diff --git a/internal/app/engine.go b/internal/app/engine.go
index a1f2e71..12951f1 100644
--- a/internal/app/engine.go
+++ b/internal/app/engine.go
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ type Engine struct {
 	startedAt    time.Time
 	wg           sync.WaitGroup
 	runtimeState atomic.Value
+	stateMu      sync.Mutex // guards setRuntimeState check-then-store (NEW-2 fix)
 
 	chunksProduced      atomic.Uint64
 	totalSamples        atomic.Uint64
@@ -571,13 +572,9 @@ func (e *Engine) run(ctx context.Context) {
 		updateMaxDuration(&e.maxGenerateNs, genDur)
 		updateMaxDuration(&e.maxUpsampleNs, upDur)
 
+		// cloneFrame never returns nil when src is non-nil (NEW-3: dead nil check removed)
 		enqueued := cloneFrame(frame)
 		enqueued.EnqueuedAt = time.Now()
-		if enqueued == nil {
-			e.lastError.Store("engine: frame clone failed")
-			e.underruns.Add(1)
-			continue
-		}
 
 		if err := e.frameQueue.Push(ctx, enqueued); err != nil {
 			if ctx.Err() != nil {
@@ -699,6 +696,11 @@ func cloneFrame(src *output.CompositeFrame) *output.CompositeFrame {
 }
 
 func (e *Engine) setRuntimeState(state RuntimeState) {
+	// NEW-2 fix: hold stateMu so that concurrent calls from run() and
+	// writerLoop() cannot both see prev != state and both record a
+	// spurious duplicate transition.
+	e.stateMu.Lock()
+	defer e.stateMu.Unlock()
 	now := time.Now()
 	prev := e.currentRuntimeState()
 	if prev != state {
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index 699d70d..d0b29ca 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 )
@@ -250,7 +251,34 @@ func Save(path string, cfg Config) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	data = append(data, '\n')
-	return os.WriteFile(path, data, 0o644)
+	// NEW-1 fix: write to a temp file in the same directory, then rename atomically.
+	// A direct os.WriteFile on the target leaves a corrupt file if the process
+	// crashes mid-write. os.Rename is atomic on POSIX filesystems.
+	dir := filepath.Dir(path)
+	tmp, err := os.CreateTemp(dir, ".fmrtx-config-*.json.tmp")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("config save: create temp: %w", err)
+	}
+	tmpPath := tmp.Name()
+	if _, err := tmp.Write(data); err != nil {
+		_ = tmp.Close()
+		_ = os.Remove(tmpPath)
+		return fmt.Errorf("config save: write temp: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := tmp.Sync(); err != nil {
+		_ = tmp.Close()
+		_ = os.Remove(tmpPath)
+		return fmt.Errorf("config save: sync temp: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := tmp.Close(); err != nil {
+		_ = os.Remove(tmpPath)
+		return fmt.Errorf("config save: close temp: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.Rename(tmpPath, path); err != nil {
+		_ = os.Remove(tmpPath)
+		return fmt.Errorf("config save: rename: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (c Config) Validate() error {