diff --git a/plans/backend/revamp/05-triggers.md b/plans/backend/revamp/05-triggers.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5818e43bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plans/backend/revamp/05-triggers.md
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# Domain ⑤ — Triggers (the pluggable refresh clock) (CI pivot revamp · WIP)
+
+> **WIP design doc.** Part of the Phase 4 → end revamp. The thinnest domain.
+> **Scope guardrail:** Phases 1–3 SHIPPED/FIXED. This domain is **decoupled** — Intelligence (`03`)
+> has no dependency on it, and **automations is at most one optional adapter, never required**.
+
+## Purpose
+
+Decide **when** a Lens refreshes. Intelligence exposes a single entry point — **`refresh(lens)`** —
+and every trigger is just a caller. Intelligence never knows which trigger fired; remove any trigger
+and the engine still works.
+
+This replaces Phase 6's cron scheduler — and the resolution is **not** to rebuild a scheduler at all,
+but to **reuse the automations subsystem** for the in-app recurring path (it already has a hardened
+clock + run record + delivery). A trigger only ever calls `refresh(lens)`.
+
+## The adapters
+
+| Adapter | Fired by | MVP? |
+|---------|----------|------|
+| **Manual** | user "refresh now" (chat tool / REST) | ✅ |
+| **Agent** | the in-app agent calls `refresh` as a tool | ✅ |
+| **External cron** | the user's own scheduler hits `POST /v1/lenses/{id}/refresh` | ✅ (zero infra on us) |
+| **CI automation action** | a **CI action on the existing automations** — its schedule trigger fires `refresh(lens)` **and delivers** the material changes | ✅ (the in-app recurrence + alert path) |
+
+## Recurrence + delivery — a CI action on existing automations (NOT a new scheduler, NOT a new shape)
+
+The SMB competitor-watch buyer needs **in-app recurrence** *and* **"tell me when it changes"**. Instead
+of building a bespoke tick (which — done correctly — still needs `FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED` claiming,
+`next_fire_at` advance, self-heal, duplicate-run suppression, `catchup=False`), we **add a CI *action*
+to the existing automations subsystem**:
+
+- **Schedule** → the automation's existing **schedule trigger** (the already-hardened selector). No new
+  scheduler. **(closes the old Gap B — scheduler rigor.)**
+- **Run record + idempotency** → the automation's existing **`AutomationRun`** + PENDING-gate. No new
+  run table. **(closes the old Gap A — run/idempotency, see `03`.)**
+- **Delivery / alert** → the automation's existing **output/delivery** carries the material changes to
+  the user. **(closes the old Gap E — alert delivery.)**
+
+**Why a CI *action*, not a new automation shape:** a new shape would duplicate triggers, runs, and
+delivery that already exist. A single `refresh_lens` action reuses all of it. (If implementation finds
+the action too constraining, a thin CI-specific shape is the fallback — but the action is the default.)
+
+### Decoupling is preserved (automations is still optional)
+
+CI **core** — `refresh(lens)` + Timeline (`03`/`04`) — has **zero** automations dependency and runs via
+manual / agent / external-cron. Automations is the **optional adapter** that adds recurrence + delivery
++ audit for in-app users. So we honor "don't glue CI to automations" *and* get its machinery for free.
+
+## Where it lives / decoupling
+
+- The **CI action** lives with automations (its action registry); it imports `refresh(lens)` from
+  `app/intelligence/`. No new scheduler/Beat task.
+- The **external-cron** and **REST manual** paths are just Access-door routes (`POST
+  /v1/lenses/{id}/refresh`) — Domain ② plumbing.
+
+## Locked decisions
+
+1. Intelligence exposes `refresh(lens)`; all triggers are callers. Fully decoupled.
+2. Adapters: manual · agent · external-cron · **CI automation action** (recurrence + delivery).
+3. **No bespoke scheduler and no new run table** — the recurring path reuses the automations schedule
+   selector + `AutomationRun`; delivery reuses automations' output. (Closes old Gaps A/B/E.)
+4. Recurrence is a **CI *action*** on the existing automations, **not a new automation shape**.
+5. CI core stays runnable with **zero** automations dependency (manual/agent/external-cron).
+
+## Open questions (carry forward)
+
+- CI **action** vs a thin CI-specific automation **shape** (default: action; shape is the fallback).
+- What the delivered payload looks like (the material `entity_changes` since last fire — summarized by
+  the agent, or raw deltas).
+- Concurrency: skip a refresh if the Lens already has one in flight (per-Lens lock, like the connector
+  indexing lock) — even with the automation run-gate, belt-and-suspenders.