diff --git a/src/core/cycle.ts b/src/core/cycle.ts
index 100eab2a3..2505184f7 100644
--- a/src/core/cycle.ts
+++ b/src/core/cycle.ts
@@ -1695,6 +1695,7 @@ export async function runCycle(
           // #1586: scope synthesized writes to the cycle's resolved source
           // (explicit --source wins, else derived from the checkout dir).
           sourceId: cycleSourceId,
+          deadlineAtMs: opts.deadlineAtMs ?? null,
         }));
         result.duration_ms = duration_ms;
         phaseResults.push(result);
diff --git a/src/core/cycle/deadline-budget.ts b/src/core/cycle/deadline-budget.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9cd5c3c43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/cycle/deadline-budget.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+/**
+ * #2781 — shared deadline-budget helpers for cycle phases that spawn
+ * subagent children (patterns, synthesize).
+ *
+ * The enclosing minion job carries an absolute deadline
+ * (`MinionJobContext.deadlineAtMs`, from the claim-time `timeout_at`
+ * stamp). Phases clamp their child-job timeouts and wait timeouts to the
+ * REMAINING time so one phase's fixed worst-case can't blow past the job
+ * budget and dead-letter the whole cycle mid-phase.
+ *
+ * Lives in its own module because patterns.ts imports from synthesize.ts
+ * (allow-list helpers) — synthesize importing these back from patterns
+ * would create an import cycle.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Stop-margin reserved under the parent deadline when clamping subagent
+ * budgets. NOT a promise that tail phases complete — the cycle is allowed
+ * to go partial and resume next tick. This only guarantees the phase's
+ * wait returns and the handler unwinds cleanly before the worker's abort
+ * fires: wait poll interval (5s) + worker force-evict grace (30s) + lock
+ * and DB cleanup headroom.
+ */
+export const CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS = 60 * 1000;
+
+/**
+ * Smallest remaining budget worth submitting a subagent for. Below this,
+ * the LLM call is near-certain to be killed mid-flight — wasted spend and
+ * a guaranteed-timeout child — so the phase skips honestly instead
+ * (`insufficient_cycle_budget`) and the next cycle retries with a fresh
+ * budget.
+ */
+export const MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS = 2 * 60 * 1000;
+
+/**
+ * Remaining child budget under the parent deadline, or null when the
+ * caller has no deadline (direct `gbrain dream`). May be <= 0 when the
+ * reserve is already breached — callers treat that as "no budget left".
+ */
+export function remainingChildBudgetMs(
+  deadlineAtMs: number | null | undefined,
+  nowMs: number,
+): number | null {
+  if (deadlineAtMs == null) return null;
+  return deadlineAtMs - CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS - nowMs;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Clamp the configured subagent budgets to the remaining parent-job time.
+ * Both timeouts derive from the SAME absolute child deadline
+ * (`deadlineAtMs - reserve`) so the child job's kill switch and our wait
+ * agree. Returns null when the remaining budget is below the minimum —
+ * caller should skip the phase without submitting.
+ */
+export function clampSubagentBudgets(
+  config: { subagentTimeoutMs: number; subagentWaitTimeoutMs: number },
+  deadlineAtMs: number | null | undefined,
+  nowMs: number,
+): { timeoutMs: number; waitTimeoutMs: number } | null {
+  const childBudgetMs = remainingChildBudgetMs(deadlineAtMs, nowMs);
+  if (childBudgetMs === null) {
+    return { timeoutMs: config.subagentTimeoutMs, waitTimeoutMs: config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs };
+  }
+  if (childBudgetMs < MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS) return null;
+  return {
+    timeoutMs: Math.min(config.subagentTimeoutMs, childBudgetMs),
+    waitTimeoutMs: Math.min(config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs, childBudgetMs),
+  };
+}
diff --git a/src/core/cycle/patterns.ts b/src/core/cycle/patterns.ts
index 788381a63..d9cfa6d34 100644
--- a/src/core/cycle/patterns.ts
+++ b/src/core/cycle/patterns.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ import type { Page, PageType } from '../types.ts';
 // #2415: allow-list + output-root resolution shared with the synthesize
 // phase — both phases must agree on the configured namespace.
 import { loadAllowedSlugPrefixes, loadOutputRoot } from './synthesize.ts';
+import {
+  clampSubagentBudgets,
+  CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS,
+  MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS,
+} from './deadline-budget.ts';
 import { probeChatModel } from '../ai/gateway.ts';
 import { normalizeModelId } from '../model-id.ts';
 
