diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index cd3f4a1..2f30955 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ dev = [
     "ty>=0.0.47",
 ]
 
+[tool.pytest.ini_options]
+markers = [
+    "tmux: real-tmux smoke tests; require a tmux binary and run on an isolated TMUX_TMPDIR server",
+]
+
 [tool.hqt.quality]
 required_after_code_or_test_changes = [
     "uv run ruff format src tests",
diff --git a/tests/test_tmux_smoke.py b/tests/test_tmux_smoke.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd34237
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_tmux_smoke.py
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+"""Real-tmux smoke tests.
+
+These drive the actual TmuxRunner against a throwaway tmux server whose socket
+lives in a temp TMUX_TMPDIR, so they never touch the user's live tmux sessions.
+They skip when no tmux binary is available.
+"""
+
+import asyncio
+import os
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+
+import pytest
+
+from hqt.tmux.runner import TmuxRunner
+
+pytestmark = [
+    pytest.mark.tmux,
+    pytest.mark.skipif(shutil.which("tmux") is None, reason="tmux not installed"),
+]
+
+SESSION = "hqt-test"
+
+
+def _tmux(env, *args):
+    """Run a raw tmux command against the isolated server, return the result."""
+    return subprocess.run(
+        ["tmux", *args],
+        env=env,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        check=False,
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def tmux_env(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    # Isolate tmux completely from the user's live server:
+    #  - TMUX_TMPDIR points the default socket at a throwaway temp dir.
+    #  - TMUX / TMUX_PANE are unset. When TMUX is set (i.e. the test runner is
+    #    itself inside a tmux session), tmux talks to THAT server and ignores
+    #    TMUX_TMPDIR, so new-session/kill-server would hit the user's live
+    #    server and evict them. delenv removes them from os.environ so both the
+    #    raw `_tmux` calls AND the TmuxRunner subprocesses (which inherit
+    #    os.environ) stay on the isolated server.
+    monkeypatch.setenv("TMUX_TMPDIR", str(tmp_path))
+    monkeypatch.delenv("TMUX", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("TMUX_PANE", raising=False)
+    env = {**os.environ, "TMUX_TMPDIR": str(tmp_path)}
+    env.pop("TMUX", None)
+    env.pop("TMUX_PANE", None)
+    _tmux(env, "new-session", "-d", "-s", SESSION, "-x", "200", "-y", "50")
+    # Tripwire: a freshly isolated server has exactly one session. If isolation
+    # silently failed we'd see the user's sessions here — fail loudly BEFORE any
+    # test does something destructive. (kill-server in teardown still targets
+    # only the isolated socket, because env has TMUX removed + TMUX_TMPDIR set.)
+    listed = _tmux(env, "list-sessions", "-F", "#{session_name}").stdout.split()
+    assert listed == [SESSION], f"tmux isolation failed; saw sessions: {listed}"
+    try:
+        yield env
+    finally:
+        _tmux(env, "kill-server")
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def runner(tmux_env):
+    return TmuxRunner(tmux_path="tmux", session_name=SESSION)
+
+
+async def _wait_pane_dead(runner, window, timeout=2.0):
+    deadline = asyncio.get_running_loop().time() + timeout
+    while asyncio.get_running_loop().time() < deadline:
+        if await runner.is_pane_dead(window):
+            return True
+        await asyncio.sleep(0.05)
+    return await runner.is_pane_dead(window)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_new_window_appears_in_list(runner, tmp_path):
+    window_id = await runner.new_window("hqt-1", str(tmp_path), "sleep 60")
+    assert window_id is not None
+    assert "hqt-1" in await runner.list_windows()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_set_window_label_round_trips(runner, tmp_path, tmux_env):
+    await runner.new_window("hqt-1", str(tmp_path), "sleep 60")
+    await runner.set_window_label("hqt-1", "•hqt-1")
+    shown = _tmux(
+        tmux_env,
+        "show-options",
+        "-w",
+        "-t",
+        f"{SESSION}:=hqt-1",
+        "@hqt_label",
+    ).stdout
+    assert "•hqt-1" in shown
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_respawn_revives_dead_pane(runner, tmp_path):
+    # Window whose command exits immediately -> pane dies (remain-on-exit keeps it).
+    await runner.new_window("hqt-1", str(tmp_path), "true")
+    assert await _wait_pane_dead(runner, "hqt-1") is True
+    assert await runner.respawn_pane("hqt-1", "sleep 60", str(tmp_path)) is True
+    alive, _ = await runner.verify_window_alive("hqt-1", timeout=1.0)
+    assert alive is True
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_apply_theme_sets_session_options(runner, tmux_env):
+    await runner.apply_theme()
+    shown = _tmux(tmux_env, "show-options", "-t", SESSION, "status-justify").stdout
+    assert "left" in shown