diff --git a/packages/data-provider/src/types/files.ts b/packages/data-provider/src/types/files.ts
index 8168136685..e08ecd79e8 100644
--- a/packages/data-provider/src/types/files.ts
+++ b/packages/data-provider/src/types/files.ts
@@ -127,6 +127,20 @@ export type TFile = {
    * See Codex P1 review on PR #12934.
    */
   textFormat?: 'html' | 'text' | null;
+  /**
+   * Lifecycle of the inline preview rendered from `text`. `'pending'`
+   * while background HTML extraction is in flight (phase-2 of the
+   * code-execution flow), `'ready'` once `text`/`textFormat` are set,
+   * `'failed'` if extraction errored or hit the 60s ceiling. `undefined`
+   * for legacy records and for files that never expect a preview —
+   * clients MUST treat that as `'ready'`.
+   */
+  status?: 'pending' | 'ready' | 'failed';
+  /**
+   * Short machine-readable failure reason when `status === 'failed'`.
+   * Suitable for tooltip text but not user-facing prose.
+   */
+  previewError?: string;
   metadata?: { fileIdentifier?: string };
   createdAt?: string | Date;
   updatedAt?: string | Date;
@@ -136,6 +150,28 @@ export type TFileUpload = TFile & {
   temp_file_id: string;
 };
 
+/**
+ * Shape returned by `GET /api/files/:file_id/preview`. The two-phase
+ * code-execution flow polls this until status is terminal:
+ *   - `pending`: phase-2 HTML extraction is still running. No `text`.
+ *   - `ready`: extraction succeeded; `text` + `textFormat` populated
+ *     iff the file produced inline preview content (binary/oversized
+ *     files reach `ready` with no text — render download-only).
+ *   - `failed`: extraction errored or hit the 60s ceiling;
+ *     `previewError` carries the short reason (`timeout`,
+ *     `parser-error`, `orphaned`, etc.).
+ *
+ * Legacy records pre-dating the field are surfaced as `'ready'` server-
+ * side so existing attachments keep rendering normally.
+ */
+export type TFilePreview = {
+  file_id: string;
+  status: 'pending' | 'ready' | 'failed';
+  text?: string;
+  textFormat?: 'html' | 'text' | null;
+  previewError?: string;
+};
+
 export type AvatarUploadResponse = {
   url: string;
 };
diff --git a/packages/data-schemas/src/methods/file.spec.ts b/packages/data-schemas/src/methods/file.spec.ts
index 390b6a8f5c..a96dc3c424 100644
--- a/packages/data-schemas/src/methods/file.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/data-schemas/src/methods/file.spec.ts
@@ -529,4 +529,101 @@ describe('File Methods', () => {
       await expect(fileMethods.batchUpdateFiles([])).resolves.toBeUndefined();
     });
   });
+
+  describe('sweepOrphanedPreviews', () => {
+    /* The two-phase preview flow runs phase-2 in-process. If the
+     * backend restarts mid-extraction, records stay at `status: 'pending'`
+     * forever. The boot-time sweep transitions stale ones to 'failed'
+     * with `previewError: 'orphaned'` so the frontend stops polling. */
+    const userId = new mongoose.Types.ObjectId();
+
+    /**
+     * Stamp a precise `updatedAt` on a file record. Mongoose timestamps
+     * insist on the current time during create, so we backdate via a
+     * direct collection write afterwards.
+     */
+    async function makeFile(opts: {
+      ageMs: number;
+      status?: 'pending' | 'ready' | 'failed';
+    }): Promise<string> {
+      const fileId = uuidv4();
+      await fileMethods.createFile({
+        file_id: fileId,
+        user: userId,
+        filename: `${fileId}.xlsx`,
+        filepath: `/uploads/${fileId}.xlsx`,
+        type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet',
+        bytes: 1024,
+        ...(opts.status ? { status: opts.status } : {}),
+      });
+      const backdated = new Date(Date.now() - opts.ageMs);
+      await File.collection.updateOne({ file_id: fileId }, { $set: { updatedAt: backdated } });
+      return fileId;
+    }
+
+    it('marks stale pending records as failed with previewError:orphaned', async () => {
+      const stale = await makeFile({ ageMs: 10 * 60 * 1000, status: 'pending' });
+      const fresh = await makeFile({ ageMs: 30 * 1000, status: 'pending' });
+
+      const count = await fileMethods.sweepOrphanedPreviews();
+      expect(count).toBe(1);
+
+      const staleAfter = (await fileMethods.findFileById(stale)) as {
+        status?: string;
+        previewError?: string;
+      } | null;
+      expect(staleAfter?.status).toBe('failed');
+      expect(staleAfter?.previewError).toBe('orphaned');
+
+      const freshAfter = (await fileMethods.findFileById(fresh)) as {
+        status?: string;
+      } | null;
+      expect(freshAfter?.status).toBe('pending');
+    });
+
+    it('does not touch records that are already ready or failed (idempotent)', async () => {
+      const ready = await makeFile({ ageMs: 60 * 60 * 1000, status: 'ready' });
+      const failed = await makeFile({ ageMs: 60 * 60 * 1000, status: 'failed' });
+
+      const count = await fileMethods.sweepOrphanedPreviews();
+      expect(count).toBe(0);
+
+      const readyAfter = (await fileMethods.findFileById(ready)) as { status?: string } | null;
+      const failedAfter = (await fileMethods.findFileById(failed)) as { status?: string } | null;
+      expect(readyAfter?.status).toBe('ready');
+      expect(failedAfter?.status).toBe('failed');
+    });
+
+    it('does not touch legacy records with no status field (back-compat)', async () => {
+      const legacy = await makeFile({ ageMs: 60 * 60 * 1000 }); // no status set
+      const count = await fileMethods.sweepOrphanedPreviews();
+      expect(count).toBe(0);
+      const after = (await fileMethods.findFileById(legacy)) as { status?: string } | null;
+      expect(after?.status).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    it('respects a custom maxAgeMs cutoff', async () => {
+      const old10s = await makeFile({ ageMs: 10 * 1000, status: 'pending' });
+      const old1m = await makeFile({ ageMs: 60 * 1000, status: 'pending' });
+
+      // Cutoff = 30s — only the 60s-old record should be swept.
+      const count = await fileMethods.sweepOrphanedPreviews(30 * 1000);
+      expect(count).toBe(1);
+
+      const tenSecAfter = (await fileMethods.findFileById(old10s)) as { status?: string } | null;
+      const oneMinAfter = (await fileMethods.findFileById(old1m)) as {
+        status?: string;
+        previewError?: string;
+      } | null;
+      expect(tenSecAfter?.status).toBe('pending');
+      expect(oneMinAfter?.status).toBe('failed');
+      expect(oneMinAfter?.previewError).toBe('orphaned');
+    });
+
+    it('returns 0 when there are no stale pending records', async () => {
+      await makeFile({ ageMs: 30 * 1000, status: 'pending' });
+      const count = await fileMethods.sweepOrphanedPreviews();
+      expect(count).toBe(0);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/data-schemas/src/methods/file.ts b/packages/data-schemas/src/methods/file.ts
index 4c0969afb3..e7af55dd03 100644
--- a/packages/data-schemas/src/methods/file.ts
+++ b/packages/data-schemas/src/methods/file.ts
@@ -368,6 +368,38 @@ export function createFileMethods(mongoose: typeof import('mongoose')) {
     return results.filter((result): result is IMongoFile => result != null);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Mark stale `status: 'pending'` file records as `'failed'` with
+   * `previewError: 'orphaned'`. Recovers from the only case the
+   * in-process two-phase preview flow can't handle: a backend restart
+   * mid-extraction loses the in-memory phase-2 promise, leaving the
+   * record stuck pending forever.
+   *
+   * Cheap to run on boot — the `status` field is indexed and the typical
+   * cutoff (5 min) bounds the candidate set to whatever was in flight at
+   * the prior shutdown. The 60s phase-2 timeout means anything older
+   * than a few minutes that's still pending is definitively orphaned.
+   *
+   * @param maxAgeMs - Cutoff in milliseconds; records whose `updatedAt`
+   *   is older than `now - maxAgeMs` are marked failed. Defaults to 5
+   *   minutes (well above the 60s phase-2 ceiling).
+   * @returns Number of records updated.
+   */
+  async function sweepOrphanedPreviews(maxAgeMs: number = 5 * 60 * 1000): Promise<number> {
+    const File = mongoose.models.File as Model<IMongoFile>;
+    const cutoff = new Date(Date.now() - maxAgeMs);
+    const result = await File.updateMany(
+      { status: 'pending', updatedAt: { $lt: cutoff } },
+      { $set: { status: 'failed', previewError: 'orphaned' } },
+    );
+    if (result.modifiedCount > 0) {
+      logger.info(
+        `[sweepOrphanedPreviews] Marked ${result.modifiedCount} stale 'pending' files as 'failed' (cutoff: ${cutoff.toISOString()})`,
+      );
+    }
+    return result.modifiedCount ?? 0;
+  }
+
   return {
     findFileById,
     getFiles,
@@ -383,6 +415,7 @@ export function createFileMethods(mongoose: typeof import('mongoose')) {
     deleteFileByFilter,
     batchUpdateFiles,
     updateFilesUsage,
+    sweepOrphanedPreviews,
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/data-schemas/src/schema/file.ts b/packages/data-schemas/src/schema/file.ts
index 4098c83eb9..e7eb479db0 100644
--- a/packages/data-schemas/src/schema/file.ts
+++ b/packages/data-schemas/src/schema/file.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,18 @@ const file: Schema<IMongoFile> = new Schema(
       type: String,
       enum: ['html', 'text'],
     },
+    status: {
+      /* Two-phase code-execution flow: phase-1 emits the attachment
+       * record immediately with 'pending'; background phase-2 (HTML
+       * extraction) updates to 'ready' or 'failed'. Absent on legacy
+       * records and on file kinds that never expect a preview. */
+      type: String,
+      enum: ['pending', 'ready', 'failed'],
+      index: true,
+    },
+    previewError: {
+      type: String,
+    },
     context: {
       type: String,
     },
diff --git a/packages/data-schemas/src/types/file.ts b/packages/data-schemas/src/types/file.ts
index 9541d5abec..3e26dd3c6b 100644
--- a/packages/data-schemas/src/types/file.ts
+++ b/packages/data-schemas/src/types/file.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,26 @@ export interface IMongoFile extends Omit<Document, 'model'> {
    * become executable markup. See Codex P1 review on PR #12934.
    */
   textFormat?: 'html' | 'text';
+  /**
+   * Lifecycle of the inline preview rendered from `text`. Tracks the
+   * two-phase code-execution flow (PR #12951 follow-up): phase-1 saves
+   * the file blob and emits the attachment record immediately with
+   * `status: 'pending'`; phase-2 runs HTML extraction in the background
+   * and updates the record to `'ready'` (with `text` + `textFormat`)
+   * or `'failed'` (with `previewError`). Decouples the agent's final
+   * response from CPU-heavy office-format rendering.
+   *
+   * Absent for legacy records and for files that never expect a preview
+   * (RAG uploads, images, plain-text artifacts). Clients MUST treat
+   * `undefined` as `'ready'` so prior-version records render normally.
+   */
+  status?: 'pending' | 'ready' | 'failed';
+  /**
+   * Short machine-readable reason when `status === 'failed'` —
+   * `'timeout'`, `'parser-error'`, `'oversized'`, `'orphaned'`. UI hint
+   * for tooltip text; not user-facing prose. Absent otherwise.
+   */
+  previewError?: string;
   filename: string;
   filepath: string;
   object: 'file';