diff --git a/connito/shared/config.py b/connito/shared/config.py
index 6b34a5a..a4f00f7 100644
--- a/connito/shared/config.py
+++ b/connito/shared/config.py
@@ -362,6 +362,14 @@ class ValidatorCheckpointCfg(CheckpointCfg):
     cleanup_stale_temporary_checkpoints: bool = True
     miner_submission_max_age_cycles: PositiveFloat = 1.5
     miner_submission_archive_max_files: PositiveInt = 500
+    # Maximum number of UIDs that may sit in `Round.downloaded_pool` waiting
+    # for bg-eval to pick them up before bg-download stops fetching new
+    # checkpoints. Without this cap, bg-download will happily pull every
+    # miner's shard onto disk even when bg-eval is many minutes behind, which
+    # wastes HF bandwidth and (more importantly) inflates the on-disk backlog
+    # the cycle-tail prune has to tear down. Re-checked every poll so the cap
+    # self-clears once eval drains the queue.
+    download_pending_eval_cap: PositiveInt = 10
 
 
 class DhtCfg(BaseConfig):
diff --git a/connito/validator/background_download_worker.py b/connito/validator/background_download_worker.py
index 70130d8..944eefd 100644
--- a/connito/validator/background_download_worker.py
+++ b/connito/validator/background_download_worker.py
@@ -39,15 +39,6 @@
 
 logger = structlog.get_logger(__name__)
 
-# Maximum number of UIDs that may sit in `Round.downloaded_pool` waiting
-# for bg-eval to pick them up before bg-download stops fetching new
-# checkpoints. Without this cap, bg-download will happily pull every
-# miner's shard onto disk even when bg-eval is many minutes behind, which
-# wastes HF bandwidth and (more importantly) inflates the on-disk backlog
-# the cycle-tail prune has to tear down. Re-checked every poll so the cap
-# self-clears once eval drains the queue.
-DOWNLOAD_PENDING_EVAL_CAP = 10
-
 
 class BackgroundDownloadWorker(threading.Thread):
     def __init__(
@@ -130,11 +121,12 @@ async def _loop(self) -> None:
                     continue
 
                 # Backpressure on bg-eval: stop pulling more checkpoints
-                # while bg-eval already has DOWNLOAD_PENDING_EVAL_CAP+ UIDs
+                # while bg-eval already has download_pending_eval_cap+ UIDs
                 # queued. Counted under Round's lock so a concurrent
                 # publish/pop can't skew the read.
+                pending_eval_cap = self.config.ckpt.download_pending_eval_cap
                 pending_eval = round_obj.downloaded_pending_eval_count()
-                if pending_eval > DOWNLOAD_PENDING_EVAL_CAP:
+                if pending_eval > pending_eval_cap:
                     # Log once on the rising edge into the cap; stay quiet
                     # until a successful download resets idle_ticks (same
                     # pattern as the "no pending targets" branch below).
@@ -142,7 +134,7 @@ async def _loop(self) -> None:
                         logger.info(
                             "bg-download: pausing — eval backlog above cap",
                             pending_eval=pending_eval,
-                            cap=DOWNLOAD_PENDING_EVAL_CAP,
+                            cap=pending_eval_cap,
                             round_id=getattr(round_obj, "round_id", None),
                         )
                     idle_ticks += 1