diff --git a/openviking/storage/transaction/lock_manager.py b/openviking/storage/transaction/lock_manager.py
index f6e9a15e1..589eae7d4 100644
--- a/openviking/storage/transaction/lock_manager.py
+++ b/openviking/storage/transaction/lock_manager.py
@@ -246,6 +246,21 @@ def _reconcile_handle(self, handle: LockHandle) -> Optional[LockHandle]:
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     async def _recover_pending_redo(self) -> None:
+        # Wait for the queue manager to become available so that
+        # _enqueue_semantic does not silently discard work.
+        from openviking.storage.queuefs import get_queue_manager
+
+        for _ in range(30):  # up to 30 s
+            if get_queue_manager() is not None:
+                break
+            await asyncio.sleep(1)
+        else:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Queue manager not available after 30 s — "
+                "deferring redo recovery to next restart"
+            )
+            return
+
         pending_ids = self._redo_log.list_pending()
         for task_id in pending_ids:
             logger.info(f"Recovering pending redo task: {task_id}")
@@ -314,7 +329,7 @@ async def _redo_session_memory(self, info: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
                         session_id=session_id,
                         ctx=ctx,
                     ),
-                    timeout=60.0,
+                    timeout=15.0,  # short timeout during recovery to avoid blocking startup
                 )
                 logger.info(f"Redo: extracted {len(memories)} memories from {archive_uri}")
             except Exception as e:
@@ -337,8 +352,9 @@ async def _enqueue_semantic(self, **params: Any) -> None:
 
         queue_manager = get_queue_manager()
         if queue_manager is None:
-            logger.debug("No queue manager available, skipping enqueue_semantic")
-            return
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                "Queue manager not available — cannot enqueue semantic processing"
+            )
 
         uri = params.get("uri")
         if not uri: