diff --git a/lib/gstack-memory-helpers.ts b/lib/gstack-memory-helpers.ts
index 91a786665..e0b619040 100644
--- a/lib/gstack-memory-helpers.ts
+++ b/lib/gstack-memory-helpers.ts
@@ -126,25 +126,88 @@ export function canonicalizeRemote(url: string | null | undefined): string {
 // ── Public: secretScanFile (gitleaks wrapper) ─────────────────────────────
 
 let _gitleaksAvailability: boolean | null = null;
+let _gitleaksWarned = false;
 
-function gitleaksAvailable(): boolean {
-  if (_gitleaksAvailability !== null) return _gitleaksAvailability;
+// Probe budgets. The first is short because the common answers (a real
+// gitleaks, or ENOENT) are both immediate; the second is generous because by
+// then we know the box is busy, not that the binary is absent.
+const GITLEAKS_PROBE_MS = 2_000;
+const GITLEAKS_RETRY_MS = 10_000;
+let _probeMs = GITLEAKS_PROBE_MS;
+let _retryMs = GITLEAKS_RETRY_MS;
+
+/**
+ * Probe outcome. "slow" is the load case: the binary may well be installed,
+ * the machine just did not get around to answering. It is deliberately NOT
+ * folded into "absent" — see gitleaksAvailable().
+ */
+type GitleaksProbe = "ok" | "absent" | "slow";
+
+function probeGitleaks(timeoutMs: number): GitleaksProbe {
   try {
     execFileSync("gitleaks", ["version"], {
       env: process.env,
       stdio: "ignore",
-      timeout: 2_000,
+      timeout: timeoutMs,
     });
+    return "ok";
+  } catch (err) {
+    const e = err as NodeJS.ErrnoException & { killed?: boolean; signal?: string };
+    if (e?.code === "ENOENT") return "absent";
+    // execFileSync kills the child when the budget runs out: `killed` with a
+    // SIGTERM on POSIX, ETIMEDOUT on runtimes that surface errno instead.
+    if (e?.killed === true || e?.signal === "SIGTERM" || e?.code === "ETIMEDOUT") {
+      return "slow";
+    }
+    // Present but unusable (non-zero exit, EACCES). Practically the same as
+    // absent, and equally permanent for this process.
+    return "absent";
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Is gitleaks usable? Answers are cached for the process — EXCEPT a timeout.
+ *
+ * Caching a timeout was a fail-open bug: one busy moment (observed under the
+ * 7-way sharded test runner, where spawning a shell script took over 2s) set
+ * availability to false for the whole run, and every later file was ingested
+ * unscanned behind a single stderr line. A missing binary is a fact and stays
+ * cached; a slow answer is a condition and gets retried on the next file.
+ */
+function gitleaksAvailable(): boolean {
+  if (_gitleaksAvailability !== null) return _gitleaksAvailability;
+
+  let probe = probeGitleaks(_probeMs);
+  if (probe === "slow") probe = probeGitleaks(_retryMs);
+
+  if (probe === "ok") {
     _gitleaksAvailability = true;
-  } catch {
-    _gitleaksAvailability = false;
-    // Only warn once per process — Lane E will vendor the binary.
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  if (probe === "slow") {
+    // No cache write: leave the question open for the next call.
+    if (!_gitleaksWarned) {
+      _gitleaksWarned = true;
+      process.stderr.write(
+        "[gstack-memory-helpers] gitleaks did not answer in " +
+        `${Math.round((_probeMs + _retryMs) / 1000)}s (machine under load); ` +
+        "this file goes unscanned and the probe retries on the next one.\n"
+      );
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  _gitleaksAvailability = false;
+  // Only warn once per process — Lane E will vendor the binary.
+  if (!_gitleaksWarned) {
+    _gitleaksWarned = true;
     process.stderr.write(
       "[gstack-memory-helpers] gitleaks not in PATH; secret scanning disabled. " +
       "Run /setup-gbrain to install (or `brew install gitleaks`).\n"
     );
   }
-  return _gitleaksAvailability;
+  return false;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -513,4 +576,20 @@ function logErrorContext(entry: ErrorContextEntry): void {
 // Test-only export for resetting the gitleaks availability cache between tests.
 export function _resetGitleaksAvailabilityCache(): void {
   _gitleaksAvailability = null;
+  _gitleaksWarned = false;
+  _probeMs = GITLEAKS_PROBE_MS;
+  _retryMs = GITLEAKS_RETRY_MS;
+}
+
+// Test-only: shrink the probe budgets so the slow path can be exercised
+// without a multi-second sleep in the suite. Reset restores the defaults.
+export function _setGitleaksProbeTimeouts(first: number, second: number): void {
+  _probeMs = first;
+  _retryMs = second;
+}
+
+// Test-only: read the cache without triggering a probe. `null` means the
+// question is still open — which is the whole point of the timeout path.
+export function _gitleaksCacheState(): boolean | null {
+  return _gitleaksAvailability;
 }
diff --git a/test/gstack-memory-helpers.test.ts b/test/gstack-memory-helpers.test.ts
index 48a3dbd81..1b06a4303 100644
--- a/test/gstack-memory-helpers.test.ts
+++ b/test/gstack-memory-helpers.test.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import {
   withErrorContext,
   detectEngineTier,
   _resetGitleaksAvailabilityCache,
+  _setGitleaksProbeTimeouts,
+  _gitleaksCacheState,
 } from "../lib/gstack-memory-helpers";
 
