diff --git a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/lib.rs b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/lib.rs
index 8498c776..603cfbb4 100644
--- a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/lib.rs
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ pub use session::{session_epoch, try_recover_session};
 #[path = "vdisplay/routing.rs"]
 pub(crate) mod routing;
 pub use routing::{
-    apply_input_env, managed_session_available, restore_managed_session,
+    apply_input_env, managed_session_available, restore_managed_session, restore_takeover_now,
     restore_takeover_on_startup, start_restore_worker, wants_dedicated_game_session,
 };
 #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
diff --git a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs
index 0e6c6703..353f60a0 100644
--- a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs
@@ -1686,21 +1686,7 @@ fn restore_delay() -> Option<Duration> {
 /// the managed session is pinned (gaming-rig). No-op when nothing was stolen (non-Bazzite / headless
 /// box). Idempotent / safe to call on every session end.
 pub fn schedule_restore_tv_session() {
-    let nothing_to_restore = STOPPED_AUTOLOGIN
-        .lock()
-        .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
-        .is_empty()
-        && !*STEAMOS_TOOK_OVER.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
-        && STOPPED_DM.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner()).is_none()
-        // A managed session that took nothing over (started beside a live desktop — e.g. a client
-        // gamescope pin on a KDE box) still owns the transient SESSION_UNIT: without this arm it
-        // was ORPHANED forever after disconnect ("closing the app does not end the session",
-        // field report 2026-07-24) — the restore stops it even with no autologin to bring back.
-        && MANAGED_SESSION
-            .lock()
-            .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
-            .is_none();
-    if nothing_to_restore {
+    if !takeover_live() {
         return; // nothing was taken over → nothing to restore (also the non-managed path)
     }
     match restore_delay() {
@@ -1723,6 +1709,48 @@ pub fn schedule_restore_tv_session() {
     }
 }
 
+/// Is anything of the box's own session ours right now — an autologin unit we stopped, a stopped
+/// display manager, a SteamOS target we re-pointed, or a managed session we launched beside a live
+/// desktop? The precondition for every restore path.
+fn takeover_live() -> bool {
+    !STOPPED_AUTOLOGIN
+        .lock()
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
+        .is_empty()
+        || *STEAMOS_TOOK_OVER.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
+        || STOPPED_DM
+            .lock()
+            .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
+            .is_some()
+        // A managed session that took nothing over (started beside a live desktop — e.g. a client
+        // gamescope pin on a KDE box) still owns the transient SESSION_UNIT: without this arm it
+        // was ORPHANED forever after disconnect ("closing the app does not end the session",
+        // field report 2026-07-24) — the restore stops it even with no autologin to bring back.
+        || MANAGED_SESSION
+            .lock()
+            .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
+            .is_some()
+}
+
+/// Give the box its own session back **now**, synchronously — the host is going away (SIGTERM from
+/// `systemctl --user stop`/`restart`, a package update, Ctrl-C) and a live takeover must not
+/// outlive it. On a DM-flavor takeover the display manager is STOPPED: nothing else on the box
+/// will ever restart it, and the persisted crash-restore state lives in `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR`, which
+/// logind removes along with the user manager — so not even the next host start can heal it. The
+/// box would stay dark until someone reached a VT.
+///
+/// Deliberately ignores the keep-alive policy that [`schedule_restore_tv_session`] honors:
+/// `keep_alive=forever` pins a session for the NEXT client, which is meaningless once the host
+/// that would serve them is exiting. No-op when nothing was taken over.
+pub fn restore_takeover_now() {
+    if !takeover_live() {
+        return;
+    }
+    *PENDING_RESTORE.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner()) = None; // doing it right here
+    tracing::info!("gamescope: host is shutting down — restoring the box's own session first");
+    do_restore_tv_session();
+}
+
 /// Does any DRM connector report a physically `connected` display? Scans
 /// `/sys/class/drm/*/status` — only connector nodes (`card0-eDP-1`, `card0-HDMI-A-1`, …) have a
 /// `status` file, so the bare `cardN` device dirs and `renderD*` nodes filter themselves out. A
diff --git a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/routing.rs b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/routing.rs
index 62f0b6e5..cbfb0981 100644
--- a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/routing.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/routing.rs
@@ -268,6 +268,18 @@ pub fn restore_takeover_on_startup() {
 #[cfg(not(target_os = "linux"))]
 pub fn restore_takeover_on_startup() {}
 
+/// Give the box its own session back **now**, synchronously, because the host is exiting. Blocks
+/// (it shells out to `systemctl`), so call it off the async runtime. Call from the host's shutdown
+/// path — a takeover that outlives the host leaves the box with no display manager and nobody left
+/// to restart it. No-op when nothing was taken over.
