diff --git a/src/Server/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane/Coordinators/ConfigPublishCoordinator.cs b/src/Server/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane/Coordinators/ConfigPublishCoordinator.cs
index 94b73b8..306f18a 100644
--- a/src/Server/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane/Coordinators/ConfigPublishCoordinator.cs
+++ b/src/Server/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane/Coordinators/ConfigPublishCoordinator.cs
@@ -21,25 +21,78 @@ namespace ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane.Coordinators;
 /// Discovery of the "expected ACK set" comes from <c>Akka.Cluster.State.Members</c> filtered by
 /// the <c>driver</c> role — the DB does not own per-node role assignment.
 /// </summary>
-public sealed class ConfigPublishCoordinator : ReceiveActor
+public sealed class ConfigPublishCoordinator : ReceiveActor, IWithTimers
 {
     public const string DeploymentsTopic = "deployments";
+    public static readonly TimeSpan DefaultApplyDeadline = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(2);
 
     private readonly IDbContextFactory<OtOpcUaConfigDbContext> _dbFactory;
+    private readonly TimeSpan _applyDeadline;
     private readonly ILoggingAdapter _log = Context.GetLogger();
     private readonly Dictionary<NodeId, ApplyAckOutcome> _acks = new();
 
     private DeploymentId? _current;
     private HashSet<NodeId> _expectedAcks = new();
 
-    public static Props Props(IDbContextFactory<OtOpcUaConfigDbContext> dbFactory) =>
-        Akka.Actor.Props.Create(() => new ConfigPublishCoordinator(dbFactory));
+    public ITimerScheduler Timers { get; set; } = null!;
 
-    public ConfigPublishCoordinator(IDbContextFactory<OtOpcUaConfigDbContext> dbFactory)
+    public static Props Props(
+        IDbContextFactory<OtOpcUaConfigDbContext> dbFactory,
+        TimeSpan? applyDeadline = null) =>
+        Akka.Actor.Props.Create(() => new ConfigPublishCoordinator(dbFactory, applyDeadline ?? DefaultApplyDeadline));
+
+    public ConfigPublishCoordinator(
+        IDbContextFactory<OtOpcUaConfigDbContext> dbFactory,
+        TimeSpan applyDeadline)
     {
         _dbFactory = dbFactory;
+        _applyDeadline = applyDeadline;
         Receive<DispatchDeployment>(HandleDispatch);
         Receive<ApplyAck>(HandleAck);
+        Receive<DeadlineElapsed>(HandleDeadline);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// On startup recover any deployment that was mid-flight when a prior singleton instance
+    /// died. We re-derive <c>_expectedAcks</c> from <c>NodeDeploymentState</c>, replay the ACKs
+    /// that already landed in the DB, and resume the deadline timer.
+    /// </summary>
+    protected override void PreStart()
+    {
+        using var db = _dbFactory.CreateDbContext();
+        var inflight = db.Deployments
+            .Where(d => d.Status == DeploymentStatus.Dispatching || d.Status == DeploymentStatus.AwaitingApplyAcks)
+            .OrderByDescending(d => d.CreatedAtUtc)
+            .FirstOrDefault();
+        if (inflight is null) return;
+
+        _current = new DeploymentId(inflight.DeploymentId);
+        var nodeStates = db.NodeDeploymentStates
+            .Where(x => x.DeploymentId == inflight.DeploymentId)
+            .AsNoTracking()
+            .ToList();
+
+        _expectedAcks = nodeStates.Select(s => NodeId.Parse(s.NodeId)).ToHashSet();
+        foreach (var s in nodeStates.Where(s => s.Status != NodeDeploymentStatus.Applying))
+            _acks[NodeId.Parse(s.NodeId)] = s.Status == NodeDeploymentStatus.Applied
+                ? ApplyAckOutcome.Applied
+                : ApplyAckOutcome.Failed;
+
+        // Resume the deadline timer using the remaining time. The deadline runs from when the
+        // deployment was first marked AwaitingApplyAcks (Deployment.CreatedAtUtc is a close enough
+        // proxy — we don't track a separate "dispatched at" column).
+        var elapsed = DateTime.UtcNow - inflight.CreatedAtUtc;
+        var remaining = _applyDeadline - elapsed;
+        if (remaining <= TimeSpan.Zero)
+        {
+            Self.Tell(new DeadlineElapsed(_current.Value));
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            Timers.StartSingleTimer(DeadlineTimerKey, new DeadlineElapsed(_current.Value), remaining);
+        }
+        _log.Info("Coordinator recovered in-flight deployment {Id} ({Acked}/{Total} acks landed)",
+            _current, _acks.Count, _expectedAcks.Count);
     }
 
