diff --git a/packages/backend/src/services/__tests__/dispatcher-concurrency.test.ts b/packages/backend/src/services/__tests__/dispatcher-concurrency.test.ts
index 0eb1a7e0..fa02ca22 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/services/__tests__/dispatcher-concurrency.test.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/services/__tests__/dispatcher-concurrency.test.ts
@@ -317,4 +317,87 @@ describe('Dispatcher concurrency slot release', () => {
     // Verify no slots are leaked after a normal non-streaming dispatch
     expect(tracker.getProviderCount('p1')).toBe(0);
   });
+
+  test('enforceContextLimit does not leak concurrency slot', async () => {
+    setConfigForTesting({
+      ...makeConfig(2),
+      models: {
+        'test-alias': {
+          selector: 'in_order',
+          target_groups: [
+            {
+              name: 'default',
+              selector: 'in_order',
+              targets: [{ provider: 'p1', model: 'model-a', enabled: true }],
+            },
+          ],
+        },
+        // model-a config with enforce_limits enabled and a tiny context window
+        'model-a': {
+          enforce_limits: true,
+          context_length: 100,
+        },
+      },
+    } as any);
+
+    const tracker = ConcurrencyTracker.getInstance();
+    expect(tracker.getTargetCount('p1', 'model-a')).toBe(0);
+
+    const dispatcher = new Dispatcher();
+    try {
+      // Request with messages that exceed the tiny 100-token context limit
+      await dispatcher.dispatch({
+        model: 'test-alias',
+        messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'x'.repeat(1000) }],
+        incomingApiType: 'chat',
+        stream: false,
+      });
+    } catch (e: any) {
+      // Error is expected (may be wrapped by buildAllTargetsFailedError)
+      expect(e).toBeDefined();
+    }
+
+    // The slot must NOT be leaked — enforceContextLimit ran before acquire()
+    expect(tracker.getTargetCount('p1', 'model-a')).toBe(0);
+    expect(tracker.getProviderCount('p1')).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  test('TTFB stall timeout releases concurrency slot', async () => {
+    // Enable stall detection with a very short TTFB timeout so the
+    // fetch itself gets aborted before the provider responds.
+    setConfigForTesting({
+      ...makeConfig(2),
+      stall: { ttfbSeconds: 0.05, ttfbBytes: 100 },
+    } as any);
+
+    // Simulate a slow provider that respects abort signals.
+    // The stall timeout will abort before this resolves.
+    fetchMock.mockImplementation(async (_url: string, opts: any) => {
+      return new Promise((_resolve, reject) => {
+        const timer = setTimeout(() => {
+          _resolve(streamingResponse());
+        }, 500);
+        opts?.signal?.addEventListener('abort', () => {
+          clearTimeout(timer);
+          reject(new DOMException('The operation was aborted', 'AbortError'));
+        });
+      });
+    });
+
+    const tracker = ConcurrencyTracker.getInstance();
+    expect(tracker.getTargetCount('p1', 'model-a')).toBe(0);
+
+    const dispatcher = new Dispatcher();
+    try {
+      await dispatcher.dispatch(makeChatRequest(true));
+    } catch {
+      // Expected — stall timeout error propagates
+    }
+
+    // The slot must be released after the TTFB stall abort
+    expect(tracker.getTargetCount('p1', 'model-a')).toBe(0);
+    expect(tracker.getProviderCount('p1')).toBe(0);
+    expect(tracker.getTargetCount('p2', 'model-b')).toBe(0);
+    expect(tracker.getProviderCount('p2')).toBe(0);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/services/dispatcher.ts b/packages/backend/src/services/dispatcher.ts
index 408279c3..21125b4c 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/services/dispatcher.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/services/dispatcher.ts
@@ -357,6 +357,18 @@ export class Dispatcher {
         continue;
       }
 
+      // Pre-dispatch context limit enforcement (opt-in per alias). Runs on
+      // the finalized per-target request — after any vision fallthrough has
+      // expanded the prompt and after cooldown has selected a live target —
+      // so we reject oversized prompts locally with a 400 instead of
+      // burning an upstream round trip on a guaranteed failure. Checked
+      // BEFORE acquiring a concurrency slot so that a thrown
+      // ContextLengthExceededError (a client-side problem; failing over to
+      // another target won't help) never leaks an acquired slot.
+      if (aliasConfig?.enforce_limits && route.canonicalModel) {
+        enforceContextLimit(currentRequest, aliasConfig, route.canonicalModel);
+      }
+
       // Acquire concurrency slot before upstream request
       const acquired = ConcurrencyTracker.getInstance().acquire(route.provider, route.model);
       if (!acquired) {
@@ -372,17 +384,6 @@ export class Dispatcher {
         continue;
       }
 
-      // Pre-dispatch context limit enforcement (opt-in per alias). Runs on
-      // the finalized per-target request — after any vision fallthrough has
-      // expanded the prompt and after cooldown has selected a live target —
-      // so we reject oversized prompts locally with a 400 instead of
-      // burning an upstream round trip on a guaranteed failure. A thrown
-      // ContextLengthExceededError escapes the loop (it's a client-side
-      // problem; failing over to another target won't help).
-      if (aliasConfig?.enforce_limits && route.canonicalModel) {
-        enforceContextLimit(currentRequest, aliasConfig, route.canonicalModel);
-      }
-
       attemptedProviders.push(`${route.provider}/${route.model}`);
 
       let released = false;
@@ -641,9 +642,10 @@ export class Dispatcher {
                 logger.info(
                   `TTFB stall: fetch timed out after ${ttfbMs}ms for ${route.provider}/${route.model}, retrying with next provider`
                 );
+                doRelease();
                 continue;
               }
-
+              doRelease();
               throw stallError;
             }
             throw fetchError;