diff --git a/bin/gstack-gbrain-sync.ts b/bin/gstack-gbrain-sync.ts
index 2b7979f12..bc54e9760 100644
--- a/bin/gstack-gbrain-sync.ts
+++ b/bin/gstack-gbrain-sync.ts
@@ -80,6 +80,111 @@ const STATE_PATH = join(GSTACK_HOME, ".gbrain-sync-state.json");
 const LOCK_PATH = join(GSTACK_HOME, ".sync-gbrain.lock");
 const STALE_LOCK_MS = 5 * 60 * 1000;
 
+// Default 35-minute timeout for code-walk + memory-ingest stages. Override via
+// GSTACK_SYNC_CODE_TIMEOUT_MS / GSTACK_SYNC_MEMORY_TIMEOUT_MS. Bounds-checked
+// in resolveStageTimeoutMs below so wildly-low values don't make resume
+// useless and wildly-high values don't mask config typos. See #1611.
+const DEFAULT_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS = 35 * 60 * 1000; // 2_100_000ms = 35min
+const MIN_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS = 60_000;             // 1 minute floor
+const MAX_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS = 86_400_000;         // 24 hour ceiling
+
+/**
+ * Parse a stage-timeout env value with bounds validation. Returns the bounded
+ * value or the default with a stderr warning if the env was malformed or
+ * out-of-range. Exported for the regression test.
+ */
+export function resolveStageTimeoutMs(
+  envValue: string | undefined,
+  envName: string,
+): number {
+  if (envValue === undefined || envValue === "") return DEFAULT_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS;
+  const n = Number.parseInt(envValue, 10);
+  if (!Number.isFinite(n) || Number.isNaN(n) || n <= 0) {
+    console.warn(
+      `[sync] ${envName}="${envValue}" is not a positive integer; falling back to ${DEFAULT_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS}ms`,
+    );
+    return DEFAULT_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS;
+  }
+  if (n < MIN_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS) {
+    console.warn(
+      `[sync] ${envName}=${n} is below the ${MIN_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS}ms (1min) floor; falling back to ${DEFAULT_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS}ms`,
+    );
+    return DEFAULT_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS;
+  }
+  if (n > MAX_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS) {
+    console.warn(
+      `[sync] ${envName}=${n} is above the ${MAX_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS}ms (24h) ceiling; falling back to ${DEFAULT_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS}ms`,
+    );
+    return DEFAULT_STAGE_TIMEOUT_MS;
+  }
+  return n;
+}
+
+/**
+ * gbrain writes ~/.gbrain/import-checkpoint.json on every import run. If a
+ * previous /sync-gbrain hit the timeout (SIGTERM = exit 143), the checkpoint
+ * + its staging dir survive on disk. Detect both and let gbrain resume from
+ * processedIndex+1 on the next run. If the staging dir is missing/empty/
+ * unreadable, fall through to a fresh restage with a one-line warning so the
+ * user sees we noticed. See #1611 + plan D1/C1.
+ */
+interface GbrainCheckpoint {
+  dir?: string;
+  totalFiles?: number;
+  processedIndex?: number;
+  completedFiles?: number;
+  timestamp?: string;
+}
+
+export function readGbrainCheckpoint(): GbrainCheckpoint | null {
+  const cpPath = join(homedir(), ".gbrain", "import-checkpoint.json");
+  if (!existsSync(cpPath)) return null;
+  try {
+    const raw = readFileSync(cpPath, "utf-8");
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(raw);
+    if (!parsed || typeof parsed !== "object") return null;
+    return parsed as GbrainCheckpoint;
+  } catch {
+    // Corrupt JSON — treat as no checkpoint and fall through to fresh restage.
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
+export type ResumeVerdict =
+  | { kind: "no-checkpoint" }
+  | { kind: "resume"; stagingDir: string; processedIndex: number; totalFiles: number }
+  | { kind: "stale-staging-missing"; stagingDir: string };
+
+/**
+ * Decide whether the next memory-ingest run should resume from gbrain's
+ * checkpoint or restage from scratch.
+ *   - no checkpoint              → run a fresh ingest pass
+ *   - checkpoint + staging ok    → resume (gbrain picks up at processedIndex+1)
+ *   - checkpoint + staging gone  → warn, fall through to fresh restage
+ */
+export function decideResume(): ResumeVerdict {
+  const cp = readGbrainCheckpoint();
+  if (!cp || !cp.dir) return { kind: "no-checkpoint" };
+  const stagingDir = cp.dir;
+  if (!existsSync(stagingDir)) {
+    return { kind: "stale-staging-missing", stagingDir };
+  }
+  // Treat "non-empty" as the safe-to-resume signal. statSync on a missing
+  // file throws; we already handled missing above so this is dir-level shape.
+  try {
+    const st = statSync(stagingDir);
+    if (!st.isDirectory()) return { kind: "stale-staging-missing", stagingDir };
+  } catch {
+    return { kind: "stale-staging-missing", stagingDir };
+  }
+  return {
+    kind: "resume",
+    stagingDir,
+    processedIndex: cp.processedIndex ?? 0,
+    totalFiles: cp.totalFiles ?? 0,
+  };
+}
+
 // ── CLI ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 function printUsage(): void {
@@ -607,9 +712,13 @@ async function runCodeImport(args: CliArgs): Promise<StageResult> {
   // code`, so --full must run it FIRST, then reindex-code, to honor the
   // documented "full walk + reindex" contract for both fresh and populated
   // sources.
+  const codeTimeoutMs = resolveStageTimeoutMs(
+    process.env.GSTACK_SYNC_CODE_TIMEOUT_MS,
+    "GSTACK_SYNC_CODE_TIMEOUT_MS",
+  );
   const walkResult = spawnGbrain(["sync", "--strategy", "code", "--source", sourceId], {
     stdio: args.quiet ? ["ignore", "ignore", "ignore"] : ["ignore", "inherit", "inherit"],
-    timeout: 35 * 60 * 1000,
+    timeout: codeTimeoutMs,
     baseEnv: gbrainEnv,
   });
 
