diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7165033c..24429932 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,25 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## Unreleased
+
+### A terminal pane that loses its socket now reconnects when you touch it
+
+- **Typing into a dead pane was a silent drain.** `term.onData` guarded on
+  `readyState === 1` and did nothing else, so every keystroke vanished with no
+  reconnect and no sign anything was wrong. xterm renders locally, so the pane looked
+  alive — that is the "terminal freezes until I reload the browser" report.
+- **Paste and the send line named the problem and did nothing about it.** Both toasted
+  "Terminal is not connected" and returned, on the two controls that exist precisely
+  because a pane has gone unresponsive. All three paths now revive the socket and
+  carry the frame through, so the first thing you type is not the thing that is lost.
+- **A terminal socket failure used to leave no trace.** `ws.onclose` took no argument
+  (the close code was discarded) and there was no `onerror` at all. Both exist now, so
+  the next occurrence says whether it was an abnormal close, an oversized frame or a
+  server error instead of looking identical to every other cause.
+
+Note: this fixes what the UI does about a dropped terminal socket. What drops it in
+the first place is not yet identified — the close code added here is what will name it.
+
 ## 7.9.0
 
 A remote chat can no longer get stuck for good, a broken local Claude CLI install
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index a2e410df..4112f605 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -442,6 +442,22 @@ Four reports that all reduce to "the UI moved or stopped listening". Pinned by
   panels animate `width .25s`, so measuring from the click measures the box the user
   is leaving. The observer compares `clientWidth` before re-measuring — the callback
   sets the height, so an unguarded one re-enters forever.
+- **Touching a pane is itself a reconnect trigger (`_reviveTerminal`).** Every
+  automatic path is conditional on a state a half-dead socket does not report, so all
+  three interaction paths used to give up instead: `term.onData` dropped the keystroke
+  SILENTLY (the pane renders locally, so it looks alive — this is the "terminal froze
+  until I reloaded the page" report), while paste and the send line toasted "not
+  connected" and returned, naming the problem on the very controls that exist because
+  a pane went unresponsive. They now revive and carry the frame. Only the LAST frame
+  is queued — a queue of stale keystrokes replayed into a TUI is worse than a dropped
+  one — a socket already CONNECTING is not raced with a second one, and `_pending` is
+  cleared BEFORE the send so a failure cannot replay it on the next open too.
+- **A close code is the only evidence of WHY a pane died.** `ws.onclose` took no
+  argument and there was no `onerror` at all, so a terminal socket failure left no
+  trace on either end — which is why "it freezes sometimes" stayed unexplained. Both
+  exist now; the log sits AFTER the staleness guard, because a superseded socket
+  closing is routine and would bury the closes that mean something. 1006 is an
+  abnormal close with no FIN, 1009 a frame over `maxPayload`, 1011 a server error.
 - **`sendToTerminal()` has no emptiness guard, on purpose.** A bare Return is the most
   useful thing this line can send: it accepts a prompt's default (`[Y/n]`, "press enter
   to continue"). `showTerminalView()` clears the box, because one send line serves every
diff --git a/public/index.html b/public/index.html
index 429c29b7..074c1dc3 100644
--- a/public/index.html
+++ b/public/index.html
@@ -17793,7 +17793,16 @@ <h3 data-i18n="kb.title">⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts</h3>
 
   // Bound to `entry.ws`, not a captured socket — so a later reconnect (fresh
   // WebSocket swapped into entry.ws) keeps routing keystrokes without re-wiring.
-  term.onData(d => { if (entry.ws && entry.ws.readyState === 1) entry.ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: 'input', data: d })); });
+  // A dead socket used to make this a silent drain: the guard was `readyState === 1`
+  // and nothing else, so every keystroke vanished with no reconnect and no sign that
+  // anything was wrong. That IS the "terminal froze until I reloaded the page" report
+  // — the pane looks live because xterm renders locally.
+  term.onData(d => {
+    if (entry.ws && entry.ws.readyState === 1) { entry.ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: 'input', data: d })); return; }
+    // Typing is the clearest possible "I am using this pane". Reconnect on it, and
+    // queue the keystroke so the first thing typed is not the thing that gets lost.
