diff --git a/client-core/Cargo.toml b/client-core/Cargo.toml
index 953bf55..2cff592 100644
--- a/client-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/client-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,12 @@ edition = "2024"
 [dependencies]
 event-model = { path = "../event-model" }
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
-serde_json = { version = "1", features = ["float_roundtrip"] }
+# "raw_value" is `fetch_transcript_lines`'s reason -- it needs the exact
+# bytes the server sent, not this crate's own re-serialization of a parsed
+# `Value`, so a cached line and a live SSE frame for the same event agree
+# byte-for-byte (see that method's doc). "float_roundtrip" is why they
+# agree on a `ts` at all -- see server/Cargo.toml's identical comment.
+serde_json = { version = "1", features = ["float_roundtrip", "raw_value"] }
 # The blocking HTTP client for the REST calls and the long-lived SSE GETs.
 # `server/` already depends on ureq for its own outbound HTTPS (the usage
 # poll in usage.rs) and it is rustls-backed like the rest of this project's
diff --git a/client-core/src/api.rs b/client-core/src/api.rs
index 72fd047..22ab9e5 100644
--- a/client-core/src/api.rs
+++ b/client-core/src/api.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 use std::io::Read;
 
+use event_model::SeqEvent;
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use serde_json::Value;
 
@@ -116,6 +117,14 @@ impl<T: Transport> ApiClient<T> {
         Self { transport }
     }
 
+    /// The transport underneath, for a caller that needs the raw SSE
+    /// stream (`event_stream::follow_session_events`) rather than one of
+    /// this client's typed REST calls -- `transcript_source::TranscriptSource`
+    /// is the one that does.
+    pub fn transport(&self) -> &T {
+        &self.transport
+    }
+
     fn json_request<R: for<'de> Deserialize<'de>>(
         &self,
         method: &str,
@@ -266,15 +275,72 @@ impl<T: Transport> ApiClient<T> {
         limit: u32,
         coalesce: bool,
     ) -> Result<Vec<Value>, ApiError> {
-        let mut path = format!("/sessions/{session_id}/transcript?limit={limit}");
-        if let Some(before) = before {
-            path.push_str(&format!("&before={before}"));
-        }
-        if coalesce {
-            path.push_str("&coalesce=true");
-        }
-        self.json_request("GET", &path, None)
+        self.json_request(
+            "GET",
+            &transcript_path(session_id, before, limit, coalesce, None),
+            None,
+        )
     }
+
+    /// A page of transcript history, each line handed back paired with the
+    /// exact text it came from, and bounded below by `after` -- the shape
+    /// `crate::transcript_source::TranscriptSource` needs to store what it
+    /// fetched in the transcript cache without a second round trip to fetch
+    /// the raw text separately. Ported from `Api.kt`'s `fetchTranscript`.
+    ///
+    /// Uses [`serde_json::value::RawValue`] rather than re-serializing a
+    /// parsed [`Value`], so the stored line is the exact bytes the server
+    /// sent (key order and float literal included) rather than this
+    /// crate's own idea of how to write them back out -- the cache and a
+    /// live SSE frame must agree byte-for-byte on the same event, which is
+    /// exactly what caught the `serde_json` float-rounding bug this
+    /// project's `AGENTS.md` records.
+    pub fn fetch_transcript_lines(
+        &self,
+        session_id: &str,
+        before: Option<u64>,
+        limit: u32,
+        coalesce: bool,
+        after: Option<u64>,
+    ) -> Result<Vec<(String, SeqEvent)>, ApiError> {
+        let path = transcript_path(session_id, before, limit, coalesce, after);
+        let raw: Vec<Box<serde_json::value::RawValue>> = self.json_request("GET", &path, None)?;
+        raw.into_iter()
+            .map(|value| {
+                let line = value.get().to_string();
+                let event: SeqEvent = serde_json::from_str(&line).map_err(|e| ApiError {
+                    message: format!(
+                        "the server sent a transcript line this build couldn't parse: {e}"
+                    ),
+                    status: None,
+                })?;
+                Ok((line, event))
+            })
+            .collect()
+    }
+}
+
+/// The query string shared by [`ApiClient::fetch_transcript_page`] and
+/// [`ApiClient::fetch_transcript_lines`], so the two agree on how each
+/// parameter is written rather than keeping two copies to drift.
+fn transcript_path(
+    session_id: &str,
+    before: Option<u64>,
+    limit: u32,
+    coalesce: bool,
+    after: Option<u64>,
+) -> String {
+    let mut path = format!("/sessions/{session_id}/transcript?limit={limit}");
+    if let Some(before) = before {
+        path.push_str(&format!("&before={before}"));
+    }
+    if coalesce {
+        path.push_str("&coalesce=true");
+    }
+    if let Some(after) = after {
+        path.push_str(&format!("&after={after}"));
+    }
+    path
 }
 
