From d16aabcf7477ccb80b6501f71075d8edb3202820 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?=E7=A8=8B=E5=BA=8F=E5=91=98=E9=98=BF=E6=B1=9F=28Relakkes?=
 =?UTF-8?q?=29?= <relakkes@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2026 03:02:26 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix(perf): restore continuous history scrolling and bound
 search indexing

---
 desktop/src/api/sessions.ts                   |   2 +
 .../src/components/chat/MessageActionBar.tsx  |  24 +-
 .../src/components/chat/MessageList.test.tsx  |  66 +++-
 desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.tsx   | 166 ++++++---
 .../src/components/chat/UserMessage.test.tsx  |  19 +
 desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.tsx   |   5 +-
 .../hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.test.tsx   | 162 +++++++++
 desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.ts | 177 +++++++++
 desktop/src/i18n/locales/en.ts                |  10 +-
 desktop/src/i18n/locales/jp.ts                |  10 +-
 desktop/src/i18n/locales/kr.ts                |  10 +-
 desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh-TW.ts             |  10 +-
 desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh.ts                |  10 +-
 desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.test.ts     |  12 +-
 desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.ts          |  42 ++-
 desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.test.ts     |  45 +++
 desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.ts          |  56 +++
 desktop/src/stores/chatStore.test.ts          | 141 +++++++-
 desktop/src/stores/chatStore.ts               | 257 ++++++++++++--
 .../services/boundedSessionHistory.test.ts    | 100 +++++-
 src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.ts  | 237 +++++++++----
 .../searchContentCommitWorker.test.ts         |  67 ++++
 .../localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.ts   | 101 ++++++
 .../searchContentCoordinator.test.ts          |  72 ++++
 .../localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.ts    |  39 +-
 .../localIndex/searchContentDatabase.ts       |   2 +
 .../services/localIndex/searchContentIndex.ts |  42 ++-
 .../localIndex/searchContentProjector.test.ts |  92 ++++-
 .../localIndex/searchContentProjector.ts      | 335 ++++++++++--------
 .../services/sessionHistoryContext.test.ts    |  10 +
 src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.ts  |  37 +-
 .../services/sessionHistoryRecovery.test.ts   |  20 +-
 src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.ts |   4 +-
 src/server/services/sessionService.ts         |   6 +-
 34 files changed, 2009 insertions(+), 379 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.test.tsx
 create mode 100644 desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.ts
 create mode 100644 desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.test.ts
 create mode 100644 desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.ts
 create mode 100644 src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.test.ts
 create mode 100644 src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.ts

diff --git a/desktop/src/api/sessions.ts b/desktop/src/api/sessions.ts
index c883b1fe..84441483 100644
--- a/desktop/src/api/sessions.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/api/sessions.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ type MessagesResponse = {
 export type SessionHistoryPage = MessagesResponse & {
   page?: {
     nextCursor: string | null
+    previousCursor?: string | null
     hasMore: boolean
+    contentTruncated?: boolean
     historyComplete: boolean
     sourceVersion: string
     scannedBytes: number
diff --git a/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageActionBar.tsx b/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageActionBar.tsx
index 0cd37543..9a2966eb 100644
--- a/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageActionBar.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageActionBar.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Check, Copy, GitFork } from 'lucide-react'
+import { Check, Copy, GitFork, Undo2 } from 'lucide-react'
 import type { ReactNode } from 'react'
 import { useSettingsStore } from '../../stores/settingsStore'
 import { formatExactMessageTimestamp, formatMessageHoverTime } from '../../lib/formatMessageTimestamp'
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ export type MessageBranchAction = {
   onBranch: () => void
 }
 
+export type MessageRewindAction = {
+  label: string
+  loading?: boolean
+  onRewind: () => void
+}
+
 /**
  * The copy chip and the branch chip sit side by side and must look identical.
  * The branch one is an `IconButton size="sm" tone="muted" shape="circle"`;
@@ -27,6 +33,7 @@ type Props = {
   copyText?: string
   copyLabel: string
   branchAction?: MessageBranchAction
+  rewindAction?: MessageRewindAction
   align?: 'start' | 'end'
   timestamp?: number
   /** Inline metadata that shares the same compact row as the actions. */
@@ -43,6 +50,7 @@ export function MessageActionBar({
   copyText,
   copyLabel,
   branchAction,
+  rewindAction,
   align = 'start',
   timestamp,
   metadata,
@@ -57,7 +65,7 @@ export function MessageActionBar({
     ? formatExactMessageTimestamp(timestamp, locale)
     : ''
 
-  if (!hasCopy && !branchAction && !metadata) return null
+  if (!hasCopy && !branchAction && !rewindAction && !metadata) return null
 
   return (
     <div
@@ -92,6 +100,18 @@ export function MessageActionBar({
             onPointerUp={(event) => event.currentTarget.blur()}
           />
         ) : null}
+        {rewindAction ? (
+          <IconButton
+            icon={<Undo2 size={13} strokeWidth={2.2} aria-hidden="true" />}
+            label={rewindAction.label}
+            size="sm"
+            tone="muted"
+            shape="circle"
+            disabled={rewindAction.loading}
+            onClick={rewindAction.onRewind}
+            onPointerUp={(event) => event.currentTarget.blur()}
+          />
+        ) : null}
         {metadata ? (
           <span className={hasCopy || branchAction ? 'ml-3 min-w-0' : 'min-w-0'}>
             {metadata}
diff --git a/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.test.tsx b/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.test.tsx
index 86bed82f..f9813aeb 100644
--- a/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.test.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.test.tsx
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ describe('MessageList nested tool calls', () => {
       messages, historyWindowed: true, historyPage: partialPage,
     }) } }))
     expect(sessionsApi.getTurnCheckpoints).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
-    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Load undo checkpoints' }))
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Roll back conversation' }))
     await waitFor(() => expect(sessionsApi.getTurnCheckpoints).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1))
   })
 
@@ -382,29 +382,81 @@ describe('MessageList nested tool calls', () => {
     }] })
     render(<MessageList />)
     expect(sessionsApi.getTurnCheckpoints).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
-    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Load undo checkpoints' }))
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Roll back conversation' }))
     await waitFor(() => expect(sessionsApi.getTurnCheckpoints).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1))
-    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Load undo checkpoints' }).hasAttribute('disabled')).toBe(false))
+    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Roll back conversation' }).hasAttribute('disabled')).toBe(false))
     expect(screen.queryByRole('region', { name: 'Turn changed files' })).toBeNull()
   })
 
-  it('pages through bounded history without replacing live state and returns to the latest window', async () => {
+  it('scrolls into older history without buttons or replacing live state and jumps back to live', async () => {
     const page = { nextCursor: 'older-cursor', hasMore: true, historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 1024, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 }
     useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [ACTIVE_TAB]: makeSessionState({ historyWindowed: true, historyPage: page, messages: [{ id: 'live', type: 'assistant_text', content: 'current live message', timestamp: 1 }] }) } })
     const getPage = vi.spyOn(sessionsApi, 'getHistoryPage')
       .mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [{ id: 'old', type: 'assistant', content: 'older page message', timestamp: '2020-01-01T00:00:00Z' }], page: { ...page, nextCursor: null, hasMore: false } })
       .mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [{ id: 'latest', type: 'assistant', content: 'latest page message', timestamp: '2026-01-01T00:00:00Z' }], page: { ...page, historyComplete: true } })
     render(<MessageList />)
-    expect(screen.getByTestId('history-window-notice')).toBeTruthy()
-    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Older messages' }))
+    expect(screen.queryByTestId('history-window-notice')).toBeNull()
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('button', { name: 'Older messages' })).toBeNull()
+    expect(getPage).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    const scroller = screen.getByTestId('message-list').firstElementChild as HTMLElement
+    Object.defineProperty(scroller, 'clientHeight', { configurable: true, value: 600 })
+    Object.defineProperty(scroller, 'scrollHeight', { configurable: true, value: 1800 })
+    scroller.scrollTop = 100
+    fireEvent.wheel(scroller, { deltaY: -100 })
     expect(await screen.findByText('older page message')).toBeTruthy()
     expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[ACTIVE_TAB]?.messages[0]?.id).toBe('live')
     expect(getPage).toHaveBeenCalledWith(ACTIVE_TAB, { cursor: 'older-cursor' }, expect.objectContaining({ signal: expect.any(AbortSignal) }))
-    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Latest messages' }))
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Latest' }))
     expect(await screen.findByText('latest page message')).toBeTruthy()
     expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[ACTIVE_TAB]?.historyBrowseMessages).toBeUndefined()
   })
 
+  it('scrolls forward through history and does not mistake the historical window bottom for the live tail', async () => {
+    const loadNewer = vi.spyOn(useChatStore.getState(), 'loadNewerHistory').mockResolvedValue()
+    const page = { nextCursor: 'older', previousCursor: 'newer', hasMore: true, historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 100, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 }
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [ACTIVE_TAB]: makeSessionState({
+      historyPage: page, historyWindowed: true, historyViewingOlder: true,
+      messages: [{ id: 'live', type: 'assistant_text', content: 'Live content', timestamp: 10 }],
+      historyBrowseMessages: [{ id: 'old', type: 'assistant_text', content: 'Historical content', timestamp: 1 }],
+    }) } })
+    render(<MessageList />)
+    const scroller = screen.getByTestId('message-list').firstElementChild as HTMLElement
+    Object.defineProperty(scroller, 'clientHeight', { configurable: true, value: 600 })
+    Object.defineProperty(scroller, 'scrollHeight', { configurable: true, value: 1800 })
+    scroller.scrollTop = 1200
+    fireEvent.wheel(scroller, { deltaY: 100 })
+    await waitFor(() => expect(loadNewer).toHaveBeenCalledWith(ACTIVE_TAB))
+    expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Latest' })).toBeTruthy()
+    expect(screen.getByText('Historical content')).toBeTruthy()
+    expect(screen.queryByText('Live content')).toBeNull()
+  })
+
+  it('loads disk history when live retention created a gap after an initially complete page', async () => {
+    const loadOlder = vi.spyOn(useChatStore.getState(), 'loadOlderHistory').mockResolvedValue()
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [ACTIVE_TAB]: makeSessionState({
+      historyLiveGap: true, historyWindowed: true,
+      historyPage: { nextCursor: null, hasMore: false, historyComplete: true, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 100, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 },
+      messages: [{ id: 'recent', type: 'assistant_text', content: 'Recent live message', timestamp: 10 }],
+    }) } })
+    render(<MessageList />)
+    expect(loadOlder).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    const scroller = screen.getByTestId('message-list').firstElementChild as HTMLElement
+    Object.defineProperty(scroller, 'clientHeight', { configurable: true, value: 600 })
+    Object.defineProperty(scroller, 'scrollHeight', { configurable: true, value: 1800 })
+    scroller.scrollTop = 100
+    fireEvent.wheel(scroller, { deltaY: -100 })
+    await waitFor(() => expect(loadOlder).toHaveBeenCalledWith(ACTIVE_TAB))
+  })
+
+  it('does not render internal recovery state as a history banner', () => {
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [ACTIVE_TAB]: makeSessionState({ historyWindowed: true, historyRecoveryStatus: 'incomplete' }) } })
+    render(<MessageList />)
+    expect(screen.queryByTestId('history-window-notice')).toBeNull()
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('button', { name: 'Latest messages' })).toBeNull()
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('button', { name: 'Load undo checkpoints' })).toBeNull()
+    expect(screen.queryByText(/Session state recovery/)).toBeNull()
+  })
+
   it('windows long transcripts instead of mounting every historical message at once', () => {
     useChatStore.setState({
       sessions: {
diff --git a/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.tsx b/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.tsx
index bba8cf03..536b1309 100644
--- a/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/components/chat/MessageList.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { useRef, useEffect, useMemo, memo, useState, useCallback, useDeferredValue, useLayoutEffect, type MouseEvent as ReactMouseEvent, type ReactNode } from 'react'
 import { createPortal } from 'react-dom'
 import { ArrowDown, BookMarked, Bot, CheckCircle2, ChevronDown, ChevronRight, CircleStop, FileStack, LoaderCircle, MessageCircle, Settings, Target, Undo2, XCircle } from 'lucide-react'
+import { useContinuousChatHistory } from '../../hooks/useContinuousChatHistory'
 import { ApiError } from '../../api/client'
 import { sessionsApi, type SessionRewindMode, type SessionTurnCheckpoint } from '../../api/sessions'
 import { listPendingPermissions, useChatStore } from '../../stores/chatStore'
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ import { useUIStore } from '../../stores/uiStore'
 import { useTranslation } from '../../i18n'
 import type { TranslationKey } from '../../i18n/locales/en'
 import { UserMessage } from './UserMessage'
+import type { MessageRewindAction } from './MessageActionBar'
 import { AssistantMessage } from './AssistantMessage'
 import { ThinkingBlock } from './ThinkingBlock'
 import { ToolCallBlock } from './ToolCallBlock'
@@ -1668,7 +1670,7 @@ function isNearScrollBottom(element: HTMLElement) {
   )
 }
 
-function rememberSessionScroll(sessionId: string, element: HTMLElement) {
+function rememberSessionScroll(sessionId: string, element: HTMLElement, wasAtBottom = isNearScrollBottom(element)) {
   if (sessionScrollSnapshots.size >= MAX_SCROLL_SNAPSHOTS && !sessionScrollSnapshots.has(sessionId)) {
     const oldestSessionId = sessionScrollSnapshots.keys().next().value
     if (oldestSessionId) {
@@ -1678,7 +1680,7 @@ function rememberSessionScroll(sessionId: string, element: HTMLElement) {
 
   sessionScrollSnapshots.set(sessionId, {
     scrollTop: element.scrollTop,
-    wasAtBottom: isNearScrollBottom(element),
+    wasAtBottom,
   })
 }
 
@@ -2256,6 +2258,8 @@ export function MessageList({
   const stopGeneration = useChatStore((s) => s.stopGeneration)
   const reloadHistory = useChatStore((s) => s.reloadHistory)
   const loadOlderHistory = useChatStore((s) => s.loadOlderHistory)
+  const loadNewerHistory = useChatStore((s) => s.loadNewerHistory)
+  const prefetchHistory = useChatStore((s) => s.prefetchHistory)
   const queueComposerPrefill = useChatStore((s) => s.queueComposerPrefill)
   const memberSessionTeam = useTeamStore((s) => (
     resolvedSessionId ? s.getTeamByMemberSessionId(resolvedSessionId) : null
@@ -2300,7 +2304,7 @@ export function MessageList({
   const checkpointHistoryReady = sessionState?.historyStatus === 'ready' && sessionState?.historyHydrated === true
   const checkpointRequiresRequest = Boolean(sessionState?.historyWindowed || sessionState?.historyPage?.historyComplete === false)
   const checkpointWindowKey = checkpointRequiresRequest ? historyWindowKey : ''
-  const [requestedWindowCheckpoints, setRequestedWindowCheckpoints] = useState<{ key: string; revision: number } | null>(null)
+  const [requestedWindowCheckpoints, setRequestedWindowCheckpoints] = useState<{ key: string; revision: number; targetId?: string } | null>(null)
   const chatState = sessionState?.chatState ?? 'idle'
   const isPreparingTurn = Boolean(sessionState?.isPreparingTurn)
   const historyMutationEpoch = sessionState?.historyMutationEpoch ?? 0
@@ -2336,6 +2340,8 @@ export function MessageList({
     (chatState === 'thinking' && Boolean(activeThinkingId))
   const messageListRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
   const scrollContainerRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
+  const historyScrollHandlers = useRef<{ onScroll: () => void; onUserIntent: (direction?: 'older' | 'newer') => void; cancelAnchor: () => void }>({ onScroll: () => {}, onUserIntent: () => {}, cancelAnchor: () => {} })
+  const lastTailWindowRevision = useRef(sessionState?.historyWindowRevision ?? 0)
   const scrollContentRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
   const virtualItemHeightsRef = useRef<Map<string, number>>(
     resolvedSessionId ? getHeightsForSession(resolvedSessionId) : new Map<string, number>(),
@@ -2486,7 +2492,7 @@ export function MessageList({
   }, [resolvedSessionId])
 
   const requestLiveFollow = useCallback(() => {
-    if (!shouldAutoScrollRef.current || liveFollowFrameRef.current !== null) return
+    if (sessionState?.historyViewingOlder || !shouldAutoScrollRef.current || liveFollowFrameRef.current !== null) return
 
     liveFollowFrameRef.current = requestAnimationFrame(() => {
       liveFollowFrameRef.current = null
@@ -2518,7 +2524,7 @@ export function MessageList({
       }
       setIsAwayFromLatest(false)
     })
-  }, [resolvedSessionId])
+  }, [resolvedSessionId, sessionState?.historyViewingOlder])
 
   const flushMeasuredHeightVersion = useCallback(() => {
     if (!pendingMeasuredHeightsRef.current) return
@@ -2575,8 +2581,9 @@ export function MessageList({
     if (performance.now() < userScrollIntentUntilRef.current) {
       setProgrammaticNavigationItemId(null)
     }
+    historyScrollHandlers.current.onScroll()
     syncVirtualViewportFromContainer(container)
-    const isAtBottom = isNearScrollBottom(container)
+    const isAtBottom = !sessionState?.historyViewingOlder && isNearScrollBottom(container)
     const isPermissionLayoutShift =
       hasPendingPermissionCard &&
       shouldAutoScrollRef.current &&
@@ -2588,9 +2595,9 @@ export function MessageList({
     setIsAwayFromLatest(!isAtBottom)
 
     if (resolvedSessionId) {
-      rememberSessionScroll(resolvedSessionId, container)
+      rememberSessionScroll(resolvedSessionId, container, isAtBottom)
     }
-  }, [hasPendingPermissionCard, resolvedSessionId, syncVirtualViewportFromContainer])
+  }, [hasPendingPermissionCard, resolvedSessionId, sessionState?.historyViewingOlder, syncVirtualViewportFromContainer])
 
   /**
    * Expanding a collapsed block is the reader rearranging their own view, not
@@ -2620,19 +2627,21 @@ export function MessageList({
       disclosureLayoutUntilRef.current = 0
       const container = scrollContainerRef.current
       if (!container) return
-      const atBottom = isNearScrollBottom(container)
+      const atBottom = !sessionState?.historyViewingOlder && isNearScrollBottom(container)
       shouldAutoScrollRef.current = atBottom
       setIsAwayFromLatest(!atBottom)
       syncVirtualViewportFromContainer(container)
     })
-  }, [syncVirtualViewportFromContainer])
+  }, [syncVirtualViewportFromContainer, sessionState?.historyViewingOlder])
 
   const markUserScrollIntent = useCallback(() => {
     userScrollIntentUntilRef.current = performance.now() + USER_SCROLL_INTENT_WINDOW_MS
+    historyScrollHandlers.current.onUserIntent()
   }, [])
 
   const handleWheelScrollIntent = useCallback((event: { deltaY: number }) => {
     markUserScrollIntent()
+    if (event.deltaY !== 0) historyScrollHandlers.current.onUserIntent(event.deltaY < 0 ? 'older' : 'newer')
     if (event.deltaY < 0) {
       shouldAutoScrollRef.current = false
       setIsAwayFromLatest(true)
@@ -2653,6 +2662,7 @@ export function MessageList({
     if (!isScrollKey) return
 
     markUserScrollIntent()
+    historyScrollHandlers.current.onUserIntent(isUpwardScrollKey ? 'older' : 'newer')
     if (isUpwardScrollKey) {
       shouldAutoScrollRef.current = false
       setIsAwayFromLatest(true)
@@ -2662,7 +2672,7 @@ export function MessageList({
   useLayoutEffect(() => {
     if (lastSessionIdRef.current !== resolvedSessionId) {
       const snapshot = resolvedSessionId ? sessionScrollSnapshots.get(resolvedSessionId) : undefined
-      shouldAutoScrollRef.current = snapshot?.wasAtBottom ?? true
+      shouldAutoScrollRef.current = snapshot?.wasAtBottom ?? !sessionState?.historyViewingOlder
       lastSessionIdRef.current = resolvedSessionId
       setProgrammaticNavigationItemId(null)
       virtualItemHeightsRef.current = resolvedSessionId
@@ -2700,17 +2710,17 @@ export function MessageList({
         ignoreProgrammaticScrollUntilRef.current = performance.now() + 250
         ignoreProgrammaticScrollTopRef.current = null
         lastAutoScrollAtRef.current = performance.now()
-        shouldAutoScrollRef.current = true
+        shouldAutoScrollRef.current = !sessionState?.historyViewingOlder
         setScrollToBottomWithoutLayoutRead(container)
         setVirtualViewport((current) => ({
           scrollTop: SCROLL_BOTTOM_SENTINEL,
           viewportHeight: container.clientHeight || current.viewportHeight || VIRTUAL_DEFAULT_VIEWPORT_HEIGHT,
         }))
-        setIsAwayFromLatest(false)
+        setIsAwayFromLatest(Boolean(sessionState?.historyViewingOlder))
         if (resolvedSessionId) {
           sessionScrollSnapshots.set(resolvedSessionId, {
             scrollTop: container.scrollTop,
-            wasAtBottom: true,
+            wasAtBottom: !sessionState?.historyViewingOlder,
           })
         }
       } else {
@@ -2719,7 +2729,7 @@ export function MessageList({
         scrollToBottom()
       }
     }
-  }, [resolvedSessionId, scrollToBottom])
+  }, [resolvedSessionId, scrollToBottom, sessionState?.historyViewingOlder])
 
   const tailMessage = messages[messages.length - 1] ?? null
   const tailMessageId = tailMessage?.id ?? null
@@ -2728,14 +2738,17 @@ export function MessageList({
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!resolvedSessionId) return
 
