diff --git a/src/main/agent-hooks/hook-stdin-contract.ts b/src/main/agent-hooks/hook-stdin-contract.ts
index 902ec5432..6c01f9756 100644
--- a/src/main/agent-hooks/hook-stdin-contract.ts
+++ b/src/main/agent-hooks/hook-stdin-contract.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 export type PosixHookEmptyPayloadPolicy = 'exit' | 'empty-object'
 
-export const POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND = 'cat >/dev/null 2>&1 || :'
+// Why: a stripped PATH must not stop a hook from consuming stdin, or the agent
+// sees exit 127 and a broken pipe mid-write (#8110). `command -p` resolves from
+// the shell's built-in default PATH, so it also survives hosts without /bin/cat
+// (NixOS) and ignores a worktree-local `cat` that could capture the payload.
+export const POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER = '{ command -p cat 2>/dev/null || cat; }'
+export const POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND = `${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER} >/dev/null 2>&1 || :`
 
 // Why: every POSIX hook must own stdin before any no-op exit; sharing this
 // prelude prevents agent templates from inventing different drain semantics.
@@ -9,7 +14,12 @@ export function buildPosixHookPayloadCapture(
 ): string[] {
   const emptyPayloadLines =
     emptyPayloadPolicy === 'empty-object' ? ["  payload='{}'"] : ['  exit 0']
-  return ['payload=$(cat)', 'if [ -z "$payload" ]; then', ...emptyPayloadLines, 'fi']
+  return [
+    `payload=$(${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER})`,
+    'if [ -z "$payload" ]; then',
+    ...emptyPayloadLines,
+    'fi'
+  ]
 }
 
 export const WINDOWS_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_LABEL = 'orca_agent_hook_drain_stdin'
diff --git a/src/main/agent-hooks/installer-utils.test.ts b/src/main/agent-hooks/installer-utils.test.ts
index 466792009..487a58195 100644
--- a/src/main/agent-hooks/installer-utils.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/agent-hooks/installer-utils.test.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import {
   writeHooksJson,
   type HooksConfig
 } from './installer-utils'
+import { POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND } from './hook-stdin-contract'
 
 let tmpDir: string
 let configPath: string
@@ -357,7 +358,7 @@ describe('wrapPosixHookCommand', () => {
   it('produces a guarded command that no-ops when the script is missing', () => {
     const cmd = wrapPosixHookCommand('/does/not/exist.sh')
     expect(cmd).toBe(
-      "if [ -f '/does/not/exist.sh' ] && [ -r '/does/not/exist.sh' ] && [ -x '/does/not/exist.sh' ]; then /bin/sh '/does/not/exist.sh'; else cat >/dev/null 2>&1 || :; fi"
+      `if [ -f '/does/not/exist.sh' ] && [ -r '/does/not/exist.sh' ] && [ -x '/does/not/exist.sh' ]; then /bin/sh '/does/not/exist.sh'; else ${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND}; fi`
     )
   })
 
@@ -375,7 +376,7 @@ describe('wrapPosixHookCommand', () => {
     // /bin/sh as a single argument.
     const cmd = wrapPosixHookCommand("/path/with'quote/x.sh")
     expect(cmd).toBe(
-      "if [ -f '/path/with'\\''quote/x.sh' ] && [ -r '/path/with'\\''quote/x.sh' ] && [ -x '/path/with'\\''quote/x.sh' ]; then /bin/sh '/path/with'\\''quote/x.sh'; else cat >/dev/null 2>&1 || :; fi"
+      `if [ -f '/path/with'\\''quote/x.sh' ] && [ -r '/path/with'\\''quote/x.sh' ] && [ -x '/path/with'\\''quote/x.sh' ]; then /bin/sh '/path/with'\\''quote/x.sh'; else ${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND}; fi`
     )
   })
 