     private void HandleDispatch(DispatchDeployment msg)
@@ -65,6 +118,7 @@ public sealed class ConfigPublishCoordinator : ReceiveActor
         }
 
         DistributedPubSub.Get(Context.System).Mediator.Tell(new Publish(DeploymentsTopic, msg));
+        Timers.StartSingleTimer(DeadlineTimerKey, new DeadlineElapsed(msg.DeploymentId), _applyDeadline);
 
         if (_expectedAcks.Count == 0)
         {
@@ -132,13 +186,40 @@ public sealed class ConfigPublishCoordinator : ReceiveActor
         ResetForNext();
     }
 
+    private void HandleDeadline(DeadlineElapsed msg)
+    {
+        if (_current is null || msg.DeploymentId != _current.Value)
+        {
+            _log.Debug("Discarding stale DeadlineElapsed for {Id} (current={Current})",
+                msg.DeploymentId, _current);
+            return;
+        }
+        if (_acks.Count == _expectedAcks.Count)
+        {
+            // Race: every node acked just as the deadline fired. Already sealed/failed elsewhere.
+            return;
+        }
+
+        using var db = _dbFactory.CreateDbContext();
+        UpdateDeploymentStatus(db, _current.Value, DeploymentStatus.TimedOut);
+        db.SaveChanges();
+        _log.Warning("Deployment {Id} timed out after {Deadline} ({Acked}/{Total} acks landed)",
+            _current.Value, _applyDeadline, _acks.Count, _expectedAcks.Count);
+        ResetForNext();
+    }
+
     private void ResetForNext()
     {
+        Timers.Cancel(DeadlineTimerKey);
         _current = null;
         _expectedAcks.Clear();
         _acks.Clear();
     }
 
