diff --git a/hermes_cli/active_sessions.py b/hermes_cli/active_sessions.py
index 20587125c0ca..4c28de06b555 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/active_sessions.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/active_sessions.py
@@ -392,6 +392,25 @@ def _optional_float(value: Any) -> Optional[float]:
         return None
 
 
+def current_repo_root(start: Optional[Path] = None) -> Optional[str]:
+    """Return the enclosing git checkout for ``start``, or None if there is none.
+
+    Walks up looking for ``.git`` rather than shelling out to ``git``: this runs
+    on every session start, and a subprocess per session is a poor trade for a
+    field that is advisory.  ``.git`` is a file (not a directory) inside linked
+    worktrees, which is why this tests existence rather than is_dir -- sessions
+    in two worktrees of one repo are exactly the case #46303 is about.
+    """
+    try:
+        current = (start or Path.cwd()).resolve()
+    except OSError:
+        return None
+    for candidate in (current, *current.parents):
+        if (candidate / ".git").exists():
+            return str(candidate)
+    return None
+
+
 def _pid_liveness(pid: Any, process_start_time: Any = None) -> Optional[bool]:
     """Return True/False for live/dead, or None when liveness is unknowable."""
     try:
@@ -504,10 +523,20 @@ def _lease_entry(
     }
     if track_liveness:
         entry["track_liveness"] = True
-    if metadata:
-        entry["metadata"] = {
-            str(k): v for k, v in metadata.items() if isinstance(k, str)
-        }
+    entry_metadata = {
+        str(k): v for k, v in (metadata or {}).items() if isinstance(k, str)
+    }
+    # Repo attribution is what makes "which checkout is that session attached
+    # to?" answerable at all (#46303).  Recorded here rather than by caller
+    # opt-in so every surface gets it without threading it through three
+    # separate call sites; an explicit metadata repo_root wins, and a session
+    # started outside any checkout simply records nothing.
+    if "repo_root" not in entry_metadata:
+        _repo_root = current_repo_root()
+        if _repo_root:
+            entry_metadata["repo_root"] = _repo_root
+    if entry_metadata:
+        entry["metadata"] = entry_metadata
     return entry
 
 
@@ -735,9 +764,18 @@ def transfer_active_session(
             entry["session_id"] = new_session_id
             entry["updated_at"] = time.time()
             if metadata:
-                entry["metadata"] = {
+                new_metadata = {
                     str(k): v for k, v in metadata.items() if isinstance(k, str)
                 }
+                # Carry the checkout attribution across a session-id transfer:
+                # callers pass identity metadata, not a full replacement, and
+                # the process has not changed repos (#46303).
+                prior = entry.get("metadata")
+                if "repo_root" not in new_metadata and isinstance(prior, dict):
+                    prior_root = prior.get("repo_root")
+                    if prior_root:
+                        new_metadata["repo_root"] = prior_root
+                entry["metadata"] = new_metadata
             updated = True
             break
         if not updated and lease.track_liveness:
diff --git a/hermes_cli/status.py b/hermes_cli/status.py
index f5c435d91267..8a89840ded78 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/status.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/status.py
@@ -663,25 +663,32 @@ def _resolve_env(env_ref) -> str:
         else:
             print(f"  Active:       {_session_count if _session_count is not None else 0}")
 
-    # Slot usage, only when max_concurrent_sessions is set. The cap is shared
-    # across CLI, desktop/TUI and the messaging gateway, so the surface that
-    # gets rejected is rarely the one holding the slots — without this the only
-    # way to find out is reading runtime/active_sessions.json by hand.
+    # Live sessions from the active-session registry. Slot usage is only
+    # meaningful when max_concurrent_sessions is set — the cap is shared across
+    # CLI, desktop/TUI and the messaging gateway, so the surface that gets
+    # rejected is rarely the one holding the slots — but the sessions
+    # themselves are worth listing either way: per-session exclusivity (#94595)
+    # made the registry authoritative for every surface, so with no cap set the
+    # entries exist and only this readout was still gated on the cap.
     try:
         from hermes_cli.active_sessions import (
             active_session_registry_snapshot,
+            current_repo_root,
             format_age,
             resolve_max_concurrent_sessions,
         )
 
         _cap = resolve_max_concurrent_sessions(config)
-    except Exception:
-        _cap = None
-    if _cap:
         try:
             _held = active_session_registry_snapshot()
         except Exception:
             _held = []
+        _here = current_repo_root()
+    except Exception:
+        _cap = None
+        _held = []
+        _here = None
+    if _cap:
         _full = len(_held) >= _cap
         print(
             "  Slots:        "
@@ -689,12 +696,26 @@ def _resolve_env(env_ref) -> str:
                 f"{len(_held)}/{_cap} in use", Colors.YELLOW if _full else Colors.GREEN
             )
         )
+    elif _held:
+        # No cap means no slots to report, but "another session is live in this
+        # checkout" is exactly the signal #46303 asks for.
+        print("  Live:         " + color(f"{len(_held)} session(s)", Colors.GREEN))
+    if _held:
         _now = time.time()
         for _entry in sorted(_held, key=lambda e: e.get("started_at") or 0):
             _age = format_age(_now - float(_entry.get("started_at") or _now))
+            _meta = _entry.get("metadata")
+            _repo = (_meta or {}).get("repo_root") if isinstance(_meta, dict) else None
+            _where = ""
+            if _repo:
+                _where = (
+                    "  ← this repo"
+                    if _here and str(_repo) == str(_here)
+                    else f"  {os.path.basename(str(_repo))}"
+                )
             print(
                 f"                {_entry.get('surface') or 'unknown':<17} "
-                f"{_entry.get('session_id') or '?':<24} {_age}"
+                f"{_entry.get('session_id') or '?':<24} {_age}{_where}"
             )
 
