diff --git a/bin/omarchy-remove-ai-claude b/bin/omarchy-remove-ai-claude
index 9c66c5d0..3df3c105 100755
--- a/bin/omarchy-remove-ai-claude
+++ b/bin/omarchy-remove-ai-claude
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 # -u so an unset HOME is an error rather than a set of rm -rf paths rooted at /.
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# The app rewrites ~/.config/Claude for as long as it runs, so a removal that
+# leaves it running deletes the directory and watches it come straight back.
+pkill -x claude-desktop || true
+
 omarchy-pkg-drop claude-desktop
 
 # Not ~/.claude, ~/.claude.json, or ~/.cache/claude-cli-nodejs: those belong
diff --git a/test/shell.d/remove-ai-test.sh b/test/shell.d/remove-ai-test.sh
index 7c8ae043..d81e6ca6 100644
--- a/test/shell.d/remove-ai-test.sh
+++ b/test/shell.d/remove-ai-test.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,14 @@ printf 'drop:%s\n' "$*" >>"$TEST_LOG"
 SCRIPT
 chmod +x "$tmp_dir/bin/omarchy-pkg-drop"
 
+# omarchy-remove-ai-claude quits the running app before deleting its state;
+# a real pkill here would take the developer's own Claude with it.
+cat >"$tmp_dir/bin/pkill" <<'SCRIPT'
+#!/bin/bash
+printf 'pkill:%s\n' "$*" >>"$TEST_LOG"
+SCRIPT
+chmod +x "$tmp_dir/bin/pkill"
+
 # omarchy-remove-ai-perplexity asks through gum whether the user's data goes
 # too. The stub answers "no" unless a test says otherwise and logs the call: a
 # real gum would hang the run, and one that answered "yes" on its own would be
@@ -73,6 +81,9 @@ for kept in .claude .claude.json .cache/claude-cli-nodejs; do
 done
 pass "Claude removal keeps the Claude Code CLI's state"
 
+grep -qx 'pkill:-x claude-desktop' "$TEST_LOG" || fail "Claude removal quits the running app before deleting its state"
+pass "Claude removal quits the running app before deleting its state"
+
 # LM Studio's models follow a relocatable home, named only by the pointer file.
 fresh_home
 mkdir -p "$tmp_dir/relocated-models/models"