+    const revision = sessionState?.historyWindowRevision ?? 0
+    const windowChanged = lastTailWindowRevision.current !== revision
+    lastTailWindowRevision.current = revision
     const previousTailMessageId = lastTailMessageIdBySessionRef.current.get(resolvedSessionId)
     lastTailMessageIdBySessionRef.current.set(resolvedSessionId, tailMessageId)
-    if (previousTailMessageId === undefined || previousTailMessageId === tailMessageId) return
+    if (windowChanged || sessionState?.historyViewingOlder || previousTailMessageId === undefined || previousTailMessageId === tailMessageId) return
 
     if (tailMessageType === 'user_text') {
       scrollToBottom()
     }
-  }, [resolvedSessionId, scrollToBottom, tailMessageId, tailMessageType])
+  }, [resolvedSessionId, scrollToBottom, tailMessageId, tailMessageType, sessionState?.historyWindowRevision, sessionState?.historyViewingOlder])
 
   useEffect(() => {
     const previousInput = lastLiveFollowInputRef.current
@@ -2766,9 +2779,12 @@ export function MessageList({
   }, [messages.length, requestLiveFollow, resolvedSessionId, streamingText, streamingToolInput])
 
   const handleJumpToLatest = useCallback(() => {
+    historyScrollHandlers.current.cancelAnchor()
     setProgrammaticNavigationItemId(null)
-    scrollToBottom()
-  }, [scrollToBottom])
+    if (resolvedSessionId && sessionState?.historyViewingOlder) {
+      void loadOlderHistory(resolvedSessionId, true).then(() => requestAnimationFrame(scrollToBottom))
+    } else scrollToBottom()
+  }, [scrollToBottom, resolvedSessionId, sessionState?.historyViewingOlder, loadOlderHistory])
 
   useEffect(() => {
     const content = scrollContentRef.current
@@ -2884,11 +2900,11 @@ export function MessageList({
   // The rail is the progress indicator: whichever segment the turn is currently
   // working in carries the running state, so it sits next to the work it
   // describes instead of in a separate strip somewhere else on screen.
-  const showsTurnStatusLine = hasApiRetry
+  const showsTurnStatusLine = !sessionState?.historyViewingOlder && (hasApiRetry
     || hasStreamingFallback
     || isPreparingTurn
     || chatState === 'tool_executing'
-    || (chatState === 'thinking' && !activeThinkingId)
+    || (chatState === 'thinking' && !activeThinkingId))
   const renderItemKeys = useMemo(
     () => renderItems.map(getRenderItemKey),
     [renderItems],
@@ -2932,6 +2948,41 @@ export function MessageList({
     ),
     [measuredItemsVersion, renderItemKeys, renderItemMetrics, renderItems, virtualViewport],
   )
+  const historyAnchorIdentities = useMemo(() => new Map(renderItems.map((item) => [
+    getRenderItemKey(item),
+    item.kind === 'tool_group' ? item.toolCalls.map((tool) => tool.id)
+      : item.kind === 'team_card' ? item.coordinationToolCalls.map((tool) => tool.id)
+        : [item.message.id],
+  ])), [renderItems])
+  const preserveHistoryReading = useCallback(() => {
+    shouldAutoScrollRef.current = false
+    setIsAwayFromLatest(true)
+  }, [])
+  const syncHistoryViewport = useCallback((container: HTMLElement) => {
+    ignoreProgrammaticScrollUntilRef.current = performance.now() + 250
+    ignoreProgrammaticScrollTopRef.current = container.scrollTop
+    syncVirtualViewportFromContainer(container)
+    if (resolvedSessionId) rememberSessionScroll(resolvedSessionId, container, false)
+  }, [resolvedSessionId, syncVirtualViewportFromContainer])
+  const continuousHistory = useContinuousChatHistory({
+    sessionId: resolvedSessionId ?? undefined,
+    revision: sessionState?.historyWindowRevision ?? 0,
+    ready: sessionState?.historyStatus === 'ready' && sessionState?.historyHydrated === true,
+    loading: sessionState?.historyPageLoading === true,
+    error: sessionState?.historyError,
+    olderCursor: sessionState?.historyPage?.nextCursor ?? (sessionState?.historyLiveGap && !sessionState.historyBrowseMessages ? '__live_gap__' : null),
+    newerCursor: sessionState?.historyPage?.previousCursor ?? (sessionState?.historyBrowseMessages ? '__live__' : null),
+    container: scrollContainerRef,
+    keys: renderItemKeys,
+    offsets: virtualTranscriptWindow.offsets,
+    identities: historyAnchorIdentities,
+    load: (direction) => resolvedSessionId ? (direction === 'older' ? loadOlderHistory(resolvedSessionId) : loadNewerHistory(resolvedSessionId)) : Promise.resolve(),
+    prefetch: (direction) => resolvedSessionId ? prefetchHistory(resolvedSessionId, direction) : Promise.resolve(),
+    syncViewport: syncHistoryViewport,
+    preserveReading: preserveHistoryReading,
+  })
+  historyScrollHandlers.current = continuousHistory
+
   const activeConversationNavigationItemId = useMemo(
     () => isAwayFromLatest
       ? getActiveConversationNavigationItemId(
@@ -3059,8 +3110,7 @@ export function MessageList({
           completedTurnTargets.map((target) => [target.userMessageIndex, target] as const),
         )
 
-        setTurnChangeCards(
-          normalizeTurnCheckpoints(checkpointResponse).flatMap((checkpoint) => {
+        const nextCards = normalizeTurnCheckpoints(checkpointResponse).flatMap((checkpoint) => {
             const target =
               targetByMessageId.get(checkpoint.target.targetUserMessageId) ??
               (sessionState?.historyWindowed ? undefined : targetByUserMessageIndex.get(checkpoint.target.userMessageIndex))
@@ -3073,8 +3123,11 @@ export function MessageList({
               workDir: checkpoint.workDir ?? workspaceStatus?.workDir ?? null,
               isLatest: target.messageId === latestCompletedTurnId,
             }]
-          }),
-        )
+          })
+        setTurnChangeCards(nextCards)
+        if (requestedWindowCheckpoints?.targetId && nextCards.some((card) => card.target.messageId === requestedWindowCheckpoints.targetId)) {
+          setTurnUndoConfirmTargetId(requestedWindowCheckpoints.targetId)
+        }
       })
       .catch((error) => {
         if (cancelled) return
@@ -3484,6 +3537,21 @@ export function MessageList({
     })
   }, [isWorkspacePanelOpen, resolvedSessionId, restoreWorkspaceOrigin, workspacePanelOrigin])
 
+  const rewindActionByMessageId = useMemo(() => {
+    const actions = new Map<string, MessageRewindAction>()
+    if (!resolvedSessionId || !checkpointRequiresRequest) return actions
+    const available = new Set(turnChangeCards.map((card) => card.target.messageId))
+    for (const target of completedTurnTargets) {
+      if (available.has(target.messageId)) continue
+      actions.set(target.messageId, {
+        label: t('chat.conversationRewindAction'),
+        loading: isLoadingTurnChangeCards || chatState !== 'idle' || hasRunningBackgroundTasks,
+        onRewind: () => setRequestedWindowCheckpoints((current) => ({ key: historyWindowKey, revision: (current?.revision ?? 0) + 1, targetId: target.messageId })),
+      })
+    }
+    return actions
+  }, [resolvedSessionId, checkpointRequiresRequest, turnChangeCards, completedTurnTargets, t, isLoadingTurnChangeCards, chatState, hasRunningBackgroundTasks, historyWindowKey])
+
   const renderTranscriptItem = (item: RenderItem, index: number) => {
     const cardsForItem = turnCardsByRenderIndex.get(index) ?? []
 
@@ -3509,7 +3577,7 @@ export function MessageList({
             // is finished, whatever any individual tool's state looks like this
             // instant — which is why this, and not `isStreaming`, decides
             // whether a run stands open.
-            isLive={chatState !== 'idle' && index === renderItems.length - 1 && !hasTrailingStreamingItem}
+            isLive={!sessionState?.historyViewingOlder && chatState !== 'idle' && index === renderItems.length - 1 && !hasTrailingStreamingItem}
           />
         ) : item.kind === 'team_card' ? (
           resolvedSessionId ? (() => {
@@ -3546,6 +3614,7 @@ export function MessageList({
                 : null
             }
             branchAction={branchActionByMessageId.get(item.message.id)}
+            rewindAction={rewindActionByMessageId.get(item.message.id)}
             turnChangedFiles={changedFilesByRenderIndex.get(index)}
             isTurnOutputOwner={turnOutputOwnerIndexes.has(index)}
             turnCompletion={turnCompletionByMessageId.get(item.message.id)}
@@ -3553,6 +3622,10 @@ export function MessageList({
           />
         )}
 
+        {item.kind === 'message' && requestedWindowCheckpoints?.targetId === item.message.id && turnChangeLoadError ? (
+          <span role="alert" className="text-xs text-[var(--color-error)]">{turnChangeLoadError}</span>
+        ) : null}
+
         {resolvedSessionId && cardsForItem.map((card) => {
           const error = turnActionErrors[card.target.messageId] ?? null
           const openUndoDialog = () => {
@@ -3623,25 +3696,15 @@ export function MessageList({
           // the agent-teams workbench appeared.
           className="mx-auto max-w-[900px]"
         >
-          {sessionState?.historyWindowed || sessionState?.historyPage?.hasMore ? (
-            <div className="mb-3 flex flex-wrap items-center gap-2 rounded-[var(--radius-md)] border border-[var(--color-border)] p-3 text-xs text-[var(--color-text-secondary)]" data-testid="history-window-notice">
-              <span>{t('chat.history.windowNotice')}</span>
-              {sessionState.historyPage?.nextCursor ? (
-                <Button variant="secondary" size="xs" disabled={sessionState.historyPageLoading} onClick={() => resolvedSessionId && void loadOlderHistory(resolvedSessionId)}>
-                  {t('chat.history.older')}
-                </Button>
-              ) : null}
-              <Button variant="secondary" size="xs" disabled={sessionState.historyPageLoading} onClick={() => resolvedSessionId && void loadOlderHistory(resolvedSessionId, true)}>
-                {t('chat.history.latest')}
-              </Button>
-              {completedTurnTargets.length > 0 ? (
-                <Button variant="secondary" size="xs" disabled={isLoadingTurnChangeCards || chatState !== 'idle'} onClick={() => setRequestedWindowCheckpoints((current) => ({ key: historyWindowKey, revision: (current?.revision ?? 0) + 1 }))}>
-                  {t('chat.history.loadCheckpoints')}
-                </Button>
-              ) : null}
-              {sessionState.historyRecoveryStatus === 'loading' ? <span role="status">{t('chat.history.recovering')}</span> : null}
-              {sessionState.historyRecoveryStatus === 'incomplete' || sessionState.historyRecoveryStatus === 'error' ? <span role="status">{t('chat.history.recoveryIncomplete')}</span> : null}
-              {sessionState.historyError ? <span role="alert">{sessionState.historyError}</span> : null}
+          {sessionState?.historyPageLoading && sessionState.historyPageDirection !== 'newer' ? (
+            <div className="flex items-center justify-center gap-2 py-2 text-xs text-[var(--color-text-tertiary)]" role="status">
+              <LoaderCircle size={12} className="animate-spin" />{t('chat.history.loading')}
+            </div>
+          ) : null}
+          {sessionState?.historyError ? (
+            <div className="flex items-center justify-center gap-2 py-2 text-xs text-[var(--color-text-secondary)]" role="alert">
+              <span>{t('chat.history.loadFailed')}</span>
+              <Button variant="ghost" size="xs" onClick={() => sessionState?.historyPageDirection === 'latest' ? handleJumpToLatest() : continuousHistory.retry()}>{t('chat.history.retry')}</Button>
             </div>
           ) : null}
           {virtualTranscriptWindow.enabled ? (
@@ -3679,6 +3742,12 @@ export function MessageList({
             <VirtualSpacer height={virtualTranscriptWindow.afterHeight} position="bottom" />
           ) : null}
 
+          {sessionState?.historyPageLoading && sessionState.historyPageDirection === 'newer' ? (
+            <div className="flex items-center justify-center gap-2 py-2 text-xs text-[var(--color-text-tertiary)]" role="status">
+              <LoaderCircle size={12} className="animate-spin" />{t('chat.history.loading')}
+            </div>
+          ) : null}
+
           {streamingText.trim() && (
             <div
               data-chat-render-item-key={STREAMING_ASSISTANT_NAVIGATION_KEY}
@@ -3689,7 +3758,7 @@ export function MessageList({
             </div>
           )}
 
-          {chatState === 'compacting' && !hasCompactingDivider && (
+          {!sessionState?.historyViewingOlder && chatState === 'compacting' && !hasCompactingDivider && (
             <CompactStatusDivider state="compacting" />
           )}
 
@@ -3708,7 +3777,7 @@ export function MessageList({
             </div>
           )}
 
-          {!isLoadingTurnChangeCards && visibleTurnChangeCards.length === 0 && turnChangeLoadError && (
+          {!requestedWindowCheckpoints?.targetId && !isLoadingTurnChangeCards && visibleTurnChangeCards.length === 0 && turnChangeLoadError && (
             <div className="mx-auto mb-5 w-full max-w-[900px] rounded-[var(--radius-lg)] border border-[var(--color-error)] bg-[var(--color-error-container)] px-4 py-3 text-xs text-[var(--color-on-error-container)]">
               {turnChangeLoadError}
             </div>
@@ -3770,6 +3839,7 @@ export const MessageBlock = memo(function MessageBlock({
   agentTaskNotifications,
   toolResult,
   branchAction,
+  rewindAction,
   turnChangedFiles,
   isTurnOutputOwner,
   turnCompletion,
@@ -3786,6 +3856,7 @@ export const MessageBlock = memo(function MessageBlock({
     loading?: boolean
     onBranch: () => void
   }
+  rewindAction?: MessageRewindAction
   turnChangedFiles?: string[]
   isTurnOutputOwner?: boolean
   turnCompletion?: TurnCompletion
@@ -3818,6 +3889,7 @@ export const MessageBlock = memo(function MessageBlock({
             content={message.content}
             attachments={message.attachments}
             branchAction={branchAction}
+            rewindAction={rewindAction}
             timestamp={message.timestamp}
             sessionId={sessionId ?? undefined}
             teammateFrom={message.teammateFrom}
diff --git a/desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.test.tsx b/desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.test.tsx
index ebfac8c8..a4ab5e3f 100644
--- a/desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.test.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.test.tsx
@@ -19,6 +19,25 @@ describe('UserMessage', () => {
     openPreviewLink.mockClear().mockReturnValue(true)
   })
 
+  it('places rollback beside copy and fork in the existing hover and keyboard-focus action row', () => {
+    useSettingsStore.setState({ locale: 'en' })
+    const rollback = vi.fn()
+    const { container } = render(<UserMessage content="A prompt" branchAction={{ label: 'Fork', onBranch: vi.fn() }} rewindAction={{ label: 'Roll back conversation', onRewind: rollback }} />)
+    const button = screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Roll back conversation' })
+    const actions = button.closest('[data-message-actions]')
+    expect(actions).toBeTruthy()
+    expect(actions?.className).toContain('opacity-0')
+    expect(actions?.className).toContain('group-hover:opacity-100')
+    expect(actions?.className).toContain('group-focus-within:opacity-100')
+    expect(container.querySelectorAll('[data-message-actions]')).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Fork' }).closest('[data-message-actions]')).toBe(actions)
+    expect(button.textContent).toBe('')
+    button.focus()
+    expect(document.activeElement).toBe(button)
+    fireEvent.click(button)
+    expect(rollback).toHaveBeenCalledOnce()
+  })
+
   it('keeps long URLs inside the message bubble', () => {
     const longUrl = `https://cn.bing.com/search?q=${'encoded'.repeat(60)}`
 
diff --git a/desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.tsx b/desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.tsx
index d3830454..7cb2a8ff 100644
--- a/desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/components/chat/UserMessage.tsx
@@ -6,13 +6,14 @@ import { useTranslation } from '../../i18n'
 import { openPreviewLink } from '../../lib/openPreviewLink'
 import { splitTextByUrls } from '../../lib/urlBoundary'
 import { AttachmentGallery } from './AttachmentGallery'
-import { MessageActionBar, type MessageBranchAction } from './MessageActionBar'
+import { MessageActionBar, type MessageBranchAction, type MessageRewindAction } from './MessageActionBar'
 import { MarkdownRenderer } from '../markdown/MarkdownRenderer'
 
