diff --git a/packages/app/src/app/_layout.tsx b/packages/app/src/app/_layout.tsx
index 15f96bb94..4bd30f0a5 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/app/_layout.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/app/_layout.tsx
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import { UnistylesRuntime, useUnistyles } from "react-native-unistyles";
 import { CommandCenter } from "@/components/command-center";
 import { WorktreeSetupCalloutSource } from "@/components/worktree-setup-callout-source";
 import { DownloadToast } from "@/components/download-toast";
+import { QuittingOverlay } from "@/components/quitting-overlay";
 import { KeyboardShortcutsDialog } from "@/components/keyboard-shortcuts-dialog";
 import { LeftSidebar } from "@/components/left-sidebar";
 import { ProjectPickerModal } from "@/components/project-picker-modal";
@@ -479,6 +480,7 @@ function AppContainer({
       />
       <WorkspaceSetupDialog />
       <KeyboardShortcutsDialog />
+      <QuittingOverlay />
     </View>
   );
 
diff --git a/packages/app/src/components/quitting-overlay.tsx b/packages/app/src/components/quitting-overlay.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8151391cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/app/src/components/quitting-overlay.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
+import { Text, View } from "react-native";
+import { StyleSheet, useUnistyles } from "react-native-unistyles";
+import { LoadingSpinner } from "@/components/ui/loading-spinner";
+import { getIsElectronRuntime } from "@/constants/layout";
+import { listenToDesktopEvent } from "@/desktop/electron/events";
+
+export function QuittingOverlay() {
+  const { theme } = useUnistyles();
+  const [quitting, setQuitting] = useState(false);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!getIsElectronRuntime()) return;
+
+    let cancelled = false;
+    let unlisten: (() => void) | null = null;
+
+    void listenToDesktopEvent("quitting", () => {
+      if (!cancelled) setQuitting(true);
+    }).then((fn) => {
+      if (cancelled) {
+        fn();
+      } else {
+        unlisten = fn;
+      }
+      return undefined;
+    });
+
+    return () => {
+      cancelled = true;
+      unlisten?.();
+    };
+  }, []);
+
+  if (!quitting) return null;
+
+  return (
+    <View style={styles.overlay}>
+      <LoadingSpinner size="large" color={theme.colors.foregroundMuted} />
+      <Text style={styles.title}>Quitting Paseo…</Text>
+      <Text style={styles.detail}>Stopping the local daemon.</Text>
+    </View>
+  );
+}
+
+const styles = StyleSheet.create((theme) => ({
+  overlay: {
+    position: "absolute",
+    top: 0,
+    left: 0,
+    right: 0,
+    bottom: 0,
+    backgroundColor: theme.colors.surface1,
+    alignItems: "center",
+    justifyContent: "center",
+    gap: theme.spacing[3],
+    zIndex: 9999,
+  },
+  title: {
+    color: theme.colors.foreground,
+    fontSize: theme.fontSize.base,
+  },
+  detail: {
+    color: theme.colors.foregroundMuted,
+    fontSize: theme.fontSize.sm,
+  },
+}));
diff --git a/packages/desktop/src/daemon/quit-lifecycle.test.ts b/packages/desktop/src/daemon/quit-lifecycle.test.ts
index a0d856aa3..d9af82b65 100644
--- a/packages/desktop/src/daemon/quit-lifecycle.test.ts
+++ b/packages/desktop/src/daemon/quit-lifecycle.test.ts
@@ -75,9 +75,9 @@ describe("quit-lifecycle", () => {
     );
   });
 
