diff --git a/internal/store/migrations.go b/internal/store/migrations.go
index 77b1f3e..5081a46 100644
--- a/internal/store/migrations.go
+++ b/internal/store/migrations.go
@@ -300,6 +300,36 @@ ALTER TABLE reminders ADD COLUMN next_fire_ts INTEGER;`, // #2
 	// here and no caller has to tell them apart.
 	`ALTER TABLE tasks ADD COLUMN done_when TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '';
 	 ALTER TABLE tasks ADD COLUMN blocked_on TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '';`,
+	// #23 — the routing trace (V-629). internal/decision kept a 25-turn ring and
+	// persisted nothing, on the argument that a turn record is read minutes later
+	// or never. The owner reversed that on 06-08-2026: mode discovery and distance
+	// calibration need real utterances, and there is no other source of them.
+	// docs/plans/21-persisting-the-routing-trace.md carries the
+	// reversal.
+	//
+	// utterance holds his words in clear. A 384-dimension vector of a short
+	// sentence is substantially recoverable, so storing vectors instead would be a
+	// privacy claim we cannot support. What makes it safe is the same thing that
+	// makes the fact store safe: it never leaves the box, retention is bounded at
+	// routingTraceRetention, and Wipe drops it with everything else.
+	//
+	// correction is empty until the owner corrects a turn on /chat (V-630). A
+	// corrected pair is promoted out of here into a seed-shaped row and kept, so
+	// this column is a queue, not the durable label.
+	`CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS routing_traces (
+		id                  INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
+		ts                  INTEGER NOT NULL,
+		utterance           TEXT    NOT NULL,
+		source              TEXT    NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
+		winner              TEXT    NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
+		intent              TEXT    NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
+		claimed_before_head INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
+		encoder_id          TEXT    NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
+		outcome             TEXT    NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
+		correction          TEXT    NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
+		claims              TEXT    NOT NULL DEFAULT '[]'
+	);
+	CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_routing_traces_ts ON routing_traces (ts DESC);`,
 }
 
 // migrate applies every migration with a number greater than the DB's current
diff --git a/internal/store/routingtraces.go b/internal/store/routingtraces.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac7f922
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/store/routingtraces.go
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+package store
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// routingTraceRetention is how long a raw trace lives (owner's call,
+// 06-08-2026). A trace is read within a day or two of the turn that produced it,
+// or never, so two weeks is diagnosis with room for a weekend. It is deliberately
+// an age and not a row count: the useful question is "what did she do this week",
+// and a busy Tuesday must not push last Friday out.
+//
+// A correction is not covered by this bound. The moment the owner corrects a
+// turn, the pair is promoted out of the trace into a seed-shaped row and kept
+// indefinitely, because a label is not a transcript. Keeping the transcript that
+// carried it would defeat the point of the bound.
+const routingTraceRetention = 14 * 24 * time.Hour
+
+// RoutingTrace is one turn's arbitration, persisted. It is internal/decision's
+// Record plus the four things the ring never had to carry: which reach the
+// utterance arrived on, whether stage 0 answered before the classifier was
+// consulted, which encoder body was live, and what the turn actually did.
+type RoutingTrace struct {
+	ID        int64     `json:"id"`
+	Ts        time.Time `json:"ts"`
+	Utterance string    `json:"utterance"`
+	Source    string    `json:"source"`
+	Winner    string    `json:"winner"`
+	Intent    string    `json:"intent"`
+	// ClaimedBeforeHead — stage 0 or a pre-route resolver answered, so the turn
+	// teaches nothing about the classifier. It is a large share of real traffic,
+	// and counting those turns as training signal would fit the head to the
+	// grammars rather than to him.
+	ClaimedBeforeHead bool `json:"claimed_before_head"`
+	// EncoderID names the encoder body that was live. A fitted distance means
+	// nothing under another body, and V-546 trains a copy of the weights.
+	EncoderID string `json:"encoder_id"`
+	// Outcome is what happened, not what was routed: a route that reached a gap
+	// and a route that ran are different turns.
+	Outcome string `json:"outcome"`
+	// Correction is the owner's label, empty until he gives one (V-630).
+	Correction string `json:"correction"`
+	// Claims is internal/decision's per-claimant detail, stored as JSON because
+	// nothing queries inside it: it is read whole, beside the turn it explains.
+	Claims json.RawMessage `json:"claims"`
+}
+
+// WriteRoutingTrace appends one turn and drops the ones past retention.
