diff --git a/deploy/demo-kill-resume.sh b/deploy/demo-kill-resume.sh
index fd643c0..6bc01f8 100755
--- a/deploy/demo-kill-resume.sh
+++ b/deploy/demo-kill-resume.sh
@@ -54,21 +54,35 @@ curl -sf --max-time 2 localhost:9100/healthz >/dev/null || { echo "agent never c
 echo "agent back — startup sweep resumes in-flight threads"
 
 step "5/6 — wait for the approval card (sweeper resume → node re-run → outbox)"
+# Mode-agnostic: the card is "delivered" when its outbox row is done (works for
+# both SLACK_DRY_RUN=true — jsonl log — and live Slack). The jsonl tail below
+# is the dry-run rendering; live mode points at the Slack channel instead.
 found=""
-for _ in $(seq 1 180); do
-  if [ -f "$LOG" ] && grep -q "$THREAD" "$LOG" 2>/dev/null; then found=1; break; fi
+for _ in $(seq 1 300); do
+  delivered="$(docker exec agent99-postgres-1 \
+    psql -U agent99 -d agent99 -tA -c \
+    "SELECT count(*) FROM outbox WHERE idempotency_key LIKE '$THREAD:approval_card:%' AND status = 'done';" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)"
+  [ "${delivered:-0}" -ge 1 ] && { found=1; break; }
   sleep 1
 done
 if [ -z "$found" ]; then
-  echo "no card for $THREAD within 180s — check: $COMPOSE logs agent"
+  echo "no card for $THREAD within 300s — check: $COMPOSE logs agent"
   exit 1
 fi
-grep "$THREAD" "$LOG" | tail -1 | python3 -c '
+if [ -f "$LOG" ] && grep -q "$THREAD" "$LOG" 2>/dev/null; then
+  grep "$THREAD" "$LOG" | tail -1 | python3 -c '
 import json, sys
 entry = json.loads(sys.stdin.read())
 print("[%s] channel=%s ts=%s" % (entry["op"], entry.get("channel"), entry.get("ts")))
 print(entry.get("text", ""))
 '
+else
+  ts="$(docker exec agent99-postgres-1 \
+    psql -U agent99 -d agent99 -tA -c \
+    "SELECT extra->'slack_ts'->>'approval' FROM incidents WHERE thread_id = '$THREAD';")"
+  echo "[chat.postMessage] live Slack (SLACK_DRY_RUN=false) — approval card ts=$ts"
+  echo "open the #agent99signoz channel to see it"
+fi
 
 step "6/6 — prove resume + exactly-once (audit trail + outbox dedupe)"
 docker exec agent99-postgres-1 \