diff --git a/src/common/notification-client.ts b/src/common/notification-client.ts
index 9d3d20e..a9383bd 100644
--- a/src/common/notification-client.ts
+++ b/src/common/notification-client.ts
@@ -218,39 +218,7 @@ export class NotificationClient {
         parsedData = event.data as string
       }
 
-      const data = JSON.parse(parsedData)
-
-      if (data.type === "validation") {
-        this.logger.error(`Bad request: ${data.summary} - ${data.message} - ${data.found} - ${data.errors}`)
-        return
-      }
-
-      const parsed = JSON.parse(data.message) as {
-        pattern: string
-        data: NotificationEventData
-      }
-
-      this.logger.debug(`Received event: ${parsed.pattern}`)
-
-      this.observer.next({
-        pattern: parsed.pattern,
-        data: {
-          tenant: parsed.data.tenantId,
-          eventId: parsed.data.eventId,
-          dataCoreId: parsed.data.dataCore,
-          flowType: parsed.data.aggregator,
-          eventType: parsed.data.eventType,
-          validTime: parsed.data.validTime,
-        },
-      })
-
-      this.eventCount++
-
-      if (this.options.maxEvents && this.options.maxEvents <= this.eventCount) {
-        this.observer.complete()
-        this.eventCount = 0
-        this.webSocket.close(1000, "Max events received")
-      }
+      this.handleMessage(parsedData)
     }
 
     this.webSocket.onclose = (event) => {
@@ -271,6 +239,82 @@ export class NotificationClient {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Parses and dispatches a single raw notification frame.
+   *
+   * Runs inside the WebSocket `onmessage` callback, where any thrown error is
+   * uncaught and crashes the host process. Notification frames can occasionally
+   * be malformed (non-JSON, empty/absent `message`, truncated payloads, or
+   * non-event control frames), so every parse is guarded — a bad frame is logged
+   * and skipped instead of taking down the whole connection/process.
+   */
+  private handleMessage(rawData: string): void {
+    let data: {
+      type?: string
+      message?: string
+      summary?: string
+      found?: unknown
+      errors?: unknown
+    }
+    try {
+      data = JSON.parse(rawData)
+    } catch (error) {
+      this.logger.warn(
+        `Discarding notification frame: outer payload is not valid JSON (${
+          error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)
+        })`,
+      )
+      return
+    }
+
+    if (data.type === "validation") {
+      this.logger.error(`Bad request: ${data.summary} - ${data.message} - ${data.found} - ${data.errors}`)
+      return
+    }
+
+    let parsed: { pattern: string; data: NotificationEventData }
+    try {
+      parsed = JSON.parse(data.message as string) as {
+        pattern: string
+        data: NotificationEventData
+      }
+    } catch (error) {
+      this.logger.warn(
+        `Discarding notification frame: 'message' is not valid JSON (type ${typeof data.message}): ${
+          error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)
+        }`,
+      )
+      return
+    }
+
+    if (!parsed || typeof parsed !== "object" || !parsed.data) {
+      this.logger.warn("Discarding notification frame: parsed payload is missing a 'data' field")
+      return
+    }
+
+    this.logger.debug(`Received event: ${parsed.pattern}`)
+
+    this.observer.next({
+      pattern: parsed.pattern,
+      data: {
+        tenant: parsed.data.tenantId,
+        eventId: parsed.data.eventId,
+        dataCoreId: parsed.data.dataCore,
+        flowType: parsed.data.aggregator,
+        eventType: parsed.data.eventType,
+        validTime: parsed.data.validTime,
+      },
+    })
+
+    this.eventCount++
+
+    if (this.options.maxEvents && this.options.maxEvents <= this.eventCount) {
+      this.observer.complete()
+      this.eventCount = 0
+      this.webSocket.close(1000, "Max events received")
