@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
       name: "smoke",
       testMatch: [
         "**/smoke.spec.ts",
+        "**/navigation.spec.ts",
         "**/channels.spec.ts",
         "**/badge.spec.ts",
         "**/channel-browser.spec.ts",
 
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ import { useProfileQuery } from "@/features/profile/hooks";
 import {
   DEFAULT_SETTINGS_SECTION,
   type SettingsSection,
+  isSettingsSection,
 } from "@/features/settings/ui/SettingsPanels";
 import { HuddleBar, HuddleProvider } from "@/features/huddle";
 import { AppSidebar } from "@/features/sidebar/ui/AppSidebar";
@@ -95,11 +96,6 @@ export function AppShell() {
   const workspacesHook = useWorkspaces();
   const [isAddWorkspaceOpen, setIsAddWorkspaceOpen] = React.useState(false);
 
-  const [settingsOpen, setSettingsOpen] = React.useState(false);
-  const [settingsSection, setSettingsSection] = React.useState<SettingsSection>(
-    DEFAULT_SETTINGS_SECTION,
-  );
-
   const [isChannelManagementOpen, setIsChannelManagementOpen] =
     React.useState(false);
   const [searchFocusRequest, setSearchFocusRequest] = React.useState(0);
@@ -119,7 +115,9 @@ export function AppShell() {
     goHome,
     goProjects,
     goPulse,
+    goSettings,
     goWorkflows,
+    closeSettings,
     openSearchHit,
   } = useAppNavigation();
   const { canGoBack, canGoForward, goBack, goForward } =
@@ -128,6 +126,17 @@ export function AppShell() {
     () => deriveShellRoute(location.pathname),
     [location.pathname],
   );
+  // Settings lives in the history stack: /settings?section=… opens it, back
+  // (or "Back to app") returns to the previous entry — panels and all — and
+  // reloads restore the open section from the URL.
+  const settingsOpen = location.pathname === "/settings";
+  const locationSearchSection = (location.search as { section?: unknown })
+    .section;
+  const settingsSection: SettingsSection = isSettingsSection(
+    locationSearchSection,
+  )
+    ? locationSearchSection
+    : DEFAULT_SETTINGS_SECTION;
 
   const startupReady = useDeferredStartup();
 
@@ -336,7 +345,7 @@ export function AppShell() {
       identityQuery.data?.pubkey,
       notificationSettings.settings,
       notificationSettings.setDesktopEnabled,
-      selectedView === "home",
+      selectedView === "home" && !settingsOpen,
       getChannelReadAt,
       readStateVersion,
       highPriorityUnreadChannelIds,
@@ -420,15 +429,23 @@ export function AppShell() {
   const handleOpenSettings = React.useCallback(
     (section: SettingsSection = DEFAULT_SETTINGS_SECTION) => {
       setIsChannelManagementOpen(false);
-      setSettingsSection(section);
-      setSettingsOpen(true);
+      void goSettings(section);
     },
-    [],
+    [goSettings],
   );
 
   const handleCloseSettings = React.useCallback(() => {
-    setSettingsOpen(false);
-  }, []);
+    closeSettings();
+  }, [closeSettings]);
+
+  // Section switches rewrite the settings entry rather than stacking one
+  // history entry per section, so back always exits settings in one step.
+  const handleSettingsSectionChange = React.useCallback(
+    (section: SettingsSection) => {
+      void goSettings(section, { replace: true });
+    },
+    [goSettings],
+  );
 
   const handleOpenSearchResult = React.useCallback(
     (hit: SearchHit) => {
@@ -725,7 +742,7 @@ export function AppShell() {
                         notificationPermission={notificationSettings.permission}
                         notificationSettings={notificationSettings.settings}
                         onClose={handleCloseSettings}
-                        onSectionChange={setSettingsSection}
+                        onSectionChange={handleSettingsSectionChange}
                         onSetDesktopNotificationsEnabled={
                           notificationSettings.setDesktopEnabled
                         }
 
@@ -185,6 +185,27 @@ export function useAppNavigation() {
     [commitNavigation],
   );
 
+  const goSettings = React.useCallback(
+    (section?: string, behavior?: NavigationBehavior) =>
+      commitNavigation(
+        {
+          to: "/settings",
+          search: section ? { section } : {},
+        },
+        behavior,
+      ),
+    [commitNavigation],
+  );
+
+  const closeSettings = React.useCallback(() => {
+    if (canGoBack) {
+      router.history.back();
+      return;
+    }
+
+    void goHome({ replace: true });
+  }, [canGoBack, goHome, router.history]);
+
   const closeWorkflowDetail = React.useCallback(() => {
     if (canGoBack) {
       router.history.back();
@@ -231,6 +252,7 @@ export function useAppNavigation() {
 
   return {
     closeForumPost,
+    closeSettings,
     closeWorkflowDetail,
     goAgents,
     goChannel,
@@ -239,6 +261,7 @@ export function useAppNavigation() {
     goProject,
     goProjects,
     goPulse,
+    goSettings,
     goWorkflow,
     goWorkflows,
     openSearchHit,
 
