diff --git a/ui/src/app/app-host-pairing-access.test.ts b/ui/src/app/app-host-pairing-access.test.ts
index a6a576ae9d04..a612228fb16e 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/app-host-pairing-access.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/app/app-host-pairing-access.test.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import "../components/app-sidebar.ts";
 import { waitForFast } from "../test-helpers/wait-for.ts";
 import type { ApplicationRuntime } from "./bootstrap.ts";
 import type { ApplicationContext, ApplicationGatewaySnapshot } from "./context.ts";
+import { loadSettings } from "./settings.ts";
 import "./app-host.ts";
 
 type PairingShell = HTMLElement & {
@@ -99,7 +100,7 @@ function createPairingShell(params: {
     agents: { state: { agentsList: null } },
     agentSelection: { state: { selectedId: "main", scopeId: "main" } },
     sessions: { state: { result: null } },
-    theme: { mode: "system" },
+    theme: { mode: "system", settings: loadSettings() },
   } as unknown as ApplicationContext;
   const shell = document.createElement("openclaw-app-shell") as PairingShell;
   shell.runtime = { context, router: {} } as ApplicationRuntime;
diff --git a/ui/src/app/app-host.dock-suppression.test.ts b/ui/src/app/app-host.dock-suppression.test.ts
index 591e7285cd60..7cf784eab1b6 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/app-host.dock-suppression.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/app/app-host.dock-suppression.test.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import "../components/app-sidebar.ts";
 import "./app-host.ts";
 import type { ApplicationRuntime } from "./bootstrap.ts";
 import type { ApplicationContext } from "./context.ts";
+import { loadSettings } from "./settings.ts";
 
 type ShellRenderState = {
   runtime: ApplicationRuntime;
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ describe("OpenClaw shell dock suppression", () => {
         },
         runUpdate: vi.fn(),
       },
-      theme: { mode: "dark" },
+      theme: { mode: "dark", settings: loadSettings() },
       preload: vi.fn(),
     } as unknown as ApplicationContext;
     const shell = document.createElement("openclaw-app-shell") as unknown as ShellRenderState;
diff --git a/ui/src/app/app-shell-gateway.ts b/ui/src/app/app-shell-gateway.ts
index c75bc49c1a7c..2cd51ad14852 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/app-shell-gateway.ts
+++ b/ui/src/app/app-shell-gateway.ts
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@ export type StoredOutboxScopeHost = {
 };
 
 export type OutboxStoreRuntime = {
-  listStoredDraftScopes: (state: StoredOutboxScopeHost) => ReadonlySet<string>;
   summarizeStoredChatOutboxes: (state: StoredOutboxScopeHost) => {
     countsByScope: ReadonlyMap<string, number>;
     attentionCountsByScope: ReadonlyMap<string, number>;
+    draftScopes: ReadonlySet<string>;
     total: number;
   };
   resolveStoredChatOutboxScope: (
diff --git a/ui/src/app/app-shell-view.ts b/ui/src/app/app-shell-view.ts
index 3eb6e6f7ba75..43f1fa25c1a7 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/app-shell-view.ts
+++ b/ui/src/app/app-shell-view.ts
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ import { readGatewayOperatorAccess } from "./operator-access.ts";
 import {
   NAV_WIDTH_MAX,
   NAV_WIDTH_MIN,
-  loadSettings,
   normalizeCatalogOpenTarget,
   normalizeChatSendShortcut,
 } from "./settings.ts";
@@ -213,7 +212,6 @@ export function renderApplicationShell(host: ShellViewHost) {
   const outboxScopeHost = host.storedOutboxScopeHost(context);
   const outboxStoreRuntime = host.outboxStoreRuntime;
   const storedOutboxes = outboxStoreRuntime?.summarizeStoredChatOutboxes(outboxScopeHost) ?? null;
-  const storedDraftScopeKeys = outboxStoreRuntime?.listStoredDraftScopes(outboxScopeHost) ?? null;
   const outboxAttentionCountForSession = outboxStoreRuntime
     ? (sessionKey: string) => {
         const scope = outboxStoreRuntime.resolveStoredChatOutboxScope(outboxScopeHost, sessionKey);
@@ -225,7 +223,8 @@ export function renderApplicationShell(host: ShellViewHost) {
     ? (sessionKey: string) => {
         const scope = outboxStoreRuntime.resolveStoredChatOutboxScope(outboxScopeHost, sessionKey);
         return (
-          storedDraftScopeKeys?.has(outboxStoreRuntime.storedChatOutboxScopeKey(scope)) === true
+          storedOutboxes?.draftScopes.has(outboxStoreRuntime.storedChatOutboxScopeKey(scope)) ===
+          true
         );
       }
     : EMPTY_SESSION_HAS_DRAFT;
@@ -327,8 +326,7 @@ export function renderApplicationShell(host: ShellViewHost) {
       host.openNewSession(agentId, target);
     }
   };
-  // One storage read per render; theme.refresh() re-renders on pref changes.
-  const uiSettings = loadSettings();
+  const uiSettings = context.theme.settings;
   // The new-session draft shares the chat layout: full-height pane that owns
   // its scrolling and pins the composer dock to the bottom.
   const chatLikeRoute = sessionRoute || activeRoute === "new-session";
diff --git a/ui/src/app/bootstrap.test.ts b/ui/src/app/bootstrap.test.ts
index 0047faaeb8fe..dbad398c1978 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/bootstrap.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/app/bootstrap.test.ts
@@ -973,11 +973,13 @@ describe("normalizeInitialApplicationLocation", () => {
     try {
       expect(runtime.context.gateway.snapshot.phase).toBe("stopped");
       expect(document.documentElement.style.getPropertyValue("--accent")).toBe("#48d6c2");
+      expect(runtime.context.theme.settings.accent).toBe("#48d6c2");
 