@@ -384,7 +385,7 @@ describe('wrapPosixHookCommand', () => {
       ORCA_COPILOT_HOOK_EVENT: 'UserPromptSubmit'
     })
     expect(cmd).toBe(
-      "if [ -f '/does/not/exist.sh' ] && [ -r '/does/not/exist.sh' ] && [ -x '/does/not/exist.sh' ]; then ORCA_COPILOT_HOOK_EVENT='UserPromptSubmit' /bin/sh '/does/not/exist.sh'; else cat >/dev/null 2>&1 || :; fi"
+      `if [ -f '/does/not/exist.sh' ] && [ -r '/does/not/exist.sh' ] && [ -x '/does/not/exist.sh' ]; then ORCA_COPILOT_HOOK_EVENT='UserPromptSubmit' /bin/sh '/does/not/exist.sh'; else ${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND}; fi`
     )
   })
 
@@ -558,7 +559,7 @@ describe('wrapWindowsGitBashHookCommand', () => {
     expect(
       wrapWindowsGitBashHookCommand('C:\\Users\\alice\\.orca\\agent-hooks\\claude-hook.cmd')
     ).toBe(
-      "if [ -f 'C:/Users/alice/.orca/agent-hooks/claude-hook.cmd' ]; then 'C:/Users/alice/.orca/agent-hooks/claude-hook.cmd'; else cat >/dev/null 2>&1 || :; fi"
+      `if [ -f 'C:/Users/alice/.orca/agent-hooks/claude-hook.cmd' ]; then 'C:/Users/alice/.orca/agent-hooks/claude-hook.cmd'; else ${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND}; fi`
     )
   })
 
diff --git a/src/main/agent-hooks/managed-hook-stdin-lifecycle.test.ts b/src/main/agent-hooks/managed-hook-stdin-lifecycle.test.ts
index 0645de342..aa303ce31 100644
--- a/src/main/agent-hooks/managed-hook-stdin-lifecycle.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/agent-hooks/managed-hook-stdin-lifecycle.test.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 // matrix catches an unread early exit without duplicating template assertions.
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 import { spawn } from 'node:child_process'
-import { existsSync, mkdtempSync, readFileSync, readdirSync, rmSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { existsSync, mkdtempSync, readFileSync, readdirSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
 import type { SFTPWrapper } from 'ssh2'
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ import {
   wrapWindowsGitBashHookCommand,
   wrapWindowsHookCommand
 } from './installer-utils'
+import { POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER } from './hook-stdin-contract'
 import { createAgentHookMemorySftp } from './agent-hook-memory-sftp.test-fixture'
 
 const REMOTE_HOME = '/home/dev'
@@ -155,6 +156,7 @@ const LOCAL_INSTALLERS = [
 type HookRun = {
   exitCode: number | null
   stdinErrors: NodeJS.ErrnoException[]
+  stdout: string
 }
 
 function runHookProcess(
@@ -163,8 +165,9 @@ function runHookProcess(
   env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv
 ): Promise<HookRun> {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-    const child = spawn(executable, args, { env, stdio: ['pipe', 'ignore', 'ignore'] })
+    const child = spawn(executable, args, { env, stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'ignore'] })
     const stdinErrors: NodeJS.ErrnoException[] = []
+    let stdout = ''
     const timeout = setTimeout(() => {
       child.kill('SIGKILL')
       reject(new Error('hook did not finish after stdin closed'))
@@ -173,10 +176,13 @@ function runHookProcess(
       clearTimeout(timeout)
       reject(error)
     })
+    child.stdout.on('data', (chunk: Buffer) => {
+      stdout += chunk.toString()
+    })
     child.stdin.on('error', (error: NodeJS.ErrnoException) => stdinErrors.push(error))
     child.on('close', (exitCode) => {
       clearTimeout(timeout)
-      resolve({ exitCode, stdinErrors })
+      resolve({ exitCode, stdinErrors, stdout })
     })
     child.stdin.end(LARGE_PAYLOAD)
   })
@@ -274,7 +280,9 @@ describe('Windows managed hook stdin structure', () => {
         copilot.indexOf('if (-not $env:ORCA_AGENT_HOOK_PORT')
       )
       const kimi = readFileSync(join(hooksDir, 'kimi-hook.sh'), 'utf8')
-      expect(kimi.indexOf('payload=$(cat)')).toBeLessThan(kimi.indexOf('exit 0'))
+      expect(kimi.indexOf(`payload=$(${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER})`)).toBeLessThan(
+        kimi.indexOf('exit 0')
+      )
     } finally {
       homedirMock.mockImplementation(() => process.env.HOME ?? tmpdir())
       if (previousGrokHome === undefined) {
@@ -370,7 +378,7 @@ describe.skipIf(process.platform === 'win32')('managed hook stdin lifecycle', ()
   it('captures stdin before every possible whole-script success exit', async () => {
     const scripts = await generatePosixScripts()
     for (const [agent, script] of scripts) {
-      const captureIndex = script.indexOf('payload=$(cat)')
+      const captureIndex = script.indexOf(`payload=$(${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER})`)
       const firstExitIndex = script.indexOf('exit 0')
       expect(captureIndex, `${agent} payload capture`).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0)
       expect(firstExitIndex, `${agent} first success exit`).toBeGreaterThan(captureIndex)
@@ -393,6 +401,50 @@ describe.skipIf(process.platform === 'win32')('managed hook stdin lifecycle', ()
     }
   })
 
