diff --git a/check b/check
index 6b685e7..619dbdd 100755
--- a/check
+++ b/check
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 #   ./check quick    tests only
 #   ./check mount    full gate + live FUSE mount end-to-end (needs root)
 #   ./check bench    full gate + cube-bench correctness-gated microbenchmarks
+#   ./check stress   full gate + ~150s sustained stress against a real daemon
+#                     (override duration with STRESS_SECONDS=NN)
 #
 # Exit 0 means the tree on disk is green. This is the single source of truth;
 # do not claim verification from an ad-hoc run.
@@ -16,6 +18,9 @@
 # Why `bench` is opt-in: it is a release build + timed run of cube-bench, which
 # is slow and machine-noise-sensitive; it asserts correctness on every path but
 # the numbers are informational, not a pass/fail gate.
+# Why `stress` is opt-in: it spins a fresh daemon built from this tree and drives
+# it hard for ~150s to exercise the per-command latency + per-C telemetry under
+# load; the numbers are informational, and it obviously takes ~150s to run.
 set -euo pipefail
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 
@@ -41,16 +46,30 @@ cargo test --workspace $FEAT --jobs "$JOBS"
 step "3/3  clippy"
 cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets $FEAT --jobs "$JOBS" -- -D warnings
 
-[ "${1:-}" = mount ] || { printf '\n\033[32mALL CHECKS PASSED\033[0m  (run ./check mount for live FUSE e2e, ./check bench for metrics)\n'; exit 0; }
+[ "${1:-}" = mount ] && { run_mount=1; }
+[ "${1:-}" = bench ] && { run_bench=1; }
+[ "${1:-}" = stress ] && { run_stress=1; }
 
-[ "${1:-}" = bench ] || { printf '\n\033[32mALL CHECKS PASSED\033[0m  (run ./check mount for live FUSE e2e, ./check bench for metrics)\n'; exit 0; }
+[ -z "${run_mount:-}${run_bench:-}${run_stress:-}" ] && {
+  printf '\n\033[32mALL CHECKS PASSED\033[0m  (run: ./check mount | bench | stress for those stages)\n'
+  exit 0
+}
 
-step "4/4  cube-bench"
-# Release build + timed run. Asserts correctness on every path; numbers are
-# informational. JOBS kept modest so we don't saturate the box.
-cargo run -p cube-bench --release --jobs "$JOBS"
-printf '\n\033[32mALL CHECKS PASSED\033[0m (incl. cube-bench)\n'
-exit 0
+if [ "${run_bench:-}" ]; then
+  step "4/4  cube-bench"
+  # Release build + timed run. Asserts correctness on every path; numbers are
+  # informational. JOBS kept modest so we don't saturate the box.
+  cargo run -p cube-bench --release --jobs "$JOBS"
+  printf '\n\033[32mALL CHECKS PASSED\033[0m (incl. cube-bench)\n'
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+if [ "${run_stress:-}" ]; then
+  step "4/4  sustained stress ($((${STRESS_SECONDS:-150}))s) against a fresh daemon"
+  STRESS_SECONDS="${STRESS_SECONDS:-150}" ./tools/stress.sh
+  printf '\n\033[32mALL CHECKS PASSED\033[0m (incl. sustained stress)\n'
+  exit 0
+fi
 
 step "4/4  live FUSE mount"
 [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ] || { echo "SKIP: live mount needs root" >&2; exit 1; }
diff --git a/tools/stress.sh b/tools/stress.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2789bd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/stress.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Sustained stress stage for CUBELinux-2 (invoked by `./check stress`).
+#
+# Builds cube-server + cubec from THIS workspace tree, spins a fresh daemon on a
+# throwaway socket + store, then drives it hard for STRESS_SECONDS (default 150)
+# with real prog/run traffic while sampling the per-command latency + per-C
+# namespace telemetry. This exercises the new cubesys `stats` path under load.
+#
+# It deliberately does NOT touch the production daemon (real socket/store in
+# /home/luulu/.cubelinux) so it is safe to run any time. Numbers are
+# informational; the stage passes iff the gate passed and the daemon survives.
+set -uo pipefail
+REPO="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+cd "$REPO"
+export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:$PATH"
+command -v cargo >/dev/null || { echo "cargo not found" >&2; exit 127; }
+
+JOBS="${JOBS:-4}"
+SECS="${STRESS_SECONDS:-150}"
+
+echo "building cube-server + cubec from tree ($REPO) ..."
+cargo build -p cubesys --release --bins --jobs "$JOBS" >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
+  echo "BUILD FAILED (cubesys bins)"; exit 1
+}
+SRV="$REPO/target/release/cube-server"
+CLI="$REPO/target/release/cubec"
+[ -x "$SRV" ] && [ -x "$CLI" ] || { echo "binaries missing after build"; exit 1; }
+
+TMPD="$(mktemp -d /tmp/cube-stress.XXXXXX)"
+SOCK="$TMPD/cube.sock"
+STORE="$TMPD/store.json"
+trap 'kill $DPID 2>/dev/null; wait $DPID 2>/dev/null; rm -rf "$TMPD"' EXIT
+
+echo "starting stress daemon on $SOCK ..."
+"$SRV" --socket "$SOCK" --store "$STORE" >"$TMPD/daemon.log" 2>&1 &
+DPID=$!
+# wait for socket (max ~15s)
+for i in $(seq 1 15); do [ -S "$SOCK" ] && break; sleep 1; done
+[ -S "$SOCK" ] || { echo "daemon failed to start (see $TMPD/daemon.log)"; kill $DPID 2>/dev/null; exit 1; }
+
+START=$(date +%s)
+END=$((START + SECS))
+PAIRS=0
+SAMPLE_EVERY=25          # sample stats every 25 pairs (~ once a second at load)
+while [ "$(date +%s)" -lt "$END" ]; do
+  X=$((PAIRS % 256))
+  "$CLI" --socket "$SOCK" "prog /c077/z001/y001/x$X const $((PAIRS % 97)) halt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+  "$CLI" --socket "$SOCK" "run  /c077/z001/y001/x$X"                    >/dev/null 2>&1
+  PAIRS=$((PAIRS + 1))
+  if [ "$((PAIRS % SAMPLE_EVERY))" -eq 0 ]; then
+    echo "--- [$(date -u +%H:%M:%S)] stress sample $((PAIRS / SAMPLE_EVERY)) (pairs=$PAIRS) ---"
+    "$CLI" --socket "$SOCK" "stats" || true
+  fi
+done
+
+# final health snapshot
+echo "--- final stats (pairs driven: $PAIRS over ~${SECS}s) ---"
+"$CLI" --socket "$SOCK" "stats" || true
+
+ELAPSED=$(($(date +%s) - START))
+if [ "$ELAPSED" -lt 1 ]; then ELAPSED=1; fi
+echo "stress throughput: ~$((PAIRS / ELAPSED)) prog+run pairs/s (informational)"
+echo "STRESS STAGE OK (daemon alive, $PAIRS pairs driven)"
+exit 0