diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c602e199..78abe177 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ codex-multi-auth doctor --json
 
 ## Release Notes
 
-- Current prerelease: [docs/releases/v2.3.0-beta.0.md](docs/releases/v2.3.0-beta.0.md) — install via `npm i -g codex-multi-auth@beta`
+- Current prerelease: [docs/releases/v2.3.0-beta.1.md](docs/releases/v2.3.0-beta.1.md) — install via `npm i -g codex-multi-auth@beta`
 - Current stable: [docs/releases/v2.2.2.md](docs/releases/v2.2.2.md) — install via `npm i -g codex-multi-auth`
 - Previous stable: [docs/releases/v2.2.1.md](docs/releases/v2.2.1.md)
 - Previous stable: [docs/releases/v2.2.0.md](docs/releases/v2.2.0.md)
diff --git a/lib/recovery/storage.ts b/lib/recovery/storage.ts
index 4e04a3f4..68ff20f7 100644
--- a/lib/recovery/storage.ts
+++ b/lib/recovery/storage.ts
@@ -672,7 +672,7 @@ export function findEmptyMessageByIndex(
 		if (idx < 0 || idx >= messages.length) continue;
 
 		const targetMsg = messages[idx];
-		if (!targetMsg) continue;
+		if (!targetMsg || targetMsg.role !== "assistant") continue;
 
 		if (!messageHasContent(targetMsg.id)) {
 			return targetMsg.id;
diff --git a/lib/rotation.ts b/lib/rotation.ts
index ca41b075..50aae032 100644
--- a/lib/rotation.ts
+++ b/lib/rotation.ts
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ export interface HybridSelectionConfig {
 	healthWeight: number;
 	/** Weight for token count (default: 5) */
 	tokenWeight: number;
-	/** Weight for freshness/last used (default: 0.1) */
+	/** Weight for freshness/last used (default: 2) */
 	freshnessWeight: number;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/storage/flagged-storage.ts b/lib/storage/flagged-storage.ts
index f5e55c26..ccdb128f 100644
--- a/lib/storage/flagged-storage.ts
+++ b/lib/storage/flagged-storage.ts
@@ -46,12 +46,14 @@ export function normalizeFlaggedStorage(
 			value === "initial" ||
 			value === "rotation" ||
 			value === "best" ||
-			value === "restore";
+			value === "restore" ||
+			value === "manual";
 		const isCooldownReason = (
 			value: unknown,
 		): value is AccountMetadataV3["cooldownReason"] =>
 			value === "auth-failure" ||
 			value === "network-error" ||
+			value === "server-error" ||
 			value === "rate-limit";
 
 		let rateLimitResetTimes:
diff --git a/test/flagged-storage.test.ts b/test/flagged-storage.test.ts
index 51fa4262..73458cf0 100644
--- a/test/flagged-storage.test.ts
+++ b/test/flagged-storage.test.ts
@@ -28,4 +28,40 @@ describe("flagged storage helper", () => {
 		expect(result.accounts[0]?.refreshToken).toBe("token-1");
 		expect(result.accounts[0]?.lastError).toBe("oops");
 	});
+
+	it("preserves the 'manual' last switch reason on round-trip", () => {
+		const result = normalizeFlaggedStorage(
+			{
+				version: 1,
+				accounts: [
+					{
+						refreshToken: "token-1",
+						flaggedAt: 10,
+						lastSwitchReason: "manual",
+					},
+				],
+			},
+			{ isRecord, now: () => 99 },
+		);
+
+		expect(result.accounts[0]?.lastSwitchReason).toBe("manual");
+	});
+
+	it("preserves the 'server-error' cooldown reason on round-trip", () => {
+		const result = normalizeFlaggedStorage(
+			{
+				version: 1,
+				accounts: [
+					{
+						refreshToken: "token-1",
+						flaggedAt: 10,
+						cooldownReason: "server-error",
+					},
+				],
+			},
+			{ isRecord, now: () => 99 },
+		);
+
+		expect(result.accounts[0]?.cooldownReason).toBe("server-error");
+	});
 });
diff --git a/test/fs-retry.test.ts b/test/fs-retry.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7c089378
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fs-retry.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import {
+	FILE_RETRY_CODES,
+	shouldRetryFileOperation,
+} from "../lib/fs-retry.js";
+
+function errnoError(code: string): NodeJS.ErrnoException {
+	const error = new Error(code) as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+	error.code = code;
+	return error;
+}
+
+describe("shouldRetryFileOperation", () => {
+	it("treats every transient lock code as retryable", () => {
+		for (const code of ["EBUSY", "EPERM", "EAGAIN", "ENOTEMPTY", "EACCES"]) {
+			expect(shouldRetryFileOperation(errnoError(code)), code).toBe(true);
+			expect(FILE_RETRY_CODES.has(code), code).toBe(true);
+		}
+	});
+
+	it("does not retry non-transient errors", () => {
+		for (const code of ["ENOENT", "EISDIR", "EINVAL", "EROFS"]) {
+			expect(shouldRetryFileOperation(errnoError(code)), code).toBe(false);
+		}
+	});
+
+	it("returns false for non-errors and errors without a code", () => {
+		expect(shouldRetryFileOperation(undefined)).toBe(false);
+		expect(shouldRetryFileOperation(null)).toBe(false);
+		expect(shouldRetryFileOperation("EACCES")).toBe(false);
+		expect(shouldRetryFileOperation(new Error("no code"))).toBe(false);
+	});
+});