diff --git a/goodnews/api.py b/goodnews/api.py
index 35a1145..81c149f 100644
--- a/goodnews/api.py
+++ b/goodnews/api.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from fastapi.staticfiles import StaticFiles
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 from . import feeds, queries
-from .db import connect, init_db
+from .db import connect
 from .filters import filter_articles, prefs_from_json
 from .hero import safe_to_lead
 from .llm import LocalModelClient
@@ -218,9 +218,13 @@ def create_app() -> FastAPI:
 
     @app.get("/healthz")
     def healthz() -> dict:
-        with get_conn() as conn:
-            init_db(conn)
-            scored = conn.execute("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM article_scores").fetchone()[0]
+        # Read-only: the schema is owned by the ingestion CLI, so the API never
+        # writes (it can run as a read-only replica against a shared DB).
+        try:
+            with get_conn() as conn:
+                scored = conn.execute("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM article_scores").fetchone()[0]
+        except sqlite3.Error:
+            scored = 0
         return {"status": "ok", "scored_articles": scored}
 
     @app.get("/api/categories", response_model=CategoriesResponse)