diff --git a/.github/workflows/health-check.yml b/.github/workflows/health-check.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc0c5c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/health-check.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+name: Health Check
+
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '0 */6 * * *'
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+jobs:
+  ping-health:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      issues: write
+    steps:
+      - name: Ping Health Endpoint
+        id: ping
+        run: |
+          status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" https://stepfi-api.onrender.com/api/v1/health || echo "000")
+          echo "status=$status" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Handle Failure
+        if: steps.ping.outputs.status != '200'
+        uses: actions/github-script@v7
+        with:
+          script: |
+            const status = '${{ steps.ping.outputs.status }}';
+            const timestamp = new Date().toISOString();
+            const issueTitle = `Health check failed at ${timestamp}`;
+            const issueBody = `The health check endpoint returned HTTP status ${status}.`;
+            const label = 'incident';
+            
+            const { data: issues } = await github.rest.issues.listForRepo({
+              owner: context.repo.owner,
+              repo: context.repo.repo,
+              state: 'open',
+              labels: label
+            });
+            
+            if (issues.length > 0) {
+              await github.rest.issues.createComment({
+                owner: context.repo.owner,
+                repo: context.repo.repo,
+                issue_number: issues[0].number,
+                body: `Health check failed again at ${timestamp} with HTTP status ${status}.`
+              });
+              console.log(`Commented on existing incident issue #${issues[0].number}`);
+            } else {
+              await github.rest.issues.create({
+                owner: context.repo.owner,
+                repo: context.repo.repo,
+                title: issueTitle,
+                body: issueBody,
+                labels: [label]
+              });
+              console.log('Created new incident issue');
+            }
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0d582e0..7c46c5d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ The bootstrap command will guide you through the process of setting up a Supabas
 | **Swagger Docs** | https://stepfi-api.onrender.com/api/v1/docs |
 | **Health Check** | https://stepfi-api.onrender.com/api/v1/health |
 
+> **Note**: A GitHub Action workflow pings the Health Check URL every 6 hours to keep the Render free tier instance warm and acts as a heartbeat monitor. If the ping fails (non-200 response), it automatically creates or updates a GitHub issue with the `incident` label to alert maintainers.
+
 ## 🛠️ Error tracking
 
 Error tracking is powered by Sentry. To enable error tracking in development or production:
diff --git a/context/progress-tracker.md b/context/progress-tracker.md
index 3a5dd01..648f6d5 100644
--- a/context/progress-tracker.md
+++ b/context/progress-tracker.md
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ pure chore/docs commits). Direct pushes to main must also be logged here.
 
 ---
 
+## 2026-07-23
+
+- Added GitHub Actions health check workflow (`health-check.yml`) to ping the Render API every 6 hours to prevent the free tier instance from sleeping. Auto-creates or comments on issues with the `incident` label if the ping fails, preventing silent outages.
+- Documented the ping URL and incident label in README.
+
 ## 2026-07-19
 
 - Wired `LiquidityContractClient` (restored under `src/blockchain/contracts/liquidity-contract.client.ts`) into `LiquidityService` constructor.