diff --git a/crates/maestro-daemon/src/session.rs b/crates/maestro-daemon/src/session.rs
index b6cef9e..ad27037 100644
--- a/crates/maestro-daemon/src/session.rs
+++ b/crates/maestro-daemon/src/session.rs
@@ -228,12 +228,14 @@ impl SessionManager {
                     return Err(e.into());
                 }
             };
-        if let Err(e) = self.inner.tmux.new_session_piped(
-            id,
-            &effective_cwd,
-            &req.command,
-            &pipe_pane_command(&fifo_path),
-        ) {
+        let spawned = {
+            let tmux = self.inner.tmux.clone();
+            let cwd = effective_cwd.clone();
+            let command = req.command.clone();
+            let sink = pipe_pane_command(&fifo_path);
+            tmux_blocking(move || tmux.new_session_piped(id, &cwd, &command, &sink)).await
+        };
+        if let Err(e) = spawned {
             // `bridge` drops at the end of this block, closing the FIFO reader.
             let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&fifo_path);
             self.rollback_worktree(&worktree_base_repo, &worktree_path);
@@ -254,7 +256,8 @@ impl SessionManager {
         if let Err(e) = self.inner.sidecar.write(&session) {
             // tmux already spawned the session; kill it so no ghost survives a
             // failed sidecar write, then unwind the FIFO + worktree.
-            let _ = self.inner.tmux.kill_session(id);
+            let tmux = self.inner.tmux.clone();
+            let _ = tmux_blocking(move || tmux.kill_session(id)).await;
             let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&fifo_path);
             self.rollback_worktree(&worktree_base_repo, &worktree_path);
             return Err(SessionError::Sidecar(e));
@@ -297,7 +300,8 @@ impl SessionManager {
         };
         let record = removed.ok_or(SessionError::NotFound(id))?;
 
-        let _ = self.inner.tmux.kill_session(id);
+        let tmux = self.inner.tmux.clone();
+        let _ = tmux_blocking(move || tmux.kill_session(id)).await;
         let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&record.fifo_path);
         self.inner
             .sidecar
@@ -346,7 +350,10 @@ impl SessionManager {
     /// us to repair them.
     pub async fn recover(&self) -> Result<usize, SessionError> {
         tokio::fs::create_dir_all(&self.inner.fifo_dir).await?;
-        let live = self.inner.tmux.list_sessions()?;
+        let live = {
+            let tmux = self.inner.tmux.clone();
+            tmux_blocking(move || tmux.list_sessions()).await?
+        };
         let mut adopted = 0usize;
         for id in live {
             let mut session = match self.inner.sidecar.read(id) {
@@ -381,10 +388,11 @@ impl SessionManager {
             // Re-pipe so output starts flowing again. `Tmux::pipe_pane` runs
             // without tmux's `-o` flag, so any stale pipe the previous daemon
             // left running to a now-unread FIFO is replaced (NAP-228).
-            let _ = self
-                .inner
-                .tmux
-                .pipe_pane(id, &pipe_pane_command(&fifo_path));
+            let _ = {
+                let tmux = self.inner.tmux.clone();
+                let sink = pipe_pane_command(&fifo_path);
+                tmux_blocking(move || tmux.pipe_pane(id, &sink)).await
+            };
             let mut sessions = self.inner.sessions.lock().await;
             sessions.insert(
                 id,
@@ -407,9 +415,10 @@ impl SessionManager {
         if !self.has(id).await {
             return Err(SessionError::NotFound(id));
         }
-        self.inner
-            .tmux
-            .send_keys(id, bytes)
+        let tmux = self.inner.tmux.clone();
+        let bytes = bytes.to_vec();
+        tmux_blocking(move || tmux.send_keys(id, &bytes))
+            .await
             .map_err(SessionError::Tmux)
     }
 
@@ -417,13 +426,28 @@ impl SessionManager {
         if !self.has(id).await {
             return Err(SessionError::NotFound(id));
         }
-        self.inner
-            .tmux
-            .resize_window(id, cols, rows)
+        let tmux = self.inner.tmux.clone();
+        tmux_blocking(move || tmux.resize_window(id, cols, rows))
+            .await
             .map_err(SessionError::Tmux)
     }
 }
 
+/// Run a blocking `tmux` subprocess call on the blocking thread pool so it
+/// never stalls a tokio worker. `tmux` is a fork+exec that can take tens of
+/// milliseconds on a loaded host, and `send_keys` rides the per-keystroke hot
+/// path — running it inline would starve HTTP handlers, the registry WS, the
+/// liveness watcher, and PTY readers (NAP-256).
+async fn tmux_blocking<T, F>(f: F) -> T
+where
+    F: FnOnce() -> T + Send + 'static,
+    T: Send + 'static,
+{
+    tokio::task::spawn_blocking(f)
+        .await
+        .expect("tmux blocking task panicked")
+}
+
 /// One pass of the liveness watcher: diff the in-memory session set against
 /// the tmux-reported one, and reap anything we still track but tmux has lost.
 async fn run_liveness_pass(inner: &Arc<Inner>) {
@@ -439,11 +463,14 @@ async fn run_liveness_pass(inner: &Arc<Inner>) {
         sessions.keys().copied().collect()
     };
 
-    let live_ids = match inner.tmux.list_sessions() {
-        Ok(ids) => ids,
-        Err(e) => {
-            tracing::warn!(error = ?e, "liveness watcher: tmux list-sessions failed");
-            return;
+    let live_ids = {
+        let tmux = inner.tmux.clone();
+        match tmux_blocking(move || tmux.list_sessions()).await {
+            Ok(ids) => ids,
+            Err(e) => {
+                tracing::warn!(error = ?e, "liveness watcher: tmux list-sessions failed");
+                return;
+            }
         }
     };
     let live: HashSet<Uuid> = live_ids.into_iter().collect();