fix(ui): a toast host ranks by when its overlay opened, and an overlay keeps its Escape, its dialog and its navigation straight

Deep-review round 4, the overlays.

- Toast hosts were ranked by mount time, and PlayerModal swaps its host on every fullscreen change:
  leaving true fullscreen with the download dialog open put the player's host back on top, so toasts
  were drawn under that dialog's scrim and a click on one closed the dialog. Each overlay takes a
  rank once, when it opens (`useOverlayOrder`), and hands it to every host it renders.
- A dialog open while fullscreen is left keeps a stable portal container (moved, not re-created):
  React tore the portal down when `fsRoot` changed, resetting a half-filled form and dropping focus
  to <body>. Focus is put back after the move.
- The onboarding wizard is a layer, not a raw document listener: one Escape used to dismiss the
  error dialog over it AND end onboarding, skipping the write-scope step.
- `navigateTo` (a toast's "View", clicked inside the player's own host) goes over the overlays it
  unmounts, so the player's Back-to-close cleanup no longer pops the page it just opened — the same
  fix Shift+W already had. The access-requests toast action too.
- The live region arms itself a task after it takes over inherited toasts: React flushes effects in
  the same task as that render, so the "silent inheritance" arming was a no-op.
- The overlay-host guard matches class tokens in any order (PlexPlayer's root was never checked),
  globs `ui/` too (ui/Modal was not checked either), and requires the rank.

frontend/src/App.tsx

@@ -279,7 +279,8 @@ export default function App() {
           label: t("common.accessRequestsReview"),
           onClick: () => {
             focusAccessRequestsTab();
-            setPage("users");
+            // Over whatever overlay the toast was clicked in — as navigateTo does (see lib/nav).
+            navigateOverOverlays(() => setPage("users"));
           },
         },
       });

frontend/src/components/OnboardingWizard.escape.dom.test.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+//
+// Escape closes the topmost layer only — the wizard included (deep-review round 4). Its own Escape
+// was a raw `document` listener with no layer check, and document listeners run before the window
+// listener ui/Modal uses: a sync that failed inside the wizard opens the global error dialog, and one
+// Esc dismissed the error AND ended onboarding, skipping the write-scope step.
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from "vitest";
+import { render, cleanup, screen, fireEvent } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from "@tanstack/react-query";
+
+vi.mock("react-i18next", async (importOriginal) => {
+  const actual = await importOriginal<typeof import("react-i18next")>();
+  return {
+    ...actual,
+    useTranslation: () => ({ t: (key: string) => key, i18n: { language: "en" } }),
+    Trans: ({ i18nKey }: { i18nKey: string }) => i18nKey,
+  };
+});
+vi.mock("../lib/onboarding", () => ({ beginGrant: vi.fn(), endOnboarding: vi.fn() }));
+
+import OnboardingWizard from "./OnboardingWizard";
+import Modal from "./ui/Modal";
+import { api, type Me } from "../lib/api";
+
+const me = { id: 1, email: "a@b", can_read: false, can_write: false } as unknown as Me;
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  vi.spyOn(api, "myStatus").mockResolvedValue({ channels_total: 0 } as never);
+});
+afterEach(() => {
+  cleanup();
+  vi.restoreAllMocks();
+});
+
+describe("the onboarding wizard's Escape", () => {
+  const mount = (onClose: () => void, dialog: boolean) =>
+    render(
+      <QueryClientProvider
+        client={new QueryClient({ defaultOptions: { queries: { retry: false } } })}
+      >
+        <OnboardingWizard me={me} onClose={onClose} />
+        {dialog && (
+          <Modal title="boom" onClose={() => {}}>
+            <p>the sync failed</p>
+          </Modal>
+        )}
+      </QueryClientProvider>,
+    );
+
+  it("closes the wizard when nothing is open above it", () => {
+    const onClose = vi.fn();
+    mount(onClose, false);
+    fireEvent.keyDown(document, { key: "Escape" });
+    expect(onClose).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("leaves the wizard alone while a dialog is open over it", () => {
+    const onClose = vi.fn();
+    mount(onClose, true);
+    fireEvent.keyDown(screen.getByText("the sync failed"), { key: "Escape" });
+    expect(onClose).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+});

