diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/container/prod_orchestrator.rs b/core/archipelago/src/container/prod_orchestrator.rs
index db01442a..94794cd3 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/container/prod_orchestrator.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/container/prod_orchestrator.rs
@@ -701,6 +701,49 @@ async fn remove_stale_podman_socket_path(socket_path: &str) {
     }
 }
 
+/// True when `pid` names a live process (its `/proc/<pid>` entry exists).
+/// `pid <= 0` is never alive. (Best-effort: a reused PID can read as alive, but
+/// that only delays zombie detection a cycle — it never recreates a healthy one.)
+fn pid_is_alive(pid: i32) -> bool {
+    pid > 0 && Path::new(&format!("/proc/{pid}")).exists()
+}
+
+/// Whether the process backing a podman **"running"** container is actually alive.
+///
+/// Podman trusts its own state DB: if a container's conmon dies without podman
+/// observing it (a cgroup-cascade SIGKILL when `archipelago.service` restarts, a
+/// crash), `podman ps` keeps reporting the container **"Up"** long after the
+/// process is gone — a ZOMBIE. It serves nothing (its port is dead), yet the
+/// reconciler NoOps it forever because the state says Running. Verify the
+/// recorded main PID is alive so the caller can recreate a zombie rather than
+/// trust the stale "running".
+///
+/// Conservative by design: any uncertainty (inspect failed, PID unparseable)
+/// returns `true` (assume alive) so a transient podman hiccup never destroys a
+/// healthy container. Only a concrete, dead PID returns `false`.
+///
+/// Observed live on .228 (2026-06-25): `netbird-dashboard` reported "Up" with
+/// `State.Pid` 1394766 already gone → its nginx proxy 502'd → NetBird login
+/// broke ("Unauthenticated"). The reconciler never recovered it because the
+/// dashboard publishes no host port, so the Running branch had nothing to probe.
+async fn container_running_process_alive(name: &str) -> bool {
+    let out = match tokio::process::Command::new("podman")
+        .args(["inspect", "--format", "{{.State.Pid}}", name])
+        .output()
+        .await
+    {
+        Ok(o) if o.status.success() => o,
+        _ => return true, // can't determine — don't destabilize a healthy app
+    };
+    match String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stdout).trim().parse::<i32>() {
+        // A genuinely running container always has a supervised PID > 0 whose
+        // /proc entry exists. A dead PID (or PID <= 0 alongside state "running")
+        // is the anomaly we're catching.
+        Ok(pid) => pid_is_alive(pid),
+        Err(_) => true, // unparseable (older podman / odd output) — assume alive
+    }
+}
+
 async fn wait_for_container_stable_running(
     runtime: &dyn ContainerRuntimeTrait,
     name: &str,
@@ -1450,6 +1493,26 @@ impl ProdContainerOrchestrator {
                 }
                 match status.state {
                     ContainerState::Running => {
+                        // Zombie guard: podman can report a container "running"
+                        // after its process has died (conmon SIGKILLed in a
+                        // cgroup cascade on archipelago restart, etc.). Such a
+                        // container serves nothing yet would be NoOp'd forever.
+                        // Recreate it from the manifest. This is the ONLY path
+                        // that recovers a dead dependency with no published host
+                        // port (netbird-dashboard on .228, 2026-06-25 — stale
+                        // "Up" → proxy 502 → NetBird login broke). Conservative:
+                        // only fires on a concrete dead PID, never on uncertainty.
+                        if !container_running_process_alive(&name).await {
+                            tracing::warn!(
+                                app_id = %app_id,
+                                container = %name,
+                                "container reported running but its process is dead (zombie) — recreating"
+                            );
+                            let _ = self.runtime.stop_container(&name).await;
+                            let _ = self.runtime.remove_container(&name).await;
+                            self.install_fresh(lm).await?;
+                            return Ok(ReconcileAction::Installed);
+                        }
                         // App-specific hooks get a chance to refresh bind-mounted
                         // config. bitcoin-ui: re-render nginx.conf if the RPC
                         // password rotated (or template changed via OTA). If
@@ -4829,4 +4892,17 @@ app:
             )
         );
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn pid_is_alive_detects_live_and_dead_pids() {
+        // Our own process is alive.
+        assert!(pid_is_alive(std::process::id() as i32));
+        // Non-positive PIDs are never alive (a "running" container with PID 0 is
+        // exactly the zombie case).
+        assert!(!pid_is_alive(0));
+        assert!(!pid_is_alive(-1));
+        // A PID far above the kernel's pid_max can't name a live process, so the
+        // zombie guard reports it dead → the reconciler recreates.
+        assert!(!pid_is_alive(2_000_000_000));
+    }
 }