diff --git a/src/provider_common.c b/src/provider_common.c
index 6a0cd01..6a773b7 100644
--- a/src/provider_common.c
+++ b/src/provider_common.c
@@ -226,7 +226,9 @@ provider_count_array_dimensions(const char *p)
  *
  * Reads up to `dim` float values from the current position (after '[').
  * Advances *pos past the parsed values (to ']' or end of parsed data).
- * Returns the number of values successfully parsed.
+ * Returns the number of values successfully parsed, or
+ * PROVIDER_PARSE_MALFORMED on a numeric literal too long to be one, in which
+ * case *pos is left on the offending run rather than past it.
  */
 int
 provider_parse_float_array(const char **pos, float *output, int dim)
@@ -250,8 +252,20 @@ provider_parse_float_array(const char **pos, float *output, int dim)
 		while (*p && (isdigit((unsigned char) *p) || *p == '.' || *p == '-' ||
 					  *p == '+' || *p == 'e' || *p == 'E'))
 		{
-			if (value_pos < (int) sizeof(value_buf) - 1)
-				value_buf[value_pos++] = *p;
+			/*
+			 * Stop rather than truncate.  No double needs this many
+			 * characters -- %.17g never exceeds 24 -- so a longer run means a
+			 * malformed response, and keeping only the leading digits would
+			 * feed atof() a number of an entirely different magnitude and
+			 * score on it silently.
+			 */
+			if (value_pos >= (int) sizeof(value_buf) - 1)
+			{
+				*pos = p;
+				return PROVIDER_PARSE_MALFORMED;
+			}
+
+			value_buf[value_pos++] = *p;
 			p++;
 		}
 		value_buf[value_pos] = '\0';
@@ -457,8 +471,11 @@ provider_parse_openai_embedding_response(const char *json_response, int count,
 
 		if (parsed != *dim)
 		{
-			*error_msg = psprintf("Dimension mismatch: expected %d, got %d",
-								  *dim, parsed);
+			*error_msg = (parsed == PROVIDER_PARSE_MALFORMED)
+				? pstrdup("Malformed embedding response: numeric literal too "
+						  "long to be a number")
+				: psprintf("Dimension mismatch: expected %d, got %d",
+						   *dim, parsed);
 			provider_free_embeddings(embeddings, embedding_idx + 1);
 			return NULL;
 		}
diff --git a/src/provider_common.h b/src/provider_common.h
index 133d003..eb9f61d 100644
--- a/src/provider_common.h
+++ b/src/provider_common.h
@@ -75,7 +75,14 @@ float **provider_parse_openai_embedding_response(const char *json_response,
 /* Count dimensions by counting commas in a JSON float array (after '[') */
 int provider_count_array_dimensions(const char *p);
 
-/* Parse a JSON float array into pre-allocated output; returns count parsed */
+/*
+ * Parse a JSON float array into pre-allocated output; returns count parsed,
+ * or PROVIDER_PARSE_MALFORMED if a numeric literal was too long to be one.
+ * Callers that only compare against the expected count still reject that,
+ * since it can never equal a dimension.
+ */
+#define PROVIDER_PARSE_MALFORMED	(-1)
+
 int provider_parse_float_array(const char **pos, float *output, int dim);
 
 /* Append extra headers from GUC to a curl header list */
diff --git a/src/provider_gemini.c b/src/provider_gemini.c
index 8df08a6..0ff5c00 100644
--- a/src/provider_gemini.c
+++ b/src/provider_gemini.c
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ gemini_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 	char *json_request;
 	char *url;
 	const char *base_url;
-	char auth_header[512];
+	char *auth_header;
 	StringInfoData request_buf;
 	ResponseBuffer response;
 	float **embeddings;
@@ -164,8 +164,7 @@ gemini_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 				   pgedge_vectorizer_model);
 
 	/* Build auth header */
-	snprintf(auth_header, sizeof(auth_header),
-			 "x-goog-api-key: %s", api_key);
+	auth_header = psprintf("x-goog-api-key: %s", api_key);
 
 	/* Perform request */
 	if (!provider_do_curl_request(url, auth_header, json_request,
@@ -173,6 +172,7 @@ gemini_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 	{
 		pfree(json_request);
 		pfree(url);
+		pfree(auth_header);
 		if (response.data)
 			pfree(response.data);
 		return NULL;
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ gemini_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 
 	pfree(json_request);
 	pfree(url);
+	pfree(auth_header);
 	pfree(response.data);
 	return embeddings;
 }
@@ -236,8 +237,11 @@ parse_gemini_batch_embedding_response(const char *json_response, int count,
 
 		if (parsed != *dim)
 		{
-			*error_msg = psprintf("Dimension mismatch: expected %d, got %d",
-								  *dim, parsed);
+			*error_msg = (parsed == PROVIDER_PARSE_MALFORMED)
+				? pstrdup("Malformed embedding response: numeric literal too "
+						  "long to be a number")
+				: psprintf("Dimension mismatch: expected %d, got %d",
+						   *dim, parsed);
 			provider_free_embeddings(embeddings, embedding_idx + 1);
 			return NULL;
 		}
diff --git a/src/provider_ollama.c b/src/provider_ollama.c
index 8da9dc8..4dc87d0 100644
--- a/src/provider_ollama.c
+++ b/src/provider_ollama.c
@@ -205,8 +205,11 @@ parse_ollama_embedding_response(const char *json_response, int *dim,
 
 	if (parsed != *dim)
 	{
-		*error_msg = psprintf("Dimension mismatch: expected %d, got %d",
-							  *dim, parsed);
+		*error_msg = (parsed == PROVIDER_PARSE_MALFORMED)
+			? pstrdup("Malformed embedding response: numeric literal too "
+					  "long to be a number")
+			: psprintf("Dimension mismatch: expected %d, got %d",
+					   *dim, parsed);
 		pfree(embedding);
 		return NULL;
 	}
diff --git a/src/provider_openai.c b/src/provider_openai.c
index ed2c19e..9626add 100644
--- a/src/provider_openai.c
+++ b/src/provider_openai.c
@@ -135,8 +135,7 @@ openai_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 	char *json_request;
 	char *url;
 	const char *base_url;
-	char auth_header[512];
-	const char *auth_header_ptr = NULL;
+	char *auth_header = NULL;
 	ResponseBuffer response;
 	float **embeddings;
 
@@ -160,17 +159,17 @@ openai_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 	/* Build auth header if we have a key */
 	if (api_key != NULL)
 	{
-		snprintf(auth_header, sizeof(auth_header),
-				 "Authorization: Bearer %s", api_key);
-		auth_header_ptr = auth_header;
+		auth_header = psprintf("Authorization: Bearer %s", api_key);
 	}
 
 	/* Perform request */
-	if (!provider_do_curl_request(url, auth_header_ptr, json_request,
+	if (!provider_do_curl_request(url, auth_header, json_request,
 								  "OpenAI", &response, error_msg))
 	{
 		pfree(json_request);
 		pfree(url);
+		if (auth_header)
+			pfree(auth_header);
 		if (response.data)
 			pfree(response.data);
 		return NULL;
@@ -182,6 +181,8 @@ openai_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 
 	pfree(json_request);
 	pfree(url);
+	if (auth_header)
+		pfree(auth_header);
 	pfree(response.data);
 	return embeddings;
 }
diff --git a/src/provider_voyage.c b/src/provider_voyage.c
index 2f37a6b..929da93 100644
--- a/src/provider_voyage.c
+++ b/src/provider_voyage.c
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ voyage_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 	char *json_request;
 	char *url;
 	const char *base_url;
-	char auth_header[512];
+	char *auth_header;
 	ResponseBuffer response;
 	float **embeddings;
 
@@ -138,8 +138,7 @@ voyage_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 	url = psprintf("%s/embeddings", base_url);
 
 	/* Build auth header */
-	snprintf(auth_header, sizeof(auth_header),
-			 "Authorization: Bearer %s", api_key);
+	auth_header = psprintf("Authorization: Bearer %s", api_key);
 
 	/* Perform request */
 	if (!provider_do_curl_request(url, auth_header, json_request,
@@ -147,6 +146,7 @@ voyage_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 	{
 		pfree(json_request);
 		pfree(url);
+		pfree(auth_header);
 		if (response.data)
 			pfree(response.data);
 		return NULL;
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ voyage_generate_batch(const char **texts, int count, int *dim, char **error_msg)
 
 	pfree(json_request);
 	pfree(url);
+	pfree(auth_header);
 	pfree(response.data);
 	return embeddings;
 }
diff --git a/src/worker.c b/src/worker.c
index a021dc9..29c64cd 100644
--- a/src/worker.c
+++ b/src/worker.c
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ static time_t last_cleanup_time = 0;
  * a fixed string tells them the item failed, which they can already see from
  * its status, but not why. A fixed buffer rather than a palloc'd copy, since
  * the transaction context this is captured in does not survive the abort.
+ *
+ * Truncation here is deliberate and harmless: this is diagnostic text, the
+ * untruncated message has already gone to the server log via
+ * EmitErrorReport(), and a bounded buffer is what lets the copy outlive the
+ * abort at all.
  */
 #define FAILED_ITEM_ERROR_LEN	1024