diff --git a/src/tui/tui-app.ts b/src/tui/tui-app.ts
index 4054619f..04d222a6 100644
--- a/src/tui/tui-app.ts
+++ b/src/tui/tui-app.ts
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ import { approvalAnswerForKey, newApprovalIds } from './tui-approvals.js';
 import { composerScroll, composerStep, composerText, createComposer, type TuiComposerState } from './tui-composer.js';
 import { formatAwayDigest } from './tui-digest.js';
 import {
+  ATTACH_BANNER_MARKER,
   TuiClient,
   type TuiApprovalAnswer,
   type TuiEventStream,
@@ -316,7 +317,7 @@ export function buildAttachBanner(options: {
   return {
     status: 'on',
     'status-style': 'bg=default,fg=default',
-    'status-format[0]': `#[align=left] press #[bold]${chord}#[nobold] to detach, back to the codeman dashboard${right}#[default]`,
+    'status-format[0]': `#[align=left] press #[bold]${chord}#[nobold] to detach, ${ATTACH_BANNER_MARKER}${right}#[default]`,
   };
 }
 
@@ -981,6 +982,10 @@ class TuiApp {
     await this.refresh();
     if (server) this.subscribe();
 
+    // Fire and forget: a bar stranded by a previous run is cosmetic, so it must
+    // never delay the first frame or fail a start.
+    void this.client.clearLeakedAttachBanners().catch(() => undefined);
+
     return new Promise<number>((resolve) => {
       this.resolveExit = resolve;
     });
diff --git a/src/tui/tui-client.ts b/src/tui/tui-client.ts
index fe3dde26..0216cd2b 100644
--- a/src/tui/tui-client.ts
+++ b/src/tui/tui-client.ts
@@ -467,6 +467,14 @@ export function parseSessionOptions(stdout: string, keys: readonly string[]): Tu
   return options;
 }
 
+/**
+ * The phrase the attach status bar carries. It doubles as the marker that tells
+ * OUR bar apart from a user's own when sweeping one that leaked, so
+ * `buildAttachBanner()` composes its text from this constant rather than
+ * repeating the words.
+ */
+export const ATTACH_BANNER_MARKER = 'back to the codeman dashboard';
+
 /**
  * The key bound to a bare `detach-client` in `list-keys -T prefix` output, or
  * null when nothing there detaches.
@@ -945,6 +953,59 @@ export class TuiClient {
   }
 