frontend/src/components/OnboardingWizard.tsx

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ import { api, type Me } from "../lib/api";
 import { beginGrant, endOnboarding } from "../lib/onboarding";
 import { Button } from "./ui/Button";
 import Overlay from "./ui/Overlay";
-import Toaster from "./ui/Toaster";
+import Toaster, { useOverlayOrder } from "./ui/Toaster";
+import { useLayer } from "../lib/layerStack";
 
 // A first-login wizard that walks the user through granting YouTube access one scope at a
 // time, each with a plain explanation and an up-front heads-up about Google's "unverified
@@ -103,15 +104,12 @@ export default function OnboardingWizard({ me, onClose }: { me: Me; onClose: ()
     endOnboarding(!me.can_read);
     onClose();
   };
+  const overlayOrder = useOverlayOrder(); // this overlay's toast-host rank (see ui/Toaster)
 
-  useEffect(() => {
-    function onKey(e: KeyboardEvent) {
-      if (e.key === "Escape") close();
-    }
-    document.addEventListener("keydown", onKey);
-    return () => document.removeEventListener("keydown", onKey);
-    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
-  }, [me.can_read]);
+  // A layer in the shared stack, so Escape closes the wizard only when it is on top: a raw document
+  // listener ran BEFORE the error dialog's (a sync that failed inside the wizard opens one), and one
+  // Esc closed the error AND ended onboarding, skipping the write-scope step (deep-review round 4).
+  useLayer(true, close);
 
   // Are we currently importing (or about to)? Show a progress screen instead of the
   // "you're connected" step until the first import settles.
@@ -265,7 +263,7 @@ export default function OnboardingWizard({ me, onClose }: { me: Me; onClose: ()
         </div>
         {/* Toasts raised while the wizard is up (the connection notice among them) show above its
             scrim, not under it — see ui/Toaster. */}
-        <Toaster overlay />
+        <Toaster overlay order={overlayOrder} />
       </div>
     </Overlay>
   );

frontend/src/components/PlayerModal.tsx

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ import { fullscreenElement } from "../lib/fullscreen";
 import { dispatch, isActivationTarget, useKeyScope } from "../lib/keymap";
 import { closeThenNavigate, useBackToClose } from "../lib/history";
 import ChannelNameLink from "./ChannelNameLink";
-import Toaster from "./ui/Toaster";
+import Toaster, { useOverlayOrder } from "./ui/Toaster";
 import { afterRemoval } from "../lib/playerQueue";
 import {
   useNativeControlsYield,
@@ -379,6 +379,10 @@ export default function PlayerModal({
     staleTime: 5 * 60_000,
   });
 
