diff --git a/apps/relay/fly.staging.toml b/apps/relay/fly.staging.toml
index dfa5e237386..f575a1f5af0 100644
--- a/apps/relay/fly.staging.toml
+++ b/apps/relay/fly.staging.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 app = "superset-relay-staging"
 primary_region = "sjc"
+kill_signal = "SIGINT"
+kill_timeout = "10s"
 
 [build]
   dockerfile = "Dockerfile"
diff --git a/apps/relay/fly.toml b/apps/relay/fly.toml
index ebb1c461fda..1dba7964739 100644
--- a/apps/relay/fly.toml
+++ b/apps/relay/fly.toml
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 app = "superset-relay"
 primary_region = "sjc"
+kill_signal = "SIGINT"
+kill_timeout = "10s"
 
 [build]
   dockerfile = "Dockerfile"
diff --git a/apps/relay/scripts/deploy-staging.sh b/apps/relay/scripts/deploy-staging.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..76a39e282cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/relay/scripts/deploy-staging.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Deploy the relay to the staging Fly app (superset-relay-staging). Mirrors
+# deploy.sh but targets fly.staging.toml + the staging app, so we can iterate
+# on multi-region without risking prod. Edit REGIONS to grow the fleet.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+APP=superset-relay-staging
+REGIONS=(sjc iad fra)
+COUNT=${#REGIONS[@]}
+REGION_LIST=$(IFS=, ; echo "${REGIONS[*]}")
+
+cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+
+echo "==> fly deploy ($APP)"
+fly deploy \
+  --config apps/relay/fly.staging.toml \
+  --dockerfile apps/relay/Dockerfile \
+  --app "$APP" \
+  .
+
+echo "==> fly scale count: $COUNT machines, 1 per region across $REGION_LIST"
+fly scale count "app=$COUNT" \
+  --region "$REGION_LIST" \
+  --max-per-region 1 \
+  --app "$APP" \
+  --yes
+
+echo "==> Status"
+fly status --app "$APP"
+
+echo "==> Smoke test"
+"$(dirname "$0")/smoke-test.sh" "${APP}.fly.dev" "${REGIONS[@]}"
diff --git a/apps/relay/scripts/deploy.sh b/apps/relay/scripts/deploy.sh
index c7e72da9c5b..483f39921ad 100755
--- a/apps/relay/scripts/deploy.sh
+++ b/apps/relay/scripts/deploy.sh
@@ -24,3 +24,6 @@ fly scale count "app=$COUNT" \
 
 echo "==> Status"
 fly status --app "$APP"
+
+echo "==> Smoke test"
+"$(dirname "$0")/smoke-test.sh" "${APP}.fly.dev" "${REGIONS[@]}"
diff --git a/apps/relay/scripts/smoke-test.sh b/apps/relay/scripts/smoke-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..6b1c6abdc07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/relay/scripts/smoke-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Post-deploy smoke test for the relay. Hits /health on the public hostname
+# with `fly-prefer-region` for every region the fleet is supposed to span,
+# then verifies the response 200s with `region` matching the requested
+# region — catches partial-deploy failures, missing regions, and machines
+# that booted but aren't actually serving.
+#
+# Usage: smoke-test.sh <hostname> <region> [<region> ...]
+#   smoke-test.sh superset-relay-staging.fly.dev sjc iad fra
+#
+# Exits non-zero on any failure so callers (deploy.sh, deploy-staging.sh)
+# can halt the pipeline.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
+  echo "usage: $0 <hostname> <region> [<region> ...]" >&2
+  exit 64
+fi
+
+HOSTNAME="$1"
+shift
+REGIONS=("$@")
+
+fail=0
+for region in "${REGIONS[@]}"; do
+  printf "  %-4s " "$region"
+  body=$(curl -sS --max-time 8 -H "fly-prefer-region: $region" "https://${HOSTNAME}/health" 2>&1) || {
+    printf "  ✗ curl failed: %s\n" "$body"
+    fail=$((fail + 1))
+    continue
+  }
+  got=$(printf "%s" "$body" | sed -nE 's/.*"region":"([^"]+)".*/\1/p')
+  if [ "$got" = "$region" ]; then
+    printf "  ✓ %s\n" "$body"
+  else
+    printf "  ✗ wanted region=%s, got=%s: %s\n" "$region" "$got" "$body"
+    fail=$((fail + 1))
+  fi
+done
+
+if [ "$fail" -ne 0 ]; then
+  echo "==> smoke test FAILED: $fail region(s) did not respond as expected" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "==> smoke test OK across ${#REGIONS[@]} region(s)"
diff --git a/apps/relay/src/directory.ts b/apps/relay/src/directory.ts
index 4e780eb250c..25081cbcd2f 100644
--- a/apps/relay/src/directory.ts
+++ b/apps/relay/src/directory.ts
@@ -131,6 +131,46 @@ end
 return removed
 `;
 
