diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 68b1ae3..a7d9666 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,24 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+
+- **The GemDB Shell no longer prints the database client's own chatter.**
+  Opening a shell wrote a line like
+  `gcits login: session 0x… lgc 0x… rpc gem processId 4726` onto your terminal
+  between the banner and the first prompt, with a matching one on exit — the
+  client library narrating itself. Every session GemDB opens now asks it not
+  to.
+- **Updating GemDB now updates the `gemdb` command and the shell it runs.**
+  The staged copies under `~/GemDB/bin` were rewritten only when the Python
+  payload changed, so a release that changed only extension code left the
+  previous ones in place — a fix to the GemDB Shell reached the editor while
+  the terminal it opens kept running the old build. They are now refreshed
+  whenever they differ from what the installed version carries, and left alone
+  when they do not. Opening a GemDB Shell or running a file now guarantees the
+  command is there and current first, rather than handing VS Code a path and
+  letting it report "The terminal process failed to launch".
+
 ## [1.2.0] - 2026-08-27
 
 A notebook is a unit of work again: each one gets its own database session, and
diff --git a/src/__integration__/repl.test.ts b/src/__integration__/repl.test.ts
index 034e3c2..073c59d 100644
--- a/src/__integration__/repl.test.ts
+++ b/src/__integration__/repl.test.ts
@@ -162,6 +162,11 @@ send "exit()\\r"
     expect(ran.transcript).toContain('42');
     expect(ran.transcript).toContain('marco polo');
     expect(ran.transcript).toContain('KeyboardInterrupt');
+    // The client library narrates every login and logout on stdout unless the
+    // session asks it not to (GCI_LOGIN_QUIET, session.ts). This is the one
+    // place that shows: the shell's stdout is the user's terminal, so the
+    // chatter would land between the banner and the first prompt.
+    expect(ran.transcript).not.toContain('gcits');
     expect(ran.code).toBe(0);
     expect(isRunning()).toBe(true); // the shell brought the stone up itself
   });
diff --git a/src/__tests__/cli.test.ts b/src/__tests__/cli.test.ts
index d01ae0c..d054655 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/cli.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/cli.test.ts
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ import * as os from 'os';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import { __setSetting } from '../__mocks__/vscode';
-import { cliPath, writeCliScripts } from '../cli';
-import { expectedEnginePath } from '../paths';
+import { cliPath, ensureCliCurrent, writeCliScripts } from '../cli';
+import { cliStampPath, expectedEnginePath } from '../paths';
 
 /**
  * The generator, not the command: what the files say and where they land.
@@ -132,6 +132,68 @@ describe('writeCliScripts', () => {
     expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(root, 'bin', 'gemdb-repl.tpz'))).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it('restages when the shell bundle changed, even though nothing else did', () => {
+    // The bug this guards: staging used to run only when the Grail payload
+    // changed, so an update carrying only code left the previous bundle in
+    // place. A fix to the shell reached the editor and not the terminal it
+    // opens — which is exactly how a stale `gcits login:` line survived a
+    // release that had silenced it.
+    writeCliScripts(ext);
+    const staged = path.join(root, 'bin', 'gemdb-shell.js');
+    expect(fs.readFileSync(staged, 'utf8')).toBe('// the shell bundle\n');
+
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(ext, 'out', 'gemdb-shell.js'), '// rebuilt\n');
+    writeCliScripts(ext);
+
+    expect(fs.readFileSync(staged, 'utf8')).toBe('// rebuilt\n');
+  });
+
+  it('writes nothing when it would write the same bytes', () => {
+    // Called on every path to a running database, so the common case has to
+    // be cheap: no rewrite, and above all no rm/copy of koffi.
+    writeCliScripts(ext);
+    const before = fs.statSync(cliPath()).mtimeMs;
+    const stamp = fs.readFileSync(cliStampPath(), 'utf8');
+
+    writeCliScripts(ext);
+
+    expect(fs.statSync(cliPath()).mtimeMs).toBe(before);
+    expect(fs.readFileSync(cliStampPath(), 'utf8')).toBe(stamp);
+  });
+
+  it('restages when the wrapper itself would differ', () => {
+    // The wrapper bakes in paths and the editor's own Node runtime, so it goes
+    // stale for reasons that have nothing to do with the bundle.
+    writeCliScripts(ext);
+    fs.writeFileSync(cliPath(), '#!/bin/bash\n# tampered\n');
+    fs.writeFileSync(cliStampPath(), 'not-the-fingerprint\n');
+
+    writeCliScripts(ext);
+
+    expect(fs.readFileSync(cliPath(), 'utf8')).toContain(`ROOT="${root}"`);
+  });
+
+  it('leaves no stamp claiming success when generation failed', () => {
+    // The stamp is a claim that everything above it was written.
+    fs.rmSync(expectedEnginePath(), { recursive: true, force: true });
+    expect(() => writeCliScripts(ext)).toThrow(/not installed/);
+    expect(fs.existsSync(cliStampPath())).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('reports whether the command a terminal is about to launch is really there', () => {
+    // openRepl hands this path to VS Code as a terminal's shell program, so a
+    // false here is the difference between an explanation and
+    // "The terminal process failed to launch".
+    expect(ensureCliCurrent(ext)).toBe(true);
+    expect(fs.existsSync(cliPath())).toBe(true);
+
+    // Generation impossible: it must say so rather than throw, and must not
+    // claim a wrapper that is not there.
+    fs.rmSync(cliPath());
+    fs.rmSync(expectedEnginePath(), { recursive: true, force: true });
+    expect(ensureCliCurrent(ext)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it('refuses to generate against a missing engine', () => {
     fs.rmSync(expectedEnginePath(), { recursive: true, force: true });
     expect(() => writeCliScripts(ext)).toThrow(/not installed/);
diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index e1ec99f..247337b 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import * as crypto from 'crypto';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import {
@@ -9,7 +10,7 @@ import {
   rootPath,
 } from './config';
 import { log } from './log';
-import { enginePath, grailPath } from './paths';
+import { cliStampPath, enginePath, grailPath } from './paths';
 import { sharedLibraryExtension } from './platform';
 
