diff --git a/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-host-lifetime.ts b/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-host-lifetime.ts
index 00df8b4e910..0eed19031c7 100644
--- a/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-host-lifetime.ts
+++ b/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-host-lifetime.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 // bookkeeping that decides when to run it than buried among the twenty other things a session can
 // do.
 
+import { agentChildWorkLiveness } from '../../../shared/agent-status-child-work-liveness'
 import { activeStructuredAgentSessionTurnId } from '../../../shared/structured-agent-session-projection'
 import {
   evictStructuredAgentSession,
@@ -198,12 +199,16 @@ export function createStructuredAgentSessionHolds(
     hasProviderChild: (sessionId) => hasProviderChild(context, sessionId),
     // A send pending while the child is still starting is held for that start; evicting would
     // refuse it. Any other pending send may wait on an echo that never comes, so eviction retires it.
+    // Subagents, commands and monitors outlive the lead's turn inside the child, so the live roster
+    // the sidebar shows as working is owed too; stopping the child would end them silently.
     hasOwedWork: (sessionId) => {
       const session = context.sessions.get(sessionId)
       return session
         ? activeStructuredAgentSessionTurnId(session.journal.snapshot().items) !== null ||
             (session.providerChildPhase === 'starting' &&
-              session.journal.pendingSubmissions().length > 0)
+              session.journal.pendingSubmissions().length > 0) ||
+            agentChildWorkLiveness(context.deps.adapter.backgroundTaskState?.(sessionId)?.tasks) !==
+              null
         : false
     },
     onError: (error) => context.deps.onEventSinkError?.(error),
diff --git a/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-starting-release.test.ts b/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-owed-work-release.test.ts
similarity index 77%
rename from src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-starting-release.test.ts
rename to src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-owed-work-release.test.ts
index df6e6cec4bf..d2d5d746469 100644
--- a/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-starting-release.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-owed-work-release.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
+// Switching away from a chat starts the release clock, and the clock must never stop a provider
+// child that still owes the user work.
+//
 // A Claude chat is published before its CLI answers initialize, and a message sent in that window
-// is held until it does. Switching away from the chat starts the release clock; the clock must
-// treat that held message as work still owed, exactly as it treats a running turn, or it evicts
-// the session and refuses a message the user already sent.
+// is held until it does; evicting then refuses a message the user already sent. And a lead whose
+// turn has settled can leave subagents, commands and monitors running inside the child; evicting
+// then ends them silently.
 
 import { mkdtemp, rm } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ let landInit: () => void
 let lifecycle: Promise<void>[]
 
 beforeEach(async () => {
-  root = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-starting-release-'))
+  root = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-owed-work-release-'))
   resetHostTestOperationIds()
   claude = fakeClaude()
   lifecycle = []
@@ -220,3 +223,57 @@ describe('a chat left while its Claude CLI is still starting', () => {
     expect(claude.connections[0].closeCount).toBe(1)
   })
 })
+
+describe('a chat left while its settled lead still has background work running', () => {
+  function frame(message: Record<string, unknown>): void {
+    claude.connections[0].handlers.onMessage?.({ session_id: PROVIDER_SESSION_ID, ...message })
+  }
+
+  async function settleTurnLeavingTask(taskType: string): Promise<void> {
+    await attachStarting()
+    landInit()
+    await adapter.drainStartup(SESSION)
+    await send('fan out', 'accepted')
+    frame({
+      type: 'system',
+      subtype: 'task_started',
+      uuid: 'task-start-1',
+      task_id: 'task-1',
+      task_type: taskType,
+      is_backgrounded: true
+    })
+    frame({ type: 'result', subtype: 'success', uuid: 'result-1', is_error: false, result: 'ok' })
+    await host.flushStreamedEvents(SESSION)
+    expect(adapter.backgroundTaskState(SESSION)?.tasks).toEqual([
+      expect.objectContaining({ id: 'task-1' })
+    ])
+  }
+
+  it.each([
+    ['a subagent', 'local_agent'],
+    ['a background command', 'local_bash'],
+    ['a monitor', 'monitor']
+  ])('keeps the session while %s runs, then releases it once that settles', async (_, type) => {
+    await settleTurnLeavingTask(type)
+
+    host.release(SESSION, SURFACE)
+    await waitOutSeveralGraceWindows()
+
+    expect(host.hasSession(SESSION)).toBe(true)
+    expect(claude.connections[0].closeCount).toBe(0)
+
+    frame({
+      type: 'system',
+      subtype: 'task_notification',
+      uuid: 'task-done-1',
+      task_id: 'task-1',
+      status: 'completed'
+    })
+    // A finished background task can wake the lead; that turn is owed too until it settles.
+    frame({ type: 'result', subtype: 'success', uuid: 'result-2', is_error: false, result: 'ok' })
+    await host.flushStreamedEvents(SESSION)
+
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(host.hasSession(SESSION)).toBe(false))
+    expect(claude.connections[0].closeCount).toBe(1)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-release-clock.ts b/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-release-clock.ts
index 1cce910c09d..91daa5606a8 100644
--- a/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-release-clock.ts
+++ b/src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-release-clock.ts
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@
 // already asked for must finish: stopping the child mid-answer strands the open turn marker.
 //
 // So the clock arms when the last holder leaves, every journal write while it is armed starts it
-// again, and a tick that finds work still owed — a turn running, or a message sent but not yet
-// taken by the provider — re-arms instead of evicting. The child goes only after a full window
+// again, and a tick that finds work still owed — a turn running, a message sent but not yet
+// taken by the provider, or a subagent, command or monitor still running — re-arms instead of
+// evicting. The child goes only after a full window
 // with no holder and no owed work. Quit still stops every child at once.
 
 export const STRUCTURED_AGENT_SESSION_RELEASE_GRACE_MS = 30 * 60_000