diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.file-race.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.file-race.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..21d8cc94aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.file-race.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import * as fs from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { captionImagesWithGemini } from "./contentExtractor.js";
+
+const hooks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  afterStat: () => {},
+  beforeRead: () => {},
+  descriptor: -1,
+}));
+
+vi.mock("node:fs", async (importOriginal) => {
+  const actual = await importOriginal<typeof fs>();
+  return {
+    ...actual,
+    statSync: (path: fs.PathLike) => {
+      const stat = actual.statSync(path);
+      hooks.afterStat();
+      return stat;
+    },
+    fstatSync: (fd: number) => {
+      hooks.descriptor = fd;
+      const stat = actual.fstatSync(fd);
+      hooks.afterStat();
+      return stat;
+    },
+    readFileSync: (path: fs.PathOrFileDescriptor) => {
+      hooks.beforeRead();
+      return actual.readFileSync(path);
+    },
+  };
+});
+
+describe("caption image file reads", () => {
+  let dir: string;
+  let file: string;
+  let sentBody: string;
+  const fetchMock = vi.fn(async (_url: string, init?: RequestInit) => {
+    sentBody = typeof init?.body === "string" ? init.body : "";
+    return new Response(JSON.stringify({ choices: [{ message: { content: "A hero." } }] }));
+  });
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    dir = fs.mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "hf-caption-read-"));
+    fs.mkdirSync(join(dir, "assets"));
+    file = join(dir, "assets", "hero.png");
+    fs.writeFileSync(file, "original image");
+    hooks.afterStat = () => {};
+    hooks.beforeRead = () => {};
+    hooks.descriptor = -1;
+    sentBody = "";
+    fetchMock.mockClear();
+    vi.stubEnv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY", "test-key");
+    vi.stubGlobal("fetch", fetchMock);
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    hooks.afterStat = () => {};
+    hooks.beforeRead = () => {};
+    vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+    vi.unstubAllEnvs();
+    fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  async function expectClosed() {
+    const actual = await vi.importActual<typeof fs>("node:fs");
+    expect(hooks.descriptor).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+    expect(() => actual.fstatSync(hooks.descriptor)).toThrow(/EBADF/);
+  }
+
+  it("reads the checked image when its directory entry is replaced", async () => {
+    hooks.afterStat = () => {
+      fs.renameSync(file, join(dir, "original.png"));
+      fs.writeFileSync(file, "replacement image");
+    };
+    expect(await captionImagesWithGemini(dir, () => {}, [])).toEqual({ "hero.png": "A hero." });
+    expect(sentBody).toContain(Buffer.from("original image").toString("base64"));
+    expect(sentBody).not.toContain(Buffer.from("replacement image").toString("base64"));
+    await expectClosed();
+  });
+
+  it.each([4_000_000, 4_000_001])("preserves the inline size limit for %i bytes", async (size) => {
+    fs.writeFileSync(file, Buffer.alloc(size));
+    const read = vi.fn();
+    hooks.beforeRead = read;
+    const captions = await captionImagesWithGemini(dir, () => {}, []);
+    expect(captions).toEqual(size === 4_000_000 ? { "hero.png": "A hero." } : {});
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(size === 4_000_000 ? 1 : 0);
+    expect(read).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(size === 4_000_000 ? 1 : 0);
+    await expectClosed();
+  });
+
+  it.each(["stat", "read"])("closes the image and reports a failed %s", async (step) => {
+    const fail = () => {
+      throw new Error("Injected file failure");
+    };
+    if (step === "stat") hooks.afterStat = fail;
+    else hooks.beforeRead = fail;
+    const warnings: string[] = [];
+    expect(await captionImagesWithGemini(dir, () => {}, warnings)).toEqual({});
+    expect(warnings).toEqual(["OpenRouter vision failed for 1 asset(s); captions omitted."]);
+    expect(fetchMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    await expectClosed();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.ts
index e1cc19710a..f32a55c527 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,15 @@
  */
 
 import type { Page } from "puppeteer-core";
-import { existsSync, readdirSync, statSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import {
+  existsSync,
+  readdirSync,
+  statSync,
+  readFileSync,
+  openSync,
+  fstatSync,
+  closeSync,
+} from "node:fs";
 import { basename, join } from "node:path";
 import type sharpType from "sharp";
 import type { CatalogedAsset } from "./assetCataloger.js";
@@ -446,9 +454,15 @@ export async function captionImagesWithGemini(
       const results = await Promise.allSettled(
         batch.map(async (file: string) => {
           const filePath = join(outputDir, "assets", file);
-          const stat = statSync(filePath);
-          if (stat.size > 4_000_000) return { file, caption: "" }; // skip images > 4 MB (provider inline limit)
-          const buffer = readFileSync(filePath);
+          const fd = openSync(filePath, "r");
+          let buffer: Buffer;
+          try {
+            const stat = fstatSync(fd);
+            if (stat.size > 4_000_000) return { file, caption: "" }; // skip images > 4 MB (provider inline limit)
+            buffer = readFileSync(fd);
+          } finally {
+            closeSync(fd);
+          }
           const base64 = buffer.toString("base64");
           const ext = file.split(".").pop()?.toLowerCase() || "png";
           const mimeType = ext === "jpg" ? "image/jpeg" : `image/${ext}`;