@@ -93,6 +93,17 @@ experience may change before `1.0.0`.
   `[all]`, and the nightly install job and `scripts/smoke-uv-tool-install.sh`
   import the runtime in that venv. Existing installs pick it up with
   `./scripts/install.sh --tools-only`.
+- Returning to the Study view after `studyloop web` restarted no longer offers
+  the session the old server was running and then reports *This session
+  reports transport "pty", which this view cannot render*. A browser-terminal
+  or ACP session runs inside the server that started it; when that server
+  stops without ending it, `/api/session/state` now reports the session ended
+  (the verdict `/session/start` already reached) instead of live with nothing
+  to connect to, and deletes nothing, because an unended session's parking lot
+  holds unflushed notes. The console's fallback also stops blaming the
+  renderer when only the connection is missing: a known transport with no
+  connection URL now reads *The server did not return a connection for this
+  session*.
 
 ## [0.5.0] - 2026-09-21
 
 
@@ -148,6 +148,13 @@ If the transport is already `pty` and the panel still reports no terminal, the
 server did not return a connection for the session. Ending and restarting the
 session clears this; the message says so rather than leaving a blank pane.
 
+A session whose server stopped while it ran (`studyloop web` was restarted,
+crashed, or its terminal was closed) is not offered for reattach. A browser
+terminal or ACP session runs inside the server that started it, so once that
+process is gone `/api/session/state` reports the session ended and the Study
+view shows the picker. Start a new session; the old one's parking-lot file is
+left in place.
+
 ## The Terminal Is Empty After A Page Refresh
 
 The panel should reattach on its own. What holds today:
 
@@ -446,6 +446,29 @@ def _reservation_pid_is_live_and_foreign(state: dict) -> bool:
     return _pid_is_alive(pid)
 
 
+def web_claim_is_orphaned(state: dict) -> bool:
+    """Whether ``state`` names a web session (PTY/ACP) whose server has gone.
+
+    A web-owned session lives inside the server process that started it, and
+    ``pid`` records that process. When the pid is neither this process nor
+    alive, nothing can be serving the session, whatever ``mode`` says: the
+    crash-then-restart cell :func:`claim_blocks_web_start` already treats as
+    stale on the start side. The read side needs the same verdict, or
+    ``/api/session/state`` offers a session for reattach that nothing serves.
+
+    A CLI session is never judged here -- its ``pid`` is the CLI process,
+    which can exit while its multiplexer session lives on. This process's own
+    pid is never an orphan (a start in flight writes its reservation before
+    the slot is acquired), and a claim with no ``pid`` cannot be proven dead.
+    """
+    if not _claim_exists(state) or state.get("transport") not in ("pty", "acp"):
+        return False
+    pid = state.get("pid")
+    if not isinstance(pid, int) or pid == os.getpid():
+        return False
+    return not _pid_is_alive(pid)
+
+
 def claim_blocks_web_start(state: dict) -> bool:
     """Whether a file claim should block a new web PTY/ACP session start.
 
 
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 import logging
 
-from studyloop.session_state import PARKING_FILE, STATE_FILE, TOPICS_FILE
+from studyloop.session_state import PARKING_FILE, STATE_FILE, TOPICS_FILE, web_claim_is_orphaned
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -43,6 +43,13 @@ def _get_full_state() -> dict:
                 f.unlink(missing_ok=True)
         return {"topics": [], "parking": []}
 
+    if web_claim_is_orphaned(state):
+        # A PTY/ACP session lives inside the server that started it, and that
+        # process is gone, so the session is too: report it ended, the verdict
+        # /session/start already reaches. Delete nothing -- a session that
+        # never ended never flushed its parking lot, and that is learner data.
+        state = {**state, "mode": "ended"}
+
     topics = session_pkg.parse_topics_file()
     parking = session_pkg.parse_parking_file()
     return {
 
@@ -812,16 +812,20 @@ export function liveAgentConsole(origin = 'study') {
          The ttyd iframe was retired once the pty path survived a page reload, and
          ttyd retirement stage 3 removed the server-side transport axis entirely —
          the server now rejects transport=ttyd/STUDYLOOP_TRANSPORT=ttyd outright.
-         This method is the generic "the server reported a transport this view
-         cannot render" fallback for any future unrecognised value, not a
-         ttyd-specific branch. */
+         Two different failures land here, and the message must name the right
+         one: a KNOWN transport with no connection URL (the server gave nothing
+         to connect to), or a transport this view genuinely cannot render.
+         Telling a learner "cannot render pty" sent them looking for a renderer
+         problem that was not there. */
       _mountUnavailable(detail) {
         this.terminalMode = 'unavailable';
         this.connected = false;
         this.statusDot = 'error';
         this.status = 'No terminal available';
-        this.statusMessage = detail && detail.transport
-          ? `This session reports transport "${detail.transport}", which this view `
+        const transport = detail && detail.transport;
+        const renderable = transport === 'pty' || transport === 'acp';
+        this.statusMessage = transport && !renderable
+          ? `This session reports transport "${transport}", which this view `
             + 'cannot render. End the session and start it again with the browser '
             + 'terminal or ACP.'
           : 'The server did not return a connection for this session. Ending and '