From 0d5c6273f1ae89db05c7525ddf0c2a81a1236555 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: npeter83 <npeter83+claude@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2026 13:52:42 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix(nav): the address follows the view through overlays,
 reloads and Back (review round 1)

- A URL mirror names the view again on every entry Back or Forward lands on, so a change made
  under a dialog, a drawer or a sub-view is not undone by the next reload.
- A view pushed from the entry a reload under a dialog started from no longer inherits its overlay
  mark; a reload under two overlays closes onto the page in one step.
- The linked player reopens over a live search, gives itself up when its list moves first, and
  plays alone over an emptied playlist; a capped Files list keeps the link it cannot resolve.
- The Feed press over a channel ends the search; leaving a search ends its asked mark; Files and
  Playlists searches end with their page; the feed always names its view and debounces its search.
- Search-box keys are declared per module and kept out of the client log below TRACE.
- Writers outside lib/ go through codecs; the URL contract scans computed keys, overlay writers and
  two-line reads, and holds every page to a bookmark round trip (Config, Activity, Playlists and the
  Files sort and viewer added).
---
 docs/development.md                           |  15 +-
 frontend/e2e/bookmark.spec.ts                 | 101 ++++++++++++-
 .../navigation/NavigationProvider.tsx         |  53 +++++--
 .../NavigationProvider.ytSearch.dom.test.tsx  |  51 +++++++
 .../src/features/navigation/moduleRegistry.ts |   4 +
 .../features/player/useOpenLinkedPlayer.ts    |  29 +++-
 frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/feed.json        |   4 +-
 frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/feed.json        |   4 +-
 frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json       |   2 +-
 frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/player.json      |   2 +-
 frontend/src/lib/adminUsersTab.ts             |   5 +
 frontend/src/lib/configTab.ts                 |   5 +
 frontend/src/lib/filesUrlState.ts             |  24 +++-
 .../lib/history.reloadedNested.dom.test.tsx   |  47 ++++++
 .../history.reloadedOverlayNav.dom.test.tsx   |  40 ++++++
 frontend/src/lib/history.ts                   |  70 +++++++--
 frontend/src/lib/logHooks.dom.test.ts         |  18 ++-
 frontend/src/lib/logHooks.ts                  |   9 +-
 frontend/src/lib/moduleDef.ts                 |   4 +
 frontend/src/lib/playlistsUrlState.ts         |   9 ++
 frontend/src/lib/settingsTab.ts               |   5 +
 frontend/src/lib/urlState.dom.test.ts         |   4 +-
 frontend/src/lib/urlState.ts                  |  28 ++--
 frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.dom.test.ts     |  42 +++++-
 frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.ts              |  39 ++++-
 frontend/src/main.tsx                         |   3 +-
 frontend/src/moduleSearch.url.dom.test.tsx    |  26 +++-
 frontend/src/moduleUrl.contract.test.ts       | 134 ++++++++++++++----
 .../modules/activity/Activity.dom.test.tsx    |   6 +-
 frontend/src/modules/activity/module.ts       |   1 +
 frontend/src/modules/channels/module.ts       |   1 +
 frontend/src/modules/config/ConfigPanel.tsx   |   4 +-
 frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.tsx            |  23 +--
 .../modules/feed/Feed.ytReopen.dom.test.tsx   |  58 +++++++-
 .../src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.tsx  |   6 +-
 .../feed/FeedFiltersProvider.url.dom.test.tsx |  82 +++++++++++
 frontend/src/modules/feed/module.ts           |   1 +
 frontend/src/modules/files/FilePreview.tsx    |   4 +-
 .../src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx |  20 +++
 frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx          |  13 +-
 frontend/src/modules/files/FilesProvider.tsx  |  25 ++--
 frontend/src/modules/files/LibraryPlayer.tsx  |   4 +-
 frontend/src/modules/files/module.ts          |   1 +
 .../modules/playlists/Playlists.dom.test.tsx  |  26 ++++
 frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.tsx  |  11 +-
 .../modules/playlists/PlaylistsProvider.tsx   |  12 +-
 frontend/src/modules/playlists/module.ts      |   1 +
 frontend/src/modules/plex/module.ts           |   1 +
 .../src/modules/settings/SettingsPanel.tsx    |   4 +-
 frontend/src/modules/users/AdminUsers.tsx     |   4 +-
 50 files changed, 928 insertions(+), 157 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 frontend/src/lib/history.reloadedNested.dom.test.tsx
 create mode 100644 frontend/src/lib/history.reloadedOverlayNav.dom.test.tsx
 create mode 100644 frontend/src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.url.dom.test.tsx

diff --git a/docs/development.md b/docs/development.md
index 994a3d87..a5d4be5e 100644
--- a/docs/development.md
+++ b/docs/development.md
@@ -49,11 +49,13 @@ A frontend page is one folder, `frontend/src/modules/<id>/` (the layering is in
    address-bar key its view writes (the URL is the view: a bookmark reopens it), its list kept in `lib/` beside
    its codec; the shell clears them on a page switch and opens a page without another page's keys.
    Every setting the page shows — a tab, a sort, a filter, a search, the item open in it — goes there: a codec
-   in `lib/<id>UrlState.ts` (read the params into the view, write the view as updates, a default left out),
-   written with `useUrlMirror` (a sub-view through `useHistorySubview`'s `url`, an overlay through
-   `useBackToClose`'s), read back first on mount (a link wins over anything remembered). Add its round trip to
-   `e2e/bookmark.spec.ts`. Only what an address cannot promise to reopen stays out, said in its codec (Home's
-   draw, `lib/homeUrlState`).
+   in `lib/<id>UrlState.ts` (read the params into the view, write the view as updates, a default left out —
+   or always written, when an address naming none falls back to a view remembered elsewhere), written with
+   `useUrlMirror` (a sub-view through `useHistorySubview`'s `url`, an overlay through `useBackToClose`'s),
+   always as the codec's result: a writer outside `lib/` computes no key of its own. Read back first on mount
+   (a link wins over anything remembered). A search box's key is also in `typedUrlKeys` (the client log keeps
+   what was typed out). Add its round trip to `e2e/bookmark.spec.ts`. Only what an address cannot promise to
+   reopen stays out, said in its codec (Home's draw, `lib/homeUrlState`).
 3. `index.ts`, the module's public face: the definition, and only what other folders must read (its store's
    hooks). Another folder reaches the module through this file or not at all.
 4. The id in `lib/urlState`'s `PAGES`, and the definition in `features/navigation/moduleRegistry.ts`, in
@@ -67,7 +69,8 @@ A frontend page is one folder, `frontend/src/modules/<id>/` (the layering is in
 
 What holds it: `moduleRegistry.contract.test.ts` (every id defined once, from its own folder, lazily),
 `moduleStores.contract.test.tsx` (no store reads another module), `moduleUrl.contract.test.ts` (each URL key
-belongs to one module and matches what its codec writes; no undeclared key literal), the `local/layers` lint rule (imports only go
+belongs to one module and matches what its codec writes; a writer outside `lib/` computes no key; no key literal
+written or read from the live query undeclared; every page with keys in the bookmark net), the `local/layers` lint rule (imports only go
 down, a module only through its face) and `chunkGuard` in the build (no lazy page on the boot path), plus the
 i18n parity test.
 
diff --git a/frontend/e2e/bookmark.spec.ts b/frontend/e2e/bookmark.spec.ts
index 85815399..fbf8d45a 100644
--- a/frontend/e2e/bookmark.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/e2e/bookmark.spec.ts
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@ import {
 
 // The address is the view: a view set through the UI, its address opened as a bookmark — in a NEW
 // browser context, so nothing this tab remembered (its history entries, sessionStorage, the view
-// storage it wrote) can stand in for what the address says. One round trip per page, plus the
-// overlays the shell opens over any page (the channel page, the player) and the live search.
+// storage it wrote) can stand in for what the address says. One round trip per page that names its
+// view (moduleUrl.contract.test holds the list to the module definitions), plus the overlays the
+// shell opens over any page (the channel page, the player) and the live search. Not Plex: what it
+// shows is the instance's own library, which a test stack may not have.
 
 const STORAGE_STATE = "e2e/.auth/state.json";
 
@@ -26,6 +28,13 @@ async function bookmarked(browser: Browser, page: Page, prepare?: (p: Page) => P
 }
 
 const tab = (p: Page, name: string) => p.getByRole("tab", { name, exact: true });
+const column = (p: Page, name: string) =>
+  p.getByRole("columnheader", { name: new RegExp(`^${name}`) });
+
+async function gotoAdminPage(page: Page, id: string): Promise<void> {
+  await page.getByTestId("nav-admin").click();
+  await page.getByTestId(`nav-admin-${id}`).click();
+}
 
 test.describe("a bookmark reopens the view it was taken of", () => {
   test("the feed's filters", async ({ page, browser }) => {
@@ -60,14 +69,58 @@ test.describe("a bookmark reopens the view it was taken of", () => {
 
   test("an admin page's tab", async ({ page, browser }) => {
     await openApp(page, "/?page=feed");
-    await page.getByTestId("nav-admin").click();
-    await page.getByTestId("nav-admin-users").click();
+    await gotoAdminPage(page, "users");
     await tab(page, "Access requests").click();
     const fresh = await bookmarked(browser, page);
     await expect(tab(fresh, "Access requests")).toHaveAttribute("aria-selected", "true");
     await fresh.context().close();
   });
 
+  test("a Configuration group", async ({ page, browser }) => {
+    await openApp(page, "/?page=feed");
+    await gotoAdminPage(page, "config");
+    const second = page.getByRole("tab").nth(1);
+    const name = (await second.textContent()) ?? "";
+    await second.click();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/[?&]cfgtab=/);
+    const fresh = await bookmarked(browser, page);
+    await expect(fresh.getByRole("tab", { name, exact: true })).toHaveAttribute(
+      "aria-selected",
+      "true",
+    );
+    await fresh.context().close();
+  });
+
+  test("the Activity tab and its time window", async ({ page, browser }) => {
+    await openApp(page, "/?page=feed");
+    await gotoAdminPage(page, "activity");
+    await tab(page, "Server log").click();
+    await page.getByRole("button", { name: "30 days", exact: true }).click();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/[?&]aw=30d/);
+    const fresh = await bookmarked(browser, page);
+    await expect(tab(fresh, "Server log")).toHaveAttribute("aria-selected", "true");
+    await expect(fresh.getByRole("button", { name: "30 days", exact: true })).toHaveAttribute(
+      "aria-pressed",
+      "true",
+    );
+    await fresh.context().close();
+  });
+
+  test("a playlist and its sort", async ({ page, browser }) => {
+    await openApp(page, "/?page=feed");
+    await gotoPage(page, "playlists");
+    await expect(column(page, "Title")).toBeVisible();
+    await column(page, "Title").getByRole("button").first().click();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/[?&]plsort=/);
+    const sorted = await column(page, "Title").getAttribute("aria-sort");
+    const fresh = await bookmarked(browser, page);
+    await expect(column(fresh, "Title")).toHaveAttribute("aria-sort", sorted ?? "");
+    expect(new URL(fresh.url()).searchParams.get("pl")).toBe(
+      new URL(page.url()).searchParams.get("pl"),
+    );
+    await fresh.context().close();
+  });
+
   test("the Channels manager's tab and name search", async ({ page, browser }) => {
     await openApp(page, "/?page=feed");
     await gotoPage(page, "channels");
@@ -90,6 +143,38 @@ test.describe("a bookmark reopens the view it was taken of", () => {
     await fresh.context().close();
   });
 
+  // A file of the test's own, uploaded for it and deleted after: the account's library is left as
+  // it was found.
+  test("the Files sort, and the file open in the viewer", async ({ page, browser }) => {
+    await openApp(page, "/?page=feed");
+    const NAME = "bookmark-note";
+    // One a run cut short left behind goes first.
+    const left = (await (await page.request.get("/api/files")).json()) as Record<string, unknown>[];
+    for (const f of left.filter((f) => JSON.stringify(f).includes(`"${NAME}`)))
+      await page.request.delete(`/api/files/${String(f.id)}`);
+    const up = await page.request.post("/api/files/upload", {
+      headers: { "X-Upload-Filename": `${NAME}.txt` },
+      data: Buffer.from("a note the bookmark reopens\n"),
+    });
+    expect(up.ok(), await up.text()).toBeTruthy();
+    const { id } = (await up.json()) as { id: number };
+    try {
+      await gotoPage(page, "files");
+      await column(page, "Name").getByRole("button").first().click();
+      await expect(page).toHaveURL(/[?&]fsort=name/);
+      const sorted = await column(page, "Name").getAttribute("aria-sort");
+      await page.getByText(NAME, { exact: true }).first().click();
+      await expect(page).toHaveURL(new RegExp(`[?&]fview=${id}`));
+      const fresh = await bookmarked(browser, page);
+      await expect(fresh.getByRole("dialog", { name: NAME })).toBeVisible();
+      await fresh.keyboard.press("Escape");
+      await expect(column(fresh, "Name")).toHaveAttribute("aria-sort", sorted ?? "");
+      await fresh.context().close();
+    } finally {
+      await page.request.delete(`/api/files/${id}`);
+    }
+  });
+
   test("a channel page's own tab, over the page it was opened from", async ({ page, browser }) => {
     await openApp(page, "/?page=feed");
     await expect(page.getByTestId("video-card").first()).toBeVisible();
@@ -114,9 +199,15 @@ test.describe("a bookmark reopens the view it was taken of", () => {
   });
 
