diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 461e82a2..74edbec2 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -85,3 +85,8 @@ 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 3f88a525..677a2ad2 100644
--- a/src/servers/sidecar/create-proxy.ts
+++ b/src/servers/sidecar/create-proxy.ts
@@ -94,6 +94,19 @@ export type SidecarProxy = {
   getWsUrl: () => string | null;
 };
 
+/**
+ * The one switch for sidecar request timeouts.
+ *
+ * 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).
+ *
+ * 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.
+ */
+const TIMEOUTS_ON = process.env.SIDECAR_TIMEOUTS === '1';
+
 export function createSidecarProxy({
   name,
   prefix,
@@ -142,10 +155,15 @@ export function createSidecarProxy({
       the 60s default drop.
     */
     const server = ctx.env as { timeout?: (req: Request, seconds: number) => void } | undefined;
-    try {
-      server?.timeout?.(ctx.req.raw, timeoutSeconds ?? 0);
-    } catch {
-      /* no per-request timeout available */
+    // `0` disables the idle timeout. With the switch on, an undeclared plugin falls back to the server's
+    // own 60s default by not being touched at all.
+    const inbound = TIMEOUTS_ON ? timeoutSeconds : (timeoutSeconds ?? 0);
+    if (inbound !== undefined) {
+      try {
+        server?.timeout?.(ctx.req.raw, inbound);
+      } catch {
+        /* no per-request timeout available */
+      }
     }
 
     const method = ctx.req.method;
@@ -228,7 +246,7 @@ export function createSidecarProxy({
       headers,
       body,
       duplex: 'half',
-      timeout: false,
+      ...(TIMEOUTS_ON ? {} : { timeout: false }),
     };
 
     let upstream: Response;