diff --git a/src/main/ipc/repos/proven-absence.test.ts b/src/main/ipc/repos/proven-absence.test.ts
index 157e3cb6522..10bfbcd9abf 100644
--- a/src/main/ipc/repos/proven-absence.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/ipc/repos/proven-absence.test.ts
@@ -43,4 +43,43 @@ describe('proven-absence', () => {
     expect(isNotADirectory(Object.assign(new Error('x'), { code: 'ENOTDIR' }))).toBe(true)
     expect(isNotADirectory(Object.assign(new Error('x'), { code: 'ENOENT' }))).toBe(false)
   })
+
+  it('does not throw when an Error instance has a throwing code getter', () => {
+    // R5: the old version delegated to isENOENT, which read `.code` a SECOND time unguarded.
+    const e = new Error('probe')
+    Object.defineProperty(e, 'code', {
+      get() {
+        throw new Error('boom')
+      }
+    })
+    expect(() => isProvenAbsent(e)).not.toThrow()
+    expect(isProvenAbsent(e)).toBe(false)
+    expect(() => isNotADirectory(e)).not.toThrow()
+  })
+
+  it('recognises the relay ENOTDIR shape, where the string errno did not survive', () => {
+    expect(
+      isNotADirectory(
+        Object.assign(new Error("ENOTDIR: not a directory, stat '/x/.git'"), { code: -32000 })
+      )
+    ).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('still consults the message when a wrapper attached a non-errno string code', () => {
+    expect(
+      isProvenAbsent(
+        Object.assign(new Error("ENOENT: no such file or directory, stat '/x'"), {
+          code: 'REMOTE_FS_ERROR'
+        })
+      )
+    ).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('does not match an errno quoted later in the message', () => {
+    expect(
+      isProvenAbsent(
+        new Error("EACCES: denied, access '/a/ENOENT: no such file or directory/.git'")
+      )
+    ).toBe(false)
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/main/ipc/repos/proven-absence.ts b/src/main/ipc/repos/proven-absence.ts
index 99e431809b4..30e464743fe 100644
--- a/src/main/ipc/repos/proven-absence.ts
+++ b/src/main/ipc/repos/proven-absence.ts
@@ -1,44 +1,57 @@
-import { isENOENT } from '../filesystem-path-containment'
+// Why anchored messages rather than `isENOENT`: over SSH the relay replaces a string errno with
+// -32000 and forwards only the message (`relay/dispatcher-rpc-routing.ts`,
+// `ssh/ssh-channel-multiplexer.ts`), so the message is the ONLY classification path remotely.
+// Anchoring at the start stops a path that merely quotes an errno from matching.
+const ENOENT_MESSAGE = /^ENOENT: no such file or directory\b/
+const ENOTDIR_MESSAGE = /^ENOTDIR: not a directory\b/
 
-/**
- * Whether a failed existence probe proves the path is absent.
- *
- * Why not `isENOENT` alone: its message fallback is unanchored, so an `EACCES` whose *path*
- * happens to contain "ENOENT: no such file or directory" would read as absent. A string `code` is
- * a definitive errno and settles the question by itself. Only when there is no string code — the
- * SSH relay replaces string errnos with a numeric one — do we fall back to the message.
- *
- * The message fallback is not a convenience: over SSH it is the ONLY path. The relay forwards a
- * handler's message verbatim but replaces a string errno with -32000
- * (`relay/dispatcher-rpc-routing.ts`), and the multiplexer rebuilds the error from that pair
- * (`ssh/ssh-channel-multiplexer.ts`). So every remote ENOENT is classified by its text. Do not
- * "simplify" this to a code-only check — it would refuse every legitimate remote creation.
- */
+// Why a vocabulary: only real errno names carry errno meaning. A wrapper attaching a domain string
+// (`REMOTE_FS_ERROR`) while keeping the canonical message must not suppress the message fallback.
+const AUTHORITATIVE_ERRNO = new Set(['ENOENT', 'ENOTDIR'])
+
+/** Whether a failed probe proves the path is absent. Never throws. */
 export function isProvenAbsent(error: unknown): boolean {
   const code = readErrnoCode(error)
-  if (typeof code === 'string') {
+  if (code !== undefined && AUTHORITATIVE_ERRNO.has(code)) {
     return code === 'ENOENT'
   }
-  return isENOENT(error)
+  return ENOENT_MESSAGE.test(readMessage(error))
 }
 
 /**
- * Whether the probe proved the *parent* is not a directory — a definite answer about the target,
+ * Whether the probe proved the parent is not a directory — a definite answer about the target,
  * not an indeterminate probe, so callers should say so rather than "could not check".
  */
 export function isNotADirectory(error: unknown): boolean {
-  return readErrnoCode(error) === 'ENOTDIR'
+  const code = readErrnoCode(error)
+  if (code !== undefined && AUTHORITATIVE_ERRNO.has(code)) {
+    return code === 'ENOTDIR'
+  }
+  return ENOTDIR_MESSAGE.test(readMessage(error))
 }
 
-// Why: `?.` only guards a nullish base — it still invokes an accessor, so an error-like rejection
-// with a throwing `code` getter would escape a fail-closed path as an unhandled rejection.
-function readErrnoCode(error: unknown): unknown {
+// Why guarded: `?.` only protects a nullish base — it still invokes an accessor, so a throwing
+// `code` getter would escape a fail-closed path as an unhandled rejection.
+function readErrnoCode(error: unknown): string | undefined {
   if (typeof error !== 'object' || error === null) {
     return undefined
   }
   try {
-    return (error as { code?: unknown }).code
+    const code = (error as { code?: unknown }).code
+    return typeof code === 'string' ? code : undefined
   } catch {
     return undefined
   }
 }
+
+function readMessage(error: unknown): string {
+  if (typeof error !== 'object' || error === null) {
+    return ''
+  }
+  try {
+    const message = (error as { message?: unknown }).message
+    return typeof message === 'string' ? message : ''
+  } catch {
+    return ''
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
index 449659d7446..db2651c8270 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
@@ -23916,16 +23916,20 @@ export class OrcaRuntimeService {
         // Why: refuse an existing repository on positive evidence, before `git init` can silently
         // reinitialize it. A `.git` FILE counts — that is how linked worktrees and submodules point.
         const gitPath = join(targetPath, '.git')
-        let gitProbeFailure: string | null = null
+        let gitProbeFailed = false
+        let gitProbeFailure = ''
         const gitStat = await stat(gitPath).catch((error: unknown) => {
           // Why: an indeterminate probe must surface as the shared "cannot check" message, not as
           // the generic prepare-directory error the outer catch would produce.
+          // Why a flag, not a truthy string: an error with an empty message would otherwise read
+          // as "no failure" and fail open into `git init`.
           if (!isProvenAbsent(error)) {
+            gitProbeFailed = true
             gitProbeFailure = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)
           }
           return null
         })
-        if (gitProbeFailure) {
+        if (gitProbeFailed) {
           return { error: repositoryCheckUnavailableError(trimmedName, gitProbeFailure) }
         }
         if (gitStat) {