diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 798b6c0..7c0a5d6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+
+- DSL-configured `shutdown_after` and `hibernate_after` options were ignored at runtime — processes never shut down even when `shutdown_after` was set in the `options` block. The values were stored for introspection but never read during process startup. `Server.init/1` and `Server.start_link/1` now fall back to the module's DSL-configured values when options are not explicitly passed.
+
 ### Added
 
 - Built-in `state.id` field on every object's `State` struct, automatically set to the object's ID at init time
diff --git a/lib/durable_object/server.ex b/lib/durable_object/server.ex
index 72e02f9..d2cc573 100644
--- a/lib/durable_object/server.ex
+++ b/lib/durable_object/server.ex
@@ -36,7 +36,13 @@ defmodule DurableObject.Server do
   def start_link(opts) do
     module = Keyword.fetch!(opts, :module)
     object_id = Keyword.fetch!(opts, :object_id)
-    hibernate_after = Keyword.get(opts, :hibernate_after, @default_hibernate_after)
+
+    hibernate_after =
+      Keyword.get_lazy(opts, :hibernate_after, fn ->
+        if function_exported?(module, :__durable_object__, 1),
+          do: module.__durable_object__(:hibernate_after),
+          else: @default_hibernate_after
+      end)
 
     GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, opts,
       name: via_tuple(module, object_id),
@@ -122,7 +128,13 @@ defmodule DurableObject.Server do
   def init(opts) do
     module = Keyword.fetch!(opts, :module)
     object_id = Keyword.fetch!(opts, :object_id)
-    shutdown_after = Keyword.get(opts, :shutdown_after)
+
+    shutdown_after =
+      Keyword.get_lazy(opts, :shutdown_after, fn ->
+        if function_exported?(module, :__durable_object__, 1),
+          do: module.__durable_object__(:shutdown_after)
+      end)
+
     repo = Keyword.get(opts, :repo)
     prefix = Keyword.get(opts, :prefix)
     default_state = module.__durable_object__(:default_state)
diff --git a/test/durable_object/server_test.exs b/test/durable_object/server_test.exs
index ac79c2a..940d6c1 100644
--- a/test/durable_object/server_test.exs
+++ b/test/durable_object/server_test.exs
@@ -237,7 +237,49 @@ defmodule DurableObject.ServerTest do
     end
   end
 
+  defmodule ShutdownHandler do
+    use DurableObject
+
+    state do
+      field(:data, :string, default: nil)
+    end
+
+    handlers do
+      handler(:get)
+    end
+
+    options do
+      shutdown_after(50)
+    end
+
+    def handle_get(state) do
+      {:reply, state, state}
+    end
+  end
+
   describe "shutdown_after" do
+    test "DSL-configured shutdown_after is respected" do
+      id = unique_id("dsl-shutdown")
+
+      {:ok, pid} = Server.start_link(module: ShutdownHandler, object_id: id)
+
+      assert Process.alive?(pid)
+      Process.sleep(100)
+      refute Process.alive?(pid)
+    end
+
+    test "explicit shutdown_after overrides DSL config" do
+      id = unique_id("dsl-shutdown-override")
+
+      {:ok, pid} =
+        Server.start_link(module: ShutdownHandler, object_id: id, shutdown_after: 200)
+
+      Process.sleep(100)
+      assert Process.alive?(pid)
+      Process.sleep(150)
+      refute Process.alive?(pid)
+    end
+
     test "process shuts down after timeout" do
       {:ok, pid} =
         Server.start_link(