-  it("gates quit until the stop decision completes, then lets the next quit pass through", async () => {
+  it("preventDefaults the first quit, runs the async stop decision, then exits hard", async () => {
     let resolveStopDecision: (() => void) | null = null;
-    const app = { quit: vi.fn() };
+    const app = { exit: vi.fn() };
     const closeTransportSessions = vi.fn();
     const onStopError = vi.fn();
     const preventDefault = vi.fn();
@@ -99,20 +99,20 @@ describe("quit-lifecycle", () => {
 
     expect(preventDefault).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(closeTransportSessions).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
-    expect(app.quit).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(app.exit).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(resolveStopDecision).not.toBeNull();
 
     resolveStopDecision?.();
     await Promise.resolve();
     await Promise.resolve();
 
-    expect(app.quit).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(app.exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(0);
     expect(onStopError).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
 
     handleBeforeQuit({ preventDefault: secondPreventDefault });
 
     expect(secondPreventDefault).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(closeTransportSessions).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
-    expect(app.quit).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(app.exit).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/desktop/src/daemon/quit-lifecycle.ts b/packages/desktop/src/daemon/quit-lifecycle.ts
index f2abdbfc8..247ca2b3f 100644
--- a/packages/desktop/src/daemon/quit-lifecycle.ts
+++ b/packages/desktop/src/daemon/quit-lifecycle.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ interface BeforeQuitEvent {
 }
 
 interface BeforeQuitApp {
-  quit(): void;
+  exit(code: number): void;
 }
 
 export interface StopOnQuitDeps {
@@ -53,30 +53,25 @@ export function createBeforeQuitHandler({
   stopDesktopManagedDaemonIfNeeded: () => Promise<boolean>;
   onStopError: (error: unknown) => void;
 }): (event: BeforeQuitEvent) => void {
-  let allowingQuitToContinue = false;
-  let quittingInProgress = false;
+  // We always preventDefault on first quit so we can run the async stop
+  // decision, then call app.exit(0) — which bypasses Electron's
+  // close → window-all-closed → will-quit chain. The window-all-closed
+  // listener is a darwin no-op (macOS convention) and would otherwise
+  // veto a re-fired app.quit().
+  let quitting = false;
 
   return (event) => {
     closeTransportSessions();
-
-    if (allowingQuitToContinue) {
-      return;
-    }
-
+    if (quitting) return;
+    quitting = true;
     event.preventDefault();
-    if (quittingInProgress) {
-      return;
-    }
 
-    quittingInProgress = true;
     void stopDesktopManagedDaemonIfNeeded()
       .catch((error) => {
         onStopError(error);
       })
       .finally(() => {
-        allowingQuitToContinue = true;
-        quittingInProgress = false;
-        app.quit();
+        app.exit(0);
       });
   };
 }
diff --git a/packages/desktop/src/main.ts b/packages/desktop/src/main.ts
index c586e6211..8b641829c 100644
--- a/packages/desktop/src/main.ts
+++ b/packages/desktop/src/main.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import path from "node:path";
 import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
 import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
-import { app, BrowserWindow, dialog, ipcMain, nativeImage, net, protocol } from "electron";
+import { app, BrowserWindow, ipcMain, nativeImage, net, protocol } from "electron";
 import { createDaemonCommandHandlers, registerDaemonManager } from "./daemon/daemon-manager.js";
 import {
   parseCliPassthroughArgsFromArgv,
@@ -218,7 +218,6 @@ async function createMainWindow(): Promise<void> {
     const { loadReactDevTools } = await import("./features/react-devtools.js");
     await loadReactDevTools();
     await mainWindow.loadURL(DEV_SERVER_URL);
-    mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools({ mode: "detach" });
     return;
   }
 
@@ -402,13 +401,9 @@ void bootstrap().catch((error) => {
 });
 
 function showDaemonShutdownDialog(): void {
-  void dialog.showMessageBox({
-    type: "info",
-    message: "Shutting down Paseo daemon…",
-    detail: "Paseo will quit once the local daemon has stopped.",
-    buttons: [],
-    noLink: true,
-  });
+  for (const win of BrowserWindow.getAllWindows()) {
+    win.webContents.send("paseo:event:quitting", {});
+  }
 }
 
 app.on(