diff --git a/src/activities/compute_cron_wait.rs b/src/activities/compute_cron_wait.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..531312f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/activities/compute_cron_wait.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+//! ComputeCronWait activity - computes remaining seconds until a target timestamp
+//!
+//! This activity is called by the WAIT_SCHEDULE orchestration node with a
+//! pre-captured target timestamp (the next cron tick). It computes
+//! `max(0, target - now())` at actual execution time, which correctly accounts
+//! for any delay between `df.start()` and when the background worker processes
+//! the WAIT_SCHEDULE node.
+//!
+//! Using an activity for this I/O (reading the wall clock) keeps the
+//! orchestration itself deterministic, as required by duroxide replay safety.
+
+use chrono::{DateTime, Utc};
+use duroxide::ActivityContext;
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+
+/// Activity name for registration and scheduling
+pub const NAME: &str = "pg_durable::activity::compute-cron-wait";
+
+/// Input for the compute_cron_wait activity
+#[derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+pub struct ComputeCronWaitInput {
+    /// RFC 3339 timestamp of the next cron tick, captured at DSL time
+    pub target_timestamp: String,
+    /// Original cron expression, used only for tracing
+    pub cron_expr: String,
+}
+
+/// Output for the compute_cron_wait activity
+#[derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+pub struct ComputeCronWaitOutput {
+    /// Seconds remaining until the target timestamp (clamped to 0 if in the past)
+    pub wait_seconds: u64,
+}
+
+/// Compute the number of seconds to wait until the target timestamp.
+///
+/// The target was captured at DSL time; the actual remaining duration is
+/// measured here, at activity-execution time, so the timer is always correct
+/// even if there was a delay between `df.start()` and when the worker ran.
+pub async fn execute(ctx: ActivityContext, input_json: String) -> Result<String, String> {
+    let input: ComputeCronWaitInput = serde_json::from_str(&input_json)
+        .map_err(|e| format!("Invalid compute_cron_wait input: {e}"))?;
+
+    let target: DateTime<Utc> = input
+        .target_timestamp
+        .parse()
+        .map_err(|e| format!("Invalid target_timestamp '{}' (expected RFC 3339): {e}", input.target_timestamp))?;
+
+    let now = Utc::now();
+    let wait_seconds = (target - now).num_seconds().max(0) as u64;
+
+    ctx.trace_info(format!(
+        "compute_cron_wait: cron='{}', target={}, now={}, wait={}s",
+        input.cron_expr,
+        input.target_timestamp,
+        now.to_rfc3339(),
+        wait_seconds
+    ));
+
+    let output = ComputeCronWaitOutput { wait_seconds };
+    serde_json::to_string(&output).map_err(|e| format!("Failed to serialize output: {e}"))
+}
diff --git a/src/activities/mod.rs b/src/activities/mod.rs
index ae1a7db0..b845a8e7 100644
--- a/src/activities/mod.rs
+++ b/src/activities/mod.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 //! Each activity is in its own file with a co-located NAME constant.
 //! This enables IDE navigation (F12 jumps to implementation).
 
+pub mod compute_cron_wait;
 pub mod execute_http;
 pub mod execute_sql;
 pub mod load_function_graph;
diff --git a/src/dsl.rs b/src/dsl.rs
index c8011fa3..e7615e00 100644
--- a/src/dsl.rs
+++ b/src/dsl.rs
@@ -257,8 +257,12 @@ pub fn sleep(seconds: i64) -> String {
 }
 
 /// Creates a wait-for-schedule node that waits until the next cron match.
-/// The wait duration is computed at DSL time (when this function is called)
-/// to ensure deterministic replay in the orchestration.
+/// The cron expression is validated eagerly at DSL time to fail fast on
+/// invalid expressions, and the target timestamp of the next cron tick is
+/// captured now so the orchestration remains deterministic. The actual
+/// remaining wait is computed at execution time inside the `compute_cron_wait`
+/// activity, which correctly accounts for any delay between `df.start()` and
+/// when the background worker processes this node.
 #[pg_extern(schema = "df")]
 pub fn wait_for_schedule(cron_expr: &str) -> String {
     let cron_with_seconds = format!("0 {cron_expr}");
@@ -267,19 +271,22 @@ pub fn wait_for_schedule(cron_expr: &str) -> String {
         Err(e) => pgrx::error!("Invalid cron expression '{}': {}", cron_expr, e),
     };
 
-    // Compute wait duration NOW (at DSL time) for deterministic orchestration replay
-    let now = Utc::now();
+    // Compute the target timestamp at DSL time so it is stable across replays.
+    // The actual wait duration is computed at execution time by the
+    // compute_cron_wait activity to avoid waking too early when there is a
+    // delay between df.start() and when the background worker runs this node.
     let next = match schedule.upcoming(Utc).next() {
         Some(t) => t,
         None => pgrx::error!("No upcoming schedule found for '{}'", cron_expr),
     };
 
-    let duration_secs = (next - now).num_seconds().max(0) as u64;
+    // RFC 3339 format is stored so the compute_cron_wait activity can parse it
+    // back reliably with chrono::DateTime::parse_from_rfc3339().
+    let target_timestamp = next.to_rfc3339();
 
