diff --git a/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh b/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
index 03c8522..cdaf543 100755
--- a/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
+++ b/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
@@ -148,47 +148,25 @@ if [ "$CLEAN_HISTORY" = true ] && [ -f ~/.bash_history ]; then
     # Disable history recording for this session to prevent re-adding commands
     set +o history
 
-    # Build single grep pattern for efficiency (single-pass filtering)
+    # Clean in-memory history first using history -d (most reliable method)
+    echo "  → Cleaning in-memory history..."
     GREP_PATTERN="git\.mull\.lol|linux-server-management-toolkit|server-toolkit|launcher\.sh|erase-toolkit-traces"
 
-    # Backup and clean - handle HISTTIMEFORMAT timestamps
-    cp ~/.bash_history ~/.bash_history.bak.$$
+    # Get list of history entry numbers to delete (reverse order to maintain numbering)
+    entries_to_delete=$(history | grep -E "$GREP_PATTERN" | awk '{print $1}' | sort -rn)
+    entries_count=$(echo "$entries_to_delete" | grep -c '^' 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
 
-    # Use awk to remove matching lines AND their preceding timestamp lines
-    awk -v pattern="$GREP_PATTERN" '
-        /^#[0-9]+$/ {
-            # This is a timestamp line, store it
-            timestamp = $0
-            next
-        }
-        {
-            # This is a command line
-            if ($0 !~ pattern) {
-                # Keep this command - print timestamp (if exists) and command
-                if (timestamp != "") print timestamp
-                print $0
-            }
-            # Reset timestamp for next iteration
-            timestamp = ""
-        }
-    ' ~/.bash_history.bak.$$ > ~/.bash_history.cleaned.$$ 2>/dev/null || true
+    # Delete each matching entry from in-memory history
+    for entry_num in $entries_to_delete; do
+        history -d "$entry_num" 2>/dev/null || true
+    done
 
-    # Calculate lines removed
-    lines_before=$(wc -l < ~/.bash_history.bak.$$ 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
-    lines_after=$(wc -l < ~/.bash_history.cleaned.$$ 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
-    lines_removed=$((lines_before - lines_after))
+    echo "  ✓ Removed $entries_count toolkit-related entries from in-memory history"
 
-    # Replace history file with cleaned version
-    mv ~/.bash_history.cleaned.$$ ~/.bash_history
+    # Write cleaned in-memory history back to file
+    history -w
 
-    # Clean up backup
-    rm -f ~/.bash_history.bak.$$
-
-    echo "  ✓ Removed $lines_removed toolkit-related history entries"
-
-    # Reload cleaned history into current session
-    history -c       # Clear in-memory history
-    history -r       # Reload from cleaned file
+    echo "  ✓ Cleaned history written to file"
 
     echo "  ✓ In-memory history reloaded from cleaned file"
     echo ""