diff --git a/web/VaultPanel.tsx b/web/VaultPanel.tsx
index dc40a53..f464eed 100644
--- a/web/VaultPanel.tsx
+++ b/web/VaultPanel.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from 'react';
+import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
 import { KeyRound, Loader2, RefreshCw } from 'lucide-react';
 import { useClient } from 'hooks/useClient';
 import { toneFill, toneText, type Tone } from '@/components/Data';
@@ -54,41 +54,59 @@ export const VaultPanel = () => {
   const [health, setHealth] = useState<HealthResult | null>(null);
   const [probing, setProbing] = useState(false);
 
-  const loadConfig = useCallback(async () => {
-    try {
-      const next = await get<VaultConfig>('/vault/config');
-      setConfig(next);
-      setUrl(next.url ?? '');
-      setError(null);
-    } catch (err) {
-      setError(err instanceof Error ? err.message : 'could not read the vault configuration');
-    } finally {
-      setLoading(false);
-    }
-  }, [get]);
+  /*
+    Plain functions, NOT `useCallback`, and the effect below depends on NEITHER of them.
 
-  // Never throws: an unreachable vault is the thing this panel exists to SHOW, not an error state for the
-  // panel itself. A rejected probe becomes a result with `ok: false`, same as a 502 body would.
-  const probe = useCallback(async () => {
+    `useClient()` calls `createClient()` on every render with no memoisation, so `get`/`put` are fresh
+    function identities each time. A `useCallback(..., [get])` therefore also changes identity every
+    render, and an effect depending on THAT re-runs every render. The result was a panel that wiped its
+    own input:
+
+      keystroke -> setUrl -> re-render -> new `get` -> new callback -> effect fires
+                -> GET /config -> setUrl(saved value) -> the character just typed disappears
+
+    Typing was impossible, pasting flashed and reverted. Nothing about it looked like a dependency-array
+    problem from the outside, which is what made it worth writing down rather than just fixing.
+
+    The rule this settles for anything in this plugin: never put a value derived from `useClient()` in a
+    dependency array. The rest of the codebase already follows it (see `CommandHqDetail`, which keys its
+    fetch effect on `sessionId` alone).
+  */
+  const probe = async () => {
     setProbing(true);
     try {
+      // Never throws: an unreachable vault is the thing this panel exists to SHOW, not an error state for
+      // the panel itself. A rejected probe becomes a result with `ok: false`, same as a 502 body would.
       setHealth(await get<HealthResult>('/vault/config/health'));
     } catch (err) {
       setHealth({ ok: false, error: err instanceof Error ? err.message : 'probe failed' });
     } finally {
       setProbing(false);
     }
-  }, [get]);
+  };
 
+  const loadConfig = async () => {
+    try {
+      const next = await get<VaultConfig>('/vault/config');
+      setConfig(next);
+      setUrl(next.url ?? '');
+      setError(null);
+      // Probed here rather than from an effect watching `configured`, for the same reason: an effect is
+      // one more thing that can re-fire. Only when there is somewhere to probe — asking about an
+      // unconfigured vault returns a 503 that reads as a fault when the honest answer is "not set up yet".
+      if (next.configured) void probe();
+    } catch (err) {
+      setError(err instanceof Error ? err.message : 'could not read the vault configuration');
+    } finally {
+      setLoading(false);
+    }
+  };
+
+  // Mount only. Deliberately empty deps — see the note above.
   useEffect(() => {
     void loadConfig();
-  }, [loadConfig]);
-
-  // Only probe once there is somewhere to probe. Asking about an unconfigured vault returns a 503 that
-  // reads on screen as a fault, when the honest answer is "you have not set this up yet".
-  useEffect(() => {
-    if (config?.configured) void probe();
-  }, [config?.configured, probe]);
+    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
+  }, []);
 
   const save = async () => {
     setSaving(true);