diff --git a/apps/desktop/scripts/verify-background-preview.electron.cjs b/apps/desktop/scripts/verify-background-preview.electron.cjs
index 54a847a0189a0..eb28b1b227fb2 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/scripts/verify-background-preview.electron.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/scripts/verify-background-preview.electron.cjs
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ const NodePath = require("node:path");
 const NodeURL = require("node:url");
 const { app, BrowserWindow, nativeImage } = require("electron");
 
+const testHome = NodeFS.mkdtempSync(NodePath.join(NodeOS.tmpdir(), "t3-background-preview-"));
+app.setPath("userData", NodePath.join(testHome, "userdata"));
+app.on("quit", () => NodeFS.rmSync(testHome, { recursive: true, force: true }));
+
 const CAPTURE_TIMEOUT_MS = 5_000;
 const sleep = (ms) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
 const withTimeout = (promise, ms) =>
@@ -36,10 +40,7 @@ async function main() {
   const { backgroundTabWindowOptions } = await import(
     NodeURL.pathToFileURL(NodePath.join(__dirname, "../src/preview/BackgroundTabWindow.ts")).href
   );
-  const preload = NodePath.join(
-    NodeFS.mkdtempSync(NodePath.join(NodeOS.tmpdir(), "t3-background-preview-")),
-    "preload.cjs",
-  );
+  const preload = NodePath.join(testHome, "preload.cjs");
   NodeFS.writeFileSync(preload, "");
   // Each state closes its windows, which would otherwise quit the app.
   app.on("window-all-closed", () => {});
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@ async function main() {
 
   const failures = [];
   for (const state of ["hidden", "minimized"]) {
+    console.log(`Checking app window ${state}`);
     const appWindow = new BrowserWindow({ width: 480, height: 320, show: true });
     await appWindow.loadURL(page("<body>T3 Code</body>"));
     await sleep(500);
@@ -63,6 +65,7 @@ async function main() {
       }),
     );
     await tabWindow.loadURL(page("<body style='margin:0'></body>"));
+    console.log(`Background tab loaded (${state})`);
     const tab = tabWindow.webContents;
     tab.debugger.attach("1.3");
     for (const [step, rgb] of [
@@ -71,6 +74,7 @@ async function main() {
       [3, [0, 200, 200]],
     ]) {
       const failure = await captureColor(tab, rgb);
+      console.log(`App window ${state}, capture ${step}: ${failure ?? "fresh"}`);
       if (failure) failures.push(`app window ${state}, capture ${step}: ${failure}`);
       await sleep(1_000);
     }
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/preview/BackgroundTabWindow.ts b/apps/desktop/src/preview/BackgroundTabWindow.ts
index f9ceb472caf97..5b404e74ceab1 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/preview/BackgroundTabWindow.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/preview/BackgroundTabWindow.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ const BACKGROUND_TAB_HEIGHT = 800;
 /**
  * An agent tab's never-shown window. A panel `<webview>` that attaches while
  * the app window is hidden or minimized never paints, so its screenshots never
- * return; a window of its own paints in every app window state.
+ * return. Offscreen rendering also avoids dependence on a mapped Wayland
+ * surface: a regular never-shown BrowserWindow can still stall captures there.
  */
 export function backgroundTabWindowOptions(input: {
   readonly partition: string;
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ export function backgroundTabWindowOptions(input: {
       contextIsolation: false,
       disableHtmlFullscreenWindowResize: true,
       backgroundThrottling: false,
+      offscreen: true,
       ...(input.passkeyBridgeArgument === undefined
         ? {}
         : { additionalArguments: [input.passkeyBridgeArgument] }),
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/preview/Manager.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/preview/Manager.test.ts
index 6b67b010a57c9..f3f150a67fb36 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/preview/Manager.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/preview/Manager.test.ts
@@ -600,9 +600,9 @@ describe("PreviewManager", () => {
       ),
   );
 
-  effectIt.effect(
-    "hosts an agent tab in a never-shown window that paints and closes with the tab",
-    () =>
+  effectIt.effect.each([undefined, "https://example.com/agent"])(
+    "hosts an agent tab in a never-shown window that initializes before attaching (%s)",
+    (url) =>
       withManager((manager) =>
         Effect.gen(function* () {
           const tab = makeTestPreviewWebContents(
@@ -613,8 +613,20 @@ describe("PreviewManager", () => {
             55,
             null as unknown as TestHostWebContents,
           );
-          const loadURL = vi.fn(async () => undefined);
-          Object.assign(tab, { getType: () => "window", once: vi.fn(), loadURL, reload: vi.fn() });
+          const firstDocument = Promise.withResolvers<void>();
+          const debuggerStarted = Promise.withResolvers<void>();
+          const loadURL = vi.fn(async () => firstDocument.resolve());
+          tab.debugger.sendCommand = vi.fn(async () => {
+            debuggerStarted.resolve();
+            await firstDocument.promise;
+          });
+          Object.assign(tab, {
+            getType: () => "window",
+            isDevToolsOpened: () => false,
+            once: vi.fn(),
+            loadURL,
+            reload: vi.fn(),
+          });
           const window = {
             webContents: tab,
             once: vi.fn(),
@@ -630,11 +642,18 @@ describe("PreviewManager", () => {
           });
           fromId.mockReturnValue(tab);
 
-          const state = yield* manager.createTab(
-            "tab_agent",
-            { serverTab: { threadId: "thread", tabId: "agent" } },
-            { partition: "persist:t3code-preview-test", url: "https://example.com/agent" },
-          );
+          const opening = yield* manager
+            .createTab(
+              "tab_agent",
+              { serverTab: { threadId: "thread", tabId: "agent" } },
+              { partition: "persist:t3code-preview-test", ...(url === undefined ? {} : { url }) },
+            )
+            .pipe(Effect.forkScoped);
+          yield* Effect.promise(() => debuggerStarted.promise);
+          const loadedBeforeDebugger = loadURL.mock.calls.length > 0;
+          firstDocument.resolve();
+          expect(loadedBeforeDebugger).toBe(true);
+          const state = yield* Fiber.join(opening);
 
           expect(options).toMatchObject({
             show: false,
@@ -642,10 +661,11 @@ describe("PreviewManager", () => {
             webPreferences: {
               partition: "persist:t3code-preview-test",
               backgroundThrottling: false,
+              offscreen: true,
             },
           });
           expect(state.webContentsId).toBe(55);
-          expect(loadURL).toHaveBeenCalledWith("https://example.com/agent");
+          expect(loadURL).toHaveBeenCalledWith(url ?? "about:blank");
           yield* manager.closeTab("tab_agent");
           expect(window.destroy).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
         }),
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/preview/Manager.ts b/apps/desktop/src/preview/Manager.ts
index 70ce945061320..f5cdac5118fd6 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/preview/Manager.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/preview/Manager.ts
@@ -1775,6 +1775,12 @@ const makeNativeOperations = Effect.fn("PreviewManager.makeOperations")(function
     wc.on("render-process-gone", () => {
       if (!wc.isDestroyed()) wc.reload();
     });
+    // A new BrowserWindow has no document. Its debugger's background-color
+    // command waits for one, so initialize a local page before attaching.
+    yield* attemptPromise(
+      { operation: "backgroundWindow.initialize", tabId, webContentsId: wc.id },
+      () => wc.loadURL("about:blank"),
+    );
     yield* prepareWebview(wc);
     yield* registerWebviewUnlocked(tabId, wc.id, tabLifecycleGenerations.get(tabId));
     if (background.url !== undefined) {