diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cfa756a62..eb0227188 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -69,4 +69,8 @@ CLAUDE.md
 /app/assets/builds/*
 !/app/assets/builds/.keep
 .cursorindexingignore
-.specstory
\ No newline at end of file
+.specstory
+
+# Local agent/scratch notes, not part of the repo
+/docs/
+/style-guide/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 07a651bf5..4c9a8ca49 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ GEM
       multipart-post (~> 2.0)
     faraday-net_http (3.4.4)
       net-http (~> 0.5)
+    ffi (1.17.4)
     ffi (1.17.4-aarch64-linux-gnu)
     ffi (1.17.4-aarch64-linux-musl)
     ffi (1.17.4-arm-linux-gnu)
@@ -305,6 +306,7 @@ GEM
       nokogiri (~> 1)
       rake
     mini_mime (1.1.5)
+    mini_portile2 (2.8.9)
     minitest (6.0.6)
       drb (~> 2.0)
       prism (~> 1.5)
@@ -326,6 +328,9 @@ GEM
     net-smtp (0.5.1)
       net-protocol
     nio4r (2.7.5)
+    nokogiri (1.19.4)
+      mini_portile2 (~> 2.8.2)
+      racc (~> 1.4)
     nokogiri (1.19.4-aarch64-linux-gnu)
       racc (~> 1.4)
     nokogiri (1.19.4-aarch64-linux-musl)
@@ -518,7 +523,10 @@ GEM
       faraday (>= 1)
       faraday-multipart (>= 1)
     ruby-progressbar (1.13.0)
-    rubyzip (3.1.0)
+    rubyzip (3.6.0)
+    sass-embedded (1.93.2)
+      google-protobuf (~> 4.31)
+      rake (>= 13)
     sass-embedded (1.93.2-aarch64-linux-gnu)
       google-protobuf (~> 4.31)
     sass-embedded (1.93.2-aarch64-linux-musl)
@@ -620,6 +628,7 @@ PLATFORMS
   arm-linux-gnu
   arm-linux-musl
   arm64-darwin
+  ruby
   x86_64-darwin
   x86_64-linux-gnu
   x86_64-linux-musl
diff --git a/app/controllers/auctions_controller.rb b/app/controllers/auctions_controller.rb
index 519da0e98..c6c10a5d1 100644
--- a/app/controllers/auctions_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/auctions_controller.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ class AuctionsController < ApplicationController
 
   DEFAULT_PAGE_LIMIT = 15
 
+  # Hard ceiling for one rendered page. A single auction row costs ~270KB of transient
+  # objects to render, so an unbounded page size (show_all, or a hand-crafted per_page)
+  # lets one request blow the container memory limit and take the process down.
+  MAX_PAGE_LIMIT = 100
+
   # GET /auctions
   def index
     set_cors_header
@@ -37,12 +42,13 @@ def cors_preflight_check
   def fetch_auctions_list = Auction.active.search(params, current_user)
 
   def per_page_count
-    count = params[:show_all] == 'true' ? @auctions_list.count : per_page
-    count = nil if count.zero?
-    count
-  end
+    return MAX_PAGE_LIMIT if params[:show_all] == 'true'
 
-  def per_page = params[:per_page] || DEFAULT_PAGE_LIMIT
+    requested = params[:per_page].to_i
+    return DEFAULT_PAGE_LIMIT unless requested.positive?
+
+    [requested, MAX_PAGE_LIMIT].min
+  end
 
   def set_cors_header
     response.headers['Access-Control-Allow-Origin'] = request.headers['Origin']
diff --git a/test/controllers/auctions_controller_test.rb b/test/controllers/auctions_controller_test.rb
index 20effe5e9..3ffab90df 100644
--- a/test/controllers/auctions_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/controllers/auctions_controller_test.rb
@@ -165,6 +165,29 @@ def test_show_all_with_sorting_returns_every_auction_in_sort_order
     assert_equal expected_domains, auction_domains
   end
 
+  def test_page_size_is_capped_regardless_of_requested_size
+    create_extra_active_auctions(AuctionsController::MAX_PAGE_LIMIT + 5)
+
+    get auctions_path, params: { show_all: 'true', sort_by: 'domain_name', sort_direction: 'asc' }
+
+    assert_response :success
+    assert_select 'tbody#bids tr.contents', AuctionsController::MAX_PAGE_LIMIT
+
+    get auctions_path, params: { per_page: '5000' }
+
+    assert_response :success
+    assert_select 'tbody#bids tr.contents', AuctionsController::MAX_PAGE_LIMIT
+  end
+
+  def test_non_numeric_per_page_falls_back_to_the_default_page_size
+    create_extra_active_auctions(20)
+
+    get auctions_path, params: { per_page: 'all' }
+
+    assert_response :success
+    assert_select 'tbody#bids tr.contents', AuctionsController::DEFAULT_PAGE_LIMIT
+  end
+
   private
 
   def query_from_link(title)