diff --git a/src/apps/officer-web/Screens/Dashboard/CommandHQ/CommandHqScreen.tsx b/src/apps/officer-web/Screens/Dashboard/CommandHQ/CommandHqScreen.tsx
index 29e81bfd..a84ff4da 100644
--- a/src/apps/officer-web/Screens/Dashboard/CommandHQ/CommandHqScreen.tsx
+++ b/src/apps/officer-web/Screens/Dashboard/CommandHQ/CommandHqScreen.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { useEffect } from 'react';
 import type { LayoutNode } from 'officerdev';
-import { WorkspaceView } from 'officerdev';
+import { WorkspaceView, useCommanderFilesPanel } from 'officerdev';
 import { useDashboardState } from 'state/useDashboardState';
 import { defaultLayout, isLegacyThreeColumn } from './defaultLayout';
 
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import { defaultLayout, isLegacyThreeColumn } from './defaultLayout';
 
 export const CommandHqScreen = () => {
   const workspace = useDashboardState<LayoutNode>('screens/command-hq', defaultLayout);
+  const ephemeral = useCommanderFilesPanel();
 
   /*
     Move a saved three-column layout onto the two-column one.
@@ -26,6 +27,9 @@ export const CommandHqScreen = () => {
 
   return (
     <div className="h-full w-full pt-2">
+      {/* The commander's own file browser is a layout of its own, rendered beside this one — it never
+          enters `workspace.value`, so this screen stays locked and the allow-list does not have to know
+          about it. Same trade `/files` makes for the file viewer. */}
       <WorkspaceView
         workspace={workspace}
         locked
@@ -33,6 +37,7 @@ export const CommandHqScreen = () => {
           allowed: ['command-hq-categories', 'command-hq-grid', 'command-hq-detail'],
           fallback: 'command-hq-detail',
         }}
+        ephemeral={ephemeral}
       />
     </div>
   );
diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts
index 41441c90..eed24f8c 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts
@@ -447,6 +447,10 @@ commandHqRouter.get('/commanders/:sessionId', async (ctx) => {
   return ctx.json({
     sessionId: row.sessionId,
     name: row.name,
+    // The commander's OWN directory name, so a client can open a file browser on it. Its directory sits
+    // under `user-data` (`$DATA_PATH/<email>/commanders/<dirName>`), which the `home` root the file
+    // browser normally serves cannot reach at all — see `file-browser/router.ts` → `getRootDir`.
+    dirName: row.dirName,
     referencePaths: row.referencePaths,
     categoryId: row.categoryId,
     tagIds: tagsByRow.get(row.id) ?? [],
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/InputArea.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/InputArea.tsx
index 264257c5..b6afb972 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/InputArea.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/InputArea.tsx
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 import type { DragEvent } from 'react';
-import { useRef, useState } from 'react';
+import { useCallback, useRef, useState } from 'react';
+import { useSearchParams } from 'react-router';
 import { Loader2, Send, Square, ListPlus, X } from 'lucide-react';
 import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button';
 import type { QueuedPrompt, UseEmbeddableChatType } from '../EmbeddableChat/useEmbeddableChat';
 import { ModelSelector } from './ModelSelector';
+import { COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM } from '../../CommandHQ/command-hq-routes';
 import { BackgroundJobDialog } from './BackgroundJobDialog';
 import { ClaudeLoginDialog } from './ClaudeLoginDialog';
 import { useCommanderRecordPaths } from '../useCommanderRecordPaths';
@@ -27,6 +29,26 @@ export const InputArea = ({ manager, disabled }: InputAreaProps) => {
   // Only for a commander, and only once it has an id. Everything a commander's loop needs in order to be
   // stoppable and deletable hangs off these two paths — see api/command-hq/spawned.ts.
   const recordPaths = useCommanderRecordPaths(manager.isCommander ? manager.claudeSessionId : null);
+
+  /*
+    A commander's own files, opened beside the transcript — `useCommanderFilesPanel` renders the panel off
+    this same param.
+
+    A param rather than a route, and a panel rather than a link: a commander's directory is the one place
+    `/files` cannot reach (a different root entirely), and a link would open a second copy of the whole app
+    in a new tab and lose the conversation being read.
+  */
+  const [searchParams, setSearchParams] = useSearchParams();
+  const toggleCommanderFiles = useCallback(
+    () =>
+      setSearchParams((prev) => {
+        const next = new URLSearchParams(prev);
+        if (next.get(COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM) === '1') next.delete(COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM);
+        else next.set(COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM, '1');
+        return next;
+      }),
+    [setSearchParams],
+  );
   const {
     input,
     setInput,
@@ -201,6 +223,8 @@ export const InputArea = ({ manager, disabled }: InputAreaProps) => {
         onBackgroundJob={() => setJobDialogOpen(true)}
         planMode={planMode}
         onPlanModeChange={setPlanMode}
+        filesOpen={manager.isCommander && searchParams.get(COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM) === '1'}
+        onToggleFiles={manager.isCommander ? toggleCommanderFiles : undefined}
       />
 
