diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 54c2129..c542c69 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
     "name": "acp-kernel",
-    "version": "0.0.28",
+    "version": "0.0.31",
     "lockfileVersion": 3,
     "requires": true,
     "packages": {
         "": {
             "name": "acp-kernel",
-            "version": "0.0.28",
+            "version": "0.0.31",
             "license": "MIT",
             "devDependencies": {
                 "@types/node": "^22.0.0",
diff --git a/src/compress.ts b/src/compress.ts
index 8a18fbe..47b8ec3 100644
--- a/src/compress.ts
+++ b/src/compress.ts
@@ -246,21 +246,30 @@ export function createCore(ports: Ports = {}): CompressionCore {
         }
       }
       if (!hasBlockBoundaryRange && totalRangeChars < input.config.compress.minCompressRange) {
+        const rejectionSpec = input.ranges.map((r) => `${r.startRef}..${r.endRef}`).join(",");
+        const priorCount = state.rejections?.find((r) => r.spec === rejectionSpec)?.count ?? 0;
+        const rejectionCount = priorCount + 1;
+        state.rejections = [
+          ...(state.rejections ?? []).filter((r) => r.spec !== rejectionSpec),
+          { spec: rejectionSpec, count: rejectionCount },
+        ].slice(-8);
         const live = activeBlocks(state)
           .map((b) => b.blockId)
           .sort((x, y) => numericBlockId(x) - numericBlockId(y));
         const liveHint =
           live.length > 0
-            ? ` Current active blocks span ${live[0]}..${live[live.length - 1]} — retry with startId/endId set to active block IDs in that span.`
+            ? ` Current active blocks span ${live[0]}..${live[live.length - 1]} — only a block-to-block distillation (startId/endId set to those block IDs) can reclaim more; otherwise nothing remains to compress.`
             : "";
         const gateMessage =
-          resolvableCount === 0 && consumedRanges.length === 0 && unknownCount > 0
+          rejectionCount >= 2
+            ? `Identical range(s) rejected ${rejectionCount} times now — nothing new is compressible, and re-submitting the same compress will keep failing. Stop calling compress with these refs and answer the user instead; new content becomes compressible once it exceeds ${input.config.compress.minCompressRange} chars.`
+            : resolvableCount === 0 && consumedRanges.length === 0 && unknownCount > 0
             ? `None of the ${input.ranges.length} requested range(s) resolved — every ref failed with "does not exist in this session". Refs recorded before an earlier compress are stale: each successful compress renumbers the remaining refs. Run acp_status, then re-issue the compress in the same turn using only the refs it reports.`
             : consumedRanges.length > 0
             ? `Requested range(s) already compressed (e.g. ${consumedRanges[0]!.startRef}..${consumedRanges[0]!.endRef}); remaining compressible content ${totalRangeChars} chars < min ${input.config.compress.minCompressRange}. Nothing to do.${liveHint}`
             : `Total compressible content too small (${totalRangeChars} chars across ${countedRanges} range(s), min ${input.config.compress.minCompressRange}). Combine more messages into your range(s) to meet the threshold.`;
         return {
-          state: input.state,
+          state,
           result: {
             blocksCreated: 0,
             tokensCompressed: 0,
@@ -1170,6 +1179,7 @@ function cloneState(state: CompressionState): CompressionState {
     tokenSnapshot: { ...(state.tokenSnapshot ?? {}) },
     nudge: { ...state.nudge, anchors: { ...state.nudge.anchors } },
     stats: { ...state.stats },
+    rejections: (state.rejections ?? []).map((r) => ({ ...r })),
     nextBlockId: state.nextBlockId,
     nextRunId: state.nextRunId,
   };
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index bd2af68..511fefe 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@ export interface CompressionState {
   stats: CompressionStats;
   nextBlockId: number;
   nextRunId: number;
+  /** Identical min-gate rejections seen consecutively per range signature
+   *  (bounded FIFO). Weak models re-submit a rejected compress verbatim
+   *  forever when the error keeps suggesting a retry — from the 2nd identical
+   *  rejection the gate message switches to a terminal "stop" form with no
+   *  retry guidance. Optional: old persisted states simply start counting. */
+  rejections?: { spec: string; count: number }[];
 }
 
 export interface TierConfig {
diff --git a/tests/compress-rejection-loop.test.ts b/tests/compress-rejection-loop.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..699efb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/compress-rejection-loop.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { createCore } from "../src/compress.js";
+import { createInitialState } from "../src/state.js";
+import { assignRefs } from "../src/refs.js";
+import type { Config, CoreMessage } from "../src/types.js";
+
+function msg(id: string, text: string, role: CoreMessage["role"] = "user"): CoreMessage {
+  return { id, role, contentType: "text", text };
+}
+
+function config(overrides: Partial<Config> = {}): Config {
+  return {
+    tiers: { enabled: true, tier2Trigger: 5, tier3Trigger: 10 },
+    nudge: {
+      maxContextLimitPct: 0.55,
+      minContextLimitPct: 0.45,
+      frequency: 5,
+      iterationThreshold: 15,
+      force: "soft",
+      growthRatio: 0.05,
+      growthFloor: 6000,
+      growthCap: 50000,
+      minGrowthFloor: 5000,
+      minGrowthRatio: 0.45,
+      emergencyThresholdPct: 0.98,
+    },
+    promotionThreshold: 5,
+    truncate: { threshold: 1 },
+    merge: { maxSummaryLength: 3000, minOldGenBlocks: 3 },
+    compress: { minCompressRange: 5000, maxSummaryLength: 0, minSummaryLength: 0 },
+    protectedTools: [],
+    preserveRecentMessages: 0,
+    preserveRecentTokens: 0,
+    modelContextLimit: 100000,
+    ...overrides,
+  };
+}
+
+function setup() {
+  const core = createCore();
+  const state = createInitialState();
+  const messages = [msg("a", "x".repeat(200)), msg("b", "y".repeat(200)), msg("c", "z".repeat(200))];
+  state.messageRefs = assignRefs(messages, { existing: state.messageRefs, nextIndex: 1 }).map;
+  return { core, state, messages };
+}
+
+// Reproduces dog/billion-context-pi session 01a02542: after every compressible
+// range is consumed, the model re-submitted the SAME rejected compress 3853
+// times because the gate error kept ending with a retry suggestion.
+test("identical rejected compress flips to a terminal message with no retry guidance", () => {
+  const { core, state, messages } = setup();
+  const spec = { startRef: "m00001", endRef: "m00002", summary: "s" };
+  const first = core.applyCompression({ ranges: [spec], messages, state, config: config() });
+  assert.equal(first.result.blocksCreated, 0);
+  assert.match(first.result.errors[0]!, /already compressed|too small/);
+  assert.ok(!/rejected \d+ times/.test(first.result.errors[0]!), "first rejection keeps guidance");
+  assert.equal(first.state.rejections?.[0]?.count, 1);
+
+  const second = core.applyCompression({ ranges: [spec], messages, state: first.state, config: config() });
+  assert.match(second.result.errors[0]!, /rejected 2 times/);
+  assert.ok(!/retry/i.test(second.result.errors[0]!), "terminal message must not suggest retry");
+  assert.ok(!/re-issue|acp_status/.test(second.result.errors[0]!));
+
+  const third = core.applyCompression({ ranges: [spec], messages, state: second.state, config: config() });
+  assert.match(third.result.errors[0]!, /rejected 3 times/);
+});
+
+test("a different range after a rejection starts its own counter", () => {
+  const { core, state, messages } = setup();
+  const a = core.applyCompression(
+    { ranges: [{ startRef: "m00001", endRef: "m00002", summary: "s" }], messages, state, config: config() },
+  );
+  const b = core.applyCompression(
+    { ranges: [{ startRef: "m00002", endRef: "m00003", summary: "s" }], messages, state: a.state, config: config() },
+  );
+  assert.equal(b.state.rejections?.length, 2);
+  assert.ok(!/rejected \d+ times/.test(b.result.errors[0]!));
+});
+
+test("rejection tracking does not mutate the caller's state object", () => {
+  const { core, state, messages } = setup();
+  const out = core.applyCompression(
+    { ranges: [{ startRef: "m00001", endRef: "m00002", summary: "s" }], messages, state, config: config() },
+  );
+  assert.equal(state.rejections, undefined, "input state untouched");
+  assert.equal(out.state.rejections?.length, 1);
+});
+
+test("state without the rejections field (old persisted state) counts from 1", () => {
+  const { core, state, messages } = setup();
+  const legacy = { ...state };
+  delete (legacy as { rejections?: unknown }).rejections;
+  const out = core.applyCompression(
+    { ranges: [{ startRef: "m00001", endRef: "m00002", summary: "s" }], messages, state: legacy, config: config() },
+  );
+  assert.equal(out.state.rejections?.[0]?.count, 1);
+});
diff --git a/tests/compress.test.ts b/tests/compress.test.ts
index fb91767..45af9fe 100644
--- a/tests/compress.test.ts
+++ b/tests/compress.test.ts
@@ -837,6 +837,6 @@ test("gate error names the current active block span when anchors stay consumed"
   );
   assert.match(
     result.result.errors[0]!,
-    /Current active blocks span b110\.\.b110 — retry with startId\/endId set to active block IDs in that span\./,
+    /Current active blocks span b110\.\.b110 — only a block-to-block distillation \(startId\/endId set to those block IDs\) can reclaim more; otherwise nothing remains to compress\./,
   );
 });