diff --git a/packages/dispatcher/src/main.ts b/packages/dispatcher/src/main.ts
index 981b77c..f736cc5 100644
--- a/packages/dispatcher/src/main.ts
+++ b/packages/dispatcher/src/main.ts
@@ -655,7 +655,13 @@ export async function runDaemon(opts: RunDaemonOptions = {}): Promise<void> {
       db,
       getAdapter,
       sessionGate: deps.sessionGate,
-      tmux: { newSession, sendText, sendEnter, killSession },
+      // `status` is wired so the spawn-recommender-agent step races the Stop
+      // hook against tmux liveness — a session killed out from under the drive
+      // (watchdog, force-close, manual `tmux kill-session`) fails the step
+      // immediately instead of blocking on the Stop wait for the full agent
+      // timeout. Mirrors how `buildImplementationDeps` wires the implementation
+      // drive's liveness probe.
+      tmux: { newSession, sendText, sendEnter, killSession, status },
       worktree: { createWorktree, destroyWorktree },
       resolveRepoPath: (repo) => {
         const path = repoPaths.get(repo);
diff --git a/packages/dispatcher/src/recommender-run.ts b/packages/dispatcher/src/recommender-run.ts
index 1684e56..b7e8095 100644
--- a/packages/dispatcher/src/recommender-run.ts
+++ b/packages/dispatcher/src/recommender-run.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import { ghGitHub } from "./github.ts";
 import type { EpicGateway } from "./github.ts";
 import { ghStateIssueGateway } from "./state-issue.ts";
 import type { StateGateway } from "./state-issue.ts";
-import { killSession, newSession, sendEnter, sendText } from "./tmux.ts";
+import { killSession, newSession, sendEnter, sendText, status } from "./tmux.ts";
 import {
   buildRecommenderContext,
   createRecommenderWorkflow,
@@ -285,7 +285,10 @@ export async function dispatchRecommender(
         db,
         getAdapter: opts.getAdapter,
         sessionGate,
-        tmux: ov.tmux ?? { newSession, sendText, sendEnter, killSession },
+        // `status` lets the spawn step race the Stop hook against tmux liveness
+        // (mirrors the daemon's wiring) — a session killed mid-run fails fast
+        // rather than blocking for the full agent timeout.
+        tmux: ov.tmux ?? { newSession, sendText, sendEnter, killSession, status },
         worktree: ov.worktree ?? { createWorktree, destroyWorktree },
         resolveRepoPath: () => opts.repoPath,
         worktreeRoot: opts.worktreeRoot,
diff --git a/packages/dispatcher/src/workflows/recommender.ts b/packages/dispatcher/src/workflows/recommender.ts
index d6b2d22..5e650ff 100644
--- a/packages/dispatcher/src/workflows/recommender.ts
+++ b/packages/dispatcher/src/workflows/recommender.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import {
   updateWorkflow,
 } from "../workflow-record.ts";
 import type { CreateWorktreeOpts, WorktreeHandle } from "../worktree.ts";
+import { awaitStopOrSessionEnd } from "./implementation.ts";
 import type { TmuxOps, WorktreeOps } from "./implementation.ts";
 
 /** A recommender run: rewrite one repo's state issue with a ranked dispatch plan. */
@@ -144,6 +145,13 @@ export type RecommenderDeps = {
   launchTimeoutMs?: number;
   /** Hard cap on the agent run — the spec's 5-minute ceiling. */
   agentTimeoutMs?: number;
+  /**
+   * Cadence for the spawn step's session-liveness probe (the
+   * `awaitStopOrSessionEnd` race). Defaults to 5s in production. Exposed so
+   * tests can drive it tighter; should be ≪ `agentTimeoutMs` so a session that
+   * dies mid-run fails the step in seconds rather than minutes.
+   */
+  livenessPollMs?: number;
   /**
    * Surface a malformed produced body to a human (the verify step's failure
    * path). Optional + injectable so tests need no `gh`.
@@ -570,10 +578,29 @@ export function createRecommenderWorkflow(deps: RecommenderDeps): Workflow<Recom
       await deps.tmux.sendText(sessionName, promptText);
       await deps.tmux.sendEnter(sessionName);
 
