diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index efc3fe3..b02e3b2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -630,6 +630,7 @@
   are absent), so shell regressions are caught locally before the push.
 
 ### Bug fixes
+- **`compose.ps_status` now recognises every daemon-unreachable phrasing and can't hang (#178).** It maps both `cannot connect to the docker daemon` and `failed to connect to the docker API at ...` (the custom/rootless `DOCKER_HOST` phrasing) to `docker-unreachable` instead of misreporting a live container as `not-created`, and it runs `docker compose ps` under a bounded 20 s timeout (`subprocess.TimeoutExpired` → `docker-unreachable`) so a wedged daemon or an unresponsive TCP `DOCKER_HOST` degrades gracefully rather than hanging `ls`/`status`/`doctor` forever. Scoped to the read-only `ps_status` probe; lifecycle/streaming verbs are unchanged.
 - **The Magisk denylist now hides root in the Play-Integrity/DroidGuard process (#170).** Denylist entries take a `package[/process]` shape, and `magisk-config.sh` inserts the real package into `package_name` and the process into `process` — never copying one value into both columns. The default enrolls `com.google.android.gms.unstable` (DroidGuard) as a **process** of the `com.google.android.gms` package instead of a bogus `package_name` that matched no installed app, so vanilla (non-Shamiko) Magisk actually hides root in the attestation process. The grammar validates both halves (SQL-injection prophylaxis), the health check matches enrolment by the package half, and the example configs demonstrate the corrected form.
 - **`registry._read()` no longer silently drops an instance row that fails row-level validation (#252).** A row with a known backend kind but a rejected payload is now preserved opaquely so its port index stays reserved and it round-trips; a row too broken to salvage (bad `created_at`, missing/non-int index) is surfaced loudly (backed up to `.bak` with a hint) instead of being dropped and having its index silently reused.
 - **`create`/`register` now refuse a directory that nests inside — or contains — another registered instance (#255).** Previously the overlap guard existed only for `restore`, so a nested `create` could later be wiped out by a `destroy` of the outer instance. The guard runs before any `mkdir`/registry write, so a refused operation is a no-op.
diff --git a/src/beetroot/compose.py b/src/beetroot/compose.py
index 9388fc2..7f9042e 100644
--- a/src/beetroot/compose.py
+++ b/src/beetroot/compose.py
@@ -20,11 +20,27 @@
 import subprocess
 from collections.abc import Sequence
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Literal
+from typing import Final, Literal
 
 from . import paths
 from .settings import settings
 
+# Bounded deadline for the read-only ``docker compose ps`` probe. A wedged
+# (reachable-but-unresponsive) daemon or an unresponsive TCP ``DOCKER_HOST``
+# would otherwise make ``ps_status`` — and every verb that reads it (``ls``,
+# ``status``, ``doctor``) — hang forever. Mirrors ``builder._DOCKER_INFO_TIMEOUT``.
+_PS_STATUS_TIMEOUT: Final[int] = 20
+
+# Lowercased stderr markers the Docker CLI emits when the daemon is
+# unreachable. The CLI uses more than one phrasing — ``cannot connect to the
+# docker daemon`` (default socket) and ``failed to connect to the docker API
+# at ...`` (custom/rootless socket via ``DOCKER_HOST``) — so we match a
+# family of substrings rather than a single exact string.
+_DAEMON_UNREACHABLE_MARKERS: Final[tuple[str, ...]] = (
+    "cannot connect to the docker daemon",
+    "failed to connect to the docker",
+)
+
 # Closed enum of the strings ``ps_status`` may return. The compose
 # subcommand reports a free-form ``State`` field; this enum gates every
 # string we ever surface to callers so verbs (``doctor``, ``status``)
@@ -201,7 +217,9 @@ def ps_status(name: str, instance_root: Path) -> ComposeStatus:
     Queries ``docker compose ps --format json`` live; never reads from
     cache. Distinguishes "docker daemon unreachable" from "not-created"
     so callers (``beetroot doctor``, ``ls --json``) can give a precise
-    diagnostic.
+    diagnostic. The probe is bounded by :data:`_PS_STATUS_TIMEOUT`: a
+    wedged-but-reachable daemon (or an unresponsive TCP ``DOCKER_HOST``)
+    degrades to ``"docker-unreachable"`` instead of hanging the verb.
 
