diff --git a/go/buscompose/buscompose_test.go b/go/buscompose/buscompose_test.go
index dea1de5..4d23e3f 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/buscompose_test.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/buscompose_test.go
@@ -33,8 +33,16 @@ var createdAdvisory = regexp.MustCompile(`"\$JS\.EVENT\.ADVISORY\.STREAM\.CREATE
 // grants part's list is the one the bus loads; a hand-back loads the controller's, which lacks these reads, and the nodes
 // keep applying without composing their own until the next take-over. Each principal's hearing of its buckets' creation
 // (issue 1790) is the other row beyond, matched by createdAdvisory.
+//
+// And the watchman's dead letters (novox/hq ADR 0564 clause 5, issue 1952 S5): its own consumer on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES and
+// a read of DEAD_LETTERS, the controller's job until the lease write.
 func beyondTheControllers(user string) map[string]bool {
 	out := map[string]bool{}
+	if strings.HasSuffix(user, "."+WatchmanModule) {
+		for _, s := range WatchmanDeadLetterGrants() {
+			out[s] = true
+		}
+	}
 	node, ok := strings.CutPrefix(user, "node.")
 	if !ok {
 		return out
@@ -548,6 +556,8 @@ func TestTheCopiedComposerComposesAsTheControllers(t *testing.T) {
 				t.Errorf("the grants part creates consumers as %v", u.CreatesConsumers)
 			}
 		}
+		// 1952 S5 (novox/hq ADR 0564 clauses 2, 5, 8; Limits 2, 4, 8): the health holders' credentials.
+		healthChecks(t)
 		q := ConsumerConfig(QueueConsumer(Principal{Kind: KindProcess, Node: "a", Module: "m", Process: "p"},
 			QueueOwner{Process: "p", Stream: "M_WORK", MaxDeliver: 3}))
 		if q.Durable != "a_m_p" || q.FilterSubject != "" || q.MaxDeliver != 3 || q.DeliverPolicy != jetstream.DeliverAllPolicy {
@@ -555,3 +565,89 @@ func TestTheCopiedComposerComposesAsTheControllers(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	})
 }
+
+// healthChecks are the health holders' credential cases (ADR 0564 clauses 2, 5, 8; Limits 2, 4, 8; issue 1952 S5).
+func healthChecks(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Helper()
+	announced := map[string]announce.States{ControllerSeat: ControllerAnnouncement("novox"),
+		"mesh-healers": {Module: "mesh-healers", States: []announce.State{{Name: "attempts", Readable: true}, {Name: "would", Readable: true}}}}
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		reader, read string
+		may          bool
+	}{
+		{"mesh-conditions", ControllerLease, true}, {"mesh-healers", ControllerLease, true}, {WatchmanModule, ControllerLease, true},
+		{"mesh-self-check", ControllerLease, false}, {"messenger", ControllerLease, false},
+		{"mesh-conditions", ControllerConditions, true}, {"mesh-healers", ControllerConditions, false}, {"messenger", ControllerConditions, false},
+		{"mesh-healers", ControllerHandActs, true}, {"mesh-conditions", ControllerHandActs, false},
+		{"mesh-conditions", "mesh-healers.attempts", true}, {"mesh-conditions", HealersWould, false}, {"mesh-delivery-view", HealersWould, false},
+	} {
+		granted, _ := ReadsAnnouncedBy(c.reader, []string{c.read}, announced)
+		if (len(granted) == 1) != c.may {
+			t.Errorf("%s reads %s: %v, want %v", c.reader, c.read, granted, c.may)
+		}
+	}
+	bucket := func(m, n string) Bucket { return Bucket{Module: m, Name: n} }
+	users, err := Users(Records{Nodes: []string{"a"}, Assigned: map[string][]Declared{"a": {
+		{Module: "mesh-conditions", State: []Bucket{bucket("mesh-conditions", "conditions"), bucket("mesh-conditions", "takeover")},
+			Reads: []string{"mesh-self-check.findings", "mesh-healers.attempts", ControllerConditions}},
+		{Module: "mesh-self-check", State: []Bucket{bucket("mesh-self-check", "findings")}},
+		{Module: "mesh-healers", State: []Bucket{bucket("mesh-healers", "findings"), bucket("mesh-healers", "attempts"), bucket("mesh-healers", "would")}},
+		{Module: WatchmanModule, State: []Bucket{bucket(WatchmanModule, "findings")}},
+		{Module: "nats", SnapshotsTheBus: true, Processes: []ProcessPrincipal{{Process: BusToolsProcess}, {Process: "other"}}},
+		{Module: "shop", Processes: []ProcessPrincipal{{Process: BusToolsProcess}}},
+	}}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	may := map[string][]string{
+		"a.mesh-conditions": {"$KV.mesh-conditions_conditions.machine.g14.silent"},
+		WatchmanModule: {"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES." + WatchmanModule, "$JS.API.CONSUMER.MSG.NEXT.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES." + WatchmanModule,
+			"$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.DEAD_LETTERS"},
+		"a.nats.nats-tools": {"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller",
+			"$KV.mesh-host_acts.g14.a1", "$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.KV_mesh-host_acts"},
+	}
+	mayNot := map[string][]string{
+		// The keeper writes no findings and no attempts; no observer writes the keeper's buckets (clause 2).
