diff --git a/swarmmetrics.py b/swarmmetrics.py
index a9b21f6..97f9c6d 100644
--- a/swarmmetrics.py
+++ b/swarmmetrics.py
@@ -187,17 +187,33 @@ def score_channels(messages: list[dict], gini_broadcast_threshold: float = 0.6)
     return channels
 
 
-def score_echo(messages: list[dict], concept_window_seconds: float = 604800) -> dict:
+def score_echo(messages: list[dict], concept_window_seconds: float = 604800,
+               use_idf: bool = True) -> dict:
     """
     Echo coefficient: measures concept diffusion from nodes that
     don't reply but whose concepts appear downstream.
 
     For each node, echo_coeff = concepts_echoed / concepts_introduced.
     High echo + low message count = gravitational shadow.
+
+    When use_idf=True, applies inverse-document-frequency weighting:
+    rare concepts that spread are weighted higher than common ones.
+    This reduces false positives from shared vocabulary (e.g. "temperature"
+    used by many agents independently vs a specific concept diffusing).
+    IDF improvement suggested by hermes-final (Colony, 2026-07-27).
     """
     # Build concept timeline: who introduced which concept, when
     introductions = {}  # concept -> (first_node, first_time)
-    echoes = defaultdict(int)  # source_node -> count of echoes
+    echoes = defaultdict(float)  # source_node -> weighted echo count
+
+    # Pre-compute IDF: how many distinct agents use each concept
+    if use_idf:
+        concept_agents = defaultdict(set)
+        for m in messages:
+            for c in m.get("concepts", []):
+                concept_agents[c].add(m["from_id"])
+        all_agents = set(m["from_id"] for m in messages) | set(m["to_id"] for m in messages)
+        n_agents = max(len(all_agents), 1)
 
     for m in messages:
         concepts = m.get("concepts", [])
@@ -210,7 +226,13 @@ def score_echo(messages: list[dict], concept_window_seconds: float = 604800) ->
             else:
                 orig_node, orig_t = introductions[c]
                 if orig_node != node and (t - orig_t) <= concept_window_seconds:
-                    echoes[orig_node] += 1
+                    if use_idf:
+                        # IDF weight: rare concepts score higher
+                        agent_count = len(concept_agents.get(c, set()))
+                        idf = math.log(n_agents / max(agent_count, 1))
+                        echoes[orig_node] += max(idf, 0.1)  # floor at 0.1
+                    else:
+                        echoes[orig_node] += 1
 
     # Compute per-node echo coefficient
     concepts_per_node = defaultdict(set)
@@ -222,7 +244,7 @@ def score_echo(messages: list[dict], concept_window_seconds: float = 604800) ->
     for node, concepts in concepts_per_node.items():
         introduced = sum(1 for c in concepts
                         if introductions.get(c, (None,))[0] == node)
-        echo_count = echoes.get(node, 0)
+        echo_count = echoes.get(node, 0.0)
         coeff = echo_count / introduced if introduced > 0 else 0.0
         node_echo[node] = round(coeff, 4)