diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/src/chat-workspace.tsx b/packages/chat-ui/src/chat-workspace.tsx
index 7cb26e5bd..8f4b4a7d5 100644
--- a/packages/chat-ui/src/chat-workspace.tsx
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/src/chat-workspace.tsx
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ function ChatWorkspaceInner({
     activeWorkbenchId,
     ...(onWorkbenchNotFound !== undefined ? { onWorkbenchNotFound } : {}),
   });
-  const { threads, rootThreadId, pinnedMessages, refreshFeed } = feed;
+  const { threads, rootThreadId, pinsStatus, refreshFeed } = feed;
 
   const navigation = useThreadNavigation({
     tenantId,
@@ -1356,10 +1356,7 @@ function ChatWorkspaceInner({
               ) : (
                 <>
                   {!inThreadView ? (
-                    <PinnedStrip
-                      items={pinnedMessages}
-                      onJump={jumpToMessage}
-                    />
+                    <PinnedStrip status={pinsStatus} onJump={jumpToMessage} />
                   ) : null}
                   {openThreadParent !== undefined ? (
                     <div className="chat-thread-origin-banner">
diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/src/index.ts b/packages/chat-ui/src/index.ts
index d103a7e04..3abe740f2 100644
--- a/packages/chat-ui/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/src/index.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ export {
 export type { AvatarFill, GeneratedAvatarStyle } from "./avatar-identity";
 
 export { PinnedStrip } from "./pinned-strip";
+export type { PinsStatus } from "./use-workbench-feed";
 export {
   Composer,
   draftAfterSend,
diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/src/pinned-strip.tsx b/packages/chat-ui/src/pinned-strip.tsx
index 300b1e731..b33c44c22 100644
--- a/packages/chat-ui/src/pinned-strip.tsx
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/src/pinned-strip.tsx
@@ -3,11 +3,16 @@
 // nothing when there are no pins — an empty strip is chrome nobody
 // asked to see, the same "no items, no surface" rule the timeline's own
 // empty state follows for the reverse case (see `WorkbenchTimeline`).
+//
+// A load failure is distinct from honest empty (CL-6832): the strip
+// surfaces an alert instead of disappearing. A host with no pins store
+// (`unavailable`) still renders nothing — absent feature, absent chrome.
 
 import { PushPin } from "@corbits/icons";
 
 import type { PinnedMessage } from "./api";
 import { CHAT_STRINGS } from "./strings";
+import type { PinsStatus } from "./use-workbench-feed";
 
 /**
  * A short, single-line preview of a pinned message's content — its
@@ -28,16 +33,31 @@ function previewOf(item: PinnedMessage): string {
 }
 
 export function PinnedStrip({
-  items,
+  status,
   onJump,
 }: {
-  readonly items: readonly PinnedMessage[];
+  readonly status: PinsStatus;
   /** Scrolls the timeline to the pinned message's own row — the host
    * owns nothing here beyond calling this; `PinnedStrip` resolves the
    * DOM id itself via `messageDomId`. */
   readonly onJump: (messageId: string) => void;
 }) {
-  if (items.length === 0) return null;
+  if (status.kind === "loading" || status.kind === "unavailable") return null;
+
+  if (status.kind === "error") {
+    return (
+      <div
+        className="chat-pinned-strip chat-pinned-strip-error"
+        role="alert"
+        aria-label={CHAT_STRINGS.pinnedStripLabel}
+      >
+        <PushPin className="chat-pinned-strip-icon" aria-hidden="true" />
+        <p className="chat-pinned-strip-error-message">{status.message}</p>
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+
+  if (status.items.length === 0) return null;
 
