diff --git a/handlers/src/notification-handler.ts b/handlers/src/notification-handler.ts
index 93ac6bd..3f9ad6d 100644
--- a/handlers/src/notification-handler.ts
+++ b/handlers/src/notification-handler.ts
@@ -191,6 +191,18 @@ Write each file and report what you did.
     }
   }
 
+  // Clean up queue: remove items that have been processed (have draft files)
+  const remainingQueue = queue.filter(item => {
+    const id = item.uri?.split("/").pop() || item.cid;
+    return !alreadyProcessed(id) && item.priority !== "SKIP";
+  });
+  
+  if (remainingQueue.length < queue.length) {
+    const removed = queue.length - remainingQueue.length;
+    fs.writeFileSync(queuePath, yaml.stringify(remainingQueue));
+    console.log(`Cleaned queue: removed ${removed} processed items (${remainingQueue.length} remaining)`);
+  }
+
   console.log(`\n[${new Date().toISOString()}] Handler complete.`);
   console.log("Next: npm run publish (or npm run publish:all for review items)");
 }