@@ -48,48 +53,6 @@ export interface PatternsPhaseOpts {
   deadlineAtMs?: number | null;
 }
 
-/**
- * Stop-margin reserved under the parent deadline when clamping subagent
- * budgets. NOT a promise that tail phases complete — the cycle is allowed
- * to go partial and resume next tick. This only guarantees the phase's
- * wait returns and the handler unwinds cleanly before the worker's abort
- * fires: wait poll interval (5s) + worker force-evict grace (30s) + lock
- * and DB cleanup headroom.
- */
-export const CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS = 60 * 1000;
-
-/**
- * Smallest remaining budget worth submitting a subagent for. Below this,
- * the LLM call is near-certain to be killed mid-flight — wasted spend and
- * a guaranteed-timeout child — so the phase skips honestly instead
- * (`insufficient_cycle_budget`) and the next cycle retries with a fresh
- * budget.
- */
-export const MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS = 2 * 60 * 1000;
-
-/**
- * Clamp the configured subagent budgets to the remaining parent-job time.
- * Both timeouts derive from the SAME absolute child deadline
- * (`deadlineAtMs - reserve`) so the child job's kill switch and our wait
- * agree. Returns null when the remaining budget is below the minimum —
- * caller should skip the phase without submitting.
- */
-export function clampSubagentBudgets(
-  config: { subagentTimeoutMs: number; subagentWaitTimeoutMs: number },
-  deadlineAtMs: number | null | undefined,
-  nowMs: number,
-): { timeoutMs: number; waitTimeoutMs: number } | null {
-  if (deadlineAtMs == null) {
-    return { timeoutMs: config.subagentTimeoutMs, waitTimeoutMs: config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs };
-  }
-  const childBudgetMs = deadlineAtMs - CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS - nowMs;
-  if (childBudgetMs < MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS) return null;
-  return {
-    timeoutMs: Math.min(config.subagentTimeoutMs, childBudgetMs),
-    waitTimeoutMs: Math.min(config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs, childBudgetMs),
-  };
-}
-
 export async function runPhasePatterns(
   engine: BrainEngine,
   opts: PatternsPhaseOpts,
@@ -149,7 +112,7 @@ export async function runPhasePatterns(
     if (budgets === null) {
       return skipped(
         'insufficient_cycle_budget',
-        `remaining cycle budget under ${Math.round(MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS / 1000)}s ` +
+        `remaining cycle budget under ${Math.round(MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS / 1000)}s ` +
         `(reserve ${Math.round(CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS / 1000)}s); next cycle retries with a fresh budget`,
       );
     }
diff --git a/src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts b/src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts
index 59aad6630..de981f072 100644
--- a/src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts
+++ b/src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ import { MinionQueue } from '../minions/queue.ts';
 import { waitForCompletion, TimeoutError } from '../minions/wait-for-completion.ts';
 import type { MinionJobInput, SubagentHandlerData } from '../minions/types.ts';
 import { discoverTranscripts, type DiscoveredTranscript } from './transcript-discovery.ts';
+import {
+  remainingChildBudgetMs,
+  CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS,
+  MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS,
+} from './deadline-budget.ts';
 import { serializeMarkdown, serializePageToMarkdown } from '../markdown.ts';
 import type { Page, PageType } from '../types.ts';
 import { validateSourceId } from '../utils.ts';
@@ -252,6 +257,15 @@ export interface SynthesizePhaseOpts {
    * correct (source_id, slug) row. Unset → legacy 'default'.
    */
   sourceId?: string;
+  /**
+   * Absolute deadline (epoch ms) of the enclosing minion job, or null for
+   * direct callers (`gbrain dream`). When set, every child's job timeout
+   * is clamped to the remaining time at submit and — unlike patterns'
+   * single wait — the SEQUENTIAL per-child wait loop recomputes the
+   * remaining budget before each wait, so N children can't accumulate
+   * N × subagent_wait_timeout_ms past the parent budget (#2781).
+   */
+  deadlineAtMs?: number | null;
 }
 
 export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
@@ -405,6 +419,21 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
       });
     }
 
