diff --git a/cluster.js b/cluster.js
index cec7f50b5..92fb13c22 100644
--- a/cluster.js
+++ b/cluster.js
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ process.title = 'iframely-cluster';
 
 GracefulCluster.start({
     log: sysUtils.log,
+    // When undefined, graceful-cluster falls back to os.cpus().length, which is
+    // the HOST node's vCPU count and ignores the container's CPU limit — forking
+    // far too many workers on large nodes (each loads ~1886 domains + Redis +
+    // Secrets Manager). Cap it via IFRAMELY_WORKERS_COUNT (see config.loader.js).
+    workersCount: CONFIG.CLUSTER_WORKERS_COUNT,
     shutdownTimeout: CONFIG.SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT,
     disableGraceful: CONFIG.DEBUG,
     restartOnTimeout: CONFIG.CLUSTER_WORKER_RESTART_ON_PERIOD,
diff --git a/config.loader.js b/config.loader.js
index 02569d6d7..5b2f12a92 100644
--- a/config.loader.js
+++ b/config.loader.js
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ globalConfig = globalConfig && globalConfig.default;
 //     REDIS_PORT_KEY          JSON key for port                (default: REDIS_PORT)
 //
 //   Cluster worker tuning
+//     IFRAMELY_WORKERS_COUNT              number of cluster workers (default: os.cpus().length)
+//                                         alias: IFRAMELY_WORKERS
 //     IFRAMELY_WORKER_MAX_MEMORY_MB       per-worker memory before restart, MB (default: 120)
 //     IFRAMELY_WORKER_RESTART_PERIOD_SEC  periodic worker restart interval, seconds (default: 28800)
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -113,4 +115,15 @@ if (process.env.IFRAMELY_WORKER_RESTART_PERIOD_SEC) {
     }
 }
 
+// Number of cluster workers. Without this, graceful-cluster uses os.cpus().length
+// (the HOST node's vCPU count), which on large nodes forks far more workers than
+// the container's CPU/memory can sustain -> OOMKilled. IFRAMELY_WORKERS is
+// accepted as an alias.
+if (process.env.IFRAMELY_WORKERS_COUNT || process.env.IFRAMELY_WORKERS) {
+    var workersCount = parseInt(process.env.IFRAMELY_WORKERS_COUNT || process.env.IFRAMELY_WORKERS, 10);
+    if (!isNaN(workersCount) && workersCount > 0) {
+        envOverrides.CLUSTER_WORKERS_COUNT = workersCount;
+    }
+}
+
 export default {...iframelyConfig, ...globalConfig, ...envOverrides};