diff --git a/bin/lib/runtime-recovery.js b/bin/lib/runtime-recovery.js
index ddd358932..0f0346c7d 100644
--- a/bin/lib/runtime-recovery.js
+++ b/bin/lib/runtime-recovery.js
@@ -1,84 +1,7 @@
 // SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+// Thin re-export shim — the implementation lives in src/lib/runtime-recovery.ts,
+// compiled to dist/lib/runtime-recovery.js.
 
-const onboardSession = require("./onboard-session");
-
-function stripAnsi(text) {
-  // eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex
-  return String(text || "").replace(/\x1b\[[0-9;]*m/g, "");
-}
-
-function parseLiveSandboxNames(listOutput = "") {
-  const clean = stripAnsi(listOutput);
-  const names = new Set();
-  for (const rawLine of clean.split("\n")) {
-    const line = rawLine.trim();
-    if (!line) continue;
-    if (/^(NAME|No sandboxes found\.?$)/i.test(line)) continue;
-    if (/^Error:/i.test(line)) continue;
-    const cols = line.split(/\s+/);
-    if (cols[0]) {
-      names.add(cols[0]);
-    }
-  }
-  return names;
-}
-
-function classifySandboxLookup(output = "") {
-  const clean = stripAnsi(output).trim();
-  if (!clean) {
-    return { state: "missing", reason: "empty" };
-  }
-  if (/sandbox not found|status:\s*NotFound/i.test(clean)) {
-    return { state: "missing", reason: "not_found" };
-  }
-  if (
-    /transport error|client error|Connection reset by peer|Connection refused|No active gateway|Gateway: .*Error/i.test(
-      clean,
-    )
-  ) {
-    return { state: "unavailable", reason: "gateway_unavailable" };
-  }
-  return { state: "present", reason: "ok" };
-}
-
-function classifyGatewayStatus(output = "") {
-  const clean = stripAnsi(output).trim();
-  if (!clean) {
-    return { state: "inactive", reason: "empty" };
-  }
-  if (/Connected/i.test(clean)) {
-    return { state: "connected", reason: "ok" };
-  }
-  if (
-    /No active gateway|transport error|client error|Connection reset by peer|Connection refused|Gateway: .*Error/i.test(
-      clean,
-    )
-  ) {
-    return { state: "unavailable", reason: "gateway_unavailable" };
-  }
-  return { state: "inactive", reason: "not_connected" };
-}
-
-function shouldAttemptGatewayRecovery({
-  sandboxState = "missing",
-  gatewayState = "inactive",
-} = {}) {
-  return sandboxState === "unavailable" && gatewayState !== "connected";
-}
-
-function getRecoveryCommand() {
-  const session = onboardSession.loadSession();
-  if (session && session.resumable !== false) {
-    return "nemoclaw onboard --resume";
-  }
-  return "nemoclaw onboard";
-}
-
-module.exports = {
-  classifyGatewayStatus,
-  classifySandboxLookup,
-  getRecoveryCommand,
-  parseLiveSandboxNames,
-  shouldAttemptGatewayRecovery,
-};
+module.exports = require("../../dist/lib/runtime-recovery");
diff --git a/test/runtime-recovery.test.js b/src/lib/runtime-recovery.test.ts
similarity index 82%
rename from test/runtime-recovery.test.js
rename to src/lib/runtime-recovery.test.ts
index c58b51af3..cf364bd8b 100644
--- a/test/runtime-recovery.test.js
+++ b/src/lib/runtime-recovery.test.ts
@@ -3,12 +3,13 @@
 
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
+// Import from compiled dist/ for correct coverage attribution.
 import {
   classifyGatewayStatus,
   classifySandboxLookup,
   parseLiveSandboxNames,
   shouldAttemptGatewayRecovery,
-} from "../bin/lib/runtime-recovery";
+} from "../../dist/lib/runtime-recovery";
 
 describe("runtime recovery helpers", () => {
   it("parses live sandbox names from openshell sandbox list output", () => {
@@ -29,6 +30,15 @@ describe("runtime recovery helpers", () => {
     expect(Array.from(parseLiveSandboxNames("No sandboxes found."))).toEqual([]);
   });
 
