diff --git a/apps/cli/src/mcp/lody-mcp-server-chat-sync.test.ts b/apps/cli/src/mcp/lody-mcp-server-chat-sync.test.ts
index 5989ae7f..e713a751 100644
--- a/apps/cli/src/mcp/lody-mcp-server-chat-sync.test.ts
+++ b/apps/cli/src/mcp/lody-mcp-server-chat-sync.test.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ const mocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   activeInvocation: vi.fn(),
   findMatchingRetry: vi.fn(),
   getDocMeta: vi.fn(),
+  snapshot: vi.fn(),
   validateSessionChatTarget: vi.fn(),
 }));
 
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ vi.mock('@/orchestration/operation-store', async (importOriginal) => {
     LodyOperationStore: class {
       findMatchingRetry = mocks.findMatchingRetry;
       accept = mocks.accept;
+      snapshot = mocks.snapshot;
     },
     runWithOperationStoreBusyRetry: vi.fn(async (fn: () => unknown) => await fn()),
   };
@@ -67,6 +69,8 @@ vi.mock('@lody/shared/node/local-ipc', async (importOriginal) => {
 });
 
 import {
+  DAEMON_BUSY_MESSAGE,
+  LocalDaemonAvailabilityError,
   WORKSPACE_SYNC_UNAVAILABLE_MESSAGE,
   WorkspaceSyncUnavailableError,
 } from '@/lib/command-runtime';
@@ -197,3 +201,76 @@ describe('session chat prevalidation sync failures', () => {
     expect(mocks.accept).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 });
+
+describe('session chat prevalidation daemon availability failures', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+    vi.stubEnv('LODY_MCP_MACHINE_ID', 'machine-id');
+    vi.stubEnv('LODY_MCP_WORKSPACE_ID', 'workspace-id');
+    vi.stubEnv('LODY_MCP_SESSION_ID', requesterSession.id);
+    mocks.activeInvocation.mockReturnValue({
+      type: 'session/active-invocation-context' as const,
+      sessionId: requesterSession.id,
+      active: true as const,
+      requesterUserId: requesterSession.userId,
+      sourceTurnId: 'requester-turn-id',
+      inputConfig: {},
+    });
+    mocks.findMatchingRetry.mockReturnValue(undefined);
+    mocks.getDocMeta
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce({ meta: requesterSession })
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce({ meta: targetSession });
+    // validateSessionChatTarget -> ensureTargetMachineOnline -> ensureLocalRuntimeAvailable ->
+    // classifyLocalDaemonIpcError(IpcTimeoutError) produces exactly this when the chat target
+    // lives on the machine answering the MCP call.
+    mocks.validateSessionChatTarget.mockRejectedValue(
+      new LocalDaemonAvailabilityError({
+        code: 'DAEMON_BUSY',
+        message: DAEMON_BUSY_MESSAGE,
+        retryable: true,
+      })
+    );
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.unstubAllEnvs();
+  });
+
+  it('reports a busy local daemon as retryable instead of a command refusal', async () => {
+    const result = await callAndMapMcpError(() =>
+      startSessionChatOperation({
+        operationId: 'single-chat-operation',
+        sessionId: targetSession.id,
+        prompt: 'continue',
+      })
+    );
+
+    const content = result.content[0];
+    if (!content || content.type !== 'text') throw new Error('expected text result');
+    expect(JSON.parse(content.text)).toEqual({
+      ok: false,
+      error: { code: 'DAEMON_BUSY', message: DAEMON_BUSY_MESSAGE, retryable: true },
+    });
+    expect(mocks.accept).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('keeps a busy local daemon retryable on the batch item it failed', async () => {
+    mocks.accept.mockImplementation(async (input: { items: unknown[] }) => ({
+      operation: { ...input, state: 'finished' as const },
+      claimedItemIndexes: [] as number[],
+    }));
+    mocks.snapshot.mockImplementation(async (operation: unknown) => operation);
+
+    const operation = (await startSessionChatManyOperation({
+      operationId: 'batch-chat-operation',
+      items: [{ sessionId: targetSession.id, prompt: 'continue' }],
+    })) as { items: { status: string; error: unknown }[] };
+
+    expect(operation.items).toEqual([
+      {
+        status: 'failed',
+        error: { code: 'DAEMON_BUSY', message: DAEMON_BUSY_MESSAGE, retryable: true },
+      },
+    ]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/cli/src/mcp/lody-mcp-server.ts b/apps/cli/src/mcp/lody-mcp-server.ts
index 3b8433b3..9abaeceb 100644
--- a/apps/cli/src/mcp/lody-mcp-server.ts
+++ b/apps/cli/src/mcp/lody-mcp-server.ts
@@ -2869,7 +2869,13 @@ const startSessionChatOperation = async (args: SessionChatToolInput): Promise<un
         delegatedRequester: toDelegatedSessionRequester(invoking.identity),
       });
     } catch (error) {
-      if (error instanceof WorkspaceSyncUnavailableError) {
+      // ensureTargetMachineOnline reaches classifyLocalDaemonIpcError for a target on
+      // this machine, so chat prevalidation raises the daemon error as well as the sync
+      // one; session_create already passes the daemon error through.
+      if (
+        error instanceof WorkspaceSyncUnavailableError ||
+        error instanceof LocalDaemonAvailabilityError
+      ) {
         throw error;
       }
       throw new LodyOperationStoreError('COMMAND_REJECTED', formatMcpErrorMessage(error), false);
@@ -3446,6 +3452,9 @@ const startSessionChatManyOperation = async (args: SessionChatManyToolInput): Pr
           if (error instanceof WorkspaceSyncUnavailableError) {
             throw error;
           }
+          if (error instanceof LocalDaemonAvailabilityError) {
+            return batchFailure(error.code, error.message, error.retryable, item.label);
+          }
           return batchFailure('INVALID_ITEM', formatMcpErrorMessage(error), false, item.label);
         }
         return activeOperationItem(target.id, randomUUID(), item.label);