diff --git a/coworker/mcp/client.py b/coworker/mcp/client.py
index ad343e36..b4db65c7 100644
--- a/coworker/mcp/client.py
+++ b/coworker/mcp/client.py
@@ -85,6 +85,29 @@ class MCPManager:
     async def tools(self, server: MCPServerDef) -> list[Any]:
         return (await self.ensure(server)).tools
 
+    async def verify(self, server: MCPServerDef, *, interactive: bool = False) -> _Conn:
+        """A REAL health check for explicit Test actions. `ensure` returns a cached
+        connection untouched, which made Test-on-Live a silent no-op that could not
+        detect a dead server (owner-hit 2026-08-21). Here a cached connection is
+        round-tripped (tools/list, refreshing the tool set); a dead one is torn
+        down and reconnected fresh."""
+        conn = self._conns.get(server.name)
+        if conn is not None:
+            try:
+                listed = await asyncio.wait_for(conn.session.list_tools(), timeout=20)
+                conn.tools = list(listed.tools)
+                return conn
+            except Exception:
+                conn.shutdown.set()
+                task = self._tasks.pop(server.name, None)
+                if task is not None:
+                    try:
+                        await asyncio.wait_for(asyncio.shield(task), timeout=5)
+                    except Exception:
+                        task.cancel()
+                self._conns.pop(server.name, None)  # _serve pops too; belt and braces
+        return await self.ensure(server, interactive=interactive)
+
     def last_stderr(self, name: str) -> Optional[str]:
         """Stderr tail from the most recent failed startup of `name`, if any."""
         return self._stderr_tails.get(name)
diff --git a/coworker/server/manager.py b/coworker/server/manager.py
index cb0e83f5..a8d50ab8 100644
--- a/coworker/server/manager.py
+++ b/coworker/server/manager.py
@@ -1330,7 +1330,9 @@ class SessionManager:
             self._mcp_auth_hints.discard(name)
             try:
                 # The ONE place a browser sign-in may start: an explicit connect.
-                conn = await self.mcp.ensure(server, interactive=True)
+                # verify (not ensure): an already-live server gets a real round-trip
+                # and a refreshed tool list instead of a cached yes.
+                conn = await self.mcp.verify(server, interactive=True)
                 # The Connectors row says "Ready · tested ⟨when⟩" — the claim must
                 # survive an app restart, so it lives in prefs, not memory.
                 self._prefs.setdefault("mcp_last_test", {})[name] = int(time.time())
diff --git a/surfaces/gui/src/components/connectors/CustomMcp.tsx b/surfaces/gui/src/components/connectors/CustomMcp.tsx
index 96a00522..3d55ea95 100644
--- a/surfaces/gui/src/components/connectors/CustomMcp.tsx
+++ b/surfaces/gui/src/components/connectors/CustomMcp.tsx
@@ -69,7 +69,9 @@ export function mcpStatusLine(s: McpServer): string {
       /* leave the host off a malformed url */
     }
   }
-  if (s.status !== "connected" && s.last_test_at) {
+  // Live servers show it too — the visible receipt that clicking Test did
+  // something (it re-round-trips the connection and refreshes the tool count).
+  if (s.last_test_at) {
     const rel = relTime(s.last_test_at);
     if (rel) bits.push(`tested ${rel}`);
   }
diff --git a/tests/test_mcp.py b/tests/test_mcp.py
index f4ac9ae4..1713ae90 100644
--- a/tests/test_mcp.py
+++ b/tests/test_mcp.py
@@ -417,3 +417,58 @@ def test_last_test_at_persists_and_clears_on_delete(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
     manager2.delete_mcp("fs")
     manager3 = SessionManager(data_dir=tmp_path / "data")
     assert manager3._prefs.get("mcp_last_test", {}).get("fs") is None
+
+
+# -- verify(): Test must actually test (owner-hit 2026-08-21) -------------------
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_verify_round_trips_a_live_connection_and_refreshes_tools():
+    """Test-on-Live used to return the cached connection untouched — a silent
+    no-op that couldn't detect a dead server. verify() must round-trip and
+    refresh the tool list."""
+    from types import SimpleNamespace
+
+    from coworker.mcp.client import MCPManager, _Conn
+
+    mgr = MCPManager()
+
+    class _Session:
+        async def list_tools(self):
+            return SimpleNamespace(tools=[SimpleNamespace(name="fresh_tool")])
+
+    conn = _Conn(_Session(), tools=[SimpleNamespace(name="stale_tool")])
+    mgr._conns["srv"] = conn
+    server = SimpleNamespace(name="srv", transport="http", url="http://x", auth=None)
+
+    out = await mgr.verify(server)
+    assert out is conn
+    assert [t.name for t in out.tools] == ["fresh_tool"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_verify_tears_down_a_dead_connection_and_reconnects():
+    from types import SimpleNamespace
+
+    from coworker.mcp.client import MCPManager, _Conn
+
+    mgr = MCPManager()
+
+    class _DeadSession:
+        async def list_tools(self):
+            raise RuntimeError("connection reset")
+
+    dead = _Conn(_DeadSession(), tools=[])
+    mgr._conns["srv"] = dead
+    server = SimpleNamespace(name="srv", transport="http", url="http://x", auth=None)
+
+    fresh = object()
+
+    async def fake_ensure(s, *, interactive=False):
+        return fresh
+
+    mgr.ensure = fake_ensure  # type: ignore[method-assign]
+    out = await mgr.verify(server, interactive=True)
+    assert out is fresh
+    assert dead.shutdown.is_set()
+    assert "srv" not in mgr._conns