diff --git a/scripts/reclaim-gpu.sh b/scripts/reclaim-gpu.sh
index 87db7a7b4..09a89d2e2 100755
--- a/scripts/reclaim-gpu.sh
+++ b/scripts/reclaim-gpu.sh
@@ -452,13 +452,21 @@ assert_clear() {
 
 # Spawn a decoy whose argv[0] is a real-shaped path, so the match is tested
 # against the same string a live engine process would present.
+#
+# The executable is a copy of bash, not of sleep: where coreutils is a multicall
+# binary (uutils, the default since Ubuntu 25.10), /bin/sleep picks the tool to
+# run from argv[0], so a copy named llama-server prints "unknown program" and
+# exits before the self-test can see it. bash ignores the name it runs under.
+# The body is a loop, not `sleep 300`, because bash execs a lone simple command
+# in place and argv[0] would become `sleep`. Its `sleep 1` children name no E2E
+# root, so they are never selected, and a TERM still ends the decoy.
 spawn_decoy() {
   local path="$1"
   mkdir -p "$(dirname "${path}")"
-  cp /bin/sleep "${path}"
+  cp "$(command -v bash)" "${path}"
   # Detach stdio: this runs inside a command substitution, and a background
   # child holding the capture pipe open would block the caller until it exits.
-  "${path}" 300 >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+  "${path}" -c 'for _ in {1..300}; do sleep 1; done' >/dev/null 2>&1 &
   echo $!
 }
 
@@ -504,7 +512,7 @@ spawn_zombie() {
 }
 
 # Spawn a decoy that IGNORES SIGTERM, so the TERM -> grace -> KILL escalation is
-# exercised. A plain `cp /bin/sleep` decoy dies on the first TERM and leaves the
+# exercised. A plain spawn_decoy decoy dies on the first TERM and leaves the
 # escalation branch unreached, which is how it went untested.
 spawn_stubborn_decoy() {
   local path="$1"
@@ -524,9 +532,8 @@ DECOY
 # Spawn a decoy carrying the record delimiters INSIDE one argument — a newline
 # and a tab, as a `--chat-template` or `--prompt` value does.
 #
-# Not spawn_decoy with an extra argument: that decoy is `cp /bin/sleep`, and
-# sleep rejects a non-numeric argument and exits before it can be observed. This
-# needs something that ignores what it is handed and stays alive.
+# A helper of its own because spawn_decoy passes no arguments through. Like that
+# decoy, it ignores what it is handed and stays alive.
 #
 # Ordinary in every other respect — it must die on SIGTERM, so it is the stubborn
 # decoy's body without the trap. Its `sleep 1` children name no E2E root, so they
diff --git a/xtask/src/workflow_contract.rs b/xtask/src/workflow_contract.rs
index c6389d372..d0810deaa 100644
--- a/xtask/src/workflow_contract.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/workflow_contract.rs
@@ -2897,12 +2897,22 @@ fi
 
         // argv[0] names an E2E root and an engine marker, which is what the
         // rule matches, and sits under the scope so nothing else can.
+        //
+        // A copy of bash running a loop, for the reasons `spawn_decoy` in
+        // reclaim-gpu.sh gives: a copied multicall `sleep` exits at once as an
+        // unknown program, and bash would exec a lone `sleep 300` in place.
         let decoy_dir = scope.path().join("e2e-prewarm/bin");
         std::fs::create_dir_all(&decoy_dir).expect("decoy dir");
         let decoy = decoy_dir.join("llama-server");
-        std::fs::copy("/bin/sleep", &decoy).expect("copy /bin/sleep as the decoy");
+        std::fs::copy("/bin/bash", &decoy).expect("copy /bin/bash as the decoy");
         let mut child = std::process::Command::new(&decoy)
-            .arg("300")
+            .args(["-c", "for _ in {1..300}; do sleep 1; done"])
+            // Detached, as in the script: a `sleep 1` child outlives the
+            // SIGKILL below by up to a second and would hold the test's
+            // inherited stdio open meanwhile.
+            .stdin(std::process::Stdio::null())
+            .stdout(std::process::Stdio::null())
+            .stderr(std::process::Stdio::null())
             .spawn()
             .expect("spawn the decoy engine process");
         let decoy_pid = child.id();
@@ -2913,8 +2923,8 @@ fi
             &env,
             &reclaim,
         );
-        // Reaped before any assertion: a panic here must not leave a `sleep
-        // 300` behind on a self-hosted runner, of all things.
+        // Reaped before any assertion: a panic here must not leave a 300s
+        // decoy behind on a self-hosted runner, of all things.
         let _ = child.kill();
         let _ = child.wait();
         let (code, log) = got;