diff --git a/GraphcodeKit/Sources/Sessions/ZmxSessionLauncher.swift b/GraphcodeKit/Sources/Sessions/ZmxSessionLauncher.swift
index e96b9663..bf7e7885 100644
--- a/GraphcodeKit/Sources/Sessions/ZmxSessionLauncher.swift
+++ b/GraphcodeKit/Sources/Sessions/ZmxSessionLauncher.swift
@@ -705,8 +705,11 @@ public enum ZmxSessionLauncher {
     return command
   }
 
+  /// `logFragment` names the branch in the dial log the way every other launch decision
+  /// does — a pane that waited and one that launched have to be told apart afterwards,
+  /// and waiting used to be the silent one.
   public static func waitingAttachCommand(
-    zmxPath: String, sessionName: String, agent: String?
+    zmxPath: String, sessionName: String, agent: String?, logFragment: String? = nil
   ) -> [String] {
     let check = daemonReadyCheckCommand(
       zmxPath: zmxPath, sessionName: sessionName, agent: agent)
@@ -717,7 +720,8 @@ public enum ZmxSessionLauncher {
     // deleted mid-wait. Unbounded, the pane polls `zmx ls` twenty times a second
     // forever; bounded, it says so and gives up after a minute.
     let script =
-      "tries=0; until \(check); do tries=$((tries+1)); "
+      (logFragment.map { "\($0); " } ?? "")
+      + "tries=0; until \(check); do tries=$((tries+1)); "
       + "if [ \"$tries\" -ge 600 ]; then "
       + "echo \"graphcode: '\(sessionName)' never became ready to attach\"; exit 1; fi; "
       + "sleep 0.1; done; exec \(attach)"
diff --git a/graphcode/Sources/Infrastructure/Ghostty/GhosttyTerminalView.swift b/graphcode/Sources/Infrastructure/Ghostty/GhosttyTerminalView.swift
index 6519a4ac..3e496b10 100644
--- a/graphcode/Sources/Infrastructure/Ghostty/GhosttyTerminalView.swift
+++ b/graphcode/Sources/Infrastructure/Ghostty/GhosttyTerminalView.swift
@@ -367,7 +367,9 @@ struct GhosttyTerminalView: NSViewRepresentable {
   /// `nil` only for a surface that is not a node's. A backend that cannot resume, or a
   /// node with nothing banked, takes the ordinary fresh launch — logged, where it used
   /// to be the one silent branch (the duplicate-session investigation of 2026-09-02
-  /// started from exactly that silence; the revert of #248/#249 keeps the dial).
+  /// started from exactly that silence; the revert of #248/#249 keeps the dial) — unless
+  /// the loop is unattended, in which case that launch belongs to the daemon and this
+  /// waits for it instead.
   func localResumeOrFreshCommand(agentLaunch: [String]) -> [String]? {
     guard let nodeID = SurfaceRef.nodeID(fromZmxSessionName: sessionName) else { return nil }
     let log = { (event: String) in
@@ -380,6 +382,29 @@ struct GhosttyTerminalView: NSViewRepresentable {
       let resumeLaunch = resumeCommand(
         settings: settings, hooksFile: presenceHooksFile(), remoteSettingsPath: nil)
     else {
+      // Nothing banked means there is no resume for this pane to make. It does *not* mean
+      // a fresh launch is this pane's to make: `graphcoded` owns an unattended loop's
+      // relaunch and, on a restart, is already making it (`ZmxSessionLauncher.restart`
+      // kills and then starts). Creating the session here races that, and wins often
+      // enough to have been the bug — the agent comes up on `initialPrompt` instead of the
+      // conversation, so the goal is re-issued and the transcript the restart existed to
+      // keep is orphaned, with the daemon's `ensure resume` in the dial log one second
+      // away saying it did the right thing.
+      //
+      // Local Copilot is where it bit, because this is the only branch it can ever take:
+      // nothing banks a Copilot session id on this machine — `CopilotSessionLog`'s banker
+      // is the remote ensure's, and Copilot has no `SessionStart` hook the way Claude Code
+      // does — so `SessionIDStore.load` is permanently nil for it here.
+      //
+      // Waiting is the same ownership split the remote pane already makes for a missing
+      // unattended session, and the same one the Codex pane makes for every launch. An
+      // attended loop keeps the fresh launch: no daemon will ever start one, so a pane
+      // that waited for it would wait out its whole minute.
+      if loopType.runsUnattended {
+        return ZmxSessionLauncher.waitingAttachCommand(
+          zmxPath: zmx, sessionName: sessionName, agent: nil,
+          logFragment: DialLog.fragment(session: sessionName, dial: "open", event: "await-daemon"))
+      }
       return ["/bin/sh", "-c", log("fresh") + "exec \(fresh)"]
     }
     let quoted = RemoteProjectLocation.shellQuoted
diff --git a/graphcode/Tests/LocalSessionResumeTests.swift b/graphcode/Tests/LocalSessionResumeTests.swift
index ddc6b5ad..83053673 100644
--- a/graphcode/Tests/LocalSessionResumeTests.swift
+++ b/graphcode/Tests/LocalSessionResumeTests.swift
@@ -21,12 +21,13 @@ struct LocalSessionResumeTests {
   private let projectPath = "/tmp/widget"
 
