diff --git a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/cmd.go b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/cmd.go
index 233f717ee..936aca59f 100644
--- a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/cmd.go
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ func NewRouterCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&cfg.Auth.AteapiServerName, "ateapi-server-name", "", "SNI / hostname expected on the ateapi server cert. Optional.")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&cfg.Auth.AteapiUseTokenAuth, "ateapi-use-token-auth", false, "Authenticate to ateapi with the Bearer token from --ateapi-token-file instead of the client certificate from --ateapi-client-cert.")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&cfg.Auth.AteapiTokenFile, "ateapi-token-file", "", "Projected SA token file used as Bearer credential. Required with --ateapi-use-token-auth, ignored otherwise.")
+	cmd.Flags().DurationVar(&cfg.RouteTimeout, "route-timeout", defaultRouteTimeout, "Envoy's end-to-end timeout on the workload route, bounding one request from the ingress listener to the actor's response. Raise it for actors whose turns legitimately run long — a harness relaying an LLM completion holds the request open for the whole generation. This does not cover the resume that may precede the request; see --parked-request-budget")
 	cmd.Flags().DurationVar(&cfg.ParkedRequest.Budget, "parked-request-budget", defaultParkedRequestBudget, "Maximum time a resume flight keeps a request parked (held and retried) waiting for its actor to become routable; concurrent requests for the same actor share one flight and its budget")
 	cmd.Flags().IntVar(&cfg.ParkedRequest.Max, "parked-request-max", defaultParkedRequestMax, "Maximum number of requests that may be parked simultaneously; excess requests are shed with 503. 0 disables parking (requests fail fast on worker-pool saturation)")
 	cmd.Flags().DurationVar(&cfg.ParkedRequest.RetryInterval, "parked-request-retry-interval", defaultParkedRequestRetryInterval, "Delay before a parked request's first resume retry")
diff --git a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/config.go b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/config.go
index 7b784f8e4..936099428 100644
--- a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/config.go
+++ b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/config.go
@@ -81,6 +81,13 @@ type routerConfig struct {
 
 	Auth authConfig
 
+	// RouteTimeout is Envoy's end-to-end timeout on the workload route: the
+	// ceiling on one request from the ingress listener to the actor's response.
+	// It bounds the actor's own handling time, not the resume that precedes it
+	// — parking and the ext_proc timeout cover that. A non-positive value
+	// leaves Envoy on defaultRouteTimeout.
+	RouteTimeout time.Duration
+
 	// ParkedRequest configures request parking: hold and retry requests whose
 	// actor cannot be served immediately due to transient worker-pool
 	// saturation, instead of failing fast. A non-positive Max disables parking.
diff --git a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/dataplane.go b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/dataplane.go
index e77a0b274..af305e5e0 100644
--- a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/dataplane.go
+++ b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/dataplane.go
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ func (s *RouterServer) startEnvoyDataplane(ctx context.Context, g *errgroup.Grou
 	setOtlpCollector(ctx, xdsSrv, s.cfg.OtlpCollectorAddress)
 	xdsSrv.SetTraceRootSamplingPercent(traceRootSamplingPercent)
 
+	xdsSrv.SetRouteTimeout(s.cfg.RouteTimeout)
 	xdsSrv.SetExtProcMaxRequests(s.cfg.extProcMaxRequests())
 	if parkCfg.enabled() {
 		// Envoy must keep a parked request open at least as long as the router
diff --git a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/xds.go b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/xds.go
index 315d7adf9..1ba6812c3 100644
--- a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/xds.go
+++ b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/xds.go
@@ -95,6 +95,25 @@ const defaultExtProcMessageTimeout = 5 * time.Second
 // requests to already-running actors. See buildCluster.
 const defaultExtProcMaxRequests = 2048
 
+// defaultRouteTimeout is Envoy's end-to-end route timeout for workload traffic:
+// the ceiling on a single request from the ingress listener to the actor's
+// response. It bounds the actor's own handling time, not the resume that
+// precedes it — parking and the ext_proc timeout cover that part.
+const defaultRouteTimeout = 10 * time.Second
+
+// envoyDefaultStreamIdleTimeout is the stream idle timeout Envoy applies when
+// the HTTP connection manager does not set one. We never set it, so this is
+// what governs today.
+//
+// It is a distinct limit from the route timeout: the route timeout bounds the
+// upstream response time, while this bounds how long the stream may go with no
+// encode/decode event at all. A turn that produces no bytes while the actor
+// thinks — a non-streaming completion, or a request parked across a resume —
+// is idle by this measure even though it is progressing, so without an
+// override a route timeout above five minutes would never be reached. See
+// routeIdleTimeout.
+const envoyDefaultStreamIdleTimeout = 5 * time.Minute
+
 // XdsServer implements an aggregated discovery service server for dynamic Envoy router nodes.
 type XdsServer struct {
 	xdsPort      int
@@ -139,6 +158,11 @@ type XdsServer struct {
 	// router's processing server, parked requests included. Must be >= the
 	// parking lot size (enforced at startup in Run).
 	extProcMaxRequests uint32
+
+	// routeTimeout is Envoy's end-to-end timeout on the workload route. Actors
+	// that hold a request open for a long turn — an LLM streaming a response,
+	// say — need this above the default or Envoy cuts the turn off with a 504.
+	routeTimeout time.Duration
 }
 
