diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
index 92a61bc9c..a3f5d4ce7 100644
--- a/src/server.ts
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -550,6 +550,42 @@ export function createMcpServer(subsystems: Subsystems): Server {
   return server;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Builds the process-wide shutdown handler: runs each cleanup phase even if
+ * an earlier one fails, force-exits if teardown hangs, and is safe to invoke
+ * from multiple triggers (signals, stdin EOF).
+ */
+export function createShutdownHandler(
+  subs: Pick<Subsystems, 'shutdown'>,
+  server: Pick<Server, 'close'>,
+  exit: (code: number) => void = (code) => process.exit(code),
+): () => Promise<void> {
+  let shuttingDown = false;
+  return async () => {
+    if (shuttingDown) return;
+    shuttingDown = true;
+    // If teardown hangs (e.g. a wedged browser), force-exit rather than
+    // linger as an orphan. Kept ref'd so the event loop can't drain
+    // mid-cleanup and exit before the explicit exit below.
+    const watchdog = setTimeout(() => exit(1), 10_000);
+    let failed = false;
+    try {
+      await subs.shutdown();
+    } catch (err) {
+      failed = true;
+      log.error('subsystem shutdown failed', { error: String(err) });
+    }
+    try {
+      await server.close();
+    } catch (err) {
+      failed = true;
+      log.error('server close failed', { error: String(err) });
+    }
+    clearTimeout(watchdog);
+    exit(failed ? 1 : 0);
+  };
+}
+
 export async function startServer(): Promise<void> {
   const subs = await initSubsystems();
   const server = createMcpServer(subs);
@@ -565,12 +601,14 @@ export async function startServer(): Promise<void> {
     log.warn('search engine bootstrap failed', { error: String(err) });
   });
 
-  const shutdown = async () => {
-    await subs.shutdown();
-    await server.close();
-    process.exit(0);
-  };
+  const shutdown = createShutdownHandler(subs, server);
 
   process.on('SIGINT', shutdown);
   process.on('SIGTERM', shutdown);
+
+  // StdioServerTransport never watches stdin for EOF, so when the MCP client
+  // exits without signalling us the server (and its headless browsers) would
+  // outlive it forever. Treat a closed stdin pipe as a shutdown request.
+  process.stdin.on('end', () => void shutdown());
+  process.stdin.on('close', () => void shutdown());
 }
diff --git a/tests/unit/server/server-factory.test.ts b/tests/unit/server/server-factory.test.ts
index c997700bf..7f745080b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/server/server-factory.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/server/server-factory.test.ts
@@ -209,3 +209,56 @@ describe('createMcpServer', () => {
     expect(typeof startServer).toBe('function');
   });
 });
+
+describe('createShutdownHandler', () => {
+  it('runs both cleanup phases and exits 0 on success', async () => {
+    const { createShutdownHandler } = await import('../../../src/server.js');
+    const subsShutdown = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    const serverClose = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    const exit = vi.fn();
+
+    await createShutdownHandler({ shutdown: subsShutdown }, { close: serverClose }, exit)();
+
+    expect(subsShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(serverClose).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(0);
+  });
+
+  it('still closes the server and exits 1 when subsystem shutdown rejects', async () => {
+    const { createShutdownHandler } = await import('../../../src/server.js');
+    const subsShutdown = vi.fn().mockRejectedValue(new Error('cleanup failed'));
+    const serverClose = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    const exit = vi.fn();
+
+    await createShutdownHandler({ shutdown: subsShutdown }, { close: serverClose }, exit)();
+
+    expect(serverClose).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(1);
+  });
+
+  it('exits 1 when server.close rejects', async () => {
+    const { createShutdownHandler } = await import('../../../src/server.js');
+    const subsShutdown = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    const serverClose = vi.fn().mockRejectedValue(new Error('close failed'));
+    const exit = vi.fn();
+
+    await createShutdownHandler({ shutdown: subsShutdown }, { close: serverClose }, exit)();
+
+    expect(subsShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(1);
+  });
+
+  it('is idempotent — concurrent triggers run cleanup only once', async () => {
+    const { createShutdownHandler } = await import('../../../src/server.js');
+    const subsShutdown = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    const serverClose = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    const exit = vi.fn();
+
+    const shutdown = createShutdownHandler({ shutdown: subsShutdown }, { close: serverClose }, exit);
+    await Promise.all([shutdown(), shutdown(), shutdown()]);
+
+    expect(subsShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(serverClose).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(exit).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+});