diff --git a/frontend/src/components/GlobalCommandPalette.tsx b/frontend/src/components/GlobalCommandPalette.tsx
index 8bda9cfc..4b8c6cbf 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/GlobalCommandPalette.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/GlobalCommandPalette.tsx
@@ -161,6 +161,19 @@ export function GlobalCommandPalette({ navItems, onNavigate, onSelectStack }: Gl
                 placeholder="Search the app..."
                 value={query}
                 onValueChange={setQuery}
+                // Own the Escape-to-close instead of relying solely on Radix
+                // Dialog's dismissable layer. While the palette is open the
+                // cross-node stack search streams results in and re-renders the
+                // tree; an Escape that lands during that churn was observed to be
+                // dropped before Radix's layer dismissed it. Closing here via
+                // handleOpenChange(false) keeps Escape deterministic and is
+                // idempotent if Radix also dismisses on the same key.
+                onKeyDown={e => {
+                    if (e.key === 'Escape') {
+                        e.preventDefault();
+                        handleOpenChange(false);
+                    }
+                }}
             />
             <CommandList>
                 {showEmptyState && (
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/__tests__/GlobalCommandPalette.test.tsx b/frontend/src/components/__tests__/GlobalCommandPalette.test.tsx
index 3c4ee433..3f69f5e5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/__tests__/GlobalCommandPalette.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/__tests__/GlobalCommandPalette.test.tsx
@@ -166,6 +166,22 @@ describe('GlobalCommandPalette', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('closes the palette when Escape is pressed in the search input', async () => {
+    renderPalette();
+    open();
+    const input = screen.getByPlaceholderText('Search the app...');
+    fireEvent.keyDown(input, { key: 'Escape' });
+    // Behavioral smoke test only: in jsdom Radix's dismissable layer already
+    // closes a single-layer dialog on Escape, so this cannot isolate the
+    // palette's own Escape handler from that fallback. The deterministic-close
+    // regression the handler fixes (Escape dropped during streaming re-renders)
+    // is guarded by the Playwright command-palette spec.
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      const dialog = screen.queryByRole('dialog');
+      expect(dialog?.getAttribute('data-state') ?? 'unmounted').not.toBe('open');
+    });
+  });
+
   it('disables an offline node row', () => {
     nodesValue = {
       nodes: [node(1, 'local'), node(2, 'opsix', 'offline')],