diff --git a/cmd/ingestor/db.go b/cmd/ingestor/db.go
index 0f128775..31ab0b94 100644
--- a/cmd/ingestor/db.go
+++ b/cmd/ingestor/db.go
@@ -1045,14 +1045,20 @@ func (s *Store) RunIncrementalVacuum(pages int) {
 	}
 }
 
-// Checkpoint forces a WAL checkpoint to release the WAL lock file,
-// preventing lock contention with a new process starting up.
-func (s *Store) Checkpoint() {
-	if _, err := s.db.Exec("PRAGMA wal_checkpoint(TRUNCATE)"); err != nil {
+// Checkpoint runs a WAL checkpoint (TRUNCATE mode).
+// Returns the number of WAL frames checkpointed (0 if WAL was already empty).
+// TRUNCATE resets the WAL file to zero bytes when all frames are checkpointed;
+// if active readers hold frames, it checkpoints what it can and leaves the rest.
+func (s *Store) Checkpoint() int {
+	var busy, walFrames, checkpointed int
+	if err := s.db.QueryRow("PRAGMA wal_checkpoint(TRUNCATE)").Scan(&busy, &walFrames, &checkpointed); err != nil {
 		log.Printf("[db] WAL checkpoint error: %v", err)
-	} else {
-		log.Println("[db] WAL checkpoint complete")
+		return 0
 	}
+	if walFrames > 0 {
+		log.Printf("[db] WAL checkpoint: %d/%d frames checkpointed (blocked=%v)", checkpointed, walFrames, busy != 0)
+	}
+	return checkpointed
 }
 
 // BackfillPathJSONAsync launches the path_json backfill in a background goroutine.
diff --git a/cmd/ingestor/main.go b/cmd/ingestor/main.go
index 3f2fbd5b..ae905528 100644
--- a/cmd/ingestor/main.go
+++ b/cmd/ingestor/main.go
@@ -150,6 +150,21 @@ func main() {
 		log.Printf("[prune] auto-prune enabled: packets older than %d days will be removed daily", packetDays)
 	}
 
+	// Hourly WAL checkpoint to prevent unbounded WAL growth.
+	// TRUNCATE resets the WAL file to zero bytes when all frames are flushed;
+	// if the server's read connection holds frames, remaining pages stay in the
+	// WAL until the next tick. Staggered 30s after startup to avoid competing
+	// with the initial burst of ingest writes.
+	walCheckpointTicker := time.NewTicker(1 * time.Hour)
+	go func() {
+		time.Sleep(30 * time.Second)
+		store.Checkpoint()
+		for range walCheckpointTicker.C {
+			store.Checkpoint()
+		}
+	}()
+	log.Printf("[db] WAL checkpoint scheduled every 1h")
+
 	// Daily neighbor_edges retention (#1287 — moved from cmd/server).
 	{
 		nDays := cfg.NeighborEdgesDaysOrDefault()
@@ -373,6 +388,7 @@ func main() {
 	}
 	statsTicker.Stop()
 	pruneQueueTicker.Stop()
+	walCheckpointTicker.Stop()
 	stopWatchdog()
 	store.LogStats() // final stats on shutdown
 	for _, c := range clients {