#206: pin the read-only open with a test that actually fails without it

setReadOnly(true) is the whole thing keeping fleetd out of the operator's
live 841MB opencode.db, and no test failed when it was removed.

The obvious test does not work. Making the database file unwritable and
checking the read still succeeds passes either way, because SQLite silently
downgrades a read-write open of an unwritable file to read-only. I wrote that
test, watched it pass with the flag removed, and threw it away.

What works: extract a package-private openReadOnly(), then ask that connection
to INSERT and require the refusal. Watched red with the flag removed, green
with it restored.

Also switches the test's INSERT helper to a PreparedStatement -- hand-escaped
SQL in a test is a pattern that gets copied into main code.

fleetd/pom.xml

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
         <testcontainers.version>1.20.4</testcontainers.version>
         <commons-compress.version>1.27.1</commons-compress.version>
         <commons-lang3.version>3.18.0</commons-lang3.version>
+        <sqlite-jdbc.version>3.53.4.0</sqlite-jdbc.version>
     </properties>
 
     <!--
@@ -44,6 +45,12 @@
           3.0-rc5; bumping Jackson 3 to the patched 3.2.x breaks the SDK (annotation mismatch).
           Only the loopback /mcp endpoint parses this JSON, from trusted local Claude clients.
       The 11.0.23 -> 11.0.25 bump did clear jetty CVE-2024-8184 (5.9) and CVE-2024-6763.
+
+      fleetd #206: org.xerial:sqlite-jdbc 3.53.4.0 (added for OpenCodeSessionDiscovery) — the
+      only known advisory against this artifact is CVE-2023-32697 (RCE via an attacker-controlled
+      JDBC URL), fixed in 3.41.2.2; 3.53.4.0 is well past that fix and OSV.dev reports no open
+      advisory against it. Checked via the OSV.dev API (no Mend.io/JetBrains IDE MCP mount
+      available from this worktree) on 2026-08-31.
     -->
 
     <!-- Force the latest patched Jetty 11.x across all Javalin-pulled Jetty modules (no version
@@ -123,6 +130,17 @@
             <version>${amqp.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
+        <!-- fleetd #206: opencode moved its session store from a JSON tree to SQLite
+             (opencode.db). This is the JDBC driver OpenCodeSessionDiscovery uses to read it
+             read-only. Ships bundled native libraries (linux/mac/windows, several archs), so it
+             is a heavier jar than most deps here — see the pom's dependency-security note below
+             for the size/CVE tradeoff actually measured. -->
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.xerial</groupId>
+            <artifactId>sqlite-jdbc</artifactId>
+            <version>${sqlite-jdbc.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+
         <!-- Logging -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/Fleetd.java

@@ -177,14 +177,14 @@ public final class Fleetd {
                     claudeProfiles, cfg.effectiveDefaultProfile(), System::getenv,
                     cfg.spawnReadyTimeoutMs(), cfg.spawnReadyPollMs(),
                     () -> config.get().fleet(),
-                    () -> config.get().memberCredentials()));
+                    () -> config.get().memberCredentials(), null, config::get));
         }
         if (!opencodeProfiles.isEmpty()) {
             adapters.add(new OpenCodeLauncher(router.memberAgents(), router.memberSpaces(),
                     opencodeProfiles, cfg.effectiveDefaultProfile(), System::getenv,
                     cfg.spawnReadyTimeoutMs(), cfg.spawnReadyPollMs(),
                     () -> config.get().fleet(),
-                    () -> config.get().memberCredentials()));
+                    () -> config.get().memberCredentials(), config::get));
         }
         AtomicReference<Function<String, Integer>> liveCountRef = new AtomicReference<>(_ -> 0);
         // CB-578 stage B: one quarantine tracker for the whole daemon, shared between the launcher

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/herdr/PaneLocator.java

@@ -2,8 +2,11 @@ package dev.ltms.fleet.herdr;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
 
+import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.OptionalLong;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 /**
  * Resolves which herdr pane a process belongs to — the herdr half of connection-based MCP
@@ -12,23 +15,46 @@ import java.util.Map;
  * is calling without the worker sending anything spoofable.
  *
  * <p>herdr owns the PID→pane truth: {@code pane.process_info} reports each pane's {@code shell_pid}
- * and foreground process PIDs. This scans agent panes; a spawn-time {@code pid→terminal} cache is
- * the obvious optimization once wired into {@code ClaudeCodeLauncher}.
+ * and foreground process PIDs. A pid that is neither of those directly — e.g. a grandchild a
+ * worker spawned, such as a {@code python3} or {@code curl} helper that opens its own MCP
+ * connection — is resolved by walking its ancestry (via {@link ParentResolver}) up to the root and
+ * matching any ancestor against a pane's {@code shell_pid} or foreground pids (CB-161). Without
+ * this walk such a pid matches no pane, and the caller falls through to loopback-trust and is
+ * resolved as the primary — a worker→primary privilege escalation.
+ *
+ * <p>This scans agent panes; a spawn-time {@code pid→terminal} cache is the obvious optimization
+ * once wired into {@code ClaudeCodeLauncher}.
  *
  * <p>CB-185 split the fleet across two herdr daemons — lead operations on one, members on the
  * other ({@code memberHerdrSocket}). A caller's pane can live on <em>either</em> daemon (a lead's
  * MCP connection resolves against the lead daemon; a member's against the member daemon), so this
  * must be able to search more than one client. {@link #PaneLocator(HerdrClient, HerdrClient)}
  * searches the lead client first, then the member client, and collapses to a single scan when the
- * two are the same object (the historical single-daemon deployment).
+ * two are the same object (the historical single-daemon deployment). The caller's ancestor set is
+ * computed once per {@link #terminalForPid} call and reused across every client searched — it
+ * does not depend on which daemon a pane happens to live on.
  */
 public final class PaneLocator {
 
+    /**
+     * Bound on how many ancestor generations {@link #ancestorsOf} walks. This runs on every MCP
+     * call, so a cycle or a pathologically deep process tree must not hang identity resolution;
+     * 32 generations is far more than any real worker→helper process tree needs.
+     */
+    private static final int MAX_ANCESTRY_DEPTH = 32;
+
     private final List<HerdrClient> herdrs;
+    private final ParentResolver parentResolver;
 
     /** Search only this client — the single-daemon deployment. */
     public PaneLocator(HerdrClient herdr) {
+        this(herdr, ParentResolver.PROCESS_HANDLE);
+    }
+
+    /** Search only this client, resolving ancestry through {@code parentResolver} — for tests. */
+    public PaneLocator(HerdrClient herdr, ParentResolver parentResolver) {
         this.herdrs = List.of(herdr);
+        this.parentResolver = parentResolver;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -37,7 +63,13 @@ public final class PaneLocator {
      * collapses to one client and one scan, exactly {@link #PaneLocator(HerdrClient)}'s behaviour.
      */
     public PaneLocator(HerdrClient lead, HerdrClient member) {
+        this(lead, member, ParentResolver.PROCESS_HANDLE);
+    }
+
+    /** Two-daemon deployment, resolving ancestry through {@code parentResolver} — for tests. */
+    public PaneLocator(HerdrClient lead, HerdrClient member, ParentResolver parentResolver) {
         this.herdrs = lead == member ? List.of(lead) : List.of(lead, member);
+        this.parentResolver = parentResolver;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -49,8 +81,9 @@ public final class PaneLocator {
         if (pid <= 0) {
             return null;
         }
+        Set<Long> ancestry = ancestorsOf(pid);
         for (HerdrClient herdr : herdrs) {
-            String terminal = terminalForPid(herdr, pid);
+            String terminal = terminalForPid(herdr, ancestry);
             if (terminal != null) {
                 return terminal;
             }
@@ -58,28 +91,54 @@ public final class PaneLocator {
         return null;
     }
 
-    private static String terminalForPid(HerdrClient herdr, long pid) {
+    /**
+     * {@code pid} itself plus its ancestor chain, walked through {@link #parentResolver} up to
+     * {@link #MAX_ANCESTRY_DEPTH} generations or pid 1, whichever comes first. A vanished ancestor
+     * ({@link ParentResolver#parentOf} returning empty) ends the walk without error — it just means
+     * the chain is shorter than the bound. A cycle in a fake resolver is caught by the "already
+     * seen" check and also ends the walk, so this can never loop.
+     */
+    private Set<Long> ancestorsOf(long pid) {
+        Set<Long> ancestry = new LinkedHashSet<>();
+        long current = pid;
+        for (int depth = 0; depth < MAX_ANCESTRY_DEPTH; depth++) {
+            if (current <= 0 || !ancestry.add(current)) {
+                break; // vanished/invalid pid, or a cycle back to a pid already recorded
+            }
+            if (current == 1) {
+                break; // reached the root of the process tree
+            }
+            OptionalLong parent = parentResolver.parentOf(current);
+            if (parent.isEmpty()) {
+                break; // vanished ancestor — not an error, just the end of the chain
+            }
+            current = parent.getAsLong();
+        }
+        return ancestry;
+    }
+
+    private static String terminalForPid(HerdrClient herdr, Set<Long> ancestry) {
         for (JsonNode pane : herdr.call("pane.list", Map.of()).path("panes")) {
             String paneId = pane.path("pane_id").asText(null);
-            if (paneId != null && paneOwnsPid(herdr, paneId, pid)) {
+            if (paneId != null && paneOwnsAnyOf(herdr, paneId, ancestry)) {
                 return pane.path("terminal_id").asText(null);
             }
         }
         return null;
     }
 
