diff --git a/src/agents/agent-command.ts b/src/agents/agent-command.ts
index 300e71a7193..fc1b90a90cd 100644
--- a/src/agents/agent-command.ts
+++ b/src/agents/agent-command.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ import {
 } from "./model-selection.js";
 import { classifyEmbeddedPiRunResultForModelFallback } from "./pi-embedded-runner/result-fallback-classifier.js";
 import { resolveProviderIdForAuth } from "./provider-auth-aliases.js";
+import { hydrateResolvedSkillsAsync } from "./skills/snapshot-hydration.js";
 import { normalizeSpawnedRunMetadata } from "./spawned-context.js";
 import { resolveAgentTimeoutMs } from "./timeout.js";
 import { ensureAgentWorkspace } from "./workspace.js";
@@ -663,12 +664,7 @@ async function agentCommandInternal(
       ? await buildSkillsSnapshot()
       : !currentSkillsSnapshot
         ? undefined
-        : currentSkillsSnapshot.resolvedSkills === undefined
-          ? {
-              ...currentSkillsSnapshot,
-              resolvedSkills: (await buildSkillsSnapshot()).resolvedSkills,
-            }
-          : currentSkillsSnapshot;
+        : await hydrateResolvedSkillsAsync(currentSkillsSnapshot, buildSkillsSnapshot);
 
     if (skillsSnapshot && sessionStore && sessionKey && needsSkillsSnapshot) {
       const now = Date.now();
diff --git a/src/agents/skills/snapshot-hydration.ts b/src/agents/skills/snapshot-hydration.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..72d7807d4ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/skills/snapshot-hydration.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+type SnapshotWithRuntimeSkills = {
+  resolvedSkills?: unknown;
+};
+
+type SnapshotRebuild<T extends SnapshotWithRuntimeSkills> = {
+  resolvedSkills?: T["resolvedSkills"];
+};
+
+// resolvedSkills is runtime-only: session persistence keeps the lightweight
+// catalog/prompt, while consumers that need concrete SKILL.md paths hydrate it
+// from a fresh workspace scan.
+export function hydrateResolvedSkills<T extends SnapshotWithRuntimeSkills>(
+  snapshot: T,
+  rebuild: () => SnapshotRebuild<T>,
+): T {
+  if (snapshot.resolvedSkills !== undefined) {
+    return snapshot;
+  }
+  return { ...snapshot, resolvedSkills: rebuild().resolvedSkills };
+}
+
+export async function hydrateResolvedSkillsAsync<T extends SnapshotWithRuntimeSkills>(
+  snapshot: T,
+  rebuild: () => Promise<SnapshotRebuild<T>>,
+): Promise<T> {
+  if (snapshot.resolvedSkills !== undefined) {
+    return snapshot;
+  }
+  return { ...snapshot, resolvedSkills: (await rebuild()).resolvedSkills };
+}
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/session-updates.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/session-updates.ts
index c9c9f428997..2e2f09edcbb 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/session-updates.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/session-updates.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   shouldRefreshSnapshotForVersion,
 } from "../../agents/skills/refresh-state.js";
 import { ensureSkillsWatcher } from "../../agents/skills/refresh.js";
+import { hydrateResolvedSkills } from "../../agents/skills/snapshot-hydration.js";
 import {
   resolveSessionFilePath,
   resolveSessionFilePathOptions,
@@ -104,22 +105,6 @@ function resolvePositiveTokenCount(value: number | undefined): number | undefine
     : undefined;
 }
 
-// resolvedSkills is stripped from the persisted snapshot (see store-load.ts).
-// On cold session resume, the snapshot loaded from disk reaches this code path
-// without resolvedSkills. Consumers like prepareClaudeCliSkillsPlugin and the
-// claude-live-session fingerprint read resolvedSkills directly, so re-fill it
-// here from a fresh workspace scan while preserving the persisted prompt /
-// skills / version fields for prompt-cache stability.
-export function hydrateResolvedSkills(
-  snapshot: NonNullable<SessionEntry["skillsSnapshot"]>,
-  rebuild: () => NonNullable<SessionEntry["skillsSnapshot"]>,
-): NonNullable<SessionEntry["skillsSnapshot"]> {
-  if (snapshot.resolvedSkills) {
-    return snapshot;
-  }
-  return { ...snapshot, resolvedSkills: rebuild().resolvedSkills };
-}
-
 export async function ensureSkillSnapshot(params: {
   sessionEntry?: SessionEntry;
   sessionStore?: Record<string, SessionEntry>;
diff --git a/src/config/sessions/store.skills-stripping.test.ts b/src/config/sessions/store.skills-stripping.test.ts
index 21b16cc0599..84f8ce25569 100644
--- a/src/config/sessions/store.skills-stripping.test.ts
+++ b/src/config/sessions/store.skills-stripping.test.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@ import { afterAll, afterEach, beforeAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi }
 import { resolveEmbeddedRunSkillEntries } from "../../agents/pi-embedded-runner/skills-runtime.js";
 import { createCanonicalFixtureSkill } from "../../agents/skills.test-helpers.js";
 import type { Skill } from "../../agents/skills/skill-contract.js";
-import { hydrateResolvedSkills } from "../../auto-reply/reply/session-updates.js";
+import {
+  hydrateResolvedSkills,
+  hydrateResolvedSkillsAsync,
+} from "../../agents/skills/snapshot-hydration.js";
 import { createSuiteTempRootTracker } from "../../test-helpers/temp-dir.js";
 import type { SessionEntry, SessionSkillSnapshot } from "./types.js";
 
@@ -269,4 +272,23 @@ describe("hydrateResolvedSkills", () => {
     expect(result).toBe(snapshot);
     expect(buildCalls).toBe(0);
   });
+
+  it("supports async runtime hydration for CLI resume paths", async () => {
+    const stripped: SessionSkillSnapshot = {
+      prompt: "cached-prompt",
+      skills: [{ name: "x" }],
+      version: 2,
+    };
+    const rebuiltSkills = [makeFixtureSkill("x", 120)];
+    const result = await hydrateResolvedSkillsAsync(stripped, async () => ({
+      prompt: "fresh-prompt",
+      skills: [{ name: "y" }],
+      resolvedSkills: rebuiltSkills,
+      version: 3,
+    }));
+    expect(result.prompt).toBe("cached-prompt");
+    expect(result.skills).toEqual([{ name: "x" }]);
+    expect(result.version).toBe(2);
+    expect(result.resolvedSkills).toBe(rebuiltSkills);
+  });
 });