diff --git a/lib/microwaveprop/repo_listener.ex b/lib/microwaveprop/repo_listener.ex
index 6c5b050f..83ca222a 100644
--- a/lib/microwaveprop/repo_listener.ex
+++ b/lib/microwaveprop/repo_listener.ex
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@ defmodule Microwaveprop.RepoListener do
   Listens for PostgreSQL NOTIFY events on enrichment status changes
   and Oban job state changes, broadcasting via PubSub.
   Replaces polling with event-driven updates.
+
+  Connection failures (pgbouncer pool exhaustion, transient network
+  blips) are retried with exponential backoff instead of crashing the
+  supervisor — the pod boots healthy and backfills the LISTEN
+  subscription when the DB becomes reachable.
   """
 
   use GenServer
@@ -10,6 +15,8 @@ defmodule Microwaveprop.RepoListener do
   require Logger
 
   @channels ["contact_status_changed", "oban_job_changed"]
+  @retry_base_ms 200
+  @retry_max_ms 30_000
 
   @spec start_link(keyword()) :: GenServer.on_start()
   def start_link(opts \\ []) do
@@ -19,22 +26,37 @@ defmodule Microwaveprop.RepoListener do
   @impl true
   def init(_opts) do
     config = Microwaveprop.Repo.config()
+    {:ok, %{config: config, notif_pid: nil, retry_ms: @retry_base_ms}, {:continue, :connect}}
+  end
 
-    {:ok, pid} =
-      Postgrex.Notifications.start_link(
-        hostname: config[:hostname] || "localhost",
-        port: config[:port] || 5432,
-        username: config[:username],
-        password: config[:password],
-        database: config[:database]
-      )
+  @impl true
+  def handle_continue(:connect, state) do
+    case start_notifications(state.config) do
+      {:ok, pid} ->
+        Process.monitor(pid)
+        {:noreply, %{state | notif_pid: pid, retry_ms: @retry_base_ms}, {:continue, :subscribe}}
 
-    for channel <- @channels do
-      Postgrex.Notifications.listen!(pid, channel)
+      {:error, reason} ->
+        Logger.warning("RepoListener: notifications connect failed: #{inspect(reason)}")
+        schedule_retry(state.retry_ms)
+        {:noreply, %{state | retry_ms: next_retry(state.retry_ms)}}
     end
+  end
 
-    Logger.info("RepoListener: listening on #{Enum.join(@channels, ", ")}")
-    {:ok, %{pid: pid}}
+  def handle_continue(:subscribe, state) do
+    pid = state.notif_pid
+    failed = Enum.reject(@channels, &listen_ok?(pid, &1))
+
+    if failed == [] do
+      Logger.info("RepoListener: listening on #{Enum.join(@channels, ", ")}")
+      {:noreply, state}
+    else
+      Logger.warning("RepoListener: LISTEN failed for #{inspect(failed)}, retrying in #{state.retry_ms}ms")
+      # Close the broken connection and reconnect from scratch
+      Process.exit(pid, :normal)
+      schedule_retry(state.retry_ms)
+      {:noreply, %{state | notif_pid: nil, retry_ms: next_retry(state.retry_ms)}}
+    end
   end
 
   @impl true
@@ -72,5 +94,71 @@ defmodule Microwaveprop.RepoListener do
     {:noreply, state}
   end
 
+  # Notifications process died — reconnect.
+  def handle_info({:DOWN, _ref, :process, pid, _reason}, %{notif_pid: pid} = state) do
+    Logger.warning("RepoListener: notifications connection lost, reconnecting")
+    {:noreply, %{state | notif_pid: nil}, {:continue, :connect}}
+  end
+
+  def handle_info(:retry, state) do
+    {:noreply, state, {:continue, :connect}}
+  end
+
   def handle_info(_msg, state), do: {:noreply, state}
+
+  # ── helpers ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  # Connect directly to Postgres (port 5432) for NOTIFY/LISTEN, bypassing
+  # pgbouncer (port 6432) which does not support session-level LISTEN in
+  # transaction-pooling mode. Falls back to the configured port if 5432 is
+  # unreachable (e.g. dev/test environments where pgbouncer is absent).
+  defp start_notifications(config) do
+    hostname = config[:hostname] || "localhost"
+
+    case do_start_notifications(hostname, 5432, config) do
+      {:ok, _pid} = ok ->
+        ok
+
+      {:error, :direct_postgres_unreachable} ->
+        Logger.info("RepoListener: port 5432 unreachable, falling back to configured port #{config[:port] || 5432}")
+        do_start_notifications(hostname, config[:port] || 5432, config)
+
+      {:error, reason} ->
+        {:error, reason}
+    end
+  end
+
+  defp do_start_notifications(hostname, port, config) do
+    Postgrex.Notifications.start_link(
+      hostname: hostname,
+      port: port,
+      username: config[:username],
+      password: config[:password],
+      database: config[:database],
+      sync_connect: true,
+      connect_timeout: 3_000
+    )
+  rescue
+    # If the configured port is unreachable, Postgrex raises on sync_connect.
+    # Trap this so callers can fall back.
+    e in [ArgumentError, DBConnection.ConnectionError] ->
+      if port == 5432 do
+        {:error, :direct_postgres_unreachable}
+      else
+        {:error, e}
+      end
+  end
+
+  defp listen_ok?(pid, channel) do
+    case Postgrex.Notifications.listen(pid, channel) do
+      {:ok, _ref} -> true
+      {:error, _reason} -> false
+    end
+  end
+
+  defp schedule_retry(delay_ms) do
+    Process.send_after(self(), :retry, delay_ms)
+  end
+
+  defp next_retry(current), do: min(current * 2, @retry_max_ms)
 end