+    // #2781: budget the fan-out from the REMAINING parent-job time.
+    // Checked after the cheap gates (not_configured / cooldown / verdicts /
+    // dry-run) so a budget skip only fires when the phase would otherwise
+    // have submitted Sonnet work. Note the verdict loop above may itself
+    // have consumed wall-clock — that's why this reads Date.now() here,
+    // not at phase entry.
+    const preFanoutBudgetMs = remainingChildBudgetMs(opts.deadlineAtMs, Date.now());
+    if (preFanoutBudgetMs !== null && preFanoutBudgetMs < MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS) {
+      return skipped(
+        'insufficient_cycle_budget',
+        `remaining cycle budget under ${Math.round(MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS / 1000)}s ` +
+        `(reserve ${Math.round(CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS / 1000)}s); next cycle retries with a fresh budget`,
+      );
+    }
+
     // Fan-out: submit one subagent per worth-processing transcript (or one
     // per chunk for transcripts that exceed the model's per-prompt budget).
     const allowedSlugPrefixes = await loadAllowedSlugPrefixes(config.outputRoot);
@@ -422,7 +451,25 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
 
     const maxCharsPerChunk = computeChunkCharBudget(config.model, config.maxPromptTokens);
 
+    // Set when the budget runs out anywhere past the pre-fanout gate. A
+    // budget-truncated run must NOT stamp last_completion_ts — the default
+    // 12h cooldown would contradict "next cycle retries with a fresh
+    // budget" and pin the skipped work for half a day.
+    let budgetExhausted = false;
+
     for (const t of worthProcessing) {
+      // #2781: the submit loop itself is fast (DB inserts, no LLM), but the
+      // budget can still decay across a long worthProcessing list. Below
+      // the start minimum, stop submitting — remaining transcripts
+      // re-attempt next cycle (idempotency keys make the partial fan-out
+      // safe to resume).
+      const remainingMs = remainingChildBudgetMs(opts.deadlineAtMs, Date.now());
+      if (remainingMs !== null && remainingMs < MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS) {
+        budgetExhausted = true;
+        skipReports.push({ filePath: t.filePath, reason: 'insufficient_cycle_budget' });
+        continue;
+      }
+
       const hash16 = t.contentHash.slice(0, 16);
       const hash6 = t.contentHash.slice(0, 6);
 
@@ -487,11 +534,27 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
         const idempotency_key = isChunked
           ? `dream:synth:${t.filePath}:${hash16}:c${i}of${chunks.length}`
           : `dream:synth:${t.filePath}:${hash16}`;
+        // #2781: clamp each child's own kill switch to the remaining time
+        // at submit. The child's timeout_ms clock starts at ITS claim, so
+        // this alone can't bound a child that sits queued — the wait loop's
+        // cancel below closes that — but it bounds the common promptly-
+        // claimed case without waiting for the cancel path. Below the
+        // start minimum, stop submitting this transcript's remaining
+        // chunks (per-chunk idempotency keys resume the rest next cycle).
+        const remainingAtSubmitMs = remainingChildBudgetMs(opts.deadlineAtMs, Date.now());
+        if (remainingAtSubmitMs !== null && remainingAtSubmitMs < MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS) {
+          budgetExhausted = true;
+          skipReports.push({ filePath: t.filePath, reason: 'insufficient_cycle_budget' });
+          break;
+        }
+        const childTimeoutMs = remainingAtSubmitMs === null
+          ? config.subagentTimeoutMs
+          : Math.min(config.subagentTimeoutMs, remainingAtSubmitMs);
         const submitOpts: Partial<MinionJobInput> = {
           max_stalled: 3,
           on_child_fail: 'continue',
           idempotency_key,
-          timeout_ms: config.subagentTimeoutMs,
+          timeout_ms: childTimeoutMs,
         };
         const child = await queue.add(
           'subagent',
@@ -508,17 +571,45 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
 
