diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/browser-pane/BrowserPaneOverlayLayer.test.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/browser-pane/BrowserPaneOverlayLayer.test.tsx
index 78c8969c291..e23df8ae29e 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/browser-pane/BrowserPaneOverlayLayer.test.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/browser-pane/BrowserPaneOverlayLayer.test.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 // @vitest-environment happy-dom
 import { cleanup, render } from '@testing-library/react'
+import { Suspense } from 'react'
 import { renderToStaticMarkup } from 'react-dom/server'
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 import type { BrowserTab as BrowserTabState, Tab, TabGroup } from '../../../../shared/types'
@@ -94,6 +95,33 @@ describe('BrowserPaneOverlayLayer', () => {
     expect(view.container.querySelectorAll('[data-browser-overlay-tab-id]')).toHaveLength(2)
   })
 
+  it('does not retain browser slots from an eligible render that never commits', () => {
+    const pending = new Promise<never>(() => {})
+    const BlockCommit = ({ blocked }: { blocked: boolean }): null => {
+      if (blocked) {
+        throw pending
+      }
+      return null
+    }
+    const renderBoundary = (mountEligible: boolean, blocked: boolean) => (
+      <Suspense fallback={<span data-suspended />}>
+        <RetainedBrowserPaneOverlayLayer
+          worktreeId="wt-1"
+          isWorktreeActive={mountEligible}
+          mountEligible={mountEligible}
+        />
+        <BlockCommit blocked={blocked} />
+      </Suspense>
+    )
+    const view = render(renderBoundary(false, false))
+
+    view.rerender(renderBoundary(true, true))
+    expect(view.container.querySelector('[data-suspended]')).not.toBeNull()
+
+    view.rerender(renderBoundary(false, false))
+    expect(view.container.querySelectorAll('[data-browser-overlay-tab-id]')).toHaveLength(0)
+  })
+
   it('keeps inactive browser panes mounted for a visible worktree', () => {
     const markup = renderOverlay({ isWorktreeActive: true })
 
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/browser-pane/BrowserPaneOverlayLayer.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/browser-pane/BrowserPaneOverlayLayer.tsx
index f6ca1286648..67d6aa4da9e 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/browser-pane/BrowserPaneOverlayLayer.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/browser-pane/BrowserPaneOverlayLayer.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { memo, useCallback, useMemo, useRef } from 'react'
+import { memo, useCallback, useLayoutEffect, useMemo, useState } from 'react'
 import { registerBrowserOverlaySlotViewport } from './browser-page-viewport'
 import { useShallow } from 'zustand/react/shallow'
 import { useAppStore } from '../../store'
@@ -203,11 +203,14 @@ export const RetainedBrowserPaneOverlayLayer = memo(function RetainedBrowserPane
   isWorktreeActive: boolean
   mountEligible: boolean
 }): React.JSX.Element | null {
-  const hasMountedRef = useRef(mountEligible)
-  if (mountEligible) {
-    hasMountedRef.current = true
-  }
-  if (!hasMountedRef.current) {
+  const [hasCommittedMount, setHasCommittedMount] = useState(false)
+  // Why: commit the latch with the persistent slot DOM so discarded renders cannot retain a guest host.
+  useLayoutEffect(() => {
+    if (mountEligible && !hasCommittedMount) {
+      setHasCommittedMount(true)
+    }
+  }, [hasCommittedMount, mountEligible])
+  if (!mountEligible && !hasCommittedMount) {
     return null
   }
   return <BrowserPaneOverlayLayer worktreeId={worktreeId} isWorktreeActive={isWorktreeActive} />