diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useChat.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useChat.ts
index 631343b7..ee9d8f88 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useChat.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useChat.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { useState, useEffect, useRef, useCallback } from 'react';
 import { useQueryClient } from '@tanstack/react-query';
+import { useNavigate } from 'react-router';
 import { useChatWebSocket } from 'hooks/useChatWebSocket';
 import { useClient } from 'hooks/useClient';
 import { useSettings } from 'state/useSettings';
@@ -44,11 +45,23 @@ type UsePiChatOptions = {
  * contradict it — which is what a hand-edited or stale `?cwd=` used to do. Anything else in the query
  * string is left alone.
  */
-function writePermalink(claudeSessionId: string): void {
+/**
+ * The permalink, as a ROUTER navigation rather than a raw history write.
+ *
+ * It was `window.history.replaceState`, which changes the address bar and tells react-router nothing. Every
+ * consumer that reads the URL through the router therefore never saw it: on the /chat screen the title and
+ * the rename control both come from `useParams().sessionId` (see `ChatDetailPanel`), so a new conversation
+ * stayed "New chat" and could not be renamed until something else forced the router to re-read the
+ * location — which is exactly what navigating away and back did.
+ *
+ * `replace`, not push, so the browser Back button still leaves the conversation rather than stepping through
+ * the same one under a different name.
+ */
+function permalinkTo(claudeSessionId: string): { pathname: string; search: string } {
   const params = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
   params.delete('cwd');
   const search = params.toString();
-  window.history.replaceState(null, '', `/chat/${claudeSessionId}${search ? `?${search}` : ''}`);
+  return { pathname: `/chat/${claudeSessionId}`, search: search ? `?${search}` : '' };
 }
 
 export function useChat(initialSessionId?: string, initialModel?: string | null, options?: UsePiChatOptions) {
@@ -202,6 +215,21 @@ export function useChat(initialSessionId?: string, initialModel?: string | null,
 
   const client = useClient();
   const queryClient = useQueryClient();
+  const navigate = useNavigate();
+
+  /*
+    Written through the router so `useParams` updates. A raw `history.replaceState` moves the address bar and
+    leaves react-router believing the location is unchanged — see `permalinkTo`.
+
+    In a ref because the message handler is re-created per render and closes over whatever it had; a stable
+    callback keeps the socket's copy valid.
+  */
+  const writePermalink = useCallback(
+    (claudeSessionId: string) => {
+      navigate(permalinkTo(claudeSessionId), { replace: true });
+    },
+    [navigate],
+  );
 
   /*
     Tell the session LISTS that this conversation exists.