diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ad03631cd9..523f84bd0d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ bun run build
 bun test
 ```
 
-The suite runs against the live herdr server; there are no mocks. It's read-only apart from the `herdr-web-ui-test` workspaces it creates and deletes. It covers the generator freshness and determinism gate, the HTTP contract, the WS attach stream, roles (an observe connection cannot resize or type, enforced server-side), the status collector's pushed `pane-status` and `pane-exited` for unattached panes, token auth, the bind address, the herdr client, the PTY sidecar's env pass-through (`server/pty/session.test.ts`) and the pure client modules (key bar, draft, notifications, snapshot merge). At the time of writing that's 63 tests across 9 files.
+The suite runs against the live herdr server; there are no mocks. It's read-only apart from the `herdr-web-ui-test` workspaces it creates and deletes. It covers the generator freshness and determinism gate, the HTTP contract, the WS attach stream, roles (an observe connection cannot resize or type, enforced server-side), concurrent attaches to one pane sharing a single pty, the status collector's pushed `pane-status` and `pane-exited` for unattached panes, token auth, the bind address, the herdr client, the PTY sidecar's env pass-through (`server/pty/session.test.ts`) and the pure client modules (key bar, draft, notifications, snapshot merge). At the time of writing that's 63 tests across 9 files.
 
 ## API
 
diff --git a/server/api.contract.test.ts b/server/api.contract.test.ts
index 5b55e8daf3..0a1f350650 100644
--- a/server/api.contract.test.ts
+++ b/server/api.contract.test.ts
@@ -370,6 +370,47 @@ describe("WebSocket roles and status push", () => {
   }, 40_000);
 });
 
+describe("WebSocket concurrent attach", () => {
+  /** A pane nobody holds yet: the race is in CREATING the attachment. */
+  let raceWorkspaceId: string | null = null;
+  let racePaneId: string | null = null;
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    const created = await herdrRpc<{ workspace: { workspace_id: string }; root_pane: { pane_id: string } }>(
+      "workspace.create",
+      { label: "herdr-web-ui-test-race", cwd: "/tmp", focus: false },
+    );
+    raceWorkspaceId = created.workspace.workspace_id;
+    racePaneId = created.root_pane.pane_id;
+  });
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    if (raceWorkspaceId) await herdrRpc("workspace.close", { workspace_id: raceWorkspaceId }).catch(() => undefined);
+  });
+
+  it("shares one pty between clients whose attaches to the same pane race", async () => {
+    const paneId = racePaneId!;
+    const first = await RecordingSocket.connect(`ws://localhost:${server.port}/ws`);
+    const second = await RecordingSocket.connect(`ws://localhost:${server.port}/ws`);
+    try {
+      // same tick: both attaches are in flight before either resolves the terminal
+      first.send({ type: "attach", pane_id: paneId, cols: 100, rows: 30 });
+      second.send({ type: "attach", pane_id: paneId, cols: 120, rows: 40 });
+      await first.waitFor((m) => m.type === "pty-data" && m.pane_id === paneId, "first pty-data", 15_000);
+      await second.waitFor((m) => m.type === "pty-data" && m.pane_id === paneId, "second pty-data", 15_000);
+
+      // one attachment means one client set: a resize reaches both. Two attachments
+      // would leave one client on an orphaned record that never hears it.
+      first.send({ type: "resize", pane_id: paneId, cols: 90, rows: 25 });
+      await first.waitFor((m) => m.type === "pane-geometry" && m.cols === 90 && m.rows === 25, "first hears resize", 5000);
+      await second.waitFor((m) => m.type === "pane-geometry" && m.cols === 90 && m.rows === 25, "second hears resize", 5000);
+    } finally {
+      first.close();
+      second.close();
+    }
+  }, 40_000);
+});
+
 /**
  * Bun's WebSocket client sends request headers, but this project compiles with lib.dom,
  * whose WebSocket type only knows subprotocols (bun-types steps aside via
diff --git a/server/index.ts b/server/index.ts
index 1177e9bb89..f02f0038d0 100644
--- a/server/index.ts
+++ b/server/index.ts
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ export function createServer(
   options: { port?: number; hostname?: string; token?: string } = {},
 ): { port: number; hostname: string; stop: () => void } {
   const attachments = new Map<string, PaneAttachment>();
+  /** attachments still resolving their terminal, so concurrent attaches share one pty */
+  const pendingAttachments = new Map<string, Promise<PaneAttachment>>();
   const clients = new Set<Client>();
   const hostname = options.hostname ?? process.env["HOST"] ?? "0.0.0.0";
   /** Empty token = gate disabled; every route then behaves exactly as it did before auth existed. */
@@ -104,10 +106,21 @@ export function createServer(
     broadcast(paneId, { type: "pane-geometry", pane_id: paneId, cols, rows });
   }
 
-  async function ensureAttachment(paneId: string, cols: number, rows: number, forObserver: boolean): Promise<PaneAttachment> {
+  function ensureAttachment(paneId: string, cols: number, rows: number, forObserver: boolean): Promise<PaneAttachment> {
     const existing = attachments.get(paneId);
-    if (existing) return existing;
+    if (existing) return Promise.resolve(existing);
+    // a second attach arriving while the first is still resolving the terminal joins
+    // that creation: two creations would spawn two ptys, and the orphaned one keeps
+    // streaming into the surviving attachment and kills it when it exits
+    const pending = pendingAttachments.get(paneId);
+    if (pending) return pending;
+
+    const created = spawnAttachment(paneId, cols, rows, forObserver).finally(() => pendingAttachments.delete(paneId));
+    pendingAttachments.set(paneId, created);
+    return created;
+  }
 
+  async function spawnAttachment(paneId: string, cols: number, rows: number, forObserver: boolean): Promise<PaneAttachment> {
     const { terminalId, rect } = await terminalInfoFor(paneId);
     // an observer-first attachment spawns at the pane's own grid (fallback 80x24 when
     // the layout has no rect for it): the attach must not seed the shared pty with a