diff --git a/src/calendar/README.md b/src/calendar/README.md
index abff616c3..39a09569b 100644
--- a/src/calendar/README.md
+++ b/src/calendar/README.md
@@ -327,11 +327,11 @@ the user's own key-value store. It never writes an event: every decision about
 the calendar is made in the app, where the contacts, the settings and the
 recurrence engine are.
 
-The subscription targets the worker only. A persistent subscription prefers a
-connected browser tab, but only if that tab registered the handler in the call
-that created the subscription — which a later page load has not — so adding the
-socket target would stall each delivery behind two lease periods whenever the
-calendar happened to be open.
+The subscription is a queue (`queue: true`), so each message is handled once
+and retried if the run never finishes or fails for a temporary reason; the
+handler throws with `retry: true` for those, and swallows anything else. The
+page never registers the handler in-page, so an open calendar tab declines each
+delivery and the events worker runs it right away.
 
 **Only people you have already dealt with.** An invitation is added
 automatically when the sender is *authenticated* — delivered inside Puter, or
diff --git a/src/calendar/src/js/mailbox.js b/src/calendar/src/js/mailbox.js
index 49204a05e..e9e61e318 100644
--- a/src/calendar/src/js/mailbox.js
+++ b/src/calendar/src/js/mailbox.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  *
  *   - the capability probe + batched permission request,
  *   - subscribing (or adopting an existing subscription) to
- *     `fs:~/.mail/objects/**:add` with `targets:['worker']`,
+ *     `fs:~/.mail/objects/**:add` as a `queue` subscription,
  *   - `cal:mail:cfg` (mode/subId/watermark/…),
  *   - the watermark rescan (via `puter.email.list`), which runs the SAME
  *     handler source in-page (via `new Function`) so a foreground session or
@@ -177,8 +177,7 @@ export function createMailbox({
     if (existing) return { subId: existing.id || existing.subId || '' };
     const sub = await p.events.onPersistent({
       subject: MAIL_SUBJECT,
-      delivery: 'single',
-      targets: ['worker'],
+      queue: true,
       handlerName: HANDLER_NAME,
       context: { v: 1, self: selfEmail(), user: username() },
     });
@@ -250,8 +249,6 @@ export function createMailbox({
         } catch {
           return enterForeground('Background permission was declined.');
         }
-      } else if (code === 'invalid_targets') {
-        return enterForeground('No app identity is available here.');
       } else {
         lastError = errorMessage(err) || 'Could not request permission.';
         state = 'off';
@@ -260,6 +257,10 @@ export function createMailbox({
       }
     }
 
+    // Without an app there is no events worker to run the handler, and the
+    // server accepts the subscription anyway, so check here.
+    if (!getPuter().appID) return enterForeground('No app identity is available here.');
+
     try {
       return await subscribeAndScan();
     } catch (err) {
@@ -279,7 +280,6 @@ export function createMailbox({
           return status();
         }
       }
-      if (code === 'invalid_targets') return enterForeground('No app identity is available here.');
       // The consent check happens at subscribe, so this surfaces here rather
       // than out of perms.request.
       if (code === 'events_background_consent_required') {
diff --git a/src/calendar/src/workers/mail-handler.js b/src/calendar/src/workers/mail-handler.js
index 448df6b84..dc2b6ed2c 100644
--- a/src/calendar/src/workers/mail-handler.js
+++ b/src/calendar/src/workers/mail-handler.js
@@ -564,7 +564,10 @@ async function calendarMailHandler({ event, ctx, user, fetch, ack }) {
     if (n % 20 === 0) await trimRecords();
   } catch (err) {
     if (recordWritten) return; // the record landed — ack, don't retry
-    if (isTransientError(err)) throw err; // let the lease retry
+    // Only an error marked temporary is retried; any other throw drops the event.
+    if (isTransientError(err)) {
+      throw Object.assign(new Error((err && err.message) || String(err)), { retry: true, cause: err });
+    }
     // Never terminal: anything else the handler can't use is ignored.
     try {
       await markSeen();
diff --git a/src/calendar/tests/mail-handler.test.js b/src/calendar/tests/mail-handler.test.js
index 30f60b5ba..43257a847 100644
--- a/src/calendar/tests/mail-handler.test.js
+++ b/src/calendar/tests/mail-handler.test.js
@@ -307,11 +307,11 @@ describe('mail-handler: non-calendar mail and daily/scan gaps', () => {
     expect([...kv.map.keys()].some((k) => k.startsWith('cal:mail:seen:'))).toBe(true);
   });
 
-  it('a transient `get` failure (5xx) is rethrown so the lease retries, and nothing is marked seen', async () => {
+  it('a transient `get` failure (5xx) is rethrown with retry: true, and nothing is marked seen', async () => {
     const kv = makeKv();
     const id = makeId();
     const user = makeUser({ kv, getErr: Object.assign(new Error('server exploded'), { code: 500 }) });
-    await expect(run(loadHandler(), user, addEvent(id))).rejects.toThrow();
+    await expect(run(loadHandler(), user, addEvent(id))).rejects.toMatchObject({ retry: true, message: 'server exploded' });
     expect([...kv.map.keys()].some((k) => k.startsWith('cal:mail:seen:'))).toBe(false);
   });
 
diff --git a/src/calendar/tests/mailbox.test.js b/src/calendar/tests/mailbox.test.js
index c6290d592..cf98fb1c8 100644
--- a/src/calendar/tests/mailbox.test.js
+++ b/src/calendar/tests/mailbox.test.js
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ describe('mailbox: available()', () => {
 });
 
 describe('mailbox: connect() happy path', () => {
-  it('sends one batched perms request, then onPersistent with targets:[worker]', async () => {
+  it('sends one batched perms request, then a queue onPersistent', async () => {
     const { mailbox, kv, puter } = makeMailbox();
     const status = await mailbox.connect();
 
@@ -107,10 +107,11 @@ describe('mailbox: connect() happy path', () => {
     expect(puter.events.onPersistent).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(puter.events.onPersistent.mock.calls[0][0]).toMatchObject({
       subject: MAIL_SUBJECT,
-      delivery: 'single',
-      targets: ['worker'],
+      queue: true,
       handlerName: HANDLER_NAME,
     });
+    expect(puter.events.onPersistent.mock.calls[0][0]).not.toHaveProperty('targets');
+    expect(puter.events.onPersistent.mock.calls[0][0]).not.toHaveProperty('delivery');
     expect(status.mode).toBe('background');
     expect(status.state).toBe('ok');
     expect(status.subId).toBe('sub-1');
@@ -158,13 +159,14 @@ describe('mailbox: connect() error mapping', () => {
     expect(status.lastError).toMatch(/full Puter account/i);
   });
 
-  it('invalid_targets (no app identity) -> foreground mode', async () => {
-    const err = Object.assign(new Error('no'), { code: 'invalid_targets' });
-    const puter = makePuter({ events: { onPersistent: vi.fn(async () => { throw err; }) } });
+  it('no app identity -> foreground mode, without subscribing', async () => {
+    const puter = makePuter();
+    delete puter.appID;
     const { mailbox } = makeMailbox({ puter });
     const status = await mailbox.connect();
     expect(status.mode).toBe('foreground');
     expect(status.state).toBe('foreground');
+    expect(puter.events.onPersistent).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
   // puter.perms.request RESOLVES falsy on denial — it does not throw. Modelling