diff --git a/client/src/components/lanes/LaneStripCard.tsx b/client/src/components/lanes/LaneStripCard.tsx
index da14024b..1bc0753d 100644
--- a/client/src/components/lanes/LaneStripCard.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/lanes/LaneStripCard.tsx
@@ -25,12 +25,18 @@ const LIVENESS_DOT: Record<Lane["liveness"], string> = {
  * ALIAS (`tests`, `booting`, `ship` — most of what the ship-feature skill
  * declares) is not a node id, so indexOf answers -1 and a detection sitting
  * well BEHIND the declaration would still be badged as the live one.
+ *
+ * `>=`, not `>`: an undeclared lane is rendered AT its detected node by the
+ * server (see `inferredDisplayStage`), so the detection and the "current" node
+ * are the same one — and that lane is precisely the one whose stage the badge
+ * is the only readout for. A declared lane can never tie, because
+ * recordDetection refuses any detection that isn't strictly ahead.
  */
 function detectionLeads(lane: Lane): boolean {
   if (!lane.detected_stage) return false;
   const nodes = lane.pipeline_nodes;
   return (
-    nodes.findIndex((n) => n.id === lane.detected_stage) >
+    nodes.findIndex((n) => n.id === lane.detected_stage) >=
     nodes.findIndex((n) => n.state === "current")
   );
 }
diff --git a/server/__tests__/lanes-lib.test.js b/server/__tests__/lanes-lib.test.js
index 36aa9429..aefa6cc7 100644
--- a/server/__tests__/lanes-lib.test.js
+++ b/server/__tests__/lanes-lib.test.js
@@ -589,12 +589,12 @@ describe("stage detection", () => {
       !payload.pipeline_nodes.some((n) => n.state === "done"),
       "inference must never render a node done — only a declared stage carrying evidence may"
     );
-    // lane.stage is still the default "idle", which is not itself a pipeline
-    // node/alias, so nodeStates() (unaware of detection) reports "pending" for
-    // every node here — detection only ever adds the `detected` flag alongside
-    // whatever nodeStates() already computed from the declared stage.
+    // lane.stage is still the default "idle" and `stages` is empty, so the lane
+    // has no declaration of its own to render and is displayed AT its detected
+    // node instead (inferredDisplayStage) — `current`, and flagged `detected`
+    // so it paints amber rather than as a declaration.
     const review = payload.pipeline_nodes.find((n) => n.id === "review");
-    assert.equal(review.state, "pending");
+    assert.equal(review.state, "current");
     assert.equal(review.detected, true);
     const implement = payload.pipeline_nodes.find((n) => n.id === "implement");
     assert.equal(implement.detected, true);
@@ -948,9 +948,10 @@ describe("stage detection", () => {
     }
   });
 
-  it("a stale detection stops rendering as `detected` in pipeline_nodes, even though the DB row still holds it", () => {
+  it("a stale detection stops rendering as `detected` on a lane that HAS declared a stage", () => {
     const { db } = require("../db");
     const l = lanes.createLane({ cwd: "/tmp/wt-detect-stale-render" });
+    lanes.setStage(l.id, { stage: "plan" });
     lanes.recordDetection(l.id, { nodeId: "tests" });
     const oldTime = new Date(Date.now() - 2 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toISOString();
     db.prepare("UPDATE lanes SET detected_at = ? WHERE id = ?").run(oldTime, l.id);
@@ -965,6 +966,29 @@ describe("stage detection", () => {
       !nodes.some((n) => n.detected),
       "a detection older than the TTL must not paint any node amber — it is no longer current information"
     );
+    // The declaration is what the lane still renders from.
+    assert.equal(nodes.find((n) => n.id === "plan").state, "current");
+    lanes.deleteLane(l.id);
+  });
+
+  it("a lane that never declared a stage keeps rendering its LAST detection, TTL or not", () => {
+    const { db } = require("../db");
+    const l = lanes.createLane({ cwd: "/tmp/wt-detect-undeclared-render" });
+    lanes.recordDetection(l.id, { nodeId: "tests" });
+    const oldTime = new Date(Date.now() - 2 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toISOString();
+    db.prepare("UPDATE lanes SET detected_at = ? WHERE id = ?").run(oldTime, l.id);
+
+    // With nothing declared, the last detection IS the lane's last known
+    // progress — blanking it left every non-CCAM repo's card 100% pending
+    // forever. Still amber (`detected`), still never `done`.
+    const payload = lanes.lanePayload(lanes.getLane(l.id));
+    const tests = payload.pipeline_nodes.find((n) => n.id === "tests");
+    assert.equal(tests.state, "current");
+    assert.equal(tests.detected, true);
+    assert.ok(!payload.pipeline_nodes.some((n) => n.state === "done"));
+    assert.ok(payload.progress > 0, "an inferred stage advances the progress bar");
+    // The declared stage the DB holds is reported untouched.
+    assert.equal(payload.stage, "idle");
     lanes.deleteLane(l.id);
   });
 });
diff --git a/server/lib/lanes.js b/server/lib/lanes.js
index 425908e4..cce377ae 100644
--- a/server/lib/lanes.js
+++ b/server/lib/lanes.js
@@ -517,15 +517,47 @@ function withDetected(states, pipeline, lane) {
   }));
 }
 
