diff --git a/packages/app-core/src/lib/cm-markdown-language.test.ts b/packages/app-core/src/lib/cm-markdown-language.test.ts
index d7fb492c..26225c48 100644
--- a/packages/app-core/src/lib/cm-markdown-language.test.ts
+++ b/packages/app-core/src/lib/cm-markdown-language.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { markdownLanguage } from '@codemirror/lang-markdown'
-import { ensureSyntaxTree, syntaxTree } from '@codemirror/language'
+import { ensureSyntaxTree, syntaxTree, syntaxTreeAvailable } from '@codemirror/language'
 import { EditorState } from '@codemirror/state'
 import type { SyntaxNode, Tree } from '@lezer/common'
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
@@ -261,8 +261,10 @@ describe('noteMarkdown: incremental parsing', () => {
     // This one transition reparses the body in full: the Body node moved from
     // position 0 to the closing fence, and parseMixed (through @lezer/common
     // 1.5.2) loses track of the old mount when the mounted node is the first
-    // child covering the new start. It costs one parse, the same as opening
-    // the note, and the very next edit is incremental again.
+    // child covering the new start. Keep it that way: blocks reused across a
+    // moved start can keep a meaning the move changed (the header of
+    // cm-markdown-language.ts has the numbers). It costs one parse, the same
+    // as opening the note, and the very next edit is incremental again.
     expect(blockTreeAt(after, probeAt + 3)).not.toBe(probeTree)
     const settled = blockTreeAt(after, probeAt + 3)
     const editAt = next.doc.toString().indexOf('Paragraph 3 ')
@@ -279,6 +281,34 @@ describe('noteMarkdown: incremental parsing', () => {
     expect(names(after)).not.toContain('Frontmatter')
     expect(names(after)).toContain('HorizontalRule')
   })
+
+  it('reads the text past a parse that ran out of time again', () => {
+    // When an update's 20 ms slice runs out, the whole-note outer tree makes
+    // CodeMirror drop the older tree past that point, so the parse that
+    // resumes reads the rest again instead of reusing blocks parsed before
+    // the edit. That is the safe outcome (the header of
+    // cm-markdown-language.ts says why); a change that starts reusing them
+    // should be a decision, not an accident.
+    const doc = `---\ntitle: x\n---\n${BODY}`
+    const { state, tree } = parse(doc)
+    const probeAt = doc.indexOf(PROBE)
+    const probeTree = blockTreeAt(tree, probeAt)
+
+    const editAt = doc.indexOf('Paragraph 3 ')
+    // A clock that moves 30 ms per read ends the slice after one step.
+    let now = Date.now()
+    const clock = vi.spyOn(Date, 'now').mockImplementation(() => (now += 30))
+    let next: EditorState
+    try {
+      next = state.update({ changes: { from: editAt, to: editAt, insert: 'Edited ' } }).state
+    } finally {
+      clock.mockRestore()
+    }
+    expect(syntaxTreeAvailable(next)).toBe(false)
+    const after = ensureSyntaxTree(next, next.doc.length, 5000)!
+    expect(blockTreeAt(after, probeAt + 'Edited '.length)).not.toBe(probeTree)
+    expect(nodes(after)).toEqual(nodes(parse(next.doc.toString()).tree))
+  })
 })
 
 describe('a lone dash under a line of text (#898)', () => {
diff --git a/packages/app-core/src/lib/cm-markdown-language.ts b/packages/app-core/src/lib/cm-markdown-language.ts
index 55d0199d..de31217f 100644
--- a/packages/app-core/src/lib/cm-markdown-language.ts
+++ b/packages/app-core/src/lib/cm-markdown-language.ts
@@ -27,10 +27,29 @@
  * through `parseMixed`. The mount hands the previous markdown tree to the
  * inner parser as fragments, so body parsing stays incremental as long as the
  * body keeps its start: edits anywhere in the body or inside the frontmatter
- * reuse the untouched blocks. The two moments the body start moves (the
- * closing fence typed for the first time, or broken) cost one full body
- * parse, the same as opening the note; parseMixed cannot find the old mount
- * across that move. The test file pins both behaviours.
+ * reuse the untouched blocks.
+ *
+ * Two cases read again text that a plain markdown parser would reuse, and
+ * both are kept on purpose. When the body start moves (the closing fence
+ * typed for the first time, or broken), parseMixed cannot find the old mount
+ * and the body is parsed in full, the same as opening the note. And the outer
+ * tree always spans the whole note, so when a parse runs out of its 20 ms
+ * slice, CodeMirror drops the older tree past that point and the parse that
+ * resumes reads the rest again. Reusing the older blocks in those two cases
+ * makes the tree go stale more often, because Lezer's markdown reuse can keep
+ * a block whose meaning changed with text outside it: an indented code block
+ * whose indent was deleted along with the frontmatter, a paragraph whose end
+ * moved when a table row under it broke. Checked against a fresh parse 50,000
+ * times over 100,000 random edits, this grammar was stale 3 times, the same
+ * grammar with that reuse 29 times, and plain `markdown()` 205 times. The
+ * cost is small: a typed character parses well inside its slice even in an
+ * 800 KB note, and reading the rest after a cut costs what opening the note
+ * costs, in background slices. The test file pins both behaviours.
+ *
+ * One consequence: `syntaxTree(state).length` is always the whole note, so it
+ * does not say how far the parse got. Ask `ensureSyntaxTree` or
+ * `syntaxTreeAvailable` instead, as `headingAbove` in table-to-database.ts
+ * does.
  *
  * The frontmatter content is deliberately left untokenized: with Live Preview
  * off a note reads as its raw text (#616), and the card styles it when on.