 // ── canonicalizeRemote ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -153,8 +155,140 @@ exit 2
       expect(result.scanner).toBe("gitleaks");
       expect(result.findings).toEqual([]);
       const calls = readFileSync(log, "utf-8").trim().split("\n");
+      // Under load the first probe can expire and retry, so assert the shape:
+      // one or more `version` probes, then the scan. Pinning calls[1] made a
+      // busy machine look like a broken scanner.
       expect(calls[0]).toBe("version");
-      expect(calls[1]).toContain("detect --no-git --source");
+      expect(calls.at(-1)).toContain("detect --no-git --source");
+      expect(calls.slice(0, -1).every((c) => c === "version")).toBe(true);
+    } finally {
+      if (oldPath === undefined) delete process.env.PATH;
+      else process.env.PATH = oldPath;
+      rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  // ── probe timeout vs missing binary ──────────────────────────────────────
+  //
+  // A timeout used to be cached as "gitleaks is absent", which turned one busy
+  // moment into an entire run of unscanned files behind a single stderr line.
+  // These pin the two outcomes apart. Budgets are shrunk via the test-only
+  // hook so a sleeping fake costs milliseconds, not seconds.
+
+  /**
+   * Fake gitleaks. With a `marker` path, the FIRST `version` call hangs far
+   * past any budget and later calls answer instantly; with an empty marker it
+   * hangs every time. Timing is expressed as "hangs forever" vs "immediate"
+   * rather than as a race between a short sleep and a short budget — a race is
+   * exactly the flake being fixed here.
+   */
+  function fakeGitleaks(binDir: string, log: string, marker: string): void {
+    mkdirSync(binDir, { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(binDir, "gitleaks"),
+      `#!/bin/sh
+printf '%s\\n' "$*" >> "${log}"
+if [ "$1" = "version" ]; then
+  if [ -n "${marker}" ] && [ -f "${marker}" ]; then
+    exit 0
+  fi
+  if [ -n "${marker}" ]; then
+    touch "${marker}"
+  fi
+  sleep 30
+  exit 0
+fi
+if [ "$1" = "detect" ]; then
+  echo '[]'
+  exit 0
+fi
+exit 2
+`,
+      "utf-8",
+    );
+    chmodSync(join(binDir, "gitleaks"), 0o755);
+  }
+
+  function withFakeOnPath<T>(binDir: string, fn: () => T): T {
+    const oldPath = process.env.PATH;
+    process.env.PATH = `${binDir}:${oldPath || ""}`;
+    try {
+      return fn();
+    } finally {
+      if (oldPath === undefined) delete process.env.PATH;
+      else process.env.PATH = oldPath;
+    }
+  }
+
+  const versionProbes = (log: string): number =>
+    existsSync(log)
+      ? readFileSync(log, "utf-8").trim().split("\n").filter((c) => c === "version").length
+      : 0;
+
+  it("retries a slow probe instead of declaring gitleaks missing", () => {
+    const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "gstack-test-"));
+    const binDir = join(dir, "bin");
+    const log = join(dir, "calls.log");
+    const file = join(dir, "clean.txt");
+    writeFileSync(file, "no secrets here\n");
+    fakeGitleaks(binDir, log, join(dir, "hung-once"));
+    try {
+      // Budgets are picked so neither outcome can hinge on machine speed: 3s is
+      // ample for a shell to start and log even on a loaded box (yet the hung
+      // `sleep 30` still cannot answer within it), and the 30s retry cannot
+      // expire against a fake that exits immediately. The first draft used
+      // 1s/5s and flaked under the 7-way shard runner — the very failure mode
+      // this file is about.
+      _setGitleaksProbeTimeouts(3_000, 30_000);
+      const result = withFakeOnPath(binDir, () => secretScanFile(file));
+      expect(result.scanner).toBe("gitleaks");
+      expect(versionProbes(log)).toBe(2);
+      expect(_gitleaksCacheState()).toBe(true);
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("does not cache a timed-out probe, so the next file tries again", () => {
+    const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "gstack-test-"));
+    const binDir = join(dir, "bin");
+    const log = join(dir, "calls.log");
+    const file = join(dir, "clean.txt");
+    writeFileSync(file, "no secrets here\n");
+    // Empty marker: EVERY call hangs, so both budgets expire.
+    fakeGitleaks(binDir, log, "");
+    try {
+      // Short on purpose, and safe to be short: the fake hangs for 30s, so the
+      // probe times out at ANY budget — load cannot flip this outcome the way
+      // it can in the retry case above. 800ms only has to cover writing one
+      // line to the log.
+      _setGitleaksProbeTimeouts(800, 800);
+      const first = withFakeOnPath(binDir, () => secretScanFile(file));
+      expect(first.scanner).toBe("missing");
+      // The question stays open: nothing was learned about the binary.
+      expect(_gitleaksCacheState()).toBeNull();
+
+      const before = versionProbes(log);
+      withFakeOnPath(binDir, () => secretScanFile(file));
+      expect(versionProbes(log)).toBeGreaterThan(before);
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("caches an absent binary, so it is probed once per process", () => {
+    const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "gstack-test-"));
+    const binDir = join(dir, "empty-bin");
+    mkdirSync(binDir, { recursive: true });
+    const file = join(dir, "clean.txt");
+    writeFileSync(file, "no secrets here\n");
+    const oldPath = process.env.PATH;
+    try {
+      // Nothing named gitleaks anywhere on PATH -> ENOENT, a permanent fact.
+      process.env.PATH = binDir;
+      const result = secretScanFile(file);
+      expect(result.scanner).toBe("missing");
+      expect(_gitleaksCacheState()).toBe(false);
     } finally {
       if (oldPath === undefined) delete process.env.PATH;
       else process.env.PATH = oldPath;