diff --git a/internal/server/server_test.go b/internal/server/server_test.go
index a8098bf..3bf589e 100644
--- a/internal/server/server_test.go
+++ b/internal/server/server_test.go
@@ -583,3 +583,80 @@ func TestConnectionHeaderListIsAnUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// A known verb still exits immediately. Every existing client depends on this,
+// including chant's Fly activities, so the interactive path below must not
+// change it.
+func TestKnownVerbStillExitsImmediately(t *testing.T) {
+	h := newHarness(t)
+	if code, body := h.do(http.MethodPost, "/v1/sprites", map[string]any{"name": "known"}); code != http.StatusCreated {
+		t.Fatalf("create sprite: %d %s", code, body)
+	}
+
+	stdout, _, exit := h.execWS("known", "echo hi")
+	if stdout != "hi\n" || exit != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("echo hi: stdout=%q exit=%d, want \"hi\\n\" and 0", stdout, exit)
+	}
+}
+
+// An unrecognised command holds the session open and echoes stdin back, so a
+// client that writes after opening exec finds something on the other end.
+//
+// That is the difference between a fountain turn completing and being orphaned
+// on a write to a process that already exited (#18).
+func TestUnrecognisedCommandEchoesStdinUntilEOF(t *testing.T) {
+	h := newHarness(t)
+	if code, body := h.do(http.MethodPost, "/v1/sprites", map[string]any{"name": "interactive"}); code != http.StatusCreated {
+		t.Fatalf("create sprite: %d %s", code, body)
+	}
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	u := "ws" + strings.TrimPrefix(h.ts.URL, "http") +
+		"/v1/sprites/interactive/exec?cmd=" + url.QueryEscape("claude --print")
+	c, _, err := websocket.Dial(ctx, u, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("dial: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer func() { _ = c.CloseNow() }()
+
+	// The command itself comes back first, as it always has.
+	if got := readFrameOfStream(t, ctx, c, streamStdout); got != "claude --print\n" {
+		t.Fatalf("command echo: got %q", got)
+	}
+
+	// Now write stdin the way a client does after opening exec. Before this
+	// change the session had already closed and this write went nowhere.
+	if err := c.Write(ctx, websocket.MessageBinary, append([]byte{streamStdin}, []byte("say hello")...)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write stdin: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got := readFrameOfStream(t, ctx, c, streamStdout); got != "say hello" {
+		t.Fatalf("stdin echo: got %q, want %q", got, "say hello")
+	}
+
+	// EOF ends the turn, and only then does the exit frame arrive.
+	if err := c.Write(ctx, websocket.MessageBinary, []byte{streamStdinEOF}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write eof: %v", err)
+	}
+	typ, data, err := c.Read(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("read exit: %v", err)
+	}
+	if typ != websocket.MessageBinary || len(data) != 2 || data[0] != streamExit || data[1] != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("exit frame: typ=%v data=%v", typ, data)
+	}
+}
+
+// readFrameOfStream reads one binary frame and asserts its stream id.
+func readFrameOfStream(t *testing.T, ctx context.Context, c *websocket.Conn, want byte) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	_, data, err := c.Read(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("read: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(data) == 0 || data[0] != want {
+		t.Fatalf("frame stream id: got %v, want %d", data, want)
+	}
+	return string(data[1:])
+}
diff --git a/internal/server/ws.go b/internal/server/ws.go
index eb60e3e..fd33e56 100644
--- a/internal/server/ws.go
+++ b/internal/server/ws.go
@@ -63,14 +63,6 @@ func (s *Server) execSpriteWS(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 
 	ctx := r.Context()
 
-	// Drain any client stdin frames in the background. The interpreter does not
-	// read stdin, so the bytes are discarded, but reading keeps the connection
-	// responsive and honors a client that streams stdin then a StreamStdinEOF
-	// frame. Draining stops on EOF, read error, or connection close.
-	if r.URL.Query().Get("stdin") != "false" {
-		go drainStdin(ctx, c)
-	}
-
 	result, err := s.store.Exec(id, cmd)
 	if err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, sprite.ErrNotFound) {
@@ -91,6 +83,27 @@ func (s *Server) execSpriteWS(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 			return
 		}
 	}
+	// A known verb has said everything it is going to say, so exit and close —
+	// unchanged behaviour, and what every existing client depends on.
+	//
+	// An unknown command is a different situation. A real sprite would have
+	// started a process the caller can now write to, and callers do: fountain
+	// opens exec for its runtime command and then writes the prompt in as
+	// stdin. Exiting immediately means that write lands on a process that has
+	// already gone, and the caller's conversation server crashes on a call to
+	// a dead pid rather than getting an error back (INTENTIUS/spritzer#18).
+	//
+	// So an unrecognised command holds the session open and echoes stdin back
+	// on stdout until the caller says it is done. Still not execution — it is
+	// the same echo the interpreter already does, extended over time.
+	if result.Unrecognised && r.URL.Query().Get("stdin") != "false" {
+		echoStdinUntilEOF(ctx, c)
+	} else if r.URL.Query().Get("stdin") != "false" {
+		// Known verb: drain and discard, so a client that speaks the full
+		// framing does not stall on a write nobody is reading.
+		go drainStdin(ctx, c)
+	}
+
 	if err := writeFrame(ctx, c, streamExit, []byte{byte(result.ExitCode)}); err != nil {
 		return
 	}
@@ -98,6 +111,36 @@ func (s *Server) execSpriteWS(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	_ = c.Close(websocket.StatusNormalClosure, "")
 }
 
+// echoStdinUntilEOF keeps an unrecognised command's session alive, echoing each
+// stdin frame back on stdout, until the client sends StreamStdinEOF or the
+// connection ends.
+//
+// This is the whole of "holding the session open": no process exists, and the
+// bytes come straight back. What it buys is that a client which writes after
+// opening exec finds something on the other end, which is the difference
+// between a turn that completes and one that is orphaned.
+func echoStdinUntilEOF(ctx context.Context, c *websocket.Conn) {
+	for {
+		_, data, err := c.Read(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		if len(data) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		switch data[0] {
+		case streamStdinEOF:
+			return
+		case streamStdin:
+			if len(data) > 1 {
+				if err := writeFrame(ctx, c, streamStdout, data[1:]); err != nil {
+					return
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // reconstructCmd rebuilds the command line from the exec query params. Repeated
 // cmd params are argv elements joined with spaces; a single cmd param is the
 // whole command line (joining a one-element slice is a no-op). When no cmd param
diff --git a/internal/sprite/exec.go b/internal/sprite/exec.go
index 33359e1..bdb0c45 100644
--- a/internal/sprite/exec.go
+++ b/internal/sprite/exec.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ var (
 func execInto(sp *Sprite, cmd string) ExecResult {
 	var stdout, stderr strings.Builder
 	exitCode := 0
+	unrecognised := false
 
 	for _, raw := range strings.Split(cmd, ";") {
 		seg := strings.TrimSpace(raw)
@@ -68,10 +69,16 @@ func execInto(sp *Sprite, cmd string) ExecResult {
 			// execution.
 			stdout.WriteString(seg + "\n")
 			exitCode = 0
+			unrecognised = true
 		}
 	}
 
-	return ExecResult{Stdout: stdout.String(), Stderr: stderr.String(), ExitCode: exitCode}
+	return ExecResult{
+		Stdout:       stdout.String(),
+		Stderr:       stderr.String(),
+		ExitCode:     exitCode,
+		Unrecognised: unrecognised,
+	}
 }
 
 // unquote strips a single pair of matching single or double quotes.
diff --git a/internal/sprite/sprite.go b/internal/sprite/sprite.go
index eca50de..624ba30 100644
--- a/internal/sprite/sprite.go
+++ b/internal/sprite/sprite.go
@@ -95,6 +95,15 @@ type ExecResult struct {
 	Stdout   string
 	Stderr   string
 	ExitCode int
+	// Unrecognised reports that at least one segment fell through to the
+	// echo-back default rather than matching a scripted verb.
+	//
+	// The interpreter answers a known verb and is done. An unknown command is
+	// a different situation: the caller asked for something this emulator has
+	// no script for, and a real sprite would have started a process the caller
+	// can now talk to. The server uses this to decide whether the exec session
+	// is one-shot or stays open for stdin — see internal/server/ws.go.
+	Unrecognised bool
 }
 
 // View is the read-only projection returned by GET /v1/sprites/{id}: the