diff --git a/src/server/apps.ts b/src/server/apps.ts
index 8d05f19..bb618f9 100644
--- a/src/server/apps.ts
+++ b/src/server/apps.ts
@@ -583,30 +583,19 @@ async function runApp(dir: string, port: number) {
 
   app.proc = proc
 
-  // Check if process is alive using ps(1) - more reliable than Bun's API
-  const isProcessAlive = async (pid: number): Promise<boolean> => {
-    try {
-      const ps = Bun.spawn(['ps', '-p', String(pid)], { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe' })
-      const code = await ps.exited
-      return code === 0
-    } catch {
-      return false
-    }
-  }
-
   // Poll to verify app started - tries /ok for HTTP apps, falls back to survival check
   const pollStartup = async () => {
     const pollInterval = 500
     const survivalThreshold = 5000 // Consider non-HTTP apps running after 5s
     const startTime = Date.now()
-    const pid = proc.pid
+
+    // Use proc.exited as the authoritative death signal instead of ps(1)
+    let processExited = false
+    proc.exited.then(() => { processExited = true })
 
     while (app.state === 'starting' && app.proc === proc) {
-      // First check if process is still alive
-      const alive = await isProcessAlive(pid)
-      if (!alive) {
+      if (processExited) {
         info(app, 'Process died during startup')
-        // proc.exited handler will clean up
         return
       }
 
@@ -636,6 +625,13 @@ async function runApp(dir: string, port: number) {
 
       // If process survived long enough, consider it running (non-HTTP app)
       if (Date.now() - startTime >= survivalThreshold) {
+        // One final check — process could have died between loop iterations
+        // Yield to let proc.exited handler run if pending
+        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 0))
+        if (processExited) {
+          info(app, 'Process died during startup')
+          return
+        }
         info(app, 'No /ok endpoint, marking as running (process survived 5s)')
         markAsRunning(app, port, false)
         return
@@ -787,35 +783,10 @@ function startHealthChecks(app: App, port: number) {
 }
 
 function startProcessHealthChecks(app: App) {
-  // For non-HTTP apps, just verify process is still alive using ps(1)
-  app.healthCheckTimer = setInterval(async () => {
-    if (app.state !== 'running') {
-      if (app.healthCheckTimer) {
-        clearInterval(app.healthCheckTimer)
-        app.healthCheckTimer = undefined
-      }
-      return
-    }
-
-    const pid = app.proc?.pid
-    if (!pid) {
-      handleHealthCheckFailure(app)
-      return
-    }
-
-    try {
-      const ps = Bun.spawn(['ps', '-p', String(pid)], { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe' })
-      const code = await ps.exited
-      if (code === 0) {
-        // Process is alive
-        app.consecutiveHealthFailures = 0
-      } else {
-        handleHealthCheckFailure(app)
-      }
-    } catch {
-      handleHealthCheckFailure(app)
-    }
-  }, HEALTH_CHECK_INTERVAL)
+  // For non-HTTP apps, the proc.exited handler is the authoritative death signal.
+  // No need to poll — when the process dies, proc.exited fires and cleans up.
+  // This is a no-op; health checks only matter for HTTP apps where the process
+  // can be alive but the server unresponsive.
 }
 
 function startShutdownTimeout(app: App) {