diff --git a/src/main/ssh/ssh-relay-session-rejected-delivery.test.ts b/src/main/ssh/ssh-relay-session-rejected-delivery.test.ts
index 6b5e0632298..9e83768ca42 100644
--- a/src/main/ssh/ssh-relay-session-rejected-delivery.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/ssh/ssh-relay-session-rejected-delivery.test.ts
@@ -495,6 +495,30 @@ describe('SshRelaySession rejected PTY delivery recovery', () => {
     expect(mux.dispose).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
   })
 
+  // The counterpart to the clause above, and the distinction the whole design rests on. hasPty is
+  // three-state: null means the provider has not listed the host yet, which is precisely the state
+  // a fresh provider is in right after the reconnect that produces rejected frames. Reading that
+  // as death drops the attempt and schedules nothing, and the delivery token is already retired,
+  // so nothing can revive it — the pane stays dark. Only an explicit false is proof.
+  it('keeps retrying while the PTY liveness is merely unknown', async () => {
+    const { internals, mux, session } = prepareSession()
+    const reattach = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(false)
+    internals.reattachRejectedPty = reattach
+    getSshPtyProviderMock.mockReturnValue({ hasPty: () => null } as unknown as SshPtyProvider)
+    const onTerminalError = vi.fn()
+    session.setOnTerminalRelayError(onTerminalError)
+    vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {})
+
+    await internals.acceptPtyData(rejectedPayload())
+
+    // More than one attempt is the whole point: unknown liveness must not end recovery.
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(reattach.mock.calls.length).toBeGreaterThan(1), {
+      timeout: 10_000
+    })
+    expect(onTerminalError).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(mux.dispose).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
   // Why bounded: the bulk reconnect path caps the identical attach work at 8, and a relay that
   // starts rejecting across every PTY at once would otherwise open one attach round trip per PTY.
   it('caps concurrent targeted reattaches and coalesces repeats for one PTY', async () => {
diff --git a/src/main/ssh/ssh-relay-session.ts b/src/main/ssh/ssh-relay-session.ts
index e388dc2e670..93572373ee8 100644
--- a/src/main/ssh/ssh-relay-session.ts
+++ b/src/main/ssh/ssh-relay-session.ts
@@ -1939,7 +1939,16 @@ export class SshRelaySession {
     appPtyId: string
   ): void {
     const ptyProvider = getSshPtyProvider(this.targetId) as SshPtyProvider | undefined
-    if (!ptyProvider || typeof ptyProvider.hasPty !== 'function' || !ptyProvider.hasPty(appPtyId)) {
+    // Why `=== false` and not `!`: hasPty is three-state, and null means the provider has not
+    // listed the host yet — ignorance, not death, which is exactly the state a fresh provider is
+    // in right after the reconnect that produces these rejected frames. Treating it as death
+    // dropped the recovery attempt and scheduled nothing, and since the delivery token is already
+    // retired, no later frame could revive it: the pane stayed dark. Only proof stops us.
+    if (
+      !ptyProvider ||
+      typeof ptyProvider.hasPty !== 'function' ||
+      ptyProvider.hasPty(appPtyId) === false
+    ) {
       this.rejectedPtyRecoveryAttempts.delete(appPtyId)
       return
     }