diff --git a/browse/src/cli.ts b/browse/src/cli.ts
index 59327b792..7e41ca1d1 100644
--- a/browse/src/cli.ts
+++ b/browse/src/cli.ts
@@ -585,6 +585,15 @@ async function sendCommand(state: ServerState, command: string, args: string[],
     }
     // Connection error — server may have crashed, OR may just be busy.
     if (err.code === 'ECONNREFUSED' || err.code === 'ECONNRESET' || err.message?.includes('fetch failed')) {
+      // User-initiated shutdown (stop / restart) intentionally closes the daemon.
+      // Both meta-commands.ts:423 ('stop') and :428 ('restart') call shutdown(),
+      // which closes the HTTP connection before the response body reaches the
+      // client. ECONNRESET here is the expected exit signal, not a crash.
+      // 'command' is already in closure from sendCommand's signature — no new
+      // param passing.
+      if (command === 'stop' || command === 'restart') {
+        process.exit(0);
+      }
       const oldState = readState();
       // #1781 busy-vs-dead: a single-threaded daemon under beacon/extension load
       // can briefly stop answering HTTP while still alive. Before declaring a
diff --git a/test/send-command-stop-skip-restart.test.ts b/test/send-command-stop-skip-restart.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f7775a9b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/send-command-stop-skip-restart.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/**
+ * sendCommand ECONNRESET short-circuit for user-initiated shutdown.
+ *
+ * Validates that browse stop / browse restart do NOT trigger the
+ * "Server crashed twice in a row" warning when the daemon intentionally
+ * closes the HTTP connection. The regression guard confirms the
+ * short-circuit only applies to stop/restart — non-shutdown commands
+ * still hit the existing crash-retry logic.
+ *
+ * We exercise the actual binary because sendCommand is an internal
+ * module-level function and cannot be unit-mocked against a real
+ * daemon fetch endpoint without re-architecting cli.ts. The test
+ * gracefully degrades when the binary is not built
+ * (describe.skipIf(!HAS_BINARY)) so CI shards without a dist/ still
+ * pass.
+ */
+import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
+import { spawnSync } from 'child_process';
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as path from 'path';
+
+const ROOT = path.resolve(import.meta.dir, '..');
+const BROWSE_BIN = path.join(
+  ROOT,
+  'browse',
+  'dist',
+  process.platform === 'win32' ? 'browse.exe' : 'browse',
+);
+
+const HAS_BINARY = (() => {
+  try {
+    return fs.existsSync(BROWSE_BIN);
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+})();
+
+describe.skipIf(!HAS_BINARY)('browse: user-initiated shutdown skips crash-retry', () => {
+  test('stop command on ECONNRESET does not print crash warning', () => {
+    // Ensure daemon is up; status is idempotent and will start one if needed.
+    spawnSync(BROWSE_BIN, ['status'], { encoding: 'utf-8', timeout: 10000 });
+
+    const result = spawnSync(BROWSE_BIN, ['stop'], {
+      encoding: 'utf-8',
+      timeout: 10000,
+      cwd: ROOT,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.stderr).not.toContain('crashed');
+    expect(result.stderr).not.toContain('aborting');
+    expect(result.stderr).not.toContain('fetch failed');
+  });
+
+  test('restart command on ECONNRESET does not print crash warning', () => {
+    spawnSync(BROWSE_BIN, ['status'], { encoding: 'utf-8', timeout: 10000 });
+
+    const result = spawnSync(BROWSE_BIN, ['restart'], {
+      encoding: 'utf-8',
+      timeout: 15000,
+      cwd: ROOT,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.stderr).not.toContain('crashed');
+    expect(result.stderr).not.toContain('aborting');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('browse: sendCommand short-circuit regression guard', () => {
+  // Code-shape test: catches a refactor that accidentally widens the
+  // short-circuit to all commands (which would silently skip crash-retry
+  // for genuine daemon failures during goto/status/etc.).
+  test('guard is scoped to stop + restart only', () => {
+    const cliPath = path.join(ROOT, 'browse', 'src', 'cli.ts');
+    const cliSrc = fs.readFileSync(cliPath, 'utf-8');
+
+    // The guard must check both 'stop' AND 'restart'
+    expect(cliSrc).toMatch(
+      /if\s*\(\s*command\s*===\s*['"]stop['"]\s*\|\|\s*command\s*===\s*['"]restart['"]\s*\)/,
+    );
+    // The guard must call process.exit(0) (not throw — throw would be
+    // caught by main().catch() and print "[browse] fetch failed")
+    expect(cliSrc).toMatch(/process\.exit\(0\)/);
+    // The guard must live inside the existing ECONNRESET handler, not
+    // replace it
+    expect(cliSrc).toContain('ECONNREFUSED');
+    expect(cliSrc).toContain('ECONNRESET');
+  });
+
+  test('guard preserves original crash-retry path for non-shutdown commands', () => {
+    const cliPath = path.join(ROOT, 'browse', 'src', 'cli.ts');
+    const cliSrc = fs.readFileSync(cliPath, 'utf-8');
+
+    // The "Server crashed twice in a row" message must still exist —
+    // removing it would silently degrade the genuine-crash reporting.
+    expect(cliSrc).toContain('Server crashed twice in a row');
+    // And it must be reached when retries >= 1
+    expect(cliSrc).toMatch(/retries\s*>=\s*1.*aborting/);
+  });
+});
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