   // The search itself never reaches YouTube here: the answer is the server's shape, served by the
-  // test, and the request it answers is what the address named.
+  // test, and the request it answers is what the address named. The instance's search settings are
+  // pinned too (the free source, switched on): a stack left on the API source reopens the search
+  // waiting for its press, by design, and one with search off offers none.
   test("a live YouTube search, its term and its count", async ({ page, browser }) => {
     const answer = async (p: Page, seen: string[]) => {
+      await p.route("**/api/me", async (route) => {
+        const me = (await (await route.fetch()).json()) as Record<string, unknown>;
+        return route.fulfill({ json: { ...me, search_source: "scrape", search_enabled: true } });
+      });
       await p.route("**/api/search/youtube?**", (route) => {
         seen.push(route.request().url());
         return route.fulfill({ json: { items: [], next_cursor: null, source: "scrape" } });
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/navigation/NavigationProvider.tsx b/frontend/src/features/navigation/NavigationProvider.tsx
index a8eded41..fa18c807 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/navigation/NavigationProvider.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/features/navigation/NavigationProvider.tsx
@@ -86,8 +86,9 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
   // The live YouTube search: named in the address (`yt`, and `ytn` for its count, lib/ytSearchUrlState)
   // so a reload or a link opens it again; its own history entry, so Back steps player → search → feed.
   // Whether it RUNS by itself is not the address's to say: `ytAsked` is the term this document was
-  // asked to search for (sent from the search box, or "Search YouTube again" pressed). Anything else
-  // — a reload, a link, a Back onto an older search — runs only when it costs no quota (Feed decides).
+  // asked to search for (sent from the search box, or "Search YouTube again" pressed), on the entries
+  // it has stayed on since — leaving the search ends it. Anything else — a reload, a link, a Back or
+  // a Forward onto a search — runs only when it costs no quota (Feed decides).
   const [ytSearch, setYtSearch] = useState<string | null>(() =>
     page === "feed" ? ytSearchFrom(new URLSearchParams(window.location.search)) : null,
   );
@@ -96,10 +97,16 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
   );
   const [ytAsked, setYtAsked] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const ytSearchRef = useLatest(ytSearch);
+  const ytCountRef = useLatest(ytCount);
+  // The search ends: off the screen, and no longer asked for.
+  const endYtSearch = useCallback(() => {
+    setYtSearch(null);
+    setYtAsked(null);
+  }, []);
   // The open channel page rides in history.state (_chan = id, _chanName = a name to show before the
   // detail loads) AND is mirrored to the address bar as ?chan=<id>, so Back closes it, a reload restores
-  // it, and a bookmarked ?chan link opens it (unlike ytSearch, which is dropped). Reload of an in-app
-  // entry reads history.state._chan; a fresh bookmark has only the ?chan param.
+  // it, and a bookmarked ?chan link opens it. Reload of an in-app entry reads history.state._chan; a
+  // fresh bookmark has only the ?chan param.
   const [channelView, setChannelView] = useState<ChannelView | null>(() =>
     channelViewFrom(window.history.state, window.location.search),
   );
@@ -134,6 +141,9 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
           return;
         }
         setChannelView(null); // leave any open channel page when navigating via the rail
+        // A live search under that channel ends too: the page opens at its root, which the address
+        // below names — the Feed press over a channel opened from a search included.
+        endYtSearch();
         setPageState(next);
         setAccountRaw(PAGE_KEY, next);
         // Push an in-app history entry so browser/mouse Back steps through pages instead of leaving
@@ -151,7 +161,7 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
         notifyNav();
         then?.();
       }),
-    [pageRef, channelViewRef],
+    [pageRef, channelViewRef, endYtSearch],
   );
 
   // A sub-view (channel / YT search) is an OVERLAY, not a page change. Like setPage it never lands
@@ -179,11 +189,20 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
       // No owned history entry (e.g. opened straight from a ?chan bookmark), or none of this document
       // below it to step back to (a full tab, see backStaysInDocument): clear it in place — the
       // entry's channel marks and the ?chan param.
+      // A live search under it (the channel opened from its results) is on screen again, and named
+      // again: the channel's address carried none of it.
       setChannelView(null);
       const { _chan: _id, _chanName: _name, ...st } = window.history.state ?? {};
-      window.history.replaceState(st, "", urlWithParams(closedChannelParams()));
+      window.history.replaceState(
+        st,
+        "",
+        urlWithParams({
+          ...closedChannelParams(),
+          ...ytSearchParams(ytSearchRef.current, ytCountRef.current),
+        }),
+      );
     }
-  }, []);
+  }, [ytSearchRef, ytCountRef]);
 
   const enterYtSearch = useCallback((q: string) => {
     setYtSearch(q);
@@ -230,11 +249,11 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
     // one, or there is no entry of this document below it (a full tab, see backStaysInDocument).
     if (window.history.state?._yt && backStaysInDocument()) window.history.back();
     else {
-      setYtSearch(null);
+      endYtSearch();
       const { _yt: _q, ...st } = window.history.state ?? {};
       window.history.replaceState(st, "", urlWithParams(ytSearchParams(null, DEFAULT_YT_COUNT)));
     }
-  }, []);
+  }, [endYtSearch]);
 
   // Leaving the feed ends any live YouTube search, so coming back shows the normal feed. Adjusted
   // DURING the render that changes the page, against the page we were last on: as an effect it ran
@@ -244,7 +263,10 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
   const [pageSearchWasOn, setPageSearchWasOn] = useState(page);
   if (pageSearchWasOn !== page) {
     setPageSearchWasOn(page);
-    if (page !== "feed") setYtSearch(null);
+    if (page !== "feed") {
+      setYtSearch(null);
+      setYtAsked(null);
+    }
   }
 
   // The browser tab names the place and the object in it (DESIGN § Composition, "Where am I"):
@@ -286,8 +308,8 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
     // page survives F5.
     const st = window.history.state || {};
     // Mirror the resolved initial page to the address bar (the feed too) so a page reached from the
-    // stored landing pref — not just from the URL — is itself bookmarkable. urlWithParams preserves any
-    // ?chan / ?v / ?pl / filter params the loaders already read.
+    // stored landing pref — not just from the URL — is itself bookmarkable. urlWithParams keeps the
+    // shell's keys (?chan, a player's) and the page's own; other pages' go (below).
     // A retired page's link — or the remembered last page, when that is what opened — also opens its
     // part of the page that replaced it (an `at` tab).
     const linked = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get("page");
@@ -325,9 +347,12 @@ export function NavigationProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
       setPageState(p);
       setAccountRaw(PAGE_KEY, p);
       // The YouTube search is read from the address the browser restored, so Back/Forward opens or
-      // clears it to match the entry we landed on — not asked for: an API search waits for a press.
+      // clears it to match the entry we landed on. One landed on without it has ended: a Forward back
+      // onto it is not asked for, and an API search waits for a press.
       const here = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
-      setYtSearch(p === "feed" ? ytSearchFrom(here) : null);
+      const landed = p === "feed" ? ytSearchFrom(here) : null;
+      setYtSearch(landed);
+      if (landed == null) setYtAsked(null);
       setYtCountState(ytCountFrom(here));
       // The channel page rides in history.state._chan, with a ?chan URL fallback for a fresh bookmark
       // entry (URL-only, no _chan) — reading e.state alone would wrongly close the channel when a
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/navigation/NavigationProvider.ytSearch.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/features/navigation/NavigationProvider.ytSearch.dom.test.tsx
index a610ed4a..353f402e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/navigation/NavigationProvider.ytSearch.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/features/navigation/NavigationProvider.ytSearch.dom.test.tsx
@@ -188,6 +188,57 @@ describe("NavigationProvider · the YouTube search in the address", () => {
     expect(search().get("ytn")).toBeNull();
   });
 
+  it("a search left by Back and reached again by Forward is not asked for", () => {
+    const { result } = render();
+    act(() => result.current.enterYtSearch("lofi"));
+    expect(result.current.ytSearchAsked).toBe(true);
+    window.history.replaceState({ sfPage: "feed" }, "", "/?page=feed&q=lofi");
+    act(() => {
+      window.dispatchEvent(new PopStateEvent("popstate", { state: window.history.state }));
+    });
+    window.history.replaceState({ sfPage: "feed", _yt: "lofi" }, "", "/?page=feed&yt=lofi");
+    act(() => {
+      window.dispatchEvent(new PopStateEvent("popstate", { state: window.history.state }));
+    });
+    expect(result.current.ytSearch).toBe("lofi");
+    expect(result.current.ytSearchAsked).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("a search left in place is not asked for when it is opened again by a link", () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=feed&yt=lofi");
+    const { result } = render();
+    act(() => result.current.askYtSearch());
+    stubNoEntryBelow();
+    act(() => result.current.exitYtSearch());
+    window.history.replaceState({ sfPage: "feed" }, "", "/?page=feed&yt=lofi");
+    act(() => {
+      window.dispatchEvent(new PopStateEvent("popstate", { state: window.history.state }));
+    });
+    expect(result.current.ytSearchAsked).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("the Feed press over a channel opened from the search opens the plain feed", () => {
+    const { result } = render();
+    act(() => result.current.enterYtSearch("lofi"));
+    act(() => result.current.openChannel("UC1"));
+    act(() => result.current.setPage("feed"));
+    expect(result.current.channelView).toBeNull();
+    expect(result.current.ytSearch).toBeNull();
+    expect(search().get("yt")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("a channel closed in place over the search names the search again", () => {
+    const { result } = render();
+    act(() => result.current.enterYtSearch("lofi"));
+    act(() => result.current.setYtCount(40));
+    act(() => result.current.openChannel("UC1"));
+    expect(search().get("yt")).toBeNull();
+    stubNoEntryBelow();
+    act(() => result.current.closeChannel());
+    expect(result.current.ytSearch).toBe("lofi");
+    expect([search().get("yt"), search().get("ytn")]).toEqual(["lofi", "40"]);
+  });
+
   it("a page switch takes the search off the address", () => {
     const { result } = render();
     act(() => result.current.enterYtSearch("lofi"));
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/navigation/moduleRegistry.ts b/frontend/src/features/navigation/moduleRegistry.ts
index 82e55d74..aa84d5ef 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/navigation/moduleRegistry.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/features/navigation/moduleRegistry.ts
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ const ALL_URL_KEYS: readonly string[] = ALL.flatMap((m) => m.urlKeys);
 export function moduleUrlKeys(): readonly string[] {
   return ALL_URL_KEYS;
 }
+/** Every module's address-bar keys that carry typed text — what the client log keeps out (main.tsx). */
+export function typedUrlKeys(): readonly string[] {
+  return ALL.flatMap((m) => m.typedUrlKeys ?? []);
+}
 export function foreignUrlKeys(page: Page): readonly string[] {
   return ALL.filter((m) => m.id !== page).flatMap((m) => m.urlKeys);
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/player/useOpenLinkedPlayer.ts b/frontend/src/features/player/useOpenLinkedPlayer.ts
index 2f4e7a3e..4731b4a2 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/player/useOpenLinkedPlayer.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/features/player/useOpenLinkedPlayer.ts
@@ -4,43 +4,58 @@ import { useQuery } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import { api, type Video } from "../../lib/api";
 import { qk } from "../../lib/queryKeys";
 import { linkedPlayer, PLAYER_KEYS } from "../../lib/playerUrlState";
-import { dropFromAddress } from "../../lib/urlState";
+import { clearParams } from "../../lib/urlState";
 import { notifyActionError } from "../../lib/actionErrors";
 
