@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/service-job": patch
+"@objectstack/trigger-schedule": patch
+---
+
+Fix scheduled and time-relative flows permanently failing to re-bind after a kernel rebuild.
+
+`DbJobAdapter.destroy()` destroyed only its interval adapter, never the cron adapter it
+was handed — so every evicted kernel left its croner timers running, holding their names
+in croner's process-global registry for the life of the process. Because kernel eviction
+is routine in the cloud runtime, the normal path was: a scheduled automation binds once,
+the next metadata edit evicts the kernel, and the flow never binds again ("name already
+taken") while Studio, the metadata API and `verify_build` all keep reporting it healthy.
+
+Four changes close it:
+
+- `DbJobAdapter.destroy()` now also destroys the cron adapter, and `JobServicePlugin`
+  releases the cron adapter it owns on the `adapter: 'cron'` path.
+- `CronJobAdapter` scopes its entry in croner's process-global registry to the adapter
+  INSTANCE (`CronJobAdapter.cronRegistryName()` exposes the key). This also fixes a
+  second defect with no eviction involved: two environments in one container binding the
+  same flow name no longer collide.
+- Registering a name something else still holds now REPLACES it — the previous job is
+  stopped, never left running alongside the new one.
+- A flow that fails to bind to the job service is now reported at `error` with the
+  consequence and the remedy, instead of a `warn` nobody reads.
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2025 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
 
 import { describe, it, expect, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import { Cron, scheduledJobs } from 'croner';
 import { CronJobAdapter } from './cron-job-adapter.js';
 
 describe('CronJobAdapter', () => {
@@ -132,3 +133,95 @@ describe('CronJobAdapter retryPolicy / timeout (#3494)', () => {
     expect(execs[0].error).toMatch(/timed out after 25ms/);
   });
 });
+
+// ─── #8362 — croner's PROCESS-GLOBAL named registry ─────────────────────────
+//
+// `new Cron(expr, { name }, fn)` pushes into a module-level array inside croner
+// and throws `name already taken` when that name is live. That array is scoped
+// to the PROCESS, not to this adapter, not to a kernel and not to an
+// environment — so two adapter instances that are each perfectly consistent
+// with themselves can still collide, and a stopped-but-never-destroyed instance
+// keeps its names forever.
+//
+// Two live-fire consequences these cases pin, both reproduced on a real rig
+// before the fix:
+//   1. two environments in one container, same AI-generated flow name, NO
+//      eviction involved — the second environment's automation never binds;
+//   2. an evicted kernel whose cron adapter was never destroyed holds the name
+//      forever, so every later rebind of that flow fails permanently.
+//
+// The pins deliberately go through the `cron` path: `interval` schedules use
+// `setInterval` and never enter croner's named registry at all, so an
+// interval-shaped fixture would pass on a completely unfixed tree.
+describe('CronJobAdapter — process-global croner name registry (#8362)', () => {
+  const live: CronJobAdapter[] = [];
+  const make = (options?: ConstructorParameters<typeof CronJobAdapter>[0]) => {
+    const a = new CronJobAdapter(options);
+    live.push(a);
+    return a;
+  };
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    while (live.length) await live.pop()!.destroy();
+  });
+
+  /** Croner's process-global registry, narrowed to one PUBLIC job name. */
+  const registeredFor = (jobName: string) =>
+    scheduledJobs.filter((j) => (j.name ?? '').endsWith(jobName));
+
+  const DAILY = { type: 'cron', expression: '0 8 * * *' } as const;
+
+  it('lets two live adapters hold the SAME job name — two environments, one container', async () => {
+    const NAME = 'flow-time-relative:contract_expiry_reminder_flow';
+    const fired: string[] = [];
+
+    const envA = make();
+    await envA.schedule(NAME, DAILY, async () => { fired.push('A'); });
+    // The FIRST bind must really have entered the named registry: a rebind pin
+    // whose first bind registered nothing passes for the wrong reason.
+    expect(registeredFor(NAME)).toHaveLength(1);
+
+    const envB = make();
+    await envB.schedule(NAME, DAILY, async () => { fired.push('B'); });
+
+    expect(registeredFor(NAME)).toHaveLength(2);
+
+    // Each environment's timer drives its OWN handler.
+    for (const job of registeredFor(NAME)) await job.trigger();
+    expect([...fired].sort()).toEqual(['A', 'B']);
+  });
+
+  it('frees the process-global name on destroy() — the job is STOPPED, not renamed around', async () => {
+    const NAME = 'flow-schedule:nightly_rollup';
+    const adapterA = make();
+    await adapterA.schedule(NAME, DAILY, async () => {});
+
+    const [job] = registeredFor(NAME);
+    expect(job).toBeDefined();
+    expect(job.isStopped()).toBe(false);
+
+    await adapterA.destroy();
+
+    expect(job.isStopped()).toBe(true);
+    expect(registeredFor(NAME)).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it('reclaims its registry name from a foreign holder instead of warning and giving up', async () => {
+    const NAME = 'flow-schedule:reclaim_me';
+    const adapterA = make();
+    let calls = 0;
+
+    // Somebody else already holds the exact name this adapter will register
+    // under — the residual shape once per-instance namespacing rules out our
+    // own collisions. Replace semantics: the holder is stopped, not tolerated.
+    const squatter = new Cron(DAILY.expression, { name: adapterA.cronRegistryName(NAME) }, () => {});
+    expect(registeredFor(NAME)).toHaveLength(1);
+
+    await adapterA.schedule(NAME, DAILY, async () => { calls++; });
+
+    expect(squatter.isStopped()).toBe(true);
+    const held = registeredFor(NAME);
+    expect(held).toHaveLength(1);
+    await held[0].trigger();
+    expect(calls).toBe(1);
+  });
+});
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2025 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
 
