diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index b8ad5a7c..1267c80b 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ Codeman is a Claude Code session manager with web interface and autonomous Ralph
 
 **Idle detection**: Multi-layer (completion message → AI check → output silence → token stability). See `docs/respawn-state-machine.md`.
 
-⚠️ **A `❯` sighting is NOT the end of a turn, and neither is silence.** Claude redraws the composer (`❯`) about once a second all through a turn, so the old "saw a ❯, wait 2s → idle" rule flipped every working session to idle two seconds in (measured: a session mid-tool-call at 17 minutes reporting `status:"idle"`). Its working indicator is `✻ Actualizing… (13m 23s · ↓ 47.5k tokens)`: the glyph animates through `· ✢ ✳ ∗ ✻ ✽`, the gerund is randomized, and the finished line (`✻ Cooked for 2m 49s`) carries the same glyph, so neither `SPINNER_PATTERN` (braille, not what current versions draw) nor a keyword list can see it. Matching the new line in the STREAM does not work either: tmux ships partial repaints, so the whole line reaches the PTY only every few tens of seconds. So: `_confirmIdle()` (session.ts) requires the pane to go quiet, and then asks the SCREEN via `capturePaneText()` + `CLAUDE_WORKING_LINE_PATTERN` before believing it; a sustained run of repaints (`session-activity.ts`, pure + unit tested) is what marks a turn as started, with the same screen probe vetoing keystroke echo. Idle now lands ~3-5s after a turn ends instead of 2s into one. Claude-mode only, since an external CLI has no `❯`, so nothing would ever arm the confirmation and the session would latch busy.
+⚠️ **A `❯` sighting is NOT the end of a turn, and neither is silence.** Claude redraws the composer (`❯`) about once a second all through a turn, so the old "saw a ❯, wait 2s → idle" rule flipped every working session to idle two seconds in (measured: a session mid-tool-call at 17 minutes reporting `status:"idle"`). Its working indicator is `✻ Actualizing… (13m 23s · ↓ 47.5k tokens)`: the glyph animates through `· ✢ ✳ ∗ ✻ ✽`, the gerund is randomized, and the finished line (`✻ Cooked for 2m 49s`) carries the same glyph, so neither `SPINNER_PATTERN` (braille, not what current versions draw) nor a keyword list can see it. Matching the new line in the STREAM does not work either: tmux ships partial repaints, so the whole line reaches the PTY only every few tens of seconds. So: `_confirmIdle()` (session.ts) requires the pane to go quiet, and then asks the SCREEN via `capturePaneText()` + `CLAUDE_WORKING_LINE_PATTERN` before believing it; a sustained run of repaints (`session-activity.ts`, pure + unit tested) is what marks a turn as started, with the same screen probe vetoing keystroke echo. Idle now lands ~3-5s after a turn ends instead of 2s into one. ⚠️ **The composer glyph and the working line are per-CLI registry DATA** (`capabilities.workDetect`, #385), not Claude constants: claude declares `❯` plus the pattern above, codex declares `›` plus `[Ee]sc to interrupt`, and a CLI that declares neither falls back to Claude's pair, which is what every session used before the registry carried one. Before that, this whole mechanism was gated Claude-mode-only on the reasoning that an external CLI has no `❯`, which was true and still left every Codex session reporting `idle` for its entire life. ⚠️ `workingLine` is config-supplied (a user `clis.json` can set it) and the compiled pattern runs on the PTY hot path, so it goes through `compileVersionRegex()` in BOTH the schema refine and `_workingLinePattern()`: a nested quantifier there is a ReDoS against the event loop, and the helper returns null rather than throwing so the fallback is structural.
 
 **Workspace-trust dialog auto-accept** (`session-trust-dialog.ts`, pure + unit tested): Claude Code asks once per directory ("Is this a project you created or one you trust?") before it will read or edit anything, and since Codeman sessions run permission-skipping or classifier-guarded modes the answer is always yes, so a session parked on that dialog is simply stuck. ⚠️ **Match the compacted SCREEN, never the stream.** tmux repaints a row by writing each word and then a cursor-forward (`\x1b[C`) instead of a space, and Ink colours each word separately, so the wire carries `I\x1b[Ctrust\x1b[Cthis\x1b[Cfolder`; stripping the escapes leaves `Itrustthisfolder`, because the spaces are not there to strip, they were never sent. A plain `includes('trust this folder')` therefore never matched a single chunk and the auto-accept was silently DEAD for every session that hit the dialog. `compactScreenText()` removes ALL whitespace instead (plus the `ESC ( B` charset selects that `stripAnsi` does not cover, which would otherwise land inside a phrase as a literal `(B`), which survives both that repaint style and the spaced full-screen redraw. ⚠️ **Never answer it with a blind `\r`.** The layout has changed under us at least twice, and Claude Code 2.1.252 dropped the option numbers, put "No, exit" FIRST and highlights IT by default, so the Enter that answered the old dialog now picks *exit* and the pane dies (`Pane is dead (status 1)`) seconds after the session starts. `trustDialogNextKey()` reads the `❯` marker and returns ONE step at a time (an arrow while the cursor is on the wrong option, Enter only once the screen shows it on the trust option), with the pane re-read between steps, so a dropped arrow costs a repaint instead of the session; a frame that does not say which option is highlighted returns null and waits for the next repaint. ⚠️ The LAST marked option in the text wins, because the direct-PTY fallback reads an append-only buffer where every repaint since launch is still present and an older frame must not out-vote the freshest one. ⚠️ Answering types into a live session, so THREE guards must all hold and none is redundant: a **startup-only window** (`TRUST_DIALOG_WINDOW_MS`, 90s, since the dialog renders before the main UI and leaving it open forever would let an agent transcript that merely QUOTES the dialog trigger an Enter, this file being an example), a **two-marker match** requiring a trust phrase AND one of the dialog's own confirm affordances (`isTrustDialogScreen`), and an **attempt cap** (`TRUST_DIALOG_MAX_ATTEMPTS`, 6: a keystroke can land while Ink is still mounting the widget and be dropped, which is the other half of why sessions got stuck here, but retrying forever would hammer keys into whatever came next; it was 3 while one Enter answered the dialog, and answering now costs at least two keystrokes). ⚠️ It reads `capturePaneText()` and falls back to a deliberately SHORT tail of the terminal buffer only on a direct-PTY session, which has no pane: that buffer is append-only, so a longer tail would keep re-matching a dialog answered minutes ago. ⚠️ **The scan must schedule its own next read** (`_trustDialogTimer`, cleared in `_clearAllTimers()`): it runs from the PTY `onData` handler, which was enough while one Enter answered the dialog, but the arrow that moves the cursor is the LAST output the pane produces, so a two-keystroke answer waiting on more output parks forever with the cursor sitting on the right option (measured on a live 2.1.252 spawn: cursor moved at 6 s, then nothing).
