diff --git a/hermes_cli/AGENTS.md b/hermes_cli/AGENTS.md
index 291e5eabc9..881efef70e 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/AGENTS.md
+++ b/hermes_cli/AGENTS.md
@@ -129,7 +129,15 @@ it guards. `plan → snapshot → apply → restart-per-kind → verify → repo
   (`latest.json` pointer; steps, skips WITH reasons, restart outcome, plan, fleet snapshot).
   Finalization is owned by the `cmd_update` command boundary — early `sys.exit` paths (preflight
   refusals, fetch failures) still persist a receipt with the real exit code. A begun-but-unwritten
-  receipt is a bug: refused/failed runs are the ones receipts exist for.
+  receipt is a bug: refused/failed runs are the ones receipts exist for. The receipt writer runs in
+  the PRE-pull interpreter after the module purge, so `update_receipt.py` may import only stdlib and
+  purge-protected modules (`hermes_constants`) — a `hermes_cli.config` import there re-executed the
+  pulled config against a stale `utils` and silently dropped the whole receipt; a write failure
+  prints `⚠ Update receipt not written` and logs at WARNING, never debug.
+- **Post-update steps are isolated**: everything after the code swap that runs pulled code in the
+  pre-pull process (`_finish_dashboard_update_cleanup`, notices, probes) catches its own failure,
+  prints it, and records a failed receipt step — one stale-symbol `AttributeError` must not abort
+  the fleet matrix, reconciliation and receipt finalize that follow it.
 
 Process-scan coordination between updater, serve/dashboard, and gateway is being replaced by a
 gateway-owned control socket (#92091); scans are the fallback layer for old/crashed processes — read
diff --git a/hermes_cli/update_cmd_maint.py b/hermes_cli/update_cmd_maint.py
index c76fbd68a9..9849e701e9 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/update_cmd_maint.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/update_cmd_maint.py
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ def _finish_dashboard_update_cleanup(
 
     See #83595.
     """
-    from hermes_cli.update_cmd import _m, _reload_process_scan_modules
+    from hermes_cli.update_cmd import _m, _record_update_step, _reload_process_scan_modules
     if node_failures:
         print()
         print("  ℹ Leaving running dashboard process(es) untouched because the")
@@ -392,9 +392,22 @@ def _finish_dashboard_update_cleanup(
 
     _reload_process_scan_modules()
 
-    stop_result = _m()._kill_stale_dashboard_processes(
-        restart_managed=True, already_restarted_units=already_restarted_units
-    )
+    try:
+        stop_result = _m()._kill_stale_dashboard_processes(
+            restart_managed=True, already_restarted_units=already_restarted_units
+        )
+    except Exception as exc:
+        # Isolated like every sibling post-update step: this runs in the pre-pull interpreter
+        # against pulled code, and a symbol gap here (#112604) used to abort the fleet matrix,
+        # reconciliation and the inner receipt finalize that follow it. A dashboard/serve left
+        # on pre-update code is still caught by the survivor probe → reconciliation (exit 1).
+        logger.warning("Post-update dashboard cleanup failed: %s", exc)
+        _record_update_step("dashboard_cleanup", False, f"{type(exc).__name__}: {exc}")
+        print()
+        print(f"⚠ Could not refresh running dashboard/serve process(es): {exc}")
+        print("  If one is still running, restart it so it serves the updated code:")
+        print("    hermes dashboard --port <port>   (or: systemctl --user restart hermes-dashboard)")
+        return
     if not stop_result.get("unrecovered"):
         return
 
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_update_stale_dashboard.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_update_stale_dashboard.py
index ff2dca1390..025aac8a00 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_update_stale_dashboard.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_update_stale_dashboard.py
@@ -940,6 +940,34 @@ class TestPostUpdateStaleModuleReload:
         assert "hermes_cli._subprocess_compat" in reloaded
         assert "hermes_cli.dashboard_procs" in reloaded
 
+    def test_cleanup_failure_is_isolated_and_recorded(self, capsys):
+        """#112604 class: the cleanup runs pulled ``dashboard_procs`` in the pre-pull interpreter,
+        so a symbol gap raises AttributeError from inside the scan. That exception used to
+        propagate out of ``_finish_dashboard_update_cleanup`` and abort the fleet-verification
+        tail (matrix, reconciliation, inner receipt finalize). It must be contained, made
+        visible, and recorded as a failed step on the open receipt."""
+        import hermes_cli.update_receipt as ur
+        from hermes_cli import update_cmd
+
+        ur._current = None
+        try:
+            ur.begin_update_receipt()
+            with patch.object(update_cmd, "_reload_process_scan_modules"), patch(
+                "hermes_cli.main._kill_stale_dashboard_processes",
+                side_effect=AttributeError(
+                    "module 'hermes_cli.main_dashboard' has no attribute '_loaded_launchd_backend_jobs'"
+                ),
+            ):
+                update_cmd._finish_dashboard_update_cleanup([])  # must not raise
+
+            steps = {s["name"]: s for s in ur._current.data["steps"]}
+        finally:
+            ur._current = None
+
+        assert steps["dashboard_cleanup"]["ok"] is False
+        assert "_loaded_launchd_backend_jobs" in steps["dashboard_cleanup"]["detail"]
+        assert "_loaded_launchd_backend_jobs" in capsys.readouterr().out
+
 
 class TestLaunchdSupervisedBackends:
     """macOS (#111689): a backend supervised by a launchd job must come back through launchd. Respawning