feat(nav): the live YouTube search and Home's budget are named in the address

A YouTube search is `?yt=<term>` (+ `ytn` for a non-default count), so a reload, a link
or Back/Forward reopens it. It runs by itself only where it costs no quota: the free page
scrape, a search asked for in this document, or results still cached. An API search
reopened any other way shows its term and waits for "Search YouTube again".

Home's time budget is `hb`; the question's draw stays on the history entry.

An e2e spec opens every page's bookmark in a fresh browser context; CLAUDE.md and
docs/development.md name the module URL codec as the place for view state.

frontend/src/modules/channels/ChannelsProvider.tsx

@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ export function ChannelsProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
     // column filter (the whole map is set fresh) so no stale funnel hides the rows we're sent to see.
     setFilters({ sync: "needsFull" });
     setView("subscribed"); // the sync filter applies to the subscriptions tab
-    setFiltersResetToken((n) => n + 1); // also clear the ephemeral name search + tag chips
+    setFiltersResetToken((n) => n + 1); // also clear the name search + tag chips
     setPage("channels");
   }, [setFilters, setView, setPage]);
 

frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.tsx

@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ import {
 } from "../../features/video/videoWrites";
 import { notify } from "../../lib/notifications";
 import { useMe } from "../../lib/useMe";
+import { YT_COUNTS } from "../../lib/ytSearchUrlState";
+import { useNavigation, useNavigationActions } from "../../features/navigation/navigationContext";
 import { useDebounced } from "../../lib/useDebounced";
 import {
   markedRows,
@@ -148,9 +150,6 @@ const withoutWrite = <T,>(o: Overrides<T>, id: string, seq: number): Overrides<T
   return next;
 };
 
-// How many live-search results one fetch asks for; `Load more` pulls another batch of the same size.
-const YT_COUNTS = [20, 40, 60, 100] as const;
-
 // The live-search refusals a retry cannot answer: the day's cap, turned off on this instance, the
 // shared budget spent (ours, or YouTube's own) — tomorrow or the admin does.
 const SEARCH_FINAL_REASONS = new Set([
@@ -221,7 +220,8 @@ export default function Feed({
   const qc = useQueryClient();
   const videoMarks = useVideoMarks();
   // Live search turned off on this instance: the empty feed offers no search that would be refused.
-  const searchOn = useMe().search_enabled;
+  const me = useMe();
+  const searchOn = me.search_enabled;
 
   // What changed state while the player was open, and the writes still in flight: closing it
   // refetches the list by its filters once those land. Marked watched (by hand, or by the player at
@@ -263,8 +263,16 @@ export default function Feed({
 
   const ytActive = !!ytSearch;
   // How many live-search results to gather (the count selector replaces a manual "load more";
-  // the free scrape source pages through continuations until this many are collected).
-  const [ytCount, setYtCount] = useState(20);
+  // the free scrape source pages through continuations until this many are collected). Named in the
+  // address with the term, so it is the navigation's, like the term.
+  const { ytCount, ytSearchAsked } = useNavigation();
+  const { setYtCount, askYtSearch } = useNavigationActions();
+  // A search runs by itself only where nobody's reload or link can spend quota with it: the free
+  // page scrape, or a search asked for in this document. An API search reopened by a reload, a link
+  // or Back waits for "Search YouTube again" — unless its results are still cached, which a disabled
+  // query shows all the same. Turned off on this instance it runs too: the server refuses it before
+  // any quota, and its refusal is what says so (no press offered that could only be refused).
+  const ytRuns = ytActive && (me.search_source !== "api" || ytSearchAsked || !searchOn);
   // How to order the loaded results. Its OWN pref, not `filters.sort`: sorting a live-search page
   // must not silently re-sort the library you go back to. Default `relevance` — the provider's
   // ranking, which is what the view always showed before it had a control.
@@ -298,23 +306,11 @@ export default function Feed({
       stampFetch(() => api.searchYoutube(ytSearch as string, pageParam as string | null, ytCount)),
     initialPageParam: null as string | null,
     getNextPageParam: (last) => last.next_cursor ?? undefined,
-    enabled: ytActive,
+    enabled: ytRuns,
     staleTime: 5 * 60_000,
     retry: false,
   });
 