+// Called on relay startup. Removes any directory entries the prior process
+// generation left behind (SIGKILL / crash / drain race) before we begin
+// accepting connections. The owner value includes the Fly machineId, which
+// stays the same across restarts of a given VM — so any pre-existing entry
+// with our owner string is necessarily stale.
+//
+// Batched as a single Lua eval so startup time stays bounded at one Redis
+// round-trip regardless of how many tunnels the previous generation owned;
+// per-host serial unregister calls would scale with directory size and eat
+// directly into deploy recovery.
+const CLEAR_STALE_SCRIPT = `
+local owner = ARGV[1]
+local entries = redis.call('HGETALL', KEYS[1])
+local cleared = 0
+for i = 1, #entries, 2 do
+  local hostId = entries[i]
+  local current = entries[i + 1]
+  if current == owner then
+    redis.call('HDEL', KEYS[1], hostId)
+    redis.call('HDEL', KEYS[2], hostId)
+    redis.call('ZREM', KEYS[3], hostId)
+    cleared = cleared + 1
+  end
+end
+return cleared
+`;
+
+export async function clearStaleEntriesForMachine(
+	region: string,
+	machineId: string,
+): Promise<number> {
+	const myOwner = encodeOwner(region, machineId);
+	const result = await redis.eval(
+		CLEAR_STALE_SCRIPT,
+		[OWNER_KEY, META_KEY, TTL_KEY],
+		[myOwner],
+	);
+	return typeof result === "number" ? result : 0;
+}
+
 export async function sweepStale(): Promise<number> {
 	const now = Date.now();
 	const result = await redis.eval(
diff --git a/apps/relay/src/index.ts b/apps/relay/src/index.ts
index 8c4c7d03859..9444f59c702 100644
--- a/apps/relay/src/index.ts
+++ b/apps/relay/src/index.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,43 @@ const app = new Hono<AppContext>();
 const tunnelManager = new TunnelManager();
 const { injectWebSocket, upgradeWebSocket } = createNodeWebSocket({ app });
 
+// Graceful drain on Fly's pre-stop signal. Fly's init sends SIGINT (not
+// SIGTERM) to the main process during rolling deploys; listen on both to
+// also cover hand-rolled `fly machine stop` and local Ctrl-C. Without this,
+// deploys kill the process while tunnels are open and host-services see
+// TCP-RST'd sockets, triggering their long exponential backoff.
+//
+// Sequence: stop accepting new TCP connections (server.close), then close
+// every open tunnel with the app-defined drain code so hosts reconnect
+// promptly, and clear this machine's directory ownership before process exit.
+// server is assigned at the bottom of this file — by signal time, the closure
+// has it.
+let server: ReturnType<typeof serve> | null = null;
+let draining = false;
+const handleDrain = async (signal: string) => {
+	if (draining) return;
+	draining = true;
+	console.log(`[relay] ${signal} received, draining tunnels`);
+	try {
+		server?.close();
+		const cleared = await tunnelManager.drain({
+			clearDirectory: () =>
+				directory.clearStaleEntriesForMachine(
+					env.FLY_REGION,
+					env.FLY_MACHINE_ID,
+				),
+		});
+		if (cleared > 0) {
+			console.log(`[relay] cleared ${cleared} directory entries during drain`);
+		}
+	} catch (err) {
+		console.error("[relay] drain failed", err);
+	}
+	process.exit(0);
+};
+process.on("SIGINT", () => void handleDrain("SIGINT"));
+process.on("SIGTERM", () => void handleDrain("SIGTERM"));
+
 app.use("*", redactingLogger);
 app.use("*", cors());
 
