diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
index 72c12da6..c82387da 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
@@ -351,8 +351,12 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     'broken on its first day.',
     '',
     'Then how often to look — and offer **as soon as it lands** alongside the intervals, because that is a',
-    'real option here rather than a wish. Categories and dispatching come later still, one at a time, and',
-    'most commanders never need either.',
+    'real option here rather than a wish.',
+    '',
+    'Once it is armed, the conversation is not over: ask what should happen next. Filing what it produces',
+    'into categories, doing something with a result beyond keeping it, or nothing at all — leaving it as a',
+    'watcher that quietly does one job is a complete answer and often the right one. Ask, one at a time,',
+    'rather than deciding for them that there is nothing more to discuss.',
     '',
     '**Never arm a watcher before the owner has agreed what it does.** Arming ahead of that is arming a',
     'guess, and a wrong condition either never fires or fires constantly — either way it is found out days',
@@ -367,6 +371,14 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     'knows how to handle items it has not seen — that is the whole of what a watcher is — so handing it the',
     'backlog costs nothing and hands the owner a running commander in the time one item takes.',
     '',
+    '**Then keep talking. Do not wait for the backlog to finish.** You proved the pipeline on one item, so',
+    'the rest working is expected rather than news — say it is armed and move straight to the next',
+    'question. No sleeping, no polling a log, no "I will confirm once it is done". The owner does not need a',
+    'progress report on work they already know succeeds.',
+    '',
+    'If something DOES go wrong in the backlog, that is worth saying — in the conversation if it is still',
+    'open, or as a notification if it is not. A failure is news. A success is not.',
+    '',
     'Once the job is settled, write it into this file, replacing this section: what you watch for, what you',
     'do about it, and which numbers were guesses. The next session should read the answer, not the',
     'questions.',
diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts
index 92e7d0f5..74301230 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts
@@ -274,6 +274,9 @@ commandHqRouter.get('/commanders', async (ctx) => {
       // on `dirName`, not the transcript id: the pid file lives in this commander's OWN `state/`, not
       // beside the transcript.
       watcherArmed: row.watcherArmed || liveLoopPid(who.email, row.dirName) !== null,
+      // Whether the LOOP is alive right now, separate from `running` (an agent turn in progress) and from
+      // `watcherArmed` (which is also true for a row that says armed but whose loop has gone).
+      watcherRunning: liveLoopPid(who.email, row.dirName) !== null,
       watcherArmedAt: row.watcherArmedAt,
       watcherStoppedAt: row.watcherStoppedAt,
       watcherLastFiredAt: lastFiredByRow.get(row.id) ?? null,
@@ -457,6 +460,7 @@ commandHqRouter.get('/commanders/:sessionId', async (ctx) => {
     tagIds: tagsByRow.get(row.id) ?? [],
     running,
     watcherArmed: row.watcherArmed || liveLoopPid(who.email, row.dirName) !== null,
+    watcherRunning: liveLoopPid(who.email, row.dirName) !== null,
     watcherArmedAt: row.watcherArmedAt,
     watcherStoppedAt: row.watcherStoppedAt,
     watcherLastFiredAt: lastFiredByRow.get(row.id) ?? null,
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
index 658f2372..90c2843c 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
@@ -608,8 +608,10 @@ function MetaBar({ sessionId, title, isConnected, isGenerating, onDisconnect }:
             </span>
             {commander.watcherArmed ? (
               <span className="flex items-center gap-1">
-                <span className={`h-1.5 w-1.5 rounded-full ${commander.running ? 'bg-success' : 'bg-warning'}`} />
-                watcher armed
+                <span
+                  className={`h-1.5 w-1.5 rounded-full ${commander.watcherRunning ? 'bg-success' : 'bg-warning'}`}
+                />
+                {commander.watcherRunning ? 'watching' : 'armed, loop not running'}
                 <button
                   type="button"
                   onClick={() => disarmWatcher.mutate()}
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqGrid.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqGrid.tsx
index f9159c5d..3a31678e 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqGrid.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqGrid.tsx
@@ -15,14 +15,21 @@ import { useTranslation } from '../../locales';
 // `docs/navigation-audit.md`.
 
 /**
- * Three states, not two — the pair `COMMS/command-hq/mobile-4.md` proposed and the design record adopted:
- * green running, amber armed-but-not (the failure `watcherArmed && !running` exists to make visible), grey
- * neither. `running` alone cannot tell "never meant to watch" from "was watching and stopped"; `watcherArmed`
- * alone cannot tell "briefly between fire and re-arm" (normal) from "silently dead". Only the pair says it.
+ * Three states, on the right axis.
+ *
+ * Green is the LOOP being alive — a commander watching its folder, which is the whole point of one and its
+ * normal condition for weeks at a time. Amber is a row that says armed while the loop is gone: the genuine
+ * failure, and the only thing worth a warning colour. Grey is a commander that was never watching.
+ *
+ * This used to key green on `running`, which is an agent TURN in progress. So a perfectly healthy watcher
+ * with nobody chatting to it showed amber, titled "Armed, not currently running", and the owner reasonably
+ * concluded nothing was running. The failure amber was designed for could not happen either: `watcherArmed`
+ * is computed from the live pid, so a dead loop turns it off rather than leaving the pair mismatched. The
+ * server reports `watcherRunning` separately now, which is what makes the distinction available at all.
  */
-function StatusDot({ running, watcherArmed }: { running: boolean; watcherArmed: boolean }) {
-  const color = running ? 'bg-success' : watcherArmed ? 'bg-warning' : 'bg-muted-foreground/40';
-  const title = running ? 'Running' : watcherArmed ? 'Armed, not currently running' : 'Not running';
+function StatusDot({ watcherRunning, watcherArmed }: { watcherRunning: boolean; watcherArmed: boolean }) {
+  const color = watcherRunning ? 'bg-success' : watcherArmed ? 'bg-warning' : 'bg-muted-foreground/40';
+  const title = watcherRunning ? 'Watching' : watcherArmed ? 'Armed, but its loop is not running' : 'Not watching';
   return <span className={`inline-block h-2 w-2 shrink-0 rounded-full ${color}`} title={title} />;
 }
 
@@ -63,7 +70,7 @@ const Card = ({ commander, to, selected, onDeleted }: CardProps) => {
       <Link to={to} className="absolute inset-0" aria-label={commander.title} />
 
       <div className="flex items-center gap-2 pr-6">
-        <StatusDot running={commander.running} watcherArmed={commander.watcherArmed} />
+        <StatusDot watcherRunning={commander.watcherRunning === true} watcherArmed={commander.watcherArmed} />
         <span className="truncate text-sm font-medium">{commander.title}</span>
       </div>
       <div className="flex items-center justify-between text-xs text-muted-foreground">
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/types.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/types.ts
index 67d0be45..81a2e3fd 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/types.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/types.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ export type CommandHqCommander = {
   tagIds: number[];
   running: boolean;
   watcherArmed: boolean;
+  /** The loop process is alive right now. Distinct from `running`, which is an agent TURN. */
+  watcherRunning?: boolean;
   watcherArmedAt: string | null;
   watcherStoppedAt: string | null;
   watcherLastFiredAt: string | null;
@@ -58,6 +60,8 @@ export type CommandHqCommanderDetail = {
   tagIds: number[];
   running: boolean;
   watcherArmed: boolean;
+  /** The loop process is alive right now. Distinct from `running`, which is an agent TURN. */
+  watcherRunning?: boolean;
   watcherArmedAt: string | null;
   watcherStoppedAt: string | null;
   watcherLastFiredAt: string | null;