diff --git a/crates/tty7-core/src/daemon/server.rs b/crates/tty7-core/src/daemon/server.rs
index 96db5fd6..df7d5ff8 100644
--- a/crates/tty7-core/src/daemon/server.rs
+++ b/crates/tty7-core/src/daemon/server.rs
@@ -1257,6 +1257,61 @@ fn spawn_writer(
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
 
+    /// A restore consumes the snapshot it was handed, either way.
+    ///
+    /// The privacy page says a restore consumes the file, and
+    /// [`restored_screen`]'s comment says why: a copy left behind could only
+    /// ever put the same screen into a second pane. Deleting the `forget` call
+    /// there left the suite green, so this holds the call rather than the
+    /// function.
+    ///
+    /// Both branches, because the comment is careful about the difference: an
+    /// empty snapshot is not a screen worth handing over, but the file still
+    /// goes. Only the return value turns on emptiness.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_restore_consumes_the_snapshot_even_when_it_holds_nothing() {
+        let dir = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("tty7-restore-{}", std::process::id()));
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(&dir).ok();
+        crate::core::config::set_config_dir(dir);
+
+        let size = crate::daemon::protocol::WinSize {
+            cols: 80,
+            rows: 24,
+            cell_w: 8,
+            cell_h: 16,
+        };
+        let request = |pane_id| crate::daemon::protocol::RestoreFrom {
+            pane_id,
+            banner: None,
+        };
+
+        let held = 92_001;
+        crate::daemon::scrollback::save(
+            held,
+            &[crate::daemon::scrollback::Segment {
+                size,
+                bytes: b"what the dead pane had on it".to_vec(),
+            }],
+        );
+        let restored = restored_screen(request(held)).expect("a screen to hand over");
+        assert_eq!(restored.segments.len(), 1, "the screen came back");
+        assert!(
+            crate::daemon::scrollback::load(held).is_none(),
+            "the snapshot outlived the restore that consumed it"
+        );
+
+        let empty = 92_002;
+        crate::daemon::scrollback::save(empty, &[]);
+        assert!(
+            restored_screen(request(empty)).is_none(),
+            "an empty snapshot is not a screen to restore"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            crate::daemon::scrollback::load(empty).is_none(),
+            "a file nobody will read again was left on disk"
+        );
+    }
+
     /// Closing a pane takes its stored screen with it.
     ///
     /// The privacy page promises the file goes "at once", and [`kill_pane`]'s
diff --git a/crates/tty7-core/src/daemon/shell_integration.rs b/crates/tty7-core/src/daemon/shell_integration.rs
index 8db829f1..662ec073 100644
--- a/crates/tty7-core/src/daemon/shell_integration.rs
+++ b/crates/tty7-core/src/daemon/shell_integration.rs
@@ -2853,6 +2853,27 @@ mod tests {
     /// The sweep deletes, so what it declines to match matters more than what
     /// it matches. `tty7-zdotdir-wsl` is a real name this module writes, and a
     /// pid is the one thing that makes a directory safe to judge.
+    /// The daemon still calls the sweep on startup.
+    ///
+    /// The three tests below hold what [`sweep_dead_zdotdirs`] does; none of
+    /// them holds that anyone runs it, and deleting the call from the daemon's
+    /// startup left the whole suite green. That is how the directories piled
+    /// up in the first place — 4,457 of them — so the call is worth a guard of
+    /// its own.
+    ///
+    /// It reads the source because the only caller binds a listener and then
+    /// serves forever, which no unit test can enter. So this proves the call
+    /// is written, not that it is reached: a sweep moved somewhere that never
+    /// runs would still pass. It catches deletion, which is the way it broke.
+    #[test]
+    fn the_daemon_startup_still_calls_the_sweep() {
+        const STARTUP: &str = include_str!("server.rs");
+        assert!(
+            STARTUP.contains("shell_integration::sweep_dead_zdotdirs()"),
+            "nothing in the daemon calls the sweep any more"
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn only_a_named_pid_makes_a_directory_ours_to_sweep() {
         // Every shell that takes a scratch directory, not just zsh: bash's had