diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9066dee..d535c36 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ queued/running, success when reviewed or policy-skipped, failure when stupify po
 reviewer itself failed. Set `GITHUB_STATUS=0` in `~/.stupify/config.env` to turn that off, or
 `GITHUB_STATUS_CONTEXT=your/context` to rename it.
 
+If the `gh` identity the sweep runs under can't write commit statuses (e.g. a proxy integration whose token is
+statuses:read-only), give stupify its own GitHub App: create an App with **Commit statuses: Read & write**,
+install it on the repo, then set `GITHUB_STATUS_APP_ID=<app id>` and `GITHUB_STATUS_APP_KEY=<path to the App's
+.pem>` in `config.env`. Statuses then post via the App (short-lived installation tokens, minted and cached by the
+sweep); everything else still goes through `gh`.
+
 ### Connect your accounts
 
 The reviews run on Codex. On exe.dev that's a keyless **LLM integration**: it fronts your ChatGPT/Codex plan, so
diff --git a/src/review-sweep.test.ts b/src/review-sweep.test.ts
index ff046d3..4ec615c 100644
--- a/src/review-sweep.test.ts
+++ b/src/review-sweep.test.ts
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 // prefix is what the provider caches across diff threads — if a per-PR token ever leaked into it, the cache
 // would thrash and this test would go red. We render against the repo's own real .review/ (no mocks).
 import { expect, test } from 'bun:test'
+import { createVerify, generateKeyPairSync } from 'node:crypto'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
-import { type Config, commitStatusDescription, commitStatusForSweepResult, dismissedFindings, diffRightLines, finalCodexMessage, FIXED_TOKEN, isFixedReview, isNoopReview, isRateLimited, NOOP_TOKEN, parseFindings, type Pr, pidAlive, priorReviewThread, reviewPrompt, stablePrefix, STILL_NOTE, stripSignoff } from './review-sweep'
+import { type Config, appJwt, commitStatusDescription, commitStatusForSweepResult, dismissedFindings, diffRightLines, finalCodexMessage, FIXED_TOKEN, isFixedReview, isNoopReview, isRateLimited, NOOP_TOKEN, parseFindings, type Pr, pidAlive, priorReviewThread, reviewPrompt, stablePrefix, STILL_NOTE, stripSignoff } from './review-sweep'
 
 const REVIEW_DIR = join(import.meta.dir, '..', '.review') // the real spec/rubric/corpus shipped in this repo
 const THIS_PR = '===== THIS PR' // the boundary between the cached prefix and the per-PR tail
@@ -28,6 +29,8 @@ const cfg = (): Config => ({
   codexModel: '',
   githubStatus: true,
   githubStatusContext: 'stupify/review',
+  statusAppId: '',
+  statusAppKeyPath: '',
   gatewayPool: '',
   rotateCooldownMs: 600_000,
 })
@@ -300,6 +303,15 @@ test('commitStatusDescription fits GitHub commit status limits', () => {
   expect(commitStatusDescription(long).endsWith('...')).toBe(true)
 })
 
