diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/TabBarCreateEntryRow.test.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/TabBarCreateEntryRow.test.tsx
index b56930f9029..f8801ae6122 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/TabBarCreateEntryRow.test.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/TabBarCreateEntryRow.test.tsx
@@ -147,6 +147,8 @@ describe('EntryActionRow', () => {
     })
 
     expect(container.querySelector('[data-agent-icon]')).toBeNull()
+    // Guard against the row rendering no icon at all, which "no agent icon" alone would pass.
+    expect(container.querySelector('svg.lucide-square-terminal')).toBeTruthy()
     expect(container.textContent).toContain('Switch to tab')
   })
 })
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/open-tab-occupant-agent.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/open-tab-occupant-agent.test.ts
index f5d524f8b10..85ab0f4cb49 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/open-tab-occupant-agent.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/open-tab-occupant-agent.test.ts
@@ -111,7 +111,6 @@ describe('resolveOpenTabOccupantAgent', () => {
   })
 
   it('uses the tab-strip title identity when hooks have not reported yet', () => {
-    expect(resolve({ recordTitle: 'grok' })).toBe('grok')
     expect(resolve({ title: 'grok' })).toBe('grok')
   })
 
@@ -119,14 +118,13 @@ describe('resolveOpenTabOccupantAgent', () => {
     expect(
       resolve({
         launchAgent: 'claude',
-        recordTitle: 'fix grok parser',
         title: 'fix grok parser'
       })
     ).toBe('claude')
   })
 
   it('does not treat a hyphenated grok mention as occupancy', () => {
-    expect(resolve({ recordTitle: 'session-scanner-grok-parser' })).toBeNull()
+    expect(resolve({ title: 'session-scanner-grok-parser' })).toBeNull()
   })
 
   it('uses the focused sleeping session, matching useTabAgent', () => {
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/open-tab-occupant-agent.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/open-tab-occupant-agent.ts
index 6a4562ba55c..40d4f0df74e 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/open-tab-occupant-agent.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/open-tab-occupant-agent.ts
@@ -18,10 +18,12 @@ import { resolveTabAgentFromSignals } from './use-tab-agent'
 
 export type OpenTabOccupantAgentInput = {
   tabId: string
-  /** Visible search/tab-strip label. Used only when the terminal record title is empty. */
+  /**
+   * Resolved unified tab label — the same string the tab strip feeds `useTabAgent`.
+   * The terminal record's own title is not used: it can stay a stale "Terminal N"
+   * while the unified label already carries the live OSC title.
+   */
   title?: string
-  /** OSC title `useTabAgent` reads. */
-  recordTitle?: string
   defaultTitle?: string
   launchAgent?: TuiAgent
   layout?: TerminalLayoutSnapshot
@@ -38,7 +40,6 @@ export type OpenTabOccupantAgentInput = {
 export function resolveOpenTabOccupantAgent({
   tabId,
   title,
-  recordTitle,
   defaultTitle,
   launchAgent,
   layout,
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ export function resolveOpenTabOccupantAgent({
   const sleepingSessionAgent = focusedPaneKey
     ? (sleepingAgentSessionsByPaneKey[focusedPaneKey]?.agent ?? null)
     : null
-  const oscTitle = recordTitle?.trim() || title?.trim() || ''
+  const oscTitle = title?.trim() || ''
   const explicitTitleAgent = resolveExplicitTerminalTitleAgentType(oscTitle)
   const fallbackAgentSignal = launchAgent
     ? explicitTitleAgent === launchAgent
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/workspace-tab-palette-search.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/workspace-tab-palette-search.test.ts
index 68053539caa..7570213dd6a 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/workspace-tab-palette-search.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/workspace-tab-palette-search.test.ts
@@ -569,6 +569,15 @@ describe('workspace-tab-palette-search', () => {
     expect(searchWorkspaceTabs(titledOnly, 'grok')[0]?.occupantAgent).toBe('grok')
   })
 
+  it('stamps occupancy from the live unified label when the terminal record title is stale', () => {
+    const staleRecord = buildEntries({
+      tabsByWorktree: { 'wt-1': [makeTerminalTab({ title: 'Terminal 1' })] },
+      unifiedTabsByWorktree: { 'wt-1': [makeUnifiedTab({ label: 'grok' })] }
+    })
+    expect(staleRecord[0]?.title).toBe('grok')
+    expect(staleRecord[0]?.occupantAgent).toBe('grok')
+  })
+
   it('does not stamp grok occupancy from a hyphenated filename-style title', () => {
     const hyphenated = buildEntries({
       tabsByWorktree: { 'wt-1': [makeTerminalTab({ title: 'session-scanner-grok-parser' })] },
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/workspace-tab-palette-search.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/workspace-tab-palette-search.ts
index 85ec837a2ed..b35e1154b23 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/workspace-tab-palette-search.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/workspace-tab-palette-search.ts
@@ -275,8 +275,8 @@ export function buildSearchableWorkspaceTabs({
           agentMetadata: collectAgentMetadataFromIndex(agentIndex, tab.entityId, worktree.id),
           occupantAgent: resolveOpenTabOccupantAgent({
             tabId: tab.entityId,
+            // The unified label, not terminalTab.title: the record can lag it (see above).
             title,
-            recordTitle: terminalTab?.title,
             defaultTitle: terminalTab?.defaultTitle,
             launchAgent: terminalTab?.launchAgent,
             layout: terminalLayoutsByTabId?.[tab.entityId],