diff --git a/packages/lmi/src/lmi/rate_limiter.py b/packages/lmi/src/lmi/rate_limiter.py
index e7fadb53..974850f5 100644
--- a/packages/lmi/src/lmi/rate_limiter.py
+++ b/packages/lmi/src/lmi/rate_limiter.py
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
 
 GLOBAL_RATE_LIMITER_TIMEOUT = float(os.environ.get("RATE_LIMITER_TIMEOUT", "60"))
 
+RATE_LIMITER_REDIS_OP_TIMEOUT = 5.0
+
 MATCH_ALL = None
 MatchAllInputs: TypeAlias = Literal[None]  # noqa: PYI061
 MATCH_MACHINE_ID = "<machine_id>"
@@ -170,7 +172,11 @@ def storage(self) -> RedisStorage | MemoryStorage:
                 logger.info("Using in-memory rate limiter.")
             else:
                 conn = f"{self._redis_scheme}://{self._redis_bare_url}"
-                self._storage = RedisStorage(conn)
+                self._storage = RedisStorage(
+                    conn,
+                    stream_timeout=RATE_LIMITER_REDIS_OP_TIMEOUT,
+                    connect_timeout=RATE_LIMITER_REDIS_OP_TIMEOUT,
+                )
                 logger.info(f"Connected to redis instance for rate limiting: {conn}")
 
         return self._storage
@@ -391,6 +397,10 @@ async def try_acquire(
             TimeoutError: if the acquire_timeout is exceeded.
             ValueError: if the weight exceeds the rate limit.
                 Only raised if raise_impossible_limits was specified.
+
+        Note:
+            If Redis is unreachable, the op raises a coredis RedisError (bounded by
+            RATE_LIMITER_REDIS_OP_TIMEOUT) that propagates instead of hanging.
         """
         namespace, primary_key = await self.parse_namespace_and_primary_key(
             namespace_and_key, machine_id=machine_id
diff --git a/packages/lmi/tests/test_rate_limiter.py b/packages/lmi/tests/test_rate_limiter.py
index 32176fdd..be7a4948 100644
--- a/packages/lmi/tests/test_rate_limiter.py
+++ b/packages/lmi/tests/test_rate_limiter.py
@@ -14,7 +14,12 @@
 from lmi.constants import CHARACTERS_PER_TOKEN_ASSUMPTION
 from lmi.embeddings import LiteLLMEmbeddingModel
 from lmi.llms import CommonLLMNames, LiteLLMModel
-from lmi.rate_limiter import CROSSREF_BASE_URL, FALLBACK_RATE_LIMIT, GlobalRateLimiter
+from lmi.rate_limiter import (
+    CROSSREF_BASE_URL,
+    FALLBACK_RATE_LIMIT,
+    RATE_LIMITER_REDIS_OP_TIMEOUT,
+    GlobalRateLimiter,
+)
 from lmi.types import LLMResult
 
 LLM_CONFIG_W_RATE_LIMITS = [
@@ -467,7 +472,12 @@ def test_storage_uses_expected_redis_scheme(
         with patch("lmi.rate_limiter.RedisStorage") as mock_redis_storage:
             limiter = GlobalRateLimiter(redis_url=redis_url)
             _ = limiter.storage
-            mock_redis_storage.assert_called_once_with(expected_storage_url)
+            # timeouts must reach RedisStorage so a stalled connection can't hang
+            mock_redis_storage.assert_called_once_with(
+                expected_storage_url,
+                stream_timeout=RATE_LIMITER_REDIS_OP_TIMEOUT,
+                connect_timeout=RATE_LIMITER_REDIS_OP_TIMEOUT,
+            )
 
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
     async def test_parsing_namespace(self) -> None: