diff --git a/config/gitlab_loose_foreign_keys.yml b/config/gitlab_loose_foreign_keys.yml
index faa24f1e2723a3a473ee4ca8b063b9b98cfa64ea..1a5156a97c448fa13f8e8675753f57dbc93ec629 100644
--- a/config/gitlab_loose_foreign_keys.yml
+++ b/config/gitlab_loose_foreign_keys.yml
@@ -882,6 +882,10 @@ slsa_attestations:
     column: build_id
     on_delete: async_delete
     worker_class: LooseForeignKeys::CiPipelinesBuildsCleanupCronWorker
+snippet_repositories:
+  - table: shards
+    column: shard_id
+    on_delete: async_nullify
 snippets:
   - table: organizations
     column: organization_id
diff --git a/db/post_migrate/20251120211937_track_shards_record_deletions.rb b/db/post_migrate/20251120211937_track_shards_record_deletions.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e3869762cbfa4897385b564e6c0fcacdbb54f3cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/post_migrate/20251120211937_track_shards_record_deletions.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class TrackShardsRecordDeletions < Gitlab::Database::Migration[2.3]
+  include Gitlab::Database::MigrationHelpers::LooseForeignKeyHelpers
+
+  milestone '18.7'
+
+  def up
+    track_record_deletions(:shards)
+  end
+
+  def down
+    untrack_record_deletions(:shards)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/post_migrate/20251120211938_remove_shards_snippet_repositories_shard_id_fk.rb b/db/post_migrate/20251120211938_remove_shards_snippet_repositories_shard_id_fk.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..dce8332c2878e1154fb9896d2cf932b3636f17c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/post_migrate/20251120211938_remove_shards_snippet_repositories_shard_id_fk.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class RemoveShardsSnippetRepositoriesShardIdFk < Gitlab::Database::Migration[2.3]
+  milestone '18.7'
+  disable_ddl_transaction!
+
+  FOREIGN_KEY_NAME = "fk_rails_f21f899728"
+
+  def up
+    with_lock_retries do
+      remove_foreign_key_if_exists(:snippet_repositories, :shards,
+        name: FOREIGN_KEY_NAME, reverse_lock_order: true)
+    end
+  end
+
+  def down
+    add_concurrent_foreign_key(:snippet_repositories, :shards,
+      name: FOREIGN_KEY_NAME, column: :shard_id,
+      target_column: :id, on_delete: :restrict)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema_migrations/20251120211937 b/db/schema_migrations/20251120211937
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f6f690a50065b79b3e12961a2415bd8cb23e3e14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/schema_migrations/20251120211937
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+37e606811330be1526e070f8f84f71ca068f6688e2fce36104439038494435e3
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/schema_migrations/20251120211938 b/db/schema_migrations/20251120211938
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a64ff3aedfee10c99e663414fb04fa5c1de578ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/schema_migrations/20251120211938
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+29916a6fc3e48222a85e8b4fcaa736b67ec6349f7c94f09196ee3ced6e38c8d8
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/structure.sql b/db/structure.sql
index 39a58ec570850185d08755946ed51475164150e0..cea90ac93c066d3a8b88ce1657b7bbefe8a2da32 100644
--- a/db/structure.sql
+++ b/db/structure.sql
@@ -49160,6 +49160,8 @@ CREATE TRIGGER set_sharding_key_for_note_metadata_on_insert_and_update BEFORE IN
 
 CREATE TRIGGER set_sharding_key_for_suggestions_on_insert_and_update BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON suggestions FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION sync_sharding_key_with_notes_table();
 
+CREATE TRIGGER shards_loose_fk_trigger AFTER DELETE ON shards REFERENCING OLD TABLE AS old_table FOR EACH STATEMENT EXECUTE FUNCTION insert_into_loose_foreign_keys_deleted_records();
+
 CREATE TRIGGER slsa_attestations_loose_fk_trigger AFTER DELETE ON slsa_attestations REFERENCING OLD TABLE AS old_table FOR EACH STATEMENT EXECUTE FUNCTION insert_into_loose_foreign_keys_deleted_records();
 
 CREATE TRIGGER sync_project_authorizations_to_migration AFTER INSERT OR DELETE OR UPDATE ON project_authorizations FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION sync_project_authorizations_to_migration_table();
@@ -54429,9 +54431,6 @@ ALTER TABLE ONLY jira_connect_subscriptions
 ALTER TABLE ONLY requirements
     ADD CONSTRAINT fk_rails_f212e67e63 FOREIGN KEY (project_id) REFERENCES projects(id) ON DELETE CASCADE;
 
-ALTER TABLE ONLY snippet_repositories
-    ADD CONSTRAINT fk_rails_f21f899728 FOREIGN KEY (shard_id) REFERENCES shards(id) ON DELETE RESTRICT;
-
 ALTER TABLE ONLY elastic_reindexing_subtasks
     ADD CONSTRAINT fk_rails_f2cc190164 FOREIGN KEY (elastic_reindexing_task_id) REFERENCES elastic_reindexing_tasks(id) ON DELETE CASCADE;
 
diff --git a/spec/models/snippet_repository_spec.rb b/spec/models/snippet_repository_spec.rb
index 79ec37925f6c5f55cd1e297186ffa83422ec238a..75f46e41413dc1bdb0d91b6997a56aecb3421bb2 100644
--- a/spec/models/snippet_repository_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/snippet_repository_spec.rb
@@ -441,4 +441,11 @@ def blob_at(snippet, path)
   def first_blob(snippet)
     snippet.repository.blob_at('master', snippet.repository.ls_files(snippet.default_branch).first)
   end
+
+  context 'with loose foreign key on snippet_repositories.shard_id' do
+    it_behaves_like 'cleanup by a loose foreign key' do
+      let_it_be(:parent) { create(:shard) }
+      let_it_be(:model) { create(:snippet_repository, shard: parent) }
+    end
+  end
 end