diff --git a/durabletask-client/src/main/java/io/dapr/durabletask/DurableTaskGrpcWorker.java b/durabletask-client/src/main/java/io/dapr/durabletask/DurableTaskGrpcWorker.java
index ce63c27a96..96bbe322fe 100644
--- a/durabletask-client/src/main/java/io/dapr/durabletask/DurableTaskGrpcWorker.java
+++ b/durabletask-client/src/main/java/io/dapr/durabletask/DurableTaskGrpcWorker.java
@@ -101,7 +101,10 @@ public final class DurableTaskGrpcWorker implements AutoCloseable {
 
     this.tracer = GlobalOpenTelemetry.getTracer("dapr-workflow");
 
-    this.sidecarClient = TaskHubSidecarServiceGrpc.newBlockingStub(sidecarGrpcChannel);
+    // The sidecar bounds work items and histories by its max request body size. A lower receive
+    // limit here only makes the worker refuse, re-fetch and refuse the same work item forever.
+    this.sidecarClient = TaskHubSidecarServiceGrpc.newBlockingStub(sidecarGrpcChannel)
+        .withMaxInboundMessageSize(Integer.MAX_VALUE);
     this.dataConverter = builder.dataConverter != null ? builder.dataConverter : new JacksonDataConverter();
     this.maximumTimerInterval = builder.maximumTimerInterval != null ? builder.maximumTimerInterval
         : DEFAULT_MAXIMUM_TIMER_INTERVAL;
diff --git a/durabletask-client/src/test/java/io/dapr/durabletask/DurableTaskGrpcWorkerLargeWorkItemTest.java b/durabletask-client/src/test/java/io/dapr/durabletask/DurableTaskGrpcWorkerLargeWorkItemTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8b6190bddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/durabletask-client/src/test/java/io/dapr/durabletask/DurableTaskGrpcWorkerLargeWorkItemTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 The Dapr Authors
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.dapr.durabletask;
+
+import com.google.protobuf.StringValue;
+import io.dapr.durabletask.implementation.protobuf.Orchestration;
+import io.dapr.durabletask.implementation.protobuf.OrchestratorService;
+import io.dapr.durabletask.implementation.protobuf.TaskHubSidecarServiceGrpc;
+import io.grpc.ManagedChannel;
+import io.grpc.ManagedChannelBuilder;
+import io.grpc.Server;
+import io.grpc.netty.NettyServerBuilder;
+import io.grpc.stub.StreamObserver;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+
+/**
+ * Verifies DurableTaskGrpcWorker accepts a work item larger than gRPC's 4MB default receive limit.
+ *
+ * <p>daprd sends work items up to its own max body size, so a fan-out of five 1MB activity results
+ * is a work item of about 6MB. The channel is built like the SDK's own, whose inbound limit defaults
+ * to 4MB (DAPR_GRPC_MAX_INBOUND_MESSAGE_SIZE_BYTES). Uses a real TCP server because the in-process
+ * transport does not enforce message sizes.</p>
+ */
+class DurableTaskGrpcWorkerLargeWorkItemTest {
+
+  private static final int DEFAULT_MAX_INBOUND_BYTES = 4 * 1024 * 1024;
+  private static final int PAYLOAD_CHARS = 6 * 1024 * 1024;
+  private static final String ACTIVITY_NAME = "PayloadLength";
+
+  private DurableTaskGrpcWorker worker;
+  private ManagedChannel channel;
+  private Server server;
+
+  @AfterEach
+  void tearDown() throws Exception {
+    if (worker != null) {
+      worker.close();
+    }
+    if (channel != null) {
+      channel.shutdownNow().awaitTermination(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    }
+    if (server != null) {
+      server.shutdownNow().awaitTermination(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void workerProcessesWorkItemLargerThanDefaultReceiveLimit() throws Exception {
+    OrchestratorService.ActivityRequest activityRequest = OrchestratorService.ActivityRequest.newBuilder()
+        .setName(ACTIVITY_NAME)
+        .setTaskId(1)
+        .setWorkflowInstance(Orchestration.WorkflowInstance.newBuilder().setInstanceId("instance").build())
+        .setInput(StringValue.of("\"" + "x".repeat(PAYLOAD_CHARS) + "\""))
+        .build();
+    OrchestratorService.WorkItem workItem = OrchestratorService.WorkItem.newBuilder()
+        .setActivityRequest(activityRequest)
+        .build();
+
+    AtomicInteger streams = new AtomicInteger();
+    CompletableFuture<OrchestratorService.ActivityResponse> activityResponse = new CompletableFuture<>();
+    server = NettyServerBuilder.forPort(0)
+        .addService(new TaskHubSidecarServiceGrpc.TaskHubSidecarServiceImplBase() {
+          @Override
+          public void getWorkItems(
+              OrchestratorService.GetWorkItemsRequest request,
+              StreamObserver<OrchestratorService.WorkItem> responseObserver) {
+            streams.incrementAndGet();
+            if (!activityResponse.isDone()) {
+              responseObserver.onNext(workItem);
+            }
+            // Hold the stream open, as daprd does.
+          }
+
+          @Override
+          public void completeActivityTask(
+              OrchestratorService.ActivityResponse request,
+              StreamObserver<OrchestratorService.CompleteTaskResponse> responseObserver) {
+            activityResponse.complete(request);
+            responseObserver.onNext(OrchestratorService.CompleteTaskResponse.getDefaultInstance());
+            responseObserver.onCompleted();
+          }
+        })
+        .build()
+        .start();
+
+    channel = ManagedChannelBuilder.forAddress("localhost", server.getPort())
+        .usePlaintext()
+        .maxInboundMessageSize(DEFAULT_MAX_INBOUND_BYTES)
+        .build();
+    worker = new DurableTaskGrpcWorkerBuilder()
+        .grpcChannel(channel)
+        .addActivity(new TaskActivityFactory() {
+          @Override
+          public String getName() {
+            return ACTIVITY_NAME;
+          }
+
+          @Override
+          public TaskActivity create() {
+            return ctx -> ctx.getInput(String.class).length();
+          }
+        })
+        .build();
+    worker.start();
+
+    OrchestratorService.ActivityResponse result;
+    try {
+      result = activityResponse.get(15, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    } catch (TimeoutException e) {
+      throw new AssertionError("no activity result after " + streams.get() + " work item streams: "
+          + "the worker could not receive the work item", e);
+    }
+    assertEquals(String.valueOf(PAYLOAD_CHARS), result.getResult().getValue());
+  }
+}