diff --git a/backend/app/services/focus_service.py b/backend/app/services/focus_service.py
index 906ce0b6c..87eec7135 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/focus_service.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/focus_service.py
@@ -361,6 +361,10 @@ async def _upsert_focus_item_impl(
         await db.refresh(item)
     else:
         await db.flush()
+        # The caller may serialize this item before committing its outer
+        # transaction. Load database-generated timestamps first so async ORM
+        # attribute access cannot trigger an implicit lazy-load.
+        await db.refresh(item)
     return _serialize_focus_item(item)
 
 
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_focus_service.py b/backend/tests/test_focus_service.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8bff9de21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_focus_service.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock
+import uuid
+
+import pytest
+
+from app.services import focus_service
+
+
+class _Result:
+    def __init__(self, item):
+        self.item = item
+
+    def scalar_one_or_none(self):
+        return self.item
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_upsert_with_caller_session_refreshes_before_serializing(monkeypatch):
+    """Server-generated timestamps must be loaded inside the async context."""
+    item = SimpleNamespace(
+        title=None,
+        description="Previous description",
+        status="in_progress",
+        kind="normal",
+        source="user",
+        item_metadata={},
+        completed_at=None,
+    )
+    events: list[str] = []
+
+    async def flush():
+        events.append("flush")
+
+    async def refresh(value):
+        assert value is item
+        events.append("refresh")
+
+    session = SimpleNamespace(
+        execute=AsyncMock(return_value=_Result(item)),
+        flush=flush,
+        refresh=refresh,
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(focus_service, "_serialize_focus_item", lambda value: {"key": "system:okr_reports"})
+
+    result = await focus_service._upsert_focus_item_impl(
+        session,
+        uuid.uuid4(),
+        "system:okr_reports",
+        None,
+        "OKR reports",
+        "in_progress",
+        "system",
+        "trigger",
+        None,
+        should_commit=False,
+    )
+
+    assert result == {"key": "system:okr_reports"}
+    assert events == ["flush", "refresh"]