diff --git a/src/relay/pty-handler-spawn-admission.test.ts b/src/relay/pty-handler-spawn-admission.test.ts
index c25a623f406..7ba02f78587 100644
--- a/src/relay/pty-handler-spawn-admission.test.ts
+++ b/src/relay/pty-handler-spawn-admission.test.ts
@@ -125,6 +125,44 @@ describe('PtyHandler', () => {
     expect(hasChildren).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith(mockPtyInstance.pid, { fresh: true })
   })
 
+  it('does not re-enter the shared capture after the evidence read gave up on it', async () => {
+    // The budget is worthless if the compatibility fields answer by joining the very capture the
+    // evidence read just abandoned: `processHasChildren` and `getForegroundProcessName` read the
+    // same TTL-shared table with no budget of their own, so on a slow host this call would still
+    // block for the whole capture -- once, and then once per managed PTY in the listing.
+    const snapshot = vi
+      .spyOn(processTableSnapshotReader, 'getStrictProcessTableSnapshotWithAge')
+      .mockRejectedValue(new Error('process table unreadable: capture_over_budget'))
+    const hasChildren = vi.spyOn(ptyShellUtils, 'processHasChildren')
+    const foregroundName = vi.spyOn(ptyShellUtils, 'getForegroundProcessName')
+
+    const { id } = (await spawnPty({ cols: 80, rows: 24 })) as { id: string }
+    hasChildren.mockClear()
+    foregroundName.mockClear()
+
+    const inspection = (await dispatcher.callRequest('pty.inspectProcess', { id })) as {
+      hasChildProcesses: boolean
+      foregroundProcessEvidence?: { verdict: string; reason?: string }
+    }
+
+    expect(snapshot).toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(hasChildren).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    // The verdict the gates already handle, reached promptly instead of late.
+    expect(inspection.foregroundProcessEvidence?.verdict).toBe('unverifiable')
+    expect(inspection.foregroundProcessEvidence?.reason).toBe('process_table_unreadable')
+    // `false` is what the child probe itself answers for an unreadable table; this is that same
+    // degraded answer without the wait, not a new claim about the pane.
+    expect(inspection.hasChildProcesses).toBe(false)
+
+    const listing = (await dispatcher.callRequest('pty.listProcesses', {})) as {
+      id: string
+      title: string
+    }[]
+
+    expect(foregroundName).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(listing.find((entry) => entry.id === id)?.title).toBeTruthy()
+  })
+
   it('rejects strict process inspection for a missing relay PTY', async () => {
     await expect(dispatcher.callRequest('pty.inspectProcess', { id: 'missing' })).rejects.toThrow(
       'terminal_gone'
diff --git a/src/relay/pty-handler.ts b/src/relay/pty-handler.ts
index 42f8bdc0a77..18c79bc7f5d 100644
--- a/src/relay/pty-handler.ts
+++ b/src/relay/pty-handler.ts
@@ -2661,6 +2661,9 @@ export class PtyHandler {
       }
     }
     let rows: readonly ProcessTableRow[] | null = null
+    // Set only when the budgeted evidence read gave up, so the compatibility fields below do not
+    // turn around and ask the same unreadable table again with no budget at all.
+    let tableUnavailable = false
     let evidence: RemoteForegroundEvidence | undefined
     if (process.platform === 'win32') {
       // Why SSH-to-Windows is always unverifiable: POSIX has a real foreground primitive
@@ -2699,6 +2702,7 @@ export class PtyHandler {
           rows
         )
       } catch {
+        tableUnavailable = true
         evidence = {
           authorityGeneration: this.ptyIdMintEpoch,
           observationEpoch: ++this.foregroundEvidenceEpoch,
@@ -2721,9 +2725,19 @@ export class PtyHandler {
       // Derive child liveness from the same capture; do not fork a second
       // process-table probe for each field/pane in an event burst. Windows
       // has no evidence capture, so preserve the compatibility child probe.
+      //
+      // Why the middle branch: `processHasChildren` reads the same shared capture with no budget
+      // of its own, so on a host slow enough to blow the evidence budget it would join the very
+      // capture this call just abandoned and block for all of it -- spending the whole latency
+      // the budget exists to avoid, on a compatibility field. `false` is what that helper already
+      // answers for an unreadable table, so this is the existing degraded answer reached promptly
+      // rather than a new one. The destructive gate is the separate `pty.hasChildProcesses` RPC,
+      // which keeps its unbudgeted fresh probe.
       hasChildProcesses: rows
         ? rows.some((row) => row.ppid === managed.pty.pid)
-        : await processHasChildren(managed.pty.pid),
+        : tableUnavailable
+          ? false
+          : await processHasChildren(managed.pty.pid),
       ...(evidence ? { foregroundProcessEvidence: evidence } : {})
     }
   }
@@ -2742,6 +2756,10 @@ export class PtyHandler {
     // process-table work on the host.
     const includeForegroundProcessEvidence = params.includeForegroundProcessEvidence !== false
     let evidenceRows: readonly ProcessTableRow[] | null = null
+    // Same reason as `inspectProcess`: once the budgeted read has given up, the per-PTY title
+    // fallback below must not re-enter the same capture without a budget -- and here it would do
+    // so once per managed PTY.
+    let evidenceTableUnavailable = false
     let evidenceResults: BatchedForegroundProcessResult[] = []
     const evidenceEpoch = ++this.foregroundEvidenceEpoch
     // Worst-case capture time for the snapshot below, not the instant its await settled: the
@@ -2767,6 +2785,7 @@ export class PtyHandler {
       } catch {
         // An unreadable capture is represented as unverifiable evidence below;
         // existing inventory fields remain available for old clients.
+        evidenceTableUnavailable = true
       }
     }
     for (const [entryIndex, [id, managed]] of managedEntries.entries()) {
@@ -2781,7 +2800,7 @@ export class PtyHandler {
       const title =
         (evidenceRows
           ? (evidenceResults[entryIndex]?.processName ?? managed.pty.process ?? null)
-          : includeForegroundProcessEvidence
+          : includeForegroundProcessEvidence && !evidenceTableUnavailable
             ? await getForegroundProcessName(managed.pty.pid, managed.pty.process || null)
             : managed.pty.process || null) || 'shell'
       const foregroundProcessEvidence =