diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index cffa0a7..5ac033f 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ export {NonZeroExitError, normalizeSpawnCommand};
 
 const LINE_SEPARATOR_REGEX = /\r?\n/;
 
+const pipedStreams = new WeakSet<Readable>();
+
 export interface Output {
   stderr: string;
   stdout: string;
@@ -334,6 +336,7 @@ export class ExecProcess implements Result {
 
     this._process = handle;
     handle.once('error', this._onError);
+    handle.once('exit', this._onExit);
     handle.once('close', this._onClose);
 
     if (handle.stdin) {
@@ -342,7 +345,11 @@ export class ExecProcess implements Result {
       if (typeof stdin === 'string') {
         handle.stdin.end(stdin);
       } else {
-        stdin?.process?.stdout?.pipe(handle.stdin);
+        const src = stdin?.process?.stdout;
+        if (src) {
+          src.pipe(handle.stdin);
+          pipedStreams.add(src);
+        }
       }
     }
   }
@@ -366,6 +373,28 @@ export class ExecProcess implements Result {
     this._thrownError = err;
   };
 
+  protected _onExit = (): void => {
+    // Node emits 'exit' before stdio streams have drained. Use setImmediate
+    // to let buffered data flow through before destroying the streams.
+    // If grandchild processes hold the pipe fds open, they would never fire
+    // 'close', so we destroy here to unblock readStream and combineStreams.
+    const out =
+      this._streamOut && !pipedStreams.has(this._streamOut)
+        ? this._streamOut
+        : undefined;
+    const err =
+      this._streamErr && !pipedStreams.has(this._streamErr)
+        ? this._streamErr
+        : undefined;
+    if (!out && !err) {
+      return;
+    }
+    setImmediate(() => {
+      out?.destroy();
+      err?.destroy();
+    });
+  };
+
   protected _onClose = (): void => {
     if (this._resolveClose) {
       this._resolveClose();
diff --git a/src/test/main_test.ts b/src/test/main_test.ts
index d499f97..f2c70c6 100644
--- a/src/test/main_test.ts
+++ b/src/test/main_test.ts
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@ import {describe, test, expect} from 'vitest';
 import os from 'node:os';
 import fs from 'node:fs';
 import path from 'node:path';
+import {spawnSync} from 'node:child_process';
 
 const isWindows = os.platform() === 'win32';
+const fixturesDir = path.join(import.meta.dirname, '../../test/fixtures');
+const distDir = path.join(import.meta.dirname, '../../dist');
 
 const variants = [
   {name: 'async', x, isAsync: true},
@@ -363,6 +366,82 @@ if (!isWindows) {
         fs.rmSync(dir, {recursive: true, force: true});
       }
     });
+
+    test('resolves when grandchild holds piped stdout open', async () => {
+      const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(
+        path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'tinyexec-grandchild-')
+      );
+      const runnerScript = path.join(dir, 'runner.mjs');
+      const distPath = JSON.stringify(path.join(distDir, 'main.mjs'));
+      const fixturePath = JSON.stringify(
+        path.join(fixturesDir, 'grandchild.mjs')
+      );
+
+      fs.writeFileSync(
+        runnerScript,
+        `import { x } from ${distPath}
+  const result = await x('node', [${fixturePath}])
+  process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify({ stdout: result.stdout, exitCode: result.exitCode }))
+  `
+      );
+
+      try {
+        const proc = spawnSync('node', [runnerScript], {
+          timeout: 10000,
+          encoding: 'utf8',
+          killSignal: 'SIGKILL',
+          stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'pipe']
+        });
+
+        expect(proc.signal).not.toBe('SIGKILL');
+        expect(proc.status).toBe(0);
+        const parsed = JSON.parse(proc.stdout.trim());
+        expect(parsed.exitCode).toBe(0);
+        expect(parsed.stdout).toBe('output\n');
+      } finally {
+        spawnSync('pkill', ['-f', 'tinyexec-test-grandchild']);
+        fs.rmSync(dir, {recursive: true, force: true});
+      }
+    });
+
+    test('iterator completes when grandchild holds piped stdout open', async () => {
+      const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(
+        path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'tinyexec-grandchild-')
+      );
+      const runnerScript = path.join(dir, 'runner.mjs');
+      const distPath = JSON.stringify(path.join(distDir, 'main.mjs'));
+      const fixturePath = JSON.stringify(
+        path.join(fixturesDir, 'grandchild_multiline.mjs')
+      );
+
+      fs.writeFileSync(
+        runnerScript,
+        `import { x } from ${distPath}
+  const lines = []
+  for await (const line of x('node', [${fixturePath}])) {
+    lines.push(line)
+  }
+  process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify(lines))
+  `
+      );
+
+      try {
+        const proc = spawnSync('node', [runnerScript], {
+          timeout: 10000,
+          encoding: 'utf8',
+          killSignal: 'SIGKILL',
+          stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'pipe']
+        });
+
+        expect(proc.signal).not.toBe('SIGKILL');
+        expect(proc.status).toBe(0);
+        const parsed = JSON.parse(proc.stdout.trim());
+        expect(parsed).toEqual(['line1', 'line2']);
+      } finally {
+        spawnSync('pkill', ['-f', 'tinyexec-test-grandchild']);
+        fs.rmSync(dir, {recursive: true, force: true});
+      }
+    });
   });
 
   describe('exec (unix-like) (sync)', () => {
diff --git a/test/fixtures/grandchild.mjs b/test/fixtures/grandchild.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52ef8ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/grandchild.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import {spawn} from 'node:child_process';
+
+// Spawn a grandchild that inherits the piped stdout fd, simulating
+// tsserver inheriting eslint's piped streams. Short timeout to avoid
+// blocking test teardown.
+spawn(
+  process.argv[0],
+  ['-e', 'setTimeout(() => void 0, 3000)'],
+  {stdio: ['ignore', 1, 'ignore']}
+);
+
+console.log('output');
+process.exit(0);
diff --git a/test/fixtures/grandchild_multiline.mjs b/test/fixtures/grandchild_multiline.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..253e1e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/grandchild_multiline.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import {spawn} from 'node:child_process';
+
+spawn(
+  process.argv[0],
+  ['-e', 'setTimeout(() => void 0, 3000)'],
+  {stdio: ['ignore', 1, 'ignore']}
+);
+
+console.log('line1');
+console.log('line2');
+process.exit(0);