 type Props = {
   content: string
   attachments?: UIAttachment[]
   branchAction?: MessageBranchAction
+  rewindAction?: MessageRewindAction
   timestamp?: number
   sessionId?: string
   /** Set when this turn came from another agent rather than from the user. */
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ export const UserMessage = memo(function UserMessage({
   content,
   attachments,
   branchAction,
+  rewindAction,
   timestamp,
   sessionId,
   teammateFrom,
@@ -170,6 +172,7 @@ export const UserMessage = memo(function UserMessage({
             copyText={content}
             copyLabel={t('chat.copyPrompt')}
             branchAction={branchAction}
+            rewindAction={rewindAction}
             align="end"
             timestamp={timestamp}
           />
diff --git a/desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.test.tsx b/desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..609621ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+import { act, cleanup, renderHook } from '@testing-library/react'
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { useContinuousChatHistory } from './useContinuousChatHistory'
+
+function fixture() {
+  const container = document.createElement('div')
+  document.body.appendChild(container)
+  Object.defineProperties(container, { clientHeight: { value: 300 }, scrollHeight: { configurable: true, value: 2000 } })
+  container.getBoundingClientRect = () => ({ top: 0, bottom: 300, height: 300 } as DOMRect)
+  function rows(keys: string[]) {
+    container.replaceChildren(...keys.map((key, index) => {
+      const node = document.createElement('div')
+      node.dataset.chatRenderItemKey = key
+      node.getBoundingClientRect = () => ({ top: index * 200 - container.scrollTop, bottom: (index + 1) * 200 - container.scrollTop, height: 200 } as DOMRect)
+      return node
+    }))
+  }
+  const options = {
+    sessionId: 'session', revision: 0, ready: true, loading: false,
+    olderCursor: 'older', newerCursor: 'newer', container: { current: container },
+    keys: ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], offsets: [0, 200, 400, 600, 800],
+    load: vi.fn(async (_direction: 'older' | 'newer') => {}),
+    prefetch: vi.fn(async (_direction: 'older' | 'newer') => {}),
+    syncViewport: vi.fn(), preserveReading: vi.fn(),
+  }
+  rows(options.keys)
+  return { container, options, rows }
+}
+
+afterEach(() => { cleanup(); document.body.replaceChildren(); vi.restoreAllMocks() })
+
+describe('continuous bounded history scrolling', () => {
+  it('does not scan on mount or programmatic scroll and prefetches once ahead of an intentional boundary', () => {
+    const { container, options } = fixture()
+    const view = renderHook(() => useContinuousChatHistory(options))
+    container.scrollTop = 400
+    act(() => view.result.current.onScroll())
+    expect(options.load).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(options.prefetch).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    expect(options.prefetch).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    expect(options.prefetch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('older')
+    expect(options.load).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('loads both boundaries only once while a request is outstanding', async () => {
+    const { container, options } = fixture()
+    let resolve!: () => void
+    options.load.mockImplementationOnce(() => new Promise<void>((done) => { resolve = done }))
+    const view = renderHook(() => useContinuousChatHistory(options))
+    container.scrollTop = 100
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    expect(options.load).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    await act(async () => { resolve() })
+    container.scrollTop = 1600
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('newer'))
+    expect(options.load).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith('newer')
+  })
+
+  it('preserves the visible row pixel offset after prepending', () => {
+    const { container, options, rows } = fixture()
+    vi.spyOn(window, 'requestAnimationFrame').mockImplementation(() => 1)
+    options.load.mockImplementation(() => new Promise(() => {}))
+    container.scrollTop = 220
+    const view = renderHook((props) => useContinuousChatHistory(props), { initialProps: options })
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    const keys = ['older', ...options.keys]
+    rows(keys)
+    view.rerender({ ...options, revision: 1, keys, offsets: [0, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000] })
+    expect(container.scrollTop).toBe(420)
+    expect(container.querySelector<HTMLElement>('[data-chat-render-item-key="b"]')!.getBoundingClientRect().top).toBe(-20)
+    expect(options.syncViewport).toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(options.load).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+  })
+
+  it('preserves the row offset when scrolling forward evicts rows above it', () => {
+    const { container, options, rows } = fixture()
+    vi.spyOn(window, 'requestAnimationFrame').mockImplementation(() => 1)
+    Object.defineProperty(container, 'scrollHeight', { value: 1000 })
+    const keys = ['old', ...options.keys]
+    rows(keys)
+    container.scrollTop = 620
+    const props = { ...options, keys, offsets: [0, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000] }
+    const view = renderHook((next) => useContinuousChatHistory(next), { initialProps: props })
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('newer'))
+    const nextKeys = [...options.keys, 'new']
+    rows(nextKeys)
+    view.rerender({ ...props, revision: 1, keys: nextKeys })
+    expect(container.scrollTop).toBe(420)
+    expect(container.querySelector<HTMLElement>('[data-chat-render-item-key="c"]')!.getBoundingClientRect().top).toBe(-20)
+  })
+
+  it('anchors a merged tool group by its surviving tool identity', () => {
+    const { container, options, rows } = fixture()
+    vi.spyOn(window, 'requestAnimationFrame').mockImplementation(() => 1)
+    rows(['group-tool-a'])
+    container.scrollTop = 20
+    const props = { ...options, keys: ['group-tool-a'], offsets: [0, 200], identities: new Map([['group-tool-a', ['tool-a']]]) }
+    const view = renderHook((next) => useContinuousChatHistory(next), { initialProps: props })
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    rows(['older-message', 'group-tool-before-a'])
+    view.rerender({ ...props, revision: 1, keys: ['older-message', 'group-tool-before-a'], offsets: [0, 200, 400], identities: new Map([['group-tool-before-a', ['tool-before', 'tool-a']]]) })
+    expect(container.scrollTop).toBe(220)
+  })
+
+  it('captures the latest reading position when the user reverses direction during a slow request', () => {
+    const { container, options, rows } = fixture()
+    vi.spyOn(window, 'requestAnimationFrame').mockImplementation(() => 1)
+    options.load.mockImplementation(() => new Promise(() => {}))
+    container.scrollTop = 220
+    const view = renderHook((next) => useContinuousChatHistory(next), { initialProps: options })
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('newer'))
+    container.scrollTop = 420
+    act(() => view.result.current.onScroll())
+    const keys = ['older', ...options.keys]
+    rows(keys)
+    view.rerender({ ...options, revision: 1, keys, offsets: [0, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000] })
+    expect(container.scrollTop).toBe(620)
+    expect(container.querySelector<HTMLElement>('[data-chat-render-item-key="c"]')!.getBoundingClientRect().top).toBe(-20)
+    expect(options.load).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+  })
+
+  it('releases a historical anchor when the reader explicitly jumps to live messages', () => {
+    const { container, options, rows } = fixture()
+    options.load.mockImplementation(() => new Promise(() => {}))
+    container.scrollTop = 220
+    const view = renderHook((next) => useContinuousChatHistory(next), { initialProps: options })
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    act(() => view.result.current.cancelAnchor())
+    rows(['older', ...options.keys])
+    view.rerender({ ...options, revision: 1, keys: ['older', ...options.keys], offsets: [0, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000] })
+    expect(container.scrollTop).toBe(220)
+    expect(options.syncViewport).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('keeps late responses for a prior session from releasing a new session request', async () => {
+    const { container, options } = fixture()
+    let resolveOld!: () => void
+    options.load.mockImplementationOnce(() => new Promise<void>((done) => { resolveOld = done }))
+      .mockImplementation(() => new Promise(() => {}))
+    const view = renderHook((props) => useContinuousChatHistory(props), { initialProps: options })
+    container.scrollTop = 100
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    view.rerender({ ...options, sessionId: 'other' })
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    await act(async () => { resolveOld() })
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    expect(options.load).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
+  })
+
+  it('pauses automatic retry after a failed page and allows explicit retry', () => {
+    const { options } = fixture()
+    const view = renderHook(() => useContinuousChatHistory({ ...options, error: 'failed' }))
+    act(() => view.result.current.onUserIntent('older'))
+    expect(options.load).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    act(() => view.result.current.retry())
+    expect(options.load).toHaveBeenCalledWith('older')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.ts b/desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ac7d076f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/desktop/src/hooks/useContinuousChatHistory.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,177 @@
+import { useCallback, useLayoutEffect, useRef, type RefObject } from 'react'
+
+type Direction = 'older' | 'newer'
+type Anchor = { key: string; top: number; offset: number; identities?: string[] }
+type Options = {
+  sessionId?: string
+  revision: number
+  ready: boolean
+  loading: boolean
+  error?: string | null
+  olderCursor?: string | null
+  newerCursor?: string | null
+  container: RefObject<HTMLDivElement>
+  keys: string[]
+  offsets: number[]
+  identities?: Map<string, string[]>
+  load: (direction: Direction) => Promise<void>
+  prefetch: (direction: Direction) => Promise<void>
+  syncViewport: (container: HTMLElement) => void
+  preserveReading: () => void
+}
+
+/** Retains a visible row while the bounded transcript window moves underneath it. */
+export function useContinuousChatHistory(options: Options) {
+  const current = useRef(options)
+  current.current = options
+  const intentUntil = useRef(0)
+  const lastScrollTop = useRef(0)
+  const pending = useRef<{ sessionId?: string; anchors: Anchor[]; scrollTop: number } | null>(null)
+  const requestInFlight = useRef(false)
+  const requestGeneration = useRef(0)
+  const lastPrefetch = useRef('')
+  const failedDirection = useRef<Direction>('older')
+  const previous = useRef({ sessionId: options.sessionId, revision: options.revision })
+  const correctionFrame = useRef<number | null>(null)
+  const correcting = useRef(false)
+
+  const capture = useCallback(() => {
+    const state = current.current
+    const container = state.container.current
+    if (!container) return null
+    const top = container.getBoundingClientRect().top
+    const height = container.clientHeight || 800
+    const anchors: Anchor[] = []
+    for (const node of container.querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>('[data-chat-render-item-key]')) {
+      const rect = node.getBoundingClientRect()
+      if (rect.bottom <= top || rect.top >= top + height) continue
+      const key = node.dataset.chatRenderItemKey!
+      const index = state.keys.indexOf(key)
+      if (index < 0) continue
+      anchors.push({ key, top: rect.top - top, offset: state.offsets[index] ?? 0, identities: state.identities?.get(key) })
+      if (anchors.length === 3) break
+    }
+    return { sessionId: state.sessionId, anchors, scrollTop: container.scrollTop }
+  }, [])
+
+  const request = useCallback(async (direction: Direction) => {
+    const state = current.current
+    if (!state.sessionId || !state.ready || state.loading || requestInFlight.current) return
+    const cursor = direction === 'older' ? state.olderCursor : state.newerCursor
+    if (!cursor) return
+    pending.current = capture()
+    requestInFlight.current = true
+    const generation = ++requestGeneration.current
+    failedDirection.current = direction
+    state.preserveReading()
+    try {
+      await state.load(direction)
+    } catch {
+      // The store owns the visible retry state.
+    } finally {
+      if (requestGeneration.current === generation) requestInFlight.current = false
+    }
+  }, [capture])
+
+  const checkBoundary = useCallback((direction: Direction) => {
+    const state = current.current
+    const container = state.container.current
+    if (!container || !state.ready || state.loading || state.error || requestInFlight.current || correcting.current) return
+    const distance = direction === 'older' ? container.scrollTop : container.scrollHeight - container.clientHeight - container.scrollTop
+    const height = container.clientHeight || 800
+    const cursor = direction === 'older' ? state.olderCursor : state.newerCursor
+    if (!cursor) return
+    if (distance <= height) {
+      void request(direction)
+    } else if (distance <= height * 1.5) {
+      const key = `${state.sessionId}:${direction}:${cursor}`
+      if (lastPrefetch.current !== key) {
+        lastPrefetch.current = key
+        void state.prefetch(direction).catch(() => {})
+      }
+    }
+  }, [request])
+
+  const onUserIntent = useCallback((direction?: Direction) => {
+    intentUntil.current = performance.now() + 1500
+    const container = current.current.container.current
+    if (container) lastScrollTop.current = container.scrollTop
+    if (direction) checkBoundary(direction)
+  }, [checkBoundary])
+
+  const onScroll = useCallback(() => {
+    const container = current.current.container.current
+    if (!container) return
+    const delta = container.scrollTop - lastScrollTop.current
+    lastScrollTop.current = container.scrollTop
+    if (correcting.current || performance.now() > intentUntil.current) return
+    if (pending.current && requestInFlight.current) pending.current = capture()
+    if (delta !== 0) checkBoundary(delta < 0 ? 'older' : 'newer')
+  }, [capture, checkBoundary])
+
+  useLayoutEffect(() => {
+    const before = previous.current
+    previous.current = { sessionId: options.sessionId, revision: options.revision }
+    if (before.sessionId !== options.sessionId) {
+      pending.current = null
+      intentUntil.current = 0
+      requestInFlight.current = false
+      requestGeneration.current++
+      lastPrefetch.current = ''
+      correcting.current = false
+      if (correctionFrame.current !== null) cancelAnimationFrame(correctionFrame.current)
+      return
+    }
+    if (before.revision === options.revision) return
+    const snapshot = pending.current
+    pending.current = null
+    const container = options.container.current
+    if (!snapshot || snapshot.sessionId !== options.sessionId || !container) return
+    const anchor = snapshot.anchors.map((item) => {
+      if (options.keys.includes(item.key)) return item
+      const key = options.keys.find((candidate) => options.identities?.get(candidate)?.some((id) => item.identities?.includes(id)))
+      return key ? { ...item, key } : undefined
+    }).find((item) => item !== undefined)
+    if (!anchor) return
+    options.preserveReading()
+    correcting.current = true
+    const findAnchor = () => Array.from(container.querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>('[data-chat-render-item-key]'))
+      .find((node) => node.dataset.chatRenderItemKey === anchor.key)
+    const node = findAnchor()
+    const index = options.keys.indexOf(anchor.key)
+    container.scrollTop = Math.max(0, node
+      ? container.scrollTop + node.getBoundingClientRect().top - container.getBoundingClientRect().top - anchor.top
+      : snapshot.scrollTop + (options.offsets[index] ?? 0) - anchor.offset)
+    lastScrollTop.current = container.scrollTop
+    options.syncViewport(container)
+    // The offset correction mounts the anchor if virtualization had removed it.
+    // One measured correction then includes padding, notices and real row height.
+    correctionFrame.current = requestAnimationFrame(() => {
+      correctionFrame.current = null
+      const mounted = findAnchor()
+      if (mounted) {
+        const delta = mounted.getBoundingClientRect().top - container.getBoundingClientRect().top - anchor.top
+        if (Math.abs(delta) > 0.5) container.scrollTop += delta
+      }
+      lastScrollTop.current = container.scrollTop
+      current.current.syncViewport(container)
+      correcting.current = false
+    })
+  }, [options.revision, options.sessionId, options.keys, options.offsets, options.identities, options.container, options.syncViewport, options.preserveReading])
+
+  const cancelAnchor = useCallback(() => {
+    pending.current = null
+    intentUntil.current = 0
+    requestGeneration.current++
+    requestInFlight.current = false
+    correcting.current = false
+    if (correctionFrame.current !== null) cancelAnimationFrame(correctionFrame.current)
+    correctionFrame.current = null
+  }, [])
+
+  useLayoutEffect(() => () => {
+    if (correctionFrame.current !== null) cancelAnimationFrame(correctionFrame.current)
+  }, [])
+
+  return { onUserIntent, onScroll, cancelAnchor, retry: () => { void request(failedDirection.current) } }
+}
diff --git a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/en.ts b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/en.ts
index 43ecce0d..1c40fb25 100644
--- a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/en.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/en.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 export const en = {
-  "chat.history.loadCheckpoints": "Load undo checkpoints",
-  "chat.history.windowNotice": "Only a bounded history window is shown. Long content is shortened; full history remains on disk.",
-  "chat.history.older": "Older messages",
-  "chat.history.latest": "Latest messages",
-  "chat.history.recovering": "Restoring session state…",
-  "chat.history.recoveryIncomplete": "Some session state could not be restored.",
+  "chat.history.loading": "Loading messages…",
+  "chat.history.loadFailed": "Could not load messages.",
+  "chat.history.retry": "Try again",
+
   "trace.windowNotice": "Transcript and trace use bounded pages.",
   "trace.windowLimited": "Some records exceed the viewing limit; the original file is unchanged.",
   "trace.windowFirst": "First page / Live",
diff --git a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/jp.ts b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/jp.ts
index d31cab62..7902b488 100644
--- a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/jp.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/jp.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 import type { TranslationKey } from './en'
 
 export const jp: Record<TranslationKey, string> = {
-  "chat.history.loadCheckpoints": "取り消しチェックポイントを読み込む",
-  "chat.history.windowNotice": "履歴の一部を表示しています。長い内容は短縮され、完全な履歴はディスクに保存されています。",
-  "chat.history.older": "以前のメッセージ",
-  "chat.history.latest": "最新のメッセージ",
-  "chat.history.recovering": "セッション状態を復元中…",
-  "chat.history.recoveryIncomplete": "一部のセッション状態を復元できませんでした。",
+  "chat.history.loading": "メッセージを読み込み中…",
+  "chat.history.loadFailed": "メッセージを読み込めませんでした。",
+  "chat.history.retry": "再試行",
+
   "trace.windowNotice": "会話とトレースは制限付きページで読み込まれます。",
   "trace.windowLimited": "表示上限を超えた記録があります。元のファイルは変更されません。",
   "trace.windowFirst": "先頭 / ライブ",
diff --git a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/kr.ts b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/kr.ts
index 14ed6941..f32f1f52 100644
--- a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/kr.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/kr.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 import type { TranslationKey } from './en'
 
 export const kr: Record<TranslationKey, string> = {
-  "chat.history.loadCheckpoints": "실행 취소 체크포인트 불러오기",
-  "chat.history.windowNotice": "일부 기록만 표시합니다. 긴 내용은 축약되며 전체 기록은 디스크에 보관됩니다.",
-  "chat.history.older": "이전 메시지",
-  "chat.history.latest": "최신 메시지",
-  "chat.history.recovering": "세션 상태 복원 중…",
-  "chat.history.recoveryIncomplete": "일부 세션 상태를 복원하지 못했습니다.",
+  "chat.history.loading": "메시지 불러오는 중…",
+  "chat.history.loadFailed": "메시지를 불러오지 못했습니다.",
+  "chat.history.retry": "다시 시도",
+
   "trace.windowNotice": "대화와 추적은 제한된 페이지로 불러옵니다.",
   "trace.windowLimited": "일부 기록이 표시 한도를 초과했습니다. 원본 파일은 유지됩니다.",
   "trace.windowFirst": "처음 / 실시간",
diff --git a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh-TW.ts b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh-TW.ts
index 46ebd4dc..e5c49918 100644
--- a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh-TW.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh-TW.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 import type { TranslationKey } from './en'
 
 export const zh: Record<TranslationKey, string> = {
-  "chat.history.loadCheckpoints": "載入復原檢查點",
-  "chat.history.windowNotice": "目前僅顯示部分歷史，較長內容已縮短；完整記錄仍儲存在磁碟。",
-  "chat.history.older": "更早訊息",
-  "chat.history.latest": "最新訊息",
-  "chat.history.recovering": "正在還原工作階段狀態…",
-  "chat.history.recoveryIncomplete": "部分工作階段狀態尚未還原。",
+  "chat.history.loading": "正在載入訊息…",
+  "chat.history.loadFailed": "訊息載入失敗。",
+  "chat.history.retry": "重試",
+
   "trace.windowNotice": "聊天記錄與追蹤以有限視窗載入。",
   "trace.windowLimited": "部分記錄超過檢視上限，原始檔案保持完整。",
   "trace.windowFirst": "首頁 / 即時",
diff --git a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh.ts b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh.ts
index 282fc0c5..11e02bf7 100644
--- a/desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/i18n/locales/zh.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 import type { TranslationKey } from './en'
 
 export const zh: Record<TranslationKey, string> = {
-  "chat.history.loadCheckpoints": "加载撤回检查点",
-  "chat.history.windowNotice": "当前仅显示部分历史，较长内容已缩短；完整记录仍保存在磁盘。",
-  "chat.history.older": "更早消息",
-  "chat.history.latest": "最新消息",
-  "chat.history.recovering": "正在恢复会话状态…",
-  "chat.history.recoveryIncomplete": "部分会话状态尚未恢复。",
+  "chat.history.loading": "正在加载消息…",
+  "chat.history.loadFailed": "消息加载失败。",
+  "chat.history.retry": "重试",
+
   "trace.windowNotice": "聊天记录与追踪按有限窗口加载。",
   "trace.windowLimited": "部分记录超出查看上限，原始文件保持完整。",
   "trace.windowFirst": "首页 / 实时",
diff --git a/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.test.ts b/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.test.ts
index f672a1b5..ca72e297 100644
--- a/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.test.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
-import { boundActivityText, boundChatHistory, CHAT_HISTORY_MAX_ROWS } from './chatHistoryBudget'
+import { boundActivityText, boundChatHistory, previewHistoryPage, CHAT_HISTORY_MAX_ROWS } from './chatHistoryBudget'
 import type { UIMessage } from '../types/chat'
 
 function text(id: number, content = 'message'): UIMessage {
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ function text(id: number, content = 'message'): UIMessage {
 }
 
 describe('chat history retention', () => {
+  it('uses spare page space for ordinary replies while bounding an oversized tool body', () => {
+    const normal = Array.from({ length: 100 }, (_, index) => text(index, 'A complete readable response. '.repeat(20)))
+    const huge = text(100, 'x'.repeat(2_000_000))
+    const result = previewHistoryPage([...normal, huge], 256 * 1024)
+    expect(result).toHaveLength(101)
+    for (let index = 0; index < normal.length; index++) expect(result[index]).toBe(normal[index])
+    expect(result.at(-1)).toMatchObject({ id: '100' })
+    expect(JSON.stringify(result).length * 2).toBeLessThan(256 * 1024)
+  })
+
   it('bounds many small rows and keeps the recent window', () => {
     const result = boundChatHistory(Array.from({ length: 2000 }, (_, index) => text(index)))
     expect(result.messages).toHaveLength(CHAT_HISTORY_MAX_ROWS)
diff --git a/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.ts b/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.ts
index b7f2fc7f..297f9f0d 100644
--- a/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryBudget.ts
@@ -14,14 +14,14 @@ export function copyChatPreview(value: string, maxChars: number, tail = false):
   return new TextDecoder().decode(new TextEncoder().encode(slice))
 }
 
-function previewMessage(message: UIMessage) {
-  const cached = cache.get(message)
+function previewMessage(message: UIMessage, maxChars = MESSAGE_MAX_CHARS, maxNodes = 2048) {
+  const cached = maxChars === MESSAGE_MAX_CHARS && maxNodes === 2048 ? cache.get(message) : undefined
   if (cached) return cached
-  let remaining = MESSAGE_MAX_CHARS
+  let remaining = maxChars
   let nodes = 0
   let clipped = false
   function visit(value: unknown, depth: number): unknown {
-    if (++nodes > 2048 || depth > 16) {
+    if (++nodes > maxNodes || depth > 16) {
       clipped = true
       return null
     }
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ function previewMessage(message: UIMessage) {
     let changed = false
     for (const key in value) {
       if (!Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(value, key)) continue
-      if (nodes > 2048 || remaining <= 0) { clipped = true; changed = true; break }
+      if (nodes > maxNodes || remaining <= 0) { clipped = true; changed = true; break }
       const before = (value as Record<string, unknown>)[key]
       const after = visit(before, depth + 1)
       const target = output as Record<string, unknown>
@@ -54,9 +54,11 @@ function previewMessage(message: UIMessage) {
   for (const key of ['content', 'input', 'modelContent', 'partialInput', 'summary', 'objective', 'message', 'tasks', 'attachments', 'task', 'files']) {
     if (key in result) result[key] = visit(result[key], 0)
   }
-  const entry = { message: clipped ? result : message, bytes: 256 + (MESSAGE_MAX_CHARS - remaining) * 2 + nodes * 32, clipped }
-  cache.set(message, entry)
-  cache.set(entry.message, entry)
+  const entry = { message: clipped ? result : message, bytes: 256 + (maxChars - remaining) * 2 + nodes * 32, clipped }
+  if (maxChars === MESSAGE_MAX_CHARS && maxNodes === 2048) {
+    cache.set(message, entry)
+    cache.set(entry.message, entry)
+  }
   return entry
 }
 
@@ -77,6 +79,30 @@ export function boundChatHistory(messages: UIMessage[], budget = CHAT_HISTORY_MA
   return { messages: start === 0 && retained.every((message, index) => message === messages[index]) ? messages : retained, bytes, dropped: start, clipped: clipped || start > 0 }
 }
 
+// A cursor describes a whole page. Preserve every row identity when tightening
+// a page's display budget, otherwise trimmed rows become unreachable by scrolling.
+export function previewHistoryPage(messages: UIMessage[], budget: number): UIMessage[] {
+  if (!messages.length) return messages
+  const entries = messages.map(message => previewMessage(message))
+  const result = entries.map(entry => entry.message)
+  if (entries.reduce((sum, entry) => sum + entry.bytes, 0) > budget) {
+    // Small messages keep their full content. Share the remaining allowance
+    // among larger payloads, rather than truncating every row to an equal size.
+    const order = entries.map((entry, index) => ({ entry, index })).sort((a, b) => a.entry.bytes - b.entry.bytes)
+    let remaining = budget
+    for (let index = 0; index < order.length; index++) {
+      const item = order[index]!
+      const allowance = Math.max(0, Math.floor(remaining / (order.length - index)))
+      if (item.entry.bytes <= allowance) { remaining -= item.entry.bytes; continue }
+      const payload = Math.max(0, allowance - 288)
+      const entry = previewMessage(item.entry.message, Math.min(MESSAGE_MAX_CHARS, Math.floor(payload / 4)), Math.max(1, Math.min(2048, Math.floor(payload / 64))))
+      result[item.index] = entry.message
+      remaining -= entry.bytes
+    }
+  }
+  return result.every((message, index) => message === messages[index]) ? messages : result
+}
+
 export const CHAT_TERMINAL_ACTIVITY_MAX_PER_SESSION = 500
 export const CHAT_TERMINAL_ACTIVITY_MAX_TOTAL = 4000
 const activityCache = new WeakMap<object, { budget: number; terminalLimit: number; result: object }>()
diff --git a/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.test.ts b/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cd695ce5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { boundHistoryWindow, historyWindowBoundary, historyWindowMessages, type HistoryWindowPage } from './chatHistoryWindow'
+
+function page(index: number, content = 'short message'): HistoryWindowPage {
+  return {
+    cursor: `page-${index}`,
+    page: { nextCursor: `older-${index}`, previousCursor: `newer-${index}`, hasMore: true, historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 100, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 },
+    messages: [{ id: String(index), type: 'assistant_text', timestamp: index, content }],
+  }
+}
+
+describe('continuous history window', () => {
+  it('keeps adjacent pages and a return cursor when the opposite edge is evicted', () => {
+    const pages = [0, 1, 2, 3].map(index => page(index))
+    const older = boundHistoryWindow(pages, 1024 * 1024, 'older')
+    expect(historyWindowMessages(older).map(message => message.id)).toEqual(['0', '1', '2'])
+    expect(historyWindowBoundary(older)).toMatchObject({ nextCursor: 'older-0', previousCursor: 'newer-2' })
+    const newer = boundHistoryWindow(pages, 1024 * 1024, 'newer')
+    expect(historyWindowMessages(newer).map(message => message.id)).toEqual(['1', '2', '3'])
+    expect(historyWindowBoundary(newer)).toMatchObject({ nextCursor: 'older-1', previousCursor: 'newer-3' })
+    expect(boundHistoryWindow(newer, 1024 * 1024, 'newer')).toBe(newer)
+  })
+
+  it('preserves every row identity when large bodies exhaust the display budget', () => {
+    const pages = [page(0), page(1), page(2)]
+    for (const [index, entry] of pages.entries()) entry.messages = Array.from({ length: 200 }, (_, row) => ({
+      id: `${index}-${row}`, type: 'assistant_text', timestamp: row, content: 'x'.repeat(32_000),
+    }))
+    const bounded = boundHistoryWindow(pages, 256 * 1024, 'older')
+    const messages = historyWindowMessages(bounded)
+    expect(messages).toHaveLength(600)
+    expect(messages.map(message => message.id)).toEqual(pages.flatMap(entry => entry.messages.map(message => message.id)))
+    expect(JSON.stringify(messages).length * 2).toBeLessThan(256 * 1024)
+    expect(pages[0]!.messages[0]).toMatchObject({ content: 'x'.repeat(32_000) })
+    expect(historyWindowMessages(bounded)).toBe(messages)
+  })
+
+  it('deduplicates overlapping page boundaries without reordering history', () => {
+    const first = page(0)
+    const second = page(1)
+    second.messages.unshift(first.messages[0]!)
+    expect(historyWindowMessages([first, second]).map(message => message.id)).toEqual(['0', '1'])
+    expect(historyWindowBoundary([first, second]).historyComplete).toBe(false)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.ts b/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6250107d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/desktop/src/lib/chatHistoryWindow.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import type { SessionHistoryPage } from '../api/sessions'
+import type { UIMessage } from '../types/chat'
+import { previewHistoryPage } from './chatHistoryBudget'
+
+export type HistoryDirection = 'older' | 'newer'
+export type HistoryWindowPage = {
+  cursor: string | null
+  page: NonNullable<SessionHistoryPage['page']>
+  messages: UIMessage[]
+}
+
+const MAX_WINDOW_PAGES = 3
+const cache = new WeakMap<HistoryWindowPage[], { budget: number; direction: HistoryDirection; pages: HistoryWindowPage[] }>()
+
+export function boundHistoryWindow(pages: HistoryWindowPage[], budget: number, direction: HistoryDirection): HistoryWindowPage[] {
+  const cached = cache.get(pages)
+  if (cached?.budget === budget && cached.direction === direction) return cached.pages
+  const selected = pages.length <= MAX_WINDOW_PAGES ? pages
+    : direction === 'older' ? pages.slice(0, MAX_WINDOW_PAGES) : pages.slice(-MAX_WINDOW_PAGES)
+  const perPage = Math.floor(budget / Math.max(1, selected.length))
+  const result = selected.map(page => {
+    const messages = previewHistoryPage(page.messages, perPage)
+    return messages === page.messages ? page : { ...page, messages }
+  })
+  const bounded = selected === pages && result.every((page, index) => page === pages[index]) ? pages : result
+  const memo = { budget, direction, pages: bounded }
+  cache.set(pages, memo)
+  cache.set(bounded, memo)
+  return bounded
+}
+
+const flattened = new WeakMap<HistoryWindowPage[], UIMessage[]>()
+export function historyWindowMessages(pages: HistoryWindowPage[]): UIMessage[] {
+  const cached = flattened.get(pages)
+  if (cached) return cached
+  const seen = new Set<string>()
+  const messages: UIMessage[] = []
+  for (const page of pages) for (const message of page.messages) {
+    if (seen.has(message.id)) continue
+    seen.add(message.id)
+    messages.push(message)
+  }
+  flattened.set(pages, messages)
+  return messages
+}
+
+export function historyWindowBoundary(pages: HistoryWindowPage[]): NonNullable<SessionHistoryPage['page']> {
+  const oldest = pages[0]!.page
+  const newest = pages[pages.length - 1]!.page
+  return {
+    ...oldest,
+    previousCursor: newest.previousCursor ?? null,
+    // A collection of display pages must never become authoritative recovery.
+    historyComplete: pages.length === 1 && oldest.historyComplete,
+  }
+}
diff --git a/desktop/src/stores/chatStore.test.ts b/desktop/src/stores/chatStore.test.ts
index f9096ff1..63a4efbd 100644
--- a/desktop/src/stores/chatStore.test.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/stores/chatStore.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
-import type { AgentTaskNotification } from '../types/chat'
+import type { AgentTaskNotification, UIMessage } from '../types/chat'
 import type { MessageEntry } from '../types/session'
 import type { SavedProvider } from '../types/provider'
 import {
@@ -15038,6 +15038,8 @@ describe('chatStore activity state survival across reload paths', () => {
     markCompletedAndDismissedMock.mockReset()
     updateTabStatusMock.mockReset()
     connectionStateHandlers.clear()
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockReset()
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockResolvedValue({ messages: [] })
     vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getMessages).mockReset()
     vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getMessages).mockResolvedValue({ messages: [] })
     vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getSlashCommands).mockReset()
@@ -15197,6 +15199,143 @@ describe('chatStore activity state survival across reload paths', () => {
     expect(setTasksFromTodosMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
   })
 
