diff --git a/src/renderer/components/team/useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher.ts b/src/renderer/components/team/useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher.ts
index e65cbcfb..979c83ca 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/team/useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/components/team/useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,19 @@ import { useShallow } from 'zustand/react/shallow';
 
 const TEAM_AGENT_RUNTIME_REFRESH_MS = 5_000;
 
+export function shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime(input: {
+  enabled: boolean;
+  isTeamProvisioning: boolean | undefined;
+  isTeamAlive: boolean | undefined;
+  leadActivity: 'active' | 'idle' | 'offline' | undefined;
+}): boolean {
+  if (!input.enabled) return false;
+  if (input.isTeamProvisioning) return true;
+  if (input.isTeamAlive === true) return true;
+  if (input.isTeamAlive === false) return false;
+  return input.leadActivity === 'active' || input.leadActivity === 'idle';
+}
+
 interface TeamAgentRuntimeWatcherOptions {
   teamName: string;
   enabled: boolean;
@@ -33,12 +46,12 @@ export function useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher({
   const effectiveIsTeamProvisioning = isTeamProvisioning ?? storeIsTeamProvisioning;
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    if (!enabled) return;
-    const shouldWatch =
-      effectiveIsTeamProvisioning ||
-      effectiveIsTeamAlive === true ||
-      leadActivity === 'active' ||
-      leadActivity === 'idle';
+    const shouldWatch = shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime({
+      enabled,
+      isTeamProvisioning: effectiveIsTeamProvisioning,
+      isTeamAlive: effectiveIsTeamAlive,
+      leadActivity,
+    });
     if (!shouldWatch) return;
 
     void fetchTeamAgentRuntime(teamName);
diff --git a/test/renderer/components/team/useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher.test.ts b/test/renderer/components/team/useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..30bac788
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/renderer/components/team/useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import { shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime } from '@renderer/components/team/useTeamAgentRuntimeWatcher';
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+describe('shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime', () => {
+  it('does not poll runtime for explicitly offline teams with stale lead activity', () => {
+    expect(
+      shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime({
+        enabled: true,
+        isTeamProvisioning: false,
+        isTeamAlive: false,
+        leadActivity: 'idle',
+      })
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime({
+        enabled: true,
+        isTeamProvisioning: false,
+        isTeamAlive: false,
+        leadActivity: 'active',
+      })
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps runtime polling for live and provisioning teams', () => {
+    expect(
+      shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime({
+        enabled: true,
+        isTeamProvisioning: false,
+        isTeamAlive: true,
+        leadActivity: 'offline',
+      })
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime({
+        enabled: true,
+        isTeamProvisioning: true,
+        isTeamAlive: false,
+        leadActivity: 'offline',
+      })
+    ).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('allows lead activity to request polling while liveness is still unknown', () => {
+    expect(
+      shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime({
+        enabled: true,
+        isTeamProvisioning: false,
+        isTeamAlive: undefined,
+        leadActivity: 'idle',
+      })
+    ).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('stays disabled for hidden tabs', () => {
+    expect(
+      shouldWatchTeamAgentRuntime({
+        enabled: false,
+        isTeamProvisioning: true,
+        isTeamAlive: true,
+        leadActivity: 'active',
+      })
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+});