diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useStatusLine.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useStatusLine.test.ts
index 369fb2df6..af8f06c5d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useStatusLine.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useStatusLine.test.ts
@@ -581,4 +581,57 @@ describe('useStatusLine', () => {
       expect(firstKill).toHaveBeenCalled();
     });
   });
+
+  // --- Spawn failure handling (issue #3264) ---
+  //
+  // On macOS with Node 22, exec() can throw synchronously with EBADF when
+  // stdio pipe setup fails. The throw must not escape doUpdate() — or the
+  // setTimeout callback — or the whole CLI crashes.
+
+  describe('spawn failure handling', () => {
+    it('does not crash when exec throws synchronously (EBADF)', () => {
+      vi.mocked(child_process.exec).mockImplementationOnce((() => {
+        const err = new Error('spawn EBADF') as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+        err.code = 'EBADF';
+        throw err;
+      }) as unknown as typeof child_process.exec);
+
+      setStatusLineConfig({ type: 'command', command: 'echo test' });
+
+      let result: { current: { text: string | null } } | undefined;
+      expect(() => {
+        result = renderHook(() => useStatusLine()).result;
+      }).not.toThrow();
+      expect(result!.current.text).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    it('recovers on subsequent state changes after a sync exec failure', async () => {
+      // First call throws, subsequent calls succeed with the default mock.
+      // Verifies activeChildRef and generationRef don't get wedged.
+      vi.mocked(child_process.exec).mockImplementationOnce((() => {
+        const err = new Error('spawn EBADF') as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+        err.code = 'EBADF';
+        throw err;
+      }) as unknown as typeof child_process.exec);
+
+      setStatusLineConfig({ type: 'command', command: 'echo test' });
+      const { result, rerender } = renderHook(() => useStatusLine());
+
+      expect(result.current.text).toBeNull();
+      expect(child_process.exec).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+      // Trigger a re-execution via state change — should use the default mock.
+      mockUIState.currentModel = 'new-model';
+      rerender();
+      await act(async () => {
+        vi.advanceTimersByTime(300);
+      });
+
+      expect(child_process.exec).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+      await act(async () => {
+        execCallback(null, 'recovered\n', '');
+      });
+      expect(result.current.text).toBe('recovered');
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useStatusLine.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useStatusLine.ts
index 30173761e..1fd0daca8 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useStatusLine.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useStatusLine.ts
@@ -269,21 +269,33 @@ export function useStatusLine(): {
     // Bump generation so earlier in-flight callbacks are ignored.
     const gen = ++generationRef.current;
 
-    const child = exec(
-      cmd,
-      { cwd: cfg.getTargetDir(), timeout: 5000, maxBuffer: 1024 * 10 },
-      (error, stdout) => {
-        if (gen !== generationRef.current) return; // stale
-        activeChildRef.current = undefined;
-        if (!error && stdout) {
-          // Strip only the trailing newline to preserve intentional whitespace.
-          const line = stdout.replace(/\r?\n$/, '').split(/\r?\n/, 1)[0];
-          setOutput(line || null);
-        } else {
-          setOutput(null);
-        }
-      },
-    );
+    // exec() can throw synchronously: libuv reports a handful of spawn
+    // errors (EACCES, ENOENT, …) via the async 'error' event, but anything
+    // else — including EBADF, reported on macOS Node 22 in issue #3264 — is
+    // thrown from ChildProcess.spawn. Without this guard the throw escapes
+    // the setTimeout callback and crashes the CLI as uncaughtException.
+    let child: ChildProcess;
+    try {
+      child = exec(
+        cmd,
+        { cwd: cfg.getTargetDir(), timeout: 5000, maxBuffer: 1024 * 10 },
+        (error, stdout) => {
+          if (gen !== generationRef.current) return; // stale
+          activeChildRef.current = undefined;
+          if (!error && stdout) {
+            // Strip only the trailing newline to preserve intentional whitespace.
+            const line = stdout.replace(/\r?\n$/, '').split(/\r?\n/, 1)[0];
+            setOutput(line || null);
+          } else {
+            setOutput(null);
+          }
+        },
+      );
+    } catch (err) {
+      debugLog.error('statusline exec error:', (err as Error).message);
+      setOutput(null);
+      return;
+    }
 
     activeChildRef.current = child;