diff --git a/src/sessions.ts b/src/sessions.ts
index da677a8..ca931d4 100644
--- a/src/sessions.ts
+++ b/src/sessions.ts
@@ -798,7 +798,12 @@ type ReapObservedResult =
     signalled: boolean;
   };
 
-function hasProcessExitedForReap(pid: number): boolean {
+/** Is `pid` gone for reaping purposes? A zombie counts as exited.
+ *
+ *  Exported because the spawner needs the same question answered.
+ *  `isProcessAlive` is not a substitute: an unreaped process still answers
+ *  `kill(pid, 0)`, so the cheap predicate calls a corpse live. */
+export function hasProcessExitedForReap(pid: number): boolean {
   if (!isProcessAlive(pid)) return true;
   try {
     if (process.platform === "linux") {
diff --git a/src/spawn.ts b/src/spawn.ts
index 0f77ac9..c045598 100644
--- a/src/spawn.ts
+++ b/src/spawn.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 import {
   acquireLock, getEventsPath, getSocketPath, readMetadata, releaseLock,
   validateDisplayName,
+  hasProcessExitedForReap,
 } from "./sessions.ts";
 
 const __dirname = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
@@ -228,6 +229,32 @@ async function spawnViaNode(options: SpawnDaemonOptions, serverModule: string):
         metadata.daemonPid === child.pid &&
         hasPublishedSessionStart(options.name, metadata.createdAt);
       if (startPublished) break;
+      // **Read the fact that is already there before waiting for one that is
+      // not.** If somebody else has published this name, this attempt can never
+      // win: the check above compares against our own pid and stays false for
+      // the rest of the budget. The only other way out of this loop is noticing
+      // our own daemon die, so when that is slow — a loaded machine, a daemon
+      // still starting up — the loop spends the whole start timeout and then
+      // reports a timeout, when the true answer was on disk in the first pass.
+      //
+      // Measured on a Mac by Silber.pty on 2026-09-03: the losing `pty run`
+      // took 30.06 s against a 30 s budget and said "Timed out waiting for
+      // daemon publication" instead of "is already running".
+      // **NOT `isProcessAlive`.** A zombie answers `kill(pid, 0)`, so the cheap
+      // predicate calls a corpse live — and a corpse recorded as the owner would
+      // make this session name refuse every future `pty run`, which is precisely
+      // the failure this check exists to avoid.
+      const ownerLive = (pid: number) => !hasProcessExitedForReap(pid);
+      if (publishedElsewhere(metadata?.daemonPid ?? null, child.pid ?? -1, ownerLive, () =>
+        metadata !== null && hasPublishedSessionStart(options.name, metadata.createdAt),
+      )) {
+        // Deliberately the same sentence `pty run` prints when it sees a
+        // running session before it spawns. Losing the race later should not
+        // produce a different explanation of the same situation.
+        throw new Error(
+          `Session "${options.name}" is already running. Use "pty attach ${options.name}" to connect.`,
+        );
+      }
       checkEarlyExit();
       if (Date.now() - startedAt >= timeoutMs) {
         throw new Error(`Timed out waiting for daemon publication for session "${options.name}".`);
@@ -242,6 +269,30 @@ async function spawnViaNode(options: SpawnDaemonOptions, serverModule: string):
   }
 }
 
+/** Has this session been published by a live process that is not us?
+ *
+ *  All three conditions matter. **Published**, or we would refuse a name whose
+ *  metadata is still being written. **By a different pid**, or we would refuse
+ *  our own success. **By a live one**, or stale metadata from a daemon that died
+ *  would make the name permanently unusable.
+ *
+ *  "Live" means `hasProcessExitedForReap`, never `isProcessAlive`. **A zombie
+ *  answers `kill(pid, 0)`**, measured on Linux 2026-09-03, so the cheap
+ *  predicate calls a corpse live. An unreaped daemon is the precise case this
+ *  has to get right.
+ *
+ *  Kept separate from the registry so all four ways of answering "no" can be
+ *  tested rather than raced for. */
+export function publishedElsewhere(
+  owner: number | null,
+  mine: number,
+  alive: (pid: number) => boolean,
+  published: () => boolean,
+): boolean {
+  if (owner === null) return false;
+  return owner !== mine && alive(owner) && published();
+}
+
 function hasPublishedSessionStart(name: string, createdAt: string): boolean {
   try {
     return fs.readFileSync(getEventsPath(name), "utf8")
diff --git a/tests/spawn-already-published.test.ts b/tests/spawn-already-published.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ad0cef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/spawn-already-published.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+// A `pty run` that loses a creation race waited out the whole 30 second start
+// budget and then reported a generic publication timeout, when the true answer
+// was on disk in the first pass.
+//
+// The safety property was never in question: exactly one process wins. What was
+// wrong is what the loser said, and how long it took to say it.
+
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
+import { publishedElsewhere } from "../src/spawn.ts";
+import { hasProcessExitedForReap, isProcessAlive } from "../src/sessions.ts";
+
+const sleep = (ms: number): Promise<void> =>
+  new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
+
+describe("deciding that somebody else owns the name", () => {
+  const live = () => true;
+  const dead = () => false;
+  const yes = () => true;
+  const no = () => false;
+
+  // Every way of answering "no", so the one way of answering "yes" means
+  // something. Raced for, only the last of these would ever be exercised.
+  it("needs a live, different, published owner", () => {
+    expect(publishedElsewhere(200, 100, live, yes)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("does not count our own pid as somebody else", () => {
+    expect(publishedElsewhere(100, 100, live, yes)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("does not count a dead owner, which would make the name unusable forever", () => {
+    expect(publishedElsewhere(200, 100, dead, yes)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("does not count metadata that is still being written", () => {
+    expect(publishedElsewhere(200, 100, live, no)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("does not count a missing owner", () => {
+    expect(publishedElsewhere(null, 100, live, yes)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  // The predicate the production path actually passes, against a real corpse.
+  // `isProcessAlive` says true for a zombie, which would refuse the name for as
+  // long as the corpse went unreaped. An unreaped daemon is the precise case.
+  it("does not count a zombie daemon as a live owner", async () => {
+    const sh = spawn("sh", ["-c", "sleep 0.1 & echo $! ; kill -STOP $$"], {
+      stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "ignore"],
+    });
+    try {
+      const corpse = await new Promise<number>((resolve) =>
+        sh.stdout!.once("data", (d) => resolve(Number(String(d).trim()))),
+      );
+      for (let i = 0; i < 500 && !hasProcessExitedForReap(corpse); i++) await sleep(10);
+
+      expect(isProcessAlive(corpse), "precondition: a zombie answers kill(pid, 0)").toBe(true);
+      const ownerLive = (pid: number) => !hasProcessExitedForReap(pid);
+      expect(
+        publishedElsewhere(corpse, 100, ownerLive, yes),
+        "a zombie daemon must not make the session name unusable",
+      ).toBe(false);
+    } finally {
+      sh.kill("SIGKILL");
+    }
+  }, 20_000);
+});