diff --git a/src/web/public/app.js b/src/web/public/app.js
index 3ae3c330..73eee32c 100644
--- a/src/web/public/app.js
+++ b/src/web/public/app.js
@@ -4202,7 +4202,21 @@ class CodemanApp {
       parts.push(stamp(row.since.key, row.since.at, 'for', 'tab-meta-since'));
     }
     parts.push(`<span class="tab-pill tab-pill--${escapeHtml(row.state)}">${escapeHtml(row.pill)}</span>`);
-    return `<span class="tab-meta" data-i18n-skip>${parts.join('')}</span>`;
+    // Both absolute stamps ALSO on the line itself, not only on the two items.
+    // Below 288px the rail hides `.tab-meta-created` (the `tab-rail-tight`
+    // rule), and a tooltip on a `display: none` element has no hover target —
+    // so without this the created stamp is not merely shrunk, it is gone with
+    // no way to ask for it. The pill and the gaps around the stamps are the
+    // hover targets that remain; an item's own title still wins over this one
+    // where the item is visible.
+    const lineTitle = [
+      row.createdAt ? `First created: ${new Date(row.createdAt).toLocaleString()}` : '',
+      row.since && row.since.at ? `${row.since.key}: ${new Date(row.since.at).toLocaleString()}` : '',
+    ]
+      .filter(Boolean)
+      .join('  \u00B7  ');
+    const lineTitleAttr = lineTitle ? ` title="${escapeHtml(lineTitle)}"` : '';
+    return `<span class="tab-meta"${lineTitleAttr} data-i18n-skip>${parts.join('')}</span>`;
   }
 
   /** Same formatter as both home screens, so a duration is written the same way everywhere. */
diff --git a/src/web/public/settings-ui.js b/src/web/public/settings-ui.js
index 9978ade3..5f07f3a8 100644
--- a/src/web/public/settings-ui.js
+++ b/src/web/public/settings-ui.js
@@ -2753,7 +2753,15 @@ Object.assign(CodemanApp.prototype, {
     const prevTall = this._tallTabsEnabled;
     if (changed) this.applyTabWrapSettings?.();
     if (changed) {
-      if (prevTall === this._tallTabsEnabled) this._fullRenderSessionTabs?.();
+      // Mirror of applyTabWrapSettings()'s OWN render condition, which is
+      // `prevTallTabs !== undefined && prevTallTabs !== showFolder`: its first
+      // call ever only establishes the baseline and deliberately renders
+      // nothing. Reading an undefined previous value as "it rendered" skips
+      // BOTH renders and leaves the rows stale — reachable whenever this is the
+      // first call, i.e. when the pre-paint script threw and left the
+      // attributes on their fallbacks for applyTabOrientation() to correct.
+      const wrapRendered = prevTall !== undefined && prevTall !== this._tallTabsEnabled;
+      if (!wrapRendered) this._fullRenderSessionTabs?.();
       this._updateConnectionLinesImmediate?.();
       this._refreshHomeSessionsIfVisible?.();
     }
diff --git a/src/web/public/styles.css b/src/web/public/styles.css
index 4abc13e0..e4ebf4e7 100644
--- a/src/web/public/styles.css
+++ b/src/web/public/styles.css
@@ -17285,7 +17285,10 @@ html[data-tab-orientation='vertical'][data-tab-rail-detail='rich']:not(.tab-rail
 
 /* Narrower than the detailed default (the .tab-rail-tight class,
    _setTabRailWidth): the created stamp is dropped rather than shown as
-   "CREA…". Its value survives in the row's title attribute either way. */
+   "CREA…". Its value stays reachable as the tooltip on the meta LINE
+   (`.tab-meta` carries both absolute stamps, _sidebarRichMetaHTML) — the title
+   on the hidden `.tab-meta-created` itself goes away with it, since a
+   `display: none` element has no hover target. */
 html.tab-rail-tight[data-tab-orientation='vertical'][data-tab-rail-detail='rich']:not(.tab-rail-compact) .tab-rail .tab-meta-created,
 html.tab-rail-tight[data-tab-orientation='vertical'][data-tab-rail-detail='rich']:not(.tab-rail-compact) .tab-rail .tab-meta-sep {
   display: none;
diff --git a/test/session-list-layout.test.ts b/test/session-list-layout.test.ts
index bb0acab1..44898db5 100644
--- a/test/session-list-layout.test.ts
+++ b/test/session-list-layout.test.ts
@@ -711,6 +711,22 @@ describe('rich session sidebar', () => {
     expect(html).toContain('data-i18n-skip');
   });
 
