diff --git a/backend/fluksio/api/routes/flows.py b/backend/fluksio/api/routes/flows.py
index 63cc189..02d85aa 100644
--- a/backend/fluksio/api/routes/flows.py
+++ b/backend/fluksio/api/routes/flows.py
@@ -1026,7 +1026,10 @@ async def flow_events(websocket: WebSocket, token: str = "") -> None:
                     out.append(event)
                 if out:
                     await _send(websocket, out)
-        except WebSocketDisconnect:
+        except (WebSocketDisconnect, RuntimeError):
+            # A peer that goes away mid-send takes the RuntimeError route
+            # ("websocket.send after websocket.close") rather than the clean
+            # disconnect. Either way the socket is gone and the loop is over.
             pass
         finally:
             receiver.cancel()
diff --git a/backend/fluksio/flow/logs.py b/backend/fluksio/flow/logs.py
index 5afa50a..9cb60bf 100644
--- a/backend/fluksio/flow/logs.py
+++ b/backend/fluksio/flow/logs.py
@@ -34,10 +34,20 @@ class _Tee(io.TextIOBase):
         sink = _sink.get()
         if sink is not None and text:
             sink(text)
-        return self._real.write(text)
+        try:
+            return self._real.write(text)
+        except OSError:
+            # A dead stdout — `fluksio serve` runs the engine as a child of the
+            # dashboard, which holds the far end of that pipe — must not fail
+            # the node whose output was being teed. The capture above has it,
+            # and there is nowhere left to report the loss to anyway.
+            return len(text)
 
     def flush(self) -> None:
-        self._real.flush()
+        try:
+            self._real.flush()
+        except OSError:
+            pass
 
     def isatty(self) -> bool:
         return self._real.isatty()
diff --git a/backend/tests/flow/test_logs.py b/backend/tests/flow/test_logs.py
index 1611919..93ad3ac 100644
--- a/backend/tests/flow/test_logs.py
+++ b/backend/tests/flow/test_logs.py
@@ -122,6 +122,25 @@ def test_printing_outside_a_node_still_reaches_the_real_stream(capsys):
     assert "server talking" in capsys.readouterr().out
 
 
+def test_a_dead_real_stream_does_not_fail_the_node_being_teed():
+    """`fluksio serve` runs the engine as a child of the dashboard."""
+
+    class Broken:
+        def write(self, text: str) -> int:
+            raise BrokenPipeError(32, "Broken pipe")
+
+        def flush(self) -> None:
+            raise BrokenPipeError(32, "Broken pipe")
+
+    collected: list[str] = []
+    tee = logs._Tee(Broken())
+    with logs.capture(collected.append):
+        assert tee.write("still teed") == len("still teed")
+        tee.flush()
+
+    assert collected == ["still teed"]
+
+
 def test_installing_twice_does_not_stack_tees():
     logs.install()
     once = sys.stdout
diff --git a/worker/fluksio_worker/agent.py b/worker/fluksio_worker/agent.py
index f2e7058..dc7ae4b 100644
--- a/worker/fluksio_worker/agent.py
+++ b/worker/fluksio_worker/agent.py
@@ -257,7 +257,11 @@ class Agent:
 
         heartbeat = asyncio.create_task(beat())
         try:
-            await loop.run_in_executor(None, worker.send, request)
+            # A subprocess that died before it could be written to is reported
+            # by the read below, which says so and ends the call — rather than
+            # raising here and leaving the engine waiting out its silence.
+            with contextlib.suppress(OSError):
+                await loop.run_in_executor(None, worker.send, request)
             while True:
                 line = await loop.run_in_executor(None, worker.read_line)
                 if not line: