diff --git a/drivers/stream-sandbox.ts b/drivers/stream-sandbox.ts
index e7ec70c..31ce654 100644
--- a/drivers/stream-sandbox.ts
+++ b/drivers/stream-sandbox.ts
@@ -285,6 +285,17 @@ export function createStreamSandboxDriver(options: StreamSandboxDriverOptions):
     // The agent's own output is not an action channel: actions arrive through
     // the file. Its stderr is still kept, bounded, because it is the only thing
     // that can explain an agent which never wrote an action.
+    // A killed child's pipes can emit `error` after the fact, and a stream with
+    // no error listener throws to the top of the process. MEASURED: a 42-cell
+    // study died at cell 3 on an unhandled `EPIPE` from one of these, after two
+    // cells had already cost twenty minutes each. The child's fate is already
+    // reported through `health()`, so these listeners record and do not rethrow.
+    started.stdout?.on('error', (error: Error) => {
+      if (agentStderr.length < 4096) agentStderr += `\n[stdout] ${error.message}`
+    })
+    started.stderr?.on('error', (error: Error) => {
+      if (agentStderr.length < 4096) agentStderr += `\n[stderr] ${error.message}`
+    })
     started.stdout?.resume()
     started.stderr?.setEncoding('utf8')
     started.stderr?.on('data', (chunk: string) => {
diff --git a/harnesses/author-policy b/harnesses/author-policy
index 2e9a94d..9bc533c 100755
--- a/harnesses/author-policy
+++ b/harnesses/author-policy
@@ -214,6 +214,10 @@ function account(event) {
 publish()
 
 const child = spawn(command, args, { cwd: sandbox, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'inherit'] })
+// A pipe to a killed child emits `error`, and a stream with no listener throws
+// to the top of the process. This launcher's whole job is to outlive its agent
+// long enough to publish the meter, so it cannot die on the agent's pipe.
+child.stdout.on('error', (error) => console.error(`playproof: agent stdout: ${error.message}`))
 let carry = ''
 child.stdout.setEncoding('utf8')
 child.stdout.on('data', (chunk) => {
diff --git a/harnesses/claude-code b/harnesses/claude-code
index 9d88b2f..358d569 100755
--- a/harnesses/claude-code
+++ b/harnesses/claude-code
@@ -223,6 +223,10 @@ function account(event) {
 publish()
 
 const child = spawn(command, args, { cwd: sandbox, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'inherit'] })
+// A pipe to a killed child emits `error`, and a stream with no listener throws
+// to the top of the process. This launcher's whole job is to outlive its agent
+// long enough to publish the meter, so it cannot die on the agent's pipe.
+child.stdout.on('error', (error) => console.error(`playproof: agent stdout: ${error.message}`))
 let carry = ''
 child.stdout.setEncoding('utf8')
 child.stdout.on('data', (chunk) => {