   return (
     <div
@@ -47,7 +67,7 @@ export function PinnedStrip({
     >
       <PushPin className="chat-pinned-strip-icon" aria-hidden="true" />
       <div className="chat-pinned-strip-row">
-        {items.map((item) => {
+        {status.items.map((item) => {
           const preview = previewOf(item);
           return (
             <button
diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/src/pins-status.test.ts b/packages/chat-ui/src/pins-status.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..77c755fdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/src/pins-status.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+// CL-6832: a pins outage must not read as an honest empty strip. These
+// cover the pure status fold `useWorkbenchFeed` applies to the pins
+// query — empty success, transient error, and absent-store 404 stay
+// distinct kinds.
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+
+import { ChatApiError } from "./api";
+import { pinsStatusFor } from "./use-workbench-feed";
+import type { PinnedMessage } from "./api";
+import { CHAT_STRINGS } from "./strings";
+
+const PIN: PinnedMessage = {
+  id: "m1",
+  createdAt: "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
+  parts: [{ kind: "text", text: "keep this" }],
+  sender: { name: "Alice", address: "prn_alice@acme.example" },
+  pinnedBy: "prn_alice",
+  pinnedAt: "2026-01-01T00:01:00.000Z",
+};
+
+describe("pinsStatusFor (CL-6832)", () => {
+  test("no active workbench is still loading", () => {
+    expect(
+      pinsStatusFor({
+        activeWorkbenchId: null,
+        data: undefined,
+        error: null,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({ kind: "loading" });
+  });
+
+  test("a successful empty list is ready with no items — not an error", () => {
+    expect(
+      pinsStatusFor({
+        activeWorkbenchId: "wb_1",
+        data: [],
+        error: null,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({ kind: "ready", items: [] });
+  });
+
+  test("a successful list with pins is ready with those items", () => {
+    expect(
+      pinsStatusFor({
+        activeWorkbenchId: "wb_1",
+        data: [PIN],
+        error: null,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({ kind: "ready", items: [PIN] });
+  });
+
+  test("a load failure is an error with plain-language copy — never coerced to []", () => {
+    const status = pinsStatusFor({
+      activeWorkbenchId: "wb_1",
+      data: undefined,
+      // A non-5xx client error uses the strip's own fallback copy via
+      // describeChatError — the important bit is the kind, not the prose.
+      error: new ChatApiError("The server answered 400 for /pins.", 400),
+    });
+    expect(status).toEqual({
+      kind: "error",
+      message: CHAT_STRINGS.pinnedStripLoadError,
+    });
+  });
+
+  test("a 404 (pins store not wired on this host) is unavailable, not empty ready", () => {
+    expect(
+      pinsStatusFor({
+        activeWorkbenchId: "wb_1",
+        data: undefined,
+        error: new ChatApiError("The server answered 404 for /pins.", 404),
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({ kind: "unavailable" });
+  });
+
+  test("prior successful data wins over a background refetch error", () => {
+    expect(
+      pinsStatusFor({
+        activeWorkbenchId: "wb_1",
+        data: [PIN],
+        error: new ChatApiError("The server answered 500 for /pins.", 500),
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({ kind: "ready", items: [PIN] });
+  });
+
+  test("pending first load with no data and no error is loading", () => {
+    expect(
+      pinsStatusFor({
+        activeWorkbenchId: "wb_1",
+        data: undefined,
+        error: null,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({ kind: "loading" });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/src/strings.ts b/packages/chat-ui/src/strings.ts
index 4b6c2f845..1d4f04d87 100644
--- a/packages/chat-ui/src/strings.ts
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/src/strings.ts
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ export const CHAT_STRINGS = {
   pinnedStripLabel: "Pinned messages",
   pinnedStripEmptyPreview: "Pinned message",
   pinnedStripJumpAction: (preview: string) => `Jump to: ${preview}`,
+  pinnedStripLoadError: "Couldn't load pinned messages.",
   pendingSendLabel: "Sending…",
   pendingSendFailedLabel: "Not sent",
   pendingSendRetryAction: "Retry",
diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/src/styles.css b/packages/chat-ui/src/styles.css
index c27f4b5d9..dd600867b 100644
--- a/packages/chat-ui/src/styles.css
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/src/styles.css
@@ -3156,6 +3156,16 @@
   color: var(--foreground);
 }
 
+.chat-pinned-strip-error {
+  color: var(--muted-foreground);
+}
+
+.chat-pinned-strip-error-message {
+  margin: 0;
+  font-size: 0.75rem;
+  color: var(--muted-foreground);
+}
+
 .chat-thread-affordance {
   display: flex;
   align-items: center;
diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/src/use-workbench-feed.ts b/packages/chat-ui/src/use-workbench-feed.ts
index 26fe6b741..b7ea8a90c 100644
--- a/packages/chat-ui/src/use-workbench-feed.ts
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/src/use-workbench-feed.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import type {
   Workbench,
   WorkbenchThreadRow,
 } from "./api";
+import { CHAT_STRINGS } from "./strings";
 
