diff --git a/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_analysis.md b/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_analysis.md
index 0955d50..6cdf0be 100644
--- a/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_analysis.md
+++ b/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_analysis.md
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ You will receive a JSON object with:
 - `candidates`: an array of signals from static analysis tools (dead code detectors, complexity scorers). Each has `file`, `identifier`, `type`, `detail`, and `score`.
 - `code_snippets`: a map of `{ "file_path": "source code contents" }` for the flagged files.
 
+Some candidates have `type: "hotspot"`. These are **orientation signals, not findings**: the file simply has high git churn and large size (where debt tends to concentrate), so it was included for you to inspect. Read its snippet and either diagnose a concrete debt type from the existing taxonomy below, or reject it if the file is large and busy but healthy. Never emit `hotspot` as an output `debt_type`.
+
 # Task
 
 1. Analyze all candidates and their corresponding source code.
diff --git a/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_scan.yml b/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_scan.yml
index e1f4698..eb31247 100644
--- a/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_scan.yml
+++ b/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_scan.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0 # full history so the hotspot collector can read git churn
 
       - name: Setup Ruby
         uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
diff --git a/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_settings.yml b/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_settings.yml
index c397261..e5843b5 100644
--- a/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_settings.yml
+++ b/lib/generators/wall_e/install/templates/wall_e_settings.yml
@@ -31,6 +31,14 @@ analysis:
     - "node_modules/**"
   flog_threshold: 25 # methods with a flog score above this are surfaced as high_complexity candidates
   flay_threshold: 25 # structural duplication groups with mass below this are ignored
+  # Orientation pass: surfaces maintenance hotspots (high git churn + large files) so the LLM
+  # also reviews files the AST/dead-code collectors never flag. Set enabled: false to skip it.
+  hotspot:
+    enabled: true
+    window_months: 6 # churn window for `git log --since`
+    min_commits: 5 # ignore files changed fewer times than this in the window
+    min_loc: 100 # ignore files smaller than this many lines
+    max_files: 10 # cap the number of hotspot candidates per run
 
 github:
   repo: null # defaults to GITHUB_REPOSITORY env var
diff --git a/lib/tech_debt/analyzer.rb b/lib/tech_debt/analyzer.rb
index 2798ca4..05b9078 100644
--- a/lib/tech_debt/analyzer.rb
+++ b/lib/tech_debt/analyzer.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 require_relative "collectors/complexity_collector"
 require_relative "collectors/flay_collector"
 require_relative "collectors/layer_collector"
+require_relative "collectors/hotspot_collector"
 require_relative "github/fingerprint"
 require_relative "github/agent_assigner"
 require_relative "github/issue_manager"
@@ -44,7 +45,8 @@ def collect_candidates
         Collectors::DebrideCollector.new(@config),
         Collectors::ComplexityCollector.new(@config),
         Collectors::FlayCollector.new(@config),
-        Collectors::LayerCollector.new(@config)
+        Collectors::LayerCollector.new(@config),
+        Collectors::HotspotCollector.new(@config)
       ]
 
