diff --git a/packages/engine/src/index.ts b/packages/engine/src/index.ts
index dc5f0a4243..8f4c9c9fbc 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/index.ts
@@ -106,6 +106,13 @@ export {
   type BeforeCaptureHook,
   type DiscardWarmupInnerCapture,
 } from "./services/frameCapture.js";
+export {
+  CaptureFailure,
+  classifyCaptureFailure,
+  isFatalCaptureFailure,
+  type CaptureFailureKind,
+  type CaptureWorkerDiagnostic,
+} from "./services/captureFailure.js";
 
 // ── Screenshot (BeginFrame) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 export {
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/captureFailure.test.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/captureFailure.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c973a94c52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/captureFailure.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { CaptureFailure, classifyCaptureFailure, isFatalCaptureFailure } from "./captureFailure.js";
+
+describe("classifyCaptureFailure", () => {
+  it.each([
+    ["Target closed", "transient_browser"],
+    ["Runtime.callFunctionOn timed out after 30000ms", "protocol_timeout"],
+    ["Runtime.evaluate timed out", "protocol_timeout"],
+    ["Waiting failed: 30000ms exceeded", "protocol_timeout"],
+    ["JavaScript heap out of memory", "memory_exhaustion"],
+    ["drawElement self-verify failed", "verification"],
+    ["Composition has zero duration. Runtime ready: true", "authoring"],
+  ] as const)("classifies %s as %s", (message, kind) => {
+    expect(classifyCaptureFailure(new Error(message)).kind).toBe(kind);
+  });
+
+  it("lets the composed signal authoritatively classify cancellation", () => {
+    const controller = new AbortController();
+    controller.abort();
+    expect(
+      classifyCaptureFailure(new Error("Target closed"), { signal: controller.signal }).kind,
+    ).toBe("cancelled");
+  });
+
+  it("lets a later cancellation override an already typed transient failure", () => {
+    const controller = new AbortController();
+    const transient = new CaptureFailure({
+      kind: "transient_browser",
+      message: "Target closed",
+      workerDiagnostics: [
+        { workerId: 1, framesCaptured: 2, startFrame: 0, endFrame: 4, lines: ["Target closed"] },
+      ],
+    });
+    controller.abort();
+
+    const cancelled = classifyCaptureFailure(transient, { signal: controller.signal });
+
+    expect(cancelled.kind).toBe("cancelled");
+    expect(cancelled.cause).toBe(transient);
+    expect(cancelled.workerDiagnostics).toEqual(transient.workerDiagnostics);
+  });
+
+  it("preserves cause and immutable worker diagnostics", () => {
+    const cause = Object.assign(new Error("write failed"), { code: "ENOSPC" });
+    const failure = classifyCaptureFailure(cause, {
+      workerDiagnostics: [
+        { workerId: 2, framesCaptured: 3, startFrame: 0, endFrame: 10, lines: ["disk full"] },
+      ],
+    });
+
+    expect(failure.kind).toBe("io");
+    expect(failure.cause).toBe(cause);
+    expect(failure.workerDiagnostics[0]?.workerId).toBe(2);
+    expect(Object.isFrozen(failure.workerDiagnostics)).toBe(true);
+    expect(Object.isFrozen(failure.workerDiagnostics[0]?.lines)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("marks structural failures fatal but leaves retryable failures non-fatal", () => {
+    expect(
+      isFatalCaptureFailure(new CaptureFailure({ kind: "authoring", message: "bad source" })),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      isFatalCaptureFailure(
+        new CaptureFailure({ kind: "protocol_timeout", message: "protocol timeout" }),
+      ),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/captureFailure.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/captureFailure.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0449c6c775
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/captureFailure.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+export type CaptureFailureKind =
+  | "cancelled"
+  | "transient_browser"
+  | "protocol_timeout"
+  | "memory_exhaustion"
+  | "verification"
+  | "authoring"
+  | "io";
+
+export interface CaptureWorkerDiagnostic {
+  workerId: number;
+  framesCaptured: number;
+  startFrame: number;
+  endFrame: number;
+  lines: readonly string[];
+}
+
+export class CaptureFailure extends Error {
+  readonly kind: CaptureFailureKind;
+  readonly cause: unknown;
+  readonly workerDiagnostics: readonly CaptureWorkerDiagnostic[];
+
+  constructor(input: {
+    kind: CaptureFailureKind;
+    message: string;
+    cause?: unknown;
+    workerDiagnostics?: readonly CaptureWorkerDiagnostic[];
+  }) {
+    super(input.message);
+    this.name = "CaptureFailure";
+    this.kind = input.kind;
+    this.cause = input.cause;
+    this.workerDiagnostics = Object.freeze(
+      (input.workerDiagnostics ?? []).map((diagnostic) =>
+        Object.freeze({ ...diagnostic, lines: Object.freeze([...diagnostic.lines]) }),
+      ),
+    );