       saveSettings({ ...loadSettings(), accent: "#f4b740" });
       runtime.context.theme.refresh();
 
       expect(document.documentElement.style.getPropertyValue("--accent")).toBe("#f4b740");
+      expect(runtime.context.theme.settings.accent).toBe("#f4b740");
     } finally {
       saveSettings(previousSettings);
       runtime.context.theme.refresh();
diff --git a/ui/src/app/bootstrap.ts b/ui/src/app/bootstrap.ts
index c1f81cb7fcac..e26c33197b67 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/bootstrap.ts
+++ b/ui/src/app/bootstrap.ts
@@ -143,6 +143,9 @@ function createApplicationTheme(
   syncSystemThemeListener();
 
   return {
+    get settings() {
+      return settings;
+    },
     get mode() {
       return settings.themeMode;
     },
diff --git a/ui/src/app/context.ts b/ui/src/app/context.ts
index 06bdf23cef85..47fdceae52b0 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/context.ts
+++ b/ui/src/app/context.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import type { NativeChatDrafts } from "./native-bridge.ts";
 import type { NativeNotificationsCapability } from "./native-notifications.ts";
 import type { ApplicationOverlays } from "./overlays-types.ts";
 import type { ApplicationPlacementStartup } from "./session-placement-startup.ts";
+import type { UiSettings } from "./settings.ts";
 import type { ApplicationSkillWorkshopRevisionAdmissions } from "./skill-workshop-revision-admissions.ts";
 import type { ThemeMode, ThemeName } from "./theme.ts";
 import type { WebPushCapability } from "./web-push.ts";
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ export type ApplicationThemeServerSelection = {
 };
 
