diff --git a/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry-otel/README.md b/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry-otel/README.md
index bd36c7acb3..04fa229fc5 100644
--- a/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry-otel/README.md
+++ b/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry-otel/README.md
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Records carry the complete `event.data` as the seam's `telemetry/redact` waterfa
 
 ## Field mapping
 
-Seam record → SDK log record: `time` → `timestamp`/`observedTimestamp`; `severity` → `severityNumber`/`severityText` (INFO 9 / WARN 13 / ERROR 17); `body` → the structured log body; `attributes` verbatim. Receivers dedupe on `(session.id, event.seq)`, alert on severity, and detect crashes by `shutdown`-record staleness (a session with activity, no `shutdown` ops record, gone stale ended uncleanly).
+Seam record → SDK log record: `time` → `timestamp`/`observedTimestamp`; `severity` → `severityNumber`/`severityText` (INFO 9 / WARN 13 / ERROR 17); `body` → the structured log body; `attributes` verbatim. Receivers dedupe on `(session.id, event.seq)`, alert on severity, and detect crashes by `shutdown`-record absence (a session with activity, no `shutdown` ops record, gone stale ended uncleanly). The marker means telemetry stopped observing the session cleanly — emitted at the session's own disposal, or at application teardown for sessions still running then; a marker followed by more of that session's events is a telemetry reload, not a session restart.
 
 ## Model Experience
 
diff --git a/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/README.md b/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/README.md
index 80667b308f..af816a6158 100644
--- a/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/README.md
+++ b/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/README.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ The telemetry seam: the CAPTURE side of session-event reporting, behind a backen
 
 ## Capture points
 
-The coordinator registers, all through the composing fiber's effects: `session/created` (adopt: record the header, read the log back through the projection — seed events from fork/resume never re-emit on the firehose), `session/event` (project, deep-copy, redact, hand off; zero I/O), `session/flush` (forward the optional `flush()` hint and return void — the loop's awaited parallel must never wait on telemetry), `session/disposed` (retire: release the adopted entry so a long-lived backend neither retains closed sessions nor stamps dispose-time markers for them), `agent/error` (the one live-bus relay; turn-enclosure structurally bars those errors from the log), a dispose effect (per still-adopted session emit its `shutdown` operational record, then await the backend's `shutdown()`; failures warn instead of throwing), and an adoption sweep of `ctx.sessions.list()` (a hot reload does not replay `session/created`).
+The coordinator registers, all through the composing fiber's effects: `session/created` (adopt: record the header, read the log back through the projection — seed events from fork/resume never re-emit on the firehose), `session/event` (project, deep-copy, redact, hand off; zero I/O), `session/flush` (forward the optional `flush()` hint and return void — the loop's awaited parallel must never wait on telemetry), `session/disposed` (emit the session's `shutdown` operational record at its own termination edge — where receivers key crash detection — then retire it, so a long-lived backend neither retains closed sessions nor re-marks them at unload), `agent/error` (the one live-bus relay; turn-enclosure structurally bars those errors from the log), a dispose effect (mark each session still alive at teardown, then await the backend's `shutdown()`; failures warn instead of throwing), and an adoption sweep of `ctx.sessions.list()` (a hot reload does not replay `session/created`).
 
 ## The redact waterfall
 
diff --git a/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/src/coordinator.ts b/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/src/coordinator.ts
index 027c6af09e..d500a66d89 100644
--- a/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/src/coordinator.ts
+++ b/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/src/coordinator.ts
@@ -35,19 +35,20 @@ const handoffCursor = new WeakMap<Session, number>()
  * Registers the persistence-coordinator listener set plus the `agent/error`
  * relay, all through `ctx.effect()`/`ctx.on()` on the composing fiber, and
  * sweeps already-live sessions (a hot reload does not replay
- * `session/created`). A `session/disposed` retires the session from the
- * adopted set — a long-lived backend must not retain closed sessions (and
- * their frozen event logs) or stamp dispose-time markers for sessions that
- * already ended. Disposal emits each still-adopted session's `shutdown`
- * operational record and then awaits the backend's `shutdown()`; a failure
- * there warns instead of throwing — best-effort reporting must not fail
- * application teardown.
+ * `session/created`). A `session/disposed` emits the session's `shutdown`
+ * operational record — the marker rides the session's own termination edge,
+ * where receivers key crash detection — and retires it from the adopted set,
+ * so a long-lived backend neither retains closed sessions (and their frozen
+ * event logs) nor re-marks them at unload. Disposal marks the sessions still
+ * alive at teardown (their own edge would fire unobserved) and then awaits
+ * the backend's `shutdown()`; a failure there warns instead of throwing —
+ * best-effort reporting must not fail application teardown.
  */
 export class TelemetryCoordinator {
   /**
-   * Sessions adopted by THIS fiber and still live, for dispose-time
-   * `shutdown` records and double-adoption protection; `session/disposed`
-   * retires entries.
+   * Sessions adopted by THIS fiber and still live, for double-adoption
+   * protection and the teardown sweep of unmarked sessions;
+   * `session/disposed` marks and retires entries.
    */
   private readonly adopted = new Set<Session>()
   /** Per session, the `turn:step` keys whose first chunk already shipped; rebuilt from the log on re-adoption. */
@@ -64,10 +65,17 @@ export class TelemetryCoordinator {
     ctx.on('session/created', (session) => {
       this.adopt(session)
     })
-    // Retirement is observe-only: the projection/cursor WeakMaps die with the
-    // Session object; only the strong adopted set needs the explicit release.
+    // The session's own termination edge: emit the shutdown marker HERE —
+    // receivers classify a session with activity and no marker as crashed,
+    // so a normally closed session in a long-running host must get its
+    // marker at disposal, not never. Then retire: the projection/cursor
+    // WeakMaps die with the Session object; only the strong adopted set
+    // needs the explicit release.
     ctx.on('session/disposed', (session) => {
-      this.adopted.delete(session)
+      this.contain(() => {
+        if (!this.adopted.delete(session)) return
+        this.handOff(shutdownRecord(session))
+      })
     })
     ctx.on('session/event', (session, event) => {
       this.contain(() => {
@@ -87,6 +95,10 @@ export class TelemetryCoordinator {
       })
     })
     ctx.effect(() => async () => {
+      // Sessions still adopted here are alive through a whole-application
+      // teardown (their own disposal edge will fire after telemetry is gone,
+      // unobserved) — mark them now so the receiver sees a clean stop of
+      // observation rather than a crash-shaped silence.
       for (const session of this.adopted) {
         this.contain(() => {
           this.handOff(shutdownRecord(session))
@@ -214,7 +226,10 @@ export class TelemetryCoordinator {
   }
 }
 
