diff --git a/docs/fleet/north-star.md b/docs/fleet/north-star.md
index 22b6857..2e6dbba 100644
--- a/docs/fleet/north-star.md
+++ b/docs/fleet/north-star.md
@@ -115,6 +115,11 @@ Every artifact, starting Phase 2, MUST:
 - Observation: **read-only default, opt-in takeover**.
 - Multi-host: **designed-for from day one**; control plane **rides federation (W1)**.
 - Delivery: **CLI-first now**, dogfood against the live stub fleet; webUI deferred to Phase 5.
+- Runtimes: fleet agents default to **Codex / pi-on-Codex**; **Claude is reserved for Claude
+  Code only** (avoid alternate-harness API pricing). Validated durable recipe:
+  `mosaic yolo pi --model openai-codex/gpt-5.5:high`. Durable detached launch requires the
+  runtime-bin on PATH (baked into the pane command) + boot-survival (`enable` + linger),
+  which `fleet init` should automate.
 
 ## Assumptions (veto-able)
 
diff --git a/docs/scratchpads/fleet-observability-phase2.md b/docs/scratchpads/fleet-observability-phase2.md
index 22f0694..e499f6d 100644
--- a/docs/scratchpads/fleet-observability-phase2.md
+++ b/docs/scratchpads/fleet-observability-phase2.md
@@ -73,3 +73,28 @@ with a second agent on `dragon-lin`.
      tmux session-name fallback; the systemd/tmux env handoff needs a real fix.
 - Next: rebase on merged main, open Phase-2 PR, dual-engine review, merge, close
   `fleet-observability-1`. Defer launch-path + env-propagation fixes to Phase 3.
+- 2026-06-21 (session 3): Phase-2 PR #579 merged (3 dual-engine rounds hardened
+  verify+watch). Then closed the launch-path question with Jason's input — CORRECTING
+  earlier findings:
+  - The ad-hoc launch deaths were NOT a fundamental TTY blocker: (a) codex was a stale
+    version (Jason updated it); (b) pi was misconfigured to Claude auth (Jason removed it;
+    default is now Codex). The REAL durable-launch bug is **PATH**: the detached tmux
+    launch shell is login+non-interactive, so it misses `~/.npm-global/bin` (added only in
+    `~/.bashrc`) -> `mosaic: command not found` (127) -> pane dies. tmux panes inherit the
+    tmux _server_ env, so PATH must be baked into the pane command.
+  - **Durable real-agent recipe (validated live on gpt-5.5, Claude-free):**
+    `mosaic yolo pi --model openai-codex/gpt-5.5:high` — pi tolerates detached tmux; a raw
+    interactive TUI (codex CLI) exits without an attached client. Status line confirmed
+    `(openai-codex) gpt-5.5 • high`.
+  - PATH fix landed in `start-agent-session.sh` (commit 32efc13, branch
+    feat/fleet-launch-path): derive runtime-bin prefix (MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN | npm prefix |
+    ~/.npm-global/bin | ~/.local/bin), bake `export PATH=...; exec <cmd>` into the pane;
+    `exec` also fixes the drift false-positive. Live-tested under stripped PATH -> durable.
+  - Boot-survival: Jason ran `systemctl --user enable` (+ linger). TODO: auto-enable in
+    **fleet init** so operators never have to remember it (agentic-enhancement cycle).
+  - Future custom Pi harness build: pi cannot self-report its model (track
+    runtime/model/effort as fleet metadata); drift detection should recognize `node` as
+    pi's pane command (a node-wrapped pane can currently read as drift).
+  - Findings recorded in AI Guide playbooks/tmux-fleet.md (aiguide PR #7, merged).
+  - Policy: avoid Claude outside Claude Code (API pricing for alt-harness use) — fleet
+    runtimes default to Codex / pi-on-Codex; Claude stays in Claude Code only.
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/fleet/start-agent-session.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/fleet/start-agent-session.sh
index 39f2653..dddf167 100755
--- a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/fleet/start-agent-session.sh
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/fleet/start-agent-session.sh
@@ -26,5 +26,75 @@ if [ -z "$MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND" ]; then
   MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND="mosaic yolo $MOSAIC_AGENT_RUNTIME"
 fi
 
