diff --git a/dev/dev-agent.sh b/dev/dev-agent.sh
index 4beaf95..477de5f 100755
--- a/dev/dev-agent.sh
+++ b/dev/dev-agent.sh
@@ -131,6 +131,16 @@ cleanup_labels() {
     "${API}/issues/${ISSUE}/labels/${IN_PROGRESS_LABEL_ID}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
 }
 
+restore_to_backlog() {
+  cleanup_labels
+  curl -sf -X POST \
+    -H "Authorization: token ${CODEBERG_TOKEN}" \
+    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+    "${API}/issues/${ISSUE}/labels" \
+    -d "{\"labels\":[${BACKLOG_LABEL_ID}]}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+  CLAIMED=false  # Don't unclaim again in cleanup()
+}
+
 CLAIMED=false
 cleanup() {
   rm -f "$LOCKFILE" "$STATUSFILE"
@@ -750,13 +760,7 @@ case "${_MONITOR_LOOP_EXIT:-}" in
     echo "{\"issue\":${ISSUE},\"pr\":${PR_NUMBER:-0},\"reason\":\"${_MONITOR_LOOP_EXIT:-idle_timeout}\",\"ts\":\"$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)\"}" \
       >> "${FACTORY_ROOT}/supervisor/escalations-${PROJECT_NAME}.jsonl"
     # Restore labels: remove in-progress, add backlog
-    cleanup_labels
-    curl -sf -X POST \
-      -H "Authorization: token ${CODEBERG_TOKEN}" \
-      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-      "${API}/issues/${ISSUE}/labels" \
-      -d "{\"labels\":[${BACKLOG_LABEL_ID}]}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
-    CLAIMED=false  # Don't unclaim again in cleanup()
+    restore_to_backlog
     if [ -n "${PR_NUMBER:-}" ]; then
       log "keeping worktree (PR #${PR_NUMBER} still open)"
     else
@@ -767,8 +771,10 @@ case "${_MONITOR_LOOP_EXIT:-}" in
       "/tmp/ci-result-${PROJECT_NAME}-${ISSUE}.txt"
     [ -n "${PR_NUMBER:-}" ] && rm -f "/tmp/review-injected-${PROJECT_NAME}-${PR_NUMBER}"
     ;;
-  crash_recovery_failed)
-    cleanup_labels
+  crashed)
+    # Belt-and-suspenders: _on_phase_change(PHASE:crashed) handles primary
+    # cleanup (escalation, notification, labels, worktree, files).
+    restore_to_backlog
     ;;
   done)
     # Belt-and-suspenders: callback in phase-handler.sh handles primary cleanup,
diff --git a/dev/phase-handler.sh b/dev/phase-handler.sh
index 68d2ab6..e7e1568 100644
--- a/dev/phase-handler.sh
+++ b/dev/phase-handler.sh
@@ -714,6 +714,25 @@ $(printf '%s' "$REFUSAL_JSON" | head -c 2000)
       return 1
     fi
 
+  # ── PHASE: crashed ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+  # Session died unexpectedly (OOM kill, tmux crash, etc.). Escalate to
+  # supervisor and restore issue to backlog so it can be retried.
+  elif [ "$phase" = "PHASE:crashed" ]; then
+    log "session crashed for issue #${ISSUE}"
+    notify_ctx \
+      "session crashed unexpectedly — escalating" \
+      "session crashed unexpectedly — escalating${PR_NUMBER:+ | PR <a href='${CODEBERG_WEB}/pulls/${PR_NUMBER}'>#${PR_NUMBER}</a>}"
+    echo "{\"issue\":${ISSUE},\"pr\":${PR_NUMBER:-0},\"reason\":\"crashed\",\"ts\":\"$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)\"}" \
+      >> "${FACTORY_ROOT}/supervisor/escalations-${PROJECT_NAME}.jsonl"
+
+    # Restore backlog label, clean up worktree + temp files
+    restore_to_backlog
+    [ -z "${PR_NUMBER:-}" ] && cleanup_worktree
+    [ -n "${PR_NUMBER:-}" ] && log "keeping worktree (PR #${PR_NUMBER} still open)"
+    rm -f "$PHASE_FILE" "$IMPL_SUMMARY_FILE" "$THREAD_FILE" "${SCRATCH_FILE:-}" \
+      "/tmp/ci-result-${PROJECT_NAME}-${ISSUE}.txt"
+    [ -n "${PR_NUMBER:-}" ] && rm -f "/tmp/review-injected-${PROJECT_NAME}-${PR_NUMBER}"
+
   else
     log "WARNING: unknown phase value: ${phase}"
   fi