diff --git a/src/services/checkpoints/ShadowCheckpointService.ts b/src/services/checkpoints/ShadowCheckpointService.ts
index 89ae52c435e..1f7d9345fc9 100644
--- a/src/services/checkpoints/ShadowCheckpointService.ts
+++ b/src/services/checkpoints/ShadowCheckpointService.ts
@@ -341,6 +341,17 @@ export abstract class ShadowCheckpointService extends EventEmitter {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// MUST run before any workspace-mutating git command: `git clean` deletes untracked
+	// user files, so a missing commit discovered later would mean unrecoverable data loss.
+	private async commitExists(commitHash: string): Promise<boolean> {
+		try {
+			await this.git!.raw(["cat-file", "-e", `${commitHash}^{commit}`])
+			return true
+		} catch {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+
 	public async restoreCheckpoint(commitHash: string) {
 		try {
 			this.log(`[${this.constructor.name}#restoreCheckpoint] starting checkpoint restore`)
@@ -349,6 +360,12 @@ export abstract class ShadowCheckpointService extends EventEmitter {
 				throw new Error("Shadow git repo not initialized")
 			}
 
+			if (!(await this.commitExists(commitHash))) {
+				throw new Error(
+					`Cannot restore checkpoint ${commitHash}: this checkpoint no longer exists in the checkpoint repository. No files were changed.`,
+				)
+			}
+
 			const start = Date.now()
 			await this.git.clean("f", ["-d", "-f"])
 			await this.git.reset(["--hard", commitHash])
diff --git a/src/services/checkpoints/__tests__/ShadowCheckpointService.spec.ts b/src/services/checkpoints/__tests__/ShadowCheckpointService.spec.ts
index 5bc43d54ce9..9c5090aa5d4 100644
--- a/src/services/checkpoints/__tests__/ShadowCheckpointService.spec.ts
+++ b/src/services/checkpoints/__tests__/ShadowCheckpointService.spec.ts
@@ -294,6 +294,40 @@ describe.each([[RepoPerTaskCheckpointService, "RepoPerTaskCheckpointService"]])(
 				await expect(fs.readFile(untrackedFile, "utf-8")).rejects.toThrow()
 			})
 
+			it("does not modify the workspace when restoring a missing commit", async () => {
+				await fs.writeFile(testFile, "Committed content")
+				const commit = await service.saveCheckpoint("Checkpoint before loss")
+				expect(commit?.commit).toBeTruthy()
+
+				// Uncommitted user work that `git clean` would have destroyed.
+				const untrackedFile = path.join(service.workspaceDir, "precious-untracked.txt")
+				await fs.writeFile(untrackedFile, "Unsaved user work")
+				await fs.writeFile(testFile, "Uncommitted edit")
+
+				const missingCommitHash = "0".repeat(40)
+				await expect(service.restoreCheckpoint(missingCommitHash)).rejects.toThrow(
+					/checkpoint no longer exists/i,
+				)
+
+				expect(await fs.readFile(untrackedFile, "utf-8")).toBe("Unsaved user work")
+				expect(await fs.readFile(testFile, "utf-8")).toBe("Uncommitted edit")
+			})
+
+			it("still restores normally to a valid commit", async () => {
+				await fs.writeFile(testFile, "Checkpointed content")
+				const commit = await service.saveCheckpoint("Valid checkpoint")
+				expect(commit?.commit).toBeTruthy()
+
+				await fs.writeFile(testFile, "Later edit")
+				const laterTrackedFile = path.join(service.workspaceDir, "created-after.txt")
+				await fs.writeFile(laterTrackedFile, "Created after checkpoint")
+				await service.saveCheckpoint("After checkpoint")
+
+				await service.restoreCheckpoint(commit!.commit)
+				expect(await fs.readFile(testFile, "utf-8")).toBe("Checkpointed content")
+				await expect(fs.readFile(laterTrackedFile, "utf-8")).rejects.toThrow()
+			})
+
 			it("does not create a checkpoint for ignored files", async () => {
 				// Create a file that matches an ignored pattern (e.g., .log file).
 				const ignoredFile = path.join(service.workspaceDir, "ignored.log")