diff --git a/docs/timeline-sync.md b/docs/timeline-sync.md
index 01efe84c14..d645ff6833 100644
--- a/docs/timeline-sync.md
+++ b/docs/timeline-sync.md
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ A failed catch-up or subscription reconcile retries on its own, doubling from 1s
 A fixed 1s retry turned a persistent daemon-side refusal — a Codex thread that already has an active
 writer, say — into a request and a log line every second on an idle app. The delay resets on success,
 reconnect, delivery-mode change, and visibility change, so recovery is still immediate once the
-condition clears.
+condition clears. Republishing the same visibility set is a no-op and never bypasses backoff.
 
 Background retries are silent. The retry the user presses in the sync-error callout is a fallible
 user action and owns its pending state: `retrying` is a status the sync model publishes, not a React
diff --git a/packages/app/src/screens/workspace/visible-agent-ids.ts b/packages/app/src/screens/workspace/visible-agent-ids.ts
index b9e9e86623..6fdd246a9b 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/screens/workspace/visible-agent-ids.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/screens/workspace/visible-agent-ids.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { useRef } from "react";
 import { collectAllPanes, type WorkspaceLayout } from "@/stores/workspace-layout-store";
 import type { WorkspaceTab } from "@/workspace-tabs/model";
 import { deriveWorkspacePaneState } from "./workspace-pane-state";
@@ -25,3 +26,20 @@ export function selectVisibleAgentIds(input: {
     ),
   ].sort();
 }
+
+export function useVisibleAgentIds(input: {
+  layout: WorkspaceLayout | null;
+  tabs: WorkspaceTab[];
+  routeFocused: boolean;
+  focusedPaneOnly: boolean;
+}): string[] {
+  const nextAgentIds = selectVisibleAgentIds(input);
+  const stableAgentIds = useRef<string[]>([]);
+  if (
+    stableAgentIds.current.length !== nextAgentIds.length ||
+    stableAgentIds.current.some((agentId, index) => agentId !== nextAgentIds[index])
+  ) {
+    stableAgentIds.current = nextAgentIds;
+  }
+  return stableAgentIds.current;
+}
diff --git a/packages/app/src/screens/workspace/workspace-screen.tsx b/packages/app/src/screens/workspace/workspace-screen.tsx
index 003827f23d..d83c28240b 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/screens/workspace/workspace-screen.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/screens/workspace/workspace-screen.tsx
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ import type {
 } from "@/keyboard/keyboard-action-dispatcher";
 import { useCreateFlowStore } from "@/stores/create-flow-store";
 import { normalizeWorkspaceTabTarget, workspaceTabTargetsEqual } from "@/workspace-tabs/identity";
-import { selectVisibleAgentIds } from "./visible-agent-ids";
+import { useVisibleAgentIds } from "./visible-agent-ids";
 import {
   getHostRuntimeStore,
   useHostRuntimeClient,
@@ -1845,16 +1845,16 @@ function WorkspaceScreenContent({
   const viewedTimelineSync = useSessionStore(
     (state) => state.sessions[normalizedServerId]?.viewedTimelineSync ?? null,
   );
-  const visibleAgentIds = useMemo(
-    () =>
-      selectVisibleAgentIds({
-        layout: workspaceLayout,
-        tabs: uiTabs,
-        routeFocused: isRouteFocused,
-        focusedPaneOnly: isMobile || isFocusModeEnabled || !supportsDesktopPaneSplits(),
-      }),
-    [isFocusModeEnabled, isMobile, isRouteFocused, uiTabs, workspaceLayout],
+  const syncFocusedPaneOnly = useMemo(
+    () => isMobile || isFocusModeEnabled || !supportsDesktopPaneSplits(),
+    [isFocusModeEnabled, isMobile],
   );
+  const visibleAgentIds = useVisibleAgentIds({
+    layout: workspaceLayout,
+    tabs: uiTabs,
+    routeFocused: isRouteFocused,
+    focusedPaneOnly: syncFocusedPaneOnly,
+  });
   useLayoutEffect(() => {
     if (!persistenceKey || !viewedTimelineSync) {
       return;
diff --git a/packages/app/src/timeline/viewed-timeline-sync.test.ts b/packages/app/src/timeline/viewed-timeline-sync.test.ts
index f158178e14..2b189e7faf 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/timeline/viewed-timeline-sync.test.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/timeline/viewed-timeline-sync.test.ts
@@ -464,6 +464,24 @@ test("manual retries can immediately re-attempt a failed catch-up", async () =>
   await vi.waitFor(() => expect(world.sync.getAgentTimelineStatus("agent-a")).toBe("ready"));
 });
 
+test("redeclaring unchanged visibility does not bypass catch-up backoff", async () => {
+  const world = new TimelineWorld();
+  world.sync.setConnected(true);
+  world.sync.replaceVisibleAgentIds("workspace", ["agent-a"]);
+  const membership = await world.nextMembership();
+  membership.succeed();
+
+  const failed = await world.nextFetch("agent-a");
+  failed.fail("timeline unavailable");
+  await world.nextRetry();
+
+  world.sync.replaceVisibleAgentIds("workspace", ["agent-a"]);
+
+  world.expectNoPendingMembership();
+  world.expectNoPendingFetch();
+  expect(world.sync.getAgentTimelineStatus("agent-a")).toBe("error");
+});
+
 test("a manual retry that fails returns to the error state", async () => {
   const world = new TimelineWorld();
   world.sync.setConnected(true);
@@ -586,6 +604,22 @@ test("membership failures retry with exponential backoff", async () => {
   await vi.waitFor(() => expect(world.sync.getAgentTimelineStatus("agent-a")).toBe("ready"));
 });
 
+test("redeclaring unchanged visibility does not bypass membership backoff", async () => {
+  const world = new TimelineWorld();
+  world.sync.setConnected(true);
+  world.sync.replaceVisibleAgentIds("workspace", ["agent-a"]);
+
+  const failed = await world.nextMembership();
+  failed.fail("subscription unavailable");
+  await world.nextRetry();
+
+  world.sync.replaceVisibleAgentIds("workspace", ["agent-a"]);
+
+  world.expectNoPendingMembership();
+  world.expectNoPendingFetch();
+  expect(world.sync.getAgentTimelineStatus("agent-a")).toBe("error");
+});
+
 test("backgrounding preserves the hot membership without catch-up on return", async () => {
   const world = new TimelineWorld();
   world.sync.setConnected(true);
diff --git a/packages/app/src/timeline/viewed-timeline-sync.ts b/packages/app/src/timeline/viewed-timeline-sync.ts
index 110ce0acee..cf90918c11 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/timeline/viewed-timeline-sync.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/timeline/viewed-timeline-sync.ts
@@ -365,12 +365,6 @@ export function createViewedTimelineSync(ports: ViewedTimelineSyncPorts): Viewed
     }
   };
 
-  const retryFailedCatchUps = () => {
-    for (const agentId of acknowledged) {
-      if (catchUps.get(agentId)?.status === "error") startCatchUp(agentId);
-    }
-  };
-
   const retryVisibleAgentTimeline = (agentId: string) => {
     if (!isDesired(agentId) || manualRetries.has(agentId)) return;
     const catchUp = catchUps.get(agentId);
@@ -407,8 +401,6 @@ export function createViewedTimelineSync(ports: ViewedTimelineSyncPorts): Viewed
     }
     if (sameAgentIds(nextDesired, desired)) {
       if (statusChanged) notifyListeners();
-      if (deliveryMode === "selective" && membershipNeedsRetry) void reconcileMembership();
-      retryFailedCatchUps();
       return;
     }