diff --git a/ingestion/internal/api/promote.go b/ingestion/internal/api/promote.go
index d34768c..8def9e0 100644
--- a/ingestion/internal/api/promote.go
+++ b/ingestion/internal/api/promote.go
@@ -145,6 +145,68 @@ func PromoteNote(brainDir string, opts PromoteOptions) (string, error) {
 	return relSlash, nil
 }
 
+// RejectOptions identifies a raw note to reject and why.
+type RejectOptions struct {
+	Filename string // basename in brain/raw/
+	Reason   string // optional
+}
+
+// RejectNote records a human decision not to promote a brain/raw/ note,
+// without silently losing it: it stamps rejected_at (+ reject_reason when
+// given) into frontmatter and moves the file to brain/raw/rejected/, using
+// the same write-then-delete safety PromoteNote uses — the source survives
+// any write failure — and the same basename-only filename validation.
+//
+// A rejected note never entered the wiki, so no index rebuild or
+// auto-tunnel run: unlike PromoteNote, this is the end of the note's
+// journey, not the start of a new one. It stays out of ListPending's view
+// (raw/rejected/ is a subdirectory, and ListPending's os.ReadDir on raw/
+// does not recurse), so a rejected note is never re-surfaced as pending —
+// the human decision, once made, stays made, the same principle behind
+// this estate's "issue status is surfaced, not auto-closed, but once a
+// human decides, the decision is recorded" rule applied one level earlier.
+func RejectNote(brainDir string, opts RejectOptions) (string, error) {
+	base := filepath.Base(opts.Filename)
+	if base != opts.Filename || base == "." || base == ".." || strings.ContainsAny(opts.Filename, `/\`) {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid filename %q", opts.Filename)
+	}
+
+	src := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", base)
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(src)
+	if err != nil {
+		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("pending note %q does not exist in raw/", base)
+		}
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("read source: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	dest := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "rejected", base)
+	if _, statErr := os.Stat(dest); statErr == nil {
+		rel, _ := filepath.Rel(brainDir, dest)
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("a rejected note named %s already exists", filepath.ToSlash(rel))
+	}
+
+	fm, body := parseFrontmatter(string(raw))
+	fm.set("rejected_at", time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339))
+	if opts.Reason != "" {
+		fm.set("reject_reason", opts.Reason)
+	}
+
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0o755); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("create rejected dir: %w", err)
+	}
+	// Write-then-delete: the source survives any write failure.
+	if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(fm.render()+body), 0o644); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("write rejected note: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.Remove(src); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("rejected note written but source removal failed: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	rel, _ := filepath.Rel(brainDir, dest)
+	return filepath.ToSlash(rel), nil
+}
+
 // excerpt returns the first n runes of s, trimmed, single-spaced.
 func excerpt(s string, n int) string {
 	s = strings.TrimSpace(s)
diff --git a/ingestion/internal/api/promote_test.go b/ingestion/internal/api/promote_test.go
index ff4e428..fd9427a 100644
--- a/ingestion/internal/api/promote_test.go
+++ b/ingestion/internal/api/promote_test.go
@@ -119,3 +119,85 @@ func TestPromoteRebuildsWingIndex(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err, "wing _index regenerated")
 	assert.Contains(t, string(idx), "x", "promoted note appears in the index")
 }
+
+// --- RejectNote (hyperguild#81) ---------------------------------------------
+
+func TestRejectHappyPath(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writeRaw(t, dir, "2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md",
+		"---\ncreated_at: 2026-04-23T13:20:07Z\n---\n# Sentiment scrape\n\nbody.\n")
+
+	rel, err := RejectNote(dir, RejectOptions{
+		Filename: "2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md", Reason: "generic scrape, not homelab-relevant",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "raw/rejected/2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md", rel)
+
+	// Source removed from the pending queue.
+	_, statErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, "raw", "2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md"))
+	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(statErr), "source removed from raw/ after reject")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	s := string(got)
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "created_at: 2026-04-23T13:20:07Z", "original created_at preserved")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "rejected_at:")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "reject_reason: generic scrape, not homelab-relevant")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "# Sentiment scrape", "body preserved for later reference")
+
+	// Rejected notes never entered the wiki, and are no longer pending.
+	pending, err := ListPending(dir)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Empty(t, pending)
+}
+
+func TestRejectWithoutReason(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writeRaw(t, dir, "2026-06-01-x.md", "body\n")
+	rel, err := RejectNote(dir, RejectOptions{Filename: "2026-06-01-x.md"})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	got, _ := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "reject_reason:", "no reason given, none stamped")
+}
+
+func TestRejectMissingSourceErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := RejectNote(t.TempDir(), RejectOptions{Filename: "ghost.md"})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+}
+
+func TestRejectRejectsTraversalFilename(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := RejectNote(t.TempDir(), RejectOptions{Filename: "../escape.md"})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+}
+
+func TestRejectCollisionNoOverwrite(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	dest := filepath.Join(dir, "raw", "rejected", "x.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(dest, []byte("EXISTING\n"), 0o644))
+	writeRaw(t, dir, "x.md", "NEW\n")
+
+	_, err := RejectNote(dir, RejectOptions{Filename: "x.md"})
+	require.Error(t, err, "collision must error, not overwrite")
+
+	got, _ := os.ReadFile(dest)
+	assert.Equal(t, "EXISTING\n", string(got), "target not overwritten")
+	_, statErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, "raw", "x.md"))
+	assert.NoError(t, statErr, "source preserved on collision (atomic: no delete without write)")
+}
+
+func TestRejectedNotesAreNotListedAsPendingAgain(t *testing.T) {
+	// ListPending already skips tunnel-candidates-*.md; confirm raw/rejected/
+	// (a subdirectory) doesn't leak into the top-level pending listing either
+	// — os.ReadDir on raw/ doesn't recurse, but pin it so a future change to
+	// ListPending can't silently start surfacing rejected notes as pending
+	// again.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writeRaw(t, dir, "2026-06-01-x.md", "body\n")
+	_, err := RejectNote(dir, RejectOptions{Filename: "2026-06-01-x.md"})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	pending, err := ListPending(dir)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Empty(t, pending, "a rejected note must not still appear as pending")
+}
diff --git a/ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers.go b/ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers.go
index c60f52e..2163c94 100644
--- a/ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers.go
+++ b/ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers.go
@@ -96,6 +96,14 @@ func (s *Server) tools() []map[string]any {
 				"slug":     str("optional target slug; defaults to filename minus date prefix"),
 			}),
 		},
+		{
+			"name":        "brain_reject",
+			"description": "Reject a brain/raw/ note: stamps rejected_at (+ reject_reason if given) into frontmatter and moves it to brain/raw/rejected/ — never deleted outright, and never re-surfaced by brain_pending. The third option alongside promote/leave-pending; a human decision, never automatic. Returns {path}.",
+			"inputSchema": schema([]string{"filename"}, map[string]any{
+				"filename": str("basename in brain/raw/, e.g. 2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md"),
+				"reason":   str("optional; why this isn't worth promoting"),
+			}),
+		},
 		noteToolDescriptors()[0],
 		noteToolDescriptors()[1],
 		{
@@ -389,6 +397,26 @@ func (s *Server) brainPromote(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.R
 	return json.Marshal(map[string]string{"path": relPath})
 }
 
+type brainRejectArgs struct {
+	Filename string `json:"filename"`
+	Reason   string `json:"reason,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// brainReject records a decision not to promote a raw/ note (api.RejectNote:
+// frontmatter-stamp + move to raw/rejected/). No graph indexing — a rejected
+// note never entered the wiki, so there's nothing to index.
+func (s *Server) brainReject(_ context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+	var a brainRejectArgs
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
+	}
+	relPath, err := api.RejectNote(s.brainDir, api.RejectOptions{Filename: a.Filename, Reason: a.Reason})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(map[string]string{"path": relPath})
+}
+
 // indexInGraph is a best-effort wrapper around graphsync.IndexDoc that
 // logs failures but never propagates them — the underlying write/ingest
 // has already succeeded and the graph is an augmentation, not a
diff --git a/ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers_test.go b/ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers_test.go
index 09b91e0..84b5114 100644
--- a/ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers_test.go
+++ b/ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers_test.go
@@ -396,3 +396,38 @@ func TestBrainPromoteInvalidHallErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	_, srcErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(raw, "x.md"))
 	assert.NoError(t, srcErr, "source untouched on validation error")
 }
+
+func TestBrainRejectMovesToRejectedSubdir(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	raw := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw")
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(raw, 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(raw, "2026-04-23-scrape.md"),
+		[]byte("---\ncreated_at: 2026-04-23T13:20:07Z\n---\n# Scrape\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_reject", map[string]any{
+		"filename": "2026-04-23-scrape.md", "reason": "generic scrape, not homelab-relevant",
+	})
+	require.Nil(t, resp["error"], "got: %v", resp["error"])
+	text := resp["result"].(map[string]any)["content"].([]any)[0].(map[string]any)["text"].(string)
+	assert.Contains(t, text, "raw/rejected/2026-04-23-scrape.md")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw/rejected/2026-04-23-scrape.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "reject_reason: generic scrape, not homelab-relevant")
+
+	_, srcErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(raw, "2026-04-23-scrape.md"))
+	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(srcErr), "source removed from raw/")
+
+	// A rejected note must not still show up as pending.
+	pendingResp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_pending", map[string]any{})
+	pendingText := pendingResp["result"].(map[string]any)["content"].([]any)[0].(map[string]any)["text"].(string)
+	assert.Contains(t, pendingText, `"pending":[]`)
+}
+
+func TestBrainRejectMissingSourceErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
+	resp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_reject", map[string]any{"filename": "ghost.md"})
+	require.NotNil(t, resp["error"])
+}
diff --git a/ingestion/internal/mcp/server.go b/ingestion/internal/mcp/server.go
index b35c8da..3726e0b 100644
--- a/ingestion/internal/mcp/server.go
+++ b/ingestion/internal/mcp/server.go
@@ -275,6 +275,8 @@ func (s *Server) handleCall(ctx context.Context, name string, args json.RawMessa
 		return s.brainPending(ctx, args)
 	case "brain_promote":
 		return s.brainPromote(ctx, args)
+	case "brain_reject":
+		return s.brainReject(ctx, args)
 	case "capture":
 		return s.brainCapture(ctx, args)
 	case "brain_read":
diff --git a/ingestion/internal/mcp/server_test.go b/ingestion/internal/mcp/server_test.go
index 328ada7..4f742f4 100644
--- a/ingestion/internal/mcp/server_test.go
+++ b/ingestion/internal/mcp/server_test.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func TestServerToolsList(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	assert.ElementsMatch(t, []string{
 		"brain_query", "brain_write", "brain_update", "brain_get",
-		"brain_pending", "brain_promote",
+		"brain_pending", "brain_promote", "brain_reject",
 		"brain_read", "brain_edit",
 		"brain_tunnel",
 		"brain_ingest_raw", "brain_ingest",
diff --git a/ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher.go b/ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher.go
index d92c21f..dea92f9 100644
--- a/ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher.go
+++ b/ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher.go
@@ -59,10 +59,16 @@ func processDir(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, date string) []error {
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		// Skip processed/ and failed/ subdirectories entirely.
+		// Skip processed/, failed/, and rejected/ subdirectories entirely.
+		// rejected/ (hyperguild#81, brain_reject) holds notes a human already
+		// looked at and declined — walking into it would run the extraction
+		// pipeline over a note and publish it to the wiki, the exact opposite
+		// of the human's decision. The whole reason RejectNote moves a note
+		// there instead of leaving it in raw/ was to keep it out of every
+		// path that treats raw/ as "awaiting processing" — this is that path.
 		if d.IsDir() {
 			name := d.Name()
-			if name == "processed" || name == "failed" {
+			if name == "processed" || name == "failed" || name == "rejected" {
 				return filepath.SkipDir
 			}
 			return nil
diff --git a/ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher_test.go b/ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher_test.go
index fe99be1..7581194 100644
--- a/ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher_test.go
+++ b/ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher_test.go
@@ -176,15 +176,20 @@ func TestDeriveSource(t *testing.T) {
 func TestProcessDir_SkipsSubdirs(t *testing.T) {
 	brainDir := setupBrainDir(t)
 
-	// Create processed/ and failed/ subdirs with files inside.
-	for _, sub := range []string{"processed/2026-04-22", "failed"} {
+	// Create processed/, failed/, and rejected/ subdirs with files inside.
+	for _, sub := range []string{"processed/2026-04-22", "failed", "rejected"} {
 		require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", sub), 0o755))
 	}
 
 	processedFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "processed", "2026-04-22", "old-file.md")
 	failedFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "failed", "broken-file.md")
+	// hyperguild#81/#133: a human already declined this note via brain_reject.
+	// If the watcher walks into rejected/, it re-ingests and publishes it to
+	// the wiki — the exact opposite of the human's decision.
+	rejectedFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "rejected", "declined-file.md")
 	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(processedFile, []byte("old"), 0o644))
 	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(failedFile, []byte("broken"), 0o644))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(rejectedFile, []byte("---\nrejected_at: 2026-09-23T00:00:00Z\n---\ndeclined"), 0o644))
 
 	// Also place a valid file in raw/ root that should be processed.
 	validFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "valid.md")
@@ -223,11 +228,13 @@ func TestProcessDir_SkipsSubdirs(t *testing.T) {
 	// Complete should have been called exactly once (for valid.md, not for files in subdirs).
 	assert.Len(t, processedSources, 1, "only the file in raw/ root should be processed")
 
-	// Files in processed/ and failed/ must remain untouched.
+	// Files in processed/, failed/, and rejected/ must remain untouched.
 	_, err := os.Stat(processedFile)
 	assert.NoError(t, err, "processed subdir file should be untouched")
 	_, err = os.Stat(failedFile)
 	assert.NoError(t, err, "failed subdir file should be untouched")
+	_, err = os.Stat(rejectedFile)
+	assert.NoError(t, err, "rejected subdir file should be untouched, never re-ingested")
 }
 
 // TestProcessDir_SkipsTunnelCandidateFiles guards against hyperguild#88: