and a user who
+-- has since turned a stream OFF is not resurrected by the next boot (their row
+-- exists with mode 'off', and INSERT IGNORE leaves it alone).
+--
+-- 'instant' rather than the column default, because a row in
+-- notification_subscriptions IS an opt-in: the user asked to be pushed, and push
+-- has no digest mode to be asked into instead.
+INSERT IGNORE INTO notification_channel_prefs (user_id, stream_id, channel, mode)
+  SELECT user_id, stream_id, 'push', 'instant' FROM notification_subscriptions;
diff --git a/server/routes.guards.json b/server/routes.guards.json
index e89f215..c52051c 100644
--- a/server/routes.guards.json
+++ b/server/routes.guards.json
@@ -1434,6 +1434,26 @@
         "validate"
       ]
     },
+    {
+      "method": "GET",
+      "path": "/api/v1/auth/me/notifications/channels",
+      "handlers": 1,
+      "gates": [
+        "noindex",
+        "requireAuth"
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "method": "PUT",
+      "path": "/api/v1/auth/me/notifications/channels",
+      "handlers": 6,
+      "gates": [
+        "noindex",
+        "requireAuth",
+        "middleware",
+        "validate"
+      ]
+    },
     {
       "method": "GET",
       "path": "/api/v1/auth/me/notifications/streams",
diff --git a/server/routes.manifest.json b/server/routes.manifest.json
index 0ca2665..eeff48a 100644
--- a/server/routes.manifest.json
+++ b/server/routes.manifest.json
@@ -569,6 +569,14 @@
       "method": "DELETE",
       "path": "/api/v1/auth/me/devices/:id"
     },
+    {
+      "method": "GET",
+      "path": "/api/v1/auth/me/notifications/channels"
+    },
+    {
+      "method": "PUT",
+      "path": "/api/v1/auth/me/notifications/channels"
+    },
     {
       "method": "GET",
       "path": "/api/v1/auth/me/notifications/streams"
diff --git a/server/src/app.js b/server/src/app.js
index f03a30a..f7d8e1c 100644
--- a/server/src/app.js
+++ b/server/src/app.js
@@ -192,6 +192,15 @@ app.use('/api', apiRouter)
 // module's collision checks are asked against what is ALREADY registered, so
 // core's streams, its announce leg and its extension-slot fill have to be there
 // before the first module registers anything (MODULE_SYSTEM.md §1.8).
+// The engagement subsystem's own door, which is what brings core's mail
+// transports and its three delivery channels into existence (ENGAGEMENT.md
+// §3.1). Requiring `engagement/channels` or `engagement/transports` directly gets
+// the empty registry — populating it is deliberately a side effect of this one
+// require, so there is exactly one place either can be registered from. It runs
+// beside registerCore() and before the loader for the same reason: a preference
+// read or a mail send must never find a half-populated registry.
+require('./engagement')
+
 registries.registerCore()
 modules.load({
   public: require('./router/v1/public'),
diff --git a/server/src/engagement/channels.js b/server/src/engagement/channels.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..804f844
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/engagement/channels.js
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+// ── The delivery-channel registry ──────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// ENGAGEMENT.md §3.1, Phase 3. The other half of the axis `transports/index.js`
+// splits: a **channel** is what kind of sink this is (email, push, in-app), a
+// **transport** is how one channel actually delivers (SMTP, ntfy, FCM). Push has
+// had this shape since before anyone named it — `push_devices.transport` is a
+// transport column on a channel with one implementation.
+//
+// **Only the declarative half registers here today**, and that is the whole of
+// what Phase 3 needs. `addressFor` / `render` / `deliver` arrive with the phases
+// that can exercise them: email in Phase 6, in-app in Phase 7. Declaring a
+// function nothing calls freezes a signature before anything has tried to use
+// it, which is the reason `transports/index.js` deferred this file at all.
+//
+// What forced it into Phase 3 rather than Phase 6: `notification_channel_prefs`
+// stores a mode only when a user has expressed one, so reading a preference
+// means knowing the channel's default — and §3.1 says `defaultMode` is expressed
+// **once**. A constant list beside the prefs model would be that expression in a
+// second place two phases before the registry replaced it.
+//
+// Nothing here touches the database, the network or a user record.
+
+// id → channel definition, in registration order.
+const channels = new Map()
+
+// The three modes a preference can take. `digest` is only offered by a channel
+// that declares `supportsDigest` — push and in-app are instant-only in v1,
+// because a digest of content-free tickles is not a thing you can batch.
+const MODES = ['off', 'instant', 'digest']
+
+const isMode = (value) => MODES.includes(value)
+
+/**
+ * Register a delivery channel.
+ *
+ * Validate-then-commit, the same discipline `registerMailTransport` and
+ * `modules/registries.js` use: every check runs before the map is touched, so a
+ * rejected registration leaves nothing behind.
+ *
+ * @param {object} def
+ * @param {string}  def.id             'email' | 'push' | 'inapp' | later 'discord.dm'
+ * @param {string}  def.label          operator/user-facing name
+ * @param {boolean} def.carriesContent false for push — the tickle invariant, stated structurally
+ * @param {string}  def.defaultMode    the mode that applies with no stored row
+ * @param {boolean} def.supportsDigest may a preference for this channel be 'digest'
+ * @param {string}  [def.description]  one line for the preferences screen
+ */
+function registerDeliveryChannel(def) {
+  if (!def || typeof def !== 'object') throw new Error('registerDeliveryChannel: definition required')
+  const { id, label, carriesContent, defaultMode, supportsDigest } = def
+  if (typeof id !== 'string' || !/^[a-z][a-z0-9_.-]*$/.test(id)) {
+    throw new Error(`registerDeliveryChannel: invalid id ${JSON.stringify(id)}`)
+  }
+  if (channels.has(id)) throw new Error(`registerDeliveryChannel: ${id} is already registered`)
+  if (typeof label !== 'string' || !label) throw new Error(`registerDeliveryChannel(${id}): label required`)
+  if (typeof carriesContent !== 'boolean') {
+    throw new Error(`registerDeliveryChannel(${id}): carriesContent must be declared explicitly`)
+  }
+  if (!isMode(defaultMode)) {
+    throw new Error(`registerDeliveryChannel(${id}): defaultMode must be one of ${MODES.join(', ')}`)
+  }
+  if (typeof supportsDigest !== 'boolean') {
+    throw new Error(`registerDeliveryChannel(${id}): supportsDigest must be declared explicitly`)
+  }
+  // A channel that cannot batch cannot default to batching. Cheap to check, and
+  // the failure it prevents is a stored 'digest' row no delivery path can honour.
+  if (defaultMode === 'digest' && !supportsDigest) {
+    throw new Error(`registerDeliveryChannel(${id}): defaultMode 'digest' needs supportsDigest`)
+  }
+
+  channels.set(id, {
+    id,
+    label,
+    description: def.description || null,
+    carriesContent,
+    defaultMode,
+    supportsDigest,
+  })
+  return id
+}
+
+/** Every channel, in registration order. The preferences screen's column set. */
+const all = () => [...channels.values()].map((c) => ({ ...c }))
+
+/** Just the ids. */
+const ids = () => [...channels.keys()]
+
+/** One channel, or null. Callers must handle null: a stored pref row can name a
+ *  channel that is no longer registered, and that must read as "off", not throw. */
+const get = (id) => {
+  const c = channels.get(id)
+  return c ? { ...c } : null
+}
+
+const has = (id) => channels.has(id)
+
+/** The mode that applies when the user has expressed nothing. An unregistered
+ *  channel is 'off' — never on by accident. */
+const defaultMode = (id) => (channels.get(id) || {}).defaultMode || 'off'
+
+/** Which modes this channel will accept from a client. */
+const modesFor = (id) => {
+  const c = channels.get(id)
+  if (!c) return []
+  return c.supportsDigest ? MODES.slice() : MODES.filter((m) => m !== 'digest')
+}
+
+/** Is `mode` a mode this channel accepts? The gate on every preference write. */
+const acceptsMode = (id, mode) => modesFor(id).includes(mode)
+
+// Test-only: the registry is module-level state.
+function _reset() {
+  channels.clear()
+}
+
+module.exports = {
+  MODES,
+  isMode,
+  registerDeliveryChannel,
+  all,
+  ids,
+  get,
+  has,
+  defaultMode,
+  modesFor,
+  acceptsMode,
+  _reset,
+}
diff --git a/server/src/engagement/coreChannels.js b/server/src/engagement/coreChannels.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..158c294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/engagement/coreChannels.js
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+// ── Core's own delivery channels ───────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// ENGAGEMENT.md §3.1 / Phase 3. All three are core's, and none of them is a game
+// concept: a mailbox, a push endpoint and an inbox row are the same three things
+// on any shard running this platform.
+//
+// **They are declared here before two of them can deliver anything**, and that is
+// deliberate rather than premature. A preference is a durable user statement; the
+// three columns of the preferences screen have to exist from the moment the table
+// does, or the first person to open it after Phase 6 finds an email toggle that
+// has never had a value and a screen that changed shape under them. Registering
+// the metadata early costs nothing — the registry holds no behaviour yet — while
+// registering it late means back-filling opinions users were never asked for.
+//
+// The `defaultMode`s below are the whole of G9: "per-channel defaults differ and
+// there is nowhere to express that generically". This is that place.
+
+const { registerDeliveryChannel } = require('./channels')
+
+const CHANNELS = [
+  {
+    id: 'push',
+    label: 'Push',
+    description: 'A silent tickle to your phone; the app then pulls the real content.',
+    // The tickle invariant (docs/android/PLAN.md §11), stated structurally rather
+    // than as a comment: what leaves the server on this channel is { stream, ref }
+    // and never a message body. Phase 7's `deliver` reads this flag; declaring it
+    // false here is what makes "push must not carry content" a property of the
+    // registration instead of a rule each caller has to remember.
+    carriesContent: false,
+    // **Opt-IN, and this is the one place the phase's own acceptance line was
+    // wrong.** ENGAGEMENT.md Phase 3 said a fresh user's push defaults to
+    // 'instant'; §3.1 called push "opt-OUT", borrowing the semantics of
+    // `team_notification_prefs` (where no row does mean notified). But push
+    // STREAM subscriptions have never worked that way: `notification_subscriptions`
+    // holds a row only when a user opted in, so no row means not subscribed.
+    // Defaulting to 'instant' here would have projected the entire catalog into
+    // `GET /auth/me/notifications/subscriptions` for every existing user, and the
+    // shipped Android client would have shown every toggle switched on after an
+    // upgrade nobody asked for. Settled by the org lead 2026-08-29: 'off'.
+    defaultMode: 'off',
+    // A batched tickle is a contradiction — the content is not in the message, so
+    // there is nothing to roll up. Ten events are ten wakeups or one; either way
+    // the app pulls the same inbox.
+    supportsDigest: false,
+  },
+  {
+    id: 'email',
+    label: 'Email',
+    description: 'A message to your verified address.',
+    carriesContent: true,
+    // Opt-IN, per §7.1 Q1: standard marketing-email practice, and the posture
+    // `team_notification_prefs.email_mode` already takes ('off' by default).
+    defaultMode: 'off',
+    supportsDigest: true,
+  },
+  {
+    id: 'inapp',
+    label: 'On the site',
+    description: 'An item in your notification inbox on the website and in the app.',
+    carriesContent: true,
+    // Opt-IN like the other two, and for a reason particular to this channel: the
+    // inbox does not exist until Phase 7. A default of 'instant' would mean every
+    // user is opted into a surface that has no rows and no screen, and the first
+    // thing Phase 7 shipped would be a backlog. Whether the inbox is opt-out once
+    // it is real is a Phase 7 decision with a live surface to look at.
+    defaultMode: 'off',
+    supportsDigest: false,
+  },
+]
+
+for (const channel of CHANNELS) registerDeliveryChannel(channel)
+
+module.exports = { CHANNELS }
diff --git a/server/src/engagement/index.js b/server/src/engagement/index.js
index e64adab..a815d78 100644
--- a/server/src/engagement/index.js
+++ b/server/src/engagement/index.js
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 // ── The engagement subsystem — one door ────────────────────────────────────
 //
-// ENGAGEMENT.md Phase 1. Today this is the mail transport registry and core's
-// own transports; the trigger registry, the rules engine and the delivery
-// channels arrive in later phases and hang here too.
+// ENGAGEMENT.md Phases 1 and 3. Today this is the mail transport registry, core's
+// own transports, and the delivery-channel registry with core's three channels;
+// the rules engine and the render/deliver half of a channel arrive in later
+// phases and hang here too. (The trigger registry lives in `modules/registries.js`
+// instead, because a trigger is something a MODULE declares and modules only ever
+// see one registration door.)
 //
 // **Core's transports register through the same door a module's would**, and
 // they register HERE rather than at the bottom of the registry file. That keeps
@@ -11,12 +14,14 @@
 // `modules/registries.js` (MODULE_API.md §7.6) — and it means requiring the
 // registry never has the side effect of populating it.
 //
-// Requiring this module is what makes `smtp` available. Everything that resolves
-// a transport goes through here, so there is exactly one place a transport can
-// come into existence.
+// Requiring this module is what makes `smtp` and the three channels available.
+// Everything that resolves either goes through here, so there is exactly one
+// place a transport or a channel can come into existence.
 
 require('./transports/smtp')
+require('./coreChannels')
 
 const transports = require('./transports')
+const channels = require('./channels')
 
-module.exports = { transports }
+module.exports = { transports, channels }
diff --git a/server/src/engagement/transports/index.js b/server/src/engagement/transports/index.js
index 3a7d7b3..74d5d55 100644
--- a/server/src/engagement/transports/index.js
+++ b/server/src/engagement/transports/index.js
@@ -2,9 +2,12 @@
 //
 // ENGAGEMENT.md §3.1, Phase 1. A **channel** is what kind of sink this is (email,
 // push, in-app); a **transport** is how one channel actually delivers. This file
-// is the second half only. The channel registry arrives with the engine that
-// consumes it — registering a channel nothing calls would be a shape frozen
-// before anything had tried to use it.
