diff --git a/src/main/daemon/daemon-live-pty-evidence.test.ts b/src/main/daemon/daemon-live-pty-evidence.test.ts
index d1d12f9bee2..aad786f2cfd 100644
--- a/src/main/daemon/daemon-live-pty-evidence.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/daemon/daemon-live-pty-evidence.test.ts
@@ -270,6 +270,39 @@ describe('inspectDaemonPtyOwnership on win32', () => {
   })
 })
 
+describe('inspectDaemonPtyOwnership login(1) handling', () => {
+  it('counts a childless login(1) as live work off darwin', async () => {
+    // Orca only wraps terminals in login(1) on macOS, so elsewhere this pattern is the user's
+    // own login — and one still prompting for credentials has no child yet. Excluding it there
+    // discards real work to solve a macOS problem.
+    const rows = [
+      daemonRow,
+      row(5000, DAEMON_PID, { stat: 'Ss', command: '/usr/bin/login nwparker' })
+    ]
+
+    await expect(
+      inspectDaemonPtyOwnership(DAEMON_PID, {
+        platform: 'linux',
+        readPosixProcessTable: async () => rows
+      })
+    ).resolves.toBe('owns-live-ptys')
+  })
+
+  it('still excludes a childless login(1) on darwin (#13764)', async () => {
+    const rows = [
+      daemonRow,
+      row(5000, DAEMON_PID, { stat: 'Ss', command: '/usr/bin/login -pf nwparker /bin/zsh' })
+    ]
+
+    await expect(
+      inspectDaemonPtyOwnership(DAEMON_PID, {
+        platform: 'darwin',
+        readPosixProcessTable: async () => rows
+      })
+    ).resolves.toBe('no-live-ptys')
+  })
+})
+
 describe('inspectDaemonPtyOwnership sampling', () => {
   it('will not confirm emptiness from the cached table the first read already used', async () => {
     // Two agreeing samples are only worth more than one if they are two observations. When the
diff --git a/src/main/daemon/daemon-live-pty-evidence.ts b/src/main/daemon/daemon-live-pty-evidence.ts
index e77e47c2710..7e6c7d7ab8d 100644
--- a/src/main/daemon/daemon-live-pty-evidence.ts
+++ b/src/main/daemon/daemon-live-pty-evidence.ts
@@ -107,11 +107,27 @@ function isLivePtySessionLeader(row: ProcessTableRow): boolean {
  * would hold a daemon whose sessions have all ended, on hosts where they accumulate by the
  * hundred. A wrapper still doing its job always has the shell it exec'd beneath it.
  */
-function isStrandedLoginWrapper(row: ProcessTableRow, hasChildren: boolean): boolean {
-  return !hasChildren && row.command.trim().startsWith(MACOS_LOGIN_WRAPPER_PREFIX)
+function isStrandedLoginWrapper(
+  row: ProcessTableRow,
+  hasChildren: boolean,
+  platform: NodeJS.Platform
+): boolean {
+  // Why darwin only: Orca wraps terminals in login(1) for TCC attribution on macOS and nowhere
+  // else, so off darwin this pattern can only ever be a user's own login(1) — and one that is
+  // still prompting for credentials has no child yet, which is exactly the shape excluded here.
+  // Applied POSIX-wide it discarded real work to solve a macOS problem.
+  return (
+    platform === 'darwin' &&
+    !hasChildren &&
+    row.command.trim().startsWith(MACOS_LOGIN_WRAPPER_PREFIX)
+  )
 }
 
-function collectLivePtyDescendants(rows: ProcessTableRow[], rootPid: number): ProcessTableRow[] {
+function collectLivePtyDescendants(
+  rows: ProcessTableRow[],
+  rootPid: number,
+  platform: NodeJS.Platform
+): ProcessTableRow[] {
   const childrenByPpid = new Map<number, ProcessTableRow[]>()
   for (const row of rows) {
     if (row.pid === rootPid) {
@@ -137,7 +153,7 @@ function collectLivePtyDescendants(rows: ProcessTableRow[], rootPid: number): Pr
       queue.push(child.pid)
       if (
         isLivePtySessionLeader(child) &&
-        !isStrandedLoginWrapper(child, childrenByPpid.has(child.pid))
+        !isStrandedLoginWrapper(child, childrenByPpid.has(child.pid), platform)
       ) {
         live.push(child)
       }
@@ -187,7 +203,9 @@ async function probeOnce(
   if (rows === null || !rows.some((row) => row.pid === daemonPid)) {
     return 'unknown'
   }
-  return collectLivePtyDescendants(rows, daemonPid).length > 0 ? 'owns-live-ptys' : 'no-live-ptys'
+  return collectLivePtyDescendants(rows, daemonPid, deps.platform ?? process.platform).length > 0
+    ? 'owns-live-ptys'
+    : 'no-live-ptys'
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/main/daemon/daemon-occupancy.test.ts b/src/main/daemon/daemon-occupancy.test.ts
index fbfe9135e56..fc3599178eb 100644
--- a/src/main/daemon/daemon-occupancy.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/daemon/daemon-occupancy.test.ts
@@ -254,3 +254,16 @@ describe('resolveDaemonOccupancy when an injected dep throws', () => {
     ).resolves.toEqual({ state: 'unknown', liveSessions: null })
   })
 })
+
+describe('resolveDaemonOccupancy with a nonsense count', () => {
+  it.each([Number.NaN, -1, 1.5])('refuses to read %p as emptiness', async (counted) => {
+    // 'empty' is the only verdict that licenses a kill, and `counted > 0` reads every one of
+    // these as empty. The dep is injectable, so it is reachable without asking the daemon.
+    await expect(
+      resolve({
+        listSessions: async () => counted,
+        inspectPtyOwnership: ownershipIs('unknown')
+      })
+    ).resolves.toEqual({ state: 'unknown', liveSessions: null })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/main/daemon/daemon-occupancy.ts b/src/main/daemon/daemon-occupancy.ts
index eb175d97217..31d4c67b40e 100644
--- a/src/main/daemon/daemon-occupancy.ts
+++ b/src/main/daemon/daemon-occupancy.ts
@@ -106,6 +106,12 @@ export async function resolveDaemonOccupancy(args: {
       connectBudgetMs
     )
     if (counted !== null) {
+      // Why validate a number we just asked for: 'empty' is the one verdict that licenses a
+      // kill, and `counted > 0` quietly reads NaN, -1 and every other non-count as emptiness.
+      // The dep is injectable, so that is reachable without the daemon ever being asked.
+      if (!Number.isInteger(counted) || counted < 0) {
+        return unknown
+      }
       return counted > 0
         ? { state: 'occupied', liveSessions: counted }
         : { state: 'empty', liveSessions: 0 }