diff --git a/apps/server/src/orchestration-v2/freshProviderContext.test.ts b/apps/server/src/orchestration-v2/freshProviderContext.test.ts
index 82cc8566a2ecf..cf4585e674fe5 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/orchestration-v2/freshProviderContext.test.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/orchestration-v2/freshProviderContext.test.ts
@@ -155,12 +155,13 @@ it.effect.each(["none", "background", "turn", "metadata"] as const)(
           bootstrap: "Role; complete handoff; lessons pointer.",
         },
       };
+      // The idle policy is the client's: a just-completed, unchanged snapshot is accepted.
       assert.equal(
         typeof prepareFreshProviderThread(before, command, now),
-        "string",
-        "NO: less than 30 minutes",
+        "object",
+        "server must not re-impose a thread-updatedAt idle window",
       );
-      yield* TestClock.adjust("31 minutes");
+      yield* TestClock.adjust("1 minute");
       const later = yield* DateTime.now;
       const refuse = (records: typeof before, cmd = command) =>
         assert.equal(typeof prepareFreshProviderThread(records, cmd, later), "string");
diff --git a/apps/server/src/orchestration-v2/freshProviderContext.ts b/apps/server/src/orchestration-v2/freshProviderContext.ts
index 779f815143f08..f6de0d34069d3 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/orchestration-v2/freshProviderContext.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/orchestration-v2/freshProviderContext.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ export function preserveFreshContext(
 
 // Refuse before emitting anything. The command's timestamp is a compare-and-swap
 // against the saved handoff's snapshot, including input queued since that snapshot.
+// The idle window is the client's: automated turns bump updatedAt, so only the
+// client can measure time since the human's last message.
 export function prepareFreshProviderThread(
   records: ProjectionRecords<
     "providerThreads" | "runs" | "providerTurns" | "runtimeRequests" | "subagents" | "turnItems"
@@ -57,12 +59,6 @@ export function prepareFreshProviderThread(
   ) {
     return "Thread changed since the handoff snapshot.";
   }
-  if (
-    DateTime.toEpochMillis(now) - DateTime.toEpochMillis(records.thread.updatedAt) <
-    30 * 60_000
-  ) {
-    return "Thread has not been idle for 30 minutes.";
-  }
   if (!seed.bootstrap.trim() || new TextEncoder().encode(seed.bootstrap).length >= 5_000) {
     return "Bootstrap must contain fewer than 5000 UTF-8 bytes.";
   }