diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection-cold-restore-resume-command.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection-cold-restore-resume-command.test.ts
index 51851ead59d..7a6a6153461 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection-cold-restore-resume-command.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection-cold-restore-resume-command.test.ts
@@ -344,6 +344,7 @@ describe('connectPanePty', () => {
   async function runWindowsColdRestoreResume(args: {
     terminalWindowsShell?: string
     tabShellOverride?: string
+    agentCommand?: string
   }): Promise<string | undefined> {
     const restoreNavigator = temporarilySetNavigatorUserAgent(
       'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)'
@@ -408,7 +409,8 @@ describe('connectPanePty', () => {
             paneKey,
             tabId: 'tab-1',
             worktreeId: 'wt-1',
-            agent: 'codex',
+            agent: args.agentCommand ? 'claude' : 'codex',
+            ...(args.agentCommand ? { launchConfig: { agentCommand: args.agentCommand } } : {}),
             providerSession: { key: 'session_id', id: 'codex-session-1' },
             prompt: 'finish the task',
             state: 'done',
@@ -461,19 +463,18 @@ describe('connectPanePty', () => {
     ).resolves.toBe("codex '--dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox' 'resume' 'codex-session-1'")
   })
 
-  // Regression (#12320 residual): a cold restore after restart can run before the
-  // store hydrates `settings`, so terminalWindowsShell is momentarily undefined and
-  // the pane may be the cmd.exe default. The codex resume argv is cmd-quote-safe, so
-  // the target resolver's race guess picks cmd — a bare "token" that also parses
-  // identically in PowerShell, so it fixes the cmd pane with no PowerShell risk.
-  // Before the guess, PowerShell single quotes reached cmd.exe literally
-  // ("unrecognized subcommand ''resume''"), exactly the field report.
   it('quotes for cmd.exe on cold restore when the shell setting has not hydrated', async () => {
     await expect(runWindowsColdRestoreResume({})).resolves.toBe(
       'codex "--dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox" "resume" "codex-session-1"'
     )
   })
 
+  it('removes a stale Claude selector before cmd-compatible cold-restore quoting', async () => {
+    await expect(
+      runWindowsColdRestoreResume({ agentCommand: "claude --resume 'old-session'" })
+    ).resolves.toBe('claude "--resume" "codex-session-1"')
+  })
+
   it('keeps a contentless reattach when the sleeping record represents a live session', async () => {
     const { connectPanePty } = await import('./pty-connection')
     const paneKey = makePaneKey('tab-1', LEAF_2)
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection/cold-restore-resume-startup.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection/cold-restore-resume-startup.ts
index 8087ecda8f3..cfc1c358fa5 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection/cold-restore-resume-startup.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection/cold-restore-resume-startup.ts
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ export function bindBuildColdRestoreAgentResumeStartup(session: ConnectPanePtySe
         ? { ompResumeFilePath: launchConfig.ompResumeFilePath }
         : {}),
       platform: resumeTarget.platform,
-      shell: resumeTarget.shell
+      shell: resumeTarget.shell,
+      resumeCommandShell: resumeTarget.resumeCommandShell
     })
     if (!startupPlan) {
       return null
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/agent-resume-launch-target.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/agent-resume-launch-target.test.ts
index a1bdebb4cfc..08efdf92db2 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/agent-resume-launch-target.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/agent-resume-launch-target.test.ts
@@ -82,12 +82,9 @@ describe('resolveAgentResumeLaunchTarget on a Windows client', () => {
   })
 
   it('guesses cmd for an unset shell when every resume token is cmd-quote-safe', async () => {
-    // Cold-restore race: settings not yet hydrated, so the pane may be the
-    // %COMSPEC% (cmd.exe) default. A clean codex argv quotes identically in cmd
-    // and PowerShell, so guessing cmd fixes the cmd pane with no PowerShell risk.
     await expect(
       resolveWith({ resumeArgv: ['codex', 'resume', 'a1b2c3d4-0000-4000-8000-000000000000'] })
-    ).resolves.toEqual({ platform: 'win32', shell: 'cmd' })
+    ).resolves.toEqual({ platform: 'win32', shell: 'cmd', resumeCommandShell: 'powershell' })
   })
 
