diff --git a/app/Jobs/RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob.php b/app/Jobs/RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d0e99388
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/Jobs/RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob.php
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace App\Jobs;
+
+use App\Models\User;
+use App\Services\Ai\AiCategorizationGate;
+use App\Services\Ai\AiCategorizer;
+use Illuminate\Contracts\Queue\ShouldBeUnique;
+use Illuminate\Contracts\Queue\ShouldQueue;
+use Illuminate\Foundation\Queue\Queueable;
+
+/**
+ * Re-run categorization for a user after a transient AI provider failure
+ * (overload / rate limit) dropped one or more chunks. De-duplicated per user so
+ * a surge that drops many chunks queues a single retry, and dispatched with a
+ * delay so the provider can recover first. It re-reads the user's still-pending
+ * transactions, so it is a no-op once everything is categorized.
+ *
+ * ponytail: the unique lock is held until this job finishes, so a retry that
+ * overloads again cannot chain a further one — exactly one deferred attempt per
+ * failure. Failed 503s are not billed; lift the lock to ShouldBeUniqueUntilProcessing
+ * with an attempt cap if a single retry proves too few for long outages.
+ */
+class RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob implements ShouldBeUnique, ShouldQueue
+{
+    use Queueable;
+
+    public int $timeout = 300;
+
+    public int $tries = 1;
+
+    /**
+     * Safety TTL for the unique lock in case a worker dies mid-run; comfortably
+     * longer than the retry delay plus a run.
+     */
+    public int $uniqueFor = 1800;
+
+    public function __construct(public User $user) {}
+
+    public function viaQueue(): string
+    {
+        return (string) config('ai_categorization.queue');
+    }
+
+    public function uniqueId(): string
+    {
+        return $this->user->id;
+    }
+
+    public function handle(AiCategorizationGate $gate, AiCategorizer $categorizer): void
+    {
+        if (! $gate->allows($this->user)) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        $categorizer->backfill($this->user);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/app/Services/Ai/CategorizeTransactions.php b/app/Services/Ai/CategorizeTransactions.php
index c1183975..674b3b85 100644
--- a/app/Services/Ai/CategorizeTransactions.php
+++ b/app/Services/Ai/CategorizeTransactions.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ namespace App\Services\Ai;
 
 use App\Ai\Agents\TransactionCategorizationAgent;
 use App\Enums\CategorySource;
+use App\Jobs\RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob;
 use App\Models\Transaction;
 use App\Models\User;
 use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ class CategorizeTransactions
         }
 
         $byRef = $transactions->keyBy(fn (Transaction $transaction): string => $transaction->id);
-        $results = $this->resolve($transactions, $catalog);
+        $results = $this->resolve($user, $transactions, $catalog);
 
         $labelBar = (float) config('ai_categorization.label_confidence');
         $model = (string) config('ai_categorization.model');
@@ -103,12 +104,13 @@ class CategorizeTransactions
     /**
      * Send the transactions to the model in bounded chunks and merge the
      * results. A chunk that fails after a retry is dropped without discarding
-     * the chunks that succeeded.
+     * the chunks that succeeded; a transient provider failure additionally
+     * schedules a deferred retry of the user's still-pending transactions.
      *
      * @param  Collection<int, Transaction>  $transactions
      * @return list<array<string, mixed>>
      */
-    private function resolve(Collection $transactions, CategoryCatalog $catalog): array
+    private function resolve(User $user, Collection $transactions, CategoryCatalog $catalog): array
     {
         $batchSize = max(1, (int) config('ai_categorization.group_batch_size'));
         $results = [];
@@ -122,6 +124,9 @@ class CategorizeTransactions
                 Log::warning('AI categorization chunk dropped: provider transient failure.', [
                     'exception' => $exception->getMessage(),
                 ]);
+
+                RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob::dispatch($user)
+                    ->delay(now()->addMinutes((int) config('ai_categorization.retry_delay')));
             } catch (Throwable $exception) {
                 report($exception);
             }
diff --git a/config/ai_categorization.php b/config/ai_categorization.php
index 78d9f7bd..17b9e580 100644
--- a/config/ai_categorization.php
+++ b/config/ai_categorization.php
@@ -69,6 +69,19 @@ return [
 
     'queue' => env('AI_CATEGORIZATION_QUEUE', 'ai'),
 
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Transient-failure retry delay
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Minutes to wait before retrying a user's still-pending transactions after
+    | the AI provider dropped a chunk with a transient failure (overload / rate
+    | limit). The delay lets the provider recover before we try again.
+    |
+    */
+
+    'retry_delay' => (int) env('AI_CATEGORIZATION_RETRY_DELAY', 10),
+
     /*
     |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
     | Free-plan upsell nudge
diff --git a/tests/Feature/Ai/CategorizeTransactionsTest.php b/tests/Feature/Ai/CategorizeTransactionsTest.php
index f9526c30..b25a3993 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/Ai/CategorizeTransactionsTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/Ai/CategorizeTransactionsTest.php
@@ -4,12 +4,14 @@ use App\Ai\Agents\TransactionCategorizationAgent;
 use App\Enums\CategoryCashflowDirection;
 use App\Enums\CategorySource;
 use App\Enums\CategoryType;
+use App\Jobs\RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob;
 use App\Models\Category;
 use App\Models\Transaction;
 use App\Models\User;
 use App\Services\Ai\CategorizeTransactions;
 use App\Services\Ai\CategoryCatalog;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Exceptions;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Queue;
 use Laravel\Ai\Exceptions\ProviderOverloadedException;
 
 function leafIndex(CategoryCatalog $catalog, string $categoryId): int
@@ -134,12 +136,13 @@ it('never sends client-side encrypted transactions to the model', function () {
         ->and($encrypted->category_id)->toBeNull();
 });
 