+// is the second half only; the channel half is `../channels.js`, which Phase 3
+// added when `notification_channel_prefs` needed a single place for `defaultMode`
+// to live. Its render/deliver functions are still deferred to the phases that can
+// exercise them, for the reason this comment used to give about the whole file:
+// registering a function nothing calls freezes a signature before anything has
+// tried to use it.
 //
 // What this replaces: `mailer.buildTransport()` had Gmail's host, port and
 // OAuth2 auth type as literals, so "which provider" was a code edit. Now the
diff --git a/server/src/model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.db.js b/server/src/model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.db.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9176548
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.db.js
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+const { query } = require('../../utils/db')
+
+const listByUser = (userId) =>
+  query(
+    'SELECT stream_id, channel, mode FROM notification_channel_prefs WHERE user_id = ? ORDER BY stream_id, channel',
+    [userId],
+  )
+
+// One (user, stream, channel) row. Upsert rather than insert-or-update in app
+// code: the primary key is exactly the triple, so MariaDB decides, and two
+// concurrent PUTs from a phone and a browser cannot race into a duplicate-key
+// error.
+const upsert = (userId, streamId, channel, mode) =>
+  query(
+    `INSERT INTO notification_channel_prefs (user_id, stream_id, channel, mode)
+     VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)
+     ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE mode = VALUES(mode)`,
+    [userId, streamId, channel, mode],
+  )
+
+// Every push row this user holds that is NOT in `keep`, set to 'off'. The legacy
+// whole-set PUT's other half: it says "these streams and no others", and the
+// rows it is silent about have to stop meaning 'instant'.
+//
+// It sets rather than deletes, so a user's explicit "no" survives a later change
+// to push's `defaultMode` (§3.1 / channels.js). Deleting would fold "I turned
+// this off" back into "I never said", and those are the same thing only for as
+// long as the default happens to be 'off'.
+async function offPushExcept(userId, keep) {
+  if (!keep.length) {
+    return query(
+      "UPDATE notification_channel_prefs SET mode = 'off' WHERE user_id = ? AND channel = 'push' AND mode <> 'off'",
+      [userId],
+    )
+  }
+  const marks = keep.map(() => '?').join(', ')
+  return query(
+    `UPDATE notification_channel_prefs SET mode = 'off'
+      WHERE user_id = ? AND channel = 'push' AND mode <> 'off' AND stream_id NOT IN (${marks})`,
+    [userId, ...keep],
+  )
+}
+
+module.exports = { listByUser, upsert, offPushExcept }
diff --git a/server/src/model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.model.js b/server/src/model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.model.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1aeff0b
Binary files /dev/null and b/server/src/model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.model.js differ
diff --git a/server/src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.db.js b/server/src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.db.js
index 2a1e866..6d1dcf6 100644
--- a/server/src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.db.js
+++ b/server/src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.db.js
@@ -13,4 +13,20 @@ async function replaceForUser(userId, streams) {
   }
 }
 
-module.exports = { listByUser, replaceForUser }
+// ── The single-row pair (ENGAGEMENT.md Phase 3) ────────────────────────────
+//
+// `notification_channel_prefs` is a SPARSE write — one (id, channel) pair at a
+// time — and this table is its push projection, so it needs the same granularity.
+// `replaceForUser` above cannot express "turn this one stream on and leave the
+// rest alone" without the caller first reading the whole set back, which is a
+// read-modify-write race between a phone and a browser saving at once.
+//
+// INSERT IGNORE / DELETE against the (user_id, stream_id) primary key, so both
+// are idempotent and neither needs to know the current state.
+const addForUser = (userId, streamId) =>
+  query('INSERT IGNORE INTO notification_subscriptions (user_id, stream_id) VALUES (?, ?)', [userId, streamId])
+
+const removeForUser = (userId, streamId) =>
+  query('DELETE FROM notification_subscriptions WHERE user_id = ? AND stream_id = ?', [userId, streamId])
+
+module.exports = { listByUser, replaceForUser, addForUser, removeForUser }
diff --git a/server/src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.model.js b/server/src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.model.js
index 9311954..af980ba 100644
--- a/server/src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.model.js
+++ b/server/src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.model.js
@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@
 // applied to every device they register). The catalog is core's plus every
 // installed module's, so it is read back through modules/registries rather than
 // from a config file (MODULE_SYSTEM.md §1.8).
+//
+// **This is now the push PROJECTION of `notification_channel_prefs`**
+// (ENGAGEMENT.md Phase 3), and it keeps its exact wire shape on purpose: the
+// shipped Android client's DTO is `{ streams: [...] }` and cannot be changed from
+// this side. So the general table gained the channel dimension and this one stays
+// the answer to "which streams does this user want pushed" — the only question
+// that client knows how to ask. Every write here fans out to there; every write
+// there that touches push fans out to here. What `utils/pushDispatch` reads did
+// not change at all, which is what makes this phase touch no delivery path.
 
 const db = require('./notificationSubs.db')
 const { isValidStream } = require('../../modules/registries')
@@ -11,9 +20,16 @@ const getForUser = async (userId) => (await db.listByUser(userId)).map((r) => r.
 // Replace the user's subscription set. Ignores unknown ids and de-dupes, so a
 // stale client can't create rows for streams that no longer exist. Returns the
 // stored (cleaned) set.
+//
+// The mirror is required lazily rather than at the top of the file: the channel
+// prefs model requires the registries and the channel registry, and this module
+// is required by the router at boot. A cycle here would be a silent half-loaded
+// module rather than an error, and there is nothing to gain from the eager form.
 async function setForUser(userId, streams) {
   const clean = [...new Set((Array.isArray(streams) ? streams : []).filter(isValidStream))]
   await db.replaceForUser(userId, clean)
+  // eslint-disable-next-line global-require
+  await require('../notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.model').mirrorPushSet(userId, clean)
   return clean
 }
 
diff --git a/server/src/modules/ceilings.js b/server/src/modules/ceilings.js
index 5367551..ae5f809 100644
--- a/server/src/modules/ceilings.js
+++ b/server/src/modules/ceilings.js
@@ -54,6 +54,21 @@ const LABELS = {
   owner: 'Only the user the event is about',
 }
 
+// Which roles the `staff` ceiling actually names. The label above has always
+// claimed "admin / editor / moderator"; Phase 3 gave that claim a consumer, so it
+// is written down once rather than re-derived at each call site.
+//
+// It matches the admin TIER gate — `requireRole('admin','editor','moderator')` in
+// `router/v1/admin/index.js`, and `public.controller`'s own STAFF_ROLES — and NOT
+// `teamGrants.STAFF_ROLES`, which is `['admin','moderator']`. The two are
+// genuinely different questions: teamGrants asks who may act on a Team they are
+// not a member of, and an editor deliberately may not. A ceiling asks who may be
+// TOLD, which is the tier gate's population.