+func (s *Store) WriteRoutingTrace(ctx context.Context, tr RoutingTrace) (int64, error) {
+	claims := "[]"
+	if len(tr.Claims) > 0 {
+		claims = string(tr.Claims)
+	}
+	res, err := s.db.ExecContext(ctx, `
+		INSERT INTO routing_traces
+		       (ts, utterance, source, winner, intent, claimed_before_head, encoder_id, outcome, correction, claims)
+		VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)`,
+		tr.Ts.UnixMilli(), tr.Utterance, tr.Source, tr.Winner, tr.Intent,
+		tr.ClaimedBeforeHead, tr.EncoderID, tr.Outcome, tr.Correction, claims)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("write routing trace: %w", err)
+	}
+	id, err := res.LastInsertId()
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("last insert id: %w", err)
+	}
+	// Prune rarely. Turns arrive at human rate, so the bound is a ceiling and
+	// paying for a delete on every one of them buys nothing. 64 turns is hours.
+	if id%64 == 0 {
+		if err := s.PruneRoutingTraces(ctx, tr.Ts.Add(-routingTraceRetention)); err != nil {
+			return id, err
+		}
+	}
+	return id, nil
+}
+
+// PruneRoutingTraces deletes every trace older than before. A corrected turn is
+// deleted with the rest: the label was promoted out when the owner wrote it, so
+// what is left here is the transcript, and the transcript is what expires.
+func (s *Store) PruneRoutingTraces(ctx context.Context, before time.Time) error {
+	if _, err := s.db.ExecContext(ctx,
+		`DELETE FROM routing_traces WHERE ts < ?`, before.UnixMilli()); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("prune routing traces: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// RecentRoutingTraces returns the newest n turns, newest first.
+func (s *Store) RecentRoutingTraces(ctx context.Context, n int) ([]RoutingTrace, error) {
+	rows, err := s.db.QueryContext(ctx, `
+		SELECT id, ts, utterance, source, winner, intent, claimed_before_head,
+		       encoder_id, outcome, correction, claims
+		  FROM routing_traces
+		 ORDER BY id DESC
+		 LIMIT ?`, n)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("recent routing traces: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer rows.Close()
+	var out []RoutingTrace
+	for rows.Next() {
+		var tr RoutingTrace
+		var tsMilli int64
+		var claims string
+		if err := rows.Scan(&tr.ID, &tsMilli, &tr.Utterance, &tr.Source, &tr.Winner,
+			&tr.Intent, &tr.ClaimedBeforeHead, &tr.EncoderID, &tr.Outcome,
+			&tr.Correction, &claims); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		tr.Ts = time.UnixMilli(tsMilli).UTC()
+		tr.Claims = json.RawMessage(claims)
+		out = append(out, tr)
+	}
+	return out, rows.Err()
+}
diff --git a/internal/store/routingtraces_test.go b/internal/store/routingtraces_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34a058b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/store/routingtraces_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+package store
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func TestRoutingTraceRoundTrip(t *testing.T) {
+	s := newTestStore(t)
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	now := time.Date(2026, 8, 6, 12, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+
+	in := RoutingTrace{
+		Ts:                now,
+		Utterance:         "напомни в 11:00 позвонить маме",
+		Source:            "tap:voice",
+		Winner:            "stage0:reminder-grammar",
+		Intent:            "reminder",
+		ClaimedBeforeHead: true,
+		EncoderID:         "e5-small",
+		Outcome:           "reminder",
+		Claims:            []byte(`[{"stage":"stage0","claimant":"reminder-grammar","outcome":"won"}]`),
+	}
+	if _, err := s.WriteRoutingTrace(ctx, in); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	got, err := s.RecentRoutingTraces(ctx, 10)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(got) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("got %d traces, want 1", len(got))
+	}
+	// The utterance is stored in clear on purpose: a vector is not redaction.
+	if got[0].Utterance != in.Utterance {
+		t.Errorf("utterance %q, want %q", got[0].Utterance, in.Utterance)
+	}
+	if !got[0].ClaimedBeforeHead {
+		t.Error("claimed_before_head lost, and V-632 needs exactly that share")
+	}
+	if got[0].EncoderID != in.EncoderID {
+		t.Errorf("encoder_id %q, want %q", got[0].EncoderID, in.EncoderID)
+	}
+	if string(got[0].Claims) != string(in.Claims) {
+		t.Errorf("claims %s, want %s", got[0].Claims, in.Claims)
+	}
+	if got[0].Correction != "" {
+		t.Errorf("correction %q on an uncorrected turn", got[0].Correction)
+	}
+}
+
+// The bound is an age, not a row count: the useful question is what she did this
+// week, and a busy Tuesday must not push last Friday out.
+func TestPruneRoutingTracesByAge(t *testing.T) {
+	s := newTestStore(t)
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	now := time.Date(2026, 8, 6, 12, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+
+	for _, age := range []time.Duration{0, 13 * 24 * time.Hour, 15 * 24 * time.Hour} {
+		if _, err := s.WriteRoutingTrace(ctx, RoutingTrace{Ts: now.Add(-age), Utterance: "привет"}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	if err := s.PruneRoutingTraces(ctx, now.Add(-routingTraceRetention)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	got, err := s.RecentRoutingTraces(ctx, 10)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(got) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("kept %d traces, want the two inside 14 days", len(got))
+	}
+}