+    private const string DeadlineTimerKey = "apply-deadline";
+
+    public sealed record DeadlineElapsed(DeploymentId DeploymentId);
+
     private static void UpdateDeploymentStatus(
         OtOpcUaConfigDbContext db, DeploymentId id, DeploymentStatus status, bool sealNow = false)
     {
diff --git a/tests/Server/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane.Tests/ConfigPublishCoordinatorTimeoutTests.cs b/tests/Server/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane.Tests/ConfigPublishCoordinatorTimeoutTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15824ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Server/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane.Tests/ConfigPublishCoordinatorTimeoutTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+using Akka.Actor;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Shouldly;
+using Xunit;
+using ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.Commons.Messages.Deploy;
+using ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.Commons.Types;
+using ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.Configuration;
+using ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.Configuration.Enums;
+using ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane.Coordinators;
+using ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane.Tests.Harness;
+
+namespace ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.ControlPlane.Tests;
+
+public sealed class ConfigPublishCoordinatorTimeoutTests : ControlPlaneActorTestBase
+{
+    private static readonly RevisionHash TestRevision = RevisionHash.Parse(new string('b', 64));
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void DeadlineElapsed_for_current_deployment_marks_TimedOut()
+    {
+        var dbFactory = NewInMemoryDbFactory();
+        var deploymentId = SeedDispatchingDeployment(dbFactory);
+
+        // Short deadline so we can drive it deterministically in the test.
+        var actor = Sys.ActorOf(ConfigPublishCoordinator.Props(dbFactory, TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(150)));
+
+        // Seed a NodeDeploymentState row so the coordinator doesn't see "zero expected acks"
+        // and short-circuit to Sealed. We pretend a driver node exists in the cluster.
+        using (var db = dbFactory.CreateDbContext())
+        {
+            db.NodeDeploymentStates.Add(new Configuration.Entities.NodeDeploymentState
+            {
+                NodeId = "phantom-driver",
+                DeploymentId = deploymentId.Value,
+                Status = NodeDeploymentStatus.Applying,
+            });
+            db.SaveChanges();
+        }
+
+        // Drive the deadline ourselves rather than waiting for the cluster's empty driver-set
+        // bypass. Tell the actor the deadline elapsed for this id.
+        actor.Tell(new ConfigPublishCoordinator.DeadlineElapsed(deploymentId));
+
+        AwaitAssert(() =>
+        {
+            using var db = dbFactory.CreateDbContext();
+            db.Deployments.Single().Status.ShouldBe(DeploymentStatus.TimedOut);
+        }, duration: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Stale_DeadlineElapsed_for_other_deployment_is_ignored()
+    {
+        var dbFactory = NewInMemoryDbFactory();
+        var deploymentId = SeedDispatchingDeployment(dbFactory);
+        var actor = Sys.ActorOf(ConfigPublishCoordinator.Props(dbFactory, TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1)));
+
+        // Tell the actor a deadline elapsed for a completely different deployment id.
+        actor.Tell(new ConfigPublishCoordinator.DeadlineElapsed(DeploymentId.NewId()));
+
+        // The seeded one should remain in its starting state (no transition triggered).
+        ExpectNoMsg(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(250));
+        using var db = dbFactory.CreateDbContext();
+        var status = db.Deployments.Single().Status;
+        status.ShouldBeOneOf(DeploymentStatus.Dispatching, DeploymentStatus.AwaitingApplyAcks, DeploymentStatus.Sealed);
+        status.ShouldNotBe(DeploymentStatus.TimedOut);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void PreStart_recovers_inflight_deployment_state()
+    {
+        var dbFactory = NewInMemoryDbFactory();
+        var deploymentId = SeedDispatchingDeployment(dbFactory, status: DeploymentStatus.AwaitingApplyAcks);
+
+        // Seed two NodeDeploymentState rows — one already Applied, one still Applying.
+        using (var db = dbFactory.CreateDbContext())
+        {
+            db.NodeDeploymentStates.Add(new Configuration.Entities.NodeDeploymentState
+            {
+                NodeId = "driver-a", DeploymentId = deploymentId.Value, Status = NodeDeploymentStatus.Applied,
+            });
+            db.NodeDeploymentStates.Add(new Configuration.Entities.NodeDeploymentState
+            {
+                NodeId = "driver-b", DeploymentId = deploymentId.Value, Status = NodeDeploymentStatus.Applying,
+            });
+            db.SaveChanges();
+        }
+
+        // Start a fresh coordinator — simulates singleton failover to this node.
+        var actor = Sys.ActorOf(ConfigPublishCoordinator.Props(dbFactory, TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5)));
+
+        // Send the missing ACK; the recovered state should expect exactly that node, and the
+        // deployment should now seal (both nodes acked Applied).
+        actor.Tell(new ApplyAck(deploymentId, NodeId.Parse("driver-b"),
+            ApplyAckOutcome.Applied, null, CorrelationId.NewId()));
+
+        AwaitAssert(() =>
+        {
+            using var db = dbFactory.CreateDbContext();
+            db.Deployments.Single().Status.ShouldBe(DeploymentStatus.Sealed);
+        }, duration: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3));
+    }
+
+    private static DeploymentId SeedDispatchingDeployment(
+        IDbContextFactory<OtOpcUaConfigDbContext> dbFactory,
+        DeploymentStatus status = DeploymentStatus.Dispatching)
+    {
+        var id = DeploymentId.NewId();
+        using var db = dbFactory.CreateDbContext();
+        db.Deployments.Add(new Configuration.Entities.Deployment
+        {
+            DeploymentId = id.Value,
+            RevisionHash = TestRevision.Value,
+            Status = status,
+            CreatedBy = "test",
+        });
+        db.SaveChanges();
+        return id;
+    }
+}