diff --git a/src/apps/CLAUDE.md b/src/apps/CLAUDE.md
index e8b179ea..4c8945a2 100644
--- a/src/apps/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/src/apps/CLAUDE.md
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ const { jobs, isLoading } = useJobs();
 | Shared UI state | `useGlobal` |
 | URL-driven state (filters, pagination) | `useQueryState` |
 | Component-only state | `useState` |
+| Shared UI state that must survive a refresh, per tab | `useSessionState` |
 | Persisted to localStorage | `useLocalStorageState` |
 
 ## Event Handlers
diff --git a/src/apps/officer-web/state/usePageTitle.ts b/src/apps/officer-web/state/usePageTitle.ts
index 7db4ce2c..a80019f8 100644
--- a/src/apps/officer-web/state/usePageTitle.ts
+++ b/src/apps/officer-web/state/usePageTitle.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-import { useCallback, useEffect, useRef } from 'react';
+import { useCallback, useEffect } from 'react';
 import { useLocation } from 'react-router';
-import { useGlobal } from 'hooks/useGlobal';
+import { useSessionState, writeSessionValue } from 'hooks/useSessionState';
 
 type TitleRule = { match: (p: string) => boolean; title: string };
 
@@ -51,12 +51,16 @@ export function titleForPath(pathname: string): string {
 // **sessionStorage is already the per-tab store.** It is separate per tab, survives a refresh and
 // in-place navigation, and is discarded when the tab closes, which is exactly the lifetime of a tab
 // name. localStorage would be wrong in the obvious way: every tab would share one name.
+//
+// `useSessionState` is that pairing as a hook (see `hooks/useSessionState`); the name is one of its
+// consumers. The tab *id* below stays on raw storage because it is claimed at module load, before any
+// component exists to hold it.
 
 const TAB_LABEL_KEY = 'OFFICER_TAB_LABEL';
 const TAB_ID_KEY = 'OFFICER_TAB_ID';
 const IDENTITY_CHANNEL = 'officer-tab-identity';
 
-/** Storage can throw outright (private mode, storage disabled). A tab name is not worth a crash. */
+/** Storage can throw outright (private mode, storage disabled). A tab id is not worth a crash. */
 function readStored(key: string): string | null {
   try {
     return sessionStorage.getItem(key);
@@ -65,18 +69,14 @@ function readStored(key: string): string | null {
   }
 }
 
-function writeStored(key: string, value: string | null): void {
+function writeStored(key: string, value: string): void {
   try {
-    if (value) sessionStorage.setItem(key, value);
-    else sessionStorage.removeItem(key);
+    sessionStorage.setItem(key, value);
   } catch {
     /* the value just doesn't persist */
   }
 }
 
-const readTabLabel = (): string | null => readStored(TAB_LABEL_KEY);
-const writeTabLabel = (label: string | null): void => writeStored(TAB_LABEL_KEY, label);
-
 const labelDroppedHandlers = new Set<() => void>();
 
 /** The clone check answers late, so React may already be showing the inherited name when it lands. */
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ function claimTabIdentity(): void {
     // Someone alive is already this tab, so we are the copy. Take a new id and give up the name.
     tabId = newTabId();
     writeStored(TAB_ID_KEY, tabId);
-    writeTabLabel(null);
+    writeSessionValue<string | null>(TAB_LABEL_KEY, null);
     for (const handler of labelDroppedHandlers) handler();
   };
   channel.postMessage({ kind: 'claim', tabId });
@@ -151,23 +151,11 @@ claimTabIdentity();
  */
 export function usePageTitle() {
   const { pathname } = useLocation();
-  const [label, setLabel] = useGlobal<string | null>('TAB_LABEL', readTabLabel);
+  const [label, setLabel] = useSessionState<string | null>(TAB_LABEL_KEY, null);
 
-  // `setLabel` is rebuilt every render, so it is read through a ref rather than listed as a dependency —
-  // as a dependency it would tear the subscription down and rebuild it on every render.
-  const setLabelRef = useRef(setLabel);
-  setLabelRef.current = setLabel;
-  useEffect(() => onTabLabelDropped(() => setLabelRef.current(null)), []);
+  useEffect(() => onTabLabelDropped(() => setLabel(null)), [setLabel]);
 
-  // The React Query copy is what re-renders every consumer; sessionStorage is what survives the reload.
-  const rename = useCallback(
-    (next: string) => {
-      const trimmed = next.trim() || null;
-      writeTabLabel(trimmed);
-      setLabel(trimmed);
-    },
-    [setLabel],
-  );
+  const rename = useCallback((next: string) => setLabel(next.trim() || null), [setLabel]);
 
   return [label ?? titleForPath(pathname), rename] as const;
 }
diff --git a/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useSessionState.ts b/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useSessionState.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5fcf7053
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useSessionState.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+import { useCallback, useMemo, useRef } from 'react';
+import { useGlobal } from './useGlobal';
+
+// ── State that belongs to *this tab*, and survives a refresh ──
+// `useGlobal` is the shared in-memory store: every consumer of a key re-renders together, with no
+// provider. What it cannot do is outlive the document — a reload starts from the initial value again.
+// `useLocalStorageState` outlives it but is shared by every tab at once, which is wrong for anything
+// describing *this window* (which panel you maximised, what you named the tab): two windows would fight
+// over one value.
+//
+// sessionStorage is the per-tab store — separate per tab, survives a reload and in-place navigation,
+// discarded when the tab closes. So: `useGlobal` for the live value, sessionStorage as the write-through
+// copy that the next document reads back. Storage can throw outright (private mode, storage disabled),
+// and no piece of UI state is worth a crash, so every access fails soft to "not persisted".
+
+function readStored<T>(key: string): { hit: true; value: T } | { hit: false } {
+  try {
+    const raw = sessionStorage.getItem(key);
+    if (raw === null) return { hit: false };
+    try {
+      return { hit: true, value: JSON.parse(raw) as T };
+    } catch {
+      // A value written before this key was JSON-encoded. Strings round-trip; anything else was garbage
+      // already.
+      return { hit: true, value: raw as unknown as T };
+    }
+  } catch {
+    return { hit: false };
+  }
+}
+
+/** Write a session value from outside React — for module-level code that has no hook to call. */
+export function writeSessionValue<T>(key: string, value: T): void {
+  try {
+    sessionStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(value));
+  } catch {
+    /* the value just doesn't persist */
+  }
+}
+
+/** Read a session value from outside React. Returns `fallback` when nothing is stored. */
+export function readSessionValue<T>(key: string, fallback: T): T {
+  const stored = readStored<T>(key);
+  return stored.hit ? stored.value : fallback;
+}
+
+export function clearSessionValue(key: string): void {
+  try {
+    sessionStorage.removeItem(key);
+  } catch {
+    /* nothing to clear */
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * `useGlobal`, but the value comes back after a refresh.
+ *
+ * Same shape as `useState`: a value, a setter that accepts an updater, and a `reset` that forgets the
+ * stored copy and returns to `initialValue`. `key` is the sessionStorage key verbatim — scope it
+ * yourself (`` `MAXIMIZED_PANEL:${dashboardId}` ``) when one screen needs one value per thing.
+ *
+ * `null` is a real stored value, not an absence: setting it persists "explicitly nothing", which is the
+ * difference between a panel you un-maximised and one you never maximised.
+ */
+export function useSessionState<T>(key: string, initialValue: T) {
+  // Read the stored value once per mount rather than on every render — `useGlobal` re-evaluates its
+  // initialData each time, and only the first result is ever used. `initialValue` is deliberately not a
+  // dependency: it is the value for a key with nothing stored, and re-reading on a new identity of the
+  // same default would only churn.
+  const initial = useMemo(() => readSessionValue(key, initialValue), [key]);
+  const [value, setGlobal] = useGlobal<T>(['SESSION_STATE', key], initial);
+
+  // Both are rebuilt every render, so they are read through refs — as dependencies they would give the
+  // setter a new identity on every render and defeat every memo downstream.
+  const valueRef = useRef(value);
+  valueRef.current = value;
+  const setGlobalRef = useRef(setGlobal);
+  setGlobalRef.current = setGlobal;
+
+  const setValue = useCallback(
+    (arg: React.SetStateAction<T>) => {
+      const next = typeof arg === 'function' ? (arg as (prev: T) => T)(valueRef.current) : arg;
+      writeSessionValue(key, next);
+      setGlobalRef.current(next);
+    },
+    [key],
+  );
+
+  const reset = useCallback(() => {
+    clearSessionValue(key);
+    setGlobalRef.current(initialValue);
+    // `initialValue` is read at reset time on purpose: resetting means "whatever the default is now".
+    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
+  }, [key]);
+
+  return [value, setValue, reset] as const;
+}
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/components/Workspace/WorkspaceView.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/components/Workspace/WorkspaceView.tsx
index 20e3c3be..adf60298 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/components/Workspace/WorkspaceView.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/components/Workspace/WorkspaceView.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { useState, useCallback, useEffect, useRef, useMemo, type ComponentRef }
 import { flushSync } from 'react-dom';
 import { ResizablePanel, ResizablePanelGroup, ResizableHandle } from '@/components/ui/resizable';
 import { useIsMobile } from 'hooks/useIsMobile';
+import { useSessionState } from 'hooks/useSessionState';
 import type { LayoutNode, DashboardState, EphemeralPanels, PanelComponents } from './types';
 import type { DefaultFileSort } from './WorkspaceContext';
 import type { DropPosition } from './layout-utils';
@@ -34,7 +35,12 @@ export const WorkspaceView = ({ workspace, locked, cwd = '~', root, initialFileP
   const onLayoutChange = workspace.setValue;
   const [swapSourceId, setSwapSourceId] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [dragSourceId, setDragSourceId] = useState<string | null>(null);
-  const [maximizedPanelId, setMaximizedPanelId] = useState<string | null>(null);
+  // Per tab and per dashboard: maximising the chat panel and refreshing should come back maximised, while
+  // a second window on the same screen keeps its own idea of what is maximised. A stored id whose panel
+  // has since been removed simply maximises nothing — maximize is a style toggle on the panel itself, so
+  // there is nothing to strand.
+  const maximizedKey = `MAXIMIZED_PANEL:${workspace.key}`;
+  const [maximizedPanelId, setMaximizedPanelId] = useSessionState<string | null>(maximizedKey, null);
   const [transitioningPanelId, setTransitioningPanelId] = useState<string | null>(null);
 
   const setMaximizedAnimated = useCallback((id: string | null) => {