diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fa46810d..f0b89008 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 - `haiku-rag serve` renamed to `haiku-rag mcp` (only MCP is left). `--mcp-port` renamed to `--port`. Update any `claude_desktop_config.json` from `["serve", "--mcp", "--stdio"]` to `["mcp", "--stdio"]`.
 - `document.metadata` now uses source-agnostic keys: `source_revision` (was `etag` — S3-only and never populated for FS, so periodic sweeps re-ingested every file) and `content_type` (was `contentType`, snake_case for consistency). The v0.50.0 startup migration rewrites existing documents. All four source adapters (FS, HTTP, S3, WebDAV) now write their native revision (mtime_ns, ETag, etc.) under the same key, fixing the regression where FS sources never short-circuited on unchanged files.
 - Ingester pollers skip their periodic sweep when the source already has queued or claimed jobs in the queue — saves the listing round-trip (`PROPFIND` / `S3 LIST` / FS walk) when work is backed up. FS push events from `watchfiles` keep flowing during skipped sweeps. Visible in Logfire as `ingester.poller.sweep` spans with `skipped=true reason=pending_work`.
-- Ingester now drains in-flight jobs on `SIGINT` / `SIGTERM` up to `workers.shutdown_grace_s` (default 60s) before cancelling. Cancelled jobs stay `claimed` and the reaper resets them on next start. Bonus: the pipeline no longer wraps `KeyboardInterrupt` / `SystemExit` / `CancelledError` as `TransientError` — those now propagate as intended.
+- Ingester now drains in-flight jobs on `SIGINT` / `SIGTERM` up to `workers.shutdown_grace_s` (default 60s) before cancelling. Cancelled jobs release their claim back to `queued` (and decrement `attempts` since a cancel isn't a failure) so the next process picks them up immediately instead of waiting on the reaper's `claim_timeout_s`. Bonus: the pipeline no longer wraps `KeyboardInterrupt` / `SystemExit` / `CancelledError` as `TransientError` — those now propagate as intended.
 - `providers.docling_serve.base_url` now accepts a list. Jobs round-robin across the entries with each job's submit/poll/result pinned to one instance (task IDs are instance-local). The counter is per-process; for cross-process load balancing or failover, put an LB in front and pass a single URL here.
 - Drop `list_documents` and `get_document` from the default RAG skill's tool set; the skill now exposes only `search` and `cite`. Both tools dumped unbounded content into the agent's context (full document lists, full document bodies) and `get_document` returned no chunk_ids so its output was structurally uncitable. The analysis skill already covers these uses programmatically — `await list_documents()` and `Path('/documents/{id}/content.txt').read_text()` inside `execute_code`. The tool branches remain in `create_skill_tools` and the `skill_generator` `AVAILABLE_TOOLS` set so users can still opt in when building custom skills.
 
diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/queue/repository.py b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/queue/repository.py
index ba277e8f..f275848f 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/queue/repository.py
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/queue/repository.py
@@ -266,6 +266,31 @@ class JobRepo:
                 rows = await cursor.fetchall()
         return {row["status"]: row["n"] for row in rows}
 
+    async def release_if_claimed(self, job_id: str) -> bool:
+        """Reset a still-claimed job back to queued, immediately reclaimable.
+        Idempotent — a no-op if the job already transitioned to
+        succeeded/dead/rescheduled. Decrements attempts to undo the increment
+        from `claim_next`, since a cancellation isn't a failed attempt.
+        Returns True if the row was released."""
+        now = _utcnow_iso()
+        async with self._lock:
+            async with self._conn.execute(
+                """
+                UPDATE jobs
+                SET status='queued',
+                    claimed_at=NULL,
+                    claimed_by=NULL,
+                    scheduled_at=?,
+                    attempts=MAX(0, attempts - 1)
+                WHERE id=? AND status='claimed'
+                RETURNING id
+                """,
+                (now, job_id),
+            ) as cursor:
+                row = await cursor.fetchone()
+            await self._conn.commit()
+        return row is not None
+
     async def reap_stale(self, claim_timeout_seconds: int) -> int:
         """Return claimed jobs whose claimed_at is older than the timeout to
         the queue. Used by the reaper to recover from crashed workers."""
diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/workers/pool.py b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/workers/pool.py
index 3ff6875c..edbd1aef 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/workers/pool.py
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/workers/pool.py
@@ -118,6 +118,13 @@ class WorkerPool:
         logger.info("Processing %s %s (job %s)", job.op.value, job.uri, job.id)
         try:
             result = await run_job(self._client, job)
+        except asyncio.CancelledError:
+            # Graceful shutdown cancelled us mid-flight. Release the claim so
+            # the next process can pick the job up immediately instead of
+            # waiting on the reaper's claim_timeout_s.
+            await self._jobs.release_if_claimed(job.id)
+            logger.info("Job %s released back to queue on cancel", job.id)
+            raise
         except PermanentError as e:
             await self._jobs.mark_dead(job.id, str(e))
             logger.info("Job %s dead (permanent): %s", job.id, e)
diff --git a/tests/ingester/test_queue.py b/tests/ingester/test_queue.py
index 5d1be9d4..a4daec74 100644
--- a/tests/ingester/test_queue.py
+++ b/tests/ingester/test_queue.py
@@ -372,6 +372,56 @@ async def test_reap_stale_leaves_fresh_claims_alone(jobs):
     assert refreshed.status is JobStatus.CLAIMED
 
 
+# --- release_if_claimed ---
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_release_if_claimed_resets_claimed_job_and_decrements_attempts(jobs):
+    job = await jobs.enqueue("s", "u", JobOp.UPSERT)
+    assert job is not None
+    claimed = await jobs.claim_next("w")
+    assert claimed is not None
+    assert claimed.attempts == 1
+
+    released = await jobs.release_if_claimed(job.id)
+    assert released is True
+
+    refreshed = await jobs.get_job(job.id)
+    assert refreshed is not None
+    assert refreshed.status is JobStatus.QUEUED
+    assert refreshed.claimed_at is None
+    assert refreshed.claimed_by is None
+    assert refreshed.attempts == 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_release_if_claimed_noop_on_already_queued(jobs):
+    job = await jobs.enqueue("s", "u", JobOp.UPSERT)
+    assert job is not None
+
+    released = await jobs.release_if_claimed(job.id)
+    assert released is False
+    refreshed = await jobs.get_job(job.id)
+    assert refreshed is not None
+    assert refreshed.status is JobStatus.QUEUED
+    assert refreshed.attempts == 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_release_if_claimed_noop_on_succeeded(jobs):
+    job = await jobs.enqueue("s", "u", JobOp.UPSERT)
+    assert job is not None
+    claimed = await jobs.claim_next("w")
+    assert claimed is not None
+    await jobs.mark_succeeded(job.id)
+
+    released = await jobs.release_if_claimed(job.id)
+    assert released is False
+    refreshed = await jobs.get_job(job.id)
+    assert refreshed is not None
+    assert refreshed.status is JobStatus.SUCCEEDED
+
+
 # --- list / counts ---
 
 
diff --git a/tests/ingester/test_workers.py b/tests/ingester/test_workers.py
index e6370fba..37cf8045 100644
--- a/tests/ingester/test_workers.py
+++ b/tests/ingester/test_workers.py
@@ -253,9 +253,10 @@ async def test_shutdown_grace_lets_inflight_job_complete(client, jobs, sync):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
-async def test_shutdown_grace_timeout_cancels_long_job(client, jobs, sync):
-    """When grace elapses, wait_for raises TimeoutError and the job stays
-    'claimed' for the reaper to reset later."""
+async def test_shutdown_grace_timeout_releases_claim(client, jobs, sync):
+    """When grace elapses and the worker is cancelled mid-job, the claim is
+    released back to 'queued' so the next process can pick it up immediately
+    — no waiting on the reaper's claim_timeout_s."""
     cancelled = asyncio.Event()
 
     async def _hangs_forever(*args, **kwargs):
@@ -267,7 +268,8 @@ async def test_shutdown_grace_timeout_cancels_long_job(client, jobs, sync):
         return Document(id="doc", content="x", uri="u")
 
     client.create_document_from_source.side_effect = _hangs_forever
-    await jobs.enqueue("src", "u", JobOp.UPSERT)
+    job = await jobs.enqueue("src", "u", JobOp.UPSERT)
+    assert job is not None
 
     pool = _pool(client, jobs, sync, worker_count=1, max_concurrent=1)
     await pool.start()
@@ -277,10 +279,13 @@ async def test_shutdown_grace_timeout_cancels_long_job(client, jobs, sync):
         await asyncio.wait_for(pool.stop(), timeout=0.2)
 
     assert cancelled.is_set()
-    counts = await jobs.counts_by_status()
-    # Job was cancelled mid-_process before mark_succeeded/dead could fire,
-    # so it stays in 'claimed' for the reaper to pick up later.
-    assert counts.get("claimed", 0) == 1
+    refreshed = await jobs.get_job(job.id)
+    assert refreshed is not None
+    assert refreshed.status is JobStatus.QUEUED
+    assert refreshed.claimed_by is None
+    # claim_next incremented attempts to 1; release_if_claimed decremented it
+    # back to 0 because a cancellation isn't a failed attempt.
+    assert refreshed.attempts == 0
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio