diff --git a/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useChatWebSocket.ts b/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useChatWebSocket.ts
index d2dc620a..ccbd1bc1 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useChatWebSocket.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/hooks/src/useChatWebSocket.ts
@@ -43,10 +43,19 @@ export const useChatWebSocket = ({ url, onMessage, onOpen }: UseChatWebSocketPar
     const socket = new WebSocket(url);
     socketRef.current = socket;
 
+    // Temporary, and deliberately loud. A pane connected and then sat silent, and reasoning from this
+    // hook's source three times running did not explain it — the console says a socket closed, never who
+    // closed it or whether the message went out. `window.__officerWs = false` turns it off.
+    const host = new URL(url).host;
+    const log = (what: string, extra?: unknown) =>
+      (window as any).__officerWs !== false && console.log(`[ws ${host}] ${what}`, extra ?? '');
+    log('creating');
+
     socket.addEventListener('open', () => {
       if (socketRef.current !== socket) return;
       setIsConnected(true);
       retryRef.current = 0;
+      log('OPEN');
       // BEFORE onOpen, deliberately: onOpen sends the resume/attach handshake, and anything the user
       // typed while connecting belongs after that, not in front of it.
       const queued = pendingRef.current;
@@ -57,6 +66,7 @@ export const useChatWebSocket = ({ url, onMessage, onOpen }: UseChatWebSocketPar
 
     socket.addEventListener('message', (ev) => {
       try {
+        log('recv', String(ev.data).slice(0, 120));
         const data = JSON.parse(typeof ev.data === 'string' ? ev.data : new TextDecoder().decode(ev.data));
         onMessageRef.current(data);
       } catch {
@@ -64,7 +74,13 @@ export const useChatWebSocket = ({ url, onMessage, onOpen }: UseChatWebSocketPar
       }
     });
 
-    socket.addEventListener('close', () => {
+    socket.addEventListener('close', (ev) => {
+      log('close', {
+        code: ev.code,
+        reason: ev.reason,
+        stale: socketRef.current !== socket,
+        tearingDown: isCleaningUpRef.current,
+      });
       if (isCleaningUpRef.current) return;
       if (socketRef.current !== socket) return;
       setIsConnected(false);
@@ -123,9 +139,12 @@ export const useChatWebSocket = ({ url, onMessage, onOpen }: UseChatWebSocketPar
     const socket = socketRef.current;
     const message = JSON.stringify(data);
     if (socket && socket.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) {
+      if ((window as any).__officerWs !== false) console.log(`[ws ${new URL(url).host}] send`, message.slice(0, 120));
       socket.send(message);
       return;
     }
+    if ((window as any).__officerWs !== false)
+      console.log(`[ws ${new URL(url).host}] QUEUED (socket ${socket?.readyState ?? 'none'})`, message.slice(0, 80));
     // Not open yet, or reconnecting. Hold it rather than dropping it — see `pendingRef`. Bounded so a
     // socket that never comes back cannot grow this without limit; the oldest go first, because the
     // newest message is the one the user is still waiting on.
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/MusicPlayer/MusicPlayerHost.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/MusicPlayer/MusicPlayerHost.tsx
index 5f042c9e..0c6a14cf 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/MusicPlayer/MusicPlayerHost.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/MusicPlayer/MusicPlayerHost.tsx
@@ -119,7 +119,16 @@ export const MusicPlayerHost = () => {
 
   // Restore the saved "currently playing" on first load — paused, at its position — so a reload/return
   // lands back on the track. Skipped when a queue already exists (an in-app nav kept player state).
+  //
+  // DISABLED on the web (Andre, 2026-08-10). The music sidecar is not running on every machine that
+  // serves this app, so every page load fired `/music/now-playing` and logged a 503 in the console of a
+  // browser that was not there for music at all. Restoring a paused track is a nicety; a permanent error
+  // on every load of every screen is not worth it. The player itself is untouched — play something and
+  // it works; it simply no longer asks what WAS playing.
+  const RESTORE_NOW_PLAYING = false;
+
   useEffect(() => {
+    if (!RESTORE_NOW_PLAYING) return;
     if (restoredRef.current) return;
     restoredRef.current = true;
     if (queue.length) return;