 /** Opens the player an address names (a reload, a bookmark — lib/playerUrlState) on the page that
  *  hosts it, once: read as the host mounts, opened once its list is in (`ready`). From the list when the
  *  item is in it (`find`), so the player plays on through the list; else alone, its row fetched from
- *  the catalog. A row the catalog no longer has is said, not swallowed. */
+ *  the catalog. A row the catalog no longer has is said, not swallowed.
+ *
+ *  `scope` names the list the address put it over (a playlist, a live search): when the host moves to
+ *  another before it opened, the address under it named something else, and the player is given up —
+ *  opened later, it would start over a list nobody linked, unasked. */
 export function useOpenLinkedPlayer(
   ready: boolean,
   find: (id: string) => Video | undefined,
   open: (video: Video, inList: boolean) => void,
+  scope: string | number | null = null,
 ): void {
   const { t } = useTranslation();
   const [linked] = useState(() => linkedPlayer()?.watch ?? null);
+  const [linkedScope] = useState(scope);
   // Opened (or said to be gone) once; a ref, as nothing on screen reads it.
   const done = useRef(linked == null);
-  const listed = ready && linked != null ? find(linked) : undefined;
+  const moved = scope !== linkedScope;
+  const listed = ready && !moved && linked != null ? find(linked) : undefined;
   const row = useQuery({
     queryKey: qk.videoRow(linked ?? ""),
     queryFn: () => api.videoRow(linked!),
-    enabled: ready && linked != null && !listed,
+    enabled: ready && !moved && linked != null && !listed,
     retry: false,
   });
   const openIt = useEffectEvent(open);
   const failed = useEffectEvent((err: unknown) => {
     notifyActionError(err, t("player.linkedFailed"));
-    dropFromAddress(PLAYER_KEYS);
+    clearParams(...PLAYER_KEYS);
   });
   useEffect(() => {
+    if (done.current) return;
+    if (moved) {
+      done.current = true;
+      // The address goes on naming it under the new list (a reload would open it there) — unless a
+      // player opened since names its own.
+      if (linkedPlayer()?.watch === linked) clearParams(...PLAYER_KEYS);
+      return;
+    }
     // Not before the host is ready: the row's cache entry is shared, so another opener's fetch fills
     // it here too (a disabled query still reads the cache) — the shell's player over a page that
     // plays its own would open a second one.
-    if (done.current || !ready) return;
+    if (!ready) return;
     if (listed) openIt(listed, true);
     else if (row.data) openIt(row.data, false);
     else if (row.isError) failed(row.error);
     else return;
     done.current = true;
-  }, [ready, listed, row.data, row.isError, row.error]);
+  }, [linked, moved, ready, listed, row.data, row.isError, row.error]);
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/feed.json b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/feed.json
index ce0941ad..1572832c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/feed.json
+++ b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/feed.json
@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@
     "cleared_one": "Cleared {{count}} result",
     "cleared_other": "Cleared {{count}} results",
     "showHint": "How many results to fetch at a time — “Load more” pulls another batch of this size.",
-    "notRunTitle": "This search hasn't run again",
-    "notRunBody": "A YouTube API search spends 100 units of the shared daily quota, so a reload or a link doesn't start one by itself.",
+    "notRunTitle": "Not searched yet",
+    "notRunBody": "A YouTube API search spends 100 units of the shared daily quota, so a reload, a link or Back doesn't start one by itself.",
     "runAgain": "Search YouTube again"
   }
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/feed.json b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/feed.json
index 111fe5b2..ca264e61 100644
--- a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/feed.json
+++ b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/feed.json
@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@
     "cleared_one": "{{count}} találat törölve",
     "cleared_other": "{{count}} találat törölve",
     "showHint": "Hány találatot szerezzen egyszerre — a „Továbbiak betöltése” ennyivel tölt tovább.",
-    "notRunTitle": "Ez a keresés nem futott újra",
-    "notRunBody": "Egy YouTube API-keresés 100 egységet fogyaszt a közös napi kvótából, ezért újratöltés vagy link nem indít el egyet magától.",
+    "notRunTitle": "Ez a keresés még nem futott le",
+    "notRunBody": "Egy YouTube API-keresés 100 egységet fogyaszt a közös napi kvótából, ezért újratöltéskor, linkről vagy visszalépéskor nem indul el magától.",
     "runAgain": "Keresés újra a YouTube-on"
   }
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json
index 727225a0..a6deff3d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json
+++ b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "linkedGone": "A címben szereplő fájl már nincs ebben a listában",
+  "linkedGone": "A linkben szereplő fájl már nincs ebben a listában",
   "navLabel": "Fájlok",
   "searchPlaceholder": "Keresés a fájlok között…",
   "count_one": "{{count}} elem",
diff --git a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/player.json b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/player.json
index e10bf28d..c0afd43a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/player.json
+++ b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/player.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "loading": "Betöltés…",
-  "linkedFailed": "A címben szereplő videó nem nyitható meg",
+  "linkedFailed": "A linkben szereplő videó nem nyitható meg",
   "backToOriginal": "Vissza az eredeti videóhoz",
   "back": "Vissza",
   "previous": "Előző",
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/adminUsersTab.ts b/frontend/src/lib/adminUsersTab.ts
index 5c93cd33..8fbc307c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/adminUsersTab.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/adminUsersTab.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ import { LS, setTabRaw } from "./storage";
 export const ADMIN_USERS_TAB_KEY = LS.adminUsersTab;
 // The address-bar key the page mirrors its tab to.
 export const USERS_TAB_URL_KEY = "utab";
+
+/** The address-bar delta for the Users tab shown. */
+export function usersTabParams(tab: string | null): Record<string, string | null> {
+  return { [USERS_TAB_URL_KEY]: tab };
+}
 const ADMIN_USERS_ACCESS_TAB = "access";
 
 export function focusAccessRequestsTab(): void {
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/configTab.ts b/frontend/src/lib/configTab.ts
index 897fc28f..d6342031 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/configTab.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/configTab.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
 // The Configuration page's address-bar key: the config group its tab rail shows. Here, beside the other
 // pages' keys, so the page's definition can declare it without importing the lazy page.
 export const CONFIG_TAB_KEY = "cfgtab";
+
+/** The address-bar delta for the config group shown (null: none named). */
+export function configTabParams(tab: string | null): Record<string, string | null> {
+  return { [CONFIG_TAB_KEY]: tab };
+}
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/filesUrlState.ts b/frontend/src/lib/filesUrlState.ts
index 073e3efd..df8265e5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/filesUrlState.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/filesUrlState.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // The Files page's address-bar keys: the folder shown (`?folder=`, its encoding in
 // modules/files/filesContext), the file it turns to once (`?item=`), the name search (`?fq=`) and the
 // sort (`?fsort=`, always written, lib/columnSort's `none` for the list's own order). Here, beside the
-// other pages' key lists, so the page's definition can declare them without importing its own folder.
+// other pages' codecs (lib/<id>UrlState), where the URL contract test reads them all.
 export const FILES_FOLDER_KEY = "folder";
 export const FILES_ITEM_KEY = "item";
 export const FILES_SEARCH_KEY = "fq";
@@ -21,6 +21,28 @@ export const FILES_KEYS = [
 
 export type FilesOpenFile = { open: "view" | "play"; id: number };
 
+/** The address-bar delta for the list (the page's store): its search, folder and the file it turns to
+ *  — each null when not named (`null`: the page is not what the address shows). */
+export function filesListParams(
+  list: { search: string; folder: string | null; item: number | null } | null,
+): Record<string, string | null> {
+  return {
+    [FILES_SEARCH_KEY]: list?.search || null,
+    [FILES_FOLDER_KEY]: list?.folder ?? null,
+    [FILES_ITEM_KEY]: list?.item != null ? String(list.item) : null,
+  };
+}
+
+/** The address-bar delta for the list's sort (lib/columnSort's encoding, `none` included). */
+export function filesSortParams(sort: string | null): Record<string, string | null> {
+  return { [FILES_SORT_KEY]: sort };
+}
+
+/** What a file open over the list names in its own entry: the viewer's, or the player's. */
+export function filesOpenParams(file: FilesOpenFile): Record<string, string | null> {
+  return { [file.open === "play" ? FILES_PLAY_KEY : FILES_VIEW_KEY]: String(file.id) };
+}
+
 /** The file an address opens over the list (a reload, a bookmark), or null. */
 export function openFileFrom(params: URLSearchParams): FilesOpenFile | null {
   for (const [open, key] of [
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/history.reloadedNested.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/lib/history.reloadedNested.dom.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0fe565c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/history.reloadedNested.dom.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+//
+// A reload under two overlays (a dialog, or a maximised player, over the player) loads on the upper
+// one's entry; only the player reopens, and takes that entry over. The lower one's entry is still
+// under it, and nothing reopens there: closing the player steps back over it too, so one close
+// lands on the page — not on a dead step that looks like it. Its own file: the entry is read as the
+// module loads, so it is set up before the import.
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { act, renderHook } from "@testing-library/react";
+
+describe("an overlay reopened on the entry a reload under two started from", () => {
+  it("closes onto the page under both", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState({ sfPage: "feed" }, "", "/?page=feed");
+    window.history.pushState({ sfPage: "feed", _ov: 1, _ovd: 1 }, "", "/?page=feed&watch=v1");
+    window.history.pushState({ sfPage: "feed", _ov: 2, _ovd: 2 }, "", "/?page=feed&watch=v1");
+    const depth = window.history.length;
+    const { useBackToClose } = await import("./history");
+
+    const holder: { unmount?: () => void } = {};
+    const r = renderHook(() => useBackToClose(() => holder.unmount?.(), { watch: "v1" }));
+    holder.unmount = r.unmount;
+    await act(async () => {
+      await Promise.resolve();
+    });
+    expect(window.history.length).toBe(depth);
+
+    await act(async () => {
+      const landed = new Promise((res) => window.addEventListener("popstate", res, { once: true }));
+      r.unmount();
+      await landed;
+      await Promise.resolve();
+    });
+    expect(window.history.state?._ov).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(window.location.search).toBe("?page=feed");
+  });
+
+  it("a pushed overlay entry records how many it stands on", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState({ sfPage: "feed" }, "", "/?page=feed");
+    const { useBackToClose } = await import("./history");
+    const r = renderHook(() => useBackToClose(() => {}));
+    await act(async () => {
+      await Promise.resolve();
+    });
+    expect(window.history.state?._ovd).toBe(1);
+    r.unmount();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/history.reloadedOverlayNav.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/lib/history.reloadedOverlayNav.dom.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bb172201
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/history.reloadedOverlayNav.dom.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+//
+// The entry a reload under an open dialog started from carries the dialog's mark, and a dialog that
+// does not reopen (About, the cheat sheet) leaves it there. A view pushed from that entry (a channel
+// page, a search, a sub-view) must not inherit the mark: the first overlay over it took the view's
+// entry over as its own, and closing it closed the view too. Its own file: the entry is read as the
+// module loads, so it is set up before the import.
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { act, renderHook } from "@testing-library/react";
+
+describe("a view pushed from the entry a reload under a dialog started from", () => {
+  it("is not taken over by the first overlay over it", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState({ sfPage: "feed" }, "", "/?page=feed");
+    window.history.pushState({ sfPage: "feed", _ov: 3 }, "", "/?page=feed");
+    const { rememberNavPosition, useBackToClose } = await import("./history");
+
+    // openChannel's push, as it spreads the entry it leaves.
+    const left = rememberNavPosition();
+    expect(left._ov).toBeUndefined();
+    window.history.pushState({ ...left, _chan: "UC1" }, "", "/?chan=UC1");
+    const depth = window.history.length;
+
+    const holder: { unmount?: () => void } = {};
+    const r = renderHook(() => useBackToClose(() => holder.unmount?.(), { watch: "v1" }));
+    holder.unmount = r.unmount;
+    await act(async () => {
+      await Promise.resolve();
+    });
+    expect(window.history.length).toBe(depth + 1);
+
+    await act(async () => {
+      const landed = new Promise((res) => window.addEventListener("popstate", res, { once: true }));
+      r.unmount();
+      await landed;
+      await Promise.resolve();
+    });
+    expect(window.history.state?._chan).toBe("UC1");
+    expect(window.location.search).toBe("?chan=UC1");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/history.ts b/frontend/src/lib/history.ts
index 6df78b70..48e7e1b5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/history.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/history.ts
@@ -87,7 +87,10 @@ if (typeof window !== "undefined") {
 
 /** Call right before a pushState that opens a new view over the current entry (a page, a sub-view, a
  *  channel, a tab). Returns the current state WITHOUT the stamp: a push that spreads the current state
- *  must spread this, so the new entry does not inherit a position it was never left from. */
+ *  must spread this, so the new entry does not inherit a position it was never left from — nor an
+ *  overlay's marks, which belong to the entry being left (an entry a reload under an open dialog
+ *  started from carries them, and the first overlay over a view pushed from it took that view's entry
+ *  over for its own). */
 export function rememberNavPosition(): Record<string, unknown> {
   // A restore still waiting for the last landing's lists belongs to the page being left: left
   // running, it would focus "list N, item M" of whatever page this push opens.
@@ -95,7 +98,8 @@ export function rememberNavPosition(): Record<string, unknown> {
   const { sfNav: _stale, ...st } = (window.history.state ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>;
   const pos = navPosition();
   window.history.replaceState(pos ? { ...st, sfNav: pos } : st, "");
-  return st;
+  const { _ov: _overlay, _ovd: _depth, ...view } = st;
+  return view;
 }
 
 // --- Is the entry a back() lands on still ours? --------------------------------------------
@@ -111,12 +115,12 @@ interface NavigationLike {
   entries: () => readonly { sameDocument: boolean }[];
 }
 
-/** Would one more history.back() still land in this document? */
-export function backStaysInDocument(): boolean {
+/** Would `steps` more steps back (one, a history.back()) still land in this document? */
+export function backStaysInDocument(steps = 1): boolean {
   const nav = (window as { navigation?: NavigationLike }).navigation;
   const at = nav?.currentEntry?.index;
   if (nav == null || at == null) return true;
-  return nav.entries()[at - pendingProgrammatic - 1]?.sameDocument === true;
+  return nav.entries()[at - pendingSteps - steps]?.sameDocument === true;
 }
 
