diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/manager.polling.test.ts b/src/features/background-agent/manager.polling.test.ts
index 964d26038..3879f30aa 100644
--- a/src/features/background-agent/manager.polling.test.ts
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/manager.polling.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-import { describe, test, expect } from "bun:test"
+/// <reference types="bun-types" />
+
+import { describe, test, expect, mock } from "bun:test"
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os"
 import type { PluginInput } from "@opencode-ai/plugin"
 import { BackgroundManager } from "./manager"
@@ -78,6 +80,7 @@ function createManagerWithClient(clientOverrides: Record<string, unknown> = {}):
   const client = {
     session: {
       status: async () => ({ data: {} }),
+      get: async () => ({ data: { id: "ses-default" } }),
       prompt: async () => ({}),
       promptAsync: async () => ({}),
       abort: async () => ({}),
@@ -97,6 +100,46 @@ function createManagerWithClient(clientOverrides: Record<string, unknown> = {}):
   return new BackgroundManager({ client, directory: tmpdir() } as unknown as PluginInput)
 }
 
+describe("BackgroundManager verifySessionExists", () => {
+  describe("#given session.get reports a not-found response", () => {
+    test("#when verifySessionExists runs #then it returns false", async () => {
+      //#given
+      const manager = createManagerWithClient({
+        get: async () => ({
+          error: { message: "Session not found", status: 404 },
+          data: undefined,
+        }),
+      })
+
+      //#when
+      const result = await manager["verifySessionExists"]("ses-missing")
+      await manager.shutdown()
+
+      //#then
+      expect(result).toBe(false)
+    })
+  })
+
+  describe("#given session.get reports a transient transport error", () => {
+    test("#when verifySessionExists runs #then it returns true", async () => {
+      //#given
+      const manager = createManagerWithClient({
+        get: async () => ({
+          error: { message: "Network timeout", status: 500 },
+          data: undefined,
+        }),
+      })
+
+      //#when
+      const result = await manager["verifySessionExists"]("ses-transient")
+      await manager.shutdown()
+
+      //#then
+      expect(result).toBe(true)
+    })
+  })
+})
+
 describe("BackgroundManager pollRunningTasks", () => {
   describe("#given a running task whose session is no longer in status response", () => {
     test("#when pollRunningTasks runs #then completes the task instead of leaving it running", async () => {
@@ -114,6 +157,31 @@ describe("BackgroundManager pollRunningTasks", () => {
       expect(task.status).toBe("completed")
       expect(task.completedAt).toBeDefined()
     })
+
+    test("#when the first missing-status poll has no output #then it does not fail the task yet", async () => {
+      //#given
+      const getSession = mock(async () => ({
+        error: { message: "Session not found", status: 404 },
+        data: undefined,
+      }))
+      const manager = createManagerWithClient({
+        get: getSession,
+        messages: async () => ({ data: [] }),
+      })
+      const task = createRunningTask("ses-first-miss")
+      injectTask(manager, task)
+
+      //#when
+      const poll = manager["pollRunningTasks"]
+      await poll.call(manager)
+      await manager.shutdown()
+
+      //#then
+      expect(task.status).toBe("running")
+      expect(task.error).toBeUndefined()
+      expect(task.consecutiveMissedPolls).toBe(1)
+      expect(getSession).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    })
   })
 
   describe("#given a running task whose session status is idle", () => {
@@ -191,4 +259,4 @@ describe("BackgroundManager pollRunningTasks", () => {
       expect(task.completedAt).toBeDefined()
     })
   })
-})
\ No newline at end of file
+})
diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/manager.test.ts b/src/features/background-agent/manager.test.ts
index 7050025ba..269886af2 100644
--- a/src/features/background-agent/manager.test.ts
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/manager.test.ts
@@ -3556,6 +3556,10 @@ describe("BackgroundManager.checkAndInterruptStaleTasks", () => {
       session: {
         prompt: async () => ({}),
         promptAsync: async () => ({}),
+        get: async () => ({
+          error: { message: "Session not found", status: 404 },
+          data: undefined,
+        }),
         abort: async () => ({}),
       },
     }
diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/manager.ts b/src/features/background-agent/manager.ts
index d35428441..790d92de0 100644
--- a/src/features/background-agent/manager.ts
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/manager.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ import { join } from "node:path"
 import { pruneStaleTasksAndNotifications } from "./task-poller"
 import { checkAndInterruptStaleTasks } from "./task-poller"
 import { removeTaskToastTracking } from "./remove-task-toast-tracking"
+import {
+  MIN_SESSION_GONE_POLLS,
+  verifySessionExists as verifySessionStillExists,
+} from "./session-existence"
 import { isActiveSessionStatus, isTerminalSessionStatus } from "./session-status-classifier"
 import {
   detectRepetitiveToolUse,
@@ -1819,12 +1823,7 @@ Use \`background_output(task_id="${task.id}")\` to retrieve this result when rea
   }
 
   private async verifySessionExists(sessionID: string): Promise<boolean> {
-    try {
-      const result = await this.client.session.get({ path: { id: sessionID } })
-      return !!result.data
-    } catch {
-      return false
-    }
+    return verifySessionStillExists(this.client, sessionID)
   }
 
   private async failCrashedTask(task: BackgroundTask, errorMessage: string): Promise<void> {
@@ -1927,18 +1926,22 @@ Use \`background_output(task_id="${task.id}")\` to retrieve this result when rea
 