+const STAFF_CEILING_ROLES = ['admin', 'editor', 'moderator']
+
+/** Does this user fall inside the `staff` ceiling? */
+const isStaffRole = (role) => STAFF_CEILING_ROLES.includes(role)
+
 const CEILINGS = Object.keys(PARENT)
 
 /** Is this one of the six? The gate every registration and every rule save runs. */
@@ -104,4 +119,4 @@ function meetAll(list) {
   return list.reduce((acc, next) => (acc === null ? null : meet(acc, next)), list[0])
 }
 
-module.exports = { CEILINGS, LABELS, isCeiling, permits, meet, meetAll }
+module.exports = { CEILINGS, LABELS, STAFF_CEILING_ROLES, isStaffRole, isCeiling, permits, meet, meetAll }
diff --git a/server/src/router/v1/auth/notifications.controller.js b/server/src/router/v1/auth/notifications.controller.js
index f2b4889..bee7dad 100644
--- a/server/src/router/v1/auth/notifications.controller.js
+++ b/server/src/router/v1/auth/notifications.controller.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 const pushDevices = require('../../../model/pushDevices/pushDevices.model')
 const notificationSubs = require('../../../model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.model')
+const channelPrefs = require('../../../model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.model')
 const registries = require('../../../modules/registries')
 const teamPrefs = require('../../../model/teams/teamNotify.model')
 const { isAllowedEndpoint } = require('../../../utils/pushDispatch')
@@ -79,6 +80,39 @@ async function putSubscriptions(req, res) {
   }
 }
 
+// GET /auth/me/notifications/channels — the per-channel preferences surface
+// (ENGAGEMENT.md Phase 3): the channel registry's declarative half, plus one item
+// per subscribable id with its EFFECTIVE mode on each channel that applies.
+//
+// The superset of `/notifications/streams` + `/notifications/subscriptions`,
+// which stay exactly as they are for the shipped app.
+async function getChannelPrefs(req, res) {
+  try {
+    return res.json(await channelPrefs.getForUser(req.user.id, req.user))
+  } catch (err) {
+    log.error('getChannelPrefs', err)
+    return res.status(500).json({ message: 'Internal Server Error' })
+  }
+}
+
+// PUT /auth/me/notifications/channels — apply a SPARSE set of preferences.
+//
+// Only the (id, channel) pairs in the body are written; every other pair is left
+// alone, so a screen that manages one channel need not know about the others. Off
+// is a mode, not an omission — which is also why this endpoint has no
+// empty-array case to get wrong, unlike its two neighbours. Entries naming an
+// unknown id, an inapplicable channel or a mode that channel does not accept are
+// dropped by the model; the full stored state is echoed back so the caller can
+// see what actually took.
+async function putChannelPrefs(req, res) {
+  try {
+    return res.json(await channelPrefs.applyForUser(req.user.id, req.body.prefs, req.user))
+  } catch (err) {
+    log.error('putChannelPrefs', err)
+    return res.status(500).json({ message: 'Internal Server Error' })
+  }
+}
+
 // GET /auth/me/notifications/teams — this user's per-Team preferences, one row
 // per Team they could be notified about whether or not they have ever set one.
 //
@@ -119,6 +153,8 @@ module.exports = {
   getStreams,
   getSubscriptions,
   putSubscriptions,
+  getChannelPrefs,
+  putChannelPrefs,
   getTeamPrefs,
   putTeamPrefs,
 }
diff --git a/server/src/router/v1/auth/notifications.routes.js b/server/src/router/v1/auth/notifications.routes.js
index d3b6731..81abffa 100644
--- a/server/src/router/v1/auth/notifications.routes.js
+++ b/server/src/router/v1/auth/notifications.routes.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ const { requireAuth } = require('../../../auth/session.middleware')
 const noindex = require('../../../middleware/noindex')
 const validate = require('../../../middleware/validate')
 const { EMAIL_MODES } = require('../../../model/teams/teamNotify.model')
+const { MODES } = require('../../../engagement/channels')
 
 const notifRouter = express.Router()
 
@@ -98,6 +99,44 @@ notifRouter.put(
   notif.putSubscriptions,
 )
 
+// ── Per-channel preferences (ENGAGEMENT.md §4.5, phase 3) ──────────────────
+//
+// The channel dimension `notification_subscriptions` lacks. The two endpoints
+// above are unchanged and become the push projection of these — the shipped app
+// keeps its wire shape, and a newer client manages email and in-app through here.
+//
+// The PUT is SPARSE, deliberately unlike the two whole-set PUTs either side of
+// it: only the pairs named are written. `off` is a mode rather than an omission,
+// so there is no "clearing the last entry" case and no empty-array DTO gotcha.
+notifRouter.get(
+  '/notifications/channels',
+  // #swagger.tags = ['Auth · Me']
+  // #swagger.summary = 'Get the current user’s per-channel notification preferences'
+  // #swagger.description = 'The delivery channels (email, push, in-app) with their defaults, plus one item per subscribable id — every push stream and every event trigger, one namespace — carrying the effective mode on each channel that applies to it. A trigger-only id has no push toggle. Modes not stored are reported as the channel’s default, so a client never has to know which it is looking at.'
+  // #swagger.security = [{ "cookieAuth": [] }, { "bearerAuth": [] }]
+  /* #swagger.responses[200] = { description: 'Per-channel preferences', content: { "application/json": { schema: { $ref: "#/components/schemas/NotificationChannelPrefs" } } } } */
+  /* #swagger.responses[401] = { description: 'Not authenticated', content: { "application/json": { schema: { $ref: "#/components/schemas/Error" } } } } */
+  notif.getChannelPrefs,
+)
+
+notifRouter.put(
+  '/notifications/channels',
+  // #swagger.tags = ['Auth · Me']
+  // #swagger.summary = 'Update the current user’s per-channel notification preferences'
+  // #swagger.description = 'A SPARSE update: only the (id, channel) pairs in `prefs` are written and every other pair is left untouched, so setting `email` does not disturb `push`. Entries naming an unknown id, a channel that does not apply to that id, or a mode that channel does not accept are ignored. A `push` entry is mirrored into /notifications/subscriptions. The full stored state is echoed back.'