 /**
@@ -103,14 +104,61 @@ function stageShell(extensionPath: string): void {
   });
 }
 
+/**
+ * What is staged, in one line, so staging can tell whether it has work to do.
+ *
+ * Content rather than a version number, because the thing that goes stale is
+ * content: `out/gemdb-shell.js` is rebuilt on every `npm run bundle`, and the
+ * wrapper bakes in the editor's own `process.execPath`, which moves when VS
+ * Code updates. A version stamp would miss both.
+ */
+function cliFingerprint(wrapper: string, driver: string, shellBundle: string): string {
+  const hash = crypto.createHash('sha256');
+  hash.update(wrapper);
+  hash.update(driver);
+  hash.update(fs.existsSync(shellBundle) ? fs.readFileSync(shellBundle) : Buffer.of());
+  return hash.digest('hex');
+}
+
+/** Is what is on disk already exactly what this call would write? */
+function cliIsCurrent(fingerprint: string): boolean {
+  if (!fs.existsSync(cliPath())) return false;
+  try {
+    return fs.readFileSync(cliStampPath(), 'utf8').trim() === fingerprint;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Guarantee `<rootPath>/bin/gemdb` exists and matches this build, for callers
+ * about to hand that path to something else.
+ *
+ * Opening a GemDB Shell makes VS Code launch the wrapper as a terminal's shell
+ * program, so a missing or stale file is not an internal detail — it is
+ * "The terminal process failed to launch", or a shell running last week's
+ * code. `requireRunning` cannot carry this: it returns early when the database
+ * is already up, which is the common case, so `ensureRunning` — where staging
+ * lives — is skipped exactly when nothing else would notice.
+ *
+ * Cheap to call: `writeCliScripts` fingerprints what it would write and
+ * returns without touching the disk when that matches what is already there.
+ */
+export function ensureCliCurrent(extensionPath: string): boolean {
+  try {
+    writeCliScripts(extensionPath);
+  } catch (e) {
+    log(`Could not write the gemdb command: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : e}`);
+  }
+  return fs.existsSync(cliPath());
+}
+
 export function writeCliScripts(extensionPath: string): void {
   const engine = enginePath();
   if (!engine) throw new Error('The database engine is not installed.');
   const root = rootPath();
   const grail = grailPath();
 
