diff --git a/almanac/architecture/wiki/topics-dag.md b/almanac/architecture/wiki/topics-dag.md
index ca9994cc..78a6f4ae 100644
--- a/almanac/architecture/wiki/topics-dag.md
+++ b/almanac/architecture/wiki/topics-dag.md
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ The tests lock down that behavior. Creating a topic preserves existing comments,
 
 The graph layer prevents self-parent links and missing-parent links before mutation writes [@topic-graph]. When an edge is added, `reject_cycle` checks whether the child is already an ancestor of the proposed parent. If it is, the operation raises a conflict instead of writing the edge [@topic-graph].
 
-Ancestor traversal has a depth cap of 32 [@topic-graph]. The cap is defensive: valid topic graphs should be much shallower, and the mutation path should not risk unbounded traversal if the file is already strange.
+Ancestor traversal is bounded by the visited topic set, not by depth [@topic-graph]. `ancestors_of` skips any parent already in the result, so the walk visits each topic at most once and terminates even when `topics.yaml` already contains a cycle. That termination guard is the invariant to preserve: it keeps the walk safe without truncating it, so `reject_cycle` sees the complete ancestor set at any depth.
+
+There was previously a `depth < 32` counter here. It counted popped nodes rather than levels, so graphs wider or longer than 32 topics returned a partial ancestor set and `reject_cycle` wrote the cycle it was meant to block. Do not reintroduce a traversal cap; the visited set already bounds the walk, and any cap reopens that hole.
 
 ## Architectural Boundary
 
diff --git a/almanac/guides/maintain-topics.md b/almanac/guides/maintain-topics.md
index 32b920e2..2e15ee3e 100644
--- a/almanac/guides/maintain-topics.md
+++ b/almanac/guides/maintain-topics.md
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ Dispatch turns those CLI calls into typed topic requests before calling the serv
 
 ## Keep The DAG Valid
 
-Before adding parent edges, the graph layer validates that parents exist, rejects self-parent links, and rejects cycles [@topic-graph]. Cycle detection walks ancestors with a depth cap of 32, which protects the command path if the graph is already unusual [@topic-graph].
+Before adding parent edges, the graph layer validates that parents exist, rejects self-parent links, and rejects cycles [@topic-graph]. Cycle detection walks the full ancestor set with no depth cap; the walk is bounded by the topics it has already visited, so it terminates on an unusual graph without missing ancestors [@topic-graph].
 
 If a command refuses a parent or reports that a link would create a cycle, fix the topic design rather than editing around the command. The command is protecting the browse graph.
 
diff --git a/almanac/reference/topics-yaml.md b/almanac/reference/topics-yaml.md
index 5a1d1f5b..107c57ce 100644
--- a/almanac/reference/topics-yaml.md
+++ b/almanac/reference/topics-yaml.md
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ If the file is missing or empty, the loader treats it as an empty mapping and cr
 
 Slugs are kebab-case. The shared slug helper lowercases text, replaces runs of non-alphanumeric characters with hyphens, and strips leading or trailing hyphens [@slug]. A topic named `Auth Flow` therefore becomes `auth-flow`.
 
-Parents form a directed acyclic graph. A topic cannot be its own parent, requested parents must already exist for create/link operations, and adding an edge that would create a cycle raises a conflict [@topic-graph]. Ancestor traversal has a defensive depth cap of 32 [@topic-graph].
+Parents form a directed acyclic graph. A topic cannot be its own parent, requested parents must already exist for create/link operations, and adding an edge that would create a cycle raises a conflict [@topic-graph]. Ancestor traversal has no depth cap: it is bounded by the set of topics already visited, so it covers the whole ancestor set at any depth and still terminates on an already-cyclic file [@topic-graph].
 