 /** Whether this workbench's mailbox has loaded, and why not if it hasn't.
  * The items themselves are a separate question — which slice of the
@@ -49,6 +50,40 @@ export type FeedStatus =
     }
   | { readonly kind: "ready" };
 
+/** Whether this workbench's pinned strip has loaded, and why not if it
+ * hasn't (CL-6832). A successful empty list is `ready` with no items; a
+ * read failure is `error`; a 404 (pins store not wired on this host) is
+ * `unavailable` — the same "absent store, absent surface" contract the
+ * wire's own `pinned` field follows. Never coerce a failure into `[]`. */
+export type PinsStatus =
+  | { readonly kind: "loading" }
+  | { readonly kind: "ready"; readonly items: readonly PinnedMessage[] }
+  | { readonly kind: "unavailable" }
+  | { readonly kind: "error"; readonly message: string };
+
+/** Pure fold over the pins query — kept free of React so the empty-vs-error
+ * distinction is unit-testable without mounting the feed hook. */
+export function pinsStatusFor(args: {
+  readonly activeWorkbenchId: string | null;
+  readonly data: readonly PinnedMessage[] | undefined;
+  readonly error: unknown;
+}): PinsStatus {
+  if (args.activeWorkbenchId === null) return { kind: "loading" };
+  // React Query keeps the last successful data through a failed refetch, so
+  // a background failure leaves the strip exactly as it was.
+  if (args.data !== undefined) return { kind: "ready", items: args.data };
+  if (args.error != null) {
+    if (args.error instanceof ChatApiError && args.error.status === 404) {
+      return { kind: "unavailable" };
+    }
+    return {
+      kind: "error",
+      message: describeChatError(args.error, CHAT_STRINGS.pinnedStripLoadError),
+    };
+  }
+  return { kind: "loading" };
+}
+
 /** How long a loaded feed counts as fresh. An agent turn emits dozens of
  * stream events in under a second; with a stale window every one of them
  * after the first is served from cache instead of hitting the hub. */
@@ -63,7 +98,6 @@ const CHAT_FEED_COALESCE_MS = 250;
  * hand the memos below a new array identity on every render. */
 const NO_THREADS: readonly WorkbenchThreadRow[] = [];
 const NO_MESSAGES: readonly MessageItem[] = [];
-const NO_PINNED_MESSAGES: readonly PinnedMessage[] = [];
 
 /** The three reads that make up one workbench's feed. They share a
  * prefix so a single `invalidateQueries` refreshes all of them. */
@@ -364,7 +398,9 @@ export function applyStreamPin(
 export interface WorkbenchFeed {
   readonly threads: readonly WorkbenchThreadRow[];
   readonly rootThreadId: string;
-  readonly pinnedMessages: readonly PinnedMessage[];
+  /** Pins load state — empty success, error, and unavailable stay distinct
+   * (CL-6832). Prefer this over inventing an empty list on failure. */
+  readonly pinsStatus: PinsStatus;
   /** Every message in the workbench, unfiltered. What thread a reader is
    * looking at selects a slice of this — see `./thread-feed.ts`. */
   readonly loadedMessages: readonly MessageItem[];
@@ -406,20 +442,22 @@ export function useWorkbenchFeed(args: {
   });
   const pinsQuery = useQuery({
     queryKey: chatPinsQueryKey(tenantId, activeWorkbenchId),
-    // No `pins` store on this host, or a transient read failure — either
-    // way the strip just doesn't show, the same "absent store, absent
-    // surface" contract the wire's own `pinned` field follows.
-    queryFn: () =>
-      listPinnedMessages(tenantId, activeWorkbenchId ?? "").catch(
-        () => [] as readonly PinnedMessage[],
-      ),
+    queryFn: () => listPinnedMessages(tenantId, activeWorkbenchId ?? ""),
     enabled: activeWorkbenchId !== null,
     staleTime: CHAT_FEED_STALE_MS,
   });
 
   const threads = threadsQuery.data?.items ?? NO_THREADS;
   const rootThreadId = threadsQuery.data?.rootThreadId ?? "";
-  const pinnedMessages = pinsQuery.data ?? NO_PINNED_MESSAGES;
+  const pinsStatus = useMemo(
+    () =>
+      pinsStatusFor({
+        activeWorkbenchId,
+        data: pinsQuery.data,
+        error: pinsQuery.error,
+      }),
+    [activeWorkbenchId, pinsQuery.data, pinsQuery.error],
+  );
   const loadedMessages = messagesQuery.data?.items ?? NO_MESSAGES;
 