+test('appJwt signs verifiable RS256 claims for the status App', () => {
+  const { privateKey, publicKey } = generateKeyPairSync('rsa', { modulusLength: 2048 })
+  const jwt = appJwt('12345', privateKey.export({ type: 'pkcs8', format: 'pem' }).toString(), 1_752_900_000)
+  const [header = '', payload = '', signature = ''] = jwt.split('.')
+  expect(JSON.parse(Buffer.from(header, 'base64url').toString())).toEqual({ alg: 'RS256', typ: 'JWT' })
+  expect(JSON.parse(Buffer.from(payload, 'base64url').toString())).toEqual({ iat: 1_752_899_940, exp: 1_752_900_540, iss: '12345' })
+  expect(createVerify('RSA-SHA256').update(`${header}.${payload}`).verify(publicKey, signature, 'base64url')).toBe(true)
+})
+
 test('commitStatusForSweepResult keeps unresolved prior findings red', () => {
   expect(commitStatusForSweepResult('open')).toEqual({ state: 'failure', description: 'prior stupify findings are still open' })
   expect(commitStatusForSweepResult(123)).toEqual({ state: 'failure', description: 'stupify found issues; see review' })
diff --git a/src/review-sweep.ts b/src/review-sweep.ts
index a3f4ab6..45593b2 100755
--- a/src/review-sweep.ts
+++ b/src/review-sweep.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
  * Single-flight: the sweep takes its own lockfile (state/sweep.lock) so two cron ticks never overlap — no
  * `flock` dependency. Every knob lives in config.env next to this file (read fresh each run). Run: `bun review-sweep.ts`.
  */
+import { createSign } from 'node:crypto'
 import { appendFileSync, existsSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, renameSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { dirname, join } from 'node:path'
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
@@ -45,6 +46,8 @@ export interface Config {
   codexProvider: string // optional `-c model_provider=...`; empty = codex's own default/auth
   codexModel: string // optional `-c model=...`; empty = codex's default model
   githubStatus: boolean // post GitHub commit statuses (`stupify/review`) for PR-head workflow visibility
+  statusAppId: string // GitHub App id for posting commit statuses under our own app identity; empty = post via gh
+  statusAppKeyPath: string // path to that App's PEM private key; statuses fall back to gh when unset/unreadable
   githubStatusContext: string
   gatewayPool: string // CODEX_GATEWAY_POOL: ordered comma-separated gateway hostnames codex may rotate through; empty = rotation off
   rotateCooldownMs: number // min gap between gateway rotations, so a fully-drained pool cycles calmly instead of thrashing
@@ -108,6 +111,8 @@ function loadConfig(): Config {
     codexModel: pick('CODEX_MODEL', ''),
     githubStatus: bool('GITHUB_STATUS', true, false), // default visible in GitHub; typo disables instead of surprise-posting
     githubStatusContext: pick('GITHUB_STATUS_CONTEXT', 'stupify/review').trim() || 'stupify/review',
+    statusAppId: pick('GITHUB_STATUS_APP_ID', '').trim(),
+    statusAppKeyPath: pick('GITHUB_STATUS_APP_KEY', '').trim(),
     gatewayPool: pick('CODEX_GATEWAY_POOL', ''),
     rotateCooldownMs: int('CODEX_ROTATE_COOLDOWN_MIN', 10, 0) * 60_000,
   }
@@ -740,6 +745,82 @@ function isCommitStatusState(raw: unknown): raw is CommitStatusState {
 export const commitStatusDescription = (description: string): string =>
   description.length <= 140 ? description : `${description.slice(0, 137)}...`
 
