diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1f449da..e4940a5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ loosely follows [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
   to remove a shared project scratchpad.
 
 ### Fixed
+- Closing an agent now escalates from SIGTERM to SIGKILL when needed,
+  so agents that ignore SIGTERM disappear from the running tab bar
+  after one Close action while keeping their exited pane readable.
 - Sidebar timer indicators now repaint as their visible countdown
   value changes, so labels progress from minutes to seconds without
   waiting for unrelated terminal output or focus changes.
diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index fc892e3..761f3b5 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 - [ ] We should deduplicate /r/n newlines or /n newlines to save tokens on mcp responses for terminal reads.
 - [ ] Codex idle detection seems to trigger too soon, see below [CODEX IDLE]
 - [ ] Issue with mcp timing out [MCP TIMEOUT]
-- [ ] I have to run the close action twice on opencode for it to actually close the tab.
 - [ ] When opening a codex sub agent, the message gets input to the field, but the message is never submitted.
   - This appears to be inconsistent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Might be because of popups on codex sub agents?
   - Question: when it fails, is a Codex startup popup visible (trust/workspace, auth/model selection, permissions), or is the normal composer focused?
diff --git a/internal/app/app.go b/internal/app/app.go
index 92ce784..fcdaf28 100644
--- a/internal/app/app.go
+++ b/internal/app/app.go
@@ -2345,11 +2345,9 @@ func (st *uiState) handleChildRename(childID, newName string) {
 	st.drawStatusLine()
 }
 
-// handleChildClose removes a child entry entirely. For agents this is
-// equivalent to a SIGTERM kill (the entry is ephemeral and disappears
-// from the session once the PTY exits). For command processes it's
-// equivalent to the MCP close_process tool: SIGKILL if alive, then
-// drop the entry so it stops appearing in the switch/restart lists.
+// handleChildClose removes a child entry entirely for process deletes.
+// For agent Close, it terminates the PTY with escalation but preserves
+// the exited pane so the user can still read the corpse.
 func (st *uiState) handleChildClose(childID string, kill bool) {
 	if childID == "" {
 		st.repaintFocused()
@@ -2364,7 +2362,11 @@ func (st *uiState) handleChildClose(childID string, kill bool) {
 	if kill {
 		_ = st.sess.Close(childID, syscall.SIGKILL)
 	} else {
-		_ = st.sess.Kill(childID, syscall.SIGTERM)
+		go func() {
+			if err := st.sess.Terminate(childID, syscall.SIGTERM); err != nil {
+				logf("terminate child %s: %v", childID, err)
+			}
+		}()
 	}
 	st.repaintFocused()
 	st.drawTabBar()
diff --git a/internal/app/palette.go b/internal/app/palette.go
index 6cb96d8..76bb8ce 100644
--- a/internal/app/palette.go
+++ b/internal/app/palette.go
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ func (p *paletteState) buildItems(macro string) []paletteItem {
 				out = append(out,
 					paletteItem{label: "Rename", hint: "rename agent · " + name,
 						action: paletteAction{kind: "agent-rename-form", childID: c.ID}, group: groupFocused},
-					paletteItem{label: "Close", hint: "close agent · " + name + " (SIGTERM)",
+					paletteItem{label: "Close", hint: "close agent · " + name + " (SIGTERM, escalates)",
 						action: paletteAction{kind: "agent-close", childID: c.ID}, group: groupFocused},
 				)
 			case KindTerminal:
diff --git a/internal/app/session.go b/internal/app/session.go
index d4d4b3d..b7851f3 100644
--- a/internal/app/session.go
+++ b/internal/app/session.go
@@ -395,6 +395,20 @@ func (s *Session) Close(id string, sig syscall.Signal) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// Terminate stops a live child with SIGTERM/SIGKILL escalation but
+// leaves its session entry intact so callers can keep showing the
+// exited pane.
+func (s *Session) Terminate(id string, sig syscall.Signal) error {
+	c := s.FindChild(id)
+	if c == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("no such process %q", id)
+	}
+	if c.IsLive() {
+		terminateAndWait(c, sig, childStopTimeout)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // mintUniqueIDLocked mints an opaque process_id (SPEC §7) and retries
 // if it collides with an existing entry. Caller holds s.mu.
 func (s *Session) mintUniqueIDLocked() string {
diff --git a/internal/app/session_test.go b/internal/app/session_test.go
index 7e253a8..2f90d96 100644
--- a/internal/app/session_test.go
+++ b/internal/app/session_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package app
 
 import (
+	"strings"
 	"syscall"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -101,6 +102,50 @@ func TestSpawnInstallsIdleDetectionBeforePublish(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestTerminateEscalatesWithoutRemovingEntry(t *testing.T) {
+	sess := NewSession(t.TempDir(), "test")
+	c, err := sess.Spawn(SpawnSpec{
+		Kind: KindAgent,
+		Argv: []string{"sh", "-c", "trap '' TERM; echo ready; while :; do sleep 1; done"},
+	}, 80, 24)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("spawn: %v", err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		if c.IsLive() {
+			_ = c.signal(syscall.SIGKILL)
+		}
+	})
+	waitUntilLive(t, c)
+	waitForStreamText(t, c, "ready")
+
+	start := time.Now()
+	if err := sess.Terminate(c.ID, syscall.SIGTERM); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Terminate: %v", err)
+	}
+	if elapsed := time.Since(start); elapsed < childStopTimeout {
+		t.Fatalf("Terminate returned before SIGKILL fallback: elapsed=%s timeout=%s", elapsed, childStopTimeout)
+	}
+	waitUntilNotLive(t, c)
+
+	if got := sess.FindChild(c.ID); got == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Terminate removed child entry %s", c.ID)
+	}
+}
+
+func waitForStreamText(t *testing.T, c *Child, want string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	deadline := time.Now().Add(5 * time.Second)
+	for time.Now().Before(deadline) {
+		b, _ := c.StreamRead(0)
+		if strings.Contains(string(b), want) {
+			return
+		}
+		time.Sleep(20 * time.Millisecond)
+	}
+	t.Fatalf("child %s never wrote %q", c.ID, want)
+}
+
 func waitUntilLive(t *testing.T, c *Child) {
 	t.Helper()
 	deadline := time.Now().Add(5 * time.Second)