diff --git a/cli/src/connection.rs b/cli/src/connection.rs
index 320fc0b5..e0d199da 100644
--- a/cli/src/connection.rs
+++ b/cli/src/connection.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,18 @@ use std::time::Duration;
 #[cfg(unix)]
 use std::os::unix::net::UnixStream;
 
+/// Strip Windows UNC prefix (\\?\) from path.
+/// canonicalize() on Windows returns UNC paths which Node.js cannot handle.
+#[cfg(windows)]
+fn strip_unc_prefix(path: PathBuf) -> PathBuf {
+    let s = path.to_string_lossy();
+    if s.starts_with("\\\\?\\") {
+        PathBuf::from(&s[4..])
+    } else {
+        path
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(Serialize)]
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 pub struct Request {
@@ -242,6 +254,9 @@ pub fn ensure_daemon(
     let exe_path = env::current_exe().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
     // Canonicalize to resolve symlinks (e.g., npm global bin symlink -> actual binary)
     let exe_path = exe_path.canonicalize().unwrap_or(exe_path);
+    // Strip UNC prefix on Windows (Node.js cannot handle \\?\ paths)
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    let exe_path = strip_unc_prefix(exe_path);
     let exe_dir = exe_path.parent().unwrap();
 
     let mut daemon_paths = vec![
@@ -685,4 +700,17 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_transient_error("Permission denied"));
         assert!(!is_transient_error("Daemon not found"));
     }
+
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    #[test]
+    fn test_strip_unc_prefix() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            strip_unc_prefix(PathBuf::from("\\\\?\\C:\\Users\\test")),
+            PathBuf::from("C:\\Users\\test")
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            strip_unc_prefix(PathBuf::from("C:\\Users\\test")),
+            PathBuf::from("C:\\Users\\test")
+        );
+    }
 }