diff --git a/docs/ops/measurement-maintenance.md b/docs/ops/measurement-maintenance.md
index d6a7865eb..eb95cb053 100644
--- a/docs/ops/measurement-maintenance.md
+++ b/docs/ops/measurement-maintenance.md
@@ -151,7 +151,8 @@ SELECT pg_size_pretty(pg_total_relation_size('measurements')) AS total,
 ## The nightly check
 
 Since v1.43.7 the same queue also runs by itself at 03:40 (Europe/Berlin).
-That run names no steps and changes nothing: vacuuming the table is
+That run names no steps and changes nothing beyond dropping a retired index
+(next section): vacuuming the table is
 autovacuum's job, which migration 0412 starts at 5 % dead rows instead of
 Postgres's 20 %. The check reads the table's live and dead rows and warns
 (`maintenance_autovacuum_behind` on the wide event) when there are at least
@@ -185,6 +186,63 @@ FROM pg_stat_user_tables WHERE relname = 'measurements';
 applies to pages written after the migration; a `VACUUM FULL` after the
 upgrade applies it to the whole table.
 
+## Retired indexes
+
+An index the schema no longer declares has to leave the database too, and on
+`measurements` the obvious migration is the wrong one. A plain `DROP INDEX`
+needs an exclusive lock on the table; `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY` blocks nobody
+but waits, without limit, for every transaction already running on the
+table. A migration runs at boot, so either one waits for whatever holds the
+table (a `pg_dump`, a long backfill, a `VACUUM FULL`); past the container's
+start period the container is replaced with the migration half done, and the
+next boot stops at `P3009` until someone runs `prisma migrate resolve`.
+
+So an index is retired in two halves (v1.43.8, migration 0416, for
+`measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx`):
+
+1. The migration tries a plain `DROP INDEX IF EXISTS` inside a `DO` block with
+   a two-second `lock_timeout` and catches the timeout
+   (`EXCEPTION WHEN lock_not_available`). When nothing holds the table the
+   index is gone at once; otherwise the migration still succeeds and the
+   index stays. The longest the table's other statements can wait behind the
+   attempt is those two seconds. A new database and Prisma's shadow database
+   always take the lock, so the migration history ends without the index,
+   exactly as the schema does, and `prisma migrate dev` / `migrate diff` see
+   no drift and generate nothing.
+2. The index name goes into `RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES` in
+   `src/lib/jobs/measurement-maintenance.ts`. Every run of this job, the
+   nightly 03:40 check included, drops each name still present with
+   `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS`, waiting at most 60 seconds for its
+   locks. A run that runs out of time leaves the index (possibly marked
+   invalid, which the next drop finishes), sets
+   `maintenance_retired_index_pending` on the wide event with a warning, and
+   the next night tries again. The index costs writes until then, as it did
+   before the release; nothing reads it.
+
+Until the job has run, the database holds one index the schema does not
+declare. Nothing compares the two at runtime, and the only place they are
+compared, a `migrate diff` against the migration history, never sees it. To
+check by hand:
+
+```sql
+SELECT indexname FROM pg_indexes
+ WHERE tablename = 'measurements'
+   AND indexname = 'measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx';
+```
+
+No row: it is gone. To drop it now rather than at night, start a run from the
+admin card (any steps), or run the same statement yourself:
+
+```sql
+SET lock_timeout = '60s';
+DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS "measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx";
+```
+
+For the next large index, follow the same two halves.
+`src/__tests__/migration-lock-timeout-guard.test.ts` refuses a
+`DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY` in any migration and requires every retired name to
+have a migration that bounds its wait and catches the timeout.
+
 ## "could not resize shared memory segment"
 