-    private static boolean paneOwnsPid(HerdrClient herdr, String paneId, long pid) {
+    private static boolean paneOwnsAnyOf(HerdrClient herdr, String paneId, Set<Long> ancestry) {
         JsonNode info;
         try {
             info = herdr.call("pane.process_info", Map.of("pane_id", paneId)).path("process_info");
         } catch (HerdrException e) {
             return false; // pane vanished mid-scan — just skip it
         }
-        if (info.path("shell_pid").asLong(-1) == pid) {
+        if (ancestry.contains(info.path("shell_pid").asLong(-1))) {
             return true;
         }
         for (JsonNode p : info.path("foreground_processes")) {
-            if (p.path("pid").asLong(-1) == pid) {
+            if (ancestry.contains(p.path("pid").asLong(-1))) {
                 return true;
             }
         }

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/herdr/ParentResolver.java

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+package dev.ltms.fleet.herdr;
+
+import java.util.OptionalLong;
+
+/**
+ * Resolves a pid's parent pid — the seam {@link PaneLocator} walks a process's ancestry through,
+ * so its tests can drive the walk from a fake pid→parent map instead of spawning real processes.
+ *
+ * <p>{@link #PROCESS_HANDLE} is the production implementation, backed by {@link ProcessHandle}.
+ */
+public interface ParentResolver {
+
+    /** The parent pid of {@code pid}, or empty if {@code pid} is gone or has no known parent. */
+    OptionalLong parentOf(long pid);
+
+    /** Production resolver: asks the JVM's {@link ProcessHandle} view of the OS process tree. */
+    ParentResolver PROCESS_HANDLE = pid -> ProcessHandle.of(pid)
+            .flatMap(ProcessHandle::parent)
+            .map(parent -> OptionalLong.of(parent.pid()))
+            .orElse(OptionalLong.empty());
+}

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/inject/CompletionResolver.java

@@ -74,6 +74,14 @@ public final class CompletionResolver implements TurnListener {
      */
     public static final long MIN_TURN_NANOS = Duration.ofSeconds(2).toNanos();
 
+    /**
+     * fleetd#164 (part 2): one stable, explicit backend-failure marker seen on a Claude Code pane
+     * when the backend itself rejected the turn (e.g. {@code "API Error: 400 invalid request body"}).
+     * Kept deliberately narrow — a growing list of ad-hoc error strings rots as backends change their
+     * wording; broader backend-error surfacing is out of scope here (fleetd#164 point 3).
+     */
+    private static final Pattern BACKEND_ERROR = Pattern.compile("(?i)\\bAPI Error\\s*:");
+
     private static final String CLIPPED_PANE_TAIL_MARKER =
             "[Pane tail clipped: member did not call fleet_reply.]";
 
@@ -278,6 +286,20 @@ public final class CompletionResolver implements TurnListener {
             }
             return;
         }
+        // fleetd#164 (part 2): a scrape that read cleanly and produced content still isn't a real
+        // reply when that content is the backend's own rejection (e.g. an HTTP 400 before the worker
+        // did any work). Classify it as a failure naming the member, rather than handing the caller a
+        // scrape that reads like a completed answer.
+        String backendError = firstMatchingLine(assistantBlock, BACKEND_ERROR);
+        if (backendError != null) {
+            // Carry the whole scrape, not just the matched line. The pattern is a heuristic: a member
+            // that forgot fleet_reply while reporting *about* a backend error matches it too. Failing
+            // is still right — the caller must not read a scrape as an answer — but dropping the rest
+            // of the pane would destroy the report, which is the same defect fleetd#164 is about.
+            fail(target, turn, "member " + target + " ended on a backend error: " + backendError
+                    + "\n--- pane tail ---\n" + tail);
+            return;
+        }
         String completion = clipped ? tail + "\n" + CLIPPED_PANE_TAIL_MARKER : tail;
         if (rendezvous.resolveCompletion(waiter, completion)) {
             inFlight.remove(target, turn);

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/ClaudeCodeLauncher.java

@@ -94,13 +94,26 @@ public final class ClaudeCodeLauncher extends HerdrPeerLauncher {
     public ClaudeCodeLauncher(AgentControl agents, WorkspaceControl spaces, SubscriptionGuard guard,
                               Map<String, FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, String defaultProfile,
                               Function<String, String> env,
-                              long spawnReadyTimeoutMs, long spawnReadyPollMs,
-                              Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
-                              Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials) {
+                               long spawnReadyTimeoutMs, long spawnReadyPollMs,
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials) {
+        this(agents, spaces, guard, profiles, defaultProfile, env, spawnReadyTimeoutMs, spawnReadyPollMs,
+                fleet, memberCredentials, null, null);
+    }
+
+    /** Production constructor, plus the live config for URI environment exclusions. */
+    public ClaudeCodeLauncher(AgentControl agents, WorkspaceControl spaces, SubscriptionGuard guard,
+                               Map<String, FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, String defaultProfile,
+                               Function<String, String> env,
+                               long spawnReadyTimeoutMs, long spawnReadyPollMs,
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials,
+                               Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames,
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig> config) {
         this(agents, spaces, guard, profiles, defaultProfile, env,
                 spawnReadyTimeoutMs,
                 System::currentTimeMillis, () -> sleepUninterruptibly(spawnReadyPollMs),
-                fleet, memberCredentials);
+                fleet, memberCredentials, hostEnvNames, config);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -153,10 +166,22 @@ public final class ClaudeCodeLauncher extends HerdrPeerLauncher {
                               Function<String, String> env,
                               long spawnReadyTimeoutMs,
                               LongSupplier nowMillis, Runnable sleeper,
-                              Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
-                              Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials) {
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials) {
+        this(agents, spaces, guard, profiles, defaultProfile, env, spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis, sleeper,
+                fleet, memberCredentials, null, null);
+    }
+
+    /** Full testability constructor, plus the live config for URI environment exclusions. */
+    public ClaudeCodeLauncher(AgentControl agents, WorkspaceControl spaces, SubscriptionGuard guard,
+                               Map<String, FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, String defaultProfile,
+                               Function<String, String> env, long spawnReadyTimeoutMs,
+                               LongSupplier nowMillis, Runnable sleeper, Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials,
+                               Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames,
+                               Supplier<FleetConfig> config) {
         super(NAME_PREFIX, agents, spaces, profiles, defaultProfile, env,
-                spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis, sleeper, fleet, memberCredentials);
+                spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis, sleeper, fleet, memberCredentials, hostEnvNames, config);
         this.guard = guard;
     }
 
@@ -174,7 +199,7 @@ public final class ClaudeCodeLauncher extends HerdrPeerLauncher {
                               Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials,
                               Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames) {
         super(NAME_PREFIX, agents, spaces, profiles, defaultProfile, env,
-                spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis, sleeper, fleet, memberCredentials, hostEnvNames);
+                spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis, sleeper, fleet, memberCredentials, hostEnvNames, null);
         this.guard = guard;
     }
 

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/HerdrPeerLauncher.java

@@ -170,6 +170,8 @@ public abstract class HerdrPeerLauncher implements PeerLauncher {
 
     /** Guards {@link #warnNonZsh} to one WARN per launcher instance, not one per spawn. */
     private final AtomicBoolean nonZshShellWarned = new AtomicBoolean();
+    /** Live config provides URI environment names that must never enter member panes. */
+    private final Supplier<FleetConfig> config;
 
     /**
      * @param namePrefix          label prefix for this peer kind (drives naming and reap)
@@ -238,8 +240,19 @@ public abstract class HerdrPeerLauncher implements PeerLauncher {
                                 long spawnReadyTimeoutMs,
                                 LongSupplier nowMillis, Runnable sleeper,
                                 Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
+                                 Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials,
+                                 Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames) {
+        this(namePrefix, agents, spaces, profiles, defaultProfile, env, spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis,
+                sleeper, fleet, memberCredentials, hostEnvNames, null);
+    }
+
+    /** As above, plus the live full config for secret-bearing URI environment names. */
+    protected HerdrPeerLauncher(String namePrefix, AgentControl agents, WorkspaceControl spaces,
+                                Map<String, FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, String defaultProfile,
+                                Function<String, String> env, long spawnReadyTimeoutMs,
+                                LongSupplier nowMillis, Runnable sleeper, Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
                                 Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials,
-                                Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames) {
+                                Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames, Supplier<FleetConfig> config) {
         this.fleet = fleet;
         this.namePrefix = namePrefix;
         this.agents = agents;
@@ -252,6 +265,7 @@ public abstract class HerdrPeerLauncher implements PeerLauncher {
         this.sleeper = sleeper;
         this.memberCredentials = memberCredentials;
         this.hostEnvNames = hostEnvNames != null ? hostEnvNames : () -> System.getenv().keySet();
+        this.config = config;
     }
 
     // --- adapter seams -------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -1028,9 +1042,11 @@ public abstract class HerdrPeerLauncher implements PeerLauncher {
     }
 
