diff --git a/adapters/models/openai_compatible_local.go b/adapters/models/openai_compatible_local.go
index a9dbc4b..501e3d6 100644
--- a/adapters/models/openai_compatible_local.go
+++ b/adapters/models/openai_compatible_local.go
@@ -32,14 +32,25 @@ func NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapter(raw string, transport http.RoundTripper) (*
 // NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKey creates an adapter for a gateway
 // whose bearer credential was resolved by the trusted runtime boundary.
 func NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKey(raw, apiKey string, transport http.RoundTripper) (*OpenAICompatibleLocalAdapter, error) {
+	return NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKeyAndTimeout(raw, apiKey, transport, 10*time.Second)
+}
+
+// NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKeyAndTimeout creates a local gateway
+// adapter with an explicit invocation deadline. The request context remains
+// authoritative for per-call cancellation; this client deadline prevents a
+// provider from holding a worker indefinitely.
+func NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKeyAndTimeout(raw, apiKey string, transport http.RoundTripper, timeout time.Duration) (*OpenAICompatibleLocalAdapter, error) {
 	base, err := url.Parse(raw)
 	if err != nil || base.Scheme != "http" || base.Host == "" || strings.TrimSuffix(base.Path, "/") != "/v1" || base.RawQuery != "" || base.Fragment != "" || base.User != nil {
 		return nil, errors.New("invalid local compatible endpoint")
 	}
+	if timeout <= 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("local compatible timeout must be positive")
+	}
 	if transport == nil {
 		transport = http.DefaultTransport
 	}
-	return &OpenAICompatibleLocalAdapter{base: base, client: &http.Client{Transport: transport, Timeout: 10 * time.Second, CheckRedirect: func(*http.Request, []*http.Request) error { return http.ErrUseLastResponse }}, apiKey: strings.TrimSpace(apiKey)}, nil
+	return &OpenAICompatibleLocalAdapter{base: base, client: &http.Client{Transport: transport, Timeout: timeout, CheckRedirect: func(*http.Request, []*http.Request) error { return http.ErrUseLastResponse }}, apiKey: strings.TrimSpace(apiKey)}, nil
 }
 
 type compatibleModelsResponse struct {
diff --git a/adapters/models/openai_compatible_local_test.go b/adapters/models/openai_compatible_local_test.go
index da58dfc..6ea7b06 100644
--- a/adapters/models/openai_compatible_local_test.go
+++ b/adapters/models/openai_compatible_local_test.go
@@ -6,12 +6,29 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 )
 
 type captureRoundTripper struct {
 	authorization string
 }
 
+func TestOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterUsesConfiguredTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	adapter, err := NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKeyAndTimeout("http://gateway/v1", "", &captureRoundTripper{}, 47*time.Second)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if adapter.client.Timeout != 47*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected client timeout: %s", adapter.client.Timeout)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterRejectsNonPositiveTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	if _, err := NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKeyAndTimeout("http://gateway/v1", "", nil, 0); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected non-positive timeout to be rejected")
+	}
+}
+
 func (t *captureRoundTripper) RoundTrip(request *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 	t.authorization = request.Header.Get("Authorization")
 	return &http.Response{StatusCode: http.StatusOK, Body: io.NopCloser(strings.NewReader(`{"data":[]}`)), Header: make(http.Header), Request: request}, nil
diff --git a/cmd/cognitive-benchmark/main.go b/cmd/cognitive-benchmark/main.go
index bf6f54a..fe87b25 100644
--- a/cmd/cognitive-benchmark/main.go
+++ b/cmd/cognitive-benchmark/main.go
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, plan manifest, timeout time.Duration, observed tim
 		artifact.Corpus = append(artifact.Corpus, corpusRecord{ID: item.id, Prompt: item.prompt, PromptSHA256: digest(item.prompt), Critical: item.critical})
 	}
 	for _, provider := range plan.Providers {
-		adapter, err := newProvider(provider)
+		adapter, err := newProvider(provider, timeout)
 		if err != nil {
 			return benchmarkArtifact{}, err
 		}
@@ -158,10 +158,10 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, plan manifest, timeout time.Duration, observed tim
 	return artifact, nil
 }
 