         // Session is idle or no longer in status response (completed/disappeared)
         const sessionGoneFromStatus = !sessionStatus
+        const sessionGoneThresholdReached = sessionGoneFromStatus
+          && (task.consecutiveMissedPolls ?? 0) >= MIN_SESSION_GONE_POLLS
         const completionSource = sessionStatus?.type === "idle"
           ? "polling (idle status)"
           : "polling (session gone from status)"
         const hasValidOutput = await this.validateSessionHasOutput(sessionID)
         if (!hasValidOutput) {
-          if (sessionGoneFromStatus) {
+          if (sessionGoneThresholdReached) {
             const sessionExists = await this.verifySessionExists(sessionID)
             if (!sessionExists) {
               log("[background-agent] Session no longer exists (crashed), marking task as error:", task.id)
               await this.failCrashedTask(task, "Subagent session no longer exists (process likely crashed). The session disappeared without producing any output.")
               continue
             }
+
+            task.consecutiveMissedPolls = 0
           }
           log("[background-agent] Polling idle/gone but no valid output yet, waiting:", task.id)
           continue
diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/session-existence.ts b/src/features/background-agent/session-existence.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6ea520252
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/session-existence.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import type { OpencodeClient } from "./opencode-client"
+
+export const MIN_SESSION_GONE_POLLS = 3
+
+function extractErrorMessage(error: unknown): string | undefined {
+  if (typeof error === "string") {
+    return error
+  }
+
+  if (typeof error !== "object" || error === null || !("message" in error)) {
+    return undefined
+  }
+
+  return typeof error.message === "string" ? error.message : undefined
+}
+
+function extractErrorStatus(error: unknown): number | undefined {
+  if (typeof error !== "object" || error === null || !("status" in error)) {
+    return undefined
+  }
+
+  return typeof error.status === "number" ? error.status : undefined
+}
+
+function isSessionNotFoundError(error: unknown): boolean {
+  if (extractErrorStatus(error) === 404) {
+    return true
+  }
+
+  const message = extractErrorMessage(error)?.toLowerCase()
+  if (!message) {
+    return false
+  }
+
+  return message.includes("not found") || message.includes("missing")
+}
+
+export async function verifySessionExists(client: OpencodeClient, sessionID: string): Promise<boolean> {
+  try {
+    const response = await client.session.get({ path: { id: sessionID } })
+
+    if (response.error !== undefined && response.error !== null) {
+      return !isSessionNotFoundError(response.error)
+    }
+
+    return response.data != null
+  } catch (error) {
+    return !isSessionNotFoundError(error)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/task-poller.test.ts b/src/features/background-agent/task-poller.test.ts
index cd3d8a9cf..0343f99c0 100644
--- a/src/features/background-agent/task-poller.test.ts
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/task-poller.test.ts
@@ -347,6 +347,38 @@ describe("checkAndInterruptStaleTasks", () => {
     expect(mockClient.session.get).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ path: { id: "ses-1" } })
   })
 
+  it("should NOT cancel task when session.get returns a transient error response", async () => {
+    //#given — repeated missing polls but lookup failed with a retryable transport error
+    const task = createRunningTask({
+      startedAt: new Date(Date.now() - 300_000),
+      progress: {
+        toolCalls: 1,
+        lastUpdate: new Date(Date.now() - 120_000),
+      },
+      consecutiveMissedPolls: 2,
+    })
+
+    mockClient.session.get.mockResolvedValue({
+      error: { message: "Network timeout", status: 500 },
+      data: undefined,
+    })
+
+    //#when
+    await checkAndInterruptStaleTasks({
+      tasks: [task],
+      client: mockClient as never,
+      config: { staleTimeoutMs: 180_000, sessionGoneTimeoutMs: 60_000 },
+      concurrencyManager: mockConcurrencyManager as never,
+      notifyParentSession: mockNotify,
+      sessionStatuses: {},
+    })
+
+    //#then
+    expect(task.status).toBe("running")
+    expect(task.consecutiveMissedPolls).toBe(0)
+    expect(mockClient.session.get).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ path: { id: "ses-1" } })
+  })
+
   it("should use session-gone timeout when session is missing from status map (with progress)", async () => {
     //#given — lastUpdate 2min ago, session completely gone from status
     const task = createRunningTask({
diff --git a/src/features/background-agent/task-poller.ts b/src/features/background-agent/task-poller.ts
index 803b0f51a..1b32a55f4 100644
--- a/src/features/background-agent/task-poller.ts
+++ b/src/features/background-agent/task-poller.ts
@@ -14,10 +14,9 @@ import {
   TASK_TTL_MS,
 } from "./constants"
 import { removeTaskToastTracking } from "./remove-task-toast-tracking"
+import { MIN_SESSION_GONE_POLLS, verifySessionExists } from "./session-existence"
 
 import { isActiveSessionStatus } from "./session-status-classifier"
-
-const MIN_SESSION_GONE_POLLS = 3
 const TERMINAL_TASK_STATUSES = new Set<BackgroundTask["status"]>([
   "completed",
   "error",
@@ -99,15 +98,6 @@ export function pruneStaleTasksAndNotifications(args: {
 
 export type SessionStatusMap = Record<string, { type: string }>
 
-async function verifySessionExists(client: OpencodeClient, sessionID: string): Promise<boolean> {
-  try {
-    const result = await client.session.get({ path: { id: sessionID } })
-    return !!result.data
-  } catch {
-    return false
-  }
-}
-
 export async function checkAndInterruptStaleTasks(args: {
   tasks: Iterable<BackgroundTask>
   client: OpencodeClient