diff --git a/src/cutter/CutterBridgeClient.ts b/src/cutter/CutterBridgeClient.ts
index 8ca252510a..3de1be6db1 100644
--- a/src/cutter/CutterBridgeClient.ts
+++ b/src/cutter/CutterBridgeClient.ts
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ export class CutterBridgeClient {
     options: CutterDiscoveryOptions = {},
   ): Promise<CutterBridgeDiscovery> {
     const { signal } = options;
-    const loaded = await this.#readDescriptors(signal);
+    const loaded = await this.#readDescriptors("list_cutter_sessions", signal);
     if (loaded.error !== undefined)
       return {
         sessions: [],
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ export class CutterBridgeClient {
     sessionId: string,
     signal?: AbortSignal,
   ): Promise<z.infer<typeof descriptorSchema>> {
-    const loaded = await this.#readDescriptors(signal);
+    const loaded = await this.#readDescriptors("cutter_command", signal);
     if (loaded.error === "bridge_directory_capacity_exceeded")
       throw new AnalysisResourceConstraintError(
         "cutter_command",
@@ -681,17 +681,20 @@ export class CutterBridgeClient {
   async listDescriptors(): Promise<
     readonly z.infer<typeof descriptorSchema>[]
   > {
-    const loaded = await this.#readDescriptors();
+    const loaded = await this.#readDescriptors("list_cutter_sessions");
     return loaded.descriptors;
   }
 
-  async #readDescriptors(signal?: AbortSignal) {
+  async #readDescriptors(
+    operation: "list_cutter_sessions" | "cutter_command",
+    signal?: AbortSignal,
+  ) {
     try {
       return await this.#descriptorResources.run(() =>
         this.#loadDescriptors(signal),
       );
     } catch (cause: unknown) {
-      throw descriptorFailure(cause, "list_cutter_sessions");
+      throw descriptorFailure(cause, operation);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/tests/process-global/cutterDescriptorLifetime.test.ts b/tests/process-global/cutterDescriptorLifetime.test.ts
index 39250cca7e..99f5b4cd51 100644
--- a/tests/process-global/cutterDescriptorLifetime.test.ts
+++ b/tests/process-global/cutterDescriptorLifetime.test.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ vi.mock("node:fs/promises", async (importOriginal) => {
 import { CutterBridgeClient } from "../../src/cutter/CutterBridgeClient.js";
 import { AnalysisCancelledError } from "../../src/domain/analysisErrorCore.js";
 import { AnalysisError } from "../../src/domain/analysisErrorBase.js";
+import { projectAnalysisError } from "../../src/domain/analysisErrorProjection.js";
 import { createTestTempDirectory } from "../fixtures/temporaryDirectory.js";
 import { runCliJson } from "../fixtures/cliJsonProcess.js";
 
@@ -263,3 +264,55 @@ it("does not assign a peer's later cancellation to a descriptor that already fai
     await client.close();
   }
 });
+
+it.each(["command", "completion"] as const)(
+  "attributes retained descriptor cleanup to the requesting %s",
+  async (operation) => {
+    const root = await createTestTempDirectory(
+      "rea-cutter-command-descriptor-",
+    );
+    await descriptor(root, 1);
+    fault.root = root;
+    const client = new CutterBridgeClient({ REA_CUTTER_BRIDGE_DIR: root });
+    try {
+      const original =
+        operation === "command"
+          ? await client
+              .execute({
+                sessionId: "00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000001",
+                expectedGeneration: 0,
+                command: "ij",
+                json: false,
+              })
+              .catch((cause: unknown) => cause)
+          : await client
+              .confirmCommandCompletion(
+                "00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000001",
+                "4b18ce4d-bf31-456e-ae31-e8c547b2f9db",
+              )
+              .then((result) => {
+                if (result.ok) throw new Error("Expected descriptor failure");
+                return result.error;
+              });
+      if (!(original instanceof AnalysisError))
+        throw new Error("Expected typed descriptor cleanup");
+      expect(projectAnalysisError(original)).toMatchObject({
+        code: "cleanup_incomplete",
+        details: { operation: "cutter_command" },
+      });
+      expect(fault.handles).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(fault.handles[0]?.fd).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+      await expect(client.retryDescriptorCleanup()).rejects.toMatchObject({
+        cleanupIncomplete: true,
+      });
+      expect(original.cleanupIncomplete).toBe(true);
+      fault.blocked.clear();
+      await client.close();
+      expect(fault.handles[0]?.fd).toBe(-1);
+      expect(original.cleanupIncomplete).toBe(false);
+    } finally {
+      fault.blocked.clear();
+      await client.close();
+    }
+  },
+);