diff --git a/packages/server/src/workspaces/process-identity.test.ts b/packages/server/src/workspaces/process-identity.test.ts
index bd73104c..0efe5add 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/workspaces/process-identity.test.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/workspaces/process-identity.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import assert from "node:assert/strict"
-import type { SpawnSyncReturns } from "node:child_process"
+import { spawn as spawnChild, spawnSync, type SpawnSyncReturns } from "node:child_process"
+import { once } from "node:events"
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs"
 import { describe, it } from "node:test"
 
 import {
@@ -28,6 +30,33 @@ describe("process identity probes", () => {
     assert.deepEqual(probe.ok && probe.processes.get(42), identity())
   })
 
+  it("queries the requested Linux launch group without per-process subprocesses", () => {
+    const call = {} as Call
+    const probe = probePosixProcesses(spawn("42|1|42|123456|boot-a|123456\n", call), 25, "linux", { pids: [42], groupId: 42 })
+    assert.deepEqual(call.args.slice(-1), ["42"])
+    assert.match(call.script, /expected_group=\$stat_group/)
+    assert.doesNotMatch(call.script, /\b(?:cat|cut|sed|basename|dirname)\b/)
+    assert.deepEqual(probe.ok && probe.processes.get(42), identity())
+  })
+
+  it("captures real Linux start ticks and launch-group members within the deadline", { skip: process.platform !== "linux" }, async () => {
+    const child = spawnChild("sh", ["-c", "sleep 5"], { stdio: "ignore" })
+    await once(child, "spawn")
+    try {
+      const stat = readFileSync(`/proc/${process.pid}/stat`, "utf8")
+      const expectedStart = stat.slice(stat.lastIndexOf(") ") + 2).split(" ")[19]
+      const probe = probePosixProcesses(spawnSync, 1_000, "linux", { pids: [process.pid], groupId: process.pid })
+      assert.equal(probe.ok && probe.processes.get(process.pid)?.startTime, expectedStart)
+      assert.equal(probe.ok && probe.processes.has(child.pid!), true)
+    } finally {
+      if (child.exitCode === null && child.signalCode === null) {
+        const exited = once(child, "exit")
+        child.kill()
+        await exited
+      }
+    }
+  })
+
   it("uses one delimiter-safe process-table query on portable POSIX", () => {
     const call = {} as Call
     const command = "/opt/opencode 'pipe|value'\t\"quoted\" café"
diff --git a/packages/server/src/workspaces/process-identity.ts b/packages/server/src/workspaces/process-identity.ts
index cde0556e..2d9b2f07 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/workspaces/process-identity.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/workspaces/process-identity.ts
@@ -36,20 +36,36 @@ export type TokenSignalResult = { ok: boolean; signalSent: boolean; targets: Pro
 export const LAUNCH_CLEANUP_TOKEN_ENV = "CODENOMAD_LAUNCH_CLEANUP_TOKEN"
 
 type SpawnCommand = typeof spawnSync
+const SHELL_DOLLAR = "$"
 
 const LINUX_IDENTITY_FUNCTIONS = String.raw`
-boot=$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/boot_id 2>/dev/null) || exit 20
+IFS= read -r boot 2>/dev/null < /proc/sys/kernel/random/boot_id || exit 20
 read_stat() {
-  line=$(cat "/proc/$1/stat" 2>/dev/null) || return 1
-  stat_pid=$(printf '%s\n' "$line" | cut -d' ' -f1); rest=$(printf '%s\n' "$line" | sed 's/^.*) //'); set -- $rest
-  stat_ppid=$2; stat_group=$3; stat_start=$20
+  line=
+  while IFS= read -r chunk || test -n "$chunk"; do line=$line$chunk; done 2>/dev/null < "/proc/$1/stat"
+  test -n "$line" || return 1
+  stat_pid=$1; rest=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{line##*) }; set -- $rest
+  test "$#" -ge 20 || return 1
+  stat_ppid=$2; stat_group=$3; shift 19; stat_start=$1
+}
+emit_linux() {
+  test -n "$1" && printf '%s|' "$1"
+  printf '%s|%s|%s|%s|%s|%s\n' "$stat_pid" "$stat_ppid" "$stat_group" "$stat_start" "$boot" "$stat_start"
 }
-emit_linux() { printf '%s|%s|%s|%s|%s|%s|%s\n' "$1" "$stat_pid" "$stat_ppid" "$stat_group" "$stat_start" "$boot" "$stat_start"; }
 `
 