   /** One `set-option`, swallowing failure: the session may be gone by now. */
+  /**
+   * Drop attach status bars that a previous TUI never got to take down.
+   *
+   * `restore()` runs after `spawnSync` returns, which covers a detach and an
+   * agent exiting inside the pane, but not the terminal DYING while attached:
+   * a closed window or a dropped SSH kills the TUI where it stands, and the bar
+   * it installed stays pinned on the session (observed on the beta, where the
+   * tester closed the window instead of detaching and the next attach still
+   * wore a stale bar naming the wrong session). One sweep at startup makes that
+   * self-healing.
+   *
+   * Only a bar carrying our own marker is touched, and it is put back the way
+   * Codeman creates its panes (`status off`), which is the only state this bar
+   * is ever applied over.
+   */
+  async clearLeakedAttachBanners(): Promise<number> {
+    let names: string[];
+    try {
+      const { stdout } = await this.exec('tmux', ['-L', this.socket, 'list-sessions', '-F', '#{session_name}']);
+      names = stdout
+        .split('\n')
+        .map((line) => line.trim())
+        .filter((line) => MUX_NAME_PATTERN.test(line));
+    } catch {
+      return 0;
+    }
+    let cleared = 0;
+    for (const name of names) {
+      let current = '';
+      try {
+        ({ stdout: current } = await this.exec('tmux', [
+          '-L',
+          this.socket,
+          'show-options',
+          '-t',
+          name,
+          '-v',
+          'status-format[0]',
+        ]));
+      } catch {
+        continue;
+      }
+      if (!current.includes(ATTACH_BANNER_MARKER)) continue;
+      // The array WHOLE, for the same reason restoreSessionOptions() does it:
+      // unsetting one index leaves an empty array, which renders as a blank bar.
+      await this.setOption(['-u', '-t', name, 'status-format']);
+      await this.setOption(['-u', '-t', name, 'status-style']);
+      await this.setOption(['-t', name, 'status', 'off']);
+      cleared += 1;
+    }
+    return cleared;
+  }
+
   private async setOption(args: readonly string[]): Promise<void> {
     try {
       await this.exec('tmux', ['-L', this.socket, 'set-option', ...args]);
diff --git a/test/tui/tui-client.test.ts b/test/tui/tui-client.test.ts
index b5d695e5..01e274cc 100644
--- a/test/tui/tui-client.test.ts
+++ b/test/tui/tui-client.test.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
   arrayOptionBase,
   parseSessionOptions,
   parseDetachKey,
+  ATTACH_BANNER_MARKER,
   parseTmuxSessionList,
   parseWindowSizing,
   readCodemanCredentials,
@@ -600,6 +601,61 @@ describe('attach window sizing', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('TuiClient.clearLeakedAttachBanners', () => {
+  const OURS = `#[align=left] press #[bold]Ctrl+B then d#[nobold] to detach, ${ATTACH_BANNER_MARKER} #[default]`;
+
+  function sweeper(formats: Record<string, string>): { client: TuiClient; calls: string[][] } {
+    const calls: string[][] = [];
+    const exec: TuiExecFile = async (_file, args) => {
+      calls.push([...args]);
+      if (args.includes('list-sessions')) return { stdout: Object.keys(formats).join('\n'), stderr: '' };
+      if (args.includes('show-options')) {
+        const name = args[args.indexOf('-t') + 1] ?? '';
+        return { stdout: formats[name] ?? '', stderr: '' };
+      }
+      return { stdout: '', stderr: '' };
+    };
+    return { client: new TuiClient({ baseUrl: BASE_URL, socket: 'codeman-beta', exec }), calls };
+  }
+
+  it('takes down a bar a killed TUI left behind, and puts status back off', async () => {
+    // The case that produced this: the tester closed the terminal window while
+    // attached, so restore() never ran and the bar stayed pinned.
+    const { client, calls } = sweeper({ 'codeman-aaaa1111': OURS });
+    expect(await client.clearLeakedAttachBanners()).toBe(1);
+    const sets = calls.filter((args) => args.includes('set-option'));
+    // The array whole, never one index: unsetting `status-format[0]` alone
+    // leaves an EMPTY array, which renders as a blank bar.
+    expect(sets.some((args) => args.includes('-u') && args.includes('status-format'))).toBe(true);
+    expect(sets.some((args) => args.includes('-u') && args.includes('status-style'))).toBe(true);
+    expect(sets.some((args) => args.join(' ').endsWith('status off'))).toBe(true);
+    expect(sets.every((args) => !args.includes('status-format[0]'))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('never touches a status bar that is not ours', async () => {
+    const { client, calls } = sweeper({ 'codeman-bbbb2222': '#[align=right] my own bar ' });
+    expect(await client.clearLeakedAttachBanners()).toBe(0);
+    expect(calls.filter((args) => args.includes('set-option'))).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('sweeps only the sessions that leaked, leaving the rest alone', async () => {
+    const { client } = sweeper({
+      'codeman-aaaa1111': OURS,
+      'codeman-bbbb2222': '',
+      'codeman-cccc3333': OURS,
+    });
+    expect(await client.clearLeakedAttachBanners()).toBe(2);
+  });
+
+  it('reports nothing rather than throwing when there is no tmux server', async () => {
+    const exec: TuiExecFile = async () => {
+      throw new Error('no server running on /tmp/tmux-1000/codeman-beta');
+    };
+    const client = new TuiClient({ baseUrl: BASE_URL, socket: 'codeman-beta', exec });
+    await expect(client.clearLeakedAttachBanners()).resolves.toBe(0);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('parseDetachKey', () => {
   // Verbatim from `tmux -L codeman list-keys -T prefix` on tmux 3.4, trimmed to
   // the two lines that matter. They differ only by case, which is the whole