diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e883492..23a85ae 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,21 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog][keepachangelog] and adheres to [Semant
 ### Deprecated
 
 ### Fixed
+## [0.69.16] - 2025-11-16
+
+### Added
+\n
+### Changed
+- Improved the `make stop` command to ensure a more robust and graceful shutdown of development services.
+- Enhanced the `make kill` command and underlying scripts for more reliable force termination of stray development processes.
+- Increased the graceful shutdown timeout for development processes from 500ms to 2 seconds before resorting to force kill.
+
+### Deprecated
+
+### Removed
+
+### Fixed
+\n
 ## [0.69.15] - 2025-11-16
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7033f09..7660e69 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ test-e2e:
 
 .PHONY: build clean test run-node run-node2 run-node3 run-example deps tidy fmt vet lint clear-ports install-hooks kill
 
-VERSION := 0.69.15
+VERSION := 0.69.16
 COMMIT  ?= $(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)
 DATE    ?= $(shell date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)
 LDFLAGS := -X 'main.version=$(VERSION)' -X 'main.commit=$(COMMIT)' -X 'main.date=$(DATE)'
@@ -85,13 +85,19 @@ run-gateway:
 dev: build
 	@./bin/dbn dev up
 
-# Kill all processes (graceful shutdown + force kill stray processes)
+# Graceful shutdown of all dev services
+stop:
+	@if [ -f ./bin/dbn ]; then \
+		./bin/dbn dev down; \
+	else \
+		echo "⚠️  dbn binary not found, using force kill instead..."; \
+		bash scripts/dev-kill-all.sh; \
+	fi
+
+# Force kill all processes (immediate termination)
 kill:
 	@bash scripts/dev-kill-all.sh
 
-stop:
-	@./bin/dbn dev down
-
 # Help
 help:
 	@echo "Available targets:"
@@ -107,7 +113,8 @@ help:
 	@echo "                 - Validates cluster health (IPFS peers, RQLite, LibP2P)"
 	@echo "                 - Stops all services if health checks fail"
 	@echo "                 - Includes comprehensive logging"
-	@echo "  make kill     - Stop all development services"
+	@echo "  make stop     - Gracefully stop all development services"
+	@echo "  make kill     - Force kill all development services (use if stop fails)"
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "Development Management (via dbn):"
 	@echo "  ./bin/dbn dev status  - Show status of all dev services"
diff --git a/pkg/environments/development/runner.go b/pkg/environments/development/runner.go
index a2272ef..d4e665a 100644
--- a/pkg/environments/development/runner.go
+++ b/pkg/environments/development/runner.go
@@ -1027,34 +1027,56 @@ func (pm *ProcessManager) stopProcess(name string) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	// Check if process exists before trying to kill
+	if !checkProcessRunning(pid) {
+		os.Remove(pidPath)
+		fmt.Fprintf(pm.logWriter, "✓ %s (not running)\n", name)
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	proc, err := os.FindProcess(pid)
 	if err != nil {
 		os.Remove(pidPath)
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	// Try graceful shutdown first
+	// Try graceful shutdown first (SIGTERM)
 	proc.Signal(os.Interrupt)
 
-	// Wait a bit for graceful shutdown
-	time.Sleep(500 * time.Millisecond)
+	// Wait up to 2 seconds for graceful shutdown
+	gracefulShutdown := false
+	for i := 0; i < 20; i++ {
+		time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
+		if !checkProcessRunning(pid) {
+			gracefulShutdown = true
+			break
+		}
+	}
 
-	// Check if process is still running
-	if checkProcessRunning(pid) {
-		// Force kill if still running
+	// Force kill if still running after graceful attempt
+	if !gracefulShutdown && checkProcessRunning(pid) {
 		proc.Signal(os.Kill)
 		time.Sleep(200 * time.Millisecond)
 
-		// Also kill any child processes (platform-specific)
+		// Kill any child processes (platform-specific)
 		if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
-			// Use pkill to kill children on Unix-like systems
 			exec.Command("pkill", "-9", "-P", fmt.Sprintf("%d", pid)).Run()
 		}
+
+		// Final force kill attempt if somehow still alive
+		if checkProcessRunning(pid) {
+			exec.Command("kill", "-9", fmt.Sprintf("%d", pid)).Run()
+			time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
+		}
 	}
 
 	os.Remove(pidPath)
 
-	fmt.Fprintf(pm.logWriter, "✓ %s stopped\n", name)
+	if gracefulShutdown {
+		fmt.Fprintf(pm.logWriter, "✓ %s stopped gracefully\n", name)
+	} else {
+		fmt.Fprintf(pm.logWriter, "✓ %s stopped (forced)\n", name)
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/dev-kill-all.sh b/scripts/dev-kill-all.sh
index 6247798..7513d56 100755
--- a/scripts/dev-kill-all.sh
+++ b/scripts/dev-kill-all.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -euo pipefail
 
-echo "Force killing all processes on dev ports..."
+echo "Force killing all debros development processes..."
 
