diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/post-compaction-loop-guard.test.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/post-compaction-loop-guard.test.ts
index a665c964665..6fa832569f1 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/post-compaction-loop-guard.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/post-compaction-loop-guard.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
   createPostCompactionLoopGuard,
+  PostCompactionLoopPersistedError,
   type PostCompactionLoopGuard,
 } from "./post-compaction-loop-guard.js";
 
@@ -111,3 +112,37 @@ describe("createPostCompactionLoopGuard", () => {
     expect(guard.snapshot().remainingAttempts).toBe(0);
   });
 });
+
+describe("PostCompactionLoopPersistedError", () => {
+  it("captures the detector, count, toolName, and message", () => {
+    const err = new PostCompactionLoopPersistedError("loop persisted", {
+      detector: "compaction_loop_persisted",
+      count: 4,
+      toolName: "gateway",
+    });
+    expect(err).toBeInstanceOf(Error);
+    expect(err).toBeInstanceOf(PostCompactionLoopPersistedError);
+    expect(err.name).toBe("PostCompactionLoopPersistedError");
+    expect(err.message).toBe("loop persisted");
+    expect(err.detector).toBe("compaction_loop_persisted");
+    expect(err.count).toBe(4);
+    expect(err.toolName).toBe("gateway");
+  });
+
+  it("can be built from a guard verdict via fromVerdict", () => {
+    const guard = createPostCompactionLoopGuard({ windowSize: 2 });
+    guard.armPostCompaction();
+    guard.observe(callOutcome("read", { path: "/x" }, "r1"));
+    const verdict = guard.observe(callOutcome("read", { path: "/x" }, "r1"));
+    expect(verdict.shouldAbort).toBe(true);
+    if (!verdict.shouldAbort) {
+      throw new Error("verdict was expected to abort");
+    }
+    const err = PostCompactionLoopPersistedError.fromVerdict(verdict);
+    expect(err).toBeInstanceOf(PostCompactionLoopPersistedError);
+    expect(err.detector).toBe(verdict.detector);
+    expect(err.count).toBe(verdict.count);
+    expect(err.toolName).toBe(verdict.toolName);
+    expect(err.message).toBe(verdict.message);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/post-compaction-loop-guard.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/post-compaction-loop-guard.ts
index ef8b5cc6120..b5f7f52ae2f 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/post-compaction-loop-guard.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/post-compaction-loop-guard.ts
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ export function createPostCompactionLoopGuard(
   };
 
   const observe = (call: PostCompactionGuardObservation): PostCompactionGuardVerdict => {
+    if (!state.enabled) {
+      return { shouldAbort: false, armed: false, remainingAttempts: 0 };
+    }
     if (state.remainingAttempts <= 0) {
       return { shouldAbort: false, armed: false, remainingAttempts: 0 };
     }
@@ -69,10 +72,6 @@ export function createPostCompactionLoopGuard(
     state.history.push(call);
     const armedAfter = state.remainingAttempts > 0;
 
-    if (!state.enabled) {
-      return { shouldAbort: false, armed: armedAfter, remainingAttempts: state.remainingAttempts };
-    }
-
     const matches = state.history.filter(
       (entry) =>
         entry.toolName === call.toolName &&
@@ -125,4 +124,14 @@ export class PostCompactionLoopPersistedError extends Error {
     this.count = details.count;
     this.toolName = details.toolName;
   }
+
+  static fromVerdict(
+    verdict: Extract<PostCompactionGuardVerdict, { shouldAbort: true }>,
+  ): PostCompactionLoopPersistedError {
+    return new PostCompactionLoopPersistedError(verdict.message, {
+      detector: verdict.detector,
+      count: verdict.count,
+      toolName: verdict.toolName,
+    });
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/config/schema.help.ts b/src/config/schema.help.ts
index 5606dc7303d..c5d34294f8a 100644
--- a/src/config/schema.help.ts
+++ b/src/config/schema.help.ts
@@ -659,7 +659,7 @@ export const FIELD_HELP: Record<string, string> = {
     "Enable known poll tool no-progress loop detection (default: true).",
   "tools.loopDetection.detectors.pingPong": "Enable ping-pong loop detection (default: true).",
   "tools.loopDetection.postCompactionGuard.enabled":
-    "Enable the post-compaction loop guard (default: true). When the runner has just retried a prompt after auto-compaction, this guard aborts the run if the agent emits the same (tool, args, result) windowSize times. Targets the failure mode where context-overflow + compaction does not break a tool-call loop.",
+    "Enable the post-compaction loop guard that aborts the run when the agent repeats the same (tool, args, result) triple windowSize times immediately after auto-compaction-retry (default: true).",
   "tools.loopDetection.postCompactionGuard.windowSize":
     "Number of post-compaction attempts during which the guard stays armed (default: 3). Lower values are stricter; higher values give the agent more attempts before abort.",
   "tools.exec.notifyOnExit":