     /** Put {@link #BLOCKED_CREDENTIAL_SENTINEL} over every blocked name in the pane-creation env map. */
-    private static void overlayBlockedCredentials(Map<String, String> workerEnv,
-                                                  FleetConfig.MemberCredentials creds) {
-        for (String name : creds.blockedSet()) {
+    private void overlayBlockedCredentials(Map<String, String> workerEnv,
+                                          FleetConfig.MemberCredentials creds) {
+        Set<String> blocked = new java.util.TreeSet<>(creds.blockedSet());
+        blocked.addAll(brokerUriEnvNames());
+        for (String name : blocked) {
             workerEnv.put(name, BLOCKED_CREDENTIAL_SENTINEL);
         }
     }
@@ -1097,15 +1113,21 @@ public abstract class HerdrPeerLauncher implements PeerLauncher {
      * ssh-agent handle when explicitly allowed, and the exact keys of THIS launch's own env map.
      */
     private Set<String> derivedAllowedNames(FleetConfig.MemberCredentials creds, Launch launch) {
+        Set<String> brokerUriEnvNames = brokerUriEnvNames();
         Set<String> allowed = new java.util.TreeSet<>(
-                MemberEnvAllowList.derive(profiles.values(), creds.allowSet()));
+                MemberEnvAllowList.derive(profiles.values(), creds.allowSet(), brokerUriEnvNames));
         if (creds.sshAuthSockAllowed()) {
             allowed.add(SSH_AUTH_SOCK);
         } // blocked by default: absent from the set ⇒ blanked by the scrub like any other name
         allowed.addAll(launch.env().keySet());
+        allowed.removeAll(brokerUriEnvNames);
         return allowed;
     }
 
+    private Set<String> brokerUriEnvNames() {
+        return MemberEnvAllowList.brokerUriEnvNames(config == null ? null : config.get());
+    }
+
     /**
      * CB-633 follow-up: one INFO line per allow-list spawn WHOSE SCRUB ACTUALLY RUNS, so an operator
      * can read a single log line and know the scrub ran and how much of the visible environment it

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/MemberEnvAllowList.java

@@ -40,8 +40,9 @@ import java.util.TreeSet;
  * operator's own explicit list. Before this, {@code policy: allow-list} silently ignored every name
  * an operator wrote under {@code allow:} unless a profile happened to carry it too, which meant
  * turning the policy on could blank credentials working members already depended on. {@code
- * SSH_AUTH_SOCK} is the one exception: even when the operator lists it under {@code allow:}, it is
- * excluded here and added back ONLY by the caller when {@code sshAuthSock: allow} is explicitly set
+ * SSH_AUTH_SOCK} and configured broker URI environment names are exceptions: even when the operator
+ * lists them under {@code allow:}, they are excluded here. {@code SSH_AUTH_SOCK} is added back ONLY
+ * by the caller when {@code sshAuthSock: allow} is explicitly set
  * (see {@link #SSH_AUTH_SOCK}'s javadoc) — it is a live handle to the operator's own ssh-agent, not
  * a value, so treating it like any other allow-listed name would hand a member every key the
  * operator's agent holds the moment they typed the name under {@code allow:} for an unrelated
@@ -106,6 +107,16 @@ public final class MemberEnvAllowList {
      * run-to-run.
      */
     public static Set<String> derive(Collection<FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, Set<String> configuredAllow) {
+        return derive(profiles, configuredAllow, Set.of());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * As {@link #derive(Collection, Set)}, while excluding names that fleetd knows carry credentials.
+     * A configured broker URI contains its AMQP password inline, so it must never reach a member,
+     * even when an operator put its variable name in {@code memberCredentials.allow:}.
+     */
+    public static Set<String> derive(Collection<FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, Set<String> configuredAllow,
+                                     Set<String> excludedNames) {
         Set<String> derived = new TreeSet<>(INFRASTRUCTURE_PASSTHROUGH);
         if (profiles != null) {
             for (FleetConfig.Profile p : profiles) {
@@ -124,9 +135,37 @@ public final class MemberEnvAllowList {
                 }
             }
         }
+        if (excludedNames != null) {
+            derived.removeAll(excludedNames);
+        }
         return Set.copyOf(derived);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The host environment names whose values are AMQP URIs with inline passwords. Both broker
+     * connections belong to fleetd, never to a member pane. Blank and absent configuration changes
+     * nothing.
+     *
+     * <p><b>How strong this exclusion is depends on the policy, and the difference matters.</b>
+     * Under {@code policy: allow-list} it is enforced by the generated ZDOTDIR scrub, which runs
+     * AFTER the pane's shell has sourced the operator's chain — so a login shell that re-exports the
+     * name is still blanked. Under the deny-list policy there is no scrub: the name is only removed
+     * from the pre-shell env map, and a login shell that sources the operator's secret store
+     * re-exports it. That is the long-standing weakness of deny-list (a sourced file can undo it),
+     * not something this exclusion introduces, but it means deny-list deployments do NOT get this
+     * guarantee. The same caveat applies to the non-zsh path, which has no scrub at all — see
+     * {@code HerdrPeerLauncher#applyEnvironmentAllowListPolicy}.
+     */
+    public static Set<String> brokerUriEnvNames(FleetConfig config) {
+        if (config == null) {
+            return Set.of();
+        }
+        Set<String> names = new TreeSet<>();
+        addUriEnvIfPresent(names, config.broker());
+        addUriEnvIfPresent(names, config.coordinator());
+        return Set.copyOf(names);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Whether {@code name} survives the scrub when {@code allowedNames} is the derived set: an exact
      * match, or an infrastructure-prefixed name ({@code LC_*}). Prefix rules live ONLY here and in
@@ -146,4 +185,16 @@ public final class MemberEnvAllowList {
             into.add(name);
         }
     }
+
+    private static void addUriEnvIfPresent(Set<String> into, FleetConfig.Broker broker) {
+        if (broker != null && broker.hasUriEnv()) {
+            into.add(broker.uriEnv());
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void addUriEnvIfPresent(Set<String> into, FleetConfig.Coordinator coordinator) {
+        if (coordinator != null && coordinator.hasUriEnv()) {
+            into.add(coordinator.uriEnv());
+        }
+    }
 }

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/OpenCodeLauncher.java

@@ -116,12 +116,23 @@ public final class OpenCodeLauncher extends HerdrPeerLauncher {
     public OpenCodeLauncher(AgentControl agents, WorkspaceControl spaces,
                             Map<String, FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, String defaultProfile,
                             Function<String, String> env,
-                            long spawnReadyTimeoutMs, long spawnReadyPollMs,
-                            Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
-                            Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials) {
+                             long spawnReadyTimeoutMs, long spawnReadyPollMs,
+                             Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
+                             Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials) {
+        this(agents, spaces, profiles, defaultProfile, env, spawnReadyTimeoutMs, spawnReadyPollMs,
+                fleet, memberCredentials, null);
+    }
+
+    /** Production constructor, plus the live config for URI environment exclusions. */
+    public OpenCodeLauncher(AgentControl agents, WorkspaceControl spaces,
+                             Map<String, FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, String defaultProfile,
+                             Function<String, String> env, long spawnReadyTimeoutMs, long spawnReadyPollMs,
+                             Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
+                             Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials,
+                             Supplier<FleetConfig> config) {
         this(agents, spaces, profiles, defaultProfile, env, spawnReadyTimeoutMs,
                 System::currentTimeMillis, () -> sleepUninterruptibly(spawnReadyPollMs),
-                defaultConfigRoot(), defaultDiscoveryRoot(), fleet, memberCredentials);
+                defaultConfigRoot(), defaultDiscoveryRoot(), fleet, memberCredentials, config);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -182,8 +193,20 @@ public final class OpenCodeLauncher extends HerdrPeerLauncher {
                             Path configRoot, Path discoveryRoot,
                             Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
                             Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials) {
+        this(agents, spaces, profiles, defaultProfile, env, spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis, sleeper,
+                configRoot, discoveryRoot, fleet, memberCredentials, null);
+    }
+
+    /** Full testability constructor, plus the live config for URI environment exclusions. */
+    public OpenCodeLauncher(AgentControl agents, WorkspaceControl spaces,
+                             Map<String, FleetConfig.Profile> profiles, String defaultProfile,
+                             Function<String, String> env, long spawnReadyTimeoutMs,
+                             LongSupplier nowMillis, Runnable sleeper, Path configRoot, Path discoveryRoot,
+                             Supplier<FleetConfig.Fleet> fleet,
+                             Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> memberCredentials,
+                             Supplier<FleetConfig> config) {
         super(NAME_PREFIX, agents, spaces, profiles, defaultProfile, env,
-                spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis, sleeper, fleet, memberCredentials);
+                spawnReadyTimeoutMs, nowMillis, sleeper, fleet, memberCredentials, null, config);
         this.configRoot = configRoot;
         this.discovery = new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(discoveryRoot);
     }

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/OpenCodeSessionDiscovery.java

