diff --git a/scripts/build-standalone-release.js b/scripts/build-standalone-release.js
index 68427c6ab2c..7c380c0f4ad 100644
--- a/scripts/build-standalone-release.js
+++ b/scripts/build-standalone-release.js
@@ -67,8 +67,12 @@ const DEFAULT_BUN_VERSION = '1.4.4';
 const BUN_RELEASE_BASE_URL = 'https://github.com/oven-sh/bun/releases/download';
 // The runtime downloads are the publish job's least reliable leg: one
 // transient download failure aborted the v0.23.4 publish while the
-// unchanged re-run passed. Bound each attempt and retry before failing.
-const MAX_DOWNLOAD_ATTEMPTS = 3;
+// unchanged re-run passed. The v0.26.2-preview.0 archive step aborted the
+// same way: its job log shows three consecutive 504s from the GitHub
+// Releases CDN while downloading the bun darwin-x64 runtime, and the
+// unchanged re-run passed. Five attempts back off to ~75s to ride out
+// longer transient bursts.
+const MAX_DOWNLOAD_ATTEMPTS = 5;
 const INITIAL_DOWNLOAD_BACKOFF_MS = 5_000;
 const DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_MS = 120_000;
 
diff --git a/scripts/tests/install-script.test.js b/scripts/tests/install-script.test.js
index a1df6ea76a4..b3cd239c43c 100644
--- a/scripts/tests/install-script.test.js
+++ b/scripts/tests/install-script.test.js
@@ -947,6 +947,40 @@ describe('standalone release packaging', () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it('keeps retrying a transient download until a later attempt succeeds', async () => {
+    const { downloadWithRetry } = await import(standaloneReleaseScriptUrl);
+    const tmpDir = mkdtempSync(path.join(tmpdir(), 'qwen-download-retry-'));
+    const destination = path.join(tmpDir, 'node-v22.0.0-linux-x64.tar.xz');
+    const sleepImpl = vi.fn(async () => {});
+    const fetchImpl = vi
+      .fn()
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('fetch failed'))
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('fetch failed'))
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('fetch failed'))
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('fetch failed'))
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response('runtime-bytes'));
+    const warnSpy = vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {});
+
+    try {
+      await downloadWithRetry(
+        'https://nodejs.org/dist/v22.0.0/node-v22.0.0-linux-x64.tar.xz',
+        destination,
+        { fetchImpl, sleepImpl },
+      );
+
+      // A fourth transient failure must still leave one attempt, and a
+      // success on the final attempt must still write the destination.
+      expect(fetchImpl).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(5);
+      expect(sleepImpl.mock.calls.map(([ms]) => ms)).toEqual([
+        5_000, 10_000, 20_000, 40_000,
+      ]);
+      expect(readFileSync(destination, 'utf8')).toBe('runtime-bytes');
+    } finally {
+      warnSpy.mockRestore();
+      rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   it('re-downloads a runtime archive that fails verification', async () => {
     const { downloadWithRetry } = await import(standaloneReleaseScriptUrl);
     const tmpDir = mkdtempSync(path.join(tmpdir(), 'qwen-download-retry-'));
@@ -992,8 +1026,10 @@ describe('standalone release packaging', () => {
           { fetchImpl, sleepImpl },
         ),
       ).rejects.toThrow(/Failed to download/);
-      expect(fetchImpl).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
-      expect(sleepImpl.mock.calls.map(([ms]) => ms)).toEqual([5_000, 10_000]);
+      expect(fetchImpl).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(5);
+      expect(sleepImpl.mock.calls.map(([ms]) => ms)).toEqual([
+        5_000, 10_000, 20_000, 40_000,
+      ]);
     } finally {
       rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
     }
@@ -1078,7 +1114,7 @@ describe('standalone release packaging', () => {
         ).rejects.toThrow(
           `ERROR: ${label} SHASUMS256.txt does not list ${missingArchives.join(', ')}`,
         );
-        expect(fetchImpl).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+        expect(fetchImpl).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(5);
       } finally {
         rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
       }
@@ -1175,7 +1211,7 @@ describe('standalone release packaging', () => {
     expect(normalised).toMatch(
       /downloadRuntimeChecksums\(\{[^;]*expectedArchives: RELEASE_TARGETS\.map/,
     );
-    expect(normalised).toContain('const MAX_DOWNLOAD_ATTEMPTS = 3;');
+    expect(normalised).toContain('const MAX_DOWNLOAD_ATTEMPTS = 5;');
     expect(normalised).toContain('const INITIAL_DOWNLOAD_BACKOFF_MS = 5_000;');
     expect(normalised).toContain('const DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_MS = 120_000;');
     expect(normalised).toContain('AbortSignal.timeout(DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_MS)');