diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index dcf61cf..ccc1fa2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -174,6 +174,30 @@ After that, the sleep cycle runs every night automatically. The morning report i
 
 Opt in at install time with `./install.sh --with-sleep-sync` (TTY-only). Governed by RULE 0.15 in `~/.claude/rules/sleep-layer.md`.
 
+### Sleep on it (incubation, v0.12.0)
+
+Defer a hard question or research task to the nightly remote agent: run `/sleep-on-it`, fill in one free-text field plus three clicks (type / priority / format), submit. The task lands in `sync-repo/sleep-queue/` and the nightly agent processes it before REM consolidation.
+
+Priority maps to a wall-clock budget. Pick the one that matches the task's difficulty:
+
+| Priority | Budget | When to pick |
+|---|---|---|
+| Quick | 15 min, this night | Simple questions, fast lookups |
+| Standard | 60 min, this night | Default, medium research |
+| Deep | 4 hours, this night | Serious derivations, thorough prior-art |
+| Marathon | Full night (up to 8 h), **1 task only** | Hard equations, full autonomy; Phase B REM skipped that night |
+| Weekly batch | 60 min, next Sunday UTC | Non-urgent research |
+
+Checkpointing: Standard / Deep / Marathon runs commit a `.partial.md` every 20–30 minutes, so if the cloud session is cut short you still get the partial on morning pull.
+
+Typical use:
+- "Should I use CfC for memory re-ranker?" → deep-research → architectural recommendation by morning
+- "Compare SvelteKit vs Astro vs Next.js App Router for the kit's landing" → comparative study
+- "Derive closed form for the CfC attractor on Stiefel V(p,k=2)" → marathon mode, full night of autonomous derivation
+- "What patterns in audit-backlog have highest impact?" → pattern analysis
+
+Results in `sync-repo/sleep-results/<uuid>.md`, linked from the next morning's REM report. Biological analog: the REM-sleep "sleep on it" effect (Wagner et al. 2004, *Nature*). Queue mutations go through the `kei-sleep-queue` helper, which runs `genesis-scan` on submit as a second line of defense against patent-sensitive prompts leaking to the cloud agent.
+
 ## Primitives (Rust)
 
 `_primitives/_rust/` is a Cargo workspace with 9 single-binary crates. `install.sh` builds `--release` and drops binaries at `~/.claude/agents/_primitives/_rust/target/release/<name>`.
diff --git a/_primitives/templates/sleep-trigger-prompt.md b/_primitives/templates/sleep-trigger-prompt.md
index d8bf0e3..d13aab4 100644
--- a/_primitives/templates/sleep-trigger-prompt.md
+++ b/_primitives/templates/sleep-trigger-prompt.md
@@ -14,7 +14,27 @@ Clone: {REPO_URL}
 Branch: main
 Time: 03:00 local (UTC cron: {UTC_CRON})
 
-## Task
+## Cycle order (v0.12.0+)
+
+1. **Phase A — Incubation ("sleep on it")** — process user-submitted
+   tasks in `sync-repo/sleep-queue/`. See
+   `sleep-incubation-prompt.md` (shipped in the same `templates/` dir)
+   for the full spec. Phase A writes results to
+   `sync-repo/sleep-results/<uuid>.md` (plus optional intermediate
+   `<uuid>.partial.md` checkpoints) and commits at least once.
+2. **Phase B — REM consolidation** (this document). Phase B analyses
+   new traces and commits its own `REM: consolidation <YYYY-MM-DD>`
+   commit. Normally two commits per night, one per phase.
+
+If `sync-repo/sleep-queue/` is empty or missing, Phase A is a silent
+no-op. Phase B runs regardless of Phase A outcome **except when Phase
+A selected a `marathon: true` task** — in that case Phase B is
+SKIPPED for the night so the marathon task owns the full window.
+Phase B resumes the next night; a single skipped night does not lose
+traces (they stay in `traces/` and will be consolidated on the next
+run).
+
+## Phase B — Task
 
 1. Clone the memory repo shallow.
 2. Identify NEW traces in `traces/` since the last consolidation by
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 2086605..474fe3f 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -1005,10 +1005,11 @@ mkdir -p "$AGENTS_DIR/_primitives"
 cp -f "$KIT_DIR/_primitives/MANIFEST.toml" "$AGENTS_DIR/_primitives/MANIFEST.toml" 2>/dev/null || true
 cp -f "$KIT_DIR/_primitives/README.md" "$AGENTS_DIR/_primitives/" 2>/dev/null || true
 
-# v0.11 sleep-sync scripts — NOT listed in MANIFEST because they're always
-# available regardless of profile (zero binary deps; enabled only when the
-# user opts in via /sleep-setup). Copy them every install.
-for sleep_sh in kei-sleep-setup.sh kei-sleep-sync.sh; do
+# v0.11 sleep-sync + v0.12 sleep-on-it queue scripts — NOT listed in MANIFEST
+# because they're always available regardless of profile (zero binary deps;
+# enabled only when the user opts in via /sleep-setup + /sleep-on-it). Copy
+# them every install.
+for sleep_sh in kei-sleep-setup.sh kei-sleep-sync.sh kei-sleep-queue.sh; do
   src="$KIT_DIR/_primitives/$sleep_sh"
   if [ -f "$src" ]; then
     cp -f "$src" "$AGENTS_DIR/_primitives/$sleep_sh"