diff --git a/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs b/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs
index cb3448205..f6acdc1c3 100644
--- a/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ mod init;
 mod install;
 mod logging;
 
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
 use anyhow::Result;
 use clap::{Parser, Subcommand};
 use tracing::debug;
@@ -102,6 +104,12 @@ enum Command {
         #[command(subcommand)]
         command: SystemCommand,
     },
+    /// Send a queued analytics event (internal)
+    #[command(name = "__send_analytics", hide = true)]
+    SendAnalytics {
+        /// Path to the JSON event file
+        path: PathBuf,
+    },
 }
 
 #[derive(Subcommand)]
@@ -206,6 +214,7 @@ async fn main_inner() -> Result<()> {
         Command::Ps(_) => "ps",
         Command::Pr { .. } => "pr",
         Command::System { .. } => "system",
+        Command::SendAnalytics { .. } => "__send_analytics",
     };
 
     let config_log_level = {
@@ -475,6 +484,13 @@ async fn main_inner() -> Result<()> {
                 arc_workflows::cli::runs::df_command(&args)?;
             }
         },
+        Command::SendAnalytics { path } => {
+            let json = std::fs::read(&path)?;
+            let track: arc_util::telemetry::event::Track = serde_json::from_slice(&json)?;
+            let result = arc_util::telemetry::sender::send_to_segment(&track).await;
+            let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&path);
+            result?;
+        }
     }
 
     Ok(())
diff --git a/lib/crates/arc-util/src/telemetry/sender.rs b/lib/crates/arc-util/src/telemetry/sender.rs
index e75ad9cc9..ba246f441 100644
--- a/lib/crates/arc-util/src/telemetry/sender.rs
+++ b/lib/crates/arc-util/src/telemetry/sender.rs
@@ -6,41 +6,67 @@ use super::event::Track;
 const SEGMENT_API_URL: &str = "https://api.segment.io/v1/track";
 const SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY: Option<&str> = option_env!("SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY");
 
-/// Spawns a fire-and-forget tokio task to send a track event to Segment.
+/// Serializes the track event to a temp file and spawns a detached subprocess
+/// (`arc __send_analytics <path>`) to deliver it. This ensures the event is
+/// sent even if the parent CLI process exits immediately.
+///
 /// No-ops if the SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY was not set at compile time.
 pub fn send(track: Track) {
-    let Some(write_key) = SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY else {
+    if SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY.is_none() {
         tracing::debug!("telemetry: no SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY, skipping send");
         return;
-    };
+    }
 
-    tokio::spawn(send_track(track, write_key));
+    if let Err(err) = spawn_sender(track) {
+        tracing::debug!(%err, "telemetry: failed to spawn analytics sender");
+    }
 }
 
-async fn send_track(track: Track, write_key: &str) {
+fn spawn_sender(track: Track) -> std::io::Result<()> {
+    let tmp_dir = dirs::home_dir()
+        .ok_or_else(|| std::io::Error::new(std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound, "no home directory"))?
+        .join(".arc")
+        .join("tmp");
+
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(&tmp_dir)?;
+
+    let path = tmp_dir.join(format!("arc-event-{}.json", track.message_id));
+    let json = serde_json::to_vec(&track)
+        .map_err(|e| std::io::Error::new(std::io::ErrorKind::InvalidData, e))?;
+    std::fs::write(&path, json)?;
+
+    let exe = std::env::current_exe()?;
+    std::process::Command::new(exe)
+        .arg("__send_analytics")
+        .arg(&path)
+        .env("ARC_TELEMETRY", "off")
+        .stdin(std::process::Stdio::null())
+        .stdout(std::process::Stdio::null())
+        .stderr(std::process::Stdio::null())
+        .spawn()?;
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Sends a track event to Segment. Called by the `__send_analytics` subcommand.
+pub async fn send_to_segment(track: &Track) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let write_key = SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY
+        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY not set at compile time"))?;
+
     let auth = STANDARD.encode(format!("{write_key}:"));
 
-    let result = reqwest::Client::new()
+    let resp = reqwest::Client::new()
         .post(SEGMENT_API_URL)
         .header("Authorization", format!("Basic {auth}"))
-        .json(&track)
+        .json(track)
         .send()
-        .await;
+        .await?;
 
-    match result {
-        Ok(resp) if !resp.status().is_success() => {
-            tracing::warn!(
-                status = %resp.status(),
-                "telemetry: segment API returned non-success status"
-            );
-        }
-        Err(err) => {
-            tracing::warn!(%err, "telemetry: failed to send event to segment");
-        }
-        Ok(_) => {
-            tracing::debug!("telemetry: event sent successfully");
-        }
+    if !resp.status().is_success() {
+        anyhow::bail!("segment API returned status {}", resp.status());
     }
+
+    Ok(())
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]