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 import { Route as rootRouteImport } from "./routes/root";
 import { Route as workflowsRouteImport } from "./routes/workflows";
+import { Route as settingsRouteImport } from "./routes/settings";
 import { Route as pulseRouteImport } from "./routes/pulse";
 import { Route as projectsRouteImport } from "./routes/projects";
 import { Route as agentsRouteImport } from "./routes/agents";
@@ -20,6 +21,11 @@ const workflowsRoute = workflowsRouteImport.update({
   path: "/workflows",
   getParentRoute: () => rootRouteImport,
 } as any);
+const settingsRoute = settingsRouteImport.update({
+  id: "/settings",
+  path: "/settings",
+  getParentRoute: () => rootRouteImport,
+} as any);
 const pulseRoute = pulseRouteImport.update({
   id: "/pulse",
   path: "/pulse",
@@ -67,6 +73,7 @@ export interface FileRoutesByFullPath {
   "/agents": typeof agentsRoute;
   "/projects": typeof projectsRoute;
   "/pulse": typeof pulseRoute;
+  "/settings": typeof settingsRoute;
   "/workflows": typeof workflowsRoute;
   "/channels/$channelId": typeof channelsDotchannelIdRoute;
   "/projects/$projectId": typeof projectsDotprojectIdRoute;
@@ -78,6 +85,7 @@ export interface FileRoutesByTo {
   "/agents": typeof agentsRoute;
   "/projects": typeof projectsRoute;
   "/pulse": typeof pulseRoute;
+  "/settings": typeof settingsRoute;
   "/workflows": typeof workflowsRoute;
   "/channels/$channelId": typeof channelsDotchannelIdRoute;
   "/projects/$projectId": typeof projectsDotprojectIdRoute;
@@ -90,6 +98,7 @@ export interface FileRoutesById {
   "/agents": typeof agentsRoute;
   "/projects": typeof projectsRoute;
   "/pulse": typeof pulseRoute;
+  "/settings": typeof settingsRoute;
   "/workflows": typeof workflowsRoute;
   "/channels/$channelId": typeof channelsDotchannelIdRoute;
   "/projects/$projectId": typeof projectsDotprojectIdRoute;
@@ -103,6 +112,7 @@ export interface FileRouteTypes {
     | "/agents"
     | "/projects"
     | "/pulse"
+    | "/settings"
     | "/workflows"
     | "/channels/$channelId"
     | "/projects/$projectId"
@@ -114,6 +124,7 @@ export interface FileRouteTypes {
     | "/agents"
     | "/projects"
     | "/pulse"
+    | "/settings"
     | "/workflows"
     | "/channels/$channelId"
     | "/projects/$projectId"
@@ -125,6 +136,7 @@ export interface FileRouteTypes {
     | "/agents"
     | "/projects"
     | "/pulse"
+    | "/settings"
     | "/workflows"
     | "/channels/$channelId"
     | "/projects/$projectId"
@@ -137,6 +149,7 @@ export interface RootRouteChildren {
   agentsRoute: typeof agentsRoute;
   projectsRoute: typeof projectsRoute;
   pulseRoute: typeof pulseRoute;
+  settingsRoute: typeof settingsRoute;
   workflowsRoute: typeof workflowsRoute;
   channelsDotchannelIdRoute: typeof channelsDotchannelIdRoute;
   projectsDotprojectIdRoute: typeof projectsDotprojectIdRoute;
@@ -153,6 +166,13 @@ declare module "@tanstack/react-router" {
       preLoaderRoute: typeof workflowsRouteImport;
       parentRoute: typeof rootRouteImport;
     };
+    "/settings": {
+      id: "/settings";
+      path: "/settings";
+      fullPath: "/settings";
+      preLoaderRoute: typeof settingsRouteImport;
+      parentRoute: typeof rootRouteImport;
+    };
     "/pulse": {
       id: "/pulse";
       path: "/pulse";
@@ -217,6 +237,7 @@ const rootRouteChildren: RootRouteChildren = {
   agentsRoute: agentsRoute,
   projectsRoute: projectsRoute,
   pulseRoute: pulseRoute,
+  settingsRoute: settingsRoute,
   workflowsRoute: workflowsRoute,
   channelsDotchannelIdRoute: channelsDotchannelIdRoute,
   projectsDotprojectIdRoute: projectsDotprojectIdRoute,
 