@@ -1,58 +1,87 @@
 package dev.ltms.fleet.member;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import org.sqlite.SQLiteConfig;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
-import java.util.stream.Stream;
+import java.sql.Connection;
+import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
+import java.sql.ResultSet;
+import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 
 /**
  * Resolves the opencode session id for a fleetd worker from opencode's on-disk storage — the
  * only place this adapter touches opencode's private layout, and deliberately the <em>only</em>
  * class that does.
  *
- * <p><strong>Why this is isolated behind one seam.</strong> The layout is version-coupled and not a
- * stable contract: opencode writes one JSON file per session under
- * {@code <storageRoot>/session/<projectID>/<ses_*.json>}, and each record carries a
- * {@code "version"} field (e.g. {@code "1.1.31"}), so the exact directory shape, file naming, and
- * field names can move between opencode releases. opencode also ships a headless HTTP server that
- * may supersede file scanning entirely. Everything this adapter knows about that private storage —
- * its shape, naming, and field names — lives here, so a layout change, or a switch to the HTTP
- * server, changes exactly one class and nothing in {@link OpenCodeLauncher}.
+ * <p><strong>Why this is isolated behind one seam.</strong> The layout is version-coupled and not
+ * a stable contract: opencode persists its session state in a SQLite database at
+ * {@code <storageRoot>/opencode.db} (a {@code session} table, one row per session, keyed by id and
+ * carrying a {@code directory} column). That schema can move between opencode releases exactly
+ * like the JSON-file layout it replaced did (opencode migrated off a one-JSON-file-per-session
+ * tree under {@code <storageRoot>/storage/session/<projectID>/ses_*.json} in January 2026 — that
+ * tree is now a frozen migration artefact nothing writes, which is why this class no longer reads
+ * it). opencode also ships a headless HTTP server that may supersede both of these entirely.
+ * Everything this adapter knows about that private storage — its shape and column names — lives
+ * here, so a layout change, or a switch to the HTTP server, changes exactly one class and nothing
+ * in {@link OpenCodeLauncher}.
  *
  * <p>The determinism that makes this useful is structural, not a guess: every fleetd worker runs
- * in its own unique git worktree, so the record's {@code directory} (its project root) equals the
+ * in its own unique git worktree, so the row's {@code directory} (its project root) equals the
  * worker's cwd identifies <em>its</em> session unambiguously. We match on {@code directory} rather
  * than diffing {@code opencode session list} before/after — that races under concurrent spawns, and
  * the CLI listing does not even show the directory.
  *
- * <p>All reads are best-effort and never throw: a missing or unreadable storage root, a record that
- * fails to parse, or a directory with no record yet all yield {@code null}, and the caller (the
- * session handle) treats that as "identity not resolved yet" and retries later.
+ * <p>All reads are best-effort and never throw: a missing or unreadable database, a query that
+ * fails, or a directory with no row yet all yield {@code null}, and the caller (the session
+ * handle) treats that as "identity not resolved yet" and retries later. The database is opened
+ * read-only and never written to: opencode itself may be running and writing it concurrently (WAL
+ * mode), and this class must never disturb that.
  */
 final class OpenCodeSessionDiscovery {
 
+    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(OpenCodeSessionDiscovery.class);
+
     private final Path storageRoot;   // e.g. ~/.local/share/opencode (injectable for tests)
-    private final ObjectMapper json;
+    private final Path databasePath;
+    private final AtomicBoolean warnedMissingDatabase = new AtomicBoolean(false);
 
     OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(Path storageRoot) {
         this.storageRoot = storageRoot;
-        this.json = new ObjectMapper();
+        this.databasePath = storageRoot.resolve("opencode.db");
     }
 
     /**
-     * The opencode session id whose record references {@code directory} (the worker's cwd), or
-     * {@code null} when no record matches yet. When several records share the directory — e.g.
-     * repeated spawns into the same worktree — the <em>most recently modified</em> one wins: it is
+     * A connection to {@link #databasePath} opened with SQLite's {@code SQLITE_OPEN_READONLY}
+     * flag: it never creates the file, never writes, and never touches WAL or journal mode.
+     * opencode may be running and writing this database concurrently, and this class must never
+     * disturb it.
+     *
+     * <p>Package-private so a test can hold the connection and prove it refuses a write. That is
+     * the only way to pin this property: making the file unwritable does <em>not</em> work,
+     * because SQLite silently downgrades a read-write open of an unwritable file to read-only, so
+     * such a test passes whether or not the flag is set.
+     */
+    Connection openReadOnly() throws SQLException {
+        SQLiteConfig config = new SQLiteConfig();
+        config.setReadOnly(true);
+        return config.createConnection("jdbc:sqlite:" + databasePath);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The opencode session id whose row references {@code directory} (the worker's cwd), or
+     * {@code null} when no row matches yet. When several rows share the directory — e.g. repeated
+     * spawns into the same worktree — the row with the highest {@code time_updated} wins: it is
      * the session the pane most likely corresponds to.
      *
-     * <p>Never throws: a missing {@code storageRoot}, an unreadable/malformed record, or a
-     * directory that has not been persisted yet all resolve to {@code null} rather than failing a
-     * spawn. A fleetd worker's session record is written lazily (when the session is first
-     * persisted), so {@code null} here is the normal answer right after the pane is ready, and the
-     * caller retries later.
+     * <p>Never throws: a missing {@code opencode.db}, a locked/unreadable database, a query
+     * failure, or a directory that has not been persisted yet all resolve to {@code null} rather
+     * than failing a spawn. A fleetd worker's session row is written lazily (when the session is
+     * first persisted), so {@code null} here is the normal answer right after the pane is ready,
+     * and the caller retries later.
      *
      * @param directory the worker's cwd, as resolved for this spawn
      * @return the matching session id, or {@code null} if none is known yet
@@ -61,62 +90,31 @@ final class OpenCodeSessionDiscovery {
         if (directory == null || directory.isBlank()) {
             return null;
         }
-        Path sessionRoot = storageRoot.resolve("session");
-        if (!Files.isDirectory(sessionRoot)) {
+        if (!Files.isRegularFile(databasePath)) {
+            if (warnedMissingDatabase.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
+                log.warn("opencode session database not found at {} — opencode's on-disk layout "
+                        + "may have moved again; session discovery will keep returning null",
+                        databasePath);
+            }
             return null;
         }
-        String best = null;
-        long bestMtime = Long.MIN_VALUE;
-        try (Stream<Path> projectDirs = Files.list(sessionRoot)) {
-            for (Path projectDir : projectDirs.filter(Files::isDirectory).toList()) {
-                try (Stream<Path> records = Files.list(projectDir)) {
-                    for (Path record : records.toList()) {
-                        String id = matchId(record, directory);
-                        if (id == null) {
-                            continue;
-                        }
-                        long mtime = lastModifiedEpochMillis(record);
-                        if (mtime > bestMtime) {
-                            bestMtime = mtime;
-                            best = id;
-                        }
-                    }
-                } catch (IOException ignored) {
-                    // one project dir unreadable — skip it; another may still match
+        String sql = "SELECT id FROM session WHERE directory = ? ORDER BY time_updated DESC LIMIT 1";
+        try (Connection connection = openReadOnly();
+             PreparedStatement statement = connection.prepareStatement(sql)) {
+            statement.setString(1, directory);
+            try (ResultSet rows = statement.executeQuery()) {
+                if (rows.next()) {
+                    return rows.getString("id");
                 }
             }
-        } catch (IOException ignored) {
-            // storage root vanished or became unreadable — "no session known yet"
+        } catch (SQLException e) {
+            // Locked, corrupt, or otherwise unreadable — never fatal to a spawn. Not the
+            // "database moved" signal (the file exists), so this stays below WARN.
+            log.debug("opencode session database unreadable at {}: {}", databasePath, e.toString());
             return null;
         }
-        return best;
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * The record's session id when it references {@code directory}, else {@code null}. A record
-     * that is not JSON, lacks {@code id}/{@code directory}, or points at a different directory is
-     * simply not our session; a malformed one is skipped, never fatal.
-     */
-    private String matchId(Path record, String directory) {
-        try {
-            JsonNode node = json.readTree(record.toFile());
-            JsonNode id = node == null ? null : node.get("id");
-            JsonNode dir = node == null ? null : node.get("directory");
-            if (id == null || dir == null || !directory.equals(dir.asText())) {
-                return null;
-            }
-            return id.asText();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            return null;
-        }
-    }
-
-    /** The record's last-modified epoch ms, or {@code Long.MIN_VALUE} if unreadable (never wins). */
-    private static long lastModifiedEpochMillis(Path record) {
-        try {
-            return Files.getLastModifiedTime(record).toMillis();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            return Long.MIN_VALUE;
-        }
+        log.debug("no opencode session row for directory (root={}, directory={})",
+                storageRoot, directory);
+        return null;
     }
 }