 export type ApplicationTheme = {
+  readonly settings: UiSettings;
   readonly mode: ThemeMode;
   readonly resolvedMode: "dark" | "light";
   readonly serverSelection: ApplicationThemeServerSelection | null;
diff --git a/ui/src/app/settings.ts b/ui/src/app/settings.ts
index 3a9734137d06..2e69ec3082b1 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/settings.ts
+++ b/ui/src/app/settings.ts
@@ -465,11 +465,9 @@ export function loadSettings(): UiSettings {
     const selectedGatewayUrl = normalizeOptionalString(
       storage?.getItem(currentGatewaySelectionKeyForPage(pageDerivedUrl)),
     );
-    const selected = selectedGatewayUrl
-      ? readSettingsForGateway(storage, selectedGatewayUrl)
-      : null;
-    const defaultSource = readSettingsForGateway(storage, defaultUrl);
-    const source = selected ?? defaultSource;
+    const source =
+      (selectedGatewayUrl ? readSettingsForGateway(storage, selectedGatewayUrl) : null) ??
+      readSettingsForGateway(storage, defaultUrl);
     if (!source) {
       return defaults;
     }
diff --git a/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-navigation.ts b/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-navigation.ts
index ec2ee87eb35c..55a106a3f4b7 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-navigation.ts
+++ b/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-navigation.ts
@@ -395,9 +395,9 @@ export class AppSidebarSessionNavigationElement extends AppSidebarBase {
     const navigationState = this.getSessionNavigationState();
     const rows = this.selectedAgentSessionRows(navigationState);
     const { visibleRows } = this.zonedVisibleSections(rows);
-    const pinnedByKey = new Map(rows.filter((row) => row.pinned).map((row) => [row.key, row]));
-    const pinnedRows = this.reconciledSidebarZone().entries.flatMap((entry) => {
-      const row = entry.type === "session" ? pinnedByKey.get(entry.key) : undefined;
+    const { entries, sessionRows } = this.reconciledSidebarZone();
+    const pinnedRows = entries.flatMap((entry) => {
+      const row = entry.type === "session" ? sessionRows.get(entry.key) : undefined;
       return row ? [row] : [];
     });
     return [...pinnedRows, ...visibleRows];
diff --git a/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-projection.test.ts b/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-projection.test.ts
index ce39984b2596..ed8db46681db 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-projection.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-projection.test.ts
@@ -297,6 +297,18 @@ describe("SidebarSessionProjection child expansion", () => {
 
     expect(projection.isChildrenExpanded(parent.key)).toBe(false);
   });
+
+  it("forgets expansion when a session disappears before returning", () => {
+    const projection = new SidebarSessionProjection();
+    const parent = sessionRow("parent");
+    projection.project(projectionInput([parent]));
+    projection.toggleChildren(parent);
+
+    projection.project(projectionInput([]));
+    projection.project(projectionInput([parent]));
+
+    expect(projection.isChildrenExpanded(parent.key)).toBe(false);
+  });
 });
 
 describe("SidebarSessionProjection running subtitle hold", () => {
diff --git a/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-projection.ts b/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-projection.ts
index e43af0388ce6..84532d978155 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-projection.ts
+++ b/ui/src/components/app-sidebar-session-projection.ts
@@ -174,9 +174,9 @@ export class SidebarSessionProjection {
     };
     this.previousCollapsedSections = new Set(input.collapsedSections);
 
-    const retainedKeys = new Set<string>();
+    const staleKeys = new Set([...this.childModes.keys(), ...this.heldSubtitles.keys()]);
     const observeTree = (session: SidebarRecentSession) => {
-      retainedKeys.add(session.key);
+      staleKeys.delete(session.key);
       if (session.containsActiveDescendant && !this.childModes.has(session.key)) {
         this.childModes.set(session.key, "expanded");
       }
@@ -186,15 +186,9 @@ export class SidebarSessionProjection {
       }
     };
     input.rows.forEach(observeTree);
-    for (const key of this.childModes.keys()) {
-      if (!retainedKeys.has(key)) {
-        this.childModes.delete(key);
-      }
-    }
-    for (const key of this.heldSubtitles.keys()) {
-      if (!retainedKeys.has(key)) {
-        this.heldSubtitles.delete(key);
-      }
+    for (const key of staleKeys) {
+      this.childModes.delete(key);
+      this.heldSubtitles.delete(key);
     }
 
     const { grouping, knownGroups, selfOwnerId, sectionOrder, catalogIds } = input;
diff --git a/ui/src/components/markdown.test.ts b/ui/src/components/markdown.test.ts
index 2cfd63a0406d..a1de97442aca 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/markdown.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/components/markdown.test.ts
@@ -820,6 +820,14 @@ PY
   });
 
