diff --git a/scripts/tests/test-qmd-search.mjs b/scripts/tests/test-qmd-search.mjs
index 63466ea..03d234a 100644
--- a/scripts/tests/test-qmd-search.mjs
+++ b/scripts/tests/test-qmd-search.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { test } from 'node:test';
 import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
-import { runSearch, toCliResults } from '../../shared/qmd/qmd-search.mjs';
+import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
+import { runSearch, startDaemon, toCliResults } from '../../shared/qmd/qmd-search.mjs';
 import { collectionName } from '../../shared/qmd/qmd-lib.mjs';
 
 const hit = [{ path: 'src/a.ts', line: 3, score: 0.9, snippet: 's' }];
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ test('uses the daemon when it answers', async () => {
 test('starts the daemon once when the first call fails, then retries', async () => {
   let calls = 0; let started = 0;
   const results = await runSearch({ root: '/r', query: 'q', topK: 5,
-    daemon: async () => { calls += 1; if (calls === 1) throw new Error('ECONNREFUSED'); return { results: hit }; },
+    daemon: async () => { calls += 1; if (calls === 1) throw Object.assign(new Error('ECONNREFUSED'), { notRunning: true }); return { results: hit }; },
     startDaemon: async () => { started += 1; }, cli: async () => assert.fail('must not fall back') });
   assert.deepEqual(results, hit);
   assert.equal(started, 1);
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ test('starts the daemon once when the first call fails, then retries', async ()
 
 test('falls back to the CLI when the daemon cannot start', async () => {
   const results = await runSearch({ root: '/r', query: 'q', topK: 2,
-    daemon: async () => { throw new Error('stale'); }, startDaemon: async () => { throw new Error('spawn failed'); },
+    daemon: async () => { throw Object.assign(new Error('stale'), { notRunning: true }); }, startDaemon: async () => { throw new Error('spawn failed'); },
     cli: async (args) => { assert.ok(args.includes('--json')); return [{ file: `qmd://${collectionName('/r')}/src/b.ts`, line: 7, score: 0.5, snippet: 'b' }]; } });
   assert.deepEqual(results, [{ path: 'src/b.ts', line: 7, score: 0.5, snippet: 'b' }]);
 });
@@ -32,3 +33,46 @@ test('CLI results keep foreign collections as qmd URIs', () => {
   assert.deepEqual(toCliResults([{ file: 'qmd://notes/x.md', line: 1, score: 0.4, snippet: 'n' }], 'repo-x'),
     [{ path: 'qmd://notes/x.md', line: 1, score: 0.4, snippet: 'n' }]);
 });
+
+const cliHit = (root) => async () => [{ file: `qmd://${collectionName(root)}/src/b.ts`, line: 7, score: 0.5, snippet: 'b' }];
+const cliExpected = [{ path: 'src/b.ts', line: 7, score: 0.5, snippet: 'b' }];
+
+test('a live daemon that answers with an error does not trigger a second daemon', async () => {
+  const results = await runSearch({ root: '/r', query: 'q', topK: 2,
+    daemon: async () => { throw new Error('daemon answered 500'); },
+    startDaemon: async () => assert.fail('must not start'), cli: cliHit('/r') });
+  assert.deepEqual(results, cliExpected);
+});
+
+test('a daemon reply without results falls back to the CLI', async () => {
+  const results = await runSearch({ root: '/r', query: 'q', topK: 2,
+    daemon: async () => ({}), startDaemon: async () => assert.fail('must not start'), cli: cliHit('/r') });
+  assert.deepEqual(results, cliExpected);
+});
+
+test('a daemon failure after a successful start falls back to the CLI', async () => {
+  let calls = 0;
+  const results = await runSearch({ root: '/r', query: 'q', topK: 2,
+    daemon: async () => { calls += 1; throw calls === 1 ? Object.assign(new Error('down'), { notRunning: true }) : new Error('daemon answered 500'); },
+    startDaemon: async () => {}, cli: cliHit('/r') });
+  assert.deepEqual(results, cliExpected);
+  assert.equal(calls, 2);
+});
+
+test('startDaemon rejects quickly when the child exits immediately', async () => {
+  const started = Date.now();
+  await assert.rejects(startDaemon({ spawnChild: () => {
+    const child = new EventEmitter(); child.unref = () => {}; child.pid = 1;
+    setImmediate(() => child.emit('exit', 1));
+    return child;
+  } }), /exited with code 1/);
+  assert.ok(Date.now() - started < 5000);
+});
+
+test('startDaemon rejects when the child cannot be spawned', async () => {
+  await assert.rejects(startDaemon({ spawnChild: () => {
+    const child = new EventEmitter(); child.unref = () => {}; child.pid = 1;
+    setImmediate(() => child.emit('error', new Error('spawn failed')));
+    return child;
+  } }), /spawn failed/);
+});
diff --git a/shared/qmd/qmd-search.mjs b/shared/qmd/qmd-search.mjs
index f50dde9..0c08edf 100644
--- a/shared/qmd/qmd-search.mjs
+++ b/shared/qmd/qmd-search.mjs
@@ -16,23 +16,36 @@ export function toCliResults(items, collection) {
   });
 }
 