+#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+pub fn restore_takeover_now() {
+    gamescope::restore_takeover_now();
+}
+
+#[cfg(not(target_os = "linux"))]
+pub fn restore_takeover_now() {}
+
 #[cfg(all(test, target_os = "linux"))]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
diff --git a/crates/punktfunk-host/src/native.rs b/crates/punktfunk-host/src/native.rs
index 98599f51..39afdd41 100644
--- a/crates/punktfunk-host/src/native.rs
+++ b/crates/punktfunk-host/src/native.rs
@@ -350,6 +350,8 @@ pub(crate) async fn serve(
     // A3: recover a TV takeover stranded by a crashed previous host instance (persisted to
     // $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR) — schedule a restore after a reconnect grace. No-op on a clean start.
     crate::vdisplay::restore_takeover_on_startup();
+    // …and the other end of that: give the box its session back when WE are the ones going away.
+    install_shutdown_restore();
     // Host-lifetime cover-art warmer: fetches + caches GOG/Xbox cover art (no-auth api.gog.com /
     // displaycatalog) off the hot path so `all_games()` (the library list + launch resolve) never
     // blocks on the network. A no-op on a host whose stores all carry their own art.
@@ -486,6 +488,58 @@ pub(crate) async fn serve(
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// How long a shutdown waits for the box's session to be handed back before exiting anyway. The
+/// restore is a couple of `systemctl` calls (or one `pkexec` helper run); this only bounds a
+/// genuine wedge, well inside systemd's 90 s `TimeoutStopSec`.
+const SHUTDOWN_RESTORE_GRACE: std::time::Duration = std::time::Duration::from_secs(20);
+
+/// Hand the box's own session back on the way out. Until this existed the host had NO signal
+/// handling at all: `SIGTERM` killed it outright, which is fine for a host that owns nothing — but
+/// a managed gamescope takeover owns the box's session, and on a mask-fragile display manager
+/// (Nobara's plasmalogin) it has STOPPED that display manager for the length of the stream. Killed
+/// there, the host leaves a box with no graphical session and nothing left to restart it: the
+/// crash-restore state lives in `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR`, which logind removes along with the user
+/// manager, so even the next host start can't heal it. `systemctl --user restart punktfunk-host`
+/// mid-stream — or a package update doing it for you — was enough.
+///
+/// So: catch `SIGTERM`/`SIGINT`, restore, then exit. Restoring runs on a blocking thread (it shells
+/// out) under [`SHUTDOWN_RESTORE_GRACE`], and a host that took nothing over exits immediately.
+fn install_shutdown_restore() {
+    #[cfg(unix)]
+    tokio::spawn(async {
+        use tokio::signal::unix::{signal, SignalKind};
+        let (Ok(mut term), Ok(mut int)) = (
+            signal(SignalKind::terminate()),
+            signal(SignalKind::interrupt()),
+        ) else {
+            tracing::warn!(
+                "could not install shutdown signal handlers — a host stopped mid-takeover will \
+                 leave the box's own session down until it is restarted"
+            );
+            return;
+        };
+        let sig = tokio::select! {
+            _ = term.recv() => "SIGTERM",
+            _ = int.recv() => "SIGINT",
+        };
+        tracing::info!(
+            signal = sig,
+            "host stopping — handing the box's session back"
+        );
+        let restore = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(crate::vdisplay::restore_takeover_now);
+        if tokio::time::timeout(SHUTDOWN_RESTORE_GRACE, restore)
+            .await
+            .is_err()
+        {
+            tracing::warn!(
+                secs = SHUTDOWN_RESTORE_GRACE.as_secs(),
+                "the session restore did not finish in time — exiting anyway"
+            );
+        }
+        std::process::exit(0);
+    });
+}
+
 /// The accept loop is sequential, so the control phase must be bounded — a client that
 /// connects and never finishes the handshake would otherwise wedge the host for everyone.
 const HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT: std::time::Duration = std::time::Duration::from_secs(10);