+		"a.mesh-conditions": {"$KV.mesh-self-check_findings.x", "$KV.mesh-healers_attempts.x", "$KV.mesh-controller_conditions.x"},
+		"a.mesh-self-check": {"$KV.mesh-conditions_conditions.x", "$KV.mesh-conditions_takeover.switch"},
+		"a.mesh-healers":    {"$KV.mesh-conditions_conditions.x", "$KV.mesh-conditions_takeover.switch"},
+		// The watchman never deletes or changes the controller's consumer (clause 5).
+		WatchmanModule: {"$KV.mesh-conditions_conditions.x", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller",
+			"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES." + WatchmanModule},
+		// The bus module's tools remove the one consumer and the acts' keys, nothing else (Limits 4); its other accounts
+		// remove nothing, and a process of that name in another module is no tools account.
+		"a.nats.nats-tools": {"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.other", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.EVENTS.a_m",
+			"$KV.mesh-conditions_conditions.x", "$JS.API.STREAM.DELETE.KV_mesh-host_acts", "$JS.API.STREAM.PURGE.KV_mesh-host_acts"},
+		"a.nats.other":      {"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$KV.mesh-host_acts.g14.a1"},
+		"a.nats":            {"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$KV.mesh-host_acts.g14.a1"},
+		"a.shop.nats-tools": {"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$KV.mesh-host_acts.g14.a1"},
+	}
+	seen := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, u := range users {
+		name := u.Username()
+		if u.Module == WatchmanModule && u.Kind == KindModule {
+			name = WatchmanModule
+		}
+		perms, err := PermissionsFor(u)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("%s: %v", name, err)
+		}
+		for _, subject := range may[name] {
+			seen[name] = true
+			if !MayPublish(perms, subject) {
+				t.Errorf("%s may not publish %s", name, subject)
+			}
+		}
+		for _, subject := range mayNot[name] {
+			seen[name] = true
+			if MayPublish(perms, subject) {
+				t.Errorf("%s may publish %s", name, subject)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	for name := range mayNot {
+		if !seen[name] {
+			t.Errorf("no user %s was composed", name)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/go/buscompose/health_grants.go b/go/buscompose/health_grants.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6fc9de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/buscompose/health_grants.go
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+package buscompose
+
+import "git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/health"
+
+// **The health holders' grants** (novox/hq ADR 0564 clauses 2, 5 and 8, Limits 2, 4 and 8; issue 1952 S5).
+//
+//   - The condition keeper reads the controller's open conditions until the lease write, for what clauses 8 and 9 carry
+//     from them, and mesh-healers the controller's hand-act log, for S15 (Limits 2): both buckets the controller
+//     announces readable by nobody, so each is read by its named reader alone. The keeper, mesh-healers and the
+//     watchman read the controller's lease (Limits 8). Nobody reads mesh-healers' `would` (clause 8): what the healers
+//     would have done reaches no condition. Every observer's `findings`, the healers' `attempts`, the wants and the
+//     haves are read through `reads` as any announced state is; and no module writes another's state, so an observer
+//     can never write the keeper's buckets (clause 2).
+//   - The watchman makes its own consumer on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES, by its own name, pulled, and reads whether the
+//     controller's consumer `controller` still stands; it may neither delete nor change that consumer (clause 5). It
+//     lists and shows DEAD_LETTERS, which is all it does before the lease write.
+//   - The bus module's tools run on a process account of their own, BusToolsProcess, which may remove only the
+//     consumer `controller` on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES and keys of the node-engine's acts bucket (Limits 4), never the
+//     backup's account `broker`, which only reads (ADR 0235).
+
+// The states the composer names its readers for, beside the lease (NamedReaders).
