diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 28fe1fd0..b2636c67 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -283,6 +283,39 @@ error boundaries** anywhere in the repo; and `dashboards.id` is a **global** pri
       in place via double-click → the viewer's pane. Either `/code-editor` earns its keep as a genuinely
       different tool (tree, tabs, multi-file) or that menu item should go.
 
+## Files app — routing
+
+- [ ] **The files app needs a routing pass (noted 2026-08-15, after `31d8d725`).** Do this after the
+      file-browser test pass, alongside the code-editor work above. `docs/navigation-audit.md` is the
+      authority and names the anti-pattern; this is where it still lives.
+
+      **What prompted it.** Closing a viewer pane sent you back to home. `onCloseViewer` was
+      `setSearchParams({})` — a wholesale wipe that took `?path=` with it. Fixed, but the shape of the bug
+      is the point: four handlers touched the same query string and only one of them wiped it, because no
+      single thing owns that URL.
+
+      **Verified state, so the next pass does not have to re-derive it:**
+
+      - **Rows are not links.** Both list and grid render a `<div>` with `onDoubleClick`
+        (`FileItem.tsx:701,748`) — the "opaque click" the audit names. No cmd-click into a new tab, no
+        middle-click, not link-focusable, and the target is in a closure rather than the DOM.
+      - **Search results are the same** — `<div onClick={() => handleSearchResultClick(entry)}>`
+        (`FileViewContainer.tsx:185`), and that handler both navigates the folder AND opens the viewer.
+      - **The breadcrumb already got it right** and is the model to copy: it renders a real `<Link>` when
+        given `searchForPath`, and falls back to a `<button>` only for a panel that does not own the
+        address bar (`Breadcrumb.tsx:21-26`).
+      - **A panel's folder is not addressable.** `useFileBrowserApp(basePath, root, urlPath)` keeps the
+        path in the URL only when `urlPath` is true — the `/files` screen. Every panel instance uses local
+        state, so it always opens at its base and its location cannot be linked or restored. Deliberate as
+        written; worth re-deciding rather than inheriting.
+      - **Two path-ish params coexist**: `?path=` is where you are, `?view=` is what is on top. The
+        ephemeral set (`view`, `ephemeral`, `ephemeral2`, `chatContext`, …) is listed once in
+        `useFileViewerPanels.EPHEMERAL_KEYS` and that list is the closest thing to an owner.
+
+      **The shape of the fix**, if it holds up: rows become `<Link to={{ search: … }}>` like the
+      breadcrumb, so open-in-new-tab works and the target is in the DOM; one helper owns "set the viewer
+      params" and "clear the viewer params" so a fifth handler cannot get it wrong the way the fourth did.
+
 ## Known bugs
 
 - [ ] **`bootstrap.ts` runs `npm install -g` for Pi on every boot.** `findPiPackageDir` checks stale