diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-coordinator.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-coordinator.test.ts
index 63ae1f79e93..d3feabd0ee4 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-coordinator.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-coordinator.test.ts
@@ -188,17 +188,69 @@ describe("HostServiceCoordinator.tryAdopt — adoption health check", () => {
 		expect(conn.port).toBe(60000);
 	});
 
-	test("kills with SIGTERM (existing behavior) on app-version mismatch, before health check", async () => {
+	test("adopts a healthy service when only the app-version changed", async () => {
 		manifestStore.current = {
 			...baseManifest(5555),
 			spawnedByAppVersion: "0.9.0",
 		};
+		pollHealthCheckMock.mockImplementationOnce(() => Promise.resolve(true));
 
 		const conn = await coordinator.start("org-1", spawnConfig);
 
-		// App-version gate runs before the new health check.
-		expect(pollHealthCheckMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
-		expect(killedPids).toContainEqual({ pid: 5555, signal: "SIGTERM" });
+		expect(pollHealthCheckMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+		expect(killedPids).toHaveLength(0);
+		expect(removeManifestMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+		expect(spawnMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+		expect(conn.port).toBe(55555);
+		expect(conn.secret).toBe("manifest-secret");
+		expect(coordinator.getProcessStatus("org-1")).toBe("running");
+	});
+
+	test("kills an unhealthy app-version mismatch with SIGKILL after health check", async () => {
+		manifestStore.current = {
+			...baseManifest(5556),
+			spawnedByAppVersion: "0.9.0",
+		};
+		pollHealthCheckMock.mockImplementationOnce(() => Promise.resolve(false));
+
+		const conn = await coordinator.start("org-1", spawnConfig);
+
+		expect(pollHealthCheckMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+		expect(killedPids).toContainEqual({ pid: 5556, signal: "SIGKILL" });
+		expect(removeManifestMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+		expect(spawnMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+		expect(conn.port).toBe(60000);
+	});
+
+	test("adopts a healthy pre-upgrade manifest with no recorded app version", async () => {
+		manifestStore.current = {
+			...baseManifest(5557),
+			spawnedByAppVersion: "",
+		};
+		pollHealthCheckMock.mockImplementationOnce(() => Promise.resolve(true));
+
+		const conn = await coordinator.start("org-1", spawnConfig);
+
+		expect(pollHealthCheckMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+		expect(killedPids).toHaveLength(0);
+		expect(removeManifestMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+		expect(spawnMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+		expect(conn.port).toBe(55555);
+		expect(conn.secret).toBe("manifest-secret");
+		expect(coordinator.getProcessStatus("org-1")).toBe("running");
+	});
+
+	test("kills an unhealthy pre-upgrade manifest with SIGKILL after health check", async () => {
+		manifestStore.current = {
+			...baseManifest(5558),
+			spawnedByAppVersion: "",
+		};
+		pollHealthCheckMock.mockImplementationOnce(() => Promise.resolve(false));
+
+		const conn = await coordinator.start("org-1", spawnConfig);
+
+		expect(pollHealthCheckMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+		expect(killedPids).toContainEqual({ pid: 5558, signal: "SIGKILL" });
 		expect(removeManifestMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
 		expect(spawnMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
 		expect(conn.port).toBe(60000);
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-coordinator.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-coordinator.ts
index f39a9926f4f..854426db5de 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-coordinator.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-coordinator.ts
@@ -333,13 +333,8 @@ export class HostServiceCoordinator extends EventEmitter {
 				? `spawned by app ${manifest.spawnedByAppVersion} != current ${currentAppVersion}`
 				: "no recorded app version (pre-upgrade manifest)";
 			log.info(
-				`[host-service:${organizationId}] Adopted service ${reason}, killing`,
+				`[host-service:${organizationId}] Adopted service ${reason}, checking health before reuse`,
 			);
-			try {
-				process.kill(manifest.pid, "SIGTERM");
-			} catch {}
-			removeManifest(organizationId);
-			return null;
 		}
 
 		// A live pid is not the same as a serving host-service — the process can
@@ -520,6 +515,9 @@ export class HostServiceCoordinator extends EventEmitter {
 		const childEnv = await getProcessEnvWithShellPath({
 			...(process.env as Record<string, string>),
 			ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE: "1",
+			NODE_ENV: app.isPackaged
+				? "production"
+				: (process.env.NODE_ENV ?? "development"),
 			ORGANIZATION_ID: organizationId,
 			HOST_CLIENT_ID: getHostId(),
 			HOST_NAME: getHostName(),
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-manifest.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-manifest.ts
index 8e1d61901fc..c94e2e9693d 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-manifest.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main/lib/host-service-manifest.ts
@@ -16,12 +16,10 @@ export interface HostServiceManifest {
 	startedAt: number;
 	organizationId: string;
 	/**
-	 * Desktop app version that spawned this host-service. Compared against
-	 * the current `app.getVersion()` on adoption — any mismatch triggers a
-	 * kill + respawn so every Electron auto-update lands on a freshly
-	 * spawned host-service, even when the host-service version pin alone
-	 * would have allowed adoption (e.g. host-service code changed but its
-	 * `package.json#version` was not bumped).
+	 * Desktop app version that spawned this host-service. This is diagnostic
+	 * adoption context; a version mismatch alone must not kill a healthy
+	 * service because canary app timestamps can change without requiring a
+	 * host-service restart.
 	 */
 	spawnedByAppVersion: string;
 }
@@ -71,8 +69,8 @@ export function readManifest(
 