+# ── Derive a runtime-bin PATH prefix ─────────────────────────────────────────
+# Precedence:
+#   1. $MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN (explicit override)
+#   2. $(npm config get prefix)/bin  (if npm is on PATH)
+#   3. Fallbacks: $HOME/.npm-global/bin and $HOME/.local/bin
+#
+# Only directories that already exist are included.  The prefix is baked into
+# the pane command regardless of what the LAUNCHER process's $PATH contains,
+# because the tmux pane inherits the tmux SERVER environment (not this script's
+# environment).  A dir on the launcher's PATH may be absent from the server PATH,
+# so every existing candidate must always be included.  Dedup within the
+# constructed prefix avoids listing the same dir twice.
+_build_runtime_bin_prefix() {
+  local candidates=()
+
+  if [ -n "${MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN:-}" ]; then
+    candidates+=("$MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN")
+  fi
+
+  if command -v npm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    local npm_prefix
+    npm_prefix=$(npm config get prefix 2>/dev/null) || true
+    if [ -n "$npm_prefix" ]; then
+      candidates+=("${npm_prefix}/bin")
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  candidates+=("$HOME/.npm-global/bin")
+  candidates+=("$HOME/.local/bin")
+
+  local prefix=""
+  for dir in "${candidates[@]}"; do
+    [ -d "$dir" ] || continue
+    if [ -z "$prefix" ]; then
+      prefix="$dir"
+    else
+      case ":${prefix}:" in
+        *":${dir}:"*) ;;  # already in our prefix — skip
+        *) prefix="${prefix}:${dir}" ;;
+      esac
+    fi
+  done
+
+  printf '%s' "$prefix"
+}
+
+MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN_PREFIX=$(_build_runtime_bin_prefix)
+
+# ── Build the pane command ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# The pane command must:
+#   - Export the augmented PATH so the runtime binary is found.
+#   - exec the agent command so the runtime is the pane's foreground process
+#     (makes `fleet ps` pane_current_command check reliable; no DRIFT false-positive).
+#
+# Quoting strategy: single-quote the inner shell snippet so that variable
+# references in MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND are NOT expanded here — they expand inside
+# the pane shell.  However, MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN_PREFIX and PATH must be expanded
+# NOW (in this script) because the pane shell inherits the tmux server
+# environment, not this script's env.
+#
+# We build the snippet as a double-quoted here-string embedded in a printf call
+# to avoid nested quoting problems.
+
+if [ -n "$MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN_PREFIX" ]; then
+  PANE_SHELL_SNIPPET="export PATH=\"${MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN_PREFIX}:\${PATH}\"; exec ${MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND}"
+else
+  PANE_SHELL_SNIPPET="exec ${MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND}"
+fi
+
 mkdir -p "$MOSAIC_AGENT_WORKDIR"
-exec tmux -L "$MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET" new-session -d -s "$AGENT_NAME" -c "$MOSAIC_AGENT_WORKDIR" "$MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND"
+exec tmux -L "$MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET" new-session -d -s "$AGENT_NAME" -c "$MOSAIC_AGENT_WORKDIR" \
+  bash -c "$PANE_SHELL_SNIPPET"
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/fleet/test-start-agent-session.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/fleet/test-start-agent-session.sh
index 47107c5..3325db0 100755
--- a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/fleet/test-start-agent-session.sh
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/fleet/test-start-agent-session.sh
@@ -6,13 +6,26 @@ START="$SCRIPT_DIR/start-agent-session.sh"
 SOCKET="mosaic-agent-test-$RANDOM-$$"
 AGENT="agent-$RANDOM"
 WORKDIR=$(mktemp -d)
-trap 'tmux -L "$SOCKET" kill-server >/dev/null 2>&1 || true; rm -rf "$WORKDIR"' EXIT
+
+# Keep a single cleanup trap that accumulates resources.
+CLEANUP_DIRS=("$WORKDIR")
+CLEANUP_SOCKETS=("$SOCKET")
+trap '_cleanup' EXIT
+_cleanup() {
+  for s in "${CLEANUP_SOCKETS[@]:-}"; do
+    tmux -L "$s" kill-server >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+  done
+  for d in "${CLEANUP_DIRS[@]:-}"; do
+    rm -rf "$d"
+  done
+}
 
 fail() {
   echo "FAIL: $*" >&2
   exit 1
 }
 
+# ── Test 1: basic session creation with workdir check ─────────────────────────
 MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET="$SOCKET" \
 MOSAIC_AGENT_WORKDIR="$WORKDIR" \
 MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND='bash --noprofile --norc -i' \
@@ -22,6 +35,7 @@ tmux -L "$SOCKET" has-session -t "=$AGENT:0.0" || fail "agent session was not cr
 actual_dir=$(tmux -L "$SOCKET" display-message -p -t "=$AGENT:0.0" '#{pane_current_path}')
 [ "$actual_dir" = "$WORKDIR" ] || fail "agent workdir mismatch: $actual_dir"
 