   describe("large text handling", () => {
+    it("does not build cache keys for replies larger than the cache limit", () => {
+      const locale = vi.spyOn(i18n, "getLocale");
+
+      expect(toSanitizedMarkdownHtml("x".repeat(50_001))).toContain("x".repeat(100));
+      expect(locale).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      locale.mockRestore();
+    });
+
     it("uses plain text fallback for oversized content", () => {
       // MARKDOWN_PARSE_LIMIT is 40_000 chars
       const input = Array.from(
diff --git a/ui/src/components/markdown.ts b/ui/src/components/markdown.ts
index 0cae9edb7e16..f793c749d26b 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/markdown.ts
+++ b/ui/src/components/markdown.ts
@@ -550,18 +550,16 @@ export function toSanitizedMarkdownHtml(
     return "";
   }
   const renderInput = isMarkdownBlockArtText(rawInput) ? rawInput : input;
-  const cacheable = input.length <= MARKDOWN_CACHE_MAX_CHARS;
+  if (input.length > MARKDOWN_CACHE_MAX_CHARS) {
+    return renderSanitizedMarkdown(renderInput, renderOptions);
+  }
   const cacheKey = `${i18n.getLocale()}\0${renderOptions.assistantTranscriptRoleHeaders}\0${renderOptions.codeBlockChrome}\0${renderOptions.codeBlockInteraction}\0${renderOptions.fileLinks}\0${renderOptions.interactiveImages}\0${renderOptions.linkFavicons}\0${renderOptions.progressBars}\0${renderOptions.mode}\0${renderOptions.sessionLinks}\0${renderOptions.tableInteractions}\0${renderInput}`;
-  if (cacheable) {
-    const cached = getCachedMarkdown(cacheKey);
-    if (cached !== null) {
-      return cached;
-    }
+  const cached = getCachedMarkdown(cacheKey);
+  if (cached !== null) {
+    return cached;
   }
   const sanitized = renderSanitizedMarkdown(renderInput, renderOptions);
-  if (cacheable) {
-    setCachedMarkdown(cacheKey, sanitized);
-  }
+  setCachedMarkdown(cacheKey, sanitized);
   return sanitized;
 }
 
diff --git a/ui/src/lib/chat/outbox-store-projection.ts b/ui/src/lib/chat/outbox-store-projection.ts
index 1a95fd37a9b5..00a699368bf3 100644
--- a/ui/src/lib/chat/outbox-store-projection.ts
+++ b/ui/src/lib/chat/outbox-store-projection.ts
@@ -93,21 +93,6 @@ function listStoredComposerRows(
   }
 }
 
-export function listStoredDraftScopes(state: ChatComposerScope): ReadonlySet<string> {
-  return new Set(
-    listStoredComposerRows(state).flatMap(({ scope, session }) =>
-      session.draft
-        ? [
-            storedChatOutboxScopeKey({
-              sessionKey: scope.conversationKey,
-              ...(scope.routingAgentId ? { agentId: scope.routingAgentId } : {}),
-            }),
-          ]
-        : [],
-    ),
-  );
-}
-
