diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/git.rs b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/git.rs
index fa35696c..a54299d9 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/git.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/git.rs
@@ -47,10 +47,17 @@ pub(super) async fn git_commit(dir: &Path, message: &str) -> Result<()> {
 
 /// Spawn `git` honoring the `HYPERHIVE_GIT` env var (absolute path baked in
 /// by the NixOS module), falling back to bare `git` (PATH lookup) otherwise.
+///
+/// `kill_on_drop(true)`: if the caller's future is dropped before the child
+/// exits — e.g. a `tokio::time::timeout` around startup migration fires — the
+/// git child is killed instead of orphaned (left retrying an unreachable
+/// forge). No-op on normal completion, where the child has already exited.
 #[must_use]
 pub fn git_command() -> Command {
     let exe = std::env::var("HYPERHIVE_GIT").unwrap_or_else(|_| "git".into());
-    Command::new(exe)
+    let mut cmd = Command::new(exe);
+    cmd.kill_on_drop(true);
+    cmd
 }
 
 pub async fn git(dir: &Path, args: &[&str]) -> Result<()> {
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs b/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
index 7d824d38..1d111c83 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
@@ -1391,6 +1391,10 @@ async fn nix_output(dir: &Path, args: &[&str]) -> Result<std::process::Output> {
     Command::new("nix")
         .current_dir(dir)
         .args(nix_argv(args))
+        // Kill the nix child if the caller's future is dropped (e.g. the
+        // startup-migration timeout around `sync_agents` fires) rather than
+        // orphaning it against an unreachable forge. No-op on normal exit.
+        .kill_on_drop(true)
         .output()
         .await
         .with_context(|| format!("nix {} in {}", args.join(" "), dir.display()))