   private func surface(
-    nodeID: UUID = UUID(), backend: CLISessionBackendKind = .claudeCode
+    nodeID: UUID = UUID(), backend: CLISessionBackendKind = .claudeCode,
+    loopType: LoopType = .goalBased
   ) -> GhosttyTerminalView {
     GhosttyTerminalView(
       surfaceID: nodeID,
       sessionName: SurfaceRef(id: nodeID, launchesClaudeCode: true).zmxSessionName,
-      launchesClaudeCode: true, backend: backend, loopType: .goalBased,
+      launchesClaudeCode: true, backend: backend, loopType: loopType,
       initialPrompt: "Work toward this goal until it is met: ship it",
       workingDirectory: projectPath, projectPath: projectPath, onProcessExited: { _ in })
   }
@@ -61,15 +62,17 @@ struct LocalSessionResumeTests {
   }
 
   @Test
-  func aNodeWithNothingBankedStillLaunchesFresh() throws {
+  func anAttendedNodeWithNothingBankedStillLaunchesFresh() throws {
     let nodeID = UUID()
-    let view = surface(nodeID: nodeID)
+    let view = surface(nodeID: nodeID, loopType: .turnBased)
     let command = withBankedID(nil, forNode: nodeID) {
       view.localResumeOrFreshCommand(agentLaunch: ["claude", "the prompt"])
     }
     // Nothing to resume is the first launch, and the fresh argv is what it gets —
     // behind its own dial line now. The launch used to be the one silent branch,
     // which is why the duplicate-session investigation of 2026-09-02 started blind.
+    // Attended, so this pane really is the only launcher: no daemon starts a turn-based
+    // loop, and a pane that waited for one would wait out its whole minute.
     #expect(command?.first == "/bin/sh")
     let script = try #require(command?.last)
     #expect(script.contains("open fresh"))
@@ -78,6 +81,29 @@ struct LocalSessionResumeTests {
     #expect(!script.contains("--resume"))
   }
 
+  /// The restart bug: `graphcoded` kills the session and starts it again with `--resume`,
+  /// and the app remounts the pane on the same beat. With nothing banked the pane used to
+  /// launch *fresh* — creating the session the daemon was about to resume, winning often
+  /// enough that the agent came up on its goal instead of its conversation. Local Copilot
+  /// took this branch every time, because nothing banks its session id on this machine.
+  @Test
+  func anUnattendedNodeWithNothingBankedWaitsForTheDaemonInsteadOfRacingIt() throws {
+    for loopType in [LoopType.goalBased, .timeBased] {
+      let nodeID = UUID()
+      let view = surface(nodeID: nodeID, backend: .copilotCLI, loopType: loopType)
+      let command = withBankedID(nil, forNode: nodeID) {
+        view.localResumeOrFreshCommand(agentLaunch: ["copilot", "the prompt"])
+      }
+      let script = try #require(command?.last)
+      // It waits on the session the daemon creates, and attaches bare when it appears.
+      #expect(script.contains("until"))
+      #expect(script.contains("open await-daemon"))
+      #expect(script.contains("attach"))
+      // The whole point: the opening prompt is never typed, so the goal is not re-issued.
+      #expect(!script.contains("the prompt"))
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   func codexResumesFromItsSessionID() throws {
     let nodeID = UUID()