diff --git a/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_unix.go b/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_unix.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fa6009c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_unix.go
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+//go:build !windows
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+func connDroppedErrno(err error) bool {
+	return errors.Is(err, syscall.ECONNRESET) || errors.Is(err, syscall.EPIPE)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_unix_test.go b/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_unix_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cd29dda4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_unix_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+//go:build !windows
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"net"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
+	"os"
+	"syscall"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestConnectionDroppedErrnosUnix(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, errno := range []syscall.Errno{syscall.EPIPE, syscall.ECONNRESET} {
+		err := &url.Error{Op: http.MethodPost, URL: "https://daemon.example/issues", Err: &net.OpError{
+			Op: "write", Net: "tcp", Err: errno,
+		}}
+		got := createRequestError(err, false)
+		var cliErr *cliError
+		require.ErrorAs(t, got, &cliErr)
+		assert.Equal(t, "create_outcome_unknown", cliErr.Code)
+		assert.NotContains(t, cliErr.Message, "daemon.example")
+	}
+
+	refused := &url.Error{Op: http.MethodPost, URL: "https://daemon.example/issues", Err: &net.OpError{
+		Op: "dial", Err: os.NewSyscallError("connect", syscall.ECONNREFUSED),
+	}}
+	assert.Same(t, refused, createRequestError(refused, false))
+}
diff --git a/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_windows.go b/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_windows.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..42bd2872
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_windows.go
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+//go:build windows
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+func connDroppedErrno(err error) bool {
+	return errors.Is(err, syscall.WSAECONNRESET) ||
+		errors.Is(err, syscall.WSAECONNABORTED) ||
+		errors.Is(err, syscall.ERROR_BROKEN_PIPE)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_windows_test.go b/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_windows_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9f711d52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/kata/conn_dropped_windows_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+//go:build windows
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"net"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
+	"syscall"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestConnectionDroppedErrnosWindows(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, errno := range []syscall.Errno{
+		syscall.WSAECONNRESET,
+		syscall.WSAECONNABORTED,
+		syscall.ERROR_BROKEN_PIPE,
+	} {
+		err := &url.Error{Op: http.MethodPost, URL: "https://daemon.example/issues", Err: &net.OpError{
+			Op: "write", Net: "tcp", Err: errno,
+		}}
+		got := createRequestError(err, false)
+		var cliErr *cliError
+		require.ErrorAs(t, got, &cliErr)
+		assert.Equal(t, "create_outcome_unknown", cliErr.Code)
+		assert.NotContains(t, cliErr.Message, "daemon.example")
+	}
+
+	refused := &url.Error{Op: http.MethodPost, URL: "https://daemon.example/issues", Err: &net.OpError{
+		Op: "dial", Err: syscall.Errno(10061), // WSAECONNREFUSED
+	}}
+	assert.Same(t, refused, createRequestError(refused, false))
+}
diff --git a/cmd/kata/create.go b/cmd/kata/create.go
index 48951470..113e7ad5 100644
--- a/cmd/kata/create.go
+++ b/cmd/kata/create.go
@@ -201,6 +201,10 @@ func createRequestError(err error, forceNew bool) error {
 		reason = "request timed out"
 	case errors.Is(err, context.Canceled):
 		reason = "request canceled before the response arrived"
+	case responseBodyWasCut(err):
+		reason = "the response was cut off before it completed"
+	case connectionDroppedBeforeResponse(err):
+		reason = "the connection dropped before the response arrived"
 	default:
 		return err
 	}
@@ -222,10 +226,19 @@ func requestTimedOut(err error) bool {
 		return true
 	}
 	var netErr net.Error
-	if !errors.As(err, &netErr) || netErr == nil {
-		return false
-	}
-	return netErr.Timeout()
+	// netErr != nil is guaranteed when errors.As returns true; the explicit
+	// check exists to satisfy NilAway (same idiom as internal/federation).
+	return errors.As(err, &netErr) && netErr != nil && netErr.Timeout()
+}
+
+func responseBodyWasCut(err error) bool {
+	var readErr *responseBodyReadError
+	return errors.As(err, &readErr)
+}
+
+func connectionDroppedBeforeResponse(err error) bool {
+	return errors.Is(err, io.EOF) || errors.Is(err, io.ErrUnexpectedEOF) ||
+		connDroppedErrno(err)
 }
 