+  // #swagger.security = [{ "cookieAuth": [] }, { "bearerAuth": [] }]
+  /* #swagger.requestBody = { required: true, content: { "application/json": { schema: { $ref: "#/components/schemas/NotificationChannelPrefsUpdate" } } } } */
+  /* #swagger.responses[200] = { description: 'Updated preferences', content: { "application/json": { schema: { $ref: "#/components/schemas/NotificationChannelPrefs" } } } } */
+  /* #swagger.responses[400] = { description: 'Validation error', content: { "application/json": { schema: { $ref: "#/components/schemas/ValidationError" } } } } */
+  /* #swagger.responses[401] = { description: 'Not authenticated', content: { "application/json": { schema: { $ref: "#/components/schemas/Error" } } } } */
+  body('prefs').isArray(),
+  body('prefs.*.id').isString().isLength({ min: 1, max: 64 }),
+  body('prefs.*.channel').isString().isLength({ min: 1, max: 32 }),
+  body('prefs.*.mode').isIn(MODES),
+  validate,
+  notif.putChannelPrefs,
+)
+
 // ── Per-Team preferences (TEAMS.md §6.3, phase 6) ──────────────────────────
 //
 // The granularity per-stream opt-in cannot express: "I am in five Teams and want
diff --git a/server/swagger/swagger-output.json b/server/swagger/swagger-output.json
index 4d89318..59a32ae 100644
--- a/server/swagger/swagger-output.json
+++ b/server/swagger/swagger-output.json
@@ -8672,6 +8672,114 @@
         ]
       }
     },
+    "/api/v1/auth/me/notifications/channels": {
+      "get": {
+        "tags": [
+          "Auth · Me"
+        ],
+        "summary": "Get the current user’s per-channel notification preferences",
+        "description": "The delivery channels (email, push, in-app) with their defaults, plus one item per subscribable id — every push stream and every event trigger, one namespace — carrying the effective mode on each channel that applies to it. A trigger-only id has no push toggle. Modes not stored are reported as the channel’s default, so a client never has to know which it is looking at.",
+        "responses": {
+          "200": {
+            "description": "Per-channel preferences",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/NotificationChannelPrefs"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "401": {
+            "description": "Not authenticated",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Error"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "403": {
+            "description": "Forbidden"
+          },
+          "500": {
+            "description": "Internal Server Error"
+          }
+        },
+        "security": [
+          {
+            "cookieAuth": []
+          },
+          {
+            "bearerAuth": []
+          }
+        ]
+      },
+      "put": {
+        "tags": [
+          "Auth · Me"
+        ],
+        "summary": "Update the current user’s per-channel notification preferences",
+        "description": "A SPARSE update: only the (id, channel) pairs in `prefs` are written and every other pair is left untouched, so setting `email` does not disturb `push`. Entries naming an unknown id, a channel that does not apply to that id, or a mode that channel does not accept are ignored. A `push` entry is mirrored into /notifications/subscriptions. The full stored state is echoed back.",
+        "responses": {
+          "200": {
+            "description": "Updated preferences",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/NotificationChannelPrefs"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "400": {
+            "description": "Validation error",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/ValidationError"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "401": {
+            "description": "Not authenticated",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Error"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "403": {
+            "description": "Forbidden"
+          },
+          "500": {
+            "description": "Internal Server Error"
+          }
+        },
+        "security": [
+          {
+            "cookieAuth": []
+          },
+          {
+            "bearerAuth": []
+          }
+        ],
+        "requestBody": {
+          "required": true,
+          "content": {
+            "application/json": {
+              "schema": {
+                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/NotificationChannelPrefsUpdate"
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    },
     "/api/v1/auth/me/notifications/streams": {
       "get": {
         "tags": [
@@ -16503,6 +16611,509 @@
           }
         }
       },
+      "DeliveryChannel": {
+        "type": "object",
+        "properties": {
+          "type": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "example": "object"
+          },
+          "description": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "example": "One delivery channel from the registry (ENGAGEMENT.md §3.1). A channel is what kind of sink this is; a transport is how it delivers."
+          },
+          "properties": {
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+              "id": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "string"
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "email"
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "label": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "string"
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "Email"
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "description": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "string"
+                  },
+                  "nullable": {
+                    "type": "boolean",
+                    "example": true
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "A message to your verified address."
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "carriesContent": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "boolean"
+                  },
+                  "description": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "False for push, which only ever sends a content-free tickle the client then pulls against."
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "boolean",
+                    "example": true
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "defaultMode": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "string"
+                  },
+                  "enum": {
+                    "type": "array",
+                    "example": [
+                      "off",
+                      "instant",
+                      "digest"
+                    ],
+                    "items": {
+                      "type": "string"
+                    }
+                  },
+                  "description": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "The mode that applies when the user has stored no preference for an id on this channel."
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "off"
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "supportsDigest": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "boolean"
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "boolean",
+                    "example": true
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "modes": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "array"
+                  },
+                  "items": {
+                    "type": "object",
+                    "properties": {
+                      "type": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "example": "string"
+                      },
+                      "enum": {
+                        "type": "array",
+                        "example": [
+                          "off",
+                          "instant",
+                          "digest"
+                        ],
+                        "items": {
+                          "type": "string"
+                        }
+                      }
+                    }
+                  },
+                  "description": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "The modes this channel will accept. Excludes `digest` unless supportsDigest."
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "array",
+                    "example": [
+                      "off",
+                      "instant",
+                      "digest"
+                    ],
+                    "items": {
+                      "type": "string"
+                    }
+                  }
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      },
+      "NotificationChannelPrefItem": {
+        "type": "object",
+        "properties": {
+          "type": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "example": "object"
+          },
+          "description": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "example": "One subscribable id — a push stream, an event trigger, or both — with the effective mode on each channel that applies to it."
+          },
+          "properties": {
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+              "id": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "string"
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "news.post"
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "label": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "string"
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "News posts"
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "description": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "string"
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "New news / Five-on-Friday / newsletter posts."
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "personal": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "boolean"
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "boolean",
+                    "example": false
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "requiresLinkedAccount": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "boolean"
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "boolean",
+                    "example": false
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "ceiling": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "string"
+                  },
+                  "nullable": {
+                    "type": "boolean",
+                    "example": true
+                  },
+                  "description": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "The trigger’s audience ceiling, or null for an id with no trigger declaration."
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "authenticated"
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "channels": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "array"
+                  },
+                  "items": {
+                    "type": "object",
+                    "properties": {
+                      "type": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "example": "string"
+                      }
+                    }
+                  },
+                  "description": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "Which channels apply. A trigger-only id has no `push` — nothing is registered to push it."
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "array",
+                    "example": [
+                      "push",
+                      "email",
+                      "inapp"
+                    ],
+                    "items": {
+                      "type": "string"
+                    }
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "modes": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "object"
+                  },
+                  "additionalProperties": {
+                    "type": "object",
+                    "properties": {
+                      "type": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "example": "string"
+                      },
+                      "enum": {
+                        "type": "array",
+                        "example": [
+                          "off",
+                          "instant",
+                          "digest"
+                        ],
+                        "items": {
+                          "type": "string"
+                        }
+                      }
+                    }
+                  },
+                  "description": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "Effective mode per applicable channel: the stored value, or the channel’s default where nothing is stored."
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "object",
+                    "properties": {
+                      "push": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "example": "instant"
+                      },
+                      "email": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "example": "off"
+                      },
+                      "inapp": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "example": "off"
+                      }
+                    }
+                  }
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      },
+      "NotificationChannelPrefs": {
+        "type": "object",
+        "properties": {
+          "type": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "example": "object"
+          },
+          "description": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "example": "The per-channel preferences surface: the channel registry plus one item per subscribable id. Returned by both GET and PUT."
+          },
+          "properties": {
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+              "channels": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "array"
+                  },
+                  "items": {
+                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/DeliveryChannel"
+                  }
+                }
+              },
+              "items": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "array"
+                  },
+                  "items": {
+                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/NotificationChannelPrefItem"
+                  }
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      },
+      "NotificationChannelPrefsUpdate": {
+        "type": "object",
+        "properties": {
+          "type": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "example": "object"
+          },
+          "description": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "example": "A SPARSE preference update. Only the (id, channel) pairs listed are written; every other pair is left untouched. `off` is a mode, never an omission."
+          },
+          "properties": {
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+              "prefs": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                  "type": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "example": "array"
+                  },
+                  "items": {
+                    "type": "object",
+                    "properties": {
+                      "type": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "example": "object"
+                      },
+                      "properties": {
+                        "type": "object",
+                        "properties": {
+                          "id": {
+                            "type": "object",
+                            "properties": {
+                              "type": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "example": "string"
+                              },
+                              "example": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "example": "news.post"
+                              }
+                            }
+                          },
+                          "channel": {
+                            "type": "object",
+                            "properties": {
+                              "type": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "example": "string"
+                              },
+                              "example": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "example": "email"
+                              }
+                            }
+                          },
+                          "mode": {
+                            "type": "object",
+                            "properties": {
+                              "type": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "example": "string"
+                              },
+                              "enum": {
+                                "type": "array",
+                                "example": [
+                                  "off",
+                                  "instant",
+                                  "digest"
+                                ],
+                                "items": {
+                                  "type": "string"
+                                }
+                              },
+                              "example": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "example": "digest"
+                              }
+                            }
+                          }
+                        }
+                      }
+                    }
+                  },
+                  "example": {
+                    "type": "array",
+                    "items": {
+                      "type": "object",
+                      "properties": {
+                        "id": {
+                          "type": "string",
+                          "example": "news.post"
+                        },
+                        "channel": {
+                          "type": "string",
+                          "example": "email"
+                        },
+                        "mode": {
+                          "type": "string",
+                          "example": "digest"
+                        }
+                      }
+                    }
+                  }
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      },
       "TeamNotificationPref": {
         "type": "object",
         "properties": {
diff --git a/server/swagger/swagger.js b/server/swagger/swagger.js
index e806dea..17ef6df 100644
--- a/server/swagger/swagger.js
+++ b/server/swagger/swagger.js
@@ -634,6 +634,88 @@ const doc = {
           },
         },
       },
+      DeliveryChannel: {
+        type: 'object',
+        description: 'One delivery channel from the registry (ENGAGEMENT.md §3.1). A channel is what kind of sink this is; a transport is how it delivers.',
+        properties: {
+          id: { type: 'string', example: 'email' },
+          label: { type: 'string', example: 'Email' },
+          description: { type: 'string', nullable: true, example: 'A message to your verified address.' },
+          carriesContent: {
+            type: 'boolean',
+            description: 'False for push, which only ever sends a content-free tickle the client then pulls against.',
+            example: true,
+          },
+          defaultMode: {
+            type: 'string',
+            enum: ['off', 'instant', 'digest'],
+            description: 'The mode that applies when the user has stored no preference for an id on this channel.',
+            example: 'off',
+          },
+          supportsDigest: { type: 'boolean', example: true },
+          modes: {
+            type: 'array',
+            items: { type: 'string', enum: ['off', 'instant', 'digest'] },
+            description: 'The modes this channel will accept. Excludes `digest` unless supportsDigest.',
+            example: ['off', 'instant', 'digest'],
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      NotificationChannelPrefItem: {
+        type: 'object',
+        description: 'One subscribable id — a push stream, an event trigger, or both — with the effective mode on each channel that applies to it.',
+        properties: {
+          id: { type: 'string', example: 'news.post' },
+          label: { type: 'string', example: 'News posts' },
+          description: { type: 'string', example: 'New news / Five-on-Friday / newsletter posts.' },
+          personal: { type: 'boolean', example: false },
+          requiresLinkedAccount: { type: 'boolean', example: false },
+          ceiling: {
+            type: 'string',
+            nullable: true,
+            description: 'The trigger’s audience ceiling, or null for an id with no trigger declaration.',
+            example: 'authenticated',
+          },
+          channels: {
+            type: 'array',
+            items: { type: 'string' },
+            description: 'Which channels apply. A trigger-only id has no `push` — nothing is registered to push it.',
+            example: ['push', 'email', 'inapp'],
+          },
+          modes: {
+            type: 'object',
+            additionalProperties: { type: 'string', enum: ['off', 'instant', 'digest'] },
+            description: 'Effective mode per applicable channel: the stored value, or the channel’s default where nothing is stored.',
+            example: { push: 'instant', email: 'off', inapp: 'off' },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      NotificationChannelPrefs: {
+        type: 'object',
+        description: 'The per-channel preferences surface: the channel registry plus one item per subscribable id. Returned by both GET and PUT.',
+        properties: {
+          channels: { type: 'array', items: { $ref: '#/components/schemas/DeliveryChannel' } },
+          items: { type: 'array', items: { $ref: '#/components/schemas/NotificationChannelPrefItem' } },
+        },
+      },
+      NotificationChannelPrefsUpdate: {
+        type: 'object',
+        description: 'A SPARSE preference update. Only the (id, channel) pairs listed are written; every other pair is left untouched. `off` is a mode, never an omission.',
+        properties: {
+          prefs: {
+            type: 'array',
+            items: {
+              type: 'object',
+              properties: {
+                id: { type: 'string', example: 'news.post' },
+                channel: { type: 'string', example: 'email' },
+                mode: { type: 'string', enum: ['off', 'instant', 'digest'], example: 'digest' },
+              },
+            },
+            example: [{ id: 'news.post', channel: 'email', mode: 'digest' }],
+          },
+        },
+      },
       TeamNotificationPref: {
         type: 'object',
         description: "One Team's notification preference for the current user. Absent fields take the stored defaults: push is opt-OUT (not muted) and email is opt-IN (`off`).",
diff --git a/server/test/notificationChannelPrefs.test.js b/server/test/notificationChannelPrefs.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..384ad4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/test/notificationChannelPrefs.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,368 @@
+// ── Per-channel notification preferences (ENGAGEMENT.md Phase 3) ───────────
+//
+// The phase's acceptance criteria, one test apiece:
+//
+//   • the shipped Android app's flat `{streams:[…]}` PUT still round-trips,
+//     INCLUDING the empty-array case its DTO comment warns about
+//   • a per-channel PUT sets `email` without touching `push`
+//   • a fresh user's email mode defaults `off`, and so does push
+//
+// …plus the two properties that make the projection safe to ship: the legacy
+// wire shape is pinned BYTE-FOR-BYTE (the app cannot be changed from this side),
+// and the invariant the two endpoints jointly maintain — a push pref with mode
+// <> 'off' iff a `notification_subscriptions` row — is asserted from both
+// directions rather than only from the one the code happens to take.
+//
+// Point the DB at a closed port before requiring anything: the registries reach
+// utils/discordAnnounce, which builds the pool at require time.
+process.env.DB_HOST = '127.0.0.1'
+process.env.DB_PORT = '59999'
+
+const { test, beforeEach, afterEach, after } = require('node:test')
+const assert = require('node:assert/strict')
+
+const registries = require('../src/modules/registries')
+const channels = require('../src/engagement/channels')
+const prefs = require('../src/model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.model')
+const prefsDb = require('../src/model/notificationChannelPrefs/notificationChannelPrefs.db')
+const subs = require('../src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.model')
+const subsDb = require('../src/model/notificationSubs/notificationSubs.db')
+const notifCtrl = require('../src/router/v1/auth/notifications.controller')
+const db = require('../src/utils/db')
+
+after(() => db.close())
+
+const USER = 7
+const PLAYER = { id: USER, role: 'player' }
+const ADMIN = { id: USER, role: 'admin' }
+
+// ── In-memory stand-ins for the two tables ─────────────────────────────────
+//
+// Both are stubbed at the `.db` layer, so the model's own fan-out logic — the
+// part this phase actually adds — runs for real against them.
