diff --git a/src/cli/specs/orchestration-worker-specs.ts b/src/cli/specs/orchestration-worker-specs.ts
index dde17a81415..57cfd61c164 100644
--- a/src/cli/specs/orchestration-worker-specs.ts
+++ b/src/cli/specs/orchestration-worker-specs.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ export const ORCHESTRATION_WORKER_COMMAND_SPECS: CommandSpec[] = [
       'New worktrees use agent-first creation and default --setup to run. Repository start-immediately runs setup beside the agent; wait-for-setup gates agent readiness and task input.',
       'Creation flags (--name, --repo, --base-branch, --display-name, --comment, --setup) are rejected for current/existing worktrees. Use exact --repo on the selected server; project/host convenience routing remains on worktree create.',
       "How the worker runs follows the user's own setting for new agent tabs; there is no flag for it and no caller needs to ask. A dispatch the setting cannot apply to still starts, so the placement, agent, and launch options passed here are always the ones honoured.",
-      'Drive every worker the same way whichever way it was started: the same verbs, the same handle, and the same worker-read sources. The start receipt records which one ran, for operators and telemetry.',
+      'Drive every worker the same way whichever way it was started: the same orchestration verbs, the same handle. Mail, dispatch, worker-show, worker-read and the whole lifecycle behave identically. The start receipt records which one ran, for operators and telemetry.',
+      'Not every worker has a terminal. Read output with worker-read --source auto or --source transcript, which always work; --source terminal is refused when there is none, and orca terminal verbs do not accept every worker handle. Nothing above needs you to know which kind you have — the orchestration verbs cover all of them.',
       '--on selects only the worker server; the Run and this command remain on the current Orca server.',
       'Remote current and new-child are invalid; discover an exact remote selector or use new-top-level.',
       '--retry-of links the replacement attempt but does not inherit placement; repeat the intended --on/worktree and --agent/terminal choices.',
diff --git a/src/cli/specs/orchestration.test.ts b/src/cli/specs/orchestration.test.ts
index baa9d57e781..f6076433e83 100644
--- a/src/cli/specs/orchestration.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/specs/orchestration.test.ts
@@ -41,4 +41,17 @@ describe('orchestration worker-start command spec', () => {
     expect(notes).not.toMatch(/structured chat session/)
     expect(notes).toContain('Drive every worker the same way')
   })
+
+  it('does not promise uniformity it cannot deliver', () => {
+    // The note used to promise "the same verbs, the same handle, and the same worker-read
+    // sources". All three clauses were false for a worker with no terminal: `orca terminal` verbs
+    // refuse its handle and `--source terminal` has nothing to serve. A spec agents read must not
+    // carry a false promise — but it also must not name the worker kind, or a coordinator starts
+    // branching on something no verb it runs behaves differently for. So it states the limitation
+    // and the always-working alternative, without naming a mode.
+    const notes = startSpec?.notes?.join('\n') ?? ''
+    expect(notes).not.toContain('the same worker-read sources')
+    expect(notes).toContain('Not every worker has a terminal')
+    expect(notes).toContain('--source transcript')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime-build-pty-terminal-summary.ts b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime-build-pty-terminal-summary.ts
index b9835be212c..d781bd2ae90 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime-build-pty-terminal-summary.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime-build-pty-terminal-summary.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { getLatestPtyTitle } from './runtime-worktree-status-projection'
 import { parsePaneKey } from '../../shared/stable-pane-id'
 import type { TerminalHandleRecord } from './runtime-terminal-contracts'
 import { readTerminalTail } from './terminal-tail-read'
+import { structuredWorkerTerminalRefusal } from './structured-worker-terminal-refusal'
 import { randomUUID } from 'node:crypto'
 
 export class OrcaRuntimeWithBuildPtyTerminalSummary extends OrcaRuntimeWithGetPtyRecordForPaneKey {
@@ -52,7 +53,11 @@ export class OrcaRuntimeWithBuildPtyTerminalSummary extends OrcaRuntimeWithGetPt
     this.assertGraphReady()
     const record = this.handles.get(handle)
     if (!record || record.runtimeId !== this.runtimeId) {
-      throw new Error('terminal_handle_stale')
+      // A structured worker's handle is not stale — nothing went dead. It names a live agent
+      // session that simply has no terminal, and saying `terminal_handle_stale` sent callers
+      // hunting for a remint that will never exist. Read paths (`terminal read`,
+      // `isTerminalRunningAgent`, the identity probe) answer for it BEFORE reaching here.
+      throw structuredWorkerTerminalRefusal(handle, this._orchestrationDb)
     }
     if (record.rendererGraphEpoch !== this.rendererGraphEpoch) {
       throw new Error('terminal_handle_stale')
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/rpc/errors.ts b/src/main/runtime/rpc/errors.ts
index 1e4567f7f6f..ac12da8af2f 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/rpc/errors.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/rpc/errors.ts
@@ -89,6 +89,9 @@ const STRUCTURED_RUNTIME_PASSTHROUGH_CODES: ReadonlySet<string> = new Set([
   'dispatch_not_found',
   'dispatch_run_mismatch',
   'terminal_not_found',
+  // A handle that names a live agent session with no terminal. Distinct from
+  // `terminal_handle_stale`, which claims the handle went dead — nothing went stale here.
