diff --git a/indexer/index.mjs b/indexer/index.mjs
index ef9e7fb..4acdfcf 100644
--- a/indexer/index.mjs
+++ b/indexer/index.mjs
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ function saveCursor(cursor) {
 
 let isPolling = false;
 let shutdownRequested = false;
-let intervalId;
+let pollingTimerId;
 let backoffTimeoutId;
 let resumeBackoff;
 let pendingStartLedger;
@@ -142,8 +142,9 @@ function rpcCall(operation) {
 function handleShutdown(signal) {
   log("info", `Received ${signal}. Shutting down gracefully...`, { signal });
   shutdownRequested = true;
-  if (intervalId) {
-    clearInterval(intervalId);
+  if (pollingTimerId) {
+    clearTimeout(pollingTimerId);
+    pollingTimerId = undefined;
   }
   if (backoffTimeoutId) {
     clearTimeout(backoffTimeoutId);
@@ -242,6 +243,27 @@ async function poll() {
   }
 }
 
+export async function runPollingLoop({
+  pollFn = poll,
+  pollMs = POLL_MS,
+  schedule = (callback, delay) => setTimeout(callback, delay),
+  logger = (message) => console.error(message),
+} = {}) {
+  try {
+    await pollFn();
+  } catch (error) {
+    logger(error?.message ?? error);
+  }
+
+  if (shutdownRequested) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  pollingTimerId = schedule(() => {
+    void runPollingLoop({ pollFn, pollMs, schedule, logger });
+  }, pollMs);
+}
+
 const isMain =
   process.argv[1] &&
   resolve(process.argv[1]).toLowerCase() ===
@@ -249,7 +271,15 @@ const isMain =
 
 let log = () => {};
 let metricsTracker = createMetricsTracker();
-let RPC_URL, CONTRACT_ID, LOG_LEVEL, OUT, STATE, POLL_MS, BACKOFF_INITIAL_MS, BACKOFF_MAX_MS, server;
+let RPC_URL,
+  CONTRACT_ID,
+  LOG_LEVEL,
+  OUT,
+  STATE,
+  POLL_MS,
+  BACKOFF_INITIAL_MS,
+  BACKOFF_MAX_MS,
+  server;
 
 if (isMain) {
   const config = validateConfig();
@@ -311,16 +341,13 @@ if (isMain) {
     logLevel: LOG_LEVEL,
   });
 
-  await poll();
-  intervalId = setInterval(
-    () =>
-      poll().catch((e) => {
-        const metrics = metricsTracker.recordError();
-        log("error", "Unhandled error in poll interval", {
-          error: e?.message ?? String(e),
-          errorsTotal: metrics.errorsTotal,
-        });
-      }),
-    POLL_MS
-  );
+  void runPollingLoop({
+    logger: (message) => {
+      const metrics = metricsTracker.recordError();
+      log("error", "Unhandled error in polling loop", {
+        error: String(message),
+        errorsTotal: metrics.errorsTotal,
+      });
+    },
+  });
 }
diff --git a/indexer/index.test.mjs b/indexer/index.test.mjs
index 804e2c1..c38d68a 100644
--- a/indexer/index.test.mjs
+++ b/indexer/index.test.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import test from 'node:test';
 import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+
 import { initialScanPosition, parseArgs } from './cli.mjs';
+
 import {
   validateConfig,
   shouldLog,
@@ -8,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   cursorLedger,
   calculateScanLag,
   createMetricsTracker,
+  runPollingLoop,
 } from './index.mjs';
 
 test('validateConfig rejects missing required env values', () => {
@@ -15,7 +18,6 @@ test('validateConfig rejects missing required env values', () => {
     CONTRACT_ID: '',
     RPC_URL: '',
   });
-
   assert.equal(result.ok, false);
   assert.match(result.error, /CONTRACT_ID/);
   assert.match(result.error, /RPC_URL/);
@@ -26,7 +28,6 @@ test('validateConfig accepts populated env values and defaults LOG_LEVEL to info
     CONTRACT_ID: 'CC123',
     RPC_URL: 'https://example.com',
   });
-
   assert.equal(result.ok, true);
   assert.equal(result.value.CONTRACT_ID, 'CC123');
   assert.equal(result.value.RPC_URL, 'https://example.com');
@@ -56,10 +57,8 @@ test('shouldLog respects log level severity threshold', () => {
   assert.equal(shouldLog('info', 'info'), true);
   assert.equal(shouldLog('info', 'warn'), true);
   assert.equal(shouldLog('info', 'error'), true);
-
   assert.equal(shouldLog('warn', 'info'), false);
   assert.equal(shouldLog('warn', 'warn'), true);
-
   assert.equal(shouldLog('debug', 'debug'), true);
 });
 
@@ -69,7 +68,6 @@ test('formatLogEntry formats structured JSON log entry', () => {
     scanLagLedgers: 5,
   });
   const parsed = JSON.parse(raw);
-
   assert.equal(parsed.level, 'info');
   assert.equal(parsed.message, 'Poll completed');
   assert.equal(parsed.eventsIndexedTotal, 42);
@@ -82,7 +80,6 @@ test('cursorLedger extracts ledger sequence from cursor', () => {
   // 100 << 32 = 429496729600. Cursor format: "<packed_ledger_seq>-<entry_id>"
   const packedLedger = (BigInt(100) << 32n).toString();
   const cursor = `${packedLedger}-0000000001`;
-
   assert.equal(cursorLedger(cursor), 100);
   assert.equal(cursorLedger('invalid'), null);
   assert.equal(cursorLedger(null), null);
@@ -91,7 +88,6 @@ test('cursorLedger extracts ledger sequence from cursor', () => {
 test('calculateScanLag calculates ledger difference accurately', () => {
   const packedLedger = (BigInt(500) << 32n).toString();
   const cursor = `${packedLedger}-0000000001`;
-
   assert.equal(calculateScanLag(510, cursor), 10);
   assert.equal(calculateScanLag(500, cursor), 0);
   assert.equal(calculateScanLag(490, cursor), 0); // clamp to 0 if cursor ahead
@@ -151,3 +147,74 @@ test('from-ledger overrides a saved cursor for the initial scan', () => {
     cursor: '999-1',
   });
 });
+
+test('runPollingLoop serializes polls and reschedules after failure', async () => {
+  let releaseFirstPoll;
+  let activePolls = 0;
+  let maxActivePolls = 0;
+  let pollCount = 0;
+  const scheduled = [];
+  const loggerMessages = [];
+
+  const flush = async () => {
+    await Promise.resolve();
+    await Promise.resolve();
+  };
+
+  const pollFn = async () => {
+    pollCount += 1;
+    activePolls += 1;
+    maxActivePolls = Math.max(maxActivePolls, activePolls);
+
+    try {
+      if (pollCount === 1) {
+        await new Promise((resolve) => {
+          releaseFirstPoll = resolve;
+        });
+      } else if (pollCount === 2) {
+        throw new Error('boom');
+      }
+    } finally {
+      activePolls -= 1;
+    }
+  };
+
+  const schedule = (callback, delay) => {
+    const entry = { callback, delay };
+    scheduled.push(entry);
+    return entry;
+  };
+
+  const logger = (message) => loggerMessages.push(message);
+
+  void runPollingLoop({ pollFn, pollMs: 50, schedule, logger });
+
+  assert.equal(activePolls, 1);
+  assert.equal(maxActivePolls, 1);
+  assert.equal(scheduled.length, 0);
+
+  releaseFirstPoll();
+  await flush();
+
+  assert.equal(activePolls, 0);
+  assert.equal(scheduled.length, 1);
+  assert.equal(scheduled[0].delay, 50);
+
+  scheduled[0].callback();
+  await flush();
+
+  assert.equal(pollCount, 2);
+  assert.equal(activePolls, 0);
+  assert.deepEqual(loggerMessages, ['boom']);
+  assert.equal(maxActivePolls, 1);
+  assert.equal(scheduled.length, 2);
+
+  scheduled[1].callback();
+  await flush();
+
+  assert.equal(pollCount, 3);
+  assert.equal(activePolls, 0);
+  assert.equal(maxActivePolls, 1);
+  assert.equal(scheduled.length, 3);
+  assert.equal(scheduled[2].delay, 50);
+});