diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index f680c5fe88..c67f15ed46 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ jobs:
           TESTS: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && inputs.tests || '' }}
           PR_BODY: ${{ github.event.pull_request.draft == true && github.event.pull_request.body || '' }}
           ATTEMPTS: ${{ (github.ref == 'refs/heads/stable' || startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v')) && 3 || 1 }}
-        run: scripts/ci/run-tests.sh ./simplex-chat-test
+        run: scripts/ci/run-tests.sh timeout 35m ./simplex-chat-test
 
       # Compiling the desktop and Android targets of :common in parallel exceeds the 2 GB Kotlin daemon heap.
       # cmakeBuildAndCopy links the JNI library against libsimplex, which this job does not build.
diff --git a/scripts/ci/README.md b/scripts/ci/README.md
index 61370815ae..e6d645ff17 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/README.md
+++ b/scripts/ci/README.md
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ The reduced build runs one Linux job, build-linux (ubuntu-22.04 x86_64), for eve
   - Docker image (step "Build and cache Docker image");
   - caches (the steps "Restore ... from cache");
   - `cabal build -j --enable-tests --ghc-options=-O0` (step "Build CLI");
-  - simplex-chat-test with the selected tests (step "Run tests").
+  - simplex-chat-test with the selected tests (step "Run tests"), each attempt limited to 35 minutes by `timeout`; an attempt that reaches the limit fails, and "Attempt <n> timed out." is printed.
 - Local:
   ```sh
   cp scripts/cabal.project.local.linux cabal.project.local
diff --git a/scripts/ci/run-tests.sh b/scripts/ci/run-tests.sh
index ef7c92112c..bb8a98566c 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/run-tests.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/run-tests.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ attempts=${ATTEMPTS:-1}
 while [ "$i" -le "$attempts" ]; do
   if "$@" "${args[@]}"; then
     break
-  elif [ "$i" -lt "$attempts" ]; then
+  elif [ "$?" -eq 124 ]; then
+    echo "Attempt $i timed out."
+  fi
+  if [ "$i" -lt "$attempts" ]; then
     echo "Attempt $i failed, retrying..."
     sleep 1
   fi