diff --git a/kill-maven.sh b/kill-maven.sh
index f0754bd..725a3fa 100755
--- a/kill-maven.sh
+++ b/kill-maven.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # Unified script to stop all Maven services.
 # Usage: ./kill-maven.sh
-#   - Graceful SIGTERM is attempted first.
-#   - If any process lingers, force with SIGKILL.
+#   - Docker deploy: `docker compose stop` (see why below).
+#   - Bare-metal / dev run: graceful SIGTERM first, SIGKILL if anything lingers.
+# Exits non-zero if it cannot confirm everything is stopped. It must never say
+# "stopped" unless it checked.
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
@@ -24,6 +26,69 @@ else
     LLM='llama-server.*\.gguf'
 fi
 
+COMPOSE_FILE="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)/docker-compose.yml"
+
+# --- containerised deploy ------------------------------------------------
+# docker-compose.yml does not set `pid: host`, so each container has its own
+# PID namespace: pkill on the host sees nothing inside them. This script used
+# to print "all stopped" while every daemon was still happily running. Stop the
+# containers through compose instead — that actually reaches them.
+#
+# running_containers prints the ids of the project's running containers, or
+# nothing. Empty output plus a non-zero return means "could not ask docker",
+# which is different from "nothing is running" and is handled below.
+running_containers() {
+    docker compose -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" ps -q --status running 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+DOCKER_OK=0
+CONTAINERS=""
+if command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1 && [ -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" ]; then
+    if CONTAINERS="$(running_containers)"; then
+        DOCKER_OK=1
+    fi
+fi
+
+if [ "$DOCKER_OK" = 1 ] && [ -n "$CONTAINERS" ]; then
+    echo "--- Maven is running in containers: stopping via docker compose ---"
+    if ! docker compose -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" stop; then
+        echo "ERROR: 'docker compose stop' failed. Containers may still be running." >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    echo "--- Verifying containers are gone ---"
+    LEFT="$(running_containers || true)"
+    if [ -n "$LEFT" ]; then
+        echo "ERROR: containers still running after stop:" >&2
+        docker compose -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" ps >&2 || true
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    echo "All containers stopped."
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+# --- bare-metal / dev run -----------------------------------------------
+# pgrep -f matches whole command lines, so a shell that merely mentions
+# "mavend" (this script's own parent, for one) shows up. Drop ourselves and our
+# parent, otherwise the SIGKILL sweep can take out the terminal you ran this in.
+host_pids() {
+    pgrep -f "$PAT|$LLM" | grep -v -e "^$$\$" -e "^$PPID\$" | paste -sd, - || true
+}
+HOST_PIDS=$(host_pids)
+
+if [ -z "$HOST_PIDS" ]; then
+    # Nothing to kill on the host and no running containers. Either Maven is
+    # already down, or it is somewhere this script cannot see (another PID
+    # namespace, another user, docker unreachable). We cannot tell the
+    # difference, so refuse to claim success.
+    echo "ERROR: found no Maven processes on this host and no running containers." >&2
+    if [ "$DOCKER_OK" != 1 ]; then
+        echo "       Could not ask docker either — if this is the container deploy," >&2
+        echo "       run: docker compose -f $COMPOSE_FILE stop" >&2
+    fi
+    echo "       Nothing was stopped. Check by hand before assuming Maven is down." >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 echo "--- Sending graceful SIGTERM to Maven services ---"
 pkill -TERM -f "$PAT" || true
 # mavend's Pdeathsig SIGKILLs its llama-server on exit, but sweep strays too
@@ -32,12 +97,18 @@ pkill -TERM -f "$LLM" || true
 
 echo "--- Verifying processes are gone ---"
 sleep 1
-PIDS=$(pgrep -d ',' -f "$PAT|$LLM") || PIDS=""
+PIDS=$(host_pids)
 if [ -n "$PIDS" ]; then
     echo "Warning: some processes still alive. PIDs: $PIDS"
     echo "--- Force killing with SIGKILL ---"
     echo "$PIDS" | tr ',' '\n' | xargs -r kill -9
+    sleep 1
+    LEFT=$(host_pids)
+    if [ -n "$LEFT" ]; then
+        echo "ERROR: still alive after SIGKILL. PIDs: $LEFT" >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
     echo "Done (SIGKILL)."
 else
     echo "All services gracefully stopped."
-fi
\ No newline at end of file
+fi