diff --git a/hermes_cli/web_server.py b/hermes_cli/web_server.py
index 5527039cf1..63d8455647 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/web_server.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/web_server.py
@@ -2949,6 +2949,20 @@ def _resolve_chat_argv(
     argv, cwd = _make_tui_argv(PROJECT_ROOT / "ui-tui", tui_dev=False)
     env = os.environ.copy()
     env.setdefault("NODE_ENV", "production")
+    # Embedded browser chat should render into the primary screen buffer, not
+    # the terminal alternate screen. Alt-screen is ideal for the native CLI,
+    # but it intentionally has no host scrollback; in the web dashboard that
+    # makes mouse-wheel history feel broken even when xterm itself is healthy.
+    # INLINE mode keeps transcript rows in the normal buffer so browser-side
+    # scrollback works predictably.
+    env.setdefault("HERMES_TUI_INLINE", "1")
+    # Browser-embedded chat should prefer stable wheel-based scrollback over
+    # native terminal mouse tracking. When mouse tracking is enabled, wheel
+    # events are consumed by the TUI and forwarded as terminal input, which
+    # makes browser-side transcript scrolling feel broken. Keep the terminal
+    # build unchanged for native CLI usage; only disable mouse tracking for
+    # the dashboard PTY path.
+    env.setdefault("HERMES_TUI_DISABLE_MOUSE", "1")
 
     if resume:
         env["HERMES_TUI_RESUME"] = resume
diff --git a/web/src/components/ChatSidebar.tsx b/web/src/components/ChatSidebar.tsx
index 1c92311288..38f1cf80ab 100644
--- a/web/src/components/ChatSidebar.tsx
+++ b/web/src/components/ChatSidebar.tsx
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ export function ChatSidebar({ channel, className }: ChatSidebarProps) {
   return (
     <aside
       className={cn(
-        "flex h-full w-full min-w-0 shrink-0 flex-col gap-3 normal-case lg:w-80",
+        "flex h-full w-full min-w-0 shrink-0 flex-col gap-3 overflow-y-auto overflow-x-hidden pr-1 normal-case lg:w-80",
         className,
       )}
     >
@@ -355,12 +355,12 @@ export function ChatSidebar({ channel, className }: ChatSidebarProps) {
         </Card>
       )}
 
-      <Card className="flex min-h-0 flex-1 flex-col px-2 py-2">
+      <Card className="flex min-h-0 flex-none flex-col px-2 py-2">
         <div className="px-1 pb-2 text-xs uppercase tracking-wider text-muted-foreground">
           tools
         </div>
 
-        <div className="flex min-h-0 flex-1 flex-col gap-1.5 overflow-y-auto pr-1">
+        <div className="flex min-h-0 flex-col gap-1.5">
           {tools.length === 0 ? (
             <div className="px-2 py-4 text-center text-xs text-muted-foreground">
               no tool calls yet
diff --git a/web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx b/web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx
index 085d1cfc12..321dfb8d0e 100644
--- a/web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx
+++ b/web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx
@@ -147,8 +147,14 @@ export default function ChatPage({ isActive = true }: { isActive?: boolean }) {
       : false,
   );
 
-  const resumeRef = useRef<string | null>(searchParams.get("resume"));
-  const channel = useMemo(() => generateChannelId(), []);
+  // The dashboard keeps ChatPage mounted persistently so the PTY survives tab
+  // switches. That is great for ordinary /chat navigation, but it means query
+  // param changes do NOT remount the component. Resume-in-chat from the
+  // Sessions page relies on `/chat?resume=<id>` changing at runtime, so we must
+  // treat the current resume target as part of the PTY identity and rebuild the
+  // terminal session when it changes.
+  const resumeId = searchParams.get("resume");
+  const channel = useMemo(() => generateChannelId(), [resumeId]);
 
   useEffect(() => {
     const mql = window.matchMedia("(max-width: 1023px)");
@@ -254,7 +260,11 @@ export default function ChatPage({ isActive = true }: { isActive?: boolean }) {
       fontWeight: "400",
       fontWeightBold: "700",
       macOptionIsMeta: true,
-      scrollback: 0,
+      // Keep a reasonable terminal history in the browser so users can
+      // scroll back through earlier conversation/tool output. A zero
+      // scrollback makes wheel scrolling feel broken once the visible
+      // viewport fills.
+      scrollback: 5000,
       theme: TERMINAL_THEME,
     });
     termRef.current = term;
@@ -357,6 +367,25 @@ export default function ChatPage({ isActive = true }: { isActive?: boolean }) {
     fitRef.current = fit;
     term.loadAddon(fit);
 
+    // Force a browser-native-feeling wheel path for the embedded chat.
+    // The default xterm.js / terminal-app interaction can be ambiguous in
+    // our PTY setup: wheel events may be interpreted as terminal mouse
+    // input, ignored by the app, or otherwise fail to move the browser-side
+    // scrollback even when history exists. Intercept the wheel gesture at
+    // the terminal boundary and map it directly onto xterm's own scrollback.
+    term.attachCustomWheelEventHandler((ev) => {
+      const delta = ev.deltaY;
+      if (!delta) {
+        return false;
+      }
+
+      const step = Math.max(1, Math.round(Math.abs(delta) / 40));
+      term.scrollLines(delta > 0 ? step : -step);
+      ev.preventDefault();
+      ev.stopPropagation();
+      return false;
+    });
+
     const unicode11 = new Unicode11Addon();
     term.loadAddon(unicode11);
     term.unicode.activeVersion = "11";
@@ -484,7 +513,7 @@ export default function ChatPage({ isActive = true }: { isActive?: boolean }) {
     });
 
     // WebSocket
-    const url = buildWsUrl(token, resumeRef.current, channel);
+    const url = buildWsUrl(token, resumeId, channel);
     const ws = new WebSocket(url);
     ws.binaryType = "arraybuffer";
     wsRef.current = ws;
@@ -530,53 +559,27 @@ export default function ChatPage({ isActive = true }: { isActive?: boolean }) {
       term.write("\r\n\x1b[90m[session ended]\x1b[0m\r\n");
     };
 
-    // Keystrokes + mouse events → PTY, with cell-level dedup for motion.
+    // Keystrokes → PTY.
     //
-    // Ink enables `\x1b[?1003h` (any-motion tracking), which asks the
-    // terminal to report every mouse-move as an SGR mouse event even with
-    // no button held.  xterm.js happily emits one report per pixel of
-    // mouse motion; without deduping, a casual mouse-over floods Ink with
-    // hundreds of redraw-triggering reports and the UI goes laggy
-    // (scrolling stutters, clicks land on stale positions by the time
-    // Ink finishes processing the motion backlog).
+    // IMPORTANT:
+    // The embedded web chat has occasionally surfaced stray letters/digits
+    // in the input line after a turn completes. The most likely culprit is
+    // browser-side terminal control traffic being forwarded back into the
+    // PTY as if it were user text. SGR mouse tracking is the highest-risk
+    // path here: xterm.js emits raw CSI reports (`\x1b[<...`) that look like
+    // ordinary bytes to the backend.
     //
-    // We keep track of the last cell we reported a motion for.  Press,
-    // release, and wheel events always pass through; motion events only
-    // pass through if the cell changed.  Parsing is cheap — SGR reports
-    // are short literal strings.
+    // For the browser embed we prefer input stability over terminal-style
+    // mouse reporting, so we drop SGR mouse reports entirely instead of
+    // forwarding them into Hermes. Keyboard input, paste, and resize still
+    // behave normally.
     // eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex -- intentional ESC byte in xterm SGR mouse report parser
     const SGR_MOUSE_RE = /^\x1b\[<(\d+);(\d+);(\d+)([Mm])$/;
-    let lastMotionCell = { col: -1, row: -1 };
-    let lastMotionCb = -1;
     const onDataDisposable = term.onData((data) => {
       if (ws.readyState !== WebSocket.OPEN) return;
 
-      const m = SGR_MOUSE_RE.exec(data);
-      if (m) {
-        const cb = parseInt(m[1], 10);
-        const col = parseInt(m[2], 10);
-        const row = parseInt(m[3], 10);
-        const released = m[4] === "m";
-        // Motion events have bit 0x20 (32) set in the button code.
-        // Wheel events have bit 0x40 (64); always forward wheel.
-        const isMotion = (cb & 0x20) !== 0 && (cb & 0x40) === 0;
-        const isWheel = (cb & 0x40) !== 0;
-        if (isMotion && !isWheel && !released) {
-          if (
-            col === lastMotionCell.col &&
-            row === lastMotionCell.row &&
-            cb === lastMotionCb
-          ) {
-            return; // same cell + same button state; skip redundant report
-          }
-          lastMotionCell = { col, row };
-          lastMotionCb = cb;
-        } else {
-          // Non-motion event (press, release, wheel) — reset dedup state
-          // so the next motion after this always reports.
-          lastMotionCell = { col: -1, row: -1 };
-          lastMotionCb = -1;
-        }
+      if (SGR_MOUSE_RE.test(data)) {
+        return;
       }
 
       ws.send(data);
@@ -619,7 +622,7 @@ export default function ChatPage({ isActive = true }: { isActive?: boolean }) {
         copyResetRef.current = null;
       }
     };
-  }, [channel]);
+  }, [channel, resumeId]);
 
   // When the user returns to the chat tab (isActive: false → true), the
   // terminal host just transitioned from display:none to display:flex.
@@ -814,9 +817,9 @@ export default function ChatPage({ isActive = true }: { isActive?: boolean }) {
             id="chat-side-panel"
             role="complementary"
             aria-label={modelToolsLabel}
-            className="flex min-h-0 shrink-0 flex-col lg:h-full lg:w-80"
+            className="flex min-h-0 shrink-0 flex-col overflow-hidden lg:h-full lg:w-80"
           >
-            <div className="min-h-0 flex-1 overflow-y-auto overflow-x-hidden">
+            <div className="min-h-0 flex-1 overflow-hidden">
               <ChatSidebar channel={channel} />
             </div>
           </div>