diff --git a/cmd/server/main.go b/cmd/server/main.go
index a1e7e7e..4046bc8 100644
--- a/cmd/server/main.go
+++ b/cmd/server/main.go
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ func run() error {
 	// reqtiming wraps outermost, outside the limiter and retries: a call
 	// queued at the limiter is the engine's time, and every attempt of a
 	// retried call is one wait on the provider.
-	llmClient := reqtiming.WrapClient(limit.Client(newLimiter("llm", cfg.Engine.LLM.Concurrency, logger))(registry.Client()))
+	llmClient := reqtiming.WrapClient(withModelRetry(limit.Client(newLimiter("llm", cfg.Engine.LLM.Concurrency, logger))(registry.Client()), modelRetry))
 	// judge is always the registry's proxy. Code that takes a different
 	// path without a Judge resolves it per job or request through
 	// models.ActiveJudge; judgewalk falls back to treewalk.
@@ -740,7 +740,23 @@ func byokFactory(provider, apiKey, model string) (llmgate.Client, string, error)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, "", err
 	}
-	return client, model, nil
+	return withModelRetry(client, modelRetry), model, nil
+}
+
+// modelRetry is how the server's generative calls ride out a provider's
+// refusals: 429s and 5xx, retried with backoff (Retry-After honoured,
+// clamped to MaxDelay). Vertex's shared quota refuses in bursts; with no
+// retry, 28 of 50 /v1/answer calls failed on their first 429 (HAL-3206).
+var modelRetry = retry.Config{MaxRetries: 5, BaseDelay: time.Second, MaxDelay: 20 * time.Second}
+
+// withModelRetry wraps a generative client in modelRetry. It sits outside
+// the limiter, so every attempt takes a slot and a refusal that narrows the
+// limit is seen before the next attempt.
+func withModelRetry(c llmgate.Client, cfg retry.Config) llmgate.Client {
+	if c == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return retry.New(cfg)(c)
 }
 
 // buildStrategy constructs the retrieval strategy named by
diff --git a/cmd/server/retry_test.go b/cmd/server/retry_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d25d74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/server/retry_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"sync/atomic"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/hallelx2/llmgate"
+	"github.com/hallelx2/llmgate/middleware/retry"
+)
+
+// A provider that refuses twice and then answers yields the answer: the
+// server's model client retries 429s (HAL-3206).
+func TestModelClientRidesOutRefusals(t *testing.T) {
+	var calls atomic.Int32
+	inner := &llmgate.Mock{Respond: func(context.Context, llmgate.Request) (*llmgate.Response, error) {
+		if calls.Add(1) <= 2 {
+			return nil, llmgate.NewLLMError("gemini", 429, "vertex: Resource exhausted. Please try again later.", nil)
+		}
+		return &llmgate.Response{Content: "capex was $1,577 million [1]"}, nil
+	}}
+	fast := retry.Config{MaxRetries: modelRetry.MaxRetries, BaseDelay: time.Millisecond, MaxDelay: 5 * time.Millisecond}
+	resp, err := withModelRetry(inner, fast).Complete(context.Background(), llmgate.Request{Model: "m"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err = %v after %d calls", err, calls.Load())
+	}
+	if resp.Content != "capex was $1,577 million [1]" || calls.Load() != 3 {
+		t.Errorf("content %q after %d calls", resp.Content, calls.Load())
+	}
+}
+
+// A request the provider rejects as malformed is not retried.
+func TestModelClientDoesNotRetryABadRequest(t *testing.T) {
+	var calls atomic.Int32
+	inner := &llmgate.Mock{Respond: func(context.Context, llmgate.Request) (*llmgate.Response, error) {
+		calls.Add(1)
+		return nil, llmgate.NewLLMError("gemini", 400, "invalid argument", nil)
+	}}
+	fast := retry.Config{MaxRetries: 5, BaseDelay: time.Millisecond, MaxDelay: time.Millisecond}
+	if _, err := withModelRetry(inner, fast).Complete(context.Background(), llmgate.Request{}); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("want the 400 back")
+	}
+	if calls.Load() != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("a 400 was tried %d times", calls.Load())
+	}
+}
+
+func TestModelRetryIsConfigured(t *testing.T) {
+	if modelRetry.MaxRetries < 3 || modelRetry.MaxDelay < 10*time.Second {
+		t.Errorf("modelRetry = %+v: too thin to ride out a shared-quota burst", modelRetry)
+	}
+	if withModelRetry(nil, modelRetry) != nil {
+		t.Error("a nil client must stay nil, so the endpoint can report no model")
+	}
+}