diff --git a/docker-compose.ci.yml b/docker-compose.ci.yml
index fc42df13a..787899d3a 100644
--- a/docker-compose.ci.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.ci.yml
@@ -85,6 +85,40 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - gbrain-ci-pg-data-4:/var/lib/postgresql/data
 
+  # v0.43 (#2084 / eng-review TD1): PgBouncer in TRANSACTION pooling mode
+  # fronting postgres-1 — the production topology (Supabase direct :5432 +
+  # pooled :6543) behind three consecutive pooler-teardown waves
+  # (#1972 → #2015 → #2084) that CI could never reproduce.
+  # test/e2e/pgbouncer-teardown.test.ts uses a DEDICATED database
+  # (gbrain_pgbouncer) on postgres-1 so it never races shard 1's
+  # TRUNCATE-based fixtures; pgbouncer's wildcard [databases] section
+  # forwards any dbname to DB_HOST.
+  pgbouncer:
+    image: edoburu/pgbouncer:latest
+    environment:
+      DB_HOST: postgres-1
+      DB_PORT: "5432"
+      DB_USER: postgres
+      DB_PASSWORD: postgres
+      POOL_MODE: transaction
+      # plain (CI-only): pg16 stores SCRAM verifiers, and pgbouncer can only
+      # answer the server's SCRAM challenge when its userlist holds the
+      # PLAINTEXT password — an md5-hashed userlist fails with
+      # "server login failed: wrong password type".
+      AUTH_TYPE: plain
+      MAX_CLIENT_CONN: "200"
+      DEFAULT_POOL_SIZE: "10"
+      # gbrain's client sets statement_timeout + idle_in_transaction_session_timeout
+      # as startup parameters (db.ts buildConnectionParams); the Supabase pooler
+      # whitelists them, so this pooler must too or every connection is refused
+      # before the teardown path is even reached.
+      IGNORE_STARTUP_PARAMETERS: extra_float_digits,statement_timeout,idle_in_transaction_session_timeout,search_path
+    ports:
+      - "${GBRAIN_CI_PGBOUNCER_PORT:-6543}:5432"
+    depends_on:
+      postgres-1:
+        condition: service_healthy
+
   runner:
     image: oven/bun:1
     working_dir: /app
@@ -97,6 +131,8 @@ services:
         condition: service_healthy
       postgres-4:
         condition: service_healthy
+      pgbouncer:
+        condition: service_started
     # No global DATABASE_URL — scripts/ci-local.sh sets per-shard URL via -e.
     # Unit phase explicitly unsets DATABASE_URL so test/e2e/* gracefully skip.
     volumes:
diff --git a/scripts/ci-local.sh b/scripts/ci-local.sh
index b7407fa6b..06ec621d6 100755
--- a/scripts/ci-local.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci-local.sh
@@ -196,7 +196,10 @@ SELECTED=$(bun run scripts/select-e2e.ts)
 if [ -z "$SELECTED" ]; then
   echo "[runner] selector emitted nothing (doc-only diff); skipping E2E."