       <WebpageDialog open={urlDialogOpen} onOpenChange={setUrlDialogOpen} onSubmit={attachWebpage} />
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.tsx
index c79ac8b1..e14af62f 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { useEffect } from 'react';
-import { CirclePlay, ClipboardList } from 'lucide-react';
+import { CirclePlay, ClipboardList, FolderOpen } from 'lucide-react';
 import { toneText } from '@/components/Data';
 import { Select, SelectContent, SelectItem, SelectTrigger, SelectValue } from '@/components/ui/select';
 import type { ModelOption } from 'state/useModels';
@@ -52,6 +52,16 @@ type ModelSelectorProps = {
    * about what this turn will cost.
    */
   planMode?: boolean;
+  /**
+   * Open this commander's own files, and whether they are open — absent on an ordinary chat, where the
+   * Plan control takes this place instead.
+   *
+   * Given as props rather than read from the URL here on purpose: this component is rendered bare in its
+   * own tests, and reaching for `useSearchParams` inside it made every one of them fail on a missing
+   * Router. A control that has to be mounted in a route to render is not a control any more.
+   */
+  filesOpen?: boolean;
+  onToggleFiles?: () => void;
   onPlanModeChange?: (enabled: boolean) => void;
 };
 
@@ -66,6 +76,8 @@ export function ModelSelector({
   hasStarted,
   onBackgroundJob,
   planMode = false,
+  filesOpen = false,
+  onToggleFiles,
   onPlanModeChange,
 }: ModelSelectorProps) {
   const { t } = useTranslation();
@@ -240,7 +252,33 @@ export function ModelSelector({
         Sonnet, quietly, and a user who picked it expecting Opus would never find that out. Officer does NOT
         auto-enter plan mode for it, because the CLI does not either; it says so instead.
       */}
-      {onPlanModeChange && currentHarness !== 'opencode' && (
+      {/*
+        A commander's own directory, instead of Plan.
+
+        Instead, not beside: a commander is an agent that acts while nobody watches, and plan mode is the
+        opposite posture — research, propose, change nothing until a human approves. There is no human in
+        the loop to approve, so the control promises something that cannot happen. What is genuinely
+        missing there is a way to SEE what the commander has been writing, and its directory is
+        unreachable from `/files` (a different root entirely), so this is the only door to it.
+
+        `?files=1` rather than a route: it opens an ephemeral panel beside the transcript in this same
+        workspace — `useCommanderFilesPanel`. A link would open a second copy of the whole app in a new
+        tab and lose the conversation you were reading.
+      */}
+      {onToggleFiles && (
+        <button
+          type="button"
+          onClick={onToggleFiles}
+          aria-pressed={filesOpen}
+          title="This commander's own files"
+          className={`shrink-0 cursor-pointer rounded-md p-1.5 transition-colors ${
+            filesOpen ? 'bg-primary/15 text-primary' : 'text-muted-foreground hover:bg-foreground/10'
+          }`}
+        >
+          <FolderOpen className="h-[18px] w-[18px]" />
+        </button>
+      )}
+      {!onToggleFiles && onPlanModeChange && currentHarness !== 'opencode' && (
         <button
           type="button"
           onClick={() => onPlanModeChange(!planMode)}
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/command-hq-routes.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/command-hq-routes.ts
index 3e504363..2f25d12f 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/command-hq-routes.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/command-hq-routes.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,16 @@ import type { CommandHqCategoryFilter } from './types';
  * there is no separate detail-only page to lose the grid to.
  */
 
+/**
+ * Whether the commander's own file browser is open beside the transcript — `?files=1`.
+ *
+ * A query param rather than a route because it is something laid ON TOP of the open commander rather than
+ * a different place to be: the transcript stays mounted and stays the page. It lives here rather than in
+ * the hook that reads it because the composer's button WRITES it, and a magic string spelled in two files
+ * is a magic string that will eventually be spelled two ways.
+ */
+export const COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM = 'files';
+
 const categoryQuery = (category: CommandHqCategoryFilter): string =>
   category === undefined ? '' : `?category=${category}`;
 