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/MessageService.java

@@ -366,21 +366,40 @@ public final class MessageService {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Route a worker's explicit {@code fleet_reply}: resolve an open send, or queue it in the
-     * inbox if no send is currently open. Unlike the bare {@link Rendezvous#resolve}, a no-waiter
-     * result is <em>not</em> a failure — the reply is held for later drain.
+     * Route a worker's explicit {@code fleet_reply}: resolve an open send, complete an async ticket
+     * still parked waiting on this exact turn's answer, or — only once neither applies — queue it in
+     * the inbox. Unlike the bare {@link Rendezvous#resolve}, a no-waiter result is <em>not</em> a
+     * failure — the reply is held for later drain.
      *
      * <p><strong>Do NOT use this for mid-turn questions.</strong> {@code fleet_ask} /
      * {@link Rendezvous#resolveQuestion} must keep today's {@code NO_WAITER} behaviour — questions
      * are interactive and must never be queued.
      *
-     * @return always {@code true} — the reply either resolved a live send or was queued
+     * @return always {@code true} — the reply resolved a live send, completed a parked ticket, or
+     *         was queued
      */
     public boolean reply(String session, String content) {
         if (rendezvous.resolve(session, content)) {
             count(FleetMetrics.REPLIES, "path", "rendezvous");
             return true;                       // a live send took it — unchanged fast path
         }
+        // #137: no live rendezvous waiter, but this may be the worker's real fleet_reply resuming a
+        // turn that {@link #answer} already gave up waiting on. answer()'s own bounded wait (the
+        // primary's fleet_send{turnId} call, capped well under a minute) can time out and close its
+        // waiter long before the worker — now actually resuming real work — finishes and replies. That
+        // reply used to have nowhere to land but the session inbox, leaving the async ticket's future
+        // unresolved forever: fleet_poll{ticket} stayed PENDING until fleet_stop's abandon() forced it
+        // FAILED with a misleading "session released before it replied" reason, even though the reply
+        // had, in fact, arrived. Completing the matching ticket directly here means fleet_poll{ticket}
+        // sees the real reply instead.
+        Task orphan = askAnsweredAsyncTask(session);
+        if (orphan != null && orphan.future.complete(new Reply(Outcome.REPLIED, content))) {
+            if (orphan.turnId != null) {
+                asyncTasksByTurn.remove(orphan.turnId, orphan);
+            }
+            count(FleetMetrics.REPLIES, "path", "async-recovered");
+            return true;                       // the ticket itself took it — no inbox stranding at all
+        }
         inbox.publish(session, UUID.randomUUID().toString(), content);
         // CB-640: record the stranding itself (not just the reply text) so fleet health can see a
         // worker whose replies keep missing their waiter, not only the queue depth this leaves behind.
@@ -394,6 +413,24 @@ public final class MessageService {
         return true;                           // held, not lost
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The still-open async task on {@code target} whose {@code fleet_ask} was already answered — its
+     * {@link Task#turnId} is stamped but its {@link Task#question} was cleared by {@link #answer} —
+     * yet whose future is not resolved yet (#137). {@code null} if no such task exists, including the
+     * common case where {@code target}'s worker never used {@code fleet_ask} at all (a task that was
+     * never asked has {@code turnId == null}, so it can never match here and only ever completes
+     * through the ordinary rendezvous fast path in {@link #reply}).
+     */
+    private Task askAnsweredAsyncTask(String target) {
+        for (Task task : tasks.values()) {
+            if (target.equals(task.target) && task.question == null && task.turnId != null
+                    && !task.future.isDone()) {
+                return task;
+            }
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
     /** Record a counter sample when a registry is wired; a no-op in unit tests. */
     private void count(String name, String... labels) {
         if (metrics != null) {
@@ -435,19 +472,43 @@ public final class MessageService {
      * <p>Resolving the waiter as a failure — rather than letting it time out — also means the
      * outcome is counted, so a torn-down delegation stops being invisible to {@code /metrics}.
      *
-     * @return true if a live waiter was failed
+     * <p><strong>#137 defence in depth.</strong> {@link #reply} already hands a worker's real
+     * {@code fleet_reply} straight to the async ticket it belongs to whenever one is still parked
+     * waiting for it (see {@link #askAnsweredAsyncTask}), so by the time a session is released its
+     * tasks are normally already resolved — this loop's {@code complete} calls are then harmless
+     * no-ops (a {@link CompletableFuture} can only resolve once). But should some other path someday
+     * strand a reply in the inbox without completing its ticket, checking
+     * {@link #hasStrandedReply(String)} here — before ever writing a failure — means a torn-down
+     * session whose worker in fact replied is still reported {@code REPLIED} with that reply's own
+     * text, never the misleading "the worker session was released before it replied" (which also
+     * means the snapshot/worktree recovery hint that follows it never prints once a reply exists).
+     *
+     * @return true if a live waiter or an async task was failed (never true for one recovered as a
+     *         reply — see the note above)
      */
     public boolean abandon(String target, String reason) {
+        boolean hadStrandedReply = hasStrandedReply(target);
         // CB-640: the session is gone — nothing will ever accept or deliver into it now.
         strandedReplies.remove(target);
         queuedDeliveries.remove(target);
         CompletableFuture<Rendezvous.Resolution> waiter = rendezvous.currentWaiter(target);
         boolean failed = waiter != null && !waiter.isDone() && rendezvous.resolveFailure(waiter, reason);
         boolean asyncFailed = false;
+        Reply recovered = null; // lazily drained at most once, only if a task actually needs it
         for (Task task : tasks.values()) {
-            if (target.equals(task.target) && task.question == null
-                    && task.future.complete(new Reply(Outcome.WORKER_FAILED, reason))) {
-                asyncFailed = true;
+            if (!target.equals(task.target) || task.question != null || task.future.isDone()) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            if (hadStrandedReply && recovered == null) {
+                recovered = recoverStrandedReply(target);
+            }
+            Reply outcome = recovered != null ? recovered : new Reply(Outcome.WORKER_FAILED, reason);
+            if (task.future.complete(outcome)) {
+                if (outcome.outcome() == Outcome.WORKER_FAILED) {
+                    asyncFailed = true;
+                } else if (task.turnId != null) {
+                    asyncTasksByTurn.remove(task.turnId, task);
+                }
             }
         }
         if (failed) {
@@ -456,6 +517,21 @@ public final class MessageService {
         return failed || asyncFailed;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Drain {@code target}'s inbox and hand its content back as a {@link Outcome#REPLIED} result
+     * (#137 defence in depth for {@link #abandon}) — {@code null} if it turned out empty (the
+     * stranding fact raced away, e.g. a lead's own {@code fleet_poll} on the raw session already
+     * drained it first). When more than one message is queued, only the newest is the worker's actual
+     * final answer ({@link #drainReplies} returns them oldest-first).
+     */
+    private Reply recoverStrandedReply(String target) {
+        var messages = drainReplies(target);
+        if (messages.isEmpty()) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        return new Reply(Outcome.REPLIED, messages.get(messages.size() - 1).content());
+    }
+
     /**
      * Acknowledge a specific reply by {@code msgId} for {@code target}. Removes it from the inbox
      * so that a subsequent drain or peek no longer returns it.

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/herdr/FakeParentResolver.java

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+package dev.ltms.fleet.herdr;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.OptionalLong;
+
+/**
+ * Fake {@link ParentResolver} backed by an explicit pid→parent map — lets {@link PaneLocatorTest}
+ * drive {@link PaneLocator}'s ancestry walk (grandchild pids, cycles) without spawning real OS
+ * processes.
+ */
+final class FakeParentResolver implements ParentResolver {
+
+    private final Map<Long, Long> parents = new HashMap<>();
+
+    /** {@code pid}'s parent is {@code parentPid}. A pid with no entry here has no known parent. */
+    FakeParentResolver parent(long pid, long parentPid) {
+        parents.put(pid, parentPid);
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public OptionalLong parentOf(long pid) {
+        Long parent = parents.get(pid);
+        return parent == null ? OptionalLong.empty() : OptionalLong.of(parent);
+    }
+}

