diff --git a/job_status.php b/job_status.php
index fcc46c8..1b8cba4 100644
--- a/job_status.php
+++ b/job_status.php
@@ -4,8 +4,73 @@ mvlog_require_login();
 $config = require __DIR__ . '/config.php';
 header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8');
 header('Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, max-age=0');
+
+function mvlog_job_status_log(string $message): void {
+    $log = __DIR__ . '/logs/job_status_cleanup.log';
+    $line = '[' . date('c') . '] ' . $message . "\n";
+    @file_put_contents($log, $line, FILE_APPEND | LOCK_EX);
+    @chmod($log, 0664);
+}
+
+function mvlog_worker_running(): bool {
+    $out = [];
+    $rc = 1;
+    @exec('systemctl is-active --quiet mvlog-worker.service 2>/dev/null', $out, $rc);
+    if ($rc === 0) return true;
+
+    $ps = @shell_exec('ps -eo args= 2>/dev/null');
+    if (!is_string($ps) || $ps === '') return false;
+    foreach (explode("\n", $ps) as $line) {
+        if (strpos($line, 'mvlog_worker.py') !== false && strpos($line, '--remote-root /var/www/html') !== false) {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+function mvlog_rm_rf(string $path): void {
+    if (!is_dir($path)) return;
+    $items = scandir($path);
+    if (!is_array($items)) return;
+    foreach ($items as $item) {
+        if ($item === '.' || $item === '..') continue;
+        $child = $path . '/' . $item;
+        if (is_dir($child) && !is_link($child)) mvlog_rm_rf($child);
+        else @unlink($child);
+    }
+    @rmdir($path);
+}
+
+function mvlog_cleanup_stale_processing(string $dir, string $name, array $state, string $lockDir, bool $locked, string $status, string $articleId): array {
+    $stateFile = $dir . '/.movmaker-state.json';
+    $started = '';
+    if (is_file($lockDir . '/started_at')) $started = trim((string)@file_get_contents($lockDir . '/started_at'));
+    if ($started === '') $started = (string)($state['started_at'] ?? $state['updated_at'] ?? '');
+
+    $backup = '';
+    if (is_file($stateFile)) {
+        $backup = $stateFile . '.bak.' . date('YmdHis');
+        @copy($stateFile, $backup);
+        @chmod($backup, 0664);
+    }
+
+    $state['status'] = 'error';
+    $state['updated_at'] = gmdate('c');
+    if ($articleId !== '') $state['article_id'] = $articleId;
+    $state['message'] = 'Previous render appears abandoned: no mvlog-worker process is running; stale lock/processing state was cleaned by job_status.php. Re-enable Render to retry.';
+    $json = json_encode($state, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_PRETTY_PRINT) . "\n";
+    @file_put_contents($stateFile, $json, LOCK_EX);
+    @chmod($stateFile, 0664);
+    if ($locked) mvlog_rm_rf($lockDir);
+
+    mvlog_job_status_log('cleaned stale processing job=' . $name . ' article_id=' . ($articleId ?: '-') . ' started_at=' . ($started ?: '-') . ' status=' . ($status ?: '-') . ' lock=' . ($locked ? 'yes' : 'no') . ' backup=' . ($backup ?: '-'));
+    return $state;
+}
+
 $jobs = [];
 $switches = [];
+$cleaned = [];
+$workerRunning = mvlog_worker_running();
 $dirs = glob($config['uploads_dir'] . '/*', GLOB_ONLYDIR) ?: [];
 foreach ($dirs as $dir) {
     $name = basename($dir);
@@ -13,21 +78,31 @@ foreach ($dirs as $dir) {
     $lockDir = $dir . '/.movmaker-lock';
     $idFile = $dir . '/.mvlog-id';
     $state = is_file($stateFile) ? json_decode((string)file_get_contents($stateFile), true) : [];
-    $status = is_array($state) ? (string)($state['status'] ?? '') : '';
-    $articleId = is_array($state) ? strtolower((string)($state['article_id'] ?? '')) : '';
+    if (!is_array($state)) $state = [];
+    $status = (string)($state['status'] ?? '');
+    $articleId = strtolower((string)($state['article_id'] ?? ''));
     if ($articleId === '' && is_file($idFile)) $articleId = strtolower(trim((string)file_get_contents($idFile)));
     if (!preg_match('/^[0-9]{14}[a-f0-9]{16}$/', $articleId)) $articleId = '';
+    $locked = is_dir($lockDir);
+
+    if (!$workerRunning && ($locked || $status === 'processing')) {
+        $state = mvlog_cleanup_stale_processing($dir, $name, $state, $lockDir, $locked, $status, $articleId);
+        $status = (string)($state['status'] ?? '');
+        $locked = is_dir($lockDir);
+        $cleaned[] = ['dir' => $name, 'id' => $articleId, 'status' => $status];
+    }
+
     $switches[] = [
         'dir' => $name,
         'id' => $articleId,
         'enabled' => is_file($dir . '/.movmaker-enabled'),
         'preview' => is_file($dir . '/.movmaker-preview'),
     ];
-    $locked = is_dir($lockDir);
+
     if ($locked || $status === 'processing') {
         $started = '';
         if (is_file($lockDir . '/started_at')) $started = trim((string)file_get_contents($lockDir . '/started_at'));
-        if ($started === '' && is_array($state)) $started = (string)($state['started_at'] ?? $state['updated_at'] ?? '');
+        if ($started === '') $started = (string)($state['started_at'] ?? $state['updated_at'] ?? '');
         $jobs[] = [
             'name' => $name,
             'id' => $articleId,
@@ -36,4 +111,4 @@ foreach ($dirs as $dir) {
         ];
     }
 }
-echo json_encode(['jobs' => $jobs, 'switches' => $switches, 'checked_at' => date('c')], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);
+echo json_encode(['jobs' => $jobs, 'switches' => $switches, 'cleaned' => $cleaned, 'worker_running' => $workerRunning, 'checked_at' => date('c')], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);