diff --git a/compute/worker/.env.example b/compute/worker/.env.example
index 7f9d345..4e2a6b6 100644
--- a/compute/worker/.env.example
+++ b/compute/worker/.env.example
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=true
 # COMPUTE_JOB_CONCURRENCY=1
 # COMPUTE_WHISPER_TIMEOUT_MS=30000
 # COMPUTE_PDF_TIMEOUT_MS=300000
-# COMPUTE_PDF_JOB_ATTEMPTS=2
+# COMPUTE_PDF_JOB_ATTEMPTS=1
 # COMPUTE_JOBS_STREAM_MAX_BYTES=268435456
 # COMPUTE_JOB_STATES_MAX_BYTES=67108864
 # Optional stale window for reusing in-flight opKey entries before forcing a new attempt
diff --git a/compute/worker/src/server.ts b/compute/worker/src/server.ts
index 7c2821e..8085c95 100644
--- a/compute/worker/src/server.ts
+++ b/compute/worker/src/server.ts
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
   const jobConcurrency = readIntEnv('COMPUTE_JOB_CONCURRENCY', 1);
   const whisperTimeoutMs = readIntEnv('COMPUTE_WHISPER_TIMEOUT_MS', 30_000);
   const pdfTimeoutMs = readIntEnv('COMPUTE_PDF_TIMEOUT_MS', 5 * 60_000);
-  const pdfAttempts = readIntEnv('COMPUTE_PDF_JOB_ATTEMPTS', 2);
+  const pdfAttempts = readIntEnv('COMPUTE_PDF_JOB_ATTEMPTS', 1);
   const prewarmModels = parseBoolEnv('COMPUTE_PREWARM_MODELS', true);
   const jobsStreamMaxBytes = readIntEnv('COMPUTE_JOBS_STREAM_MAX_BYTES', 256 * 1024 * 1024);
   const jobStatesMaxBytes = readIntEnv('COMPUTE_JOB_STATES_MAX_BYTES', 64 * 1024 * 1024);
diff --git a/docs-site/docs/deploy/compute-worker.md b/docs-site/docs/deploy/compute-worker.md
index 302ce93..515c494 100644
--- a/docs-site/docs/deploy/compute-worker.md
+++ b/docs-site/docs/deploy/compute-worker.md
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Advanced tuning (usually leave unset unless you need overrides):
 - `COMPUTE_JOB_CONCURRENCY=1` (shared total compute jobs across whisper + PDF)
 - `COMPUTE_WHISPER_TIMEOUT_MS=30000`
 - `COMPUTE_PDF_TIMEOUT_MS=300000`
-- `COMPUTE_PDF_JOB_ATTEMPTS=2` (PDF layout retry attempts)
+- `COMPUTE_PDF_JOB_ATTEMPTS=1` (PDF layout retry attempts)
 - `COMPUTE_JOBS_STREAM_MAX_BYTES=268435456` (256MB JetStream jobs stream cap)
 - `COMPUTE_JOB_STATES_MAX_BYTES=67108864` (64MB JetStream KV bucket cap)
 - `COMPUTE_OP_STALE_MS=1800000` (stale op replacement window)
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ COMPUTE_WORKER_TOKEN=<long-random-shared-token>
 # COMPUTE_JOB_CONCURRENCY=1
 # COMPUTE_WHISPER_TIMEOUT_MS=30000
 # COMPUTE_PDF_TIMEOUT_MS=300000
-# COMPUTE_PDF_JOB_ATTEMPTS=2
+# COMPUTE_PDF_JOB_ATTEMPTS=1
 # COMPUTE_JOBS_STREAM_MAX_BYTES=268435456
 # COMPUTE_JOB_STATES_MAX_BYTES=67108864