diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/CodeEditor.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/CodeEditor.tsx
index 9ca79226..28a8449a 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/CodeEditor.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/CodeEditor.tsx
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ export const CodeEditorView = ({
     closeFile,
     setContent,
     reloadFile,
+    markMissing,
     markSaved,
     getActiveFile,
     searchForFile,
@@ -185,10 +186,12 @@ export const CodeEditorView = ({
         if (file.isDirty) continue;
         try {
           const res = await readFileRef.current(file.path);
-          if (!alive || res.content === file.content) continue;
-          reloadFile(file.path, res.content);
+          if (!alive) continue;
+          if (res.content !== file.content) reloadFile(file.path, res.content);
         } catch {
-          // Gone, or unreadable. Leave the tab exactly as it is — see above.
+          // Gone, or unreadable. The tab stays — see above — but it says so now, instead of looking
+          // identical to a file that is still there.
+          if (alive) markMissing(file.path);
         }
       }
     })();
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/EditorTabs.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/EditorTabs.tsx
index 11f0431e..a547530d 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/EditorTabs.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/EditorTabs.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { Link } from 'react-router';
-import { X } from 'lucide-react';
+import { X, FileX } from 'lucide-react';
 import { getIcon } from 'material-file-icons';
 import type { OpenFile } from './useEditorState';
 
@@ -38,8 +38,15 @@ export const EditorTabs = ({ files, activePath, onSelect, onClose, theme, search
         const label = (
           <>
             <FileIcon name={file.name} />
-            <span>{file.name}</span>
-            {file.isDirty && <span className="w-2 h-2 rounded-full bg-blue-400 shrink-0" />}
+            {/* Struck through when the file is gone from disk. The tab stays open on purpose — the buffer
+                is the only copy left — and this is what makes that legible instead of looking like an
+                ordinary tab that happens to have vanished from the tree. */}
+            <span className={file.missing ? 'line-through opacity-60' : undefined}>{file.name}</span>
+            {file.missing ? (
+              <FileX className="h-3 w-3 shrink-0 text-amber-500" />
+            ) : (
+              file.isDirty && <span className="w-2 h-2 rounded-full bg-blue-400 shrink-0" />
+            )}
           </>
         );
         const labelClass = 'flex items-center gap-1.5 text-sm cursor-pointer whitespace-nowrap';
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/useEditorState.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/useEditorState.ts
index ced0b763..27f3b4ea 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/useEditorState.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CodeEditor/useEditorState.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ export type OpenFile = {
   content: string;
   originalContent: string;
   isDirty: boolean;
+  /** Open, but no longer on disk. The buffer is the only copy left — saving puts it back. */
+  missing?: boolean;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -85,13 +87,37 @@ export const useEditorState = (urlState = false) => {
    */
   const reloadFile = (path: string, content: string) => {
     setFiles((prev) =>
-      prev.map((f) => (f.path === path ? { ...f, content, originalContent: content, isDirty: false } : f)),
+      prev.map((f) =>
+        f.path === path ? { ...f, content, originalContent: content, isDirty: false, missing: false } : f,
+      ),
     );
   };
 
+  /**
+   * The file is open but no longer on disk — an agent deleted it, or a task moved it.
+   *
+   * The tab deliberately stays: closing it would let an `rm -rf` of a build directory take unsaved work
+   * with it. But it was indistinguishable from a live file, so the buffer looked authoritative when it
+   * was the only copy left.
+   *
+   * Marked DIRTY as well as missing, and that is the useful half: the content differs from what is on
+   * disk (which is nothing), so Cmd+S writes it back and the file returns. Dirty also stops the refresh
+   * loop retrying a read that will keep failing.
+   */
+  const markMissing = (path: string) => {
+    setFiles((prev) => prev.map((f) => (f.path === path ? { ...f, missing: true, isDirty: true } : f)));
+  };
+
+  /**
+   * Our own write landed. Clears `missing` too: saving a deleted file PUTS IT BACK, so the tab must stop
+   * saying it is gone — otherwise the one action that fixes the situation leaves the warning on screen
+   * and reads as having failed.
+   */
   const markSaved = (path: string, content: string) => {
     setFiles((prev) =>
-      prev.map((f) => (f.path === path ? { ...f, originalContent: content, content, isDirty: false } : f)),
+      prev.map((f) =>
+        f.path === path ? { ...f, originalContent: content, content, isDirty: false, missing: false } : f,
+      ),
     );
   };
 
@@ -105,6 +131,7 @@ export const useEditorState = (urlState = false) => {
     closeFile,
     setContent,
     reloadFile,
+    markMissing,
     markSaved,
     getActiveFile,
     // Null when this editor does not own the address bar — rows and tabs then stay buttons.