diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-hrx/ggml-hrx.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-hrx/ggml-hrx.cpp
index 705dcc54155a..67263e46332b 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-hrx/ggml-hrx.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-hrx/ggml-hrx.cpp
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include "runtime/prepared-command-program-cache.h"
 #include "runtime/transient-arena.h"
 
+#include <algorithm>
 #include <atomic>
 #include <cinttypes>
 #include <cstdio>
@@ -241,6 +242,14 @@ static void buffer_memset(ggml_backend_buffer_t buffer,
 // one dispatch queue, and the synchronize that follows completes them before the caller continues. The staging
 // buffer is kept per device (few distinct sizes) instead of being allocated per copy: per-copy allocate/release is
 // what libhrx's per-size pools retain (engine #669).
+// engine #856: the staging buffer is capped, and a larger copy goes through it in chunks. Sizing it to the largest
+// copy kept one host-mapped buffer the size of the largest weight (995 MiB on a 27B, usually the token embedding)
+// resident in GTT for the life of the process, only to stage the load. Each chunk is synchronized before the
+// buffer is reused, so the ordering of engine #696 is unchanged. The callers hold buffer_stream_mutex across all
+// chunks of one copy, so no other staged copy can reallocate the buffer between them. The buffer still never
+// shrinks: it stays at most kCopyStagingChunk per device for the life of the process, kept for reuse on purpose.
+static constexpr size_t kCopyStagingChunk = 64ull << 20;
+
 static bool ensure_copy_staging(ggml_backend_hrx_device_context * device, size_t size) {
     if (device->copy_staging_size >= size) {
         return true;
@@ -265,13 +274,21 @@ static bool ordered_upload(ggml_backend_hrx_device_context * device,
                            hrx_buffer_t                    destination,
                            size_t                          offset) {
     std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(device->buffer_stream_mutex);
-    if (!ensure_copy_staging(device, size)) {
+    const size_t                chunk = std::min(size, kCopyStagingChunk);
+    if (!ensure_copy_staging(device, chunk)) {
         return false;
     }
-    std::memcpy(device->copy_staging_mapped, data, size);
-    return HRX_CHECK(hrx_stream_copy_buffer(device->buffer_stream, device->copy_staging, 0, destination, offset,
-                                            size)) &&
-           HRX_CHECK(hrx_stream_synchronize(device->buffer_stream));
+    const auto * source = static_cast<const uint8_t *>(data);
+    for (size_t done = 0; done < size; done += chunk) {
+        const size_t n = std::min(chunk, size - done);
+        std::memcpy(device->copy_staging_mapped, source + done, n);
+        if (!HRX_CHECK(hrx_stream_copy_buffer(device->buffer_stream, device->copy_staging, 0, destination,
+                                              offset + done, n)) ||
+            !HRX_CHECK(hrx_stream_synchronize(device->buffer_stream))) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+    return true;
 }
 
 static bool ordered_download(ggml_backend_hrx_device_context * device,
@@ -280,16 +297,21 @@ static bool ordered_download(ggml_backend_hrx_device_context * device,
                              void *                          data,
                              size_t                          size) {
     std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(device->buffer_stream_mutex);
-    if (!ensure_copy_staging(device, size)) {
+    const size_t                chunk = std::min(size, kCopyStagingChunk);
+    if (!ensure_copy_staging(device, chunk)) {
         return false;
     }
-    const bool ok = HRX_CHECK(hrx_stream_copy_buffer(device->buffer_stream, source, offset, device->copy_staging, 0,
-                                                     size)) &&
-                    HRX_CHECK(hrx_stream_synchronize(device->buffer_stream));
-    if (ok) {
-        std::memcpy(data, device->copy_staging_mapped, size);
+    auto * destination = static_cast<uint8_t *>(data);
+    for (size_t done = 0; done < size; done += chunk) {
+        const size_t n = std::min(chunk, size - done);
+        if (!HRX_CHECK(hrx_stream_copy_buffer(device->buffer_stream, source, offset + done, device->copy_staging, 0,
+                                              n)) ||
+            !HRX_CHECK(hrx_stream_synchronize(device->buffer_stream))) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        std::memcpy(destination + done, device->copy_staging_mapped, n);
     }
-    return ok;
+    return true;
 }
 
 static void buffer_set(ggml_backend_buffer_t buffer,
diff --git a/tests/test-hrx-buffer.cpp b/tests/test-hrx-buffer.cpp
index e281a3199f09..8628b4a9e1f9 100644
--- a/tests/test-hrx-buffer.cpp
+++ b/tests/test-hrx-buffer.cpp
@@ -353,6 +353,50 @@ static void run_host_weight_cache_checks(ggml_backend_hrx_context * context) {
     REQUIRE(weight_stats.resident_bytes == 0);
 }
 
+// engine #856: a copy larger than the staging cap goes through the capped buffer in chunks. The bytes must arrive
+// intact across chunk edges (a non-multiple tail, a non-zero offset) and the staging buffer must stay at the cap
+// instead of growing to the copy size.
+// Copies through the capped staging buffer: exactly the cap, one byte over it, and two chunks plus a partial tail,
+// all at an unaligned offset. Each must arrive intact and leave the staging buffer at or below the cap.
+static void run_chunked_copy_checks(ggml_backend_t backend) {
+    ggml_backend_hrx_context * hrx = backend_context(backend);
+
+    constexpr size_t kCap    = 64ull << 20;
+    constexpr size_t kOffset = 4096 + 12;
+    constexpr size_t kMax    = 2 * kCap + 12345;
+    ggml_init_params params  = {};
+    params.mem_size          = 16 * 1024;
+    params.no_alloc          = true;
+    ggml_context * context   = ggml_init(params);
+    REQUIRE(context != nullptr);
+    ggml_tensor *         tensor = ggml_new_tensor_1d(context, GGML_TYPE_I8, static_cast<int64_t>(kOffset + kMax));
+    ggml_backend_buffer_t buffer = ggml_backend_alloc_buffer(backend, kOffset + kMax + 4096);
+    REQUIRE(buffer != nullptr);
+    tensor->buffer = buffer;
+    tensor->data   = ggml_backend_buffer_get_base(buffer);
+    REQUIRE(ggml_backend_buffer_init_tensor(buffer, tensor) == GGML_STATUS_SUCCESS);
+
+    uint32_t x = 0x9e3779b9u;
+    for (const size_t bytes : { kCap, kCap + 1, kMax }) {
+        std::vector<uint8_t> input(bytes);
+        for (uint8_t & b : input) {
+            x ^= x << 13;
+            x ^= x >> 17;
+            x ^= x << 5;
+            b = static_cast<uint8_t>(x);
+        }
+        ggml_backend_tensor_set(tensor, input.data(), kOffset, bytes);
+        REQUIRE(hrx->device->copy_staging_size <= kCap);
+        std::vector<uint8_t> output(bytes, 0);
+        ggml_backend_tensor_get(tensor, output.data(), kOffset, bytes);
+        REQUIRE(hrx->device->copy_staging_size <= kCap);
+        REQUIRE(std::memcmp(output.data(), input.data(), bytes) == 0);
+    }
+
+    ggml_backend_buffer_free(buffer);
+    ggml_free(context);
+}
+
 template <typename F>
 static void run_with_hrx_backend(F && f) {
     ggml_backend_t backend = ggml_backend_hrx_init(0);
@@ -388,6 +432,11 @@ static void register_hrx_buffer_cases(test_runner::Suite & suite) {
             run_host_weight_cache_checks(context);
         });
     });
+    suite.device_case("chunked_copy", [] {
+        run_with_hrx_backend([](ggml_backend_t backend, ggml_backend_hrx_context *) {
+            run_chunked_copy_checks(backend);
+        });
+    });
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char ** argv) {