diff --git a/emrg/server/daemon.py b/emrg/server/daemon.py
index 099a5f2..e4f7e4f 100644
--- a/emrg/server/daemon.py
+++ b/emrg/server/daemon.py
@@ -287,23 +287,45 @@ async def serve(self) -> None:
                 pass
 
     def _evolution_count(self) -> int:
-        """Total completed evolution cycles across scheduler handlers.
+        """Total completed evolution cycles across scheduler handlers + disk.
 
         The daemon's own ``self.evolutions`` list is a legacy from the
         pre-scheduler BackgroundThread design (#95) and is never appended;
         the scheduler's handlers own the real per-cycle logs. Aggregate from
         the scheduler, falling back to the legacy list only when the
         scheduler is unavailable (e.g. test harnesses mock it away).
+
+        The scheduler's in-memory count resets to 0 on daemon restart, while
+        the ``evolution-*.json`` log files persist — so also count valid log
+        files on disk and return the max. This keeps the GUI growth card /
+        evolution toast consistent with the ``recent`` list (which reads the
+        same files) across restarts instead of showing 0.
         """
+        in_memory = 0
         sched = getattr(self, "_scheduler", None)
         if sched is not None:
             try:
                 total = sched.total_evolutions()
                 if isinstance(total, int):
-                    return total
+                    in_memory = total
             except Exception:
                 pass
-        return len(self.evolutions)
+        else:
+            in_memory = len(self.evolutions)
+
+        disk = 0
+        try:
+            logs_dir = config_dir() / "logs"
+            for f in logs_dir.glob("evolution-*.json"):
+                try:
+                    data = json.loads(f.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+                    if data.get("timestamp"):
+                        disk += 1
+                except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
+                    continue  # corrupt/partial write — don't count
+        except OSError:
+            pass
+        return max(in_memory, disk)
 
     async def _handle_client(self, ws) -> None:
         """Handle a single WebSocket client connection.
diff --git a/tests/test_ws_e2e.py b/tests/test_ws_e2e.py
index 3099e1d..dc08e3f 100644
--- a/tests/test_ws_e2e.py
+++ b/tests/test_ws_e2e.py
@@ -524,7 +524,7 @@ async def _test():
                         frame = await asyncio.wait_for(ws.recv(), timeout=5)
                         resp = json.loads(frame)
                         assert resp["type"] == "evolution_summary"
-                        assert resp["count"] == 0  # in-memory evolutions empty in test harness
+                        assert resp["count"] == 2  # valid disk logs counted (corrupt skipped)
                         # newest first (reverse lexicographic = chronological)
                         assert [r["timestamp"] for r in resp["recent"]] == [
                             "2026-08-06T10:00:00", "2026-08-06T09:00:00"]
@@ -552,6 +552,7 @@ async def _test():
                         frame = await asyncio.wait_for(ws.recv(), timeout=5)
                         resp = json.loads(frame)
                         assert resp["type"] == "evolution_summary"
+                        assert resp["count"] == 25, f"count must include all valid disk logs, got {resp['count']}"
                         assert len(resp["recent"]) == 20, f"limit must clamp to 20, got {len(resp['recent'])}"
                         # newest-first: first entry is the highest timestamp
                         assert resp["recent"][0]["timestamp"] == "2026-08-06T00:24:00"