diff --git a/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh b/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
index 6240f99..09d5682 100755
--- a/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
+++ b/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
@@ -148,36 +148,35 @@ if [ "$CLEAN_HISTORY" = true ] && [ -f ~/.bash_history ]; then
     # Disable history recording for this session to prevent re-adding commands
     set +o history
 
-    # Remove toolkit-related entries from history file
-    cp ~/.bash_history ~/.bash_history.tmp
+    # Build single grep pattern for efficiency (single-pass filtering)
+    GREP_PATTERN="git\.mull\.lol|linux-server-management-toolkit|server-toolkit|launcher\.sh|erase-toolkit-traces"
 
-    # Remove lines containing toolkit-related patterns
-    grep -v "git.mull.lol" ~/.bash_history.tmp > ~/.bash_history.tmp2 2>/dev/null || true
-    grep -v "linux-server-management-toolkit" ~/.bash_history.tmp2 > ~/.bash_history.tmp3 2>/dev/null || true
-    grep -v "server-toolkit" ~/.bash_history.tmp3 > ~/.bash_history.tmp4 2>/dev/null || true
-    grep -v "launcher.sh" ~/.bash_history.tmp4 > ~/.bash_history.tmp5 2>/dev/null || true
-    grep -v "erase-toolkit-traces" ~/.bash_history.tmp5 > ~/.bash_history 2>/dev/null || true
+    # Backup and clean in one efficient pass
+    cp ~/.bash_history ~/.bash_history.bak.$$
+    grep -Ev "$GREP_PATTERN" ~/.bash_history.bak.$$ > ~/.bash_history.cleaned.$$ 2>/dev/null || true
 
-    # Calculate lines removed before deleting temp files
-    lines_before=$(wc -l < ~/.bash_history.tmp 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
-    lines_after=$(wc -l < ~/.bash_history 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+    # 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))
 
-    # Clean up temp files
-    rm -f ~/.bash_history.tmp*
+    # Replace history file with cleaned version
+    mv ~/.bash_history.cleaned.$$ ~/.bash_history
+
+    # Clean up backup
+    rm -f ~/.bash_history.bak.$$
 
     echo "  ✓ Removed $lines_removed toolkit-related history entries"
 
-    # Clear in-memory history completely
-    history -c
-
-    # Write the empty history to file
-    history -w
+    # Reload cleaned history into current session
+    history -c       # Clear in-memory history
+    history -r       # Reload from cleaned file
 
+    echo "  ✓ In-memory history reloaded from cleaned file"
     echo ""
-    echo "  ✓ Bash history cleaned"
-    echo ""
-    echo "NOTE: Run 'exec bash' or logout/login to start fresh shell with clean history."
+    echo "NOTE: Other active terminal sessions may still have old history in memory."
+    echo "      Run 'exec bash' or 'history -c && history -r' in those terminals,"
+    echo "      or simply logout/login to start completely fresh."
 fi
 
 echo ""