diff --git a/src/hooks-config.ts b/src/hooks-config.ts
index 3908f90d..58edfc33 100644
--- a/src/hooks-config.ts
+++ b/src/hooks-config.ts
@@ -856,17 +856,19 @@ const STATUSLINE_MARKER = '/api/status-telemetry';
  * (present in every managed session via tmux setenv), so the config is static.
  */
 export function generateStatusLineCommand(): string {
-  // `curl -sk`: CODEMAN_API_URL is loopback HTTPS with a self-signed cert in the
+  // `curl -sfk`: CODEMAN_API_URL is loopback HTTPS with a self-signed cert in the
   // production setup; without -k curl returns 000 and the statusline shows
-  // nothing. -k is safe here (loopback only). Falls back to a brand string so the
-  // footer is never blank if Codeman is unreachable.
+  // nothing. -k is safe here (loopback only); -f keeps an HTTP error body off
+  // the statusline. On any failure it prints NOTHING: the old `|| echo codeman`
+  // is the bare word that a hand-run `claude` in a managed repo rendered, and
+  // that reads as a broken config (discussion #405).
   return (
     `INPUT=$(cat 2>/dev/null || echo '{}'); ` +
     `printf '{"sessionId":"%s","data":%s}' "$CODEMAN_SESSION_ID" "$INPUT" | ` +
-    `curl -sk -X POST "$CODEMAN_API_URL${STATUSLINE_MARKER}" ` +
+    `curl -sfk -X POST "$CODEMAN_API_URL${STATUSLINE_MARKER}" ` +
     `-H 'Content-Type: application/json' ` +
     `-H "X-Codeman-Hook-Secret: $(cat "$CODEMAN_HOOK_SECRET_FILE" 2>/dev/null)" ` +
-    `--data @- 2>/dev/null || echo codeman`
+    `--data @- 2>/dev/null || true`
   );
 }
 
@@ -913,7 +915,7 @@ export async function applyStatusLineConfig(casePath: string, enabled: boolean):
  * whenever the script content changes so `ensureStatusLineExporterScript`'s
  * content comparison rewrites stale copies on next use.
  */
-const STATUSLINE_EXPORTER_SCRIPT_MARKER = 'CODEMAN_STATUSLINE_EXPORTER_V3';
+const STATUSLINE_EXPORTER_SCRIPT_MARKER = 'CODEMAN_STATUSLINE_EXPORTER_V4';
 
 function statusLineExporterScriptContent(): string {
   // Where the telemetry POST runs depends on who owns the footer. When the pane's
@@ -930,12 +932,14 @@ function statusLineExporterScriptContent(): string {
   // Absent a user statusline, NOTHING else will print the footer, so the POST runs
   // in the FOREGROUND and ITS OWN stdout becomes the footer — `/api/status-telemetry`
   // returns formatSessionStatusText(...) (model/tokens/context %) precisely so this
-  // can happen — falling back to the plain "codeman" marker only if curl itself
-  // fails (`|| echo codeman`, refused/unreachable Codeman). `--max-time` bounds a
+  // can happen. If curl itself fails (refused/unreachable Codeman, or an HTTP
+  // error, which `-f` keeps off stdout) the footer is simply EMPTY (`|| true`):
+  // the old `|| echo codeman` rendered a bare brand word that reads as a broken
+  // config, the symptom discussion #405 opened with. `--max-time` bounds a
   // HUNG (not just refused) Codeman so it cannot wedge the render indefinitely.
   const post =
     `printf '{"sessionId":"%s","data":%s}' "$CODEMAN_SESSION_ID" "$INPUT" | ` +
-    `curl -sk --max-time 5 -X POST "$CODEMAN_API_URL${STATUSLINE_MARKER}" ` +
+    `curl -sfk --max-time 5 -X POST "$CODEMAN_API_URL${STATUSLINE_MARKER}" ` +
     `-H 'Content-Type: application/json' ` +
     `-H "X-Codeman-Hook-Secret: $(cat "$CODEMAN_HOOK_SECRET_FILE" 2>/dev/null)" ` +
     `--data @-`;
@@ -947,7 +951,7 @@ function statusLineExporterScriptContent(): string {
     `  ( ${post} ) >/dev/null 2>&1 </dev/null &\n` +
     `  printf '%s' "$INPUT" | sh -c "$CODEMAN_USER_STATUSLINE_CMD"\n` +
     `else\n` +
-    `  ${post} 2>/dev/null || echo codeman\n` +
+    `  ${post} 2>/dev/null || true\n` +
     `fi\n`
   );
 }
diff --git a/src/usage-telemetry.ts b/src/usage-telemetry.ts
index 2d8fe4aa..f8a823d3 100644
--- a/src/usage-telemetry.ts
+++ b/src/usage-telemetry.ts
@@ -173,10 +173,13 @@ export function parseSessionStatus(data: RawStatuslinePayload | undefined): Sess
  * Format the in-terminal statusline footer: the CURRENT SESSION's status —
  * `Opus 4.8 (1M context)  in:562,411 out:1,188  ctx:56%` — NOT the plan limits,
  * which live in the Codeman header chip. Claude requires a statusLine command to
- * emit the rate_limits JSON at all, so this is what that command prints back.
+ * emit the rate_limits JSON at all, so this is what that command prints back
+ * when it has no statusline of the user's own to wrap. With nothing to show it
+ * returns '' rather than a brand word: a bare `codeman` on the statusline is
+ * the symptom discussion #405 opened with.
  */
 export function formatSessionStatusText(s: SessionStatus | null): string {
-  if (!s) return 'codeman';
+  if (!s) return '';
   const groups: string[] = [];
   if (s.modelDisplayName) groups.push(s.modelDisplayName);
   const tok: string[] = [];
@@ -184,7 +187,7 @@ export function formatSessionStatusText(s: SessionStatus | null): string {
   if (s.outputTokens != null) tok.push(`out:${withCommas(s.outputTokens)}`);
   if (tok.length) groups.push(tok.join(' '));
   if (s.contextUsedPercentage != null) groups.push(`ctx:${Math.round(clampPct(s.contextUsedPercentage))}%`);
-  return groups.length ? groups.join('  ') : 'codeman';
+  return groups.length ? groups.join('  ') : '';
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/web/routes/status-telemetry-routes.ts b/src/web/routes/status-telemetry-routes.ts
index 79a343fb..86aa8437 100644
--- a/src/web/routes/status-telemetry-routes.ts
+++ b/src/web/routes/status-telemetry-routes.ts
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@
  * (localhost-only; hook-secret-gated while a tunnel runs — see middleware/auth).
  *
  * Returns a compact plain-text status string for the exporter to print as the
- * in-terminal footer (print-through), so injecting our statusLine doesn't leave
- * the terminal footer blank.
+ * in-terminal footer (print-through) when it has no statusline of the user's
+ * own to wrap. An unknown session gets an EMPTY body: the old brand-word
+ * answer rendered as the statusline itself (discussion #405).
  */
 
 import { FastifyInstance } from 'fastify';
@@ -36,10 +37,11 @@ export function registerStatusTelemetryRoutes(app: FastifyInstance, ctx: Session
 
     reply.type('text/plain; charset=utf-8');
 
-    // Unknown session — minimal footer, no broadcast.
+    // Unknown session: nothing to broadcast and nothing to print. Never a brand
+    // word here, it would render as the statusline.
     if (!ctx.sessions.has(sessionId)) {
       lastSig.delete(sessionId);
-      return 'codeman';
+      return '';
     }
 
     const payload = data as RawStatuslinePayload | undefined;
diff --git a/test/hooks-config.test.ts b/test/hooks-config.test.ts
index 7dfbb38f..2f65bd9f 100644
--- a/test/hooks-config.test.ts
+++ b/test/hooks-config.test.ts
@@ -1516,10 +1516,17 @@ describe('statusline exporter script (real shell execution)', () => {
     expect(result.stdout.trim()).toBe('model: opus | 42% used');
   });
 
-  it('no-user-statusline branch: falls back to the plain "codeman" marker when curl fails', async () => {
+  it('no-user-statusline branch: prints NOTHING when curl fails (never a bare brand word)', async () => {
     writeFakeCurl(`exit 1`);
     const result = await runExporter(baseEnv);
-    expect(result.stdout.trim()).toBe('codeman');
+    expect(result.stdout).toBe('');
+    expect(result.code).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('asks curl to fail on HTTP errors (-f) so an error body never becomes the footer', async () => {
+    const scriptPath = await resolveStatusLineCliCommand(testDir, true);
+    expect(readFileSync(scriptPath!, 'utf-8')).toContain('curl -sfk');
+    expect(readFileSync(scriptPath!, 'utf-8')).not.toContain('echo codeman');
   });
 
   it('wrap branch: never blocks a reader-to-EOF on a slow/hung curl (background subshell closes stdin too)', async () => {
diff --git a/test/routes/status-telemetry-routes.test.ts b/test/routes/status-telemetry-routes.test.ts
index c6d15cb5..a126f431 100644
--- a/test/routes/status-telemetry-routes.test.ts
+++ b/test/routes/status-telemetry-routes.test.ts
@@ -49,10 +49,10 @@ describe('POST /api/status-telemetry', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  it('does not broadcast for an unknown session; returns the brand footer', async () => {
+  it('does not broadcast for an unknown session; returns an EMPTY footer, never a brand word', async () => {
     const res = await post({ sessionId: 'does-not-exist', data: REAL });
     expect(res.statusCode).toBe(200);
-    expect(res.body).toBe('codeman');
+    expect(res.body).toBe('');
     expect(h.ctx.broadcast).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
diff --git a/test/statusline-cli-flag.test.ts b/test/statusline-cli-flag.test.ts
index 83f9add4..dd85368a 100644
--- a/test/statusline-cli-flag.test.ts
+++ b/test/statusline-cli-flag.test.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process';
 import { buildSpawnCommand } from '../src/tmux-manager.js';
 
-const EXPORTER_CMD = 'curl -sk -X POST "$CODEMAN_API_URL/api/status-telemetry" --data @- 2>/dev/null || echo codeman';
+const EXPORTER_CMD = 'curl -sfk -X POST "$CODEMAN_API_URL/api/status-telemetry" --data @- 2>/dev/null || true';
 
 /** Extract the `--settings <arg>` fragment from a built command and have a
  * real shell resolve its quoting, printing the arg back out verbatim. */
diff --git a/test/usage-telemetry.test.ts b/test/usage-telemetry.test.ts
index ac018f2c..f5797dcb 100644
--- a/test/usage-telemetry.test.ts
+++ b/test/usage-telemetry.test.ts
@@ -119,8 +119,9 @@ describe('formatSessionStatusText', () => {
     expect(formatSessionStatusText({ modelDisplayName: 'Opus 4.8 (1M context)' })).toBe('Opus 4.8 (1M context)');
   });
 
-  it('falls back to a brand string when there is no data', () => {
-    expect(formatSessionStatusText(null)).toBe('codeman');
+  it('prints nothing when there is no data (a bare brand word reads as a broken statusline)', () => {
+    expect(formatSessionStatusText(null)).toBe('');
+    expect(formatSessionStatusText({} as never)).toBe('');
   });
 });