diff --git a/src/app.ts b/src/app.ts
index eccb3d1..cea3d6f 100644
--- a/src/app.ts
+++ b/src/app.ts
@@ -124,10 +124,28 @@ app.onError((err, c) => {
 });
 
 /** Wrap a handler so OpError -> its HTTP status, anything else -> 500. */
-function handle<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>) {
+/**
+ * Shared-cache policy for public, non-personalized reads. Neon bills compute by
+ * the hour it is awake, and an idle compute suspends — so every uncached page
+ * view is not just a query, it is a wake-up that bills for the whole autosuspend
+ * window. `s-maxage` lets Cloudflare's edge answer site traffic without touching
+ * Postgres at all; `stale-while-revalidate` keeps the edge serving while one
+ * request refreshes behind it. The short browser `max-age` means a contributor
+ * reloading their own numbers still sees them move.
+ *
+ * Only ever put this on responses that are identical for every caller. Anything
+ * behind requireDev/requireAdmin must stay uncached.
+ */
+const PUBLIC_CACHE = 'public, max-age=60, s-maxage=300, stale-while-revalidate=600';
+
+function handle<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>, cacheControl?: string) {
   return async (c: any) => {
     try {
-      return c.json((await fn()) as any);
+      const body = (await fn()) as any;
+      // Successes only: an error response must never be cached at the edge, or
+      // a transient 500 would be served to everyone for the full s-maxage.
+      if (cacheControl) c.header('Cache-Control', cacheControl);
+      return c.json(body);
     } catch (err) {
       if (err instanceof OpError) {
         return c.json({ error: err.code, message: err.message }, err.status as any);
@@ -219,7 +237,13 @@ app.get('/analytics-config.json', (c) => {
 // host root (api.givework.dev/health) and what uptime checks / load balancers
 // hit. Pings the database so a 200 means "control plane can actually serve", not
 // just "the Worker booted". DB unreachable -> 503 with status 'degraded'.
+// Liveness by default, readiness on request. `SELECT 1` looks free, but it wakes
+// Neon's compute and restarts its autosuspend countdown -- an uptime monitor on a
+// 1-minute interval would hold compute awake permanently and cost more than all
+// real traffic combined. So the default answers from the Worker alone, and the DB
+// probe is opt-in via ?db=1 for the times you actually want to assert the DB.
 app.get('/health', async (c) => {
+  if (c.req.query('db') !== '1') return c.json({ status: 'ok', db: 'unchecked' });
   try {
     await query('SELECT 1');
     return c.json({ status: 'ok', db: 'up' });
@@ -232,7 +256,7 @@ app.get('/health', async (c) => {
 // and opt-in: only nonprofits an admin marked `listed` appear, and only their
 // name + counts (no contact info or task content). The marketing site can fetch
 // this to render a "who we work with" section.
-app.get('/transparency', (c) => handle(() => getPublicTransparency())(c));
+app.get('/transparency', (c) => handle(() => getPublicTransparency(), PUBLIC_CACHE)(c));
 
 // Media (conjecture explainer videos) streamed from R2 — stored there, never in
 // the repo. Range requests are honored so browsers can seek within a video. The
@@ -336,7 +360,7 @@ app.get('/conjectures/:slug/tree', (c) =>
     const tree = await getTargetTaskTree(c.req.param('slug'));
     if (!tree) throw new OpError(404, 'target_not_found', 'Unknown conjecture');
     return tree;
-  })(c),
+  }, PUBLIC_CACHE)(c),
 );
 
 app.get('/conjectures/:slug/contributions', (c) =>
@@ -347,7 +371,7 @@ app.get('/conjectures/:slug/contributions', (c) =>
     });
     if (!page) throw new OpError(404, 'target_not_found', 'Unknown conjecture');
     return page;
-  })(c),
+  }, PUBLIC_CACHE)(c),
 );
 
 // Minimal embeddable video player for twitter:player cards — the conjecture's
@@ -378,7 +402,7 @@ app.get('/embed/:slug', async (c) => {
 
 // Public leaderboard — curated conjectures with progress + top contributors by
 // donated compute. Drives the marketing site's "what's being worked on" surface.
-app.get('/leaderboard', (c) => handle(() => getLeaderboard())(c));
+app.get('/leaderboard', (c) => handle(() => getLeaderboard(), PUBLIC_CACHE)(c));
 
 // Public work board — the open tasks anyone can browse before signing up. Scoped
 // in listAvailableTasks to public-sensitivity tasks on public slugged targets, so
@@ -388,12 +412,14 @@ app.get('/tasks/available', (c) => {
   const slug = c.req.query('slug');
   const deliverable = c.req.query('deliverable');
   const limit = c.req.query('limit');
-  return handle(() =>
-    listAvailableTasks({
-      slug: slug ?? undefined,
-      deliverable: deliverable ?? undefined,
-      limit: limit !== undefined ? Number(limit) : undefined,
-    }),
+  return handle(
+    () =>
+      listAvailableTasks({
+        slug: slug ?? undefined,
+        deliverable: deliverable ?? undefined,
+        limit: limit !== undefined ? Number(limit) : undefined,
+      }),
+    PUBLIC_CACHE,
   )(c);
 });
 
