diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/session-link-title.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/session-link-title.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b6fe39cf8f9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/session-link-title.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+
+import { getSession } from '@/hermes'
+import { $sessions } from '@/store/session'
+import type { SessionInfo } from '@/types/hermes'
+
+import {
+  __resetSessionLinkTitleCache,
+  fetchSessionLinkTitle,
+  lookupLocalSessionTitle,
+  parseSessionRefValue,
+  sessionRefCacheKey,
+  sessionRefFallbackLabel
+} from './session-link-title'
+
+vi.mock('@/hermes', () => ({
+  getSession: vi.fn()
+}))
+
+function makeSession(overrides: Partial<SessionInfo> = {}): SessionInfo {
+  return {
+    ended_at: null,
+    id: '20260101_abc123',
+    input_tokens: 0,
+    is_active: false,
+    last_active: 1_000,
+    message_count: 1,
+    model: null,
+    output_tokens: 0,
+    preview: null,
+    profile: 'default',
+    source: 'cli',
+    started_at: 1_000,
+    title: 'Research notes',
+    tool_call_count: 0,
+    ...overrides
+  }
+}
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  __resetSessionLinkTitleCache()
+  $sessions.set([])
+  vi.mocked(getSession).mockReset()
+})
+
+describe('parseSessionRefValue', () => {
+  it('splits profile and session id', () => {
+    expect(parseSessionRefValue('work/20260101_abc123')).toEqual({
+      profile: 'work',
+      sessionId: '20260101_abc123'
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('treats bare values as session ids', () => {
+    expect(parseSessionRefValue('20260101_abc123')).toEqual({ sessionId: '20260101_abc123' })
+  })
+})
+
+describe('sessionRefFallbackLabel', () => {
+  it('truncates long ids', () => {
+    expect(sessionRefFallbackLabel('default/20260610_120000_abcdef')).toBe('20260610…')
+  })
+
+  it('leaves short ids alone', () => {
+    expect(sessionRefFallbackLabel('work/abc123')).toBe('abc123')
+  })
+})
+
+describe('lookupLocalSessionTitle', () => {
+  it('reads from the in-memory session list', () => {
+    $sessions.set([makeSession({ profile: 'work', title: 'Branch plan' })])
+
+    expect(lookupLocalSessionTitle('work/20260101_abc123')).toBe('Branch plan')
+  })
+
+  it('matches the lineage root so a compressed chat still resolves', () => {
+    $sessions.set([makeSession({ _lineage_root_id: '20260101_abc123', id: '20260102_tip', title: 'Compressed chat' })])
+
+    expect(lookupLocalSessionTitle('20260101_abc123')).toBe('Compressed chat')
+  })
+
+  it('ignores a same-id row owned by another profile', () => {
+    $sessions.set([makeSession({ profile: 'work', title: 'Work chat' })])
+
+    expect(lookupLocalSessionTitle('personal/20260101_abc123')).toBe('')
+  })
+
+  it('returns empty for an untitled row so the caller can fall back to the id', () => {
+    $sessions.set([makeSession({ preview: null, title: null })])
+
+    expect(lookupLocalSessionTitle('default/20260101_abc123')).toBe('')
+  })
+})
+
+describe('fetchSessionLinkTitle', () => {
+  it('dedupes concurrent lookups', async () => {
+    vi.mocked(getSession).mockResolvedValue(makeSession({ title: 'From API' }))
+
+    const value = 'default/20260101_abc123'
+    const [first, second] = await Promise.all([fetchSessionLinkTitle(value), fetchSessionLinkTitle(value)])
+
+    expect(first).toBe('From API')
+    expect(second).toBe('From API')
+    expect(getSession).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    expect(getSession).toHaveBeenCalledWith('20260101_abc123', 'default')
+  })
+
+  it('uses the local sidebar row before calling the API', async () => {
+    $sessions.set([makeSession({ title: 'Cached title' })])
+
+    await expect(fetchSessionLinkTitle('default/20260101_abc123')).resolves.toBe('Cached title')
+    expect(getSession).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('keeps separate cache entries per profile', async () => {
+    vi.mocked(getSession).mockImplementation(async (id, profile) =>
+      makeSession({ id, profile: profile ?? 'default', title: profile === 'work' ? 'Work chat' : 'Home chat' })
+    )
+
+    await expect(fetchSessionLinkTitle('default/20260101_abc123')).resolves.toBe('Home chat')
+    await expect(fetchSessionLinkTitle('work/20260101_abc123')).resolves.toBe('Work chat')
+    expect(sessionRefCacheKey('default/20260101_abc123')).not.toBe(sessionRefCacheKey('work/20260101_abc123'))
+  })
+
+  it('falls back to the preview when the session has no title', async () => {
+    vi.mocked(getSession).mockResolvedValue(makeSession({ preview: 'Summarize this repo', title: null }))
+
+    await expect(fetchSessionLinkTitle('20260101_abc123')).resolves.toBe('Summarize this repo')
+  })
+
+  it('resolves empty when the id is not on this backend', async () => {
+    vi.mocked(getSession).mockRejectedValue(new Error('Session not found'))
+
+    await expect(fetchSessionLinkTitle('default/missing')).resolves.toBe('')
+  })
+
+  it('resolves empty when the desktop bridge is unavailable', async () => {
+    vi.mocked(getSession).mockImplementation(() => {
+      throw new TypeError("Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'api')")
+    })
+
+    await expect(fetchSessionLinkTitle('default/20260101_abc123')).resolves.toBe('')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/session-link-title.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/session-link-title.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fc86a112f2e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/session-link-title.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+/**
+ * Resolves `@session:<profile>/<id>` reference values to the session's title.
