diff --git a/packages/web/server/lib/github/index.js b/packages/web/server/lib/github/index.js
index 926584b7..893a26e5 100644
--- a/packages/web/server/lib/github/index.js
+++ b/packages/web/server/lib/github/index.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ export {
 
 export {
   getOctokitOrNull,
+  createOctokit,
 } from './octokit.js';
 
 export {
diff --git a/packages/web/server/lib/github/octokit.js b/packages/web/server/lib/github/octokit.js
index b6cd15cc..caf05306 100644
--- a/packages/web/server/lib/github/octokit.js
+++ b/packages/web/server/lib/github/octokit.js
@@ -2,6 +2,26 @@ import { Octokit } from '@octokit/rest';
 import { getGitHubAuth, isGhCliActive, isGhCliDisabled } from './auth.js';
 import { getGhCliToken } from './gh-cli-credential.js';
 
+// Per-request timeout for every GitHub call. Octokit v22 uses native fetch,
+// which has no built-in timeout — without this, a stuck connection hangs until
+// some outer bound (the PR-status route's 12s overall budget) fires, and a
+// single slow request can eat the whole budget. Bounding each request lets the
+// caller fail fast and fall back to cached state instead.
+const OCTOKIT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS = 8000;
+
+const timeoutFetch = (url, options = {}) => {
+  // Respect a caller-provided signal if present; otherwise attach our timeout.
+  if (options.signal) {
+    return fetch(url, options);
+  }
+  return fetch(url, { ...options, signal: AbortSignal.timeout(OCTOKIT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS) });
+};
+
+/** Create an Octokit instance with a per-request timeout applied. */
+export function createOctokit(token) {
+  return new Octokit({ auth: token, request: { fetch: timeoutFetch } });
+}
+
 export function getOctokitOrNull() {
   const auth = getGitHubAuth();
   const ghToken = !isGhCliDisabled() ? getGhCliToken() : null;
@@ -9,5 +29,5 @@ export function getOctokitOrNull() {
   if (!token) {
     return null;
   }
-  return new Octokit({ auth: token });
+  return createOctokit(token);
 }
diff --git a/packages/web/server/lib/github/routes.js b/packages/web/server/lib/github/routes.js
index 6307c268..0f20ccc0 100644
--- a/packages/web/server/lib/github/routes.js
+++ b/packages/web/server/lib/github/routes.js
@@ -108,8 +108,8 @@ export function registerGitHubRoutes(app) {
 
       if (ghToken !== null && !ghCliDisabled) {
         try {
-          const { Octokit } = await import('@octokit/rest');
-          ghCliUser = await getGitHubUserSummary(new Octokit({ auth: ghToken }));
+          const { createOctokit } = await import('./octokit.js');
+          ghCliUser = await getGitHubUserSummary(createOctokit(ghToken));
         } catch {
           ghCliUser = null;
         }
@@ -246,8 +246,8 @@ export function registerGitHubRoutes(app) {
         return res.status(500).json({ error: 'Missing access_token from GitHub' });
       }
 
-      const { Octokit } = await import('@octokit/rest');
-      const octokit = new Octokit({ auth: accessToken });
+      const { createOctokit } = await import('./octokit.js');
+      const octokit = createOctokit(accessToken);
       const user = await getGitHubUserSummary(octokit);
 
       setGitHubAuth({
@@ -283,8 +283,8 @@ export function registerGitHubRoutes(app) {
           return res.status(404).json({ error: 'GitHub CLI account not found' });
         }
 
-        const { Octokit } = await import('@octokit/rest');
-        const user = await getGitHubUserSummary(new Octokit({ auth: ghToken }));
+        const { createOctokit } = await import('./octokit.js');
+        const user = await getGitHubUserSummary(createOctokit(ghToken));
         setGhCliActive(true);
         const accounts = getGitHubAuthAccounts()
           .map((account) => ({ ...account, current: false }))
@@ -319,8 +319,8 @@ export function registerGitHubRoutes(app) {
       let ghCliUser = null;
       if (ghToken) {
         try {
-          const { Octokit } = await import('@octokit/rest');
-          ghCliUser = await getGitHubUserSummary(new Octokit({ auth: ghToken }));
+          const { createOctokit } = await import('./octokit.js');
+          ghCliUser = await getGitHubUserSummary(createOctokit(ghToken));
           accounts = accounts.concat({
             id: GH_CLI_ACCOUNT_ID,
             user: ghCliUser,