diff --git a/.changeset/audit-skip-sys-job-queue.md b/.changeset/audit-skip-sys-job-queue.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..619355fb51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/audit-skip-sys-job-queue.md
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/plugin-audit": patch
+---
+
+fix(plugin-audit): stop mirroring `sys_job_queue` traffic into the audit ledger (#5193)
+
+`SKIP_OBJECTS` in `audit-writers.ts` excludes operational telemetry / plumbing
+from `sys_audit_log` and `sys_activity` — ADR-0057 decision 5, *"stop the
+amplifier"*. Its group (2) already listed `sys_job`, `sys_job_run` and
+`sys_automation_run`; `sys_job_queue` — the highest-volume table of that same
+family — was the one sibling missing, so every durable queue message was
+mirrored into both sinks.
+
+The audit hooks register for **all** objects (`afterInsert` / `afterUpdate` /
+`afterDelete`) and there is no "writes made under a system context are not
+audited" exemption, so `DbQueueAdapter`'s own writes were recorded like user
+edits. One message costs at least three of them — the publish insert, the lease
+`pending → running` update and the terminal `→ completed` update, plus one retry
+update per failure and the reaper's periodic DELETE of completed rows — each
+producing an `sys_audit_log` **and** an `sys_activity` row. Since queue-backed
+email delivery landed, that ran on every single mail. Each `beforeUpdate` also
+paid an extra `findOne` snapshot of the row it was about to change.
+
+`sys_job_queue` is engine-owned plumbing (`managedBy: 'engine-owned'`,
+`enable.apiMethods: ['get', 'list']`, `lifecycle.class: 'transient'`) that no
+user can write, so those rows carried no compliance value — only noise and write
+amplification. Nothing else changes: the exemption is one name in one list, and
+ordinary business objects are audited exactly as before.
+
+Operators who charted queue throughput off `sys_activity` should read
+`sys_job_queue` directly instead — it is the system of record for queue state,
+and unlike the audit sinks it is exposed for reading (`get` / `list`).
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-audit/src/audit-writers.test.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-audit/src/audit-writers.test.ts
index aaea8cd36c..75bc5bff7b 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-audit/src/audit-writers.test.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-audit/src/audit-writers.test.ts
@@ -242,6 +242,117 @@ describe('audit writers — actor attribution (ADR-0014 D2, cloud#340)', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('audit writers — operational plumbing is excluded (#5193, ADR-0057 D5)', () => {
+  // The queue table as `DbQueueAdapter` writes it, alongside the two audit
+  // sinks. Everything here goes through the SAME wildcard hooks a business
+  // object does — `SKIP_OBJECTS` is the only thing standing between the queue
+  // and the ledger (there is no "system context writes are not audited" rule).
+  const SCHEMA = {
+    sys_audit_log: SINGLE_TENANT.sys_audit_log,
+    sys_activity: SINGLE_TENANT.sys_activity,
+    sys_job_queue: ['id', 'queue', 'status', 'attempts', 'locked_by', 'locked_until', 'completed_at'],
+    crm_lead: ['id', 'name'],
+  };
+  // Every write `service-queue` performs for ONE message, in order: publish,
+  // lease (`pending→running`), terminal (`→completed`), and the #5192 reaper's
+  // periodic DELETE of completed rows.
+  const QUEUE_MESSAGE_LIFECYCLE: Array<[string, Record<string, any>]> = [
+    [
+      'afterInsert',
+      {
+        input: { id: 'msg-1' },
+        result: { id: 'msg-1', queue: 'email_delivery', status: 'pending', attempts: 0 },
+      },
+    ],
+    [
+      'afterUpdate',
+      {
+        input: { id: 'msg-1', status: 'running' },
+        __previous: { id: 'msg-1', queue: 'email_delivery', status: 'pending', attempts: 0 },
+        result: { id: 'msg-1', queue: 'email_delivery', status: 'running', attempts: 1, locked_by: 'worker-1' },
+      },
+    ],
+    [
+      'afterUpdate',
+      {
+        input: { id: 'msg-1', status: 'completed' },
+        __previous: { id: 'msg-1', queue: 'email_delivery', status: 'running', attempts: 1, locked_by: 'worker-1' },
+        result: { id: 'msg-1', queue: 'email_delivery', status: 'completed', attempts: 1, completed_at: '2026-08-04T00:00:00.000Z' },
+      },
+    ],
+    [
+      'afterDelete',
+      {
+        input: { id: 'msg-1' },
+        __previous: { id: 'msg-1', queue: 'email_delivery', status: 'completed', attempts: 1 },
+        result: { id: 'msg-1' },
+      },
+    ],
+  ];
+
+  it('writes NO audit/activity row for a full sys_job_queue message lifecycle', async () => {
+    const { engine, fire, created } = makeEngine(SCHEMA);
+    installAuditWriters(engine as any, 'test.audit');
+
+    for (const [event, ctx] of QUEUE_MESSAGE_LIFECYCLE) {
+      await fire(event, { object: 'sys_job_queue', session: { isSystem: true }, ...ctx });
+    }
+
+    // Not "fewer rows" — zero. One email used to cost ≥3 audit + ≥3 activity
+    // rows here, and the reaper's sweep another delete row apiece (#5160).
+    expect(created).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('pins sys_job_queue in the same exemption group as its siblings sys_job / sys_job_run', async () => {
+    const SIBLINGS = ['sys_job', 'sys_job_run', 'sys_job_queue', 'sys_automation_run'];
+    for (const object of SIBLINGS) {
+      const { engine, fire, created } = makeEngine({ ...SCHEMA, [object]: ['id', 'status'] });
+      installAuditWriters(engine as any, 'test.audit');
+      await fire('afterInsert', {
+        object,
+        input: { id: 'row-1' },
+        result: { id: 'row-1', status: 'pending' },
+        session: { isSystem: true },
+      });
+      expect(created, `${object} must not reach the audit ledger`).toEqual([]);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('does not pay the beforeUpdate snapshot read for a skipped object', async () => {
+    const { engine, fire } = makeEngine(SCHEMA);
+    installAuditWriters(engine as any, 'test.audit');
+    const reads: string[] = [];
+    const ql = {
+      async findOne(object: string) {
+        reads.push(object);
+        return { id: 'msg-1' };
+      },
+    };
+
+    // Every queue state transition would otherwise re-read its own row…
+    await fire('beforeUpdate', { object: 'sys_job_queue', input: { id: 'msg-1', status: 'running' }, ql });
+    await fire('beforeDelete', { object: 'sys_job_queue', input: { id: 'msg-1' }, ql });
+    expect(reads).toEqual([]);
+
+    // …and the control proves the assertion above can fail: a business object
+    // on the same harness DOES get snapshotted.
+    await fire('beforeUpdate', { object: 'crm_lead', input: { id: 'lead-1', name: 'Acme' }, ql });
+    expect(reads).toEqual(['crm_lead']);
+  });
+
+  it('still audits ordinary business writes (the skip stays narrow)', async () => {
+    const { engine, fire, created } = makeEngine(SCHEMA);
+    installAuditWriters(engine as any, 'test.audit');
+    await fire('afterInsert', {
+      object: 'crm_lead',
+      input: { id: 'lead-1' },
+      result: { id: 'lead-1', name: 'Acme' },
+      session: { userId: 'user-1' },
+    });
+    expect(created.map((c) => c.object)).toEqual(['sys_audit_log', 'sys_activity']);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('audit writers — declarative trackHistory activity (ADR-0052 §5b)', () => {
   // crm_opportunity with a tracked select field (Stage) carrying option labels.
   const SCHEMA = {
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-audit/src/audit-writers.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-audit/src/audit-writers.ts
index 914c11e584..6e05541cd2 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-audit/src/audit-writers.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-audit/src/audit-writers.ts
@@ -108,6 +108,17 @@ const SKIP_OBJECTS = new Set<string>([
   // (2) operational telemetry / plumbing (ADR-0057 — telemetry/transient/event)
   'sys_job',                     // schedule heartbeats (last_run_at churn)
   'sys_job_run',                 // one row per scheduled execution
+  // [#5193, ADR-0057 D5 "stop the amplifier"] `sys_job_queue` is `sys_job_run`'s
+  // sibling — `lifecycle.class: 'transient'` since #5179 — and the highest-volume
+  // table of this family. It is engine-owned plumbing (`managedBy:
+  // 'engine-owned'`, `enable.apiMethods: ['get','list']`), written ONLY by
+  // `DbQueueAdapter` under SYSTEM_CTX, so no row here is a user-attributable,
+  // compliance-relevant change. Every message costs at least three writes —
+  // publish insert, lease `pending→running`, terminal `→completed` (plus a retry
+  // update per failure and the #5192 reaper's periodic DELETE of completed rows)
+  // — and each one mirrored into `sys_audit_log` AND `sys_activity`. Since #5160
+  // routes email through the queue, that is the amplifier on every single mail.
+  'sys_job_queue',               // durable queue/DLQ messages (≥3 writes each)
   'sys_automation_run',          // one row per automation execution
   'sys_notification',            // messaging-owned (ADR-0030); its own lifecycle
   'sys_notification_delivery',