diff --git a/core/dr-catalog/src/face_shard.rs b/core/dr-catalog/src/face_shard.rs
index ca20cdb..3bd52df 100644
--- a/core/dr-catalog/src/face_shard.rs
+++ b/core/dr-catalog/src/face_shard.rs
@@ -178,6 +178,67 @@ impl FaceShardStore {
             .flatten()
     }
 
+    /// The other pipelines this file is held under that share `model_id`'s
+    /// embedder — the generations a put of `model_id` may supersede.
+    fn siblings(&self, file_id: u64, model_id: &str) -> Vec<String> {
+        let mut stmt = match self.index.prepare(&format!(
+            "SELECT model_id FROM entries
+              WHERE file_id = ?1 AND model_id != ?2 AND {} = ?3",
+            crate::faces::embedder_sql("model_id")
+        )) {
+            Ok(s) => s,
+            Err(_) => return Vec::new(),
+        };
+        stmt.query_map(
+            rusqlite::params![
+                file_id as i64,
+                model_id,
+                crate::faces::embedder_of(model_id)
+            ],
+            |r| r.get::<_, String>(0),
+        )
+        .map(|rows| rows.filter_map(|r| r.ok()).collect())
+        .unwrap_or_default()
+    }
+
+    /// Whether a pass this file is already held under outranks `model_id`,
+    /// so a put of `model_id` would add a generation nobody would adopt.
+    pub fn outranked(&self, file_id: u64, model_id: &str) -> bool {
+        use dr_types::FaceDetector;
+        let Some(incoming) = FaceDetector::for_model_id(model_id) else {
+            return false;
+        };
+        self.siblings(file_id, model_id)
+            .iter()
+            .filter_map(|m| FaceDetector::for_model_id(m))
+            .any(|held| held.outranks(incoming))
+    }
+
+    /// Forget the index entries for generations of this file that `model_id`
+    /// outranks. The bytes stay where they are — a sealed shard is
+    /// immutable — but the store stops offering them, and a later export or
+    /// merge writes nothing for them again.
+    fn supersede(&self, file_id: u64, model_id: &str) -> Result<(), CatalogError> {
+        use dr_types::FaceDetector;
+        let Some(incoming) = FaceDetector::for_model_id(model_id) else {
+            return Ok(());
+        };
+        for held in self.siblings(file_id, model_id) {
+            let weaker = FaceDetector::for_model_id(&held).is_some_and(|h| incoming.outranks(h));
+            if weaker {
+                self.index.execute(
+                    "DELETE FROM entries WHERE file_id = ?1 AND model_id = ?2",
+                    rusqlite::params![file_id as i64, held],
+                )?;
+                self.index.execute(
+                    "DELETE FROM faces_meta WHERE file_id = ?1 AND model_id = ?2",
+                    rusqlite::params![file_id as i64, held],
+                )?;
+            }
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     pub fn contains(&self, file_id: u64, model_id: &str) -> bool {
         self.index
             .query_row(
@@ -233,6 +294,15 @@ impl FaceShardStore {
         faces: &[SharedFace],
         indexed_at: Option<i64>,
     ) -> Result<u32, CatalogError> {
+        // One generation per image per embedder. A store carried every pass
+        // — 24,123 entries for 19,089 images on the reference library, a
+        // third of its 293 MB — and only the strongest was ever adopted.
+        // A weaker pass arriving after a stronger one is not written; a
+        // stronger one arriving retires the weaker from the index.
+        if self.outranked(file_id, model_id) {
+            return Ok(0);
+        }
+        self.supersede(file_id, model_id)?;
         let incoming = faces
             .iter()
             .map(|f| BYTES_PER_FACE + if f.crop.is_empty() { 0 } else { BYTES_PER_CROP })
@@ -494,7 +564,8 @@ impl FaceShardStore {
 
         let mut adopted = 0;
         for (file_id, model_id, _found, edge, indexed_at) in images {
-            if self.contains(file_id as u64, &model_id) {
+            if self.contains(file_id as u64, &model_id) || self.outranked(file_id as u64, &model_id)
+            {
                 continue;
             }
             let mut fq = src.prepare(&format!(
@@ -825,8 +896,21 @@ pub fn import_from_shards(
         })?
         .collect::<Result<_, _>>()?;
 
+    /// Images per write transaction. Large enough that fourteen thousand
+    /// adoptions are a hundred and forty commits rather than fourteen
+    /// thousand; small enough that a read on the UI thread, queued behind
+    /// the lock, waits a fraction of a second and not the whole import.
+    const CHUNK: usize = 100;
+
     let mut adopted = 0;
+    let mut tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    let mut in_chunk = 0;
     for (file_id, image_id, local) in candidates {
+        if in_chunk == CHUNK {
+            tx.commit()?;
+            tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+            in_chunk = 0;
+        }
         let Some(held) = store.held_model(file_id as u64, model_id) else {
             continue;
         };
@@ -885,8 +969,8 @@ pub fn import_from_shards(
             })
             .collect();
 
