diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-docs.yml b/.github/workflows/release-docs.yml
index 5c756cc6e..aa2b73652 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-docs.yml
@@ -37,7 +37,23 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Build docs
         run: |
-          python scripts/zensical_build.py build
+          echo "::group::Available memory before build"
+          free -h || true
+          echo "::endgroup::"
+
+          # Capture peak RSS and exit status so an OS kill (e.g. SIGKILL ->
+          # exit 247) is visible. Continue to the diagnostics step regardless.
+          status=0
+          /usr/bin/time -v python scripts/zensical_build.py build || status=$?
+          echo "docs build exit status: $status"
+
+          if [ "$status" -ne 0 ]; then
+            echo "::group::OOM killer check"
+            dmesg 2>/dev/null | grep -i -E "killed process|out of memory" | tail -n 20 || \
+              echo "dmesg unavailable or no OOM messages"
+            echo "::endgroup::"
+            exit "$status"
+          fi
 
       - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
         run: |
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 194264397..7ebad6f64 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 ## [unreleased]
+### General
+#### Fixed
+- Retried the Zensical documentation build on transient crashes (e.g. SIGKILL/exit 247) so the docs release pipeline no longer fails intermittently (Thanks @Copilot)
 
 ## [2.2.363] - 2026-06-28
 ### General
diff --git a/scripts/zensical_build.py b/scripts/zensical_build.py
index d3fdd4082..8bcac0f81 100644
--- a/scripts/zensical_build.py
+++ b/scripts/zensical_build.py
@@ -276,7 +276,23 @@ def main(argv: list[str]) -> int:
 
     cmd = [zensical, command, "-f", str(GENERATED_CONFIG), *passthrough]
     print(f"Running: {' '.join(cmd)}")
-    return subprocess.run(cmd, env=env, check=False).returncode
+
+    # ``serve`` is interactive/long-running, so run it once. ``build`` can be
+    # killed by the OS (e.g. exit code 247 == 256-9, SIGKILL) when memory spikes
+    # while griffe imports the documented ML packages; that crash is transient,
+    # so retry a couple of times before giving up.
+    if command != "build":
+        return subprocess.run(cmd, env=env, check=False).returncode
+
+    attempts = max(1, int(os.environ.get("ZENSICAL_BUILD_RETRIES", "3")))
+    rc = 0
+    for attempt in range(1, attempts + 1):
+        rc = subprocess.run(cmd, env=env, check=False).returncode
+        if rc == 0:
+            return 0
+        print(f"  zensical build failed (exit {rc}), attempt {attempt}/{attempts}")
+    print(f"  zensical build still failing after {attempts} attempt(s)")
+    return rc
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":