diff --git a/browse/test/busy-daemon-recovery.test.ts b/browse/test/busy-daemon-recovery.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..248ebd893
--- /dev/null
+++ b/browse/test/busy-daemon-recovery.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+/**
+ * #1781 busy-vs-dead pinning test — the "recover from a busy daemon" leg of
+ * the browser-lifecycle contract, previously untested.
+ *
+ * Wedges a fake daemon: /health answers healthy, but the FIRST POST /command
+ * hard-destroys the socket (the CLI sees ECONNRESET — exactly what a
+ * single-threaded daemon under beacon load looks like). The daemon "PID"
+ * is a live sleep child.
+ *
+ * Contract under test (cli.ts sendCommand + probeHealthWithBackoff):
+ *   - CLI must NOT kill the live PID and must NOT restart the daemon
+ *     (a restart drops tab/cookie state — the original crash-loop bug).
+ *   - It probes /health, sees alive, and retries the SAME command against
+ *     the SAME daemon instance.
+ *
+ * Fails on pre-#1781 code (which killed + restarted on any conn error) and
+ * on any regression that reorders the busy-probe before the alive check.
+ */
+
+import { describe, test, expect, afterAll } from 'bun:test';
+import { spawn, type ChildProcess } from 'child_process';
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as os from 'os';
+import * as path from 'path';
+import * as http from 'http';
+import { isProcessAlive } from '../src/error-handling';
+
+const BOOT_ID = `boot-${Date.now()}`;
+
+interface FakeDaemon {
+  port: number;
+  commandRequests: number;
+  close: () => Promise<void>;
+}
+
+/** /health healthy; first POST /command → socket destroy; then 200 + BOOT_ID. */
+async function startWedgedDaemon(): Promise<FakeDaemon> {
+  const state = { commandRequests: 0 };
+  const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
+    if (req.url === '/health') {
+      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
+      res.end(JSON.stringify({ status: 'healthy' }));
+      return;
+    }
+    if (req.url === '/command' && req.method === 'POST') {
+      state.commandRequests += 1;
+      if (state.commandRequests === 1) {
+        req.socket.destroy(); // wedged: connection dies mid-request
+        return;
+      }
+      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
+      res.end(`RECOVERED ${BOOT_ID}`);
+      return;
+    }
+    res.writeHead(404);
+    res.end();
+  });
+  await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+    server.once('error', reject);
+    server.listen(0, '127.0.0.1', () => resolve());
+  });
+  const addr = server.address();
+  if (!addr || typeof addr === 'string') throw new Error('fake daemon: bad address');
+  return {
+    port: addr.port,
+    get commandRequests() { return state.commandRequests; },
+    close: () => new Promise((r) => server.close(() => r())),
+  };
+}
+
+function runCli(args: string[], env: Record<string, string>, timeoutMs = 20_000):
+  Promise<{ code: number; stdout: string; stderr: string }> {
+  const cliPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '../src/cli.ts');
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    const proc = spawn('bun', ['run', cliPath, ...args], { timeout: timeoutMs, env });
+    let stdout = ''; let stderr = '';
+    proc.stdout.on('data', (d) => stdout += d.toString());
+    proc.stderr.on('data', (d) => stderr += d.toString());
+    proc.on('close', (code) => resolve({ code: code ?? 1, stdout, stderr }));
+  });
+}
+
+let daemonPidChild: ChildProcess | null = null;
+afterAll(() => { daemonPidChild?.kill('SIGKILL'); });
+
+describe('#1781 busy-daemon recovery (CLI integration)', () => {
+  test('retries without kill; same daemon instance, state file untouched', async () => {
+    const tmpDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'browse-busy-'));
+    const stateFile = path.join(tmpDir, 'browse.json');
+    const daemon = await startWedgedDaemon();
+
+    // A live process standing in for the daemon PID. If the CLI takes the
+    // dead path it SIGTERMs this child — the aliveness assert catches it.
+    daemonPidChild = spawn('sleep', ['60'], { stdio: 'ignore' });
+    const daemonPid = daemonPidChild.pid!;
+
+    const stateContent = {
+      pid: daemonPid,
+      port: daemon.port,
+      token: 'busy-test-token',
+      startedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
+      serverPath: '',
+      mode: 'launched' as const,
+    };
+    fs.writeFileSync(stateFile, JSON.stringify(stateContent, null, 2));
+
+    const env: Record<string, string> = {};
+    for (const [k, v] of Object.entries(process.env)) {
+      if (v !== undefined) env[k] = v;
+    }
+    env.BROWSE_STATE_FILE = stateFile;
+
+    const result = await runCli(['status'], env);
+
+    // Recovered: retried the same command against the same daemon instance.
+    expect(result.code).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.stdout).toContain(`RECOVERED ${BOOT_ID}`);
+    // The fork's CLI announces the busy retry on stderr; ours retries at the
+    // probe layer without a message. Either is fine — the load-bearing
+    // behavior is retry-without-kill, asserted below.
+    expect(daemon.commandRequests).toBe(2); // wedged once, served once
+
+    // Never killed, never restarted — tab/cookie state intact.
+    expect(result.stderr).not.toContain('Restarting');
+    expect(isProcessAlive(daemonPid)).toBe(true);
+    expect(JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(stateFile, 'utf-8'))).toEqual(stateContent);
+
+    await daemon.close();
+    fs.rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }, 30_000);
+});