diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
index 6583d7bb..a4978f32 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
@@ -33,12 +33,31 @@ function EmptyState() {
 }
 
 /**
- * Starts a brand-new commander. `useChat` mints the transcript id on the harness's first response
- * (`session:claude`) — once that lands, the URL is replaced onto the real id so a refresh resumes the
- * same conversation instead of starting a second one. `replaceUrl: false` because `useChat`'s own permalink
- * always writes `/chat/<id>` (see `writePermalink` in `useChat.ts`), which is the wrong screen here.
+ * A commander started in THIS pane, and it keeps the same live chat for as long as the pane is open.
+ *
+ * `useChat` mints the transcript id on the harness's first response (`session:claude`); once that lands the
+ * URL is replaced onto it so a refresh resumes this conversation instead of starting a second one.
+ * `replaceUrl: false` because `useChat`'s own permalink always writes `/chat/<id>` (see `writePermalink`),
+ * which is the wrong screen here.
+ *
+ * **The URL change must not remount anything.** It used to: the pane swapped to `ExistingCommander`, which
+ * tore down the live websocket and re-read the transcript from the API. The whole conversation vanished at
+ * the end of the first turn — the messages were in memory, the replacement read a file still being
+ * written, and what the owner saw was an empty composer under a metadata bar reading `1 turn · $0.66`.
+ * Tearing down mid-turn is worse than it looks with a commander, whose turns are long: the pane would drop
+ * the stream and the reader would watch nothing happen for twenty minutes.
+ *
+ * So this component holds the session from the composer through to the end, exactly as `/chat` does — a
+ * permalink is for a refresh, not an instruction to reload. `CommandHqDetail` keeps it mounted by
+ * remembering which id started here.
  */
-function NewCommander({ category }: { category: number | 'none' | undefined }) {
+function NewCommander({
+  category,
+  onStarted,
+}: {
+  category: number | 'none' | undefined;
+  onStarted: (id: string) => void;
+}) {
   const navigate = useNavigate();
   const chat = useChat(undefined, undefined, { replaceUrl: false, context: 'command-hq' });
   // Also the transcript id: `command_hq_sessions` is keyed on it, so an action addressed by officer's key
@@ -60,15 +79,26 @@ function NewCommander({ category }: { category: number | 'none' | undefined }) {
     // running its UPDATE last; done client-side here for the same reason, since the web composer goes
     // through the websocket path instead.
     if (typeof category === 'number') void setCategory.mutateAsync(category).catch(() => {});
+    onStarted(chat.claudeSessionId);
     navigate(commandHqSessionPath(chat.claudeSessionId, category), { replace: true });
     // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
   }, [chat.claudeSessionId, filed]);
 
   return (
     <div className="flex h-full flex-col">
-      <div className="flex shrink-0 items-center gap-2 border-b border-border bg-background/60 px-4 py-2 text-sm font-medium text-foreground/80">
-        New commander
-      </div>
+      {chat.claudeSessionId ? (
+        <MetaBar
+          sessionId={chat.claudeSessionId}
+          title={undefined}
+          isConnected={chat.isConnected}
+          isGenerating={chat.isGenerating}
+          onDisconnect={chat.disconnectSession}
+        />
+      ) : (
+        <div className="flex shrink-0 items-center gap-2 border-b border-border bg-background/60 px-4 py-2 text-sm font-medium text-foreground/80">
+          New commander
+        </div>
+      )}
       <EmbeddableChat chat={chat} sessionId={undefined} className="min-h-0 flex-1" />
     </div>
   );
@@ -301,7 +331,18 @@ export const CommandHqDetail = () => {
   const [searchParams] = useSearchParams();
   const category = categoryFromParam(searchParams.get('category'));
 
+  // The id of a commander started in this pane. While the URL still names it, `NewCommander` stays mounted
+  // and keeps its live socket — swapping to `ExistingCommander` here is what used to make the conversation
+  // disappear the moment the URL was replaced. Cleared as soon as the owner opens a different commander,
+  // so coming back later resumes from the transcript properly instead of showing an empty remount.
+  const [startedHere, setStartedHere] = useState<string | null>(null);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (startedHere && sessionId !== 'new' && sessionId !== startedHere) setStartedHere(null);
+  }, [sessionId, startedHere]);
+
   if (!sessionId) return <EmptyState />;
-  if (sessionId === 'new') return <NewCommander category={category} />;
+  if (sessionId === 'new' || sessionId === startedHere)
+    return <NewCommander category={category} onStarted={setStartedHere} />;
   return <ExistingCommander key={sessionId} sessionId={sessionId} />;
 };
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useChat.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useChat.ts
index c1988807..0e60fdde 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useChat.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useChat.ts
@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@ export function useChat(initialSessionId?: string, initialModel?: string | null,
         // here rather than at `result` is the difference between "refresh mid-turn and lose the turn" and
         // "refresh mid-turn and watch it carry on".
         claudeSessionIdRef.current = msg.claudeSessionId;
+        setClaudeSessionId(msg.claudeSessionId);
         if (replaceUrl) writePermalink(msg.claudeSessionId);
         break;