-  fs.mkdirSync(cliDirPath(), { recursive: true });
-
   // The topaz driver for one file or module. `set` lines beat any ~/.topazini
   // (the ini runs first, these run later), so a Jasper user's defaults cannot
   // hijack the login. Errors are caught as AbstractException, not Error —
@@ -125,9 +173,7 @@ export function writeCliScripts(extensionPath: string): void {
   // CPython's contract, each case measured: None or no argument exits 0
   // silently, an int exits `n % 256` silently (-1 → 255, 256 → 0), and
   // anything else prints str(code) to stderr and exits 1.
-  fs.writeFileSync(
-    path.join(cliDirPath(), 'gemdb-run.tpz'),
-    `! Generated by GemDB. Regenerated on every update — do not edit.
+  const driver = `! Generated by GemDB. Regenerated on every update — do not edit.
 set user ${DB_USER} pass ${DB_PASSWORD}
 set gemstone ${STONE_NAME}
 login
@@ -214,14 +260,7 @@ SessionTemps current at: #'GrailConsole' put: (Array with: GsFile stdout).
 ].
 %
 exit 0
-`,
-  );
-
-  // An earlier release handed the no-argument mode to Grail's topaz REPL
-  // through this file; the shell replaced it, so a stale copy is only a trap.
-  fs.rmSync(path.join(cliDirPath(), 'gemdb-repl.tpz'), { force: true });
-
-  stageShell(extensionPath);
+`;
 
   const script = `#!/bin/bash
 # gemdb — run Python inside the GemDB database, from any shell.
@@ -324,7 +363,33 @@ case "$STATUS" in
 esac
 `;
 
+  // Nothing to do when what is on disk is already exactly this. The check
+  // exists for the opposite case: staging used to happen only when the Grail
+  // payload changed, so an extension update that changed only code left the
+  // previous `bin/gemdb` and shell bundle in place — a fix to the shell would
+  // reach the editor and not the terminal it opens.
+  const fingerprint = cliFingerprint(
+    script,
+    driver,
+    path.join(extensionPath, 'out', 'gemdb-shell.js'),
+  );
+  if (cliIsCurrent(fingerprint)) {
+    log('The gemdb command is already current.');
+    return;
+  }
+
+  fs.mkdirSync(cliDirPath(), { recursive: true });
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(cliDirPath(), 'gemdb-run.tpz'), driver);
+
+  // An earlier release handed the no-argument mode to Grail's topaz REPL
+  // through this file; the shell replaced it, so a stale copy is only a trap.
+  fs.rmSync(path.join(cliDirPath(), 'gemdb-repl.tpz'), { force: true });
+
+  stageShell(extensionPath);
+
   fs.writeFileSync(cliPath(), script);
   fs.chmodSync(cliPath(), 0o755);
+  // Written last: a stamp is a claim that everything above succeeded.
+  fs.writeFileSync(cliStampPath(), `${fingerprint}\n`);
   log(`Wrote the gemdb command to ${cliPath()}`);
 }
diff --git a/src/lifecycle.ts b/src/lifecycle.ts
index 0e9eeed..7d46e39 100644
--- a/src/lifecycle.ts
+++ b/src/lifecycle.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as vscode from 'vscode';
 import { engineVersion, reinstallPythonOnUpdate, rootPath } from './config';
-import { cliPath, writeCliScripts } from './cli';
+import { writeCliScripts } from './cli';
 import { createDatabase, removeDatabase } from './database';
 import { Progress, installEngine, removeEngine } from './engine';
 import {
@@ -278,16 +278,17 @@ export async function ensureRunning(extensionPath: string): Promise<boolean> {
     if (!prepared || !isInstalled()) return false;
   }
 
-  // The shell command is normally written when Grail is staged, but an
-  // install that predates it never runs that staging again — the payload on
-  // disk already matches. Backstop it here, on the single path everything
-  // that needs a database goes through.
-  if (!fs.existsSync(cliPath())) {
-    try {
-      writeCliScripts(extensionPath);
-    } catch (e) {
-      log(`Could not write the gemdb command: ${errorMessage(e)}`);
-    }
+  // Staging Grail writes the shell command too, but only when the payload
+  // changed — so an update that changed only code would leave the previous
+  // `bin/gemdb` and shell bundle in place, and a fix to the shell would reach
+  // the editor while the terminal it opens kept running the old one. Called
+  // unconditionally here, on the single path everything that needs a database
+  // goes through; `writeCliScripts` compares a fingerprint and returns without
+  // touching the disk when it would write the same bytes.
+  try {
+    writeCliScripts(extensionPath);
+  } catch (e) {
+    log(`Could not write the gemdb command: ${errorMessage(e)}`);
   }
 
   if (!(await ensureOsConfigured(extensionPath))) return false;
diff --git a/src/paths.ts b/src/paths.ts
index 1ff3f1c..d2a588a 100644
--- a/src/paths.ts
+++ b/src/paths.ts
@@ -76,6 +76,20 @@ export function grailStampPath(): string {
   return path.join(grailPath(), '.gemdb-grail-stamp');
 }
 
