diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/chat-panel.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/chat-panel.tsx
index ee39a2579d..055edcf2fc 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/chat-panel.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/chat-panel.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { useCallback, useState } from "react";
+import { useCallback } from "react";
 
 import { cn } from "@hypr/utils";
 
@@ -11,28 +11,19 @@ import { useSessionTab } from "./use-session-tab";
 import { useLanguageModel } from "~/ai/hooks";
 import { useChatActions } from "~/chat/store/use-chat-actions";
 import { useShell } from "~/contexts/shell";
-import { id } from "~/shared/utils";
 import * as main from "~/store/tinybase/store/main";
 
 export function ChatView() {
   const { chat } = useShell();
-  const { groupId, setGroupId } = chat;
+  const { groupId, sessionId, setGroupId, startNewChat, selectChat } = chat;
 
   const { currentSessionId } = useSessionTab();
 
-  // sessionId drives the ChatSession key and useChat id.
-  // It is managed explicitly — not derived from groupId — so that we can distinguish:
-  //   handleNewChat:    new random ID → fresh useChat instance
-  //   handleSelectChat: set to groupId → forces ChatSession remount to load history
-  //   onGroupCreated:   groupId changes but sessionId stays stable → keeps useChat alive for the in-flight stream
-  const [sessionId, setSessionId] = useState<string>(() => groupId ?? id());
-
   const model = useLanguageModel("chat");
   const { user_id } = main.UI.useValues(main.STORE_ID);
 
   const handleGroupCreated = useCallback(
     (newGroupId: string) => {
-      // Don't update sessionId — keep current one so useChat stays alive for the in-flight stream
       setGroupId(newGroupId);
     },
     [setGroupId],
@@ -43,19 +34,6 @@ export function ChatView() {
     onGroupCreated: handleGroupCreated,
   });
 
-  const handleNewChat = useCallback(() => {
-    setGroupId(undefined);
-    setSessionId(id());
-  }, [setGroupId]);
-
-  const handleSelectChat = useCallback(
-    (selectedGroupId: string) => {
-      setGroupId(selectedGroupId);
-      setSessionId(selectedGroupId);
-    },
-    [setGroupId],
-  );
-
   return (
     <div
       className={cn([
@@ -65,8 +43,8 @@ export function ChatView() {
     >
       <ChatHeader
         currentChatGroupId={groupId}
-        onNewChat={handleNewChat}
-        onSelectChat={handleSelectChat}
+        onNewChat={startNewChat}
+        onSelectChat={selectChat}
         handleClose={() => chat.sendEvent({ type: "CLOSE" })}
       />
       {user_id && (
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/context-bar.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/context-bar.tsx
index 73f5439a0d..d90e1784be 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/context-bar.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/context-bar.tsx
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ export function ContextBar({
     [entities],
   );
 
-  if (chips.length === 0 && !onAddEntity) {
+  if (chips.length === 0) {
     return null;
   }
 
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/input/index.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/input/index.tsx
index 3ea3caa255..ecdd00c996 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/input/index.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/input/index.tsx
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ export function ChatMessageInput({
       isRightPanel={chat.mode === "RightPanelOpen"}
     >
       <div
+        data-chat-message-input
         className={cn([
           "flex flex-col pt-3 pb-2",
           chat.mode === "RightPanelOpen" ? "px-2" : "px-2",
@@ -148,8 +149,14 @@ function Container({
       <div
         className={cn([
           "flex max-h-full flex-col border border-neutral-200 bg-white",
-          isRightPanel ? "rounded-t-xl rounded-b-none" : "rounded-b-xl",
-          hasContextBar && "rounded-t-none border-t-0",
+          isRightPanel
+            ? hasContextBar
+              ? "rounded-t-none rounded-b-none"
+              : "rounded-t-xl rounded-b-none"
+            : hasContextBar
+              ? "rounded-t-none rounded-b-xl"
+              : "rounded-xl",
+          hasContextBar && "border-t-0",
         ])}
       >
         {children}
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/message/normal.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/message/normal.tsx
index 3a4695281a..a4bc42988c 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/message/normal.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/message/normal.tsx
@@ -113,7 +113,13 @@ function Part({ part }: { part: Part }) {
 }
 
 function Reasoning({ part }: { part: Extract<Part, { type: "reasoning" }> }) {
-  const cleaned = part.text
+  const raw = part.text.trim();
+
+  if (!raw) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  const cleaned = raw
     .replace(/[\n`*#"]/g, " ")
     .replace(/\s+/g, " ")
     .trim();
@@ -121,6 +127,10 @@ function Reasoning({ part }: { part: Extract<Part, { type: "reasoning" }> }) {
   const streaming = part.state !== "done";
   const title = streaming ? cleaned.slice(-150) : cleaned;
 