   it('keeps the PowerShell default for an unset shell when a resume token needs cmd escaping', async () => {
@@ -131,7 +128,20 @@ describe('resolveAgentResumeLaunchTarget on a Windows client', () => {
         resumeArgv: ['codex', 'resume', 'a1b2c3d4-0000-4000-8000-000000000000'],
         resumeAgentArgs: '--dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox --model gpt'
       })
-    ).resolves.toEqual({ platform: 'win32', shell: 'cmd' })
+    ).resolves.toEqual({ platform: 'win32', shell: 'cmd', resumeCommandShell: 'powershell' })
+  })
+
+  it.each([
+    '--add-dir C:\\work\\a^b',
+    '--append-system-prompt "Match ^foo"',
+    "--append-system-prompt 'it''s a test'"
+  ])('preserves PowerShell argument parsing for %s', async (resumeAgentArgs) => {
+    await expect(
+      resolveWith({
+        resumeArgv: ['codex', 'resume', 'session-1'],
+        resumeAgentArgs
+      })
+    ).resolves.toEqual({ platform: 'win32', shell: 'powershell' })
   })
 
   it('never overrides a configured shell with the race guess', async () => {
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/agent-resume-launch-target.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/agent-resume-launch-target.ts
index af07619d484..5e5c12b409c 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/agent-resume-launch-target.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/agent-resume-launch-target.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ export type AgentResumeLaunchTarget = {
   platform: NodeJS.Platform
   /** undefined keeps the platform default: PowerShell on win32, POSIX elsewhere. */
   shell: AgentStartupShell | undefined
+  /** Preserve persisted-command parsing when only the quoting style changes. */
+  resumeCommandShell?: AgentStartupShell
 }
 
 export type AgentResumeLaunchTargetArgs = {
@@ -26,15 +28,9 @@ export type AgentResumeLaunchTargetArgs = {
   terminalWindowsShell: string | null | undefined
   /** Per-tab Windows shell override, which beats the global setting at spawn time. */
   tabShellOverride?: string | null
-  /** The resume argv this quoting is for. Only consulted for the cold-restore
-   *  race guess below; omit it and the guess never fires. */
+  /** Omit resume argv to disable the fallback for an unknown Windows shell. */
   resumeArgv?: readonly string[] | null
-  /** The raw agentArgs suffix the built command will tokenize and `^`-escape
-   *  per token (unless a custom agentCommand supersedes them, in which case pass
-   *  null). The race-guess gate tokenizes it the same way and vets each token,
-   *  so a cmd guess can never `^`-corrupt an agentArg token in a PowerShell race
-   *  pane — including an INTERIOR token ending in `\`, which a whole-string
-   *  check would miss. */
+  /** Raw CLI arguments; null when a persisted agentCommand supersedes them. */
   resumeAgentArgs?: string | null
 }
 