-func newProvider(candidate providerCandidate) (models.LocalProvider, error) {
+func newProvider(candidate providerCandidate, timeout time.Duration) (models.LocalProvider, error) {
 	switch candidate.ProviderKind {
 	case "openai-compatible-chat-v1":
-		return models.NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapter(candidate.Endpoint, nil)
+		return models.NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKeyAndTimeout(candidate.Endpoint, "", nil, timeout)
 	case "ollama-v1":
 		return models.NewOllamaAdapter(candidate.Endpoint, nil)
 	default:
diff --git a/cmd/cognitive-worker/main.go b/cmd/cognitive-worker/main.go
index c8bfa38..210a338 100644
--- a/cmd/cognitive-worker/main.go
+++ b/cmd/cognitive-worker/main.go
@@ -69,7 +69,8 @@ func main() {
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Fatal(err)
 		}
-		mediumAdapter, adapterErr := models.NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKey(strings.TrimRight(mediumURL, "/"), mediumAPIKey, nil)
+		mediumTimeout := durationEnv("LOCAL_MEDIUM_PROVIDER_TIMEOUT", 60*time.Second)
+		mediumAdapter, adapterErr := models.NewOpenAICompatibleLocalAdapterWithAPIKeyAndTimeout(strings.TrimRight(mediumURL, "/"), mediumAPIKey, nil, mediumTimeout)
 		if adapterErr != nil {
 			log.Fatal(adapterErr)
 		}
@@ -160,6 +161,19 @@ func main() {
 	}
 }
 
+func durationEnv(name string, fallback time.Duration) time.Duration {
+	value := strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv(name))
+	if value == "" {
+		return fallback
+	}
+	parsed, err := time.ParseDuration(value)
+	if err != nil || parsed <= 0 {
+		log.Printf("invalid %s=%q; using %s", name, value, fallback)
+		return fallback
+	}
+	return parsed
+}
+
 func refreshProviderDiscoveries(resolver bindingResolver, service discoveryService) {
 	for name := range service.providers {
 		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 8*time.Second)
diff --git a/dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json b/dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json
index e1c5748..0282027 100644
--- a/dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json
+++ b/dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "task_file": "dev/tasks/DEV-000174-medium-qualification-evidence.json",
-  "task_id": "DEV-000174",
+  "task_file": "dev/tasks/DEV-000175-medium-invocation-timeout.json",
+  "task_id": "DEV-000175",
   "task_revision": 1
 }
diff --git a/dev/tasks/DEV-000175-medium-invocation-timeout.json b/dev/tasks/DEV-000175-medium-invocation-timeout.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cff790
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/tasks/DEV-000175-medium-invocation-timeout.json
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{
+  "task_id": "DEV-000175",
+  "task_revision": 1,
+  "architecture_revision": "ADR-0018",
+  "base_repo_revision": "b29f8775e1217506098d5c9a0e99c1046494cba3",
+  "risk_tier": "E",
+  "intent": "Make local OpenAI-compatible provider invocation deadlines explicit per provider so slow but reachable fleet members can be qualified through the existing adapter path.",
+  "requirement_ids": ["WP-200", "WP-301", "AUDIT-COMPLETION-TRUTH"],
+  "allowed_change_scope": {"modules": ["cognitive adapter", "cognitive worker", "benchmark runtime"], "paths": ["adapters/models/openai_compatible_local.go", "adapters/models/openai_compatible_local_test.go", "cmd/cognitive-worker/main.go", "cmd/cognitive-benchmark/main.go", "dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json", "dev/tasks/DEV-000175-medium-invocation-timeout.json"]},
+  "forbidden_change_scope": {"paths": ["architecture/**", "security/**", "database/**", "contracts/**", "modules/**", "adapters/postgres/**", ".gitea/**"]},
+  "allowed_architecture_delta": {"new_cross_module_dependencies": 0, "new_canonical_owners": 0, "new_privileges": 0, "new_third_party_dependencies": 0, "new_database_owner_roles": 0},
+  "contracts": {"consume": ["existing provider-neutral cognitive adapter contract", "existing provider environment configuration"], "may_change": ["provider-specific invocation timeout configuration"]},
+  "semantic_owner": "cognitive adapter/runtime",
+  "canonical_state": ["adapter request deadline"],
+  "state_transitions": ["fixed local adapter deadline -> explicit positive provider-specific deadline"],
+  "side_effects_and_privileges": ["none beyond existing provider requests"],
+  "persistence_and_migrations": ["none"],
+  "failure_retry_restart": ["non-positive configuration falls back to safe default; request context remains authoritative"],
+  "assumptions": ["the existing Medium runtime is reachable but may require more than 10 seconds for a complete response", "default CPU behavior remains 10 seconds unless separately configured"],
+  "acceptance_scenarios": ["adapter accepts positive explicit timeout", "adapter rejects non-positive timeout", "benchmark passes its case timeout to the adapter", "production Medium defaults to 60 seconds", "no provider call bypasses the adapter"],
+  "required_tests": ["go test ./...", "go vet ./...", "go run ./cmd/devctl preflight -active dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json", "go run ./cmd/devctl check-diff -active dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json", "go run ./cmd/devctl check-architecture -active dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json", "go run ./cmd/devctl/independent", "git diff --check", "CI"],
+  "terminal_gap_states": ["BLOCKED_BY_MISSING_CAPABILITY", "BLOCKED_BY_CONFLICT"]
+}