 else
-  DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-1:5432/gbrain_test echo "$SELECTED" | xargs bash scripts/run-e2e.sh
+  DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-1:5432/gbrain_test \
+  GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@pgbouncer:5432/gbrain_pgbouncer \
+  GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_DIRECT_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-1:5432/gbrain_test \
+  echo "$SELECTED" | xargs bash scripts/run-e2e.sh
 fi'
   else
     RUN_PHASES_CMD='echo "[runner] guards + typecheck"
@@ -208,7 +211,10 @@ bun run typecheck
 echo "[runner] unit (unsharded, DATABASE_URL unset)"
 env -u DATABASE_URL bash scripts/run-unit-shard.sh
 echo "[runner] e2e (unsharded)"
-DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-1:5432/gbrain_test bash scripts/run-e2e.sh'
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-1:5432/gbrain_test \
+GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@pgbouncer:5432/gbrain_pgbouncer \
+GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_DIRECT_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-1:5432/gbrain_test \
+bash scripts/run-e2e.sh'
   fi
 else
   # Tier 1 sharded path. Each shard runs unit+E2E sequentially against its
@@ -257,10 +263,14 @@ printf '%s\\n' 1 2 3 4 | xargs -P4 -I{} sh -c '
   if [ -s /tmp/e2e-selected.txt ]; then
     SHARD=\${shard}/4 \\
     DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-\${shard}:5432/gbrain_test \\
+    GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@pgbouncer:5432/gbrain_pgbouncer \\
+    GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_DIRECT_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-1:5432/gbrain_test \\
     xargs -a /tmp/e2e-selected.txt bash scripts/run-e2e.sh >> \$log 2>&1
   else
     SHARD=\${shard}/4 \\
     DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-\${shard}:5432/gbrain_test \\
+    GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@pgbouncer:5432/gbrain_pgbouncer \\
+    GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_DIRECT_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres-1:5432/gbrain_test \\
     bash scripts/run-e2e.sh >> \$log 2>&1
   fi
   e2e_exit=\$?
diff --git a/test/e2e/pgbouncer-teardown.test.ts b/test/e2e/pgbouncer-teardown.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..29b3feb9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/e2e/pgbouncer-teardown.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+/**
+ * v0.43 (#2084 / eng-review TD1) — PgBouncer transaction-mode teardown E2E.
+ *
+ * Three consecutive waves (#1972 → #2015 → #2084) fixed pooler-teardown bugs
+ * that were verified only against one production deployment, because CI had
+ * no transaction-mode pooler. This file pins the bug CLASS, not exact
+ * timings: a CLI op against a txn-mode pooled URL must
+ *
+ *   1. exit zero with intact stdout, and
+ *   2. NOT ride the 10s hard-deadline backstop (the
+ *      "[cli] engine.disconnect() did not return within 10000ms" banner is
+ *      the smoking gun — pre-#2084 it printed on 100% of query-shaped ops).
+ *
+ * Topology: docker-compose.ci.yml runs `pgbouncer` (transaction mode) in
+ * front of postgres-1. The test uses a DEDICATED database
+ * (`gbrain_pgbouncer`) created via the direct URL, so it never races the
+ * TRUNCATE-based fixtures any shard runs against `gbrain_test`.
+ *
+ * Gated by GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_URL + GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_DIRECT_URL — skips
+ * gracefully outside the docker CI gate. Run manually:
+ *
+ *   GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:6543/gbrain_pgbouncer \
+ *   GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_DIRECT_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5434/gbrain_test \
+ *   bun test test/e2e/pgbouncer-teardown.test.ts
+ */
+
+import { describe, test, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'bun:test';
+import { mkdtempSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync, rmSync } from 'fs';
+import { join, resolve } from 'path';
+import { tmpdir } from 'os';
+import postgres from 'postgres';
+import { PostgresEngine } from '../../src/core/postgres-engine.ts';
+
+const POOLED_URL = process.env.GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_URL;
+const DIRECT_ADMIN_URL = process.env.GBRAIN_PGBOUNCER_DIRECT_URL;
+const SKIP = !POOLED_URL || !DIRECT_ADMIN_URL;
+const describePooled = SKIP ? describe.skip : describe;
+
+const REPO = resolve(import.meta.dir, '..', '..');
+const TEST_DB = 'gbrain_pgbouncer';
+const SLUG = 'test/pgbouncer-teardown-fixture';
+const MARKER = 'pgbouncer-teardown-marker-content-7c4f';
+
+/** Direct URL pointing at the dedicated test database (same server). */
+function directTestDbUrl(): string {
+  const u = new URL(DIRECT_ADMIN_URL!);
+  u.pathname = `/${TEST_DB}`;
+  return u.toString();
+}
+
+async function runCli(
+  args: string[],
+  env: Record<string, string>,
+  timeoutMs: number,
+): Promise<{ exitCode: number; stdout: string; stderr: string; wallMs: number }> {
+  const t0 = Date.now();
+  const proc = Bun.spawn(['bun', 'run', join(REPO, 'src', 'cli.ts'), ...args], {
+    cwd: REPO,
+    env: { ...process.env, ...env, GBRAIN_SKIP_STARTUP_HOOKS: '1' },
+    stdout: 'pipe',
+    stderr: 'pipe',
+  });
+  const killer = setTimeout(() => {
+    try { proc.kill('SIGKILL'); } catch { /* already dead */ }
+  }, timeoutMs);
+  try {
+    const [stdout, stderr, exitCode] = await Promise.all([
+      new Response(proc.stdout).text(),
+      new Response(proc.stderr).text(),
+      proc.exited,
+    ]);
+    return { exitCode, stdout, stderr, wallMs: Date.now() - t0 };
+  } finally {
+    clearTimeout(killer);
+  }
+}
+
+describePooled('pgbouncer txn-mode teardown (#2084 / TD1)', () => {
+  let home: string;
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    // Dedicated database on the same server, created via the DIRECT url
+    // (CREATE DATABASE cannot run through a transaction-mode pooler).
+    const admin = postgres(DIRECT_ADMIN_URL!, { max: 1 });
+    try {
+      await admin.unsafe(`DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS ${TEST_DB} WITH (FORCE)`);
+      await admin.unsafe(`CREATE DATABASE ${TEST_DB}`);
+    } finally {
+      await admin.end({ timeout: 5 });
+    }
+
+    // Schema + fixture via the direct connection (DDL stays off the pooler,
+    // matching the production split-pool discipline).
+    const eng = new PostgresEngine();
+    await eng.connect({ engine: 'postgres', database_url: directTestDbUrl() });
+    await eng.initSchema();
+    await eng.putPage(SLUG, {
+      type: 'note',
+      title: 'PgBouncer teardown fixture',
+      compiled_truth: MARKER,
+      timeline: '',
+    });
+    await eng.disconnect();
+
+    // Brain config pointing the CLI at the POOLED url.
+    home = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'gbrain-pgbouncer-'));
+    mkdirSync(join(home, '.gbrain'), { recursive: true });
+    const pooled = new URL(POOLED_URL!);
+    pooled.pathname = `/${TEST_DB}`;
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(home, '.gbrain', 'config.json'),
+      JSON.stringify({ engine: 'postgres', database_url: pooled.toString() }) + '\n',
+    );
+  }, 240_000);
+
+  afterAll(() => {
+    try { rmSync(home, { recursive: true, force: true }); } catch { /* best effort */ }
+  });
+
+  test('op against the pooled URL exits clean — output intact, no force-exit banner', async () => {
+    const env = { HOME: home, GBRAIN_HOME: home };
+    const res = await runCli(['get', SLUG], env, 90_000);
+
+    if (res.exitCode !== 0 || /force-exiting/.test(res.stderr)) {
+      console.error('--- stdout ---\n' + res.stdout);
+      console.error('--- stderr ---\n' + res.stderr);
+    }
+    expect(res.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    // Output is complete — the #1959 truncation class.
+    expect(res.stdout).toContain(MARKER);
+    // The smoking gun: pre-#2084 the hard-deadline banner printed every time
+    // a query-shaped op ran against a txn-mode pooler.
+    expect(res.stderr).not.toMatch(/force-exiting/);
+    expect(res.stderr).not.toMatch(/did not return within/);
+    // Generous CLASS bound (cold bun parse on CI is 10-20s): the op itself is
+    // milliseconds; anything that ALSO waited out a 10s teardown backstop
+    // lands well past this.
+    expect(res.wallMs).toBeLessThan(60_000);
+  }, 120_000);
+
+  test('second run (warm schema probe) also exits clean through the pooler', async () => {
+    const env = { HOME: home, GBRAIN_HOME: home };
+    const res = await runCli(['get', SLUG], env, 90_000);
+    expect(res.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(res.stdout).toContain(MARKER);
+    expect(res.stderr).not.toMatch(/force-exiting/);
+  }, 120_000);
+});