diff --git a/PLUGIN.md b/PLUGIN.md
index 954624f..a7ed45e 100644
--- a/PLUGIN.md
+++ b/PLUGIN.md
@@ -57,7 +57,12 @@ This contract predates the desktop plugin. When that plugin lands, this path is
 3. **Members.** The wrapper isolates per-user by `$HOME`, but the binary lands in the *owner's*
    `~/.local/bin`, and a confined member's agent cannot read it there. If members should capture,
    the binary needs a shared home. Deferred until the desktop plugin defines the member story.
-4. **Cookie copy under a live browser.** Copying a SQLite file mid-write can catch a torn state; in
-   practice the cookie DB is WAL and short-lived reads are fine, but "in practice" is not verified.
+4. **Cookie copy under a live browser.** Copying a SQLite file mid-write can catch a torn state. Being
+   WAL does not make this safe — it is what makes the copy INCOMPLETE, because a recent write may live
+   only in `Cookies-wal` until the browser checkpoints it. This originally read "the cookie DB is WAL and
+   short-lived reads are fine", which had the reasoning backwards: the wrapper copied `Cookies` alone, so
+   a session created moments earlier was the one guaranteed to be missing. `-wal` is now copied alongside
+   each database (`-shm` deliberately is not — it is live shared memory, rebuilt on open). A torn read of
+   the pair is still possible under a live browser and is still unverified.
 5. **`permissions: []`** is honest today (nothing platform-gated to protect) but means the owner cannot
    dock-gate or role-gate the plugin's existence. Revisit if an api/ or web/ arrives.
diff --git a/bin/iris-browser b/bin/iris-browser
index d660df0..8c81015 100755
--- a/bin/iris-browser
+++ b/bin/iris-browser
@@ -36,34 +36,85 @@ fi
 
 # Cookies plus the key that decrypts them. Login Data rides along so "remembered" form logins survive.
 # Everything else in a profile is cache and preference noise a capture does not need.
+#
+# ── The -wal files are not optional ──
+#
+# These are SQLite databases in WAL mode, and a recent write may live ONLY in the write-ahead log: the
+# browser has not checkpointed it into the .db yet. Copying `Cookies` without `Cookies-wal` therefore
+# produces a profile that is missing exactly the newest sessions — sign in, capture immediately, and the
+# capture is signed out, which reads as "sessions do not work" rather than as a missing file.
+#
+# `-shm` is deliberately NOT copied: it is shared memory for live coordination between processes, it is
+# rebuilt from the WAL on open, and a stale one is worse than none.
+#
+# Failures are REPORTED, not swallowed. The skill tells the user to sign in again when a capture comes
+# back logged out; that advice is useless if the real cause was an unreadable profile, and silence is
+# what made the two indistinguishable.
+seed_one() {
+  [ -f "$1" ] || return 0
+  cp "$1" "$2" 2>/dev/null || echo "iris-browser: could not copy $(basename "$1") — captures may be signed out" >&2
+}
+
 seed_sessions() {
   dest="$1"
-  [ -d "$PROFILE/Default" ] || return 0
-  mkdir -p "$dest/Default"
-  cp "$PROFILE/Local State" "$dest/Local State" 2>/dev/null || true
-  cp "$PROFILE/Default/Cookies" "$dest/Default/Cookies" 2>/dev/null || true
-  cp "$PROFILE/Default/Login Data" "$dest/Default/Login Data" 2>/dev/null || true
+  [ -d "$PROFILE/Default" ] || {
+    echo "iris-browser: no profile at $PROFILE — captures will be signed out until you sign in there" >&2
+    return 0
+  }
+  mkdir -p "$dest/Default" || return 0
+  seed_one "$PROFILE/Local State" "$dest/Local State"
+  for db in "Cookies" "Login Data"; do
+    seed_one "$PROFILE/Default/$db" "$dest/Default/$db"
+    seed_one "$PROFILE/Default/$db-wal" "$dest/Default/$db-wal"
+  done
 }
 
 # Did the launcher already choose a profile directory?
+#
+# Both spellings. Chrome accepts `--user-data-dir=X` and `--user-data-dir X`, and matching only the first
+# would send us down the ephemeral path while the launcher used its own directory — two profiles, and the
+# sessions seeded into the one nobody opened.
 CALLER_DIR=""
+take_next=0
 for arg in "$@"; do
+  if [ "$take_next" -eq 1 ]; then
+    CALLER_DIR="$arg"
+    take_next=0
+    continue
+  fi
   case "$arg" in
     --user-data-dir=*) CALLER_DIR="${arg#--user-data-dir=}" ;;
+    --user-data-dir) take_next=1 ;;
   esac
 done
 