diff --git a/src/cli/commands.ts b/src/cli/commands.ts
index 656f650..9fb57d0 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands.ts
@@ -391,7 +391,12 @@ export async function run(
     process.exit(1);
   }
   const intervalArg = arg(args, '--interval');
-  const intervalSec = intervalArg ? Number(intervalArg) : 15;
+  // 60s, not 15s: an idle poll is a Neon compute wake-up, and four of them a
+  // minute hold the serverless compute awake for the whole watch session. A
+  // volunteer waiting up to a minute longer to pick up a task costs nothing --
+  // the tasks themselves run for minutes. Override with --interval when you are
+  // deliberately racing a specific task into the pool.
+  const intervalSec = intervalArg ? Number(intervalArg) : 60;
   if (!Number.isFinite(intervalSec) || intervalSec <= 0) {
     console.error('--interval must be a positive number of seconds');
     process.exit(1);
diff --git a/test/health.test.ts b/test/health.test.ts
index f1f3f5c..3ed4677 100644
--- a/test/health.test.ts
+++ b/test/health.test.ts
@@ -5,9 +5,17 @@ import { app } from '../src/server.js';
 afterAll(closePool);
 
 describe('GET /health', () => {
-  it('returns 200 + ok when the database is reachable (no auth required)', async () => {
+  // Liveness by default: no DB round-trip, so an uptime monitor cannot hold
+  // Neon's compute awake (and bill for it) just by checking we are up.
+  it('answers without touching the database (no auth required)', async () => {
     const res = await app.fetch(new Request('http://test/health'));
     expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    expect(await res.json()).toEqual({ status: 'ok', db: 'unchecked' });
+  });
+
+  it('probes the database only when asked for it with ?db=1', async () => {
+    const res = await app.fetch(new Request('http://test/health?db=1'));
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
     expect(await res.json()).toEqual({ status: 'ok', db: 'up' });
   });
 });
diff --git a/test/public-cache.test.ts b/test/public-cache.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1936f06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/public-cache.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+import { afterAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { closePool } from '../src/db.js';
+import { app } from '../src/server.js';
+import { createDev, mintDevToken, resetDb, setBudget } from './helpers.js';
+
+// Neon bills compute by the hour it is awake, and an idle compute suspends. So
+// every uncached public read is not just a query -- it is a wake-up that bills
+// for the whole autosuspend window. These endpoints are identical for every
+// caller, so Cloudflare's edge can answer site traffic without touching Postgres
+// at all. The rule these tests hold: public reads carry a shared-cache header,
+// and anything caller-specific never does.
+
+afterAll(closePool);
+
+let devTok: string;
+beforeEach(async () => {
+  await resetDb();
+  const devId = await createDev('cache-dev');
+  await setBudget(devId, 500);
+  devTok = await mintDevToken(devId);
+});
+
+const req = (path: string, init?: RequestInit) =>
+  app.fetch(new Request(`http://test${path}`, init));
+
+const PUBLIC_READS = ['/leaderboard', '/transparency', '/tasks/available'];
+
+describe('public reads are edge-cacheable', () => {
+  for (const path of PUBLIC_READS) {
+    it(`${path} sets a shared-cache Cache-Control`, async () => {
+      const res = await req(path);
+      expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+      const cc = res.headers.get('cache-control') ?? '';
+      expect(cc).toMatch(/s-maxage=\d+/);
+      expect(cc).toContain('public');
+    });
+  }
+});
+
+describe('caller-specific responses are never cached', () => {
+  it('a dev-gated read carries no shared-cache header', async () => {
+    const res = await req('/budget', { headers: { authorization: `Bearer ${devTok}` } });
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    // Caching this at the edge would serve one volunteer's budget to another.
+    expect(res.headers.get('cache-control') ?? '').not.toContain('s-maxage');
+  });
+
+  it('an error response is not cached, so a blip cannot be pinned at the edge', async () => {
+    const res = await req('/conjectures/no-such-conjecture-xyz/tree');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(404);
+    expect(res.headers.get('cache-control') ?? '').not.toContain('s-maxage');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('/health stays off the database unless asked', () => {
+  it('the default probe does not set a cache header either', async () => {
+    const res = await req('/health');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    expect(await res.json()).toEqual({ status: 'ok', db: 'unchecked' });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/wrangler.toml b/wrangler.toml
index 77de7c1..0979811 100644
--- a/wrangler.toml
+++ b/wrangler.toml
@@ -100,14 +100,22 @@ enabled = true
 # a stranded reservation within one request. The cron only matters when the
 # system is otherwise idle — and a query every 5 minutes is exactly what defeats
 # Neon's autosuspend (default 300s idle), pinning the serverless compute on 24/7
-# and burning through the monthly CU-hour allowance for no work. An hourly tick
-# lets the compute scale to zero between bursts while still capping how long a
-# crashed runner's reservation can linger in a fully idle system at ~1h (the
-# lease itself is 10 min; the delay is only the budget-refund backstop). If you
-# ever need faster idle reclaim, lower this AND raise the Neon autosuspend
-# window so the two don't fight.
+# and burning through the monthly CU-hour allowance for no work.
+#
+# Hourly was the first cut of that reasoning, and it was still 24 wake-ups a day:
+# each tick bills a full autosuspend window (~5 min) whether or not there was
+# anything to reclaim, which is most of a near-idle month's compute spend for
+# work the lazy path had almost always already done.
+#
+# So: DAILY. The lazy path is the real mechanism — a stranded reservation is
+# reclaimed by the next pool read, and the only thing a pool read can be waiting
+# on is a volunteer who wants work, which is exactly when it matters. This tick
+# is the floor under the case where nobody touches the system at all — where a
+# blocked budget also harms nobody until someone shows up. If you ever need
+# faster idle reclaim, raise the cadence AND shorten the Neon autosuspend window
+# so the two don't fight.
 [triggers]
-crons = ["0 * * * *"]
+crons = ["17 4 * * *"]
 
 # Outbound transactional email via Cloudflare Email Sending (the domain
 # givework.dev is onboarded there, so SPF/DKIM are aligned). The Worker sends the