diff --git a/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useChatWebSocket.ts b/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useChatWebSocket.ts
index e59f955b..7f1104b0 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useChatWebSocket.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useChatWebSocket.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,16 @@ export const useChatWebSocket = ({ url, onMessage, onOpen }: UseChatWebSocketPar
 
   const connect = () => {
     if (isCleaningUpRef.current) return;
-    if (socketRef.current && socketRef.current.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) return;
+    // CONNECTING counts as ours, not just OPEN. The deferred teardown below keeps a remount's socket
+    // alive mid-handshake, and this is what reclaims it: checking only OPEN meant an effect re-run
+    // built a SECOND socket and orphaned the first, which then stayed open forever with its own `open`
+    // handler bailing on the socketRef mismatch.
+    //
+    // This is per-instance and does NOT explain the two sockets a /chat/new load opens — measured with
+    // a WebSocket-constructor counter, those come from two separate `useChat` instances mounting, each
+    // with its own refs. Unresolved, and tracked separately; both connect, so it reads as healthy.
+    const existing = socketRef.current;
+    if (existing && (existing.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN || existing.readyState === WebSocket.CONNECTING)) return;
 
     const socket = new WebSocket(url);
     socketRef.current = socket;