-  // Remember (in history.state) that this live search was served by the zero-quota scrape source,
-  // so a reload restores the results instead of dropping to the feed — re-fetching scrape pages
-  // costs no quota. An api-source search is left unmarked (a reload would re-spend ~100 units).
-  useEffect(() => {
-    if (!ytActive) return;
-    const st = window.history.state;
-    if (!st || st._yt !== ytSearch) return; // only mark our own sub-view entry
-    if (ytQuery.data?.pages?.[0]?.source === "scrape" && !st._ytScrape) {
-      window.history.replaceState({ ...st, _ytScrape: true }, "");
-    }
-  }, [ytActive, ytSearch, ytQuery.data]);
-
   // Switching to the relevance sort when a search starts happens atomically in the header's
   // input onChange (race-free with the query update). Here we only handle the reverse: when
   // the term is cleared, fall back to the default sort — relevance has no dropdown option and
@@ -556,7 +552,8 @@ export default function Feed({
     const ytFinal = SEARCH_FINAL_REASONS.has(refusalReason(ytQuery.error) ?? "");
     // The backend reports which source served the search; scrape spends no search quota, so we
     // drop the quota warning + "uses quota" wording in that mode.
-    const zeroQuota = ytQuery.data?.pages?.[0]?.source === "scrape";
+    // Before an answer (a search waiting for its press), the instance's own source says it.
+    const zeroQuota = (ytQuery.data?.pages?.[0]?.source ?? me.search_source) === "scrape";
 
     return (
       <div className="p-4">
@@ -638,7 +635,16 @@ export default function Feed({
           )}
         </div>
 
-        {ytQuery.isLoading ? (
+        {!ytRuns && ytQuery.data === undefined ? (
+          // Reopened, not asked for: the term is on screen, the search waits for a press.
+          <div className="py-16 text-center max-w-md mx-auto">
+            <p className="font-semibold">{t("feed.yt.notRunTitle")}</p>
+            <p className="mt-1 text-sm text-muted">{t("feed.yt.notRunBody")}</p>
+            <Button className="mt-4" icon={<YouTubeIcon />} onClick={askYtSearch}>
+              {t("feed.yt.runAgain")}
+            </Button>
+          </div>
+        ) : ytQuery.isLoading ? (
           <div className="py-16 text-center text-muted">{t("feed.yt.searching")}</div>
         ) : ytError && !ytItems.length ? (
           // A first page that failed is said as the error it is, with Retry where trying again can