+  it('does not need PATH to capture or drain POSIX hook stdin', async () => {
+    const scripts = await generatePosixScripts()
+    for (const [agent, script] of scripts) {
+      const result = await runPosixHook(script, { PATH: '' })
+      expect(result.exitCode, `${agent} exit code`).toBe(0)
+      expect(result.stdinErrors, `${agent} stdin errors`).toHaveLength(0)
+    }
+
+    const missing = await runPosixHook(wrapPosixHookCommand('/missing/orca-hook.sh'), { PATH: '' })
+    expect(missing.exitCode, 'missing script launcher exit code').toBe(0)
+    expect(missing.stdinErrors, 'missing script launcher stdin errors').toHaveLength(0)
+  })
+
+  // Why: an unread stdin still exits 0, so exit codes alone cannot prove the
+  // reader consumed the payload. Assert the captured byte count directly.
+  it.each([
+    ['empty PATH', ''],
+    // Why: /bin/cat is absent on NixOS-style hosts, so an absolute path alone is
+    // not enough; the reader must fall back to the shell's default PATH.
+    ['PATH without coreutils', '/nonexistent'],
+    // Why: a worktree-local `cat` must never receive the hook payload.
+    ['PATH whose first cat is a decoy', '']
+  ])('captures the whole payload with %s', async (label, pathValue) => {
+    const decoyDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-hook-stdin-decoy-'))
+    try {
+      let effectivePath = pathValue
+      if (label === 'PATH whose first cat is a decoy') {
+        const decoy = join(decoyDir, 'cat')
+        writeFileSync(decoy, '#!/bin/sh\nexit 0\n', { mode: 0o755 })
+        effectivePath = decoyDir
+      }
+      const result = await runHookProcess(
+        '/bin/sh',
+        ['-c', `payload=$(${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER}); printf '%s' "${'${#payload}'}"`],
+        { ...hookEnvironment(), PATH: effectivePath }
+      )
+      expect(result.exitCode, `${label} exit code`).toBe(0)
+      expect(result.stdinErrors, `${label} stdin errors`).toHaveLength(0)
+      expect(result.stdout, `${label} captured bytes`).toBe(String(LARGE_PAYLOAD.length))
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(decoyDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
+    }
+  })
+
   it('drains before Claude skips hooks imported by Devin', async () => {
     const script = (await generatePosixScripts()).get('claude claude-hook.sh')
     expect(script).toBeDefined()
diff --git a/src/main/antigravity/hook-service.test.ts b/src/main/antigravity/hook-service.test.ts
index fffe15052..5861d5e0c 100644
--- a/src/main/antigravity/hook-service.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/antigravity/hook-service.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ vi.mock('os', async () => {
 })
 
 import { AntigravityHookService } from './hook-service'
+import { POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER } from '../agent-hooks/hook-stdin-contract'
 import { createManagedCommandMatcher } from '../agent-hooks/installer-utils'
 
