diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9e5e094727f..6b3101a6369 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -287,6 +287,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Daemon/Windows schtasks status normalization: derive runtime state from locale-neutral numeric `Last Run Result` codes only (without language string matching) and surface unknown when numeric result data is unavailable, preventing locale-specific misclassification drift. (#39153) Thanks @scoootscooob.
 - Telegram/polling conflict recovery: reset the polling `webhookCleared` latch on `getUpdates` 409 conflicts so webhook cleanup re-runs on restart cycles and polling avoids infinite conflict loops. (#39205) Thanks @amittell.
 - Heartbeat/requests-in-flight scheduling: stop advancing `nextDueMs` and avoid immediate `scheduleNext()` timer overrides on requests-in-flight skips, so wake-layer retry cooldowns are honored and heartbeat cadence no longer drifts under sustained contention. (#39182) Thanks @MumuTW.
+- Memory/SQLite contention resilience: re-apply `PRAGMA busy_timeout` on every sync-store and QMD connection open so process restarts/reopens no longer revert to immediate `SQLITE_BUSY` failures under lock contention. (#39183) Thanks @MumuTW.
 
 ## 2026.3.2
 
diff --git a/src/memory/manager-sync-ops.ts b/src/memory/manager-sync-ops.ts
index bfc86afffe7..1fe91599b34 100644
--- a/src/memory/manager-sync-ops.ts
+++ b/src/memory/manager-sync-ops.ts
@@ -258,7 +258,12 @@ export abstract class MemoryManagerSyncOps {
     const dir = path.dirname(dbPath);
     ensureDir(dir);
     const { DatabaseSync } = requireNodeSqlite();
-    return new DatabaseSync(dbPath, { allowExtension: this.settings.store.vector.enabled });
+    const db = new DatabaseSync(dbPath, { allowExtension: this.settings.store.vector.enabled });
+    // busy_timeout is per-connection and resets to 0 on restart.
+    // Set it on every open so concurrent processes retry instead of
+    // failing immediately with SQLITE_BUSY.
+    db.exec("PRAGMA busy_timeout = 5000");
+    return db;
   }
 
   private seedEmbeddingCache(sourceDb: DatabaseSync): void {
diff --git a/src/memory/manager.readonly-recovery.test.ts b/src/memory/manager.readonly-recovery.test.ts
index c6a566468bb..75b0252143f 100644
--- a/src/memory/manager.readonly-recovery.test.ts
+++ b/src/memory/manager.readonly-recovery.test.ts
@@ -109,4 +109,14 @@ describe("memory manager readonly recovery", () => {
     expect(runSyncSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(openDatabaseSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(0);
   });
+
+  it("sets busy_timeout on memory sqlite connections", async () => {
+    const currentManager = await createManager();
+    const db = (currentManager as unknown as { db: DatabaseSync }).db;
+    const row = db.prepare("PRAGMA busy_timeout").get() as
+      | { busy_timeout?: number; timeout?: number }
+      | undefined;
+    const busyTimeout = row?.busy_timeout ?? row?.timeout;
+    expect(busyTimeout).toBe(5000);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/memory/qmd-manager.test.ts b/src/memory/qmd-manager.test.ts
index cbfee6db11c..48c8a4ec5d5 100644
--- a/src/memory/qmd-manager.test.ts
+++ b/src/memory/qmd-manager.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { EventEmitter } from "node:events";
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
+import type { DatabaseSync } from "node:sqlite";
 import type { Mock } from "vitest";
 import { afterAll, afterEach, beforeAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ import { spawn as mockedSpawn } from "node:child_process";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import { resolveMemoryBackendConfig } from "./backend-config.js";
 import { QmdMemoryManager } from "./qmd-manager.js";
+import { requireNodeSqlite } from "./sqlite.js";
 
 const spawnMock = mockedSpawn as unknown as Mock;
 
@@ -2644,6 +2646,24 @@ describe("QmdMemoryManager", () => {
     ).rejects.toThrow(/qmd query returned invalid JSON/);
     await manager.close();
   });
+
+  it("sets busy_timeout on qmd sqlite connections", async () => {
+    const { manager } = await createManager();
+    const indexPath = (manager as unknown as { indexPath: string }).indexPath;
+    await fs.mkdir(path.dirname(indexPath), { recursive: true });
+    const { DatabaseSync } = requireNodeSqlite();
+    const seedDb = new DatabaseSync(indexPath);
+    seedDb.close();
+
+    const db = (manager as unknown as { ensureDb: () => DatabaseSync }).ensureDb();
+    const row = db.prepare("PRAGMA busy_timeout").get() as
+      | { busy_timeout?: number; timeout?: number }
+      | undefined;
+    const busyTimeout = row?.busy_timeout ?? row?.timeout;
+    expect(busyTimeout).toBe(1000);
+    await manager.close();
+  });
+
   describe("model cache symlink", () => {
     let defaultModelsDir: string;
     let customModelsDir: string;
diff --git a/src/memory/qmd-manager.ts b/src/memory/qmd-manager.ts
index b79a1fc57e0..0c7a2185f9f 100644
--- a/src/memory/qmd-manager.ts
+++ b/src/memory/qmd-manager.ts
@@ -1556,8 +1556,12 @@ export class QmdMemoryManager implements MemorySearchManager {
     }
     const { DatabaseSync } = requireNodeSqlite();
     this.db = new DatabaseSync(this.indexPath, { readOnly: true });
-    // Keep QMD recall responsive when the updater holds a write lock.
-    this.db.exec("PRAGMA busy_timeout = 1");
+    // busy_timeout is per-connection; set it on every open so concurrent
+    // processes retry instead of failing immediately with SQLITE_BUSY.
+    // Use a lower value than the write path (5 s) because this read-only
+    // connection runs synchronous queries on the main thread via DatabaseSync.
+    // In WAL mode readers rarely block, so 1 s is a safe upper bound.
+    this.db.exec("PRAGMA busy_timeout = 1000");
     return this.db;
   }