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/herdr/PaneLocatorTest.java

@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 package dev.ltms.fleet.herdr;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 
 /** Unit tests for PID → pane resolution (the herdr half of connection-based MCP identity). */
@@ -63,4 +67,123 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
         long paneListCalls = shared.calls.stream().filter(c -> c.method().equals("pane.list")).count();
         assertEquals(1, paneListCalls, "same-object lead/member must scan exactly once, not twice");
     }
+
+    // --- ancestry walk (CB-161: grandchild pids matched no pane, resolving as primary) --------
+
+    @Test
+    void stillResolvesAPidThatIsExactlyThePaneShellPid() {
+        // Regression: a pid with no parent chain at all — no ancestry walk is needed to match it.
+        OnePaneHerdr pane = new OnePaneHerdr("term_x", "pX", 5000, 6000);
+        PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, new FakeParentResolver());
+        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(5000));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void stillResolvesAPidThatIsExactlyAForegroundPid() {
+        // Regression: same as above, but matching via the foreground-processes list.
+        OnePaneHerdr pane = new OnePaneHerdr("term_x", "pX", 5000, 6000);
+        PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, new FakeParentResolver());
+        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(6000));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void resolvesAGrandchildPidTwoLevelsBelowTheShellPid() {
+        // The bug: a helper process a worker spawns (python3, curl, ...) is a grandchild of the
+        // pane's shell — not the shell_pid and not a foreground pid directly. Before the fix,
+        // paneOwnsPid only checked direct pid equality, so this pid matched no pane and the
+        // caller fell through to loopback-trust as the primary.
+        OnePaneHerdr pane = new OnePaneHerdr("term_x", "pX", 5000, 6000);
+        FakeParentResolver parents = new FakeParentResolver()
+                .parent(7002, 7001)   // grandchild -> child
+                .parent(7001, 5000);  // child -> shell (the pane's shell_pid)
+        PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, parents);
+        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(7002));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void nullForAPidWhoseAncestryMatchesNoPane() {
+        // Must not break the other direction: a pid that truly belongs to nothing here (e.g. the
+        // real primary) must still resolve to null. Resolving everything to a worker would demote
+        // the actual lead and refuse every orchestration call.
+        OnePaneHerdr pane = new OnePaneHerdr("term_x", "pX", 5000, 6000);
+        FakeParentResolver parents = new FakeParentResolver()
+                .parent(9002, 9001)
+                .parent(9001, 9000); // chain never reaches 5000 or 6000
+        PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, parents);
+        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(9002));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void ancestryWalkTerminatesOnACycleInsteadOfHanging() {
+        // A fake (or corrupted) parent map that cycles must not hang identity resolution, which
+        // runs on every MCP call. The walk must still terminate and correctly resolve to null.
+        OnePaneHerdr pane = new OnePaneHerdr("term_x", "pX", 5000, 6000);
+        FakeParentResolver parents = new FakeParentResolver()
+                .parent(100, 101)
+                .parent(101, 100); // cycle, never reaches the pane's pids
+        PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, parents);
+        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(100));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void ancestrySetIsComputedOnceAcrossBothClientsInTheTwoDaemonConstructor() {
+        // CB-185: the two-daemon constructor searches lead then member. The ancestor set is
+        // per-caller, not per-client — it must be walked once and reused, not recomputed for
+        // each client searched.
+        OnePaneHerdr pane = new OnePaneHerdr("term_x", "pX", 5000, 6000);
+        FakeParentResolver parents = new FakeParentResolver()
+                .parent(7002, 7001)
+                .parent(7001, 5000);
+        AtomicInteger calls = new AtomicInteger();
+        ParentResolver counting = pid -> {
+            calls.incrementAndGet();
+            return parents.parentOf(pid);
+        };
+        HerdrClient noPanes = new FakeHerdr().withNoPanes();
+        PaneLocator two = new PaneLocator(noPanes, pane, counting);
+        assertEquals("term_x", two.terminalForPid(7002));
+        assertEquals(3, calls.get(), "ancestry must be walked once (3 lookups: 7002, 7001, 5000), "
+                + "not re-walked per herdr client");
+    }
+
+    /** Minimal single-pane {@link HerdrClient} fake, purpose-built for the ancestry tests above. */
+    private static final class OnePaneHerdr implements HerdrClient {
+        private final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
+        private final String terminalId;
+        private final String paneId;
+        private final long shellPid;
+        private final long foregroundPid;
+
+        OnePaneHerdr(String terminalId, String paneId, long shellPid, long foregroundPid) {
+            this.terminalId = terminalId;
+            this.paneId = paneId;
+            this.shellPid = shellPid;
+            this.foregroundPid = foregroundPid;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public JsonNode call(String method, Object params) {
+            try {
+                return switch (method) {
+                    case "pane.list" -> mapper.readTree(("""
+                            {"type":"pane_list","panes":[
+                              {"pane_id":"%s","terminal_id":"%s","workspace_id":"w1","tab_id":"w1:t1","agent":"claude"}]}""")
+                            .formatted(paneId, terminalId));
+                    case "pane.process_info" -> mapper.readTree(("""
+                            {"type":"pane_process_info","process_info":{"pane_id":"%s","shell_pid":%d,
+                              "foreground_processes":[{"pid":%d,"name":"node","argv0":"claude"}]}}""")
+                            .formatted(paneId, shellPid, foregroundPid));
+                    default -> throw new HerdrException("OnePaneHerdr has no canned response for " + method);
+                };
+            } catch (HerdrException e) {
+                throw e;
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                throw new HerdrException("OnePaneHerdr decode failed for " + method, e);
+            }
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void close() {
+        }
+    }
 }

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/inject/CompletionResolverTest.java

@@ -566,6 +566,73 @@ class CompletionResolverTest {
         assertEquals("The usage limit has been reached.", waiter.getNow(null).text());
     }
 
+    // --- fleetd#164 (part 2 addendum): narrow BACKEND_ERROR pattern classification ---------
+
+    @Test
+    void classifiesABackendErrorLineAsAFailureInsteadOfACompletedReply() {
+        String block = "⏺ API Error: 400 invalid request body\n❯ ";
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr().readText(block);
+        Rendezvous rendezvous = new Rendezvous();
+        CompletionResolver resolver = new CompletionResolver(new AgentControl(herdr), rendezvous, ExhaustedPatternLookup.none(), ExhaustionSink.none());
+
+        var waiter = rendezvous.open("term_a");
+        resolver.resolve("term_a", new CompletionResolver.InFlight(waiter, null));
+
+        assertTrue(waiter.isDone(), "a backend-error scrape still resolves the blocked send");
+        assertEquals(Rendezvous.Kind.FAILED, waiter.getNow(null).kind(),
+                "a backend rejection is a failure, not a completed reply");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void theBackendErrorReasonNamesTheMemberAndCarriesTheMatchedLine() {
+        String block = "⏺ API Error: 400 invalid request body\n❯ ";
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr().readText(block);
+        Rendezvous rendezvous = new Rendezvous();
+        CompletionResolver resolver = new CompletionResolver(new AgentControl(herdr), rendezvous, ExhaustedPatternLookup.none(), ExhaustionSink.none());
+
+        var waiter = rendezvous.open("term_a");
+        resolver.resolve("term_a", new CompletionResolver.InFlight(waiter, null));
+
+        String reason = waiter.getNow(null).text();
+        assertTrue(reason.contains("term_a"), "the failure names the member: " + reason);
+        assertTrue(reason.contains("API Error: 400 invalid request body"),
+                "the failure carries the matched backend-error line: " + reason);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void aCaseInsensitiveApiErrorLineIsStillClassifiedAsABackendError() {
+        String block = "⏺ api error: rate limited\n❯ ";
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr().readText(block);
+        Rendezvous rendezvous = new Rendezvous();
+        CompletionResolver resolver = new CompletionResolver(new AgentControl(herdr), rendezvous, ExhaustedPatternLookup.none(), ExhaustionSink.none());
+
+        var waiter = rendezvous.open("term_a");
+        resolver.resolve("term_a", new CompletionResolver.InFlight(waiter, null));
+
+        assertEquals(Rendezvous.Kind.FAILED, waiter.getNow(null).kind(), "the pattern is case-insensitive");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void aBackendErrorFailureStillCarriesTheRestOfTheScrape() {
+        // The pattern is a heuristic: a member that forgot fleet_reply while *reporting on* a backend
+        // error matches it too. Failing is still correct, but the report itself must survive — losing
+        // it would be the same information-destroying defect fleetd#164 exists to fix.
+        String block = "\u23fa I looked into the gateway problem.\n"
+                + "The log line was: API Error: 400 invalid request body\n"
+                + "The cause is a missing content-type header.\n\u276f ";
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr().readText(block);
+        Rendezvous rendezvous = new Rendezvous();
+        CompletionResolver resolver = new CompletionResolver(new AgentControl(herdr), rendezvous, ExhaustedPatternLookup.none(), ExhaustionSink.none());
+
+        var waiter = rendezvous.open("term_a");
+        resolver.resolve("term_a", new CompletionResolver.InFlight(waiter, null));
+
+        String reason = waiter.getNow(null).text();
+        assertEquals(Rendezvous.Kind.FAILED, waiter.getNow(null).kind());
+        assertTrue(reason.contains("The cause is a missing content-type header."),
+                "the failure carries the rest of the pane, not only the matched line: " + reason);
+    }
+
     @Test
     void coverageIsOffWhenNoProfileHasAPatternConfigured() {
         assertEquals("off (no profile has an exhaustedPattern configured; profiles: [terra])",

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/HerdrPeerLauncherAllowListWiringTest.java

@@ -161,6 +161,34 @@ class HerdrPeerLauncherAllowListWiringTest {
                         + "it under allow: — sshAuthSock is unset here, so it defaults to block");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void brokerUriEnvStaysBlockedWhenListedInMemberCredentialsAllow() {
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr();
+        WiringLauncher launcher = new WiringLauncher(herdr,
+                allowListWithAllow(List.of("BROKER_CONNECTION_URI")), "/bin/zsh", null,
+                () -> config("BROKER_CONNECTION_URI"));
+
+        launcher.spawn(new SpawnRequest("test", null, null, null, null, MemberRole.DEV));
+
+        Path dir = Path.of(launcher.env.get("ZDOTDIR"));
+        assertFalse(readAll(dir.resolve(EnvAllowListScrub.SCRUB_FILE)).contains("'BROKER_CONNECTION_URI'"),
+                "broker.uriEnv must not reach a member even when listed in memberCredentials.allow:");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void brokerUriEnvIsDeniedUnderTheDenyListPolicyEvenWhenAllowed() {
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr();
+        WiringLauncher launcher = new WiringLauncher(herdr,
+                () -> new FleetConfig.MemberCredentials(null, List.of("BROKER_CONNECTION_URI"), List.of(), null),
+                "/bin/bash", null,
+                () -> config("BROKER_CONNECTION_URI"));
+
+        launcher.spawn(new SpawnRequest("test", null, null, null, null, MemberRole.DEV));
+
+        assertEquals("blocked-by-fleetd-cb596-see-gitea-issue-82", launcher.env.get("BROKER_CONNECTION_URI"),
+                "the deny-list overlay must deny broker.uriEnv even when allow: names it");
+    }
+
     /**
      * CB-633 follow-up criterion 3: on every allow-list spawn the daemon logs one INFO line, shaped
      * "member credentials: allowed N of M", with real counts — not constants. Real path: the count
@@ -260,15 +288,24 @@ class HerdrPeerLauncherAllowListWiringTest {
 