 
@@ -219,9 +219,9 @@ Codeman is a Claude Code session manager with web interface and autonomous Ralph
 
 **Docker Compose deployment** (`docker/`, contributed): Codeman itself runs in a container and spawns Docker cases as **SIBLING** containers through the mounted host socket (Docker-outside-of-Docker), never nested. That inverts one assumption the bare-host path takes for granted: the daemon no longer shares Codeman's filesystem, so a bind source valid *inside* Codeman means nothing to it. `resolveDockerDaemonMountSource()` translates sources under HOME into the daemon's namespace via `CODEMAN_DOCKER_HOST_HOME`, and `CODEMAN_CASES_PATH` points the cases dir at a host-absolute bind mount so a workspace resolves to the SAME absolute path on both sides (which is what keeps the transcript projHash matching, per Docker cases above). ⚠️ **`CODEMAN_CASES_PATH` must move every consumer or none**: it is resolved once in `config/cases-dir.ts` because `src/cli.ts` resolves case paths too, and when only the server's `CASES_DIR` learned the override, `codeman skill install --case <name>` reported "Case not found" on exactly the deployment the override exists for. ⚠️ **`.dockerignore` patterns match the WHOLE context-relative path**, so a bare `.env` line excludes only the ROOT file: `docker/.env` (which holds `CODEMAN_PASSWORD` and any provider keys) rode `COPY . .` into the image until `**/.env` was added — verified in both directions with a real build context. ⚠️ A Compose LONG-form bind (`type: bind`) **creates a missing host source directory ROOT-OWNED** rather than refusing, so any bind source the runtime user must write to has to be pre-created and chowned. `CODEMAN_DOCKER_DISABLE_SWAP_LIMIT=1` drops `--memory-swap` (and filters only that one kernel warning) for hosts without swap accounting; `--memory` still applies. ⚠️ The deployment ALSO self-updates in place (the repo bind mount at `/opt/codeman` + a restart-by-exiting supervisor) — see Self-update below and `docs/docker-self-update.md` before touching `server.Dockerfile`, the compose file or `.env.example`, since each is an input to the updater's environment gate. `docs/docker-compose.md` + `docker/README.md` (user guides)
 
-**CLI registry** (`src/config/cli-registry/`): every run mode is a `CliEntry` — discovery (search dirs, version + identity probes), the launch argv template, env handling, the `capabilities` flags that replace per-CLI branching, and the `overlays` that back the remote/docker pane commands. **No code outside `stock.ts` may branch on a CLI id**; behaviour that genuinely differs is either a capability field or a NAMED PROFILE selected by one (`profiles.ts`), and `test/cli-registry-no-id-branching.test.ts` fails the build if an id check reappears — it matches `===`, `!==`, `case '<id>':` and `[...].includes(mode)`, because an earlier `===`-only version let 36 negated branches survive the conversion (including a seven-mode Ralph chain whose own comment asked the next person to keep it in step with `isExternalCliMode()` by hand). ⚠️ Config contains no shell text: an entry declares typed argv tokens, literals are validated against a safe-word pattern at LOAD time (a bad literal rejects the whole entry — a silently dropped `--no-approve` is not cosmetic), and values resolve through patterns NAMED in code, so a user `clis.json` cannot widen its own validation. ⚠️ `external`, `hooks` and `altScreen` are three INDEPENDENT capabilities on purpose; deriving one from another shipped the `until=stop`-hangs-on-shell bug. ⚠️ **`param` is TWO namespaces.** `launch.params` keys, `env.configSetenv[].fromParam` and `capabilities.privilegedParams[].param` all name a LAUNCH PARAM; the legacy `<Mode>Config` wire field is a separate namespace, bridged only by `launch.legacyConfigAliases`. Getting `privilegedParams[].param` wrong is SILENT — it is the multi-user bypass clamp's only handle on a CLI's privilege switch, and a wrong name clamps nothing with no load error and no failing test — so `schema.ts` rejects an entry naming a param it never declared. Codex is the entry where the two names differ (`bypassApprovals` vs `dangerouslyBypassApprovals`) and therefore the one that catches a regression. ⚠️ Six fields are DECLARED-FOR-LATER and read by nothing (`shortBadge`, `accent`, `capabilities.echo`/`wheelForward`/`keyboardAccessory`/`maxFrameBytes`): all frontend behaviour, transcribed rather than measured, so re-measure before wiring one up; the list is pinned so it cannot quietly grow. Spawn commands are pinned as literal strings in `test/cli-registry-spawn-golden.test.ts`, remote/docker pane commands in `test/location-overlay-commands.test.ts`. ⚠️ Anything reading the registry resolves it AT CALL TIME (`sessionModeSchema()`, `allowedEnvPrefixes()`, `dependencyRegistry()`, the resolvers' `searchDirs` thunks) — a module-level const freezes at first import, so a CLI enabled while the server ran moved the run menu but not that surface. `~/.codeman/clis.json` overrides any entry (read-only in this release; nothing writes it, so importing the registry has no filesystem side effects). → `docs/cli-registry.md`
+**CLI registry** (`src/config/cli-registry/`): every run mode is a `CliEntry` — discovery (search dirs, version + identity probes), the launch argv template, env handling, the `capabilities` flags that replace per-CLI branching, and the `overlays` that back the remote/docker pane commands. **No code outside `stock.ts` may branch on a CLI id**; behaviour that genuinely differs is either a capability field or a NAMED PROFILE selected by one (`profiles.ts`), and `test/cli-registry-no-id-branching.test.ts` fails the build if an id check reappears — it matches `===`, `!==`, `case '<id>':` and `[...].includes(mode)`, because an earlier `===`-only version let 36 negated branches survive the conversion (including a seven-mode Ralph chain whose own comment asked the next person to keep it in step with `isExternalCliMode()` by hand). ⚠️ Config contains no shell text: an entry declares typed argv tokens, literals are validated against a safe-word pattern at LOAD time (a bad literal rejects the whole entry — a silently dropped `--no-approve` is not cosmetic), and values resolve through patterns NAMED in code, so a user `clis.json` cannot widen its own validation. ⚠️ `external`, `hooks` and `altScreen` are three INDEPENDENT capabilities on purpose; deriving one from another shipped the `until=stop`-hangs-on-shell bug. ⚠️ Two capability fields carry a REGEX from config (`discovery.version.regex` and `capabilities.workDetect.workingLine`) and both must compile through `compileVersionRegex()`, which caps length and refuses nested quantifiers; `workingLine` is the one that runs on the PTY hot path. ⚠️ **`param` is TWO namespaces.** `launch.params` keys, `env.configSetenv[].fromParam` and `capabilities.privilegedParams[].param` all name a LAUNCH PARAM; the legacy `<Mode>Config` wire field is a separate namespace, bridged only by `launch.legacyConfigAliases`. Getting `privilegedParams[].param` wrong is SILENT — it is the multi-user bypass clamp's only handle on a CLI's privilege switch, and a wrong name clamps nothing with no load error and no failing test — so `schema.ts` rejects an entry naming a param it never declared. Codex is the entry where the two names differ (`bypassApprovals` vs `dangerouslyBypassApprovals`) and therefore the one that catches a regression. ⚠️ Six fields are DECLARED-FOR-LATER and read by nothing (`shortBadge`, `accent`, `capabilities.echo`/`wheelForward`/`keyboardAccessory`/`maxFrameBytes`): all frontend behaviour, transcribed rather than measured, so re-measure before wiring one up; the list is pinned so it cannot quietly grow. Spawn commands are pinned as literal strings in `test/cli-registry-spawn-golden.test.ts`, remote/docker pane commands in `test/location-overlay-commands.test.ts`. ⚠️ Anything reading the registry resolves it AT CALL TIME (`sessionModeSchema()`, `allowedEnvPrefixes()`, `dependencyRegistry()`, the resolvers' `searchDirs` thunks) — a module-level const freezes at first import, so a CLI enabled while the server ran moved the run menu but not that surface. `~/.codeman/clis.json` overrides any entry (read-only in this release; nothing writes it, so importing the registry has no filesystem side effects). → `docs/cli-registry.md`
 