     Args:
         name: Instance name.
@@ -220,17 +238,21 @@ def ps_status(name: str, instance_root: Path) -> ComposeStatus:
             ["ps", "--format", "json"],
             capture_output=True,
             text=True,
+            timeout=_PS_STATUS_TIMEOUT,
         )
-    except ComposeError:
-        # ``_ensure_docker`` raised — docker binary not on PATH.
+    except (ComposeError, subprocess.TimeoutExpired):
+        # ``ComposeError``: ``_ensure_docker`` raised — docker binary not on
+        # PATH. ``TimeoutExpired``: a reachable-but-wedged daemon, or a TCP
+        # ``DOCKER_HOST`` that accepts the connection but never answers. Both
+        # degrade gracefully rather than block ``ls``/``status``/``doctor``.
         return "docker-unreachable"
     if res.returncode != 0:
         # Non-zero is most commonly "no such project" → not created.
-        # We could distinguish "daemon not running" via stderr scraping,
-        # but that's fragile; map to docker-unreachable only when
-        # compose stderr explicitly reports it.
+        # A daemon-unreachable failure is distinguished by scraping stderr
+        # for any of the CLI's connection-failure phrasings; everything
+        # else is treated as a missing project.
         stderr = (res.stderr or "").lower()
-        if "cannot connect to the docker daemon" in stderr:
+        if any(marker in stderr for marker in _DAEMON_UNREACHABLE_MARKERS):
             return "docker-unreachable"
         return "not-created"
     if not res.stdout.strip():
diff --git a/tests/test_compose.py b/tests/test_compose.py
index 81acf6b..fe9b055 100644
--- a/tests/test_compose.py
+++ b/tests/test_compose.py
@@ -227,6 +227,35 @@ def test_docker_binary_missing_returns_docker_unreachable(
         monkeypatch.setattr(shutil, "which", lambda name: None)
         assert compose.ps_status("alpha", tmp_path) == "docker-unreachable"
 
+    def test_failed_to_connect_api_phrasing_is_docker_unreachable(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        # #178: a custom/rootless socket via DOCKER_HOST fails with the
+        # "failed to connect to the docker API at ..." phrasing, which lacks
+        # the "cannot connect to the docker daemon" substring. It must still
+        # map to ``docker-unreachable`` (not the misleading ``not-created``).
+        stderr = (
+            "failed to connect to the docker API at unix:///tmp/missing.sock; "
+            "check if the path is correct and if the daemon is running"
+        )
+        res = subprocess.CompletedProcess(args=[], returncode=1, stdout="", stderr=stderr)
+        with patch("subprocess.run", return_value=res):
+            assert compose.ps_status("alpha", tmp_path) == "docker-unreachable"
+
+    def test_timeout_returns_docker_unreachable(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        # #178: a reachable-but-wedged daemon (or an unresponsive TCP
+        # DOCKER_HOST) must degrade to ``docker-unreachable`` rather than
+        # hang the verb forever.
+        with patch(
+            "subprocess.run",
+            side_effect=subprocess.TimeoutExpired(cmd="docker compose ps", timeout=1),
+        ):
+            assert compose.ps_status("alpha", tmp_path) == "docker-unreachable"
+
+    def test_ps_status_passes_bounded_timeout(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        # The read-only probe must be bounded so ls/status/doctor can't hang.
+        with patch("subprocess.run", return_value=_ok_result("")) as mock_run:
+            compose.ps_status("alpha", tmp_path)
+        assert mock_run.call_args.kwargs["timeout"] == compose._PS_STATUS_TIMEOUT
+
 
 class TestComposeError:
     def test_is_runtime_error(self) -> None: