diff --git a/src/components/conversations/conversation-detail-panel.tsx b/src/components/conversations/conversation-detail-panel.tsx
index 2c18e3ed28..c9101c36ec 100644
--- a/src/components/conversations/conversation-detail-panel.tsx
+++ b/src/components/conversations/conversation-detail-panel.tsx
@@ -950,6 +950,20 @@ const ConversationTabView = memo(function ConversationTabView({
     return () => {
       mountedRef.current = false
       syncCancelRef.current?.()
+      if (isReparentUnmount(useTabStore.getState(), tabId, groupId)) {
+        // Dragging the tab into another group reparents this view: React
+        // remounts it under that group's shell while the tab stays open. The
+        // connection is already held across that unmount (see
+        // `isTransientUnmount` above) and the runtime session has to be held
+        // with it — it holds the transcript. Dropping it emptied the message
+        // list and nothing brought it back: the remounted view re-registers
+        // its live-message sink on the connection it just kept, which recreates
+        // the session with a `liveMessage` and no `detail`, and `fetchDetail`
+        // skips a session that already has live data. Header, title and
+        // composer all read the tab row, so they looked untouched while the
+        // transcript stayed blank until the tab was closed and reopened.
+        return
+      }
       if (connStatusRef.current === "prompting" && !isViewerRef.current) {
         // Owner, agent still responding — keep the session for deferred cleanup
         // (the background turn_complete handler removes it once done).
@@ -963,7 +977,13 @@ const ConversationTabView = memo(function ConversationTabView({
         removeConversation(effectiveConversationId)
       }
     }
-  }, [effectiveConversationId, removeConversation, setPendingCleanup])
+  }, [
+    effectiveConversationId,
+    groupId,
+    removeConversation,
+    setPendingCleanup,
+    tabId,
+  ])
 
   const handleSend = useCallback(
     (
diff --git a/src/components/conversations/group-shell-reconciliation.test.tsx b/src/components/conversations/group-shell-reconciliation.test.tsx
index a964fa09f4..42c1a52517 100644
--- a/src/components/conversations/group-shell-reconciliation.test.tsx
+++ b/src/components/conversations/group-shell-reconciliation.test.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,19 @@
 import { readFileSync } from "node:fs"
 import { resolve } from "node:path"
-import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest"
-import { render } from "@testing-library/react"
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest"
+import { act, render } from "@testing-library/react"
+
+import {
+  getTimelineTurns,
+  resetConversationRuntimeStore,
+  useConversationRuntimeStore,
+} from "@/stores/conversation-runtime-store"
+
+vi.mock("@/lib/api", () => ({
+  getFolderConversation: vi.fn(),
+}))
+
+const { getFolderConversation } = await import("@/lib/api")
 
 const source = readFileSync(
   resolve(
@@ -155,3 +167,59 @@ describe("split group shell source shape", () => {
     expect(shellBody.slice(stripIdx, contentIdx)).not.toContain("<>")
   })
 })
+
+/**
+ * The reparents the shells above cannot absorb.
+ *
+ * A tab dragged into another group DOES change React parents, so its view is
+ * remounted by design. The connection is deliberately carried across that
+ * unmount (`isTransientUnmount`), and the runtime session — which holds the
+ * transcript — has to be carried with it. Dropping the session there left the
+ * message list empty for as long as the tab stayed open: the remounted view
+ * re-registers its live-message sink on the connection it just kept, that
+ * recreates the session with live data and no detail, and `fetchDetail` skips
+ * a session that already has live data. Nothing refetches after that.
+ */
+describe("a reparented conversation view keeps its runtime session", () => {
+  it("consults the reparent classifier before either destructive branch", () => {
+    const cleanupStart = source.indexOf(
+      "// Cleanup runtime data on unmount (tab close)"
+    )
+    expect(cleanupStart).toBeGreaterThan(-1)
+    const cleanup = source.slice(cleanupStart, cleanupStart + 2000)
+    const guardIdx = cleanup.indexOf("isReparentUnmount(useTabStore.getState()")
+    const deferIdx = cleanup.indexOf("setPendingCleanup(")
+    const removeIdx = cleanup.indexOf("removeConversation(")
+    expect(guardIdx).toBeGreaterThan(-1)
+    // Both ways of ending a session sit behind the classifier.
+    expect(deferIdx).toBeGreaterThan(guardIdx)
+    expect(removeIdx).toBeGreaterThan(guardIdx)
+    // Same inputs the connection's own guard uses, so the two agree on what a
+    // reparent is.
+    expect(cleanup.slice(guardIdx, deferIdx)).toContain("tabId, groupId")
+  })
+
+  it("cannot reload the transcript once a live sink has recreated the session", async () => {
+    resetConversationRuntimeStore()
+    const { actions } = useConversationRuntimeStore.getState()
+
+    // What the remounted view does first: re-register its live-message sink on
+    // the connection it kept. The session comes back empty, but live.
+    act(() => {
+      actions.setLiveMessage(
+        7,
+        { id: "lm-1", role: "assistant", content: [], startedAt: 0 },
+        true
+      )
+    })
+    expect(getTimelineTurns(7)).toHaveLength(0)
+
+    act(() => {
+      actions.fetchDetail(7)
+    })
+    await act(async () => {})
+
+    expect(getFolderConversation).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(getTimelineTurns(7)).toHaveLength(0)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/contexts/tab-context.test.tsx b/src/contexts/tab-context.test.tsx
index d0587b4512..1e2ff72891 100644
--- a/src/contexts/tab-context.test.tsx
+++ b/src/contexts/tab-context.test.tsx
@@ -2215,6 +2215,87 @@ describe("TabProvider tab groups", () => {
     expect(store().rawTabs).toBe(before)
   })
 
+  /**
+   * The unsplit strip's reorder, which has to take the same care its
+   * split-group sibling above already takes.
+   *
+   * `Reorder.Group` emits the order of the items it has measured since its own
+   * last render, filtered by REFERENCE against its current `values`. The filter
+   * can only remove, and the tab objects it holds are the ones the strip
+   * rendered with — so the list it hands back is a request to MOVE tabs, not a
+   * new tab set. Adopting it wholesale closed whichever tab was missing from it
+   * and rolled the rest back to whatever the strip last rendered.
+   */
+  describe("reorderTabs", () => {
+    it("keeps a tab the reorder callback left out", async () => {
+      await renderWithTabs([tabItem(1, 1, true), tabItem(1, 2), tabItem(1, 3)])
+      const rendered = store().tabs
+
+      act(() => {
+        store().reorderTabs([rendered[2], rendered[1]])
+      })
+
+      // The omitted tab is still open — and still the one being looked at.
+      expect(store().rawTabs.map((t) => t.id)).toContain("conv-1-codex-1")
+      expect(store().activeTabId).toBe("conv-1-codex-1")
+      expect(store().rawTabs).toHaveLength(3)
+    })
+
+    it("does not roll a tab back to what the strip rendered with", async () => {
+      await renderWithTabs([tabItem(1, 1, true)])
+      act(() => {
+        store().openNewConversationTab(1, "/repo")
+      })
+      const draftId = store().rawTabs.find((t) => t.conversationId == null)!.id
+      // What the strip was holding when the drag began.
+      const rendered = store().tabs
+
+      // The draft's first message lands mid-drag: it binds to a real
+      // conversation, and its transcript now lives under a virtual runtime id.
+      act(() => {
+        store().bindConversationTab(draftId, 7, "codex", "sent", -42)
+      })
+      act(() => {
+        store().reorderTabs([rendered[1], rendered[0]])
+      })
+
+      expect(store().rawTabs.map((t) => t.id)).toEqual([
+        draftId,
+        "conv-1-codex-1",
+      ])
+      const moved = store().rawTabs.find((t) => t.id === draftId)!
+      expect(moved.conversationId).toBe(7)
+      expect(moved.runtimeConversationId).toBe(-42)
+    })
+
+    it("still moves the tab on a complete permutation", async () => {
+      await renderWithTabs([tabItem(1, 1, true), tabItem(1, 2), tabItem(1, 3)])
+      const rendered = store().tabs
+
+      act(() => {
+        store().reorderTabs([rendered[1], rendered[2], rendered[0]])
+      })
+
+      expect(store().rawTabs.map((t) => t.id)).toEqual([
+        "conv-1-codex-2",
+        "conv-1-codex-3",
+        "conv-1-codex-1",
+      ])
+    })
+
+    it("refuses a list that names one tab twice", async () => {
+      await renderWithTabs([tabItem(1, 1, true), tabItem(1, 2)])
+      const rendered = store().tabs
+      const before = store().rawTabs
+
+      act(() => {
+        store().reorderTabs([rendered[1], rendered[1]])
+      })
+
+      expect(store().rawTabs).toBe(before)
+    })
+  })
+
   it("per-group draft singleton: each group reuses its own draft", async () => {
     await renderWithTabs([tabItem(1, 1, true)])
     const home = leaves()[0]
diff --git a/src/stores/tab-store.ts b/src/stores/tab-store.ts
index 0d76967df9..9f119f22a0 100644
--- a/src/stores/tab-store.ts
+++ b/src/stores/tab-store.ts
@@ -502,6 +502,44 @@ function moveTabToSlot(
   return insertTab(without, tabs[from], index)
 }
 