-**External CLI modes (OpenCode, Codex, Gemini, Antigravity, Pi, Grok, DeepSeek, OMP)**: `isExternalCliMode()` in `session.ts` gates Claude-specific behavior off (Ralph tracker, BashToolParser, token/CLI-info parsing, ❯-prompt readiness); these CLIs render their own TUIs, so readiness is output stabilization instead. All eight **require tmux with no direct PTY fallback**, because secrets are injected via socket-scoped `tmux setenv` and never on the spawn command line. ⚠️ `run*()` in `session-ui.js` MUST unwrap the `{success,data}` envelope; reading the raw shape silently breaks the run. ⚠️ **Codex sessions use PREDICTIVE WRITE-THROUGH echo, never the buffer overlay** (`_localEchoPolicy` in `_updateLocalEchoState`, terminal-ui.js): codex's composer reacts per keystroke ("/" pops a live-filtering picker, arrows edit server-side state, the composer grows as it wraps), so buffer-until-Enter starved it into issues #218/#219/#220/#222 and stays disabled (`_localEchoEnabled` remains false for codex). Instead, `PredictiveEchoAddon` (separate `vendor/xterm-predictive-echo.js` bundle) paints each keystroke at the predicted cell while the wire path stays BYTE-IDENTICAL: the onData hook (`_predictHookOnData`) is a plain statement with no `return`, so control always falls through into the untouched send path — pinned by vm and E2E byte-identity tests. Predictions reconcile against the parsed buffer and only while the cursor sits on the measured composer row (`isCodexComposerRow`, `/^› /`). Codex also **drops keystrokes that share a PTY read with a bracketed paste**, so flushed text and the paste sequence must go out as separate delayed writes (mirroring the Enter branch's delayed `\r`). Tests: `test/local-echo-codex-gating.test.ts`, `test/codex-predictive-echo.test.ts` (E2E vs real codex), `packages/xterm-zerolag-input/test/codex-replay.test.ts`. ⚠️ **Pi is the opposite kind of CLI and needs the opposite instincts**: it has NO permission prompts and no sandbox, so there is no bypass flag to send and Codeman must not invent one; its privileged knob is the tri-state `approveProjectTrust` (`--approve`/`--no-approve`), which makes pi EXECUTE repo-local `.pi/extensions` TypeScript, so the multi-user clamp puts pi in the **materialize** branch (an absent config still yields `--no-approve` for a non-granted owner) and `--api-key` is never wired. Pi stays OUT of `isAltScreenStripMode()` (main-screen TUI, and its 0.84.0 fullscreen mode is runtime-switchable via `/settings`, where the alt screen is load-bearing), and lands on the `'buffer'` echo policy via the `_updateLocalEchoState` fallthrough. Pi's own tests: `test/pi-mode.test.ts`, `test/routes/external-cli-bypass-clamp.test.ts`; user guide `docs/pi-integration.md`. ⚠️ **Grok is codex-shaped on permissions but opencode-shaped on rendering**: its bypass switch is `alwaysApprove` (`--always-approve`, grok's `bypassPermissions` mode — the Run button sends it `true` like antigravity's, and the clamp's only-if-sent branch strips it for non-granted owners), while its fullscreen alt-screen TUI keeps it OUT of `isAltScreenStripMode()`; the resolver version-probes `grok --version` like pi's (npm squatters exist for the name — `GET /api/grok/status` surfaces path + version), and grok lands on the `'buffer'` echo policy via the fallthrough (UNMEASURED against a live authenticated session; if its composer turns out per-keystroke-reactive like codex, flip it to the `'off'` branch). Grok's own tests: `test/grok-mode.test.ts`, `test/grok-cli-resolver.test.ts`; user guide `docs/grok-integration.md`. ⚠️ **DeepSeek breaks three of this family's assumptions, so do not pattern-match it onto its siblings.** (1) The agent is a **PROFILE, not the binary**: `dsh` is a launcher over `$DSH_HOME/profiles/<name>` and DeepSeek ships only `web`/`headless`/`base`, so the terminal front door is ALWAYS third-party and "installed" ≠ "runnable" — the Run button gates on `isDeepSeekRunnable()` (binary AND a pane-capable profile) while `isDeepSeekAvailable()` gates the "add a profile" affordance; a `web`/`headless` profile is refused at spawn because it cannot drive a pane. (2) The permission switch is the **`DSH_PERMISSION_MODE` env export, not a flag** (`read-only`/`workspace-write`/`danger-full-access`) — the harness has none, and this is the one legitimate exception to the effort-style env-var ban because it is read with `??` as a boot-time default, so it stays soft; absent = `workspace-write`, which asks, hence the only-if-sent clamp branch, clamping to `workspace-write` (never `read-only`, which would break the workspace). ⚠️ **That clamp needs a second half no other CLI needs**, because the switch is an env var and `DSH_*` is an allowlisted `envOverrides` prefix: `applyEnvOverrides()` runs AFTER `_configureCliEnv()` in tmux-manager, so a non-granted owner sending `DSH_PERMISSION_MODE` on the SAME request would land last and hand back exactly the privilege the config clamp removed. `clampEnvOverridesForOwner()` (session-routes.ts) DROPS `DSH_PERMISSION_MODE`, `DSH_HOME` and `DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL` for a non-granted owner (the last because `_configureCliEnv()` forwards the SERVER's own `DEEPSEEK_API_KEY` into the pane, so a redirected base URL would send it to a foreign host) (dropping falls through to what `_configureCliEnv()` exports, which is the clamped value); `DSH_HOME` is there because it points the launcher at a profile tree whose plugin code runs at BOOT, before any approval row applies. Every OTHER CLI's bypass is a command-line flag reachable only through its config, which is why the config clamp alone is the whole gate for them. (3) It is the **only non-claude mode that passes `hooksAvailableForMode()`**, and for it alone that predicate is a per-SESSION question rather than a per-mode one (`deepSeekConfig.statusReporting: false` disarms the bridge, so every call site passes `sessionHookOptions(session)`; answering from the mode there re-creates the infinite-wait-dressed-as-a-timeout the guard exists to prevent). It passes because the terminal front door reports idle/working/blocked to a supervisor over a generic env-gated contract and `deepseek-status-shim.ts` makes Codeman that supervisor — real `stop`/`blocked` signals, real Approvals Inbox items, plus the `agent_working` event that clears an alert answered in the terminal. ⚠️ The resolver needs the strictest identity probe of the family (`dsh --help` must say `DeepSeek Harness`) because Debian ships an unrelated `dsh` (dancer's shell) that would pass a version probe. Model is NOT a session field (it is a profile composition entry). ⚠️ `hooksAvailableForMode()` is about hook SIGNALS and is not a stand-in for "is this a claude session": Read My Mind and intent capture read Claude's own transcript and compare `mode === 'claude'` directly, because when `deepseek` earned a yes the shared predicate silently widened both to a mode with no transcript to read (pinned by a static check in `test/deepseek-mode.test.ts`). ⚠️ **It is also the only external CLI whose answers are READ FROM DISK rather than scraped off the pane**: `deepseek-transcript.ts` reads `$DSH_HOME/sessions/<mangled-cwd>/<id>/session.jsonl.zstd` and backs the `last-response` route for dsh, because the pane segmenter served dsh-TUI's ASCII-art SPLASH as the worker's answer (measured), which anything polling for a first answer reads as an answer. Three traps live in that file: dsh appends **one zstd FRAME per write** and Node's `zlib` zstd decoder stops at the first (a real 56-line transcript decoded as 1 line, so the module walks frame headers itself; a Node older than 22.15 has no zstd and falls back to the pane); every turn also records a **plugin-sourced `user/message`** (the runtime-context snapshot) that must not render as the user's words; and a failed `turn/end` is surfaced as `Turn error: …` rather than as an empty string that reads as "still thinking". ⚠️ Session→transcript pairing is by the header's own `cwd` plus a ±60 s boot window, never by reproducing dsh's directory mangling (which has already changed form once) — and NEVER by newest-mtime alone, which handed a fresh worker its predecessor's answer in the same case dir. DeepSeek's own tests: `test/deepseek-mode.test.ts`, `test/deepseek-cli-resolver.test.ts`, `test/deepseek-transcript.test.ts`; user guide `docs/deepseek-integration.md`. OMP (`omp`) needs no bypass flag (the CLI's own `~/.omp` config governs trust/model routing, defaulting to `tools.approvalMode: yolo`), so its registry entry declares `privilegedParams: []` and a launch spec that only ever passes `--model`/`--resume`/`--continue` — but the multi-user clamp is NOT a no-op for it: `OMP_*` is an allowlisted `envOverrides` prefix, and the two credential-resolution keys it admits, `OMP_AUTH_BROKER_URL`/`OMP_AUTH_BROKER_TOKEN`, are clamped in `clampEnvOverridesForOwner()` for a non-granted owner, the same shape as `DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL`. Separately, `PI_*` is already allowlisted (pi needs it) and omp reads several of its knobs too (`PI_CONFIG_DIR`, `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR`, `PI_CODING_AGENT_SESSION_DIR`, `PI_SUBPROCESS_CMD`, `PI_SHELL_PREFIX`) — a redirected `PI_CONFIG_DIR` moves the `~/.omp` tree `omp-session-resolver.ts`/`omp-transcript.ts` hardcode, silently breaking pinning/history; this is a known gap shared with pi, not fixed here. → [architecture-invariants#external-cli-modes-opencode-codex-gemini-antigravity-pi-grok-deepseek-omp](docs/architecture-invariants.md#external-cli-modes-opencode-codex-gemini-antigravity-pi-grok-deepseek-omp)
+**External CLI modes (OpenCode, Codex, Gemini, Antigravity, Pi, Grok, DeepSeek, OMP)**: `isExternalCliMode()` in `session.ts` gates Claude-specific behavior off (Ralph tracker, BashToolParser, token/CLI-info parsing, ❯-prompt readiness); these CLIs render their own TUIs, so readiness is output stabilization instead. ⚠️ **Work detection is no longer part of that gate**: it is per-CLI `capabilities.workDetect` data (see the ❯ note above), so a CLI that declares its own glyph and working line gets the same screen-probed idle confirmation claude gets, and one that declares neither keeps the output-stabilization behaviour. All eight **require tmux with no direct PTY fallback**, because secrets are injected via socket-scoped `tmux setenv` and never on the spawn command line. ⚠️ `run*()` in `session-ui.js` MUST unwrap the `{success,data}` envelope; reading the raw shape silently breaks the run. ⚠️ **Codex sessions use PREDICTIVE WRITE-THROUGH echo, never the buffer overlay** (`_localEchoPolicy` in `_updateLocalEchoState`, terminal-ui.js): codex's composer reacts per keystroke ("/" pops a live-filtering picker, arrows edit server-side state, the composer grows as it wraps), so buffer-until-Enter starved it into issues #218/#219/#220/#222 and stays disabled (`_localEchoEnabled` remains false for codex). Instead, `PredictiveEchoAddon` (separate `vendor/xterm-predictive-echo.js` bundle) paints each keystroke at the predicted cell while the wire path stays BYTE-IDENTICAL: the onData hook (`_predictHookOnData`) is a plain statement with no `return`, so control always falls through into the untouched send path — pinned by vm and E2E byte-identity tests. Predictions reconcile against the parsed buffer and only while the cursor sits on the measured composer row (`isCodexComposerRow`, `/^› /`). Codex also **drops keystrokes that share a PTY read with a bracketed paste**, so flushed text and the paste sequence must go out as separate delayed writes (mirroring the Enter branch's delayed `\r`). Tests: `test/local-echo-codex-gating.test.ts`, `test/codex-predictive-echo.test.ts` (E2E vs real codex), `packages/xterm-zerolag-input/test/codex-replay.test.ts`. ⚠️ **Pi is the opposite kind of CLI and needs the opposite instincts**: it has NO permission prompts and no sandbox, so there is no bypass flag to send and Codeman must not invent one; its privileged knob is the tri-state `approveProjectTrust` (`--approve`/`--no-approve`), which makes pi EXECUTE repo-local `.pi/extensions` TypeScript, so the multi-user clamp puts pi in the **materialize** branch (an absent config still yields `--no-approve` for a non-granted owner) and `--api-key` is never wired. Pi stays OUT of `isAltScreenStripMode()` (main-screen TUI, and its 0.84.0 fullscreen mode is runtime-switchable via `/settings`, where the alt screen is load-bearing), and lands on the `'buffer'` echo policy via the `_updateLocalEchoState` fallthrough. Pi's own tests: `test/pi-mode.test.ts`, `test/routes/external-cli-bypass-clamp.test.ts`; user guide `docs/pi-integration.md`. ⚠️ **Grok is codex-shaped on permissions but opencode-shaped on rendering**: its bypass switch is `alwaysApprove` (`--always-approve`, grok's `bypassPermissions` mode — the Run button sends it `true` like antigravity's, and the clamp's only-if-sent branch strips it for non-granted owners), while its fullscreen alt-screen TUI keeps it OUT of `isAltScreenStripMode()`; the resolver version-probes `grok --version` like pi's (npm squatters exist for the name — `GET /api/grok/status` surfaces path + version), and grok lands on the `'buffer'` echo policy via the fallthrough (UNMEASURED against a live authenticated session; if its composer turns out per-keystroke-reactive like codex, flip it to the `'off'` branch). Grok's own tests: `test/grok-mode.test.ts`, `test/grok-cli-resolver.test.ts`; user guide `docs/grok-integration.md`. ⚠️ **DeepSeek breaks three of this family's assumptions, so do not pattern-match it onto its siblings.** (1) The agent is a **PROFILE, not the binary**: `dsh` is a launcher over `$DSH_HOME/profiles/<name>` and DeepSeek ships only `web`/`headless`/`base`, so the terminal front door is ALWAYS third-party and "installed" ≠ "runnable" — the Run button gates on `isDeepSeekRunnable()` (binary AND a pane-capable profile) while `isDeepSeekAvailable()` gates the "add a profile" affordance; a `web`/`headless` profile is refused at spawn because it cannot drive a pane. (2) The permission switch is the **`DSH_PERMISSION_MODE` env export, not a flag** (`read-only`/`workspace-write`/`danger-full-access`) — the harness has none, and this is the one legitimate exception to the effort-style env-var ban because it is read with `??