 ## Mutation Behavior
 
diff --git a/src/codealmanac/services/topics/graph.py b/src/codealmanac/services/topics/graph.py
index 274c1d19..d1e0d4b0 100644
--- a/src/codealmanac/services/topics/graph.py
+++ b/src/codealmanac/services/topics/graph.py
@@ -41,9 +41,7 @@ def ancestors_of(definitions: tuple[TopicDefinition, ...], slug: str) -> set[str
     }
     ancestors: set[str] = set()
     frontier = list(parents_by_child.get(slug, set()))
-    depth = 0
-    while frontier and depth < 32:
-        depth += 1
+    while frontier:
         parent = frontier.pop()
         if parent in ancestors:
             continue
diff --git a/tests/test_architecture.py b/tests/test_architecture.py
index f1bf4574..210001ae 100644
--- a/tests/test_architecture.py
+++ b/tests/test_architecture.py
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ def test_topics_service_keeps_graph_and_repository_boundaries():
     ] == []
     assert "def reject_cycle(" in graph_text
     assert "def ancestors_of(" in graph_text
-    assert "depth < 32" in graph_text
+    assert "if parent in ancestors:" in graph_text
     assert "codealmanac.services.index" not in graph_text
     assert "codealmanac.services.repositories" not in graph_text
     assert "def existing_topic_slugs(" in read_model_text
diff --git a/tests/test_topics_mutation.py b/tests/test_topics_mutation.py
index 521f79ca..956a33e2 100644
--- a/tests/test_topics_mutation.py
+++ b/tests/test_topics_mutation.py
@@ -373,6 +373,67 @@ def test_rename_malformed_page_frontmatter_fails_before_topics_yaml_write(
     assert topics_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8") == before
 
 
+def test_link_rejects_cycle_in_chain_longer_than_traversal_bound(
+    tmp_path: Path,
+    isolated_home: Path,
+):
+    # A 34-topic chain is the smallest that outran the old 32-iteration cap in
+    # ancestors_of, so the guard reported clean and wrote the cycle to disk.
+    repo = make_repo(tmp_path)
+    topics_path = repo / "almanac/topics.yaml"
+    entries = "".join(
+        f"  - slug: n{index}\n"
+        f"    title: N{index}\n"
+        f"    parents: [n{index + 1}]\n"
+        for index in range(33)
+    )
+    topics_path.write_text(
+        f"topics:\n{entries}  - slug: n33\n    title: N33\n    parents: []\n",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    before = topics_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    app = create_app(
+        AppConfig(database_path=isolated_home / ".codealmanac/codealmanac.db")
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(ConflictError):
+        app.topics.link(LinkTopicRequest(cwd=repo, child="n33", parent="n0"))
+
+    assert topics_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8") == before
+
+
+def test_link_rejects_cycle_in_wide_shallow_graph(
+    tmp_path: Path,
+    isolated_home: Path,
+):
+    # Only two levels deep, but wide enough that the old cap stopped early.
+    # ancestors_of seeds its frontier from a set, so this used to pass or fail
+    # depending on PYTHONHASHSEED.
+    repo = make_repo(tmp_path)
+    topics_path = repo / "almanac/topics.yaml"
+    parents = ", ".join(f"b{index}" for index in range(40))
+    entries = "".join(
+        f"  - slug: b{index}\n"
+        f"    title: B{index}\n"
+        f"    parents: [{'deep' if index == 0 else ''}]\n"
+        for index in range(40)
+    )
+    topics_path.write_text(
+        f"topics:\n  - slug: a\n    title: A\n    parents: [{parents}]\n"
+        f"{entries}  - slug: deep\n    title: Deep\n    parents: []\n",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    before = topics_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    app = create_app(
+        AppConfig(database_path=isolated_home / ".codealmanac/codealmanac.db")
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(ConflictError):
+        app.topics.link(LinkTopicRequest(cwd=repo, child="deep", parent="a"))
+
+    assert topics_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8") == before
+
+
 def make_repo(tmp_path: Path) -> Path:
     repo = tmp_path / "repo"
     (repo / "almanac").mkdir(parents=True)