+    if (input.cause instanceof Error && input.cause.stack) this.stack = input.cause.stack;
+  }
+}
+
+const TRANSIENT_BROWSER_ERROR_PATTERNS = [
+  /Navigating frame was detached/i,
+  /Target closed/i,
+  /Session closed/i,
+  /browser has disconnected/i,
+  /Page crashed/i,
+  /Execution context was destroyed/i,
+  /Cannot find context with specified id/i,
+  /Failed to launch the browser process/i,
+  /Navigation timeout of \d+ ms exceeded/i,
+  /ECONNREFUSED/i,
+  /Composition has zero duration[\s\S]*Runtime ready: false/,
+];
+
+const PROTOCOL_TIMEOUT_PATTERNS = [
+  /Runtime\.callFunctionOn timed out/i,
+  /Runtime\.evaluate timed out/i,
+  /HeadlessExperimental\.beginFrame timed out/i,
+  /Protocol error[\s\S]*tim(?:ed|e) out/i,
+  /Waiting failed:\s*\d+\s*ms exceeded/i,
+  /Waiting failed[\s\S]*timeout/i,
+  /timeout exceeded/i,
+];
+
+const MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_ERROR_PATTERNS = [
+  /Set maximum size exceeded/i,
+  /Map maximum size exceeded/i,
+  /Invalid (?:array|string) length/i,
+  /Array buffer allocation failed/i,
+  /Cannot create a string longer than/i,
+  /Reached heap limit/i,
+  /JavaScript heap out of memory/i,
+];
+
+// Bun/JSC reports oversized allocations as the bare string "Out of memory".
+// Match only the complete message, or the complete worker segment produced by
+// parallel capture, so unrelated WebGL diagnostics are not misclassified.
+const BUN_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_EXACT_MESSAGE = /^out of memory\.?$/i;
+const BUN_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_WRAPPED_WORKER_MESSAGE = /\bworker \d+: out of memory\.?(?:;|$)/i;
+
+const VERIFICATION_ERROR_PATTERNS = [
+  /DrawElementVerificationError/i,
+  /drawElement self-verify/i,
+  /verification (?:failed|mismatch)/i,
+  /blank drawElement frame/i,
+];
+
+const AUTHORING_ERROR_PATTERNS = [
+  /Composition has zero duration[\s\S]*Runtime ready: true/i,
+  /data-duration/i,
+  /No root \[data-composition-id\]/i,
+  /failed to parse/i,
+  /unparseable/i,
+];
+
+function messageOf(error: unknown): string {
+  return error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
+}
+
+function matchesAny(message: string, patterns: readonly RegExp[]): boolean {
+  return patterns.some((pattern) => pattern.test(message));
+}
+
+function ioError(error: unknown, message: string): boolean {
+  const code = error instanceof Error ? (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code : undefined;
+  return (
+    Boolean(code && /^(?:EACCES|EEXIST|EIO|EMFILE|ENFILE|ENOENT|ENOSPC|EPERM|EROFS)$/.test(code)) ||
+    /(?:read|write|rename|copy|open|file|directory).*(?:failed|error)/i.test(message)
+  );
+}
+
+export function classifyCaptureFailure(
+  error: unknown,
+  options: {
+    signal?: AbortSignal;
+    workerDiagnostics?: readonly CaptureWorkerDiagnostic[];
+  } = {},
+): CaptureFailure {
+  if (error instanceof CaptureFailure && !options.workerDiagnostics && !options.signal?.aborted) {
+    return error;
+  }
+  const message = messageOf(error);
+  let kind: CaptureFailureKind;
+  if (options.signal?.aborted || /(?:render|capture)?_?cancelled|AbortError/i.test(message)) {
+    kind = "cancelled";
+  } else if (
+    BUN_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_EXACT_MESSAGE.test(message.trim()) ||
+    BUN_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_WRAPPED_WORKER_MESSAGE.test(message) ||
+    matchesAny(message, MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_ERROR_PATTERNS)
+  ) {
+    kind = "memory_exhaustion";
+  } else if (matchesAny(message, VERIFICATION_ERROR_PATTERNS)) {
+    kind = "verification";
+  } else if (matchesAny(message, PROTOCOL_TIMEOUT_PATTERNS)) {
+    kind = "protocol_timeout";
+  } else if (matchesAny(message, TRANSIENT_BROWSER_ERROR_PATTERNS)) {
+    kind = "transient_browser";
+  } else if (matchesAny(message, AUTHORING_ERROR_PATTERNS)) {
+    kind = "authoring";
+  } else {
+    kind = ioError(error, message) ? "io" : "authoring";
+  }
+  return new CaptureFailure({
+    kind,
+    message,
+    cause: error,
+    workerDiagnostics:
+      options.workerDiagnostics ??
+      (error instanceof CaptureFailure ? error.workerDiagnostics : undefined),
+  });
+}
+
+export function isTransientBrowserError(error: unknown): boolean {
+  return classifyCaptureFailure(error).kind === "transient_browser";
+}
+
+export function isMemoryExhaustionError(error: unknown): boolean {
+  return classifyCaptureFailure(error).kind === "memory_exhaustion";
+}
+
+export function isFatalCaptureFailure(failure: CaptureFailure): boolean {
+  return !["cancelled", "transient_browser", "protocol_timeout"].includes(failure.kind);
+}
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture.ts
index 044e6250b7..0ce70e23cb 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ import type {
   CaptureWarning,
   SubTimelineWaitOutcome,
 } from "../types.js";
+export { isMemoryExhaustionError, isTransientBrowserError } from "./captureFailure.js";
 