+    _reviveTerminal(sessionId, { type: 'input', data: d });
+  });
   // Anything that steals focus — a modal, a toast button, the send line below, the
   // browser restoring focus after an alt-tab — leaves the pane visually active but
   // deaf. A click on it is an unambiguous "I am typing here"; don't steal focus back
@@ -17812,6 +17821,42 @@ <h3 data-i18n="kb.title">⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts</h3>
 // scrollback are left untouched; only the socket is replaced, and the server
 // re-paints the current tmux pane on attach (see terminal-bridge.js captureScreen),
 // so the view catches back up to what actually happened while disconnected.
+// Bring a pane back the moment the user touches it, and don't lose what they were
+// trying to send. Every automatic reconnect path is conditional on a state a
+// half-dead socket does not report: onclose only runs if a close event arrives,
+// visibilitychange only fires on a tab switch, and the backoff can be 30s out.
+// Meanwhile the three interaction paths (typing, paste, the send line) each just
+// gave up — one silently, two with a toast that named the problem and did nothing
+// about it. This is the "just reconnect and carry on" the pane always implied.
+//   `frame` is optional and replayed once the socket opens; only the LAST one is
+// kept, because a queue of stale keystrokes replayed into a TUI is worse than a
+// dropped one. `exited` is cleared for the same reason refreshTerminalSession()
+// clears it: a latched pane never retries, and the user asking for it outranks the
+// latch. Returns true when the socket was already live and nothing was queued.
+function _reviveTerminal(sessionId, frame) {
+  const entry = _terms.get(sessionId); if (!entry) return false;
+  if (entry.ws && entry.ws.readyState === 1) {
+    if (frame) { try { entry.ws.send(JSON.stringify(frame)); } catch {} }
+    return true;
+  }
+  if (frame) entry._pending = frame;
+  // A socket still CONNECTING will deliver _pending from its own onopen; opening a
+  // second one on every keystroke would stampede the server.
+  if (entry.ws && entry.ws.readyState === 0) return false;
+  entry.exited = false;
+  entry._reconnectDelay = 1000;
+  _connectTerminalWs(sessionId);
+  return false;
+}
+
+// Deliver what the user typed or pasted into a socket that turned out to be dead.
+// Cleared BEFORE the send, so a failing send cannot replay it on the next open too.
+function _flushTerminalPending(entry, ws) {
+  if (!entry || !entry._pending) return;
+  const f = entry._pending; entry._pending = null;
+  try { ws.send(JSON.stringify(f)); } catch {}
+}
+
 function _connectTerminalWs(sessionId) {
   const entry = _terms.get(sessionId); if (!entry) return;
   const term = entry.term;
@@ -17830,6 +17875,7 @@ <h3 data-i18n="kb.title">⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts</h3>
   ws.binaryType = 'arraybuffer';
   ws.onopen = () => {
     entry._reconnectDelay = 1000;
+    _flushTerminalPending(entry, ws);
     if (_termSessionId !== sessionId) return;
     sendTermResize();
     // xterm routes keystrokes through a hidden textarea. A reconnect swaps entry.ws
@@ -17886,12 +17932,23 @@ <h3 data-i18n="kb.title">⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts</h3>
     }
     _paintTermStatus(sessionId);
   };
-  ws.onclose = () => {
+  // The chat socket has had one of these since it was written (search `onerror`);
+  // the terminal never did, so a socket-level failure left no trace anywhere —
+  // which is why "the terminal freezes sometimes" stayed unexplained.
+  ws.onerror = () => { console.warn('[terminal] socket error', { session: sessionId }); };
+  ws.onclose = (ev) => {
     // Staleness first, and it guards the STATUS too, not just the retry. This socket
     // may already have been superseded (refreshTerminalSession() detaches before it
     // closes) -- painting "disconnected" from here would mark the pane the user is
     // typing into as dead while it is working.
     if (_terms.get(sessionId) !== entry || entry.ws !== ws) return;
+    // `ev` used to be ignored entirely, and there was no onerror either, so a pane
+    // that died left no trace anywhere — which is why "the terminal freezes
+    // sometimes" stayed unexplained. A close code is the only evidence of WHY:
+    // 1006 abnormal/no FIN, 1001 going away, 1009 frame too big, 1011 server error.
