diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/state/inbox.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/state/inbox.test.ts
index 143a2ffe6..5d020939d 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/state/inbox.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/state/inbox.test.ts
@@ -117,6 +117,20 @@ describe("the needs-you inbox", () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  test("the thread on screen has no row for its replayed failure", () => {
+    const items = deriveInbox(
+      {
+        sessions,
+        threads: { two: { permissions: [], items: [{ kind: "turnEnd", outcome: "failed", at: NOW - 500 }] } },
+        failed: {},
+        links: [],
+        viewing: "two",
+      },
+      NOW,
+    );
+    expect(items.filter((item) => item.kind === "failed")).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   test("a settled thread's failed turn is no row, from either source", () => {
     const settled = sessions.map((s) => (s.id === "one" ? { ...s, status: "done" as const } : s));
     const items = deriveInbox(
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/state/inbox.ts b/apps/desktop/src/state/inbox.ts
index 8972d7a55..ee5c2c708 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/state/inbox.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/state/inbox.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,12 @@ export interface InboxRead {
   snoozed?: Readonly<Record<string, number>>;
   /** Rows put away by hand, which stay away until their thread asks again. */
   dismissed?: InboxDismissals;
+  /**
+   * The thread on screen. Its replayed failure is no row: the user is looking at it, and its
+   * banner already says it (a failure that lands while the window is elsewhere still comes in
+   * through `failed`).
+   */
+  viewing?: string | null;
 }
 
 /** The title a thread is known by, when the app has one. */
@@ -160,7 +166,7 @@ export function deriveInbox(read: InboxRead, now = Date.now()): InboxItem[] {
   // A replayed thread whose last turn failed is a failure too, even when this app
   // sent no prompt: the mock seeds one, and a thread opened after a restart has one.
   for (const [threadId, thread] of Object.entries(read.threads)) {
-    if (failedThreads.has(threadId)) continue;
+    if (failedThreads.has(threadId) || threadId === read.viewing) continue;
     const tail = thread.items?.[thread.items.length - 1];
     if (tail?.kind !== "turnEnd" || tail.outcome !== "failed") continue;
     items.push({
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/state/inboxRead.ts b/apps/desktop/src/state/inboxRead.ts
index 0e8425e9f..7d56e0f30 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/state/inboxRead.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/state/inboxRead.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ export function useInboxItems(): InboxItem[] {
   const archived = useApp((s) => s.archived);
   const dismissed = useApp((s) => s.inboxDismissed);
   const snoozed = useApp((s) => s.snoozed);
+  const viewing = useApp((s) => s.selectedId);
   const signature = useApp((s) => threadSignature(s.threads));
   // biome-ignore lint/correctness/useExhaustiveDependencies: the signature stands for the threads it was built from
   return useMemo(
@@ -42,9 +43,10 @@ export function useInboxItems(): InboxItem[] {
         archived,
         dismissed,
         snoozed,
+        viewing,
         threads: useApp.getState().threads,
       }),
-    [sessions, failed, links, archived, dismissed, snoozed, signature],
+    [sessions, failed, links, archived, dismissed, snoozed, viewing, signature],
   );
 }
 
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/state/store.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/state/store.test.ts
index bbf789c82..66ad19a80 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/state/store.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/state/store.test.ts
@@ -4038,6 +4038,41 @@ describe("finished threads", () => {
     markUnread("t1");
     expect(Object.keys(useApp.getState().finished)).toEqual(["t1"]);
   });
+
+  test("opening a thread whose replayed last turn failed takes it out of Needs you, until it fails again", async () => {
+    const { clearFinished, seeFailure } = await import("./store");
+    const { deriveInbox } = await import("./inbox");
+    const failedAt = Date.now() - 5_000;
+    const thread = (at: number) =>
+      ({ permissions: [], queue: [], items: [{ kind: "turnEnd", id: "e", outcome: "failed", at }] }) as never;
+    useApp.setState({
+      selectedId: "other",
+      sessions: [{ id: "t1", title: "T1", cwd: "/tmp" }] as never,
+      threads: { t1: thread(failedAt) },
+      failed: {},
+      inboxDismissed: {},
+    });
+    const rows = () => {
+      const s = useApp.getState();
+      return deriveInbox({
+        sessions: s.sessions,
+        threads: s.threads,
+        failed: s.failed,
+        links: [],
+        dismissed: s.inboxDismissed,
+      }).filter((row) => row.threadId === "t1");
+    };
+    expect(rows()).toHaveLength(1);
+    clearFinished("t1");
+    expect(rows()).toHaveLength(0);
+    // Seeing it again records nothing new.
+    const before = useApp.getState().inboxDismissed;
+    seeFailure("t1");
+    expect(useApp.getState().inboxDismissed).toBe(before);
+    // The next failure arrives later, and is a row again.
+    useApp.setState({ threads: { t1: thread(Date.now() + 60_000) } });
+    expect(rows()).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
 });
 
