diff --git a/server/internal/api/tokens.go b/server/internal/api/tokens.go
index fbbe0b9..753029a 100644
--- a/server/internal/api/tokens.go
+++ b/server/internal/api/tokens.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func listTokenScopes(c *gin.Context) {
 // createToken godoc
 //
 //	@Summary		Create an API token
-//	@Description	The plaintext token is returned exactly once and stored nowhere. A token's role and scopes cannot exceed the creator's own.
+//	@Description	The plaintext token is returned exactly once and stored nowhere. A token's role cannot exceed the creator's own; when the request is itself token-authenticated, its scopes cannot exceed the calling token's scopes either.
 //	@Tags			tokens
 //	@Accept			json
 //	@Produce		json
@@ -82,6 +82,32 @@ func createToken(c *gin.Context) {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// A token-authenticated request may only mint a token whose scopes are a
+	// subset of its own. Role is capped against the creating *user* below (in
+	// services.CreateAPIToken), but a role cap alone does not confine scopes —
+	// without this, a CI token holding only settings:write could mint a token
+	// holding keys:write and secrets:write, since minting only ever required
+	// settings:write and never checked what the caller itself could reach. A
+	// cookie session skips this: its authority is the user's role, not a
+	// scope list.
+	if auth.IsToken(c) {
+		callerScopes := auth.Scopes(c)
+		var excess []string
+		for _, s := range body.Scopes {
+			if !services.ScopeSatisfied(callerScopes, s) {
+				excess = append(excess, s)
+			}
+		}
+		if len(excess) > 0 {
+			c.JSON(http.StatusForbidden, gin.H{
+				"error":         fmt.Sprintf("requested scopes exceed the calling token's own scopes: %v", excess),
+				"code":          "scope_confinement",
+				"excess_scopes": excess,
+			})
+			return
+		}
+	}
+
 	tok, plaintext, err := services.CreateAPIToken(
 		auth.InstanceID(c), auth.UserID(c),
 		body.Name, body.Role, body.Scopes, body.ExpiresInDays, c.ClientIP(),
diff --git a/server/internal/services/tokens.go b/server/internal/services/tokens.go
index 86fc27f..e26309e 100644
--- a/server/internal/services/tokens.go
+++ b/server/internal/services/tokens.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"gitea.hostxtra.co.uk/mrhid6/vantage/server/internal/db"
@@ -123,6 +124,9 @@ func CreateAPIToken(instanceID, userID, name, role string, scopes []string, expi
 		InstanceID:  instanceID,
 		UserID:      userID,
 		Name:        name,
+		// Hint is "vt_" plus 5 hex characters of the secret (20 bits) — enough
+		// for a user to recognise their own token in a list, not enough to be
+		// useful to anyone who only has the hint. Considered and accepted.
 		Hint:        plaintext[:8],
 		TokenHash:   HashToken(plaintext),
 		Role:        role,
@@ -181,6 +185,40 @@ func TouchAPIToken(tok *models.APIToken) {
 	tok.LastUsedAt = &now
 }
 
+var (
+	expiredTokenAuditMu   sync.Mutex
+	expiredTokenAuditSeen = map[string]time.Time{}
+)
+
+// ShouldLogExpiredTokenUse reports whether an expired token's use is worth a
+// fresh audit row, throttled to once per token per minute — the same window
+// TouchAPIToken uses for last-used, kept here rather than in the auth package
+// because the storage concern (what counts as "recent") belongs beside the
+// token's other storage-backed state, not scattered into the request layer.
+//
+// Without this, a looping CI job presenting one expired token writes an
+// unbounded stream of token.expired_use audit rows (and a Mongo FindOne per
+// request), drowning the real audit trail. The first use per window is still
+// recorded: that is what turns a forgotten job into something visible, rather
+// than silencing it entirely.
+//
+// This is in-memory and per-process, which is a deliberate choice matching
+// TouchAPIToken: it degrades to "up to once per minute per replica" rather
+// than needing a shared store, and undercounting a security-relevant audit
+// signal is the safe direction to err in.
+func ShouldLogExpiredTokenUse(tokenID string) bool {
+	now := time.Now().UTC()
+
+	expiredTokenAuditMu.Lock()
+	defer expiredTokenAuditMu.Unlock()
+
+	if last, ok := expiredTokenAuditSeen[tokenID]; ok && now.Sub(last) < time.Minute {
+		return false
+	}
+	expiredTokenAuditSeen[tokenID] = now
+	return true
+}
+
 // ListAPITokens returns a user's own tokens, or every token in the instance
 // when all is true. The caller decides whether all is permitted.
 func ListAPITokens(instanceID string, userID string, all bool) ([]models.APIToken, error) {