-import { Cron } from 'croner';
+import { Cron, scheduledJobs } from 'croner';
 import type {
   IJobService,
   JobSchedule,
@@ -10,6 +10,21 @@ import type {
 } from '@objectstack/spec/contracts';
 import { runWithPolicy, JobTimeoutError } from './run-with-policy.js';
 
+/**
+ * Monotonic counter that makes every adapter instance's registry prefix unique
+ * within the process. Uniqueness has to be PER INSTANCE, not per environment:
+ * a kernel rebuild produces a new adapter for the *same* environment id, which
+ * is exactly the collision an environment-scoped namespace would fail to
+ * prevent (#8362).
+ */
+let ADAPTER_SEQUENCE = 0;
+
+/** Namespace labels ride in a croner job name — keep them boring. */
+function sanitizeNamespaceLabel(label: string | undefined): string {
+  const trimmed = (label ?? '').trim().replace(/[^A-Za-z0-9._-]+/g, '-');
+  return trimmed.length > 0 ? trimmed.slice(0, 48) : 'kernel';
+}
+
 /** Minimal cluster lock surface for scheduler leader-election (structural — no hard dep on the cluster contract). */
 interface SchedulerCluster {
   lock?: {
@@ -31,6 +46,16 @@ export interface CronJobAdapterOptions {
   cluster?: SchedulerCluster;
   /** Lease TTL (ms) held while a scheduled fire runs. Default 60000. */
   leaseMs?: number;
+  /**
+   * Human-readable label folded into this adapter's entry in croner's
+   * process-global name registry — an environment id, a kernel id, anything
+   * that makes `scheduledJobs` readable while debugging a multi-tenant
+   * container. Purely cosmetic: uniqueness is guaranteed by the per-instance
+   * discriminator and NEVER depends on this value being supplied or distinct.
+   */
+  namespace?: string;
+  /** Surface for registry-level anomalies (a reclaimed job name). */
+  logger?: { warn(msg: string, meta?: unknown): void };
 }
 
