diff --git a/extension/queue/mysql/message_store.go b/extension/queue/mysql/message_store.go
index e0815451..8afa0d31 100644
--- a/extension/queue/mysql/message_store.go
+++ b/extension/queue/mysql/message_store.go
@@ -44,7 +44,15 @@ func newMessageStore(db *sql.DB, logger *zap.SugaredLogger, scope tally.Scope) m
 	}
 }
 
-// Insert inserts messages into the messages table
+// Insert inserts messages into the messages table.
+//
+// Publishes are idempotent on the (topic, partition_key, id) unique key: a
+// repeated publish for the same key is silently treated as success and does
+// not overwrite the original payload. This matches the queue_messages schema's
+// documented intent ("Supports: INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY to enforce
+// idempotent publishes") and lets callers safely retry publishes (e.g. a
+// second Cancel RPC for the same request) without surfacing 1062 duplicate-key
+// errors.
 func (s *sqlmessageStore) Insert(ctx context.Context, topic string, messages []queue.Message) (retErr error) {
 	op := metrics.Begin(s.scope, "insert", metrics.NewTag("topic", topic))
 	defer func() { op.Complete(retErr) }()
@@ -64,9 +72,12 @@ func (s *sqlmessageStore) Insert(ctx context.Context, topic string, messages []q
 	}
 	defer tx.Rollback()
 
+	// ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE topic=topic is a no-op write that makes MySQL
+	// swallow the unique-key violation without mutating the existing row.
 	stmt, err := tx.PrepareContext(ctx, fmt.Sprintf(`
 		INSERT INTO %s (topic, id, payload, metadata, partition_key, created_at, published_at, failed_at, failure_count, last_error, original_topic)
 		VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, 0, 0, '', '')
+		ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE topic = topic
 	`, MessagesTableName))
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("prepare statement topic=%s: %w", topic, err)
diff --git a/extension/queue/mysql/message_store_test.go b/extension/queue/mysql/message_store_test.go
index 1b9bdd18..85e401f5 100644
--- a/extension/queue/mysql/message_store_test.go
+++ b/extension/queue/mysql/message_store_test.go
@@ -76,6 +76,23 @@ func TestMessageStore_Insert(t *testing.T) {
 			setup:    func(mock sqlmock.Sqlmock, messages []queue.Message) {},
 			wantErr:  false,
 		},
+		{
+			// Regression: re-publishing the same (topic, partition_key, id) tuple
+			// must succeed silently. sqlmock returns 0 affected rows to simulate
+			// MySQL's ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE swallowing the unique-key collision.
+			name: "duplicate publish is idempotent",
+			messages: []queue.Message{
+				{ID: "msg-dup", Payload: []byte("payload"), PartitionKey: "part1", PublishedAt: time.Now().UnixMilli()},
+			},
+			setup: func(mock sqlmock.Sqlmock, messages []queue.Message) {
+				mock.ExpectBegin()
+				mock.ExpectPrepare("INSERT INTO queue_messages")
+				mock.ExpectExec("INSERT INTO queue_messages").
+					WillReturnResult(sqlmock.NewResult(0, 0))
+				mock.ExpectCommit()
+			},
+			wantErr: false,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
diff --git a/test/integration/extension/queue/mysql/queue_test.go b/test/integration/extension/queue/mysql/queue_test.go
index c669cdee..728711ef 100644
--- a/test/integration/extension/queue/mysql/queue_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/extension/queue/mysql/queue_test.go
@@ -595,10 +595,13 @@ func (s *SQLQueueIntegrationSuite) TestIdempotentPublish() {
 	require.NoError(t, err1)
 
 	err2 := publisher.Publish(s.ctx, topic, msg)
-	// Second publish should fail with duplicate key error since message already exists
-	require.Error(t, err2, "duplicate publish should return error")
+	// Per the queue_messages schema (and the documented "INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY
+	// to enforce idempotent publishes" contract), a repeated publish for the same
+	// (topic, partition_key, id) tuple must succeed silently — the queue, not the
+	// caller, owns deduplication so retried publishes don't surface as errors.
+	require.NoError(t, err2, "duplicate publish must succeed silently")
 
-	t.Logf("Published same message twice - second attempt correctly rejected")
+	t.Logf("Published same message twice - second attempt silently deduped by queue")
 
 	// Should only receive once
 	delivery := receiveWithTimeout(t, deliveryChan)