diff --git a/tests/tools/test_process_registry.py b/tests/tools/test_process_registry.py
index 55634ed0d4..2bae67caef 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_process_registry.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_process_registry.py
@@ -314,6 +314,57 @@ def test_reader_loop_streams_incremental_chunks_from_read1(registry, monkeypatch
     assert moved == ["proc_reader_live"]
 
 
+def test_reader_waits_past_early_stdout_eof_before_publishing_completion(registry, monkeypatch):
+    """Closing stdout is not process completion; the reader must still reap the child."""
+
+    class _EarlyEofStdout:
+        def read(self, _n):
+            return ""
+
+    class _StillRunningProcess:
+        stdout = _EarlyEofStdout()
+
+        def __init__(self):
+            self.returncode = None
+            self.wait_timeouts = []
+
+        def wait(self, timeout=None):
+            self.wait_timeouts.append(timeout)
+            if timeout is not None:
+                raise subprocess.TimeoutExpired("render", timeout)
+            self.returncode = 0
+            return 0
+
+    session = _make_session(sid="proc_early_eof")
+    session.process = _StillRunningProcess()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(registry, "_move_to_finished", lambda _s: None)
+
+    registry._reader_loop(session)
+
+    assert session.process.wait_timeouts == [None]
+    assert session.exited is True
+    assert session.exit_code == 0
+
+
+def test_failed_reader_wait_does_not_publish_false_completion(registry, monkeypatch):
+    """A failed reap must leave the session running for later reconciliation."""
+    session = _make_session(sid="proc_wait_failed")
+    moved = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(registry, "_move_to_finished", lambda _s: moved.append(_s.id))
+
+    registry._finish_reader(
+        session,
+        MagicMock(decode=MagicMock(return_value="")),
+        lambda _text: None,
+        "Process",
+        MagicMock(side_effect=OSError("wait failed")),
+        lambda: None,
+    )
+
+    assert session.exited is False
+    assert moved == []
+
+
 # =========================================================================
 # Incremental UTF-8 decoding across chunk boundaries
 # (ported from openclaw/openclaw#112325)
diff --git a/tools/process_registry.py b/tools/process_registry.py
index 8300c745dc..3eb2c4d3f4 100644
--- a/tools/process_registry.py
+++ b/tools/process_registry.py
@@ -1161,11 +1161,16 @@ class ProcessRegistry(ProcessCheckpointMixin):
         finally:
             self._finish_reader(
                 session, decoder, _append_chunk, "Process",
-                lambda: session.process.wait(timeout=5), lambda: session.process.returncode)
+                session.process.wait, lambda: session.process.returncode)
 
     def _finish_reader(self, session, decoder, append, label, wait, exit_code) -> None:
         """Reader-thread teardown: flush the decoder (a truncated multibyte tail becomes
-        one U+FFFD instead of vanishing), reap the child (no zombies), record the exit."""
+        one U+FFFD instead of vanishing), reap the child (no zombies), record the exit.
+
+        A process may close stdout long before it exits.  The reader owns a dedicated
+        daemon thread, so it must keep waiting rather than publish a false completion
+        and discard the only ``Popen`` handle that can reap the child.
+        """
         with suppress(Exception):
             tail = decoder.decode(b"", final=True)
             if tail:
@@ -1173,7 +1178,8 @@ class ProcessRegistry(ProcessCheckpointMixin):
         try:
             wait()
         except Exception as e:
-            logger.debug("%s wait timed out or failed: %s", label, e)
+            logger.warning("%s wait failed; leaving process tracked: %s", label, e)
+            return
         self._finish_exited(session, exit_code())
 
     @staticmethod