diff --git a/REBUILD.md b/REBUILD.md
index 4bc685e..282f607 100644
--- a/REBUILD.md
+++ b/REBUILD.md
@@ -950,9 +950,12 @@ f. **Nothing enters the catalog without a usable name** (amended
    climb, each by an index (`pending_releases_signature_idx` for a
    poster's rows: tested on the rows, a signature was a scan of the whole
    table; LOG.md (133), (134)). The batch store, the record, the claim
-   and the sweep lock pending rows in one order (`lockOrder`), and a
-   flush that deadlocks anyway keeps its outcomes for the next (LOG.md
-   (134)). The namer
+   and the sweep lock pending rows in one order, by key and the counters
+   after (`lockOrder` for the multi-row statements; the record and the
+   sweep lock their rows with `SELECT … ORDER BY release_key FOR UPDATE`
+   first, since an UPDATE's join or `= ANY(subquery)` locks in plan
+   order), and a flush that deadlocks anyway keeps its outcomes for the
+   next (LOG.md (134), (137)). The namer
    (`app/services/pending_namer.ts`, in the prober's process): a named
    release's article span read again from the corpus (the stored range's
    chunks) or by XOVER on a connection of its own, a chunk of articles
diff --git a/app/services/pending_ladder.ts b/app/services/pending_ladder.ts
index 3416c16..5ffa0b7 100644
--- a/app/services/pending_ladder.ts
+++ b/app/services/pending_ladder.ts
@@ -289,6 +289,12 @@ class PendingLadder {
         final: null,
       }
     })
+    // The rows locked in key order first: the UPDATE's join below takes them in whatever order the plan does.
+    await trx.rawQuery(
+      `SELECT 1 FROM pending_releases WHERE release_key = ANY(SELECT decode(k, 'hex') FROM unnest(?::text[]) AS k)
+       ORDER BY release_key FOR UPDATE`,
+      [rows.map((r) => r.release_key).sort()]
+    )
     await trx.rawQuery(
       `UPDATE pending_releases p SET status = v.status, tries = v.tries, named = coalesce(v.named, p.named),
          inspections = CASE WHEN v.inspection IS NULL THEN p.inspections ELSE p.inspections || v.inspection END,
@@ -470,9 +476,15 @@ class PendingLadder {
       .filter((key: string) => !explored(key, samplePercent))
       .sort()
     if (keys.length === 0) return 0
+    // Locked in key order (the record's lock order, LOG.md (137)): a plain `key = ANY(subquery)` locks in scan
+    // order and deadlocked against a batch upsert; ORDER BY sorts before FOR UPDATE locks.
     const { rows: gone } = await db.rawQuery(
-      `UPDATE pending_releases SET status = ? WHERE status = ? AND release_key = ANY(SELECT decode(k, 'hex') FROM unnest(?::text[]) AS k)
-       RETURNING tool, group_id, klass`,
+      `UPDATE pending_releases p SET status = ?
+       FROM (SELECT release_key FROM pending_releases
+             WHERE status = ? AND release_key = ANY(SELECT decode(k, 'hex') FROM unnest(?::text[]) AS k)
+             ORDER BY release_key FOR UPDATE) k
+       WHERE p.release_key = k.release_key
+       RETURNING p.tool, p.group_id, p.klass`,
       [PENDING.discarded, PENDING.waiting, keys]
     )
     const counts = new Map<string, { tool: string; group_id: number; klass: number; n: number }>()