+    // Logged AFTER the staleness guard on purpose: a superseded socket closing is
+    // routine, and logging it would bury the real ones.
+    if (ev && ev.code !== 1000) console.warn('[terminal] closed', { session: sessionId, code: ev.code, reason: ev.reason || '' });
     entry.dot = '#8b949e'; entry.state = t('term.state.disconnected'); _paintTermStatus(sessionId);
     // Auto-retry an unexpected drop (network blip, server restart, idle proxy
     // timeout) even while this terminal tab stays in the foreground the whole
@@ -17943,7 +18000,14 @@ <h3 data-i18n="kb.title">⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts</h3>
   // enter to continue"), which is exactly what this line exists to reach.
   const text = box.value;
   const entry = _termSessionId && _terms.get(_termSessionId);
-  if (!entry || !entry.ws || entry.ws.readyState !== 1) { toast(t('term.paste.notconnected'), true); return; }
+  // Reconnect and deliver, rather than refusing: this line is most useful exactly
+  // when a pane has gone unresponsive, which is also when the old guard refused.
+  if (!entry || !entry.ws || entry.ws.readyState !== 1) {
+    _reviveTerminal(_termSessionId, { type: 'input', data: text + '\r' });
+    box.value = '';
+    toast(t('term.state.reconnecting'));
+    return;
+  }
   // \r, not \n: a PTY sees the Return KEY, and a TUI reading in canonical or raw mode
   // both treat CR as submit. Sent as ONE frame with the text so a prompt that echoes
   // and submits on the same tick cannot split them.
@@ -18010,7 +18074,12 @@ <h3 data-i18n="kb.title">⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts</h3>
   const sid = _terminalPasteTarget();
   if (!sid) { toast(t('term.paste.notarget'), true); return; }
   const entry = _terms.get(sid);
-  if (!entry?.ws || entry.ws.readyState !== 1) { toast(t('term.paste.notconnected'), true); return; }
+  if (!entry?.ws || entry.ws.readyState !== 1) {
+    _reviveTerminal(sid, { type: 'paste', data: text });
+    switchTab(sid);
+    toast(t('term.state.reconnecting'));
+    return;
+  }
   entry.ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: 'paste', data: text }));
   switchTab(sid);
   toast(t('term.paste.done'));
diff --git a/test/composer-terminal.test.js b/test/composer-terminal.test.js
index 5af7858e..43057537 100644
--- a/test/composer-terminal.test.js
+++ b/test/composer-terminal.test.js
@@ -120,12 +120,24 @@ check('it reconnects unconditionally — no readyState test', /readyState/.test(
 // A close event from a socket refreshTerminalSession() already replaced must not
 // repaint the pane the user is typing into. The guard has to sit ABOVE the paint,
 // not only above the retry — nothing repaints the status back afterwards.
-const onclose = TB.slice(TB.indexOf('ws.onclose = () => {'));
+// The handler takes the close EVENT: a close code is the only evidence of why a pane
+// died (1006 abnormal, 1009 frame too big, 1011 server error), and it used to be
+// discarded, which is why "the terminal freezes sometimes" had no trace to follow.
+check('the close handler receives the event', TB.includes('ws.onclose = (ev) => {'), true);
+const onclose = TB.slice(TB.indexOf('ws.onclose = (ev) => {'));
 const oncloseBody = onclose.slice(0, onclose.indexOf('\n  };') + 5);
 // indexOf alone would pass on -1 (guard deleted) < paint index — assert presence first.
 check('a stale close is ignored, and before it touches the status',
   oncloseBody.includes('entry.ws !== ws) return;')
   && oncloseBody.indexOf('entry.ws !== ws) return;') < oncloseBody.indexOf("term.state.disconnected"), true);
+// …and before the logging too: a superseded socket closing is routine, and logging
+// it would bury the closes that actually explain something.
+check('the close code is logged, after the staleness guard',
+  oncloseBody.includes('ev.code') &&
+  oncloseBody.indexOf('entry.ws !== ws) return;') < oncloseBody.indexOf('ev.code'), true);
+// The chat socket has had one since it was written; the terminal had none, so a
+// socket-level failure was invisible on both ends.