@@ -627,7 +736,7 @@ async function runCodeImport(args: CliArgs): Promise<StageResult> {
   if (args.mode === "full") {
     const reindexResult = spawnGbrain(["reindex-code", "--source", sourceId, "--yes"], {
       stdio: args.quiet ? ["ignore", "ignore", "ignore"] : ["ignore", "inherit", "inherit"],
-      timeout: 35 * 60 * 1000,
+      timeout: codeTimeoutMs,
       baseEnv: gbrainEnv,
     });
 
@@ -770,6 +879,25 @@ function runMemoryIngest(args: CliArgs): StageResult {
     return skipStageForLocalStatus("memory", localStatus, t0);
   }
 
+  // Resume detection (#1611 / plan D1 + C1). If a previous run hit the
+  // timeout and gbrain left ~/.gbrain/import-checkpoint.json plus its staging
+  // dir on disk, signal the grandchild via env so it skips the prepare phase
+  // and lets `gbrain import` resume from processedIndex+1 against the same
+  // staging dir. If the staging dir is gone (disk pressure cleanup, OS
+  // reboot, user manual cleanup), warn and fall through to a fresh restage.
+  const resume = decideResume();
+  const childEnv = buildGbrainEnv({ announce: false });
+  if (resume.kind === "resume") {
+    console.error(
+      `[sync:memory] resuming from gbrain checkpoint (${resume.processedIndex}/${resume.totalFiles} files staged at ${resume.stagingDir})`,
+    );
+    childEnv.GSTACK_INGEST_RESUME_DIR = resume.stagingDir;
+  } else if (resume.kind === "stale-staging-missing") {
+    console.error(
+      `[sync:memory] previous checkpoint stale (staging dir ${resume.stagingDir} gone), restaging from scratch`,
+    );
+  }
+
   const ingestPath = join(import.meta.dir, "gstack-memory-ingest.ts");
   const ingestArgs = ["run", ingestPath];
   if (args.mode === "full") ingestArgs.push("--bulk");
@@ -780,10 +908,14 @@ function runMemoryIngest(args: CliArgs): StageResult {
   // .env.local footgun affects gstack-memory-ingest.ts too, not just the
   // direct gbrain spawns in this file). The grandchild calls gbrain import
   // internally and must see the DATABASE_URL from gbrain's own config.
+  const memoryTimeoutMs = resolveStageTimeoutMs(
+    process.env.GSTACK_SYNC_MEMORY_TIMEOUT_MS,
+    "GSTACK_SYNC_MEMORY_TIMEOUT_MS",
+  );
   const result = spawnSync("bun", ingestArgs, {
     encoding: "utf-8",
-    timeout: 35 * 60 * 1000,
-    env: buildGbrainEnv({ announce: false }),
+    timeout: memoryTimeoutMs,
+    env: childEnv,
   });
 