@@ -72,32 +68,18 @@ export function resolveAgentResumeLaunchTarget(
     isRemote,
     terminalWindowsShell: effectiveWindowsShell
   })
-  // Cold-restore race guess (#12320): a resume typed right after restart can run
-  // before the renderer store hydrates `settings`, so terminalWindowsShell is
-  // momentarily empty and we can't read which shell main actually spawned — the
-  // user's configured shell if set, otherwise the powershell.exe default. We
-  // still guess cmd here, but ONLY when every piece of free text the command
-  // `^`-escapes is cmd-quote-safe: `"<token>"` then parses identically in cmd
-  // AND PowerShell, so a configured cmd.exe pane is fixed (single quotes no
-  // longer reach it literally) with no risk to a PowerShell pane. Codex/Claude
-  // and every id-based agent qualify (clean flags + UUIDs). A path-carrying
-  // token (pi/prime-agent/omp transcript path, or a path in agentArgs, e.g.
-  // under `...\dir (x86)\...`) fails the gate and is left on the PowerShell
-  // default, because cmd `^`-escaping would corrupt it in a PowerShell race
-  // pane — never worse than the pre-guard behavior.
+  // Missing settings must not change argument values or persisted-command parsing.
   if (shell === 'powershell' && !effectiveWindowsShell?.trim() && args.resumeArgv) {
-    // Vet agentArgs as the command emits them — tokenized with cmd rules and
-    // `^`-escaped per token — not as one raw string: the safety of a token
-    // ending in `\` (arg-merge in cmd) is positional, so an interior token
-    // would slip a whole-string check.
-    const agentArgs = args.resumeAgentArgs?.trim()
-      ? tokenizeStartupCommand(args.resumeAgentArgs, 'cmd')
-      : null
-    if (!agentArgs || agentArgs.ok) {
-      const guardTokens = [...args.resumeArgv, ...(agentArgs?.tokens ?? [])]
-      if (guardTokens.every((token) => isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe(token))) {
-        return { platform, shell: 'cmd' }
-      }
+    const cmdArgs = tokenizeStartupCommand(args.resumeAgentArgs?.trim() ?? '', 'cmd')
+    const powershellArgs = tokenizeStartupCommand(args.resumeAgentArgs?.trim() ?? '', 'powershell')
+    if (
+      cmdArgs.ok &&
+      powershellArgs.ok &&
+      cmdArgs.tokens.length === powershellArgs.tokens.length &&
+      cmdArgs.tokens.every((token, index) => token === powershellArgs.tokens[index]) &&
+      [...args.resumeArgv, ...cmdArgs.tokens].every(isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe)
+    ) {
+      return { platform, shell: 'cmd', resumeCommandShell: shell }
     }
   }
   return { platform, shell }
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/sleeping-agent-session-launch-windows-quoting.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/sleeping-agent-session-launch-windows-quoting.test.ts
index 59d54fbafb9..73d0b1c753c 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/sleeping-agent-session-launch-windows-quoting.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/sleeping-agent-session-launch-windows-quoting.test.ts
@@ -78,9 +78,9 @@ const record: SleepingAgentSessionRecord = {
   updatedAt: 1
 }
 
-async function launch(): Promise<string | undefined> {
+async function launch(session = record): Promise<string | undefined> {
   const { launchSleepingAgentSession } = await import('./sleeping-agent-session-launch')
-  launchSleepingAgentSession(record)
+  launchSleepingAgentSession(session)
   const options = mockCreateTab.mock.calls.at(-1)?.[3] as
     | { pendingStartup?: { command: string } }
     | undefined
@@ -118,6 +118,28 @@ describe('launchSleepingAgentSession Windows shell quoting', () => {
     )
   })
 
+  it('preserves a caret path when the shell setting is unavailable', async () => {
+    await expect(
+      launch({ ...record, launchConfig: { agentArgs: '--add-dir C:\\work\\a^b', agentEnv: {} } })
+    ).resolves.toBe(`codex '--add-dir' 'C:\\work\\a^b' 'resume' '${SESSION_ID}'`)
+  })
+
+  it.each([
+    "claude --resume 'old-session'",
+    "claude '--model' 'sonnet' --continue",
+    "& claude --resume 'old-session'"
+  ])('retains selector cleanup during missing-settings fallback: %s', async (agentCommand) => {
+    const command = await launch({
+      ...record,
+      agent: 'claude',
+      launchConfig: { agentCommand, agentArgs: '', agentEnv: {} }
+    })
+    expect(command).not.toContain('old-session')
+    expect(command).not.toContain('--continue')
+    expect(command?.match(/--resume/g)).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(command).toContain(`"--resume" "${SESSION_ID}"`)
+  })
+
   it('keeps PowerShell quoting for a powershell tab', async () => {
     store.settings.terminalWindowsShell = 'powershell.exe'
 
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/sleeping-agent-session-launch.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/sleeping-agent-session-launch.ts
index 141cd1c2a67..65bd1077466 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/sleeping-agent-session-launch.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/sleeping-agent-session-launch.ts
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@ export function launchSleepingAgentSession(
       ? { ompResumeFilePath: launchConfig.ompResumeFilePath }
       : {}),
     platform: resumeTarget.platform,
-    shell: resumeTarget.shell
+    shell: resumeTarget.shell,
+    resumeCommandShell: resumeTarget.resumeCommandShell
   })
   if (!startupPlan) {
     toast.error(
diff --git a/src/shared/agent-resume-launch-command.test.ts b/src/shared/agent-resume-launch-command.test.ts
index 5bf4797472b..5526f872344 100644
--- a/src/shared/agent-resume-launch-command.test.ts
+++ b/src/shared/agent-resume-launch-command.test.ts
@@ -567,6 +567,23 @@ describe('buildAgentResumeStartupPlan claude selector guard', () => {
     expect(restored?.launchCommand).toBe(`gemini '--resume' '--resume' '${SESSION_ID}'`)
   })
 
+  it('cleans a persisted PowerShell command while quoting the resume argv for cmd', () => {
+    const agentCommand = "& claude '--model' 'sonnet' --resume 'old-session' -- prompt"
+    const restored = buildAgentResumeStartupPlan({
+      agent: 'claude',
+      providerSession,
+      cmdOverrides: {},
+      agentCommand,
+      platform: 'win32',
+      shell: 'cmd',
+      resumeCommandShell: 'powershell'
+    })
+    expect(restored?.launchCommand).toBe(
+      `& claude '--model' 'sonnet' "--resume" "${SESSION_ID}" -- prompt`
+    )
+    expect(restored?.launchConfig.agentCommand).toBe(agentCommand)
+  })
+
   it('persists the original base command unchanged', () => {
     const restored = buildAgentResumeStartupPlan({
       agent: 'claude',
diff --git a/src/shared/agent-resume-launch-command.ts b/src/shared/agent-resume-launch-command.ts
index cda40878c28..a02f5b952cd 100644
--- a/src/shared/agent-resume-launch-command.ts
+++ b/src/shared/agent-resume-launch-command.ts
@@ -60,11 +60,12 @@ export function buildAgentResumeLaunchCommand(
   agent: ResumableTuiAgent,
   baseCommand: string,
   resumeArgv: readonly string[],
-  shell: AgentStartupShell
+  shell: AgentStartupShell,
+  commandShell: AgentStartupShell = shell
 ): string {
   const argv = resumeArgv.slice(1)
   if (agent === 'claude') {
-    return buildClaudeResumeLaunchCommand(baseCommand, argv, shell)
+    return buildClaudeResumeLaunchCommand(baseCommand, argv, shell, commandShell)
   }
   const resumeArgs = argv.map((arg) => quoteStartupArg(arg, shell)).join(' ')
   return resumeArgs ? `${baseCommand} ${resumeArgs}` : baseCommand
@@ -84,19 +85,20 @@ export function buildAgentResumeLaunchCommand(
 export function buildClaudeResumeLaunchCommand(
   baseCommand: string,
   resumeArgs: readonly string[],
-  shell: AgentStartupShell
+  shell: AgentStartupShell,
+  commandShell: AgentStartupShell = shell
 ): string {
   const quotedResume = resumeArgs.map((arg) => quoteStartupArg(arg, shell)).join(' ')
   if (!quotedResume) {
     return baseCommand
   }
   const appended = `${baseCommand} ${quotedResume}`
-  const tokenized = tokenizeStartupCommand(baseCommand, shell)
+  const tokenized = tokenizeStartupCommand(baseCommand, commandShell)
   if (!tokenized.ok) {
     return appended
   }
   const { tokens, spans } = tokenized
-  const claudeIndex = findClaudeExecutableIndex(tokens, shell)
+  const claudeIndex = findClaudeExecutableIndex(tokens, commandShell)
   if (claudeIndex === -1) {
     return appended
   }
@@ -118,11 +120,14 @@ export function buildClaudeResumeLaunchCommand(
     // child literally, so appended quoting would arrive as literal bytes. A
     // quoted `--%` can also stop parsing, but only before a parameter token,
     // where the base is already mangled with or without the guard.
-    if (shell === 'powershell' && baseCommand.slice(spans[i].start, spans[i].end) === '--%') {
+    if (
+      commandShell === 'powershell' &&
+      baseCommand.slice(spans[i].start, spans[i].end) === '--%'
+    ) {
       return appended
     }
     if (spans[i].divergesFromShell) {
-      const isCallOperator = shell === 'powershell' && i === 0 && tokens[i] === '&'
+      const isCallOperator = commandShell === 'powershell' && i === 0 && tokens[i] === '&'
       if (!isCallOperator) {
         return appended
       }
diff --git a/src/shared/agent-resume-quoting.win32.test.ts b/src/shared/agent-resume-quoting.win32.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..14a204ca6cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shared/agent-resume-quoting.win32.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+import { mkdtempSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { runProcess } from './child-process/run-process'
+import { windowsPowerShellPath, windowsSystem32Binary } from './child-process/windows-system-binary'
+import { removeTreeSync } from './windows-transient-lock-removal'
+import { isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe, quoteStartupArg } from './tui-agent-startup-shell'
+
+describe.skipIf(process.platform !== 'win32')('resume quoting in real Windows shells', () => {
+  let directory: string
+  let recorder: string
+
+  beforeAll(() => {
+    directory = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-resume-quoting-'))
+    recorder = join(directory, 'argv.cjs')
+    writeFileSync(recorder, 'console.log("ORCA_ARGV:" + JSON.stringify(process.argv.slice(2)))')
+  })
+
+  afterAll(() => removeTreeSync(directory))
+
+  async function runLines(shell: 'cmd' | 'powershell', suffixes: string[]): Promise<string[][]> {
+    const prefix =
+      shell === 'cmd'
+        ? '"%ORCA_ARGV_NODE%" "%ORCA_ARGV_RECORDER%"'
+        : '& $env:ORCA_ARGV_NODE $env:ORCA_ARGV_RECORDER'
+    const lines = suffixes.map((suffix) => `${prefix} ${suffix}`).join('\r\n')
+    const result = await runProcess({
+      program: shell === 'cmd' ? windowsSystem32Binary('cmd.exe') : windowsPowerShellPath(),
+      args:
+        shell === 'cmd'
+          ? ['/d', '/q']
+          : ['-NoLogo', '-NoProfile', '-NonInteractive', '-Command', lines],
+      ...(shell === 'cmd' ? { input: `${lines}\r\nexit\r\n` } : {}),
+      env: { ...process.env, ORCA_ARGV_NODE: process.execPath, ORCA_ARGV_RECORDER: recorder }
+    })
+    expect(result.code, result.stderr).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.timedOut).toBe(false)
+    return [...result.stdout.matchAll(/ORCA_ARGV:(\[[^\r\n]*\])/g)].map((match) =>
+      JSON.parse(match[1])
+    )
+  }
+
+  it.each(['cmd', 'powershell'] as const)(
+    'round-trips accepted arguments through %s',
+    async (shell) => {
+      const values = [
+        'resume',
+        '--resume',
+        'session-1',
+        'C:\\work\\repo',
+        'two words',
+        "it's literal",
+        'a;b',
+        '#tag',
+        '{text}'
+      ]
+      expect(values.every(isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe)).toBe(true)
+      expect(
+        await runLines(shell, [values.map((value) => quoteStartupArg(value, 'cmd')).join(' ')])
+      ).toEqual([values])
+    }
+  )
+
+  it('reproduces literal single quotes in cmd and verifies the double-quote fix', async () => {
+    expect(await runLines('cmd', ["'resume' 'session-1'", '"resume" "session-1"'])).toEqual([
+      ["'resume'", "'session-1'"],
+      ['resume', 'session-1']
+    ])
+  })
+
+  it('keeps smart double quotes literal only with the PowerShell fallback', async () => {
+    const value = 'a\u201cb\u201dc'
+    expect(isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe(value)).toBe(false)
+    const results = await runLines('powershell', [
+      quoteStartupArg(value, 'powershell'),
+      quoteStartupArg(value, 'cmd')
+    ])
+    expect(results[0]).toEqual([value])
+    expect(results[1]).not.toEqual([value])
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/shared/tui-agent-resume-startup.ts b/src/shared/tui-agent-resume-startup.ts
index f4924b83c47..39eb13d9857 100644
--- a/src/shared/tui-agent-resume-startup.ts
+++ b/src/shared/tui-agent-resume-startup.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ export function buildAgentResumeStartupPlan(args: {
   cmdOverrides: Partial<Record<TuiAgent, string>>
   platform: NodeJS.Platform
   shell?: AgentStartupShell
+  /** Shell used to interpret the persisted command before appending resume arguments. */
+  resumeCommandShell?: AgentStartupShell
   agentArgs?: string | null
   agentEnv?: Record<string, string> | null
   agentCommand?: string | null
@@ -56,7 +58,13 @@ export function buildAgentResumeStartupPlan(args: {
     ...args,
     agentCommand: baseCommand.commandWithoutSessionOptions
   })
-  const launchCommand = buildAgentResumeLaunchCommand(args.agent, baseCommand.command, argv, shell)
+  const launchCommand = buildAgentResumeLaunchCommand(
+    args.agent,
+    baseCommand.command,
+    argv,
+    shell,
+    args.resumeCommandShell
+  )
   const applied = baseCommand.appliedSessionOptions
   return {
     agent: args.agent,
diff --git a/src/shared/tui-agent-startup-shell.test.ts b/src/shared/tui-agent-startup-shell.test.ts
index 6580bb3d7e6..b782bbcfe51 100644
--- a/src/shared/tui-agent-startup-shell.test.ts
+++ b/src/shared/tui-agent-startup-shell.test.ts
@@ -194,3 +194,16 @@ describe('isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe', () => {
     expect(isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe('C:\\dir\\file.jsonl')).toBe(true)
   })
 })
+
+describe('ambiguous Windows resume token quoting', () => {
+  it.each([
+    '',
+    'line\nbreak',
+    'line\rbreak',
+    'tab\tvalue',
+    'nul\0value',
+    'a\u201cb',
+    'a\u201db',
+    'a\u201eb'
+  ])('rejects an unsafe token %j', (value) => expect(isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe(value)).toBe(false))
+})
diff --git a/src/shared/tui-agent-startup-shell.ts b/src/shared/tui-agent-startup-shell.ts
index f7f74516f0d..3e771f5e334 100644
--- a/src/shared/tui-agent-startup-shell.ts
+++ b/src/shared/tui-agent-startup-shell.ts
@@ -215,24 +215,12 @@ function quotePortableUnixArg(value: string): string {
   return parts.join('')
 }
 