 export type { CaptureOptions, CaptureResult, CaptureBufferResult, CapturePerfSummary };
 
@@ -3431,98 +3432,3 @@ export function getCapturePerfSummary(session: CaptureSession): CapturePerfSumma
     deNcprFallbacks: session.deNcprFallbacks ?? 0,
   };
 }
-
-// ── Transient browser error classification ─────────────────────────────────
-// Puppeteer/Chrome can fail with transient errors that succeed on retry with a
-// fresh browser session. These are infrastructure-level failures (frame
-// detachment, connection drop, OOM kill, launch failure) — NOT composition bugs.
-
-const TRANSIENT_BROWSER_ERROR_PATTERNS = [
-  /Navigating frame was detached/i,
-  /Target closed/i,
-  /Session closed/i,
-  /browser has disconnected/i,
-  /Page crashed/i,
-  /Execution context was destroyed/i,
-  /Cannot find context with specified id/i,
-  /Failed to launch the browser process/i,
-  /Navigation timeout of \d+ ms exceeded/i,
-  /ECONNREFUSED/i,
-  // pollHfReady's own timeout — thrown when window.__renderReady never flips
-  // true within playerReadyTimeout. "Runtime ready: false" means init simply
-  // didn't finish in time (commonly a slow/contended host, e.g. several
-  // concurrent renders), which a fresh session usually clears on retry. This
-  // is distinct from the "Runtime ready: true" fast-fail case a few lines up
-  // in pollHfReady (no timeline + no data-duration) — that's a genuine
-  // authoring bug and intentionally NOT matched here, so it still fails fast.
-  /Composition has zero duration[\s\S]*Runtime ready: false/,
-];
-
-export function isTransientBrowserError(error: unknown): boolean {
-  const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
-  return TRANSIENT_BROWSER_ERROR_PATTERNS.some((pattern) => pattern.test(message));
-}
-
-// ── Memory-exhaustion classification ────────────────────────────────────────
-// A render can run the Node process (or a page-side allocation) out of memory
-// on an oversized composition — huge canvas, thousands of frames, or a very
-// large frame cache. These surface as cryptic V8 RangeErrors ("Set maximum
-// size exceeded", "Invalid array length"/"string length", "Array buffer
-// allocation failed") or a hard V8 heap-limit abort. They are NOT transient
-// (a retry re-hits the same ceiling) and NOT composition-logic bugs — they're
-// resource limits. Classify them so the caller can surface actionable guidance
-// (lower resolution / fps / duration, or enable low-memory mode) instead of a
-// raw RangeError.
-
-// Deliberately specific: each pattern is a distinct V8/Node allocation-failure
-// signature. We intentionally do NOT match a bare /out of memory/ — that
-// substring appears in benign browser-console noise (WebGL `CONTEXT_LOST … out
-// of memory`, GPU driver notes) that gets carried into the error path, and
-// misclassifying it would replace the real failure message with generic OOM
-// guidance.
-const MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_ERROR_PATTERNS = [
-  /Set maximum size exceeded/i,
-  /Map maximum size exceeded/i,
-  /Invalid (?:array|string) length/i,
-  /Array buffer allocation failed/i,
-  /Cannot create a string longer than/i,
-  /Reached heap limit/i,
-  /JavaScript heap out of memory/i,
-];
-
-// The producer's deployed runtime is Bun (JavaScriptCore), not Node (V8) —
-// see `packages/gcp-cloud-run/Dockerfile`'s `CMD ["bun", "dist/server.js"]`.
-// JSC's own allocation-failure message for the equivalent single-oversized-
-// allocation RangeErrors above is the bare string "Out of memory" (verified:
-// `new Uint8Array(Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER)`, an unbounded `Set`, and
-// `"x".repeat(2**53)` all throw exactly this under Bun) — none of the V8
-// patterns above match it. This is exactly the substring the comment above
-// says NOT to match anywhere in the message (benign browser-console noise
-// like a WebGL `CONTEXT_LOST … out of memory` carries that phrase too), so
-// this checks the ENTIRE (trimmed) message equals it, not merely contains
-// it — a compound message with other text around the phrase still misses.
-const BUN_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_EXACT_MESSAGE = /^out of memory\.?$/i;
-
-// The parallel-DE capture path — the exact cohort the OOM-aware retry in
-// renderOrchestrator.ts targets — never reaches isMemoryExhaustionError with
-// a bare message: `executeParallelCapture`/`formatWorkerFailure`
-// (parallelCoordinator.ts) always wrap a worker's error as
