diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b6ba7c3c..1c8dd586 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- **A restarted session no longer reads as busy forever.** A session whose
+  agent died mid-turn, or that was closed mid-turn, came back under the same
+  card still listed as busy to other sessions: a task sent to it waited for a
+  turn that would never end. It now starts with no state, like a new one.
 - **Codex, Cursor CLI, Antigravity and Crush stop asking where you already
   answered.** A sandboxed session of any of them opens straight at its
   prompt. Cursor CLI and Antigravity no longer ask again in a worktree of a
diff --git a/internal/relay/observe.go b/internal/relay/observe.go
index bad02269..0fb99090 100644
--- a/internal/relay/observe.go
+++ b/internal/relay/observe.go
@@ -147,6 +147,25 @@ func (s *Service) recordState(sessionID, state string) {
 
 }
 
+// SessionExited drops what the session's last process reported, once lich
+// has reaped it: a process that dies mid-turn never sends the SessionEnd
+// (idle) that would, so its busy outlived it, and the same id respawned read
+// as busy to every delivery and in every roster until its own process ended a
+// turn. The terminal calls it for a process that ended on its own
+// (terminal.SetSessionExited); a close goes through SessionClosed.
+func (s *Service) SessionExited(sessionID string) {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	s.forgetStateLocked(sessionID)
+	s.mu.Unlock()
+}
+
+// forgetStateLocked removes a session from the turn map and the roster, as an
+// idle report does. Called with s.mu held.
+func (s *Service) forgetStateLocked(sessionID string) {
+	delete(s.state, sessionID)
+	delete(s.reported, sessionID)
+}
+
 // endedErrands takes every ticket the report ends off the table and closes its
 // stall channel, for Observe to announce outside the lock. Called with s.mu
 // held.
diff --git a/internal/relay/relay_test.go b/internal/relay/relay_test.go
index b2bd8d2c..364b102d 100644
--- a/internal/relay/relay_test.go
+++ b/internal/relay/relay_test.go
@@ -3060,3 +3060,33 @@ func TestSelfRefusesACallerWithoutASession(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// A session's process can die mid-turn, and a dead process never reports the
+// SessionEnd (idle) that would clear its busy. Once lich has reaped it, or the
+// card was closed, the same id respawned is a new process that has reported
+// nothing: it must not read busy to deliveries or in the roster.
+func TestAReapedOrClosedSessionForgetsItsState(t *testing.T) {
+	svc := newRelay(workspace(), newFakeTerminal("s1", "s2", "s3"), nil)
+	svc.Observe("s2", "busy")
+	svc.Observe("s3", "busy")
+
+	svc.SessionExited("s2")
+	svc.SessionClosed("s3", "")
+
+	peers, err := svc.Peers(PeersOptions{From: "s1"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Peers: %v", err)
+	}
+	for _, p := range peers {
+		if p.State != "" {
+			t.Errorf("%s state = %q after its process went, want none", p.Name, p.State)
+		}
+	}
+	svc.mu.Lock()
+	defer svc.mu.Unlock()
+	for _, id := range []string{"s2", "s3"} {
+		if turn, ok := svc.state[id]; ok {
+			t.Errorf("turn state of %s = %q after its process went, want none", id, turn)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/relay/workeranswer.go b/internal/relay/workeranswer.go
index 6662d0c6..00987207 100644
--- a/internal/relay/workeranswer.go
+++ b/internal/relay/workeranswer.go
@@ -226,12 +226,14 @@ func (s *Service) errandOpenAtLocked(sessionID string) bool {
 // (WorkerAnswered). The terminal calls this before the process dies
 // (terminal.SetSessionClosed), so the SessionEnd its CLI reports on the way out
 // finds nothing to call unanswered. Errands of any other kind end as they
-// always did.
+// always did. The session's reported state goes too: the same id reopened is
+// a new process that has reported nothing yet.
 func (s *Service) SessionClosed(sessionID, closerID string) {
 	var stopped []*ticket
 	var told []string
 	s.mu.Lock()
 	delete(s.reportedWorkers, sessionID)
+	s.forgetStateLocked(sessionID)
 	for id, t := range s.tickets {
 		if t.targetID != sessionID || !t.subagent {
 			continue
diff --git a/internal/terminal/exit_watch_test.go b/internal/terminal/exit_watch_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b34b905
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/terminal/exit_watch_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// Drives a real PTY, so Unix-only like the rest of the service's spawn tests
+// (terminal_test.go).
+//go:build !windows
+
+package terminal
+
+import (
+	"slices"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// A process that ends on its own is reported to the exit watcher once it is
+// reaped, which is how the relay learns to drop the state that process left
+// (relay.SessionExited). A close is not: it reaches the relay through the
+// close watcher instead.
+func TestAReapedSessionIsReportedToTheExitWatcher(t *testing.T) {
+	hub, _ := newProbeHub(t)
+	svc := New(stubBins{bin: exitBin(t, 0)}, nil, hub)
+	var mu sync.Mutex
+	var exited []string
+	svc.SetSessionExited(func(id string) {
+		mu.Lock()
+		defer mu.Unlock()
+		exited = append(exited, id)
+	})
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = svc.Close("s1") })
+
+	if err := svc.Start("s1", "p1", t.TempDir(), "claude", "", "", false, false, 80, 24); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("start: %v", err)
+	}
+	waitFor(t, func() bool {
+		mu.Lock()
+		defer mu.Unlock()
+		return slices.Contains(exited, "s1")
+	}, "the exit watcher to hear s1")
+
+	svc2 := New(stubBins{bin: echoBin(t)}, nil, hub)
+	closed := false
+	svc2.SetSessionExited(func(string) { closed = true })
+	if err := svc2.Start("s2", "p1", t.TempDir(), "claude", "", "", false, false, 80, 24); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("start: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := svc2.Close("s2"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("close: %v", err)
+	}
+	if closed {
+		t.Error("a closed session was reported to the exit watcher")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/terminal/io.go b/internal/terminal/io.go
index 72ffc2c0..3b0ff3a8 100644
--- a/internal/terminal/io.go
+++ b/internal/terminal/io.go
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ func (s *Service) stream(id string, sess *session) {
 
