diff --git a/src/server/execute.ts b/src/server/execute.ts
index 424e3ed..c313f15 100644
--- a/src/server/execute.ts
+++ b/src/server/execute.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,19 @@ const KEEPALIVE_INTERVAL_MS = 15_000;
 const LOG_STREAM_RECONNECT_DELAY_MS = 3_000;
 const MAX_LOG_RECONNECT_ATTEMPTS = 50;
 
+/**
+ * Detect a Kubernetes 404 (Not Found) error from @kubernetes/client-node.
+ * Works for both v0.x (response.statusCode) and v1.0+ (response.status, message).
+ */
+function isK8s404(err: unknown): boolean {
+  if (!(err instanceof Error)) return false;
+  const e = err as unknown as Record<string, unknown>;
+  const resp = e.response as Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
+  if (resp?.statusCode === 404 || resp?.status === 404) return true;
+  if (e.statusCode === 404) return true;
+  return /HTTP-Code:\s*404\b/.test(err.message);
+}
+
 /**
  * Wait for the Job's pod to reach a terminal or running state.
  * Returns the pod name once logs can be streamed, or throws on failure.
@@ -251,19 +264,32 @@ async function readPodLogs(
 
 /**
  * Wait for the Job to reach a terminal state (Complete or Failed).
- * Returns the Job's final status.
+ * Returns the Job's final status.  A 404 (job deleted by TTL or externally)
+ * is treated as a soft terminal: succeeded=false, timedOut=false, jobGone=true.
+ * The caller should log this and fall through to stdout parsing.
  */
 async function waitForJobCompletion(
   namespace: string,
   jobName: string,
   timeoutMs: number,
   kubeconfigPath?: string,
-): Promise<{ succeeded: boolean; timedOut: boolean }> {
+): Promise<{ succeeded: boolean; timedOut: boolean; jobGone?: boolean }> {
   const batchApi = getBatchApi(kubeconfigPath);
   const deadline = timeoutMs > 0 ? Date.now() + timeoutMs : 0;
 
   while (deadline === 0 || Date.now() < deadline) {
-    const job = await batchApi.readNamespacedJob({ name: jobName, namespace });
+    let job;
+    try {
+      job = await batchApi.readNamespacedJob({ name: jobName, namespace });
+    } catch (err: unknown) {
+      if (isK8s404(err)) {
+        // Job was deleted (TTL garbage collection or external deletion) before
+        // we detected its terminal condition.  The container must have already
+        // exited for TTL to fire, so log streaming will have captured the output.
+        return { succeeded: false, timedOut: false, jobGone: true };
+      }
+      throw err;
+    }
     const conditions = job.status?.conditions ?? [];
 
     const complete = conditions.find((c) => c.type === "Complete" && c.status === "True");
@@ -561,9 +587,7 @@ export async function execute(ctx: AdapterExecutionContext): Promise<AdapterExec
           // connection resets should NOT permanently disable the keepalive —
           // the next tick will re-check and the reaper uses the staleness
           // window as a safety net.
-          const statusCode = (err as { response?: { statusCode?: number } })?.response?.statusCode
-            ?? (err as { statusCode?: number })?.statusCode;
-          if (statusCode === 404) {
+          if (isK8s404(err)) {
             keepaliveJobTerminal = true;
             return;
           }
@@ -628,11 +652,17 @@ export async function execute(ctx: AdapterExecutionContext): Promise<AdapterExec
 
     if (completionResult.status === "fulfilled") {
       jobTimedOut = completionResult.value.timedOut;
+      if (completionResult.value.jobGone) {
+        // Job was deleted by TTL or externally before we observed the Complete/Failed
+        // condition.  The container must have exited first (TTL only fires after
+        // completion), so log streaming has captured the full output — continue
+        // to stdout parsing rather than returning an error.
+        await onLog("stdout", `[paperclip] Job ${jobName} was deleted before terminal condition was observed (TTL or external deletion) — proceeding with captured output.\n`);
+      }
     } else {
-      // waitForJobCompletion threw — re-check job state to avoid returning
-      // while the job is still running (which would cause UI staleness and
-      // concurrency errors on retry).  Use a bounded timeout (60s) so we
-      // don't hang the heartbeat indefinitely if the K8s API is degraded.
+      // waitForJobCompletion threw an unexpected error — re-check job state to
+      // avoid returning while the job is still running.  Use a bounded timeout
+      // (60s) so we don't hang the heartbeat indefinitely if the K8s API is degraded.
       jobTimedOut = false;
       const RECHECK_TIMEOUT_MS = 60_000;
       const actualState = await waitForJobCompletion(namespace, jobName, RECHECK_TIMEOUT_MS, kubeconfigPath);
@@ -640,6 +670,10 @@ export async function execute(ctx: AdapterExecutionContext): Promise<AdapterExec
         // Re-check itself timed out — the job may still be running.
         // Return an error so the UI knows the run is not done.
         jobTimedOut = true;
+      } else if (actualState.jobGone) {
+        // Job was deleted before we could confirm terminal state — same as the
+        // fulfilled+jobGone case above: proceed with captured output.
+        await onLog("stdout", `[paperclip] Job ${jobName} was deleted before terminal condition was observed (TTL or external deletion) — proceeding with captured output.\n`);
       } else if (!actualState.succeeded) {
         // Job still not terminal — the completion error was likely transient.
         // Return an error so the UI knows the run is not done, rather than