+  if (!title) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
   return (
     <Disclosure
       icon={<BrainIcon className="h-3 w-3" />}
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/shared.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/shared.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e955e2b1d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/shared.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "vitest";
+
+import { hasRenderableContent } from "./shared";
+
+describe("hasRenderableContent", () => {
+  test("returns false for blank reasoning-only messages", () => {
+    expect(
+      hasRenderableContent({
+        id: "message-1",
+        role: "assistant",
+        parts: [{ type: "reasoning", text: "   ", state: "done" }],
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  test("returns true for non-empty reasoning messages", () => {
+    expect(
+      hasRenderableContent({
+        id: "message-2",
+        role: "assistant",
+        parts: [{ type: "reasoning", text: "Thinking", state: "done" }],
+      }),
+    ).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/shared.ts b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/shared.ts
index 274c1dffbf..9eac22ff04 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/shared.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/components/shared.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 import type { HyprUIMessage } from "~/chat/types";
 
 export function hasRenderableContent(message: HyprUIMessage): boolean {
-  return message.parts.some((part) => part.type !== "step-start");
+  return message.parts.some((part) => {
+    if (part.type === "step-start") {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    if (part.type === "reasoning") {
+      return part.text.trim().length > 0;
+    }
+
+    return true;
+  });
 }
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/chat-context.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/chat-context.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d3ca6d11b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/chat-context.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, test } from "vitest";
+
+import { useChatContext } from "./chat-context";
+
+describe("chat context", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    useChatContext.setState({
+      groupId: undefined,
+      sessionId: "session-initial",
+    });
+  });
+
+  test("startNewChat resets the group and rotates the session id", () => {
+    useChatContext.setState({
+      groupId: "group-1",
+      sessionId: "session-1",
+    });
+
+    useChatContext.getState().startNewChat();
+
+    const state = useChatContext.getState();
+    expect(state.groupId).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(state.sessionId).not.toBe("session-1");
+  });
+
+  test("selectChat syncs the selected group and session id", () => {
+    useChatContext.getState().selectChat("group-2");
+
+    const state = useChatContext.getState();
+    expect(state.groupId).toBe("group-2");
+    expect(state.sessionId).toBe("group-2");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/chat-context.ts b/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/chat-context.ts
index 903a086bf3..74ab4ec3ca 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/chat-context.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/chat-context.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,24 @@
 import { create } from "zustand";
 
+import { id } from "~/shared/utils";
+
 interface ChatContextState {
   groupId: string | undefined;
+  sessionId: string;
 }
 
 interface ChatContextActions {
   setGroupId: (groupId: string | undefined) => void;
+  startNewChat: () => void;
+  selectChat: (groupId: string) => void;
 }
 
 export const useChatContext = create<ChatContextState & ChatContextActions>(
   (set) => ({
     groupId: undefined,
+    sessionId: id(),
     setGroupId: (groupId) => set({ groupId }),
+    startNewChat: () => set({ groupId: undefined, sessionId: id() }),
+    selectChat: (groupId) => set({ groupId, sessionId: groupId }),
   }),
 );
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/use-chat-mode.ts b/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/use-chat-mode.ts
index 9e1e52f4ab..97ad28e897 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/use-chat-mode.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/chat/state/use-chat-mode.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,10 @@ export function useChatMode() {
   const transitionChatMode = useTabs((state) => state.transitionChatMode);
 
   const groupId = useChatContext((state) => state.groupId);
+  const sessionId = useChatContext((state) => state.sessionId);
   const setGroupId = useChatContext((state) => state.setGroupId);
+  const startNewChat = useChatContext((state) => state.startNewChat);
+  const selectChat = useChatContext((state) => state.selectChat);
 
   useHotkeys(
     "mod+j",
@@ -28,6 +31,9 @@ export function useChatMode() {
     mode,
     sendEvent: transitionChatMode,
     groupId,
+    sessionId,
     setGroupId,
+    startNewChat,
+    selectChat,
   };
 }
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/shared/main/index.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/shared/main/index.tsx
index 681ca89783..a256c68c3b 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/shared/main/index.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/shared/main/index.tsx
@@ -937,6 +937,11 @@ function useTabsShortcuts() {
   useHotkeys(
     "mod+n",
     () => {
+      if (isPersistentChatInputFocused(chat.mode)) {
+        chat.startNewChat();
+        return;
+      }
+
       if (currentTab?.type === "empty") {
         newNoteCurrent();
       } else {
@@ -948,7 +953,7 @@ function useTabsShortcuts() {
       enableOnFormTags: true,
       enableOnContentEditable: true,
     },
-    [currentTab, newNote, newNoteCurrent],
+    [chat, currentTab, newNote, newNoteCurrent],
   );
 
   useHotkeys(
@@ -1129,3 +1134,22 @@ function useNewEmptyTab() {
 
   return handler;
 }
+
+function isPersistentChatInputFocused(
+  mode: ReturnType<typeof useShell>["chat"]["mode"],
+) {
+  if (mode !== "FloatingOpen" && mode !== "RightPanelOpen") {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  if (typeof document === "undefined") {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const activeElement = document.activeElement;
+  if (!(activeElement instanceof HTMLElement)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  return activeElement.closest("[data-chat-message-input]") !== null;
+}