+  it('carries both absolute stamps on the LINE, not only on the two items', () => {
+    // Below 288px the rail hides `.tab-meta-created` (tab-rail-tight), and a
+    // title on a `display: none` element has no hover target — so a tooltip
+    // living only there means the created stamp is gone, not shrunk. The line
+    // itself has to carry it for the CSS rule's "still reachable" to be true.
+    const { app } = boot({ stored: { sessionListLayout: 'sidebar-rich' } });
+    stubOverview(app);
+    const html = app._sidebarRichMetaHTML(app._sidebarRichRow('s1', SESSION));
+
+    const line = html.slice(0, html.indexOf('>'));
+    expect(line).toContain('class="tab-meta"');
+    expect(line).toContain('title="');
+    expect(line).toContain('First created');
+    expect(line).toContain('working');
+  });
+
   it('drops the second stamp when the session has never been active', () => {
     const { app } = boot({ stored: { sessionListLayout: 'sidebar-rich' } });
     stubOverview(app);
@@ -906,6 +922,45 @@ describe('detailed rows in the vertical tab rail', () => {
     expect(app._sidebarRichClock).toBeTruthy();
   });
 
+  it('still renders on the first call, when applyTabWrapSettings only sets its baseline', () => {
+    // The pre-paint script stamps the layout attributes; if it THREW it leaves
+    // them on the catch-branch fallbacks and applyTabOrientation() is the first
+    // thing to correct them, with `_tallTabsEnabled` still undefined.
+    // applyTabWrapSettings() renders only when it has a previous value to
+    // compare, so reading "the value changed" as "it rendered" skipped BOTH
+    // renders and left the rows stale.
+    const { win, app } = boot({ stored: { sessionListLayout: 'header', tabOrientation: 'vertical' } });
+    expect(app._tallTabsEnabled).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(win.document.documentElement.getAttribute('data-tab-orientation')).toBeNull();
+
+    app.applyTabOrientation();
+
+    expect(win.document.documentElement.dataset.tabOrientation).toBe('vertical');
+    // The folder row turned on in the same pass, so this is exactly the case
+    // where the two guards could point at each other and neither fires.
+    expect(app._tallTabsEnabled).toBe(true);
+    expect(app._fullRenderSessionTabs).toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('does not render twice when applyTabWrapSettings already did', () => {
+    // The mirror case: a detail flip that turns the folder row off makes
+    // applyTabWrapSettings() re-render, and applyTabOrientation() must not
+    // stack a second full rebuild of the strip on top of it.
+    const { win, app } = railBoot({ tabOrientation: 'vertical', tabRailDetail: 'rich' });
+    expect(app._tallTabsEnabled).toBe(true);
+    (app._fullRenderSessionTabs as unknown as { mockClear(): void }).mockClear();
+
+    win.localStorage.setItem(
+      'codeman-app-settings',
+      JSON.stringify({ sessionListLayout: 'header', tabOrientation: 'vertical', tabRailDetail: 'simple' })
+    );
+    delete (app as unknown as { _cachedAppSettings?: unknown })._cachedAppSettings;
+    app.applyTabOrientation();
+
+    expect(app._tallTabsEnabled).toBe(false);
+    expect(app._fullRenderSessionTabs).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
   it('plumbs the rail detail through the settings UI, the schema and the pre-paint script', () => {
     expect(INDEX_HTML).toContain('id="appSettingsTabRailDetail"');
     expect(INDEX_HTML).toContain('<option value="rich">Detailed</option>');