 const LINUX_SNAPSHOT_SCRIPT = String.raw`${LINUX_IDENTITY_FUNCTIONS}
 for stat in /proc/[0-9]*/stat; do
-  pid=$(basename "$(dirname "$stat")"); read_stat "$pid" && emit_linux "" | cut -c2-
+  directory=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{stat%/stat}; pid=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{directory##*/}; read_stat "$pid" && emit_linux ""
+done
+exit 0
+`
+
+const LINUX_LAUNCH_GROUP_SNAPSHOT_SCRIPT = String.raw`${LINUX_IDENTITY_FUNCTIONS}
+leader_pid=$1; read_stat "$leader_pid" || exit 22; expected_group=$stat_group; emit_linux ""
+for stat in /proc/[0-9]*/stat; do
+  directory=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{stat%/stat}; pid=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{directory##*/}; test "$pid" = "$leader_pid" && continue
+  read_stat "$pid" && test "$stat_group" = "$expected_group" && emit_linux ""
 done
 exit 0
 `
@@ -60,7 +76,7 @@ shift 5; matched=0; cutoff=; signal_sent=0
 if read_stat "$leader_pid" && test "$boot" = "$leader_boot" && test "$stat_start" = "$leader_start" && test "$stat_group" = "$expected_group"; then
   matched=1
   for stat in /proc/[0-9]*/stat; do
-    candidate=$(basename "$(dirname "$stat")"); read_stat "$candidate" && test "$stat_group" = "$expected_group" && emit_linux CODENOMAD_TARGET
+    directory=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{stat%/stat}; candidate=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{directory##*/}; read_stat "$candidate" && test "$stat_group" = "$expected_group" && emit_linux CODENOMAD_TARGET
   done
   if kill "-$requested_signal" -- "-$expected_group" 2>/dev/null; then
     signal_sent=1
@@ -111,7 +127,7 @@ pass=0
 while test "$pass" -lt "$passes"; do
   pass=$((pass + 1))
   for environ in /proc/[0-9]*/environ; do
-    pid=$(basename "$(dirname "$environ")")
+    directory=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{environ%/environ}; pid=${SHELL_DOLLAR}{directory##*/}
     if matches_token "$pid" && read_stat "$pid"; then
       test -n "$requested_signal" && prefix=CODENOMAD_TARGET || prefix=CODENOMAD_PROCESS
       emit_linux "$prefix"
@@ -416,10 +432,16 @@ export function descendantsOf(processes: Map<number, ProcessIdentity>, rootPid:
 
 export function probePosixProcesses(spawnCommand: SpawnCommand, timeoutMs: number,
   platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform, filter?: PosixProcessFilter): ProcessSnapshot {
-  if (platform === "linux") return querySnapshot(
-    () => runLinuxScript(spawnCommand, LINUX_SNAPSHOT_SCRIPT, [], timeoutMs, "codenomad-posix-identity"),
-    (output) => parseDelimitedSnapshot(output, true),
-  )
+  if (platform === "linux") {
+    const pids = filter?.pids?.filter((pid) => Number.isInteger(pid) && pid > 0).map(String) ?? []
+    const launchGroupProbe = pids.length === 1 && filter?.groupId === Number(pids[0])
+    return querySnapshot(
+      () => runLinuxScript(spawnCommand, launchGroupProbe ? LINUX_LAUNCH_GROUP_SNAPSHOT_SCRIPT : LINUX_SNAPSHOT_SCRIPT,
+        launchGroupProbe ? pids : [], timeoutMs, "codenomad-posix-identity"),
+      (output) => parseDelimitedSnapshot(output, true),
+      { allowEmpty: Boolean(filter) },
+    )
+  }
   // POSIX has no portable pidfd/start ticks; collect one coherent table instead of probing every PID.
   return querySnapshot(
     () => spawnCommand("ps", ["-axo", "pid=,ppid=,pgid=,lstart=,comm="], {
diff --git a/packages/server/src/workspaces/runtime.test.ts b/packages/server/src/workspaces/runtime.test.ts
index 7258bd8d..54fb92a9 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/workspaces/runtime.test.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/workspaces/runtime.test.ts
@@ -83,6 +83,15 @@ async function harness(options: WorkspaceRuntimeOptions & { binary?: string; out
   return { runtime, child, timers, calls, launch, abort }
 }
 describe("workspace runtime lifecycle contracts", () => {
+  it("captures the Linux launch group with one bounded shell command", async () => {
+    let launchCall: Call | undefined
+    await harness({ spawnSync: ((command: string, args: readonly string[]) => {
+      launchCall ??= { command, args: [...args] }
+      return result(posix([[4242, 1, 4242, "100"]]))
+    }) as unknown as Command })
+    assert.deepEqual(launchCall?.args.slice(-1), ["4242"])
+  })
+
   it("cancels before spawn and while waiting for a port without losing retryable cleanup", async () => {
     let spawned = false
     const runtime = new WorkspaceRuntime(new EventBus(), pino({ level: "silent" }), {
diff --git a/packages/server/src/workspaces/runtime.ts b/packages/server/src/workspaces/runtime.ts
index 78ffc70a..41adab8c 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/workspaces/runtime.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/workspaces/runtime.ts
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ export class WorkspaceRuntime {
                 this.spawnCommand,
                 this.stopCommandTimeoutMs,
                 this.platform,
-                this.platform === "linux" ? undefined : { pids: [child.pid], groupId: child.pid },
+                { pids: [child.pid], groupId: child.pid },
               )
           : { ok: false as const, error: "spawned child did not expose a PID" }
         const launchLeader = launchSnapshot.ok && child.pid ? launchSnapshot.processes.get(child.pid) : undefined