 	s.mu.Lock()
 	reaped := false
+	exited := s.onExited
 	if current, ok := s.sessions[id]; ok && current.pty == p {
 		delete(s.sessions, id)
 		close(current.done)
@@ -79,6 +80,11 @@ func (s *Service) stream(id string, sess *session) {
 	// Emit blocks on a stalled /events client, and holding s.mu across it would
 	// freeze every session's I/O.
 	if reaped {
+		// Outside mu: the relay takes its own lock, and it calls into this
+		// service under it.
+		if exited != nil {
+			exited(id)
+		}
 		s.hub.Emit(exitEventPrefix+id, exitPayload(code))
 	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/terminal/terminal.go b/internal/terminal/terminal.go
index 3b94a70f..1cdff81f 100644
--- a/internal/terminal/terminal.go
+++ b/internal/terminal/terminal.go
@@ -311,6 +311,10 @@ type Service struct {
 	// errand there, ahead of the SessionEnd the dying CLI reports. Guarded by mu
 	// like onState.
 	onClosed func(id, closerID string)
+	// onExited, when set, is told about every session whose process ended on
+	// its own and was reaped: the relay drops the state that process reported.
+	// Guarded by mu like onState.
+	onExited func(id string)
 	// onLimit, when set, is told about every turn a usage limit ended that names
 	// its reset (limit.go). Guarded by mu like onState.
 	onLimit func(id string, resetsAt int64)
@@ -738,6 +742,15 @@ func (s *Service) SetSessionClosed(fn func(id, closerID string)) {
 	s.onClosed = fn
 }
 
+// SetSessionExited wires fn to every session whose process ended on its own,
+// called once lich has reaped it. Only one watcher, the relay
+// (relay.SessionExited).
+func (s *Service) SetSessionExited(fn func(id string)) {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	defer s.mu.Unlock()
+	s.onExited = fn
+}
+
 // stateWatcher reads the watcher under the lock, so a report arriving while it
 // is being wired sees one function or none, never a torn read.
 func (s *Service) stateWatcher() func(id, state string) {
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 0ca06789..c4e700c1 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -442,6 +442,7 @@ func registerServices(db *store.Service, term *terminal.Service, hub *events.Hub
 	term.SetWorkerAnswer(rl.WorkerAnswered)
 	term.SetWorkerUnanswered(rl.WorkerUnanswered)
 	term.SetSessionClosed(rl.SessionClosed)
+	term.SetSessionExited(rl.SessionExited)
 	term.SetErrandStatus(rl.Status)
 	// Both questions the relay asks about a provider — whether its sessions
 	// report at all, and whether they can answer with a tool — are about what
@@ -516,7 +517,9 @@ func registerServices(db *store.Service, term *terminal.Service, hub *events.Hub
 //     relay.WorkerUnanswered arrives the same way and ends one unanswered.
 //   - relay.SessionClosed is what the terminal tells the relay as it closes a
 //     session: called here it ends a running worker's errand, in silence when
-//     the closer named is the worker's caller.
+//     the closer named is the worker's caller. relay.SessionExited is what it
+//     tells the relay as it reaps a process that ended on its own: called here
+//     it erases a live session's reported state.
 //   - terminal.CloseBy is a close on behalf of a session, which `lich close`
 //     reaches through spawn.Close: called here with the worker's caller as the
 //     closer, it ends that caller's errand without telling it. The window
@@ -547,7 +550,7 @@ func registerServices(db *store.Service, term *terminal.Service, hub *events.Hub
 //     store.SetBranchOf, store.SetTranscriptOf, store.SetConversationsOf,
 //     store.SetCheckoutsOf, terminal.SetDropDir,
 //     terminal.SetRateLimitReports, terminal.SetUsageLimit, terminal.SetWorkerAnswer,
-//     terminal.SetWorkerUnanswered, terminal.SetStartReports, terminal.SetPromptLanguage and terminal.SetSessionClosed are startup wiring. Called with [null] they silently
+//     terminal.SetWorkerUnanswered, terminal.SetStartReports, terminal.SetPromptLanguage, terminal.SetSessionClosed and terminal.SetSessionExited are startup wiring. Called with [null] they silently
 //     nil what they wired (encoding/json leaves a func or pointer alone on
 //     null), and the write races the readers already serving — nilling
 //     SetProjects also disarms the guard that keeps two projects off the same
@@ -600,6 +603,7 @@ func denyInternal(d *rpc.Handler) {
 		"relay.WorkerAnswered",
 		"relay.WorkerUnanswered",
 		"relay.SessionClosed",
+		"relay.SessionExited",
 		"terminal.CloseBy",
 		"relay.RunSchedules",
 		"relay.ParkResume",
@@ -622,6 +626,7 @@ func denyInternal(d *rpc.Handler) {
 		"terminal.SetWorkerAnswer",
 		"terminal.SetWorkerUnanswered",
 		"terminal.SetSessionClosed",
+		"terminal.SetSessionExited",
 		"terminal.SetStartReports",
 		"terminal.SetPromptLanguage",
 		"terminal.EnqueueModCommand",