diff --git a/src/tui/providers/providers-reducer.test.ts b/src/tui/providers/providers-reducer.test.ts
index 1f68c2dc..92dcd584 100644
--- a/src/tui/providers/providers-reducer.test.ts
+++ b/src/tui/providers/providers-reducer.test.ts
@@ -35,3 +35,89 @@ describe("reduceProvidersPanel", () => {
     expect(down.providersPanel.cursor).toBe(1);
   });
 });
+
+describe("a refresh that switches the active text route", () => {
+  const row = (overrides: Record<string, unknown>) => ({
+    id: "a",
+    kind: "openrouter",
+    isActiveText: true,
+    isActiveEmbedding: false,
+    hasApiKey: true,
+    chatModel: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
+    embeddingModel: null,
+    ...overrides,
+  });
+
+  /** A state that has measured a prompt against a 32k window. */
+  function measuredState() {
+    const base = createInitialTuiState({
+      session: { id: "s1", workingDir: "/tmp" },
+    });
+    const withRows = reduceProvidersPanel(base, {
+      type: "providers_refresh",
+      rows: [row({})],
+    })!;
+    return {
+      ...withRows,
+      contextUsage: {
+        ...withRows.contextUsage,
+        tokens: 14_000,
+        contextWindow: 32_768,
+      },
+    };
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * The window the last prompt was built against belongs to the model
+   * that built it. `resolveWindow` prefers it over every live source, so
+   * left standing it has the composer chip gauging the freshly chosen
+   * model against the old model's window until the next prompt build.
+   */
+  it("drops the prompt-derived window when the chat model changes", () => {
+    const next = reduceProvidersPanel(measuredState(), {
+      type: "providers_refresh",
+      rows: [row({ chatModel: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-5" })],
+    })!;
+    expect(next.contextUsage.contextWindow).toBeNull();
+    // Only the window is stale — the measured prompt size still stands.
+    expect(next.contextUsage.tokens).toBe(14_000);
+  });
+
+  it("drops it when a different provider takes over chat", () => {
+    const next = reduceProvidersPanel(measuredState(), {
+      type: "providers_refresh",
+      rows: [
+        row({ isActiveText: false }),
+        row({ id: "b", chatModel: "openai/gpt-4o-mini" }),
+      ],
+    })!;
+    expect(next.contextUsage.contextWindow).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("keeps it across an ordinary refresh of the same route", () => {
+    const next = reduceProvidersPanel(measuredState(), {
+      type: "providers_refresh",
+      rows: [row({ hasApiKey: false })],
+    })!;
+    expect(next.contextUsage.contextWindow).toBe(32_768);
+  });
+
+  it("does not treat the first population of the rows as a switch", () => {
+    const base = {
+      ...createInitialTuiState({ session: { id: "s1", workingDir: "/tmp" } }),
+    };
+    const seeded = {
+      ...base,
+      contextUsage: {
+        ...base.contextUsage,
+        tokens: 14_000,
+        contextWindow: 32_768,
+      },
+    };
+    const next = reduceProvidersPanel(seeded, {
+      type: "providers_refresh",
+      rows: [row({})],
+    })!;
+    expect(next.contextUsage.contextWindow).toBe(32_768);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/tui/providers/providers-reducer.ts b/src/tui/providers/providers-reducer.ts
index 2cd94926..00062c7e 100644
Binary files a/src/tui/providers/providers-reducer.ts and b/src/tui/providers/providers-reducer.ts differ
diff --git a/src/tui/select-context-usage.test.ts b/src/tui/select-context-usage.test.ts
index 8b50671e..d2026e69 100644
--- a/src/tui/select-context-usage.test.ts
+++ b/src/tui/select-context-usage.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import type { ProviderRow } from "./providers/providers-panel-state.js";
-import { selectContextUsage } from "./select-context-usage.js";
+import {
+  selectComposerContextUsage,
+  selectContextUsage,
+} from "./select-context-usage.js";
 import { fakeSession } from "./test-fixtures.js";
 import {
   createInitialTuiState,
@@ -91,6 +94,67 @@ describe("selectContextUsage", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("the composer chip follows the task-count draft", () => {
+  /** A session of three tasks, measured under a cap of 20. */
+  function measuredUsage(): ContextUsageState {
+    return usage({
+      tokens: 8_200,
+      contextWindow: 128_000,
+      conversationTokens: 900,
+      conversationPairs: 3,
+      conversationPairsCap: 20,
+      droppedPairs: 0,
+      pairCosts: [300, 280, 320],
+      sections: [
+        { label: "prompt scaffold", tokens: 6_100 },
+        { label: "conversation", tokens: 900 },
+      ],
+    });
+  }
+
+  it("shows the measurement while no draft is in force", () => {
+    const state = stateWith(measuredUsage());
+    expect(selectComposerContextUsage(state)).toEqual(
+      selectContextUsage(state),
+    );
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * The point of the selector: stepping the dial in the panel moves the
+   * chip on the same render, not one prompt build later.
