diff --git a/gateway/rest/router.go b/gateway/rest/router.go
index 0c01a883..7643dd32 100644
--- a/gateway/rest/router.go
+++ b/gateway/rest/router.go
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ func newRouter(log log.Logger, addr sdk.Address, pclient provider.Client, ctxCon
 
 	// POST /lease/<lease-id>/shell
 	lrouter.HandleFunc("/shell",
-		leaseShellHandler(log, pclient.Manifest(), pclient.Cluster()))
+		leaseShellHandler(log, pclient.Cluster()))
 
 	return router
 }
@@ -306,24 +306,18 @@ type leaseShellResponse struct {
 	Message  string `json:"message,omitempty"`
 }
 
-func leaseShellHandler(log log.Logger, mclient pmanifest.Client, cclient cluster.Client) http.HandlerFunc {
+func leaseShellHandler(log log.Logger, cclient cluster.Client) http.HandlerFunc {
 	return func(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		leaseID := requestLeaseID(req)
 
-		//  check if deployment actually exists in the first place before querying kubernetes
-		active, err := mclient.IsActive(req.Context(), leaseID.DeploymentID())
+		// //  check if deployment actually exists in the first place before querying kubernetes
+		status, err := cclient.LeaseStatus(req.Context(), leaseID)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Error("failed checking deployment activity", "err", err)
 			rw.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 			return
 		}
 
-		if !active {
-			log.Info("no active deployment", "lease", leaseID)
-			rw.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotFound)
-			return
-		}
-
 		localLog := log.With("lease", leaseID.String(), "action", "shell")
 
 		vars := req.URL.Query()
@@ -357,6 +351,19 @@ func leaseShellHandler(log log.Logger, mclient pmanifest.Client, cclient cluster
 			return
 		}
 
+		svc, active := status[service]
+		if !active {
+			log.Info("no active deployment", "lease", leaseID)
+			rw.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotFound)
+			return
+		}
+
+		if svc.Available == 0 {
+			log.Info("deployment does not have active replicas", "lease", leaseID)
+			rw.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotFound)
+			return
+		}
+
 		stdin := vars.Get("stdin")
 		if 0 == len(stdin) {
 			localLog.Error("missing parameter stdin")