 // --- Sub-views (value carried in history.state._sub) ---------------------------------------
@@ -292,10 +296,36 @@ const nextOverlayToken = () => ++overlayCounter;
 let historyDepth = 0;
 // The entry this document was loaded on, when it was an overlay's (a reload under an open player):
 // the first overlay to open takes it over rather than pushing another over it — pushed, Back would
-// close the player onto that same page again, one dead step per reload. Until the first push or Back.
+// close the player onto that same page again, one dead step per reload. Until the first push or Back;
+// a view pushed from it does not carry its mark (rememberNavPosition). `_ovd` on an overlay's entry is how many overlay
+// entries it stood on, its own included: a reload under two (a dialog, or a maximised player, over
+// the player) leaves the lower one's entry under the one taken over, and closing the taken-over
+// overlay steps back over those too (`deadBelow`) — one Back closes it, as it opened.
 let reloadedOverlayEntry: unknown = window.history.state?._ov ?? null;
-// Programmatic history.back() calls still awaiting their popstate — each must be ignored.
+const reloadedDepth: unknown = window.history.state?._ovd;
+let deadBelow = 0;
+// Programmatic history steps back still awaiting their popstate — each must be ignored — and how
+// many entries they step over in all (a step over dead entries is one traversal of several).
 let pendingProgrammatic = 0;
+let pendingSteps = 0;
+const pendingStepCounts: number[] = [];
+function stepBack(steps: number): void {
+  pendingProgrammatic++;
+  pendingSteps += steps;
+  pendingStepCounts.push(steps);
+  if (steps === 1) window.history.back();
+  else window.history.go(-steps);
+}
+function landedStepBack(): void {
+  pendingProgrammatic--;
+  pendingSteps -= pendingStepCounts.shift() ?? 1;
+}
+// The overlay at the bottom of the stack closing: back over its entry and any dead ones under it.
+function stepsToClose(): number {
+  const steps = historyDepth === 0 ? 1 + deadBelow : 1;
+  if (historyDepth === 0) deadBelow = 0;
+  return steps;
+}
 let reconcileScheduled = false;
 let listenerInstalled = false;
 // Re-checked after every reconcile — see `afterClosing`.
@@ -314,19 +344,27 @@ function reconcileHistory(): void {
     const here = window.history.state?._ov;
     if (historyDepth === 1 && here != null && here === reloadedOverlayEntry) {
       reloadedOverlayEntry = null;
+      if (typeof reloadedDepth === "number" && reloadedDepth > 1) deadBelow = reloadedDepth - 1;
       continue;
     }
     reloadedOverlayEntry = null;
-    window.history.pushState({ ...window.history.state, _ov: nextOverlayToken() }, "");
+    window.history.pushState(
+      { ...window.history.state, _ov: nextOverlayToken(), _ovd: historyDepth + deadBelow },
+      "",
+    );
   }
   while (historyDepth > want) {
     historyDepth--;
-    if (backStaysInDocument()) {
-      pendingProgrammatic++;
-      window.history.back();
-    } else {
+    const steps = stepsToClose();
+    if (backStaysInDocument(steps)) stepBack(steps);
+    else if (steps > 1 && backStaysInDocument()) stepBack(1);
+    else {
       // Nothing of ours below to step back to (see backStaysInDocument): the entry stays, unmarked.
-      const { _ov: _drop, ...st } = (window.history.state ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>;
+      const {
+        _ov: _drop,
+        _ovd: _depth,
+        ...st
+      } = (window.history.state ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>;
       window.history.replaceState(st, "");
     }
   }
@@ -368,7 +406,7 @@ function ensureOverlayListener(): void {
   window.addEventListener("popstate", () => {
     reloadedOverlayEntry = null;
     if (pendingProgrammatic > 0) {
-      pendingProgrammatic--; // our own back(): consume and ignore
+      landedStepBack(); // our own back(): consume and ignore
       // The last one landed: an overlay that opened while it was in flight still owes its entry.
       if (pendingProgrammatic === 0 && historyDepth < overlayStack.length) scheduleReconcile();
       else nameOverlaysHere();
@@ -376,7 +414,11 @@ function ensureOverlayListener(): void {
     }
     // Genuine user Back: the browser already dropped one overlay entry, so close the topmost
     // overlay to match. Its unmount cleanup finds itself already off the stack and only re-syncs.
+    // The last one closing over dead entries (see `deadBelow`) steps over them too.
     if (historyDepth > 0) historyDepth--;
+    const dead = historyDepth === 0 ? deadBelow : 0;
+    if (historyDepth === 0) deadBelow = 0;
+    if (dead > 0 && backStaysInDocument(dead)) stepBack(dead);
     const top = overlayStack.pop();
     if (top) top.cb();
     scheduleReconcile();
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/logHooks.dom.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/logHooks.dom.test.ts
index 93b697b5..57da00f4 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/logHooks.dom.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/logHooks.dom.test.ts
@@ -10,9 +10,12 @@ import { installClientLog } from "./logHooks";
 const appCopy = (text: string | null) =>
   ["Refresh", "Frissítés"].includes(text?.trim() ?? "") ? "Refresh" : null;
 
+// The pages' search boxes' keys, as main.tsx hands them over from the module definitions.
+const TYPED = ["fq", "yt"];
+
 beforeAll(() => {
-  installClientLog(appCopy);
-  installClientLog(appCopy); // a hot reload's second call must not wrap History twice
+  installClientLog(appCopy, TYPED);
+  installClientLog(appCopy, TYPED); // a hot reload's second call must not wrap History twice
   expect(events().map((e) => e.event)).toEqual(["app.start", "nav.view"]);
   clear();
 });
@@ -56,6 +59,17 @@ describe("client log hooks", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("keeps a page's own search box out below TRACE too", () => {
+    setLevel("DEBUG");
+    window.history.pushState({ sfPage: "files" }, "", "/?folder=all&fq=private+words&yt=lofi");
+    expect(views()[0]!.attrs!.values).toEqual({ folder: "all" });
+    expect(JSON.stringify(views())).not.toContain("private");
+
+    setLevel("TRACE");
+    window.history.pushState({ sfPage: "files" }, "", "/?folder=all&fq=private+words");
+    expect(views()[1]!.attrs!.values).toEqual({ folder: "all", fq: "private words" });
+  });
+
   it("records an overlay opening as a view of its own, and Back as a pop", () => {
     window.history.pushState({ sfPage: "feed", _ov: 1 }, "");
     // What Back does: the browser restores the previous entry's state (the unwrapped prototype
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/logHooks.ts b/frontend/src/lib/logHooks.ts
index 4c0c90c2..c2168511 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/logHooks.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/logHooks.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ import { enabled, errorAttrs, log } from "./log";
 import { pathTemplate } from "./http";
 
 // URL parameters that carry what the user TYPED — search text. Logged only at TRACE ("Teljes").
-// Every other parameter is filter/sort/view state: its NAME is kept at INFO, its value at DEBUG.
+// Every other parameter is filter/sort/view state: its NAME is kept at INFO, its value at DEBUG. The
+// shell's own here; each page's search boxes join them at install (ModuleDef.typedUrlKeys).
 const TYPED_PARAMS = new Set(["q", "keywords", "search"]);
 
 type Via = "start" | "push" | "replace" | "pop";
@@ -168,9 +169,13 @@ let installed = false;
 /** Install the hooks. Idempotent: a second call (a hot reload) must not wrap History twice.
  *  `appCopy` turns on-screen app copy into its English wording (i18n/appCopy.ts) — passed in, so this
  *  module stays free of the i18n runtime. */
-export function installClientLog(appCopy: AppCopy = () => null): void {
+export function installClientLog(
+  appCopy: AppCopy = () => null,
+  typedParams: readonly string[] = [],
+): void {
   if (installed) return;
   installed = true;
+  for (const k of typedParams) TYPED_PARAMS.add(k);
 
   log.info("app.start", "app loaded", {
     version: FRONTEND_VERSION,
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/moduleDef.ts b/frontend/src/lib/moduleDef.ts
index d6471f8e..bf1dd813 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/moduleDef.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/moduleDef.ts
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@ export type ModuleDef = {
   // along onto another's URL. Empty for a page with nothing of its own in the URL. Each key belongs to
   // one module and none is a shell key (moduleUrl.contract.test).
   urlKeys: readonly string[];
+  // Those of them that carry what the user TYPED (a search box's text): the client log keeps their
+  // values out below its most detailed level, as it does the shell's own (lib/logHooks). A new search
+  // box's key is declared here with it (moduleUrl.contract.test holds them to urlKeys).
+  typedUrlKeys?: readonly string[];
   // Its page plays YouTube videos in the player and reopens it from an address that names one (a
   // reload, a bookmark — lib/playerUrlState), with its own list as the queue. A page without it gets
   // the shell's player for such an address: the video alone.
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/playlistsUrlState.ts b/frontend/src/lib/playlistsUrlState.ts
index 553cf16f..3ada9db0 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/playlistsUrlState.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/playlistsUrlState.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,15 @@ export function isStoredSort(s: SortState): boolean {
   return s?.key === PLAYLIST_STORED_SORT?.key && s?.dir === PLAYLIST_STORED_SORT?.dir;
 }
 
+/** The address-bar delta for the page's store: the playlist shown and the rail's search (each null
+ *  when not named). */
+export function playlistsParams(
+  selected: number | null,
+  search: string,
+): Record<string, string | null> {
+  return { pl: selected != null ? String(selected) : null, plq: search || null };
+}
+
 /** The address-bar delta for an open playlist's view; `null` clears it (no playlist open). */
 export function playlistViewParamUpdates(v: PlaylistView | null): Record<string, string | null> {
   if (!v) return { plsort: null, plf: null, plgroup: null };
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/settingsTab.ts b/frontend/src/lib/settingsTab.ts
index 74045e15..f5fbece8 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/settingsTab.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/settingsTab.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ import { LS, setTabRaw } from "./storage";
 // address-bar key the page mirrors its tab to is here too, beside the other pages' keys.
 export const SETTINGS_TAB_KEY = "stab";
 
+/** The address-bar delta for the Settings tab shown. */
+export function settingsTabParams(tab: string | null): Record<string, string | null> {
+  return { [SETTINGS_TAB_KEY]: tab };
+}
+
 export type SettingsTabId =
   | "appearance"
   | "notifications"
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/urlState.dom.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/urlState.dom.test.ts
index ab87bf44..ca7e1e47 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/urlState.dom.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/urlState.dom.test.ts
@@ -127,13 +127,13 @@ describe("a page opened at a path that starts with //", () => {
 });
 
 describe("filterParamUpdates", () => {
-  it("maps non-default filters to values and defaults to null (delete)", () => {
+  it("maps non-default filters to values and other defaults to null (delete)", () => {
     const f: FeedFilters = { ...DEFAULTS, q: "react", tags: [3, 7], show: "watched" };
     const upd = filterParamUpdates(f);
     expect(upd.q).toBe("react");
     expect(upd.tags).toBe("3,7");
     expect(upd.show).toBe("watched");
-    expect(upd.sort).toBeNull(); // default "newest" is not emitted → cleared
+    expect(upd.sort).toBe("newest"); // the view and the order are always named, defaults too
     expect(upd.scope).toBeNull();
   });
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/urlState.ts b/frontend/src/lib/urlState.ts
index 5c380810..2c45ae38 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/urlState.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/urlState.ts
@@ -80,13 +80,19 @@ export function filtersToParams(f: FeedFilters): URLSearchParams {
 }
 
 /** Build the address-bar delta for the feed filters: each recognized filter key mapped to its emitted
- * value, or null to delete it (so switching a filter back to its default clears the key). Pass `null`
- * to clear ALL filter keys — used when leaving the feed, where the localStorage copy still holds them.
- * Feed the result into urlWithParams(). */
+ * value, or null to delete it (so switching a filter back to its default clears the key) — except the
+ * view and the order, always written (defaults too): a feed address then always names its view, so a
+ * bookmark of the default feed opens the default feed, not whatever view the account stored since
+ * (an address naming none falls back to it). Pass `null` to clear ALL filter keys — used when leaving
+ * the feed, where the localStorage copy still holds them. Feed the result into urlWithParams(). */
 export function filterParamUpdates(f: FeedFilters | null): Record<string, string | null> {
   const p = f ? filtersToParams(f) : new URLSearchParams();
   const out: Record<string, string | null> = {};
   for (const k of KEYS) out[k] = p.get(k);
+  if (f) {
+    out.show = f.show || "unwatched";
+    out.sort = f.sort || "newest";
+  }
   return out;
 }
 
@@ -233,13 +239,6 @@ export function urlWithParams(updates: Record<string, string | null>): string {
   return hrefHere(params);
 }
 
-/** Take `keys` off the current entry's address: what a link named and the page could not show (a file
- *  or a video that is gone, said once) must not stay to be said again on every reload, or shared. */
-export function dropFromAddress(keys: readonly string[]): void {
-  const updates = Object.fromEntries(keys.map((k) => [k, null]));
-  window.history.replaceState(window.history.state, "", urlWithParams(updates));
-}
-
 /** The channel page's address, opened over the page on screen: the shell's own keys (the page, an
  * entry link not yet read) and the channel — none of the page's keys, none of another channel's view
  * (the channel page writes its own, lib/channelPageUrlState), and no player (opening a channel closes
@@ -269,10 +268,11 @@ export function hrefHere(query: URLSearchParams, hash: string = window.location.
   return url.pathname.startsWith("//") ? url.href : `${url.pathname}${url.search}${url.hash}`;
 }
 