 func NewXdsServer(xdsPort int) *XdsServer {
@@ -154,6 +178,7 @@ func NewXdsServer(xdsPort int) *XdsServer {
 		ingressPort:           8080,
 		extProcMessageTimeout: defaultExtProcMessageTimeout,
 		extProcMaxRequests:    defaultExtProcMaxRequests,
+		routeTimeout:          defaultRouteTimeout,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -188,6 +213,38 @@ func (x *XdsServer) SetExtProcMaxRequests(n int) {
 	}
 }
 
+// SetRouteTimeout sets Envoy's end-to-end timeout on the workload route. Raise
+// it for actors whose turns legitimately run long — a harness relaying an LLM
+// completion holds the request open for the whole generation, and at the
+// default the client sees a 504 mid-turn. A non-positive value leaves the
+// default unchanged.
+func (x *XdsServer) SetRouteTimeout(d time.Duration) {
+	x.mu.Lock()
+	defer x.mu.Unlock()
+	if d > 0 {
+		x.routeTimeout = d
+	}
+}
+
+// routeIdleTimeout resolves the route-level idle timeout that accompanies the
+// route timeout. Caller must hold x.mu.
+//
+// Raising --route-timeout on its own would not work: the stream a long turn
+// runs on is idle for the whole turn whenever the actor sends nothing until it
+// is done, and Envoy would reset it at the five-minute stream idle default
+// before the requested timeout was ever reached. The idle timer must therefore
+// never be the limit that bites first.
+//
+// Taking the larger of the two keeps the operator's ceiling honest without
+// making the idle timer stricter than it already is: below five minutes the
+// route timeout fires first anyway, so this leaves today's behavior alone.
+func (x *XdsServer) routeIdleTimeout() time.Duration {
+	if x.routeTimeout > envoyDefaultStreamIdleTimeout {
+		return x.routeTimeout
+	}
+	return envoyDefaultStreamIdleTimeout
+}
+
 func (x *XdsServer) SetTlsConfig(httpsPort int, certPath string) {
 	x.mu.Lock()
 	defer x.mu.Unlock()
@@ -612,7 +669,8 @@ func (x *XdsServer) buildRoutes() *routev3.RouteConfiguration {
 								ClusterSpecifier: &routev3.RouteAction_Cluster{
 									Cluster: OriginalDstClusterName,
 								},
-								Timeout: durationpb.New(10 * time.Second),
+								Timeout:     durationpb.New(x.routeTimeout),
+								IdleTimeout: durationpb.New(x.routeIdleTimeout()),
 							},
 						},
 					},
diff --git a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/xds_test.go b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/xds_test.go
index 07d9e1cc3..3b4e6aef0 100644
--- a/cmd/atenet/internal/router/xds_test.go
+++ b/cmd/atenet/internal/router/xds_test.go
@@ -564,6 +564,90 @@ func TestXdsServer_ExtProcCircuitBreaker(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestXdsServer_RouteTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	// routeAction digs out the one workload route buildRoutes emits, which is
+	// where Envoy actually reads its timeouts.
+	//
+	// It pins the route to OriginalDstClusterName rather than trusting position:
+	// that is the cluster carrying actor traffic to the worker's atunnel ingress.
+	// A change that moves actor traffic onto some other route would otherwise
+	// leave this passing while the timeouts govern a route nothing uses.
+	routeAction := func(t *testing.T, x *XdsServer) *routev3.RouteAction {
+		t.Helper()
+		hosts := x.buildRoutes().GetVirtualHosts()
+		if len(hosts) != 1 || len(hosts[0].GetRoutes()) != 1 {
+			t.Fatalf("buildRoutes() = %d virtual hosts, want exactly 1 with 1 route", len(hosts))
+		}
+		action := hosts[0].GetRoutes()[0].GetRoute()
+		if got := action.GetCluster(); got != OriginalDstClusterName {
+			t.Fatalf("workload route targets cluster %q, want %q", got, OriginalDstClusterName)
+		}
+		return action
+	}
+	routeTimeout := func(t *testing.T, x *XdsServer) time.Duration {
+		t.Helper()