+  // Its toast hosts' rank (see ui/Toaster): the player's two hosts — the stage one in true fullscreen,
+  // the outer one otherwise — swap on every fullscreen change, and must not outrank a dialog opened
+  // over the player by doing so.
+  const overlayOrder = useOverlayOrder();
   // This player is a dismissable layer: register it so a Modal or popover opened ABOVE it (e.g. the
   // download dialog, or — after S4 — an anchored menu) takes Escape first and this player defers.
   const layerIdRef = useRef<number | null>(null);
@@ -583,10 +587,9 @@ export default function PlayerModal({
               bar — that stays reachable by hovering the video's bottom edge, just above ours. Always
               visible (no auto-hide) so there's no guessing whether it will appear and no fight with the
               seek bar over the same pixels. stopPropagation so a click here doesn't toggle playback;
-              the exit button also re-arms our shortcuts. Add-to-playlist works in true fullscreen (its
-              popover portals INTO the fullscreen element); download stays hidden there because it opens
-              a Modal, which still portals to <body> — outside the fullscreen element. */}
-            {isFullscreen && <Toaster overlay />}
+              the exit button also re-arms our shortcuts. Both of its dialogs work in true fullscreen:
+              add-to-playlist's popover and download's Modal portal INTO the fullscreen element. */}
+            {isFullscreen && <Toaster overlay order={overlayOrder} />}
             {(maximized || isFullscreen) && (
               <div
                 onClick={(e) => e.stopPropagation()}
@@ -965,7 +968,7 @@ export default function PlayerModal({
       {/* Toasts raised while the player is open (a failed Remove, a lost connection) — the app's own
           Toaster is underneath this scrim. See ui/Toaster. In true fullscreen it moves into the
           stage, the element holding the lock: out here it was painted under it, i.e. not at all. */}
-      {!isFullscreen && <Toaster overlay />}
+      {!isFullscreen && <Toaster overlay order={overlayOrder} />}
     </div>,
     document.body,
   );

frontend/src/components/PlexPlayer.tsx

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ import { PlexPlayerSettings } from "./PlexPlayerSettings";
 import { PlexStatsOverlay } from "./PlexStatsOverlay";
 import { createFragMeter } from "../lib/plexStats";
 import { UpNextCard } from "./UpNextCard";
-import Toaster from "./ui/Toaster";
+import Toaster, { useOverlayOrder } from "./ui/Toaster";
 import {
   playhead,
   useAutoSkip,
@@ -793,6 +793,8 @@ export default function PlexPlayer({ itemId, onClose, queue }: Props) {
   useKeyScope("plexPlayer");
   useHelpConditions({ episode: detail?.kind === "episode" });
 
+  // Its toast host's rank among open overlays (see ui/Toaster).
+  const overlayOrder = useOverlayOrder();
   // This player is a dismissable layer: register it so a Modal or popover opened ABOVE it (its own
   // settings/tracks menus included) takes Escape first and this player defers (R8 S3).
   const layerIdRef = useRef<number | null>(null);
@@ -1515,7 +1517,7 @@ export default function PlexPlayer({ itemId, onClose, queue }: Props) {
       )}
       {/* The app's Toaster is underneath this full-screen player (and outside it in native
           fullscreen), so toasts raised while watching show here instead. See ui/Toaster. */}
-      <Toaster overlay />
+      <Toaster overlay order={overlayOrder} />
     </div>,
     document.body,
   );

frontend/src/components/ui/Modal.fullscreen.dom.test.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+//
+// A dialog opened from a player in true fullscreen portals INTO the fullscreen element (a node under
+// <body> is painted beneath it, i.e. invisible). Leaving fullscreen changes that container — and a
+// React portal whose container changes is torn down and recreated, so everything the dialog held went
+// with it: a half-filled download form reset to its defaults and focus fell to <body> (a verifier's
+// side finding in deep-review round 4).
+import { describe, it, expect, afterEach } from "vitest";
+import { render, cleanup, screen, fireEvent, act } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { vi } from "vitest";
+
+vi.mock("react-i18next", async (importOriginal) => {
+  const actual = await importOriginal<typeof import("react-i18next")>();
+  return { ...actual, useTranslation: () => ({ t: (key: string) => key }) };
+});
+
+import Modal from "./Modal";
+
+const setFullscreen = (el: Element | null) =>
+  act(() => {
+    Object.defineProperty(document, "fullscreenElement", { value: el, configurable: true });
+    document.dispatchEvent(new Event("fullscreenchange"));
+  });
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  cleanup();
+  setFullscreen(null);
+});
+
+describe("a dialog open while fullscreen is left", () => {
+  it("keeps what the viewer had typed in it, and the focus inside it", async () => {
+    const stage = document.createElement("div");
+    document.body.appendChild(stage);
+    await setFullscreen(stage);
+    render(
+      <Modal title="Download" onClose={() => {}}>
+        <input aria-label="name" defaultValue="" />
+      </Modal>,
+    );
+    const field = screen.getByLabelText("name") as HTMLInputElement;
+    fireEvent.change(field, { target: { value: "my cut" } });
+    field.focus();
+    expect(stage.contains(field)).toBe(true);
+
+    await setFullscreen(null); // the browser's own Esc leaves fullscreen; the dialog stays open
+
+    const after = screen.getByLabelText("name") as HTMLInputElement;
+    expect(after.value).toBe("my cut");
+    expect(document.activeElement).toBe(after);
+    stage.remove();
+  });
+});

