diff --git a/backend/src/lib/sse.ts b/backend/src/lib/sse.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..96d38223
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/lib/sse.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+import type { Request, Response } from "express";
+
+export function startSseStream(
+    req: Request,
+    res: Response,
+    options: { heartbeatMs?: number } = {},
+) {
+    const heartbeatMs = options.heartbeatMs ?? 15000;
+    let closed = false;
+
+    // Disable all socket-level timeouts so long-running tool calls (e.g.
+    // TrustFoundry agentic search) don't get killed mid-stream.
+    req.setTimeout(0);
+    res.setTimeout(0);
+    if (req.socket) {
+        req.socket.setTimeout(0);
+        req.socket.setNoDelay(true);
+    }
+
+    res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/event-stream");
+    res.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
+    res.setHeader("Connection", "keep-alive");
+    res.setHeader("X-Accel-Buffering", "no");
+    res.flushHeaders();
+
+    const write = (line: string) => {
+        if (closed || res.writableEnded) return;
+        res.write(line);
+    };
+
+    const heartbeat = setInterval(() => {
+        write(": keepalive\n\n");
+    }, heartbeatMs);
+
+    const abort = new AbortController();
+
+    const stop = () => {
+        closed = true;
+        clearInterval(heartbeat);
+        if (!abort.signal.aborted) abort.abort();
+    };
+
+    req.on("close", stop);
+
+    return {
+        write,
+        signal: abort.signal,
+        close: () => {
+            stop();
+            req.off("close", stop);
+        },
+    };
+}
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/chat.ts b/backend/src/routes/chat.ts
index ecf2dfea..581763b4 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/chat.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/chat.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
 } from "../lib/userSettings";
 import { checkProjectAccess } from "../lib/access";
 import { safeErrorLog, safeErrorMessage } from "../lib/safeError";
+import { startSseStream } from "../lib/sse";
 
 export const chatRouter = Router();
 
@@ -574,18 +575,8 @@ chatRouter.post("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
         workflowCount: Object.keys(workflowStore).length,
     });
 
-    res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/event-stream");
-    res.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
-    res.setHeader("Connection", "keep-alive");
-    res.setHeader("X-Accel-Buffering", "no");
-    res.flushHeaders();
-
-    const write = (line: string) => res.write(line);
-    const streamAbort = new AbortController();
-    let streamFinished = false;
-    res.on("close", () => {
-        if (!streamFinished) streamAbort.abort();
-    });
+    const stream = startSseStream(req, res);
+    const { write } = stream;
 
     try {
         write(`data: ${JSON.stringify({ type: "chat_id", chatId })}\n\n`);
@@ -601,7 +592,7 @@ chatRouter.post("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             includeResearchTools: legalResearchUs,
             model,
             apiKeys,
-            signal: streamAbort.signal,
+            signal: stream.signal,
             projectId: resolvedProjectId,
         });
 
@@ -684,7 +675,7 @@ chatRouter.post("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             /* ignore */
         }
     } finally {
-        streamFinished = true;
+        stream.close();
         res.end();
     }
 });
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/projectChat.ts b/backend/src/routes/projectChat.ts
index 1a3a9eab..e438024d 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/projectChat.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/projectChat.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
 } from "../lib/userSettings";
 import { checkProjectAccess } from "../lib/access";
 import { safeErrorLog, safeErrorMessage } from "../lib/safeError";
+import { startSseStream } from "../lib/sse";
 
 const PROJECT_SYSTEM_PROMPT_EXTRA = `PROJECT CONTEXT:
 You are operating within a project folder that contains a collection of legal documents the user has organised for a single matter. The user's questions will usually refer to one or more documents in this project — your job is to find the relevant files to work on. Use list_documents to see what is available and fetch_documents / read_document to pull in any documents you need before answering.
@@ -157,18 +158,8 @@ projectChatRouter.post("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
 
     const workflowStore = await buildWorkflowStore(userId, userEmail, db);
 
-    res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/event-stream");
-    res.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
-    res.setHeader("Connection", "keep-alive");
-    res.setHeader("X-Accel-Buffering", "no");
-    res.flushHeaders();
-
-    const write = (line: string) => res.write(line);
-    const streamAbort = new AbortController();
-    let streamFinished = false;
-    res.on("close", () => {
-        if (!streamFinished) streamAbort.abort();
-    });
+    const stream = startSseStream(req, res);
+    const { write } = stream;
 
     try {
         write(`data: ${JSON.stringify({ type: "chat_id", chatId })}\n\n`);
@@ -185,7 +176,7 @@ projectChatRouter.post("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             includeResearchTools: legalResearchUs,
             model,
             apiKeys,
-            signal: streamAbort.signal,
+            signal: stream.signal,
             projectId,
         });
 
@@ -265,7 +256,7 @@ projectChatRouter.post("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             /* ignore */
         }
     } finally {
-        streamFinished = true;
+        stream.close();
         res.end();
     }
 });
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/tabular.ts b/backend/src/routes/tabular.ts
index 46bea1cb..d0f83d29 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/tabular.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/tabular.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import {
     listAccessibleProjectIds,
 } from "../lib/access";
 import { safeErrorLog, safeErrorMessage } from "../lib/safeError";
+import { startSseStream } from "../lib/sse";
 
 function formatPromptSuffix(format?: string, tags?: string[]): string {
     switch (format) {
@@ -946,13 +947,8 @@ tabularRouter.post("/:reviewId/generate", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
         });
     }
 
-    res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/event-stream");
-    res.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
-    res.setHeader("Connection", "keep-alive");
-    res.setHeader("X-Accel-Buffering", "no");
-    res.flushHeaders();
-
-    const write = (line: string) => res.write(line);
+    const stream = startSseStream(req, res);
+    const { write } = stream;
 
     try {
         await Promise.all(
@@ -1073,6 +1069,7 @@ tabularRouter.post("/:reviewId/generate", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             /* ignore */
         }
     } finally {
+        stream.close();
         res.end();
     }
 });
@@ -1414,17 +1411,8 @@ tabularRouter.post("/:reviewId/chat", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
         review.title || "Untitled Review",
     );
 
-    res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/event-stream");
-    res.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
-    res.setHeader("Connection", "keep-alive");
-    res.setHeader("X-Accel-Buffering", "no");
-    res.flushHeaders();
-    const write = (line: string) => res.write(line);
-    const streamAbort = new AbortController();
-    let streamFinished = false;
-    res.on("close", () => {
-        if (!streamFinished) streamAbort.abort();
-    });
+    const stream = startSseStream(req, res);
+    const { write } = stream;
 
     if (chatId) {
         write(`data: ${JSON.stringify({ type: "chat_id", chatId })}\n\n`);
@@ -1445,7 +1433,7 @@ tabularRouter.post("/:reviewId/chat", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
                 extractTabularAnnotations(text, tabularStore),
             model: tabular_model,
             apiKeys: api_keys,
-            signal: streamAbort.signal,
+            signal: stream.signal,
         });
 
         const persistedEvents = stripTransientAssistantEvents(events);
@@ -1555,7 +1543,7 @@ tabularRouter.post("/:reviewId/chat", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             /* ignore */
         }
     } finally {
-        streamFinished = true;
+        stream.close();
         res.end();
     }
 });