 // initialLinksAsChanges builds a synthetic mutationChanges from the
diff --git a/cmd/kata/create_test.go b/cmd/kata/create_test.go
index 6c641d46..33c12712 100644
--- a/cmd/kata/create_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kata/create_test.go
@@ -64,6 +64,16 @@ func TestCreateRequestError(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Same(t, otherErr, createRequestError(otherErr, false))
 }
 
+func TestCreateRequestErrorConnectionDropped(t *testing.T) {
+	dropped := &url.Error{Op: http.MethodPost, URL: "https://daemon.example/issues", Err: io.EOF}
+	got := createRequestError(dropped, false)
+	var cliErr *cliError
+	require.ErrorAs(t, got, &cliErr)
+	assert.Equal(t, "create_outcome_unknown", cliErr.Code)
+	assert.Contains(t, cliErr.Message, "connection dropped")
+
+}
+
 func TestCreateRequestErrorCanceled(t *testing.T) {
 	canceledErr := &url.Error{
 		Op:  http.MethodPost,
@@ -172,6 +182,45 @@ func TestCreateTimeoutClassificationAtCommandBoundary(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestCreateResponseBodyCutClassificationAtCommandBoundary(t *testing.T) {
+	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		switch r.URL.Path {
+		case "/api/v1/projects/resolve":
+			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+			_, _ = io.WriteString(w, `{"project":{"id":7,"name":"example-project"}}`)
+		case "/api/v1/projects/7/issues":
+			_, _ = io.Copy(io.Discard, r.Body)
+			hj, ok := w.(http.Hijacker)
+			if !ok {
+				http.Error(w, "hijacking unsupported", http.StatusInternalServerError)
+				return
+			}
+			conn, buf, err := hj.Hijack()
+			if err != nil {
+				return
+			}
+			defer func() { _ = conn.Close() }()
+			_, _ = buf.WriteString("HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n" +
+				"Content-Type: application/json\r\n" +
+				"Content-Length: 512\r\n\r\n" +
+				`{"issue":{"short_id":"abc4","title":"example issue","status":"open"`)
+			_ = buf.Flush()
+		default:
+			http.NotFound(w, r)
+		}
+	}))
+	t.Cleanup(server.Close)
+
+	ctx := contextWithBaseURL(context.Background(), server.URL)
+	_, _, err := executeRootCapture(t, ctx, "--workspace", t.TempDir(),
+		"create", "example issue")
+	cliErr := requireCLIError(t, err, ExitInternal)
+	assert.Equal(t, "create_outcome_unknown", cliErr.Code)
+	assert.Contains(t, cliErr.Message, "cut off")
+	assert.Contains(t, cliErr.Message, "check whether the issue was created")
+	assert.NotContains(t, cliErr.Message, "timed out")
+}
+
 func TestCreate_PrintsIssueShortIDInQuietMode(t *testing.T) {
 	env, dir := setupCLIEnv(t)
 	out := runCLI(t, env, dir, "--quiet", "create", "first issue", "--body", "details")
diff --git a/cmd/kata/delete.go b/cmd/kata/delete.go
index 276e790f..d57279b7 100644
--- a/cmd/kata/delete.go
+++ b/cmd/kata/delete.go
@@ -244,6 +244,16 @@ func isShellSafeArg(s string) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
+// responseBodyReadError marks a response that was cut off after its headers
+// arrived, when a mutating request may already have committed.
+type responseBodyReadError struct{ err error }
+
+func (e *responseBodyReadError) Error() string {
+	return "read response body: " + e.err.Error()
+}
+
+func (e *responseBodyReadError) Unwrap() error { return e.err }
+
 // httpDoJSONWithHeader mirrors httpDoJSON but lets callers attach extra
 // request headers (notably X-Kata-Confirm). Defined here so delete and the
 // upcoming purge command don't have to extend the helpers.go signature.
@@ -274,7 +284,7 @@ func httpDoJSONWithHeader(ctx context.Context, client *http.Client,
 	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
 	out, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
-		return 0, nil, err
+		return 0, nil, &responseBodyReadError{err: err}
 	}
 	return resp.StatusCode, out, nil
 }
diff --git a/docs/reference/cli.md b/docs/reference/cli.md
index 1d637b57..6be9a5ef 100644
--- a/docs/reference/cli.md
+++ b/docs/reference/cli.md
@@ -139,10 +139,11 @@ kata create <title> \
 `--meta` binds string-valued metadata at creation and is repeatable.
 