-        crate::faces::record_detections(
-            conn,
+        crate::faces::record_detections_within(
+            &tx,
             dr_types::ImageId(image_id as u64),
             &held,
             edge,
@@ -902,14 +986,14 @@ pub fn import_from_shards(
         // way and the export sees nothing to send.
         match store.indexed_at(file_id as u64, &held) {
             Some(theirs) => {
-                conn.execute(
+                tx.execute(
                     "UPDATE face_index SET indexed_at = ?3
                       WHERE image_id = ?1 AND model_id = ?2",
                     rusqlite::params![image_id, held, theirs],
                 )?;
             }
             None => {
-                let ours: i64 = conn.query_row(
+                let ours: i64 = tx.query_row(
                     "SELECT indexed_at FROM face_index WHERE image_id = ?1 AND model_id = ?2",
                     rusqlite::params![image_id, held],
                     |r| r.get(0),
@@ -918,7 +1002,9 @@ pub fn import_from_shards(
             }
         }
         adopted += 1;
+        in_chunk += 1;
     }
+    tx.commit()?;
     Ok(adopted)
 }
 
@@ -1154,6 +1240,32 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!s.contains(1, "lvface"));
     }
 
+    /// One generation per image per embedder: a stronger detector's pass
+    /// retires a weaker one from the index, and a weaker pass arriving after
+    /// a stronger is not written at all.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_stronger_pass_retires_a_weaker_one_and_a_weaker_is_not_added() {
+        let dir = tempdir();
+        let mut s = FaceShardStore::open(&dir).unwrap();
+        s.put_image(1, "w600k_mbf", 1024, &[face(1, 1)]).unwrap();
+        s.put_image(1, "scrfd_10g+w600k_mbf", 1024, &[face(1, 2)])
+            .unwrap();
+        assert!(s.contains(1, "scrfd_10g+w600k_mbf"));
+        assert!(!s.contains(1, "w600k_mbf"), "the fast pass was not retired");
+        assert_eq!(s.len(), 1, "faces_meta still counts the retired pass");
+
+        s.put_image(1, "scrfd_2.5g+w600k_mbf", 1024, &[face(1, 3)])
+            .unwrap();
+        assert!(
+            !s.contains(1, "scrfd_2.5g+w600k_mbf"),
+            "a weaker pass was added"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            s.held_model(1, "w600k_mbf").as_deref(),
+            Some("scrfd_10g+w600k_mbf")
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn re_storing_an_image_replaces_rather_than_doubling_it() {
         let dir = tempdir();
diff --git a/core/dr-catalog/src/faces.rs b/core/dr-catalog/src/faces.rs
index cb2af93..0c094ab 100644
--- a/core/dr-catalog/src/faces.rs
+++ b/core/dr-catalog/src/faces.rs
@@ -279,7 +279,25 @@ pub fn record_detections(
     faces: &[DetectedFace],
 ) -> Result<Vec<FaceId>, CatalogError> {
     let tx = conn.unchecked_transaction()?;
+    let ids = record_detections_within(&tx, image_id, model_id, source_edge, faces)?;
+    tx.commit()?;
+    Ok(ids)
+}
 
+/// [`record_detections`] inside a transaction the caller owns.
+///
+/// For a caller recording many images at once — the shard import adopts
+/// fourteen thousand in one pass — where a commit per image is fourteen
+/// thousand fsyncs and fourteen thousand turns at the write lock that every
+/// read on the UI thread queues behind. `unchecked_transaction` cannot nest,
+/// so the batching has to be offered here rather than wrapped from above.
+pub fn record_detections_within(
+    tx: &Connection,
+    image_id: ImageId,
+    model_id: &str,
+    source_edge: u32,
+    faces: &[DetectedFace],
+) -> Result<Vec<FaceId>, CatalogError> {
     // Everything the old faces knew, so it can be carried across the
     // replacement. Read only when there is something to carry it onto: a
     // pass that found nothing has nothing to match, and decoding a vector
@@ -287,7 +305,7 @@ pub fn record_detections(
     let prior = if faces.is_empty() {
         Vec::new()
     } else {
-        read_priors(&tx, image_id)?
+        read_priors(tx, image_id)?
     };
 
     tx.execute("DELETE FROM faces WHERE image_id = ?1", [image_id.0 as i64])?;
@@ -389,7 +407,6 @@ pub fn record_detections(
         ],
     )?;
 
-    tx.commit()?;
     Ok(ids)
 }