+# --password-store=basic keeps cookie encryption portable between the profile and the copy: without it a
+# keyring-backed browser writes cookies that the copied `Local State` key cannot decrypt, and the capture
+# is signed out for a reason nothing reports. Passed on BOTH paths — chromiumoxide's own DEFAULT_ARGS
+# happen to include it today, which is not something this script should depend on.
 if [ -n "$CALLER_DIR" ]; then
   seed_sessions "$CALLER_DIR"
-  exec "$BROWSER" "$@"
+  exec "$BROWSER" "$@" --password-store=basic
 fi
 
-EPHEMERAL="$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/iris-profile.XXXXXX")"
+# CHECKED. `set -u` does not catch this: mktemp failing leaves EPHEMERAL an empty string, which becomes
+# `--user-data-dir=` — and Chrome reads an empty value as "use the default profile", i.e. the user's real
+# one. A capture would then run in, and write to, the browser they actually use.
+if ! EPHEMERAL="$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/iris-profile.XXXXXX")" || [ -z "$EPHEMERAL" ]; then
+  echo "iris-browser: could not create a temporary profile directory — refusing to launch" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
 trap 'rm -rf "$EPHEMERAL"' EXIT INT TERM
 seed_sessions "$EPHEMERAL"
 
-# --password-store=basic keeps cookie encryption portable between the profile and the copy — without it a
-# keyring-backed browser writes cookies the copy cannot decrypt. Appended AFTER the launcher's args, and
-# so is our --user-data-dir, because for a repeated switch Chrome honours the last occurrence.
-"$BROWSER" "$@" --user-data-dir="$EPHEMERAL" --password-store=basic
+# NOT exec'd, unlike the branch above, because the trap has to outlive the browser to remove the profile —
+# and a profile holding copies of the user's cookies is not something to leave in /tmp. The cost is that
+# this shell stays alive as the parent; `wait` is what makes a signal to it reach the browser rather than
+# killing the wrapper and orphaning the child.
+#
+# Our --user-data-dir goes AFTER the launcher's args: for a repeated switch Chrome honours the last one.
+"$BROWSER" "$@" --user-data-dir="$EPHEMERAL" --password-store=basic &
+BROWSER_PID=$!
+trap 'kill "$BROWSER_PID" 2>/dev/null; rm -rf "$EPHEMERAL"' EXIT INT TERM
+wait "$BROWSER_PID"
 exit $?
diff --git a/sidecar/index.ts b/sidecar/index.ts
index fa4c5b2..ac8d4ef 100644
--- a/sidecar/index.ts
+++ b/sidecar/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-import { chmodSync, copyFileSync, existsSync, mkdirSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { chmodSync, copyFileSync, existsSync, mkdirSync, renameSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { homedir } from 'node:os';
 import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { locateBinary } from '@@/plugins/os-deps';
 
 // The iris sidecar: a builder wearing a supervisor's clothes.
 //
@@ -21,20 +22,30 @@ const MSRV: readonly [number, number] = [1, 88];
 const home = homedir();
 const localBin = join(home, '.local', 'bin');
 
-// `Bun.which` alone reads the PATH this process started with, which under PM2 is minimal. Look where
-// things actually are: our install target first, rustup's home second, then whatever PATH says.
-const searchPath = (): string => `${localBin}:${join(home, '.cargo', 'bin')}:${process.env.PATH ?? ''}`;
-const which = (binary: string): string | null => Bun.which(binary, { PATH: searchPath() });
+// The platform's own resolver, not a copy of it. It asks the OWNER's login shell where a binary is,
+// which is the only source that knows about rustup's `~/.cargo/bin`, or anything else a per-user
+// installer added — this file used to guess that list and disagreed with the manifest probe, so a
+// rustup-only machine was refused the install and then built fine.
+const which = (binary: string): string | null => locateBinary(binary);
 
 const log = (message: string): void => console.log(`[${name}] ${message}`);
 
-/** The wrapper ships in this repository; agents need it on a path they can name. Overwrite = upgrade. */
+/**
+ * The wrapper ships in this repository; agents need it on a path they can name. Overwrite = upgrade.
+ *
+ * Written to a temporary name and RENAMED over the target, because `copyFileSync` truncates in place: a
+ * restart during a capture would have the running shell read a half-written script, which fails in
+ * whatever way the truncation happens to produce. Rename is atomic within a filesystem, so a reader
+ * holds either the old file or the new one. Same reasoning as `installRelease` in os-deps.ts.
+ */
 function installWrapper(): void {
   const source = join(import.meta.dir, '..', 'bin', 'iris-browser');
   const target = join(localBin, 'iris-browser');
+  const staging = `${target}.new`;
   mkdirSync(localBin, { recursive: true });
-  copyFileSync(source, target);
-  chmodSync(target, 0o755);
+  copyFileSync(source, staging);
+  chmodSync(staging, 0o755);
+  renameSync(staging, target);
   log(`iris-browser installed to ${target}`);
 }
 
