diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 84e6b95e2..89a63f827 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.clawd.bot
 - Control UI: resolve local avatar URLs with basePath across injection + identity RPC. (#1457) Thanks @dlauer.
 - Discord: clarify Message Content Intent onboarding hint. (#1487) Thanks @kyleok.
 - Agents: surface concrete API error details instead of generic AI service errors.
+- Exec: fall back to non-PTY when PTY spawn fails (EBADF). (#1484)
 - Exec approvals: allow per-segment allowlists for chained shell commands on gateway + node hosts. (#1458) Thanks @czekaj.
 - Agents: make OpenAI sessions image-sanitize-only; gate tool-id/repair sanitization by provider.
 - Doctor: honor CLAWDBOT_GATEWAY_TOKEN for auth checks and security audit token reuse. (#1448) Thanks @azade-c.
diff --git a/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.pty-fallback.test.ts b/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.pty-fallback.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..18455a1b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.pty-fallback.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import { afterEach, expect, test, vi } from "vitest";
+
+import { resetProcessRegistryForTests } from "./bash-process-registry";
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  resetProcessRegistryForTests();
+  vi.resetModules();
+  vi.clearAllMocks();
+});
+
+test("exec falls back when PTY spawn fails", async () => {
+  vi.doMock("@lydell/node-pty", () => ({
+    spawn: () => {
+      const err = new Error("spawn EBADF");
+      (err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code = "EBADF";
+      throw err;
+    },
+  }));
+
+  const { createExecTool } = await import("./bash-tools.exec");
+  const tool = createExecTool({ allowBackground: false });
+  const result = await tool.execute("toolcall", {
+    command: "printf ok",
+    pty: true,
+  });
+
+  expect(result.details.status).toBe("completed");
+  const text = result.content?.[0]?.text ?? "";
+  expect(text).toContain("ok");
+  expect(text).toContain("PTY spawn failed");
+});
diff --git a/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts b/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts
index 1f102d8ab..ee801b840 100644
--- a/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts
+++ b/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import {
   resolveShellEnvFallbackTimeoutMs,
 } from "../infra/shell-env.js";
 import { enqueueSystemEvent } from "../infra/system-events.js";
-import { logInfo } from "../logger.js";
+import { logInfo, logWarn } from "../logger.js";
 import {
   type ProcessSession,
   type SessionStdin,
@@ -381,41 +381,56 @@ async function runExecProcess(opts: {
     ) as ChildProcessWithoutNullStreams;
     stdin = child.stdin;
   } else if (opts.usePty) {
-    const ptyModule = (await import("@lydell/node-pty")) as unknown as {
-      spawn?: PtySpawn;
-      default?: { spawn?: PtySpawn };
-    };
-    const spawnPty = ptyModule.spawn ?? ptyModule.default?.spawn;
-    if (!spawnPty) {
-      throw new Error("PTY support is unavailable (node-pty spawn not found).");
-    }
     const { shell, args: shellArgs } = getShellConfig();
-    pty = spawnPty(shell, [...shellArgs, opts.command], {
-      cwd: opts.workdir,
-      env: opts.env,
-      name: process.env.TERM ?? "xterm-256color",
-      cols: 120,
-      rows: 30,
-    });
-    stdin = {
-      destroyed: false,
-      write: (data, cb) => {
-        try {
-          pty?.write(data);
-          cb?.(null);
-        } catch (err) {
-          cb?.(err as Error);
-        }
-      },
-      end: () => {
-        try {
-          const eof = process.platform === "win32" ? "\x1a" : "\x04";
-          pty?.write(eof);
-        } catch {
-          // ignore EOF errors
-        }
-      },
-    };
+    try {
+      const ptyModule = (await import("@lydell/node-pty")) as unknown as {
+        spawn?: PtySpawn;
+        default?: { spawn?: PtySpawn };
+      };
+      const spawnPty = ptyModule.spawn ?? ptyModule.default?.spawn;
+      if (!spawnPty) {
+        throw new Error("PTY support is unavailable (node-pty spawn not found).");
+      }
+      pty = spawnPty(shell, [...shellArgs, opts.command], {
+        cwd: opts.workdir,
+        env: opts.env,
+        name: process.env.TERM ?? "xterm-256color",
+        cols: 120,
+        rows: 30,
+      });
+      stdin = {
+        destroyed: false,
+        write: (data, cb) => {
+          try {
+            pty?.write(data);
+            cb?.(null);
+          } catch (err) {
+            cb?.(err as Error);
+          }
+        },
+        end: () => {
+          try {
+            const eof = process.platform === "win32" ? "\x1a" : "\x04";
+            pty?.write(eof);
+          } catch {
+            // ignore EOF errors
+          }
+        },
+      };
+    } catch (err) {
+      const errText = String(err);
+      const warning = `Warning: PTY spawn failed (${errText}); retrying without PTY for \`${opts.command}\`.`;
+      logWarn(`exec: PTY spawn failed (${errText}); retrying without PTY for "${opts.command}".`);
+      opts.warnings.push(warning);
+      child = spawn(shell, [...shellArgs, opts.command], {
+        cwd: opts.workdir,
+        env: opts.env,
+        detached: process.platform !== "win32",
+        stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "pipe"],
+        windowsHide: true,
+      }) as ChildProcessWithoutNullStreams;
+      stdin = child.stdin;
+    }
   } else {
     const { shell, args: shellArgs } = getShellConfig();
     child = spawn(shell, [...shellArgs, opts.command], {
@@ -1320,7 +1335,7 @@ export function createExecTool(
 
       const effectiveTimeout =
         typeof params.timeout === "number" ? params.timeout : defaultTimeoutSec;
-      const warningText = warnings.length ? `${warnings.join("\n")}\n\n` : "";
+      const getWarningText = () => (warnings.length ? `${warnings.join("\n")}\n\n` : "");
       const usePty = params.pty === true && !sandbox;
       const run = await runExecProcess({
         command: params.command,
@@ -1360,7 +1375,7 @@ export function createExecTool(
               {
                 type: "text",
                 text:
-                  `${warningText}` +
+                  `${getWarningText()}` +
                   `Command still running (session ${run.session.id}, pid ${
                     run.session.pid ?? "n/a"
                   }). ` +
@@ -1410,7 +1425,7 @@ export function createExecTool(
               content: [
                 {
                   type: "text",
-                  text: `${warningText}${outcome.aggregated || "(no output)"}`,
+                  text: `${getWarningText()}${outcome.aggregated || "(no output)"}`,
                 },
               ],
               details: {