+/**
+ * The inferred stage a lane should be RENDERED at, or null when the lane has a
+ * declaration of its own to render.
+ *
+ * A lane whose sessions never call `ccam stage` — any repo that isn't wired to
+ * CCAM — has no declaration at all: `stage` sits on the DB sentinel `idle` and
+ * `stages` stays `{}` forever, so its pipeline map drew 100% pending while
+ * detection was quietly tracking every node the agent reached. Such a lane is
+ * rendered from its detection instead.
+ *
+ * DISPLAY only, and inference still never becomes evidence: `stage` in the DB
+ * is untouched (recordDetection remains the only writer of `detected_*`), the
+ * payload's own `stage` field still reports the real sentinel, and every node
+ * this paints is flagged `detected` — amber — so none of them can read as
+ * `done`. The TTL is deliberately not applied here: for a lane with nothing
+ * else to show, the last thing detected IS its last known progress, exactly
+ * like a declared stage that also never expires.
+ */
+function inferredDisplayStage(lane) {
+  if (!lane.detected_stage) return null;
+  if (lane.stage && lane.stage !== "idle") return null;
+  if (Object.keys(lane.stages || {}).length) return null;
+  return lane.detected_stage;
+}
+
 function lanePayload(lane, ageSec = null) {
   const pipeline = getPipeline(lane.pipeline);
   const since = lane.stage_since ? Date.parse(lane.stage_since) : NaN;
+  const inferred = inferredDisplayStage(lane);
+  const inferredIdx = inferred ? phaseIdx(pipeline, inferred) : -1;
+  const view = inferredIdx === -1 ? lane : { ...lane, stage: inferred };
+  const nodes = nodeStates(pipeline, view);
   return {
     ...lane,
     pipeline_name: pipeline.name,
     pipeline_skill: pipeline.skill || "",
-    pipeline_nodes: withDetected(nodeStates(pipeline, lane), pipeline, lane),
-    progress: progressPct(pipeline, lane),
+    pipeline_nodes:
+      inferredIdx === -1
+        ? withDetected(nodes, pipeline, lane)
+        : nodes.map((n, i) => ({ ...n, detected: i <= inferredIdx })),
+    progress: progressPct(pipeline, view),
     stage_seconds: Number.isNaN(since)
       ? null
       : Math.max(0, Math.round((Date.now() - since) / 1000)),
diff --git a/server/lib/tmux.js b/server/lib/tmux.js
index 32aec13e..14518ef2 100644
--- a/server/lib/tmux.js
+++ b/server/lib/tmux.js
@@ -18,13 +18,18 @@ const { execFileSync } = require("node:child_process");
 
 // Test seam: swap the exec implementation so unit tests never invoke a real
 // tmux binary. Mirrors run-spawner.js's __injectChildForTest/__reset style.
-let execImpl = (args) => execFileSync("tmux", args, { encoding: "utf8" });
+// stderr is ignored, not inherited: every caller already wraps these in
+// try/catch and treats failure as "no session" — piping tmux's own
+// "error connecting to ..." noise to the process's stderr just spams the
+// journal on every poll while no tmux server is running yet.
+const EXEC_OPTS = { encoding: "utf8", stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "ignore"] };
+let execImpl = (args) => execFileSync("tmux", args, EXEC_OPTS);
 
 function __setExecImpl(fn) {
   execImpl = fn;
 }
 function __reset() {
-  execImpl = (args) => execFileSync("tmux", args, { encoding: "utf8" });
+  execImpl = (args) => execFileSync("tmux", args, EXEC_OPTS);
 }
 
 function hasSession(name) {