+  it('restores every initial cursor-page row when live display dropped multi-block rows', async () => {
+    const page = { nextCursor: 'older', hasMore: true, historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 100, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 }
+    const content = Array.from({ length: 600 }, (_, index) => ({ type: 'tool_use', id: `tool-${index}`, name: 'Read', input: {} }))
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getMessages).mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [{ id: 'many', type: 'assistant', content, timestamp: '2020-01-01T00:00:00Z' }], page })
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [TEST_SESSION_ID]: makeSession() } })
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!.messages).toHaveLength(600)
+    // Simulate a prior live-window eviction; the canonical seed remains complete.
+    useChatStore.setState(state => ({ sessions: { ...state.sessions, [TEST_SESSION_ID]: { ...state.sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!, messages: state.sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!.messages.slice(-500) } } }))
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [], page: { ...page, nextCursor: null, hasMore: false } })
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadOlderHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    const current = useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!
+    expect(current.historyBrowseMessages?.map(message => message.id)).toEqual(Array.from({ length: 600 }, (_, index) => `many-block-${index}`))
+    expect(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+  })
+
+  it('preserves every complete initial-page identity even when there is no older cursor', async () => {
+    const messages = Array.from({ length: 600 }, (_, index) => ({ id: `row-${index}`, type: 'assistant' as const, content: 'small', timestamp: new Date(index * 1000).toISOString() }))
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getMessages).mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages, page: { nextCursor: null, hasMore: false, historyComplete: true, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 100, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 } })
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [TEST_SESSION_ID]: makeSession() } })
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    const current = useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!
+    expect(current.messages.map(message => message.id)).toEqual(messages.map(message => message.id))
+    expect(current.historyPage?.nextCursor).toBeNull()
+  })
+
+  it('can repair an evicted live prefix even when the original complete page had no older cursor', async () => {
+    const page = { nextCursor: null, hasMore: false, historyComplete: true, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 100, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 }
+    const original: UIMessage = { id: 'original', type: 'assistant_text', content: 'original', timestamp: 0 }
+    useChatStore.getState().applyBoundedUpdate(() => ({ sessions: { [TEST_SESSION_ID]: makeSession({
+      messages: [original, ...Array.from({ length: 501 }, (_, index): UIMessage => ({ id: `live-${index}`, type: 'assistant_text', content: `live ${index}`, timestamp: index + 1 }))],
+      historyPage: page, historyInitialPage: { cursor: null, page, messages: [original] },
+    }) } }))
+    expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]?.historyLiveGap).toBe(true)
+    expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]?.historyPage?.nextCursor).toBeNull()
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage)
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [{ id: 'live-500', type: 'assistant', content: 'live 500', timestamp: new Date(501).toISOString() }], page: { ...page, nextCursor: 'fresh-before', hasMore: true, historyComplete: false } })
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [{ id: 'live-0', type: 'assistant', content: 'live 0', timestamp: new Date(1).toISOString() }], page })
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadOlderHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    expect(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(1, TEST_SESSION_ID, undefined, expect.anything())
+    expect(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, TEST_SESSION_ID, { cursor: 'fresh-before' }, expect.anything())
+    expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]?.historyBrowseMessages?.some(message => message.id === 'live-0')).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('keeps the live top anchor as a cursorless overlay until fresh canonical pages reach it', async () => {
+    const page = (cursor: string | null) => ({ nextCursor: cursor, hasMore: Boolean(cursor), historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'fresh', scannedBytes: 100, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 })
+    const ui = (index: number): UIMessage => ({ id: `m${index}`, type: 'assistant_text', content: `row ${index}`, timestamp: index * 1000 })
+    const raw = (index: number) => ({ id: `m${index}`, type: 'assistant' as const, content: `row ${index}`, timestamp: new Date(index * 1000).toISOString() })
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [TEST_SESSION_ID]: makeSession({
+      messages: [2, 3, 4, 5].map(ui), historyPage: page('stale-older'),
+      historyInitialPage: { cursor: null, page: page('stale-older'), messages: [ui(1)] },
+    }) } })
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage)
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [raw(5)], page: page('before-5') })
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [raw(4)], page: { ...page('before-4'), previousCursor: 'after-4' } })
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadOlderHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    let current = useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!
+    expect(current.historyBrowseMessages?.map(message => message.id)).toEqual(['m2', 'm3', 'm4', 'm5'])
+    expect(current.historyPage?.nextCursor).toBe('before-4')
+    expect(current.historyWindowPages?.flatMap(entry => entry.messages.map(message => message.id))).toEqual(['m4', 'm5'])
+    expect(current.historyWindowOverlay).toHaveLength(4)
+    expect(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(1, TEST_SESSION_ID, undefined, expect.anything())
+    expect(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, TEST_SESSION_ID, { cursor: 'before-5' }, expect.anything())
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [raw(2), raw(3)], page: { ...page('before-2'), previousCursor: 'after-3' } })
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadOlderHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    current = useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!
+    expect(current.historyBrowseMessages?.map(message => message.id)).toEqual(['m2', 'm3', 'm4', 'm5'])
+    expect(current.historyWindowOverlay).toBeUndefined()
+  })
+
+  it('consumes a prefetched page once, keeps adjacent history, and restores evicted newer pages', async () => {
+    const page = (index: number) => ({ nextCursor: index ? `older-${index}` : null, previousCursor: index < 4 ? `newer-${index}` : null, hasMore: index > 0, historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 10, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 })
+    const response = (index: number) => ({ messages: [{ id: `m${index}`, type: 'assistant' as const, content: `page ${index}`, timestamp: '2020-01-01T00:00:00Z' }], page: page(index) })
+    const live = [{ id: 'm4', type: 'assistant_text' as const, content: 'page 4', timestamp: 1 }]
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [TEST_SESSION_ID]: makeSession({ messages: live, historyPage: page(4) }) } })
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockResolvedValueOnce(response(3))
+    await useChatStore.getState().prefetchHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID, 'older')
+    expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]?.historyBrowseMessages).toBeUndefined()
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadOlderHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    expect(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]?.historyBrowseMessages?.map(message => 'content' in message ? message.content : undefined)).toEqual(['page 3', 'page 4'])
+    for (const index of [2, 1, 0]) {
+      vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockResolvedValueOnce(response(index))
+      await useChatStore.getState().loadOlderHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    }
+    let current = useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!
+    expect(current.historyWindowPages).toHaveLength(3)
+    expect(current.historyBrowseMessages?.map(message => 'content' in message ? message.content : undefined)).toEqual(['page 0', 'page 1', 'page 2'])
+    expect(current.historyPage).toMatchObject({ nextCursor: null, previousCursor: 'newer-2' })
+    expect(current.messages).toBe(live)
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockResolvedValueOnce(response(3))
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadNewerHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    current = useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!
+    expect(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith(TEST_SESSION_ID, { cursor: 'newer-2' }, expect.anything())
+    expect(current.historyBrowseMessages?.map(message => 'content' in message ? message.content : undefined)).toEqual(['page 1', 'page 2', 'page 3'])
+    expect(current.historyWindowRevision).toBe(5)
+  })
+
+  it('lets return-to-latest cancel an in-flight older page without a late overwrite', async () => {
+    const page = { nextCursor: 'older', hasMore: true, historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 10, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 }
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [TEST_SESSION_ID]: makeSession({ historyPage: page }) } })
+    let resolveOlder!: (value: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof sessionsApi.getHistoryPage>>) => void
+    let signal: AbortSignal | undefined
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockImplementationOnce((_id, _cursor, options) => {
+      signal = options?.signal
+      return new Promise(resolve => { resolveOlder = resolve })
+    })
+    const older = useChatStore.getState().loadOlderHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockResolvedValueOnce({ messages: [{ id: 'latest', type: 'assistant', content: 'latest response', timestamp: '2020-01-01T00:00:00Z' }], page: { ...page, nextCursor: null, hasMore: false, historyComplete: true } })
+    await useChatStore.getState().loadOlderHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID, true)
+    expect(signal?.aborted).toBe(true)
+    resolveOlder({ messages: [{ id: 'stale', type: 'assistant', content: 'stale', timestamp: '2020-01-01T00:00:00Z' }], page })
+    await older
+    const current = useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]!
+    expect(current.historyBrowseMessages).toBeUndefined()
+    expect(current.messages.map(message => 'content' in message ? message.content : undefined)).toEqual(['latest response'])
+    expect(current.historyPageLoading).toBe(false)
+    expect(current.historyWindowed).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  it('cancels speculative history on authoritative reload without inserting it', async () => {
+    const page = { nextCursor: 'older', hasMore: true, historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 10, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 }
+    useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [TEST_SESSION_ID]: makeSession({ historyPage: page }) } })
+    let resolveOlder!: (value: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof sessionsApi.getHistoryPage>>) => void
+    let signal: AbortSignal | undefined
+    vi.mocked(sessionsApi.getHistoryPage).mockImplementationOnce((_id, _cursor, options) => {
+      signal = options?.signal
+      return new Promise(resolve => { resolveOlder = resolve })
+    })
+    const prefetch = useChatStore.getState().prefetchHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID, 'older')
+    await useChatStore.getState().reloadHistory(TEST_SESSION_ID)
+    expect(signal?.aborted).toBe(true)
+    resolveOlder({ messages: [], page })
+    await prefetch
+    expect(useChatStore.getState().sessions[TEST_SESSION_ID]?.historyBrowseMessages).toBeUndefined()
+  })
+
   it.each(['loadHistory', 'reloadHistory'] as const)('cancels an older page before %s replaces the current history', async (action) => {
     const page = { nextCursor: 'older', hasMore: true, historyComplete: false, sourceVersion: 'v1', scannedBytes: 10, omittedOversizedEntries: 0 }
     useChatStore.setState({ sessions: { [TEST_SESSION_ID]: makeSession({ historyPage: page }) } })
diff --git a/desktop/src/stores/chatStore.ts b/desktop/src/stores/chatStore.ts
index 6de3179a..abf09421 100644
--- a/desktop/src/stores/chatStore.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/stores/chatStore.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+import { boundHistoryWindow, historyWindowBoundary, historyWindowMessages, type HistoryDirection, type HistoryWindowPage } from '../lib/chatHistoryWindow'
 import { create } from 'zustand'
-import { boundActivityText, boundChatHistory, copyChatPreview, CHAT_STREAM_MAX_CHARS, CHAT_TERMINAL_ACTIVITY_MAX_PER_SESSION, CHAT_TERMINAL_ACTIVITY_MAX_TOTAL } from '../lib/chatHistoryBudget'
+import { boundActivityText, boundChatHistory, previewHistoryPage, copyChatPreview, CHAT_STREAM_MAX_CHARS, CHAT_TERMINAL_ACTIVITY_MAX_PER_SESSION, CHAT_TERMINAL_ACTIVITY_MAX_TOTAL } from '../lib/chatHistoryBudget'
 import { wsManager } from '../api/websocket'
 import { sessionsApi, type SessionHistoryPage } from '../api/sessions'
 import { ApiResponseParseError } from '../api/client'
@@ -135,7 +136,14 @@ export type PerSessionState = {
   historyError?: string | null
   historyPage?: SessionHistoryPage['page']
   historyWindowed?: boolean
+  historyLiveGap?: boolean
   historyPageLoading?: boolean
+  historyPageDirection?: HistoryDirection | 'latest'
+  historyWindowRevision?: number
+  historyWindowPages?: HistoryWindowPage[]
+  historyLivePage?: SessionHistoryPage['page']
+  historyInitialPage?: HistoryWindowPage
+  historyWindowOverlay?: UIMessage[]
   historyViewingOlder?: boolean
   historyBrowseMessages?: UIMessage[]
   historyRecoveryStatus?: 'loading' | 'ready' | 'incomplete' | 'error'
@@ -420,6 +428,8 @@ type ChatStore = {
     options?: { mode?: 'terminal-reconnect' },
   ) => Promise<void>
   loadOlderHistory: (sessionId: string, latest?: boolean) => Promise<void>
+  loadNewerHistory: (sessionId: string) => Promise<void>
+  prefetchHistory: (sessionId: string, direction: HistoryDirection) => Promise<void>
   reloadHistory: (
     sessionId: string,
     guard?: {
@@ -2336,6 +2346,36 @@ type TerminalReconnectHistoryBoundary = {
 const historyLoadsInFlight = new Map<string, HistoryLoadInFlight>()
 const historyRecoveryControllers = new Map<string, AbortController>()
 const historyPageControllers = new Map<string, AbortController>()
+type PreparedHistoryPage = { messages: UIMessage[]; page: SessionHistoryPage['page'] }
+const historyPrefetches = new Map<string, { cursor: string | null; controller: AbortController; promise: Promise<PreparedHistoryPage> }>()
+
+function invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId: string) {
+  historyPrefetches.get(sessionId)?.controller.abort()
+  historyPrefetches.delete(sessionId)
+}
+
+async function prepareHistoryPage(sessionId: string, cursor: string | null, signal: AbortSignal): Promise<PreparedHistoryPage> {
+  const response = await sessionsApi.getHistoryPage(sessionId, cursor ? { cursor } : undefined, { signal })
+  const messages = mapHistoryMessagesToUiMessages(response.messages)
+  // Keep speculative work small; retain all row identities within a cursor page.
+  return { messages: previewHistoryPage(messages, 256 * 1024), page: response.page }
+}
+
+async function requestHistoryPage(sessionId: string, cursor: string | null, signal: AbortSignal): Promise<PreparedHistoryPage> {
+  const prefetched = historyPrefetches.get(sessionId)
+  if (prefetched?.cursor === cursor && !prefetched.controller.signal.aborted) {
+    const abort = () => prefetched.controller.abort()
+    signal.addEventListener('abort', abort, { once: true })
+    try { return await prefetched.promise }
+    finally {
+      signal.removeEventListener('abort', abort)
+      if (historyPrefetches.get(sessionId) === prefetched) historyPrefetches.delete(sessionId)
+    }
+  }
+  invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId)
+  return prepareHistoryPage(sessionId, cursor, signal)
+}
+
 const historyReloadControllers = new Map<string, AbortController>()
 const historyReloadGenerations = new Map<string, number>()
 const historyReloadCompletionGenerations = new Map<string, number>()
@@ -2352,6 +2392,7 @@ function currentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId: string): number {
 function advanceHistoryLifecycle(sessionId: string): number {
   const nextGeneration = currentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId) + 1
   historyLifecycleGenerations.set(sessionId, nextGeneration)
+  invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId)
   historyLoadsInFlight.get(sessionId)?.controller.abort()
   historyLoadsInFlight.delete(sessionId)
   historyReloadControllers.get(sessionId)?.abort()
@@ -2701,6 +2742,107 @@ function activeGoalAfterHistoryLoad(
   return session.activeGoal ?? null
 }
 
+const overlayWindowCache = new WeakMap<HistoryWindowPage[], WeakMap<UIMessage[], UIMessage[]>>()
+function messagesWithHistoryOverlay(pages: HistoryWindowPage[], overlay?: UIMessage[]): UIMessage[] {
+  const canonical = historyWindowMessages(pages)
+  if (!overlay?.length) return canonical
+  const cache = overlayWindowCache.get(pages) ?? new WeakMap<UIMessage[], UIMessage[]>()
+  overlayWindowCache.set(pages, cache)
+  const existing = cache.get(overlay)
+  if (existing) return existing
+  const indexes = new Map<string, number>()
+  canonical.forEach((message, index) => strongHistoryMessageIdentities(message).forEach(identity => indexes.set(identity, index)))
+  const buckets = new Map<number, UIMessage[]>()
+  const matched = new Map<number, UIMessage>()
+  let before = canonical.length
+  for (let index = overlay.length - 1; index >= 0; index--) {
+    const message = overlay[index]!
+    const target = strongHistoryMessageIdentities(message).map(identity => indexes.get(identity)).find(value => value !== undefined)
+    if (target !== undefined) { before = target; matched.set(target, message); continue }
+    // A disconnected live prefix has no shared row yet. Keep it visible until
+    // canonical paging reaches it; it never supplies a backend cursor.
+    if (before === canonical.length && message.timestamp < (canonical[0]?.timestamp ?? -Infinity)) before = 0
+    const bucket = buckets.get(before) ?? []
+    bucket.unshift(message)
+    buckets.set(before, bucket)
+  }
+  const result: UIMessage[] = []
+  canonical.forEach((message, index) => { result.push(...(buckets.get(index) ?? []), matched.get(index) ?? message) })
+  result.push(...(buckets.get(canonical.length) ?? []))
+  cache.set(overlay, result)
+  return result
+}
+
+async function changeHistoryWindow(
+  sessionId: string,
+  direction: HistoryDirection | 'latest',
+  get: () => ChatStore,
+  set: (update: (state: ChatStore) => Partial<ChatStore>) => void,
+) {
+  const session = get().sessions[sessionId]
+  let cursor = direction === 'latest' ? null : direction === 'older' ? session?.historyPage?.nextCursor : session?.historyPage?.previousCursor
+  if (!session || (direction !== 'latest' && ((!cursor && !(direction === 'older' && session.historyLiveGap)) || session.historyPageLoading))) return
+  if (direction === 'latest') invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId)
+  const lifecycle = currentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId)
+  const controller = new AbortController()
+  historyPageControllers.get(sessionId)?.abort()
+  historyPageControllers.set(sessionId, controller)
+  set(state => ({ sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, () => ({ historyPageLoading: true, historyPageDirection: direction, historyError: null })) }))
+  try {
+    let seed = session.historyInitialPage
+    let overlay: UIMessage[] | undefined
+    if (direction === 'older' && !session.historyWindowPages && (seed || session.historyLiveGap)) {
+      const identities = new Set(seed?.messages.flatMap(strongHistoryMessageIdentities) ?? [])
+      const liveChanged = session.historyLiveGap || session.messages.some(message => !strongHistoryMessageIdentities(message).some(identity => identities.has(identity)))
+      if (liveChanged) {
+        invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId)
+        const fresh = await requestHistoryPage(sessionId, null, controller.signal)
+        if (controller.signal.aborted || !isCurrentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId, lifecycle)) return
+        seed = fresh.page ? { cursor: null, page: fresh.page, messages: fresh.messages } : undefined
+        overlay = session.messages
+        cursor = fresh.page?.nextCursor ?? null
+      }
+    }
+    const result = direction === 'older' && seed && !cursor
+      ? { messages: [] as UIMessage[], page: undefined }
+      : await requestHistoryPage(sessionId, cursor ?? null, controller.signal)
+    if (controller.signal.aborted || !isCurrentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId, lifecycle)) return
+    set(state => ({ sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, current => {
+      if (direction === 'latest' || (!result.page && !seed)) return {
+        messages: mergeColdRestoredHistoryIntoLiveMessages(result.messages, current.messages),
+        historyBrowseMessages: undefined, historyWindowPages: undefined, historyLivePage: undefined, historyWindowOverlay: undefined,
+        historyInitialPage: result.page ? { cursor: null, page: result.page, messages: result.messages } : undefined,
+        historyPage: result.page, historyViewingOlder: false, historyLiveGap: false,
+        historyWindowed: Boolean(result.page && !result.page.historyComplete),
+        historyWindowRevision: (current.historyWindowRevision ?? 0) + 1,
+      }
+      const previous = current.historyWindowPages ?? (seed ? [seed] : current.historyPage ? [{
+        cursor: null, page: current.historyPage, messages: current.historyBrowseMessages ?? current.messages,
+      }] : [])
+      const incoming = result.page ? { cursor: cursor ?? null, page: result.page, messages: result.messages } : undefined
+      const pages = !incoming ? previous : direction === 'older' ? [incoming, ...previous] : [...previous, incoming]
+      return {
+        historyWindowPages: pages,
+        historyLiveGap: false,
+        historyWindowOverlay: overlay ?? current.historyWindowOverlay,
+        historyLivePage: current.historyLivePage ?? current.historyPage,
+        historyBrowseMessages: messagesWithHistoryOverlay(pages, overlay ?? current.historyWindowOverlay),
+        historyPage: historyWindowBoundary(pages), historyViewingOlder: true, historyWindowed: true,
+        historyWindowRevision: (current.historyWindowRevision ?? 0) + 1,
+      }
+    }) }))
+    if (direction === 'latest' && result.page && !result.page.historyComplete) void recoverSessionHistory(sessionId, result.page.sourceVersion)
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (controller.signal.aborted || !isCurrentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId, lifecycle)) return
+    set(state => ({ sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, () => ({ historyError: describeHistoryLoadError(error) })) }))
+  } finally {
+    if (historyPageControllers.get(sessionId) === controller) {
+      historyPageControllers.delete(sessionId)
+      set(state => ({ sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, () => ({ historyPageLoading: false })) }))
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 function shouldPrewarmSession(sessionId: string): boolean {
   const knownSession = useSessionStore.getState().sessions.find((session) => session.id === sessionId)
   return knownSession?.messageCount === 0
@@ -2722,16 +2864,40 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
         const activityBudget = Math.floor(budget / 8)
         const tasks = boundActivityText(session.backgroundAgentTasks, activityBudget, terminalLimit)
         const notifications = boundActivityText(session.agentTaskNotifications, activityBudget, terminalLimit)!
-        const bounded = boundChatHistory(session.messages, session.historyBrowseMessages ? Math.floor(displayBudget / 2) : displayBudget)
-        const browse = session.historyBrowseMessages ? boundChatHistory(session.historyBrowseMessages, Math.floor(displayBudget / 2)).messages : undefined
+        const liveBudget = session.historyBrowseMessages ? Math.floor(displayBudget / 4) : session.historyInitialPage ? Math.floor(displayBudget * 3 / 4) : displayBudget
+        const initialIdentities = session.historyInitialPage
+          ? new Set(session.historyInitialPage.messages.flatMap(strongHistoryMessageIdentities)) : undefined
+        const isCompleteInitialPage = initialIdentities && session.messages.every(message => strongHistoryMessageIdentities(message).some(identity => initialIdentities.has(identity)))
+        const bounded = isCompleteInitialPage
+          ? { messages: previewHistoryPage(session.messages, liveBudget), dropped: 0 }
+          : boundChatHistory(session.messages, liveBudget)
+        const pages = session.historyWindowPages
+          ? boundHistoryWindow(session.historyWindowPages, Math.floor(displayBudget / 2), session.historyPageDirection === 'newer' ? 'newer' : 'older')
+          : undefined
+        let overlay = session.historyWindowOverlay
+        if (overlay?.length && pages?.length) {
+          const canonical = historyWindowMessages(pages)
+          const identities = new Set(canonical.map(message => message.id))
+          if (overlay.every(message => identities.has(message.id)) ||
+            (session.historyPageDirection === 'older' && (canonical[canonical.length - 1]?.timestamp ?? Infinity) < overlay[0]!.timestamp)) overlay = undefined
+          else overlay = previewHistoryPage(overlay, Math.floor(displayBudget / 8))
+        }
+        const initialPage = session.historyInitialPage
+          ? { ...session.historyInitialPage, messages: previewHistoryPage(session.historyInitialPage.messages, Math.floor(displayBudget / (session.historyBrowseMessages ? 8 : 4))) }
+          : undefined
+        const browse = pages ? messagesWithHistoryOverlay(pages, overlay)
+          : session.historyBrowseMessages ? boundChatHistory(session.historyBrowseMessages, Math.floor(displayBudget / 2)).messages : undefined
         const text = copyChatPreview(session.streamingText, CHAT_STREAM_MAX_CHARS, true)
         const input = copyChatPreview(session.streamingToolInput, CHAT_STREAM_MAX_CHARS)
-        if (bounded.messages === session.messages && browse === session.historyBrowseMessages && text === session.streamingText && input === session.streamingToolInput && tasks === session.backgroundAgentTasks && notifications === session.agentTaskNotifications) continue
+        if (initialPage?.messages === session.historyInitialPage?.messages && overlay === session.historyWindowOverlay && bounded.messages === session.messages && browse === session.historyBrowseMessages && pages === session.historyWindowPages && text === session.streamingText && input === session.streamingToolInput && tasks === session.backgroundAgentTasks && notifications === session.agentTaskNotifications) continue
         if (sessions === patch.sessions) sessions = { ...sessions }
         sessions[id] = {
-          ...session, messages: bounded.messages, historyBrowseMessages: browse, streamingText: text, streamingToolInput: input,
+          ...session, messages: bounded.messages, historyBrowseMessages: browse, historyWindowPages: pages, historyWindowOverlay: overlay, historyInitialPage: initialPage,
+          ...(pages ? { historyPage: historyWindowBoundary(pages) } : {}),
+          streamingText: text, streamingToolInput: input,
           backgroundAgentTasks: tasks, agentTaskNotifications: notifications,
           historyWindowed: true,
+          historyLiveGap: session.historyLiveGap || bounded.dropped > 0,
           ...(bounded.dropped && session.streamAttemptStartIndex !== undefined
             ? { streamAttemptStartIndex: Math.max(0, session.streamAttemptStartIndex - bounded.dropped) } : {}),
         }
@@ -3085,6 +3251,10 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
       updateOptimisticSessionTitle(sessionId, userFacingContent || content.trim())
     }
 