 Before creating an issue, the daemon checks existing non-deleted look-alikes,
-including closed ones, using the full title and the first 500 Unicode code
-points of the body. `--force-new` bypasses that check; idempotency still wins
-when an idempotency key matches. If create times out, or the request is
-canceled before the response arrives, its outcome is unknown: check whether
+including closed ones, using the first 500 Unicode code points of the title
+and body. `--force-new` bypasses that check; idempotency still wins
+when an idempotency key matches. If create times out, the request is canceled
+or the connection drops before the response arrives, or the response is cut
+off before it completes, its outcome is unknown: check whether
 the issue exists before retrying, and use `--force-new` only after confirming
 that no issue was created.
 
diff --git a/internal/daemon/handlers_issues.go b/internal/daemon/handlers_issues.go
index 3bc5896d..872aadf7 100644
--- a/internal/daemon/handlers_issues.go
+++ b/internal/daemon/handlers_issues.go
@@ -1320,8 +1320,8 @@ func tryIdempotencyMatch(ctx context.Context, cfg ServerConfig, in *api.CreateIs
 	return fp, out, nil
 }
 
-// runLookalikeCheck runs the §3.7 soft-block: SearchFTSAny over the title and
-// the body prefix used by the scorer
+// runLookalikeCheck runs the §3.7 soft-block: SearchFTSAny over the
+// 500-code-point title and body prefixes used by the scorer
 // (OR-of-tokens for high recall), scores each candidate via similarity.Score,
 // and returns a 409 duplicate_candidates error if any candidate is at or
 // above the 0.7 threshold. nil means proceed. The OR variant is required
diff --git a/internal/daemon/handlers_issues_internal_test.go b/internal/daemon/handlers_issues_internal_test.go
index b57bc67f..69668322 100644
--- a/internal/daemon/handlers_issues_internal_test.go
+++ b/internal/daemon/handlers_issues_internal_test.go
@@ -35,6 +35,18 @@ func TestRunLookalikeCheckBoundsSearchQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, store.query, "留")
 	assert.NotContains(t, store.query, "discard-this-suffix")
 	assert.True(t, utf8.ValidString(store.query))
+
+	store = &lookalikeQueryRecordingStore{}
+	in.Body.Title = strings.Repeat("界", 499) + "留 discarded-title-suffix"
+	in.Body.Body = "plain body"
+
+	err = runLookalikeCheck(context.Background(), ServerConfig{DB: store}, in)
+
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, store.query, "plain body")
+	assert.Contains(t, store.query, "留")
+	assert.NotContains(t, store.query, "discarded-title-suffix")
+	assert.True(t, utf8.ValidString(store.query))
 }
 
 type lookalikeCandidateStore struct {
diff --git a/internal/hooks/dispatcher_test.go b/internal/hooks/dispatcher_test.go
index 5649567d..0fc4a1f9 100644
--- a/internal/hooks/dispatcher_test.go
+++ b/internal/hooks/dispatcher_test.go
@@ -53,7 +53,10 @@ func mustNewDispatcher(t *testing.T, hooks []ResolvedHook, cfg Config) (*Dispatc
 // second wait matters on Windows, where an open appender prevents unlinking.
 func cleanupDispatcher(t *testing.T, d *Dispatcher) {
 	t.Helper()
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 2*time.Second)
+	// Shutdown aborts in-flight work at deadline-2x GraceWindow, so a 2s
+	// budget is too tight for five sequential process spawns on Windows CI.
+	const budget = 20 * dispatcherTestGraceWindow
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), budget)
 	err := d.Shutdown(ctx)
 	cancel()
 	if err == nil {
diff --git a/internal/similarity/similarity.go b/internal/similarity/similarity.go
index 219ab20c..6f38270c 100644
--- a/internal/similarity/similarity.go
+++ b/internal/similarity/similarity.go
@@ -126,31 +126,43 @@ func Jaccard(a, b []string) float64 {
 