+const notRunning = (message, cause) => Object.assign(new Error(message, { cause }), { notRunning: true });
+
 async function callDaemon(path, body) {
   const info = readJson(daemonFile(), null);
-  if (!info?.port || !info?.token) throw new Error('daemon not running');
-  const response = await fetch(`http://127.0.0.1:${info.port}${path}`, {
-    method: 'POST', headers: { 'x-qmd-token': info.token, 'content-type': 'application/json' },
-    body: JSON.stringify(body), signal: AbortSignal.timeout(600_000) });
+  if (!info?.port || !info?.token) throw notRunning('daemon not running');
+  let response;
+  try {
+    response = await fetch(`http://127.0.0.1:${info.port}${path}`, {
+      method: 'POST', headers: { 'x-qmd-token': info.token, 'content-type': 'application/json' },
+      body: JSON.stringify(body), signal: AbortSignal.timeout(600_000) });
+  } catch (error) {
+    // fetch rejects with a TypeError when the connection is refused or reset; a timeout is a different error.
+    if (error instanceof TypeError) throw notRunning('daemon not reachable', error);
+    throw error;
+  }
   if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`daemon answered ${response.status}`);
   return response.json();
 }
 
-export async function startDaemon() {
+export async function startDaemon({ spawnChild = spawn } = {}) {
   const device = readJson(setupStatePath(), {}).device || 'cpu';
-  const child = spawn(process.execPath, [join(here, 'qmd-daemon.mjs')], { detached: true, stdio: 'ignore', windowsHide: true, env: deviceEnv(device) });
+  const child = spawnChild(process.execPath, [join(here, 'qmd-daemon.mjs')], { detached: true, stdio: 'ignore', windowsHide: true, env: deviceEnv(device) });
+  let failure = null;
+  child.once('error', (error) => { failure = error; });
+  child.once('exit', (code) => { failure ||= new Error(`daemon exited with code ${code}`); });
   child.unref();
   const deadline = Date.now() + 120_000;
   while (Date.now() < deadline) {
     await new Promise((done) => setTimeout(done, 500));
+    if (failure) throw failure;
     const info = readJson(daemonFile(), null);
     if (info?.port && info?.token && info.pid === child.pid) return;
   }
@@ -46,16 +59,22 @@ function runCli(args) {
 
 export async function runSearch({ root, query, topK, daemon = callDaemon, startDaemon: start = startDaemon, cli = runCli }) {
   const body = { repo: root, query, limit: topK };
+  const ask = async () => {
+    const reply = await daemon('/search', body);
+    if (!Array.isArray(reply?.results)) throw new Error('daemon reply has no results');
+    return reply.results;
+  };
   try {
-    return (await daemon('/search', body)).results;
-  } catch {
     try {
+      return await ask();
+    } catch (error) {
+      if (!error.notRunning) throw error;
       await start();
-      return (await daemon('/search', body)).results;
-    } catch {
-      const collection = collectionName(root);
-      return toCliResults(await cli(['query', query, '--json', '-n', String(topK), '-c', collection, '--chunk-strategy', 'auto']), collection);
+      return await ask();
     }
+  } catch {
+    const collection = collectionName(root);
+    return toCliResults(await cli(['query', query, '--json', '-n', String(topK), '-c', collection, '--chunk-strategy', 'auto']), collection);
   }
 }