+    // An explicit send returns to the live conversation; background events do not.
+    invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId)
+    historyPageControllers.get(sessionId)?.abort()
+    historyPageControllers.delete(sessionId)
     set((s) => {
       const session = s.sessions[sessionId] ?? createDefaultSessionState()
       const bufferedDelta = consumePendingDelta(sessionId)
@@ -3126,6 +3296,13 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
           [sessionId]: {
             ...session,
             messages: newMessages,
+            historyBrowseMessages: undefined,
+            historyWindowPages: undefined,
+            historyWindowOverlay: undefined,
+            historyPage: session.historyLivePage ?? session.historyPage,
+            historyLivePage: undefined,
+            historyViewingOlder: false,
+            historyPageLoading: false,
             chatState: 'thinking',
             isPreparingTurn: false,
             historyMutationEpoch: (session.historyMutationEpoch ?? 0) + 1,
@@ -3364,6 +3541,7 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
   },
 
   loadHistory: async (sessionId, options) => {
+    invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId)
     if (historyPageControllers.has(sessionId)) {
       historyPageControllers.get(sessionId)?.abort()
       historyPageControllers.delete(sessionId)
@@ -3621,8 +3799,13 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
               return {
                 historyStatus: 'ready',
                 historyPage: page,
+                historyInitialPage: page ? { cursor: null, page, messages: previewHistoryPage(uiMessages, 256 * 1024) } : undefined,
+                historyLiveGap: false,
                 historyViewingOlder: false,
                 historyBrowseMessages: undefined,
+                historyWindowPages: undefined,
+                historyWindowOverlay: undefined,
+                historyLivePage: undefined,
                 historyWindowed: !historyComplete,
                 historyRecoveryStatus: historyComplete ? 'ready' : 'loading',
                 historyHydrated: true,
@@ -3711,8 +3894,13 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
             return {
               historyStatus: 'ready',
               historyPage: page,
+              historyInitialPage: page ? { cursor: null, page, messages: previewHistoryPage(uiMessages, 256 * 1024) } : undefined,
+                historyLiveGap: false,
               historyViewingOlder: false,
               historyBrowseMessages: undefined,
+              historyWindowPages: undefined,
+              historyWindowOverlay: undefined,
+              historyLivePage: undefined,
               historyWindowed: !historyComplete,
               historyRecoveryStatus: historyComplete ? 'ready' : 'loading',
               historyHydrated: true,
@@ -3834,39 +4022,34 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
     return load
   },
 
-  loadOlderHistory: async (sessionId, latest = false) => {
+  prefetchHistory: async (sessionId, direction) => {
     const session = get().sessions[sessionId]
-    const cursor = session?.historyPage?.nextCursor
-    if (!session || (!latest && !cursor) || session.historyPageLoading) return
-    const lifecycle = currentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId)
+    const cursor = direction === 'older' ? session?.historyPage?.nextCursor : session?.historyPage?.previousCursor
+    if (!cursor || session?.historyPageLoading || historyPrefetches.get(sessionId)?.cursor === cursor) return
+    invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId)
+    while (historyPrefetches.size >= 4) invalidateHistoryPrefetch(historyPrefetches.keys().next().value!)
     const controller = new AbortController()
-    historyPageControllers.get(sessionId)?.abort()
-    historyPageControllers.set(sessionId, controller)
-    set((state) => ({ sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, () => ({ historyPageLoading: true, historyError: null })) }))
-    try {
-      const result = await sessionsApi.getHistoryPage(sessionId, latest ? undefined : { cursor: cursor! }, { signal: controller.signal })
-      if (controller.signal.aborted || !isCurrentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId, lifecycle)) return
-      const messages = mapHistoryMessagesToUiMessages(result.messages)
-      set((state) => ({ sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, (current) => ({
-        ...(latest ? {
-          messages: mergeColdRestoredHistoryIntoLiveMessages(messages, current.messages),
-          historyBrowseMessages: undefined,
-        } : { historyBrowseMessages: messages }),
-        historyPage: result.page, historyViewingOlder: !latest, historyWindowed: true,
-      })) }))
-      if (latest && result.page && !result.page.historyComplete) void recoverSessionHistory(sessionId, result.page.sourceVersion)
-    } catch (error) {
-      if (controller.signal.aborted || !isCurrentHistoryLifecycle(sessionId, lifecycle)) return
-      set((state) => ({ sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, () => ({ historyError: describeHistoryLoadError(error) })) }))
-    } finally {
-      if (historyPageControllers.get(sessionId) === controller) {
-        historyPageControllers.delete(sessionId)
-        set((state) => ({ sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, () => ({ historyPageLoading: false })) }))
-      }
+    const pending = { cursor, controller, promise: prepareHistoryPage(sessionId, cursor, controller.signal) }
+    historyPrefetches.set(sessionId, pending)
+    try { await pending.promise }
+    catch {
+      // Speculative failure is retried only when this page is actually requested.
+      if (historyPrefetches.get(sessionId) === pending) historyPrefetches.delete(sessionId)
     }
   },
 
+  loadOlderHistory: async (sessionId, latest = false) => {
+    await changeHistoryWindow(sessionId, latest ? 'latest' : 'older', get, set)
+  },
+
+  loadNewerHistory: async (sessionId) => {
+    const current = get().sessions[sessionId]
+    if (!current?.historyBrowseMessages) return
+    await changeHistoryWindow(sessionId, current.historyPage?.previousCursor ? 'newer' : 'latest', get, set)
+  },
+
   reloadHistory: async (sessionId, guard) => {
+    invalidateHistoryPrefetch(sessionId)
     if (historyPageControllers.has(sessionId)) {
       historyPageControllers.get(sessionId)?.abort()
       historyPageControllers.delete(sessionId)
@@ -3989,8 +4172,13 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
           sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, () => ({
             historyStatus: 'ready',
             historyPage: page,
+            historyInitialPage: page ? { cursor: null, page, messages: previewHistoryPage(uiMessages, 256 * 1024) } : undefined,
+                historyLiveGap: false,
             historyViewingOlder: false,
             historyBrowseMessages: undefined,
+            historyWindowPages: undefined,
+            historyWindowOverlay: undefined,
+            historyLivePage: undefined,
             historyWindowed: !historyComplete,
             historyRecoveryStatus: historyComplete ? 'ready' : 'loading',
             historyHydrated: true,
@@ -5524,8 +5712,13 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((setState, get) => {
             historyMutationEpoch: (session?.historyMutationEpoch ?? 0) + 1,
             historyStatus: 'ready',
             historyPage: undefined,
+            historyInitialPage: undefined,
+            historyLiveGap: false,
             historyViewingOlder: false,
             historyBrowseMessages: undefined,
+            historyWindowPages: undefined,
+            historyWindowOverlay: undefined,
+            historyLivePage: undefined,
             historyWindowed: false,
             historyHydrated: true,
             historyError: null,
diff --git a/src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.test.ts b/src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.test.ts
index 20c6a64a..99349760 100644
--- a/src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.test.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test'
 import { mkdtemp, rm, writeFile, appendFile, open, rename } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
-import { readBoundedHistoryPage, streamBoundedHistory, withHistoryReadBudget, HISTORY_SCAN_BYTES, HISTORY_RECORD_BYTES } from './boundedSessionHistory.js'
+import { readBoundedHistoryPage, streamBoundedHistory, withHistoryReadBudget, HISTORY_SCAN_BYTES, HISTORY_RECORD_BYTES, HISTORY_PAGE_BYTES, HISTORY_PAGE_ROWS } from './boundedSessionHistory.js'
 
 let directory: string
 let file: string
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ describe('bounded history pages', () => {
     await writeFile(file, row('before'))
     const handle = await open(file, 'a')
     await handle.write('{"message":"')
-    for (let index = 0; index < 12; index++) await handle.write('x'.repeat(1024 * 1024))
+    for (let index = 0; index < 36; index++) await handle.write('x'.repeat(1024 * 1024))
     await handle.write('"}\n' + row('after'))
     await handle.close()
     let cursor: string | undefined
@@ -52,6 +52,102 @@ describe('bounded history pages', () => {
     expect(omissions).toBe(1)
   })
 
+  test('moves to the immediately newer window without reading appended records outside the snapshot', async () => {
+    await writeFile(file, Array.from({ length: 10 }, (_, index) => row(String(index))).join(''))
+    const latest = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { limit: 3 })
+    expect(latest.entries.map(item => item.entry.uuid)).toEqual(['7', '8', '9'])
+    expect(latest.page.previousCursor).toBeNull()
+    const older = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { limit: 3, cursor: latest.page.nextCursor! })
+    expect(older.entries.map(item => item.entry.uuid)).toEqual(['4', '5', '6'])
+    await appendFile(file, row('10'))
+    const newer = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { limit: 3, cursor: older.page.previousCursor! })
+    expect(newer.entries.map(item => item.entry.uuid)).toEqual(['7', '8', '9'])
+    expect(newer.page.previousCursor).toBeNull()
+    expect(newer.page.sourceVersion).toBe(latest.page.sourceVersion)
+    const earlier = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { cursor: older.page.nextCursor! })
+    expect(earlier.entries.map(item => item.entry.uuid)).toEqual(['0', '1', '2', '3'])
+    expect(earlier.page.historyComplete).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  test('reads small pages on demand and preserves a large tool result as a bounded identified preview', async () => {
+    const huge = JSON.stringify({ type: 'user', uuid: 'large-result', message: { role: 'user', content: [{ type: 'tool_result', tool_use_id: 'bash-1', is_error: false, content: 'x'.repeat(4 * 1024 * 1024) }] } }) + '\n'
+    await writeFile(file, huge + Array.from({ length: 158 }, (_, index) => row(String(index))).join(''))
+    const tiny = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { limit: 3 })
+    expect(tiny.page.scannedBytes).toBeLessThanOrEqual(96 * 1024)
+    const all = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file)
+    expect(all.entries).toHaveLength(159)
+    expect(all.page.nextCursor).toBeNull()
+    expect(all.page.omittedOversizedEntries).toBe(0)
+    expect(all.page.contentTruncated).toBe(true)
+    expect(all.page.historyComplete).toBe(false)
+    expect(all.entries[0]!.entry).toMatchObject({ uuid: 'large-result', bodyTruncated: true, message: { content: [{ type: 'tool_result', tool_use_id: 'bash-1', is_error: false }] } })
+    expect(Buffer.byteLength(JSON.stringify(all.entries.map(item => item.entry)))).toBeLessThan(HISTORY_PAGE_BYTES)
+  })
+
+  test('forward continuation crosses giant records and 64KiB boundaries without losing adjacent messages', async () => {
+    await writeFile(file, row('before'))
+    const handle = await open(file, 'a')
+    await handle.write('{"message":"')
+    for (let index = 0; index < 36; index++) await handle.write('x'.repeat(1024 * 1024))
+    await handle.write('"}\n' + row('after', 'z'.repeat(70 * 1024)) + row('last'))
+    await handle.close()
+    let backward = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { limit: 1 })
+    while (backward.page.nextCursor) backward = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { cursor: backward.page.nextCursor!, limit: 1 })
+    expect(backward.entries.map(item => item.entry.uuid)).toEqual(['before'])
+    const ids: unknown[] = []
+    let cursor = backward.page.previousCursor
+    let count = 0
+    while (cursor) {
+      const page = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { cursor, limit: 1 })
+      ids.push(...page.entries.map(item => item.entry.uuid))
+      expect(page.page.scannedBytes).toBeLessThanOrEqual(HISTORY_SCAN_BYTES)
+      cursor = page.page.previousCursor
+      expect(++count).toBeLessThan(8)
+    }
+    expect(ids).toEqual(['after', 'last'])
+  })
+
+  test('preserves tool identities after earlier content exhausts the display text budget', async () => {
+    await writeFile(file, JSON.stringify({ type: 'assistant', uuid: 'many-tools', message: { role: 'assistant', content: [
+      ...Array.from({ length: 4 }, () => ({ type: 'text', text: 'x'.repeat(32 * 1024) })),
+      { type: 'tool_use', id: 'last-tool', name: 'Bash', input: { command: 'echo okay' } },
+    ] } }) + '\n')
+    const result = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file)
+    const content = (result.entries[0]!.entry.message as { content: unknown[] }).content
+    expect(content.at(-1)).toMatchObject({ type: 'tool_use', id: 'last-tool', name: 'Bash' })
+    expect(result.page.contentTruncated).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  test('rejects an in-place rewrite that grows instead of mixing replacement records into the old snapshot', async () => {
+    await writeFile(file, Array.from({ length: 10 }, (_, index) => row(`old-${index}`)).join(''))
+    const first = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { limit: 3 })
+    await writeFile(file, Array.from({ length: 20 }, (_, index) => row(`replacement-${index}`)).join(''))
+    await expect(readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { cursor: first.page.nextCursor!, limit: 3 })).rejects.toMatchObject({ statusCode: 409, code: 'HISTORY_CHANGED' })
+  })
+
+  test('checks the continuation boundary even when a growing rewrite preserves source prefix and old EOF', async () => {
+    await writeFile(file, Array.from({ length: 500 }, (_, index) => row(String(index), 'x'.repeat(100))).join(''))
+    const first = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file)
+    const decoded = JSON.parse(Buffer.from(first.page.nextCursor!, 'base64url').toString('utf8'))
+    const handle = await open(file, 'r+')
+    await handle.write(Buffer.from('Y'), 0, 1, decoded.offset - 10)
+    await handle.close()
+    await appendFile(file, row('new'))
+    await expect(readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { cursor: first.page.nextCursor! })).rejects.toMatchObject({ statusCode: 409 })
+  })
+
+  test('keeps multi-block records intact while bounding every page to 500 renderable rows', async () => {
+    await writeFile(file, Array.from({ length: 200 }, (_, index) => JSON.stringify({ type: 'assistant', uuid: String(index), message: { role: 'assistant', content: Array.from({ length: 3 }, (_, block) => ({ type: 'tool_use', id: `${index}-${block}`, name: 'Bash', input: {} })) } }) + '\n').join(''))
+    const first = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file)
+    expect(first.entries).toHaveLength(166)
+    expect(first.entries.reduce((sum, item) => sum + (item.entry.message as { content: unknown[] }).content.length, 0)).toBeLessThanOrEqual(HISTORY_PAGE_ROWS)
+    const older = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { cursor: first.page.nextCursor! })
+    expect(older.entries).toHaveLength(34)
+    expect([...older.entries, ...first.entries].map(item => item.entry.uuid)).toEqual(Array.from({ length: 200 }, (_, index) => String(index)))
+    const newer = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { cursor: older.page.previousCursor! })
+    expect(newer.entries.map(item => item.entry.uuid)).toEqual(first.entries.map(item => item.entry.uuid))
+  })
+
   test('snapshot cursors tolerate appends but reject replacement and malformed cursors', async () => {
     await writeFile(file, row('a') + row('b'))
     const first = await readBoundedHistoryPage(file, { limit: 1 })
diff --git a/src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.ts b/src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.ts
index ba37c79f..b6bb1d48 100644
--- a/src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/boundedSessionHistory.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,20 @@
+import { createHash } from 'node:crypto'
 import { open } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { ApiError } from '../middleware/errorHandler.js'
 
-export const HISTORY_SCAN_BYTES = 4 * 1024 * 1024
+export const HISTORY_SCAN_BYTES = 16 * 1024 * 1024
+export const HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES = 8 * 1024 * 1024
 export const HISTORY_RECORD_BYTES = 1024 * 1024
-export const HISTORY_PAGE_BYTES = 1536 * 1024
-export const HISTORY_PAGE_RECORDS = 100
+export const HISTORY_PAGE_BYTES = 256 * 1024
+export const HISTORY_PAGE_RECORDS = 200
+export const HISTORY_PAGE_ROWS = 500
 
-type Cursor = { version: 1; dev: string; ino: string; size: number; mtime: string; offset: number; skipping: boolean }
+type Cursor = { version: 1; dev: string; ino: string; size: number; mtime: string; offset: number; skipping: boolean; direction?: 'older' | 'newer'; fingerprints?: { prefix: string; tail: string; boundary: string } }
 export type HistoryPageInfo = {
+  previousCursor?: string | null
   nextCursor: string | null
   hasMore: boolean
+  contentTruncated?: boolean
   historyComplete: boolean
   sourceVersion: string
   scannedBytes: number
@@ -66,11 +71,45 @@ function decodeCursor(value: string): Cursor {
     if (value.length > 2048) throw new Error('long cursor')
     const cursor = JSON.parse(Buffer.from(value, 'base64url').toString('utf8')) as Cursor
     if (cursor.version !== 1 || typeof cursor.dev !== 'string' || typeof cursor.ino !== 'string' || typeof cursor.mtime !== 'string' ||
-      !Number.isSafeInteger(cursor.size) || cursor.size < 0 || !Number.isSafeInteger(cursor.offset) || cursor.offset < 0 || cursor.offset > cursor.size || typeof cursor.skipping !== 'boolean') throw new Error('invalid cursor')
+      !Number.isSafeInteger(cursor.size) || cursor.size < 0 || !Number.isSafeInteger(cursor.offset) || cursor.offset < 0 || cursor.offset > cursor.size || typeof cursor.skipping !== 'boolean' || (cursor.direction !== undefined && cursor.direction !== 'older' && cursor.direction !== 'newer')) throw new Error('invalid cursor')
+    if (cursor.fingerprints && !['prefix', 'tail', 'boundary'].every(key => /^[a-f0-9]{64}$/.test((cursor.fingerprints as Record<string, string>)[key] ?? ''))) throw new Error('invalid cursor fingerprints')
     return cursor
   } catch { throw ApiError.badRequest('Invalid history cursor') }
 }
 