+		return routeAction(t, x).GetTimeout().AsDuration()
+	}
+	idleTimeout := func(t *testing.T, x *XdsServer) time.Duration {
+		t.Helper()
+		return routeAction(t, x).GetIdleTimeout().AsDuration()
+	}
+
+	t.Run("Default", func(t *testing.T) {
+		if got := routeTimeout(t, NewXdsServer(0)); got != defaultRouteTimeout {
+			t.Errorf("default route timeout = %v, want %v", got, defaultRouteTimeout)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("SetterOverrides", func(t *testing.T) {
+		x := NewXdsServer(0)
+		x.SetRouteTimeout(5 * time.Minute)
+		if got := routeTimeout(t, x); got != 5*time.Minute {
+			t.Errorf("route timeout after SetRouteTimeout(5m) = %v, want 5m", got)
+		}
+	})
+
+	// The flag cannot produce a zero: --route-timeout carries defaultRouteTimeout,
+	// so an operator who never passes it gets 10s, not 0. The guard is on the
+	// setter because SetRouteTimeout is part of the type's API and reachable
+	// from any caller, and because a zero here is the one value Envoy reads as
+	// "no timeout at all" — a mis-set knob would silently turn every stuck
+	// actor into a held-open request rather than failing visibly. The sibling
+	// setters guard the same way.
+	t.Run("NonPositiveKeepsDefault", func(t *testing.T) {
+		for _, d := range []time.Duration{0, -time.Second} {
+			x := NewXdsServer(0)
+			x.SetRouteTimeout(d)
+			if got := routeTimeout(t, x); got != defaultRouteTimeout {
+				t.Errorf("route timeout after SetRouteTimeout(%v) = %v, want default %v", d, got, defaultRouteTimeout)
+			}
+		}
+	})
+
+	// The route timeout alone does not bound a long turn. A stream carrying no
+	// bytes while the actor works is idle by Envoy's reckoning, and Envoy resets
+	// it at the 5m stream idle default whatever the route timeout says. These
+	// pin the relationship: the idle timer never bites before the ceiling the
+	// operator asked for, and it is not tightened below what applies today.
+	t.Run("IdleTimeoutTracksLongerRouteTimeout", func(t *testing.T) {
+		x := NewXdsServer(0)
+		x.SetRouteTimeout(30 * time.Minute)
+		if got := idleTimeout(t, x); got != 30*time.Minute {
+			t.Errorf("idle timeout with a 30m route timeout = %v, want 30m: a shorter idle timer would reset the stream first", got)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("IdleTimeoutKeepsEnvoyDefaultWhenRouteTimeoutIsShorter", func(t *testing.T) {
+		for _, d := range []time.Duration{defaultRouteTimeout, envoyDefaultStreamIdleTimeout} {
+			x := NewXdsServer(0)
+			x.SetRouteTimeout(d)
+			if got := idleTimeout(t, x); got != envoyDefaultStreamIdleTimeout {
+				t.Errorf("idle timeout with a %v route timeout = %v, want %v (unchanged from Envoy's default)", d, got, envoyDefaultStreamIdleTimeout)
+			}
+		}
+	})
+}
+
 func TestXdsServer_SetOtlpCollector(t *testing.T) {
 	// --otlp-collector-address defaults to OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT, so the
 	// URL forms that variable carries have to reduce to the bare host and port
diff --git a/manifests/ate-install/atenet-router.yaml b/manifests/ate-install/atenet-router.yaml
index 769d1c2e5..15f0b2beb 100644
--- a/manifests/ate-install/atenet-router.yaml
+++ b/manifests/ate-install/atenet-router.yaml
@@ -139,6 +139,11 @@ spec:
         - "--ateapi-address=dns:///api.ate-system.svc:443"
         - "--ateapi-ca-file=/run/servicedns-ca/trust-bundle.pem"
         - "--ateapi-client-cert=/run/podidentity.podcert.ate.dev/credential-bundle.pem"
+        # Envoy's end-to-end timeout on the workload route. Raise it for actors
+        # whose turns legitimately run long — a harness relaying an LLM
+        # completion holds the request open for the whole generation, and at the
+        # 10s default the client gets a 504 mid-turn.
+        # - "--route-timeout=5m"
         env:
         - name: POD_NAME
           valueFrom: