diff --git a/src/k1link/service_watchdog.py b/src/k1link/service_watchdog.py
index a2e9cfa..11c5df7 100644
--- a/src/k1link/service_watchdog.py
+++ b/src/k1link/service_watchdog.py
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ class MissionCoreSelfWatchdog:
         journal: MissionCoreWatchdogJournal | None = None,
     ) -> None:
         self.policy = policy or MissionCoreWatchdogPolicy()
-        self.probe = probe or _mission_core_health_probe(
+        self.probe = probe or _mission_core_liveness_probe(
             self.policy.probe_timeout_seconds
         )
         self.request_shutdown = request_shutdown or _process_group_signal(signal.SIGTERM)
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ def watchdog_enabled(environ: Mapping[str, str] = os.environ) -> bool:
     return environ.get(WATCHDOG_ENV) == WATCHDOG_ENABLED_VALUE
 
 
-def _mission_core_health_probe(timeout_seconds: float) -> Probe:
+def _mission_core_liveness_probe(timeout_seconds: float) -> Probe:
     def probe() -> bool:
         connection = http.client.HTTPConnection(
             "127.0.0.1",
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ def _mission_core_health_probe(timeout_seconds: float) -> Probe:
             timeout=timeout_seconds,
         )
         try:
-            connection.request("GET", "/api/health", headers={"Connection": "close"})
+            connection.request("GET", "/api/liveness", headers={"Connection": "close"})
             response = connection.getresponse()
             payload = response.read(64 * 1024 + 1)
         except (OSError, TimeoutError, http.client.HTTPException):
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ def _mission_core_health_probe(timeout_seconds: float) -> Probe:
         return bool(
             isinstance(document, dict)
             and document.get("ok") is True
-            and document.get("status") == "ok"
+            and document.get("status") == "alive"
             and document.get("service") == MISSION_CORE_SERVICE_ID
         )
 
diff --git a/src/k1link/web/app.py b/src/k1link/web/app.py
index a0e87c6..2b73b9f 100644
--- a/src/k1link/web/app.py
+++ b/src/k1link/web/app.py
@@ -528,6 +528,17 @@ async def request_validation_error_handler(
     return JSONResponse(status_code=422, content={"detail": INVALID_REQUEST_DETAIL})
 
 
+@app.get("/api/liveness")
+async def liveness() -> dict[str, object]:
+    """Prove only that the canonical event loop is responsive."""
+
+    return {
+        "ok": True,
+        "status": "alive",
+        "service": "mission-core-control-plane",
+    }
+
+
 @app.get("/api/health")
 def health() -> dict[str, Any]:
     return build_runtime_readiness(