frontend/src/components/ui/Modal.tsx

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { useEffect, useId, useRef, useState, type ReactNode } from "react";
+import { useEffect, useId, useLayoutEffect, useRef, useState, type ReactNode } from "react";
 import { createPortal } from "react-dom";
 import { useTranslation } from "react-i18next";
 import { X } from "lucide-react";
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { useBackToClose } from "../../lib/history";
 import { pushLayer, removeLayer, isTopmost } from "../../lib/layerStack";
 import { useFullscreenElement } from "../../lib/fullscreen";
 import { Button } from "./Button";
-import Toaster from "./Toaster";
+import Toaster, { useOverlayOrder } from "./Toaster";
 
 // Tabbable elements inside the dialog, in DOM order. `:not([tabindex="-1"])` drops programmatically
 // focusable-only nodes; the visibility filter (offsetParent) drops display:none ones (e.g. a
@@ -45,6 +45,23 @@ export default function Modal({
   // Browser/mouse Back closes the topmost modal instead of navigating away.
   useBackToClose(onClose);
   const fsRoot = useFullscreenElement();
+  // ONE container element for the dialog's whole life, MOVED between <body> and the fullscreen
+  // element rather than handed to `createPortal` as a changing container: React tears a portal down
+  // and builds it again when its container changes, and the dialog's contents went with it — a
+  // half-filled download form reset to its defaults, and focus fell to <body>, the moment the viewer
+  // left true fullscreen (deep-review round 4).
+  const [host] = useState(() => document.createElement("div"));
+  useLayoutEffect(() => {
+    const parent = fsRoot ?? document.body;
+    if (host.parentNode === parent) return;
+    // appendChild MOVES the node: the browser blurs whatever was focused inside it on the way out.
+    const focused = host.contains(document.activeElement)
+      ? (document.activeElement as HTMLElement)
+      : null;
+    parent.appendChild(host);
+    focused?.focus();
+  }, [fsRoot, host]);
+  useEffect(() => () => host.remove(), [host]);
   const panelRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
   const titleId = useId();
   // Capture the trigger to restore focus to, during THIS render — i.e. before commit runs the
@@ -52,6 +69,7 @@ export default function Modal({
   // it later (in the effect) would capture a now-inside element that unmounts on close, stranding
   // focus on <body>. useState initializer runs exactly once, on first render.
   const [restoreTo] = useState(() => document.activeElement as HTMLElement | null);
+  const overlayOrder = useOverlayOrder();
 
   // Backdrop-click close must only fire when the press STARTED on the backdrop too. Otherwise a
   // drag that begins inside the dialog (e.g. selecting text in an input) and is released out on
@@ -170,8 +188,8 @@ export default function Modal({
       {/* Toasts raised while a dialog is open show inside it: the app's own host is under this
           scrim, where a failed share or rename was unreadable and a click on it closed the dialog
           (see ui/Toaster). */}
-      <Toaster overlay />
+      <Toaster overlay order={overlayOrder} />
     </div>,
-    fsRoot ?? document.body,
+    host,
   );
 }