+check('the terminal socket has an onerror at all', /ws\.onerror = \(\) =>/.test(TB), true);
 
 console.log('\n— 4. sending a line into a terminal session —');
 
@@ -145,8 +157,15 @@ const stsBody = sts.slice(0, sts.indexOf('\n}\n') + 3);
 // on the engine pane alike, where a `view=engine` viewer may only send `input`.
 check('it writes the terminal protocol\'s input frame', /type: 'input', data: text \+ '\\r'/.test(stsBody), true);
 check('CR, not LF — a PTY needs the Return key', /'\\n'/.test(stsBody), false);
-check('it refuses to send on a socket that is not OPEN', /readyState !== 1/.test(stsBody), true);
-check('and says so instead of failing silently', /toast\(t\('term\.paste\.notconnected'\), true\)/.test(stsBody), true);
+check('it notices a socket that is not OPEN', /readyState !== 1/.test(stsBody), true);
+// It used to toast "not connected" and return — naming the problem and doing nothing
+// about it, on the one control that exists BECAUSE a pane has gone unresponsive.
+// Every automatic reconnect path is conditional on a state a half-dead socket does
+// not report, so touching the pane has to be a reconnect trigger of its own.
+check('and reconnects instead of refusing', /_reviveTerminal\(/.test(stsBody), true);
+check('carrying the line, so the first thing typed is not the thing that is lost',
+  /_reviveTerminal\([^)]*,\s*\{ type: 'input', data: text \+ '\\r' \}\)/.test(stsBody), true);
+check('the dead-socket refusal is gone', /paste\.notconnected/.test(stsBody), false);
 check('it clears the box after sending', /box\.value = ''/.test(stsBody), true);
 // A bare Return is the single most useful thing to send: it accepts a prompt default.
 check('an empty line is still sendable', /!text\.trim\(\)\) return/.test(stsBody), false);
@@ -154,6 +173,30 @@ check('an empty line is still sendable', /!text\.trim\(\)\) return/.test(stsBody
 check('switching panes clears the shared send line',
   /function showTerminalView[\s\S]{0,1600}?\$i\('termSendInput'\)[^\n]*value = ''/.test(TB), true);
 
+console.log('\n— a dead socket must not swallow what the user does —');
+// The silent drain that produced "the terminal froze until I reloaded the page":
+// the pane renders locally, so it looks alive while every keystroke goes nowhere.
+{
+  const od = TB.slice(TB.indexOf('term.onData(d => {'));
+  const odBody = od.slice(0, od.indexOf('\n  });') + 6);
+  check('onData still fast-paths a live socket', /readyState === 1/.test(odBody), true);
+  check('and revives a dead one instead of dropping the keystroke',
+    /_reviveTerminal\(sessionId, \{ type: 'input', data: d \}\)/.test(odBody), true);
+  // Reconnecting on every keystroke would stampede the server; a socket already
+  // CONNECTING will deliver the queued frame from its own onopen.
+  const rv = TB.slice(TB.indexOf('function _reviveTerminal'));
+  const rvBody = rv.slice(0, rv.indexOf('\n}\n') + 3);
+  check('a CONNECTING socket is not raced with a second one', /readyState === 0\) return false/.test(rvBody), true);
+  check('only the LAST frame is queued — stale keystrokes replayed into a TUI are worse',
+    /entry\._pending = frame/.test(rvBody), true);
+  check('it clears the exited latch, like the manual refresh does', /entry\.exited = false/.test(rvBody), true);
+  // Cleared before the send, or a failing send replays it on the next open as well.
+  const fl = TB.slice(TB.indexOf('function _flushTerminalPending'));
+  const flBody = fl.slice(0, fl.indexOf('\n}\n') + 3);
+  check('the queued frame is cleared BEFORE it is sent',
+    flBody.indexOf('entry._pending = null') < flBody.indexOf('ws.send'), true);
+}
+
 console.log('\n— focus: why a deaf pane used to need a tab switch —');
 
 check('a reconnect refocuses the pane',