+let prefRows // Map "<user> <id> <channel>" -> mode
+let subRows // Set "<user> <id>"
+
+function installStubs() {
+  prefRows = new Map()
+  subRows = new Set()
+
+  prefsDb.listByUser = async (userId) =>
+    [...prefRows.entries()]
+      .filter(([k]) => k.startsWith(`${userId} `))
+      .map(([k, mode]) => {
+        const [, streamId, channel] = k.split(' ')
+        return { stream_id: streamId, channel, mode }
+      })
+      .sort((a, b) => a.stream_id.localeCompare(b.stream_id) || a.channel.localeCompare(b.channel))
+
+  prefsDb.upsert = async (userId, streamId, channel, mode) => {
+    prefRows.set(`${userId} ${streamId} ${channel}`, mode)
+  }
+
+  prefsDb.offPushExcept = async (userId, keep) => {
+    for (const [k, mode] of prefRows.entries()) {
+      const [u, streamId, channel] = k.split(' ')
+      if (Number(u) !== userId || channel !== 'push' || mode === 'off') continue
+      if (!keep.includes(streamId)) prefRows.set(k, 'off')
+    }
+  }
+
+  subsDb.listByUser = async (userId) =>
+    [...subRows]
+      .filter((k) => k.startsWith(`${userId} `))
+      .map((k) => ({ stream_id: k.split(' ')[1] }))
+      .sort((a, b) => a.stream_id.localeCompare(b.stream_id))
+
+  subsDb.replaceForUser = async (userId, streams) => {
+    for (const k of [...subRows]) if (k.startsWith(`${userId} `)) subRows.delete(k)
+    for (const s of streams) subRows.add(`${userId} ${s}`)
+  }
+  subsDb.addForUser = async (userId, streamId) => subRows.add(`${userId} ${streamId}`)
+  subsDb.removeForUser = async (userId, streamId) => subRows.delete(`${userId} ${streamId}`)
+}
+
+// The channel registry is populated by requiring the subsystem's door, exactly
+// as app.js does. Requiring `channels` alone gets the empty map — that is the
+// design, and doing it the other way here would hide a boot-order regression.
+function registerChannels() {
+  channels._reset()
+  delete require.cache[require.resolve('../src/engagement/coreChannels')]
+  // eslint-disable-next-line global-require
+  require('../src/engagement/coreChannels')
+}
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  registries._reset()
+  registries.registerCore()
+  registerChannels()
+  installStubs()
+})
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  registries._reset()
+  channels._reset()
+})
+
+const mockRes = () => ({
+  statusCode: 200,
+  body: null,
+  status(c) { this.statusCode = c; return this },
+  json(b) { this.body = b; return this },
+})
+
+const item = (surface, id) => surface.items.find((i) => i.id === id)
+
+// ── Acceptance: the shipped app's wire shape ───────────────────────────────
+
+test('the legacy subscriptions PUT round-trips byte-for-byte', async () => {
+  const put = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.putSubscriptions({ user: PLAYER, body: { streams: ['news.post', 'team.forum.post'] } }, put)
+
+  // Byte-for-byte: the response is `{ streams: [...] }` and nothing else. The
+  // Android DTO is frozen, so an extra key is as much a break as a missing one.
+  assert.deepEqual(Object.keys(put.body), ['streams'])
+  assert.deepEqual(put.body.streams.slice().sort(), ['news.post', 'team.forum.post'])
+
+  const get = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.getSubscriptions({ user: PLAYER }, get)
+  assert.deepEqual(Object.keys(get.body), ['streams'])
+  assert.deepEqual(get.body.streams, ['news.post', 'team.forum.post'])
+})
+
+test('the empty-array case its DTO comment warns about still clears the set', async () => {
+  await notifCtrl.putSubscriptions({ user: PLAYER, body: { streams: ['news.post'] } }, mockRes())
+
+  const cleared = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.putSubscriptions({ user: PLAYER, body: { streams: [] } }, cleared)
+  assert.deepEqual(cleared.body, { streams: [] })
+
+  // And the projection cleared with it — the failure this test exists to catch
+  // is a channel-prefs row left at 'instant' after the app said "none", which
+  // would resurrect the subscription the next time anything read the new table.
+  const surface = await prefs.getForUser(USER, PLAYER)
+  assert.equal(item(surface, 'news.post').modes.push, 'off')
+  assert.equal(subRows.size, 0)
+})
+
+test('unknown stream ids are still dropped, and are not mirrored either', async () => {
+  const res = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.putSubscriptions({ user: PLAYER, body: { streams: ['news.post', 'no.such.stream'] } }, res)
+  assert.deepEqual(res.body, { streams: ['news.post'] })
+
+  const surface = await prefs.getForUser(USER, PLAYER)
+  assert.equal(item(surface, 'no.such.stream'), undefined)
+  assert.deepEqual([...subRows], [`${USER} news.post`])
+})
+
+// ── Acceptance: defaults ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+test("a fresh user's modes are the channel defaults, and all three are off", async () => {
+  const surface = await prefs.getForUser(USER, PLAYER)
+  const news = item(surface, 'news.post')
+
+  assert.deepEqual(news.modes, { push: 'off', email: 'off', inapp: 'off' })
+  assert.equal(prefRows.size, 0, 'reading preferences must not write rows')
+
+  // The acceptance line in ENGAGEMENT.md originally said push defaults
+  // 'instant'. It cannot: `notification_subscriptions` is opt-IN, so that would
+  // have projected the whole catalog into the legacy GET for every existing
+  // user and switched every toggle on in the shipped app. Settled 'off' by the
+  // org lead; this assertion is what stops it drifting back.
+  const legacy = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.getSubscriptions({ user: PLAYER }, legacy)
+  assert.deepEqual(legacy.body, { streams: [] })
+})
+
+test('a mode with no stored row reads as the channel default, not as a hardcoded off', async () => {
+  // Prove the default is READ from the registry rather than assumed: re-register
+  // `inapp` with a different default and the same fresh user reads it back.
+  channels._reset()
+  channels.registerDeliveryChannel({
+    id: 'inapp', label: 'On the site', carriesContent: true, defaultMode: 'instant', supportsDigest: false,
+  })
+
+  const surface = await prefs.getForUser(USER, PLAYER)
+  assert.equal(item(surface, 'news.post').modes.inapp, 'instant')
+})
+
+// ── Acceptance: the sparse per-channel PUT ─────────────────────────────────
+
+test('a per-channel PUT sets email without touching push', async () => {
+  await notifCtrl.putSubscriptions({ user: PLAYER, body: { streams: ['news.post'] } }, mockRes())
+
+  const res = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.putChannelPrefs(
+    { user: PLAYER, body: { prefs: [{ id: 'news.post', channel: 'email', mode: 'digest' }] } },
+    res,
+  )
+
+  const news = item(res.body, 'news.post')
+  assert.equal(news.modes.email, 'digest')
+  assert.equal(news.modes.push, 'instant', 'the push mode must survive an email-only write')
+
+  // …and the legacy endpoint agrees, which is the whole point of the projection.
