diff --git a/packages/app/src/file-pane/pane.tsx b/packages/app/src/file-pane/pane.tsx
index c185cb613e..8e43931677 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/file-pane/pane.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/file-pane/pane.tsx
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { StyleSheet, UnistylesRuntime, withUnistyles } from "react-native-unisty
 import { useTranslation } from "react-i18next";
 import { useIsCompactFormFactor } from "@/constants/layout";
 import { useSessionStore, type ExplorerFile } from "@/stores/session-store";
-import { FilePanelPreview, resolveFilePreviewPanel } from "@/file-panels";
+import { FilePanelPreview, resolveFilePreviewPanel, type FilePanel } from "@/file-panels";
 import { useAttachmentPreviewUrl } from "@/attachments/use-attachment-preview-url";
 import { getFileNameFromPath } from "@/attachments/utils";
 import { resolveFilePreviewReadTarget } from "@/file-explorer/preview-target";
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ const foregroundMutedColorMapping = (theme: Theme) => ({
 });
 
 interface FilePreviewBodyProps {
+  panel: FilePanel | null;
   preview: ExplorerFile | null;
   mode?: "preview" | "source";
   isLoading: boolean;
@@ -121,6 +122,7 @@ function TooLargeSource({ size }: { size?: number }) {
 }
 
 function FilePreviewBody({
+  panel,
   preview,
   mode,
   isLoading,
@@ -134,7 +136,6 @@ function FilePreviewBody({
 }: FilePreviewBodyProps) {
   const { t } = useTranslation();
   const filePath = location.path;
-  const { settings } = useAppSettings();
 
   if (isLoading && !preview) {
     return (
@@ -153,11 +154,6 @@ function FilePreviewBody({
     );
   }
 
-  const panel = resolveFilePreviewPanel({
-    preview,
-    path: filePath,
-    associations: settings.filePanelAssociations,
-  });
   const showSource = preview.kind === "text" && (Boolean(location.lineStart) || mode === "source");
   if (panel && !showSource) {
     return (
@@ -274,6 +270,7 @@ export function FilePane({
 
   return (
     <FilePanePresentation
+      panel={panel}
       serverId={serverId}
       workspaceRoot={normalizedWorkspaceRoot}
       client={client}
@@ -312,6 +309,7 @@ function isEditableTextFile(input: {
 }
 
 function FilePanePresentation({
+  panel,
   serverId,
   workspaceRoot,
   client,
@@ -334,6 +332,7 @@ function FilePanePresentation({
   navigationRevision,
   imagePreviewUri,
 }: {
+  panel: FilePanel | null;
   serverId: string;
   workspaceRoot: string;
   client: DaemonClient | null;
@@ -369,6 +368,7 @@ function FilePanePresentation({
   if (editable && client && readTarget && preview?.kind === "text") {
     return (
       <EditableFilePane
+        panel={panel}
         key={`${serverId}:${readTarget.cwd}:${readTarget.path}`}
         serverId={serverId}
         workspaceRoot={workspaceRoot}
@@ -421,6 +421,7 @@ function FilePanePresentation({
         />
       ) : null}
       <FilePreviewBody
+        panel={panel}
         preview={preview}
         mode={previewMode}
         isLoading={isLoading}
@@ -437,6 +438,7 @@ function FilePanePresentation({
 }
 
 function EditableFilePane({
+  panel,
   serverId,
   workspaceRoot,
   client,
@@ -454,6 +456,7 @@ function EditableFilePane({
   location,
   navigationRevision,
 }: {
+  panel: FilePanel | null;
   serverId: string;
   workspaceRoot: string;
   client: DaemonClient;
@@ -601,6 +604,7 @@ function EditableFilePane({
         />
       ) : (
         <FilePreviewBody
+          panel={panel}
           preview={renderedPreview}
           mode={mode}
           isLoading={isLoading}
diff --git a/packages/app/src/file-panels/catalog.test.ts b/packages/app/src/file-panels/catalog.test.ts
index 6fe1554138..2052224db2 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/file-panels/catalog.test.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/file-panels/catalog.test.ts
@@ -50,21 +50,29 @@ describe("filePreviewRenderKind", () => {
 });
 