+   */
+  it("reprojects at the draft the moment one exists", () => {
+    const state = stateWith(measuredUsage(), { contextPanelPairsDraft: 22 });
+    const view = selectComposerContextUsage(state);
+    // Everything outside the transcript plus every task that exists —
+    // dialing past the session's real size adds nothing.
+    expect(view?.tokens).toBe(6_100 + 900);
+    expect(view?.pairs).toBe(3);
+    expect(view?.pairsCap).toBe(22);
+    expect(view?.droppedPairs).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it("prices a draft below the measured count", () => {
+    const state = stateWith(measuredUsage(), { contextPanelPairsDraft: 2 });
+    const view = selectComposerContextUsage(state);
+    // The two newest tasks survive; the oldest is priced out.
+    expect(view?.conversationTokens).toBe(280 + 320);
+    expect(view?.pairs).toBe(2);
+    expect(view?.droppedPairs).toBe(1);
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * `prompt_built` retires the draft when reality catches up with it;
+   * until that dispatch lands a draft equal to the cap must already
+   * read as the measurement, or the chip would swap a real tokenizer
+   * count for an estimate on a no-op.
+   */
+  it("keeps the measurement when the draft equals the cap", () => {
+    const state = stateWith(measuredUsage(), { contextPanelPairsDraft: 20 });
+    expect(selectComposerContextUsage(state)?.tokens).toBe(8_200);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("which limit holds the transcript down", () => {
   it("names config when the configured cap is what binds", () => {
     expect(selectContextUsage(stateWith(usage()))?.capSource).toBe("config");
diff --git a/src/tui/select-context-usage.ts b/src/tui/select-context-usage.ts
index ef5a8e5d..206ecbf9 100644
--- a/src/tui/select-context-usage.ts
+++ b/src/tui/select-context-usage.ts
@@ -250,3 +250,28 @@ export function selectContextUsage(state: TuiState): ContextUsageView | null {
     sections,
   };
 }
+
+/**
+ * What the composer's chip renders: the measured view, reprojected at
+ * the operator's draft task count whenever one is in force.
+ *
+ * The detail panel has always projected the draft; the chip kept
+ * showing the last built prompt, so working the selector moved the
+ * panel's numbers while the bar under it sat still — and the one
+ * readout that survives closing the panel never said what was just
+ * chosen. Sharing the panel's own condition (`draft === pairsCap`
+ * means reality already caught up — see `prompt_built`, which retires
+ * the draft on exactly that match) keeps the two surfaces telling one
+ * story, and the draft outliving the panel is deliberate: the chip
+ * carries the chosen figure until a prompt is actually built against
+ * it.
+ */
+export function selectComposerContextUsage(
+  state: TuiState,
+): ContextUsageView | null {
+  const measured = selectContextUsage(state);
+  if (measured === null) return null;
+  const draft = state.contextPanelPairsDraft;
+  if (draft === null || draft === measured.pairsCap) return measured;
+  return usageAtPairs(measured, draft);
+}
diff --git a/src/tui/tui-app.tsx b/src/tui/tui-app.tsx
index b38cbbb4..60429b94 100644
--- a/src/tui/tui-app.tsx
+++ b/src/tui/tui-app.tsx
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@ import { CodingModePopup } from "./components/coding-mode-popup.js";
 import { OnboardingScreen } from "./components/onboarding-screen.js";
 import { TerminalTooSmall } from "./components/terminal-too-small.js";
 import { ContextPanel } from "./components/context-panel.js";
-import { selectContextUsage } from "./select-context-usage.js";
+import {
+  selectComposerContextUsage,
+  selectContextUsage,
+} from "./select-context-usage.js";
 import { Box, Text, useApp, useInput, type DOMElement, type Key } from "ink";
 import type { HuggingFaceRepoChoices } from "../local-llm/index.js";
 import {
@@ -1637,8 +1640,13 @@ export function TuiApp({
     dispatch({ type: "context_pairs_selected", pairs: next });
   }, []);
 
-  const promptContextSlot = contextUsage ? (
-    <ContextChip usage={contextUsage} layer={MOUSE_LAYER_PANEL} />
+  // The chip follows the operator's draft task count the instant the
+  // selector moves; the panel keeps the measured view and projects the
+  // draft itself, so the two stay in step. See
+  // `selectComposerContextUsage`.
+  const composerContextUsage = selectComposerContextUsage(state);
+  const promptContextSlot = composerContextUsage ? (
+    <ContextChip usage={composerContextUsage} layer={MOUSE_LAYER_PANEL} />
   ) : null;
   // Always drawn, including in `default`. A control that appears only
   // once you are in an unusual mode is a control nobody discovers, and