+/**
+ * Marker recording which build of the generated `gemdb` command is staged.
+ *
+ * Holds a fingerprint of what `writeCliScripts` would produce — the wrapper,
+ * the topaz driver and the shell bundle — so staging can be skipped when it
+ * would rewrite the same bytes, and, more to the point, is NOT skipped when it
+ * would not. Its own stamp rather than the extension's version because a
+ * developer running the extension host rebuilds the bundle far more often than
+ * they change the version.
+ */
+export function cliStampPath(): string {
+  return path.join(rootPath(), 'bin', '.gemdb-cli-stamp');
+}
+
 export function locksPath(): string {
   return path.join(rootPath(), 'locks');
 }
diff --git a/src/repl.ts b/src/repl.ts
index e8d3092..022740b 100644
--- a/src/repl.ts
+++ b/src/repl.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import * as vscode from 'vscode';
 import { shellQuote } from './osConfig';
 import { findNetldi, findStone } from './processes';
 import { ensureRunning } from './lifecycle';
-import { cliPath } from './cli';
+import { cliPath, ensureCliCurrent } from './cli';
 
 /**
  * Make sure the database is up, starting it if it is not.
@@ -29,6 +29,15 @@ async function requireRunning(extensionPath: string): Promise<boolean> {
 let replCounter = 0;
 export async function openRepl(extensionPath: string): Promise<void> {
   if (!(await requireRunning(extensionPath))) return;
+  // The wrapper is this terminal's shell program, so it has to be there and
+  // has to be this build — VS Code reports a missing one as a launch failure
+  // with no hint of what GemDB should have done about it.
+  if (!ensureCliCurrent(extensionPath)) {
+    void vscode.window.showErrorMessage(
+      'GemDB could not write the gemdb command, so the GemDB Shell cannot start. See the GemDB log.',
+    );
+    return;
+  }
 
   replCounter += 1;
   const name = replCounter === 1 ? 'GemDB Shell' : `GemDB Shell ${replCounter}`;
@@ -62,6 +71,14 @@ export async function runFile(extensionPath: string, uri?: vscode.Uri): Promise<
     return;
   }
   if (!(await requireRunning(extensionPath))) return;
+  // Same guarantee as the shell: this terminal is about to be sent the
+  // wrapper's path as a command line.
+  if (!ensureCliCurrent(extensionPath)) {
+    void vscode.window.showErrorMessage(
+      'GemDB could not write the gemdb command, so the file cannot be run. See the GemDB log.',
+    );
+    return;
+  }
 
   // Save first: the database reads the file from disk, so an unsaved buffer
   // would silently run the previous version.
diff --git a/src/session.ts b/src/session.ts
index b495a1e..663ce95 100644
--- a/src/session.ts
+++ b/src/session.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,23 @@ export class SessionLimitError extends SessionError {}
  */
 const SESSION_LIMIT_ERRORS = new Set([4039, 4041, 4050]);
 
+/**
+ * `GCI_LOGIN_QUIET` — stop the client library narrating each login on stdout.
+ *
+ * Without it every login writes a line like
+ * `gcits login: session 0x… lgc 0x… rpc gem processId 4726` (and a matching
+ * one at logout) to the process's real stdout, from inside the C library. In
+ * the extension host that is merely noise in the log; in a GemDB Shell it is
+ * printed straight onto the user's terminal, and in `gemdb -c` it lands in
+ * output a script may be piping somewhere.
+ *
+ * Defined here rather than in `gci/gciConstants.ts` because that directory is
+ * vendored from Jasper byte-for-byte and carries no login flags at all. The
+ * value is from the engine's own `include/gci.ht` (`GCI_LOGIN_QUIET = 0x10`,
+ * in the flag enum `GciTsLogin`'s `loginFlags` takes).
+ */
+const GCI_LOGIN_QUIET = 0x10;
+
 /** What kind of user interface a session belongs to. */
 export type SessionKind = 'notebook' | 'shell' | 'extension';
 
@@ -400,7 +417,7 @@ export class GciSession {
       gemNrs(),
       DB_USER,
       DB_PASSWORD,
-      0,
+      GCI_LOGIN_QUIET,
       0,
     );
     if (!result.session) {