+// The short-lived JWT that authenticates US as our GitHub App (not yet as an installation). iat is backdated 60s
+// for clock skew, exp stays under GitHub's 10-minute cap.
+export function appJwt(appId: string, privateKeyPem: string, nowSec: number): string {
+  const enc = (o: object): string => Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(o)).toString('base64url')
+  const signed = `${enc({ alg: 'RS256', typ: 'JWT' })}.${enc({ iat: nowSec - 60, exp: nowSec + 540, iss: appId })}`
+  return `${signed}.${createSign('RSA-SHA256').update(signed).sign(privateKeyPem, 'base64url')}`
+}
+
+// curl (not gh) for App-authenticated calls: gh on the VMs is wired to the exe.dev proxy via GH_HOST, and these
+// calls must hit api.github.com with OUR credentials. The bearer token goes through curl's stdin config, never argv.
+function ghAppApi(method: 'GET' | 'POST', path: string, bearer: string, body?: string): { ok: boolean; raw: string } {
+  const args = ['-sS', '--fail-with-body', '--max-time', '30', '-X', method, '--config', '-', `https://api.github.com${path}`]
+  if (body !== undefined) args.push('-d', body)
+  const r = exec('curl', args, { input: `header = "Authorization: Bearer ${bearer}"\nheader = "Accept: application/vnd.github+json"\n` })
+  return { ok: r.ok, raw: r.combined }
+}
+
+interface CachedAppToken {
+  token: string
+  expiresAtMs: number
+}
+
+const appTokenPath = (cfg: Config): string => join(cfg.stateDir, 'gh-app-token.json')
+
+/** Mint (or reuse) an installation token for our commit-status App. Cached on disk so the every-minute cron mints
+ *  roughly once an hour, not once a sweep. Returns null (with a log) on any failure — the caller skips the status,
+ *  same degraded state as a gh outage. */
+function appStatusToken(cfg: Config): string | null {
+  try {
+    const raw: unknown = JSON.parse(readFileSync(appTokenPath(cfg), 'utf8'))
+    if (typeof raw === 'object' && raw !== null && 'token' in raw && typeof raw.token === 'string' && 'expiresAtMs' in raw && typeof raw.expiresAtMs === 'number' && raw.expiresAtMs - Date.now() > 5 * 60_000) {
+      return raw.token
+    }
+  } catch {
+    /* no usable cache — mint below */
+  }
+  let pem: string
+  try {
+    pem = readFileSync(cfg.statusAppKeyPath, 'utf8')
+  } catch {
+    log(`  couldn't read GITHUB_STATUS_APP_KEY at ${cfg.statusAppKeyPath} — skipping commit status`)
+    return null
+  }
+  const jwt = appJwt(cfg.statusAppId, pem, Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000))
+  const field = (r: { ok: boolean; raw: string }, key: string): unknown => {
+    if (!r.ok) return undefined
+    try {
+      const parsed: unknown = JSON.parse(r.raw)
+      if (typeof parsed !== 'object' || parsed === null || Array.isArray(parsed)) return undefined
+      return (parsed as Record<string, unknown>)[key]
+    } catch {
+      return undefined
+    }
+  }
+  const inst = ghAppApi('GET', `/repos/${cfg.slug}/installation`, jwt)
+  const instId = field(inst, 'id')
+  if (typeof instId !== 'number') {
+    log(`  status App isn't installed on ${cfg.slug} (or the key/app id is wrong) — ${inst.raw.slice(0, 180).replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim()}`)
+    return null
+  }
+  const minted = ghAppApi('POST', `/app/installations/${instId}/access_tokens`, jwt, JSON.stringify({ permissions: { statuses: 'write' } }))
+  const token = field(minted, 'token')
+  if (typeof token !== 'string') {
+    log(`  couldn't mint status App token — ${minted.raw.slice(0, 180).replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim()}`)
+    return null
+  }
+  // GitHub installation tokens live 1h; we cache 55min (the 5-min freshness floor above trims the rest).
+  const cache: CachedAppToken = { token, expiresAtMs: Date.now() + 55 * 60_000 }
+  try {
+    writeFileSync(appTokenPath(cfg), JSON.stringify(cache))
+  } catch {
+    /* best-effort — re-minting next sweep is just one extra round-trip */
+  }
+  return token
+}
+
 function setCommitStatus(cfg: Config, posted: Record<string, PostedCommitStatus>, pr: Pr, state: CommitStatusState, description: string): void {
   if (!cfg.githubStatus || cfg.dryRun) return
   const safeDescription = commitStatusDescription(description)
@@ -753,7 +834,17 @@ function setCommitStatus(cfg: Config, posted: Record<string, PostedCommitStatus>
     description: safeDescription,
     target_url: `https://github.com/${cfg.slug}/pull/${pr.number}`,
   }
-  const r = exec('gh', ['api', `repos/${cfg.slug}/statuses/${pr.headRefOid}`, '--method', 'POST', '--input', '-'], { input: JSON.stringify(payload) })
+  // Our own App (when configured) posts the status so it carries our bot identity and statuses:write; the exe.dev
+  // integration's gh token is statuses:read-only. gh remains the fallback for setups without an App.
+  let r: { ok: boolean; combined: string }
+  if (cfg.statusAppId && cfg.statusAppKeyPath) {
+    const token = appStatusToken(cfg)
+    if (token === null) return // already logged
+    const post = ghAppApi('POST', `/repos/${cfg.slug}/statuses/${pr.headRefOid}`, token, JSON.stringify(payload))
+    r = { ok: post.ok, combined: post.raw }
+  } else {
+    r = exec('gh', ['api', `repos/${cfg.slug}/statuses/${pr.headRefOid}`, '--method', 'POST', '--input', '-'], { input: JSON.stringify(payload) })
+  }
   if (!r.ok) {
     log(`  couldn't post GitHub status for #${pr.number} (${state}) — ${r.combined.slice(0, 180).replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim()}`)
     return