+/** Produce a display preview without dropping a message's identity. Durable
+ * replay and semantic state reducers always receive the original record. */
+function displayPreview(entry: Record<string, unknown>): Record<string, unknown> {
+  let truncated = false
+  let remaining = 48 * 1024
+  let nodes = 2048
+  const preview = (value: unknown, depth: number): unknown => {
+    if (typeof value === 'string') {
+      const limit = Math.max(0, Math.min(16 * 1024, remaining))
+      remaining -= Math.min(value.length, limit)
+      if (value.length > limit) { truncated = true; return value.slice(0, limit) + '\n… [truncated preview]' }
+      return value
+    }
+    if (!value || typeof value !== 'object') return value
+    if (--nodes < 0) { truncated = true; return '[truncated preview]' }
+    if (depth > 12) { truncated = true; return '[truncated preview]' }
+    if (Array.isArray(value)) {
+      if (value.length > 256) truncated = true
+      return value.slice(0, 256).map(item => preview(item, depth + 1))
+    }
+    const pairs = Object.entries(value)
+    if (pairs.length > 256) truncated = true
+    return Object.fromEntries(pairs.slice(0, 256).map(([key, child]) => [key,
+      ['id', 'type', 'role', 'name', 'tool_use_id', 'agentId', 'backgroundTaskId', 'background_task_id'].includes(key) && typeof child === 'string' && child.length <= 4096
+        ? child : preview(child, depth + 1)]))
+  }
+  // Structural ids and usage are independent of the potentially huge body.
+  const message = entry.message as Record<string, unknown> | undefined
+  const result = { ...entry, ...(entry.content !== undefined ? { content: preview(entry.content, 0) } : {}), ...(message ? { message: { ...message, content: preview(message.content, 0) } } : {}),
+    ...(entry.toolUseResult !== undefined ? { toolUseResult: preview(entry.toolUseResult, 0) } : {}) }
+  return truncated ? { ...result, bodyTruncated: true } : result
+}
+
 export async function readBoundedHistoryPage(filePath: string, options: { cursor?: string; limit?: number; signal?: AbortSignal } = {}): Promise<{ entries: BoundedHistoryEntry[]; page: HistoryPageInfo }> {
   if (options.limit !== undefined && (!Number.isFinite(options.limit) || options.limit < 1)) throw new ApiError(400, 'History limit must be a positive finite number', 'INVALID_HISTORY_LIMIT')
   return withHistoryReadBudget(options.signal, async () => {
@@ -80,79 +119,153 @@ export async function readBoundedHistoryPage(filePath: string, options: { cursor
       const stat = await handle.stat({ bigint: true })
       const current = { dev: String(stat.dev), ino: String(stat.ino), size: Number(stat.size), mtime: String(stat.mtimeNs) }
       const cursor: Cursor = options.cursor ? decodeCursor(options.cursor) : { version: 1, ...current, offset: current.size, skipping: false }
-      if (cursor.dev !== current.dev || cursor.ino !== current.ino || current.size < cursor.size || (current.size === cursor.size && current.mtime !== cursor.mtime)) {
-        throw new ApiError(409, 'Session history changed; reload the newest page', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
+      if (cursor.dev !== current.dev || cursor.ino !== current.ino || current.size < cursor.size || (current.size === cursor.size && current.mtime !== cursor.mtime)) throw new ApiError(409, 'Session history changed; reload the newest page', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
+      let scannedBytes = 0
+      // Hash fixed-size anchors, never the whole transcript. Anchors include the
+      // original EOF and the requested boundary so truncate/regrow cannot be
+      // silently accepted merely because inode is unchanged and size increased.
+      const fingerprint = async (start: number): Promise<string> => {
+        const bytes = Buffer.alloc(Math.min(4096, cursor.size - start))
+        let read = 0
+        while (read < bytes.length) {
+          aborted(options.signal)
+          const part = await handle.read(bytes, read, bytes.length - read, start + read)
+          if (!part.bytesRead) throw new ApiError(409, 'Session history changed during validation', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
+          read += part.bytesRead
+        }
+        scannedBytes += read
+        return createHash('sha256').update(bytes).digest('hex')
       }
+      const sourceFingerprints = async () => ({ prefix: await fingerprint(0), tail: await fingerprint(Math.max(0, cursor.size - 4096)) })
+      const boundaryFingerprint = (offset: number) => fingerprint(Math.max(0, Math.min(offset - 2048, cursor.size - 4096)))
+      if (!cursor.fingerprints && options.cursor && current.size > cursor.size) throw new ApiError(409, 'Legacy history cursor cannot validate append; reload the newest page', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
+      const sourceAnchors = await sourceFingerprints()
+      if (cursor.fingerprints && (cursor.fingerprints.prefix !== sourceAnchors.prefix || cursor.fingerprints.tail !== sourceAnchors.tail || cursor.fingerprints.boundary !== await boundaryFingerprint(cursor.offset))) throw new ApiError(409, 'Session history was rewritten; reload the newest page', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
+      const newer = cursor.direction === 'newer'
       const sourceVersion = `${cursor.dev}:${cursor.ino}:${cursor.size}:${cursor.mtime}`
-      const length = Math.min(HISTORY_SCAN_BYTES, cursor.offset)
-      const start = cursor.offset - length
-      const buffer = Buffer.allocUnsafe(length)
-      let read = 0
-      while (read < length) {
-        aborted(options.signal)
-        const result = await handle.read(buffer, read, length - read, start + read)
-        if (!result.bytesRead) throw new ApiError(409, 'Session history changed during read', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
-        read += result.bytesRead
-      }
-      const limit = Math.max(1, Math.min(HISTORY_PAGE_RECORDS, Math.floor(options.limit ?? HISTORY_PAGE_RECORDS)))
-      const entries: BoundedHistoryEntry[] = []
-      let position = length
-      let outputBytes = 0
+      let position = cursor.offset
+      let buffer = Buffer.alloc(0)
+      let bufferStart = -1
+      let bufferEnd = -1
       let skipping = cursor.skipping
       let omitted = 0
-      while (position > 0 && entries.length < limit) {
+      let outputBytes = 0
+      let renderedRows = 0
+      const entries: BoundedHistoryEntry[] = []
+      const limit = Math.max(1, Math.min(HISTORY_PAGE_RECORDS, Math.floor(options.limit ?? HISTORY_PAGE_RECORDS)))
+      const load = async (): Promise<boolean> => {
+        // Reserve enough I/O for post-read source anchors and both outgoing
+        // boundary hashes; validation is part of the same request byte budget.
+        const capacity = Math.min(64 * 1024, HISTORY_SCAN_BYTES - 64 * 1024 - scannedBytes)
+        if (capacity <= 0) return false
+        const start = newer ? position : Math.max(0, position - capacity)
+        const end = newer ? Math.min(cursor.size, position + capacity) : position
+        if (end <= start) return false
+        buffer = Buffer.allocUnsafe(end - start)
+        let read = 0
+        while (read < buffer.length) {
+          aborted(options.signal)
+          const part = await handle.read(buffer, read, buffer.length - read, start + read)
+          if (!part.bytesRead) throw new ApiError(409, 'History changed during read', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
+          read += part.bytesRead
+        }
+        scannedBytes += read
+        bufferStart = start; bufferEnd = end
+        return true
+      }
+      while ((newer ? position < cursor.size : position > 0) && entries.length < limit) {
         aborted(options.signal)
-        const lineEnd = buffer[position - 1] === 10 ? position - 1 : position
-        const newline = buffer.lastIndexOf(10, lineEnd - 1)
-        const lineStart = newline + 1
-        const lineLength = lineEnd - lineStart
-        if (newline < 0 && start > 0) {
-          // Retry a small boundary-straddling record on the next page. A record
-          // spanning the whole scan budget is skipped without ever assembling it.
-          if (!skipping && lineLength <= HISTORY_RECORD_BYTES && entries.length > 0) break
-          if (!skipping) omitted++
-          skipping = true
-          position = 0
+        const boundary = position
+        let parts: Buffer[] = []
+        let bytes = 0
+        let complete = false
+        let oversized = skipping
+        let end = position
+        let start = position
+        let first = true
+        while (!complete) {
+          if ((!buffer.length || (newer ? position >= bufferEnd : position <= bufferStart)) && !await load()) break
+          if (newer) {
+            const local = position - bufferStart
+            const newline = buffer.indexOf(10, local)
+            const stop = newline < 0 ? buffer.length : newline
+            const part = buffer.subarray(local, stop)
+            bytes += part.length
+            if (!oversized && bytes <= HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES) parts.push(part)
+            else if (!oversized) { oversized = true; parts = [] }
+            position = bufferStart + stop + (newline < 0 ? 0 : 1)
+            end = bufferStart + stop
+            complete = newline >= 0 || position === cursor.size
+          } else {
+            let local = position - bufferStart
+            if (first && local > 0 && buffer[local - 1] === 10) { local--; position--; end-- }
+            const newline = local > 0 ? buffer.lastIndexOf(10, local - 1) : -1
+            const stop = newline + 1
+            const part = buffer.subarray(stop, local)
+            bytes += part.length
+            if (!oversized && bytes <= HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES) parts.push(part)
+            else if (!oversized) { oversized = true; parts = [] }
+            position = bufferStart + stop
+            start = position
+            complete = newline >= 0 || position === 0
+          }
+          first = false
+        }
+        if (!complete) {
+          if (oversized) { if (!skipping) omitted++; skipping = true }
+          else position = boundary
           break
         }
-        if (skipping) {
-          skipping = false
-          position = lineStart
-          continue
+        if (oversized) { if (!skipping) omitted++; skipping = false; continue }
+        if (!bytes) continue
+        const raw = parts.length === 1 ? parts[0]! : Buffer.concat(newer ? parts : parts.reverse(), bytes)
+        let entry: Record<string, unknown>
+        try { entry = JSON.parse(raw.toString('utf8')) } catch { omitted++; continue }
+        if (!entry || typeof entry !== 'object' || Array.isArray(entry)) continue
+        entry = displayPreview(entry)
+        let previewBytes = Buffer.byteLength(JSON.stringify(entry))
+        if (previewBytes > HISTORY_PAGE_BYTES) {
+          // Even an unusually broad structured body keeps its transcript row.
+          // The scalar envelope is enough to display an honest preview marker.
+          const message = entry.message as Record<string, unknown> | undefined
+          entry = { type: entry.type, uuid: entry.uuid, timestamp: entry.timestamp, parentUuid: entry.parentUuid,
+            parent_tool_use_id: entry.parent_tool_use_id, isSidechain: entry.isSidechain, bodyTruncated: true,
+            ...(message ? { message: { role: message.role, content: '[Message body exceeds preview budget]' } } : { content: '[Message body exceeds preview budget]' }) }
+          previewBytes = Buffer.byteLength(JSON.stringify(entry))
+          if (previewBytes > HISTORY_PAGE_BYTES) { omitted++; continue }
         }
-        if (lineLength > HISTORY_RECORD_BYTES) {
-          omitted++
-          position = lineStart
-          continue
-        }
-        if (lineLength && outputBytes + lineLength > HISTORY_PAGE_BYTES && entries.length) break
-        position = lineStart
-        if (!lineLength) continue
-        try {
-          const entry = JSON.parse(buffer.subarray(lineStart, lineEnd).toString('utf8'))
-          if (entry && typeof entry === 'object' && !Array.isArray(entry)) {
-            entries.push({ entry, byteStart: start + lineStart, byteEnd: start + lineEnd })
-            outputBytes += lineLength
-          }
-        } catch { omitted++ }
-        // Each individual parse has a byte ceiling; also yield between records
-        // so a large page cannot monopolize the shared server event loop.
+        const content = (entry.message as { content?: unknown } | undefined)?.content
+        // Each assistant block/tool result may become a separate UI row. Stop
+        // before the complete record instead of clipping rows behind a cursor.
+        const rowCost = Array.isArray(content) ? Math.max(1, content.length) : 1
+        if ((outputBytes + previewBytes > HISTORY_PAGE_BYTES || renderedRows + rowCost > HISTORY_PAGE_ROWS) && entries.length) { position = boundary; break }
+        renderedRows += rowCost
+        entries.push({ entry, byteStart: newer ? boundary : start, byteEnd: end })
+        outputBytes += previewBytes
         await new Promise<void>(resolve => setImmediate(resolve))
       }
-      const offset = start + position
       const after = await handle.stat({ bigint: true })
       if (after.ino !== stat.ino || after.size < stat.size || (after.size === stat.size && after.mtimeNs !== stat.mtimeNs)) throw new ApiError(409, 'Session history changed during read', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
-      const nextCursor = offset > 0 ? Buffer.from(JSON.stringify({ ...cursor, offset, skipping })).toString('base64url') : null
-      return {
-        entries: entries.reverse(),
-        page: { nextCursor, hasMore: offset > 0, historyComplete: !options.cursor && offset === 0 && omitted === 0, sourceVersion, scannedBytes: read, omittedOversizedEntries: omitted },
-      }
+      const lower = newer ? cursor.offset : position
+      const upper = newer ? position : cursor.offset
+      const afterAnchors = await sourceFingerprints()
+      if (sourceAnchors.prefix !== afterAnchors.prefix || sourceAnchors.tail !== afterAnchors.tail) throw new ApiError(409, 'Session history was rewritten during read', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
+      const encode = async (offset: number, direction: 'older' | 'newer', continuation = false) => Buffer.from(JSON.stringify({ ...cursor, offset, direction, skipping: continuation, fingerprints: { ...sourceAnchors, boundary: await boundaryFingerprint(offset) } })).toString('base64url')
+      const nextCursor = lower > 0 ? await encode(lower, 'older', !newer && skipping) : null
+      const previousCursor = upper < cursor.size ? await encode(upper, 'newer', newer && skipping) : null
+      const contentTruncated = entries.some(item => item.entry.bodyTruncated === true)
+      return { entries: newer ? entries : entries.reverse(), page: {
+        nextCursor, previousCursor,
+        hasMore: lower > 0, historyComplete: lower === 0 && upper === cursor.size && omitted === 0 && !contentTruncated,
+        ...(contentTruncated ? { contentTruncated: true } : {}),
+        sourceVersion, scannedBytes, omittedOversizedEntries: omitted,
+      } }
     } finally { await handle.close() }
   })
 }
 
 /** Forward reducer source: never retain an unbounded JSONL line or source file. */
-export async function streamBoundedHistory(filePath: string, onEntry: (entry: Record<string, unknown>, completeLine: boolean, byteStart: number) => void, signal?: AbortSignal, options: { startOffset?: number; endOffset?: number; onSkipped?: () => void } = {}): Promise<{ sourceVersion: string; omittedRecords: number; oversizedRecords: number; scannedBytes: number; nextOffset: number }> {
+export async function streamBoundedHistory(filePath: string, onEntry: (entry: Record<string, unknown>, completeLine: boolean, byteStart: number) => void, signal?: AbortSignal, options: { startOffset?: number; endOffset?: number; onSkipped?: () => void; maxRecordBytes?: number } = {}): Promise<{ sourceVersion: string; omittedRecords: number; oversizedRecords: number; scannedBytes: number; nextOffset: number }> {
   const handle = await open(filePath, 'r')
   try {
     const stat = await handle.stat({ bigint: true })
@@ -191,7 +304,7 @@ export async function streamBoundedHistory(filePath: string, onEntry: (entry: Re
         const end = found >= 0 && found < bytesRead ? found : bytesRead
         if (!skipping) {
           length += end - start
-          if (length > HISTORY_RECORD_BYTES) { skipping = true; parts = [] }
+          if (length > (options.maxRecordBytes ?? HISTORY_RECORD_BYTES)) { skipping = true; parts = [] }
           else parts.push(Buffer.from(chunk.subarray(start, end)))
         }
         start = end + 1
diff --git a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.test.ts b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..160af705
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+import { afterEach, expect, test } from 'bun:test'
+import { mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
+import { withSearchProjectionBudget } from './searchContentCommitWorker.js'
+
+const directories: string[] = []
+afterEach(async () => { await Promise.all(directories.splice(0).map(path => rm(path, { recursive: true, force: true }))) })
+
+test('bounds active projections and pending work and removes cancelled waiters', async () => {
+  let release!: () => void
+  const active = withSearchProjectionBudget(undefined, () => new Promise<void>(resolve => { release = resolve }))
+  const controller = new AbortController()
+  const cancelled = withSearchProjectionBudget(controller.signal, async () => 'unexpected').catch(error => error)
+  const queued = Array.from({ length: 7 }, () => withSearchProjectionBudget(undefined, async () => 'ok'))
+  await expect(withSearchProjectionBudget(undefined, async () => 'overflow')).rejects.toThrow('SEARCH_CONTENT_BUSY')
+  controller.abort()
+  expect((await cancelled).name).toBe('AbortError')
+  const replacement = withSearchProjectionBudget(undefined, async () => 'replacement')
+  release()
+  await active
+  expect(await Promise.all(queued)).toEqual(Array(7).fill('ok'))
+  expect(await replacement).toBe('replacement')
+})
+
+test('inline SQLite commit worker survives bun --compile without external worker source assets', async () => {
+  const directory = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'search-worker-compiled-'))
+  directories.push(directory)
+  const script = join(directory, 'entry.ts')
+  const binary = join(directory, 'compiled-search')
+  const databaseModule = new URL('./searchContentDatabase.ts', import.meta.url).pathname
+  const indexModule = new URL('./searchContentIndex.ts', import.meta.url).pathname
+  const projectorModule = new URL('./searchContentProjector.ts', import.meta.url).pathname
+  await writeFile(script, `
+    import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
+    import { join } from 'node:path'
+    import { openSearchContentDatabase } from ${JSON.stringify(databaseModule)}
+    import { createSearchContentIndex } from ${JSON.stringify(indexModule)}
+    import { createSearchContentProjector } from ${JSON.stringify(projectorModule)}
+    const root = process.argv[2]
+    const source = join(root, 'session.jsonl')
+    await writeFile(source, JSON.stringify({type:'user',message:{role:'user',content:'compiled worker searchable text'}})+'\\n')
+    const database = openSearchContentDatabase({path:join(root,'search.sqlite')})
+    const index = createSearchContentIndex(database,{scope:root})
+    const result = await createSearchContentProjector({database,index}).projectSource({path:source,projectPath:root,ownerSessionId:'compiled',ownerTranscriptPath:source,modifiedAtMs:1})
+    const row = database.read(reader=>reader.get('SELECT body FROM search_documents'))
+    database.close()
+    if(result.kind!=='indexed'||row.body!=='compiled worker searchable text') throw new Error(JSON.stringify({result,row}))
+    console.log('compiled worker passed')
+  `)
+  const build = Bun.spawn([process.execPath, 'build', '--compile', '--minify', script, '--outfile', binary], { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe' })
+  const [buildCode, buildError] = await Promise.all([build.exited, new Response(build.stderr).text()])
+  expect({ code: buildCode, error: buildCode ? buildError : '' }).toEqual({ code: 0, error: '' })
+  if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
+    // Match the sidecar packaging smoke: Bun's compiled Mach-O needs a fresh ad-hoc signature.
+    for (const args of [['--remove-signature', binary], ['--sign', '-', '--force', binary]]) {
+      const sign = Bun.spawn(['codesign', ...args], { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe' })
+      const [code, error] = await Promise.all([sign.exited, new Response(sign.stderr).text()])
+      expect({ code, error: code ? error : '' }).toEqual({ code: 0, error: '' })
+    }
+  }
+  await rm(script)
+  const run = Bun.spawn([binary, directory], { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe' })
+  const [code, stdout, stderr] = await Promise.all([run.exited, new Response(run.stdout).text(), new Response(run.stderr).text()])
+  expect({ code, stderr }).toEqual({ code: 0, stderr: '' })
+  expect(stdout).toContain('compiled worker passed')
+}, 30_000)
diff --git a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.ts b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e256cbcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCommitWorker.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+import { Worker } from 'node:worker_threads'
+import { searchContentCommitFunctions, type SearchContentSourceWrite } from './searchContentIndex.js'
+
+type Waiter = { resolve: () => void; reject: (error: unknown) => void; signal?: AbortSignal; abort: () => void }
+let active = false
+const waiting: Waiter[] = []
+
+/** One cold whole-file projection/commit at a time, including direct callers
+ * outside the already-serial coordinator. Pending work is also bounded. */
+export async function withSearchProjectionBudget<T>(signal: AbortSignal | undefined, operation: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
+  if (signal?.aborted) throw signal.reason ?? new DOMException('Aborted', 'AbortError')
+  if (active) {
+    if (waiting.length >= 8) throw new Error('SEARCH_CONTENT_BUSY')
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+      const waiter: Waiter = { resolve, reject, signal, abort: () => {} }
+      waiter.abort = () => {
+        const index = waiting.indexOf(waiter)
+        if (index >= 0) waiting.splice(index, 1)
+        reject(signal?.reason ?? new DOMException('Aborted', 'AbortError'))
+      }
+      waiting.push(waiter)
+      signal?.addEventListener('abort', waiter.abort, { once: true })
+    })
+  } else active = true
+  try {
+    if (signal?.aborted) throw signal.reason ?? new DOMException('Aborted', 'AbortError')
+    return await operation()
+  } finally {
+    const next = waiting.shift()
+    if (next) { next.signal?.removeEventListener('abort', next.abort); next.resolve() }
+    else active = false
+  }
+}
+
+/** Inline eval avoids an external .ts worker asset that disappears from bun
+ * --compile sidecars. Only scalar metadata crosses the thread boundary. */
+export function commitSearchContentSpool(options: {
+  databasePath: string
+  spoolPath: string
+  source: SearchContentSourceWrite
+  append: boolean
+  signal?: AbortSignal
+  onStarted?: () => void
+}): Promise<void> {
+  if (options.signal?.aborted) return Promise.reject(options.signal.reason ?? new DOMException('Aborted', 'AbortError'))
+  const script = `
+    const { parentPort, workerData } = require('node:worker_threads');
+    const { Database } = require('bun:sqlite');
+    ${searchContentCommitFunctions()}
+    let database, spool;
+    try {
+      database = new Database(workerData.databasePath);
+      database.exec('PRAGMA busy_timeout=100; PRAGMA foreign_keys=ON; PRAGMA cache_size=-2048; PRAGMA synchronous=NORMAL');
+      spool = new Database(workerData.spoolPath, { readonly: true });
+      spool.exec('PRAGMA cache_size=-512');
+      const statements = new Map();
+      const statement = sql => { if (!statements.has(sql)) statements.set(sql, database.query(sql)); return statements.get(sql); };
+      const writer = { run: (sql, ...args) => statement(sql).run(...args), get: (sql, ...args) => statement(sql).get(...args) };
+      database.exec('BEGIN IMMEDIATE');
+      parentPort.postMessage({ type: 'started' });
+      const gate = new Int32Array(workerData.gate);
+      Atomics.wait(gate, 0, 0);
+      if (Atomics.load(gate, 0) !== 1) throw new Error('Search commit cancelled');
+      applySource(writer, workerData.source, spool.query('SELECT jsonlLine, byteStart, byteLength, segmentIndex, role, messageId, timestamp, body, normalizedBody FROM documents ORDER BY seq').iterate(), workerData.append, upsert, insert);
+      database.exec('COMMIT');
+      database.close(); database = undefined;
+      spool.close(); spool = undefined;
+      parentPort.postMessage({ type: 'complete' });
+    } catch (error) {
+      try { database?.exec('ROLLBACK'); } catch {}
+      parentPort.postMessage({ type: 'failed', message: String(error?.message ?? error) });
+    } finally {
+      database?.close(); spool?.close(); parentPort.close();
+    }
+  `
+  return new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+    const gate = new Int32Array(new SharedArrayBuffer(4))
+    const worker = new Worker(script, { eval: true, workerData: {
+      databasePath: options.databasePath, spoolPath: options.spoolPath, source: options.source, append: options.append, gate: gate.buffer,
+    } })
+    let completed = false
+    let failure: unknown
+    const abort = () => { failure = options.signal?.reason ?? new DOMException('Aborted', 'AbortError'); Atomics.store(gate, 0, 2); Atomics.notify(gate, 0); void worker.terminate() }
+    options.signal?.addEventListener('abort', abort, { once: true })
+    worker.on('message', message => {
+      if (message.type === 'complete') completed = true
+      else if (message.type === 'failed') failure = new Error(message.message)
+      else if (message.type === 'started') {
+        try { options.onStarted?.() } catch (error) { failure = error; Atomics.store(gate, 0, 2); Atomics.notify(gate, 0); void worker.terminate() }
+        if (!failure) { Atomics.store(gate, 0, 1); Atomics.notify(gate, 0) }
+      }
+    })
+    worker.on('error', error => { failure = error })
+    worker.on('exit', code => {
+      options.signal?.removeEventListener('abort', abort)
+      if (failure || !completed || code !== 0) reject(failure ?? new Error(`Search commit worker exited before commit (${code})`))
+      else resolve()
+    })
+    if (options.signal?.aborted) abort()
+  })
+}
diff --git a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.test.ts b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.test.ts
index a2cb54bf..156bcc4b 100644
--- a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test'
 import { mkdir, mkdtemp, readFile, rm, utimes, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { Worker } from 'node:worker_threads'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
 import {
@@ -631,3 +632,74 @@ describe('search content coordinator', () => {
     await coordinator.stop()
   })
 })
+
+
+describe('worker write-lock coordination', () => {
+  test.each(['finish', 'shutdown'] as const)('coalesces dirty notifications outside the worker lock during %s', async mode => {
+    const scope = await createTempScope()
+    const source = join(scope, 'projects', '-repo', 'session.jsonl')
+    await mkdir(join(source, '..'), { recursive: true })
+    await writeFile(source, userLine('lock fixture'))
+    const databasePath = join(scope, 'cc-haha', 'db', 'search-index-v1.sqlite')
+    let watcherOptions: ReconciliationWatcherOptions | undefined
+    let worker: Worker | undefined
+    let locked!: () => void
+    const lockHeld = new Promise<void>(resolve => { locked = resolve })
+    let writes = 0
+    let activeIndex: ReturnType<typeof createSearchContentIndex> | undefined
+    const coordinator = createSearchContentCoordinator({
+      resolveScope: () => scope,
+      resolveDatabasePath: () => databasePath,
+      createIndex: (database, owner) => {
+        const index = createSearchContentIndex(database, { scope: owner })
+        activeIndex = index
+        return { ...index, setReadiness(value) { writes++; index.setReadiness(value) } }
+      },
+      createWatcher: options => { watcherOptions = options; return noOpWatcher() },
+      createProjector: ({ signal }) => ({
+        async projectSource() {
+          worker = new Worker(`
+            const { parentPort, workerData } = require('node:worker_threads');
+            const { Database } = require('bun:sqlite');
+            const database = new Database(workerData);
+            database.exec('BEGIN IMMEDIATE');
+            parentPort.postMessage('locked');
+            parentPort.once('message', () => { database.exec('ROLLBACK'); database.close(); parentPort.close() });
+          `, { eval: true, workerData: databasePath })
+          const current = worker
+          const abort = () => { void current.terminate() }
+          signal.addEventListener('abort', abort, { once: true })
+          current.once('message', locked)
+          try { await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => { current.once('exit', () => resolve()); current.once('error', reject) }) }
+          finally { signal.removeEventListener('abort', abort) }
+          return { kind: 'indexed', action: 'full', state: 'ready', indexedBytes: 0, indexedLines: 0, documentCount: 0 }
+        },
+        deleteSource: () => ({ kind: 'deleted' }),
+      }),
+    })
+    try {
+      await coordinator.start()
+      await lockHeld
+      const before = writes
+      const started = performance.now()
+      for (let event = 0; event < 20; event++) watcherOptions!.onDirty!()
+      expect(writes).toBe(before)
+      expect(performance.now() - started).toBeLessThan(100)
+      expect(coordinator.getStatus()).toMatchObject({ state: 'building', lastErrorCode: null })
+      expect(coordinator.search('lock')).toBeNull()
+      if (mode === 'shutdown') {
+        await coordinator.stop()
+        expect(writes).toBe(before)
+      } else {
+        worker!.postMessage('release')
+        await waitFor(() => writes === before + 2) // old sweep status + one coalesced dirty persistence
+        expect(activeIndex!.getReadiness()).toMatchObject({ state: 'building', generation: 21 })
+        await watcherOptions!.onBatch({ paths: [], fullSweep: false })
+        expect(coordinator.getStatus()).toMatchObject({ state: 'ready', lastErrorCode: null })
+        expect(activeIndex!.getReadiness()?.state).toBe('ready')
+      }
+    } finally {
+      await coordinator.stop()
+    }
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.ts b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.ts
index b029553b..2caa5a45 100644
--- a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentCoordinator.ts
@@ -310,6 +310,7 @@ export function createSearchContentCoordinator(
   let watcher: ReconciliationWatcher | undefined
   let controller: AbortController | undefined
   let writerQueue: Promise<void> = Promise.resolve()
+  let dirtyReadinessWrite: symbol | undefined
   let startPromise: Promise<void> | undefined
   let stopPromise: Promise<void> | undefined
   let corruptionRecoveryToken: symbol | undefined
@@ -345,21 +346,25 @@ export function createSearchContentCoordinator(
     if (!started) return
     dirtyRevision += 1
     status = { ...status, state: 'building', lastErrorCode: null }
-    try {
-      index?.setReadiness({
-        state: 'building',
+    // Watcher notifications run outside the projection queue. A synchronous
+    // write here would wait on the worker's SQLite lock on the UI/API thread.
+    if (dirtyReadinessWrite) return
+    const token = Symbol('dirty-readiness')
+    dirtyReadinessWrite = token
+    const expectedLifecycle = lifecycle
+    void enqueue(expectedLifecycle, async () => {
+      if (dirtyReadinessWrite !== token) return
+      dirtyReadinessWrite = undefined
+      if (!started || expectedLifecycle !== lifecycle || !index) return
+      index.setReadiness({
+        state: status.state,
         generation: dirtyRevision,
         discovered: status.discovered,
         indexed: status.indexed,
         degraded: status.degradedSources,
+        lastErrorCode: status.lastErrorCode,
       })
-    } catch (error) {
-      status = {
-        ...status,
-        state: 'degraded',
-        lastErrorCode: errorCode(error, 'SEARCH_CONTENT_DIRTY_FAILED'),
-      }
-    }
+    })
   }
 
