diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 74edbec2..461e82a2 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -85,8 +85,3 @@ PUBLIC_URL=http://localhost:9000
 
 # Immich (officer-photos) is configured from the app, not from here — Photos → Connection. Instances and
 # their API keys live encrypted in `photos_config`, so the platform never sees a key.
-
-# Put request timeouts back on sidecar proxies. Unset is the default and means NO timeout on either leg:
-# long requests arrive from everywhere (transcribing a 42-minute recording, a from-scratch music reindex)
-# and every ceiling is a number somebody guessed. Set to 1 only to restore the old behaviour.
-# SIDECAR_TIMEOUTS=1
diff --git a/src/servers/sidecar/create-proxy.ts b/src/servers/sidecar/create-proxy.ts
index 677a2ad2..b0fa94f5 100644
--- a/src/servers/sidecar/create-proxy.ts
+++ b/src/servers/sidecar/create-proxy.ts
@@ -95,17 +95,17 @@ export type SidecarProxy = {
 };
 
 /**
- * The one switch for sidecar request timeouts.
+ * Request timeouts on sidecar proxies. Flip this line to turn them back on.
  *
- * Off by default: no ceiling on either leg, because long requests arrive from everywhere and every
- * ceiling is a number somebody guessed. Set `SIDECAR_TIMEOUTS=1` in `.env` and restart to put the old
- * behaviour back — Bun's built-in fetch ceiling outbound, and the inbound drop at whatever each plugin
- * declared (or the server's 60s default if it declared nothing).
+ * `false` — no ceiling on either leg. Long requests arrive from everywhere (transcribing a 42-minute
+ * recording, a from-scratch music reindex) and every ceiling is a number somebody guessed.
  *
- * Here rather than per plugin so turning it on or off is one line in one file, and so nobody has to
- * remember which of eight routers to edit.
+ * `true` — Bun's built-in fetch ceiling outbound, and the inbound drop at whatever each plugin declared.
+ *
+ * One constant in one file, so turning it on or off does not mean remembering which of eight routers to
+ * edit.
  */
-const TIMEOUTS_ON = process.env.SIDECAR_TIMEOUTS === '1';
+const TIMEOUTS_ON = false;
 
 export function createSidecarProxy({
   name,