 		// `spawnedByAppVersion` is required going forward, but pre-existing
 		// manifests on upgraded users won't have it. Coerce to empty string so
-		// `tryAdopt` still finds the old PID, then trip the app-version pin
-		// (current version !== "") so the stale daemon gets killed and respawned.
+		// `tryAdopt` can log the provenance gap and still health-check the
+		// existing service before deciding whether to reuse it.
 		if (typeof data.spawnedByAppVersion !== "string") {
 			data.spawnedByAppVersion = "";
 		}
diff --git a/packages/host-service/src/daemon/DaemonSupervisor.test.ts b/packages/host-service/src/daemon/DaemonSupervisor.test.ts
index 869cd6bca1a..625755c62ba 100644
--- a/packages/host-service/src/daemon/DaemonSupervisor.test.ts
+++ b/packages/host-service/src/daemon/DaemonSupervisor.test.ts
@@ -199,9 +199,9 @@ describe("shouldKillStaleDaemonForDev", () => {
 		expect(shouldKillStaleDaemonForDev({ NODE_ENV: "production" })).toBe(false);
 	});
 
-	test("kills stale daemons in dev by default", () => {
+	test("kills stale daemons only in explicit dev mode", () => {
 		expect(shouldKillStaleDaemonForDev({ NODE_ENV: "development" })).toBe(true);
-		expect(shouldKillStaleDaemonForDev({})).toBe(true);
+		expect(shouldKillStaleDaemonForDev({})).toBe(false);
 	});
 
 	test("allows production-like adoption in dev for handoff testing", () => {
diff --git a/packages/host-service/src/daemon/DaemonSupervisor.ts b/packages/host-service/src/daemon/DaemonSupervisor.ts
index 2813de5d495..f4c425bb470 100644
--- a/packages/host-service/src/daemon/DaemonSupervisor.ts
+++ b/packages/host-service/src/daemon/DaemonSupervisor.ts
@@ -73,8 +73,8 @@ const ADOPT_IN_DEV_ENV = "SUPERSET_PTY_DAEMON_ADOPT_IN_DEV";
 export function shouldKillStaleDaemonForDev(
 	env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env,
 ): boolean {
-	if (env.NODE_ENV === "production") return false;
-	return env[ADOPT_IN_DEV_ENV] !== "1";
+	if (env[ADOPT_IN_DEV_ENV] === "1") return false;
+	return env.NODE_ENV === "development";
 }
 
 /**
@@ -907,7 +907,7 @@ export class DaemonSupervisor {
 		// flow up to the developer's `bun dev` terminal. Production:
 		// hard-back stdio with the rotating log file so the detached
 		// daemon survives host-service teardown without losing logs.
-		const isDev = process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production";
+		const isDev = process.env.NODE_ENV === "development";
 		const logFd = isDev ? -1 : openRotatingLogFd(logPath, MAX_DAEMON_LOG_BYTES);
 		const stdio: childProcess.StdioOptions = isDev
 			? ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"]
diff --git a/packages/host-service/src/serve.ts b/packages/host-service/src/serve.ts
index bdee830a243..760139a447d 100644
--- a/packages/host-service/src/serve.ts
+++ b/packages/host-service/src/serve.ts
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
 	// iteration on daemon code resets cleanly. Production keeps the
 	// daemon detached so PTYs survive host-service restarts.
 	// Per the migration plan's D5 decision.
-	const isDev = process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production";
+	const isDev = process.env.NODE_ENV === "development";
 	if (isDev) {
 		let shuttingDown = false;
 		const devShutdown = async (signal: NodeJS.Signals) => {
diff --git a/packages/host-service/src/trpc/router/host/host.ts b/packages/host-service/src/trpc/router/host/host.ts
index a73ad330854..1c909aec4d1 100644
--- a/packages/host-service/src/trpc/router/host/host.ts
+++ b/packages/host-service/src/trpc/router/host/host.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,8 @@ import { TRPCError } from "@trpc/server";
 import type { ApiClient } from "../../../types";
 import { protectedProcedure, router } from "../../index";
 
-// Auto-derived from this package's package.json so a host-service version
-// bump automatically flows through to `host.info` and the desktop's
-// strict-equality adoption check (see host-service-coordinator.tryAdopt).
+// Auto-derived from this package's package.json so callers can report exactly
+// which bundled host-service build is currently serving requests.
 const HOST_SERVICE_VERSION: string = hostServicePackageJson.version;
 
 const ORGANIZATION_CACHE_TTL_MS = 60 * 60 * 1000;