diff --git a/src/communication/websocket_manager.py b/src/communication/websocket_manager.py
index 4c5270d1..a6695a65 100644
--- a/src/communication/websocket_manager.py
+++ b/src/communication/websocket_manager.py
@@ -280,6 +280,7 @@ async def connect(
         client_id: Optional[str] = None,
         subprotocol: Optional[str] = None,
         channel: Optional[str] = None,
+        limits_reserved: bool = False,
     ) -> bool:
         """
         Accept new WebSocket connection.
@@ -300,6 +301,15 @@ async def connect(
                 ``juniper_canopy_websocket_messages_total{channel, type}``.
                 Pass ``None`` (default) on the legacy ``/ws`` compat route
                 to skip metric emission and preserve closed-set discipline.
+            limits_reserved: True when the caller has already incremented the
+                per-IP/per-session counters via ``check_connection_limits``.
+                When the global cap rejects here, those reservations must be
+                released because ``disconnect()`` only decrements counters for
+                websockets that were added to ``active_connections``.
+
+        Returns:
+            True when the websocket was accepted and tracked; False when the
+            global cap rejected the connection.
 
         Example:
             await websocket_manager.connect(websocket, client_id='dashboard-1')
@@ -323,6 +333,9 @@ async def connect(
             else:
                 close_ws = False
         if close_ws:
+            if limits_reserved:
+                self._decrement_ip_count(websocket)
+                self._decrement_session_count(websocket)
             await websocket.close(code=1013, reason="Max connections reached")
             return False
 
diff --git a/src/tests/unit/test_ws_connection_caps.py b/src/tests/unit/test_ws_connection_caps.py
index 51840414..78903a50 100644
--- a/src/tests/unit/test_ws_connection_caps.py
+++ b/src/tests/unit/test_ws_connection_caps.py
@@ -168,6 +168,31 @@ async def test_global_cap_rejects_n_plus_1_stackwide(self):
         assert mgr.get_connection_count() == 3
         assert ws4 not in mgr.active_connections
 
+    async def test_global_reject_after_reserved_limits_releases_counters(self):
+        """A global-cap rejection must not leak per-IP or per-session slots.
+
+        FastAPI endpoints reserve per-IP/per-session capacity via
+        ``check_connection_limits`` before calling ``connect()``, where the
+        global stack-wide cap is enforced. If that later global check rejects,
+        the already-reserved slots must be released or future legitimate
+        connections can be blocked by stale counters.
+        """
+        mgr = WebSocketManager()
+        mgr.max_connections = 1
+
+        admitted = _make_ws(ip="10.0.0.1", session="sess-A")
+        assert mgr.check_connection_limits(admitted, max_per_ip=5, max_per_session=5) is True
+        assert await mgr.connect(admitted, limits_reserved=True) is True
+
+        rejected = _make_ws(ip="10.0.0.2", session="sess-B")
+        assert mgr.check_connection_limits(rejected, max_per_ip=5, max_per_session=5) is True
+        assert await mgr.connect(rejected, limits_reserved=True) is False
+
+        rejected.close.assert_awaited_once_with(code=1013, reason="Max connections reached")
+        assert rejected not in mgr.active_connections
+        assert mgr._per_ip_counts == {"10.0.0.1": 1}
+        assert mgr._per_session_counts == {"sess-A": 1}
+        
     async def test_global_cap_rejection_releases_reserved_session_slots(self):
         """A connect-time global-cap reject must not strand per-IP/session slots."""
         mgr = WebSocketManager()