   // D6: parse [memory-ingest] lines from the child's stderr. ERR-prefixed
diff --git a/bin/gstack-memory-ingest.ts b/bin/gstack-memory-ingest.ts
index 967101050..6df459f88 100644
--- a/bin/gstack-memory-ingest.ts
+++ b/bin/gstack-memory-ingest.ts
@@ -1272,13 +1272,37 @@ function cleanupStagingDir(dir: string): void {
  *   1. forward the signal to the child (otherwise gbrain orphans, holds the
  *      PGLite write lock, and burns CPU — observed during 2026-05-10 cold-run
  *      testing)
- *   2. synchronously clean up the staging dir BEFORE process.exit (otherwise
- *      finally blocks in async callers don't run after process.exit from
- *      inside a signal handler, leaking the staging dir on every interrupt)
+ *   2. PRESERVE the staging dir when gbrain has written an import-checkpoint
+ *      pointing at it (the next /sync-gbrain run can resume from
+ *      processedIndex+1). Otherwise synchronously clean up before
+ *      process.exit, since `finally` blocks in ingestPass never run after
+ *      process.exit fires from inside a signal handler.
+ *
+ * Resume semantics added for #1611: prior behavior unconditionally cleaned
+ * up the staging dir on SIGTERM, so the gbrain checkpoint always pointed at
+ * a missing dir and the next run had to restage from scratch.
  */
 let _activeImportChild: ChildProcess | null = null;
 let _activeStagingDir: string | null = null;
 let _signalHandlersInstalled = false;
+
+/**
+ * Returns true if gbrain has written ~/.gbrain/import-checkpoint.json with
+ * `dir` matching the current active staging dir. Indicates the next run
+ * can resume against this staging dir.
+ */
+function stagingDirIsCheckpointed(stagingDir: string): boolean {
+  try {
+    const cpPath = join(homedir(), ".gbrain", "import-checkpoint.json");
+    if (!existsSync(cpPath)) return false;
+    const raw = readFileSync(cpPath, "utf-8");
+    const cp = JSON.parse(raw) as { dir?: string };
+    return cp.dir === stagingDir;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
 function installSignalForwarder(): void {
   if (_signalHandlersInstalled) return;
   _signalHandlersInstalled = true;
@@ -1290,11 +1314,24 @@ function installSignalForwarder(): void {
         // child may have already exited between the alive-check and the kill
       }
     }
-    // Synchronously clean up the active staging dir before exiting. The async
-    // `finally` blocks in ingestPass never run after process.exit fires from
-    // inside this handler, so cleanup has to happen here.
     if (_activeStagingDir) {
-      cleanupStagingDir(_activeStagingDir);
+      if (stagingDirIsCheckpointed(_activeStagingDir)) {
+        // Preserve for next-run resume. The orchestrator's decideResume()
+        // (in gstack-gbrain-sync.ts) will see the checkpoint + dir and
+        // re-invoke gbrain import against this same staging dir, picking
+        // up from processedIndex+1. See #1611.
+        try {
+          process.stderr.write(
+            `[memory-ingest] ${signal} received — preserving staging dir for resume: ${_activeStagingDir}\n`,
+          );
+        } catch {
+          // best-effort: stderr may be closed already
+        }
+      } else {
+        // No checkpoint pointing here — the import never reached gbrain or
+        // crashed before writing one. Clean up so we don't leak the dir.
+        cleanupStagingDir(_activeStagingDir);
+      }
       _activeStagingDir = null;
     }
     // Re-raise to default action so the parent actually exits. Without this,
@@ -1444,19 +1481,46 @@ async function ingestPass(args: CliArgs): Promise<BulkResult> {
   // entirely. gstack-brain-sync push will pick the dir up via its allowlist
   // and the brain admin's pull job will index transcripts into the remote
   // brain. Local PGLite (if any) stays code-only.
+  //
+  // Resume branch for #1611: when the orchestrator sets
+  // GSTACK_INGEST_RESUME_DIR (because gbrain's import-checkpoint.json points
+  // at an existing dir from a prior SIGTERM'd run), reuse that staging dir
+  // and skip the prepare/writeStaged phase entirely. gbrain's checkpoint
+  // tells it where to resume.
   const remoteHttpMode = isRemoteHttpMcpMode();
-  const stagingDir = remoteHttpMode
-    ? makePersistentTranscriptDir()
-    : makeStagingDir();
+  const resumeDir = process.env.GSTACK_INGEST_RESUME_DIR;
+  const resuming = !remoteHttpMode
+    && typeof resumeDir === "string"
+    && resumeDir.length > 0
+    && existsSync(resumeDir);
+  const stagingDir = resuming
+    ? resumeDir!
+    : remoteHttpMode
+      ? makePersistentTranscriptDir()
+      : makeStagingDir();
   // Register staging dir with the signal forwarder so SIGTERM/SIGINT can
-  // synchronously clean it up before process.exit (the async finally block
-  // below does NOT run after a signal-handler exit). In remote-http mode we
-  // skip registration — the dir is meant to persist.
+  // either preserve (when gbrain checkpointed it) or synchronously clean up.
+  // The async finally block below does NOT run after a signal-handler exit.
+  // In remote-http mode we skip registration — the dir is meant to persist.
   if (!remoteHttpMode) {
     _activeStagingDir = stagingDir;
   }
   try {
-    const staging = writeStaged(prep.prepared, stagingDir);
+    let staging: StagingResult;
+    if (resuming) {
+      // Pages are already on disk from the previous run. Skip writeStaged.
+      // The "written" count for the verdict reflects what's on disk now;
+      // gbrain's import will skip already-completed entries via its own
+      // checkpoint (processedIndex+1).
+      if (!args.quiet) {
+        console.error(
+          `[memory-ingest] resuming previous staging dir ${stagingDir} (skipping prepare phase)`,
+        );
+      }
+      staging = { staging_dir: stagingDir, written: prep.prepared.length, errors: [], stagedPathToSource: new Map() };
+    } else {
+      staging = writeStaged(prep.prepared, stagingDir);
+    }
     failed += staging.errors.length;
     if (!args.quiet && staging.errors.length > 0) {
       for (const e of staging.errors.slice(0, 5)) {