+/**
+ * `raw` with the tabs sitting at `slots` rearranged into the order a reorder
+ * callback asked for, or `null` when that list is not a permutation of exactly
+ * those slots (and so must be ignored).
+ *
+ * A reorder callback is a request to MOVE tabs, never a new tab set. The
+ * distinction matters because `Reorder.Group` emits the order it has measured
+ * since its own last render and then drops, by reference, whatever is missing
+ * from its current `values` — so mid-drag it can legitimately hand back a list
+ * that is short, repeats an id, or carries a tab object from an earlier derive.
+ * Resolving every entry back to the live `rawTabs` item by id keeps a drag
+ * unable to close a tab, resurrect a closed one, or write a stale copy of a
+ * tab's fields over the current one (a draft that bound to a conversation
+ * mid-drag would otherwise go back to being an unbound draft).
+ */
+function permuteSlots(
+  raw: TabItemInternal[],
+  slots: number[],
+  orderedTabs: TabItem[]
+): TabItemInternal[] | null {
+  if (orderedTabs.length !== slots.length) return null
+  const slotIds = new Set(slots.map((i) => raw[i].id))
+  const seen = new Set<string>()
+  const ordered: TabItemInternal[] = []
+  for (const tab of orderedTabs) {
+    if (!slotIds.has(tab.id) || seen.has(tab.id)) return null
+    seen.add(tab.id)
+    const item = raw.find((t) => t.id === tab.id)
+    if (!item) return null
+    ordered.push(item)
+  }
+  const next = [...raw]
+  slots.forEach((slot, k) => {
+    next[slot] = ordered[k]
+  })
+  return next.every((tab, i) => tab === raw[i]) ? null : next
+}
+
 /** Field-wise equality for derived tab items. Backs the cross-derive reuse in
  *  the `tabs` derivation: an item whose every field matches the previous derive
  *  keeps its old reference, so downstream `Object.is` gates (consumers' memos)
@@ -1628,24 +1666,10 @@ export const useTabStore = create<TabStoreState>()((set, get) => ({
         slots.push(i)
       }
     })
-    if (orderedTabs.length !== slots.length) return
-    const slotIds = new Set(slots.map((i) => raw[i].id))
-    const seen = new Set<string>()
-    const ordered: TabItemInternal[] = []
-    for (const tab of orderedTabs) {
-      if (!slotIds.has(tab.id) || seen.has(tab.id)) return
-      seen.add(tab.id)
-      const item = raw.find((t) => t.id === tab.id)
-      if (!item) return
-      ordered.push(item)
-    }
     // Partition permutation: only this group's slots move, so the other
     // groups' persisted positions stay byte-stable.
-    const next = [...raw]
-    slots.forEach((slot, k) => {
-      next[slot] = ordered[k]
-    })
-    if (next.every((tab, i) => tab === raw[i])) return
+    const next = permuteSlots(raw, slots, orderedTabs)
+    if (!next) return
     set({ rawTabs: next })
     recomputeTabs()
   },
@@ -1664,7 +1688,16 @@ export const useTabStore = create<TabStoreState>()((set, get) => ({
   },
 
   reorderTabs: (reorderedTabs) => {
-    set({ rawTabs: reorderedTabs })
+    // The unsplit strip shows every tab, so its slots are the whole array —
+    // otherwise identical to a group reorder, guards included.
+    const raw = get().rawTabs
+    const next = permuteSlots(
+      raw,
+      raw.map((_, i) => i),
+      reorderedTabs
+    )
+    if (!next) return
+    set({ rawTabs: next })
     recomputeTabs()
   },