diff --git a/src/main/orca-chromium-process-pids.ts b/src/main/orca-chromium-process-pids.ts
index f22babc6921..b2613e42b79 100644
--- a/src/main/orca-chromium-process-pids.ts
+++ b/src/main/orca-chromium-process-pids.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { getAppEnvironment, hasAppEnvironment } from '../shared/app-environment'
+import { recordCoalescedDurableCrashBreadcrumb } from './crash-reporting/durable-crash-breadcrumb'
 
 /**
  * PIDs of Orca's own Chromium processes — browser, renderers, GPU, utilities.
@@ -11,6 +12,14 @@ import { getAppEnvironment, hasAppEnvironment } from '../shared/app-environment'
  * Empty on a Node host and empty on failure: that is "no refusal proven", never
  * "safe to kill" — callers must keep every other guard they already have.
  *
+ * Why failure stays open rather than refusing everything: a refusal is not free.
+ * `terminateWindowsProcessTree` resolves without killing, and
+ * `killSourceControlAgentProcess` returns that straight to a caller that then
+ * releases the managed-home lock, so failing closed would trade one unreadable
+ * metrics table for every PTY, git, codex and notebook tree in main leaking at
+ * once. The `own_chromium_pids_unreadable` crumb is the price of that choice:
+ * without it a throw is byte-identical to "no Chromium on this host".
+ *
  * Host coverage: only Electron main installs a Chromium-backed AppEnvironment
  * (main-process-preflight). The standalone daemon installs none and `orcad`
  * installs a Node one whose `getAppMetrics()` is `[]`, so this set is empty in
@@ -30,7 +39,26 @@ export function readOrcaChromiumProcessPids(): ReadonlySet<number> {
       .map((metric) => metric.pid)
       .filter((pid) => Number.isInteger(pid) && pid > 0)
     return new Set(pids)
-  } catch {
+  } catch (error) {
+    recordUnreadableOwnChromiumMetrics(error)
     return new Set()
   }
 }
+
+// Why coalesced: the gate reads this set on every tree kill, so a persistently
+// broken metrics table would otherwise flood the 30-slot ring it shares.
+const UNREADABLE_METRICS_COALESCE_MS = 60_000
+
+function recordUnreadableOwnChromiumMetrics(error: unknown): void {
+  try {
+    recordCoalescedDurableCrashBreadcrumb({
+      name: 'own_chromium_pids_unreadable',
+      data: { cause: error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error) },
+      coalesceKey: 'own-chromium-pids-unreadable',
+      minIntervalMs: UNREADABLE_METRICS_COALESCE_MS
+    })
+  } catch {
+    // Diagnostics must never turn an admitted kill into a thrown one: callers
+    // read this set outside their own try.
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/own-chromium-tree-kill-guard.test.ts b/src/main/own-chromium-tree-kill-guard.test.ts
index 7e98661aca6..bd3b1674e18 100644
--- a/src/main/own-chromium-tree-kill-guard.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/own-chromium-tree-kill-guard.test.ts
@@ -143,6 +143,40 @@ describe('refusing to tree-kill our own Chromium processes', () => {
     )
   })
 
+  /**
+   * Fail-open is the deliberate choice — see `orca-chromium-process-pids.ts` for
+   * why refusing everything is worse — so the crumb is the only thing that keeps
+   * an unreadable metrics table distinguishable from a host that has no Chromium.
+   */
+  it('leaves proof, and still admits the kill, when the Chromium metrics cannot be read', () => {
+    appMetricsMock.mockImplementation(() => {
+      throw new Error('getAppMetrics unavailable')
+    })
+
+    expect([...readOrcaChromiumProcessPids()]).toEqual([])
+    // Coalesced: the gate reads this set on every kill, so a broken table must
+    // not evict the ring it shares with the refusal crumb.
+    expect([...readOrcaChromiumProcessPids()]).toEqual([])
+    expect(
+      admitSelfInitiatedTreeKill({
+        pid: RENDERER_PID,
+        site: 'pty-descendant-sweep',
+        scope: 'win-taskkill-tree'
+      })
+    ).toBe(true)
+
+    expect(
+      getCrashBreadcrumbSnapshot().filter(
+        (breadcrumb) => breadcrumb.name === 'own_chromium_pids_unreadable'
+      )
+    ).toEqual([
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        name: 'own_chromium_pids_unreadable',
+        data: expect.objectContaining({ cause: 'getAppMetrics unavailable' })
+      })
+    ])
+  })
+
   it('refuses an own-Chromium pid at the gate the account teardowns share', () => {
     expect(
       admitSelfInitiatedTreeKill({