frontend/src/modules/feed/Feed.ytReopen.dom.test.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+//
+// A live YouTube search the address reopens (a reload, a link, Back) runs by itself only where it
+// costs no quota: the free page scrape. An API search spends 100 units, so it waits for "Search
+// YouTube again" — unless its results are still cached, or it was asked for in this document.
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeAll, afterEach } from "vitest";
+import { render, screen, fireEvent, waitFor, cleanup } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from "@tanstack/react-query";
+
+vi.mock("react-i18next", async (importOriginal) => ({
+  ...(await importOriginal<typeof import("react-i18next")>()),
+  useTranslation: () => ({ t: (key: string) => key, i18n: { language: "en" } }),
+}));
+vi.mock("../../features/wizard/wizardContext", () => ({
+  useWizard: () => ({ openWizard: vi.fn() }),
+}));
+vi.mock("./VirtualFeed", () => ({
+  default: ({ items }: { items: { id: string; title: string }[] }) => (
+    <ol aria-label="results">
+      {items.map((v) => (
+        <li key={v.id}>{v.title}</li>
+      ))}
+    </ol>
+  ),
+}));
+
+import Feed from "./Feed";
+import { api, DEFAULT_TAG_MODES, HttpError, type FeedFilters, type Video } from "../../lib/api";
+import { qk } from "../../lib/queryKeys";
+import {
+  NavigationActionsContext,
+  NavigationStateContext,
+  type NavigationActions,
+} from "../../features/navigation/navigationContext";
+
+beforeAll(() => {
+  class Stub {
+    observe() {}
+    unobserve() {}
+    disconnect() {}
+    takeRecords() {
+      return [];
+    }
+  }
+  globalThis.ResizeObserver ??= Stub as unknown as typeof ResizeObserver;
+  globalThis.IntersectionObserver ??= Stub as unknown as typeof IntersectionObserver;
+});
+afterEach(() => {
+  cleanup();
+  vi.restoreAllMocks();
+});
+
+const FILTERS: FeedFilters = {
+  tags: [],
+  tagModes: DEFAULT_TAG_MODES,
+  channelIds: [],
+  q: "",
+  sort: "newest",
+  scope: "my",
+  includeNormal: true,
+  includeShorts: false,
+  includeLive: false,
+  show: "unwatched",
+};
+
+const hit = (id: string): Video =>
+  ({
+    id,
+    title: `hit ${id}`,
+    channel_id: "UCx",
+    channel_title: "Channel",
+    status: "new",
+    position_seconds: 0,
+    published_at: "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
+    watch_url: `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=${id}`,
+  }) as unknown as Video;
+
+const actions = (over: Partial<NavigationActions> = {}): NavigationActions => ({
+  setPage: () => {},
+  openChannel: () => {},
+  closeChannel: () => {},
+  enterYtSearch: () => {},
+  exitYtSearch: () => {},
+  askYtSearch: () => {},
+  setYtCount: () => {},
+  ...over,
+});
+
+function mount({
+  source,
+  asked,
+  enabled = true,
+  qc = new QueryClient({ defaultOptions: { queries: { retry: false } } }),
+  nav = actions(),
+}: {
+  source: "scrape" | "api";
+  asked: boolean;
+  enabled?: boolean;
+  qc?: QueryClient;
+  nav?: NavigationActions;
+}) {
+  qc.setQueryData(qk.me(), {
+    id: 1,
+    can_write: true,
+    prefs: {},
+    search_source: source,
+    search_enabled: enabled,
+  });
+  const tree = (count: number) => (
+    <QueryClientProvider client={qc}>
+      <NavigationActionsContext.Provider value={nav}>
+        <NavigationStateContext.Provider
+          value={{
+            page: "feed",
+            channelView: null,
+            ytSearch: "lofi",
+            ytCount: count,
+            ytSearchAsked: asked,
+          }}
+        >
+          <Feed
+            filters={FILTERS}
+            setFilters={() => {}}
+            view="cards"
+            setView={() => {}}
+            canRead
+            ytSearch="lofi"
+            onYtSearch={() => {}}
+            onExitYtSearch={() => {}}
+          />
+        </NavigationStateContext.Provider>
+      </NavigationActionsContext.Provider>
+    </QueryClientProvider>
+  );
+  const view = render(tree(20));
+  return { showing: (count: number) => view.rerender(tree(count)) };
+}
+
+const settle = () => new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 30));
+
+describe("Feed — a live search the address reopened", () => {
+  it("waits for a press under the API source, and spends nothing meanwhile", async () => {
+    const search = vi.spyOn(api, "searchYoutube");
+    const askYtSearch = vi.fn();
+    mount({ source: "api", asked: false, nav: actions({ askYtSearch }) });
+    expect(screen.getByText("feed.yt.notRunTitle")).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(screen.getByText("feed.yt.resultsFor")).toBeTruthy(); // the term stays on screen
+    expect(screen.getByText("feed.yt.quotaNote")).toBeTruthy();
+    await settle();
+    expect(search).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "feed.yt.runAgain" }));
+    expect(askYtSearch).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("runs an API search asked for in this document", async () => {
+    const search = vi
+      .spyOn(api, "searchYoutube")
+      .mockResolvedValue({ items: [hit("a")], next_cursor: null, source: "api" } as never);
+    mount({ source: "api", asked: true });
+    await waitFor(() =>
+      expect(screen.getByRole("list", { name: "results" }).textContent).toBe("hit a"),
+    );
+    expect(search).toHaveBeenCalledWith("lofi", null, 20);
+    expect(screen.queryByText("feed.yt.notRunTitle")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("runs by itself under the free scrape source", async () => {
+    const search = vi
+      .spyOn(api, "searchYoutube")
+      .mockResolvedValue({ items: [hit("a")], next_cursor: null, source: "scrape" } as never);
+    mount({ source: "scrape", asked: false });
+    await waitFor(() =>
+      expect(screen.getByRole("list", { name: "results" }).textContent).toBe("hit a"),
+    );
+    expect(search).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(screen.getByText("feed.yt.freeNote")).toBeTruthy();
+  });
+
+  it("shows an API search's results still cached, without asking again", async () => {
+    const search = vi.spyOn(api, "searchYoutube");
+    const qc = new QueryClient({ defaultOptions: { queries: { retry: false } } });
+    qc.setQueryData(qk.ytSearch("lofi", 20), {
+      pages: [{ items: [hit("c")], next_cursor: null, source: "api" }],
+      pageParams: [null],
+    });
+    mount({ source: "api", asked: false, qc });
+    expect(screen.getByRole("list", { name: "results" }).textContent).toBe("hit c");
+    expect(screen.queryByText("feed.yt.notRunTitle")).toBeNull();
+    await settle();
+    expect(search).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("asks again for another count — each count is a search of its own", async () => {
+    const search = vi
+      .spyOn(api, "searchYoutube")
+      .mockResolvedValue({ items: [hit("a")], next_cursor: null, source: "scrape" } as never);
+    const { showing } = mount({ source: "scrape", asked: false });
+    await waitFor(() => expect(search).toHaveBeenCalledWith("lofi", null, 20));
+    showing(40);
+    await waitFor(() => expect(search).toHaveBeenCalledWith("lofi", null, 40));
+  });
+
+  it("says the instance's own source while the first answer is on its way", () => {
+    vi.spyOn(api, "searchYoutube").mockReturnValue(new Promise(() => {}));
+    mount({ source: "scrape", asked: false });
+    expect(screen.getByText("feed.yt.searching")).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(screen.getByText("feed.yt.freeNote")).toBeTruthy();
+  });
+
+  it("turned off on this instance, lets the server's refusal say so — no press offered", async () => {
+    vi.spyOn(api, "searchYoutube").mockRejectedValue(
+      new HttpError(409, "Live search is off", { code: "refused", reason: "search_disabled" }),
+    );
+    mount({ source: "api", asked: false, enabled: false });
+    expect(await screen.findByText("Live search is off")).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(screen.queryByRole("button", { name: "feed.yt.runAgain" })).toBeNull();
+  });
+});