   const refreshStorage = (): boolean => {
@@ -410,9 +415,10 @@ export function createSearchContentCoordinator(
     const lastErrorCode = !storageHealthy
       ? status.lastErrorCode ?? 'SEARCH_CONTENT_STORAGE_LIMIT'
       : projectionFailures.at(-1) ?? (!watcherHealthy ? 'SEARCH_CONTENT_WATCH_FAILED' : null)
-    status = { ...status, state: ready ? 'ready' : 'degraded', lastErrorCode }
+    const state = ready ? 'ready' : processedRevision !== dirtyRevision && !lastErrorCode ? 'building' : 'degraded'
+    status = { ...status, state, lastErrorCode }
     index.setReadiness({
-      state: ready ? 'ready' : 'degraded',
+      state,
       generation: dirtyRevision,
       discovered: status.discovered,
       indexed: status.indexed,
@@ -461,7 +467,7 @@ export function createSearchContentCoordinator(
         discoveryFailureCode = SEARCH_CONTENT_PROJECTS_ROOT_MISSING
       } else if (discovery.complete) {
         for (const stalePath of existing) {
-          if (!seen.has(stalePath)) activeProjector.deleteSource(stalePath)
+          if (!seen.has(stalePath)) await activeProjector.deleteSource(stalePath)
         }
         hasCompleteSweep = true
         failedPaths = sweepFailures
@@ -519,9 +525,9 @@ export function createSearchContentCoordinator(
                 resolve(source.ownerTranscriptPath) === normalizedPath &&
                 resolve(source.path) !== normalizedPath)
             : []
-          result = activeProjector.deleteSource(normalizedPath)
+          result = await activeProjector.deleteSource(normalizedPath)
           for (const dependent of dependentSources) {
-            activeProjector.deleteSource(resolve(dependent.path))
+            await activeProjector.deleteSource(resolve(dependent.path))
             failedPaths.set(resolve(dependent.path), SEARCH_CONTENT_OWNER_MISSING)
           }
         }
@@ -534,7 +540,7 @@ export function createSearchContentCoordinator(
         }
       } catch (error) {
         if (errorCode(error, '') === SEARCH_CONTENT_OWNER_MISSING) {
-          activeProjector.deleteSource(normalizedPath)
+          await activeProjector.deleteSource(normalizedPath)
         }
         failedPaths.set(
           normalizedPath,
@@ -590,6 +596,7 @@ export function createSearchContentCoordinator(
     const activeWriterQueue = writerQueue
 
     started = false
+    dirtyReadinessWrite = undefined
     hasCompleteSweep = false
     activeController?.abort()
     if (controller === activeController) controller = undefined
diff --git a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentDatabase.ts b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentDatabase.ts
index f2e791f8..f7a26398 100644
--- a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentDatabase.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentDatabase.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ export type SearchContentStorageStats = {
 }
 
 export type SearchContentDatabase = {
+  readonly path?: string
   read<T>(operation: (database: SearchContentReadOperation) => T): T
   write<T>(operation: (database: SearchContentWriteOperation) => T): T
   transaction<T>(operation: (database: SearchContentWriteOperation) => T): T
@@ -163,6 +164,7 @@ export function openSearchContentDatabase(options?: {
   })
 
   return {
+    path: databasePath === ':memory:' ? undefined : databasePath,
     read(operation) {
       assertOpen()
       return operation(createReadOperation())
diff --git a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentIndex.ts b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentIndex.ts
index 380f1a8b..25ba0e8d 100644
--- a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentIndex.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentIndex.ts
@@ -112,11 +112,11 @@ export interface SearchContentIndex {
   countSources(): number
   replaceSource(
     source: SearchContentSourceWrite,
-    documents: SearchContentDocumentWrite[],
+    documents: Iterable<SearchContentDocumentWrite>,
   ): void
   appendSource(
     source: SearchContentSourceWrite,
-    documents: SearchContentDocumentWrite[],
+    documents: Iterable<SearchContentDocumentWrite>,
   ): void
   deleteSource(path: string): void
   getReadiness(): SearchContentReadiness | null
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ function upsertSource(
 function insertDocuments(
   writer: SearchContentWriteOperation,
   sourcePath: string,
-  documents: SearchContentDocumentWrite[],
+  documents: Iterable<SearchContentDocumentWrite>,
 ): void {
   for (const document of documents) {
     writer.run(`
@@ -300,6 +300,26 @@ function insertDocuments(
   }
 }
 
+// Keep these functions closed over their explicit arguments so the exact same
+// SQL implementation can run in the inline compiled-safe commit worker.
+function applySearchSource(
+  writer: SearchContentWriteOperation,
+  source: SearchContentSourceWrite,
+  documents: Iterable<SearchContentDocumentWrite>,
+  append: boolean,
+  upsert: typeof upsertSource,
+  insert: typeof insertDocuments,
+): void {
+  if (append && !writer.get('SELECT path FROM search_sources WHERE path = ?', source.path)) throw new Error('Cannot append an unindexed search source')
+  upsert(writer, source)
+  if (!append) writer.run('DELETE FROM search_documents WHERE source_path = ?', source.path)
+  insert(writer, source.path, documents)
+}
+
+export function searchContentCommitFunctions(): string {
+  return `const upsert = (${upsertSource.toString()}); const insert = (${insertDocuments.toString()}); const applySource = (${applySearchSource.toString()});`
+}
+
 function ftsPhrase(value: string): string {
   return `"${value.replace(/"/g, '""')}"`
 }
@@ -329,22 +349,10 @@ export function createSearchContentIndex(
       ))?.total ?? 0
     },
     replaceSource(source, documents) {
-      database.transaction(writer => {
-        upsertSource(writer, source)
-        writer.run('DELETE FROM search_documents WHERE source_path = ?', source.path)
-        insertDocuments(writer, source.path, documents)
-      })
+      database.transaction(writer => applySearchSource(writer, source, documents, false, upsertSource, insertDocuments))
     },
     appendSource(source, documents) {
-      database.transaction(writer => {
-        const existing = writer.get<{ path: string }>(
-          'SELECT path FROM search_sources WHERE path = ?',
-          source.path,
-        )
-        if (!existing) throw new Error('Cannot append an unindexed search source')
-        upsertSource(writer, source)
-        insertDocuments(writer, source.path, documents)
-      })
+      database.transaction(writer => applySearchSource(writer, source, documents, true, upsertSource, insertDocuments))
     },
     deleteSource(path) {
       database.transaction(writer => {
diff --git a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentProjector.test.ts b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentProjector.test.ts
index 9ef99bbf..203eb6bd 100644
--- a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentProjector.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentProjector.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'bun:test'
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, test } from 'bun:test'
 import { appendFile, mkdir, mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { dirname, join } from 'node:path'
@@ -252,3 +252,93 @@ describe('search content projector', () => {
     }
   })
 })
+
+
+describe('bounded search projection', () => {
+  it('flushes bounded batches without exposing a partially replaced source', async () => {
+    const { database, index, projector, candidate, sourcePath } = await setup()
+    try {
+      await writeFile(sourcePath, line({ type: 'user', message: { role: 'user', content: 'old stable body' } }))
+      await projector.projectSource(candidate)
+      const batches: Array<{ bytes: number; documents: number }> = []
+      const bounded = createSearchContentProjector({ database, index, onBatch: batch => {
+        batches.push(batch)
+        expect(database.read(reader => reader.get<{ count: number }>('SELECT COUNT(*) AS count FROM search_documents'))?.count).toBe(1)
+      } })
+      await writeFile(sourcePath, Array.from({ length: 24 }, (_, index) => line({ type: 'assistant', uuid: String(index), message: { role: 'assistant', content: 'new searchable ' + 'x'.repeat(256 * 1024) } })).join(''))
+      const result = await bounded.projectSource(candidate)
+      expect(result).toMatchObject({ kind: 'indexed', documentCount: 24 })
+      expect(batches.length).toBeGreaterThan(1)
+      expect(Math.max(...batches.map(batch => batch.bytes))).toBeLessThanOrEqual(4 * 1024 * 1024)
+      expect(database.read(reader => reader.get<{ count: number }>('SELECT COUNT(*) AS count FROM search_documents'))?.count).toBe(24)
+    } finally { database.close() }
+  })
+
+  it('cancels a partially spooled replacement without changing its old source or documents', async () => {
+    const { database, index, projector, candidate, sourcePath } = await setup()
+    try {
+      await writeFile(sourcePath, line({ type: 'user', message: { role: 'user', content: 'old stable body' } }))
+      await projector.projectSource(candidate)
+      const before = index.getSource(sourcePath)
+      const controller = new AbortController()
+      const bounded = createSearchContentProjector({ database, index, signal: controller.signal, onBatch: () => controller.abort() })
+      await writeFile(sourcePath, Array.from({ length: 24 }, () => line({ type: 'assistant', message: { role: 'assistant', content: 'x'.repeat(256 * 1024) } })).join(''))
+      expect(await bounded.projectSource(candidate)).toMatchObject({ kind: 'retry' })
+      expect(index.getSource(sourcePath)).toEqual(before)
+      expect(database.read(reader => reader.get<{ body: string }>('SELECT body FROM search_documents'))?.body).toBe('old stable body')
+    } finally { database.close() }
+  })
+})
+
+
+test.each(['append', 'rewrite'] as const)('worker insertion failure rolls back %s metadata and all new rows', async mode => {
+  const { database, index, projector, candidate, sourcePath } = await setup()
+  try {
+    await writeFile(sourcePath, line({ type: 'user', message: { role: 'user', content: 'old stable body' } }))
+    await projector.projectSource(candidate)
+    const before = index.getSource(sourcePath)
+    database.write(writer => writer.exec("CREATE TRIGGER reject_bad_search_doc BEFORE INSERT ON search_documents WHEN new.body = 'reject this row' BEGIN SELECT RAISE(ABORT, 'fixture insertion failure'); END"))
+    await (mode === 'append' ? appendFile : writeFile)(sourcePath, line({ type: 'user', message: { role: 'user', content: 'new successful first row' } }) + line({ type: 'user', message: { role: 'user', content: 'reject this row' } }))
+    expect(await projector.projectSource(candidate)).toMatchObject({ kind: 'retry' })
+    expect(index.getSource(sourcePath)).toEqual(before)
+    expect(database.read(reader => reader.all<{ body: string }>('SELECT body FROM search_documents'))).toEqual([{ body: 'old stable body' }])
+  } finally { database.close() }
+})
+
+test('abort after worker BEGIN preserves the complete old search snapshot', async () => {
+  const { database, index, projector, candidate, sourcePath } = await setup()
+  try {
+    await writeFile(sourcePath, line({ type: 'user', message: { role: 'user', content: 'old stable body' } }))
+    await projector.projectSource(candidate)
+    const before = index.getSource(sourcePath)
+    const controller = new AbortController()
+    const aborting = createSearchContentProjector({ database, index, signal: controller.signal, onCommitStarted() {
+      expect(index.getSource(sourcePath)).toEqual(before)
+      controller.abort()
+    } })
+    await writeFile(sourcePath, line({ type: 'user', message: { role: 'user', content: 'new replacement row' } }))
+    expect(await aborting.projectSource(candidate)).toMatchObject({ kind: 'retry' })
+    expect(index.getSource(sourcePath)).toEqual(before)
+    expect(database.read(reader => reader.all<{ body: string }>('SELECT body FROM search_documents'))).toEqual([{ body: 'old stable body' }])
+  } finally { database.close() }
+})
+
+
+test.each(['worker', 'custom'] as const)('preserves a single document exceeding the batch target through %s commit', async mode => {
+  const { database, index, candidate, sourcePath } = await setup()
+  try {
+    const body = 'large searchable ' + 'x'.repeat(5 * 1024 * 1024) + ' end marker'
+    await writeFile(sourcePath, line({ type: 'user', message: { role: 'user', content: body } }))
+    const batches: Array<{ bytes: number; documents: number }> = []
+    const projector = createSearchContentProjector({
+      database: mode === 'custom' ? { ...database, path: undefined } : database,
+      index,
+      onBatch: batch => batches.push(batch),
+    })
+    expect(await projector.projectSource(candidate)).toMatchObject({ kind: 'indexed', state: 'ready', documentCount: 1 })
+    expect(batches).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(batches[0]?.documents).toBe(1)
+    expect(batches[0]?.bytes).toBeGreaterThan(4 * 1024 * 1024)
+    expect(database.read(reader => reader.get<{ body: string }>('SELECT body FROM search_documents'))?.body).toBe(body)
+  } finally { database.close() }
+})
diff --git a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentProjector.ts b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentProjector.ts
index f8dca39d..e01c250d 100644
--- a/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentProjector.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/localIndex/searchContentProjector.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-import { open, type FileHandle } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { mkdtemp, open, rm, type FileHandle } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { Database } from 'bun:sqlite'
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+import { commitSearchContentSpool, withSearchProjectionBudget } from './searchContentCommitWorker.js'
 import {
   getCommandMetadataDisplayText,
   shouldHideCommandMetadataContent,
@@ -64,7 +68,7 @@ export interface SearchContentProjector {
   projectSource(
     candidate: SearchContentSourceCandidate,
   ): Promise<SearchContentProjectResult>
-  deleteSource(path: string): { kind: 'deleted' }
+  deleteSource(path: string): { kind: 'deleted' } | Promise<{ kind: 'deleted' }>
 }
 
 export type SearchContentProjectorOptions = {
@@ -75,9 +79,13 @@ export type SearchContentProjectorOptions = {
   signal?: AbortSignal
   verifyFingerprint?: typeof verifySourceFingerprint
   maxJsonlLineBytes?: number
+  onBatch?: (batch: { bytes: number; documents: number }) => void
+  onCommitStarted?: () => void
 }
 
 const READ_BUFFER_BYTES = 256 * 1024
+export const SEARCH_CONTENT_BATCH_BYTES = 4 * 1024 * 1024
+const SEARCH_CONTENT_BATCH_DOCUMENTS = 256
 
 function extractPlainTextBlocks(content: unknown): string[] {
   if (typeof content === 'string') {
@@ -214,13 +222,26 @@ async function readCompleteLines(options: {
   startingLine: number
   signal?: AbortSignal
   maxJsonlLineBytes: number
+  writeBatch: (documents: SearchContentDocumentWrite[], bytes: number) => void
 }): Promise<{
-  documents: SearchContentDocumentWrite[]
+  documentCount: number
   indexedBytes: number
   indexedLines: number
   lineTooLarge: boolean
 }> {
-  const documents: SearchContentDocumentWrite[] = []
+  let documents: SearchContentDocumentWrite[] = []
+  let batchBytes = 0
+  let documentCount = 0
+  const flush = async () => {
+    if (!documents.length) return
+    throwIfAborted(options.signal)
+    options.writeBatch(documents, batchBytes)
+    documentCount += documents.length
+    documents = []
+    batchBytes = 0
+    await new Promise<void>(resolve => setImmediate(resolve))
+    throwIfAborted(options.signal)
+  }
   const pendingParts: Buffer[] = []
   let pendingBytes = 0
   let position = options.start
@@ -241,8 +262,9 @@ async function readCompleteLines(options: {
       if (newline < 0) {
         const remainder = chunk.subarray(cursor)
         if (pendingBytes + remainder.length > options.maxJsonlLineBytes) {
+          await flush()
           return {
-            documents,
+            documentCount,
             indexedBytes: lineStart,
             indexedLines: jsonlLine,
             lineTooLarge: true,
@@ -255,8 +277,9 @@ async function readCompleteLines(options: {
 
       const tail = chunk.subarray(cursor, newline + 1)
       if (pendingBytes + tail.length > options.maxJsonlLineBytes) {
+        await flush()
         return {
-          documents,
+          documentCount,
           indexedBytes: lineStart,
           indexedLines: jsonlLine,
           lineTooLarge: true,
@@ -266,11 +289,15 @@ async function readCompleteLines(options: {
         ? Buffer.concat([...pendingParts, tail], pendingBytes + tail.length)
         : tail
       jsonlLine += 1
-      documents.push(...parseCompleteLine({
-        bytes: lineBytes,
-        byteStart: lineStart,
-        jsonlLine,
-      }))
+      for (const document of parseCompleteLine({ bytes: lineBytes, byteStart: lineStart, jsonlLine })) {
+        const bytes = Buffer.byteLength(document.body) + Buffer.byteLength(document.normalizedBody)
+        if (documents.length && (batchBytes + bytes > SEARCH_CONTENT_BATCH_BYTES || documents.length >= SEARCH_CONTENT_BATCH_DOCUMENTS)) await flush()
+        documents.push(document)
+        batchBytes += bytes
+        // A single document may exceed the batch target, but its source line
+        // remains bounded by maxJsonlLineBytes; never truncate searchable text.
+        if (batchBytes >= SEARCH_CONTENT_BATCH_BYTES) await flush()
+      }
       lineStart += lineBytes.length
       pendingParts.length = 0
       pendingBytes = 0
@@ -279,8 +306,9 @@ async function readCompleteLines(options: {
     position += bytesRead
   }
 
