diff --git a/connectors/bigquery/extractor.py b/connectors/bigquery/extractor.py
index 7b158a0..44ef386 100644
--- a/connectors/bigquery/extractor.py
+++ b/connectors/bigquery/extractor.py
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@ from typing import List, Dict, Any, Optional
 
 import duckdb
 
+from connectors.bigquery.auth import get_metadata_token, BQMetadataAuthError
+from src.sql_safe import (
+    validate_identifier as _validate_identifier,
+    validate_project_id as _validate_project_id,
+)
+from src.identifier_validation import validate_identifier, validate_quoted_identifier
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
 # Serializes the body of `init_extract` across threads so two concurrent
 # materialize calls (e.g. the synchronous timeout-fallback BackgroundTask
 # kicking in while the original daemon thread is still running) can't both
@@ -46,6 +55,10 @@ class MaterializeInFlightError(Exception):
         )
 
 
+# Unbounded by design — each registered table_id gets one Lock for the
+# process lifetime. Per-Lock cost is ~56 bytes; a deployment with even
+# 10k registered tables holds <1 MB. No cleanup logic — clean would
+# need ref-counting and risks freeing a Lock currently held by a worker.
 _table_locks: dict[str, threading.Lock] = {}
 _table_locks_registry: threading.Lock = threading.Lock()
 
@@ -72,6 +85,9 @@ def _get_lock_ttl_seconds() -> int:
     longer is a stuck process or a hung BQ session, both of which warrant
     reclaim on next attempt."""
     try:
+        # Deferred import: keeps the connectors module importable in
+        # contexts where the app layer isn't bootstrapped (e.g. unit tests
+        # that exercise extractor helpers without the FastAPI app).
         from app.instance_config import get_value
         v = get_value(
             "materialize", "lock_ttl_seconds",
@@ -97,13 +113,25 @@ def _try_acquire_file_lock(lock_path: Path):
     lock_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
     def _try_open_and_flock():
+        # Open in 'w' mode so the file's mtime updates on every successful
+        # acquisition — the mtime is the TTL signal for the next caller.
+        # Content is intentionally empty; the fd exists only to anchor flock.
         f = open(lock_path, "w")
         try:
             fcntl.flock(f.fileno(), fcntl.LOCK_EX | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
             return f
         except BlockingIOError:
+            # Another holder owns the lock — return None so the caller can
+            # decide between TTL-reclaim and propagating MaterializeInFlightError.
             f.close()
             return None
+        except OSError:
+            # Anything else (read-only fs, unsupported, fd exhaustion) is a
+            # platform / config error, not a contention signal. Close the fd
+            # and re-raise so the caller (and operator) sees the real failure
+            # instead of a silent leak.
+            f.close()
+            raise
 
     holder = _try_open_and_flock()
     if holder is not None:
@@ -128,16 +156,6 @@ def _try_acquire_file_lock(lock_path: Path):
 
     return None
 
-from connectors.bigquery.auth import get_metadata_token, BQMetadataAuthError
-from app.instance_config import get_value
-from src.sql_safe import (
-    validate_identifier as _validate_identifier,
-    validate_project_id as _validate_project_id,
-)
-from src.identifier_validation import validate_identifier, validate_quoted_identifier
-
-logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
 
 def _detect_table_type(
     conn: duckdb.DuckDBPyConnection,
diff --git a/tests/test_bq_materialize_concurrency.py b/tests/test_bq_materialize_concurrency.py
index 372600e..815661c 100644
--- a/tests/test_bq_materialize_concurrency.py
+++ b/tests/test_bq_materialize_concurrency.py
@@ -141,8 +141,11 @@ def test_different_ids_run_in_parallel(tmp_path):
 
 
 def test_stale_file_lock_is_reclaimed_after_ttl(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-    """Force a stale .lock file (mtime older than TTL) and verify a new
-    call reclaims it instead of raising MaterializeInFlightError."""
+    """Verify a stale, unheld .lock file (old mtime, no live flock holder) does NOT
+    cause `MaterializeInFlightError`. The reclaim branch in `_try_acquire_file_lock`
+    is technically not reached here (the first `_try_open_and_flock` succeeds because
+    nobody holds the lock), but exercising the in-flight-by-mtime-only mistake is what
+    this test guards against."""
     bq = _slow_bq(stall_seconds=0.05)
     lock_path = Path(tmp_path) / "data" / "t1.parquet.lock"
     lock_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
@@ -187,6 +190,11 @@ def test_fresh_file_lock_blocks_with_in_flight_error(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
 def test_lock_ttl_reads_from_instance_config(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
     """When `materialize.lock_ttl_seconds` is set in instance.yaml, that
     value overrides the default."""
+    # Patches `app.instance_config.get_value` directly. This works because
+    # `_get_lock_ttl_seconds` re-imports `get_value` on every call (see
+    # extractor.py for the deferred-import rationale). If a future change
+    # hoists the import to module-level, this patch must change to target
+    # `connectors.bigquery.extractor.get_value` instead.
     monkeypatch.setattr(
         "app.instance_config.get_value",
         lambda *args, **kw: 60 if args == ("materialize", "lock_ttl_seconds") else kw.get("default"),