diff --git a/scripts/install-electron-with-retry.mjs b/scripts/install-electron-with-retry.mjs
index d729c084aa..13506d4a09 100644
--- a/scripts/install-electron-with-retry.mjs
+++ b/scripts/install-electron-with-retry.mjs
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 
 const DEFAULT_MAX_ATTEMPTS = 5;
 const DEFAULT_BASE_DELAY_MS = 2_000;
+// A stalled download never errors, so the retry classifier cannot see it; capping
+// each attempt keeps the install bounded (ten minutes covers the ~143 MB artifact
+// above ~2 Mbps). MAKA_ELECTRON_INSTALL_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_MS raises the cap.
+const DEFAULT_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_MS = 10 * 60_000;
 const transientCodes = new Set([
   'ECONNRESET',
   'EAI_AGAIN',
@@ -37,6 +41,11 @@ const transientCodes = new Set([
 ]);
 const transientHttpStatuses = new Set([408, 425, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504]);
 
+export function resolveAttemptTimeoutMs(env = process.env) {
+  const configured = Number.parseInt(env.MAKA_ELECTRON_INSTALL_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_MS ?? '', 10);
+  return Number.isFinite(configured) && configured > 0 ? configured : DEFAULT_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_MS;
+}
+
 export function isTransientElectronInstallFailure(contextOutput) {
   return contextOutput.split(/\r?\n/).some((line) => {
     if (!line) return false;
@@ -63,13 +72,16 @@ export async function installWithRetry(
 ) {
   for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= maxAttempts; attempt += 1) {
     const result = await runAttempt(attempt);
-    if (
-      result.status === 0 ||
-      typeof result.status !== 'number' ||
-      result.signal ||
-      result.spawnError ||
-      !isTransientElectronInstallFailure(result.context ?? '')
-    ) {
+    if (result.status === 0) {
+      return result;
+    }
+    const retryable =
+      result.timedOut === true ||
+      (typeof result.status === 'number' &&
+        !result.signal &&
+        !result.spawnError &&
+        isTransientElectronInstallFailure(result.context ?? ''));
+    if (!retryable) {
       return result;
     }
     if (attempt === maxAttempts) {
@@ -78,7 +90,9 @@ export async function installWithRetry(
 
     const delayMs = baseDelayMs * 2 ** (attempt - 1);
     warn(
-      `[install-electron] transient download failure on attempt ${attempt}/${maxAttempts}; retrying in ${delayMs}ms`,
+      result.timedOut === true
+        ? `[install-electron] attempt ${attempt}/${maxAttempts} timed out; retrying in ${delayMs}ms`
+        : `[install-electron] transient download failure on attempt ${attempt}/${maxAttempts}; retrying in ${delayMs}ms`,
     );
     await wait(delayMs);
   }
@@ -94,6 +108,47 @@ export function electronInstallerSpawnOptions(repositoryRoot) {
   };
 }
 
+export function runInstallerAttempt({
+  installerPath,
+  launcherPath,
+  repositoryRoot,
+  timeoutMs,
+  spawn = spawnSync,
+  report = (text) => process.stderr.write(text),
+}) {
+  const child = spawn(process.execPath, [launcherPath, installerPath], {
+    ...electronInstallerSpawnOptions(repositoryRoot),
+    timeout: timeoutMs,
+  });
+  const timedOut = child.error?.code === 'ETIMEDOUT';
+  if (child.stderr) {
+    report(child.stderr);
+  }
+  if (child.error && !timedOut) {
+    const message = child.error.stack ?? child.error.message;
+    report(`${message}\n`);
+    return {
+      status: child.status,
+      signal: child.signal,
+      spawnError: true,
+      context: child.output?.[3] ?? '',
+      stderr: `${child.stderr ?? ''}\n${message}`,
+    };
+  }
+  if (timedOut) {
+    report(
+      `[install-electron] attempt aborted after ${timeoutMs}ms without completing the download\n`,
+    );
+  }
+  return {
+    status: child.status,
+    signal: child.signal,
+    timedOut,
+    context: child.output?.[3] ?? '',
+    stderr: child.stderr ?? '',
+  };
+}
+
 async function main() {
   // electron is declared by apps/desktop, not the workspace root, so anchor
   // resolution at that package. Resolving from this script (under scripts/)
@@ -103,36 +158,18 @@ async function main() {
   const installer = require.resolve('electron/install.js');
   const launcher = fileURLToPath(new URL('./run-electron-installer.cjs', import.meta.url));
   const repositoryRoot = dirname(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)));
+  const attemptTimeoutMs = resolveAttemptTimeoutMs();
 
-  const result = await installWithRetry(() => {
-    const child = spawnSync(
-      process.execPath,
-      [launcher, installer],
-      electronInstallerSpawnOptions(repositoryRoot),
-    );
-    if (child.stderr) {
-      process.stderr.write(child.stderr);
-    }
-    if (child.error) {
-      const message = child.error.stack ?? child.error.message;
-      process.stderr.write(`${message}\n`);
-      return {
-        status: child.status,
-        signal: child.signal,
-        spawnError: true,
-        context: child.output?.[3] ?? '',
-        stderr: `${child.stderr ?? ''}\n${message}`,
-      };
-    }
-    return {
-      status: child.status,
-      signal: child.signal,
-      context: child.output?.[3] ?? '',
-      stderr: child.stderr ?? '',
-    };
-  });
+  const result = await installWithRetry(() =>
+    runInstallerAttempt({
+      installerPath: installer,
+      launcherPath: launcher,
+      repositoryRoot,
+      timeoutMs: attemptTimeoutMs,
+    }),
+  );
 
-  if (result.signal) {
+  if (result.signal && result.timedOut !== true) {
     process.kill(process.pid, result.signal);
   } else {
     process.exitCode = result.status ?? 1;
diff --git a/scripts/install-electron-with-retry.test.mjs b/scripts/install-electron-with-retry.test.mjs
index 5692d757a1..284f6d9170 100644
--- a/scripts/install-electron-with-retry.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/install-electron-with-retry.test.mjs
@@ -18,9 +18,17 @@
  */
 
 import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
 import test from 'node:test';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 
-import { installWithRetry } from './install-electron-with-retry.mjs';
+import {
+  installWithRetry,
+  resolveAttemptTimeoutMs,
+  runInstallerAttempt,
+} from './install-electron-with-retry.mjs';
 
 test('waits through a sustained transient Electron download outage', async () => {
   const attempts = [];
@@ -43,3 +51,77 @@ test('waits through a sustained transient Electron download outage', async () =>
   assert.deepEqual(attempts, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);
   assert.deepEqual(delays, [2_000, 4_000, 8_000, 16_000]);
 });
+
+test('retries an attempt that exceeded the per-attempt timeout', async () => {
+  const attempts = [];
+  const delays = [];
+
+  const result = await installWithRetry(
+    async (attempt) => {
+      attempts.push(attempt);
+      return attempt < 3
+        ? { status: null, signal: 'SIGTERM', timedOut: true, context: '' }
+        : { status: 0, context: '' };
+    },
+    {
+      wait: async (delay) => delays.push(delay),
+      warn: () => {},
+    },
+  );
+
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0);
+  assert.deepEqual(attempts, [1, 2, 3]);
+  assert.deepEqual(delays, [2_000, 4_000]);
+});
+
+test('keeps terminal signal termination immediate', async () => {
+  const attempts = [];
+
+  const result = await installWithRetry(
+    async (attempt) => {
+      attempts.push(attempt);
+      return { status: null, signal: 'SIGINT', context: '' };
+    },
+    {
+      wait: async () => assert.fail('a terminal signal must not be retried'),
+      warn: () => {},
+    },
+  );
+
+  assert.equal(result.signal, 'SIGINT');
+  assert.deepEqual(attempts, [1]);
+});
+
+test('resolves the per-attempt timeout from the environment', () => {
+  const variable = 'MAKA_ELECTRON_INSTALL_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_MS';
+
+  assert.equal(resolveAttemptTimeoutMs({}), 600_000);
+  assert.equal(resolveAttemptTimeoutMs({ [variable]: '15000' }), 15_000);
+  assert.equal(resolveAttemptTimeoutMs({ [variable]: '0' }), 600_000);
+  assert.equal(resolveAttemptTimeoutMs({ [variable]: 'soon' }), 600_000);
+});
+
+test('aborts an installer attempt that outlives the timeout', async () => {
+  const directory = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'maka-electron-attempt-'));
+  const installerPath = join(directory, 'stall-installer.cjs');
+  await writeFile(installerPath, 'setInterval(() => {}, 60_000);\n');
+  const reports = [];
+
+  try {
+    const result = runInstallerAttempt({
+      installerPath,
+      launcherPath: fileURLToPath(new URL('./run-electron-installer.cjs', import.meta.url)),
+      repositoryRoot: process.cwd(),
+      timeoutMs: 2_000,
+      report: (text) => reports.push(text),
+    });
+
+    assert.equal(result.timedOut, true);
+    assert.equal(result.status, null);
+    assert.equal(result.signal, 'SIGTERM');
+    assert.equal(result.spawnError, undefined);
+    assert.match(reports.join(''), /attempt aborted after 2000ms/);
+  } finally {
+    await rm(directory, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});