diff --git a/arch-setup.sh b/arch-setup.sh
index e6d70c6..06da992 100755
--- a/arch-setup.sh
+++ b/arch-setup.sh
@@ -107,11 +107,14 @@ if [ ! -d "/usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)" ]; then
 fi
 
 # Minimal host package set — omaterm installs everything else it needs
-# (git, tmux, agents, tailscale all live inside its container)
+# (git, tmux, agents, tailscale all live inside its container).
+# kitty-terminfo: without it, SSHing in from kitty gives
+# "'xterm-kitty': unknown terminal type" and the omaterm installer dies
 pacman -S --noconfirm --needed \
     ufw \
     fail2ban \
     curl \
+    kitty-terminfo \
     docker
 
 # Docker must be running before omaterm installs — the new omaterm is
@@ -329,6 +332,23 @@ else
     warn "Image pre-pull failed — the omaterm installer will pull it instead"
 fi
 
+# Installer wrapper: `curl | bash` makes stdin the pipe, so the installer's
+# final `docker run -it` attach fails with "stdin is not a terminal".
+# Download-then-run keeps stdin on the real TTY.
+cat > /home/$DEPLOY_USER/install-omaterm << 'OMAEOF'
+#!/bin/bash
+# Fetch and run the omaterm installer with a real TTY on stdin
+set -euo pipefail
+tmp=$(mktemp)
+trap 'rm -f "$tmp"' EXIT
+curl -fsSL https://omaterm.org/install -o "$tmp"
+bash "$tmp"
+OMAEOF
+
+chown $DEPLOY_USER:$DEPLOY_USER /home/$DEPLOY_USER/install-omaterm
+chmod +x /home/$DEPLOY_USER/install-omaterm
+log "Installer wrapper created at ~/install-omaterm"
+
 # =============================================================================
 # SWAP (2GB)
 # =============================================================================
@@ -458,13 +478,13 @@ echo ""
 echo -e "  ${CYAN}────── COPY ABOVE THIS LINE ──────${NC}"
 echo ""
 echo "  2. Test SSH:  ssh $SSH_ALIAS"
-echo "  3. Install omaterm (interactive SSH session, NOT a one-liner —"
-echo "     the installer needs a real terminal with TERM set):"
+echo "  3. Install omaterm (from an interactive SSH session — do NOT"
+echo "     curl|bash it, the container attach step needs a real TTY):"
 echo ""
 echo -e "       ${CYAN}ssh $SSH_ALIAS${NC}"
-echo -e "       ${CYAN}curl -fsSL https://omaterm.org/install | bash${NC}"
+echo -e "       ${CYAN}./install-omaterm${NC}"
 echo ""
-echo "     If it complains about the terminal: TERM=xterm-256color first."
+echo "     If it complains about the terminal: TERM=xterm-256color ./install-omaterm"
 echo ""
 echo "  Once step 1 is done, Claude Code can control this server."
 echo ""