diff --git a/src/config/types.imessage.ts b/src/config/types.imessage.ts
index 3372719cd..0be92fcb7 100644
--- a/src/config/types.imessage.ts
+++ b/src/config/types.imessage.ts
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ export type IMessageAccountConfig = {
   includeAttachments?: boolean;
   /** Max outbound media size in MB. */
   mediaMaxMb?: number;
+  /** Timeout for probe/RPC operations in milliseconds (default: 10000). */
+  probeTimeoutMs?: number;
   /** Outbound text chunk size (chars). Default: 4000. */
   textChunkLimit?: number;
   /** Chunking mode: "length" (default) splits by size; "newline" splits on every newline. */
diff --git a/src/imessage/client.ts b/src/imessage/client.ts
index 9811de083..070765e3b 100644
--- a/src/imessage/client.ts
+++ b/src/imessage/client.ts
@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ export class IMessageRpcClient {
       params: params ?? {},
     };
     const line = `${JSON.stringify(payload)}\n`;
+    // Default timeout matches DEFAULT_IMESSAGE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS from probe.ts
     const timeoutMs = opts?.timeoutMs ?? 10_000;
 
     const response = new Promise<T>((resolve, reject) => {
diff --git a/src/imessage/monitor/monitor-provider.ts b/src/imessage/monitor/monitor-provider.ts
index 08fb36aea..1f6c457f3 100644
--- a/src/imessage/monitor/monitor-provider.ts
+++ b/src/imessage/monitor/monitor-provider.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ import { resolveAgentRoute } from "../../routing/resolve-route.js";
 import { truncateUtf16Safe } from "../../utils.js";
 import { resolveIMessageAccount } from "../accounts.js";
 import { createIMessageRpcClient } from "../client.js";
-import { probeIMessage } from "../probe.js";
+import { DEFAULT_IMESSAGE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS, probeIMessage } from "../probe.js";
 import { sendMessageIMessage } from "../send.js";
 import {
   formatIMessageChatTarget,
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ export async function monitorIMessageProvider(opts: MonitorIMessageOpts = {}): P
   const mediaMaxBytes = (opts.mediaMaxMb ?? imessageCfg.mediaMaxMb ?? 16) * 1024 * 1024;
   const cliPath = opts.cliPath ?? imessageCfg.cliPath ?? "imsg";
   const dbPath = opts.dbPath ?? imessageCfg.dbPath;
+  const probeTimeoutMs = imessageCfg.probeTimeoutMs ?? DEFAULT_IMESSAGE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS;
 
   // Resolve remoteHost: explicit config, or auto-detect from SSH wrapper script
   let remoteHost = imessageCfg.remoteHost;
@@ -618,7 +619,7 @@ export async function monitorIMessageProvider(opts: MonitorIMessageOpts = {}): P
     abortSignal: opts.abortSignal,
     runtime,
     check: async () => {
-      const probe = await probeIMessage(2000, { cliPath, dbPath, runtime });
+      const probe = await probeIMessage(probeTimeoutMs, { cliPath, dbPath, runtime });
       if (probe.ok) {
         return { ok: true };
       }
diff --git a/src/imessage/probe.ts b/src/imessage/probe.ts
index 92d131565..5df7c667d 100644
--- a/src/imessage/probe.ts
+++ b/src/imessage/probe.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ import { loadConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import { runCommandWithTimeout } from "../process/exec.js";
 import { createIMessageRpcClient } from "./client.js";
 
+/** Default timeout for iMessage probe operations (10 seconds). */
+export const DEFAULT_IMESSAGE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS = 10_000;
+
 export type IMessageProbe = {
   ok: boolean;
   error?: string | null;
@@ -24,13 +27,13 @@ type RpcSupportResult = {
 
 const rpcSupportCache = new Map<string, RpcSupportResult>();
 
-async function probeRpcSupport(cliPath: string): Promise<RpcSupportResult> {
+async function probeRpcSupport(cliPath: string, timeoutMs: number): Promise<RpcSupportResult> {
   const cached = rpcSupportCache.get(cliPath);
   if (cached) {
     return cached;
   }
   try {
-    const result = await runCommandWithTimeout([cliPath, "rpc", "--help"], { timeoutMs: 2000 });
+    const result = await runCommandWithTimeout([cliPath, "rpc", "--help"], { timeoutMs });
     const combined = `${result.stdout}\n${result.stderr}`.trim();
     const normalized = combined.toLowerCase();
     if (normalized.includes("unknown command") && normalized.includes("rpc")) {
@@ -57,18 +60,24 @@ async function probeRpcSupport(cliPath: string): Promise<RpcSupportResult> {
 }
 
 export async function probeIMessage(
-  timeoutMs = 2000,
+  timeoutMs = DEFAULT_IMESSAGE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS,
   opts: IMessageProbeOptions = {},
 ): Promise<IMessageProbe> {
   const cfg = opts.cliPath || opts.dbPath ? undefined : loadConfig();
   const cliPath = opts.cliPath?.trim() || cfg?.channels?.imessage?.cliPath?.trim() || "imsg";
   const dbPath = opts.dbPath?.trim() || cfg?.channels?.imessage?.dbPath?.trim();
+  // Read probeTimeoutMs from config if not explicitly provided
+  const effectiveTimeout =
+    timeoutMs !== DEFAULT_IMESSAGE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS
+      ? timeoutMs
+      : cfg?.channels?.imessage?.probeTimeoutMs ?? DEFAULT_IMESSAGE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS;
+
   const detected = await detectBinary(cliPath);
   if (!detected) {
     return { ok: false, error: `imsg not found (${cliPath})` };
   }
 
-  const rpcSupport = await probeRpcSupport(cliPath);
+  const rpcSupport = await probeRpcSupport(cliPath, effectiveTimeout);
   if (!rpcSupport.supported) {
     return {
       ok: false,
@@ -83,7 +92,7 @@ export async function probeIMessage(
     runtime: opts.runtime,
   });
   try {
-    await client.request("chats.list", { limit: 1 }, { timeoutMs });
+    await client.request("chats.list", { limit: 1 }, { timeoutMs: effectiveTimeout });
     return { ok: true };
   } catch (err) {
     return { ok: false, error: String(err) };