-/** Remove specific TRANSIENT params (one-time auth/admin links: ?link, ?oauth, ?admin, ?access, ?verify,
- * ?reset) from the address bar once they've been read, WITHOUT touching the nav/filter params that now
- * live there. Preserves history.state. Replaces the old whole-query stripUrlParams, which is unsafe now
- * that the query is the source of truth for navigation. No-op when none of the keys are present. */
+/** Take `keys` off the current entry's address, WITHOUT touching the nav/filter params that live
+ * there: TRANSIENT params once read (one-time auth/admin links: ?link, ?oauth, ?admin, ?access, ?verify,
+ * ?reset), and what a link named that the page could not show (a file or a video that is gone, said
+ * once) — left, it would be said again on every reload, or shared. Preserves history.state. No-op when
+ * none of the keys are present. */
 export function clearParams(...keys: string[]): void {
   const params = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
   let changed = false;
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.dom.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.dom.test.ts
index c0c3f567..c75e92ff 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.dom.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.dom.test.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 // so an inline object literal (new identity every render) only fires when a param actually changes; a
 // null value clears a key; and every other param on the URL is preserved.
 import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach, vi } from "vitest";
-import { renderHook } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { act, cleanup, renderHook } from "@testing-library/react";
 import { useUrlMirror } from "./useUrlMirror";
 
 const setUrl = (search: string) => window.history.replaceState(null, "", search || "/");
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@ beforeEach(() => {
   setUrl("/");
   spy = vi.spyOn(window.history, "replaceState");
 });
-afterEach(() => spy.mockRestore());
+afterEach(() => {
+  cleanup();
+  spy.mockRestore();
+});
 
 describe("useUrlMirror", () => {
   it("writes the param onto the current entry on mount", () => {
@@ -49,6 +52,41 @@ describe("useUrlMirror", () => {
     expect(window.location.search).toBe("?page=playlists&pl=5");
   });
 
+  // An entry above the view's own (a dialog's, a drawer's, a sub-view's) took a change the entry
+  // under it never saw: Back restores that entry's older address, and a reload would bring the old
+  // view back over the one on screen.
+  it("names the view again on the entry Back lands on", async () => {
+    setUrl("?page=plex&pf=");
+    const { rerender } = renderHook((p: Record<string, string | null>) => useUrlMirror(p), {
+      initialProps: { pf: "" } as Record<string, string | null>,
+    });
+    window.history.pushState({ _ov: 1 }, "", window.location.href);
+    rerender({ pf: "genres=Drama" });
+    expect(window.location.search).toBe("?page=plex&pf=genres%3DDrama");
+    await act(async () => {
+      const landed = new Promise((res) => window.addEventListener("popstate", res, { once: true }));
+      window.history.back();
+      await landed;
+      await new Promise((res) => setTimeout(res, 0));
+    });
+    expect(window.history.state).toBeNull();
+    expect(window.location.search).toBe("?page=plex&pf=genres%3DDrama");
+  });
+
+  it("writes nothing on a landing that already names the view", async () => {
+    setUrl("?pl=5");
+    renderHook(() => useUrlMirror({ pl: "5" }));
+    window.history.pushState({ _ov: 1 }, "", window.location.href);
+    spy.mockClear();
+    await act(async () => {
+      const landed = new Promise((res) => window.addEventListener("popstate", res, { once: true }));
+      window.history.back();
+      await landed;
+      await new Promise((res) => setTimeout(res, 0));
+    });
+    expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("leaves an unconsumed auth token in the fragment alone", () => {
     // This hook's mount effect is what ran before <App> (and therefore before the auth card) had even
     // loaded, so whatever it writes to the address bar is what the card later reads. It must not eat
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.ts b/frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.ts
index 451c1194..21d26d14 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/useUrlMirror.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { useEffect, useEffectEvent } from "react";
+import { useEffect, useEffectEvent, useState } from "react";
 import { urlWithParams } from "./urlState";
 
 // Mirror a set of nav params onto the CURRENT history entry (replaceState — mirroring is not a new
@@ -6,17 +6,44 @@ import { urlWithParams } from "./urlState";
 // value clears that key, and urlWithParams preserves every other param (so providers don't clobber each
 // other). Extracted from the identical replaceState/urlWithParams blocks FeedFiltersProvider and
 // PlaylistsProvider used to hand-roll, so the mirroring contract lives in one place.
+//
+// Also whenever Back/Forward makes another entry current: the browser restores that entry's address,
+// which says what the view was when it was left — a change made since on an entry above it (a dialog's
+// or a drawer's, a sub-view's) is not in it, and a reload would bring the old view back over the one
+// on screen. (One landed on by an overlay's step back that another step will leave is written too,
+// and harmlessly: the next landing writes the entry that stays.)
 export function useUrlMirror(updates: Record<string, string | null>): void {
   // The caller typically passes an inline object literal (new identity every render); key on its
   // serialized value so the effect only fires when a param actually changes, not every render.
   const dep = JSON.stringify(updates);
-  // The object itself is read through an effect event, so the effect's one reactive input is the
-  // serialized value — which is exactly what the dep list says: an effect event for the identity that
-  // churns, a primitive for the trigger.
+  // The object itself is read through an effect event, so the effect's reactive inputs are the
+  // serialized value and the landing count — which is exactly what the dep list says: an effect event
+  // for the identity that churns, primitives for the triggers.
   const mirror = useEffectEvent(() => {
-    window.history.replaceState(window.history.state, "", urlWithParams(updates));
+    const href = urlWithParams(updates);
+    // Every mirror runs on every landing: one with nothing to change writes nothing (a browser
+    // throttles a page that rewrites its address too often).
+    if (href !== urlWithParams({})) window.history.replaceState(window.history.state, "", href);
   });
+  // Counted in state, on a task after the popstate dispatch: every listener of it has run by then —
+  // a store that reads its keys back from the landed address among them (Activity) — and so has the
+  // render each one caused (React renders a popstate's updates at once, between listeners). A write
+  // inside the dispatch put the store's old value over the address a later listener was still to
+  // read.
+  const [landings, setLandings] = useState(0);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    let timer = 0;
+    const onPop = () => {
+      window.clearTimeout(timer);
+      timer = window.setTimeout(() => setLandings((n) => n + 1), 0);
+    };
+    window.addEventListener("popstate", onPop);
+    return () => {
+      window.removeEventListener("popstate", onPop);
+      window.clearTimeout(timer);
+    };
+  }, []);
   useEffect(() => {
     mirror();
-  }, [dep]);
+  }, [dep, landings]);
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/main.tsx b/frontend/src/main.tsx
index 8a439655..ec1d0d50 100644
--- a/frontend/src/main.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/main.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { ConfirmProvider } from "./components/ui/ConfirmProvider";
 import BootGate, { BootScreen } from "./shell/BootGate";
 import { NavigationProvider } from "./features/navigation/NavigationProvider";
 import { ModuleStores } from "./features/navigation/ModuleStores";
+import { typedUrlKeys } from "./features/navigation/moduleRegistry";
 import { PrefsProvider } from "./features/prefs/PrefsProvider";
 import { WizardProvider } from "./features/wizard/WizardProvider";
 import "./i18n";
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ import { installStaleBuildReload } from "./lib/staleBuild";
 import { appCopyOf } from "./i18n/appCopy";
 
 // First, before any render: a crash or a navigation during boot belongs in the log too.
-installClientLog(appCopyOf);
+installClientLog(appCopyOf, typedUrlKeys());
 // A tab from before the last release reloads onto the new build instead of crashing on a lazy chunk.
 installStaleBuildReload();
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/moduleSearch.url.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/moduleSearch.url.dom.test.tsx
index ba1a4342..7c46c42b 100644
--- a/frontend/src/moduleSearch.url.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/moduleSearch.url.dom.test.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 // the list searched (Channels, Files and Playlists kept it in memory only, Plex in this browser only).
 // The real navigation and the real stores, read through their hooks; only the network is absent.
 import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from "vitest";
-import { cleanup, render, waitFor } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { act, cleanup, render, waitFor } from "@testing-library/react";
 import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import { useEffect } from "react";
 
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ vi.mock("react-i18next", async (importOriginal) => ({
 }));
 
 import { NavigationProvider } from "./features/navigation/NavigationProvider";
+import {
+  useNavigationActions,
+  type NavigationActions,
+} from "./features/navigation/navigationContext";
 import { ModuleStores } from "./features/navigation/ModuleStores";
 import { useChannels } from "./modules/channels/channelsContext";
 import { useFiles } from "./modules/files/filesContext";
@@ -22,13 +26,16 @@ import { usePlex } from "./modules/plex/plexContext";
 import { claimLocalData, getAccountRaw, LS, setAccountRaw } from "./lib/storage";
 
 const seen: { current: Record<string, string> } = { current: {} };
+const nav: { current: NavigationActions | null } = { current: null };
 
 function Probe() {
   const channels = useChannels();
   const files = useFiles();
   const playlists = usePlaylists();
   const plex = usePlex();
+  const actions = useNavigationActions();
   useEffect(() => {
+    nav.current = actions;
     seen.current = {
       channels: channels.search,
       files: files.search,
@@ -93,3 +100,20 @@ describe("Plex's search", () => {
     expect(search().get("pqf")).toBe("people");
   });
 });
+
+// The search is the page's while it is on screen: leaving the page ends it, so a trip back through
+// the rail opens the page unsearched (and the address names none).
+describe.each([
+  ["files", "fq", "notes"],
+  ["playlists", "plq", "jazz"],
+])("%s's name search, once the page is left", (page, key, value) => {
+  it("is gone when the page is opened again", async () => {
+    mountAt(`/?page=${page}&${key}=${value}`, page);
+    await waitFor(() => expect(seen.current[page]).toBe(value));
+    act(() => nav.current!.setPage("feed"));
+    act(() => nav.current!.setPage(page as "files" | "playlists"));
+    await waitFor(() => expect(seen.current[page]).toBe(""));
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 350)); // past the address write's typing pause
+    expect(search().get(key)).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/moduleUrl.contract.test.ts b/frontend/src/moduleUrl.contract.test.ts
index 8ee94f78..61cc7798 100644
--- a/frontend/src/moduleUrl.contract.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/moduleUrl.contract.test.ts
@@ -3,26 +3,28 @@
 // The URL is the view: each module declares the address-bar keys its view writes (`urlKeys`), and the
 // shell clears them on a page switch and opens a page without another page's keys (NavigationProvider,
 // derived from these declarations). That only holds while the declarations are true, so this pins
-// them: each key belongs to one module and is no shell key, every codec writes only its module's keys,
-// and no key literal anywhere in the app reads or writes the address bar undeclared.
+// them: each key belongs to one module and is no shell key, the keys a module declares are exactly
+// what its encoders write, a writer outside lib/ hands the address an encoder's result (or literal
+// keys, checked here) — never a key of its own making — and every key literal read from the live
+// query is declared.
 import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
 import { readdirSync, readFileSync, statSync } from "node:fs";
 import { join, relative } from "node:path";
-import { moduleDef, REGISTERED_PAGES } from "./features/navigation/moduleRegistry";
+import { moduleDef, REGISTERED_PAGES, typedUrlKeys } from "./features/navigation/moduleRegistry";
 import { DEFAULT_TAG_MODES, EMPTY_PLEX_FILTERS, type FeedFilters } from "./lib/api";
 import { filterParamUpdates, SHELL_KEYS, type Page } from "./lib/urlState";
 import { channelsParamUpdates } from "./lib/channelsUrlState";
 import { plexParamUpdates, plexSearchParamUpdates } from "./lib/plexUrlState";
 import { activityParamUpdates, DEFAULT_ACTIVITY_STATE } from "./lib/activityUrlState";
 import { DEFAULT_LOGS_STATE, logsParamUpdates } from "./lib/logsUrlState";
-import { FILES_KEYS } from "./lib/filesUrlState";
+import { filesListParams, filesOpenParams, filesSortParams } from "./lib/filesUrlState";
 import { ytSearchParams } from "./lib/ytSearchUrlState";
 import { budgetParams } from "./lib/homeUrlState";
 import { PLAYER_KEYS, playerParamUpdates } from "./lib/playerUrlState";
-import { playlistViewParamUpdates } from "./lib/playlistsUrlState";
-import { SETTINGS_TAB_KEY } from "./lib/settingsTab";
-import { CONFIG_TAB_KEY } from "./lib/configTab";
-import { USERS_TAB_URL_KEY } from "./lib/adminUsersTab";
+import { playlistsParams, playlistViewParamUpdates } from "./lib/playlistsUrlState";
+import { settingsTabParams } from "./lib/settingsTab";
+import { configTabParams } from "./lib/configTab";
+import { usersTabParams } from "./lib/adminUsersTab";
 import { PLEX_SUB_URL } from "./modules/plex/plexSubUrl";
 import { MODE_URL } from "./shell/welcomeMode";
 import { CHANNEL_PAGE_KEYS, channelPageParamUpdates } from "./lib/channelPageUrlState";
@@ -56,13 +58,17 @@ const WRITES: Partial<Record<Page, () => string[]>> = {
     ...Object.keys(plexSearchParamUpdates({ q: "x", field: "all" })),
     PLEX_SUB_URL.key,
   ],
-  files: () => [...FILES_KEYS],
-  settings: () => [SETTINGS_TAB_KEY],
-  config: () => [CONFIG_TAB_KEY],
-  users: () => [USERS_TAB_URL_KEY],
+  files: () => [
+    ...Object.keys(filesListParams(null)),
+    ...Object.keys(filesSortParams(null)),
+    ...Object.keys(filesOpenParams({ open: "view", id: 1 })),
+    ...Object.keys(filesOpenParams({ open: "play", id: 1 })),
+  ],
+  settings: () => Object.keys(settingsTabParams(null)),
+  config: () => Object.keys(configTabParams(null)),
+  users: () => Object.keys(usersTabParams(null)),
   playlists: () => [
-    "pl",
-    "plq",
+    ...Object.keys(playlistsParams(null, "")),
     ...Object.keys(playlistViewParamUpdates({ sort: null, filters: {}, groupBy: false })),
   ],
   activity: () => [
@@ -79,25 +85,57 @@ function sources(dir: string): string[] {
   });
 }
 
-// Key literals that reach the address bar's QUERY: the keys of an object literal handed to
-// `urlWithParams` / `useUrlMirror`, and a `.get("…")` on the live query.
+// The object literals handed to an address writer: `urlWithParams` / `useUrlMirror`, an overlay's
+// own keys (ui/Modal's `url`, `useBackToClose`'s).
+const WRITER_OBJECTS = [
+  /(?:urlWithParams|useUrlMirror)\(\{([^}]*)\}/g,
+  /\burl=\{\{([^}]*)\}/g,
+  /useBackToClose\([^,()]+,\s*\{([^}]*)\}/g,
+];
+
+// Key literals that reach the address bar's QUERY: the literal keys of a writer's object, and a
+// `.get("…")` / `.has("…")` in a file that reads the live query (any params object there: the
+// two-line form names its params before it reads them). The fragment (`hash`) is not the query.
 function queryKeyLiterals(): { key: string; where: string }[] {
   const out: { key: string; where: string }[] = [];
   for (const file of sources(SRC)) {
     const text = readFileSync(file, "utf8");
     const where = relative(SRC, file).split("\\").join("/");
-    for (const m of text.matchAll(/(?:urlWithParams|useUrlMirror)\(\{([^}]*)\}/g)) {
-      for (const k of `{${m[1]!}`.matchAll(/[{,]\s*(\w+)\s*:/g)) out.push({ key: k[1]!, where });
+    for (const re of WRITER_OBJECTS) {
+      for (const m of text.matchAll(re)) {
+        for (const k of `{${m[1]!}`.matchAll(/[{,]\s*(\w+)\s*:/g)) out.push({ key: k[1]!, where });
+      }
     }
-    for (const m of text.matchAll(
-      /new URLSearchParams\(window\.location\.search\)\.get\("(\w+)"\)/g,
-    )) {
-      out.push({ key: m[1]!, where });
+    if (!text.includes("location.search")) continue;
+    for (const m of text.matchAll(/(\b\w+|\))\.(?:get|has)\("(\w+)"\)/g)) {
+      if (m[1] !== "hash") out.push({ key: m[2]!, where });
     }
   }
   return out;
 }
 
+// A key a writer computes itself (`[KEY]: …`) is one no scan can read: outside lib/ (the codecs, and
+// the history plumbing they feed) a writer hands the address an encoder's result instead, and the
+// encoder is what WRITES calls.
+function computedWriterKeys(inLib = false): string[] {
+  const out: string[] = [];
+  for (const file of sources(SRC)) {
+    const where = relative(SRC, file).split("\\").join("/");
+    if (where.startsWith("lib/") !== inLib) continue;
+    const text = readFileSync(file, "utf8");
+    for (const re of WRITER_OBJECTS) {
+      for (const m of text.matchAll(re)) {
+        if (/[{,]\s*\[/.test(`{${m[1]!}`)) out.push(`${where}: ${m[0]!.slice(0, 60)}`);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
+// A retired page's link keys: read once to open the page that replaced it, and cleared (lib/urlState
+// RETIRED) — no module writes them any more.
+const RETIRED_LINK_KEYS = ["lu", "lq", "lwin"];
+
 describe("module URL keys", () => {
   const owner = new Map<string, Page>();
   for (const page of REGISTERED_PAGES) {
@@ -154,14 +192,62 @@ describe("module URL keys", () => {
   it("cover every key literal the app reads or writes in the address bar", () => {
     const shell: readonly string[] = SHELL_KEYS;
     const undeclared = queryKeyLiterals().filter(
-      ({ key }) => !owner.has(key) && !shell.includes(key),
+      ({ key }) => !owner.has(key) && !shell.includes(key) && !RETIRED_LINK_KEYS.includes(key),
     );
     expect(undeclared).toEqual([]);
   });
 
   it("the literal scan sees the call sites it is meant to (a regex that matched nothing would pass)", () => {
     const seen = new Set(queryKeyLiterals().map(({ key }) => key));
-    for (const key of ["pl", "page", "rjob", "link"]) expect(seen).toContain(key);
+    // A writer's literal, a one-line read, a two-line read, a retired link's.
+    for (const key of ["page", "rjob", "link", "plq", "folder", "lq"]) expect(seen).toContain(key);
+  });
+
+  it("are written outside lib/ only through the codecs that WRITES calls", () => {
+    expect(computedWriterKeys()).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("the computed-key scan sees what it is meant to (lib's own writers compute theirs)", () => {
+    expect(computedWriterKeys(true).some((w) => w.startsWith("lib/history.ts"))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  // What a search box puts in the address is what the user typed: the client log keeps it out below
+  // its most detailed level (lib/logHooks), from these declarations.
+  it("declare their typed-text keys among their own", () => {
+    for (const page of REGISTERED_PAGES) {
+      const def = moduleDef(page);
+      expect(
+        (def.typedUrlKeys ?? []).filter((k) => !def.urlKeys.includes(k)),
+        page,
+      ).toEqual([]);
+    }
+    expect([...typedUrlKeys()].sort()).toEqual(["aq", "cq", "fq", "plq", "pq", "q", "yt"]);
+    // …which the client log is handed as it installs.
+    expect(readFileSync(join(SRC, "main.tsx"), "utf8")).toContain(
+      "installClientLog(appCopyOf, typedUrlKeys());",
+    );
+  });
+});
+
+// The bookmark net (e2e/bookmark.spec.ts) opens every page that names its view, through the rail or
+// by its address — Plex excepted, by name there: its view is the instance's own library.
+describe("the bookmark net", () => {
+  const spec = readFileSync(join(SRC, "..", "e2e", "bookmark.spec.ts"), "utf8");
+  const opened = (page: Page) =>
+    spec.includes(`page=${page}`) ||
+    spec.includes(`gotoPage(page, "${page}")`) ||
+    spec.includes(`gotoAdminPage(page, "${page}")`);
+
+  it.each(REGISTERED_PAGES.filter((p) => moduleDef(p).urlKeys.length > 0 && p !== "plex"))(
+    "takes a round trip through %s",
+    (page) => {
+      expect(opened(page)).toBe(true);
+    },
+  );
+
+  it("names the page it leaves out", () => {
+    expect(opened("plex")).toBe(false);
+    expect(spec).toContain("Not Plex:");
   });
 });
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/activity/Activity.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/activity/Activity.dom.test.tsx
index e2883d37..11b2f66c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/activity/Activity.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/activity/Activity.dom.test.tsx
@@ -297,7 +297,9 @@ describe("Activity", () => {
 
   it("Back/Forward on the server log reads only the filters of the entry it lands on", async () => {
     // A browser runs the microtasks between two popstate listeners, so each listener's update
-    // renders on its own; a test dispatch does not. Each listener runs in its own act here.
+    // renders on its own; a test dispatch does not. Each listener runs in its own act here — a
+    // synchronous one: a browser runs no TASK between them (an async act let a timer set by one
+    // listener fire before the next).
     const listeners: EventListener[] = [];
     const addOther = window.addEventListener.bind(window);
     const removeOther = window.removeEventListener.bind(window);
@@ -316,7 +318,7 @@ describe("Activity", () => {
     // Forward onto a pivot's entry: one run's lines over the log's whole retention.
     window.history.pushState(null, "", "/?page=activity&at=logs&aw=90d&lrun=41");
     for (const l of [...listeners]) {
-      await act(async () => l(new PopStateEvent("popstate")));
+      act(() => l(new PopStateEvent("popstate")));
     }
     await waitFor(() =>
       expect(logsMock).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith(expect.objectContaining({ run_id: 41 }), null),
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/activity/module.ts b/frontend/src/modules/activity/module.ts
index fa95fe6b..2a27cf5c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/activity/module.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/activity/module.ts
@@ -14,4 +14,5 @@ export const activityModule: ModuleDef = {
   gate: (me) => me.role === "admin",
   Page: lazyWithPreload(() => import("./Activity")),
   urlKeys: ACTIVITY_KEYS,
+  typedUrlKeys: ["aq"],
 };
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/channels/module.ts b/frontend/src/modules/channels/module.ts
index 93b63b8e..fd411622 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/channels/module.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/channels/module.ts
@@ -15,4 +15,5 @@ export const channelsModule: ModuleDef = {
   maxWidth: "96rem",
   Store: ChannelsProvider,
   urlKeys: CHANNELS_KEYS,
+  typedUrlKeys: ["cq"],
 };
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/config/ConfigPanel.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/config/ConfigPanel.tsx
index 3727db4a..f183596b 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/config/ConfigPanel.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/config/ConfigPanel.tsx
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import SegmentedToggle from "../../components/ui/SegmentedToggle";
 import FilterSelect from "../../components/ui/FilterSelect";
 import { DraftSaveBar, type SaveState } from "../../components/ui/DraftSaveBar";
 import { LS, useTabPersistedState } from "../../lib/storage";
-import { CONFIG_TAB_KEY } from "../../lib/configTab";
+import { CONFIG_TAB_KEY, configTabParams } from "../../lib/configTab";
 import { useUrlMirror } from "../../lib/useUrlMirror";
 import { notifyActionError } from "../../lib/actionErrors";
 import { Button } from "../../components/ui/Button";
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ export default function ConfigPanel() {
   const activeGroup = groupKeys.includes(tab) ? tab : groupKeys[0];
   // The address names the group on screen (always: see SettingsPanel); until the registry is in, the
   // one it was opened on.
-  useUrlMirror({ [CONFIG_TAB_KEY]: (data ? activeGroup : tab) || null });
+  useUrlMirror(configTabParams((data ? activeGroup : tab) || null));
 
   if (q.isError && !data) {
     return (
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.tsx
index baf69e7a..83d85d7b 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.tsx
@@ -503,6 +503,10 @@ export default function Feed({
         const saved = savedOverrides[v.id];
         return saved && !(live && saved.answered) ? { ...v, saved: saved.value } : v;
       });
+  // The live search's cards, in the order picked for them, and the player's queue over them.
+  const ytShown = (rows: Video[]): Video[] =>
+    sortYtResults(withOverrides(rows, true), ytSort.key as SortKey, ytSort.dir, lang);
+  const ytQueue = (rows: Video[]): Video[] => ytShown(rows).filter((v) => v.status !== "hidden");
   const merged: Video[] = withOverrides(loaded);
   const items: Video[] = merged.filter((v) => matchesView(v.status, filters.show));
   // The in-app player's queue (auto-advance / loop / prev-next). It's the filtered feed, but the
@@ -511,16 +515,18 @@ export default function Feed({
   // goes hidden still drops out ("visible affects").
   const playerQueue: Video[] = merged.filter((v) => v.status !== "hidden");
   // A reload or a bookmark of the player reopens it once this list is in, the list as its queue again
-  // (the feed's filters are in the address under it). Not over a live search: that is not in the
-  // address, and a reload leaves it.
+  // (the feed's filters are in the address under it) — over a live search too, its results the
+  // queue, once they are in (or the search waits for its press, and it plays alone). Scoped to the
+  // list it was linked over: leaving the search first gives it up.
   useOpenLinkedPlayer(
-    !ytActive && !query.isLoading,
-    (id) => playerQueue.find((v) => v.id === id),
+    ytActive ? ytQuery.data !== undefined || ytQuery.isError || !ytRuns : !query.isLoading,
+    (id) => (ytActive ? ytQueue(ytLoaded) : playerQueue).find((v) => v.id === id),
     (video, inList) => {
       openVideo(video);
       // Not in what this list has loaded (further down it, or no longer in it): it plays alone.
       if (!inList) setActiveVideo((a) => a && { ...a, alone: true });
     },
+    ytActive ? `yt:${ytSearch}` : "feed",
   );
 
   // A live search ingests new catalog videos, so the disabled feed queries still hold their stale
@@ -534,12 +540,7 @@ export default function Feed({
   // A separate data source rendered in the same cards/player. No watch-state view filter (the
   // user explicitly searched, so show everything) and no auto-pagination (each page costs quota).
   if (ytActive) {
-    const ytItems: Video[] = sortYtResults(
-      withOverrides(ytLoaded, true),
-      ytSort.key as SortKey,
-      ytSort.dir,
-      lang,
-    );
+    const ytItems: Video[] = ytShown(ytLoaded);
     const ytPlayerQueue: Video[] = ytItems.filter((v) => v.status !== "hidden");
     const ytError =
       ytQuery.error instanceof HttpError
@@ -704,7 +705,7 @@ export default function Feed({
             <PlayerModal
               video={activeVideo.video}
               startAt={activeVideo.startAt}
-              queue={ytPlayerQueue}
+              queue={activeVideo.alone ? undefined : ytPlayerQueue}
               onClose={closePlayer}
               onState={onState}
               onWrite={trackSessionWrite}
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.ytReopen.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.ytReopen.dom.test.tsx
index 676a13d0..224a6d17 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.ytReopen.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.ytReopen.dom.test.tsx
@@ -24,6 +24,14 @@ vi.mock("./VirtualFeed", () => ({
   ),
 }));
 
