diff --git a/application/Dockerfile b/application/Dockerfile
index 849bcc79..0eb037d3 100644
--- a/application/Dockerfile
+++ b/application/Dockerfile
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
     add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa && \
     apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends gcc g++ wget unzip libc6-dev python3.12 python3.12-venv python3.12-dev && \
-    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* 
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Verify Python installation and setup symlink
 RUN if [ -f /usr/bin/python3.12 ]; then \
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ COPY --from=builder /models /app/models
 COPY . /app/application
 
 # Change the ownership of the /app directory to the appuser
-	
+
 RUN mkdir -p /app/application/inputs/local
 RUN chown -R appuser:appuser /app
 
@@ -82,6 +82,11 @@ ENV FLASK_APP=app.py \
     FLASK_DEBUG=true \
     PATH="/venv/bin:$PATH"
 
+ENV MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=2 \
+    OMP_NUM_THREADS=4 \
+    MKL_NUM_THREADS=4 \
+    OPENBLAS_NUM_THREADS=4
+
 # Expose the port the app runs on
 EXPOSE 7091
 
diff --git a/application/celery_init.py b/application/celery_init.py
index 69fdd28a..6e400105 100644
--- a/application/celery_init.py
+++ b/application/celery_init.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+import ctypes
+import gc
 import inspect
 import logging
+import sys
 import threading
 
 from celery import Celery
@@ -98,6 +101,34 @@ def _unbind_task_log_context(task_id, **_):
         )
 
 
+def _trim_native_heap() -> None:
+    """Return freed glibc heap pages to the OS (Linux only; no-op elsewhere)."""
+    # docling/torch parsing makes large transient allocations; glibc keeps the
+    # freed pages in per-thread malloc arenas rather than returning them, so a
+    # long-lived worker child's RSS only ever climbs. malloc_trim hands them
+    # back. The symbol is glibc-only — absent in macOS libc.
+    if not sys.platform.startswith("linux"):
+        return
+    try:
+        ctypes.CDLL("libc.so.6").malloc_trim(0)
+    except (OSError, AttributeError):
+        pass
+
+
+@task_postrun.connect
+def _reclaim_memory_after_task(*args, **kwargs):
+    """Drop per-task allocations so the prefork child's RSS doesn't ratchet."""
+    gc.collect()
+    torch = sys.modules.get("torch")
+    if torch is not None:
+        try:
+            if torch.cuda.is_available():
+                torch.cuda.empty_cache()
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+    _trim_native_heap()
+
+
 @worker_ready.connect
 def _run_version_check(*args, **kwargs):
     """Kick off the anonymous version check on worker startup.
diff --git a/application/celeryconfig.py b/application/celeryconfig.py
index eb060bae..82d9ca0d 100644
--- a/application/celeryconfig.py
+++ b/application/celeryconfig.py
@@ -31,3 +31,10 @@ worker_prefetch_multiplier = settings.CELERY_WORKER_PREFETCH_MULTIPLIER
 broker_transport_options = {"visibility_timeout": settings.CELERY_VISIBILITY_TIMEOUT}
 result_expires = 86400 * 7
 task_track_started = True
+
+# Recycle the prefork worker child to bound native-heap growth from
+# docling/torch parsing. Left unset (Celery's unlimited default) when 0.
+if settings.CELERY_WORKER_MAX_MEMORY_PER_CHILD > 0:
+    worker_max_memory_per_child = settings.CELERY_WORKER_MAX_MEMORY_PER_CHILD
+if settings.CELERY_WORKER_MAX_TASKS_PER_CHILD > 0:
+    worker_max_tasks_per_child = settings.CELERY_WORKER_MAX_TASKS_PER_CHILD
diff --git a/application/core/settings.py b/application/core/settings.py
index dfb4cc66..e243bcbd 100644
--- a/application/core/settings.py
+++ b/application/core/settings.py
@@ -36,6 +36,11 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     # and Dify defaults; long ingests can override via env.
     CELERY_WORKER_PREFETCH_MULTIPLIER: int = 1
     CELERY_VISIBILITY_TIMEOUT: int = 3600
+    # Recycle the prefork worker child once its resident size crosses this many
+    # kilobytes — backstops native-heap growth from docling/torch parsing. 0 disables.
+    CELERY_WORKER_MAX_MEMORY_PER_CHILD: int = 4194304
+    # Recycle the child after this many tasks; 0 disables (memory cap is the primary knob).
+    CELERY_WORKER_MAX_TASKS_PER_CHILD: int = 0
     # Only consulted when VECTOR_STORE=mongodb or when running scripts/db/backfill.py; user data lives in Postgres.
     MONGO_URI: Optional[str] = None
     # User-data Postgres DB.