-// "Worker N: <message>", optionally suffixed "; diagnostics: ..." and joined
-// with other failed workers' segments via "; ", all prefixed
-// "[Parallel] Capture failed: ". The exact-match check above is defeated by
-// that wrapping entirely (verified) — this pattern recovers the Bun OOM
-// signal by requiring "out of memory" appear immediately after "Worker N: "
-// and immediately before end-of-string, ";", or ".", i.e. as the WHOLE
-// worker-segment content, not merely somewhere inside it. This preserves the
-// exact-match property (no bare "out of memory" substring inside otherwise-
-// unrelated worker text, e.g. "Worker 2: WebGL context lost, out of memory
-// reported by driver" does NOT match) while surviving this codebase's own
-// error-flattening.
-const BUN_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_WRAPPED_WORKER_MESSAGE = /\bworker \d+: out of memory\.?(?:;|$)/i;
-
-export function isMemoryExhaustionError(error: unknown): boolean {
-  const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
-  if (BUN_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_EXACT_MESSAGE.test(message.trim())) return true;
-  if (BUN_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_WRAPPED_WORKER_MESSAGE.test(message)) return true;
-  return MEMORY_EXHAUSTION_ERROR_PATTERNS.some((pattern) => pattern.test(message));
-}
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator-peerAbort.test.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator-peerAbort.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c91b47563a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator-peerAbort.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import type { CaptureSession } from "./frameCapture.js";
+
+describe("executeParallelCapture peer abort", () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.resetModules();
+    vi.doUnmock("./frameCapture.js");
+  });
+
+  it("aborts peer workers on the first fatal classified failure", async () => {
+    const root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "hf-peer-abort-"));
+    const captureFrame = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    const closeCaptureSession = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    vi.doMock("./frameCapture.js", async (importOriginal) => {
+      const original = await importOriginal<typeof import("./frameCapture.js")>();
+      return {
+        ...original,
+        createCaptureSession: vi.fn(async (_url: string, outputDir: string) => {
+          const workerId = outputDir.endsWith("worker-0") ? 0 : 1;
+          return {
+            workerId,
+            browserConsoleBuffer: workerId === 0 ? ["[Browser:ERROR] bad source"] : [],
+          } as unknown as CaptureSession & { workerId: number };
+        }),
+        initializeSession: vi.fn(async (session: CaptureSession & { workerId: number }) => {
+          if (session.workerId === 0) {
+            throw new Error("Composition has zero duration. Runtime ready: true");
+          }
+          await Promise.resolve();
+        }),
+        captureFrame,
+        closeCaptureSession,
+        getCapturePerfSummary: vi.fn(() => ({ frames: 0 })),
+      };
+    });
+
+    try {
+      const { executeParallelCapture } = await import("./parallelCoordinator.js");
+      const result = executeParallelCapture(
+        "http://127.0.0.1",
+        root,
+        [
+          { workerId: 0, startFrame: 0, endFrame: 1, outputDir: join(root, "worker-0") },
+          { workerId: 1, startFrame: 1, endFrame: 2, outputDir: join(root, "worker-1") },
+        ],
+        { width: 320, height: 180, fps: { num: 30, den: 1 } },
+        () => null,
+      );
+
+      await expect(result).rejects.toMatchObject({
+        name: "CaptureFailure",
+        kind: "authoring",
+      });
+      expect(captureFrame).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(closeCaptureSession).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.ts
index d2111a6903..50767981c8 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ import { assertSwiftShader } from "../utils/assertSwiftShader.js";
 import { readWebGlVendorInfoFromCanvas } from "../utils/readWebGlVendorInfoFromCanvas.js";
 import { resolveHeadlessShellPath } from "./browserManager.js";
 import { getSystemTotalMb } from "./systemMemory.js";
+import {
+  CaptureFailure,
+  classifyCaptureFailure,
+  isFatalCaptureFailure,
+  type CaptureWorkerDiagnostic,
+} from "./captureFailure.js";
 