+vi.mock("../../features/player/PlayerModal", () => ({
+  default: ({ video, queue }: { video: { id: string }; queue?: { id: string }[] }) => (
+    <p>
+      playing {video.id} in {queue ? queue.map((v) => v.id).join(",") : "no list"}
+    </p>
+  ),
+}));
+
 import Feed from "./Feed";
 import { api, DEFAULT_TAG_MODES, HttpError, type FeedFilters, type Video } from "../../lib/api";
 import { qk } from "../../lib/queryKeys";
@@ -48,6 +56,7 @@ beforeAll(() => {
 afterEach(() => {
   cleanup();
   vi.restoreAllMocks();
+  window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/");
 });
 
 const FILTERS: FeedFilters = {
@@ -106,14 +115,14 @@ function mount({
     search_source: source,
     search_enabled: enabled,
   });
-  const tree = (count: number) => (
+  const tree = (count: number, ytSearch: string | null = "lofi") => (
     <QueryClientProvider client={qc}>
       <NavigationActionsContext.Provider value={nav}>
         <NavigationStateContext.Provider
           value={{
             page: "feed",
             channelView: null,
-            ytSearch: "lofi",
+            ytSearch,
             ytCount: count,
             ytSearchAsked: asked,
           }}
@@ -124,7 +133,7 @@ function mount({
             view="cards"
             setView={() => {}}
             canRead
-            ytSearch="lofi"
+            ytSearch={ytSearch}
             onYtSearch={() => {}}
             onExitYtSearch={() => {}}
           />
@@ -133,7 +142,10 @@ function mount({
     </QueryClientProvider>
   );
   const view = render(tree(20));
-  return { showing: (count: number) => view.rerender(tree(count)) };
+  return {
+    showing: (count: number) => view.rerender(tree(count)),
+    leave: () => view.rerender(tree(20, null)),
+  };
 }
 
 const settle = () => new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 30));
@@ -216,3 +228,41 @@ describe("Feed — a live search the address reopened", () => {
     expect(screen.queryByRole("button", { name: "feed.yt.runAgain" })).toBeNull();
   });
 });
+
+// A player opened over the search names itself in the address too: a reload or a bookmark opens it
+// again over the search it was opened from — not later, over a list nobody linked.
+describe("Feed — a player the address names over a live search", () => {
+  it("reopens over the results, them as its queue", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=feed&yt=lofi&watch=b");
+    vi.spyOn(api, "searchYoutube").mockResolvedValue({
+      items: [hit("a"), hit("b")],
+      next_cursor: null,
+      source: "scrape",
+    } as never);
+    const row = vi.spyOn(api, "videoRow");
+    mount({ source: "scrape", asked: false });
+    expect(await screen.findByText("playing b in a,b")).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(row).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("plays alone over a search that waits for its press", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=feed&yt=lofi&watch=b");
+    vi.spyOn(api, "videoRow").mockResolvedValue(hit("b"));
+    mount({ source: "api", asked: false });
+    expect(await screen.findByText("playing b in no list")).toBeTruthy();
+  });
+
+  it("is given up when the search is left before it opened, and leaves the address", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=feed&yt=lofi&watch=b");
+    vi.spyOn(api, "searchYoutube").mockReturnValue(new Promise(() => {}));
+    vi.spyOn(api, "feed").mockResolvedValue({ items: [hit("b")], next_cursor: null } as never);
+    const row = vi.spyOn(api, "videoRow").mockResolvedValue(hit("b"));
+    const { leave } = mount({ source: "scrape", asked: false });
+    leave();
+    await settle();
+    await settle();
+    expect(screen.queryByText(/^playing/)).toBeNull();
+    expect(row).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get("watch")).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.tsx
index f2b366db..98e5526f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { useCallback, useEffect, useMemo, useState, type ReactNode } from "react
 import { type FeedFilters } from "../../lib/api";
 import { filterParamUpdates, hasFilterParams, paramsToFilters } from "../../lib/urlState";
 import { useUrlMirror } from "../../lib/useUrlMirror";
+import { useDebounced } from "../../lib/useDebounced";
 import { ownKey, writeJSON } from "../../lib/storage";
 import { logFilterChange } from "../../lib/filterLog";
 import { useNavigation } from "../../features/navigation/navigationContext";
@@ -56,8 +57,11 @@ export function FeedFiltersProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
   // keys are cleared from the URL (localStorage still holds them; they re-mirror on return to the
   // feed). The channel page keeps its own isolated filters, in keys of its own. useUrlMirror preserves the nav params (?page/?chan/?v/?pl) the
   // other providers own.
+  // The search text once the typing pauses, as the other pages' searches: one address-bar write per
+  // keystroke is churn a browser throttles.
   const nav = useNavigation();
-  useUrlMirror(filterParamUpdates(urlPage(nav) === "feed" ? filters : null));
+  const typedQ = useDebounced(filters.q ?? "", 300);
+  useUrlMirror(filterParamUpdates(urlPage(nav) === "feed" ? { ...filters, q: typedQ } : null));
 
   // A share link's filters (captured at mount) win over the account's stored view and are persisted
   // to it once, so the view the link opened also survives a later plain reload.
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.url.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.url.dom.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..277f8663
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/feed/FeedFiltersProvider.url.dom.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+//
+// The feed's address names its view. The view and the order always (defaults too): an address naming
+// none falls back to the view the account stored, so a bookmark of the default feed reopened whatever
+// view was stored since. The search text once the typing pauses, as the other pages' searches.
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { act, cleanup, render } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { useEffect } from "react";
+import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from "@tanstack/react-query";
+import { NavigationProvider } from "../../features/navigation/NavigationProvider";
+import { FeedFiltersProvider } from "./FeedFiltersProvider";
+import { useFeedFilters, useFeedFiltersActions } from "./feedFiltersContext";
+import { qk } from "../../lib/queryKeys";
+import { claimLocalData, LS } from "../../lib/storage";
+import type { FeedFilters } from "../../lib/api";
+
+const seen: { filters: FeedFilters | null; set: ((f: FeedFilters) => void) | null } = {
+  filters: null,
+  set: null,
+};
+function Probe() {
+  const filters = useFeedFilters();
+  const { setFilters } = useFeedFiltersActions();
+  useEffect(() => {
+    seen.filters = filters;
+    seen.set = setFilters;
+  });
+  return null;
+}
+
+function mount() {
+  const qc = new QueryClient();
+  qc.setQueryData(qk.me(), { id: 5, preferences: {} });
+  render(
+    <QueryClientProvider client={qc}>
+      <NavigationProvider>
+        <FeedFiltersProvider>
+          <Probe />
+        </FeedFiltersProvider>
+      </NavigationProvider>
+    </QueryClientProvider>,
+  );
+}
+
+const search = () => new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  localStorage.clear();
+  claimLocalData(5);
+});
+afterEach(() => {
+  cleanup();
+  window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/");
+});
+
+describe("FeedFiltersProvider · the address", () => {
+  it("names the default view and order", () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=feed");
+    mount();
+    expect([search().get("show"), search().get("sort")]).toEqual(["unwatched", "newest"]);
+  });
+
+  it("a bookmark of the default feed opens it, not the view the account stored since", () => {
+    localStorage.setItem(LS.filters, JSON.stringify({ show: "all", includeShorts: true }));
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=feed&show=unwatched&sort=newest");
+    mount();
+    expect(seen.filters!.show).toBe("unwatched");
+    expect(seen.filters!.includeShorts).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("names the search once the typing pauses", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=feed");
+    mount();
+    act(() => seen.set!({ ...seen.filters!, q: "lo" }));
+    act(() => seen.set!({ ...seen.filters!, q: "lofi" }));
+    expect(search().get("q")).toBeNull();
+    await act(async () => {
+      await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 350));
+    });
+    expect(search().get("q")).toBe("lofi");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/feed/module.ts b/frontend/src/modules/feed/module.ts
index ff1fb34c..726c7721 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/feed/module.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/feed/module.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ export const feedModule: ModuleDef = {
   Store: FeedStore,
   // Its filters, and the live YouTube search shown in its place (lib/ytSearchUrlState).
   urlKeys: [...FEED_KEYS, ...YT_SEARCH_KEYS],
+  typedUrlKeys: ["q", "yt"],
   playsVideos: true,
 };
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/files/FilePreview.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/files/FilePreview.tsx
index 482fd2dc..4de3dace 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/files/FilePreview.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/files/FilePreview.tsx
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import { formatBytes } from "../../lib/format";
 import { dispatch, setScopeCoveredProbe, useKeyScope } from "../../lib/keymap";
 import { useLayer } from "../../lib/layerStack";
 import { qk } from "../../lib/queryKeys";
-import { FILES_VIEW_KEY } from "../../lib/filesUrlState";
+import { filesOpenParams } from "../../lib/filesUrlState";
 import { jobTitle } from "../../features/downloads/downloadTitle";
 import { type ActionMenuItem } from "../../components/ui/ActionMenu";
 import { ContextMenu } from "../../components/ui/ContextMenu";
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ export default function FilePreview({
       title={<span className="block truncate">{title}</span>}
       onClose={onClose}
       maxWidth="max-w-6xl"
-      url={{ [FILES_VIEW_KEY]: String(file.id) }}
+      url={filesOpenParams({ open: "view", id: file.id })}
       headerActions={
         <>
           <IconButton
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
index 59f6718a..26f7bb1c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
@@ -809,6 +809,26 @@ describe("Files · a file the address names", () => {
     // Said once: the address no longer names it, so a reload or a copied link does not say it again.
     expect(here().has("fview")).toBe(false);
   });
+
+  // A list the cap cut cannot tell a deleted file from one beyond its end: it says the file is not
+  // among the ones listed, and keeps the link.
+  it("past the cap with no search or sort to widen it, says it is not listed and keeps the link", async () => {
+    // The case before closed a viewer: its step back lands a moment later, on whatever is current.
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 30));
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=files&fsort=none&fview=9999");
+    mocks.files = Array.from({ length: FILES_LIST_CAP }, (_, i) => file(i + 1));
+    mocks.folders = [YT];
+    mount();
+    await waitFor(() =>
+      expect(mocks.notify).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        expect.objectContaining({ level: "info", message: "files.arrival.notListed" }),
+      ),
+    );
+    expect(mocks.notify).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({ message: "files.linkedGone" }),
+    );
+    expect(here().get("fview")).toBe("9999");
+  }, 30_000); // a full page of FILES_LIST_CAP rows
 });
 
 describe("Files · the view", () => {
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx
index caf9e2fc..5ba1dc73 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx
@@ -25,11 +25,12 @@ import { LS, ownKey } from "../../lib/storage";
 import { useCardPager } from "../../lib/useCardPager";
 import { useDebounced } from "../../lib/useDebounced";
 import { useUrlMirror } from "../../lib/useUrlMirror";
-import { dropFromAddress } from "../../lib/urlState";
+import { clearParams } from "../../lib/urlState";
 import {
   FILES_PLAY_KEY,
   FILES_SORT_KEY,
   FILES_VIEW_KEY,
+  filesSortParams,
   openFileFrom,
 } from "../../lib/filesUrlState";
 import { useLiveQuery } from "../../lib/useLiveQuery";
@@ -231,7 +232,7 @@ export default function Files() {
     setLinkedSort(undefined);
     setPrefSort(next);
   };
-  useUrlMirror({ [FILES_SORT_KEY]: encodeSortParamOrNone(sort) });
+  useUrlMirror(filesSortParams(encodeSortParamOrNone(sort)));
   const params = listParams(shown);
   // Live at rest: a download finishing elsewhere (the queue, a clip, another tab) lands here on its own.
   const filesQ = useLiveQuery(qk.files(params), () => api.files(params), { intervalMs: 15000 });
@@ -286,15 +287,17 @@ export default function Files() {
   const [viewing, setViewing] = useState<number | null>(null);
   // A reload or a bookmark reopens the file the address names — in the viewer or the player — once
   // the list it is in has come (its folder, search and sort are in the address too). Once; a file the
-  // list no longer holds is said, and taken off the address.
+  // list no longer holds is said, and taken off the address — unless the cap cut the list, which then
+  // cannot tell a deleted file from one beyond its end (as an arrival's notice says): the link stays.
   const [linkedFile] = useState(() => openFileFrom(new URLSearchParams(window.location.search)));
   const linkedDone = useRef(linkedFile == null);
   const listIn = wide ? wideIn && wideQ.data !== undefined : filesQ.data !== undefined;
   const linkedRow = linkedFile && listIn ? rows.find((f) => f.id === linkedFile.id) : undefined;
   const openLinked = useEffectEvent((file: LibraryFile | undefined) => {
-    if (!file) {
+    if (!file && capped && !wide) notify({ level: "info", message: t("files.arrival.notListed") });
+    else if (!file) {
       notify({ level: "warning", message: t("files.linkedGone") });
-      dropFromAddress([FILES_VIEW_KEY, FILES_PLAY_KEY]);
+      clearParams(FILES_VIEW_KEY, FILES_PLAY_KEY);
     } else if (linkedFile?.open === "play") play(file);
     else setViewing(file.id);
   });
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/files/FilesProvider.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/files/FilesProvider.tsx
index 7e9d5b7a..2f65dfcd 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/files/FilesProvider.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/files/FilesProvider.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,12 @@ import { useCallback, useMemo, useState, type ReactNode } from "react";
 import { LS, getAccountRaw, setAccountRaw } from "../../lib/storage";
 import { useUrlMirror } from "../../lib/useUrlMirror";
 import { useDebounced } from "../../lib/useDebounced";
-import { FILES_FOLDER_KEY, FILES_ITEM_KEY, FILES_SEARCH_KEY } from "../../lib/filesUrlState";
+import {
+  FILES_FOLDER_KEY,
+  FILES_ITEM_KEY,
+  FILES_SEARCH_KEY,
+  filesListParams,
+} from "../../lib/filesUrlState";
 import { useNavigation, useNavigationActions } from "../../features/navigation/navigationContext";
 import { urlPage } from "../../features/navigation/urlPage";
 import {
@@ -24,8 +29,8 @@ import {
 // read it via hooks. Shaped like PlaylistsProvider: split State + Actions contexts, composed in
 // main.tsx around <App/>.
 //
-// The search lives in the address alone (`?fq=`): a reload or a bookmark opens it searched, and a trip
-// back to the page through the rail opens it unsearched. The view is remembered per account and
+// The search is named in the address (`?fq=`), so a reload or a bookmark opens it searched, and ends
+// when the page is left: a trip back to the page through the rail opens it unsearched. The view is remembered per account and
 // mirrored to `?folder=` on the Files page, so a reload or a bookmark opens the same folder. A
 // `?folder=` in the address wins over the remembered one. A folder that no longer exists is the
 // page's to fall back from (it knows the folder list).
@@ -89,19 +94,21 @@ export function FilesProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
   );
   // Only ON the Files page, and only until the page has used it.
   const focus = page === "files" && focusRaw && focusRaw.token !== focusApplied ? focusRaw : null;
-  // Leaving the page ends the arrival: back on it later, nothing is rung or turned to.
+  // Leaving the page ends the arrival — back on it later, nothing is rung or turned to — and the
+  // search: the page opens unsearched again.
   if (page !== "files" && arrivedRaw) setArrivedRaw(null);
+  if (page !== "files" && search) setSearchState("");
   const arrived = page === "files" ? arrivedRaw : null;
 
   const shown = urlPage(nav) === "files";
   // Written once the typing pauses (one address-bar write per keystroke is churn a browser throttles);
   // an arrival's cleared box at once.
   const typed = useDebounced(search.trim(), 300, focusRaw?.token);
-  useUrlMirror({
-    [FILES_SEARCH_KEY]: shown && typed ? typed : null,
-    [FILES_FOLDER_KEY]: shown ? viewParam(view) : null,
-    [FILES_ITEM_KEY]: shown && focus ? String(focus.id) : null,
-  });
+  useUrlMirror(
+    filesListParams(
+      shown ? { search: typed, folder: viewParam(view), item: focus ? focus.id : null } : null,
+    ),
+  );
 
   const state = useMemo<FilesState>(
     () => ({ search, view, focus, arrived }),
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/files/LibraryPlayer.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/files/LibraryPlayer.tsx
index 379b0fe2..0f3ea7a7 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/files/LibraryPlayer.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/files/LibraryPlayer.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { useQueryClient } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import Modal from "../../components/ui/Modal";
 import { api, type DownloadJob } from "../../lib/api";
 import { qk } from "../../lib/queryKeys";
-import { FILES_PLAY_KEY } from "../../lib/filesUrlState";
+import { filesOpenParams } from "../../lib/filesUrlState";
 import { jobTitle } from "../../features/downloads/downloadTitle";
 import { exposeVideoToBackgroundPlay } from "../../lib/browserBackgroundPlay";
 import { useMediaLogRef } from "../../lib/mediaLog";
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ export default function LibraryPlayer({
       title={title}
       onClose={onClose}
       maxWidth="max-w-4xl"
-      url={{ [FILES_PLAY_KEY]: String(job.id) }}
+      url={filesOpenParams({ open: "play", id: job.id })}
     >
       {isAudio ? (
         <div className="flex flex-col items-center gap-4 py-2">
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/files/module.ts b/frontend/src/modules/files/module.ts
index 5cef1c49..e3c2fc06 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/files/module.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/files/module.ts
@@ -18,4 +18,5 @@ export const filesModule: ModuleDef = {
   maxWidth: "80rem",
   Store: FilesProvider,
   urlKeys: FILES_KEYS,
+  typedUrlKeys: ["fq"],
 };
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.dom.test.tsx
index 2fc7683c..4beca9c7 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.dom.test.tsx
@@ -211,6 +211,32 @@ describe("Playlists — a player the address names", () => {
     expect(h.player!.queue?.map((v) => v.id)).toEqual(["Z"]);
     expect(h.player!.onRemoveFromList).toBeUndefined();
   });
+
+  it("plays alone over a playlist emptied since", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=playlists&pl=1&watch=Z");
+    vi.spyOn(api, "videoRow").mockResolvedValue(vid("Z", 0));
+    mount({ 1: [] });
+    await waitFor(() => expect(h.player?.video.id).toBe("Z"));
+    expect(h.player!.queue?.map((v) => v.id)).toEqual(["Z"]);
+  });
+
+  it("is given up when another playlist is picked before it opened, and leaves the address", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/?page=playlists&pl=1&watch=Z");
+    const row = vi.spyOn(api, "videoRow").mockResolvedValue(vid("Z", 0));
+    // The linked playlist's read never answers: the opener is still waiting when the pick lands.
+    const { rerender } = mount({ 1: [vid("A", 0)], 2: [vid("B", 0)] });
+    vi.mocked(api.playlist).mockImplementation(async (id: number) =>
+      id === 1 ? new Promise<never>(() => {}) : (list(id, [vid("B", 0)]) as never),
+    );
+    qc.removeQueries({ queryKey: qk.playlist(1) });
+    h.selectedId = 2;
+    rerender();
+    await screen.findByText("Video B");
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 30));
+    expect(h.player).toBeNull();
+    expect(row).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get("watch")).toBeNull();
+  });
 });
 
 describe("Playlists — the row the player is launched with", () => {
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.tsx
index 787d6278..c28e86b9 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/playlists/Playlists.tsx
@@ -583,14 +583,21 @@ function PlaylistDetail() {
   });
   // A reload or a bookmark of the player reopens it once this playlist is in, its view as the queue
   // again (the playlist and its view are in the address under it). A video the view does not show
-  // (filtered out, gone from the list) plays alone, and nothing removes it from a list.
+  // (filtered out, gone from the list, the list emptied or out of reach) plays alone, and nothing
+  // removes it from a list. In: the order seeded from it (an empty one has none to wait for), or its
+  // read refused. Scoped to the playlist it was linked over: another one picked first gives it up.
+  const linkedListIn =
+    (detail != null && (detail.items.length === 0 || items.length > 0)) ||
+    (selectedId != null && detailQuery.isError) ||
+    (selectedId == null && listQuery.data?.length === 0);
   useOpenLinkedPlayer(
-    detail != null && items.length > 0,
+    linkedListIn,
     (id) => shown.find((v) => v.id === id),
     (video, inList) => {
       if (inList) openPlayer(video.id);
       else setPlaying({ video, queue: [video], index: 0, listId: selectedId, editable: false });
     },
+    selectedId,
   );
 
   async function moveItemTo(video: Video, target: Playlist) {
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/playlists/PlaylistsProvider.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/playlists/PlaylistsProvider.tsx
index 5e90fa42..5b9b1d06 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/playlists/PlaylistsProvider.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/playlists/PlaylistsProvider.tsx
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { useDebounced } from "../../lib/useDebounced";
 import { useNavigation } from "../../features/navigation/navigationContext";
 import { urlPage } from "../../features/navigation/urlPage";
 import { readSelectedId } from "./playlistsInit";
+import { playlistsParams } from "../../lib/playlistsUrlState";
 import {
   PlaylistsActionsContext,
   PlaylistsStateContext,
@@ -18,8 +19,8 @@ import {
 // FeedFiltersProvider / NavigationProvider (split State + Actions contexts, one-line hooks; composed
 // in main.tsx around <App/>).
 //
-// The `search` term lives in the address alone (`?plq=`, a reload or a bookmark keeps it, a trip back
-// through the rail starts unsearched); the selected playlist is per-account persisted (LS.playlist) so
+// The `search` term is named in the address (`?plq=`, a reload or a bookmark keeps it) and ends when
+// the page is left (a trip back through the rail starts unsearched); the selected playlist is per-account persisted (LS.playlist) so
 // a reload returns you to it, and named in the address too. Neither is server-synced, and an account switch does a full reload, so init-from-storage is all the
 // hydration these need — no per-account load effect (unlike the server-backed feed filters).
 //
@@ -43,11 +44,10 @@ export function PlaylistsProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
   // The search once the typing pauses: one address-bar write per keystroke is churn a browser throttles.
   const nav = useNavigation();
   const shown = urlPage(nav) === "playlists";
+  // Leaving the page ends the search: adjusted during the render that leaves it.
+  if (nav.page !== "playlists" && search) setSearchState("");
   const typed = useDebounced(search.trim(), 300);
-  useUrlMirror({
-    pl: shown && selectedId != null ? String(selectedId) : null,
-    plq: shown && typed ? typed : null,
-  });
+  useUrlMirror(shown ? playlistsParams(selectedId, typed) : playlistsParams(null, ""));
 
   const state = useMemo<PlaylistsState>(() => ({ search, selectedId }), [search, selectedId]);
   const actions = useMemo<PlaylistsActions>(
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/playlists/module.ts b/frontend/src/modules/playlists/module.ts
index 9b88fe87..fb773d1c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/playlists/module.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/playlists/module.ts
@@ -19,5 +19,6 @@ export const playlistsModule: ModuleDef = {
   Store: PlaylistsProvider,
   // The playlist shown (PlaylistsProvider, playlistsInit).
   urlKeys: PLAYLISTS_KEYS,
+  typedUrlKeys: ["plq"],
   playsVideos: true,
 };
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/plex/module.ts b/frontend/src/modules/plex/module.ts
index 697c8126..458d782b 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/plex/module.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/plex/module.ts
@@ -19,4 +19,5 @@ export const plexModule: ModuleDef = {
   maxWidth: "100rem",
   Store: PlexStore,
   urlKeys: [...PLEX_KEYS, ...PLEX_SEARCH_KEYS, PLEX_SUB_KEY],
+  typedUrlKeys: ["pq"],
 };
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/settings/SettingsPanel.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/settings/SettingsPanel.tsx
index 564c4f79..dc14ec49 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/settings/SettingsPanel.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/settings/SettingsPanel.tsx
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import { api, HttpError, type Me } from "../../lib/api";
 import { displayName, roleKey } from "../../lib/api/account";
 import { notifyActionError } from "../../lib/actionErrors";
 import { LS, useTabPersistedState } from "../../lib/storage";
-import { SETTINGS_TAB_KEY } from "../../lib/settingsTab";
+import { SETTINGS_TAB_KEY, settingsTabParams } from "../../lib/settingsTab";
 import { useUrlMirror } from "../../lib/useUrlMirror";
 import Avatar from "../../components/ui/Avatar";
 import { notify, type NotifSettings } from "../../lib/notifications";
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ export default function SettingsPanel() {
     : "appearance";
   // The address names the tab on screen, so a bookmark opens it (always written: without it, the page
   // opens on the tab this browser tab last showed).
-  useUrlMirror({ [SETTINGS_TAB_KEY]: tab });
+  useUrlMirror(settingsTabParams(tab));
 
   return (
     <div className="p-4 max-w-3xl w-full mx-auto">
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/users/AdminUsers.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/users/AdminUsers.tsx
index 811ffc19..8c5a39e5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/users/AdminUsers.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/users/AdminUsers.tsx
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import { displayName } from "../../lib/api/account";
 import { notify } from "../../lib/notifications";
 import { formatDateTime, relativeTime } from "../../lib/format";
 import { invalidateUserAccess } from "../../lib/adminUsers";
-import { ADMIN_USERS_TAB_KEY, USERS_TAB_URL_KEY } from "../../lib/adminUsersTab";
+import { ADMIN_USERS_TAB_KEY, USERS_TAB_URL_KEY, usersTabParams } from "../../lib/adminUsersTab";
 import { Badge } from "../../components/ui/Badge";
 import { Button } from "../../components/ui/Button";
 import { IconButton } from "../../components/ui/IconButton";
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ export default function AdminUsers() {
   ];
   const active = tabs.some((x) => x.id === tab) ? tab : "roles";
   // The address names the tab on screen (always: see SettingsPanel).
-  useUrlMirror({ [USERS_TAB_URL_KEY]: active });
+  useUrlMirror(usersTabParams(active));
   return (
     <>
       {/* The tab bar is fixed chrome; the tab content scrolls under it. */}