diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread/index.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread/index.tsx
index 946860795e3f..8be74ba9e107 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread/index.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread/index.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { type FC, useCallback, useMemo, useRef, useState } from 'react'
+import { memo, useCallback, useMemo, useRef, useState } from 'react'
 
 import { AssistantMessage } from '@/components/assistant-ui/thread/assistant-message'
 import { ThreadMessageList } from '@/components/assistant-ui/thread/list'
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import { notifyError } from '@/store/notifications'
 
 type ThreadLoadingState = 'response' | 'session'
 
-export const Thread: FC<{
+interface ThreadProps {
   clampToComposer?: boolean
   cwd?: string | null
   gateway?: HermesGateway | null
@@ -28,7 +28,16 @@ export const Thread: FC<{
   onRestoreToMessage?: (messageId: string, target?: RestoreMessageTarget) => Promise<void> | void
   sessionId?: string | null
   sessionKey?: string | null
-}> = ({
+}
+
+// memo'd on purpose, and load-bearing for session-switch cost. ChatView
+// re-renders on every route change (it reads `location`), and this subtree is
+// the entire transcript — without a bail-out here the router's context update
+// rebuilds every message of the OUTGOING thread before it is replaced. The
+// props above are all stable across a plain re-render (see the component-map
+// and loadingIndicator memos below), so the only thing that gets through is a
+// genuine change.
+export const Thread = memo(function Thread({
   clampToComposer = false,
   cwd = null,
   gateway = null,
@@ -40,7 +49,7 @@ export const Thread: FC<{
   onRestoreToMessage,
   sessionId = null,
   sessionKey
-}) => {
+}: ThreadProps) {
   const { t } = useI18n()
   const copy = t.assistant.thread
 
@@ -77,9 +86,21 @@ export const Thread: FC<{
   // deps. Only their definedness stays a dep — it gates UI (the user
   // Stop button, the restore-confirm affordance). Assigned during render
   // (the useStoreSelector pattern) so the ref never lags a render.
+  //
+  // cwd / gateway / sessionId ride the same ref for the same reason, and it
+  // is load-bearing on the hot path: all three change on EVERY session
+  // switch, so listing them as deps re-minted these types mid-switch and
+  // remounted the entire OUTGOING transcript — thousands of renders of a
+  // thread that was about to be replaced, all of it before the resume RPC
+  // had even been sent. They are read inside the edit composer (which only
+  // exists while a message is being edited), never during a plain render,
+  // so a ref read is always current by the time it matters.
   const callbacksRef = useRef({ onBranchInNewChat, onCancel, onDismissError, onRestoreToMessage })
   callbacksRef.current = { onBranchInNewChat, onCancel, onDismissError, onRestoreToMessage }
 
+  const editContextRef = useRef({ cwd, gateway, sessionId })
+  editContextRef.current = { cwd, gateway, sessionId }
+
   const hasBranchInNewChat = Boolean(onBranchInNewChat)
   const hasCancel = Boolean(onCancel)
   const hasDismissError = Boolean(onDismissError)
@@ -96,7 +117,11 @@ export const Thread: FC<{
         />
       ),
       SystemMessage,
-      UserEditComposer: () => <UserEditComposer cwd={cwd} gateway={gateway} sessionId={sessionId} />,
+      UserEditComposer: () => {
+        const { cwd: editCwd, gateway: editGateway, sessionId: editSessionId } = editContextRef.current
+
+        return <UserEditComposer cwd={editCwd} gateway={editGateway} sessionId={editSessionId} />
+      },
       UserMessage: () => (
         <UserMessage
           onCancel={hasCancel ? () => callbacksRef.current.onCancel?.() : undefined}
@@ -104,16 +129,7 @@ export const Thread: FC<{
         />
       )
     }),
-    [
-      cwd,
-      gateway,
-      hasBranchInNewChat,
-      hasCancel,
-      hasDismissError,
-      hasRestoreToMessage,
-      requestRestoreConfirm,
-      sessionId
-    ]
+    [hasBranchInNewChat, hasCancel, hasDismissError, hasRestoreToMessage, requestRestoreConfirm]
   )
 
   const emptyPlaceholder = intro ? (
@@ -122,13 +138,20 @@ export const Thread: FC<{
     </div>
   ) : undefined
 
+  // Stable element identity, for the same reason the component map above is
+  // memoized: this is a prop of the memo'd ThreadMessageList, so a fresh
+  // element every render defeats the bail-out and drags the whole transcript
+  // into the switch's render pass. It takes no props, so one element is
+  // always correct.
+  const loadingIndicator = useMemo(() => <BackgroundResumeNotice />, [])
+
   return (
     <div className="relative grid h-full min-h-0 max-w-full grid-rows-[minmax(0,1fr)] overflow-hidden bg-transparent contain-[layout_paint]">
       <ThreadMessageList
         clampToComposer={clampToComposer}
         components={messageComponents}
         emptyPlaceholder={emptyPlaceholder}
-        loadingIndicator={<BackgroundResumeNotice />}
+        loadingIndicator={loadingIndicator}
         sessionKey={sessionKey}
       />
       {loading === 'session' && <CenteredThreadSpinner />}
@@ -144,4 +167,4 @@ export const Thread: FC<{
       />
     </div>
   )
-}
+})