 # Define all dev ports (5 nodes topology: bootstrap, bootstrap2, node2, node3, node4)
 PORTS=(
@@ -32,16 +32,13 @@ PORTS=(
 killed_count=0
 killed_pids=()
 
-# Kill all processes using these ports (LISTEN, ESTABLISHED, or any state)
+# Method 1: Kill all processes using these ports
 for port in "${PORTS[@]}"; do
-  # Get all PIDs using this port in ANY TCP state
   pids=$(lsof -nP -iTCP:"$port" -t 2>/dev/null || true)
   if [[ -n "$pids" ]]; then
-    echo "Killing processes on port $port: $pids"
+    echo "  Killing processes on port $port: $pids"
     for pid in $pids; do
-      # Kill the process and all its children
       kill -9 "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
-      # Also kill any children of this process
       pkill -9 -P "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
       killed_pids+=("$pid")
     done
@@ -49,18 +46,26 @@ for port in "${PORTS[@]}"; do
   fi
 done
 
-# Also kill processes by command name patterns (in case they're orphaned)
-# This catches processes that might be using debros ports but not showing up in lsof
-COMMANDS=("node" "ipfs" "ipfs-cluster-service" "rqlited" "olric-server" "gateway")
-for cmd in "${COMMANDS[@]}"; do
-  # Find all processes with this command name
-  all_pids=$(pgrep -f "^.*$cmd.*" 2>/dev/null || true)
+# Method 2: Kill processes by specific patterns (ONLY debros-related)
+# Be very specific to avoid killing unrelated processes
+SPECIFIC_PATTERNS=(
+  "ipfs daemon"
+  "ipfs-cluster-service daemon"
+  "olric-server"
+  "bin/node"
+  "bin/gateway"
+  "anyone-client"
+)
+
+for pattern in "${SPECIFIC_PATTERNS[@]}"; do
+  # Use exact pattern matching to avoid false positives
+  all_pids=$(pgrep -f "$pattern" 2>/dev/null || true)
   if [[ -n "$all_pids" ]]; then
     for pid in $all_pids; do
-      # Check if this process is using any of our dev ports
-      port_match=$(lsof -nP -p "$pid" -iTCP 2>/dev/null | grep -E ":(400[1-4]|401[1-1]|410[1-4]|411[1-1]|450[1-4]|451[1-1]|500[1-4]|501[1-1]|600[1-1]|700[1-4]|701[1-1]|750[1-4]|751[1-1]|332[02]|9050|909[4-9]|910[4-9]|911[4-9]|912[4-9]|913[4-9]|909[6-9]|910[6-9]|911[6-9]|912[6-9]|913[6-9])" || true)
-      if [[ -n "$port_match" ]]; then
-        echo "Killing orphaned $cmd process (PID: $pid) using dev ports"
+      # Double-check the command line to avoid killing wrong processes
+      cmdline=$(ps -p "$pid" -o command= 2>/dev/null || true)
+      if [[ "$cmdline" == *"$pattern"* ]]; then
+        echo "  Killing $pattern process (PID: $pid)"
         kill -9 "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
         pkill -9 -P "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
         killed_pids+=("$pid")
@@ -69,26 +74,40 @@ for cmd in "${COMMANDS[@]}"; do
   fi
 done
 
-# Clean up PID files
+# Method 3: Kill processes using PID files
 PIDS_DIR="$HOME/.debros/.pids"
 if [[ -d "$PIDS_DIR" ]]; then
-  rm -f "$PIDS_DIR"/*.pid || true
+  for pidfile in "$PIDS_DIR"/*.pid; do
+    if [[ -f "$pidfile" ]]; then
+      pid=$(cat "$pidfile" 2>/dev/null || true)
+      if [[ -n "$pid" ]] && ps -p "$pid" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        name=$(basename "$pidfile" .pid)
+        echo "  Killing $name (PID: $pid from pidfile)"
+        kill -9 "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
+        pkill -9 -P "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
+        killed_pids+=("$pid")
+      fi
+    fi
+  done
+  # Clean up all PID files
+  rm -f "$PIDS_DIR"/*.pid 2>/dev/null || true
 fi
 
 # Remove duplicates and report
 if [[ ${#killed_pids[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
   unique_pids=($(printf '%s\n' "${killed_pids[@]}" | sort -u))
-  echo "✓ Killed ${#unique_pids[@]} unique process(es) on $killed_count port(s)"
+  echo "✓ Killed ${#unique_pids[@]} unique process(es)"
 else
-  echo "✓ No processes found on dev ports"
+  echo "✓ No debros processes found running"
 fi
 
 # Final verification: check if any ports are still in use
 still_in_use=0
+busy_ports=()
 for port in "${PORTS[@]}"; do
   pids=$(lsof -nP -iTCP:"$port" -t 2>/dev/null || true)
   if [[ -n "$pids" ]]; then
-    echo "⚠️  Warning: Port $port still in use by: $pids"
+    busy_ports+=("$port")
     still_in_use=$((still_in_use + 1))
   fi
 done
@@ -96,6 +115,7 @@ done
 if [[ $still_in_use -eq 0 ]]; then
   echo "✓ All dev ports are now free"
 else
-  echo "⚠️  $still_in_use port(s) still in use - you may need to manually kill processes"
+  echo "⚠️  Warning: $still_in_use port(s) still in use: ${busy_ports[*]}"
+  echo "    Run 'lsof -nP -iTCP:<port>' to identify the processes"
 fi