diff --git a/lyra/summary.py b/lyra/summary.py
index 1844444..46c3dfa 100644
--- a/lyra/summary.py
+++ b/lyra/summary.py
@@ -10,10 +10,13 @@ big imported conversation doesn't blow the local model's context window.
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import sys
+import time
 
 from lyra import config, llm, logbus, memory
 from lyra.llm import Backend, Message
 
+_RETRIES = 4
+
 # Re-summarize a session once it has accumulated this many new raw exchanges.
 SUMMARIZE_AFTER = 20
 # Transcript budget per LLM call; longer sessions are chunked + merged.
@@ -49,7 +52,16 @@ def _summarize_text(text: str, backend: Backend) -> str:
         {"role": "system", "content": _PROMPT},
         {"role": "user", "content": text},
     ]
-    return llm.complete(messages, backend=backend)
+    # Retry transient backend errors (e.g. the GPU server restarting) with backoff.
+    for attempt in range(_RETRIES):
+        try:
+            return llm.complete(messages, backend=backend)
+        except Exception as exc:
+            if attempt == _RETRIES - 1:
+                raise
+            logbus.log("debug", "summary retry", attempt=attempt + 1, error=str(exc)[:80])
+            time.sleep(5 * (attempt + 1))
+    raise RuntimeError("unreachable")
 
 
 def summarize_session(session_id: str, backend: Backend | None = None) -> str | None:
@@ -85,19 +97,26 @@ def summarize_all(backend: Backend | None = None, limit: int | None = None) -> d
     with an up-to-date summary are skipped, so re-running continues where it left off.
     """
     sessions = memory.list_sessions()
-    done, skipped = 0, 0
+    done, skipped, failed = 0, 0, 0
     for s in sessions:
         sid = s["id"]
         if memory.get_summary(sid) and memory.unsummarized_count(sid) == 0:
             skipped += 1
             continue
-        summarize_session(sid, backend=backend)
+        try:
+            summarize_session(sid, backend=backend)
+        except Exception as exc:
+            # Don't let one bad session kill the batch; log and move on (it'll
+            # be retried on the next run, since it stays unsummarized).
+            failed += 1
+            logbus.log("error", "summarize failed", session=sid, error=str(exc)[:120])
+            continue
         done += 1
         if done % 25 == 0:
-            logbus.log("info", "summarize-all progress", summarized=done, skipped=skipped)
+            logbus.log("info", "summarize-all progress", summarized=done, skipped=skipped, failed=failed)
         if limit is not None and done >= limit:
             break
-    report = {"summarized": done, "skipped": skipped, "total": len(sessions)}
+    report = {"summarized": done, "skipped": skipped, "failed": failed, "total": len(sessions)}
     logbus.log("info", "summarize-all complete", **report)
     return report