diff --git a/life-church/playbooks/thinkcenter-reaper.yml b/life-church/playbooks/thinkcenter-reaper.yml
index 07b9aba..0f47881 100644
--- a/life-church/playbooks/thinkcenter-reaper.yml
+++ b/life-church/playbooks/thinkcenter-reaper.yml
@@ -86,6 +86,14 @@
         that: inventory_hostname == 'thinkcenter'
         fail_msg: "Refusing to run — this play is scoped to thinkcenter only."
 
+    - name: "[selfheal] Repair any half-configured dpkg/apt state (prevents cascade failures)"
+      ansible.builtin.shell: |
+        dpkg --configure -a || true
+        apt-get -y -f install || true
+      register: dpkg_selfheal
+      changed_when: "'Setting up' in (dpkg_selfheal.stdout | default(''))"
+      failed_when: false
+
     - name: "[safety] Assert reaper_user resolved + exists"
       block:
         - name: "[safety] Assert non-empty"