frontend/src/modules/feed/module.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { YouTubeIcon } from "../../lib/brandIcons";
 import { lazyWithPreload, lazyWithPreloadAlongside } from "../../lib/lazyWithPreload";
 import type { ModuleDef } from "../../lib/moduleDef";
 import { FEED_KEYS } from "../../lib/urlState";
+import { YT_SEARCH_KEYS } from "../../lib/ytSearchUrlState";
 import { FeedStore } from "./FeedStore";
 
 // The rail loads with the page (lazyWithPreloadAlongside), so it never arrives after it.
@@ -16,7 +17,8 @@ export const feedModule: ModuleDef = {
   Rail,
   Page: lazyWithPreloadAlongside(() => import("./FeedPage"), Rail),
   Store: FeedStore,
-  urlKeys: FEED_KEYS,
+  // Its filters, and the live YouTube search shown in its place (lib/ytSearchUrlState).
+  urlKeys: [...FEED_KEYS, ...YT_SEARCH_KEYS],
   playsVideos: true,
 };
 

frontend/src/modules/home/Home.dom.test.tsx

@@ -174,8 +174,9 @@ function mountWithClient() {
 }
 
 beforeEach(() => {
-  // Home keeps its question on the history entry (Back restores it): each test starts a fresh one.
-  window.history.replaceState(null, "");
+  // Home keeps its question on the history entry (Back restores it) and its budget in the address:
+  // each test starts a fresh one of both.
+  window.history.replaceState(null, "", "/");
   discover.mockReset();
   discoverPick.mockReset();
   setPage.mockReset();
@@ -636,6 +637,37 @@ describe("Home", () => {
     await waitFor(() => expect(discoverPick.mock.lastCall).toEqual(asked));
   });
 
