diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/workers/worker-pool.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/workers/worker-pool.ts
index 0e5c3e75b..2ef895f2e 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/workers/worker-pool.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/workers/worker-pool.ts
@@ -142,6 +142,26 @@ function itemPath(item: unknown): string | undefined {
   return typeof path === 'string' ? path : undefined;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Best-guess path of the file in flight when a worker dies mid-job.
+ *
+ * `lastProgress` is the number of files the worker has acknowledged via
+ * `progress` messages, so `items[lastProgress]` is the next file it was
+ * about to process — the most likely culprit when the worker crashes
+ * (OOM, native addon SIGSEGV) or reports an error.
+ *
+ * Excluding only this single path keeps the blast radius small: earlier
+ * files in the job get re-tried by the sequential fallback, and any
+ * pathological file gets the same skip treatment as the singleton-
+ * timeout path. Returns `[]` when no path is determinable so sequential
+ * retries the whole job.
+ */
+function inFlightExcludePath<TInput>(job: WorkerJob<TInput>, lastProgress: number): string[] {
+  if (lastProgress >= job.items.length) return [];
+  const path = itemPath(job.items[lastProgress]);
+  return path ? [path] : [];
+}
+
 function createJobs<TInput>(
   items: TInput[],
   maxItems: number,
@@ -435,7 +455,12 @@ export const createWorkerPool = (
           } else if (msg.type === 'error') {
             settled = true;
             cleanup();
-            void fail(new Error(`Worker ${workerIndex} error: ${msg.error}`));
+            void fail(
+              new WorkerPoolDispatchError(
+                `Worker ${workerIndex} error: ${msg.error}`,
+                inFlightExcludePath(job, lastProgress),
+              ),
+            );
           } else if (msg.type === 'result') {
             if (!waitingForFlush) {
               settled = true;
@@ -456,7 +481,12 @@ export const createWorkerPool = (
           if (!settled) {
             settled = true;
             cleanup();
-            void fail(err);
+            void fail(
+              new WorkerPoolDispatchError(
+                `Worker ${workerIndex} error: ${err.message}`,
+                inFlightExcludePath(job, lastProgress),
+              ),
+            );
           }
         };
 
@@ -464,9 +494,13 @@ export const createWorkerPool = (
           if (!settled) {
             settled = true;
             cleanup();
+            const excludes = inFlightExcludePath(job, lastProgress);
+            const inFlightSuffix = excludes.length > 0 ? ` (in-flight: ${excludes[0]})` : '';
             void fail(
-              new Error(
-                `Worker ${workerIndex} exited with code ${code}. Likely OOM or native addon failure.`,
+              new WorkerPoolDispatchError(
+                `Worker ${workerIndex} exited with code ${code}. ` +
+                  `Likely OOM or native addon failure${inFlightSuffix}.`,
+                excludes,
               ),
             );
           }
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/parsing-worker-fallback.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/parsing-worker-fallback.test.ts
index ab434eb75..8525e263b 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/unit/parsing-worker-fallback.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/parsing-worker-fallback.test.ts
@@ -78,4 +78,120 @@ describe('processParsing worker fallback', () => {
       graph.nodes.some((node) => node.label === 'Function' && node.properties.name === 'stuck'),
     ).toBe(false);
   });
+
+  it('skips worker-error in-flight file during sequential fallback', async () => {
+    const graph = createKnowledgeGraph();
+    const progressDetails: string[] = [];
+    const workerPool: WorkerPool = {
+      size: 1,
+      dispatch: vi.fn(async () => {
+        throw new WorkerPoolDispatchError('Worker 0 error: native crash', ['src/crashed.ts']);
+      }),
+      terminate: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+    };
+
+    const result = await processParsing(
+      graph,
+      [
+        { path: 'src/crashed.ts', content: 'export function crashed() { return 0; }\n' },
+        { path: 'src/a.ts', content: 'export function a() { return 1; }\n' },
+      ],
+      createSymbolTable(),
+      createASTCache(),
+      createASTCache(),
+      (_current, _total, detail) => {
+        progressDetails.push(detail);
+      },
+      workerPool,
+    );
+
+    expect(result).toBeNull();
+    expect(progressDetails).toContain('Skipping 1 worker-timeout file(s) in sequential fallback');
+    expect(
+      graph.nodes.some((node) => node.label === 'Function' && node.properties.name === 'a'),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      graph.nodes.some((node) => node.label === 'Function' && node.properties.name === 'crashed'),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('skips worker-exit in-flight file during sequential fallback', async () => {
+    const graph = createKnowledgeGraph();
+    const progressDetails: string[] = [];
+    const workerPool: WorkerPool = {
+      size: 1,
+      dispatch: vi.fn(async () => {
+        throw new WorkerPoolDispatchError(
+          'Worker 0 exited with code 134. Likely OOM or native addon failure (in-flight: src/oom.ts).',
+          ['src/oom.ts'],
+        );
+      }),
+      terminate: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+    };
+
+    const result = await processParsing(
+      graph,
+      [
+        { path: 'src/oom.ts', content: 'export function oom() { return 0; }\n' },
+        { path: 'src/a.ts', content: 'export function a() { return 1; }\n' },
+      ],
+      createSymbolTable(),
+      createASTCache(),
+      createASTCache(),
+      (_current, _total, detail) => {
+        progressDetails.push(detail);
+      },
+      workerPool,
+    );
+
+    expect(result).toBeNull();
+    expect(progressDetails).toContain('Skipping 1 worker-timeout file(s) in sequential fallback');
+    expect(
+      graph.nodes.some((node) => node.label === 'Function' && node.properties.name === 'a'),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      graph.nodes.some((node) => node.label === 'Function' && node.properties.name === 'oom'),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('runs full sequential fallback when the worker pool throws a non-WorkerPoolDispatchError', async () => {
+    const graph = createKnowledgeGraph();
+    const progressDetails: string[] = [];
+    const workerPool: WorkerPool = {
+      size: 1,
+      dispatch: vi.fn(async () => {
+        throw new Error('replacement worker failed');
+      }),
+      terminate: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+    };
+
+    const result = await processParsing(
+      graph,
+      [
+        { path: 'src/keep.ts', content: 'export function keep() { return 0; }\n' },
+        { path: 'src/a.ts', content: 'export function a() { return 1; }\n' },
+      ],
+      createSymbolTable(),
+      createASTCache(),
+      createASTCache(),
+      (_current, _total, detail) => {
+        progressDetails.push(detail);
+      },
+      workerPool,
+    );
+
+    expect(result).toBeNull();
+    expect(progressDetails).toContain(
+      'Sequential fallback after worker issue: replacement worker failed',
+    );
+    expect(
+      progressDetails.some((d) => d.startsWith('Skipping ') && d.includes('worker-timeout file')),
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      graph.nodes.some((node) => node.label === 'Function' && node.properties.name === 'a'),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      graph.nodes.some((node) => node.label === 'Function' && node.properties.name === 'keep'),
+    ).toBe(true);
+  });
 });