diff --git a/patches/node-pty@1.1.0.patch b/patches/node-pty@1.1.0.patch
index f37028de..d3b5ebbd 100644
--- a/patches/node-pty@1.1.0.patch
+++ b/patches/node-pty@1.1.0.patch
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ index 1ac5758bedd8cf54f32280dea4e4aeb5afdee30d..e619813759c6f14694838bdfbd0ea5f8
 +++ b/deps/winpty/src/winpty.gyp
 @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
      #    make -j4 CXX=i686-w64-mingw32-g++ LDFLAGS="-static -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++"
- 
+
      'variables': {
 -        'WINPTY_COMMIT_HASH%': '<!(cmd /c "cd shared && GetCommitHash.bat")',
 +        'WINPTY_COMMIT_HASH%': '<!(cmd /c "cd shared && .\\GetCommitHash.bat")',
@@ -54,3 +54,22 @@ index 1ac5758bedd8cf54f32280dea4e4aeb5afdee30d..e619813759c6f14694838bdfbd0ea5f8
              'msvs_settings': {
                  # Specify this setting here to override a setting from somewhere
                  # else, such as node's common.gypi.
+diff --git a/lib/unixTerminal.js b/lib/unixTerminal.js
+index 1ec12f796a822c78fba9ad7f6448c3987e325c23..cec8b67aef02f8199e5606a0d257088bf1865877 100644
+--- a/lib/unixTerminal.js
++++ b/lib/unixTerminal.js
+@@ -28,8 +28,12 @@ var native = utils_1.loadNativeModule('pty');
+ var pty = native.module;
+ var helperPath = native.dir + '/spawn-helper';
+ helperPath = path.resolve(__dirname, helperPath);
+-helperPath = helperPath.replace('app.asar', 'app.asar.unpacked');
+-helperPath = helperPath.replace('node_modules.asar', 'node_modules.asar.unpacked');
++if (!helperPath.includes('app.asar.unpacked')) {
++    helperPath = helperPath.replace('app.asar', 'app.asar.unpacked');
++}
++if (!helperPath.includes('node_modules.asar.unpacked')) {
++    helperPath = helperPath.replace('node_modules.asar', 'node_modules.asar.unpacked');
++}
+ var DEFAULT_FILE = 'sh';
+ var DEFAULT_NAME = 'xterm';
+ var DESTROY_SOCKET_TIMEOUT_MS = 200;
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index f6e26036..b9f29e43 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ patchedDependencies:
     hash: 12b1dc2811a859b6703ebb63be654d1682ff1bb6045713a54e7d47e28deb7776
     path: config/patches/@xterm__addon-fit@0.11.0.patch
   node-pty@1.1.0:
-    hash: d35190e5f762b8d3289f13df0ff40c7ad19dfb64ca488494cce9bea79ab5c0ad
+    hash: 02e16954edbb8e511963557e3b2c80f8a6fb230cd0c6a75ade936022f3347322
     path: patches/node-pty@1.1.0.patch
 
 importers:
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ importers:
         version: 0.55.1
       node-pty:
         specifier: ^1.1.0
-        version: 1.1.0(patch_hash=d35190e5f762b8d3289f13df0ff40c7ad19dfb64ca488494cce9bea79ab5c0ad)
+        version: 1.1.0(patch_hash=02e16954edbb8e511963557e3b2c80f8a6fb230cd0c6a75ade936022f3347322)
       radix-ui:
         specifier: ^1.4.3
         version: 1.4.3(@types/react-dom@19.2.3(@types/react@19.2.14))(@types/react@19.2.14)(react-dom@19.2.4(react@19.2.4))(react@19.2.4)
@@ -10839,7 +10839,7 @@ snapshots:
     transitivePeerDependencies:
       - supports-color
 
-  node-pty@1.1.0(patch_hash=d35190e5f762b8d3289f13df0ff40c7ad19dfb64ca488494cce9bea79ab5c0ad):
+  node-pty@1.1.0(patch_hash=02e16954edbb8e511963557e3b2c80f8a6fb230cd0c6a75ade936022f3347322):
     dependencies:
       node-addon-api: 7.1.1
 
diff --git a/src/main/daemon/daemon-init.ts b/src/main/daemon/daemon-init.ts
index 1868af24..f7ae53e7 100644
--- a/src/main/daemon/daemon-init.ts
+++ b/src/main/daemon/daemon-init.ts
@@ -78,7 +78,12 @@ function createOutOfProcessLauncher(): DaemonLauncher {
       // stdio 'ignore' prevents the child from holding the parent's stdout
       // open, which would prevent Electron from exiting cleanly.
       detached: true,
-      stdio: ['ignore', 'ignore', 'ignore', 'ipc']
+      stdio: ['ignore', 'ignore', 'ignore', 'ipc'],
+      // Why: ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE makes the forked process run as a plain
+      // Node.js process instead of an Electron renderer/main process. Without
+      // it, Electron's GPU/display initialization can interfere with native
+      // module operations like node-pty's posix_spawn of the spawn-helper.
+      env: { ...process.env, ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE: '1' }
     })
 
     // Wait for the daemon to signal readiness via IPC
diff --git a/src/main/daemon/pty-subprocess.ts b/src/main/daemon/pty-subprocess.ts
index b56f1fa0..5b17a036 100644
--- a/src/main/daemon/pty-subprocess.ts
+++ b/src/main/daemon/pty-subprocess.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import * as pty from 'node-pty'
 import type { SubprocessHandle } from './session'
 import { getShellReadyLaunchConfig, resolvePtyShellPath } from './shell-ready'
+import { ensureNodePtySpawnHelperExecutable } from '../providers/local-pty-utils'
 
 export type PtySubprocessOptions = {
   sessionId: string
@@ -52,6 +53,11 @@ export function createPtySubprocess(opts: PtySubprocessOptions): SubprocessHandl
     shellArgs = shellReadyLaunch?.args ?? ['-l']
   }
 
+  // Why: asar packaging can strip the +x bit from node-pty's spawn-helper
+  // binary. The main process fixes this via LocalPtyProvider, but the daemon
+  // runs in a separate forked process with its own code path.
+  ensureNodePtySpawnHelperExecutable()
+
   const proc = pty.spawn(shellPath, shellArgs, {
     name: 'xterm-256color',
     cols: opts.cols,