+  it("names the chosen budget in the address, and the default by leaving it out", async () => {
+    mount();
+    await screen.findByText("Hero v1");
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByText("home.budget.long"));
+    await waitFor(() => expect(window.location.search).toBe("?hb=long"));
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByText("home.budget.any"));
+    await waitFor(() => expect(window.location.search).toBe(""));
+  });
+
+  it("opens on the budget a link names — the question's draw is not the link's", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(
+      { sfHome: { budget: "short", seed: 7, press: 1, seen: ["youtube:v1"] } },
+      "",
+      "/?page=home&hb=long",
+    );
+    mount();
+    await waitFor(() => expect(discover).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith("long", 0, "en"));
+    expect(discoverPick).not.toHaveBeenCalled(); // a question left under another budget is not reused
+  });
+
+  it("an address naming no budget opens on the default, over a question left under another", async () => {
+    window.history.replaceState(
+      { sfHome: { budget: "short", seed: 7, press: 1, seen: [] } },
+      "",
+      "/?page=home",
+    );
+    mount();
+    await waitFor(() => expect(discover).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith("any", 0, "en"));
+    expect(discoverPick).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   // Measured in the browser (2026-09-07), before the fix: the palette's "Meglepetés" arrived at Home
   // as `start=2` — two picks deep before the page had painted once — because StrictMode invokes a
   // mount effect twice with the same render snapshot, and a reroll is not idempotent. The token is

frontend/src/modules/home/Home.tsx

@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ import {
 } from "../../components/ui/mediaCardStyles";
 import RemoteImage from "../../components/ui/RemoteImage";
 import { useOpenLinkedPlayer } from "../../features/player/useOpenLinkedPlayer";
+import { budgetFrom, budgetParams, DEFAULT_BUDGET } from "../../lib/homeUrlState";
+import { useUrlMirror } from "../../lib/useUrlMirror";
 
 // The Home surface — "Mit nézzek most?".
 //
@@ -701,6 +703,15 @@ function readSavedQuestion(): SavedQuestion | null {
   };
 }
 
+/** The question the page opens with: the budget its address names (a link wins, and an address
+ *  naming none means the default), with the rest of what the entry was left with only when that was
+ *  asked under the same budget. */
+function openingQuestion(): { budget: DiscoverBudget; saved: SavedQuestion | null } {
+  const budget = budgetFrom(new URLSearchParams(window.location.search)) ?? DEFAULT_BUDGET;
+  const saved = readSavedQuestion();
+  return { budget, saved: saved?.budget === budget ? saved : null };
+}
+
 export default function Home() {
   const { t, i18n } = useTranslation();
   const qc = useQueryClient();
@@ -710,8 +721,10 @@ export default function Home() {
   // The question on screen lives on this page's history ENTRY as well: opening a card leaves Home
   // (it unmounts), and Back used to come back to "Doesn't matter" and a different hero — whose card
   // then left the Continue rail, so the keyboard landed on its neighbour (prod UAT 2026-09-19).
-  const [saved] = useState(readSavedQuestion);
-  const [budget, setBudget] = useState<DiscoverBudget>(saved?.budget ?? "any");
+  // The budget alone is also in the address (lib/homeUrlState): a setting, unlike the draw under it.
+  const [{ budget: openedBudget, saved }] = useState(openingQuestion);
+  const [budget, setBudget] = useState<DiscoverBudget>(openedBudget);
+  useUrlMirror(budgetParams(budget));
   // 0 = "the hero the page loaded with". Any other value is a reroll, answered by its own query so
   // pressing the button does not refetch the rails under the user's cursor.
   const [seed, setSeed] = useState(saved?.seed ?? 0);

frontend/src/modules/home/module.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { Home } from "lucide-react";
 import { lazyWithPreload } from "../../lib/lazyWithPreload";
 import type { ModuleDef } from "../../lib/moduleDef";
+import { HOME_KEYS } from "../../lib/homeUrlState";
 
 // This page as the shell and the navigation know it (lib/moduleDef). Its page loads lazily.
 export const homeModule: ModuleDef = {
@@ -11,8 +12,8 @@ export const homeModule: ModuleDef = {
   icon: Home,
   Page: lazyWithPreload(() => import("./Home")),
   maxWidth: "80rem",
-  // Nothing of its own: the question is an answer, not a setting — the same question draws other
-  // cards once what you have watched moves on.
-  urlKeys: [],
+  // Its time budget, a setting. Not the question's draw: the same question draws other cards once
+  // what you have watched moves on (lib/homeUrlState).
+  urlKeys: HOME_KEYS,
   playsVideos: true,
 };

frontend/src/modules/scheduler/Scheduler.dom.test.tsx

@@ -380,6 +380,8 @@ describe("a row's history", () => {
           closeChannel: () => {},
           enterYtSearch: () => {},
           exitYtSearch: () => {},
+          askYtSearch: () => {},
+          setYtCount: () => {},
         }}
       >
         <QueryClientProvider client={qc}>