 describe("built-in file panels", () => {
-  it("keeps image classification independent of extension and associations", () => {
-    const resolution = resolveFilePanel({
-      file: { path: "/capture", kind: "image", size: 512, hasBytes: true },
-      candidates: builtinFilePanels,
-      associations: { "ext:": "builtin:markdown" },
-    });
-    expect(resolution.panel?.id).toBe("builtin:image");
-    expect(
-      resolveFilePanel({
-        file: { path: "capture.png", kind: "binary", size: 512, hasBytes: true },
+  it.each(["png", "jpg", "jpeg", "gif", "webp", "svg"])(
+    "registers the image extension %s",
+    (extension) => {
+      const resolution = resolveFilePanel({
+        file: {
+          path: `/capture.${extension.toUpperCase()}`,
+          kind: "image",
+          size: 512,
+          hasBytes: true,
+        },
         candidates: builtinFilePanels,
-        associations: {},
-      }).panel,
-    ).toBeNull();
-  });
+        associations: { [`ext:${extension}`]: "builtin:markdown" },
+      });
+      expect(resolution.panel?.id).toBe("builtin:image");
+      expect(
+        resolveFilePanel({
+          file: { path: "capture.png", kind: "binary", size: 512, hasBytes: false },
+          candidates: builtinFilePanels,
+          associations: {},
+        }).panel,
+      ).toBeNull();
+    },
+  );
 
   it("does not impose a new preview size limit on built-in text panels", () => {
     expect(
diff --git a/packages/app/src/file-panels/catalog.ts b/packages/app/src/file-panels/catalog.ts
index 0c0b0510ef..fd350ec1ff 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/file-panels/catalog.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/file-panels/catalog.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 import { filePanelExtension, type FilePanelCandidate } from "./resolve";
 
+const markdownPanel = {
+  id: "builtin:markdown",
+  files: { extensions: ["md", "markdown"] },
+  document: "text",
+  maxBytes: Infinity,
+} as const satisfies FilePanelCandidate;
+
 export const builtinFilePanels = [
-  {
-    id: "builtin:markdown",
-    files: { extensions: ["md", "markdown"] },
-    document: "text",
-    maxBytes: Infinity,
-  },
+  markdownPanel,
   {
     id: "builtin:html",
     files: { extensions: ["html", "htm"] },
@@ -15,14 +17,12 @@ export const builtinFilePanels = [
   },
   {
     id: "builtin:image",
-    files: { extensions: [], kind: "image" },
+    files: { extensions: ["png", "jpg", "jpeg", "gif", "webp", "svg"] },
     document: "bytes",
     maxBytes: Infinity,
   },
 ] as const satisfies readonly FilePanelCandidate[];
 
 export function isRenderedMarkdownFile(path: string): boolean {
-  return builtinFilePanels[0].files.extensions.some(
-    (extension) => extension === filePanelExtension(path),
-  );
+  return markdownPanel.files.extensions.some((extension) => extension === filePanelExtension(path));
 }
diff --git a/packages/app/src/file-panels/index.ts b/packages/app/src/file-panels/index.ts
index 2f19121a30..497e3aba2e 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/file-panels/index.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/file-panels/index.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ export { resolveFilePanel, type FilePanelCandidate, type FilePanelFile } from ".
 export { builtinFilePanels, isRenderedMarkdownFile } from "./catalog";
 export { FilePanelPreview } from "./builtin";
 
+export type FilePanel = (typeof builtinFilePanels)[number];
+
 export function resolveFilePreviewPanel(input: {
   preview: ExplorerFile | null;
   path: string;
diff --git a/packages/app/src/file-panels/resolve.ts b/packages/app/src/file-panels/resolve.ts
index 7d8bd416f1..3ede7993de 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/file-panels/resolve.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/file-panels/resolve.ts
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ export interface FilePanelFile {
 export interface FilePanelSelector {
   extensions: readonly string[];
   filenames?: readonly string[];
-  /** Image classification comes from the file read, independent of its extension. */
-  kind?: "image";
 }
 
 export interface FilePanelCandidate {
@@ -36,7 +34,6 @@ function filePanelBasename(path: string): string {
 }
 
 function matchesSelector(file: FilePanelFile, selector: FilePanelSelector): boolean {
-  if (selector.kind) return selector.kind === file.kind;
   if (selector.filenames?.includes(filePanelBasename(file.path))) return true;
   const extension = filePanelExtension(file.path);
   return selector.extensions.some((entry) => entry.toLowerCase() === extension);