 test("a mode chosen in one thread leaves the default and the other threads alone", async () => {
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/state/store.ts b/apps/desktop/src/state/store.ts
index 46b8399c4..8c5a7ed9b 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/state/store.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/state/store.ts
@@ -2856,10 +2856,32 @@ function without(map: Record<string, number>, id: string): Record<string, number
 
 /** You saw it: opening the thread (or coming back to the window on it) settles the flag. */
 export function clearFinished(id: string | null) {
-  if (!id || !(id in get().finished || id in get().failed)) return;
+  if (!id) return;
+  seeFailure(id);
+  if (!(id in get().finished || id in get().failed)) return;
   set((s) => ({ finished: without(s.finished, id), failed: without(s.failed, id) }));
 }
 
+/**
+ * The thread's failure was seen: opened, or its banner dismissed. Its "Needs you" row is put away
+ * quietly, from both of its sources — the store's `failed` map and a replayed transcript that ends
+ * in a failed turn — and a later failure, which arrives after this moment, is a row again
+ * (state/inboxDismissed.ts `isDismissed`). A thread with no failure records nothing.
+ */
+export function seeFailure(id: string): void {
+  const s = get();
+  const items = s.threads[id]?.items;
+  const tail = items?.[items.length - 1];
+  const failedTail = tail?.kind === "turnEnd" && tail.outcome === "failed";
+  if (!(id in s.failed) && !failedTail) return;
+  const key = `${id}:failed`;
+  const at = Math.max(s.failed[id] ?? 0, failedTail ? (tail.at ?? 0) : 0);
+  if ((s.inboxDismissed[key] ?? -1) >= at) return;
+  const next = dismissRows(s.inboxDismissed, [{ key, kind: "failed", at }]);
+  set({ inboxDismissed: next });
+  store(STORAGE.inboxDismissed, JSON.stringify(next));
+}
+
 /** The shortest gap between two window-focus list refreshes, see below. */
 const FOCUS_LIST_GAP_MS = 5_000;
 let lastFocusListAt = 0;
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/ui/AttentionCards.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/ui/AttentionCards.tsx
index fcb534e6e..3fcc43f47 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/ui/AttentionCards.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/ui/AttentionCards.tsx
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@ function focusComposerField() {
  * draft, so the thread's context and the user's own words are where they were (issue 3696). It
  * says which of a set it is, the question (scrolling past `QUESTION_TEXT_MAX`), its answers with
  * their descriptions, and a field for the user's own answer. ↑/↓ move between answers, 1–9 pick
- * one, esc dismisses when no field has focus.
+ * one, esc declines when no field has focus.
  *
  * A question that takes the user's own answer also takes files (issue 3756): Attach files, or a
  * paste or drop on the form, under the composer's own limits (`ui/Attachments.tsx`). A file goes
@@ -825,7 +825,7 @@ export function QuestionCard({
               Send
             </Pill>
             {reject && (
-              <Tooltip label={keys ? "Dismiss the question (esc)" : "Dismiss the question"}>
+              <Tooltip label={keys ? "Decline the question (esc)" : "Decline the question"}>
                 <Pill onClick={() => answerPermission(request, reject)}>{reject.name}</Pill>
               </Tooltip>
             )}
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/ui/ChatView.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/ui/ChatView.tsx
index f64e007dc..5b2b871f4 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/ui/ChatView.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/ui/ChatView.tsx
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import {
   refreshSessions,
   repairThread,
   retryPendingSetup,
+  seeFailure,
   setAutoCompactForThread,
   setPanel,
   setTerminalOpen,
@@ -1008,6 +1009,8 @@ export function ChatView() {
                     }
                     onDismiss={() => {
                       setDismissed(error);
+                      // Dismissed here is seen: its "Needs you" row goes with it.
+                      if (thread) seeFailure(thread.id);
                       void refreshSessions();
                     }}
                   />