` as a boot-time default, so it stays soft; absent = `workspace-write`, which asks, hence the only-if-sent clamp branch, clamping to `workspace-write` (never `read-only`, which would break the workspace). ⚠️ **That clamp needs a second half no other CLI needs**, because the switch is an env var and `DSH_*` is an allowlisted `envOverrides` prefix: `applyEnvOverrides()` runs AFTER `_configureCliEnv()` in tmux-manager, so a non-granted owner sending `DSH_PERMISSION_MODE` on the SAME request would land last and hand back exactly the privilege the config clamp removed. `clampEnvOverridesForOwner()` (session-routes.ts) DROPS `DSH_PERMISSION_MODE`, `DSH_HOME` and `DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL` for a non-granted owner (the last because `_configureCliEnv()` forwards the SERVER's own `DEEPSEEK_API_KEY` into the pane, so a redirected base URL would send it to a foreign host) (dropping falls through to what `_configureCliEnv()` exports, which is the clamped value); `DSH_HOME` is there because it points the launcher at a profile tree whose plugin code runs at BOOT, before any approval row applies. Every OTHER CLI's bypass is a command-line flag reachable only through its config, which is why the config clamp alone is the whole gate for them. (3) It is the **only non-claude mode that passes `hooksAvailableForMode()`**, and for it alone that predicate is a per-SESSION question rather than a per-mode one (`deepSeekConfig.statusReporting: false` disarms the bridge, so every call site passes `sessionHookOptions(session)`; answering from the mode there re-creates the infinite-wait-dressed-as-a-timeout the guard exists to prevent). It passes because the terminal front door reports idle/working/blocked to a supervisor over a generic env-gated contract and `deepseek-status-shim.ts` makes Codeman that supervisor — real `stop`/`blocked` signals, real Approvals Inbox items, plus the `agent_working` event that clears an alert answered in the terminal. ⚠️ The resolver needs the strictest identity probe of the family (`dsh --help` must say `DeepSeek Harness`) because Debian ships an unrelated `dsh` (dancer's shell) that would pass a version probe. Model is NOT a session field (it is a profile composition entry). ⚠️ `hooksAvailableForMode()` is about hook SIGNALS and is not a stand-in for "is this a claude session": Read My Mind and intent capture read Claude's own transcript and compare `mode === 'claude'` directly, because when `deepseek` earned a yes the shared predicate silently widened both to a mode with no transcript to read (pinned by a static check in `test/deepseek-mode.test.ts`). ⚠️ **It is also the only external CLI whose answers are READ FROM DISK rather than scraped off the pane**: `deepseek-transcript.ts` reads `$DSH_HOME/sessions/<mangled-cwd>/<id>/session.jsonl.zstd` and backs the `last-response` route for dsh, because the pane segmenter served dsh-TUI's ASCII-art SPLASH as the worker's answer (measured), which anything polling for a first answer reads as an answer. Three traps live in that file: dsh appends **one zstd FRAME per write** and Node's `zlib` zstd decoder stops at the first (a real 56-line transcript decoded as 1 line, so the module walks frame headers itself; a Node older than 22.15 has no zstd and falls back to the pane); every turn also records a **plugin-sourced `user/message`** (the runtime-context snapshot) that must not render as the user's words; and a failed `turn/end` is surfaced as `Turn error: …` rather than as an empty string that reads as "still thinking". ⚠️ Session→transcript pairing is by the header's own `cwd` plus a ±60 s boot window, never by reproducing dsh's directory mangling (which has already changed form once) — and NEVER by newest-mtime alone, which handed a fresh worker its predecessor's answer in the same case dir. DeepSeek's own tests: `test/deepseek-mode.test.ts`, `test/deepseek-cli-resolver.test.ts`, `test/deepseek-transcript.test.ts`; user guide `docs/deepseek-integration.md`. OMP (`omp`) needs no bypass flag (the CLI's own `~/.omp` config governs trust/model routing, defaulting to `tools.approvalMode: yolo`), so its registry entry declares `privilegedParams: []` and a launch spec that only ever passes `--model`/`--resume`/`--continue` — but the multi-user clamp is NOT a no-op for it: `OMP_*` is an allowlisted `envOverrides` prefix, and the two credential-resolution keys it admits, `OMP_AUTH_BROKER_URL`/`OMP_AUTH_BROKER_TOKEN`, are clamped in `clampEnvOverridesForOwner()` for a non-granted owner, the same shape as `DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL`. Separately, `PI_*` is already allowlisted (pi needs it) and omp reads several of its knobs too (`PI_CONFIG_DIR`, `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR`, `PI_CODING_AGENT_SESSION_DIR`, `PI_SUBPROCESS_CMD`, `PI_SHELL_PREFIX`) — a redirected `PI_CONFIG_DIR` moves the `~/.omp` tree `omp-session-resolver.ts`/`omp-transcript.ts` hardcode, silently breaking pinning/history; this is a known gap shared with pi, not fixed here. → [architecture-invariants#external-cli-modes-opencode-codex-gemini-antigravity-pi-grok-deepseek-omp](docs/architecture-invariants.md#external-cli-modes-opencode-codex-gemini-antigravity-pi-grok-deepseek-omp)
 
 **DeepSeek web UI** (`POST`/`GET`/`DELETE /api/deepseek/web`, `deepseek-web-server.ts`): the Run menu's "DeepSeek web UI..." entry supervises ONE background `dsh web` child process, deliberately **NOT a shell session**. The session version worked and was still wrong in use: it put a terminal tab on screen next to the web tab the user actually asked for, every single time, and nothing about a long-lived HTTP server needs to be a tab. ⚠️ What a session gave for free now has to be paid for explicitly, and every piece is load-bearing: **exactly one** server (a second click REUSES it rather than racing it for a port, which two sessions structurally could not do), **restarted when the browser authority changes** (`--trusted-host` fences dsh's `/api` against the browser authority, and a Codeman reachable at both loopback and a tailnet name has two, so whoever asks last wins: the asker is by definition the origin about to load the page), **killed on shutdown** (`stopDeepSeekWeb()` in the server teardown, because the child is detached so its whole plugin tree can be signalled at once, which also means it would OUTLIVE Codeman and hold its port against the next start), and **failures returned to the caller**, since with no tab there is nowhere for a stack trace to land. ⚠️ The port search starts at dsh's own default 3080 and walks 40, never fixed: that default is precisely the port most likely to be taken already by the user's own `dsh web`, and hardcoding it killed this feature with EADDRINUSE once. Free-port detection BINDS rather than connects (a connect probe cannot tell "free" from "listening but not answering yet"), so it is racy by nature and the caller still waits for the server to really answer before reporting success. ⚠️ Both `POST` and `DELETE` sit at the **same privilege bar as the profile installer** (`canUsernameRunPrivilegedCommands`) even though the action reads as "open a page": booting a dsh profile executes the plugin code in it, and the server is a single shared instance, so stopping it in multi-user mode takes it out from under other users' tabs.
