diff --git a/src/daemon/session-manager.ts b/src/daemon/session-manager.ts
index a54ab22..a016567 100644
--- a/src/daemon/session-manager.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/session-manager.ts
@@ -572,6 +572,20 @@ export class SessionManager {
    * Rebuilds in-memory session objects and scrollback buffers.
    */
   async resumeSessions(): Promise<number> {
+    // Correct statuses stranded by a daemon that stopped mid-turn. A resumed
+    // Session always starts `idle` in memory, so a row still claiming
+    // `thinking` / `tool_running` / `waiting_approval` is pure staleness — it
+    // made the session list show work that no longer exists (and, for
+    // `waiting_approval`, an approval whose resolver died with the process).
+    // Done BEFORE resume so rows and live sessions agree from the first
+    // broadcast.
+    const corrected = this.#store.reconcileStaleSessionStatuses();
+    if (corrected > 0) {
+      console.log(
+        `[codeoid] reconciled ${corrected} stale session status(es) left by a previous run`,
+      );
+    }
+
     // Reload the durable conductor identity first (design R2): the persisted
     // {identityId, wimseUri, apiKey} row is reused instead of re-registering,
     // so the conductor keeps ONE stable WIMSE URI across daemon restarts.
diff --git a/src/daemon/session.ts b/src/daemon/session.ts
index 17e3b50..de65a6a 100644
--- a/src/daemon/session.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/session.ts
@@ -1839,7 +1839,7 @@ export class Session {
     // the message is already persisted, the user re-sends after deciding.
     if (this.#status === "waiting_approval") {
       throw new Error(
-        "A tool approval is pending — approve or deny it before sending (this backend can't queue mid-turn).",
+        `${this.#describePendingApprovals()} — approve or deny it before sending (this backend can't queue mid-turn). Your message was saved; send again after deciding.`,
       );
     }
 
@@ -3334,6 +3334,31 @@ export class Session {
 
   // ── Internals ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
+  /**
+   * Human-readable summary of what is currently blocking a send.
+   *
+   * The old rejection just said "A tool approval is pending", which told the
+   * user that *something* was waiting but not what, and gave them nothing to
+   * act on — so a message sent after stepping away read as the session simply
+   * going silent. Tool names come from the same maps the approval bar uses
+   * (`#approvalIdToMessageId` → `#toolCallMessages`), so no extra bookkeeping.
+   *
+   * Falls back to the generic phrasing when the maps have no entry — the
+   * status is authoritative, the label is best-effort, and a missing name must
+   * never turn a clear refusal into a crash.
+   */
+  #describePendingApprovals(): string {
+    const names: string[] = [];
+    for (const approvalId of this.#pendingApprovals.keys()) {
+      const msgId = this.#approvalIdToMessageId.get(approvalId);
+      const name = msgId ? this.#toolCallMessages.get(msgId)?.tool?.name : undefined;
+      if (name) names.push(name);
+    }
+    if (names.length === 0) return "A tool approval is pending";
+    if (names.length === 1) return `The tool \`${names[0]}\` is waiting for approval`;
+    return `${names.length} tool approvals are pending (${names.join(", ")})`;
+  }
+
   #waitForApproval(
     approvalId: string,
   ): Promise<{ approved: boolean; updatedInput?: Record<string, unknown> }> {
diff --git a/src/daemon/store.ts b/src/daemon/store.ts
index fb57e0c..76e15aa 100644
--- a/src/daemon/store.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/store.ts
@@ -719,6 +719,33 @@ export class Store {
       .run(status, id);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Reconcile non-terminal statuses left behind by a daemon that stopped
+   * mid-turn. Returns the number of rows corrected.
+   *
+   * `thinking` / `tool_running` / `waiting_approval` all describe work owned by
+   * a LIVE process: the provider's turn loop, and for approvals the in-memory
+   * `#pendingApprovals` resolvers. None of that survives a restart — a resumed
+   * Session starts at `idle` (`#status` is initialised, never restored) — but
+   * the row was never corrected, so `codeoid ls` and the web UI kept showing
+   * sessions as busy indefinitely. Observed on a live daemon: rows stuck in
+   * `tool_running` and `waiting_approval` for 11–19 days across restarts.
+   *
+   * `error` is deliberately preserved: it is a terminal state a human may still
+   * want to see, not an artifact of the process dying.
+   *
+   * Call once at boot, BEFORE resumeSessions, so resumed sessions and their
+   * rows agree from the first broadcast.
+   */
+  reconcileStaleSessionStatuses(): number {
+    return this.#db
+      .prepare(
+        `UPDATE sessions SET status = 'idle'
+          WHERE status IN ('thinking', 'tool_running', 'waiting_approval')`,
+      )
+      .run().changes;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Rename a session (`session.rename`). The `name` column is otherwise
    * written ONLY by createSession's INSERT OR REPLACE, so without this a
diff --git a/src/tests/stale-status-reconcile.test.ts b/src/tests/stale-status-reconcile.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2843169
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tests/stale-status-reconcile.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+import { describe, test, expect, beforeEach, afterEach } from "bun:test";
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { Store } from "../daemon/store.js";
+import type { SessionStatus } from "../protocol/types.js";
+
+/**
+ * `thinking` / `tool_running` / `waiting_approval` all describe work owned by a
+ * LIVE process — the provider's turn loop, and for approvals the in-memory
+ * resolver map. None of it survives a restart, and a resumed Session starts at
+ * `idle` (its `#status` field is initialised, never restored from the row). The
+ * rows were nonetheless left untouched, so the session list kept advertising
+ * work that no longer existed — observed stuck for 11-19 days across restarts
+ * on a live daemon.
+ */
+describe("reconcileStaleSessionStatuses", () => {
+  let dir: string;
+  let store: Store;
+
+  const seed = (id: string, status: SessionStatus) =>
+    store.createSession({
+      id,
+      name: `s-${id}`,
+      workdir: "/tmp",
+      status,
+      createdBy: "test",
+      accountId: "acct",
+      projectId: "proj",
+    } as never);
+
+  const statusOf = (id: string) => store.getSession(id)?.status;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "codeoid-reconcile-"));
+    store = new Store(join(dir, "codeoid.db"));
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  test("clears every non-terminal status left by a dead process", () => {
+    seed("a", "thinking");
+    seed("b", "tool_running");
+    seed("c", "waiting_approval");
+
+    expect(store.reconcileStaleSessionStatuses()).toBe(3);
+    for (const id of ["a", "b", "c"]) expect(statusOf(id)).toBe("idle");
+  });
+
+  test("preserves `error` — a terminal state a human may still want to see", () => {
+    seed("err", "error");
+    seed("busy", "thinking");
+
+    // Only the live-work row is corrected.
+    expect(store.reconcileStaleSessionStatuses()).toBe(1);
+    expect(statusOf("err")).toBe("error");
+    expect(statusOf("busy")).toBe("idle");
+  });
+
+  test("leaves already-idle rows untouched and reports zero", () => {
+    seed("calm", "idle");
+    expect(store.reconcileStaleSessionStatuses()).toBe(0);
+    expect(statusOf("calm")).toBe("idle");
+  });
+
+  test("is idempotent — a second boot corrects nothing", () => {
+    seed("a", "waiting_approval");
+    expect(store.reconcileStaleSessionStatuses()).toBe(1);
+    expect(store.reconcileStaleSessionStatuses()).toBe(0);
+    expect(statusOf("a")).toBe("idle");
+  });
+});