diff --git a/src/tui/gateway-chat.ts b/src/tui/gateway-chat.ts
index 5cbec2e02..f55bbf5f3 100644
--- a/src/tui/gateway-chat.ts
+++ b/src/tui/gateway-chat.ts
@@ -146,6 +146,10 @@ export class GatewayChatClient {
         });
       },
       onClose: (_code, reason) => {
+        // Reset so waitForReady() blocks again until the next successful reconnect.
+        this.readyPromise = new Promise((resolve) => {
+          this.resolveReady = resolve;
+        });
         this.onDisconnected?.(reason);
       },
       onGap: (info) => {
diff --git a/src/tui/tui-command-handlers.ts b/src/tui/tui-command-handlers.ts
index 4e5a56f62..989c942be 100644
--- a/src/tui/tui-command-handlers.ts
+++ b/src/tui/tui-command-handlers.ts
@@ -456,6 +456,12 @@ export function createCommandHandlers(context: CommandHandlerContext) {
   };
 
   const sendMessage = async (text: string) => {
+    if (!state.isConnected) {
+      chatLog.addSystem("not connected to gateway — message not sent");
+      setActivityStatus("disconnected");
+      tui.requestRender();
+      return;
+    }
     try {
       chatLog.addUser(text);
       tui.requestRender();