 
diff --git a/docs/architecture-invariants.md b/docs/architecture-invariants.md
index e5aca7f3..5fbb1b8e 100644
--- a/docs/architecture-invariants.md
+++ b/docs/architecture-invariants.md
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Implementation detail extracted from `CLAUDE.md` so that file stays small enough
 
 ### External CLI modes (OpenCode, Codex, Gemini, Antigravity, Pi, Grok, DeepSeek, OMP)
 
-**External CLI modes (OpenCode, Codex, Gemini, Antigravity, Pi, Grok, DeepSeek, OMP)**: `isExternalCliMode()` in `session.ts` (`mode === 'opencode' || 'codex' || 'gemini' || 'antigravity' || 'pi' || 'grok' || 'deepseek'`) gates Claude-specific behavior — Ralph tracker, BashToolParser, token/CLI-info parsing, and ❯-prompt readiness detection are all skipped (these CLIs render their own TUIs; readiness = output stabilization instead). All seven modes **require tmux — no direct PTY fallback** — because secrets are injected via `tmux setenv` (socket-scoped `${this.tmux()} setenv`, never on the spawn command line): OpenCode gets `OPENCODE_CONFIG_CONTENT` etc., Codex gets `OPENAI_API_KEY`/`CODEX_API_KEY`/`CODEX_HOME` (`setCodexEnvVars`), Gemini gets `GEMINI_API_KEY`/`GOOGLE_API_KEY`/`GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT`/`GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS`/`GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI` etc. (`setGeminiEnvVars`, all in `tmux-manager.ts`). Codex specifics: command built by `buildCodexCommand()` (`--model`, `resume <id>`, `--dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox` from the `codexConfig` payload / `codexDangerouslyBypassApprovals` app setting; `renderMode` is schema-coerced to `'hybrid'`, the only supported mode). Gemini specifics: command built by `buildGeminiCommand()` (`--skip-trust` always, `--approval-mode <default|auto_edit|yolo|plan>` defaulting to `yolo` for parity with Claude's `--dangerously-skip-permissions`, `--model`, `--resume` from the `geminiConfig` payload); availability via `GET /api/gemini/status` — session/quick-start routes fail with `OPERATION_FAILED` + install hint (`npm install -g @google/gemini-cli`) when missing. Codex AND Gemini export `COLORTERM=truecolor` + unset `NO_COLOR` (other modes unset `COLORTERM`); Gemini joins `isAltScreenStripMode()` (Codex/Claude/Gemini are Ink TUIs that repaint inline → strip alt-screen/`3J` so scrollback survives). Codex availability via `GET /api/codex/status`. Antigravity specifics: command built by `buildAntigravityCommand()` (`--model`, `--conversation <id>` resume, `--dangerously-skip-permissions` from the `antigravityConfig` payload); availability via `GET /api/antigravity/status` — routes fail with `OPERATION_FAILED` + install hint (`curl -fsSL https://antigravity.google/cli/install.sh | bash`) when missing. Unlike the other three it is NOT an npm package (standalone binary, `~/.local/bin/agy`), which is why `docker/agent.Dockerfile` installs it with its own `--dir /usr/local/bin` step rather than in the `npm install -g` line, and why it does NOT join `isAltScreenStripMode()`. Frontend: run-mode dropdown → `runCodex()`/`runGemini()` in `session-ui.js` ("Run CX"/"Run GM" labels), App Settings → Agents & CLIs → Codex; Respawn/Ralph options are Claude-only, so session options open on the Session tab for external CLI sessions. ⚠️ `run*()` MUST unwrap the `{success,data}` envelope (`(await res.json()).data.available` / `data.data.sessionId`) — reading the raw shape silently breaks the run. Tests: `test/run-mode-ui.test.ts` + `test/gemini-mode.test.ts` (vm-sandbox harness, no real DOM). Grok specifics: command built by `buildGrokCommand()` (`--always-approve` from `grokConfig.alwaysApprove` — grok's `bypassPermissions` permission mode, deny rules still apply; `--model`; `--resume <id>` / `--continue`, id-regexed so grok's resume-by-TITLE feature can never put an arbitrary string on the spawn line); availability via `GET /api/grok/status`, which carries `version` because the resolver version-probes candidates (`grok` has npm squatters, e.g. @vibe-kit/grok-cli — `GROK_VERSION_REGEX` is shared with the dependency registry so doctor and run mode agree). Like antigravity it is a standalone binary (xAI installer → `~/.grok/bin`, symlinked into `~/.local/bin`), so `docker/agent.Dockerfile` installs it in its own step (copy to `/usr/local/bin`, drop root's `~/.grok` in the same layer) and it stays OUT of `isAltScreenStripMode()` (fullscreen alt-screen TUI with mouse support — the opencode case, not the Ink case). Env allowlist: `GROK_*` plus the vendor namespace `XAI_*` (`XAI_API_KEY` is grok's documented headless auth var — the same narrow-vendor-namespace reasoning as `GOOGLE_*` for gemini). Docker cred seeding is per-file (`auth.json`, `config.toml`, `pager.toml` from `~/.grok` — the dir also holds `sessions/`, `memory/`, and the ~160MB binary under `downloads/`). Grok tests: `test/grok-mode.test.ts`, `test/grok-cli-resolver.test.ts`.