       collectors.flat_map(&:call)
@@ -81,6 +83,8 @@ def skip_llm_baseline_metrics(debt_type, score)
         { "pattern_present" => true }
       when "structural_duplication"
         { "flay_mass" => score.to_f }
+      when "hotspot"
+        { "hotspot_score" => score.to_f }
       else
         {}
       end
@@ -114,6 +118,8 @@ def infer_baseline_metrics(item)
         { "pattern_present" => true }
       when "structural_duplication"
         { "flay_mass" => item.fetch("score", 0).to_f }
+      when "hotspot"
+        { "hotspot_score" => item.fetch("score", 0).to_f }
       else
         {}
       end
diff --git a/lib/tech_debt/collectors/hotspot_collector.rb b/lib/tech_debt/collectors/hotspot_collector.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc8af9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tech_debt/collectors/hotspot_collector.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require "open3"
+require_relative "base_collector"
+
+module TechDebt
+  module Collectors
+    # Orientation pass. The AST/dead-code collectors only surface debt they are
+    # built to detect, so files that are simply large and churning constantly
+    # stay invisible. This collector flags maintenance hotspots: in-scope files
+    # that are both frequently changed (git churn) and large. Their intersection
+    # is where defect and review cost concentrate. Hotspots seed the LLM triage
+    # with files it would otherwise never look at; the model then diagnoses the
+    # concrete debt type from the snippet.
+    class HotspotCollector < BaseCollector
+      def call
+        settings = config.hotspot
+        return [] unless settings["enabled"]
+
+        targets = target_files
+        return [] if targets.empty?
+
+        churn = churn_counts(settings["window_months"])
+        return [] if churn.empty?
+
+        hotspots(targets, churn, settings)
+      end
+
+      private
+
+      def hotspots(targets, churn, settings)
+        in_scope = index(targets)
+        candidates = churn.filter_map do |file, commits|
+          next unless in_scope[file]
+          next if commits < settings["min_commits"]
+
+          loc = line_count(file)
+          next if loc < settings["min_loc"]
+
+          build_candidate(file, commits, loc, settings["window_months"])
+        end
+        candidates.sort_by { |candidate| -candidate[:score] }.first(settings["max_files"])
+      end
+
+      def build_candidate(file, commits, loc, window_months)
+        {
+          file: file,
+          identifier: file,
+          type: "hotspot",
+          detail: "Maintenance hotspot: #{commits} commits in the last #{window_months} months across #{loc} lines. " \
+                  "High churn in a large file concentrates defect and review cost; inspect for responsibilities " \
+                  "that should be extracted.",
+          score: commits * loc
+        }
+      end
+
+      # Counts commits touching each Ruby file in the window, repo-wide. Filtering
+      # to in-scope files happens in #hotspots so we never shell out per file.
+      def churn_counts(window_months)
+        stdout, _stderr, status = Open3.capture3(
+          "git", "log", "--since=#{window_months} months ago", "--name-only", "--format="
+        )
+        return {} unless status.success?
+
+        counts = Hash.new(0)
+        stdout.each_line do |line|
+          path = line.strip
+          counts[path] += 1 if path.end_with?(".rb")
+        end
+        counts
+      end
+
+      def line_count(file)
+        File.readlines(file).size
+      rescue StandardError
+        0
+      end
+
+      def index(targets)
+        targets.each_with_object({}) { |file, memo| memo[file] = true }
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/tech_debt/config.rb b/lib/tech_debt/config.rb
index 7597669..9b3f2c8 100644
--- a/lib/tech_debt/config.rb
+++ b/lib/tech_debt/config.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ class Config
     SUMMARY_PATH = "tmp/wall_e_report.json"
     DEFAULT_FLOG_THRESHOLD = 25
     DEFAULT_FLAY_THRESHOLD = 25
+    HOTSPOT_DEFAULTS = {
+      "enabled" => true,
+      "window_months" => 6,
+      "min_commits" => 5,
+      "min_loc" => 100,
+      "max_files" => 10
+    }.freeze
 
     attr_reader :raw
 
@@ -46,6 +53,11 @@ def flay_threshold
       analysis.fetch("flay_threshold", DEFAULT_FLAY_THRESHOLD).to_i
     end
 
