diff --git a/src/context-engine.ts b/src/context-engine.ts
index aff58ed2..983927e3 100644
--- a/src/context-engine.ts
+++ b/src/context-engine.ts
@@ -2410,6 +2410,7 @@ export function buildContextEngineFactory(
         if (beforeTurnQueryHint) {
           try {
             const beforeTurnTimeout = cfg.beforeTurnTimeoutMs ?? 5000;
+            let timeoutHandle: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | undefined;
             const btResult = await Promise.race([
               client.beforeTurnKernel({
                 sessionId,
@@ -2420,10 +2421,14 @@ export function buildContextEngineFactory(
                 cursor: undefined,
                 isHeartbeat: false,
               } as unknown as Parameters<typeof client.beforeTurnKernel>[0]),
-              new Promise<never>((_, reject) =>
-                setTimeout(() => reject(new Error(`BeforeTurnKernel timed out after ${beforeTurnTimeout}ms`)), beforeTurnTimeout)
-              ),
-            ]);
+              new Promise<never>((_, reject) => {
+                timeoutHandle = setTimeout(() => reject(new Error(`BeforeTurnKernel timed out after ${beforeTurnTimeout}ms`)), beforeTurnTimeout);
+              }),
+            ]).finally(() => {
+              if (timeoutHandle) {
+                clearTimeout(timeoutHandle);
+              }
+            });
             const maxMemories = cfg.beforeTurnMaxMemories ?? 5;
             const clamped = btResult.predictions && btResult.predictions.length > maxMemories
               ? selectTopByRelevance(btResult.predictions, strippedPrompt, maxMemories)
diff --git a/test/integration/markdown-ingest.test.ts b/test/integration/markdown-ingest.test.ts
index 3962c314..893d1cc6 100644
--- a/test/integration/markdown-ingest.test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/markdown-ingest.test.ts
@@ -6,12 +6,6 @@ import path from "node:path";
 
 import { createMarkdownIngestionHandle, type FsDirentLike } from "../../src/markdown-ingest.js";
 
-type FsDirentLike = {
-  name: string;
-  isDirectory(): boolean;
-  isFile(): boolean;
-};
-
 class FakeRpcClient {
   calls: Array<{ method: string; params: unknown }> = [];
   documents = new Map<string, { text: string; tokenizerId: string; coreDoc: boolean; sourceMeta: Record<string, unknown> }>();
diff --git a/test/unit/context-engine.test.ts b/test/unit/context-engine.test.ts
index 926c0b2a..537b0dff 100644
--- a/test/unit/context-engine.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/context-engine.test.ts
@@ -266,6 +266,58 @@ function makeMessage(role: string, content: string, id?: string) {
   return { role, content, ...(id ? { id } : {}) };
 }
 
+test("context engine clears BeforeTurnKernel timeout after successful retrieval", async () => {
+  class BeforeTurnClient extends FakeClient {
+    async beforeTurnKernel(params: Record<string, unknown>) {
+      this.calls.push({ method: "beforeTurnKernel", params });
+      return { predictions: [] };
+    }
+  }
+
+  const originalSetTimeout = globalThis.setTimeout;
+  const originalClearTimeout = globalThis.clearTimeout;
+  const scheduled = new Set<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>>();
+  const cleared = new Set<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>>();
+
+  globalThis.setTimeout = ((...args: Parameters<typeof setTimeout>) => {
+    const handle = Reflect.apply(originalSetTimeout, globalThis, args) as ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>;
+    scheduled.add(handle);
+    return handle;
+  }) as typeof setTimeout;
+  globalThis.clearTimeout = ((handle?: Parameters<typeof clearTimeout>[0]) => {
+    if (handle) {
+      cleared.add(handle as ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>);
+    }
+    return Reflect.apply(originalClearTimeout, globalThis, [handle]);
+  }) as typeof clearTimeout;
+
+  try {
+    const client = new BeforeTurnClient();
+    const engine = buildContextEngineFactory(fakeRuntime(client), {
+      userId: "fixed-user",
+      beforeTurnTimeoutMs: 60_000,
+    });
+
+    await engine.assemble({
+      sessionId: "s1-before-turn-clears-timeout",
+      sessionKey: "sk1",
+      messages: [makeMessage("user", "what do you remember?")],
+      prompt: "what do you remember?",
+      tokenBudget: 4000,
+    });
+
+    assert.equal(client.calls.filter((call) => call.method === "beforeTurnKernel").length, 1);
+    assert.equal(scheduled.size, 1);
+    assert.deepEqual(cleared, scheduled, "successful before-turn retrieval should clear its timeout");
+  } finally {
+    for (const handle of scheduled) {
+      originalClearTimeout(handle);
+    }
+    globalThis.setTimeout = originalSetTimeout;
+    globalThis.clearTimeout = originalClearTimeout;
+  }
+});
+
 function openClawMetadataEnvelope(userText: string): string {
   return [
     "Conversation info (untrusted metadata):",