+  const legacy = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.getSubscriptions({ user: PLAYER }, legacy)
+  assert.deepEqual(legacy.body, { streams: ['news.post'] })
+})
+
+test('a push write through the channels endpoint fans out to the old table', async () => {
+  await notifCtrl.putChannelPrefs(
+    { user: PLAYER, body: { prefs: [{ id: 'team.forum.post', channel: 'push', mode: 'instant' }] } },
+    mockRes(),
+  )
+  assert.deepEqual([...subRows], [`${USER} team.forum.post`])
+
+  await notifCtrl.putChannelPrefs(
+    { user: PLAYER, body: { prefs: [{ id: 'team.forum.post', channel: 'push', mode: 'off' }] } },
+    mockRes(),
+  )
+  assert.deepEqual([...subRows], [])
+
+  // 'off' is STORED, not deleted: it is a statement the user made, and folding it
+  // back into "never said" is only harmless while push's default happens to be
+  // off. The two are different the moment that default changes.
+  assert.equal(prefRows.get(`${USER} team.forum.post push`), 'off')
+})
+
+test('entries the catalog cannot accept are dropped, not refused', async () => {
+  const res = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.putChannelPrefs(
+    {
+      user: PLAYER,
+      body: {
+        prefs: [
+          { id: 'no.such.id', channel: 'email', mode: 'instant' },
+          { id: 'news.post', channel: 'carrier.pigeon', mode: 'instant' },
+          { id: 'news.post', channel: 'push', mode: 'digest' }, // push has no digest
+          { id: 'news.post', channel: 'email', mode: 'instant' }, // the one good row
+        ],
+      },
+    },
+    res,
+  )
+
+  assert.equal(res.statusCode, 200)
+  assert.equal(item(res.body, 'news.post').modes.email, 'instant')
+  assert.equal(item(res.body, 'news.post').modes.push, 'off')
+  assert.equal(prefRows.size, 1, 'only the accepted pair was written')
+})
+
+test('the last entry wins when a body names the same pair twice', async () => {
+  const res = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.putChannelPrefs(
+    {
+      user: PLAYER,
+      body: {
+        prefs: [
+          { id: 'news.post', channel: 'email', mode: 'instant' },
+          { id: 'news.post', channel: 'email', mode: 'digest' },
+        ],
+      },
+    },
+    res,
+  )
+  assert.equal(item(res.body, 'news.post').modes.email, 'digest')
+})
+
+// ── The catalog: one namespace, two facets ─────────────────────────────────
+
+test('a trigger-only id gets email and in-app, and no push toggle', async () => {
+  const api = registries.stage('uo')
+  api.registerEventTriggers([{
+    id: 'uo.house.idoc_warning',
+    label: 'House approaching collapse',
+    ceiling: 'owner',
+    variables: [{ name: 'house', type: 'string', required: true, example: 'The Silver Anvil' }],
+  }])
+  registries.apply(api.staged)
+
+  const surface = await prefs.getForUser(USER, PLAYER)
+  const idoc = item(surface, 'uo.house.idoc_warning')
+
+  assert.ok(idoc, 'a trigger-only id is subscribable')
+  assert.deepEqual(idoc.channels, ['email', 'inapp'])
+  assert.equal('push' in idoc.modes, false, 'there is nothing registered to push it')
+
+  // A push entry for it is therefore inapplicable and dropped.
+  await notifCtrl.putChannelPrefs(
+    { user: PLAYER, body: { prefs: [{ id: 'uo.house.idoc_warning', channel: 'push', mode: 'instant' }] } },
+    mockRes(),
+  )
+  assert.equal(subRows.size, 0)
+  assert.equal(prefRows.size, 0)
+})
+
+test('an id that is both a stream and a trigger appears once, with all three channels', async () => {
+  // Core's five trigger ids ARE its five stream ids — the same-owner upgrade the
+  // one-namespace rule exists for, exercised on every boot.
+  const surface = await prefs.getForUser(USER, PLAYER)
+  const news = surface.items.filter((i) => i.id === 'news.post')
+
+  assert.equal(news.length, 1)
+  assert.deepEqual(news[0].channels, ['push', 'email', 'inapp'])
+  assert.equal(news[0].ceiling, 'authenticated', 'the trigger facet supplies the ceiling')
+})
+
+test('a staff-ceilinged trigger is not offered to a player, and is to staff', async () => {
+  const api = registries.stage('uo')
+  api.registerEventTriggers([{
+    id: 'uo.cheat.detected',
+    label: 'Cheat detected',
+    ceiling: 'staff',
+    variables: [{ name: 'character', type: 'string', required: true, example: 'Darrow' }],
+  }])
+  registries.apply(api.staged)
+
+  const asPlayer = await prefs.getForUser(USER, PLAYER)
+  assert.equal(item(asPlayer, 'uo.cheat.detected'), undefined, 'a player is not told it exists')
+
+  const asAdmin = await prefs.getForUser(USER, ADMIN)
+  assert.ok(item(asAdmin, 'uo.cheat.detected'))
+
+  // And the filter is a gate, not just a display rule: a player who knows the id
+  // still cannot store a preference for it.
+  const res = mockRes()
+  await notifCtrl.putChannelPrefs(
+    { user: PLAYER, body: { prefs: [{ id: 'uo.cheat.detected', channel: 'email', mode: 'instant' }] } },
+    res,
+  )
+  assert.equal(prefRows.size, 0)
+})
+
+// ── The channel registry itself ────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+test('the registry refuses a channel that under-declares', async () => {
+  channels._reset()
+  const ok = { id: 'x', label: 'X', carriesContent: true, defaultMode: 'off', supportsDigest: false }
+
+  assert.throws(() => channels.registerDeliveryChannel({ ...ok, carriesContent: undefined }), /carriesContent/)
+  assert.throws(() => channels.registerDeliveryChannel({ ...ok, supportsDigest: undefined }), /supportsDigest/)
+  assert.throws(() => channels.registerDeliveryChannel({ ...ok, defaultMode: 'sometimes' }), /defaultMode/)
+  assert.throws(() => channels.registerDeliveryChannel({ ...ok, id: 'Not An Id' }), /invalid id/)
+
+  // A channel that cannot batch cannot default to batching — the failure this
+  // prevents is a stored 'digest' row no delivery path can ever honour.
+  assert.throws(
+    () => channels.registerDeliveryChannel({ ...ok, defaultMode: 'digest', supportsDigest: false }),
+    /supportsDigest/,
+  )
+
+  channels.registerDeliveryChannel(ok)
+  assert.throws(() => channels.registerDeliveryChannel(ok), /already registered/)
+})
+
+test('push is content-free and instant-only, by declaration', async () => {
+  assert.equal(channels.get('push').carriesContent, false)
+  assert.deepEqual(channels.modesFor('push'), ['off', 'instant'])
+  assert.deepEqual(channels.modesFor('email'), ['off', 'instant', 'digest'])
+})
+
+test('an unregistered channel reads as off and accepts nothing', async () => {
+  // A stored row can name a channel that is no longer registered (a downgrade).
+  // It must read as off, never throw and never be on by accident.
+  assert.equal(channels.defaultMode('discord.dm'), 'off')
+  assert.deepEqual(channels.modesFor('discord.dm'), [])
+  assert.equal(channels.acceptsMode('discord.dm', 'instant'), false)
+})