diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding-chat/cards/build.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding-chat/cards/build.tsx
index 1457200518..85862205f1 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding-chat/cards/build.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding-chat/cards/build.tsx
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import { quarantineHandoffReceipt } from '@/app/contrib/handoff-receipt'
 import { resolveSessionOwner } from '@/app/session/hooks/use-session-actions/utils'
 import type { CardProps } from '@/components/onboarding-chat/cards/frame'
 import { Chip } from '@/components/onboarding-chat/chip'
+import { readPersistedHandoff } from '@/components/onboarding-chat/persisted-handoff'
 import {
   $handoffError,
   $setupHandoff,
@@ -123,6 +124,8 @@ export function HandoffCard({ attrs, locked }: CardProps) {
   const brief = (attrs.brief ?? '').trim().slice(0, 240)
   const plan = parseHandoffPlan(attrs.plan)
   const state = useStore($setupHandoff)
+  // `locked` follows this text part; a later part (a tool call, reasoning) settles it while the reply still runs.
+  const replyRunning = useAuiState(s => s.message.status?.type === 'running')
 
   const receipt = useMemo(() => {
     try {
@@ -139,24 +142,33 @@ export function HandoffCard({ attrs, locked }: CardProps) {
   const completed = receipt.completed
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    if (!task || !brief || locked || !storedId || !runtimeId || $setupHandoff.get() || completed) {
+    if (!task || !brief || locked || replyRunning || !storedId || !runtimeId || $setupHandoff.get() || completed) {
       return
     }
 
     let cancelled = false
     void resolveSessionOwner(storedId)
-      .then(owner => {
+      .then(async owner => {
         assertSessionOwnerResolved(owner, { method: 'onboarding.handoff', sessionId: storedId })
 
+        const connectionId = isSessionOwnerRoute(owner) ? owner.connectionId : null
+
+        const profile = isSessionOwnerRoute(owner)
+          ? owner.profile
+          : owner || $setupSession.get()?.profile || $activeGatewayProfile.get()
+
+        // An unreachable history keeps the rendered attrs: today's behaviour, never a stalled handoff.
+        const persisted = await readPersistedHandoff(connectionId, profile, runtimeId).catch(() => null)
+        const persistedTask = (persisted?.task ?? '').trim().slice(0, 60)
+        const persistedBrief = (persisted?.brief ?? '').trim().slice(0, 240)
+
         if (!cancelled) {
-          requestSetupHandoff(task, brief, plan, {
-            storedId,
-            runtimeId,
-            connectionId: isSessionOwnerRoute(owner) ? owner.connectionId : null,
-            profile: isSessionOwnerRoute(owner)
-              ? owner.profile
-              : owner || $setupSession.get()?.profile || $activeGatewayProfile.get()
-          })
+          requestSetupHandoff(
+            persistedTask || task,
+            persistedBrief || brief,
+            persisted ? parseHandoffPlan(persisted.plan) : plan,
+            { storedId, runtimeId, connectionId, profile }
+          )
         }
       })
       .catch(error => {
@@ -169,7 +181,7 @@ export function HandoffCard({ attrs, locked }: CardProps) {
     return () => {
       cancelled = true
     }
-  }, [brief, locked, plan, task, storedId, runtimeId, completed])
+  }, [brief, locked, plan, replyRunning, task, storedId, runtimeId, completed])
 
   if (!task || !brief) {
     return null
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding-chat/persisted-handoff.ts b/apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding-chat/persisted-handoff.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..98555b50a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding-chat/persisted-handoff.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import type { SessionHistoryResult } from '@hermes/shared'
+
+import { segmentTranscriptDirectives } from '@/lib/transcript-directives'
+import { requestGatewayForAgent } from '@/store/gateway'
+
+/**
+ * The handoff directive as the backend persisted it for the welcome chat. The build session is named and seeded
+ * from these attrs, so they come from the stored reply, not the renderer's streamed copy of it: on Windows the
+ * streamed copy once repeated its own chunks ("Set up mySet up my games…") while the stored reply was intact, and
+ * the handoff carried the garbled task and brief into the new session. Null when no persisted reply holds one.
+ */
+export async function readPersistedHandoff(
+  connectionId: null | string,
+  profile: string,
+  runtimeId: string
+): Promise<null | Readonly<Record<string, string>>> {
+  const history = await requestGatewayForAgent<Partial<SessionHistoryResult>>(
+    connectionId,
+    profile,
+    'session.history',
+    {
+      session_id: runtimeId
+    }
+  )
+
+  const messages = Array.isArray(history?.messages) ? history.messages : []
+
+  for (let index = messages.length - 1; index >= 0; index -= 1) {
+    const message = messages[index]
+
+    if (message?.role !== 'assistant' || typeof message.text !== 'string') {
+      continue
+    }
+
+    for (const segment of segmentTranscriptDirectives(message.text) ?? []) {
+      if (
+        segment.kind === 'directive' &&
+        segment.directive.name === 'onboarding' &&
+        segment.directive.attrs.step === 'handoff'
+      ) {
+        return segment.directive.attrs
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return null
+}