 Up to v1.42.0 the run could stop at once with `could not resize shared memory
diff --git a/prisma/migrations/0416_drop_measurements_type_prefix_index/migration.sql b/prisma/migrations/0416_drop_measurements_type_prefix_index/migration.sql
index ff86f6c2c..62339c211 100644
--- a/prisma/migrations/0416_drop_measurements_type_prefix_index/migration.sql
+++ b/prisma/migrations/0416_drop_measurements_type_prefix_index/migration.sql
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
--- Drop `measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx`.
+-- Retire `measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx`.
 --
 -- `(user_id, type, measured_at)` is the leading part of the unique key
 -- `(user_id, type, measured_at, source, sleep_stage)`, and live reads have
@@ -8,10 +8,28 @@
 -- seeded table). The index cost every write to the densest table in the
 -- schema and, on a bloated instance, more space than the table itself.
 --
--- `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY` takes no lock that blocks reads or writes: it
--- waits for the transactions already using the index to finish and then
--- removes it. It refuses to run inside a transaction block, and under
--- `migrate deploy` it does so whenever the file holds any other statement
--- (Prisma 7 on Postgres 16 reports 25001), so this file holds exactly this
--- one statement. `IF EXISTS` makes a re-run a no-op.
-DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS "measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx";
+-- This runs at boot, so it must not wait on the table. A plain `DROP INDEX`
+-- needs ACCESS EXCLUSIVE on `measurements`, held for the instant the catalog
+-- changes; `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY` blocks nobody but waits, without bound,
+-- for every transaction on the table (a pg_dump, a backfill), long enough for
+-- the container to be replaced mid-migration and the next boot to stop at
+-- P3009. So the drop is tried once with a two-second lock wait (the most the
+-- table's other statements can queue behind the request), and a timeout is
+-- swallowed: the migration then succeeds with the index still there, and
+-- the nightly measurement maintenance drops it with
+-- `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS` (`RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES` in
+-- `src/lib/jobs/measurement-maintenance.ts`). A fresh database and Prisma's
+-- shadow database take the lock at once, so the migration history ends
+-- without the index, as the schema does. The pattern, for the next large
+-- index: docs/ops/measurement-maintenance.md, "Retired indexes".
+--
+-- @retry-on-lock-timeout
+
+DO $migration$
+BEGIN
+    PERFORM set_config('lock_timeout', '2s', true);
+    DROP INDEX IF EXISTS "measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx";
+EXCEPTION WHEN lock_not_available THEN
+    RAISE NOTICE 'measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx is in use; the nightly measurement maintenance drops it';
+END
+$migration$;
diff --git a/src/__tests__/migration-lock-timeout-guard.test.ts b/src/__tests__/migration-lock-timeout-guard.test.ts
index 45c7595bf..919e7661f 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/migration-lock-timeout-guard.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/migration-lock-timeout-guard.test.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import { readdirSync, readFileSync, existsSync } from "node:fs";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
+import { RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES } from "@/lib/jobs/measurement-maintenance";
+
 import { RETRY_MARKER } from "../../scripts/migrate-deploy.mjs";
 
 const MIGRATIONS_DIR = join(process.cwd(), "prisma", "migrations");
@@ -114,13 +116,14 @@ describe("concurrent index statements", () => {
     expect(found, found.join("\n")).toEqual([]);
   });
 
-  it("sees the concurrent migrations there are", () => {
-    const concurrent = migrations()
-      .filter(({ sql }) =>
-        /\bCONCURRENTLY\b/i.test(topLevelStatements(sql).join(";")),
-      )
-      .map(({ name }) => name);
-    expect(concurrent).toContain("0416_drop_measurements_type_prefix_index");
+  it("reads the statements there are", () => {
+    // No migration holds a concurrent statement since 0416 stopped dropping
+    // concurrently; the rule stands for the next one. A reader that stopped
+    // splitting statements would see none and pass, so it must see many.
+    const statements = migrations().flatMap(({ sql }) =>
+      topLevelStatements(sql),
+    );
+    expect(statements.length).toBeGreaterThan(1000);
   });
 
   it("refuses a concurrent statement beside another one", () => {
@@ -139,6 +142,58 @@ describe("concurrent index statements", () => {
   });
 });
 