@@ -144,6 +181,11 @@ app.get(
 
 		return {
 			onOpen: async (_event, ws) => {
+				if (draining) {
+					ws.close(TunnelManager.WS_CLOSE_DRAIN, "Server draining for deploy");
+					return;
+				}
+
 				if (!hostId || !token) {
 					ws.close(1008, "Missing hostId or token");
 					return;
@@ -161,6 +203,11 @@ app.get(
 					return;
 				}
 
+				if (draining) {
+					ws.close(TunnelManager.WS_CLOSE_DRAIN, "Server draining for deploy");
+					return;
+				}
+
 				await tunnelManager.register(hostId, token, ws);
 				// register closes ws itself on directory failure; only mark
 				// authorized if the socket is still usable.
@@ -319,7 +366,25 @@ if (env.RELAY_SYNTHETIC_JWT) {
 
 // ── Start ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-const server = serve({ fetch: app.fetch, port: env.RELAY_PORT }, (info) => {
+// Clear any directory entries our previous process generation left behind
+// (SIGKILL, drain race, etc.) before we begin accepting connections, so
+// fly-replay doesn't route cross-region requests at us for tunnels we no
+// longer have. Best-effort: relay still boots if Upstash is unreachable.
+try {
+	const cleared = await directory.clearStaleEntriesForMachine(
+		env.FLY_REGION,
+		env.FLY_MACHINE_ID,
+	);
+	if (cleared > 0) {
+		console.log(
+			`[relay] cleared ${cleared} stale directory entries on startup`,
+		);
+	}
+} catch (err) {
+	console.error("[relay] startup cleanup failed", err);
+}
+
+server = serve({ fetch: app.fetch, port: env.RELAY_PORT }, (info) => {
 	console.log(
 		`[relay] listening on http://localhost:${info.port} (region=${env.FLY_REGION} machine=${env.FLY_MACHINE_ID})`,
 	);
diff --git a/apps/relay/src/tunnel.ts b/apps/relay/src/tunnel.ts
index 4a83b20d118..115a33879f3 100644
--- a/apps/relay/src/tunnel.ts
+++ b/apps/relay/src/tunnel.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,11 @@ interface TunnelState {
 	missedPings: number;
 }
 
+interface DrainOptions {
+	reason?: string;
+	clearDirectory: () => Promise<number>;
+}
+
 export class TunnelManager {
 	private readonly tunnels = new Map<string, TunnelState>();
 	private readonly requestTimeoutMs: number;
@@ -42,12 +47,18 @@ export class TunnelManager {
 		ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>
 	>();
 	private readonly onlineWriteVersions = new Map<string, number>();
+	private draining = false;
 
 	constructor(requestTimeoutMs = 30_000) {
 		this.requestTimeoutMs = requestTimeoutMs;
 	}
 
 	async register(hostId: string, token: string, ws: WsSocket): Promise<void> {
+		if (this.draining) {
+			ws.close(TunnelManager.WS_CLOSE_DRAIN, "Server draining for deploy");
+			return;
+		}
+
 		// Last-write-wins: close the old socket so flaky clients don't get
 		// stuck behind a dead-but-not-yet-detected WS.
 		const existing = this.tunnels.get(hostId);
@@ -73,12 +84,15 @@ export class TunnelManager {
 		// hadn't returned yet), so it skipped unregister. Roll the directory
 		// entry back ourselves; otherwise other machines fly-replay traffic
 		// to a dead local tunnel for ~90s until the TTL ages out.
-		if (ws.readyState !== 1) {
+		if (ws.readyState !== 1 || this.draining) {
 			await directory
 				.unregister(hostId, env.FLY_REGION, env.FLY_MACHINE_ID)
 				.catch((err) => {
 					console.error("[relay] directory.unregister rollback failed", err);
 				});
+			if (this.draining) {
+				ws.close(TunnelManager.WS_CLOSE_DRAIN, "Server draining for deploy");
+			}
 			return;
 		}
 