 // Score returns the weighted similarity between two issues:
 //
-//	0.6 * Jaccard(title tokens) + 0.4 * Jaccard(body[:500] tokens)
+//	0.6 * Jaccard(title[:500] tokens) + 0.4 * Jaccard(body[:500] tokens)
 //
-// Body slicing is rune-based: the first 500 Unicode codepoints of each body
-// are tokenized. Spec §3.7.
+// Field slicing is rune-based: the first 500 Unicode codepoints of each title
+// and body are tokenized. Spec §3.7.
 func Score(titleA, bodyA, titleB, bodyB string) float64 {
-	titleScore := Jaccard(Tokenize(titleA), Tokenize(titleB))
+	titleScore := Jaccard(Tokenize(TitlePrefix(titleA)), Tokenize(TitlePrefix(titleB)))
 	bodyScore := Jaccard(Tokenize(BodyPrefix(bodyA)), Tokenize(BodyPrefix(bodyB)))
 	return 0.6*titleScore + 0.4*bodyScore
 }
 
-// BodyPrefix returns the first 500 runes of body. If body has fewer than 500
-// runes, it is returned unchanged.
-func BodyPrefix(body string) string {
+const lookalikePrefixRunes = 500
+
+func fieldPrefix(value string) string {
 	count := 0
-	for i := range body {
-		if count == 500 {
-			return body[:i]
+	for i := range value {
+		if count == lookalikePrefixRunes {
+			return value[:i]
 		}
 		count++
 	}
-	return body
+	return value
+}
+
+// BodyPrefix returns the first 500 runes of body. If body has fewer than 500
+// runes, it is returned unchanged.
+func BodyPrefix(body string) string {
+	return fieldPrefix(body)
+}
+
+// TitlePrefix returns the first 500 runes of title. If title has fewer than
+// 500 runes, it is returned unchanged.
+func TitlePrefix(title string) string {
+	return fieldPrefix(title)
 }
 
 // LookalikeQuery returns the issue text used to retrieve look-alike
-// candidates. Its body portion matches the prefix used by Score.
+// candidates. Its title and body portions match the prefixes used by Score.
 func LookalikeQuery(title, body string) string {
-	return strings.TrimSpace(title + " " + BodyPrefix(body))
+	return strings.TrimSpace(TitlePrefix(title) + " " + BodyPrefix(body))
 }
diff --git a/internal/similarity/similarity_test.go b/internal/similarity/similarity_test.go
index 18819e83..3eb402a8 100644
--- a/internal/similarity/similarity_test.go
+++ b/internal/similarity/similarity_test.go
@@ -41,6 +41,16 @@ func TestLookalikeQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, "full issue title   "+prefix, got)
 }
 
+func TestLookalikeQuery_TitleIsBounded(t *testing.T) {
+	title := strings.Repeat("界", 499) + "留 discard-this-suffix"
+
+	got := similarity.LookalikeQuery(title, "")
+
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "留")
+	assert.NotContains(t, got, "discard-this-suffix")
+	assert.True(t, utf8.ValidString(got))
+}
+
 const epsilon = 1e-9
 
 type tokenizeTestCase struct {
@@ -144,6 +154,14 @@ func TestScore_Body500CharLimit(t *testing.T) {
 		"divergence past 500 chars must not affect the score")
 }
 
+func TestScore_Title500RuneLimit(t *testing.T) {
+	prefix := strings.Repeat("x", 500)
+	assertScore(t, 1.0,
+		prefix+" alpha-divergent", "same body",
+		prefix+" beta-divergent", "same body",
+		"title divergence past 500 runes must not affect the score")
+}
+
 // TestTokenize_AllStopWordsAreFiltered guards against stopword/stem ordering
 // regressions. Spec §3.7: stopword removal must come BEFORE stemming so
 // "has" doesn't stem to "ha" and slip through.