diff --git a/core/services/advisorylock/advisorylock.go b/core/services/advisorylock/advisorylock.go
index 1ef0acffc..a37403c31 100644
--- a/core/services/advisorylock/advisorylock.go
+++ b/core/services/advisorylock/advisorylock.go
@@ -6,10 +6,39 @@ import (
 	"hash/fnv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
 	"gorm.io/gorm"
 )
 
+// advisoryLockWaitBackstop bounds, server-side, how long we will wait to
+// acquire a blocking advisory lock when the caller's context carries no
+// deadline (e.g. a startup schema migration using context.Background()). It
+// only exists so such a caller cannot hang forever behind a holder whose
+// session never releases the lock; it is far longer than any legitimate
+// guarded section. A var (not const) so tests can shrink it.
+var advisoryLockWaitBackstop = 30 * time.Minute
+
+// advisoryLockTimeoutMargin is added to a context's remaining budget when
+// deriving the server-side lock_timeout, so the Go context's own (cleaner)
+// cancellation fires first and the server bound is only ever a backstop.
+const advisoryLockTimeoutMargin = 30 * time.Second
+
+// advisoryLockWaitBudget returns the server-side lock_timeout to use for a
+// blocking acquire: the caller context's remaining time plus a margin (so the
+// Go context still governs), or the backstop when the context has no deadline.
+// Never returns zero - "wait forever" must not be possible.
+func advisoryLockWaitBudget(ctx context.Context) time.Duration {
+	if dl, ok := ctx.Deadline(); ok {
+		budget := time.Until(dl) + advisoryLockTimeoutMargin
+		if budget < time.Second {
+			budget = time.Second
+		}
+		return budget
+	}
+	return advisoryLockWaitBackstop
+}
+
 // localLocks holds one buffered channel (capacity 1) per lock key, used as an
 // in-process mutex for non-PostgreSQL dialects (SQLite). A SQLite auth DB is
 // effectively single-process, so serializing guarded sections within this
@@ -130,16 +159,23 @@ func WithLockCtx(ctx context.Context, db *gorm.DB, key int64, fn func() error) e
 	}
 	defer conn.Close()
 
-	// Neutralize any deployment-wide lock_timeout on this dedicated connection.
+	// Override any deployment-wide lock_timeout on this dedicated connection.
 	// Operators commonly set a short global lock_timeout (on the role or
 	// database) to bound ordinary row-lock waits. Applied to the blocking
 	// pg_advisory_lock below, it aborts the wait with SQLSTATE 55P03 and turns
 	// LocalAI's intentional cross-replica "wait your turn, then re-check"
 	// coordination into a hard error for the caller (e.g. a chat request that
-	// just wanted to reuse a model another replica is loading). Let the Go
-	// context be the single source of truth for how long we wait instead.
-	if _, err := conn.ExecContext(ctx, "SET lock_timeout = 0"); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("advisorylock: disabling lock_timeout: %w", err)
+	// just wanted to reuse a model another replica is loading).
+	//
+	// We do NOT disable it outright (lock_timeout = 0 would wait forever, which
+	// is unsafe for the schema-migration callers that pass context.Background()).
+	// Instead we set a bound derived from the caller's context: its remaining
+	// budget plus a margin so the Go context's cancellation wins with a clean
+	// error, or a finite backstop when the context has no deadline.
+	waitBudget := advisoryLockWaitBudget(ctx)
+	if _, err := conn.ExecContext(ctx,
+		fmt.Sprintf("SET lock_timeout = %d", waitBudget.Milliseconds())); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("advisorylock: setting lock_timeout: %w", err)
 	}
 	// Restore the session default before this pooled connection is reused.
 	defer func() { _, _ = conn.ExecContext(context.Background(), "RESET lock_timeout") }()
diff --git a/core/services/advisorylock/advisorylock_test.go b/core/services/advisorylock/advisorylock_test.go
index e37034916..a77df56c4 100644
--- a/core/services/advisorylock/advisorylock_test.go
+++ b/core/services/advisorylock/advisorylock_test.go
@@ -205,6 +205,40 @@ var _ = Describe("AdvisoryLock", func() {
 			<-released
 		})
 
+		It("bounds a deadline-less waiter with the backstop instead of waiting forever", func() {
+			const lockKey int64 = 704
+
+			// A caller with no context deadline (e.g. startup schema migration
+			// passing context.Background()) must not hang forever if the holder
+			// never releases. Shrink the backstop so the test is fast.
+			origBackstop := advisoryLockWaitBackstop
+			advisoryLockWaitBackstop = 500 * time.Millisecond
+			DeferCleanup(func() { advisoryLockWaitBackstop = origBackstop })
+
+			holding := make(chan struct{})
+			release := make(chan struct{})
+			go func() {
+				defer GinkgoRecover()
+				_ = WithLockCtx(context.Background(), db, lockKey, func() error {
+					close(holding)
+					<-release // hold until the test releases us
+					return nil
+				})
+			}()
+			defer close(release)
+
+			<-holding
+
+			start := time.Now()
+			err := WithLockCtx(context.Background(), db, lockKey, func() error {
+				Fail("waiter should not have acquired the still-held lock")
+				return nil
+			})
+			Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred(), "deadline-less waiter should give up at the backstop, not hang")
+			Expect(time.Since(start)).To(BeNumerically("<", 5*time.Second),
+				"backstop must cap the wait well under the test timeout")
+		})
+
 		It("serializes concurrent WithLockCtx on same key", func() {
 			const lockKey int64 = 702