diff --git a/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py b/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
index 7a7064d72fe..4e52b914aac 100644
--- a/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
+++ b/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
@@ -128,6 +128,23 @@ def _is_openai_codex_backend(agent) -> bool:
     )
 
 
+def openai_codex_stale_timeout_floor(est_tokens: int) -> float:
+    """Minimum wall-clock stale timeout for openai-codex by estimated context.
+
+    Gateway/Telegram sessions routinely ship ~15–25k tokens of tools +
+    instructions before the first user message. Subscription-backed Codex can
+    legitimately spend several minutes in backend admission/prefill at that
+    size; the generic 90s non-stream stale default aborts healthy calls.
+    """
+    if est_tokens > 100_000:
+        return 1200.0
+    if est_tokens > 50_000:
+        return 900.0
+    if est_tokens > 10_000:
+        return 600.0
+    return 0.0
+
+
 def _validated_openrouter_provider_sort(raw_sort: Any) -> Optional[str]:
     """Return a normalized OpenRouter provider.sort value or None."""
     if not isinstance(raw_sort, str):
@@ -316,12 +333,9 @@ def interruptible_api_call(agent, api_kwargs: dict):
     _openai_codex_backend = _is_openai_codex_backend(agent)
     _est_tokens_for_codex_watchdog = estimate_request_context_tokens(api_kwargs)
     if _codex_watchdog_enabled and _openai_codex_backend:
-        if _est_tokens_for_codex_watchdog > 100_000:
-            _stale_timeout = max(_stale_timeout, 1200.0)
-        elif _est_tokens_for_codex_watchdog > 50_000:
-            _stale_timeout = max(_stale_timeout, 900.0)
-        elif _est_tokens_for_codex_watchdog > 25_000:
-            _stale_timeout = max(_stale_timeout, 600.0)
+        _codex_floor = openai_codex_stale_timeout_floor(_est_tokens_for_codex_watchdog)
+        if _codex_floor:
+            _stale_timeout = max(_stale_timeout, _codex_floor)
 
     if _est_tokens_for_codex_watchdog > 100_000:
         _codex_idle_timeout_default = 180.0
@@ -344,7 +358,7 @@ def interruptible_api_call(agent, api_kwargs: dict):
     if _ttfb_timeout <= 0:
         _ttfb_enabled = False
     elif _openai_codex_backend:
-        _ttfb_disable_above = _env_float("HERMES_CODEX_TTFB_DISABLE_ABOVE_TOKENS", 25_000.0)
+        _ttfb_disable_above = _env_float("HERMES_CODEX_TTFB_DISABLE_ABOVE_TOKENS", 10_000.0)
         _ttfb_strict = os.environ.get("HERMES_CODEX_TTFB_STRICT", "").strip().lower() in {
             "1", "true", "yes", "on"
         }