+    def hotspot
+      custom = analysis["hotspot"]
+      HOTSPOT_DEFAULTS.merge(custom.is_a?(Hash) ? custom : {})
+    end
+
     def auto_assign
       value = raw["auto_assign"]
       return { "enabled" => false } unless value.is_a?(Hash)
diff --git a/lib/tech_debt/github/issue_manager.rb b/lib/tech_debt/github/issue_manager.rb
index 168c4a7..4169206 100644
--- a/lib/tech_debt/github/issue_manager.rb
+++ b/lib/tech_debt/github/issue_manager.rb
@@ -152,6 +152,8 @@ def score_details(item)
           "Complexity score: #{score}/#{@config.flog_threshold} threshold (higher is worse)"
         when 'dead_code'
           "Dead-code signal score: #{score} (binary/static detector signal, not a complexity scale)"
+        when 'hotspot'
+          "Hotspot score: #{score} (commits in window multiplied by file size; higher means more churn-weighted debt risk)"
         when 'semantic_duplication'
           "Impact score: #{score} — duplicated lines across all locations"
         else
diff --git a/spec/tech_debt/collectors/hotspot_collector_spec.rb b/spec/tech_debt/collectors/hotspot_collector_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ba24db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/tech_debt/collectors/hotspot_collector_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require "spec_helper"
+require "open3"
+require "tech_debt/config"
+require "tech_debt/collectors/hotspot_collector"
+
+RSpec.describe TechDebt::Collectors::HotspotCollector do
+  let(:settings) do
+    {"enabled" => true, "window_months" => 6, "min_commits" => 5, "min_loc" => 100, "max_files" => 10}
+  end
+  let(:config) { instance_double(TechDebt::Config, hotspot: settings) }
+
+  subject(:collector) { described_class.new(config, files: files) }
+
+  let(:files) { %w[app/models/order.rb app/models/user.rb app/models/small.rb app/models/rare.rb] }
+
+  # commits-in-window per file (other.rb is churned but out of the configured scope)
+  let(:commits) do
+    {
+      "app/models/order.rb" => 8, "app/models/user.rb" => 6,
+      "app/models/small.rb" => 7, "app/models/rare.rb" => 2,
+      "app/models/other.rb" => 10
+    }
+  end
+  # line counts per file
+  let(:loc) do
+    {"app/models/order.rb" => 300, "app/models/user.rb" => 200, "app/models/small.rb" => 50, "app/models/rare.rb" => 400}
+  end
+
+  before do
+    allow(File).to receive(:file?).and_return(true)
+    allow(File).to receive(:readlines) { |path| Array.new(loc.fetch(path, 0), "x\n") }
+    git_log = commits.flat_map { |file, count| Array.new(count, file) }.join("\n") + "\n"
+    allow(Open3).to receive(:capture3).and_return([git_log, "", double(success?: true)])
+  end
+
+  describe "#call" do
+    it "flags files that are both high-churn and large" do
+      expect(collector.call.map { |c| c[:file] }).to contain_exactly("app/models/order.rb", "app/models/user.rb")
+    end
+
+    it "labels them as hotspot candidates scored by churn times size" do
+      order = collector.call.find { |c| c[:file] == "app/models/order.rb" }
+      expect(order).to include(type: "hotspot", identifier: "app/models/order.rb", score: 2400)
+    end
+
+    it "excludes files below the commit threshold" do
+      expect(collector.call.map { |c| c[:file] }).not_to include("app/models/rare.rb")
+    end
+
+    it "excludes files below the loc threshold" do
+      expect(collector.call.map { |c| c[:file] }).not_to include("app/models/small.rb")
+    end
+
+    it "excludes churned files outside the analysis scope" do
+      expect(collector.call.map { |c| c[:file] }).not_to include("app/models/other.rb")
+    end
+
+    it "sorts hotspots by score descending" do
+      expect(collector.call.map { |c| c[:file] }).to eq(["app/models/order.rb", "app/models/user.rb"])
+    end
+
+    context "with a max_files cap" do
+      let(:settings) { super().merge("max_files" => 1) }
+
+      it "returns only the top-scoring hotspots" do
+        expect(collector.call.map { |c| c[:file] }).to eq(["app/models/order.rb"])
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "when disabled" do
+      let(:settings) { super().merge("enabled" => false) }
+
+      it "returns nothing without shelling out to git" do
+        expect(Open3).not_to receive(:capture3)
+        expect(collector.call).to eq([])
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "when git log fails" do
+      before { allow(Open3).to receive(:capture3).and_return(["", "fatal: not a git repository", double(success?: false)]) }
+
+      it "returns nothing" do
+        expect(collector.call).to eq([])
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "when no files are in scope" do
+      let(:files) { [] }
+
+      it "returns nothing without shelling out to git" do
+        expect(Open3).not_to receive(:capture3)
+        expect(collector.call).to eq([])
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end