+  'terminal_unsupported_for_agent_session',
   'recipient_ambiguous',
   'recipient_run_mismatch',
   'dispatch_inactive',
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/structured-worker-terminal-refusal.test.ts b/src/main/runtime/structured-worker-terminal-refusal.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..413e7b3ee5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/runtime/structured-worker-terminal-refusal.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import type { AgentSessionRecord } from '../../shared/agent-session-record'
+
+const hostRef: { current: unknown } = { current: null }
+
+vi.mock('../native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-registry', () => ({
+  getStructuredAgentSessionHost: () => hostRef.current
+}))
+
+const { structuredWorkerTerminalRefusal } = await import('./structured-worker-terminal-refusal')
+const {
+  mintStructuredWorkerHandle,
+  mintStructuredWorkerPaneKey,
+  structuredWorkerIdentities,
+  structuredWorkerProcessIncarnation
+} = await import('./structured-worker-identity')
+
+const SESSION_ID = 'a1b2c3d4-e5f6-4a7b-8c9d-0e1f2a3b4c5d'
+
+function installRecord(): void {
+  hostRef.current = {
+    deps: {
+      store: {
+        getRecord: (sessionId: string) =>
+          ({
+            sessionId,
+            location: { executionHostId: 'local', wslDistro: null },
+            lease: {
+              runtimeKind: 'native',
+              claimStatus: 'live',
+              runtimeFence: 1,
+              deathEvidence: null
+            }
+          }) as unknown as AgentSessionRecord
+      }
+    },
+    hasSession: () => true
+  }
+}
+
+function registerWorker(): string {
+  const handle = mintStructuredWorkerHandle()
+  structuredWorkerIdentities.register({
+    handle,
+    sessionId: SESSION_ID,
+    agent: 'claude',
+    paneKey: mintStructuredWorkerPaneKey(SESSION_ID),
+    processIncarnation: structuredWorkerProcessIncarnation(SESSION_ID),
+    worktreeId: 'wt_1',
+    hostScope: { kind: 'local', hostId: 'local' }
+  })
+  return handle
+}
+
+describe('the refusal a terminal verb gives a structured worker handle', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    structuredWorkerIdentities.clear()
+    hostRef.current = null
+  })
+
+  it('says the handle is an agent session, not that it went stale', () => {
+    // `terminal_handle_stale` is a claim the handle died. It never did — the session is live and
+    // has no terminal — so callers went looking for a remint that cannot exist.
+    const handle = registerWorker()
+    installRecord()
+    const error = structuredWorkerTerminalRefusal(handle, null)
+    expect(error.message).not.toContain('terminal_handle_stale')
+    expect((error as { code?: string }).code).toBe('terminal_unsupported_for_agent_session')
+  })
+
+  it('points at the structured equivalents rather than just failing', () => {
+    const handle = registerWorker()
+    installRecord()
+    const message = structuredWorkerTerminalRefusal(handle, null).message
+    expect(message).toContain('orca terminal read')
+    expect(message).toContain('worker-read --source transcript')
+    expect(message).toContain('orca orchestration send')
+  })
+
+  it('keeps the stale error for a PTY handle, which really can go stale', () => {
+    expect(structuredWorkerTerminalRefusal('term_gone', null).message).toBe('terminal_handle_stale')
+  })
+
+  it('keeps the stale error for a session this runtime no longer owns', () => {
+    // Once the lease moves or the session is released the handle IS dead, and saying so is right.
+    registerWorker()
+    hostRef.current = null
+    expect(structuredWorkerTerminalRefusal('term_gone', null).message).toBe('terminal_handle_stale')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/structured-worker-terminal-refusal.ts b/src/main/runtime/structured-worker-terminal-refusal.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5f934980a02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/runtime/structured-worker-terminal-refusal.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/**
+ * What a terminal verb should say when handed a structured worker's handle.
+ *
+ * `terminal_handle_stale` is a claim that the handle went dead, and for a structured worker it is
+ * simply false: the session is live, it has no terminal, and it never had one. Callers acting on
+ * that claim went looking for a remint that cannot exist. The refusal names the structured
+ * equivalent instead, so an agent that lands here knows what to run rather than what failed.
+ *
+ * `terminal.show` stays non-resolving on purpose: synthesising a `ptyId`/`leafId`/`paneRuntimeId`
+ * would hand every public terminal verb something that looks writable and is not.
+ */
+
+import type { OrchestrationDb } from './orchestration/db'
+import { resolveStructuredWorkerAuthority } from './structured-worker-authority'
+
+const TERMINAL_HANDLE_STALE = 'terminal_handle_stale'
+const AGENT_SESSION_HAS_NO_TERMINAL = 'terminal_unsupported_for_agent_session'
+
+export function structuredWorkerTerminalRefusal(
+  handle: string,
+  db: OrchestrationDb | null | undefined
+): Error {
+  if (!resolveStructuredWorkerAuthority(handle, db)) {
+    return new Error(TERMINAL_HANDLE_STALE)
+  }
+  const error = new Error(
+    `${handle} is an agent session, not a terminal, so terminal commands cannot address it. ` +
+      'Read its output with `orca terminal read` or `orca orchestration worker-read --source transcript`, ' +
+      'send it work with `orca orchestration send`, and open it from its chat tab.'
+  )
+  Object.assign(error, { code: AGENT_SESSION_HAS_NO_TERMINAL })
+  return error
+}