diff --git a/crates/pikl/src/handler.rs b/crates/pikl/src/handler.rs
index 4c912e3..8b45ebf 100644
--- a/crates/pikl/src/handler.rs
+++ b/crates/pikl/src/handler.rs
@@ -156,15 +156,49 @@ async fn run_handler_process(
     // Close stdin to signal the child
     drop(stdin_writer);
 
-    // Wait briefly for the reader to finish
+    // Wait up to 1s for child to exit after EOF
+    let exited = tokio::time::timeout(
+        std::time::Duration::from_secs(1),
+        child.wait(),
+    )
+    .await
+    .is_ok();
+
+    if !exited {
+        // Send SIGTERM on Unix, then wait another second
+        #[cfg(unix)]
+        {
+            if let Some(pid) = child.id() {
+                // SAFETY: pid is valid (child is still running), SIGTERM is
+                // a standard signal. kill() returns 0 on success or -1 on
+                // error, which we ignore (child may have exited between the
+                // check and the signal).
+                unsafe {
+                    libc::kill(pid as libc::pid_t, libc::SIGTERM);
+                }
+            }
+            let termed = tokio::time::timeout(
+                std::time::Duration::from_secs(1),
+                child.wait(),
+            )
+            .await
+            .is_ok();
+            if !termed {
+                let _ = child.kill().await;
+            }
+        }
+        #[cfg(not(unix))]
+        {
+            let _ = child.kill().await;
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Wait for the reader to finish
     let _ = tokio::time::timeout(
         std::time::Duration::from_secs(2),
         reader_handle,
     )
     .await;
 
-    // Kill child if still running
-    let _ = child.kill().await;
-
     Ok(())
 }