+  await flush()
   return {
-    documents,
+    documentCount,
     indexedBytes: lineStart,
     indexedLines: jsonlLine,
     lineTooLarge: false,
@@ -306,144 +334,169 @@ export function createSearchContentProjector(
 
   return {
     async projectSource(candidate) {
-      throwIfAborted(options.signal)
-      const existing = options.index.getSource(candidate.path)
-      let action: 'full' | 'append' | 'rebuild' = existing ? 'rebuild' : 'full'
-      let start = 0
-      let startingLine = 0
+      return withSearchProjectionBudget(options.signal, async () => {
+        throwIfAborted(options.signal)
+        const existing = options.index.getSource(candidate.path)
+        let action: 'full' | 'append' | 'rebuild' = existing ? 'rebuild' : 'full'
+        let start = 0
+        let startingLine = 0
 
-      if (existing) {
-        const previous = deserializeSourceFingerprint(existing.fingerprint)
-        const change = previous
-          ? await detectSourceChange({
+        if (existing) {
+          const previous = deserializeSourceFingerprint(existing.fingerprint)
+          const change = previous
+            ? await detectSourceChange({
+              path: candidate.path,
+              previous,
+              parserVersion,
+            })
+            : { kind: 'rebuild', reason: 'rewrite' } as const
+          if (change.kind === 'retry') return change
+          if (change.kind === 'deleted') return remove(candidate.path)
+          if (change.kind === 'unchanged') {
+            if (
+              existing.projectPath !== candidate.projectPath ||
+              existing.ownerSessionId !== candidate.ownerSessionId ||
+              existing.ownerTranscriptPath !== candidate.ownerTranscriptPath ||
+              existing.modifiedAtMs !== candidate.modifiedAtMs
+            ) {
+              options.index.appendSource({
+                ...existing,
+                projectPath: candidate.projectPath,
+                ownerSessionId: candidate.ownerSessionId,
+                ownerTranscriptPath: candidate.ownerTranscriptPath,
+                modifiedAtMs: candidate.modifiedAtMs,
+                updatedAtMs: now(),
+              }, [])
+            }
+            return {
+              kind: 'indexed',
+              action: 'unchanged',
+              state: existing.state,
+              indexedBytes: existing.indexedBytes,
+              indexedLines: existing.indexedLines,
+              documentCount: 0,
+            }
+          }
+          if (change.kind === 'append') {
+            action = 'append'
+            start = change.readFrom
+            startingLine = existing.indexedLines
+          }
+        }
+
+        let handle: FileHandle | undefined
+        let spool: Database | undefined
+        let spoolDirectory: string | undefined
+        try {
+          const readSnapshot = await captureSourceFingerprint({
             path: candidate.path,
-            previous,
+            indexedBytes: start,
             parserVersion,
           })
-          : { kind: 'rebuild', reason: 'rewrite' } as const
-        if (change.kind === 'retry') return change
-        if (change.kind === 'deleted') return remove(candidate.path)
-        if (change.kind === 'unchanged') {
-          if (
-            existing.projectPath !== candidate.projectPath ||
-            existing.ownerSessionId !== candidate.ownerSessionId ||
-            existing.ownerTranscriptPath !== candidate.ownerTranscriptPath ||
-            existing.modifiedAtMs !== candidate.modifiedAtMs
-          ) {
-            options.index.appendSource({
-              ...existing,
-              projectPath: candidate.projectPath,
-              ownerSessionId: candidate.ownerSessionId,
-              ownerTranscriptPath: candidate.ownerTranscriptPath,
-              modifiedAtMs: candidate.modifiedAtMs,
-              updatedAtMs: now(),
-            }, [])
+          throwIfAborted(options.signal)
+          handle = await open(candidate.path, 'r')
+          const before = await handle.stat()
+          if (!snapshotMatchesFingerprint(before, readSnapshot)) {
+            return { kind: 'retry', reason: 'changed-during-read' }
+          }
+          spoolDirectory = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'claude-search-spool-'))
+          const spoolPath = join(spoolDirectory, 'documents.sqlite')
+          spool = new Database(spoolPath)
+          spool.exec('PRAGMA journal_mode=OFF; PRAGMA cache_size=-512; PRAGMA temp_store=FILE; CREATE TABLE documents (seq INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, jsonlLine INTEGER, byteStart INTEGER, byteLength INTEGER, segmentIndex INTEGER, role TEXT, messageId TEXT, timestamp TEXT, body TEXT, normalizedBody TEXT)')
+          const insert = spool.query('INSERT INTO documents (jsonlLine, byteStart, byteLength, segmentIndex, role, messageId, timestamp, body, normalizedBody) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)')
+          const activeSpool = spool
+          const reduced = await readCompleteLines({
+            handle,
+            start,
+            end: readSnapshot.size,
+            startingLine,
+            signal: options.signal,
+            maxJsonlLineBytes,
+            writeBatch(documents, bytes) {
+              options.onBatch?.({ documents: documents.length, bytes })
+              throwIfAborted(options.signal)
+              activeSpool.transaction(() => {
+                for (const document of documents) insert.run(document.jsonlLine, document.byteStart, document.byteLength, document.segmentIndex, document.role, document.messageId, document.timestamp, document.body, document.normalizedBody)
+              })()
+            },
+          })
+          const after = await handle.stat()
+          if (!snapshotMatchesFingerprint(after, readSnapshot)) {
+            return { kind: 'retry', reason: 'changed-during-read' }
+          }
+          await handle.close()
+          handle = undefined
+
+          const commitSnapshot = await captureSourceFingerprint({
+            path: candidate.path,
+            indexedBytes: reduced.indexedBytes,
+            parserVersion,
+          })
+          if (!sameReadSnapshot(readSnapshot, commitSnapshot)) {
+            return { kind: 'retry', reason: 'changed-during-read' }
+          }
+          const verified = await verifyFingerprint({
+            path: candidate.path,
+            expected: commitSnapshot,
+          })
+          if (verified.kind !== 'unchanged') {
+            return verified.kind === 'retry'
+              ? verified
+              : { kind: 'retry', reason: 'changed-during-read' }
+          }
+          throwIfAborted(options.signal)
+
+          const state: SearchContentSourceState = reduced.lineTooLarge
+            ? 'degraded'
+            : reduced.indexedBytes < commitSnapshot.size ? 'pending' : 'ready'
+          const source: SearchContentSourceWrite = {
+            path: candidate.path,
+            projectPath: candidate.projectPath,
+            ownerSessionId: candidate.ownerSessionId,
+            ownerTranscriptPath: candidate.ownerTranscriptPath,
+            modifiedAtMs: candidate.modifiedAtMs,
+            sizeBytes: commitSnapshot.size,
+            mtimeMs: commitSnapshot.mtimeMs,
+            fileIdentity: commitSnapshot.fileIdentity,
+            fingerprint: serializeSourceFingerprint(commitSnapshot),
+            indexedBytes: reduced.indexedBytes,
+            indexedLines: reduced.indexedLines,
+            parserVersion,
+            state,
+            lastErrorCode: reduced.lineTooLarge
+              ? SEARCH_CONTENT_LINE_TOO_LARGE
+              : null,
+            updatedAtMs: now(),
+          }
+          if (options.database.path) {
+            spool.close()
+            spool = undefined
+            await commitSearchContentSpool({ databasePath: options.database.path, spoolPath, source, append: action === 'append', signal: options.signal, onStarted: options.onCommitStarted })
+          } else {
+            // Custom/in-memory databases cannot be reopened in another thread.
+            // They retain the same bounded iterator and atomic transaction API.
+            const documents = spool.query('SELECT jsonlLine, byteStart, byteLength, segmentIndex, role, messageId, timestamp, body, normalizedBody FROM documents ORDER BY seq').iterate() as Iterable<SearchContentDocumentWrite>
+            if (action === 'append') options.index.appendSource(source, documents)
+            else options.index.replaceSource(source, documents)
           }
           return {
             kind: 'indexed',
-            action: 'unchanged',
-            state: existing.state,
-            indexedBytes: existing.indexedBytes,
-            indexedLines: existing.indexedLines,
-            documentCount: 0,
+            action,
+            state,
+            indexedBytes: reduced.indexedBytes,
+            indexedLines: reduced.indexedLines,
+            documentCount: reduced.documentCount,
           }
+        } catch (error) {
+          if (isMissing(error)) return remove(candidate.path)
+          return retry()
+        } finally {
+          await handle?.close().catch(() => {})
+          spool?.close()
+          if (spoolDirectory) await rm(spoolDirectory, { recursive: true, force: true })
         }
-        if (change.kind === 'append') {
-          action = 'append'
-          start = change.readFrom
-          startingLine = existing.indexedLines
-        }
-      }
-
-      let handle: FileHandle | undefined
-      try {
-        const readSnapshot = await captureSourceFingerprint({
-          path: candidate.path,
-          indexedBytes: start,
-          parserVersion,
-        })
-        throwIfAborted(options.signal)
-        handle = await open(candidate.path, 'r')
-        const before = await handle.stat()
-        if (!snapshotMatchesFingerprint(before, readSnapshot)) {
-          return { kind: 'retry', reason: 'changed-during-read' }
-        }
-        const reduced = await readCompleteLines({
-          handle,
-          start,
-          end: readSnapshot.size,
-          startingLine,
-          signal: options.signal,
-          maxJsonlLineBytes,
-        })
-        const after = await handle.stat()
-        if (!snapshotMatchesFingerprint(after, readSnapshot)) {
-          return { kind: 'retry', reason: 'changed-during-read' }
-        }
-        await handle.close()
-        handle = undefined
-
-        const commitSnapshot = await captureSourceFingerprint({
-          path: candidate.path,
-          indexedBytes: reduced.indexedBytes,
-          parserVersion,
-        })
-        if (!sameReadSnapshot(readSnapshot, commitSnapshot)) {
-          return { kind: 'retry', reason: 'changed-during-read' }
-        }
-        const verified = await verifyFingerprint({
-          path: candidate.path,
-          expected: commitSnapshot,
-        })
-        if (verified.kind !== 'unchanged') {
-          return verified.kind === 'retry'
-            ? verified
-            : { kind: 'retry', reason: 'changed-during-read' }
-        }
-        throwIfAborted(options.signal)
-
-        const state: SearchContentSourceState = reduced.lineTooLarge
-          ? 'degraded'
-          : reduced.indexedBytes < commitSnapshot.size ? 'pending' : 'ready'
-        const source: SearchContentSourceWrite = {
-          path: candidate.path,
-          projectPath: candidate.projectPath,
-          ownerSessionId: candidate.ownerSessionId,
-          ownerTranscriptPath: candidate.ownerTranscriptPath,
-          modifiedAtMs: candidate.modifiedAtMs,
-          sizeBytes: commitSnapshot.size,
-          mtimeMs: commitSnapshot.mtimeMs,
-          fileIdentity: commitSnapshot.fileIdentity,
-          fingerprint: serializeSourceFingerprint(commitSnapshot),
-          indexedBytes: reduced.indexedBytes,
-          indexedLines: reduced.indexedLines,
-          parserVersion,
-          state,
-          lastErrorCode: reduced.lineTooLarge
-            ? SEARCH_CONTENT_LINE_TOO_LARGE
-            : null,
-          updatedAtMs: now(),
-        }
-        if (action === 'append') {
-          options.index.appendSource(source, reduced.documents)
-        } else {
-          options.index.replaceSource(source, reduced.documents)
-        }
-        return {
-          kind: 'indexed',
-          action,
-          state,
-          indexedBytes: reduced.indexedBytes,
-          indexedLines: reduced.indexedLines,
-          documentCount: reduced.documents.length,
-        }
-      } catch (error) {
-        if (isMissing(error)) return remove(candidate.path)
-        return retry()
-      } finally {
-        await handle?.close().catch(() => {})
-      }
+      })
     },
-    deleteSource: remove,
+    deleteSource: path => withSearchProjectionBudget(options.signal, async () => remove(path)),
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.test.ts b/src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.test.ts
index 62ba4d02..24de6113 100644
--- a/src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.test.ts
@@ -62,3 +62,13 @@ test('bounds queued file builds and cleans a fully cancelled scan for subsequent
   await expect(readHistoryContexts({ filePath: files[5]!, sourceVersion: versions[5]!, offsets: [0], signal: controller.signal, classify: entry => { controller.abort(); return classify(entry) } })).rejects.toThrow()
   expect((await readHistoryContexts({ filePath: files[5]!, sourceVersion: versions[5]!, offsets: [0], classify })).contexts.get(0)?.suppressed).toBe(false)
 })
+
+
+test('rebuilds scalar context after an in-place rewrite grows beyond the cached snapshot', async () => {
+  await writeFile(file, row('notice', { notification: true }) + '\n')
+  await readHistoryContexts({ filePath: file, sourceVersion: await version(), offsets: [0], classify })
+  await writeFile(file, row('replacement', { reset: true }) + '\n' + row('more-records') + '\n')
+  const rebuilt = await readHistoryContexts({ filePath: file, sourceVersion: await version(), offsets: [0], classify })
+  expect(rebuilt.contexts.get(0)?.suppressed).toBe(false)
+  expect(rebuilt.scannedBytes).toBe(Number((await stat(file)).size))
+})
diff --git a/src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.ts b/src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.ts
index b5862e67..91ac9886 100644
--- a/src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/sessionHistoryContext.ts
@@ -1,18 +1,38 @@
+import { createHash } from 'node:crypto'
 import { Database } from 'bun:sqlite'
-import { mkdtemp, rm, stat } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { mkdtemp, open, rm, stat } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { rmSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
-import { streamBoundedHistory, withHistoryReadBudget } from './boundedSessionHistory.js'
+import { HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES, streamBoundedHistory, withHistoryReadBudget } from './boundedSessionHistory.js'
 import { ApiError } from '../middleware/errorHandler.js'
 
 type Context = { owner?: string; suppressed: boolean }
-type Cache = { database: Database; directory: string; identity: string; size: number; mtime: string; offset: number; suppressed: boolean | null }
+type Cache = { database: Database; directory: string; identity: string; size: number; mtime: string; offset: number; suppressed: boolean | null; fingerprint?: string }
 type Flight = { promise: Promise<void>; controller: AbortController; users: number }
 const cache = new Map<string, Cache>()
 const flights = new Map<string, Flight>()
 process.once('exit', () => { for (const entry of cache.values()) { entry.database.close(); rmSync(entry.directory, { recursive: true, force: true }) } })
 
+async function sourceAnchors(filePath: string, size: number, signal: AbortSignal): Promise<string> {
+  const handle = await open(filePath, 'r')
+  try {
+    const hash = createHash('sha256')
+    for (const offset of [0, Math.max(0, size - 4096)]) {
+      const bytes = Buffer.alloc(Math.min(4096, size - offset))
+      let read = 0
+      while (read < bytes.length) {
+        if (signal.aborted) throw signal.reason ?? new DOMException('Aborted', 'AbortError')
+        const result = await handle.read(bytes, read, bytes.length - read, offset + read)
+        if (!result.bytesRead) throw new ApiError(409, 'History changed during context validation', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
+        read += result.bytesRead
+      }
+      hash.update(bytes)
+    }
+    return hash.digest('hex')
+  } finally { await handle.close() }
+}
+
 /** Disk-backed visibility/ownership scalars. Payload records never enter this
  * index. Only append suffixes are scanned after the initial bounded build. */
 export async function readHistoryContexts(options: {
@@ -33,7 +53,9 @@ export async function readHistoryContexts(options: {
       throw new ApiError(409, 'Session history changed during context lookup', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
     }
     let state = cache.get(options.filePath)
-    if (state && (state.identity !== identity || Number(current.size) < state.size || (Number(current.size) === state.size && String(current.mtimeNs) !== state.mtime))) {
+    const rewrittenGrowth = state?.fingerprint && Number(current.size) > state.size
+      ? state.fingerprint !== await sourceAnchors(options.filePath, state.size, signal) : false
+    if (state && (rewrittenGrowth || state.identity !== identity || Number(current.size) < state.size || (Number(current.size) === state.size && String(current.mtimeNs) !== state.mtime))) {
       cache.delete(options.filePath)
       state.database.close()
       await rm(state.directory, { recursive: true, force: true })
@@ -63,6 +85,7 @@ export async function readHistoryContexts(options: {
     let suppressed = state.suppressed
     let completeSuppression = suppressed
     try {
+      const fingerprint = await sourceAnchors(options.filePath, targetSize, signal)
       state.database.exec('BEGIN')
       const result = await streamBoundedHistory(options.filePath, (entry, completeLine, offset) => {
         const classification = options.classify(entry)
@@ -76,15 +99,17 @@ export async function readHistoryContexts(options: {
         // Unknown sidechain ancestry is never promoted into the root transcript.
         saveContext.run(offset, owner ?? null, suppressed !== false || (entry.isSidechain === true && !owner) ? 1 : 0)
         if (completeLine) completeSuppression = suppressed
-      }, signal, { startOffset: originalOffset, endOffset: targetSize, onSkipped: () => { suppressed = null; completeSuppression = null } })
+      }, signal, { startOffset: originalOffset, endOffset: targetSize, maxRecordBytes: HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES, onSkipped: () => { suppressed = null; completeSuppression = null } })
+      if (fingerprint !== await sourceAnchors(options.filePath, targetSize, signal)) throw new ApiError(409, 'History was rewritten during context scan', 'HISTORY_CHANGED')
       state.database.exec('COMMIT')
+      state.fingerprint = fingerprint
       state.size = targetSize
       state.mtime = mtime!
       state.offset = result.nextOffset
       state.suppressed = completeSuppression
       scannedBytes += result.scannedBytes
     } catch (error) {
-      state.database.exec('ROLLBACK')
+      try { state.database.exec('ROLLBACK') } catch { /* Validation may fail before BEGIN. */ }
       // journal_mode=OFF cannot guarantee rollback restoration after a failed
       // build; discard this regenerable index entirely.
       cache.delete(options.filePath)
diff --git a/src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.test.ts b/src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.test.ts
index a73883e1..1efb3196 100644
--- a/src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.test.ts
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ test('recovery retains tool lifecycle ownership and does not revive child tools
 })
 
 test('oversized evidence is explicitly incomplete and cancellation never returns an authoritative snapshot', async () => {
-  await writeFile(file, JSON.stringify(entry('assistant', 'huge', [{ type: 'text', text: 'x'.repeat(2 * 1024 * 1024) }])) + '\n')
+  await writeFile(file, JSON.stringify(entry('assistant', 'huge', [{ type: 'text', text: 'x'.repeat(9 * 1024 * 1024) }])) + '\n')
   const recovery = await service.getSessionHistoryRecovery(id)
   expect(recovery.status).toBe('incomplete')
   expect(recovery.omittedRecords).toBe(1)
@@ -134,3 +134,21 @@ test('recovery resolves sidechain ancestry through Agent calls without attaching
   const recovered = await service.getSessionHistoryRecovery(id)
   expect(recovered.messages.map(message => message.id)).toEqual(['owner', 'root'])
 })
+
+
+test('a multi-megabyte foreground tool output preserves all small-session messages and does not degrade recovery', async () => {
+  await writeFile(file, [
+    entry('assistant', 'call', [{ type: 'tool_use', id: 'bash', name: 'Bash', input: { command: 'cat large-log' } }]),
+    entry('user', 'result', [{ type: 'tool_result', tool_use_id: 'bash', content: 'x'.repeat(4 * 1024 * 1024) }]),
+    ...Array.from({ length: 158 }, (_, index) => entry('assistant', `reply-${index}`, 'ok')),
+  ].map(value => JSON.stringify(value)).join('\n') + '\n')
+  const page = await service.getSessionHistoryPage(id)
+  expect(page.messages).toHaveLength(160)
+  expect(page.messages.find(message => message.id === 'result')?.bodyTruncated).toBe(true)
+  expect(page.page.nextCursor).toBeNull()
+  expect(page.page.omittedOversizedEntries).toBe(0)
+  const recovery = await service.getSessionHistoryRecovery(id)
+  expect(recovery.status).toBe('ready')
+  expect(recovery.omittedRecords).toBe(0)
+  expect((await service.getSessionLaunchInfo(id))?.transcriptMessageCount).toBe(160)
+})
diff --git a/src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.ts b/src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.ts
index 030a0705..5e754922 100644
--- a/src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/sessionHistoryRecovery.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { Database } from 'bun:sqlite'
 import { mkdtemp, rm } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
-import { streamBoundedHistory, withHistoryReadBudget } from './boundedSessionHistory.js'
+import { HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES, streamBoundedHistory, withHistoryReadBudget } from './boundedSessionHistory.js'
 import type { MessageEntry, SessionTaskNotification } from './sessionService.js'
 
 const RECOVERY_BYTES = 3 * 1024 * 1024
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ export async function recoverBoundedSessionHistory(options: {
         }
         if (workspaceResults.length) saveActivity({ ordinal, message: { ...base, content: workspaceResults, toolUseResult: message.toolUseResult } }, 'workspace')
         if (agentBlocks.length) saveActivity({ ordinal, message: { ...base, content: agentBlocks } })
-      }, options.signal)
+      }, options.signal, { maxRecordBytes: HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES })
       database.exec('COMMIT')
       const priority = [goalBase, goalStatus, lastTodo, lastTask?.message.id === lastTodo?.message.id ? undefined : lastTask, lastUser].filter((value): value is Evidence => Boolean(value))
       const messages = new Map(priority.map(evidence => [evidence.message.id, evidence]))
diff --git a/src/server/services/sessionService.ts b/src/server/services/sessionService.ts
index 45df61cf..160e7ba4 100644
--- a/src/server/services/sessionService.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/sessionService.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { recoverBoundedSessionHistory, type SessionHistoryRecovery } from './ses
  * 确保 Desktop App 与 CLI 的数据完全互通。
  */
 
-import { readBoundedHistoryPage, streamBoundedHistory, withHistoryReadBudget, type HistoryPageInfo } from './boundedSessionHistory.js'
+import { HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES, readBoundedHistoryPage, streamBoundedHistory, withHistoryReadBudget, type HistoryPageInfo } from './boundedSessionHistory.js'
 import { constants, createReadStream, type Stats } from 'node:fs'
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto'
 import * as fs from 'node:fs/promises'
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ export type MessageEntry = {
   id: string
   type: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'system' | 'tool_use' | 'tool_result'
   content: unknown
+  bodyTruncated?: boolean
   toolUseResult?: unknown
   timestamp: string
   model?: string
@@ -1288,7 +1289,7 @@ export class SessionService {
       const scan = await streamBoundedHistory(filePath, (entry, completeLine) => {
         apply(launch, entry as RawEntry)
         if (completeLine) apply(summary, entry as RawEntry)
-      })
+      }, undefined, { maxRecordBytes: HISTORY_SEMANTIC_RECORD_BYTES })
       const shared = (state: typeof summary) => ({
         ...(state.permissionMode ? { permissionMode: state.permissionMode } : {}),
         ...(state.runtimeProviderId !== undefined ? { runtimeProviderId: state.runtimeProviderId } : {}),
@@ -1846,6 +1847,7 @@ export class SessionService {
       id: entry.uuid || crypto.randomUUID(),
       type,
       content: msg.content,
+      ...(entry.bodyTruncated === true ? { bodyTruncated: true } : {}),
       ...(entry.toolUseResult !== undefined ? { toolUseResult: entry.toolUseResult } : {}),
       timestamp: entry.timestamp || new Date().toISOString(),
       model: msg.model,