diff --git a/src/components/microservices/code-queue-mgr/src/index.ts b/src/components/microservices/code-queue-mgr/src/index.ts
index 8880d338..f40e06cd 100644
--- a/src/components/microservices/code-queue-mgr/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/components/microservices/code-queue-mgr/src/index.ts
@@ -591,6 +591,12 @@ function hasClaimMarkers(task: QueueTask): boolean {
     || task.attempts.length > 0;
 }
 
+function retryableClaimedQueueState(task: QueueTask): boolean {
+  return (task.status === "queued" || task.status === "retry_wait")
+    && task.activeTurnId === null
+    && hasClaimMarkers(task);
+}
+
 function terminalTaskUnread(task: QueueTask): boolean {
   return terminalTask(task) && task.readAt === null;
 }
@@ -1922,25 +1928,30 @@ async function retryTask(taskId: string, req: Request): Promise<Response> {
     `;
     if (rows[0] === undefined) return { task: null, changed: false };
     const nextTask = rowToTask(rows[0]);
-    if (!terminalTask(nextTask)) return { task: nextTask, changed: false };
+    const isTerminal = terminalTask(nextTask);
+    const isClaimedQueueRetry = retryableClaimedQueueState(nextTask);
+    if (!isTerminal && !isClaimedQueueRetry) return { task: nextTask, changed: false };
     nextTask.status = hasClaimMarkers(nextTask) ? "retry_wait" : "queued";
     nextTask.finishedAt = null;
     nextTask.readAt = null;
     nextTask.cancelRequested = false;
     nextTask.lastError = null;
-    nextTask.maxAttempts = Math.max(nextTask.maxAttempts, nextTask.attempts.length + 1);
+    nextTask.maxAttempts = Math.max(nextTask.maxAttempts, nextTask.currentAttempt + 1, nextTask.attempts.length + 1);
     nextTask.nextMode = "retry";
     nextTask.nextPrompt = explicitPrompt.length > 0 ? explicitPrompt : "Manual retry requested from master code-queue-mgr. Continue the original task and produce a visible final response.";
     nextTask.updatedAt = queuedAt;
     nextTask.queueEnteredAt = queuedAt;
-    nextTask.output.push({ seq: outputMaxSeq(nextTask) + 1, at: queuedAt, channel: "system", text: "manual retry queued by master code-queue-mgr\n", method: "manual-retry" });
+    const retryText = isClaimedQueueRetry
+      ? "claimed queued task normalized to retry_wait by master code-queue-mgr\n"
+      : "manual retry queued by master code-queue-mgr\n";
+    nextTask.output.push({ seq: outputMaxSeq(nextTask) + 1, at: queuedAt, channel: "system", text: retryText, method: "manual-retry" });
     nextTask.outputMaxSeq = outputMaxSeq(nextTask);
     await upsertTask(client, nextTask);
     return { task: nextTask, changed: true };
   });
   const task = result.task;
   if (task === null) return jsonResponse({ ok: false, error: "task not found" }, 404);
-  if (!result.changed) return jsonResponse({ ok: false, error: `task is not terminal: ${task.status}`, task: taskListResponse(task) }, 409);
+  if (!result.changed) return jsonResponse({ ok: false, error: `task cannot be retried from status=${task.status}`, task: taskListResponse(task) }, 409);
   return jsonResponse({ ok: true, task: taskListResponse(task, false), queue: await queueSummary() }, 202);
 }