diff --git a/apps/server/src/browser.ts b/apps/server/src/browser.ts
index 5675d67b3..1de55d87c 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/browser.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/browser.ts
@@ -136,11 +136,19 @@ export class BrowserService {
       const response = await this.request("/sessions", { id, url: target }, signal);
       return await this.save(owner, await response.json(), id);
     } catch (error) {
-      await this.save(
-        owner,
-        { ...value, url: target, status: "error", updatedAt: new Date().toISOString() },
-        id,
-      );
+      // A Stop is not a broken session. The person asked for the turn to end, the profile and its
+      // cookies are intact, and `request` reports a cancelled request by throwing the signal's own
+      // abort - so writing "error" here is what puts "Needs attention" and "Reconnect browser" in
+      // front of somebody whose browser is working, and hides the preview behind a status they did
+      // not cause. Only the caller's own abort counts: the 45s request timeout is a real failure and
+      // leaves the signal untouched, so it still records.
+      if (!signal?.aborted) {
+        await this.save(
+          owner,
+          { ...value, url: target, status: "error", updatedAt: new Date().toISOString() },
+          id,
+        );
+      }
       throw error;
     }
   }
diff --git a/tests/browser.test.ts b/tests/browser.test.ts
index 7308ae05d..c4773fc9e 100644
--- a/tests/browser.test.ts
+++ b/tests/browser.test.ts
@@ -263,6 +263,52 @@ test("cancelled chat browser requests do not start navigation or a follow-up rea
   assert.equal((await db.list("owner", "browsers")).length, 1);
 });
 
+test("stopping a turn does not leave the browser marked as needing attention", async (t) => {
+  const controller = new AbortController();
+  let arrived = 0;
+  const { db, service } = await browserFixture(t, async () => {
+    arrived += 1;
+    // The worker has the request and has not answered, which is the state a Stop arrives into.
+    return new Promise(() => {});
+  });
+
+  const stopped = service.observeForThread(
+    "owner",
+    "chat-thread",
+    savedSession.url,
+    controller.signal,
+  );
+  // Abort only once the request is genuinely in flight, so this exercises the cancellation path
+  // rather than the pre-flight check at the top of observeForThread.
+  while (arrived === 0) await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 5));
+  controller.abort();
+
+  await assert.rejects(stopped, { name: "AbortError" });
+
+  const [stored] = await db.list<BrowserSession>("owner", "browsers");
+  // The turn was stopped, not broken. "error" is what the app reads as "Needs attention", hides the
+  // preview behind, and offers "Reconnect browser" for - none of which a person needs after asking
+  // for a turn to end, and none of which their profile stopped being true for.
+  assert.equal(stored?.status, "idle");
+});
+
+test("a worker that genuinely fails a turn still marks the browser as needing attention", async (t) => {
+  // The other half of the rule: only the caller's own Stop is silent. A failure the worker actually
+  // reported must keep recording, or this would hide a browser that really is broken.
+  const { db, service } = await browserFixture(t, () => ({
+    status: 500,
+    data: { error: { message: "The browser could not be launched." } },
+  }));
+
+  await assert.rejects(
+    service.observeForThread("owner", "chat-thread", savedSession.url),
+    /could not be launched/,
+  );
+
+  const [stored] = await db.list<BrowserSession>("owner", "browsers");
+  assert.equal(stored?.status, "error");
+});
+
 test("browser read fails on missing page text instead of inventing observation content", async (t) => {
   const { db, service } = await browserFixture(t, () => ({
     data: { url: savedSession.url, title: savedSession.title },
diff --git a/tests/helpers/browser.ts b/tests/helpers/browser.ts
index 41292879e..e15cdb6f2 100644
--- a/tests/helpers/browser.ts
+++ b/tests/helpers/browser.ts
@@ -13,13 +13,18 @@ import { Files } from "../../apps/server/src/files.ts";
 
 export async function browserFixture(
   t: TestContext,
-  handle: (path: string, body: Record<string, unknown>) => { status?: number; data: unknown },
+  handle: (
+    path: string,
+    body: Record<string, unknown>,
+  ) => { status?: number; data: unknown } | Promise<{ status?: number; data: unknown }>,
 ) {
   const server = createServer(async (request, response) => {
     const chunks = [];
     for await (const chunk of request) chunks.push(Buffer.from(chunk));
     const body = chunks.length ? JSON.parse(Buffer.concat(chunks).toString()) : {};
-    const result = handle(request.url ?? "", body);
+    // Awaited so a handler can model a worker that has not answered yet, which is the state a
+    // Stop arrives into.
+    const result = await handle(request.url ?? "", body);
     response.writeHead(result.status ?? 200, { "content-type": "application/json" });
     response.end(JSON.stringify(result.data));
   });