diff --git a/src/commands.ts b/src/commands.ts
index c080c87..2304353 100644
--- a/src/commands.ts
+++ b/src/commands.ts
@@ -320,9 +320,13 @@ export function runRm(args: string[]) {
       const r = db.run(`DELETE FROM screen_states WHERE id = ?`, [id]);
       if (r.changes > 0) { console.log(`removed s${id}`); removed++; }
     } else {
+      const row = db.prepare(`SELECT audio_path FROM audio_transcripts WHERE id = ?`).get(id) as any;
+      if (!row) { console.error(`skip: a${id} not found`); continue; }
+      if (row.audio_path) {
+        try { unlinkSync(row.audio_path); } catch {}
+      }
       const r = db.run(`DELETE FROM audio_transcripts WHERE id = ?`, [id]);
       if (r.changes > 0) { console.log(`removed a${id}`); removed++; }
-      else console.error(`skip: a${id} not found`);
     }
   }
   if (removed === 0) process.exit(1);
diff --git a/src/import-export.test.ts b/src/import-export.test.ts
index 274354a..1be4783 100644
--- a/src/import-export.test.ts
+++ b/src/import-export.test.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ process.env.TUNR_DB_PATH = join(tmpDir, "tunr.db");
 const { db } = await import("./lib/db");
 const { runExport } = await import("./export");
 const { runImport } = await import("./import");
+const { runRm } = await import("./commands");
 
 const seed = () => {
   db.run(`DELETE FROM screen_states`);
@@ -129,4 +130,17 @@ describe("export → import round-trip", () => {
     ).run("2026-04-27T10:10:00.000Z", "git", "dev", "commit msg", null);
     expect(counts()).toEqual(before);
   });
+
+  test("rm deletes audio file referenced by audio transcript", () => {
+    seed();
+    const audioPath = join(tmpDir, "audio.wav");
+    writeFileSync(audioPath, "wav");
+    const row = db.prepare(`SELECT id FROM audio_transcripts LIMIT 1`).get() as any;
+    db.prepare(`UPDATE audio_transcripts SET audio_path = ? WHERE id = ?`).run(audioPath, row.id);
+
+    runRm([`a${row.id}`]);
+
+    expect(existsSync(audioPath)).toBe(false);
+    expect(counts().audio).toBe(0);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/lib/engine.ts b/src/lib/engine.ts
index 8889776..56493ff 100644
--- a/src/lib/engine.ts
+++ b/src/lib/engine.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { join, dirname } from "path";
 import { homedir } from "os";
-import { unlinkSync } from "fs";
+import { readdirSync, statSync, unlinkSync } from "fs";
 
 import type { DenyRule } from "./types";
 import {
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ export function startEngine(log: Logger = defaultLog): EngineHandle {
   const settings = loadSettings();
   let active = true;
 
+  cleanupAudioChunks(AUDIO_DIR, log);
+  cleanupAudioChunks(MIC_DIR, log);
+
   // Reload settings.json on changes (single source of truth for runtime config)
   const reloadSettings = async () => {
     try {
@@ -196,7 +199,7 @@ export function startEngine(log: Logger = defaultLog): EngineHandle {
               const chunk = JSON.parse(line);
               if (!chunk || typeof chunk.file !== "string" || typeof chunk.timestamp !== "string") continue;
               const wp = Bun.spawnSync(["whisper-cli", "-m", modelPath, "-l", "auto", "-f", chunk.file, "-np", "-nt"], { stdout: "pipe", stderr: "pipe" });
-              try { unlinkSync(chunk.file); } catch {}
+              deleteAudioChunk(chunk.file, log);
               if (wp.exitCode !== 0) continue;
               const transcript = wp.stdout.toString().trim();
               if (transcript) {
@@ -234,3 +237,27 @@ function defaultLog(level: "info" | "warn" | "error", msg: string, extra?: Recor
   if (level === "error") console.error(line);
   else console.log(line);
 }
+
+function deleteAudioChunk(file: string, log: Logger) {
+  try {
+    unlinkSync(file);
+  } catch (err: any) {
+    if (err?.code !== "ENOENT") log("warn", "audio cleanup failed", { file, error: String(err) });
+  }
+}
+
+function cleanupAudioChunks(dir: string, log: Logger) {
+  try {
+    for (const name of readdirSync(dir)) {
+      if (name === ".keep") continue;
+      const file = join(dir, name);
+      try {
+        if (statSync(file).isFile()) deleteAudioChunk(file, log);
+      } catch (err: any) {
+        if (err?.code !== "ENOENT") log("warn", "audio cleanup failed", { file, error: String(err) });
+      }
+    }
+  } catch (err: any) {
+    if (err?.code !== "ENOENT") log("warn", "audio cleanup failed", { dir, error: String(err) });
+  }
+}