diff --git a/enterprise/app/jobs/onboarding/help_center_article_writer_job.rb b/enterprise/app/jobs/onboarding/help_center_article_writer_job.rb
index 68c218a19..c684bd632 100644
--- a/enterprise/app/jobs/onboarding/help_center_article_writer_job.rb
+++ b/enterprise/app/jobs/onboarding/help_center_article_writer_job.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,21 @@
 class Onboarding::HelpCenterArticleWriterJob < ApplicationJob
   queue_as :low
 
+  # Catch-all so no exception type can wedge the generation in "generating".
+  # Declared FIRST because ActiveJob searches rescue handlers bottom-to-top:
+  # this puts StandardError at the bottom of the search order, so the specific
+  # retry_on/discard_on handlers declared below match first for their types.
+  #
+  # Without this, any error that isn't FirecrawlError or ArticleBuildFailed
+  # (e.g. ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid, SSL errors) falls through to ActiveJob's
+  # default retries, exhausts them, and lands in the dead set without ever
+  # calling finalize -> state stays "generating" at total - 1 until the 7-day
+  # Redis TTL expires. on_writer_failure logs the error, so code bugs are still
+  # visible; it just also progresses the state.
+  discard_on StandardError do |job, error|
+    job.send(:on_writer_failure, error)
+  end
+
   retry_on Firecrawl::FirecrawlError, wait: :polynomially_longer, attempts: 3 do |job, error|
     job.send(:on_writer_failure, error)
   end
diff --git a/spec/enterprise/jobs/onboarding/help_center_article_writer_job_spec.rb b/spec/enterprise/jobs/onboarding/help_center_article_writer_job_spec.rb
index b01ec35e3..ff7b434da 100644
--- a/spec/enterprise/jobs/onboarding/help_center_article_writer_job_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/enterprise/jobs/onboarding/help_center_article_writer_job_spec.rb
@@ -102,6 +102,47 @@ RSpec.describe Onboarding::HelpCenterArticleWriterJob do
     end
   end
 
+  describe 'catch-all failure handling' do
+    # Any exception the job does not specifically handle (e.g.
+    # ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid from articles.create!, SSL errors, OOM)
+    # must still finalize the generation so state cannot wedge in
+    # "generating" at total - 1 until the Redis TTL expires.
+
+    it 'increments the counter on an unhandled StandardError without re-raising' do
+      allow(Onboarding::HelpCenterArticleBuilder).to receive(:new).and_raise(
+        StandardError, 'unexpected boom'
+      )
+
+      expect { described_class.perform_now(*job_args) }.not_to raise_error
+
+      expect(Onboarding::HelpCenterGenerationState.current(generation_id)).to include('finished' => '1')
+    end
+
+    it 'marks generation completed when the final writer fails with an unhandled error' do
+      allow(Onboarding::HelpCenterArticleBuilder).to receive(:new).and_raise(
+        StandardError, 'unexpected boom'
+      )
+      Onboarding::HelpCenterGenerationState.record_article_finished(generation_id)
+
+      described_class.perform_now(*job_args)
+
+      expect(Onboarding::HelpCenterGenerationState.current(generation_id)).to include(
+        'status' => 'completed', 'finished' => '2'
+      )
+    end
+
+    it 'logs the failure so the error is not silent' do
+      allow(Onboarding::HelpCenterArticleBuilder).to receive(:new).and_raise(
+        StandardError, 'unexpected boom'
+      )
+      allow(Rails.logger).to receive(:warn)
+
+      described_class.perform_now(*job_args)
+
+      expect(Rails.logger).to have_received(:warn).with(/gen=#{generation_id} failed: StandardError unexpected boom/)
+    end
+  end
+
   describe 'missing state' do
     let(:built_article) { instance_double(Article, id: 9876) }