-    // Store pre-computed seconds, not the cron expression
     let config = serde_json::json!({
         "cron_expr": cron_expr,
-        "wait_seconds": duration_secs
+        "target_timestamp": target_timestamp
     });
 
     Durofut {
diff --git a/src/explain.rs b/src/explain.rs
index ad974cb6..21042181 100644
--- a/src/explain.rs
+++ b/src/explain.rs
@@ -643,18 +643,18 @@ fn format_node_display(node: &ExplainNode) -> String {
             format!("SLEEP {seconds}s{name_suffix}")
         }
         "WAIT_SCHEDULE" => {
-            // Parse config to get cron expression and wait seconds
-            let (cron, secs) = node
+            // Parse config to get cron expression and target timestamp
+            let (cron, target) = node
                 .query
                 .as_ref()
                 .and_then(|q| serde_json::from_str::<serde_json::Value>(q).ok())
                 .map(|cfg| {
                     let c = cfg["cron_expr"].as_str().unwrap_or("?").to_string();
-                    let s = cfg["wait_seconds"].as_u64().unwrap_or(0);
-                    (c, s)
+                    let t = cfg["target_timestamp"].as_str().unwrap_or("?").to_string();
+                    (c, t)
                 })
-                .unwrap_or_else(|| ("?".to_string(), 0));
-            format!("WAIT '{cron}' ({secs}s){name_suffix}")
+                .unwrap_or_else(|| ("?".to_string(), "?".to_string()));
+            format!("WAIT '{cron}' (until {target}){name_suffix}")
         }
         "HTTP" => {
             // Parse config to get method and URL
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index be84c0d4..f65f8342 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -972,6 +972,22 @@ mod tests {
         let json = crate::dsl::wait_for_schedule("*/5 * * * *");
         let fut = Durofut::from_json(&json);
         assert_eq!(fut.node_type, "WAIT_SCHEDULE");
+        // Config must contain target_timestamp (RFC 3339), not a pre-computed wait_seconds
+        let config: serde_json::Value =
+            serde_json::from_str(fut.query.as_ref().expect("query must be set")).unwrap();
+        assert!(
+            config.get("target_timestamp").is_some(),
+            "config should have target_timestamp"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            config.get("wait_seconds").is_none(),
+            "config must not have pre-computed wait_seconds"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            config["cron_expr"].as_str().unwrap(),
+            "*/5 * * * *",
+            "cron_expr should be preserved"
+        );
     }
 
     #[pg_test]
diff --git a/src/orchestrations/execute_function_graph.rs b/src/orchestrations/execute_function_graph.rs
index 67183d67..8cd7f3de 100644
--- a/src/orchestrations/execute_function_graph.rs
+++ b/src/orchestrations/execute_function_graph.rs
@@ -412,16 +412,37 @@ async fn execute_wait_schedule_node(
         .as_ref()
         .ok_or_else(|| format!("WAIT_SCHEDULE node {node_id} has no config"))?;
 
-    // Parse pre-computed config from DSL time
     let config: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(config_str)
         .map_err(|e| format!("Invalid WAIT_SCHEDULE config: {e}"))?;
 
-    let wait_seconds = config["wait_seconds"]
-        .as_u64()
-        .ok_or_else(|| "WAIT_SCHEDULE missing wait_seconds".to_string())?;
+    let target_timestamp = config["target_timestamp"]
+        .as_str()
+        .ok_or_else(|| "WAIT_SCHEDULE missing target_timestamp".to_string())?;
 
     let cron_expr = config["cron_expr"].as_str().unwrap_or("?");
 
+    // Delegate wall-clock I/O to an activity so the orchestration stays
+    // deterministic.  The activity computes max(0, target - now()) at actual
+    // execution time, correctly accounting for any delay since df.start().
+    let activity_input = serde_json::json!({
+        "target_timestamp": target_timestamp,
+        "cron_expr": cron_expr,
+    });
+
+    let result_json = ctx
+        .schedule_activity(
+            activities::compute_cron_wait::NAME,
+            activity_input.to_string(),
+        )
+        .await?;
+
+    let result: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&result_json)
+        .map_err(|e| format!("Invalid compute_cron_wait output: {e}"))?;
+
+    let wait_seconds = result["wait_seconds"]
+        .as_u64()
+        .ok_or_else(|| "compute_cron_wait output missing wait_seconds".to_string())?;
+
     ctx.trace_info(format!(
         "Waiting {wait_seconds} seconds until schedule: {cron_expr}"
     ));
diff --git a/src/registry.rs b/src/registry.rs
index bb0a57ee..04ee28eb 100644
--- a/src/registry.rs
+++ b/src/registry.rs
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ pub fn create_activity_registry(pool: Arc<PgPool>, semaphore: Arc<Semaphore>) ->
             let pool = http_pool.clone();
             async move { activities::execute_http::execute(ctx, pool, config_json).await }
         })
+        .register(activities::compute_cron_wait::NAME, |ctx: ActivityContext, input_json: String| {
+            async move { activities::compute_cron_wait::execute(ctx, input_json).await }
+        })
         .build()
 }