 const ANTIGRAVITY_SCRIPT_FILE_NAME =
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ describe('AntigravityHookService', () => {
       expect(script).not.toContain('[string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($inputData)) { exit 0 }')
     } else {
       expect(script).toContain('hook_event_name=${ORCA_ANTIGRAVITY_EVENT}')
-      expect(script).toContain('payload=$(cat)')
+      expect(script).toContain(`payload=$(${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER})`)
       expect(script).toContain("payload='{}'")
       expect(script).not.toContain('if [ -z "$payload" ]; then\n  exit 0\nfi')
       // Why: payload is piped to curl via stdin (`payload@-`) so it never lands
diff --git a/src/main/codex/hook-service-wsl-runtime.test.ts b/src/main/codex/hook-service-wsl-runtime.test.ts
index f56ea1449..dbc51f39b 100644
--- a/src/main/codex/hook-service-wsl-runtime.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/codex/hook-service-wsl-runtime.test.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { dirname, join, win32 as pathWin32 } from 'node:path'
 
 import { MANAGED_HOOK_TIMEOUT_SECONDS } from '../agent-hooks/installer-utils'
+import { POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND } from '../agent-hooks/hook-stdin-contract'
 import {
   computeTrustKey,
   computeTrustedHash,
@@ -77,7 +78,7 @@ function getManagedTrustEntry(
 }
 
 function expectedManagedCommand(scriptPath: string): string {
-  return `if [ -f '${scriptPath}' ] && [ -r '${scriptPath}' ]; then /bin/sh '${scriptPath}'; else cat >/dev/null 2>&1 || :; fi`
+  return `if [ -f '${scriptPath}' ] && [ -r '${scriptPath}' ]; then /bin/sh '${scriptPath}'; else ${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_DRAIN_COMMAND}; fi`
 }
 
 describe('Codex WSL runtime hook install', () => {
diff --git a/src/main/cursor/hook-service.test.ts b/src/main/cursor/hook-service.test.ts
index d04609044..f861d4f2a 100644
--- a/src/main/cursor/hook-service.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/cursor/hook-service.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ vi.mock('os', async () => {
 })
 
 import { CursorHookService } from './hook-service'
+import { POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER } from '../agent-hooks/hook-stdin-contract'
 
 const CURSOR_EVENTS = [
   'beforeSubmitPrompt',
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ describe('CursorHookService', () => {
     } else {
       // Why: payload is piped to curl via stdin (`payload@-`) so it never lands
       // on the curl command line (EDR oversized-command-line false positive).
-      expect(script).toContain('payload=$(cat)')
+      expect(script).toContain(`payload=$(${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER})`)
       expect(script).toContain('printf \'%s\' "$payload" | curl')
       expect(script).toContain('--data-urlencode "payload@-"')
       expect(script).not.toContain('--data-urlencode "payload=${payload}"')
diff --git a/src/main/grok/hook-service.test.ts b/src/main/grok/hook-service.test.ts
index c6f89509e..028107263 100644
--- a/src/main/grok/hook-service.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/grok/hook-service.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ vi.mock('os', async () => {
 })
 
 import { getGrokToolEventMatcherForTests, GrokHookService } from './hook-service'
+import { POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER } from '../agent-hooks/hook-stdin-contract'
 
 const GROK_SCRIPT_FILE_NAME = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'grok-hook.cmd' : 'grok-hook.sh'
 const WINDOWS_POWERSHELL_LAUNCHER =
@@ -97,7 +98,7 @@ describe('GrokHookService', () => {
     } else {
       // Why: payload is piped to curl via stdin (`payload@-`) so it never lands
       // on the curl command line (EDR oversized-command-line false positive).
-      expect(script).toContain('payload=$(cat)')
+      expect(script).toContain(`payload=$(${POSIX_HOOK_STDIN_READER})`)
       expect(script).toContain('printf \'%s\' "$payload" | curl')
       expect(script).toContain('--data-urlencode "payload@-"')
       expect(script).toContain('${#GROK_HOME}" -le 4096')