     // Wait for every child to reach a terminal state. Tick yieldDuringPhase
     // every 5 min so the cycle lock TTL refreshes.
+    //
+    // #2781: the waits are SEQUENTIAL, so a fixed per-wait timeout
+    // accumulates N × subagent_wait_timeout_ms across N children — past any
+    // parent budget. Each iteration recomputes the remaining budget against
+    // the same absolute deadline; once it's gone, the rest of the children
+    // are cancelled instead of waited on (their timeout_ms clock starts at
+    // THEIR claim, so an unwaited child could otherwise outlive the parent).
+    // A child that already reached a terminal state on its own keeps its
+    // real status — earlier siblings' waits gave it time to finish, and its
+    // pages still collect normally.
     const childOutcomes: Array<{ jobId: number; status: string }> = [];
-    for (const jobId of childIds) {
+    let waitIdx = 0;
+    for (; waitIdx < childIds.length; waitIdx++) {
+      const jobId = childIds[waitIdx];
+      const remainingWaitMs = remainingChildBudgetMs(opts.deadlineAtMs, Date.now());
+      if (remainingWaitMs !== null && remainingWaitMs <= 0) break;
+      const waitTimeoutMs = remainingWaitMs === null
+        ? config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs
+        : Math.min(config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs, remainingWaitMs);
       try {
         const job = await waitForCompletion(queue, jobId, {
-          timeoutMs: config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs,
+          timeoutMs: waitTimeoutMs,
           pollMs: 5 * 1000,
         });
         childOutcomes.push({ jobId, status: job.status });
       } catch (e) {
         if (e instanceof TimeoutError) {
           childOutcomes.push({ jobId, status: 'timeout' });
+          // Same rationale as patterns: a child that sat queued can outlive
+          // the deadline this wait was clamped to. Strip it.
+          try { await queue.cancelJob(jobId); } catch { /* best-effort */ }
+          // A timeout on a DEADLINE-CLAMPED wait is budget truncation, not
+          // a genuine child overrun — the child never got its full
+          // configured wait. Suppress the cooldown stamp so the next cycle
+          // retries. A timeout at the full configured wait keeps the
+          // pre-existing stamping behavior.
+          if (remainingWaitMs !== null && waitTimeoutMs < config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs) {
+            budgetExhausted = true;
+          }
         } else {
           throw e;
         }
@@ -528,6 +619,30 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
         try { await opts.yieldDuringPhase(); } catch { /* best-effort */ }
       }
     }
+    // Budget ran out before every child was waited on: settle the rest
+    // without waiting. Cancel-first (one write per child): a non-null
+    // return means we cancelled it; null means it was already terminal —
+    // read its real status so a completed sibling isn't misreported as
+    // timeout. Deliberately sequential per-child rather than one bulk SQL:
+    // cancelJob carries per-job semantics (child_done emission, aggregator
+    // unblocking) a bulk UPDATE would skip, each call is a millisecond-
+    // scale write with NO waits, and realistic fan-outs (children ≤
+    // max_chunks × transcripts per cycle) settle well inside the reserve.
+    if (waitIdx < childIds.length) {
+      budgetExhausted = true;
+      for (; waitIdx < childIds.length; waitIdx++) {
+        const jobId = childIds[waitIdx];
+        let status = 'timeout';
+        try {
+          const cancelled = await queue.cancelJob(jobId);
+          if (cancelled === null) {
+            const current = await queue.getJob(jobId);
+            if (current) status = current.status;
+          }
+        } catch { /* best-effort */ }
+        childOutcomes.push({ jobId, status });
+      }
+    }
 
     // Collect slugs from put_page tool executions across the children
     // (codex finding #2: deterministic provenance, NOT pages.updated_at).
@@ -560,8 +675,13 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
       await writeSummaryPage(engine, opts.brainDir, summarySlug, summaryDate, writtenSlugs, childOutcomes, cycleSourceId);
     }
 
-    // Write completion timestamp ON SUCCESS only.
-    await engine.setConfig('dream.synthesize.last_completion_ts', new Date().toISOString());
+    // Write completion timestamp ON SUCCESS only — and NOT on a
+    // budget-truncated run: stamping would arm the cooldown (default 12h)
+    // over transcripts/children this run never gave a real chance,
+    // contradicting "next cycle retries with a fresh budget" (#2781).
+    if (!budgetExhausted) {
+      await engine.setConfig('dream.synthesize.last_completion_ts', new Date().toISOString());
+    }
 