@@ -159,7 +173,77 @@ export class TunnelManager {
 		console.log(`[relay] tunnel unregistered: ${hostId}`);
 	}
 
-	private disposeTunnel(tunnel: TunnelState, reason: string): void {
+	// Application-defined WS close code (4xxx range) signaling "relay is
+	// draining for a deploy — reconnect immediately." Distinct from 1001
+	// ("Going Away") which the ping-timeout / dispose paths use; the host
+	// resets its backoff only on this code, so a mass ping-timeout doesn't
+	// trigger a thundering-herd of fast reconnects.
+	static readonly WS_CLOSE_DRAIN = 4001;
+
+	// SIGTERM-driven graceful drain. Closes every open tunnel with the
+	// app-defined "drain" close code so the host-service can recognize this
+	// as a deploy drain (not a hard disconnect or ping timeout) and
+	// reconnect immediately. Called from the SIGINT/SIGTERM handler in
+	// index.ts.
+	//
+	// Owns directory cleanup directly instead of relying on websocket close
+	// callbacks. The process exits immediately after drain, so fire-and-forget
+	// unregister work from onClose is not a reliable shutdown primitive.
+	async drain(options: DrainOptions): Promise<number> {
+		this.draining = true;
+		const reason = options.reason ?? "Server draining for deploy";
+		const tunnels = Array.from(this.tunnels.values());
+		console.log(`[relay] draining ${tunnels.length} tunnels`);
+		// In-band drain signal first: send a JSON {type:"drain"} message on
+		// the WS message channel before closing. Game-day testing showed
+		// the WS close frame doesn't reliably reach the host within Fly's
+		// kill_timeout window (host's TCP socket sees ESTABLISHED with no
+		// onclose for 75+ seconds, until its watchdog fires). The message
+		// channel is already exercised by ping/pong every 30s, so we know
+		// it flushes cleanly. Host's onmessage handler triggers a clean
+		// reconnect on receipt; the WS close after is just belt-and-
+		// suspenders.
+		for (const tunnel of tunnels) {
+			try {
+				this.send(tunnel.ws, { type: "drain", reason });
+			} catch {
+				// best-effort
+			}
+		}
+		// Give the message frames a moment to reach the host before we
+		// start closing the underlying sockets.
+		await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 500));
+
+		let cleared = 0;
+		let clearError: unknown;
+		try {
+			cleared = await options.clearDirectory();
+		} catch (err) {
+			clearError = err;
+		}
+
+		for (const tunnel of tunnels) {
+			this.disposeTunnel(tunnel, reason, TunnelManager.WS_CLOSE_DRAIN);
+			this.tunnels.delete(tunnel.hostId);
+		}
+
+		// Brief tail wait so the close-handshake gets a chance to complete
+		// before the process exits and RSTs the underlying TCP.
+		const WS_CLOSED = 3;
+		const deadline = Date.now() + 1_500;
+		while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+			if (tunnels.every((t) => t.ws.readyState === WS_CLOSED)) break;
+			await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 50));
+		}
+		if (clearError) throw clearError;
+		return cleared;
+	}
+
+	private disposeTunnel(
+		tunnel: TunnelState,
+		reason: string,
+		tunnelCloseCode = 1000,
+	): void {
 		if (tunnel.pingTimer) clearInterval(tunnel.pingTimer);
 
