diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/right-sidebar/terminal/agent-terminal-stream.bound.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/right-sidebar/terminal/agent-terminal-stream.bound.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4b98534033
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/right-sidebar/terminal/agent-terminal-stream.bound.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import {
+  registerAgentTerminalWriter,
+  syncAgentTerminalSnapshot,
+  writeAgentTerminalChunk
+} from './agent-terminal-stream'
+
+// Module-level state is process-keyed and shared across cases, so every test uses
+// unique procIds.
+const CHUNK = 'x'.repeat(64_000)
+
+function runFinishedProc(id: string, chunks = 6): void {
+  for (let i = 0; i < chunks; i++) {
+    writeAgentTerminalChunk(id, CHUNK)
+  }
+}
+
+describe('agent terminal retention is bounded', () => {
+  it('a finished process does not pin its backlog for the life of the renderer', () => {
+    // 200 background commands, none mounted — the shape that grew to ~93 MB.
+    for (let i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
+      runFinishedProc(`bound-${i}`)
+    }
+
+    // The oldest must be gone: reopening it replays nothing until the registry
+    // snapshot re-seeds it.
+    let replayed = ''
+    const stop = registerAgentTerminalWriter('bound-0', chunk => (replayed += chunk))
+
+    stop()
+    expect(replayed).toBe('')
+  })
+
+  it('keeps the most recent process replayable', () => {
+    for (let i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
+      runFinishedProc(`recent-${i}`)
+    }
+
+    let replayed = ''
+    const stop = registerAgentTerminalWriter('recent-199', chunk => (replayed += chunk))
+
+    stop()
+    expect(replayed.length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+  })
+
+  it('never evicts a process whose terminal is mounted', () => {
+    // A long-lived mounted tab, then a flood of unrelated finished processes.
+    const mounted = 'mounted-proc'
+
+    registerAgentTerminalWriter(mounted, () => {})
+    runFinishedProc(mounted)
+
+    for (let i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
+      runFinishedProc(`flood-${i}`)
+    }
+
+    // Still replayable: on-screen state is not a cache.
+    let replayed = ''
+    const stop = registerAgentTerminalWriter(mounted, chunk => (replayed += chunk))
+
+    stop()
+    expect(replayed.length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+  })
+
+  it('recency is the LAST write, not the first', () => {
+    // Small chunks so the CHARACTER ceiling never fires: this case is purely about
+    // the entry ceiling and the order eviction walks. `backlog` insertion order is
+    // the LRU clock, and a plain re-set leaves a key in its ORIGINAL slot — so
+    // without the delete-then-set refresh, touching a process would not protect it.
+    const line = 'x'.repeat(64)
+
+    for (let i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
+      writeAgentTerminalChunk(`age-${i}`, `age-${i}-MARK ${line}\n`)
+    }
+
+    // Touch the OLDEST while it is still resident, then overflow the ceiling.
+    writeAgentTerminalChunk('age-0', 'TOUCHED\n')
+
+    for (let i = 20; i < 32; i++) {
+      writeAgentTerminalChunk(`age-${i}`, `age-${i}-MARK ${line}\n`)
+    }
+
+    const replay = (proc: string) => {
+      let out = ''
+      const stop = registerAgentTerminalWriter(proc, chunk => (out += chunk))
+
+      stop()
+
+      return out
+    }
+
+    // The touched process kept its ORIGINAL content (it was never dropped and
+    // re-created); its untouched neighbour from the same era is gone.
+    expect(replay('age-0')).toContain('age-0-MARK')
+    expect(replay('age-1')).toBe('')
+  })
+
+  it('an evicted process does not diff against a tail it no longer has', () => {
+    // `lastSnapshots` is the delta fence for `backlog`. If eviction dropped the
+    // backlog but KEPT the fence, the next snapshot takes the `startsWith(previous)`
+    // path and writes only the delta — so the screen shows `BBB` where the process
+    // actually printed `AAABBB`.
+    const proc = 'fence-proc'
+
+    writeAgentTerminalChunk(proc, 'AAA')
+    syncAgentTerminalSnapshot(proc, 'AAA')
+
+    for (let i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
+      runFinishedProc(`fence-flood-${i}`)
+    }
+
+    let screen = ''
+
+    const stop = registerAgentTerminalWriter(proc, chunk => {
+      screen = chunk.startsWith('\x1bc') ? chunk.slice(2) : screen + chunk
+    })
+
+    syncAgentTerminalSnapshot(proc, 'AAABBB')
+    stop()
+    expect(screen).toContain('AAABBB')
+  })
+
+  it('an evicted process re-seeds cleanly from the registry snapshot', () => {
+    // Eviction drops backlog AND its lastSnapshots delta fence together, so the
+    // next snapshot must reset the screen rather than diff against a missing tail.
+    for (let i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
+      runFinishedProc(`reseed-${i}`)
+    }
+
+    let screen = ''
+
+    const stop = registerAgentTerminalWriter('reseed-0', chunk => {
+      screen = chunk.startsWith('\x1bc') ? chunk.slice(2) : screen + chunk
+    })
+
+    syncAgentTerminalSnapshot('reseed-0', 'recovered output')
+    stop()
+    expect(screen).toContain('recovered output')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/right-sidebar/terminal/agent-terminal-stream.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/right-sidebar/terminal/agent-terminal-stream.ts
index 8b5f581e96..a2612c136f 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/right-sidebar/terminal/agent-terminal-stream.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/right-sidebar/terminal/agent-terminal-stream.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,59 @@ const seededCommands = new Set<string>()
 
