diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-resilience-nightly.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-resilience-nightly.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3df8ac8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-resilience-nightly.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+name: ci-resilience-nightly
+
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '20 3 * * *'
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+    paths:
+      - 'src/lock-ops.mjs'
+      - 'test/lock-acquisition-resilience.integration.test.mjs'
+      - 'package.json'
+      - 'package-lock.json'
+      - '.github/workflows/ci-resilience-nightly.yml'
+
+jobs:
+  ci-resilience:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 20
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Setup Node.js
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: 20
+          cache: npm
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: npm ci
+
+      - name: Run resilience lock acquisition suite
+        run: npm run test:ci-resilience
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f328bfd..d806930 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@
     "scheduler:weekly": "node scripts/agent/run-scheduler-cycle.mjs weekly",
     "report:lock-reliability": "node scripts/agent/summarize-lock-reliability.mjs --since-days 30",
     "test:integration:e2e": "node --test test/scheduler-preflight-lock.e2e.test.mjs",
-    "validate:scheduler-failure-schema": "node --test test/scheduler-lock-failure-schema.contract.test.mjs"
+    "validate:scheduler-failure-schema": "node --test test/scheduler-lock-failure-schema.contract.test.mjs",
+    "test:ci-resilience": "node --test test/lock-acquisition-resilience.integration.test.mjs",
+    "test:extended-main": "npm run test:integration:e2e && npm run test:ci-resilience"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "nostr-tools": "2.19.4",
diff --git a/test/lock-acquisition-resilience.integration.test.mjs b/test/lock-acquisition-resilience.integration.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d178395
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/lock-acquisition-resilience.integration.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,219 @@
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, it, mock } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert';
+
+import { publishLock, _resetRelayHealthState } from '../src/lock-ops.mjs';
+
+const RELAYS = ['wss://relay-a', 'wss://relay-b', 'wss://relay-c'];
+
+function parseTelemetry(lines) {
+  return lines.map((line) => JSON.parse(line));
+}
+
+function createDynamicPool(outcomeForAttempt) {
+  let publishCallCount = 0;
+  return {
+    publish(relays) {
+      publishCallCount += 1;
+      return relays.map((relay) => {
+        const outcome = outcomeForAttempt({
+          relay,
+          attempt: publishCallCount,
+          nowMs: Date.now(),
+        });
+        if (outcome.ok) {
+          return Promise.resolve('ok');
+        }
+        return Promise.reject(new Error(outcome.message));
+      });
+    },
+    close() {},
+    getPublishCallCount() {
+      return publishCallCount;
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+describe('ci-resilience lock acquisition under unstable relays', { concurrency: false }, () => {
+  const healthStabilityOverrides = {
+    failureThreshold: 999,
+    rollingWindowSize: 100,
+  };
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    _resetRelayHealthState();
+    mock.timers.enable({ apis: ['Date', 'setTimeout'] });
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    mock.timers.reset();
+  });
+
+  it('recovers after all relays are down for an initial outage window', async () => {
+    const telemetryLogs = [];
+    const sleepCalls = [];
+    const initialOutageMs = 3_000;
+
+    const pool = createDynamicPool(({ relay, nowMs }) => {
+      if (nowMs < initialOutageMs) {
+        return { ok: false, message: 'relay unavailable during outage' };
+      }
+      if (relay === 'wss://relay-c') {
+        return { ok: true };
+      }
+      return { ok: false, message: 'relay unavailable during outage recovery' };
+    });
+
+    const result = await publishLock(RELAYS, { id: 'evt-outage-recovery' }, {
+      poolFactory: () => pool,
+      getPublishTimeoutMsFn: () => 25,
+      getMinSuccessfulRelayPublishesFn: () => 1,
+      getRelayFallbacksFn: () => [],
+      getMinActiveRelayPoolFn: () => 1,
+      retryAttempts: 8,
+      retryBaseDelayMs: 1_000,
+      retryCapDelayMs: 1_000,
+      randomFn: () => 1,
+      sleepFn: async (delayMs) => {
+        sleepCalls.push(delayMs);
+        mock.timers.tick(delayMs);
+      },
+      telemetryLogger: (line) => telemetryLogs.push(line),
+      healthLogger: () => {},
+      ...healthStabilityOverrides,
+    });
+
+    assert.strictEqual(result.id, 'evt-outage-recovery');
+    assert.strictEqual(pool.getPublishCallCount(), 4);
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(sleepCalls, [1_000, 1_000, 1_000]);