+  it("skips error lines", () => {
+    expect(Array.from(parseLiveSandboxNames("Error: something went wrong"))).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("handles empty input", () => {
+    expect(Array.from(parseLiveSandboxNames(""))).toEqual([]);
+    expect(Array.from(parseLiveSandboxNames())).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   it("classifies missing sandbox lookups", () => {
     expect(
       classifySandboxLookup('Error:   × status: NotFound, message: "sandbox not found"').state,
@@ -52,14 +62,7 @@ describe("runtime recovery helpers", () => {
   it("classifies successful sandbox lookups as present", () => {
     expect(
       classifySandboxLookup(
-        [
-          "Sandbox:",
-          "",
-          "  Id: abc",
-          "  Name: my-assistant",
-          "  Namespace: openshell",
-          "  Phase: Ready",
-        ].join("\n"),
+        ["Sandbox:", "", "  Id: abc", "  Name: my-assistant", "  Phase: Ready"].join("\n"),
       ).state,
     ).toBe("present");
   });
@@ -68,6 +71,9 @@ describe("runtime recovery helpers", () => {
     expect(classifyGatewayStatus("Gateway: nemoclaw\nStatus: Connected").state).toBe("connected");
     expect(classifyGatewayStatus("Error:   × No active gateway").state).toBe("unavailable");
     expect(classifyGatewayStatus("").state).toBe("inactive");
+    expect(classifyGatewayStatus("Gateway: nemoclaw\nStatus: Disconnected").state).toBe(
+      "inactive",
+    );
   });
 
   it("only attempts gateway recovery when sandbox access is unavailable and gateway is down", () => {
diff --git a/src/lib/runtime-recovery.ts b/src/lib/runtime-recovery.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..134d433f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/runtime-recovery.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+/**
+ * Runtime recovery helpers — classify sandbox/gateway state from CLI
+ * output and determine recovery strategy.
+ */
+
+// onboard-session is CJS — keep as require
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-require-imports
+const onboardSession = require("../../bin/lib/onboard-session");
+
+// eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex
+const ANSI_RE = /\x1b\[[0-9;]*m/g;
+
+function stripAnsi(text: unknown): string {
+  return String(text || "").replace(ANSI_RE, "");
+}
+
+export interface StateClassification {
+  state: string;
+  reason: string;
+}
+
+export function parseLiveSandboxNames(listOutput = ""): Set<string> {
+  const clean = stripAnsi(listOutput);
+  const names = new Set<string>();
+  for (const rawLine of clean.split("\n")) {
+    const line = rawLine.trim();
+    if (!line) continue;
+    if (/^(NAME|No sandboxes found\.?$)/i.test(line)) continue;
+    if (/^Error:/i.test(line)) continue;
+    const cols = line.split(/\s+/);
+    if (cols[0]) {
+      names.add(cols[0]);
+    }
+  }
+  return names;
+}
+
+export function classifySandboxLookup(output = ""): StateClassification {
+  const clean = stripAnsi(output).trim();
+  if (!clean) {
+    return { state: "missing", reason: "empty" };
+  }
+  if (/sandbox not found|status:\s*NotFound/i.test(clean)) {
+    return { state: "missing", reason: "not_found" };
+  }
+  if (
+    /transport error|client error|Connection reset by peer|Connection refused|No active gateway|Gateway: .*Error/i.test(
+      clean,
+    )
+  ) {
+    return { state: "unavailable", reason: "gateway_unavailable" };
+  }
+  return { state: "present", reason: "ok" };
+}
+
+export function classifyGatewayStatus(output = ""): StateClassification {
+  const clean = stripAnsi(output).trim();
+  if (!clean) {
+    return { state: "inactive", reason: "empty" };
+  }
+  if (/\bConnected\b/i.test(clean) && !/\bDisconnected\b/i.test(clean)) {
+    return { state: "connected", reason: "ok" };
+  }
+  if (
+    /No active gateway|transport error|client error|Connection reset by peer|Connection refused|Gateway: .*Error/i.test(
+      clean,
+    )
+  ) {
+    return { state: "unavailable", reason: "gateway_unavailable" };
+  }
+  return { state: "inactive", reason: "not_connected" };
+}
+
+export function shouldAttemptGatewayRecovery({
+  sandboxState = "missing",
+  gatewayState = "inactive",
+} = {}): boolean {
+  return sandboxState === "unavailable" && gatewayState !== "connected";
+}
+
+export function getRecoveryCommand(): string {
+  const session = onboardSession.loadSession();
+  if (session && session.resumable !== false) {
+    return "nemoclaw onboard --resume";
+  }
+  return "nemoclaw onboard";
+}