diff --git a/nextcloud_mcp_server/document_processors/escalation.py b/nextcloud_mcp_server/document_processors/escalation.py
index a49bf6df..7e39d765 100644
--- a/nextcloud_mcp_server/document_processors/escalation.py
+++ b/nextcloud_mcp_server/document_processors/escalation.py
@@ -30,10 +30,11 @@ def next_tier(current: str) -> str | None:
     """The next tier above ``current`` in the ladder, or ``None`` if terminal.
 
     Pure ordering only -- it does not consider whether the next tier is
-    *available* (a processor registered / OCR enabled). Callers that need
-    availability resolve it against the registry + settings (see
-    ``ProcessorRegistry.next_available_tier``); a tier with no escalation target
-    is terminal and its result is indexed as-is.
+    *available* (a processor registered / OCR enabled). **Production routing uses
+    ``ProcessorRegistry.next_available_tier``**, which layers availability on top
+    of this ordering; ``next_tier`` itself is the underlying building block
+    (referenced directly by tests). A tier with no escalation target is terminal
+    and its result is indexed as-is.
     """
     try:
         idx = TIER_LADDER.index(current)
diff --git a/nextcloud_mcp_server/observability/metrics.py b/nextcloud_mcp_server/observability/metrics.py
index f506afbc..71dc4728 100644
--- a/nextcloud_mcp_server/observability/metrics.py
+++ b/nextcloud_mcp_server/observability/metrics.py
@@ -656,12 +656,27 @@ def update_ingest_queue_depth(by_queue: dict[str, dict[str, int]] | None) -> Non
     """Set the per-tier-queue depth gauge from procrastinate job counts (#323).
 
     ``by_queue`` is ``{queue_name: {status: count}}`` (see
-    ``queue.procrastinate.get_ingest_job_counts_by_queue``). A queue missing a
-    status is set to 0 so a drained queue reads zero rather than going stale at
-    its last non-zero value. No-op on the memory backend (``by_queue`` is None).
+    ``queue.procrastinate.get_ingest_job_counts_by_queue``). No-op on the memory
+    backend (``by_queue`` is None).
+
+    Every managed queue is zeroed first: ``list_queues_async`` stops returning a
+    queue once it has no jobs, so a queue that drained to empty drops out of
+    ``by_queue`` entirely. Without the pre-zero its gauge series would stick at
+    its last non-zero value (ghost backlog in Grafana/alerts) instead of reading
+    0. The live counts then overwrite the zeros for queues that still have work.
     """
     if not by_queue:
         return
+    # Lazy import to keep observability decoupled from the queue layer at module
+    # load (and sidestep any import cycle); both names are public constants.
+    from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector.queue.procrastinate import (  # noqa: PLC0415
+        ALL_INGEST_QUEUES,
+        LEGACY_INGEST_QUEUE,
+    )
+
+    for queue in (*ALL_INGEST_QUEUES, LEGACY_INGEST_QUEUE):
+        for status in _INGEST_DEPTH_STATUSES:
+            ingest_queue_depth.labels(queue=queue, status=status).set(0)
     for queue, per_status in by_queue.items():
         for status in _INGEST_DEPTH_STATUSES:
             ingest_queue_depth.labels(queue=queue, status=status).set(
diff --git a/nextcloud_mcp_server/vector/queue/procrastinate.py b/nextcloud_mcp_server/vector/queue/procrastinate.py
index 9f926da6..bc511f44 100644
--- a/nextcloud_mcp_server/vector/queue/procrastinate.py
+++ b/nextcloud_mcp_server/vector/queue/procrastinate.py
@@ -279,6 +279,13 @@ def _is_transient_infra_error(exc: BaseException) -> bool:
             return exc.status_code >= 500
     except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover -- openai is a hard dependency
         pass
+    # Deliberately over-broad: this treats ALL qdrant_client exceptions as
+    # transient (not just timeouts/5xx). In a healthy cluster qdrant errors are
+    # transient, and a bounded same-tier retry is cheap; a genuinely permanent
+    # qdrant fault (e.g. schema mismatch) just exhausts the transient cap and
+    # then gives up. So unlike _drop_reason (which only *labels* the cause), this
+    # may add a few retries on a non-retriable qdrant error -- an acceptable
+    # trade for not having to enumerate qdrant's non-retriable status codes.
     if type(exc).__module__.startswith("qdrant_client"):
         return True
     return False
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_ingest_queue_depth_metric.py b/tests/unit/test_ingest_queue_depth_metric.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9ff5a5d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_ingest_queue_depth_metric.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+"""Unit test for the per-tier ingest-queue-depth gauge (Deck #323).
+
+Guards the round-2 fix: a queue that drains to empty (and so drops out of
+procrastinate's ``list_queues_async``) must read 0, not its last non-zero value.
+"""
+
+import pytest
+
+from nextcloud_mcp_server.observability.metrics import update_ingest_queue_depth
+
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.unit
+
+_METRIC = "astrolabe_ingest_queue_depth"
+
+
+def test_drained_queue_zeroes_not_stale(metric_sample):
+    # ocr has a backlog this tick.
+    update_ingest_queue_depth({"ingest-ocr": {"todo": 4}})
+    assert metric_sample(_METRIC, {"queue": "ingest-ocr", "status": "todo"}) == 4.0
+
+    # Next tick ocr has drained → procrastinate omits it from by_queue entirely.
+    update_ingest_queue_depth({"ingest-fast": {"todo": 1}})
+    # The gauge must read 0 for the drained queue, not the stale 4.
+    assert metric_sample(_METRIC, {"queue": "ingest-ocr", "status": "todo"}) == 0.0
+    assert metric_sample(_METRIC, {"queue": "ingest-fast", "status": "todo"}) == 1.0
+
+
+def test_none_is_noop(metric_sample):
+    update_ingest_queue_depth({"ingest-fast": {"doing": 2}})
+    # Memory backend passes None → must not wipe the last published values.
+    update_ingest_queue_depth(None)
+    assert metric_sample(_METRIC, {"queue": "ingest-fast", "status": "doing"}) == 2.0
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_registry_tiering.py b/tests/unit/test_registry_tiering.py
index 1c0f6dc4..7c343b14 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_registry_tiering.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_registry_tiering.py
@@ -400,3 +400,23 @@ def test_evaluate_escalation_zero_page_does_not_escalate(monkeypatch):
         processor="fast",
     )
     assert r.evaluate_escalation(res, b"%PDF", "fast", _Settings(ocr=True)) is None
+
+
+def test_evaluate_escalation_lowconf_to_ocr_when_no_structured(monkeypatch):
+    """fast+ocr only: a low-confidence parse routes straight to ocr (skips the
+    unregistered structured rung), not to None."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(reg_mod, "record_document_classification", MagicMock())
+    junk = "z" * 40  # non-empty but junk -> recommended ocr, total_chars > 0
+    r = _registry((_Fake("fast", "fast"), 20), (_Fake("ocr", "ocr"), 5))
+    res = ProcessingResult(
+        text=junk,
+        metadata={
+            "page_count": 1,
+            "page_boundaries": [
+                {"page": 1, "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": len(junk)}
+            ],
+        },
+        processor="fast",
+    )
+    decision = r.evaluate_escalation(res, b"%PDF", "fast", _Settings(ocr=True))
+    assert decision == ("ocr", "low_confidence")