-/** Characters that stop `quoteStartupArg(value, 'cmd')`'s `"value"` output from
- * parsing identically in PowerShell. Two reasons a char lands here:
- *  - cmd quoting `^`-escapes it (`& | < > ( ) ^ % ! "`), and PowerShell does NOT
- *    strip the caret, so `"a^&b"` arrives as literal `a^&b` in a PowerShell pane;
- *  - PowerShell expands it inside a double-quoted string while cmd keeps it
- *    literal — `$` (variables / `$(...)`) and a backtick (escape char). */
-const CMD_QUOTING_POWERSHELL_UNSAFE = /[\^&|<>()%!"$`]/
+// Reject cmd escapes, PowerShell expansions/quotes, and terminal control characters.
+const CMD_QUOTING_POWERSHELL_UNSAFE = /[\p{Cc}^&|<>()%!"$`\u201c-\u201e]/u
 
-/** True when `quoteStartupArg(value, 'cmd')` also parses identically in
- * PowerShell — i.e. `"value"` is the literal `value` in BOTH shells. Used to
- * decide the resume race guess when the pane's shell is not yet known: cmd
- * quoting of such a token is safe whether the pane turns out cmd or PowerShell.
- * A token with an unsafe char, or a trailing backslash (which would turn the
- * appended closing quote into an escaped quote for the child's
- * CommandLineToArgvW parser, e.g. `"C:\dir\"`), fails and keeps the caller on
- * its shell default. */
+/** A conservative subset whose cmd quoting preserves literal argv in both Windows shells. */
 export function isCmdQuotingPowerShellSafe(value: string): boolean {
-  return !CMD_QUOTING_POWERSHELL_UNSAFE.test(value) && !value.endsWith('\\')
+  return value.length > 0 && !CMD_QUOTING_POWERSHELL_UNSAFE.test(value) && !value.endsWith('\\')
 }
 
 export function quoteStartupArg(value: string, shell: AgentStartupShell): string {