diff --git a/labs/unicorn-store/software/unicorn-store-spring/pom.xml b/labs/unicorn-store/software/unicorn-store-spring/pom.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 22b246c4..00000000
--- a/labs/unicorn-store/software/unicorn-store-spring/pom.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<!--
-  TEMPORARY placeholder to purge a stale GitHub dependency-graph manifest.
-
-  The real module under labs/unicorn-store/ was removed from main in Feb 2025,
-  but GitHub never dropped this pom.xml from the dependency graph, so it keeps
-  generating phantom Dependabot alerts / update runs (tomcat, jackson, netty,
-  logback, ...) against dependencies that no longer exist here.
-
-  This dependency-free pom re-registers the path so GitHub re-scans it (clearing
-  the phantom findings), after which it is deleted in a follow-up commit to drop
-  the manifest from the dependency graph entirely.
-
-  DO NOT keep this file. It exists only to force a dependency-graph reconciliation.
--->
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
-         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
-         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
-    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
-    <groupId>com.unicorn</groupId>
-    <artifactId>unicorn-store-spring-removed</artifactId>
-    <version>0.0.0</version>
-    <packaging>pom</packaging>
-</project>