 export function listStoredChatOutboxes(state: ChatComposerScope): StoredChatOutbox[] {
   return listStoredComposerRows(state)
     .flatMap(({ scope, session }) =>
@@ -133,12 +118,20 @@ export function listStoredChatOutboxes(state: ChatComposerScope): StoredChatOutb
 
 export function summarizeStoredChatOutboxes(state: ChatComposerScope) {
   const idsByScope = new Map<string, { all: Set<string>; attention: Set<string> }>();
-  for (const outbox of listStoredChatOutboxes(state)) {
-    const ids = idsByScope.get(storedChatOutboxScopeKey(outbox)) ?? {
+  const draftScopes = new Set<string>();
+  for (const { scope, session } of listStoredComposerRows(state)) {
+    const scopeKey = storedChatOutboxScopeKey({
+      sessionKey: scope.conversationKey,
+      ...(scope.routingAgentId ? { agentId: scope.routingAgentId } : {}),
+    });
+    if (session.draft) {
+      draftScopes.add(scopeKey);
+    }
+    const ids = idsByScope.get(scopeKey) ?? {
       all: new Set<string>(),
       attention: new Set<string>(),
     };
-    for (const item of outbox.queue) {
+    for (const item of session.queue ?? []) {
       if (!item.pendingRunId) {
         ids.all.add(item.id);
         if (item.sendState === "failed" || item.sendState === "unconfirmed") {
@@ -147,7 +140,7 @@ export function summarizeStoredChatOutboxes(state: ChatComposerScope) {
       }
     }
     if (ids.all.size) {
-      idsByScope.set(storedChatOutboxScopeKey(outbox), ids);
+      idsByScope.set(scopeKey, ids);
     }
   }
   const countsByScope = new Map<string, number>();
@@ -160,5 +153,5 @@ export function summarizeStoredChatOutboxes(state: ChatComposerScope) {
       attentionCountsByScope.set(scopeKey, ids.attention.size);
     }
   }
-  return { countsByScope, attentionCountsByScope, total };
+  return { countsByScope, attentionCountsByScope, draftScopes, total };
 }
diff --git a/ui/src/lib/chat/outbox-store.test.ts b/ui/src/lib/chat/outbox-store.test.ts
index eaad00d03dc0..00fe9ccae11b 100644
--- a/ui/src/lib/chat/outbox-store.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/lib/chat/outbox-store.test.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
 /* @vitest-environment jsdom */
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { createStorageMock } from "../../test-helpers/storage.ts";
-import {
-  listStoredChatOutboxes,
-  listStoredDraftScopes,
-  summarizeStoredChatOutboxes,
-} from "./outbox-store-projection.ts";
+import { listStoredChatOutboxes, summarizeStoredChatOutboxes } from "./outbox-store-projection.ts";
 import {
   readProjectedOutboxStore,
   resolveStoredChatOutboxScope,
@@ -245,7 +241,7 @@ describe("stored outbox summaries", () => {
     );
     const state = { settings: { gatewayUrl } };
 