+/**
+ * `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY` blocks no reader or writer, but it waits without
+ * bound for every transaction on the table, and in a migration that wait is
+ * the boot's: a pg_dump or a backfill outlasts the container's start period,
+ * the half-applied migration is left on record, and the next boot stops at
+ * P3009. An index is retired instead by a bounded `DROP INDEX` that tolerates
+ * the timeout, finished by the nightly measurement maintenance (0416).
+ */
+function concurrentDropViolations(name: string, sql: string): string[] {
+  return topLevelStatements(sql).some((statement) =>
+    /^DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY\b/i.test(statement),
+  )
+    ? [`${name}: DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY waits on the table at boot`]
+    : [];
+}
+
+describe("retired indexes", () => {
+  it("are never dropped concurrently in the boot path", () => {
+    const found = migrations().flatMap(({ name, sql }) =>
+      concurrentDropViolations(name, sql),
+    );
+    expect(found, found.join("\n")).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("are each dropped by a migration that bounds its wait and tolerates the timeout", () => {
+    expect(RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    for (const index of RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES) {
+      const owner = migrations().find(({ sql }) =>
+        new RegExp(`DROP INDEX IF EXISTS "${index}"`).test(sql),
+      );
+      expect(owner, index).toBeDefined();
+      expect(owner?.sql).toMatch(/set_config\(\s*'lock_timeout'/);
+      expect(owner?.sql).toMatch(/EXCEPTION WHEN lock_not_available THEN/);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("counter-check: refuses a concurrent drop, not one in a comment", () => {
+    expect(
+      concurrentDropViolations(
+        "a",
+        'DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS "measurements_x_idx";',
+      ),
+    ).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(
+      concurrentDropViolations(
+        "b",
+        '-- DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY "x";\nDROP INDEX IF EXISTS "x";',
+      ),
+    ).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("migration lock waits", () => {
   it("bounds lock waits where they take effect and marks only repeatable files", () => {
     const found = migrations().flatMap(({ name, sql }) =>
@@ -154,6 +209,7 @@ describe("migration lock waits", () => {
     expect(marked).toContain("0412_measurement_hot_updates");
     expect(marked).toContain("0414_drop_medication_compliance_rollups");
     expect(marked).toContain("0415_foreign_key_and_prefix_indexes");
+    expect(marked).toContain("0416_drop_measurements_type_prefix_index");
   });
 
   it("catches each shape it exists to refuse", () => {
diff --git a/src/lib/jobs/measurement-maintenance.ts b/src/lib/jobs/measurement-maintenance.ts
index a5e4efa0f..144427b66 100644
--- a/src/lib/jobs/measurement-maintenance.ts
+++ b/src/lib/jobs/measurement-maintenance.ts
@@ -46,6 +46,15 @@
  *     before the first rebuild.
  *   - Every step's size before and after, and its duration, are on the run's
  *     wide event; the totals are job facts.
+ *
+ * Retired indexes. An index the schema no longer declares is dropped by the
+ * migration that retires it only when the lock is there at once (a `DO`
+ * block with a two-second `lock_timeout` that swallows the timeout), so the
+ * boot never waits on a long reader of the table. Where the migration had to
+ * leave it, every run of this job, the nightly tick included, drops it with
+ * `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS` under a bounded lock wait and tries
+ * again the next night if the wait runs out. Runbook:
+ * `docs/ops/measurement-maintenance.md`, "Retired indexes".
  */
 import { Client } from "pg";
 import type { Job } from "pg-boss";
@@ -153,6 +162,22 @@ export function maintenanceSessionStatements(): string[] {
     });
 }
 
+/**
+ * Indexes on `measurements` the schema no longer declares, which a run drops
+ * when the migration that retired them could not. Each one's migration names
+ * it; `IF EXISTS` makes the drop a no-op once it is gone.
+ */
+export const RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES: readonly string[] = [
+  // 0416: a prefix of the unique key `(user_id, type, measured_at, source,
+  // sleep_stage)`, which plans every query it served at the same cost.
+  "measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx",
+];
+
+/** How long a run waits for the locks that drop a retired index. */
+export const RETIRED_INDEX_LOCK_TIMEOUT = "60s";
+
+const LOCK_TIMEOUT_VALUE = /^\d{1,6}(ms|s)$/;
+
 /** The only shape an index name may have before it is spliced into SQL. */
 const INDEX_NAME = /^[a-z0-9_]{1,63}$/;
 
@@ -162,7 +187,7 @@ const CONCURRENT_COPY = /_ccnew\d*$|_ccold\d*$/;
 const PURGE_QUEUE = "compaction-tombstone-purge";
 