frontend/src/components/ui/Toaster.dom.test.tsx

@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ describe("Toaster — one host shows the toasts", () => {
     expect(screen.getByTestId("app").textContent).not.toContain("Couldn't remove the video.");
     // Both live regions stay mounted — a polite region has to pre-exist to be announced.
     expect(hosts()).toHaveLength(2);
-    expect(hosts().map((h) => h.getAttribute("aria-live"))).toEqual(["off", "polite"]);
+    // The taking-over host arms itself a task later (see the "inherits" test below).
+    expect(hosts().map((h) => h.getAttribute("aria-live"))).toEqual(["off", "off"]);
 
     overlay.unmount();
     expect(screen.getByTestId("app").textContent).toContain("Couldn't remove the video.");
@@ -74,6 +75,47 @@ describe("Toaster — handing the toasts to another host", () => {
     expect(screen.getByText("fresh").closest(".toast-card")!.getAttribute("role")).toBe("alert");
   });
 
+  it("keeps its live region off while the inherited toasts go in, and arms it a task later", async () => {
+    // The other half of "silently": a region that is already polite when the inherited nodes are
+    // inserted announces them anyway. React flushes effects in the SAME task as that render, so the
+    // arming has to wait for the next one — a screen reader reads the region's state after the task.
+    render(<Toaster />);
+    act(() => void notify({ level: "info", message: "saved" }));
+    const overlay = render(<Toaster overlay />);
+    const region = overlay.container.firstElementChild!;
+    expect(region.textContent).toContain("saved"); // it took the toast over…
+    expect(region.getAttribute("aria-live")).toBe("off"); // …while still off
+    await act(async () => void (await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 0))));
+    expect(region.getAttribute("aria-live")).toBe("polite"); // and polite for what comes next
+  });
+
+  it("ranks hosts by when their OVERLAY opened, not by when the host mounted", async () => {
+    // PlayerModal's host moves into the fullscreen stage and back: remounted, it used to jump over a
+    // dialog opened above the player, and the toasts went back under that dialog's scrim.
+    const player = render(
+      <div data-testid="player">
+        <Toaster overlay order={1} />
+      </div>,
+    );
+    render(
+      <div data-testid="dialog">
+        <Toaster overlay order={2} />
+      </div>,
+    );
+    act(() => void notify({ level: "error", message: "boom" }));
+    expect(screen.getByTestId("dialog").textContent).toContain("boom");
+    // The player swaps its host (leaving true fullscreen) while the dialog stays open.
+    player.rerender(
+      <div data-testid="player">
+        <span />
+        <Toaster overlay order={1} />
+      </div>,
+    );
+    await act(async () => void (await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 0))));
+    expect(screen.getByTestId("dialog").textContent).toContain("boom");
+    expect(screen.getByTestId("player").textContent).not.toContain("boom");
+  });
+
   it("keeps the countdown where it was, instead of starting it again from full", () => {
     // The bar is a CSS animation on the node; the dismiss timer was armed once, at notify time. A
     // new node restarted the bar, and the toast vanished with it still two-thirds full.

frontend/src/components/ui/Toaster.hosts.test.ts

@@ -3,31 +3,77 @@
 // The app's Toaster lives in the content column, a stacking context: anything that covers the
 // viewport at z-overlay paints over it, so a toast raised while that overlay is open is unreadable and
 // a click on it lands on the overlay's backdrop. The fix is a convention — the overlay mounts
-// `<Toaster overlay />` inside itself — and a convention stated in a comment is one the next overlay
-// forgets (deep-review round 3 found every ui/Modal and the onboarding wizard without one). So it is
-// checked here: a component that renders a viewport-covering z-overlay layer mounts an overlay host.
+// `<Toaster overlay order={useOverlayOrder()} />` inside itself — and a convention stated in a comment
+// is one the next overlay forgets (deep-review round 3 found every ui/Modal and the onboarding wizard
+// without one). So it is checked here: a component that renders a viewport-covering layer at
+// z-overlay or above mounts an overlay host, ranked by when the overlay opened.
+//
+// The class TOKENS are matched in any order, and the layer need not be `inset-0`: the first version
+// matched the exact string "fixed inset-0 z-overlay", so PlexPlayer's own root (`fixed left-0 top-0
+// z-overlay`) was never checked at all, and a new viewer copying it would have slipped past
+// (deep-review round 4).
 import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
 