-    expect([...listStoredDraftScopes(state)]).toEqual([
+    expect([...summarizeStoredChatOutboxes(state).draftScopes]).toEqual([
       storedChatOutboxScopeKey(resolveStoredChatOutboxScope(state, "thread-draft")),
     ]);
   });
diff --git a/ui/src/lib/sessions/grouping.ts b/ui/src/lib/sessions/grouping.ts
index 501cdb4dc594..7d5c02f62e85 100644
--- a/ui/src/lib/sessions/grouping.ts
+++ b/ui/src/lib/sessions/grouping.ts
@@ -239,12 +239,14 @@ export function groupSidebarSessionRows<Row extends SidebarGroupableRow>(
   const groups: Row[] = [];
   const coding: Row[] = [];
   const categories = new Map<string, Row[]>();
+  const knownGroups: string[] = [];
   const people = new Map<string, SidebarSessionSection<Row>>();
   if (grouping === "category") {
     for (const name of options.knownGroups ?? []) {
       const trimmed = name.trim();
       if (trimmed && !categories.has(trimmed)) {
         categories.set(trimmed, []);
+        knownGroups.push(trimmed);
       }
     }
   }
@@ -313,14 +315,9 @@ export function groupSidebarSessionRows<Row extends SidebarGroupableRow>(
       );
     }),
   );
-  const knownGroups = [
-    ...new Set((options.knownGroups ?? []).map((name) => name.trim()).filter(Boolean)),
-  ];
   const orderedCategories = [
-    ...knownGroups.filter((name) => categories.has(name)),
-    ...[...categories.keys()]
-      .filter((name) => !knownGroups.includes(name))
-      .toSorted((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b)),
+    ...knownGroups,
+    ...[...categories.keys()].slice(knownGroups.length).toSorted((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b)),
   ];
   const orderedSections: SidebarSessionSection<Row>[] = orderedCategories.map((category) => ({
     id: `category:${category}`,
diff --git a/ui/src/lib/sessions/navigation.ts b/ui/src/lib/sessions/navigation.ts
index 158ef4a1ef89..c9fc28f850b1 100644
--- a/ui/src/lib/sessions/navigation.ts
+++ b/ui/src/lib/sessions/navigation.ts
@@ -373,8 +373,8 @@ export function resolveSessionNavigation(input: SessionNavigationInput): Session
   let activeRow = visibleSessions.find(matchesCurrentSession);
   if (!activeRow && activeSession && input.archivedFilter !== "archived") {
     // Deep-linked and archived sessions still need a visible selected row.
-    activeRow = sortedSessions.find(matchesCurrentSession) ?? activeSession;
-    visibleSessions = [activeRow, ...visibleSessions.filter((row) => row !== activeRow)];
+    activeRow = activeSession;
+    visibleSessions = [activeRow, ...visibleSessions];
   }
   return {
     currentSessionKey,
diff --git a/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-state-refresh.ts b/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-state-refresh.ts
index e55ea8a4e14a..e65ebdfdce8b 100644
--- a/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-state-refresh.ts
+++ b/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-state-refresh.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import type { GatewayBrowserClient } from "../../api/gateway.ts";
-import type { GatewaySessionRow } from "../../api/types.ts";
 import {
   loadChatMetadata,
   peekChatMetadata,
@@ -255,12 +254,12 @@ async function refreshChat(
     host.sessionsResult = host.sessions.state.result;
     host.sessionsResultAgentId = host.sessions.state.agentId;
     const sessionsResult = host.sessions.state.result;
-    const rosterRow =
-      sessionsResult?.sessions.find(
-        (row) =>
-          areUiSessionKeysEquivalent(row.key, history.sessionInfo?.key) ||
-          areUiSessionKeysEquivalent(row.key, refreshedSessionKey),
-      ) ?? history.sessionInfo;
+    const sessionInfo = sessionsResult?.sessions.find(
+      (row) =>
+        areUiSessionKeysEquivalent(row.key, history.sessionInfo?.key) ||
+        areUiSessionKeysEquivalent(row.key, refreshedSessionKey),
+    );
+    const rosterRow = sessionInfo ?? history.sessionInfo;
     if (areUiSessionKeysEquivalent(rosterRow.key, refreshedSessionKey)) {
       host.selectedChatSessionArchived = rosterRow.archived === true;
       host.selectedChatSessionIncognito = rosterRow.incognito === true;
@@ -278,11 +277,6 @@ async function refreshChat(
       // timestamp may still describe its prior terminal state during remount.
       return;
     }
-    const sessionInfo = sessionsResult?.sessions.find(
-      (row: GatewaySessionRow) =>
-        areUiSessionKeysEquivalent(row.key, history.sessionInfo?.key) ||
-        row.key === refreshedSessionKey,
-    );
     if (!sessionInfo) {
       return;
     }
diff --git a/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread-build.ts b/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread-build.ts
index 8de08b0ed211..d26d1c5c08be 100644
--- a/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread-build.ts
+++ b/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread-build.ts
@@ -117,18 +117,6 @@ export function buildChatItems(props: BuildChatItemsProps): Array<ChatItem | Mes
   });
   const searchFiltering = props.searchOpen === true && Boolean(props.searchQuery?.trim());
   const persistedCanvasIdentities = new Set<string>();
-  for (const message of history) {
-    const source = extractChatMessagePreview(message);
-    if (!source) {
-      continue;
-    }
-    const baseIdentity = canvasPreviewBaseIdentity(message, source);
-    if (baseIdentity) {
-      // fetchMcpAppView assigns a fresh viewId to every invocation. Matching the call and
-      // view therefore identifies the same preview while still tolerating a reused call ID.
-      persistedCanvasIdentities.add(baseIdentity);
-    }
-  }
   for (let i = 0; i < history.length; i++) {
     const msg = projectContextCompactionActivity(history[i]);
     const itemKey = historyKeys[i] ?? messageKey(msg, i);
@@ -158,6 +146,12 @@ export function buildChatItems(props: BuildChatItemsProps): Array<ChatItem | Mes
 
     const isToolResult = normalized.role.toLowerCase() === "toolresult";
     const persistedCanvasSource = isToolResult ? extractChatMessagePreview(msg) : null;
+    if (persistedCanvasSource) {
+      const identity = canvasPreviewBaseIdentity(msg, persistedCanvasSource);
+      if (identity) {
+        persistedCanvasIdentities.add(identity);
+      }
+    }
     const renderPersistedPreview =
       persistedCanvasSource != null &&
       (!searchFiltering || turnHasMatchingAssistant(history, i, props.searchQuery ?? ""));
@@ -180,7 +174,10 @@ export function buildChatItems(props: BuildChatItemsProps): Array<ChatItem | Mes
     if (props.searchOpen && searchQuery.trim() && !messageMatchesSearchQuery(msg, searchQuery)) {
       continue;
     }
-    if (!hasRenderableNormalizedMessage(msg) && normalized.role.toLowerCase() !== "assistant") {
+    if (
+      !hasRenderableNormalizedMessage(msg, normalized) &&
+      normalized.role.toLowerCase() !== "assistant"
+    ) {
       continue;
     }
 
diff --git a/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread-items.ts b/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread-items.ts
index 657bf268527f..72cfb0d6b02e 100644
--- a/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread-items.ts
+++ b/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread-items.ts
@@ -552,8 +552,10 @@ export function collapseSequentialDuplicateMessages(items: ChatItem[]): ChatItem
 
   return collapsed;
 }
-export function hasRenderableNormalizedMessage(message: unknown): boolean {
-  const normalized = safeNormalizeMessage(message);
+export function hasRenderableNormalizedMessage(
+  message: unknown,
+  normalized = safeNormalizeMessage(message),
+): boolean {
   if (!normalized) {
     return false;
   }
diff --git a/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread.test.ts b/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread.test.ts
index 622f60e608a8..019e6dd659e2 100644
--- a/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/pages/chat/chat-thread.test.ts
@@ -1785,6 +1785,21 @@ describe("buildCachedChatItems working spark", () => {
 });
 
 describe("buildCachedChatItems", () => {
+  it("does not inspect ordinary transcript messages for tool previews", () => {
+    const messages = [userMessage("hello", 1_000), assistantMessage("reply", 1_001)];
+    const previewExtraction = vi.spyOn(toolCards, "extractToolCardsCached");
+
+    buildCachedChatItems(createProps({ paneId: "ordinary-transcript", messages }));
+
+    expect(
+      previewExtraction.mock.calls.filter(
+        ([message, prefix]) =>
+          messages.includes(message as (typeof messages)[number]) && prefix === "preview",
+      ),
+    ).toEqual([]);
+    previewExtraction.mockRestore();
+  });
+
   it("keeps consecutive user messages from different senders in separate groups", () => {
     const groups = messageGroups({
       messages: [
diff --git a/ui/src/pages/chat/history-merge.ts b/ui/src/pages/chat/history-merge.ts
index 5e3f28467c64..b497e85b8dfc 100644
--- a/ui/src/pages/chat/history-merge.ts
+++ b/ui/src/pages/chat/history-merge.ts
@@ -238,9 +238,9 @@ export function reduceChatSessionProjection(
     return next;
   };
   const preparedEvent =
-    event.type === "messagePersisted"
+    event.type === "messagePersisted" && handoff
       ? { ...event, message: adopt(event.message, event.envelope ?? event) }
-      : event.type === "snapshotLoaded"
+      : event.type === "snapshotLoaded" && handoff
         ? { ...event, messages: event.messages.map((message) => adopt(message)) }
         : event;
   let projection = current;
diff --git a/ui/src/pages/chat/run-lifecycle.ts b/ui/src/pages/chat/run-lifecycle.ts
index 662162a6d03d..381dd6d8dd8a 100644
--- a/ui/src/pages/chat/run-lifecycle.ts
+++ b/ui/src/pages/chat/run-lifecycle.ts
@@ -562,9 +562,11 @@ export function reconcileChatRunFromCurrentSessionRow(
 }
 
 export function reconcileChatRunAfterSessionStatePublication(host: RunLifecycleHost): boolean {
-  const row = currentSessionRow(host);
-  if (host.chatRunId && row?.lastRunId === host.chatRunId) {
-    return reconcileChatRunFromSessionRow(host, row, { publishRunStatus: false });
+  if (host.chatRunId) {
+    const row = currentSessionRow(host);
+    if (row?.lastRunId === host.chatRunId) {
+      return reconcileChatRunFromSessionRow(host, row, { publishRunStatus: false });
+    }
   }
   // Both session subscriptions and direct event reconciliation can republish
   // canonical rows after the local terminal projection; guard both paths.
diff --git a/ui/src/pages/chat/session-prefetch.ts b/ui/src/pages/chat/session-prefetch.ts
index e03c9f79f4bc..5758bfce3233 100644
--- a/ui/src/pages/chat/session-prefetch.ts
+++ b/ui/src/pages/chat/session-prefetch.ts
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ class SessionPrefetcher {
         resolveChatSnapshotKey(snapshot.snapshotHost, { sessionKey }),
       ),
     );
-    const rows = [...(snapshot.rows ?? [])].toSorted(
+    const rows = (snapshot.rows ?? []).toSorted(
       (left, right) => sessionActivityAt(right) - sessionActivityAt(left),
     );
     const candidates: SessionPrefetchCandidate[] = [];