 export interface MaintenanceStep {
-  step: "vacuum" | "reindex" | "drop_invalid";
+  step: "vacuum" | "reindex" | "drop_invalid" | "drop_retired";
   target: string;
   bytesBefore: number;
   bytesAfter: number;
@@ -336,6 +361,62 @@ async function dropInvalidCopies(
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Drop every retired index still present. `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY` takes no
+ * lock that stops reads or writes, but it waits for every transaction that
+ * may use the index, so the wait is bounded for the statement and the
+ * session's own setting is put back after it. A timed-out drop may leave the
+ * index marked invalid; the next run's `IF EXISTS` drop finishes it.
+ */
+export async function dropRetiredIndexes(
+  db: MaintenanceConnection,
+  steps: MaintenanceStep[],
+  lockTimeout: string = RETIRED_INDEX_LOCK_TIMEOUT,
+): Promise<void> {
+  if (!LOCK_TIMEOUT_VALUE.test(lockTimeout)) {
+    throw new Error(`refusing lock timeout of unexpected shape`);
+  }
+  for (const name of RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES) {
+    const bytesBefore = await indexBytes(db, name);
+    const { rows } = await db.query<{ present: boolean }>(
+      `SELECT to_regclass($1) IS NOT NULL AS present`,
+      [name],
+    );
+    if (!rows[0]?.present) continue;
+    const { rows: setting } = await db.query<{ value: string }>(
+      `SELECT current_setting('lock_timeout') AS value`,
+    );
+    const startedAt = Date.now();
+    try {
+      await db.query(`SET lock_timeout = '${lockTimeout}'`);
+      await db.query(`DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS ${quoted(name)}`);
+      steps.push({
+        step: "drop_retired",
+        target: name,
+        bytesBefore,
+        bytesAfter: 0,
+        durationMs: Date.now() - startedAt,
+        ok: true,
+      });
+    } catch (err) {
+      logCaught("measurements.maintenance.drop_retired_failed", err);
+      steps.push({
+        step: "drop_retired",
+        target: name,
+        bytesBefore,
+        bytesAfter: await indexBytes(db, name),
+        durationMs: Date.now() - startedAt,
+        ok: false,
+        error: errorText(err),
+      });
+    } finally {
+      await db.query(`SELECT set_config('lock_timeout', $1, false)`, [
+        setting[0]?.value ?? "0",
+      ]);
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * The pass itself, on a connection the caller opened with
  * {@link MAINTENANCE_SESSION_OPTIONS}. Exported for the integration test.
@@ -343,7 +424,7 @@ async function dropInvalidCopies(
 export async function runMeasurementMaintenance(
   db: MaintenanceConnection,
   payload: MaintenanceSteps,
-  options: { shouldStop?: () => boolean } = {},
+  options: { shouldStop?: () => boolean; retiredLockTimeout?: string } = {},
 ): Promise<MeasurementMaintenanceSummary> {
   const before = await relationSizes(db);
   const steps: MaintenanceStep[] = [];
@@ -359,6 +440,10 @@ export async function runMeasurementMaintenance(
     indexBytesAfter: after.indexes,
   });
 
+  // Every run, the nightly tick included: a retired index costs every write
+  // until it is gone, and the drop blocks no reader or writer.
+  await dropRetiredIndexes(db, steps, options.retiredLockTimeout);
+
   if (!payload.vacuum && !payload.reindex) return summary("nothing_due");
 
