Improve core performance

**Description**
Currently lib lacks proper timeout support.

**Proposed solution**
Add configurable timeout with sensible defaults.

**Priority**: Low/Medium

Start by inspecting the lib directory and tracing the current execution path to identify where timeout handling belongs. Determine how a configurable timeout and sensible defaults should be exposed, then verify that long-running operations stop according to the configured value and that existing behavior remains covered by the available tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.