diff --git a/frontend/src/app/components/Layout/ReconnectingPill.tsx b/frontend/src/app/components/Layout/ReconnectingPill.tsx
index 00a90f79..8ae5cc2a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/components/Layout/ReconnectingPill.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/app/components/Layout/ReconnectingPill.tsx
@@ -1,21 +1,32 @@
-import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
+import React, { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';
 import { createPortal } from 'react-dom';
 import Box from '@mui/material/Box';
 import Grow from '@mui/material/Grow';
 import Typography from '@mui/material/Typography';
 import CircularProgress from '@mui/material/CircularProgress';
+import CheckRoundedIcon from '@mui/icons-material/CheckRounded';
 import { useClaudeTokens } from '@/shared/styles/ThemeContext';
 import { backendReachable, onBackendReachability } from '@/shared/backendConnection';
 
 // Honest "the local backend went away" state, so an unreachable backend never reads as a silent
 // forever-spinner (ENG-242). The interceptor's background probe self-heals; this only tells the
 // user what is happening while it does, and lets them force a reload if they are impatient.
+//
+// It also CLOSES the story. The pill used to just vanish when the backend came back, which leaves
+// the one question the user actually has unanswered: did it work, or did the notice give up? A brief
+// "Reconnected" is the whole feature, deliberately not a permanent status bar: a surface that is
+// always there becomes furniture nobody reads, and the interesting states are rare by design.
+const RECONNECTED_HOLD_MS = 2600;
+
 const ReconnectingPill: React.FC = () => {
   const c = useClaudeTokens();
   const [reachable, setReachable] = useState(true);
   // Only show after a short grace so a normal ~4s backend respawn heals invisibly; the pill is
   // for the case that actually worried the user, a backend that stays gone.
   const [showable, setShowable] = useState(false);
+  const [justHealed, setJustHealed] = useState(false);
+  // Only confirm a recovery the user was actually told about; a heal nobody saw needs no receipt.
+  const wasVisibleRef = useRef(false);
 
   useEffect(() => {
     setReachable(backendReachable());
@@ -28,7 +39,18 @@ const ReconnectingPill: React.FC = () => {
     return () => clearTimeout(t);
   }, [reachable]);
 
-  const show = !reachable && showable;
+  const showProblem = !reachable && showable;
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (showProblem) { wasVisibleRef.current = true; return undefined; }
+    if (!reachable || !wasVisibleRef.current) return undefined;
+    wasVisibleRef.current = false;
+    setJustHealed(true);
+    const t = setTimeout(() => setJustHealed(false), RECONNECTED_HOLD_MS);
+    return () => clearTimeout(t);
+  }, [showProblem, reachable]);
+
+  const show = showProblem || justHealed;
 
   // Portal to body: `position: fixed` resolves against a transformed ancestor, not the viewport, and
   // AppShell sits inside one, so the pill rendered visibly off-centre (measured on a screenshot).
@@ -39,31 +61,42 @@ const ReconnectingPill: React.FC = () => {
     <Box sx={{ position: 'fixed', bottom: 16, left: 0, right: 0, zIndex: 1400, display: 'flex', justifyContent: 'center', pointerEvents: 'none' }}>
     <Grow in={show} unmountOnExit>
       <Box
-        onClick={() => window.location.reload()}
-        role="button"
-        aria-label="Reconnecting to OpenSwarm; click to reload"
+        onClick={showProblem ? () => window.location.reload() : undefined}
+        role={showProblem ? 'button' : 'status'}
+        aria-label={showProblem ? 'Reconnecting to OpenSwarm; click to reload' : 'Reconnected to OpenSwarm'}
         sx={{
-          pointerEvents: 'auto',
+          pointerEvents: showProblem ? 'auto' : 'none',
           display: 'flex',
           alignItems: 'center',
           gap: 1,
           px: 1.75,
           py: 1,
           borderRadius: 999,
-          cursor: 'pointer',
+          cursor: showProblem ? 'pointer' : 'default',
           WebkitAppRegion: 'no-drag',
           background: c.bg.elevated,
           border: `1px solid ${c.border.strong}`,
           boxShadow: c.shadow.lg,
         } as object}
       >
-        <CircularProgress size={14} sx={{ color: c.text.secondary }} />
-        <Typography sx={{ fontSize: '0.8125rem', color: c.text.primary, fontWeight: 500 }}>
-          Reconnecting to OpenSwarm…
-        </Typography>
-        <Typography sx={{ fontSize: '0.75rem', color: c.text.tertiary }}>
-          click to reload
-        </Typography>
+        {showProblem ? (
+          <>
+            <CircularProgress size={14} sx={{ color: c.text.secondary }} />
+            <Typography sx={{ fontSize: '0.8125rem', color: c.text.primary, fontWeight: 500 }}>
+              Reconnecting to OpenSwarm…
+            </Typography>
+            <Typography sx={{ fontSize: '0.75rem', color: c.text.tertiary }}>
+              click to reload
+            </Typography>
+          </>
+        ) : (
+          <>
+            <CheckRoundedIcon sx={{ fontSize: 16, color: c.status.success }} />
+            <Typography sx={{ fontSize: '0.8125rem', color: c.text.primary, fontWeight: 500 }}>
+              Reconnected
+            </Typography>
+          </>
+        )}
       </Box>
     </Grow>
     </Box>,
diff --git a/frontend/src/shared/state/dashboardLayoutSlice.ts b/frontend/src/shared/state/dashboardLayoutSlice.ts
index 7b38a35c..e15ebd5f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/shared/state/dashboardLayoutSlice.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/shared/state/dashboardLayoutSlice.ts
@@ -131,6 +131,22 @@ export type ClosedCard =
 export type ClosedCardKind = ClosedCard['kind'];
 
 const RECENTLY_CLOSED_CAP = 25;
+// Reopening a chat should drop it back where it was, so we remember closed cards' geometry. Nothing
+// pruned it and it is persisted, so it grew forever and rode every layout save to disk: measured 555
+// entries from 250 closes (the reconcile path records one too, so a close can bill twice). A position
+// from hundreds of cards ago has no value, nobody reopens that, so keep the recent ones and drop the
+// rest. Insertion order on a string-keyed object is the age order we need.
+const CLOSED_POSITIONS_CAP = 50;
+
+function rememberClosedPosition(
+  map: Record<string, CardPosition>, id: string, pos: CardPosition,
+): void {
+  // Re-closing the same card must refresh its age, not keep the stale slot.
+  delete map[id];
+  map[id] = pos;
+  const ids = Object.keys(map);
+  for (let i = 0; i < ids.length - CLOSED_POSITIONS_CAP; i++) delete map[ids[i]];
+}
 
 export interface DashboardLayoutState {
   cards: Record<string, CardPosition>;
@@ -799,7 +815,7 @@ const dashboardLayoutSlice = createSlice({
 
       for (const id of Object.keys(state.cards)) {
         if (!liveIds.has(id)) {
-          state.closedCardPositions[id] = { ...state.cards[id] };
+          rememberClosedPosition(state.closedCardPositions, id, { ...state.cards[id] });
           delete state.cards[id];
           // A dead card must never keep owning a tile: an orphaned 'fullscreen' entry hides ALL chrome until reload.
           delete state.tiledCards[id];
@@ -1779,7 +1795,7 @@ const dashboardLayoutSlice = createSlice({
       state,
       action: PayloadAction<{ sessionId: string; position: CardPosition }>
     ) {
-      state.closedCardPositions[action.payload.sessionId] = action.payload.position;
+      rememberClosedPosition(state.closedCardPositions, action.payload.sessionId, action.payload.position);
     },
 
     replaceDraftId(