   // The parent a thread hangs off comes from the thread itself once it
@@ -499,7 +537,7 @@ export function useWorkbenchFeed(args: {
   return {
     threads,
     rootThreadId,
-    pinnedMessages,
+    pinsStatus,
     loadedMessages,
     feedStatus,
     threadsLoaded: threadsQuery.data !== undefined,
diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/test/reactions-and-pins.test.tsx b/packages/chat-ui/test/reactions-and-pins.test.tsx
index 77fa7608f..4e5354001 100644
--- a/packages/chat-ui/test/reactions-and-pins.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/test/reactions-and-pins.test.tsx
@@ -199,14 +199,54 @@ describe("pinned strip", () => {
 
   test("renders nothing with no pinned messages", () => {
     const markup = renderToStaticMarkup(
-      <PinnedStrip items={[]} onJump={() => undefined} />,
+      <PinnedStrip
+        status={{ kind: "ready", items: [] }}
+        onJump={() => undefined}
+      />,
     );
     expect(markup).toBe("");
   });
 
+  test("renders nothing while loading or when pins are unavailable on this host", () => {
+    expect(
+      renderToStaticMarkup(
+        <PinnedStrip status={{ kind: "loading" }} onJump={() => undefined} />,
+      ),
+    ).toBe("");
+    expect(
+      renderToStaticMarkup(
+        <PinnedStrip
+          status={{ kind: "unavailable" }}
+          onJump={() => undefined}
+        />,
+      ),
+    ).toBe("");
+  });
+
+  test("a load failure renders an error strip — never the honest-empty silence (CL-6832)", () => {
+    const markup = renderToStaticMarkup(
+      <PinnedStrip
+        status={{
+          kind: "error",
+          message: "Couldn't load pinned messages.",
+        }}
+        onJump={() => undefined}
+      />,
+    );
+    // Static markup escapes the apostrophe; the alert role is the
+    // empty-vs-error distinction the strip must keep.
+    expect(markup).toContain("Couldn&#x27;t load pinned messages.");
+    expect(markup).toContain('role="alert"');
+    expect(markup).toContain("chat-pinned-strip-error");
+    expect(markup).not.toContain("chat-pinned-strip-item");
+  });
+
   test("renders a jump chip previewing the pinned message's text", () => {
     const markup = renderToStaticMarkup(
-      <PinnedStrip items={pins} onJump={() => undefined} />,
+      <PinnedStrip
+        status={{ kind: "ready", items: pins }}
+        onJump={() => undefined}
+      />,
     );
     expect(markup).toContain("important announcement here");
   });
@@ -218,7 +258,10 @@ describe("pinned strip", () => {
     root = createRoot(container);
     await act(async () => {
       root?.render(
-        <PinnedStrip items={pins} onJump={(id) => jumped.push(id)} />,
+        <PinnedStrip
+          status={{ kind: "ready", items: pins }}
+          onJump={(id) => jumped.push(id)}
+        />,
       );
     });
 
diff --git a/packages/chat-ui/test/zero-refetch-on-stream-event.test.tsx b/packages/chat-ui/test/zero-refetch-on-stream-event.test.tsx
index 1c6d25120..3992dae08 100644
--- a/packages/chat-ui/test/zero-refetch-on-stream-event.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/chat-ui/test/zero-refetch-on-stream-event.test.tsx
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ function stubFetch() {
       }
       return json({ items: [] });
     }
-    if (/\/chat\/workbenches\/[^/]+\/pins$/.test(path)) return json([]);
+    if (/\/chat\/workbenches\/[^/]+\/pins$/.test(path))
+      return json({ items: [] });
     if (/\/chat\/workbenches\/[^/]+\/read-state$/.test(path)) return json({});
     if (/\/chat\/workbenches\/[^/]+\/invitable$/.test(path))
       return json({ items: [] });