+**External CLI modes (OpenCode, Codex, Gemini, Antigravity, Pi, Grok, DeepSeek, OMP)**: `isExternalCliMode()` in `session.ts` (`mode === 'opencode' || 'codex' || 'gemini' || 'antigravity' || 'pi' || 'grok' || 'deepseek'`) gates Claude-specific behavior — Ralph tracker, BashToolParser, token/CLI-info parsing, and ❯-prompt readiness detection are all skipped (these CLIs render their own TUIs; readiness = output stabilization instead). ⚠️ **Work detection left this gate in #385** and is now per-CLI `capabilities.workDetect` data (`promptGlyph` + `workingLine`), because gating it on the mode left every Codex session reporting `idle` for its entire life; a CLI declaring neither falls back to Claude's pair, which is logic-identical to the pre-registry behaviour. All seven modes **require tmux — no direct PTY fallback** — because secrets are injected via `tmux setenv` (socket-scoped `${this.tmux()} setenv`, never on the spawn command line): OpenCode gets `OPENCODE_CONFIG_CONTENT` etc., Codex gets `OPENAI_API_KEY`/`CODEX_API_KEY`/`CODEX_HOME` (`setCodexEnvVars`), Gemini gets `GEMINI_API_KEY`/`GOOGLE_API_KEY`/`GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT`/`GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS`/`GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI` etc. (`setGeminiEnvVars`, all in `tmux-manager.ts`). Codex specifics: command built by `buildCodexCommand()` (`--model`, `resume <id>`, `--dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox` from the `codexConfig` payload / `codexDangerouslyBypassApprovals` app setting; `renderMode` is schema-coerced to `'hybrid'`, the only supported mode). Gemini specifics: command built by `buildGeminiCommand()` (`--skip-trust` always, `--approval-mode <default|auto_edit|yolo|plan>` defaulting to `yolo` for parity with Claude's `--dangerously-skip-permissions`, `--model`, `--resume` from the `geminiConfig` payload); availability via `GET /api/gemini/status` — session/quick-start routes fail with `OPERATION_FAILED` + install hint (`npm install -g @google/gemini-cli`) when missing. Codex AND Gemini export `COLORTERM=truecolor` + unset `NO_COLOR` (other modes unset `COLORTERM`); Gemini joins `isAltScreenStripMode()` (Codex/Claude/Gemini are Ink TUIs that repaint inline → strip alt-screen/`3J` so scrollback survives). Codex availability via `GET /api/codex/status`. Antigravity specifics: command built by `buildAntigravityCommand()` (`--model`, `--conversation <id>` resume, `--dangerously-skip-permissions` from the `antigravityConfig` payload); availability via `GET /api/antigravity/status` — routes fail with `OPERATION_FAILED` + install hint (`curl -fsSL https://antigravity.google/cli/install.sh | bash`) when missing. Unlike the other three it is NOT an npm package (standalone binary, `~/.local/bin/agy`), which is why `docker/agent.Dockerfile` installs it with its own `--dir /usr/local/bin` step rather than in the `npm install -g` line, and why it does NOT join `isAltScreenStripMode()`. Frontend: run-mode dropdown → `runCodex()`/`runGemini()` in `session-ui.js` ("Run CX"/"Run GM" labels), App Settings → Agents & CLIs → Codex; Respawn/Ralph options are Claude-only, so session options open on the Session tab for external CLI sessions. ⚠️ `run*()` MUST unwrap the `{success,data}` envelope (`(await res.json()).data.available` / `data.data.sessionId`) — reading the raw shape silently breaks the run. Tests: `test/run-mode-ui.test.ts` + `test/gemini-mode.test.ts` (vm-sandbox harness, no real DOM). Grok specifics: command built by `buildGrokCommand()` (`--always-approve` from `grokConfig.alwaysApprove` — grok's `bypassPermissions` permission mode, deny rules still apply; `--model`; `--resume <id>` / `--continue`, id-regexed so grok's resume-by-TITLE feature can never put an arbitrary string on the spawn line); availability via `GET /api/grok/status`, which carries `version` because the resolver version-probes candidates (`grok` has npm squatters, e.g. @vibe-kit/grok-cli — `GROK_VERSION_REGEX` is shared with the dependency registry so doctor and run mode agree). Like antigravity it is a standalone binary (xAI installer → `~/.grok/bin`, symlinked into `~/.local/bin`), so `docker/agent.Dockerfile` installs it in its own step (copy to `/usr/local/bin`, drop root's `~/.grok` in the same layer) and it stays OUT of `isAltScreenStripMode()` (fullscreen alt-screen TUI with mouse support — the opencode case, not the Ink case). Env allowlist: `GROK_*` plus the vendor namespace `XAI_*` (`XAI_API_KEY` is grok's documented headless auth var — the same narrow-vendor-namespace reasoning as `GOOGLE_*` for gemini). Docker cred seeding is per-file (`auth.json`, `config.toml`, `pager.toml` from `~/.grok` — the dir also holds `sessions/`, `memory/`, and the ~160MB binary under `downloads/`). Grok tests: `test/grok-mode.test.ts`, `test/grok-cli-resolver.test.ts`.
 
 **DeepSeek Harness (`dsh`) specifics** — the mode that breaks three of the assumptions the six above share, so read this before changing anything about it.
 
diff --git a/docs/cli-registry.md b/docs/cli-registry.md
index 41e3c1b3..c84664ef 100644
--- a/docs/cli-registry.md
+++ b/docs/cli-registry.md
@@ -36,12 +36,19 @@ interface CliEntry {
   launch: CliLaunch; // the structured argv template
   env: CliEnv; // exports, tmux setenv keys, the env-override allowlist
   capabilities: CliCapabilities; // what every call site reads instead of the id
+  //   .workDetect?: { promptGlyph, workingLine } — how this CLI's pane shows work
   overlays: CliOverlays; // remote-SSH / Docker pane commands, credential store
 }
 ```
 
 `capabilities` is the important part. It is what `isExternalCliMode()`, `isAltScreenStripMode()`, `hooksAvailableForMode()` and every other former per-mode branch actually read.
 
+### Regexes that come from config
+
+Two capability fields carry a regular expression an override file can set: `discovery.version.regex` and `capabilities.workDetect.workingLine`. Both go through `compileVersionRegex()`, which caps the source at 200 characters, refuses the nested-quantifier shapes that cause catastrophic backtracking, and returns `null` rather than throwing so every caller degrades instead of crashing.
+
+`workingLine` is the one that matters most, because it is compiled once per session and then run against every accumulated PTY chunk and every pane capture. A nested quantifier there is a ReDoS against the event loop for the whole server, not just that session. The guard therefore runs in two places, and neither is redundant: `schema.ts` rejects the entry at LOAD time so a bad pattern never reaches a session, and `_workingLinePattern()` in `session.ts` compiles through the same helper so the runtime cannot end up with a pattern the schema would have refused.
+
 ### Three capabilities that must stay independent
 
 `external`, `hooks` and `altScreen` describe three different, deliberately unequal sets, and deriving any one from another has already shipped a bug. `shell` has no hooks but is **not** an external CLI, so a hooks predicate written as `!isExternalCliMode()` accepted `until=stop` on a shell session and then blocked the caller for their entire timeout. `deepseek` is the mirror image: it IS external and it DOES have hooks.
diff --git a/src/config/cli-registry/schema.ts b/src/config/cli-registry/schema.ts
index 1a357992..10f6d18c 100644
--- a/src/config/cli-registry/schema.ts
+++ b/src/config/cli-registry/schema.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
  */
 
 import { z } from 'zod';
-import { TOKEN_PATTERNS } from './patterns.js';
+import { compileVersionRegex, TOKEN_PATTERNS } from './patterns.js';
 import { isKnownLauncherProfile, isKnownSetenvProfile } from './profiles.js';
 
 /** A bare CLI id: lowercase, starts with a letter, at most 24 chars. Also used as a CSS/URL token. */
@@ -277,20 +277,17 @@ const capabilitiesSchema = z
     workDetect: z
       .object({
         promptGlyph: z.string().min(1).max(8),
-        // Compiled per session, so a broken pattern must fail at LOAD time rather than
-        // throw inside the PTY data handler.