@@ -59,13 +70,20 @@ const meetsMsrv = ([major, minor]: [number, number]): boolean =>
  * `--locked` builds against upstream's committed lockfile rather than re-resolving dependencies at
  * install time — the platform's frozen-lockfile rule, honoured one language over.
  */
+let building: Bun.Subprocess | null = null;
+
 async function build(cargo: string): Promise<boolean> {
   log(`building ${CRATE} — first start only, takes a few minutes`);
   const proc = Bun.spawn([cargo, 'install', CRATE, '--locked', '--root', join(home, '.local')], {
     stdout: 'inherit',
     stderr: 'inherit',
   });
+  // Remembered so `shutdown` can kill it. A cargo build spawns rustc processes that keep going long after
+  // this process exits — `pm2 restart` during a build would otherwise leave the old compile running and
+  // start a second one on top of it, both writing the same target directory.
+  building = proc;
   const code = await proc.exited;
+  building = null;
   if (code !== 0) {
     log(`build failed (cargo exited ${code}) — read the output above; restart this process to retry`);
     return false;
@@ -73,13 +91,37 @@ async function build(cargo: string): Promise<boolean> {
   return true;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Is the binary named `iris` actually ours?
+ *
+ * Presence is not identity. `iris` is a common enough name for a program, and a half-written file from a
+ * cargo install that was killed mid-copy is also present — both make `which` succeed and both make this
+ * sidecar report ready and never rebuild. The platform learned this once already: `os-deps.ts` grew
+ * `identify` for exactly it, with the note that "a namesake on PATH is not the dependency".
+ *
+ * Cheap, and only on start.
+ */
+function isOurIris(path: string): boolean {
+  try {
+    const out = Bun.spawnSync([path, '--version'], { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe', timeout: 5_000 });
+    const text = `${new TextDecoder().decode(out.stdout)}${new TextDecoder().decode(out.stderr)}`;
+    return text.toLowerCase().includes('iris');
+  } catch {
+    // Will not execute at all — a truncated or wrong-architecture file. No more useful than a missing one.
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
 /** True when the binary is usable. Says why not, with the fix, when it is not. */
 async function ensureIris(): Promise<boolean> {
   const present = which('iris');
-  if (present) {
+  if (present && isOurIris(present)) {
     log(`iris ready at ${present}`);
     return true;
   }
+  if (present) {
+    log(`${present} does not identify as iris — rebuilding over it`);
+  }
 
   const cargo = which('cargo');
   if (!cargo) {
@@ -108,14 +150,44 @@ async function ensureIris(): Promise<boolean> {
 }
 
 log(`started (pid ${process.pid})`);
-installWrapper();
+
+// ── Signals FIRST ──
+//
+// `ensureIris()` below can take minutes, and until these are registered a SIGTERM is handled by Bun's
+// default, which kills this process and leaves the cargo build running as an orphan. `pm2 restart` during
+// a first start is not an unusual thing to do — it is what somebody does when they think it is stuck.
+let beat: ReturnType<typeof setInterval> | null = null;
+
+const shutdown = (signal: string): void => {
+  log(`${signal} — exiting`);
+  if (beat) clearInterval(beat);
+  if (building) {
+    log('killing the in-progress cargo build');
+    building.kill();
+  }
+  process.exit(0);
+};
+
+process.on('SIGTERM', () => shutdown('SIGTERM'));
+process.on('SIGINT', () => shutdown('SIGINT'));
+
+// Guarded, in a file whose every other failure logs and continues. An unwritable `~/.local/bin` — wrong
+// ownership after an install run as the wrong user is the way this happens — threw here at top level and
+// crash-looped the sidecar under PM2, which reports "errored" and says nothing about a directory.
+try {
+  installWrapper();
+} catch (err) {
+  log(`could not install iris-browser: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}`);
+  log(`check that ${localBin} exists and is writable; captures will fail until it is`);
+}
+
 let ready = await ensureIris();
 
 // The heartbeat re-probes rather than repeating a remembered answer: a binary deleted out from under us
 // shows up here, and a rustup installed after a refusal turns the next restart into a build — which the
 // log has already told the owner. Building inside the interval is deliberately avoided: a periodic
 // compile that nobody asked for is not a heartbeat.
-const beat = setInterval(() => {
+beat = setInterval(() => {
   const present = which('iris');
   if (present && !ready) {
     ready = true;
@@ -128,11 +200,4 @@ const beat = setInterval(() => {
   }
 }, 300_000);
 
-const shutdown = (signal: string): void => {
-  log(`${signal} — exiting`);
-  clearInterval(beat);
-  process.exit(0);
-};
 
-process.on('SIGTERM', () => shutdown('SIGTERM'));
-process.on('SIGINT', () => shutdown('SIGINT'));