diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint-agents.yml b/.github/workflows/lint-agents.yml
index 57a683be..8616e442 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint-agents.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint-agents.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ on:
       - "support/**"
       - "spatial-computing/**"
       - "specialized/**"
-      - "strategy/**"
 
 jobs:
   lint:
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ jobs:
           FILES=$(git diff --name-only --diff-filter=ACMR origin/${{ github.base_ref }}...HEAD -- \
             'academic/**/*.md' 'design/**/*.md' 'engineering/**/*.md' 'finance/**/*.md' 'game-development/**/*.md' 'gis/**/*.md' 'marketing/**/*.md' 'paid-media/**/*.md' 'sales/**/*.md' 'security/**/*.md' 'product/**/*.md' \
             'project-management/**/*.md' 'testing/**/*.md' 'support/**/*.md' \
-            'spatial-computing/**/*.md' 'specialized/**/*.md' 'strategy/**/*.md')
+            'spatial-computing/**/*.md' 'specialized/**/*.md')
           {
             echo "files<<ENDOFLIST"
             echo "$FILES"
diff --git a/divisions.json b/divisions.json
index 5579bd90..e73ed1de 100644
--- a/divisions.json
+++ b/divisions.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "_note": "Source of truth for the agent division set. Each division (a top-level agent directory) maps to a display label, a Lucide icon name (PascalCase), and a brand color (hex). Consumed by the Agency Agents app and any other catalog tooling. scripts/check-divisions.sh (CI: check-divisions.yml) fails the build if this list disagrees with the directories on disk, the AGENT_DIRS arrays in scripts/convert.sh and scripts/lint-agents.sh, or the path filters in lint-agents.yml. To add a division: create its directory, add an entry here, then run scripts/check-divisions.sh and update wherever it points. NOT every top-level directory is a division: integrations/ holds per-tool conversion OUTPUTS written by scripts/convert.sh (not source agents) and is excluded via NON_DIVISION_DIRS in check-divisions.sh; examples/ and scripts/ are likewise excluded.",
+  "_note": "Source of truth for the agent division set. Each division (a top-level agent directory) maps to a display label, a Lucide icon name (PascalCase), and a brand color (hex). Consumed by the Agency Agents app and any other catalog tooling. scripts/check-divisions.sh (CI: check-divisions.yml) fails the build if this list disagrees with the directories on disk, the AGENT_DIRS arrays in scripts/convert.sh and scripts/lint-agents.sh, or the path filters in lint-agents.yml. To add a division: create its directory, add an entry here, then run scripts/check-divisions.sh and update wherever it points. NOT every top-level directory is a division: integrations/ holds per-tool conversion OUTPUTS written by scripts/convert.sh (not source agents); strategy/ holds playbooks and runbooks with no agent frontmatter; both — plus examples/ and scripts/ — are excluded via NON_DIVISION_DIRS in check-divisions.sh. A division must contain at least one frontmatter agent file.",
   "divisions": {
     "academic": { "label": "Academic", "icon": "GraduationCap", "color": "#8B5CF6" },
     "design": { "label": "Design", "icon": "PenTool", "color": "#EC4899" },
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
     "security": { "label": "Security", "icon": "ShieldCheck", "color": "#EF4444" },
     "spatial-computing": { "label": "Spatial Computing", "icon": "Boxes", "color": "#06B6D4" },
     "specialized": { "label": "Specialized", "icon": "Sparkles", "color": "#6366F1" },
-    "strategy": { "label": "Strategy", "icon": "Network", "color": "#F43F5E" },
     "support": { "label": "Support", "icon": "LifeBuoy", "color": "#84CC16" },
     "testing": { "label": "Testing", "icon": "FlaskConical", "color": "#F59E0B" }
   }
diff --git a/scripts/check-divisions.sh b/scripts/check-divisions.sh
index eb491bc3..0e8ec253 100755
--- a/scripts/check-divisions.sh
+++ b/scripts/check-divisions.sh
@@ -26,8 +26,10 @@ JSON="divisions.json"
 # root that is a directory is treated as a division (so a new division dir is
 # caught even if nobody remembered to register it).
 # integrations/ is convert.sh's OUTPUT tree (per-tool conversions written back
-# into the repo), not a source-agent category — it must never be scanned as one.
-NON_DIVISION_DIRS=(examples scripts integrations)
+# into the repo), not a source-agent category. strategy/ holds playbooks and
+# runbooks (no agent frontmatter), not agents. Neither is a division — they must
+# never be scanned as source-agent categories.
+NON_DIVISION_DIRS=(examples scripts integrations strategy)
 
 errors=0
 fail() { echo "ERROR $*"; errors=$((errors + 1)); }
@@ -104,6 +106,26 @@ while IFS= read -r div; do
   done
 done < <(canonical)
 
+# Every division must contain at least one agent file: a .md whose first line is
+# '---' frontmatter. This is the content-derived backstop that keeps a docs or
+# playbook directory (e.g. strategy/, all of whose files are frontmatter-less)
+# from being registered as an empty agent division.
+has_agent_file() {
+  local f first
+  while IFS= read -r f; do
+    first="$(head -1 "$f" | tr -d '\r')"
+    [[ "$first" == "---" ]] && return 0
+  done < <(find "$1" -name '*.md' -type f 2>/dev/null)
+  return 1
+}
+while IFS= read -r div; do
+  if [[ ! -d "$div" ]]; then
+    fail "division '$div' has no directory on disk"
+  elif ! has_agent_file "$div"; then
+    fail "division '$div' has no agent files (.md with '---' frontmatter) — not a real division"
+  fi
+done < <(canonical)
+
 # --- result ----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 count="$(canonical | wc -l | tr -d ' ')"
diff --git a/scripts/convert.sh b/scripts/convert.sh
index 1521015d..1266109d 100755
--- a/scripts/convert.sh
+++ b/scripts/convert.sh
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ TODAY="$(date +%Y-%m-%d)"
 
 AGENT_DIRS=(
   academic design engineering finance game-development gis marketing paid-media product project-management
-  sales security spatial-computing specialized strategy support testing
+  sales security spatial-computing specialized support testing
 )
 
 # --- Usage ---
diff --git a/scripts/lint-agents.sh b/scripts/lint-agents.sh
index 3b7a7c45..574ca6f1 100755
--- a/scripts/lint-agents.sh
+++ b/scripts/lint-agents.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ AGENT_DIRS=(
   security
   spatial-computing
   specialized
-  strategy
   support
   testing
 )