+ *
+ * Same shape as the external-link title resolver (`external-link.tsx`): a
+ * process-lifetime cache, in-flight dedupe, and subscribers so every chip for
+ * the same session repaints off one lookup. The sidebar list answers most
+ * lookups for free; only an unknown id costs a REST round-trip.
+ */
+import { useEffect, useMemo, useState } from 'react'
+
+import { getSession } from '@/hermes'
+import { $sessions, sessionMatchesStoredId } from '@/store/session'
+import type { SessionInfo } from '@/types/hermes'
+
+const titleCache = new Map<string, string>()
+const titleInflight = new Map<string, Promise<string>>()
+const titleSubs = new Map<string, Set<(value: string) => void>>()
+
+/** Session ids never contain a slash, so a slash unambiguously means
+ *  `<profile>/<id>` — mirrors the same split in `tools/session_search_tool.py`. */
+export function parseSessionRefValue(value: string): { profile?: string; sessionId: string } {
+  const trimmed = value.trim()
+  const slash = trimmed.indexOf('/')
+
+  if (slash === -1) {
+    return { sessionId: trimmed }
+  }
+
+  const profile = trimmed.slice(0, slash).trim()
+  const sessionId = trimmed.slice(slash + 1).trim()
+
+  return sessionId ? { profile: profile || undefined, sessionId } : { sessionId: trimmed }
+}
+
+export function sessionRefCacheKey(value: string): string {
+  const { profile, sessionId } = parseSessionRefValue(value)
+
+  return sessionId ? `${profile ?? ''}/${sessionId}` : ''
+}
+
+/** Chip label before (or without) a resolved title — a short, still-identifying id. */
+export function sessionRefFallbackLabel(value: string): string {
+  const { sessionId } = parseSessionRefValue(value)
+
+  if (!sessionId) {
+    return value
+  }
+
+  return sessionId.length > 10 ? `${sessionId.slice(0, 8)}…` : sessionId
+}
+
+/** Deliberately not `sessionTitle()` from chat-runtime: its "Untitled session"
+ *  fallback is a worse chip label than the short id, so an untitled row
+ *  resolves to empty and the caller's fallback wins. */
+function sessionRowTitle(row: SessionInfo): string {
+  return row.title?.trim() || row.preview?.trim() || ''
+}
+
+function profileMatches(sessionProfile: null | string | undefined, target?: string): boolean {
+  if (!target) {
+    return true
+  }
+
+  return ((sessionProfile ?? '').trim() || 'default') === (target.trim() || 'default')
+}
+
+export function lookupLocalSessionTitle(value: string): string {
+  const { profile, sessionId } = parseSessionRefValue(value)
+
+  if (!sessionId) {
+    return ''
+  }
+
+  const row = $sessions
+    .get()
+    .find(session => sessionMatchesStoredId(session, sessionId) && profileMatches(session.profile, profile))
+
+  return row ? sessionRowTitle(row) : ''
+}
+
+/** REST lookup that can't throw: the bridge is absent outside Electron, and a
+ *  session id that isn't on this backend 404s. Both mean "no title". */
+function requestSessionRow(sessionId: string, profile?: string): Promise<null | SessionInfo> {
+  try {
+    return Promise.resolve(getSession(sessionId, profile ?? null)).catch(() => null)
+  } catch {
+    return Promise.resolve(null)
+  }
+}
+
+export function fetchSessionLinkTitle(value: string): Promise<string> {
+  const key = sessionRefCacheKey(value)
+
+  if (!key) {
+    return Promise.resolve('')
+  }
+
+  const cached = titleCache.get(key)
+
+  if (cached !== undefined) {
+    return Promise.resolve(cached)
+  }
+
+  const inflight = titleInflight.get(key)
+
+  if (inflight) {
+    return inflight
+  }
+
+  const local = lookupLocalSessionTitle(value)
+
+  if (local) {
+    titleCache.set(key, local)
+
+    return Promise.resolve(local)
+  }
+
+  const { profile, sessionId } = parseSessionRefValue(value)
+
+  const promise = requestSessionRow(sessionId, profile)
+    .then(row => (row ? sessionRowTitle(row) : ''))
+    .then(title => {
+      titleCache.set(key, title)
+      titleInflight.delete(key)
+      titleSubs.get(key)?.forEach(notify => notify(title))
+
+      return title
+    })
+
+  titleInflight.set(key, promise)
+
+  return promise
+}
+
+export function useSessionLinkTitle(value: string, fallbackLabel?: string): string {
+  const key = useMemo(() => sessionRefCacheKey(value), [value])
+  const fallback = fallbackLabel?.trim() || sessionRefFallbackLabel(value)
+  const [title, setTitle] = useState(() => (key ? titleCache.get(key) || lookupLocalSessionTitle(value) : ''))
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!key) {
+      return
+    }
+
+    const known = titleCache.get(key) || lookupLocalSessionTitle(value)
+
+    setTitle(known)
+
+    if (known) {
+      return
+    }
+
+    const subs = titleSubs.get(key) ?? new Set<(resolved: string) => void>()
+
+    subs.add(setTitle)
+    titleSubs.set(key, subs)
+    void fetchSessionLinkTitle(value)
+
+    return () => {
+      subs.delete(setTitle)
+
+      if (!subs.size) {
+        titleSubs.delete(key)
+      }
+    }
+  }, [key, value])
+
+  return title || fallback
+}
+
+export function __resetSessionLinkTitleCache(): void {
+  titleCache.clear()
+  titleInflight.clear()
+  titleSubs.clear()
+}