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ export const routes = rootRoute("root.tsx", [
   index("index.tsx"),
   route("/agents", "agents.tsx"),
   route("/pulse", "pulse.tsx"),
+  route("/settings", "settings.tsx"),
   route("/workflows", "workflows.tsx"),
   route("/workflows/$workflowId", "workflows.$workflowId.tsx"),
   route("/projects", "projects.tsx"),
 
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ export function ChannelRouteScreen({
   React.useEffect(() => {
     let isCancelled = false;
 
-    if (!targetMessageId || selectedPostId) {
+    if ((!targetMessageId && !targetThreadRootId) || selectedPostId) {
       setTargetMessageEvents([]);
       return () => {
         isCancelled = true;
 
@@ -4,22 +4,32 @@ import { createFileRoute } from "@tanstack/react-router";
 import { ViewLoadingFallback } from "@/shared/ui/ViewLoadingFallback";
 
 type ChannelRouteSearch = {
+  agentSession?: string;
   messageId?: string;
+  profile?: string;
+  profileView?: "memories" | "channels";
+  thread?: string;
   threadRootId?: string;
 };
 
+function nonEmptyString(value: unknown): string | undefined {
+  return typeof value === "string" && value.length > 0 ? value : undefined;
+}
+
+function profileViewValue(value: unknown): "memories" | "channels" | undefined {
+  return value === "memories" || value === "channels" ? value : undefined;
+}
+
 function validateChannelSearch(
   search: Record<string, unknown>,
 ): ChannelRouteSearch {
   return {
-    messageId:
-      typeof search.messageId === "string" && search.messageId.length > 0
-        ? search.messageId
-        : undefined,
-    threadRootId:
-      typeof search.threadRootId === "string" && search.threadRootId.length > 0
-        ? search.threadRootId
-        : undefined,
+    agentSession: nonEmptyString(search.agentSession),
+    messageId: nonEmptyString(search.messageId),
+    profile: nonEmptyString(search.profile),
+    profileView: profileViewValue(search.profileView),
+    thread: nonEmptyString(search.thread),
+    threadRootId: nonEmptyString(search.threadRootId),
   };
 }
 
@@ -46,7 +56,7 @@ function ChannelRouteComponent() {
         selectedPostId={null}
         targetMessageId={search.messageId ?? null}
         targetReplyId={null}
-        targetThreadRootId={search.threadRootId ?? null}
+        targetThreadRootId={search.threadRootId ?? search.thread ?? null}
       />
     </React.Suspense>
   );
 
@@ -10,7 +10,21 @@ import {
 } from "@/features/onboarding/welcome";
 import { useIdentityQuery } from "@/shared/api/hooks";
 
+type HomeRouteSearch = {
+  item?: string;
+};
+
+function validateHomeSearch(search: Record<string, unknown>): HomeRouteSearch {
+  return {
+    item:
+      typeof search.item === "string" && search.item.length > 0
+        ? search.item
+        : undefined,
+  };
+}
+
 export const Route = createFileRoute("/")({
+  validateSearch: validateHomeSearch,
   component: HomeRouteComponent,
 });
 
 
@@ -9,7 +9,28 @@ const PulseScreen = React.lazy(async () => {
   return { default: module.PulseScreen };
 });
 
+type PulseRouteSearch = {
+  profile?: string;
+  profileView?: "memories" | "channels";
+};
+
+function validatePulseSearch(
+  search: Record<string, unknown>,
+): PulseRouteSearch {
+  return {
+    profile:
+      typeof search.profile === "string" && search.profile.length > 0
+        ? search.profile
+        : undefined,
+    profileView:
+      search.profileView === "memories" || search.profileView === "channels"
+        ? search.profileView
+        : undefined,
+  };
+}
+
 export const Route = createFileRoute("/pulse")({
+  validateSearch: validatePulseSearch,
   component: PulseRouteComponent,
 });
 
 
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import { createFileRoute } from "@tanstack/react-router";
+
+import {
+  type SettingsSection,
+  isSettingsSection,
+} from "@/features/settings/ui/SettingsPanels";
+
+type SettingsRouteSearch = {
+  section?: SettingsSection;
+};
+
+function validateSettingsSearch(
+  search: Record<string, unknown>,
+): SettingsRouteSearch {
+  return {
+    section: isSettingsSection(search.section) ? search.section : undefined,
+  };
+}
+
+export const Route = createFileRoute("/settings")({
+  validateSearch: validateSettingsSearch,
+  component: SettingsRouteComponent,
+});
+
+// Settings renders at the AppShell level (it replaces the sidebar, top
+// chrome, and router outlet wholesale), keyed off this route's presence —
+// see AppShell. The outlet is unmounted while settings is open, so this
+// component never actually renders.
+function SettingsRouteComponent() {
+  return null;
+}