+var (
+	// ControllerConditions is the controller's open conditions, read by the keeper alone (ADR 0564 clauses 8, 9).
+	ControllerConditions = ControllerSeat + ".conditions"
+	// ControllerHandActs is the controller's hand-act log, read by mesh-healers alone of the four health holders (ADR
+	// 0564 Limits 2).
+	ControllerHandActs = ControllerSeat + ".hand-acts"
+	// HealersWould is what mesh-healers would have done while the lease names a controller: read by nobody (clause 8).
+	HealersWould = health.HealersModule + "." + health.WouldState
+)
+
+// BusToolsProcess is the process of the module holding mesh-broker whose account removes from the bus (ADR 0564 Limits
+// 4): its secret is broker-nats-tools, as every process account's is broker-<process id> (ADR 0436 §2).
+const BusToolsProcess = "nats-tools"
+
+// BusRemovalGrants is the whole authority of the bus module's tools account (ADR 0564 Limits 4, issue 1952 notes 6 and
+// 7): read and delete the controller's consumer on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES (the lease write's step, clause 5), and read and
+// remove keys of the node-engine's acts bucket, which nothing else may empty when it fills. STREAM.INFO with a subject
+// filter lists what a removal would take, so the tools read before they remove. A further consumer or bucket is a change
+// of this grant.
+func BusRemovalGrants() []string {
+	return []string{
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO." + DeadLetterNoticesStream + "." + ControllerName,
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE." + DeadLetterNoticesStream + "." + ControllerName,
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.KV_" + EngineActsBucket,
+		"$KV." + EngineActsBucket + ".>",
+	}
+}
+
+// removesEngineActs is the bus module's tools account removing keys of the node-engine's acts bucket: the writers
+// table's one exemption from a node's engine being the only writer of its keys, for removal (ADR 0564 Limits 4).
+func removesEngineActs(p Principal, pattern string) bool {
+	return p.Kind == KindProcess && p.RemovesFromTheBus && pattern == "$KV."+EngineActsBucket+".>"
+}
+
+// WatchmanDeadLetterConsumer is the watchman's own consumer on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES, made only once the lease names no
+// controller and `controller` is gone (ADR 0564 clause 5).
+const WatchmanDeadLetterConsumer = WatchmanModule
+
+// WatchmanDeadLetterGrants are what the watchman may publish for the dead letters (ADR 0564 clause 5): its own pulled
+// consumer on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES (made, read, pulled, acknowledged), whether `controller` still stands (read only), and a
+// read of DEAD_LETTERS: its list by subject, one kept message, and an ordered consumer of its own to page them.
+func WatchmanDeadLetterGrants() []string {
+	own := DeadLetterNoticesStream + "." + WatchmanDeadLetterConsumer
+	return []string{
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.INFO." + DeadLetterNoticesStream,
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO." + DeadLetterNoticesStream + "." + ControllerName,
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE." + own,
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO." + own,
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.MSG.NEXT." + own,
+		"$JS.ACK." + own + ".>",
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.INFO." + DeadLettersStream,
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET." + DeadLettersStream,
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE." + DeadLettersStream + ".>",
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE." + DeadLettersStream + ".*",
+		"$JS.FC." + DeadLettersStream + ".>",
+	}
+}
diff --git a/go/buscompose/nats.go b/go/buscompose/nats.go
index 74981b0..26a5fbb 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/nats.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/nats.go
@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@ type Principal struct {
 	// whole authority is BusSnapshotGrants: it copies the streams for the night's backup and nothing
 	// else — not its declarations, which the node's tool runtime serves for it.
 	SnapshotsTheBus bool
+	// RemovesFromTheBus is the bus module's tools process (BusToolsProcess, novox/hq ADR 0564 Limits 4): its whole
+	// authority is BusRemovalGrants.
+	RemovesFromTheBus bool
 
 	// WitnessesController is a machine principal whose node-engine witnesses the controller's upgrades:
 	// the machine runs the controller (novox/hq ADR 0236, lease/witness.go). It may read the lease's one
@@ -655,6 +658,16 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 		return Permissions{Publish: pub, Subscribe: []string{p.inbox()}}, nil
 	}
 
+	if p.Kind == KindProcess && p.RemovesFromTheBus {
+		pub := BusRemovalGrants()
+		sort.Strings(pub)
+		if err := CheckWriters(p, pub); err != nil {
+			return Permissions{}, err
+		}
+		// Its own inbox for the answers, and nothing else (Limits 4).