 interface CronJobRecord {
@@ -55,12 +80,40 @@ export class CronJobAdapter implements IJobService {
   private readonly jobs = new Map<string, CronJobRecord>();
   private readonly cluster?: SchedulerCluster;
   private readonly leaseMs: number;
+  private readonly logger?: { warn(msg: string, meta?: unknown): void };
+
+  /**
+   * This instance's prefix in croner's PROCESS-GLOBAL name registry.
+   *
+   * croner keys named jobs in a module-level array shared by everything in the
+   * process, so a bare job name is a process-wide claim — which is why two
+   * environments in one container used to collide on the same AI-generated
+   * flow name with no kernel eviction involved at all, and why an evicted
+   * kernel's leftovers used to block every later rebind (#8362). Scoping the
+   * registry key to the adapter INSTANCE makes both collisions unreachable:
+   * one kernel builds one adapter, and a rebuilt kernel builds a new one.
+   */
+  readonly registryNamespace: string;
 
   constructor(options: CronJobAdapterOptions = {}) {
     this.defaultTimezone = options.timezone ?? 'UTC';
     this.maxExecutions = options.maxExecutions ?? 100;
     this.cluster = options.cluster;
     this.leaseMs = options.leaseMs ?? 60_000;
+    this.logger = options.logger;
+    this.registryNamespace = `${sanitizeNamespaceLabel(options.namespace)}#${++ADAPTER_SEQUENCE}.${Math.random()
+      .toString(36)
+      .slice(2, 8)}`;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * The name `jobName` is registered under in croner's process-global
+   * registry. Public because that registry is shared with everything else in
+   * the process: this is the only way an operator (or a test) can tell which
+   * entry of `scheduledJobs` belongs to which kernel.
+   */
+  cronRegistryName(jobName: string): string {
+    return `${this.registryNamespace}::${jobName}`;
   }
 
   async schedule(name: string, schedule: JobSchedule, handler: JobHandler, options?: JobScheduleOptions): Promise<void> {
@@ -72,9 +125,11 @@ export class CronJobAdapter implements IJobService {
       if (!schedule.expression) {
         throw new Error(`CronJobAdapter: cron schedule for "${name}" missing expression`);
       }
+      const registryName = this.cronRegistryName(name);
+      this.reclaimRegistryName(registryName);
       const task = new Cron(
         schedule.expression,
-        { timezone: schedule.timezone ?? this.defaultTimezone, name },
+        { timezone: schedule.timezone ?? this.defaultTimezone, name: registryName },
         async () => { await this.runScheduled(name); },
       );
       record.task = task;
@@ -119,7 +174,38 @@ export class CronJobAdapter implements IJobService {
     return [...this.jobs.keys()];
   }
 
-  /** Stop all timers — call from plugin destroy. */
+  /**
+   * Replace semantics for the process-global registry: if anything still holds
+   * the name we are about to claim, STOP it and take the name — never warn and
+   * give up, which is how a failed rebind used to end (#8362).
+   *
+   * Stopping is the whole point and not a detail. A leaked croner job is not
+   * merely holding a string: it is a live timer whose closure still references
+   * the kernel that created it. Taking the name while leaving that timer
+   * running would turn a silent death into a zombie double-write — two live
+   * jobs for one flow, one of them driving a shut-down kernel — which is
+   * strictly worse than the bug being fixed. `stop()` both kills the timer and
+   * splices the entry out of croner's registry, so the reclaim is complete.
+   *
+   * With per-instance namespacing our own adapters can no longer collide, so
+   * reaching this at all means a foreign holder — worth a line in the log.
+   */
+  private reclaimRegistryName(registryName: string): void {
+    const holder = scheduledJobs.find((job) => job.name === registryName);
+    if (!holder) return;
+    try { holder.stop(); } catch { /* ignore — the retake below is what matters */ }
+    this.logger?.warn(
+      `CronJobAdapter: reclaimed croner job name "${registryName}" from a job this adapter did not schedule; ` +
+        'the previous job was STOPPED and replaced.',
+    );
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Stop all timers and release every process-global croner name this adapter
+   * holds. Called from `DbJobAdapter.destroy()` and `JobServicePlugin.destroy()`
+   * — i.e. from the kernel eviction chain, which until #8362 stopped one level
+   * above this method and left every evicted kernel's timers running forever.
+   */
   async destroy(): Promise<void> {
     for (const rec of this.jobs.values()) {
       try { rec.task?.stop(); } catch { /* ignore */ }
 
