diff --git a/stacks/skaldsong/compose.yaml b/stacks/skaldsong/compose.yaml
index 116c129..97d966c 100644
--- a/stacks/skaldsong/compose.yaml
+++ b/stacks/skaldsong/compose.yaml
@@ -78,6 +78,15 @@ services:
       # flat into /app/spa, not into /app/spa/dist).
       SKALDSONG_HOST_STATIC_ASSETS_PATH: /app/spa
 
+      # Temporary debug mode — surfaces "Task was destroyed but it is
+      # pending" + "Task exception was never retrieved" warnings to
+      # stderr. Added 2026-05-23 to diagnose a class of orphaned-task
+      # bugs in the GenerationRunner (story 83ff386d47c6 hit the
+      # symptom: 202 Accepted, then silent — no log, no DB update,
+      # event loop idle). Remove once skaldsong has proper
+      # task-exception capture wired (per skaldsong-dev's note).
+      PYTHONASYNCIODEBUG: "1"
+
       # Persistent state paths inside the container. The db/ parent
       # dir is the bind-mount target (not the file itself) so SQLite
       # can write its WAL + SHM siblings. Names MUST match what the