 export interface WorkerTask {
   workerId: number;
@@ -61,6 +67,7 @@ export interface WorkerResult {
   perf?: CapturePerfSummary;
   error?: string;
   diagnostics?: string[];
+  failure?: CaptureFailure;
 }
 
 export interface ParallelProgress {
@@ -382,6 +389,7 @@ async function executeWorkerTask(
   onFrameBuffer?: (frameIndex: number, buffer: Buffer, session: CaptureSession) => Promise<void>,
   config?: Partial<EngineConfig>,
   parallel?: boolean,
+  onFailure?: (failure: CaptureFailure) => void,
 ): Promise<WorkerResult> {
   const startTime = Date.now();
   let framesCaptured = 0;
@@ -442,8 +450,19 @@ async function executeWorkerTask(
       perf,
     };
   } catch (error) {
-    const errMsg = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
     const diagnostics = session ? selectWorkerDiagnostics(session.browserConsoleBuffer) : [];
+    const workerDiagnostic: CaptureWorkerDiagnostic = {
+      workerId: task.workerId,
+      framesCaptured,
+      startFrame: task.startFrame,
+      endFrame: task.endFrame,
+      lines: diagnostics,
+    };
+    const failure = classifyCaptureFailure(error, {
+      signal,
+      workerDiagnostics: [workerDiagnostic],
+    });
+    onFailure?.(failure);
     return {
       workerId: task.workerId,
       framesCaptured,
@@ -451,8 +470,9 @@ async function executeWorkerTask(
       endFrame: task.endFrame,
       durationMs: Date.now() - startTime,
       perf,
-      error: errMsg,
+      error: failure.message,
       diagnostics: diagnostics.length > 0 ? diagnostics : undefined,
+      failure,
     };
   } finally {
     if (session) await closeCaptureSession(session).catch(() => {});
@@ -525,6 +545,16 @@ export async function executeParallelCapture(
     deVerifySamples === captureOptions.deVerifySamples
       ? captureOptions
       : { ...captureOptions, deVerifySamples };
+  const peerController = new AbortController();
+  const workerSignal = signal
+    ? AbortSignal.any([signal, peerController.signal])
+    : peerController.signal;
+  let firstFatalFailure: CaptureFailure | undefined;
+  const onFailure = (failure: CaptureFailure): void => {
+    if (firstFatalFailure || !isFatalCaptureFailure(failure)) return;
+    firstFatalFailure = failure;
+    peerController.abort(failure);
+  };
   const results = await Promise.all(
     tasks.map((task) =>
       executeWorkerTask(
@@ -532,19 +562,27 @@ export async function executeParallelCapture(
         serverUrl,
         workerCaptureOptions,
         createBeforeCaptureHook,
-        signal,
+        workerSignal,
         onFrameCaptured,
         onFrameBuffer,
         config,
         parallel,
+        onFailure,
       ),
     ),
   );
 
