diff --git a/src/documents/extractor.rs b/src/documents/extractor.rs
index 3903cad..3537235 100644
--- a/src/documents/extractor.rs
+++ b/src/documents/extractor.rs
@@ -6,10 +6,12 @@ use std::collections::{BTreeSet, HashMap};
 use std::fmt::Write as _;
 
 use super::truncation::{
-    MAX_DISCUSSION_BYTES, NoteContent, truncate_discussion, truncate_hard_cap,
+    MAX_DISCUSSION_BYTES, MAX_DOCUMENT_BYTES_HARD, NoteContent, pre_truncate_description,
+    truncate_discussion, truncate_hard_cap,
 };
 use crate::core::error::Result;
 use crate::core::time::ms_to_iso;
+use tracing::warn;
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 #[serde(rename_all = "snake_case")]
@@ -158,7 +160,16 @@ pub fn extract_issue_document(conn: &Connection, issue_id: i64) -> Result<Option
 
     if let Some(ref desc) = description {
         content.push_str("\n--- Description ---\n\n");
-        content.push_str(desc);
+        // Pre-truncate to avoid unbounded memory allocation for huge descriptions
+        let pre_trunc = pre_truncate_description(desc, MAX_DOCUMENT_BYTES_HARD);
+        if pre_trunc.was_truncated {
+            warn!(
+                iid,
+                original_bytes = pre_trunc.original_bytes,
+                "Issue description truncated (oversized)"
+            );
+        }
+        content.push_str(&pre_trunc.content);
     }
 
     let labels_hash = compute_list_hash(&labels);
@@ -268,7 +279,16 @@ pub fn extract_mr_document(conn: &Connection, mr_id: i64) -> Result<Option<Docum
 
     if let Some(ref desc) = description {
         content.push_str("\n--- Description ---\n\n");
-        content.push_str(desc);
+        // Pre-truncate to avoid unbounded memory allocation for huge descriptions
+        let pre_trunc = pre_truncate_description(desc, MAX_DOCUMENT_BYTES_HARD);
+        if pre_trunc.was_truncated {
+            warn!(
+                iid,
+                original_bytes = pre_trunc.original_bytes,
+                "MR description truncated (oversized)"
+            );
+        }
+        content.push_str(&pre_trunc.content);
     }
 
     let labels_hash = compute_list_hash(&labels);
diff --git a/src/documents/truncation.rs b/src/documents/truncation.rs
index 255f232..7e46dd6 100644
--- a/src/documents/truncation.rs
+++ b/src/documents/truncation.rs
@@ -48,6 +48,56 @@ pub fn truncate_utf8(s: &str, max_bytes: usize) -> &str {
     &s[..end]
 }
 
+/// Result of pre-truncating a description to avoid unbounded memory allocation.
+pub struct DescriptionPreTruncateResult {
+    pub content: String,
+    pub was_truncated: bool,
+    pub original_bytes: usize,
+}
+
+/// Pre-truncate a description to avoid allocating huge amounts of memory.
+///
+/// This is called BEFORE appending to the document content, so we don't
+/// allocate memory for pathologically large descriptions (e.g., 500MB base64 blob).
+///
+/// Returns the (potentially truncated) description and whether truncation occurred.
+pub fn pre_truncate_description(desc: &str, max_bytes: usize) -> DescriptionPreTruncateResult {
+    let original_bytes = desc.len();
+
+    if original_bytes <= max_bytes {
+        return DescriptionPreTruncateResult {
+            content: desc.to_string(),
+            was_truncated: false,
+            original_bytes,
+        };
+    }
+
+    // Truncate at UTF-8 boundary and add indicator
+    let truncated = truncate_utf8(desc, max_bytes.saturating_sub(50)); // Reserve space for marker
+    let mut content = truncated.to_string();
+    content.push_str("\n\n[... description truncated from ");
+    content.push_str(&format_bytes(original_bytes));
+    content.push_str(" to ");
+    content.push_str(&format_bytes(max_bytes));
+    content.push_str(" ...]");
+
+    DescriptionPreTruncateResult {
+        content,
+        was_truncated: true,
+        original_bytes,
+    }
+}
+
+fn format_bytes(bytes: usize) -> String {
+    if bytes >= 1_000_000 {
+        format!("{:.1}MB", bytes as f64 / 1_000_000.0)
+    } else if bytes >= 1_000 {
+        format!("{:.1}KB", bytes as f64 / 1_000.0)
+    } else {
+        format!("{}B", bytes)
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn truncate_discussion(notes: &[NoteContent], max_bytes: usize) -> TruncationResult {
     if notes.is_empty() {
         return TruncationResult {