diff --git a/api/router.ts b/api/router.ts
index 14ca069..c33c6e0 100644
--- a/api/router.ts
+++ b/api/router.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-import { randomBytes } from 'node:crypto';
+import { createHmac, timingSafeEqual } from 'node:crypto';
+import { getKey } from 'officerdb/secret-store';
 import { createRouter } from '@@/create-router';
 import { createSidecarProxy } from '@@/sidecar/create-proxy';
 import { mountPrefix } from '@@/plugins/manifest';
@@ -127,27 +128,29 @@ export const router = router_;
 export const getGiteaServerUrl = proxy.getHttpUrl;
 
 // ── The cookie ──
+//
+// SIGNED, not stored. The first version held minted tokens in a `Map`, which meant every restart of the
+// platform silently invalidated every open frame — the browser kept sending a cookie that matched
+// nothing, and the frame answered 401 mid-session with "no gitea frame session". Deploying anything at
+// all logged everyone out of the iframe.
+//
+// An HMAC over the account and an expiry needs no state, so a restart changes nothing. Same shape
+// `api/browser/relay-auth.ts` already uses, and the same key: `getKey('jwt')` from the secret store,
+// which persists.
 
 const COOKIE = 'officer_gitea_frame';
 const TTL_MS = 12 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
 
-/** token → { userId, expires }. In memory on purpose: a restart closing every frame is correct. */
-const sessions = new Map<string, { userId: number; expires: number }>();
+const sign = (payload: string): string => createHmac('sha256', getKey('jwt')).update(`gitea-frame:${payload}`).digest('base64url');
 
-const sweep = () => {
-  const now = Date.now();
-  for (const [token, s] of sessions) if (s.expires < now) sessions.delete(token);
-};
-
-/** Mint a frame token for an authenticated caller, and the Set-Cookie that carries it. */
+/** Mint the Set-Cookie an authenticated caller needs before the frame loads. */
 export function mintFrameCookie(userId: number, prefix: string): string {
-  sweep();
-  const token = randomBytes(32).toString('base64url');
-  sessions.set(token, { userId, expires: Date.now() + TTL_MS });
+  const payload = `${userId}.${Date.now() + TTL_MS}`;
+  const value = `${payload}.${sign(payload)}`;
   // Path-scoped to the frame, so it is never sent to the rest of the platform. `Lax` rather than `None`
   // because the frame is same-origin — which is the entire reason this is proxied instead of pointed at
-  // gitea.officer.dev, where the cookie would be third-party and dropped.
-  return `${COOKIE}=${token}; Path=${prefix}/_web; Max-Age=${Math.floor(TTL_MS / 1000)}; HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax`;
+  // the Gitea host, where the cookie would be third-party and dropped.
+  return `${COOKIE}=${value}; Path=${prefix}/_web; Max-Age=${Math.floor(TTL_MS / 1000)}; HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax`;
 }
 
 /** The user this request's frame cookie belongs to, or null. */
@@ -158,11 +161,17 @@ export function frameUser(cookieHeader: string | null): number | null {
     .map((p) => p.trim())
     .find((p) => p.startsWith(`${COOKIE}=`));
   if (!raw) return null;
-  const found = sessions.get(raw.slice(COOKIE.length + 1));
-  if (!found) return null;
-  if (found.expires < Date.now()) {
-    sessions.delete(raw.slice(COOKIE.length + 1));
-    return null;
-  }
-  return found.userId;
+
+  const [id, expires, mac] = raw.slice(COOKIE.length + 1).split('.');
+  if (!id || !expires || !mac) return null;
+
+  const expected = sign(`${id}.${expires}`);
+  // Constant-time, because comparing a signature with `===` leaks how much of it was right.
+  const a = Buffer.from(mac);
+  const b = Buffer.from(expected);
+  if (a.length !== b.length || !timingSafeEqual(a, b)) return null;
+  if (Number(expires) < Date.now()) return null;
+
+  const userId = Number(id);
+  return Number.isInteger(userId) && userId > 0 ? userId : null;
 }