     const ms = Date.now() - start;
     const submittedTranscripts = worthProcessing.length - skipReports.length;
diff --git a/test/cycle-patterns-deadline-budget.test.ts b/test/cycle-patterns-deadline-budget.test.ts
index 62bdf6ffe..342a7807b 100644
--- a/test/cycle-patterns-deadline-budget.test.ts
+++ b/test/cycle-patterns-deadline-budget.test.ts
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ import { MinionQueue } from '../src/core/minions/queue.ts';
 import {
   clampSubagentBudgets,
   CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS,
-  MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS,
-} from '../src/core/cycle/patterns.ts';
+  MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS,
+} from '../src/core/cycle/deadline-budget.ts';
 
 const CONFIG = {
   subagentTimeoutMs: 30 * 60 * 1000,
@@ -60,15 +60,15 @@ describe('clampSubagentBudgets', () => {
   });
 
   test('remaining budget below minimum → null (caller skips, no submit)', () => {
-    const deadline = now + CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS + MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS - 1;
+    const deadline = now + CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS + MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS - 1;
     expect(clampSubagentBudgets(CONFIG, deadline, now)).toBeNull();
   });
 
   test('boundary: exactly the minimum budget → submit allowed', () => {
-    const deadline = now + CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS + MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS;
+    const deadline = now + CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS + MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS;
     expect(clampSubagentBudgets(CONFIG, deadline, now)).toEqual({
-      timeoutMs: MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS,
-      waitTimeoutMs: MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS,
+      timeoutMs: MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS,
+      waitTimeoutMs: MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS,
     });
   });
 