+        // Config-supplied regex, so it goes through the same guard as `version.regex`:
+        // ~/.codeman/clis.json can set this, and the compiled pattern runs on the PTY
+        // hot path, where a nested quantifier would be a ReDoS against the event loop.
+        // A broken pattern must also fail at LOAD time rather than inside a data handler.
         workingLine: z
           .string()
           .min(1)
-          .max(400)
-          .refine((src) => {
-            try {
-              new RegExp(src);
-              return true;
-            } catch {
-              return false;
-            }
-          }, 'workingLine must be a valid regular expression'),
+          .refine(
+            (src) => compileVersionRegex(src) !== null,
+            'workingLine must be a regex compileVersionRegex() accepts: at most 200 characters, no nested quantifiers'
+          ),
       })
       .strict()
       .optional(),
diff --git a/src/config/cli-registry/stock.ts b/src/config/cli-registry/stock.ts
index 14324373..e75428da 100644
--- a/src/config/cli-registry/stock.ts
+++ b/src/config/cli-registry/stock.ts
@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@ const CODEX: CliEntry = {
     // `Working (2m 49s • esc to interrupt)` above it while a turn runs. It animates no
     // braille spinner, and it never prints `esc to interrupt` at rest, so that phrase
     // alone separates a running turn from an idle one.
-    workDetect: { promptGlyph: '›', workingLine: 'esc to interrupt' },
+    workDetect: { promptGlyph: '›', workingLine: '[Ee]sc to interrupt' },
     transcript: 'codex-rollout',
     altScreen: 'strip-full',
     echo: { policy: 'predict', anchor: { kind: 'cursor' }, predictProfile: 'codex' },
diff --git a/src/session.ts b/src/session.ts
index 72cbe33f..1f8a3b07 100644
--- a/src/session.ts
+++ b/src/session.ts
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ import {
 import { DEFAULT_TMUX_HISTORY_LIMIT } from './config/terminal-history.js';
 import { EXEC_TIMEOUT_MS } from './config/exec-timeout.js';
 import { getCli } from './config/cli-registry/registry.js';
+import { compileVersionRegex } from './config/cli-registry/patterns.js';
 import { resolveSessionCliVersion } from './utils/cli-resolver.js';
 import {
   buildInteractiveArgs,
@@ -2469,13 +2470,11 @@ export class Session extends EventEmitter {
   private _workingLinePattern(): RegExp {
     if (this._workingLineRe === undefined) {
       const src = getCli(this.mode)?.capabilities.workDetect?.workingLine;
-      // The schema validates `workingLine` at load time, so a throw here would mean a
-      // registry that never loaded. Falling back beats taking the session down.
-      try {
-        this._workingLineRe = src ? new RegExp(src) : CLAUDE_WORKING_LINE_PATTERN;
-      } catch {
-        this._workingLineRe = CLAUDE_WORKING_LINE_PATTERN;
-      }
+      // Same guard the schema applies, not a second opinion: `compileVersionRegex()` is
+      // what keeps a nested quantifier out of this pattern, and this one runs on the PTY
+      // hot path. It returns null rather than throwing, and Claude's pattern is the
+      // fallback every session used before the registry carried one.
+      this._workingLineRe = (src ? compileVersionRegex(src) : null) ?? CLAUDE_WORKING_LINE_PATTERN;
     }
     return this._workingLineRe;
   }
diff --git a/test/cli-registry-schema.test.ts b/test/cli-registry-schema.test.ts
index 21702909..a84dd390 100644
--- a/test/cli-registry-schema.test.ts
+++ b/test/cli-registry-schema.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 import { CliEntrySchema } from '../src/config/cli-registry/schema.js';
+import { compileVersionRegex } from '../src/config/cli-registry/patterns.js';
 import { STOCK_CLIS } from '../src/config/cli-registry/stock.js';
 import type { CliEntry } from '../src/config/cli-registry/types.js';
 
@@ -75,6 +76,34 @@ describe('strictness', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('workDetect.workingLine is guarded like every other config regex', () => {
+  it('rejects a nested quantifier', () => {
+    expectRejected((e) => {
+      (e.capabilities as Record<string, unknown>).workDetect = { promptGlyph: '>', workingLine: '(a+)+b' };
+    }, 'this pattern is compiled once and then run against every accumulated PTY chunk, so catastrophic backtracking here freezes the event loop for the whole server');
+  });
+
+  it('rejects a source longer than compileVersionRegex() will compile', () => {
+    expectRejected((e) => {
+      (e.capabilities as Record<string, unknown>).workDetect = { promptGlyph: '>', workingLine: 'a'.repeat(201) };
+    }, 'the schema must not accept a pattern the runtime will then refuse to compile, or the CLI silently falls back to the Claude pattern');
+  });
+
+  it('rejects a pattern that is not a regex at all', () => {
+    expectRejected((e) => {
+      (e.capabilities as Record<string, unknown>).workDetect = { promptGlyph: '>', workingLine: '([unclosed' };
+    }, 'a broken pattern must fail at LOAD time, not inside the PTY data handler');
+  });
+
+  it('accepts both shipped patterns unchanged', () => {
+    for (const entry of STOCK_CLIS) {
+      const src = entry.capabilities.workDetect?.workingLine;
+      if (!src) continue;
+      expect(compileVersionRegex(src), `${entry.id} declares a workingLine the guard refuses`).not.toBeNull();
+    }
+  });
+});
+
 describe('no shell text can reach the command line', () => {
   it('rejects a literal carrying shell metacharacters', () => {
     for (const evil of ['pi; rm -rf /', 'pi && curl evil.sh', 'pi`whoami`', 'pi $(id)', 'pi | tee', 'pi > /etc/x']) {
diff --git a/test/session-activity.test.ts b/test/session-activity.test.ts
index dcda3bb4..6e4b1ab2 100644
--- a/test/session-activity.test.ts
+++ b/test/session-activity.test.ts
@@ -307,6 +307,15 @@ describe("codex's work-detection descriptor", () => {
     expect(new RegExp(codex!.workingLine).test(CODEX_FINISHED)).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it('matches the footer case-insensitively on the E', () => {
+    // Characterised on codex-cli 0.152.1, which prints a lowercase `esc`. A future
+    // version capitalising it would otherwise make the whole fix silently inert:
+    // the pane would simply never look like it was working.
+    expect(new RegExp(codex!.workingLine).test(CODEX_WORKING.replace('esc to interrupt', 'Esc to interrupt'))).toBe(
+      true
+    );
+  });
+
   it('names the glyph Codex actually draws on its composer row', () => {
     expect(CODEX_COMPOSER_REPAINT).toContain(codex!.promptGlyph);
     expect(CODEX_WORKING).toContain(codex!.promptGlyph);