+		return Permissions{Publish: pub, Subscribe: []string{p.inbox()}}, nil
+	}
+
 	var pub, sub []string
 	switch p.Kind {
 	case KindController:
@@ -988,6 +1001,8 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 		if p.Module == WatchmanModule {
 			sub = append(sub, BusConnectSubject, BusDisconnectSubject)
 			pub = append(pub, BusConnzSubject)
+			// And the dead letters, from its own consumer, never the controller's (novox/hq ADR 0564 clause 5).
+			pub = append(pub, WatchmanDeadLetterGrants()...)
 		}
 		// The grants part alone publishes the modules' memberships into the assignments stream (novox/hq ADR 0547 §5;
 		// the operator, 2026-10-25 22:31): one per subject, `mesh.assignment.<node>.<module>`, reading the last one of each
diff --git a/go/buscompose/userlist_switch.go b/go/buscompose/userlist_switch.go
index 6e2cb07..266eaad 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/userlist_switch.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/userlist_switch.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/delivery"
+	"git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/health"
 )
 
 // **The grants part's user list, sealed to the bus node** (novox/hq ADR 0547 clause 7, issue 1945). The grants part writes
@@ -81,8 +82,13 @@ const VaultBusAccounts = "mesh-vault.bus-accounts"
 // are read by the vault alone (novox/hq ADR 0561 §2).
 // The controller's lease is read by the parts that turn on at its write (ADR 0561 §3, §6), and by the assigner, which
 // reads the catalogue's placement alone from then (ADR 0549 §5, issue 774).
+//
+// The health holders (novox/hq ADR 0564 Limits 2 and 8, clauses 8 and 9): the condition keeper, mesh-healers and the
+// watchman read the lease; the keeper alone the controller's conditions, mesh-healers alone its hand-act log; and nobody
+// the healers' `would` (health_grants.go).
 var NamedReaders = map[string][]string{VaultBusAccounts: {GrantsModule}, GrantsAccounts: {VaultSeat},
-	ControllerLease: {VaultSeat, GrantsModule, delivery.AssignerModule}}
+	ControllerLease:      {VaultSeat, GrantsModule, delivery.AssignerModule, health.KeeperModule, health.HealersModule, WatchmanModule},
+	ControllerConditions: {health.KeeperModule}, ControllerHandActs: {health.HealersModule}, HealersWould: {}}
 
 // ReaderMay says whether module may read the state read (`<owner>.<name>`) by the named readers: always, for a state
 // that names none.
diff --git a/go/buscompose/users.go b/go/buscompose/users.go
index 5629510..10295ff 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/users.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/users.go
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ func Users(r Records) ([]Principal, error) {
 				out = append(out, Principal{
 					Kind: KindProcess, Node: node, Module: d.Module, Process: pr.Process,
 					Emits: pr.Emits, Queues: pr.Queues, State: pr.State, Uses: d.Uses, Asks: pr.Asks,
-					Invokes: pr.Invokes,
+					Invokes: pr.Invokes, RemovesFromTheBus: d.SnapshotsTheBus && pr.Process == BusToolsProcess,
 				})
 			}
 			if runtimeHere && d.Module == RuntimeModule {
diff --git a/go/buscompose/writers.go b/go/buscompose/writers.go
index 7649cb2..465d83d 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/writers.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/writers.go
@@ -249,7 +249,11 @@ var WritersTable = []WriterRow{
 	// node-engine's declared state, created by the grants part, written by each node's engine under its own keys.
 	{State: "a machine's hand acts", Writer: "the node-engine of the machine, under its own keys `<node>.>`, compare-and-set",
 		KeptIn: "key-value " + EngineActsBucket + ", the node-engine's declared state acts",
-		Others: "read through the node seat's verb acts", Subjects: kvOf(EngineActsBucket), Writes: ownNodeKeys},
+		Others: "read through the node seat's verb acts", Subjects: kvOf(EngineActsBucket),
+		Writes: func(p Principal, pattern string) bool {
+			return ownNodeKeys(p, pattern) || removesEngineActs(p, pattern)
+		},
+		Shared: "the bus module's tools account removes keys of a full bucket, for removal only (novox/hq ADR 0564 Limits 4)"},
 	// The contents of a declaration's files over 64 KiB (novox/hq ADR 0486 §2): the controller alone writes the bucket, each
 	// object under the digest of its content; a node-engine reads one by its name, with no list and no write.
 	{State: "a declaration's large files", Writer: "controller, each object under the sha256 digest of its content; the " +