 const MAX_BACKLOG = 256_000
 
+// Every `terminal(background=true)` mints a NEW process id, and nothing here ever
+// forgot one: a finished process kept its backlog and last snapshot for the life of
+// the renderer. Retention grew linearly with the number of commands ever run —
+// replaying every process through `registerAgentTerminalWriter` measured 256K chars
+// held per process (~512 KB, JS strings being UTF-16), so 100 -> 25.6M chars, 200 ->
+// 51.2M, 400 -> 102.4M (~195 MB). One shape of the unbounded renderer growth in #77311.
+//
+// Bounded like the other renderer caches (`lib/lru-cache`, `chat/shiki-highlight-cache`):
+// an entry ceiling AND a total-character ceiling, since one busy process can hold as
+// much as twenty quiet ones. A process whose terminal is MOUNTED is never evicted —
+// that is on screen, not a cache. Everything dropped is regenerable: the next
+// `syncAgentTerminalSnapshot` re-seeds the tab from the registry's rolling tail.
+const MAX_TRACKED_PROCS = 24
+const MAX_TOTAL_CHARS = 2_000_000
+
+/** Forget one process entirely. The four maps are evicted TOGETHER: `lastSnapshots`
+ *  is the delta fence for `backlog`, so dropping one without the other would make the
+ *  next snapshot diff against a tail that is no longer there. */
+function forgetProc(procId: string): void {
+  backlog.delete(procId)
+  commandHeaders.delete(procId)
+  lastSnapshots.delete(procId)
+  seededCommands.delete(procId)
+}
+
+/** Drop the least-recently-written unmounted processes until both ceilings hold.
+ *  `backlog` insertion order is the LRU clock (writers re-insert on every chunk). */
+function evictColdProcs(): void {
+  const total = () => {
+    let chars = 0
+
+    for (const [proc, text] of backlog) {
+      chars += text.length + (lastSnapshots.get(proc)?.length ?? 0)
+    }
+
+    return chars
+  }
+
+  if (backlog.size <= MAX_TRACKED_PROCS && total() <= MAX_TOTAL_CHARS) {
+    return
+  }
+
+  for (const proc of [...backlog.keys()]) {
+    if (backlog.size <= MAX_TRACKED_PROCS && total() <= MAX_TOTAL_CHARS) {
+      return
+    }
+
+    if (!writers.has(proc)) {
+      forgetProc(proc)
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 /** A live agent terminal registers its xterm write and replays the backlog.
  *  Returns an idempotent unregister. */
 export function registerAgentTerminalWriter(procId: string, write: Writer): () => void {
@@ -40,8 +93,12 @@ export function writeAgentTerminalChunk(procId: string, chunk: string): void {
   }
 
   const next = (backlog.get(procId) ?? '') + chunk
+  // delete-then-set moves this process to the tail: a plain re-set would keep its
+  // original slot and make the oldest-first eviction below pick a live process.
+  backlog.delete(procId)
   backlog.set(procId, next.length > MAX_BACKLOG ? next.slice(-MAX_BACKLOG) : next)
   writers.get(procId)?.(chunk)
+  evictColdProcs()
 }
 
 /** Seed the tab with the command immediately, so an agent terminal never opens
@@ -75,6 +132,7 @@ export function syncAgentTerminalSnapshot(procId: string, output: string): void
 
   if (output === previous || output === body || body.endsWith(output)) {
     lastSnapshots.set(procId, output)
+    evictColdProcs()
 
     return
   }