 		for (const [, pending] of tunnel.pendingRequests) {
@@ -172,7 +256,7 @@ export class TunnelManager {
 		}
 
 		try {
-			tunnel.ws.close(1000, reason);
+			tunnel.ws.close(tunnelCloseCode, reason);
 		} catch {
 			// already closed
 		}
diff --git a/packages/host-service/src/tunnel/tunnel-client.ts b/packages/host-service/src/tunnel/tunnel-client.ts
index 06176f16d87..a8d16634f91 100644
--- a/packages/host-service/src/tunnel/tunnel-client.ts
+++ b/packages/host-service/src/tunnel/tunnel-client.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,10 @@ import type {
 } from "./types";
 
 const RECONNECT_BASE_MS = 1_000;
-const RECONNECT_MAX_MS = 30_000;
+// 5s ceiling rather than 30s. Under a sustained outage this means slightly
+// more retry traffic, but under transient relay restarts (the common case)
+// it ensures we don't sit idle for 30s while the relay is back online.
+const RECONNECT_MAX_MS = 5_000;
 const INBOUND_SILENCE_TIMEOUT_MS = 75_000;
 const WATCHDOG_INTERVAL_MS = 10_000;
 const CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MS = 20_000;
@@ -130,6 +133,18 @@ export class TunnelClient {
 							`[host-service:tunnel] relay rejected connection (code=${event.code}, reason=${event.reason ?? ""}); retrying`,
 						);
 					}
+					// App-defined "relay draining for deploy" close code
+					// (4001). Distinct from 1001 ("Going Away") which the
+					// ping-timeout / dispose paths use — only reset on 4001 so
+					// a mass ping-timeout doesn't trigger a thundering-herd of
+					// instant reconnects. After reset, next attempt fires at
+					// the base delay instead of the 5s ceiling.
+					if (event.code === 4001) {
+						this.reconnectAttempts = 0;
+						console.log(
+							"[host-service:tunnel] relay draining; reconnecting immediately",
+						);
+					}
 				} catch (err) {
 					console.warn(
 						"[host-service:tunnel] error during onclose cleanup",
@@ -189,6 +204,24 @@ export class TunnelClient {
 			case "ping":
 				this.send({ type: "pong" });
 				break;
+			case "drain":
+				// In-band drain signal from the relay before it
+				// SIGINT-shuts-down. Reset backoff and tear the socket
+				// down ourselves so the next reconnect attempt fires at
+				// the base delay — far more reliable than waiting for
+				// the WS close frame to arrive (which game-day testing
+				// showed sometimes doesn't, leaving the host idle until
+				// its 75s inactivity watchdog).
+				console.log(
+					`[host-service:tunnel] relay drain notice received${message.reason ? ` (${message.reason})` : ""}; reconnecting immediately`,
+				);
+				this.reconnectAttempts = 0;
+				try {
+					this.socket?.close();
+				} catch {
+					// onclose handler will schedule the reconnect
+				}
+				break;
 			case "http":
 				await this.handleHttpRequest(message);
 				break;
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/tunnel-protocol.ts b/packages/shared/src/tunnel-protocol.ts
index 7bafd07dba7..17e2b50560f 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/tunnel-protocol.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/tunnel-protocol.ts
@@ -33,12 +33,23 @@ export interface TunnelPing {
 	type: "ping";
 }
 
+// In-band drain signal — relay sends this to every tunnel right before
+// SIGINT-triggered shutdown so the host knows to reconnect immediately
+// rather than waiting for the WS close frame (which doesn't reliably
+// reach the host within the kill_timeout window) or the host-side
+// inactivity watchdog.
+export interface TunnelDrain {
+	type: "drain";
+	reason?: string;
+}
+
 export type TunnelRequest =
 	| TunnelHttpRequest
 	| TunnelWsOpen
 	| TunnelWsFrame
 	| TunnelWsClose
-	| TunnelPing;
+	| TunnelPing
+	| TunnelDrain;
 
 // ── Host → Relay ────────────────────────────────────────────────────