-const sources = import.meta.glob("../**/*.tsx", { query: "?raw", import: "default", eager: true });
+// BOTH patterns: `../**/*.tsx` from this directory does not match the siblings in `ui/` itself, so
+// ui/Modal.tsx — the overlay behind every dialog in the app — was never checked by this guard at all
+// (deep-review round 4).
+const sources = import.meta.glob(["../**/*.tsx", "./*.tsx"], {
+  query: "?raw",
+  import: "default",
+  eager: true,
+});
 
-// Covers the viewport for a moment with nothing a toast could be about (a lazy chunk's black
-// placeholder while the player loads).
-const EXEMPT = new Set(["../PlexBrowse.tsx"]);
+// Overlays with nothing a toast could be about: a lazy chunk's black placeholder while the player
+// loads, and the signed-out landing page's screenshot zoom (the app's Toaster is not even mounted
+// there — App renders Welcome instead of the shell).
+const EXEMPT = new Set(["../PlexBrowse.tsx", "../Welcome.tsx"]);
+
+/** Every class string in the file (quoted or templated), including multi-line ones. */
+const classStrings = (src: string): string[] =>
+  [...src.matchAll(/className=\{?[`"']([^`"']*)[`"']/g)].map((m) => m[1]!);
+
+const coversTheViewport = (src: string) =>
+  classStrings(src).some(
+    (cls) =>
+      /(^|\s)fixed(\s|$)/.test(cls) &&
+      /(^|\s)z-(overlay|popover|tooltip)(\s|$)/.test(cls) &&
+      (/(^|\s)inset-0(\s|$)/.test(cls) ||
+        (/(^|\s)left-0(\s|$)/.test(cls) && /(^|\s)top-0(\s|$)/.test(cls))),
+  );
+
+const overlays = () =>
+  Object.entries(sources)
+    .filter(([path]) => !path.endsWith(".test.tsx") && !EXEMPT.has(path))
+    .filter(([, src]) => coversTheViewport(src as string));
 
 describe("full-screen overlays host their own toasts", () => {
-  it("every one that covers the viewport at z-overlay mounts <Toaster overlay />", () => {
-    const missing = Object.entries(sources)
-      .filter(([path]) => !path.endsWith(".test.tsx") && !EXEMPT.has(path))
-      .filter(([, src]) => /fixed inset-0 z-overlay/.test(src as string))
-      .filter(([, src]) => !(src as string).includes("<Toaster overlay />"))
+  it("every one that covers the viewport mounts an overlay host", () => {
+    const missing = overlays()
+      .filter(([, src]) => !(src as string).includes("<Toaster overlay"))
       .map(([path]) => path);
     expect(missing).toEqual([]);
   });
 
+  it("and ranks it by when the overlay opened, not by when the host mounted", () => {
+    // A host that takes its own rank jumps to the top whenever it remounts — which PlayerModal's does
+    // on every fullscreen change, putting it back over a dialog opened above the player.
+    const unranked = overlays()
+      .filter(([, src]) => !(src as string).includes("useOverlayOrder()"))
+      .map(([path]) => path);
+    expect(unranked).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   it("finds the overlays it is meant to check", () => {
-    const covered = Object.entries(sources).filter(([, src]) =>
-      /fixed inset-0 z-overlay/.test(src as string),
+    // Modal, PlayerModal, PlexPlayer and the wizard at least — PlexPlayer is the one the exact-string
+    // check used to miss.
+    const paths = overlays().map(([p]) => p);
+    expect(paths).toEqual(
+      expect.arrayContaining([
+        "./Modal.tsx",
+        "../PlayerModal.tsx",
+        "../PlexPlayer.tsx",
+        "../OnboardingWizard.tsx",
+      ]),
     );
-    expect(covered.length).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(3); // Modal, PlayerModal, the wizard at least
   });
 });

