diff --git a/agents/rap-node-agent/internal/vpnruntime/fabric_transport.go b/agents/rap-node-agent/internal/vpnruntime/fabric_transport.go
index 1a8b5eb..6d62f59 100644
--- a/agents/rap-node-agent/internal/vpnruntime/fabric_transport.go
+++ b/agents/rap-node-agent/internal/vpnruntime/fabric_transport.go
@@ -929,6 +929,24 @@ func normalizeFabricRouteSwitchReason(reason string) string {
 	if reason == "" {
 		return "route_failure"
 	}
+	for _, mapping := range []struct {
+		needle string
+		label  string
+	}{
+		{needle: "context deadline exceeded", label: "timeout"},
+		{needle: "i/o timeout", label: "timeout"},
+		{needle: "connection refused", label: "connection_refused"},
+		{needle: "connection reset", label: "connection_reset"},
+		{needle: "no route to host", label: "no_route_to_host"},
+		{needle: "peer unavailable", label: "peer_unavailable"},
+		{needle: "peer is unavailable", label: "peer_unavailable"},
+		{needle: "next peer is unavailable", label: "peer_unavailable"},
+		{needle: "capacity", label: "capacity_limited"},
+	} {
+		if strings.Contains(reason, mapping.needle) {
+			return mapping.label
+		}
+	}
 	replacer := strings.NewReplacer(" ", "_", "\t", "_", "\n", "_", "\r", "_", ":", "_", ";", "_", ",", "_")
 	reason = replacer.Replace(reason)
 	for strings.Contains(reason, "__") {
diff --git a/agents/rap-node-agent/internal/vpnruntime/fabric_transport_test.go b/agents/rap-node-agent/internal/vpnruntime/fabric_transport_test.go
index c69dd6c..a04ff5f 100644
--- a/agents/rap-node-agent/internal/vpnruntime/fabric_transport_test.go
+++ b/agents/rap-node-agent/internal/vpnruntime/fabric_transport_test.go
@@ -1532,7 +1532,7 @@ func TestFabricClientPacketIngressIsolatesRouteFailoverPerLogicalChannel(t *test
 	}
 	if statA.LastRecoveredFromRouteID != "route-primary" ||
 		statA.LastRecoveredNextHop != "relay-primary" ||
-		statA.LastRouteSwitchReason != "production_mesh_next_peer_is_unavailable" ||
+		statA.LastRouteSwitchReason != "peer_unavailable" ||
 		statA.RouteSwitchCount != 1 ||
 		statA.LastRouteFailureAt == "" ||
 		statA.LastRouteSwitchAt == "" ||
@@ -1541,7 +1541,7 @@ func TestFabricClientPacketIngressIsolatesRouteFailoverPerLogicalChannel(t *test
 		snapshot.FlowScheduler.RouteSwitchCount != 1 ||
 		snapshot.FlowScheduler.RouteRecoveryMaxMillis != statA.LastRouteRecoveryMillis ||
 		snapshot.FlowScheduler.RouteRecoveryAvgMillis != statA.LastRouteRecoveryMillis ||
-		snapshot.FlowScheduler.RouteSwitchReasonCounts["production_mesh_next_peer_is_unavailable"] != 1 {
+		snapshot.FlowScheduler.RouteSwitchReasonCounts["peer_unavailable"] != 1 {
 		t.Fatalf("route recovery telemetry = stat:%+v scheduler:%+v", statA, snapshot.FlowScheduler)
 	}
 	if statB.LastRouteID != "route-primary" || statB.LastFailedRouteID != "" || statB.ConsecutiveFailures != 0 {
@@ -1552,6 +1552,21 @@ func TestFabricClientPacketIngressIsolatesRouteFailoverPerLogicalChannel(t *test
 	}
 }
 
+func TestNormalizeFabricRouteSwitchReasonBucketsCommonFailures(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := map[string]string{
+		"context deadline exceeded while dialing 10.0.0.1:19124": "timeout",
+		"dial tcp 10.0.0.1:19124: connection refused":            "connection_refused",
+		"production mesh next peer is unavailable":               "peer_unavailable",
+		"quic fabric stream capacity limited":                    "capacity_limited",
+		"":                                                       "route_failure",
+	}
+	for input, want := range cases {
+		if got := normalizeFabricRouteSwitchReason(input); got != want {
+			t.Fatalf("normalizeFabricRouteSwitchReason(%q) = %q, want %q", input, got, want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestFabricClientPacketIngressIsolatesRouteMemoryPerVPNConnection(t *testing.T) {
 	transport := &captureManyProductionTransport{}
 	scheduler := NewFabricFlowScheduler(8, 16)
diff --git a/docs/architecture/DISTRIBUTED_FABRIC_NODE_PROTOCOL_PLAN.md b/docs/architecture/DISTRIBUTED_FABRIC_NODE_PROTOCOL_PLAN.md
index db7c926..8d18a0e 100644
--- a/docs/architecture/DISTRIBUTED_FABRIC_NODE_PROTOCOL_PLAN.md
+++ b/docs/architecture/DISTRIBUTED_FABRIC_NODE_PROTOCOL_PLAN.md
@@ -458,6 +458,9 @@ reason counts, so load tests can distinguish peer failures, timeouts, and other
 route-break causes.
 `mesh-live-smoke` reports the synthetic route-recovery reason beside recovery
 timing and switch count.
+Common route switch reasons are bucketed into stable labels such as timeout,
+peer_unavailable, connection_refused, connection_reset, no_route_to_host, and
+capacity_limited to keep heartbeat cardinality bounded.
 Endpoint ranking treats `capacity_limited` observations as a soft pressure
 penalty instead of a hard recent failure, enabling load spreading without
 marking the carrier unhealthy.