diff --git a/.agents/scripts/pulse-wrapper.sh b/.agents/scripts/pulse-wrapper.sh
index 85021c2ec..22fb45329 100755
--- a/.agents/scripts/pulse-wrapper.sh
+++ b/.agents/scripts/pulse-wrapper.sh
@@ -225,16 +225,28 @@ check_dedup() {
 
 	# Underfilled stale recovery: if the pulse process has been running long
 	# enough and worker pool is below target, recycle now instead of waiting
-	# for the full stale threshold. This prevents prolonged underfill windows
-	# when a pulse session is alive but not generating new workers.
-	local max_workers active_workers
+	# for the full stale threshold. Adapt timeout by underfill severity to
+	# recover capacity faster during deep underfill while keeping tolerance
+	# for minor underfill blips.
+	local max_workers active_workers deficit_pct adaptive_timeout
 	max_workers=$(get_max_workers_target)
 	active_workers=$(count_active_workers)
 	[[ "$max_workers" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || max_workers=1
 	[[ "$active_workers" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || active_workers=0
+	deficit_pct=0
+	adaptive_timeout="$PULSE_UNDERFILLED_STALE_RECOVERY_TIMEOUT"
+
+	if [[ "$active_workers" -lt "$max_workers" ]]; then
+		deficit_pct=$(((max_workers - active_workers) * 100 / max_workers))
+		if [[ "$deficit_pct" -ge 50 ]]; then
+			adaptive_timeout=300
+		elif [[ "$deficit_pct" -ge 25 ]]; then
+			adaptive_timeout=450
+		fi
+	fi
 
-	if [[ "$elapsed_seconds" -gt "$PULSE_UNDERFILLED_STALE_RECOVERY_TIMEOUT" && "$active_workers" -lt "$max_workers" ]]; then
-		echo "[pulse-wrapper] Recycling stale pulse process $old_pid early (running ${elapsed_seconds}s, underfilled ${active_workers}/${max_workers}, threshold ${PULSE_UNDERFILLED_STALE_RECOVERY_TIMEOUT}s)" >>"$LOGFILE"
+	if [[ "$elapsed_seconds" -gt "$adaptive_timeout" && "$active_workers" -lt "$max_workers" ]]; then
+		echo "[pulse-wrapper] Recycling stale pulse process $old_pid early (running ${elapsed_seconds}s, underfilled ${active_workers}/${max_workers} [${deficit_pct}%], threshold ${adaptive_timeout}s)" >>"$LOGFILE"
 		_kill_tree "$old_pid" || true
 		sleep 2
 		if kill -0 "$old_pid" 2>/dev/null; then