-      // The recommender is a one-shot: drive one turn, observe the Stop. The
-      // step's own `timeout` (5 min) is the hard cap; this Stop-await is bounded
-      // just under it so it surfaces a specific error rather than the step timeout.
-      await deps.sessionGate.awaitStop(sessionName, agentTimeout);
+      // The recommender is a one-shot: drive one turn, observe the Stop.
+      // Liveness-aware (mirrors the implementation drive): race the Stop hook
+      // against tmux session-death so a session killed out from under us (a
+      // watchdog kill, a daemon force-close mid-run, a tmux crash) fails the
+      // step *immediately* with a specific reason instead of blocking on
+      // `awaitStop` for the full `agentTimeout` (a 15-min stall the bunqueue
+      // force-close would otherwise terminate as a generic compensation). When
+      // `tmux.status` is unwired (tests / standalone runner), it degrades to
+      // Stop-or-timeout — same behavior as before.
+      const wait = await awaitStopOrSessionEnd({
+        awaitStop: (ms) => deps.sessionGate.awaitStop(sessionName, ms),
+        timeoutMs: agentTimeout,
+        isAlive: deps.tmux.status
+          ? async () => (await deps.tmux.status!(sessionName)).alive
+          : undefined,
+        pollMs: deps.livenessPollMs,
+      });
+      if (wait.via === "session-ended") {
+        throw new Error("recommender session ended before Stop hook");
+      }
+      if (wait.via === "timeout") {
+        throw new Error(`recommender Stop hook timed out after ${agentTimeout}ms`);
+      }
       // END SESSION — the turn is over; free the dedicated slot.
       await deps.tmux.killSession(sessionName);
     } catch (error) {
diff --git a/packages/dispatcher/test/recommender-workflow.test.ts b/packages/dispatcher/test/recommender-workflow.test.ts
index 0f2d25a..c0ccd3d 100644
--- a/packages/dispatcher/test/recommender-workflow.test.ts
+++ b/packages/dispatcher/test/recommender-workflow.test.ts
@@ -132,6 +132,19 @@ function makeHarness(opts?: {
   autoDispatch?: boolean;
   wireTrigger?: boolean;
   failSession?: boolean;
+  /**
+   * Session-liveness test seam (#229-followup): when set, `tmux.status` reports
+   * the session alive until this many ms have elapsed (since the test started),
+   * then `alive: false`. Combined with a `neverStopping` gate this drives the
+   * spawn step's `awaitStopOrSessionEnd` race onto the `session-ended` branch.
+   */
+  sessionDiesAfterMs?: number;
+  /**
+   * Make the gate's `awaitStop` never resolve (until its own internal timeout) so
+   * the only way the spawn step finishes is via the session-liveness race. Used
+   * with `sessionDiesAfterMs` to exercise the session-ended failure path.
+   */
+  neverStopping?: boolean;
 }) {
   const trace: string[] = [];
   const created: string[] = [];
@@ -142,6 +155,7 @@ function makeHarness(opts?: {
   const bodies = opts?.bodies ?? [validBody(), validBody()];
   let readCount = 0;
   let written: string | null = null;
+  const harnessStart = Date.now();
 
   const tmux = {
     async newSession(o: { sessionName: string }) {
@@ -155,6 +169,17 @@ function makeHarness(opts?: {
     async killSession(sessionName: string) {
       killed.push(sessionName);
     },
+    // Wired only when the test cares about session-liveness; otherwise omitted
+    // (so the spawn step's `awaitStopOrSessionEnd` degrades to Stop-or-timeout,
+    // matching the prior behavior the existing tests assert).
+    ...(opts?.sessionDiesAfterMs !== undefined
+      ? {
+          async status(_sessionName: string) {
+            const elapsed = Date.now() - harnessStart;
+            return { alive: elapsed < opts.sessionDiesAfterMs!, paneCount: 1 };
+          },
+        }
+      : {}),
   };
 
   const adapter: AgentAdapter = {
@@ -179,7 +204,14 @@ function makeHarness(opts?: {
       if (opts?.failSession) throw new Error("launch timeout");
       return { session_id: "s", transcript_path: "/tmp/s.jsonl" } as HookPayload;
     },
-    awaitStop: async () => ({ reason: "turn-end" }) as HookPayload,
+    awaitStop: opts?.neverStopping
+      ? // Promise that resolves only on the internal timeout — the test must end
+        // via the session-liveness race, not via the Stop hook.
+        (_n: string, ms: number) =>
+          new Promise<HookPayload>((_resolve, reject) => {
+            setTimeout(() => reject(new Error(`timed out waiting for stop:${_n}`)), ms);
+          })
+      : async () => ({ reason: "turn-end" }) as HookPayload,
   };
 
   const deps: RecommenderDeps = {
@@ -232,6 +264,9 @@ function makeHarness(opts?: {
     },
     launchTimeoutMs: 2000,
     agentTimeoutMs: 2000,
+    // Tight poll so the session-liveness race fires within the test budget;
+    // production defaults to 5s (matches the implementation drive).
+    livenessPollMs: 25,
     surfaceProblem: async (o) => {
       surfaced.push(o.problem);
     },
@@ -379,6 +414,30 @@ describe("recommender workflow — #43 shell: step order + dedicated slot", () =
     expect(await listWorktrees({ repoPath, worktreeRoot })).toEqual([]);
     for (const s of new Set(h.created)) expect(h.killed).toContain(s);
   });
+
+  test("a tmux session killed mid-run fails the spawn step fast (#229-followup)", async () => {
+    // Regression: the spawn step's `awaitStop` used to be the bare gate call.
+    // If the tmux session was killed out from under the drive (a watchdog kill,
+    // a daemon SIGTERM with `engine.close(true)` force-closing, a tmux crash),
+    // the Stop hook never arrived and the step blocked on `awaitStop` for the
+    // full `agentTimeout` (up to 30 minutes). With the liveness race wired the
+    // step fails immediately with a *specific* error — "session ended before
+    // Stop hook" — and `prepare-shallow-worktree`'s compensation tears the run
+    // down to a clean terminal state. Verifies: the harness pretends the
+    // session dies 80ms into the run while the Stop hook never fires, and the
+    // whole workflow settles inside the runToEnd budget (much less than the
+    // 2-second `agentTimeoutMs` the harness sets — proof the race won, not the
+    // Stop timeout).
+    const start = Date.now();
+    const h = makeHarness({ neverStopping: true, sessionDiesAfterMs: 80 });
+    const id = await runToEnd(h.deps, /* timeoutMs */ 1500);
+    const elapsed = Date.now() - start;
+
+    expect(getWorkflow(db, id)!.state).toBe("compensated");
+    expect(elapsed).toBeLessThan(1500); // race won before the Stop timeout
+    expect(await listWorktrees({ repoPath, worktreeRoot })).toEqual([]);
+    for (const s of new Set(h.created)) expect(h.killed).toContain(s);
+  });
 });
 
 describe("recommender workflow — #44 build-prompt: every required input, verbatim", () => {