diff --git a/server/internal/daemon/agents_refresh.go b/server/internal/daemon/agents_refresh.go
index b58100c0f0..9594249d3e 100644
--- a/server/internal/daemon/agents_refresh.go
+++ b/server/internal/daemon/agents_refresh.go
@@ -27,7 +27,20 @@ var agentConvergeMaxBackoff = 30 * time.Minute
 // of codex/claude is picked up without a restart. A round is one `--version`
 // fork per installed CLI, fanned out and machine-level — it does not scale with
 // workspace count or runtime count. Overridable for tests.
-var agentVersionRefreshInterval = 5 * time.Minute
+//
+// This is the one local probe whose cost grows with the host (one fork per
+// installed CLI) and which executes third-party binaries, some of whose
+// wrappers have visible side effects when run — so it is the one worth
+// lengthening if background probing needs to get cheaper.
+//
+// It is not lengthened further than selfReloadCheckInterval, though, because
+// the round does more than refresh a displayed version string: it also keys
+// version-sensitive launch policy, and it is what confirms a CLI has dropped
+// below its minimum supported version and must stop being given work. The
+// interval is therefore also the window in which an unsupported CLI keeps
+// claiming tasks, which is why this tracks the reload check rather than being
+// pushed out on cost grounds alone.
+var agentVersionRefreshInterval = 10 * time.Minute
 
 // agentDiscoveryLoop keeps the registered runtime set converged on the agent
 // CLIs actually installed on this machine, so a CLI installed while the daemon
diff --git a/server/internal/daemon/auto_update.go b/server/internal/daemon/auto_update.go
index 40b1c22044..646e4e2e14 100644
--- a/server/internal/daemon/auto_update.go
+++ b/server/internal/daemon/auto_update.go
@@ -73,7 +73,17 @@ var autoUpdateInitialDelay = 2 * time.Minute
 // re-exec. One fork/exec per tick, machine-level (not per workspace, not per
 // runtime), so the cost is fixed no matter how big the daemon's workload is.
 // Overridable for tests.
-var selfReloadCheckInterval = 5 * time.Minute
+//
+// The value bounds how long a user waits after replacing the binary themselves,
+// not how often we ship: the "is there a new release" question belongs to
+// DefaultAutoUpdateCheckInterval, and only that one should track release
+// cadence. It also compounds, because a tick that lands while the daemon is
+// busy defers to the next one rather than interrupting a task — so the wait is
+// really "the first tick that is both due and idle". Ten minutes keeps the
+// average wait around five and the multiplier tolerable on a busy host; an hour
+// would not, and would put us back in sight of the "I upgraded and nothing
+// happened" problem this check exists to remove.
+var selfReloadCheckInterval = 10 * time.Minute
 
 // selfReloadProbeTimeout bounds the `--version` fork/exec. Generous: the point
 // of the timeout is to stop a wedged binary from parking the loop goroutine,