diff --git a/src/main/persistence.ts b/src/main/persistence.ts
index 8b53a7d98d6..e167bfa6107 100644
--- a/src/main/persistence.ts
+++ b/src/main/persistence.ts
@@ -2849,6 +2849,70 @@ export type PtyBindingSourceExpectation = {
   incarnationId?: string
 }
 
+
+/**
+ * Fold SSH pane membership left in `workspaceSessionsByHostId["ssh:<target>"]` into the local
+ * session, which is the only plane the binding writer maintains.
+ *
+ * Why this has to exist: consolidating the two planes removed the writer but not the data. A pane
+ * the local session has never heard of looks new to `persistPtyBinding`, and reattach passes
+ * `mayCreate: false`, so the binding is refused and rolled back — for every pane the upgrading
+ * user had open. Local always wins; the partition only supplies panes local does not already know.
+ */
+export function hoistSshPartitionsIntoLocalSession(state: PersistedState): boolean {
+  const partitions = state.workspaceSessionsByHostId
+  if (!partitions) {
+    return false
+  }
+  const local = state.workspaceSession
+  if (!local) {
+    return false
+  }
+  let changed = false
+  for (const [hostId, partition] of Object.entries(partitions)) {
+    if (!hostId.startsWith('ssh:') || !partition) {
+      continue
+    }
+    for (const [worktreeId, tabs] of Object.entries(partition.tabsByWorktree ?? {})) {
+      const existing = local.tabsByWorktree?.[worktreeId] ?? []
+      const known = new Set(existing.map((tab) => tab.id))
+      const missing = (tabs ?? []).filter((tab) => !known.has(tab.id))
+      if (missing.length === 0) {
+        continue
+      }
+      local.tabsByWorktree = { ...local.tabsByWorktree, [worktreeId]: [...existing, ...missing] }
+      changed = true
+    }
+    for (const [tabId, layout] of Object.entries(partition.terminalLayoutsByTabId ?? {})) {
+      if (!layout || local.terminalLayoutsByTabId?.[tabId]) {
+        continue
+      }
+      local.terminalLayoutsByTabId = { ...local.terminalLayoutsByTabId, [tabId]: layout }
+      changed = true
+    }
+    for (const [paneKey, incarnationId] of Object.entries(
+      partition.terminalPtyIncarnationsByPaneKey ?? {}
+    )) {
+      if (local.terminalPtyIncarnationsByPaneKey?.[paneKey] !== undefined) {
+        continue
+      }
+      local.terminalPtyIncarnationsByPaneKey = {
+        ...local.terminalPtyIncarnationsByPaneKey,
+        [paneKey]: incarnationId
+      }
+      changed = true
+    }
+    for (const [worktreeId, tabId] of Object.entries(partition.activeTabIdByWorktree ?? {})) {
+      if (local.activeTabIdByWorktree?.[worktreeId] !== undefined) {
+        continue
+      }
+      local.activeTabIdByWorktree = { ...local.activeTabIdByWorktree, [worktreeId]: tabId }
+      changed = true
+    }
+  }
+  return changed
+}
+
 export class Store {
   private state: PersistedState
   private readonly dataFile: string
@@ -3938,6 +4002,14 @@ export class Store {
       migrated.githubCache = readGithubCacheSnapshot(this.dataFile) ?? migrated.githubCache
     }
 
+    // Why: earlier builds wrote SSH pane membership into `ssh:<target>` partitions; this build's
+    // binding writer is local-only and its reattach refuses to create, so an unhoisted partition
+    // means every pane is refused and the user's tabs are discarded. Runs on the final state so a
+    // later migration cannot replace the session object out from under it.
+    if (hoistSshPartitionsIntoLocalSession(migrated)) {
+      this.loadNeedsSave = true
+    }
+
     logPersistenceStartupMilestone('persistence-load-done', {
       repos: migrated.repos.length,
       workspaceSessionBytes: Buffer.byteLength(JSON.stringify(migrated.workspaceSession))
diff --git a/src/main/ssh-partition-upgrade-tab-loss.test.ts b/src/main/ssh-partition-upgrade-tab-loss.test.ts
index 879092d640d..521e7bcb025 100644
--- a/src/main/ssh-partition-upgrade-tab-loss.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/ssh-partition-upgrade-tab-loss.test.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,15 @@ async function createStore(state: Record<string, unknown> = {}) {
   return new Store()
 }
 
+/** Reopen the SAME profile — the upgrade launch. The hoist migration runs at load, so a test that
+ *  writes the partition into an already-loaded store would never exercise it. */
+async function reopenStore() {
+  vi.resetModules()
+  const { Store, initDataPath } = await import('./persistence')
+  initDataPath()
+  return new Store()
+}
+
 /** One SSH pane, exactly as the partitioned build persisted it. */
 function paneSession() {
   return {
@@ -71,14 +80,18 @@ describe('an SSH pane whose membership was persisted into the ssh partition', ()
   })
 
   it('is still bound on reattach after upgrading to a build that reads local', async () => {
-    // Only the ssh partition holds the pane — the shape an upgrading user actually carries.
-    // Written through the store, the way the partitioned build wrote it.
-    const store = await createStore()
-    store.setWorkspaceSession(paneSession() as never, SSH_PARTITION)
+    // The old build: pane membership written into the ssh partition, nothing in local.
+    const before = await createStore()
+    before.setWorkspaceSession(paneSession() as never, SSH_PARTITION)
+    expect(
+      before.getWorkspaceSession(SSH_PARTITION).tabsByWorktree?.[WORKTREE],
+      'the ssh partition never received the pane, so this proves nothing'
+    ).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(before.getWorkspaceSession().tabsByWorktree?.[WORKTREE] ?? []).toHaveLength(0)
+    before.flushOrThrow()
 
-    // Anti-vacuity: the pane really is in the ssh partition and really is absent from local.
-    expect(store.getWorkspaceSession(SSH_PARTITION).tabsByWorktree?.[WORKTREE]).toHaveLength(1)
-    expect(store.getWorkspaceSession().tabsByWorktree?.[WORKTREE] ?? []).toHaveLength(0)
+    // The upgrade launch.
+    const store = await reopenStore()
 
     // The reattach bind: no hostId, refuses to create.
     const bound = store.persistPtyBinding({
@@ -99,8 +112,10 @@ describe('an SSH pane whose membership was persisted into the ssh partition', ()
   // `mayCreate` existed, the same state re-created the tab instead of discarding it. That is what
   // "before, many of the tabs were retained" described — they were being recreated.
   it('was recreated rather than discarded before the refusal was introduced', async () => {
-    const store = await createStore()
-    store.setWorkspaceSession(paneSession() as never, SSH_PARTITION)
+    const before = await createStore()
+    before.setWorkspaceSession(paneSession() as never, SSH_PARTITION)
+    before.flushOrThrow()
+    const store = await reopenStore()
 
     const bound = store.persistPtyBinding({
       worktreeId: WORKTREE,