diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useFileViewerPanels/useFileViewerPanels.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useFileViewerPanels/useFileViewerPanels.tsx
index 0eddb4f0..2efab051 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useFileViewerPanels/useFileViewerPanels.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/hooks/useFileViewerPanels/useFileViewerPanels.tsx
@@ -25,17 +25,35 @@ export const useFileViewerPanels = (): EphemeralPanels | null => {
   const [searchParams, setSearchParams] = useSearchParams();
   const didClean = useRef(false);
 
-  // Clear stale ephemeral params on mount (page refresh)
+  /**
+   * On a fresh load, drop only what must not resume — which is autoplay, and nothing else.
+   *
+   * This used to delete EVERY ephemeral key on mount, under the heading "clear stale params". The effect
+   * of that was that `?view=` could never be linked to or survive a refresh: the page came up, the effect
+   * stripped the param, and you got a bare file browser with a URL that had quietly rewritten itself.
+   * Reported as "has never worked", and it never had — it arrived incidentally in 9acef6cf (2026-02-23)
+   * with the chat-about-a-file work, not as a decision about deep links.
+   *
+   * Nothing else needs clearing. `chatContext` fills the chat box via `defaultInput` and does NOT
+   * auto-send (`autoSend` defaults false), so restoring it costs a pre-filled input and no message. A
+   * `view` or `ephemeral` pointing at a file that has since gone shows the viewer's error, which now says
+   * what actually happened and offers a download.
+   *
+   * `ephemeral2Auto` is the exception and the reason this effect still exists: it starts audio playing.
+   * Reloading a page should not make sound come out of the machine.
+   */
   useEffect(() => {
     if (didClean.current) return;
     didClean.current = true;
-    if (EPHEMERAL_KEYS.some((k) => searchParams.has(k))) {
-      setSearchParams((prev) => {
+    if (!searchParams.has('ephemeral2Auto')) return;
+    setSearchParams(
+      (prev) => {
         const next = new URLSearchParams(prev);
-        EPHEMERAL_KEYS.forEach((k) => next.delete(k));
+        next.delete('ephemeral2Auto');
         return next;
-      });
-    }
+      },
+      { replace: true },
+    );
   }, []);
 
   const viewPath = searchParams.get('view');