diff --git a/app/Provisioning/Steps/Customer/RegisterMonitoring.php b/app/Provisioning/Steps/Customer/RegisterMonitoring.php
index 7ee6959..ce76e33 100644
--- a/app/Provisioning/Steps/Customer/RegisterMonitoring.php
+++ b/app/Provisioning/Steps/Customer/RegisterMonitoring.php
@@ -43,7 +43,11 @@ class RegisterMonitoring extends CustomerStep
 
             // `attempt` is 0-based (this call IS attempt number attempt+1), so
             // compare one-based: MONITORING_ATTEMPTS=2 really means two tries.
-            $allowed = max(1, (int) config('provisioning.monitoring.attempts', 2));
+            // Cap at the run's own retry budget — otherwise a large ATTEMPTS
+            // value would burn through max_attempts and fail the run, which is
+            // exactly what this degradation exists to prevent.
+            $configured = max(1, (int) config('provisioning.monitoring.attempts', 2));
+            $allowed = max(1, min($configured, (int) $run->max_attempts));
             if ($run->attempt + 1 < $allowed) {
                 return StepResult::retry(30, 'monitoring unavailable: '.$e->getMessage());
             }
diff --git a/docker/kuma-bridge/app.py b/docker/kuma-bridge/app.py
index 340c9df..5418da5 100644
--- a/docker/kuma-bridge/app.py
+++ b/docker/kuma-bridge/app.py
@@ -172,16 +172,12 @@ def _kuma_state() -> tuple[str, str | None]:
 @app.get("/health")
 def health() -> dict:
     """
-    LIVENESS (unauthenticated): is this process serving? Always 200 while it is.
-    Deliberately NOT tied to Kuma: the bridge being restarted because a
-    *dependency* is down would be wrong. Kuma's state is reported in the body,
-    and /ready is the endpoint that fails when Kuma is unreachable.
+    LIVENESS (unauthenticated): is this process serving? Dependency-FREE and
+    instant — it must never touch Kuma. Probing Kuma here could block for the
+    HTTP + socket timeouts and blow the container healthcheck's own timeout,
+    marking a perfectly healthy bridge unhealthy. Kuma's state lives in /ready.
     """
-    state, detail = _kuma_state()
-    body = {"bridge": "up", "kuma": state}
-    if detail:
-        body["detail"] = detail
-    return body
+    return {"bridge": "up"}
 
 
 @app.get("/ready")
diff --git a/docs/monitoring-uptime-kuma.md b/docs/monitoring-uptime-kuma.md
index c09d78f..b33e82b 100644
--- a/docs/monitoring-uptime-kuma.md
+++ b/docs/monitoring-uptime-kuma.md
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ ohnehin spricht — am PHP-Code musste nichts geändert werden:
 | `POST /monitors` | Monitor anlegen (`{friendly_name, url, type}`) |
 | `GET /monitors/{id}` | Status lesen (`up` / `down` / `pending` / `maintenance`) |
 | `DELETE /monitors/{id}` | Monitor entfernen (bei Kündigung) |
-| `GET /health` | Liveness: 200 solange die Bridge läuft (Kuma-Status im Body) |
+| `GET /health` | Liveness: 200 solange die Bridge läuft (prüft Kuma NICHT) |
 | `GET /ready` | Readiness: **503**, wenn Kuma nicht erreichbar ist |
 
 Alle Monitor-Routen erfordern `Authorization: Bearer $BRIDGE_TOKEN`.
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ Alle Monitor-Routen erfordern `Authorization: Bearer $BRIDGE_TOKEN`.
 
    ```bash
    docker compose exec app curl -s http://kuma-bridge:8080/health
-   # {"bridge":"up","kuma":"up"}
+   # {"bridge":"up"}
 
    # Readiness (eignet sich als Check in Kuma selbst — 503 wenn Kuma fehlt):
    docker compose exec app curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' http://kuma-bridge:8080/ready
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ notiert eine stabile Kennung und die **eigenen** Gesundheitsprüfungen
 Die Bridge nutzt Kumas **interne** Socket.IO-API (über `uptime-kuma-api`). Diese
 kann sich zwischen Kuma-Releases ändern:
 
-- Nach einem Kuma-Upgrade: `GET /health` und einen Testkunden prüfen.
+- Nach einem Kuma-Upgrade: `GET /ready` und einen Testkunden prüfen.
 - Kuma-Version notieren, gegen die getestet wurde.
 - Bei Bruch ist der Ausfall dank obigem Verhalten **nicht** kundenwirksam —
   es fehlen nur neue Monitore, sichtbar als `info`-Ereignis.
diff --git a/tests/Feature/Provisioning/CustomerStepsTest.php b/tests/Feature/Provisioning/CustomerStepsTest.php
index d8323db..42f07f1 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/Provisioning/CustomerStepsTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/Provisioning/CustomerStepsTest.php
@@ -385,6 +385,18 @@ it('keeps provisioning when monitoring is unreachable (retry, then degrade)', fu
         ->and($run->events()->where('outcome', 'info')->where('step', 'register_monitoring')->exists())->toBeTrue();
 });
 
+it('never lets monitoring retries exhaust the run budget', function () {
+    // A careless MONITORING_ATTEMPTS must not burn through max_attempts and fail
+    // the run — the cap degrades on the last permitted attempt instead.
+    config()->set('provisioning.monitoring.attempts', 999);
+    $s = fakeServices();
+    $s['monitoring']->failWith = 'connection refused';
+    ['run' => $run] = reservedRun();
+
+    $run->update(['attempt' => $run->max_attempts - 1]); // last attempt in the budget
+    expect(app(RegisterMonitoring::class)->execute($run->fresh())->type)->toBe('advance');
+});
+
 it('fails the run on a monitoring outage when monitoring is declared required', function () {
     config()->set('provisioning.monitoring.required', true);
     $s = fakeServices();