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/types.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/types.ts
index fc2d1544..c1ef23ed 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/types.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/types.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ export type CommandHqCommander = {
 export type CommandHqCommanderDetail = {
   sessionId: string;
   name: string | null;
+  /** This commander's own directory under `user-data` — what the files panel is rooted at. */
+  dirName: string | null;
   referencePaths: string[];
   categoryId: number | null;
   tagIds: number[];
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/index.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/index.ts
index 46925f9f..8a88af6e 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/index.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 export * from './useFilesAPI';
 export * from './useFileViewerPanels';
+export * from './useCommanderFilesPanel';
 export * from './useChat';
 export * from './useChatNotifications';
 export * from './useDock';
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useCommanderFilesPanel/index.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useCommanderFilesPanel/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..31e8de89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useCommanderFilesPanel/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+export { useCommanderFilesPanel } from './useCommanderFilesPanel';
+export type { UseCommanderFilesPanelType } from './useCommanderFilesPanel';
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useCommanderFilesPanel/useCommanderFilesPanel.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useCommanderFilesPanel/useCommanderFilesPanel.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f09b96da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useCommanderFilesPanel/useCommanderFilesPanel.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+import { useCallback, useMemo } from 'react';
+import { useParams, useSearchParams } from 'react-router';
+import { useQuery } from '@tanstack/react-query';
+import { useClient } from 'hooks/useClient';
+import type { EphemeralPanels, LayoutNode } from '../../components/Workspace';
+import { FileBrowserApp } from '../../apps/FileBrowser';
+import type { CommandHqCommanderDetail } from '../../apps/CommandHQ/types';
+import { COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM } from '../../apps/CommandHQ/command-hq-routes';
+
+/**
+ * The open commander's own directory, as a file browser beside the transcript.
+ *
+ * ── Why a file browser cannot otherwise reach it ──
+ *
+ * A commander's directory is `$DATA_PATH/<email>/commanders/<dirName>`. The file browser serves exactly
+ * two roots, `home` and `user-data` (`file-browser/router.ts` → `getRootDir`), and `/files` is rooted at
+ * `home` — so there is no path from the Files screen to a commander at all. This panel is the only way to
+ * see what one has written, and it needs the OTHER root.
+ *
+ * ── Why ephemeral rather than a panel in the layout ──
+ *
+ * `/command-hq` is a `locked` workspace with a three-item allow-list. A persisted panel would mean
+ * unlocking a screen whose structure is deliberately code's rather than the user's, and widening a list
+ * that exists to keep a stranded panel from collapsing onto the fallback. An ephemeral layout is rendered
+ * BESIDE `workspace.value` and never enters it, so neither has to change — the same trade `/files` makes
+ * for the file viewer, for the same reason.
+ *
+ * ── Why the breadcrumbs stop at the commander ──
+ *
+ * `basePath` is the browser's floor: `Breadcrumb` renders relative to it and its home crumb IS the base,
+ * so nothing above the commander is offered. Note that this is the UI's floor and not the server's — the
+ * root really is all of `user-data` — which is the owner's own data either way, so it bounds the
+ * navigation rather than the account.
+ */
+const layout: LayoutNode = { type: 'panel', id: 'command-hq-files', appType: null };
+
+export const useCommanderFilesPanel = (): EphemeralPanels | null => {
+  const [searchParams, setSearchParams] = useSearchParams();
+  const { sessionId } = useParams<{ sessionId: string }>();
+  const client = useClient();
+  const open = searchParams.get(COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM) === '1';
+
+  // The composer knows it is a commander but not which directory that is, so the panel resolves it from
+  // the open session rather than the button carrying it. Only fetched while the panel is open.
+  const { data } = useQuery<CommandHqCommanderDetail>({
+    queryKey: ['command-hq', 'commander', sessionId ?? ''],
+    queryFn: () => client.get<CommandHqCommanderDetail>(`/command-hq/commanders/${sessionId}`),
+    enabled: open && !!sessionId,
+  });
+
+  const onClose = useCallback(
+    () =>
+      setSearchParams((prev) => {
+        const next = new URLSearchParams(prev);
+        next.delete(COMMANDER_FILES_PARAM);
+        return next;
+      }),
+    [setSearchParams],
+  );
+
+  const dirName = data?.dirName ?? null;
+
+  const components = useMemo(
+    () => ({
+      'command-hq-files': {
+        component: () => (
+          <FileBrowserApp basePath={`/commanders/${dirName}`} rootOverride="user-data" panelId="command-hq-files" />
+        ),
+        onClose,
+      },
+    }),
+    [dirName, onClose],
+  );
+
+  // Nothing until the directory name is known. Mounting on `/commanders/null` would list the whole
+  // commanders folder for a beat — every OTHER commander included — before correcting itself.
+  if (!open || !dirName) return null;
+  return { layout, components, defaultBaseSize: 45, onClose };
+};
+
+export type UseCommanderFilesPanelType = ReturnType<typeof useCommanderFilesPanel>;