diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/right-sidebar/ai-vault-session-refresh.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/right-sidebar/ai-vault-session-refresh.test.ts
index c493604febf..19f0d47ce82 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/right-sidebar/ai-vault-session-refresh.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/right-sidebar/ai-vault-session-refresh.test.ts
@@ -755,4 +755,49 @@ describe('useAiVaultSessionRefresh in-app agent session behavior', () => {
     await setAgentStatuses({ 'pane-2': makeAgentEntry('sess-2', 'working') })
     expect(listSessionsMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3)
   })
+
+  // Reported against an adhoc build: a workspace whose editor was loading files fine still showed
+  // "SSH relay is not ready" with "0 shown · 0 recent" in this panel. That error is what the relay
+  // throws before it is ready, which is ordinary at startup and for the window a reconnect leaves it
+  // not-ready — but nothing here retried on the relay simply becoming ready. The remaining triggers
+  // are mount, window refocus and a new agent session id, so the error stuck while the rest of the
+  // workspace worked. The file explorer already recovers off this same signal.
+  it('retries after a not-ready failure once the SSH connection lands', async () => {
+    listSessionsMock.mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('SSH relay is not ready'))
+    await renderHook(['/home/neil/projects/orca'])
+    await flushMicrotasks()
+
+    expect(latest?.error).toBe('SSH relay is not ready')
+    const callsWhileBroken = listSessionsMock.mock.calls.length
+
+    listSessionsMock.mockResolvedValue(EMPTY_RESULT)
+    await act(async () => {
+      useAppStore.setState({ sshConnectedGeneration: 1 })
+    })
+    await flushMicrotasks()
+
+    expect(
+      listSessionsMock.mock.calls.length,
+      'the panel never retried after SSH became ready'
+    ).toBeGreaterThan(callsWhileBroken)
+    expect(latest?.error).toBeNull()
+  })
+
+  it('does not rescan on a connection bump when the last listing succeeded', async () => {
+    // Gated on a prior error so a local workspace, or one that already listed fine, does not rescan
+    // every time some unrelated host connects.
+    listSessionsMock.mockResolvedValue(EMPTY_RESULT)
+    await renderHook(['/home/neil/projects/orca'])
+    await flushMicrotasks()
+
+    expect(latest?.error).toBeNull()
+    const callsWhileHealthy = listSessionsMock.mock.calls.length
+
+    await act(async () => {
+      useAppStore.setState({ sshConnectedGeneration: 1 })
+    })
+    await flushMicrotasks()
+
+    expect(listSessionsMock.mock.calls.length).toBe(callsWhileHealthy)
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/right-sidebar/ai-vault-session-refresh.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/right-sidebar/ai-vault-session-refresh.ts
index d6bf0bb120c..0c64607853e 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/right-sidebar/ai-vault-session-refresh.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/right-sidebar/ai-vault-session-refresh.ts
@@ -267,6 +267,27 @@ export function useAiVaultSessionRefresh(
     void refresh({ force: false, reuseLoadedDepth: true })
   }, [executionHostScope, refresh, scanScopeKey])
 
+  // Why: this panel can query the relay before it is ready — at startup, and again for the window
+  // in which a reconnect leaves the session not-ready — and the query throws 'SSH relay is not
+  // ready'. Nothing else here retries: the remaining triggers are mount, window refocus and a new
+  // agent session id, so a user whose workspace is otherwise working sits on that error
+  // indefinitely. The file explorer already recovers this way for the same reason
+  // (use-file-explorer-tree-load-effects.ts); this panel simply never did.
+  //
+  // Gated on a prior error so a local workspace, or one that already listed fine, does not rescan
+  // every time some other host connects.
+  const sshConnectedGeneration = useAppStore((s) => s.sshConnectedGeneration)
+  const sshGenerationRef = useRef(sshConnectedGeneration)
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (sshConnectedGeneration <= sshGenerationRef.current) {
+      return
+    }
+    sshGenerationRef.current = sshConnectedGeneration
+    if (error !== null) {
+      void refresh({ background: true, force: false })
+    }
+  }, [sshConnectedGeneration, error, refresh])
+
   // Refocus checks the shared host cache without forcing another transcript scan.
   useEffect(() => {
     const onRefocus = (): void => {