diff --git a/packages/api/src/routes/blog.ts b/packages/api/src/routes/blog.ts
index d3a3763..3d3ac9b 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/routes/blog.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/routes/blog.ts
@@ -912,8 +912,8 @@ async function processLlmQueue(): Promise<void> {
     }
   }
   llmRunning = false;
-  // Process next item
-  if (llmQueue.length > 0) processLlmQueue();
+  // Process next item — small delay between pipelines to avoid nginx rate-limit bursts
+  if (llmQueue.length > 0) setTimeout(() => processLlmQueue(), 3000);
 }
 
 /** Run 10-Step Flexoptix Style LLM Pipeline and update draft in-place */