     # =========================================================================
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_active_sessions.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_active_sessions.py
index 0fe223101fc2..5c7b7fdf90b4 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_active_sessions.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_active_sessions.py
@@ -646,3 +646,75 @@ def test_liveness_guard_keeps_a_just_acquired_own_lease_it_cannot_vouch_for(
     ) as active:
         assert active is False
     assert active_sessions.active_session_registry_snapshot(home) == []
+
+
+def test_entries_carry_repo_root_so_sessions_are_attributable(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """A registry entry with no repo dimension cannot answer the #46303 question.
+
+    "Is another session already attached to *this* checkout?" needs the checkout
+    on the entry; surface and session id alone do not say where a session is
+    working.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(tmp_path / ".hermes"))
+    repo_a = tmp_path / "repo_a"
+    (repo_a / ".git").mkdir(parents=True)
+    repo_b = tmp_path / "repo_b"
+    (repo_b / ".git").mkdir(parents=True)
+
+    monkeypatch.chdir(repo_a)
+    active_sessions.try_acquire_active_session(
+        session_id="in_a", surface="cli", config={}
+    )
+    monkeypatch.chdir(repo_b)
+    active_sessions.try_acquire_active_session(
+        session_id="in_b", surface="desktop", config={}
+    )
+
+    attributed = {
+        entry["session_id"]: (entry.get("metadata") or {}).get("repo_root")
+        for entry in active_sessions.active_session_registry_snapshot()
+    }
+    assert attributed == {
+        "in_a": str(repo_a.resolve()),
+        "in_b": str(repo_b.resolve()),
+    }
+
+
+def test_repo_root_is_omitted_outside_any_checkout(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Attribution is advisory: no checkout means no field, not a null one."""
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(tmp_path / ".hermes"))
+    elsewhere = tmp_path / "not_a_repo"
+    elsewhere.mkdir()
+    monkeypatch.chdir(elsewhere)
+
+    lease, message = active_sessions.try_acquire_active_session(
+        session_id="homeless", surface="cli", config={}
+    )
+    assert lease is not None and message is None
+
+    (entry,) = active_sessions.active_session_registry_snapshot()
+    assert "repo_root" not in (entry.get("metadata") or {})
+
+
+def test_repo_root_survives_a_session_id_transfer(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """A transfer re-writes metadata from the caller's identity fields, which
+    would otherwise silently drop the attribution the entry already had — the
+    process has not changed repos just because the session got an id.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(tmp_path / ".hermes"))
+    repo = tmp_path / "repo"
+    (repo / ".git").mkdir(parents=True)
+    monkeypatch.chdir(repo)
+
+    lease, message = active_sessions.try_acquire_active_session(
+        session_id="draft", surface="cli", config={}
+    )
+    assert lease is not None and message is None
+
+    assert active_sessions.transfer_active_session(
+        lease, session_id="saved", metadata={"live_session_id": "saved"}
+    )
+
+    (entry,) = active_sessions.active_session_registry_snapshot()
+    assert entry["session_id"] == "saved"
+    assert entry["metadata"]["repo_root"] == str(repo.resolve())
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_status.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_status.py
index 37d0c0bb243c..70b6ba578919 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_status.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_status.py
@@ -249,3 +249,59 @@ def close(self):
     assert "Active:       2 session(s)" in output
     assert "Last activity:" in output
     assert "1m ago" in output
+
+
+def test_show_status_lists_live_sessions_without_a_cap(monkeypatch, capsys, tmp_path):
+    """Per-session exclusivity (#94595) made the registry authoritative for every
+    surface, capped or not — but this readout was still gated on the cap, so an
+    operator who never set ``max_concurrent_sessions`` saw nothing at all even
+    though the entries were right there. That is the awareness signal #46303
+    asks for.
+    """
+    from hermes_cli import active_sessions
+
+    home = tmp_path / ".hermes"
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(home))
+    repo = tmp_path / "checkout"
+    (repo / ".git").mkdir(parents=True)
+    monkeypatch.chdir(repo)
+
+    lease, message = active_sessions.try_acquire_active_session(
+        session_id="20260614_105454_7afa2b", surface="desktop", config={}
+    )
+    assert lease is not None and message is None
+
+    show_status(SimpleNamespace(all=False, deep=False))
+
+    output = capsys.readouterr().out
+    assert "Live:" in output
+    assert "1 session(s)" in output
+    assert "20260614_105454_7afa2b" in output
+    assert "desktop" in output
+    # Attribution: the session was started in this checkout, so say so.
+    assert "this repo" in output
+    assert "Slots:" not in output
+
+
+def test_show_status_still_reports_slots_when_a_cap_is_set(monkeypatch, capsys, tmp_path):
+    """The uncapped listing must not displace the capped slot accounting."""
+    from hermes_cli import active_sessions
+    from hermes_cli import status as status_mod
+
+    home = tmp_path / ".hermes"
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(home))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        status_mod, "load_config", lambda: {"max_concurrent_sessions": 2}, raising=False
+    )
+
+    lease, message = active_sessions.try_acquire_active_session(
+        session_id="capped-1", surface="cli", config={"max_concurrent_sessions": 2}
+    )
+    assert lease is not None and message is None
+
+    show_status(SimpleNamespace(all=False, deep=False))
+
+    output = capsys.readouterr().out
+    assert "1/2 in use" in output
+    assert "capped-1" in output
+    assert "Live:" not in output