diff --git a/framework/py/flwr/supercore/corestate/sql_corestate.py b/framework/py/flwr/supercore/corestate/sql_corestate.py
index 59d5ad706004..6d6192f1f409 100644
--- a/framework/py/flwr/supercore/corestate/sql_corestate.py
+++ b/framework/py/flwr/supercore/corestate/sql_corestate.py
@@ -16,10 +16,12 @@
 
 
 import secrets
+import threading
+from logging import DEBUG
 from typing import cast
 
 from sqlalchemy import MetaData, text
-from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError
+from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError, OperationalError
 
 from flwr.common import now
 from flwr.common.constant import (
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@
     HEARTBEAT_DEFAULT_INTERVAL,
     HEARTBEAT_PATIENCE,
 )
+from flwr.common.logger import log
 from flwr.supercore.sql_mixin import SqlMixin
 from flwr.supercore.state.schema.corestate_tables import create_corestate_metadata
 from flwr.supercore.utils import int64_to_uint64, uint64_to_int64
@@ -38,9 +41,13 @@
 class SqlCoreState(CoreState, SqlMixin):
     """SQLAlchemy-based CoreState implementation."""
 
+    _TOKEN_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_SECONDS = 0.5
+
     def __init__(self, database_path: str, object_store: ObjectStore) -> None:
         super().__init__(database_path)
         self._object_store = object_store
+        self._cleanup_lock = threading.Lock()
+        self._last_cleanup_timestamp = 0.0
 
     @property
     def object_store(self) -> ObjectStore:
@@ -123,22 +130,60 @@ def _cleanup_expired_tokens(self) -> None:
         Subclasses can override `_on_tokens_expired` to add custom cleanup logic.
         """
         current = now().timestamp()
-
-        with self.session() as session:
-            # Delete expired tokens and get their run_ids and active_until timestamps
-            query = """
-                DELETE FROM token_store
-                WHERE active_until < :current
-                RETURNING run_id, active_until;
-            """
-            rows = session.execute(text(query), {"current": current}).mappings().all()
-            expired_records = [
-                (int64_to_uint64(row["run_id"]), row["active_until"]) for row in rows
-            ]
-
-            # Hook for subclasses
-            if expired_records:
-                self._on_tokens_expired(expired_records)
+        if (
+            current - self._last_cleanup_timestamp
+            < self._TOKEN_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_SECONDS
+        ):
+            return
+
+        with self._cleanup_lock:
+            current = now().timestamp()
+            if (
+                current - self._last_cleanup_timestamp
+                < self._TOKEN_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_SECONDS
+            ):
+                return
+
+            # Best-effort cleanup throttling: set timestamp before cleanup so lock
+            # contention does not cause every request to retry this write path.
+            self._last_cleanup_timestamp = current
+            try:
+                # Super cheap read-first check to avoid entering DELETE write path when
+                # there are no expired tokens.
+                has_expired_rows = self.query(
+                    "SELECT 1 FROM token_store WHERE active_until < :current LIMIT 1;",
+                    {"current": current},
+                )
+                if not has_expired_rows:
+                    return
+
+                with self.session() as session:
+                    # Delete expired tokens and get their run_ids and active_until
+                    # timestamps.
+                    query = """
+                        DELETE FROM token_store
+                        WHERE active_until < :current
+                        RETURNING run_id, active_until;
+                    """
+                    rows = (
+                        session.execute(text(query), {"current": current})
+                        .mappings()
+                        .all()
+                    )
+                    expired_records = [
+                        (int64_to_uint64(row["run_id"]), row["active_until"])
+                        for row in rows
+                    ]
+                    # Hook for subclasses
+                    if expired_records:
+                        self._on_tokens_expired(expired_records)
+            except OperationalError:
+                # Skip cleanup and let the next cleanup tick retry.
+                log(
+                    DEBUG,
+                    "Skipping token cleanup due to SQLite lock contention",
+                )
+                return
 
     def _on_tokens_expired(self, expired_records: list[tuple[int, float]]) -> None:
         """Handle cleanup of expired tokens.