diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 3b62595..23c605b 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ services:
       CYCLONE_BACKUP_AUTOSTART: "1"
       CYCLONE_BACKUP_INTERVAL_HOURS: "24"
       CYCLONE_BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS: "14"
+      # SP16 — SFTP polling scheduler. Without this the operator must
+      # POST /api/admin/scheduler/start manually after every container
+      # restart. Set on 2026-07-02 after the 7-day silent gap (see
+      # git log around the SP28 merge).
+      CYCLONE_SCHEDULER_AUTOSTART: "1"
       # Logging — JSON to stdout (collected by `docker logs`) and to the
       # bind-mounted file (collected by host-side logrotate).
       CYCLONE_LOG_LEVEL: "INFO"