frontend/src/components/ui/Toaster.tsx

@@ -16,24 +16,48 @@ export const LEVEL_STYLE: Record<NotifLevel, { icon: typeof Info; color: string;
 // context (its `@container` implies layout containment) — so anything portalled to <body> at the
 // same z-overlay painted over every toast: a failure raised while watching was drawn under an 80%
 // black, blurred scrim, and a click on it closed the player. So every full-screen overlay mounts its
-// OWN `<Toaster overlay />` inside itself — ui/Modal does it for every dialog, the players for
-// themselves — and exactly one host shows the toasts: the most recently mounted overlay, else the
-// app's. Same component, same look — and inside the overlay's aria-modal dialog, where a screen
+// OWN `<Toaster overlay order={…} />` inside itself — ui/Modal does it for every dialog, the players
+// for themselves — and exactly one host shows the toasts: the one of the overlay OPENED last, else
+// the app's. Same component, same look — and inside the overlay's aria-modal dialog, where a screen
 // reader can still reach it.
-const overlayHosts = createStore<readonly string[]>([]);
+//
+// "Opened last", not "host mounted last": a host can remount while its overlay stays open —
+// PlayerModal's moves into the fullscreen stage and back — and ranked by mount time it came back on
+// top of a dialog opened over the player (the download dialog after leaving true fullscreen), so the
+// toasts were drawn under that dialog's scrim again (deep-review round 4). So the OVERLAY takes its
+// rank once, when it opens (`useOverlayOrder`), and hands it to every host it renders.
+let overlaySeq = 0;
+/** This overlay's rank among open overlays — taken once, when it mounts. Call it in the overlay
+ *  itself, never in a component that can remount while the overlay stays open. */
+export function useOverlayOrder(): number {
+  const [order] = useState(() => ++overlaySeq);
+  return order;
+}
+type Host = { id: string; order: number };
+const overlayHosts = createStore<readonly Host[]>([]);
 const topHost = () => {
-  const hosts = overlayHosts.get();
-  return hosts[hosts.length - 1] ?? null;
+  let top: Host | null = null;
+  for (const h of overlayHosts.get()) if (!top || h.order >= top.order) top = h;
+  return top?.id ?? null;
 };
 
-export default function Toaster({ overlay = false }: { overlay?: boolean }) {
+export default function Toaster({
+  overlay = false,
+  order,
+}: {
+  overlay?: boolean;
+  /** The owning overlay's `useOverlayOrder()`. Without one, the host ranks by its own mount. */
+  order?: number;
+}) {
   const { t } = useTranslation();
   const id = useId();
+  const ownOrder = useOverlayOrder();
+  const rank = order ?? ownOrder;
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!overlay) return;
-    overlayHosts.set((hosts) => [...hosts, id]);
-    return () => overlayHosts.set((hosts) => hosts.filter((h) => h !== id));
-  }, [overlay, id]);
+    overlayHosts.set((hosts) => [...hosts, { id, order: rank }]);
+    return () => overlayHosts.set((hosts) => hosts.filter((h) => h.id !== id));
+  }, [overlay, id, rank]);
   const top = useSyncExternalStore(overlayHosts.subscribe, topHost, topHost);
   const active = useSyncExternalStore(subscribe, getActiveToasts, getActiveToasts);
   const isTop = top === (overlay ? id : null);
@@ -41,14 +65,23 @@ export default function Toaster({ overlay = false }: { overlay?: boolean }) {
   // A host that takes over (an overlay opening, or the app's own once it closes) receives the toasts
   // that were already up as NEW nodes — and a screen reader announced every one of them again, an
   // error assertively. So the ones it inherits are shown silently: no `role="alert"`, and the region
-  // stays `aria-live="off"` until they are in, turning polite (for the toasts that come after) once
-  // they have been rendered.
+  // stays `aria-live="off"` until they are in, turning polite (for the toasts that come after) in a
+  // LATER task. Not in an effect: React flushes those in the same task as the render that inserted the
+  // toasts, and a screen reader reads the region's state after the task — by which time it was polite
+  // again, i.e. the arming did nothing.
   const inherited = useMemo(
     () => new Set(isTop ? getActiveToasts().map((n) => n.id) : []),
     [isTop],
   );
   const [armed, setArmed] = useState(false);
-  useEffect(() => setArmed(isTop), [isTop]);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!isTop) {
+      setArmed(false);
+      return;
+    }
+    const timer = window.setTimeout(() => setArmed(true), 0);
+    return () => window.clearTimeout(timer);
+  }, [isTop]);
 
