diff --git a/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/apps/mam_desktop/lib/src/widgets/stale_banner.dart b/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/apps/mam_desktop/lib/src/widgets/stale_banner.dart
index 9102f0f..b3f93ae 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/apps/mam_desktop/lib/src/widgets/stale_banner.dart
+++ b/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/apps/mam_desktop/lib/src/widgets/stale_banner.dart
@@ -33,11 +33,14 @@ class StaleBanner extends StatelessWidget {
             size: 18,
           ),
           const SizedBox(width: 8),
-          Text(
-            '⚠ status snapshot stale (last ok: $lastOkText)',
-            style: const TextStyle(
-              color: AppColors.warning,
-              fontWeight: FontWeight.w600,
+          Expanded(
+            child: Text(
+              '⚠ status snapshot stale (last ok: $lastOkText)${poll.error != null ? ' — Error: ${poll.error}' : ''}',
+              style: const TextStyle(
+                color: AppColors.warning,
+                fontWeight: FontWeight.w600,
+              ),
+              overflow: TextOverflow.ellipsis,
             ),
           ),
         ],
diff --git a/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/packages/mam_core/.dart_tool/test/incremental_kernel.Ly9AZGFydD0zLjA= b/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/packages/mam_core/.dart_tool/test/incremental_kernel.Ly9AZGFydD0zLjA=
index 46da498..de3177f 100644
Binary files a/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/packages/mam_core/.dart_tool/test/incremental_kernel.Ly9AZGFydD0zLjA= and b/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/packages/mam_core/.dart_tool/test/incremental_kernel.Ly9AZGFydD0zLjA= differ
diff --git a/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/packages/mam_core/lib/src/services/session_service.dart b/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/packages/mam_core/lib/src/services/session_service.dart
index 6ffd014..0d129ea 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/packages/mam_core/lib/src/services/session_service.dart
+++ b/.agents/skills/multi-agent-mux-ui/packages/mam_core/lib/src/services/session_service.dart
@@ -27,7 +27,27 @@ class SessionService {
     this.timeout = const Duration(seconds: 5),
   });
 
+  bool _preflightChecked = false;
+
+  Future<void> _checkPreflight() async {
+    if (_preflightChecked) return;
+
+    final bashResult = await runCommand(['bash', '--version'], timeout: timeout);
+    if (bashResult.rc != 0) {
+      throw StatusFetchException('preflight failed: bash is missing or not executable');
+    }
+
+    final tmuxResult = await runCommand(['tmux', '-V'], timeout: timeout);
+    if (tmuxResult.rc != 0) {
+      throw StatusFetchException('preflight failed: tmux is missing or not executable');
+    }
+
+    _preflightChecked = true;
+  }
+
   Future<SessionsSnapshot> fetchSnapshot() async {
+    await _checkPreflight();
+
     final result = await runCommand(
       ['bash', statusScriptPath, '--json'],
       timeout: timeout,