-it('drops the chunk without reporting when the provider is transiently overloaded', function () {
+it('drops the chunk, skips reporting and schedules a retry when the provider is transiently overloaded', function () {
     $user = User::factory()->create();
     groceries($user);
     $transaction = uncategorized($user);
 
     Exceptions::fake();
+    Queue::fake();
 
     TransactionCategorizationAgent::fake(fn () => throw ProviderOverloadedException::forProvider('gemini'));
 
@@ -151,14 +154,19 @@ it('drops the chunk without reporting when the provider is transiently overloade
         ->and($transaction->category_id)->toBeNull();
 
     Exceptions::assertNothingReported();
+    Queue::assertPushed(
+        RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob::class,
+        fn (RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob $job): bool => $job->user->is($user),
+    );
 });
 
-it('reports unexpected failures so real bugs are not swallowed', function () {
+it('reports unexpected failures and does not schedule a retry so real bugs are not swallowed', function () {
     $user = User::factory()->create();
     groceries($user);
     $transaction = uncategorized($user);
 
     Exceptions::fake();
+    Queue::fake();
 
     TransactionCategorizationAgent::fake(fn () => throw new RuntimeException('malformed response'));
 
@@ -167,6 +175,7 @@ it('reports unexpected failures so real bugs are not swallowed', function () {
     expect($outcomes)->toBe([]);
 
     Exceptions::assertReported(fn (RuntimeException $e): bool => $e->getMessage() === 'malformed response');
+    Queue::assertNotPushed(RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob::class);
 });
 
 it('skips results whose category index does not resolve', function () {
diff --git a/tests/Feature/Ai/RetryTransientAiCategorizationJobTest.php b/tests/Feature/Ai/RetryTransientAiCategorizationJobTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..34f82d2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Feature/Ai/RetryTransientAiCategorizationJobTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+<?php
+
+use App\Ai\Agents\TransactionCategorizationAgent;
+use App\Enums\CategoryCashflowDirection;
+use App\Enums\CategorySource;
+use App\Enums\CategoryType;
+use App\Jobs\RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob;
+use App\Models\Category;
+use App\Models\Transaction;
+use App\Models\User;
+use App\Services\Ai\CategoryCatalog;
+
+it('categorizes the still-pending transactions when run for a consenting user', function () {
+    $user = User::factory()->create();
+    $user->recordAiConsent();
+
+    $category = Category::factory()->for($user)->create([
+        'type' => CategoryType::Expense,
+        'cashflow_direction' => CategoryCashflowDirection::Outflow,
+    ]);
+
+    $catalog = CategoryCatalog::forUser($user);
+    $index = 0;
+    while (($id = $catalog->categoryIdForIndex($index)) !== null && $id !== $category->id) {
+        $index++;
+    }
+
+    $transaction = Transaction::factory()->plaintext()->create([
+        'user_id' => $user->id,
+        'category_id' => null,
+        'category_source' => null,
+        'amount' => -4300,
+        'creditor_name' => 'mercadona',
+        'description' => 'mercadona compra',
+    ]);
+
+    TransactionCategorizationAgent::fake([
+        ['results' => [[
+            'ref' => $transaction->id,
+            'category_index' => $index,
+            'confidence' => 0.95,
+            'merchant_unambiguous' => true,
+        ]]],
+    ]);
+
+    app()->call([new RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob($user), 'handle']);
+
+    $transaction->refresh();
+
+    expect($transaction->category_id)->toBe($category->id)
+        ->and($transaction->category_source)->toBe(CategorySource::Ai);
+});
+
+it('does nothing when the user has not consented to AI', function () {
+    $user = User::factory()->create();
+
+    Category::factory()->for($user)->create([
+        'type' => CategoryType::Expense,
+        'cashflow_direction' => CategoryCashflowDirection::Outflow,
+    ]);
+
+    $transaction = Transaction::factory()->plaintext()->create([
+        'user_id' => $user->id,
+        'category_id' => null,
+        'creditor_name' => 'mercadona',
+    ]);
+
+    TransactionCategorizationAgent::fake([])->preventStrayPrompts();
+
+    app()->call([new RetryTransientAiCategorizationJob($user), 'handle']);
+
+    $transaction->refresh();
+
+    expect($transaction->category_id)->toBeNull();
+    TransactionCategorizationAgent::assertNeverPrompted();
+});