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2025 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
 
 import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import { scheduledJobs } from 'croner';
 import { DbJobAdapter } from './db-job-adapter.js';
+import { CronJobAdapter } from './cron-job-adapter.js';
 
 function makeFakeEngine() {
   const tables = new Map<string, any[]>();
@@ -142,3 +144,76 @@ describe('DbJobAdapter', () => {
     expect(triggers).toEqual(['replay', 'schedule']);
   });
 });
+
+// ─── #8362 — the destroy chain, and what an evicted kernel leaves behind ─────
+//
+// Kernel eviction is ROUTINE in the cloud runtime: a freshness probe runs every
+// few seconds and every auto-publish bumps freshness, so the eviction chain
+// `KernelManager.evict() -> kernel.shutdown() -> plugin.destroy() ->
+// JobServicePlugin.destroy() -> dbAdapter.destroy()` runs constantly. It used
+// to stop one level short — `destroy()` destroyed `inner` and never `cron` — so
+// every evicted kernel left its croner timers running and holding their
+// PROCESS-GLOBAL names, and the rebuilt kernel could never re-bind that flow
+// again. The only signal was one WARN.
+//
+// Why the ordering of the two fixes matters, pinned by the second case below:
+// the leaked job is not merely holding a name, it is still ALIVE with a closure
+// over the shut-down kernel's engine. Namespacing the names WITHOUT closing the
+// destroy chain would therefore convert a silent death into a zombie
+// double-write — two live jobs, one driving a dead kernel. Hence the assertion
+// is `oldJob.isStopped()`, not "a new job exists somewhere".
+describe('DbJobAdapter — kernel rebuild (#8362)', () => {
+  /** Croner's process-global registry, narrowed to one PUBLIC job name. */
+  const registeredFor = (jobName: string) =>
+    scheduledJobs.filter((j) => (j.name ?? '').endsWith(jobName));
+
+  const DAILY = { type: 'cron', expression: '0 8 * * *' } as const;
+
+  /** One kernel's job-service wiring: the pair JobServicePlugin builds. */
+  function kernel() {
+    const cron = new CronJobAdapter();
+    return { cron, db: new DbJobAdapter({ engine: makeFakeEngine(), cron }) };
+  }
+
+  it('destroy() destroys the CRON adapter too, freeing the process-global name', async () => {
+    const NAME = 'flow-time-relative:xqao_contract_expiry_reminder_flow';
+    const k = kernel();
+    await k.db.schedule(NAME, DAILY, async () => {});
+
+    const [job] = registeredFor(NAME);
+    expect(job, 'the first bind must register a REAL croner named job').toBeDefined();
+    expect(job.isStopped()).toBe(false);
+
+    // Exactly what the eviction chain reaches, one call short of which was the
+    // whole defect.
+    await k.db.destroy();
+
+    expect(job.isStopped()).toBe(true);
+    expect(registeredFor(NAME)).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it('a rebuilt kernel re-binds the same flow: scheduled exactly once, and it fires', async () => {
+    const NAME = 'flow-time-relative:xqao_contract_expiry_reminder_flow';
+    const fired: string[] = [];
+
+    const old = kernel();
+    await old.db.schedule(NAME, DAILY, async () => { fired.push('old-kernel'); });
+    // Assert the FIRST bind landed before asserting anything about the second.
+    expect(registeredFor(NAME)).toHaveLength(1);
+    const oldJob = registeredFor(NAME)[0];
+
+    await old.db.destroy(); // kernel evicted by the freshness probe
+
+    const rebuilt = kernel();
+    await rebuilt.db.schedule(NAME, DAILY, async () => { fired.push('new-kernel'); });
+
+    const held = registeredFor(NAME);
+    expect(held).toHaveLength(1); // exactly once — not one live + one zombie
+    expect(oldJob.isStopped()).toBe(true); // the old job is STOPPED, not merely renamed around
+
+    await held[0].trigger();
+    expect(fired).toEqual(['new-kernel']); // the dead kernel's closure never runs
+
+    await rebuilt.db.destroy();
+  });
+});