-/** Build the per-session clean-exit marker emitted at dispose, before the backend's `shutdown()`. */
+/**
+ * Build the per-session clean-exit marker: emitted at the session's own
+ * disposal edge, or at coordinator dispose for sessions still alive then.
+ */
 function shutdownRecord(session: Session): TelemetryRecord {
   return {
     channel: 'ops',
diff --git a/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/tests/telemetry.spec.ts b/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/tests/telemetry.spec.ts
index d52baa91f5..efbd878a25 100644
--- a/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/tests/telemetry.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/telemetry/session-telemetry/tests/telemetry.spec.ts
@@ -275,6 +275,26 @@ describe('TelemetryCoordinator lifecycle and containment', () => {
     expect(backend.flush).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
   })
 
+  it('emits no marker for a session whose announcement was vetoed before adoption', async () => {
+    const backend = new FakeBackend()
+    const ctx = new Context()
+    await ctx.plugin(SessionStore)
+    // A listener registered BEFORE the coordinator vetoes publication: the
+    // store still emits the paired `session/disposed` for rollback, but the
+    // coordinator never saw `session/created` — a marker for a session the
+    // receiver saw no activity from would be noise, not signal.
+    ctx.on('session/created', () => {
+      throw new Error('vetoed by an earlier listener')
+    })
+    await ctx.plugin({
+      name: 'fake-telemetry',
+      inject: ['sessions'],
+      apply: (inner: Context) => void new TelemetryCoordinator(inner, backend),
+    })
+    expect(() => ctx.sessions.create(SessionId('vetoed'), { meta: {} })).toThrow('vetoed')
+    expect(backend.records.filter(r => r.channel === 'ops')).toHaveLength(0)
+  })
+
   it('emits each adopted session’s shutdown record before awaiting backend shutdown', async () => {
     const { ctx, backend, fiber } = await setup()
     liveSession(ctx, 's1')
@@ -288,21 +308,25 @@ describe('TelemetryCoordinator lifecycle and containment', () => {
     expect(ops.every(r => !('event.seq' in r.attributes) && !('event.type' in r.attributes))).toBe(true)
   })
 
-  it('retires a disposed session: no retention, no stale shutdown marker at unload', async () => {
+  it('emits the shutdown marker at the session’s own disposal edge, then retires it', async () => {
     const { ctx, backend, fiber } = await setup()
     liveSession(ctx, 'survivor')
     // A session owned by its own fiber: disposing the fiber detaches it from
-    // the store and emits `session/disposed` — the authoritative retirement
-    // signal a long-lived telemetry backend must honor, or every closed
-    // session (and its full event log) stays strongly held for the backend's
-    // lifetime and final unload emits shutdown markers for dead sessions.
+    // the store and emits `session/disposed` — the authoritative termination
+    // edge. The marker must ride THAT edge (receivers classify a session with
+    // activity and no marker as crashed, so a normally closed session in a
+    // long-running host must not look like a crash), and the session retires
+    // from the adopted set so unload neither retains it nor re-marks it.
     const owner = await ctx.plugin(Object.assign((inner: Context) => {
       inner.sessions.create(SessionId('ephemeral'), { meta: {} })
     }, { inject: ['sessions'] }))
     await owner.dispose()
+    const atEdge = backend.records.filter(r => r.channel === 'ops')
+    expect(atEdge.map(r => r.attributes['session.id'])).toEqual(['ephemeral'])
+    expect(atEdge[0]!.attributes['telemetry.op']).toBe('shutdown')
     await fiber.dispose()
     const ops = backend.records.filter(r => r.channel === 'ops')
-    expect(ops.map(r => r.attributes['session.id'])).toEqual(['survivor'])
+    expect(ops.map(r => r.attributes['session.id'])).toEqual(['ephemeral', 'survivor'])
   })
 
   it('warns instead of throwing when backend shutdown fails', async () => {