diff --git a/LABELS.md b/LABELS.md
index 0f6acd4..7f62a58 100644
--- a/LABELS.md
+++ b/LABELS.md
@@ -68,7 +68,13 @@ assignee, and comments with the remaining criteria verbatim. The comment says
 that the claim is released and that triage owes a follow-up naming the owner
 and wake condition for completion. Triage writes that full transition comment
 in the same tick when it or the operator makes the move by hand. The sweep
-never reclaims `post-merge`: weeks of quiet can be the state working.
+never reclaims `post-merge`: weeks of quiet can be the state working. It does
+make the quiet visible — after 7 days without a comment, a review or a commit
+the sweep posts one nudge naming the triage actor, saying the wake evidence is
+owed and linking the item. Which criterion starved is prose the machine never
+judges; the link is the payload. Like the ruling nudge it carries no
+idempotency marker on purpose — the comment is itself activity, so the rule
+self-rate-limits to one nudge per 7 quiet days — and it writes no label.
 
 `post-merge` never composes with `blocked`; the transition comment carries the
 wait. It never composes with `attention`, because releasing the claim clears
diff --git a/changelog.d/254.md b/changelog.d/254.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b0761e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/254.md
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+### Added
+
+- A `post-merge` item with no comment, review or commit for 7 days now draws
+  one nudge from the issue sweep: the wake evidence is owed. A starving
+  criterion used to be found only when someone happened to run the right read
+  (#254).
+- The nudge names the triage actor from `triage-actors=`, not the human
+  reviewer: `post-merge` is triage's completion queue, so the starved wake
+  condition is triage's to answer (#254).
+- It links the item and parses nothing from the body — which criterion
+  starved is prose, and the machine never judges prose (#254).
+- Like the ruling nudge it carries no idempotency marker on purpose: the
+  comment is itself activity, so the rule self-rate-limits to one nudge per 7
+  quiet days. Comment-only — no path here writes a label (#254).