diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/status.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/status.ts
index 14c20534e6..be3e1a02da 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/status.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/status.ts
@@ -58,7 +58,12 @@ async function probeDaemonStatus(
   let live: Record<string, unknown> = {};
   let client: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof connectToDaemon>> | undefined;
   try {
-    client = await connectToDaemon({ target, instance: instance ?? undefined, timeout: 1_500 });
+    // An explicit host may sit behind SSH or a relay, so it gets the usual connect budget.
+    client = await connectToDaemon({
+      target,
+      instance: instance ?? undefined,
+      timeout: target.kind === "endpoint" ? undefined : 1_500,
+    });
   } catch (error) {
     const failure = buildDaemonConnectionCommandError({ target, error });
     if (target.kind === "endpoint") throw failure;
diff --git a/packages/cli/tests/44-daemon-status-ssh.test.ts b/packages/cli/tests/44-daemon-status-ssh.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..777c911e02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/tests/44-daemon-status-ssh.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env npx tsx
+
+import assert from "node:assert";
+import { mkdtemp, writeFile, rm } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { delimiter, join } from "node:path";
+import { runLocalPaseo } from "./helpers/local-cli.ts";
+import { startTestDaemon } from "./helpers/test-daemon.ts";
+
+console.log("=== Daemon Status over SSH ===\n");
+
+// The stub stands in for OpenSSH; Windows cannot run it as `ssh` from PATH.
+if (process.platform === "win32") {
+  console.log("Skipped on Windows\n");
+  process.exit(0);
+}
+
+const SSH_SETUP_MS = 2500;
+const root = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "paseo-status-ssh-"));
+const daemon = await startTestDaemon();
+
+try {
+  // Opens the -W stream only after the delay a real SSH handshake takes.
+  await writeFile(
+    join(root, "ssh"),
+    `#!${process.execPath}
+const net = require("node:net");
+const args = process.argv.slice(2);
+const [host, port] = args[args.indexOf("-W") + 1].split(":");
+setTimeout(() => {
+  const socket = net.connect(Number(port), host);
+  process.stdin.pipe(socket);
+  socket.pipe(process.stdout);
+  socket.on("close", () => process.exit(0));
+}, ${SSH_SETUP_MS});
+`,
+    { mode: 0o700 },
+  );
+
+  console.log("Test 1: status reaches a daemon whose SSH stream takes 2.5s to open");
+  const result = await runLocalPaseo(
+    ["daemon", "status", "--host", `ssh://build-box?daemonPort=${daemon.port}`, "--json"],
+    { PATH: `${root}${delimiter}${process.env.PATH ?? ""}` },
+  );
+
+  assert.strictEqual(result.exitCode, 0, result.stderr);
+  const status = JSON.parse(result.stdout);
+  assert.strictEqual(status.connectedDaemon, "reachable", JSON.stringify(status));
+  assert.strictEqual(typeof status.serverId, "string");
+  console.log("✓ status waits for the SSH stream like other commands\n");
+} finally {
+  await daemon.stop();
+  await rm(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+}
+
+console.log("=== Daemon Status over SSH Tests Passed ===");