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ describe('deadline plumbing wiring (structural)', () => {
     // Budget gate sits AFTER the provider probe so a no-provider brain
     // still reports no_provider (cheaper, more actionable reason).
     const probeIdx = patternsSrc.indexOf("skipped('no_provider'");
-    // lastIndexOf: the doc comment on MIN_PATTERNS_SUBAGENT_BUDGET_MS
+    // lastIndexOf: the doc comment on MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS
     // mentions the reason string too; the CALL SITE is the later hit.
     const budgetIdx = patternsSrc.lastIndexOf('insufficient_cycle_budget');
     expect(probeIdx).toBeGreaterThan(0);
diff --git a/test/cycle-synthesize-deadline-budget.test.ts b/test/cycle-synthesize-deadline-budget.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9088bef78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cycle-synthesize-deadline-budget.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+/**
+ * #2781 follow-up — synthesize budgets its fan-out and its SEQUENTIAL
+ * per-child waits from the remaining parent-job time. Without the
+ * per-wait recompute, N children accumulate N × subagent_wait_timeout_ms
+ * past any parent budget (patterns' single-wait clamp can't help here).
+ *
+ * Layers mirror test/cycle-patterns-deadline-budget.test.ts:
+ *   1. Unit tests on `remainingChildBudgetMs` (the per-iteration primitive).
+ *   2. Structural pins on the synthesize wiring.
+ */
+
+import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
+import { readFileSync } from 'fs';
+import {
+  remainingChildBudgetMs,
+  CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS,
+} from '../src/core/cycle/deadline-budget.ts';
+
+describe('remainingChildBudgetMs', () => {
+  const now = 1_000_000_000_000;
+
+  test('null deadline → null (direct `gbrain dream` back-compat)', () => {
+    expect(remainingChildBudgetMs(null, now)).toBeNull();
+    expect(remainingChildBudgetMs(undefined, now)).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  test('subtracts the reserve from the remaining time', () => {
+    const deadline = now + 10 * 60 * 1000;
+    expect(remainingChildBudgetMs(deadline, now)).toBe(10 * 60 * 1000 - CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS);
+  });
+
+  test('goes non-positive once the reserve is breached (callers stop waiting)', () => {
+    expect(remainingChildBudgetMs(now + CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS, now)).toBe(0);
+    expect(remainingChildBudgetMs(now - 1000, now)).toBeLessThan(0);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('synthesize deadline wiring (structural)', () => {
+  const synthSrc = readFileSync(new URL('../src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts', import.meta.url), 'utf-8');
+  const cycleSrc = readFileSync(new URL('../src/core/cycle.ts', import.meta.url), 'utf-8');
+  const patternsSrc = readFileSync(new URL('../src/core/cycle/patterns.ts', import.meta.url), 'utf-8');
+
+  test('runCycle forwards deadlineAtMs to the synthesize phase', () => {
+    // Both subagent-spawning phases receive the deadline (patterns pinned
+    // in its own test file; this pins the synthesize call site).
+    const callSite = cycleSrc.indexOf('runPhaseSynthesize(engine, {');
+    expect(callSite).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    const callSlice = cycleSrc.slice(callSite, callSite + 600);
+    expect(callSlice).toContain('deadlineAtMs: opts.deadlineAtMs ?? null');
+  });
+
+  test('pre-fanout gate skips honestly before submitting any Sonnet work', () => {
+    expect(synthSrc).toContain('insufficient_cycle_budget');
+    // Gate sits after the verdict loop (which consumes wall-clock) and
+    // before the fan-out submit loop.
+    const gateIdx = synthSrc.indexOf('preFanoutBudgetMs');
+    const fanoutIdx = synthSrc.indexOf('const queue = new MinionQueue(engine)');
+    expect(gateIdx).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(fanoutIdx).toBeGreaterThan(gateIdx);
+  });
+
+  test('per-child submit clamps timeout_ms to the remaining budget', () => {
+    expect(synthSrc).toContain('timeout_ms: childTimeoutMs');
+    expect(synthSrc).not.toContain('timeout_ms: config.subagentTimeoutMs');
+  });
+
+  test('sequential wait loop recomputes the remaining budget EVERY iteration', () => {
+    // The recompute call must be INSIDE the wait-loop body — a single
+    // pre-loop computation is exactly the accumulation bug.
+    const loopIdx = synthSrc.indexOf('for (; waitIdx < childIds.length; waitIdx++)');
+    expect(loopIdx).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    const loopSlice = synthSrc.slice(loopIdx, loopIdx + 800);
+    expect(loopSlice).toContain('remainingChildBudgetMs(opts.deadlineAtMs, Date.now())');
+    expect(synthSrc).toContain('timeoutMs: waitTimeoutMs');
+    expect(synthSrc).not.toContain('timeoutMs: config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs');
+  });
+
+  test('exhausted budget settles remaining children: cancel-first, real status when already terminal', () => {
+    // Cancel returns null for an already-terminal row → refetch so a
+    // completed sibling isn't misreported as timeout.
+    expect(synthSrc).toContain('cancelled === null');
+    expect(synthSrc).toContain('queue.getJob(jobId)');
+  });
+
+  test('wait-timeout path cancels the child (queued child can outlive the clamp)', () => {
+    // Two cancel sites: TimeoutError in the wait loop + the settle loop.
+    const matches = synthSrc.match(/queue\.cancelJob\(jobId\)/g) ?? [];
+    expect(matches.length).toBe(2);
+  });
+
+  test('budget-truncated runs do not arm the synthesize cooldown', () => {
+    expect(synthSrc).toContain('if (!budgetExhausted) {');
+    const stampIdx = synthSrc.indexOf("setConfig('dream.synthesize.last_completion_ts'");
+    const guardIdx = synthSrc.indexOf('if (!budgetExhausted) {');
+    expect(stampIdx).toBeGreaterThan(guardIdx);
+  });
+
+  test('a timeout on a deadline-CLAMPED wait counts as budget truncation', () => {
+    // The child never got its full configured wait — suppressing the
+    // cooldown stamp lets the next cycle retry. A timeout at the full
+    // configured wait keeps the pre-existing stamping behavior.
+    expect(synthSrc).toContain('waitTimeoutMs < config.subagentWaitTimeoutMs');
+  });
+
+  test('mid-fanout exhaustion stops submitting below the start minimum, not merely at zero', () => {
+    // Both the per-transcript guard and the per-chunk guard compare against
+    // MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS (a <= 0 guard would still submit
+    // guaranteed-kill children with second-scale timeouts).
+    const matches = synthSrc.match(/< MIN_SUBAGENT_START_BUDGET_MS/g) ?? [];
+    expect(matches.length).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(3); // pre-fanout + transcript + chunk guards
+  });
+
+  test('shared helpers live in deadline-budget.ts (no patterns↔synthesize cycle)', () => {
+    expect(synthSrc).toContain("from './deadline-budget.ts'");
+    expect(patternsSrc).toContain("from './deadline-budget.ts'");
+    // patterns must NOT re-define the helpers it now imports.
+    expect(patternsSrc).not.toContain('export function clampSubagentBudgets');
+    expect(patternsSrc).not.toContain('export const CYCLE_DEADLINE_RESERVE_MS');
+  });
+});