   // The queue table exists wherever a worker has started; a database without
@@ -406,7 +491,10 @@ export async function runMeasurementMaintenance(
   if (payload.reindex) {
     await dropInvalidCopies(db, steps);
     const targets = (await measurementIndexes(db)).filter(
-      (index) => index.valid && !CONCURRENT_COPY.test(index.name),
+      (index) =>
+        index.valid &&
+        !CONCURRENT_COPY.test(index.name) &&
+        !RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES.includes(index.name),
     );
     for (const index of targets) {
       if (options.shouldStop?.()) break;
@@ -509,6 +597,15 @@ export async function handleMeasurementMaintenance(
         );
       }
     }
+    const retiredLeft = result.steps.filter(
+      (s) => s.step === "drop_retired" && !s.ok,
+    );
+    if (retiredLeft.length > 0) {
+      evt.addMeta("maintenance_retired_index_pending", true);
+      evt.addWarning(
+        `retired index ${retiredLeft.map((s) => s.target).join(", ")} could not be dropped within ${RETIRED_INDEX_LOCK_TIMEOUT} (a long transaction on measurements); the next nightly run tries again`,
+      );
+    }
     evt.addMeta("maintenance_table_bytes_before", result.tableBytesBefore);
     evt.addMeta("maintenance_table_bytes_after", result.tableBytesAfter);
     evt.addMeta("maintenance_index_bytes_before", result.indexBytesBefore);
diff --git a/tests/integration/retired-index-drop.test.ts b/tests/integration/retired-index-drop.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4ac6bb800
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration/retired-index-drop.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+/**
+ * Retiring an index on `measurements` without the boot waiting on the table.
+ *
+ * Migration 0416 drops `measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx` only when
+ * the lock is there at once and otherwise leaves it, successfully; the
+ * nightly measurement maintenance drops what is left with
+ * `DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS` under a bounded lock wait. Proven here
+ * against Postgres, each with the transaction that used to hold the boot:
+ * the migration finishes while a reader holds the table and drops the index
+ * once it does not; the maintenance step gives up within its wait, puts the
+ * session's lock timeout back, and drops the index on the next run.
+ */
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { Client } from "pg";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import {
+  MAINTENANCE_SESSION_OPTIONS,
+  RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES,
+  runMeasurementMaintenance,
+} from "@/lib/jobs/measurement-maintenance";
+
+const INDEX = "measurements_user_id_type_measured_at_idx";
+const MIGRATION = readFileSync(
+  join(
+    process.cwd(),
+    "prisma/migrations/0416_drop_measurements_type_prefix_index/migration.sql",
+  ),
+  "utf8",
+);
+
+function connect(options?: string): Client {
+  const url = new URL(process.env.DATABASE_URL ?? "");
+  url.searchParams.delete("schema");
+  return new Client({ connectionString: url.toString(), options });
+}
+
+async function present(db: Client): Promise<boolean> {
+  const { rows } = await db.query<{ present: boolean }>(
+    `SELECT to_regclass($1) IS NOT NULL AS present`,
+    [INDEX],
+  );
+  return rows[0].present;
+}
+
+let db: Client;
+let holder: Client;
+
+beforeEach(async () => {
+  db = connect(MAINTENANCE_SESSION_OPTIONS);
+  holder = connect();
+  await db.connect();
+  await holder.connect();
+  // The state on an instance that has not run 0416 yet.
+  await db.query(
+    `CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS "${INDEX}" ON "measurements" ("user_id", "type", "measured_at")`,
+  );
+});
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  await holder.query("ROLLBACK").catch(() => {});
+  await holder.end();
+  await db.query(`DROP INDEX IF EXISTS "${INDEX}"`);
+  await db.end();
+});
+
+describe("migration 0416", () => {
+  it("finishes while a reader holds the table and leaves the index", async () => {
+    await holder.query("BEGIN");
+    await holder.query(`SELECT count(*) FROM "measurements"`);
+
+    const startedAt = Date.now();
+    await db.query(MIGRATION);
+
+    expect(Date.now() - startedAt).toBeLessThan(10_000);
+    expect(await present(db)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("counter-check: drops the index when nothing holds the table", async () => {
+    await db.query(MIGRATION);
+    expect(await present(db)).toBe(false);
+    // And again, as a retried boot would.
+    await db.query(MIGRATION);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("the maintenance step for a retired index", () => {
+  it("names the index the migration retires", () => {
+    expect(RETIRED_MEASUREMENT_INDEXES).toContain(INDEX);
+  });
+
+  it("gives up within its wait, restores the session, and drops it on the next run", async () => {
+    await holder.query("BEGIN");
+    await holder.query(
+      `LOCK TABLE "measurements" IN SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE MODE`,
+    );
+
+    const blocked = await runMeasurementMaintenance(
+      db,
+      { vacuum: false, reindex: false },
+      { retiredLockTimeout: "300ms" },
+    );
+    expect(blocked.outcome).toBe("nothing_due");
+    expect(blocked.steps).toEqual([
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        step: "drop_retired",
+        target: INDEX,
+        ok: false,
+        error: expect.stringContaining("55P03"),
+      }),
+    ]);
+    // The session's own wait (five minutes) is back for the rest of the run.
+    const { rows } = await db.query<{ value: string }>(
+      `SELECT current_setting('lock_timeout') AS value`,
+    );
+    expect(rows[0].value).toBe("5min");
+
+    await holder.query("ROLLBACK");
+    const next = await runMeasurementMaintenance(db, {
+      vacuum: false,
+      reindex: false,
+    });
+    expect(next.steps).toEqual([
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        step: "drop_retired",
+        target: INDEX,
+        ok: true,
+      }),
+    ]);
+    expect(await present(db)).toBe(false);
+
+    // Gone: the run after that has nothing to do.
+    const after = await runMeasurementMaintenance(db, {
+      vacuum: false,
+      reindex: false,
+    });
+    expect(after.steps).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});