+# ── Test 2: idempotency (duplicate start prints 'already running') ─────────────
 MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET="$SOCKET" \
 MOSAIC_AGENT_WORKDIR="$WORKDIR" \
 MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND='bash --noprofile --norc -i' \
@@ -29,4 +43,166 @@ MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND='bash --noprofile --norc -i' \
 
 grep -qF 'already running' /tmp/mosaic-start-agent-idempotent.out || fail "duplicate start was not idempotent"
 
+# ── Test 3: runtime-bin PATH prefix is baked into the pane command ────────────
+#
+# We capture the command the script would hand to tmux by injecting a fake
+# 'tmux' shim into PATH.  The shim:
+#   - Intercepts 'new-session' calls and records its arguments to a file.
+#   - For 'has-session' calls, exits 1 (session does not exist) so the script
+#     proceeds to launch instead of printing "already running".
+#   - For all other subcommands, exits 0.
+#
+# Assertions:
+#   a) 'export PATH=' with the synthetic MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN prefix appears.
+#   b) 'exec' appears so the runtime replaces the wrapper shell.
+#   c) MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND with flags is forwarded intact.
+
+FAKE_BIN=$(mktemp -d)
+FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN=$(mktemp -d)
+TMUX_ARGS_FILE=$(mktemp)
+CLEANUP_DIRS+=("$FAKE_BIN" "$FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN")
+
+# Write the fake tmux shim (uses only positional args, no sourced vars).
+cat > "$FAKE_BIN/tmux" <<SHIM
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Fake tmux: record new-session args; report has-session as missing.
+subcmd="\$3"  # argv: tmux -L <socket> <subcmd> ...
+if [ "\$subcmd" = "has-session" ]; then
+  exit 1   # session not found → script will attempt new-session
+fi
+if [ "\$subcmd" = "new-session" ]; then
+  printf '%s\n' "\$@" > "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE"
+  exit 0
+fi
+exit 0
+SHIM
+chmod +x "$FAKE_BIN/tmux"
+
+SOCKET3="mosaic-agent-test3-$RANDOM-$$"
+AGENT3="agent3-$RANDOM"
+WORKDIR3=$(mktemp -d)
+CLEANUP_DIRS+=("$WORKDIR3")
+
+PATH="$FAKE_BIN:$PATH" \
+MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET="$SOCKET3" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_WORKDIR="$WORKDIR3" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_RUNTIME="pi" \
+MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN="$FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND="mosaic yolo pi --model openai-codex/gpt-5.5:high" \
+  "$START" "$AGENT3"
+
+all_args=$(cat "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE" 2>/dev/null || true)
+rm -f "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE"
+
+echo "--- captured tmux new-session args ---"
+echo "$all_args"
+echo "--- end args ---"
+
+# a) PATH prefix containing FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN must appear.
+echo "$all_args" | grep -qF "export PATH=" || fail "pane command does not export PATH"
+echo "$all_args" | grep -qF "$FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN" || fail "pane command does not include MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN in PATH prefix"
+
+# b) exec must appear so the runtime replaces the wrapper shell.
+echo "$all_args" | grep -qF "exec " || fail "pane command does not use exec"
+
+# c) Full MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND (with flags) must be forwarded.
+echo "$all_args" | grep -qF "mosaic yolo pi --model openai-codex/gpt-5.5:high" || \
+  fail "pane command does not forward MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND with flags intact"
+
+# ── Test 4: when no extra runtime-bin dirs exist, exec still appears ───────────
+TMUX_ARGS_FILE2=$(mktemp)
+FAKE_BIN2=$(mktemp -d)
+CLEANUP_DIRS+=("$FAKE_BIN2")
+
+cat > "$FAKE_BIN2/tmux" <<SHIM2
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+subcmd="\$3"
+if [ "\$subcmd" = "has-session" ]; then exit 1; fi
