diff --git a/src/skills/daily-maintenance/skill.md b/src/skills/daily-maintenance/skill.md
index c176006..6dac319 100644
--- a/src/skills/daily-maintenance/skill.md
+++ b/src/skills/daily-maintenance/skill.md
@@ -60,6 +60,38 @@ for (tool, prefix), n in groups.most_common(30):
 
 **The predicate.** An actionable audit finding is **friction-pattern × not-already-covered**, not raw frequency. Frequency alone is noise — it just says Sam used a tool a lot. Friction × not-covered says Sam paid time-cost from the lack of documentation and no existing rule helps.
 
+### Skill usage scan
+
+A separate aggregation — independent of the friction-pattern scan above. Goal: see which skills Sam actually *discovered* yesterday (i.e., `read_file` on `src/skills/<name>/skill.md`). A skill never read across multiple sessions where its `when_to_use` plausibly applied is either undiscovered (catalog problem) or unneeded (delete-it candidate).
+
+```bash
+gcloud storage cat gs://${GCS_DATA_BUCKET:-dembrane-sameer-cli-sam-data}/tool_calls/$(date -u -d yesterday +%F).jsonl \
+  | python3 -c "
+import sys, json, re, collections
+pat = re.compile(r'src/skills/([a-z0-9-]+)/skill\.md')
+reads = collections.Counter()
+for line in sys.stdin:
+    line = line.strip()
+    if not line: continue
+    try: d = json.loads(line)
+    except: continue
+    if d.get('tool') != 'read_file': continue
+    fp = (d.get('args') or {}).get('file_path') or ''
+    m = pat.search(fp)
+    if m: reads[m.group(1)] += 1
+for name, n in reads.most_common(30):
+    print(f'{n:3d}  {name}')
+"
+```
+
+Compare against the list of all skills (`ls src/skills/`). Skills with zero reads yesterday are not automatically a problem — many skills only fire on specific triggers. But over a multi-day window, a skill with consistent zeros while its `when_to_use` triggers obviously fired in the audit log is a real signal:
+
+- Catalog issue → the skill's `name` / `description` / `when_to_use` isn't surfacing the trigger Sam should pattern-match on. Open a Tier 1 PR refining the frontmatter.
+- Skill obsolete → the pattern it codifies has been absorbed into a capability, or the workflow no longer exists. Open a Tier 1 PR to remove the skill (skills accumulate; deleting them is fine).
+- Sam genuinely missed it → the skill is right but Sam didn't catch the trigger. Less common; harder to fix with prose. Note in journal, watch over a week before acting.
+
+§4's daily synthesis appends the per-skill count under `### Skill usage` so future-Sam (and the operator) can see the trend.
+
 ## 2. Propose changes if there's substance
 
 If reflection surfaces something concrete to codify, first decide where it belongs using `src/capabilities/self-maintenance.md` ("Where does a change belong?"), then open self-PRs via the same file's flow. **No artificial cap on how many** — open one per distinct concept.
@@ -138,6 +170,7 @@ Then append a `## Daily synthesis` section to **yesterday's** journal entry (clo
 - proposed PRs (from §2 and §3 combined) — one line each. Lead with the behavior change Sam is proposing so future-Sam can grep on intent. The PR number/title is the reference at the end of the line, not the headline.
 - open threads to pick up today — one line each, named by what Sam should do today, not what happened yesterday.
 - if the active-blocker count changed yesterday, one line: `blockers: <N> active (see Linear)`. Don't re-list blocker details — they're in Linear.
+- a sub-section **`### Skill usage`** — the per-skill `read_file` counts from §1's skill-usage scan, plus any notable zero-usage skills with their flag (catalog issue / obsolete / Sam missed it). One short paragraph; if every skill got expected use, just `(typical usage shape)`.
 
 If none of the items above has content, skip the section entirely. Don't write a "nothing to say" placeholder.
 
diff --git a/tests/eval/test_structural.py b/tests/eval/test_structural.py
index 28c119c..50b5465 100644
--- a/tests/eval/test_structural.py
+++ b/tests/eval/test_structural.py
@@ -156,6 +156,11 @@ def test_skill_creator_visible_in_catalog():
     skill catalog. If Sam can't find the skill, Sam can't apply its
     sample-before-codifying rule — and the next refactored predicate
     hallucinates the way PR #46 did.
+
+    Kept as a named test (not just covered by the parametrized
+    `test_every_skill_visible_in_catalog` below) because skill-creator
+    is load-bearing for *other* skills — losing it from the catalog
+    would silently degrade the whole skill-authoring loop.
     """
     sp = assemble_system_prompt()
     assert "skill-creator" in sp, (
@@ -164,6 +169,51 @@ def test_skill_creator_visible_in_catalog():
     )
 
 
+def _all_skill_dirs() -> list:
+    """Enumerate every src/skills/<name>/ with a skill.md. Used by the
+    parametrized catalog-presence test below. Computed from `__file__`
+    (not from SAM_SRC) because pytest parametrization runs at
+    collection time, before the autouse SAM_SRC fixture fires."""
+    from pathlib import Path
+    repo_root = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent.parent
+    skills_dir = repo_root / "src" / "skills"
+    if not skills_dir.exists():
+        return []
+    return sorted(
+        p for p in skills_dir.iterdir()
+        if p.is_dir()
+        and not p.name.startswith("_")
+        and (p / "skill.md").exists()
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("skill_dir", _all_skill_dirs(), ids=lambda p: p.name)
+def test_every_skill_visible_in_catalog(skill_dir):
+    """Every skill in `src/skills/<name>/` must appear in the assembled
+    system prompt's catalog. A skill that's been added to the file
+    system but doesn't surface in the prompt is functionally invisible
+    — Sam can't decide to apply a skill it doesn't know exists.
+
+    Catalog discoverability is the load-bearing invariant: skills are
+    catalog-only by design (bodies are read on demand) so the catalog
+    entry IS the discovery surface. Parametrized so adding a new skill
+    automatically gets defended — no manual test addition needed.
+
+    The trigger for adding this test: PR #70 shipped a new `exa-search`
+    skill that wasn't covered by any catalog-presence test. Without
+    this parametrized check, the next new skill could ship invisible
+    the same way.
+    """
+    sp = assemble_system_prompt()
+    name = skill_dir.name
+    assert name in sp, (
+        f"skill {name!r} exists at {skill_dir} but doesn't appear in "
+        "the assembled system prompt's catalog — Sam won't discover it. "
+        "Check the skill's frontmatter (name/description/when_to_use) "
+        "and the catalog assembly in `src/runtime/prompts.py`."
+    )
+
+
 def test_skill_creator_still_carries_sampling_rule():
     """The body of `src/skills/skill-creator/skill.md` must still contain
     the sample-before-codifying rule. The catalog only carries the