         /** Plus an injectable {@code hostEnvNames} source, for the "allowed N of M" log line test. */
         WiringLauncher(FakeHerdr herdr, Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> creds, String shell,
-                      Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames) {
+                       Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames) {
+            this(herdr, creds, shell, hostEnvNames, null);
+        }
+
+        WiringLauncher(FakeHerdr herdr, Supplier<FleetConfig.MemberCredentials> creds, String shell,
+                       Supplier<Set<String>> hostEnvNames, Supplier<FleetConfig> config) {
             super("test", new AgentControl(herdr), new WorkspaceControl(herdr),
                     Map.of("test", profile()), "test",
                     name -> "SHELL".equals(name) ? shell : null,
-                    0, () -> 0L, () -> { }, null, creds, hostEnvNames);
+                    0, () -> 0L, () -> { }, null, creds, hostEnvNames, config);
         }
 
         @Override
         protected Launch buildLaunch(FleetConfig.Profile cfg, LaunchSpec spec) {
+            Map<String, String> launchEnv = baseEnv(cfg);
+            launchEnv.putAll(env);
+            env.clear();
+            env.putAll(launchEnv);
             return new Launch(env, List.of("test"));
         }
 
@@ -278,6 +315,12 @@ class HerdrPeerLauncherAllowListWiringTest {
         }
     }
 
+    private static FleetConfig config(String brokerUriEnv) {
+        return new FleetConfig(null, null, null, Map.of(), null, null, null, null, null,
+                new FleetConfig.Broker(null, brokerUriEnv, null), null, null, null, null, null,
+                null, null, null, null, null).withDefaults();
+    }
+
     /** The generated directory is a temp directory; make sure the test does not leave a pile. */
     @Test
     void theGeneratedDirectoryIsRemovedWhenThePaneIsStopped() {

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/MemberEnvAllowListTest.java

@@ -121,6 +121,34 @@ class MemberEnvAllowListTest {
         assertTrue(derived.contains("OTHER_NAME"), "other allow: names are unaffected");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void configuredBrokerAndCoordinatorUriEnvNamesAreExcludedEvenWhenAllowed() {
+        FleetConfig config = config("BROKER_CONNECTION_URI", "COORDINATOR_CONNECTION_URI");
+        Set<String> excluded = MemberEnvAllowList.brokerUriEnvNames(config);
+
+        Set<String> derived = MemberEnvAllowList.derive(List.of(),
+                Set.of("BROKER_CONNECTION_URI", "COORDINATOR_CONNECTION_URI", "OTHER_NAME"), excluded);
+
+        assertFalse(derived.contains("BROKER_CONNECTION_URI"),
+                "broker.uriEnv is secret-bearing and must not ride in on allow:");
+        assertFalse(derived.contains("COORDINATOR_CONNECTION_URI"),
+                "coordinator.uriEnv has the same inline-password shape");
+        assertTrue(derived.contains("OTHER_NAME"), "unrelated allow: entries are unaffected");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void absentOrBlankBrokerUriEnvAddsNoExclusions() {
+        assertTrue(MemberEnvAllowList.brokerUriEnvNames(config(null, null)).isEmpty());
+        assertTrue(MemberEnvAllowList.brokerUriEnvNames(config(" ", "")).isEmpty());
+    }
+
+    private static FleetConfig config(String brokerUriEnv, String coordinatorUriEnv) {
+        return new FleetConfig(null, null, null, Map.of(), null, null, null, null, null,
+                new FleetConfig.Broker(null, brokerUriEnv, null), null, null, null, null, null,
+                null, null, null, null,
+                new FleetConfig.Coordinator(null, coordinatorUriEnv, null, null)).withDefaults();
+    }
+
     /** {@code LC_*} categories are infrastructure by prefix; everything else needs an exact match. */
     @Test
     void keepsMatchesExactlyPlusTheLocalePrefixRule() {

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/OpenCodeLauncherTest.java

@@ -334,8 +334,7 @@ class OpenCodeLauncherTest {
         assertNull(handle.agentSessionId(), "no record yet → null, not a spawn-time block");
         // Once the record appears (here: same cwd), lazy discovery resolves it — the handle's
         // session id matches its own worktree, not another's.
-        OpenCodeSessionDiscoveryTest.writeRecord(discRoot, "p1", "ses_a.json",
-                "ses_resolved", "/work/dir", 1000L);
+        OpenCodeSessionDiscoveryTest.writeRecord(discRoot, "ses_resolved", "/work/dir", 1000L);
         assertEquals("ses_resolved", handle.agentSessionId(),
                 "agentSessionId() re-scans and picks up a record that has since been written");
     }

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/member/OpenCodeSessionDiscoveryTest.java

@@ -5,68 +5,89 @@ import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
 
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
-import java.nio.file.attribute.FileTime;
+import java.sql.Connection;
+import java.sql.DriverManager;
+import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
+import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.sql.Statement;
 
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 
 /**
- * {@link OpenCodeSessionDiscovery} matches an opencode session record by the worker's cwd (its
- * {@code directory}) against opencode's on-disk storage. These tests populate a TEMP storage root
- * themselves — never the operator's real {@code ~/.local/share/opencode}.
+ * {@link OpenCodeSessionDiscovery} matches an opencode session row by the worker's cwd (its
+ * {@code directory}) against opencode's {@code opencode.db} SQLite database. These tests build a
+ * SYNTHETIC database themselves, in a JUnit temp directory — never the operator's real
+ * {@code ~/.local/share/opencode/opencode.db}, which a live opencode process may be writing.
  */
 class OpenCodeSessionDiscoveryTest {
 
     /**
-     * Write a session record {@code {"id":..., "directory":...}} under
-     * {@code <root>/session/<projectID>/<fileName>} and stamp it with a known last-modified time,
-     * so "most recently modified wins" is deterministic. Static so the launcher test can reuse it.
+     * Create {@code <root>/opencode.db} with a minimal {@code session} table (just the columns
+     * {@link OpenCodeSessionDiscovery} reads: {@code id}, {@code directory}, {@code time_updated})
+     * and insert one row. Static so {@link OpenCodeLauncherTest} can reuse it.
      */
-    static void writeRecord(Path root, String projectId, String fileName, String id,
-                            String directory, long lastModifiedEpochMillis) throws Exception {
-        Path dir = root.resolve("session").resolve(projectId);
-        Files.createDirectories(dir);
-        Path file = dir.resolve(fileName);
-        Files.writeString(file, "{\"id\":\"" + id + "\",\"directory\":\"" + directory
-                + "\",\"projectID\":\"" + projectId + "\",\"version\":\"1.1.31\"}");
-        Files.setLastModifiedTime(file, FileTime.fromMillis(lastModifiedEpochMillis));
+    static void writeRecord(Path root, String id, String directory, long timeUpdated) throws Exception {
+        Path db = root.resolve("opencode.db");
+        try (Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:sqlite:" + db)) {
+            try (Statement statement = connection.createStatement()) {
+                statement.execute("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS session ("
+                        + "id TEXT PRIMARY KEY, directory TEXT, time_updated INTEGER)");
+            }
+            // Bound parameters, not string interpolation: the class under test uses a
+            // PreparedStatement, and a hand-escaped INSERT here is a pattern someone copies out.
+            try (PreparedStatement insert = connection.prepareStatement(
+                    "INSERT INTO session (id, directory, time_updated) VALUES (?, ?, ?)")) {
+                insert.setString(1, id);
+                insert.setString(2, directory);
+                insert.setLong(3, timeUpdated);
+                insert.executeUpdate();
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     @Test
-    void findsTheRecordWhoseDirectoryEqualsTheCwd(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
-        writeRecord(root, "p1", "ses_a.json", "ses_aaa", "/w/a", 1000L);
-        writeRecord(root, "p2", "ses_b.json", "ses_bbb", "/w/b", 2000L);
+    void findsTheRowWhoseDirectoryEqualsTheCwd(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
+        writeRecord(root, "ses_aaa", "/w/a", 1000L);
+        writeRecord(root, "ses_bbb", "/w/b", 2000L);
 
         assertEquals("ses_bbb", new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/b"),
-                "the record whose directory equals the cwd is the one found");
+                "the row whose directory equals the cwd is the one found");
         assertEquals("ses_aaa", new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/a"));
     }
 
     @Test
     void aNonMatchingDirectoryYieldsNullRatherThanAMismatch(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
-        writeRecord(root, "p1", "ses_a.json", "ses_aaa", "/w/a", 1000L);
+        writeRecord(root, "ses_aaa", "/w/a", 1000L);
 
         assertNull(new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/other"),
-                "no record for this cwd yet → null, not a wrong session");
+                "no row for this cwd yet → null, not a wrong session");
     }
 