+if [ "\$subcmd" = "new-session" ]; then
+  printf '%s\n' "\$@" > "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE2"
+  exit 0
+fi
+exit 0
+SHIM2
+chmod +x "$FAKE_BIN2/tmux"
+
+SOCKET4="mosaic-agent-test4-$RANDOM-$$"
+AGENT4="agent4-$RANDOM"
+WORKDIR4=$(mktemp -d)
+CLEANUP_DIRS+=("$WORKDIR4")
+
+# MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN points to a non-existent dir so prefix will be empty;
+# .npm-global/bin and .local/bin may or may not exist but we just want exec.
+PATH="$FAKE_BIN2:$PATH" \
+MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET="$SOCKET4" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_WORKDIR="$WORKDIR4" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_RUNTIME="pi" \
+MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN="/nonexistent-dir-$$" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND="mosaic yolo pi" \
+  "$START" "$AGENT4"
+
+all_args4=$(cat "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE2" 2>/dev/null || true)
+rm -f "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE2"
+rm -rf "$WORKDIR4"
+
+echo "$all_args4" | grep -qF "exec " || fail "pane command (no prefix dirs) does not use exec"
+echo "$all_args4" | grep -qF "mosaic yolo pi" || fail "pane command does not include agent command when no prefix"
+
+# ── Test 5: candidate dir already in LAUNCHER $PATH is still baked into pane ──
+#
+# Regression guard for the bug where _build_runtime_bin_prefix() used to skip
+# a candidate because it was already present in the launcher process's $PATH.
+# That check was wrong: the pane inherits the tmux SERVER environment, not the
+# launcher's env.  Even if a dir is on the launcher's PATH it must always be
+# baked into the pane's PATH export.
+#
+# We prove this by setting PATH to include FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN5 (the candidate),
+# then asserting the generated new-session command still exports it.
+TMUX_ARGS_FILE5=$(mktemp)
+FAKE_BIN5=$(mktemp -d)
+FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN5=$(mktemp -d)  # this dir IS on the launcher's PATH below
+CLEANUP_DIRS+=("$FAKE_BIN5" "$FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN5")
+
+cat > "$FAKE_BIN5/tmux" <<SHIM5
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+subcmd="\$3"
+if [ "\$subcmd" = "has-session" ]; then exit 1; fi
+if [ "\$subcmd" = "new-session" ]; then
+  printf '%s\n' "\$@" > "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE5"
+  exit 0
+fi
+exit 0
+SHIM5
+chmod +x "$FAKE_BIN5/tmux"
+
+SOCKET5="mosaic-agent-test5-$RANDOM-$$"
+AGENT5="agent5-$RANDOM"
+WORKDIR5=$(mktemp -d)
+CLEANUP_DIRS+=("$WORKDIR5")
+CLEANUP_SOCKETS+=("$SOCKET5")
+
+# FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN5 is deliberately placed on the LAUNCHER PATH so that the
+# old (buggy) code would have skipped it.  The correct code must still include
+# it in the pane PATH export.
+PATH="$FAKE_BIN5:$FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN5:$PATH" \
+MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET="$SOCKET5" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_WORKDIR="$WORKDIR5" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_RUNTIME="pi" \
+MOSAIC_RUNTIME_BIN="$FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN5" \
+MOSAIC_AGENT_COMMAND="mosaic yolo pi" \
+  "$START" "$AGENT5"
+
+all_args5=$(cat "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE5" 2>/dev/null || true)
+rm -f "$TMUX_ARGS_FILE5"
+rm -rf "$WORKDIR5"
+
+echo "--- test 5: launcher-PATH candidate must still appear in pane export ---"
+echo "$all_args5"
+echo "--- end test 5 args ---"
+
+echo "$all_args5" | grep -qF "export PATH=" || \
+  fail "test5: pane command does not export PATH when candidate is on launcher PATH"
+echo "$all_args5" | grep -qF "$FAKE_RUNTIME_BIN5" || \
+  fail "test5: candidate dir (already on launcher PATH) was NOT baked into pane PATH — regression"
+
 echo "ok - start-agent-session"