+
+    const telemetry = parseTelemetry(telemetryLogs);
+    const quorumMet = telemetry.find((entry) => entry.event === 'lock_publish_quorum_met');
+    assert.ok(quorumMet);
+    assert.strictEqual(quorumMet.publishAttempt, 4);
+    assert.ok(quorumMet.totalElapsedMs >= initialOutageMs);
+    assert.ok(quorumMet.totalElapsedMs < 6_000);
+
+    const retriesByRelay = telemetry
+      .filter((entry) => entry.event === 'lock_publish_retry')
+      .reduce((acc, entry) => {
+        acc[entry.relayUrl] = (acc[entry.relayUrl] || 0) + 1;
+        return acc;
+      }, {});
+
+    assert.strictEqual(retriesByRelay['wss://relay-a'], 3);
+    assert.strictEqual(retriesByRelay['wss://relay-b'], 3);
+    assert.strictEqual(retriesByRelay['wss://relay-c'], 3);
+  });
+
+  it('survives intermittent timeout spikes and reaches quorum with bounded retries', async () => {
+    const telemetryLogs = [];
+    const sleepCalls = [];
+
+    const pool = createDynamicPool(({ relay, attempt }) => {
+      if (relay === 'wss://relay-a') {
+        return { ok: true };
+      }
+
+      if (relay === 'wss://relay-b' && (attempt === 1 || attempt === 3)) {
+        return { ok: false, message: 'publish timed out after 25ms (spike)' };
+      }
+
+      return { ok: true };
+    });
+
+    const result = await publishLock(['wss://relay-a', 'wss://relay-b'], { id: 'evt-timeout-spikes' }, {
+      poolFactory: () => pool,
+      getPublishTimeoutMsFn: () => 25,
+      getMinSuccessfulRelayPublishesFn: () => 2,
+      getRelayFallbacksFn: () => [],
+      getMinActiveRelayPoolFn: () => 1,
+      retryAttempts: 4,
+      retryBaseDelayMs: 200,
+      retryCapDelayMs: 200,
+      randomFn: () => 1,
+      sleepFn: async (delayMs) => {
+        sleepCalls.push(delayMs);
+        mock.timers.tick(delayMs);
+      },
+      telemetryLogger: (line) => telemetryLogs.push(line),
+      healthLogger: () => {},
+      ...healthStabilityOverrides,
+    });
+
+    assert.strictEqual(result.id, 'evt-timeout-spikes');
+    assert.strictEqual(pool.getPublishCallCount(), 2);
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(sleepCalls, [200]);
+
+    const telemetry = parseTelemetry(telemetryLogs);
+    const retryEvents = telemetry.filter((entry) => entry.event === 'lock_publish_retry');
+    assert.strictEqual(retryEvents.length, 1);
+    assert.strictEqual(retryEvents[0].relayUrl, 'wss://relay-b');
+    assert.strictEqual(retryEvents[0].errorCategory, 'publish_timeout');
+
+    const quorumMet = telemetry.find((entry) => entry.event === 'lock_publish_quorum_met');
+    assert.ok(quorumMet);
+    assert.strictEqual(quorumMet.publishAttempt, 2);
+    assert.ok(quorumMet.totalElapsedMs <= 1_000);
+  });
+
+  it('handles staggered relay recovery and never exceeds retry budget', async () => {
+    const telemetryLogs = [];
+    const sleepCalls = [];
+
+    const pool = createDynamicPool(({ relay, attempt }) => {
+      if (attempt <= 2) {
+        return { ok: false, message: 'connect timeout during outage' };
+      }
+      if (attempt === 3) {
+        if (relay === 'wss://relay-a') return { ok: true };
+        return { ok: false, message: 'connect timeout during staged recovery' };
+      }
+      if (relay === 'wss://relay-a' || relay === 'wss://relay-b') {
+        return { ok: true };
+      }
+      return { ok: false, message: 'relay unavailable' };
+    });
+
+    const retryAttempts = 6;
+    const result = await publishLock(RELAYS, { id: 'evt-staggered-recovery' }, {
+      poolFactory: () => pool,
+      getPublishTimeoutMsFn: () => 25,
+      getMinSuccessfulRelayPublishesFn: () => 2,
+      getRelayFallbacksFn: () => [],
+      getMinActiveRelayPoolFn: () => 1,
+      retryAttempts,
+      retryBaseDelayMs: 300,
+      retryCapDelayMs: 300,
+      randomFn: () => 1,
+      sleepFn: async (delayMs) => {
+        sleepCalls.push(delayMs);
+        mock.timers.tick(delayMs);
+      },
+      telemetryLogger: (line) => telemetryLogs.push(line),
+      healthLogger: () => {},
+      ...healthStabilityOverrides,
+    });
+
+    assert.strictEqual(result.id, 'evt-staggered-recovery');
+    assert.strictEqual(pool.getPublishCallCount(), 4);
+    assert.ok(pool.getPublishCallCount() <= retryAttempts);
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(sleepCalls, [300, 300, 300]);
+
+    const telemetry = parseTelemetry(telemetryLogs);
+    const quorumMet = telemetry.find((entry) => entry.event === 'lock_publish_quorum_met');
+    assert.ok(quorumMet);
+    assert.strictEqual(quorumMet.publishAttempt, 4);
+    assert.ok(quorumMet.totalElapsedMs < 3_000);
+
+    const retriesByRelay = telemetry
+      .filter((entry) => entry.event === 'lock_publish_retry')
+      .reduce((acc, entry) => {
+        acc[entry.relayUrl] = (acc[entry.relayUrl] || 0) + 1;
+        return acc;
+      }, {});
+
+    assert.strictEqual(retriesByRelay['wss://relay-a'], 2);
+    assert.strictEqual(retriesByRelay['wss://relay-b'], 3);
+    assert.strictEqual(retriesByRelay['wss://relay-c'], 3);
+  });
+});