   return (
     // Stable, always-mounted live region — a polite region must PRE-EXIST in the DOM for a screen

frontend/src/lib/nav.dom.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+//
+// `navigateTo` is what a toast's action calls ("Download added — View"), and that click happens
+// INSIDE an overlay's toast host. The page change unmounts the page-owned overlay (the player), whose
+// Back-to-close cleanup then reclaimed the history entry the navigation had just pushed — so the user
+// landed back where they started with the player closed instead of on the Downloads page
+// (deep-review round 4). Same trap, and the same fix, as the global Shift+W shortcut.
+//
+// Its own file: `lib/history`'s depth bookkeeping is module state.
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
+import { renderHook, act } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { useBackToClose } from "./history";
+import { navigateTo, setNavigator } from "./nav";
+
+const settle = () =>
+  act(async () => {
+    await Promise.resolve();
+  });
+
+describe("navigateTo from inside an overlay", () => {
+  it("buries the overlay's entry, so closing it does not pop the page just opened", async () => {
+    const overlay = renderHook(() => useBackToClose(() => {}));
+    await settle();
+    const back = vi.spyOn(window.history, "back");
+    try {
+      setNavigator(() => {
+        window.history.pushState({ sfPage: "downloads" }, "");
+        return true; // as App's setPage reports: it really pushed
+      });
+      act(() => navigateTo("downloads"));
+      overlay.unmount(); // the page change unmounts the player
+      await settle();
+      expect(back).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(window.history.state).toMatchObject({ sfPage: "downloads" });
+    } finally {
+      back.mockRestore();
+      setNavigator(() => {});
+    }
+  });
+});

frontend/src/lib/nav.ts

@@ -1,16 +1,21 @@
+import { navigateOverOverlays } from "./history";
 import type { Page } from "./urlState";
 
 // Tiny decoupled navigator so deep components (a feed card's download toast, the Download
 // Center) can switch pages without threading setPage through the whole tree. App registers
 // its setPage on mount; navigateTo is a no-op until then.
-let _navigate: ((p: Page) => void) | null = null;
+let _navigate: ((p: Page) => boolean | void) | null = null;
 
-export function setNavigator(fn: (p: Page) => void): void {
+export function setNavigator(fn: (p: Page) => boolean | void): void {
   _navigate = fn;
 }
 
+/** Over whatever overlay is open: the "View" on a "Download added" toast is clicked INSIDE the player
+ *  (its toast host), and the page change unmounts the page-owned player, whose Back-to-close cleanup
+ *  then popped the entry the navigation had just pushed — the user landed back on the feed with the
+ *  player gone (deep-review round 4). Same trap, same fix as Shift+W (see `navigateOverOverlays`). */
 export function navigateTo(p: Page): void {
-  _navigate?.(p);
+  navigateOverOverlays(() => _navigate?.(p));
 }
 
 /** Should this click be handled IN-APP, or left to the browser?