diff --git a/internal/proc/path_other.go b/internal/proc/path_other.go
index ac801bb1..cf442a72 100644
--- a/internal/proc/path_other.go
+++ b/internal/proc/path_other.go
@@ -171,11 +171,22 @@ func shellEnv() (string, map[string]string) {
 }
 
 // askShell runs sh as a terminal opens it and reads what shellEnv says.
+//
+// The shell is a probe (ProbeContext): it leads a session of its own, with
+// no controlling terminal. An interactive zsh in magpie's session took the
+// terminal it was started from — it puts itself in the foreground, as a
+// shell does for its jobs — and while it ran, magpie's own process group
+// was in the background there: Ctrl-C no longer reached `magpie web`, and
+// anything in that group touching the terminal (the bash asked beside it,
+// whose profile runs in magpie's group, an agent's CLI) had the kernel stop
+// the whole group, magpie with it (DD on Discord: magpie web → zsh:
+// suspended (tty input)). A timeout also killed only the shell, leaving
+// what its profile started holding the terminal; a probe's whole group goes.
 func askShell(sh string) (string, map[string]string) {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 5*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 	// interactive too, since many put PATH in .zshrc/.bashrc
-	cmd := CommandContext(ctx, sh, "-ilc", shellProbe(sh))
+	cmd := ProbeContext(ctx, sh, "-ilc", shellProbe(sh))
 	cmd.Stdin = nil
 	out, _ := cmd.Output()
 	return parseShellEnv(string(out), shellMark)
diff --git a/internal/proc/path_other_test.go b/internal/proc/path_other_test.go
index d4943043..d1f40dbf 100644
--- a/internal/proc/path_other_test.go
+++ b/internal/proc/path_other_test.go
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
+	"syscall"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -142,3 +144,35 @@ func TestShellEnvNushell(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR = %q, want none", got)
 	}
 }
+
+// The login shell is asked outside magpie's process group and session (DD
+// on Discord: magpie web → zsh: suspended (tty input)). An interactive zsh
+// in magpie's session puts itself in the terminal's foreground, which left
+// magpie's group in the background there: Ctrl-C no longer reached it, and
+// anything in the group that touched the terminal had the kernel stop all
+// of it. The fake shell answers with its own process group and session; a
+// real zsh, where there is one, still gives its PATH when asked that way.
+func TestAskShellOwnSession(t *testing.T) {
+	home := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("HOME", home)
+	sh := filepath.Join(home, "sh")
+	testenv.Program(t, sh, "#!/bin/sh\nprintf '"+shellMark+"%s %s"+shellMark+"' \"$(ps -o pgid= -p $$ | tr -d ' ')\" \"$(ps -o sess= -p $$ | tr -d ' ')\"\n")
+	out, _ := askShell(sh)
+	f := strings.Fields(out)
+	if len(f) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("the fake shell's answer: %q", out)
+	}
+	if mine := strconv.Itoa(syscall.Getpgrp()); f[0] == mine {
+		t.Fatalf("the login shell ran in magpie's process group %s: a shell there takes the terminal from magpie", mine)
+	}
+	if sid, err := syscall.Getsid(0); err == nil && f[1] == strconv.Itoa(sid) && f[1] != "0" {
+		t.Fatalf("the login shell ran in magpie's session %s: it can take magpie's terminal", f[1])
+	}
+	zsh, err := exec.LookPath("zsh")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Skip("zsh isn't installed")
+	}
+	if p := ShellPath(zsh); len(p) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("zsh asked in a session of its own gave no PATH")
+	}
+}