-  const errors = results.filter((r) => r.error);
+  const errors = results.filter((r) => r.failure || r.error);
   if (errors.length > 0) {
     const errorMessages = errors.map(formatWorkerFailure).join("; ");
-    throw new Error(`[Parallel] Capture failed: ${errorMessages}`);
+    const representative = firstFatalFailure ?? errors.find((result) => result.failure)?.failure;
+    const workerDiagnostics = errors.flatMap((result) => result.failure?.workerDiagnostics ?? []);
+    throw new CaptureFailure({
+      kind: representative?.kind ?? "io",
+      message: `[Parallel] Capture failed: ${errorMessages}`,
+      cause: representative,
+      workerDiagnostics,
+    });
   }
 
   return results;
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureStageError.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureStageError.ts
index 7909454965..c0a449648c 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureStageError.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureStageError.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
 import { normalizeErrorMessage } from "../../utils/errorMessage.js";
+import { CaptureFailure, classifyCaptureFailure } from "@hyperframes/engine";
 
-export class CaptureStageError extends Error {
+export class CaptureStageError extends CaptureFailure {
   readonly browserConsole: string[];
-  readonly cause: unknown;
 
   constructor(input: { cause: unknown; browserConsole: string[] }) {
-    super(normalizeErrorMessage(input.cause));
+    const classified = classifyCaptureFailure(input.cause);
+    super({
+      kind: classified.kind,
+      message: normalizeErrorMessage(input.cause),
+      cause: input.cause,
+      workerDiagnostics: classified.workerDiagnostics,
+    });
     this.name = "CaptureStageError";
-    this.cause = input.cause;
     this.browserConsole = input.browserConsole.slice();
     if (input.cause instanceof Error && input.cause.stack) {
       this.stack = input.cause.stack;
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
index b40cb96b37..c7843966e9 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@ import {
   resolveBrowserGpuMode,
   resolveHeadlessShellPath,
   scaleProtocolTimeoutForComposition,
+  classifyCaptureFailure,
   isMemoryExhaustionError,
-  isTransientBrowserError,
   isDrawElementVerificationError,
 } from "@hyperframes/engine";
 import { join, dirname, resolve } from "path";
@@ -746,12 +746,9 @@ export function resetCaptureAttemptProgress(job: { framesRendered?: number }): v
 
 export function isRecoverableParallelCaptureError(error: unknown): boolean {
   const message = normalizeErrorMessage(error);
-  return (
-    message.includes("[Parallel] Capture failed") &&
-    /Runtime\.callFunctionOn timed out|HeadlessExperimental\.beginFrame timed out|Waiting failed|timeout exceeded|timed out|Navigation timeout|Protocol error|Target closed/i.test(
-      message,
-    )
-  );
+  if (!message.includes("[Parallel] Capture failed")) return false;
+  const kind = classifyCaptureFailure(error).kind;
+  return kind === "transient_browser" || kind === "protocol_timeout";
 }
 
 /**
@@ -925,11 +922,12 @@ export async function executeDiskCaptureWithAdaptiveRetry(options: {
       missingRanges = remaining;
       attempt++;
     } catch (error) {
+      const failure = classifyCaptureFailure(error, { signal: options.abortSignal });
       // A cancelled render tears the browser down, which surfaces as a
       // transient-looking `Target closed`. Rethrow immediately so cancellation
       // never burns a retry (or logs a misleading transient-failure warning) —
       // the caller's abort handling owns cancellation.
-      if (options.abortSignal?.aborted) {
+      if (failure.kind === "cancelled") {
         throw error;
       }
       const remaining = findMissingFrameRanges(
@@ -958,7 +956,7 @@ export async function executeDiskCaptureWithAdaptiveRetry(options: {
       // retry for the session-init phase they share.
       if (
         options.allowRetry &&
-        isTransientBrowserError(error) &&
+        failure.kind === "transient_browser" &&
         transientRetriesUsed < MAX_TRANSIENT_CAPTURE_RETRIES
       ) {
         transientRetriesUsed++;