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Attempts to reconnect to the WebSocket server using exponential backoff
    */
diff --git a/test/tests/common/notification-client.test.ts b/test/tests/common/notification-client.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd38e3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tests/common/notification-client.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+import { assertEquals } from "@test/compat/assert"
+import { describe, it } from "bun:test"
+import { Subject } from "rxjs"
+import { NotificationClient, type NotificationEvent } from "../../../src/common/notification-client.ts"
+import type { Logger } from "../../../src/utils/logger.ts"
+
+function recordingLogger(): Logger & { calls: Record<keyof Logger, string[]> } {
+  const calls: Record<keyof Logger, string[]> = { debug: [], info: [], warn: [], error: [] }
+  return {
+    calls,
+    debug: (m) => calls.debug.push(m),
+    info: (m) => calls.info.push(m),
+    warn: (m) => calls.warn.push(m),
+    error: (m) => calls.error.push(String(m)),
+  }
+}
+
+function makeClient() {
+  const observer = new Subject<NotificationEvent>()
+  const events: NotificationEvent[] = []
+  observer.subscribe((e) => events.push(e))
+  const logger = recordingLogger()
+  const client = new NotificationClient(
+    observer,
+    { apiKey: "test-key" },
+    { tenant: "t", dataCore: "dc" },
+    { logger },
+  )
+  // handleMessage is the internal frame parser the WebSocket onmessage delegates to.
+  const handle = (raw: string) => (client as unknown as { handleMessage(raw: string): void }).handleMessage(raw)
+  return { handle, events, logger }
+}
+
+function validFrame(pattern = "event.stored.x"): string {
+  const inner = JSON.stringify({
+    pattern,
+    data: {
+      tenantId: "t",
+      eventId: "evt-1",
+      dataCore: "dc",
+      aggregator: "fishfacts-ais.0",
+      eventType: "ais.position.fix.observed.0",
+      validTime: "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
+    },
+  })
+  return JSON.stringify({ message: inner })
+}
+
+describe("NotificationClient.handleMessage", () => {
+  it("emits a NotificationEvent for a well-formed frame", () => {
+    const { handle, events } = makeClient()
+    handle(validFrame())
+    assertEquals(events.length, 1)
+    assertEquals(events[0].pattern, "event.stored.x")
+    assertEquals(events[0].data.eventId, "evt-1")
+    assertEquals(events[0].data.flowType, "fishfacts-ais.0")
+  })
+
+  // Regression: a single malformed frame must NOT throw. In production handleMessage
+  // runs inside the WebSocket onmessage callback, so an uncaught throw here crashes
+  // the whole process (observed repeatedly in prod via an unguarded JSON.parse).
+  it("does not throw or emit when data.message is not valid JSON", () => {
+    const { handle, events, logger } = makeClient()
+    handle(JSON.stringify({ message: "this-is-not-json{" }))
+    assertEquals(events.length, 0)
+    assertEquals(logger.calls.warn.length >= 1, true)
+  })
+
+  it("does not throw when message is empty or missing", () => {
+    const { handle, events } = makeClient()
+    handle(JSON.stringify({ message: "" }))
+    handle(JSON.stringify({ foo: "bar" }))
+    assertEquals(events.length, 0)
+  })
+
+  it("does not throw when the inner payload lacks a data field", () => {
+    const { handle, events } = makeClient()
+    handle(JSON.stringify({ message: JSON.stringify({ pattern: "p" }) }))
+    assertEquals(events.length, 0)
+  })
+
+  it("does not throw on a non-JSON outer frame", () => {
+    const { handle, events } = makeClient()
+    handle("not even json")
+    assertEquals(events.length, 0)
+  })
+
+  it("handles validation frames without emitting", () => {
+    const { handle, events, logger } = makeClient()
+    handle(JSON.stringify({ type: "validation", summary: "bad", message: "nope", found: "x", errors: [] }))
+    assertEquals(events.length, 0)
+    assertEquals(logger.calls.error.length >= 1, true)
+  })
+})