diff --git a/src/core/migrate.ts b/src/core/migrate.ts
index 2f2d82fc3..6694bb894 100644
--- a/src/core/migrate.ts
+++ b/src/core/migrate.ts
@@ -713,19 +713,7 @@ export const MIGRATIONS: Migration[] = [
         has_bypass BOOLEAN;
       BEGIN
         SELECT rolbypassrls INTO has_bypass FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname = current_user;
-        IF has_bypass THEN
-          ALTER TABLE access_tokens ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE mcp_request_log ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE minion_inbox ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE minion_attachments ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE subagent_messages ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE subagent_tool_executions ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE subagent_rate_leases ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE gbrain_cycle_locks ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE budget_ledger ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          ALTER TABLE budget_reservations ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
-          RAISE NOTICE 'v24: RLS enabled on 10 backfill tables (role % has BYPASSRLS)', current_user;
-        ELSE
+        IF NOT has_bypass THEN
           -- Fail the migration loudly instead of WARNING + version-bump.
           -- The runner unconditionally records schema_version on success,
           -- so a silent WARNING here would permanently lock the backfill out
@@ -734,6 +722,36 @@ export const MIGRATIONS: Migration[] = [
           -- and lets the next invocation retry after the role is fixed.
           RAISE EXCEPTION 'v24 rls_backfill_missing_tables: role % does not have BYPASSRLS privilege — cannot enable RLS safely. Re-run as postgres (or another BYPASSRLS role). The migration will retry automatically on the next initSchema call.', current_user;
         END IF;
+
+        -- These 8 are guaranteed to exist: schema.sql creates them (idempotent
+        -- via IF NOT EXISTS) on every initSchema call, and initSchema runs
+        -- before this migration. Bare ALTER TABLE is safe.
+        ALTER TABLE access_tokens ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        ALTER TABLE mcp_request_log ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        ALTER TABLE minion_inbox ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        ALTER TABLE minion_attachments ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        ALTER TABLE subagent_messages ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        ALTER TABLE subagent_tool_executions ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        ALTER TABLE subagent_rate_leases ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        ALTER TABLE gbrain_cycle_locks ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+
+        -- budget_ledger + budget_reservations are migration-only (v12). Not
+        -- in schema.sql, not re-created on every initSchema. In normal flow
+        -- v12 runs before v24 so they exist, but if an operator manually
+        -- dropped them (unusual — budget data is regenerable from resolver
+        -- logs) or was pinned to a pre-v12 gbrain version when the table
+        -- went away, the bare ALTER would fail with 42P01 and abort v24.
+        -- information_schema.tables lookup makes the statement self-healing.
+        IF EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM information_schema.tables
+                    WHERE table_schema = 'public' AND table_name = 'budget_ledger') THEN
+          ALTER TABLE budget_ledger ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        END IF;
+        IF EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM information_schema.tables
+                    WHERE table_schema = 'public' AND table_name = 'budget_reservations') THEN
+          ALTER TABLE budget_reservations ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
+        END IF;
+
+        RAISE NOTICE 'v24: RLS backfill complete (role % has BYPASSRLS)', current_user;
       END $$;
     `,
   },
diff --git a/test/migrate.test.ts b/test/migrate.test.ts
index 047e9c4e7..6ebbbc31c 100644
--- a/test/migrate.test.ts
+++ b/test/migrate.test.ts
@@ -218,7 +218,28 @@ describe('migration v24 — rls_backfill_missing_tables', () => {
     const v24 = MIGRATIONS.find(m => m.version === 24);
     const sql = v24!.sql || '';
     expect(sql).toContain('rolbypassrls');
-    expect(sql).toContain('IF has_bypass THEN');
+    // The gate can be either IF has_bypass / early-raise pattern.
+    expect(sql).toMatch(/IF (NOT )?has_bypass/);
+  });
+
+  // Self-healing guard: the budget_* tables are migration-only (v12). If an
+  // operator manually dropped them, or if a brain was somehow pinned to a
+  // pre-v12 version when those tables didn't exist, a bare `ALTER TABLE
+  // budget_ledger ...` would fail with 42P01 and abort v24. Wrapping those
+  // two ALTERs in an `IF EXISTS (information_schema.tables ...)` check lets
+  // the migration skip them silently instead of erroring out. The other 8
+  // tables are created by schema.sql on every initSchema and don't need
+  // the guard — bare ALTER is fine.
+  test('guards budget_ledger + budget_reservations with information_schema.tables IF EXISTS', () => {
+    const v24 = MIGRATIONS.find(m => m.version === 24);
+    const sql = v24!.sql || '';
+    // Both budget tables must be wrapped in an existence check.
+    expect(sql).toMatch(
+      /IF EXISTS \(SELECT 1 FROM information_schema\.tables[\s\S]{0,200}table_name = 'budget_ledger'\)[\s\S]{0,200}ALTER TABLE budget_ledger ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY/,
+    );
+    expect(sql).toMatch(
+      /IF EXISTS \(SELECT 1 FROM information_schema\.tables[\s\S]{0,200}table_name = 'budget_reservations'\)[\s\S]{0,200}ALTER TABLE budget_reservations ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY/,
+    );
   });
 
   // Codex found: if v24 RAISE WARNINGs instead of raising on non-BYPASSRLS,