diff --git a/hermes_cli/gateway.py b/hermes_cli/gateway.py
index 7f81072515f7..efd16c3e1965 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/gateway.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/gateway.py
@@ -4998,7 +4998,8 @@ def run_gateway(verbose: int = 0, quiet: bool = False, replace: bool = False, fo
             traceback=_traceback.format_exc(),
         )
         print("\nGateway stopped.")
-        return
+        _hard_exit_after_gateway_teardown(0)
+        return  # unreachable in production (os._exit); guard for test stubs
     except SystemExit as e:
         _exit_diag(
             "asyncio.run.SystemExit",
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway.py
index b858f64233d4..459fc4c0975f 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway.py
@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ def test_run_gateway_exits_cleanly_on_keyboard_interrupt(monkeypatch, capsys):
     _install_fake_gateway_run(monkeypatch, fake_start_gateway)
     monkeypatch.setattr(gateway.asyncio, "run", fake_asyncio_run)
 
+    # KeyboardInterrupt now uses the same hard-exit backstop as all other
+    # exit paths (instead of a bare ``return``).  The test stub's
+    # _exit_after_graceful_shutdown is a no-op for code 0, so run_gateway()
+    # returns normally — but the real implementation would call os._exit(0).
     gateway.run_gateway()
 
     out = capsys.readouterr().out
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_run_hard_exit.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_run_hard_exit.py
index be69b0915e77..3edf8cfdb1d0 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_run_hard_exit.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_run_hard_exit.py
@@ -85,3 +85,23 @@ def test_run_gateway_hard_exits_after_failed_return(monkeypatch):
         gateway_cli.run_gateway()
 
     assert excinfo.value.code == 1
+
+
+def test_run_gateway_hard_exits_after_keyboard_interrupt(monkeypatch):
+    """KeyboardInterrupt (console Ctrl+C) must also hard-exit, not return.
+
+    A bare ``return`` would let Python finalization join non-daemon worker
+    threads, the same wedge this backstop prevents on the other exit paths.
+    """
+    gateway_cli = _prepare(monkeypatch)
+
+    def _fake_run(coro):
+        coro.close()
+        raise KeyboardInterrupt()
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(gateway_cli.asyncio, "run", _fake_run)
+
+    with pytest.raises(_HardExitObserved) as excinfo:
+        gateway_cli.run_gateway()
+
+    assert excinfo.value.code == 0