diff --git a/infra/relay/src/environments/ManagedEndpointProvider.test.ts b/infra/relay/src/environments/ManagedEndpointProvider.test.ts
index 94675125ded6..38248f480540 100644
--- a/infra/relay/src/environments/ManagedEndpointProvider.test.ts
+++ b/infra/relay/src/environments/ManagedEndpointProvider.test.ts
@@ -1534,6 +1534,36 @@ describe("ManagedEndpointProvider", () => {
     }).pipe(Effect.provide(layer));
   });
 
+  it.effect("reports a tunnel with an attached connector as not released", () => {
+    const tunnelClient = ManagedEndpointProvider.ManagedEndpointTunnelClient.of({
+      ...makeTunnelClient(),
+      delete: (tunnelId) =>
+        Effect.fail(
+          new ManagedEndpointProvider.ManagedEndpointTunnelClientError({
+            operation: "delete",
+            tunnelId,
+            cause: {
+              _tag: "BadRequest",
+              code: 1022,
+              message:
+                "This tunnel has active connections. Please stop all cloudflared replicas, or wait a few minutes for connections to close, then try again.",
+            },
+          }),
+        ),
+    });
+    const layer = providerLayer(tunnelClient, makeDnsClient(), makeAllocations());
+
+    return Effect.gen(function* () {
+      const provider = yield* ManagedEndpointProvider.ManagedEndpointProvider;
+      const key = { userId: "user_ABC", environmentId: "env_ABC" } as const;
+      yield* provider.provision({
+        ...key,
+        origin: { localHttpHost: "127.0.0.1", localHttpPort: 3773 },
+      });
+      expect(yield* provider.release(key)).toBe(false);
+    }).pipe(Effect.provide(layer));
+  });
+
   it.effect("treats an absent allocation as already deprovisioned", () => {
     const tunnelCalls: TunnelCall[] = [];
     const dnsCalls: DnsCall[] = [];
diff --git a/infra/relay/src/environments/ManagedEndpointProvider.ts b/infra/relay/src/environments/ManagedEndpointProvider.ts
index 10b6ae2d88a4..2192b47e1fd3 100644
--- a/infra/relay/src/environments/ManagedEndpointProvider.ts
+++ b/infra/relay/src/environments/ManagedEndpointProvider.ts
@@ -395,6 +395,25 @@ export function isManagedEndpointNotFound(cause: unknown): boolean {
   return "cause" in cause && isManagedEndpointNotFound(cause.cause);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Cloudflare refuses to delete a tunnel while a connector is still attached,
+ * either one that has not finished draining or another runtime still serving
+ * the tunnel.
+ */
+export function isManagedEndpointTunnelInUse(cause: unknown): boolean {
+  if (typeof cause !== "object" || cause === null) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (
+    "message" in cause &&
+    typeof cause.message === "string" &&
+    cause.message.includes("has active connections")
+  ) {
+    return true;
+  }
+  return "cause" in cause && isManagedEndpointTunnelInUse(cause.cause);
+}
+
 type ManagedEndpointClientError = ManagedEndpointTunnelClientError | ManagedEndpointDnsClientError;
 
 const ignoreNotFound = <A>(
@@ -873,8 +892,16 @@ export const make = Effect.gen(function* () {
             if (finalGeneration === null) {
               return false;
             }
-            yield* deleteTunnel;
-            return true;
+            // A connector still attached means the tunnel is not released. That
+            // is the same answer as losing the claim: the caller keeps its config,
+            // and the reaper deletes the tunnel once it has been down long enough.
+            return yield* deleteTunnel.pipe(
+              Effect.as(true),
+              Effect.catchIf(
+                (error) => isManagedEndpointTunnelInUse(error.cause),
+                () => Effect.succeed(false),
+              ),
+            );
           }),
         )
         .pipe(