diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f0f36858..936b01b1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,12 +8,13 @@ loosely while pre-1.0 (breaking changes can land on minor bumps).
 ## [Unreleased]
 
 ### Fixed
+- **Advise-gate cancel is not a bad bearer.** `POST /v1/advise/gate`
+  mapped drain / `POST /v1/requests/:id/cancel` onto HTTP 401
+  `"missing or invalid bearer token"`, the same body as a disabled
+  tenant. Cancel now returns 409 `"request cancelled"`. Tenant
+  disable/rotate still 401 so clients cannot enumerate revoked
+  tenants.
 - **MCP string JSON-RPC ids.** `parse_response` now accepts a decimal-string
-  `id` (`"1"`) in addition to a JSON number. JSON-RPC 2.0 allows both; JS
-  MCP servers commonly echo the integer we sent as a string. The old path
-  left `Response::id` at 0, so `Client::rpc` treated a valid reply as a
-  notification and hung until `init_timeout` / `call_timeout` then killed
-  the subprocess.
 - **Reconcile rollback no longer wipes the workspace on a failed restore.**
 - **LaTeX math recursion depth.** `latex_math_to_plain` now stops converting
 - **Secret key/token writes do not follow a planted dest symlink.**
diff --git a/docs/api/advise-gate.md b/docs/api/advise-gate.md
index 0be8410c..00f52550 100644
--- a/docs/api/advise-gate.md
+++ b/docs/api/advise-gate.md
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ The gate is one history-less `complete()` on `advisor_model`. Transport or provi
 |--------|------|------|
 | 400 | Body is not a JSON object, or `advisor_model` / `original_task` / `terminating_text` is missing. | `{"error":"..."}` |
 | 401 | Bearer token missing/invalid, or tenant disabled. | `{"error":"..."}` |
+| 409 | In-flight gate call was cancelled (server drain, or `POST /v1/requests/:id/cancel`). Not an auth failure — the bearer is still valid. | `{"error":"request cancelled"}` |
 | 405 | Method is not POST. | plain text |
 | 429 | Per-tenant rate or concurrency limiter rejected the call. | `{"error":"rate limit exceeded","reason":"rate_limit"\|"concurrent_request_limit","retry_after_seconds":N}` |
 | 500 | Orchestrator / client init failed. | `{"error":"..."}` |
diff --git a/include/advisor.h b/include/advisor.h
index cbd4ff83..648415a4 100644
--- a/include/advisor.h
+++ b/include/advisor.h
@@ -55,6 +55,20 @@ const char* default_gate_prompt();
 // POST /v1/advise/gate.
 inline constexpr const char kAdvisorProviderError[] = "advisor API error";
 
+// After run_advisor_gate, POST /v1/advise/gate must split tenant revoke
+// from caller/drain cancel.  Orchestrate already does: disable/rotate
+// stay 401 "missing or invalid bearer token" (anti-enumeration);
+// sticky/hard cancel must not reuse that bearer text — clients would
+// treat a shutdown or POST /v1/requests/:id/cancel as a bad token.
+// When both are true, revoke wins (disable/rotate also cancel in-flight).
+// status 200 + error == nullptr means return the gate verdict.
+struct AdvisorGateHttpAbort {
+    int status = 200;
+    const char* error = nullptr;
+};
+AdvisorGateHttpAbort advisor_gate_http_abort(bool tenant_alive,
+                                             bool cancelled);
+
 // On transport/model error returns kind=Halt, malformed=true, with
 // kAdvisorProviderError in `text` (raw left empty).  This function applies
 // NO fail-open / fail-closed policy on a *parseable-but-malformed* reply —
diff --git a/src/advisor.cpp b/src/advisor.cpp
index 138483ec..5262baeb 100644
--- a/src/advisor.cpp
+++ b/src/advisor.cpp
@@ -103,4 +103,23 @@ AdvisorGateOutput run_advisor_gate(
     return parse_advisor_signal(resp.content);
 }
 
+AdvisorGateHttpAbort advisor_gate_http_abort(bool tenant_alive,
+                                             bool cancelled) {
+    AdvisorGateHttpAbort result;
+    if (!tenant_alive) {
+        result.status = 401;
+        result.error = "missing or invalid bearer token";
+        return result;
+    }
+    if (cancelled) {
+        // 409 not 401: the bearer is still valid; the in-flight call was
+        // aborted (drain, /v1/requests/:id/cancel, admin cancel without
+        // a disable).  Same cancelled taxonomy as orchestrate `done`.
+        result.status = 409;
+        result.error = "request cancelled";
+        return result;
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
 } // namespace arbiter
diff --git a/src/api_server.cpp b/src/api_server.cpp
index 019b9b40..f545f633 100644
--- a/src/api_server.cpp
+++ b/src/api_server.cpp
@@ -4713,11 +4713,18 @@ void handle_advise_gate(int fd, const HttpRequest& req,
     AdvisorGateOutput out = run_advisor_gate(
         orch->client(), advisor_model, prompt_override, in);
 
-    if (orch->sticky_cancelled() || orch->client().hard_cancelled() ||
-        !refresh_active_tenant(tenants, tenant)) {
+    // Post-call: distinguish tenant revoke (401) from drain / caller
+    // cancel (409).  Lumping them into bearer-invalid made a shutdown
+    // or POST /v1/requests/:id/cancel look like a bad token.
+    const bool tenant_alive =
+        refresh_active_tenant(tenants, tenant);
+    const bool cancelled =
+        orch->sticky_cancelled() || orch->client().hard_cancelled();
+    if (auto gate_abort = advisor_gate_http_abort(tenant_alive, cancelled);
+        gate_abort.error) {
         auto err = jobj();
-        err->as_object_mut()["error"] = jstr("missing or invalid bearer token");
-        write_json_response(fd, 401, err);
+        err->as_object_mut()["error"] = jstr(gate_abort.error);
+        write_json_response(fd, gate_abort.status, err);
         return;
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/test_advisor_gate.cpp b/tests/test_advisor_gate.cpp
index 52099c96..855d50c0 100644
--- a/tests/test_advisor_gate.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_advisor_gate.cpp
@@ -188,3 +188,24 @@ TEST_CASE("run_advisor_gate: provider failure does not echo raw error") {
     CHECK(out.text.find("Authentication") == std::string::npos);
     CHECK(out.text.find("offline") == std::string::npos);
 }
+
+TEST_CASE("advisor_gate_http_abort: revoke stays 401; cancel is not a bad token") {
+    auto ok = advisor_gate_http_abort(true, false);
+    CHECK(ok.status == 200);
+    CHECK(ok.error == nullptr);
+
+    auto revoke = advisor_gate_http_abort(false, false);
+    CHECK(revoke.status == 401);
+    CHECK(std::string(revoke.error) == "missing or invalid bearer token");
+
+    auto cancel = advisor_gate_http_abort(true, true);
+    CHECK(cancel.status == 409);
+    CHECK(std::string(cancel.error) == "request cancelled");
+    CHECK(std::string(cancel.error).find("bearer") == std::string::npos);
+
+    // Disable/rotate also cancel in-flight; revoke wins so clients
+    // cannot tell a disabled tenant from a bad token.
+    auto both = advisor_gate_http_abort(false, true);
+    CHECK(both.status == 401);
+    CHECK(std::string(both.error) == "missing or invalid bearer token");
+}