     @Test
-    void prefersTheMostRecentlyModifiedRecordWhenSeveralMatch(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
-        writeRecord(root, "p1", "old.json", "ses_old", "/w/a", 1000L);
-        writeRecord(root, "p2", "new.json", "ses_new", "/w/a", 5000L);
+    void prefersTheMostRecentlyUpdatedRowWhenSeveralMatch(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
+        writeRecord(root, "ses_old", "/w/a", 1000L);
+        writeRecord(root, "ses_new", "/w/a", 5000L);
 
         assertEquals("ses_new", new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/a"),
-                "the freshest record for the cwd wins");
+                "the row with the highest time_updated for the cwd wins");
     }
 
     @Test
-    void aMissingOrEmptyStorageRootYieldsNullWithoutThrowing(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
-        // Missing: no session dir at all under the root.
+    void aMissingDatabaseYieldsNullWithoutThrowing(@TempDir Path root) {
+        // No opencode.db at all under the root.
         assertNull(new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/a"));
+    }
 
-        // Present but empty: a session dir with nothing in it produces no match, not a throw.
-        Path emptyRoot = root.resolve("empty");
-        Files.createDirectories(emptyRoot.resolve("session"));
-        assertNull(new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(emptyRoot).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/a"));
+    @Test
+    void anEmptyDatabaseYieldsNullWithoutThrowing(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
+        Path db = root.resolve("opencode.db");
+        try (Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:sqlite:" + db);
+             Statement statement = connection.createStatement()) {
+            statement.execute("CREATE TABLE session (id TEXT PRIMARY KEY, directory TEXT, "
+                    + "time_updated INTEGER)");
+        }
+
+        assertNull(new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/a"));
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -76,15 +97,41 @@ class OpenCodeSessionDiscoveryTest {
         assertNull(discovery.sessionIdForDirectory("   "));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The one line standing between fleetd and writing the operator's live {@code opencode.db} —
+     * 841MB, with a running opencode writing it — is {@code config.setReadOnly(true)} in
+     * {@link OpenCodeSessionDiscovery#openReadOnly()}. Delete it and every other test in this class
+     * still passes, so this is the test that guards it.
+     *
+     * <p>It asks the connection to write, and requires a refusal. The obvious alternative — make
+     * the database file unwritable and check the read still works — proves nothing: SQLite silently
+     * downgrades a read-write open of an unwritable file to read-only, so that test passes either
+     * way. It was tried and watched pass with the flag removed.
+     */
     @Test
-    void aMalformedRecordIsSkippedRatherThanFatal(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
-        // A record that fails to parse must not abort the scan of its siblings.
-        Path dir = root.resolve("session").resolve("p1");
-        Files.createDirectories(dir);
-        Files.writeString(dir.resolve("broken.json"), "{not valid json");
-        writeRecord(root, "p1", "good.json", "ses_good", "/w/a", 1000L);
+    void theDatabaseIsOpenedReadOnly(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
+        writeRecord(root, "ses_aaa", "/w/a", 1000L);
 
-        assertEquals("ses_good", new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/a"),
-                "an unreadable record is skipped; a later valid one still matches");
+        try (Connection connection = new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).openReadOnly();
+             Statement statement = connection.createStatement()) {
+            SQLException refused = assertThrows(SQLException.class,
+                    () -> statement.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO session (id, directory, time_updated) "
+                            + "VALUES ('ses_zzz', '/w/z', 1)"),
+                    "the connection must REFUSE a write — opencode is writing this database live");
+            assertTrue(refused.getMessage().toLowerCase().contains("readonly")
+                            || refused.getMessage().toLowerCase().contains("read-only"),
+                    "the refusal must be about read-only, not some other error: " + refused.getMessage());
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void aCorruptDatabaseFileYieldsNullWithoutThrowing(@TempDir Path root) throws Exception {
+        // A file at opencode.db that is not a SQLite database at all — the open/query must fail
+        // safe, never fatal to a spawn.
+        Path db = root.resolve("opencode.db");
+        Files.writeString(db, "this is not a sqlite database");
+
+        assertNull(new OpenCodeSessionDiscovery(root).sessionIdForDirectory("/w/a"),
+                "an unreadable database resolves to null, not an exception");
     }
 }

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/MessageServiceTest.java

@@ -86,6 +86,28 @@ class MessageServiceTest {
         assertTrue(reply.completed(), "a scraped completion still counts as completed");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void backendErrorScrapeThroughMessageServiceFailsInsteadOfBecomingReplyText() throws Exception {
+        // fleetd#164 (part 2 addendum): a scrape that reads cleanly but is only the backend's own
+        // rejection (e.g. an HTTP 400) must reach the caller as WORKER_FAILED, not as a completed
+        // reply whose text happens to be the error line.
+        CompletableFuture<MessageService.Reply> send = sendAsync();
+        awaitWaiting();
+
+        herdr.readText("$ prompt");
+        injector.onStatus(T, AgentStatus.IDLE);
+        injector.onStatus(T, AgentStatus.WORKING);
+        herdr.readText("⏺ API Error: 400 invalid request body");
+        injector.onStatus(T, AgentStatus.IDLE);
+
+        MessageService.Reply reply = send.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        assertEquals(MessageService.Outcome.WORKER_FAILED, reply.outcome(),
+                "a backend rejection must use the caller's failure outcome, not a completed reply");
+        assertFalse(reply.completed(), "plain backend errors are never fallback reply content");
+        assertTrue(reply.text().contains("API Error: 400 invalid request body"),
+                "the visible backend error is carried as the failure reason: " + reply.text());
+    }
+
     @Test
     void explicitFleetReplyResolvesAsReplied() throws Exception {
         CompletableFuture<MessageService.Reply> send = sendAsync();
@@ -688,6 +710,68 @@ class MessageServiceTest {
         assertEquals(MessageService.Outcome.REPLIED, answer.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS).outcome());
     }
 
+    // --- #137: a fleet_ask round-trip must not orphan the ticket's own reply -------------------
+    //
+    // The primary's fleet_send{turnId} answer call is itself bounded (a real MCP call, capped well
+    // under a minute) — far shorter than a resumed turn can genuinely take to finish real work. These
+    // drive the exact real delegation path (async send -> worker asks -> primary answers -> primary's
+    // own wait gives up -> worker's real fleet_reply arrives afterwards) rather than calling a reply
+    // sink directly, since the bug is specifically about which sink the resumed turn's reply reaches.
+
+    @Test
+    void aReplyAfterAnswerTimesOutStillCompletesTheAsyncTicket() throws Exception {
+        String ticket = messages.sendAsync(T, "task that asks");
+        awaitWaiting();
+        injectDelivery();
+
+        CompletableFuture<MessageService.AskResult> ask =
+                CompletableFuture.supplyAsync(() -> messages.ask(T, "which config?", 5000));
+        MessageService.TaskView asking = awaitTicketPhase(ticket, MessageService.Phase.ASKING);
+
+        // The primary answers, but its own bounded wait for the worker's resumed turn is short and
+        // expires before the worker (still genuinely working) gets back to it.
+        MessageService.Reply answerReply = messages.answer(asking.turnId(), "config.yaml", 150);
+        assertEquals("config.yaml", ask.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS).answer());
+        assertEquals(MessageService.Outcome.TIMED_OUT_WORKING, answerReply.outcome(),
+                "the primary's own bounded wait gives up before the worker finishes resuming");
+
+        // The worker keeps working past that window and only now calls fleet_reply.
+        assertTrue(messages.reply(T, "PR opened: https://example/pulls/42"));
+
+        MessageService.TaskView done = awaitTicketPhase(ticket, MessageService.Phase.DONE);
+        assertEquals("PR opened: https://example/pulls/42", done.reply(),
+                "fleet_poll{ticket} must return the worker's real reply, not stay pending forever");
+        assertEquals("reply", done.replySource());
+        assertFalse(messages.hasStrandedReply(T),
+                "the reply completed its own ticket directly and never touched the inbox");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void fleetStopAfterAnOrphanedReplyDoesNotFailTheTicket() throws Exception {
+        String ticket = messages.sendAsync(T, "task that asks");
+        awaitWaiting();
+        injectDelivery();
+
+        CompletableFuture<MessageService.AskResult> ask =
+                CompletableFuture.supplyAsync(() -> messages.ask(T, "which config?", 5000));
+        MessageService.TaskView asking = awaitTicketPhase(ticket, MessageService.Phase.ASKING);
+
+        MessageService.Reply answerReply = messages.answer(asking.turnId(), "config.yaml", 150);
+        assertEquals("config.yaml", ask.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS).answer());
+        assertEquals(MessageService.Outcome.TIMED_OUT_WORKING, answerReply.outcome());
+
+        assertTrue(messages.reply(T, "PR opened: https://example/pulls/42"));
+
+        // fleet_stop tears the worker's session down right after the reply landed — this must never
+        // report the misleading "the worker session was released before it replied": a reply is
+        // exactly what happened.
+        assertFalse(messages.abandon(T, "the worker session was released before it replied"),
+                "a reply already arrived, so nothing here is a genuine failure");
+
+        MessageService.TaskView view = awaitTicketPhase(ticket, MessageService.Phase.DONE);
+        assertEquals("PR opened: https://example/pulls/42", view.reply());
+    }
+
     @Test
     void unansweredAsyncQuestionReturnsTheTicketToPendingAndReleasesItsTarget() throws Exception {
         String ticket = messages.sendAsync(T, "task that asks");