 /// The blocking [`Transport`] backed by `ureq`, the same crate `server/`
diff --git a/client-core/src/lib.rs b/client-core/src/lib.rs
index 852cc1e..a8458c5 100644
--- a/client-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/client-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -11,5 +11,6 @@ pub mod notifications;
 pub mod sse;
 pub mod transcript_cache;
 pub mod transcript_fold;
+pub mod transcript_source;
 
 pub use event_model::*;
diff --git a/client-core/src/transcript_cache.rs b/client-core/src/transcript_cache.rs
index a0ec342..7702989 100644
--- a/client-core/src/transcript_cache.rs
+++ b/client-core/src/transcript_cache.rs
@@ -361,6 +361,10 @@ impl SessionCache {
             {
                 return Ok(false);
             }
+            debug_assert!(
+                lines.iter().all(|l| !l.contains('\n')),
+                "a stored page's lines must each be one line"
+            );
             fs::create_dir_all(&this.dir)?;
             let kind = if rows { "rows" } else { "raw" };
             let mut content = lines.join("\n");
@@ -389,8 +393,16 @@ impl SessionCache {
                 return Ok(());
             };
             // Written as it arrived. A newline inside it would split one
-            // event into two unreadable halves, but neither source can
-            // produce one.
+            // event into two unreadable halves. No source here can produce
+            // one -- an SSE `data:` field cannot hold a raw newline, and a
+            // fetched line is one element of a compact JSON array -- but
+            // that is a fact about the *server's* serializer rather than
+            // anything this file controls, so it is checked rather than
+            // trusted.
+            debug_assert!(
+                !line.contains('\n'),
+                "a cached transcript line must be one line: {line}"
+            );
             use std::io::Write;
             writer.write_all(line.as_bytes())?;
             writer.write_all(b"\n")?;
diff --git a/client-core/src/transcript_fold.rs b/client-core/src/transcript_fold.rs
index cc76316..a4cf03c 100644
--- a/client-core/src/transcript_fold.rs
+++ b/client-core/src/transcript_fold.rs
@@ -294,6 +294,199 @@ fn split_run(tail: &[TranscriptItem], behind: Option<&str>) -> Vec<TranscriptIte
     out
 }
 
+/// Puts a page of older items in front of the ones already loaded, healing
+/// whatever the page boundary cut in two. Ported from `TranscriptItems.kt`'s
+/// `joinPages`.
+///
+/// Two things straddle a boundary: a tool call separated from its result,
+/// and a message separated from the rest of itself. Both were one thing
+/// before the transcript was cut into pages.
+///
+/// A boundary lands wherever it lands, and roughly half the time that is
+/// between a call and its result. The newer page then holds a `ToolEnd`
+/// whose start it never saw, which `fold_event` draws as a row of its own
+/// -- correctly, because a call that renders as nothing is indistinguishable
+/// from one that never happened. When the older page arrives it brings the
+/// real `ToolStart`, and concatenating the two lists left *both*: the same
+/// call twice.
+///
+/// Merged by the call's own id rather than by position, because position is
+/// exactly what a page boundary destroys. The older row wins on what a
+/// start knows and the newer on what an end knows, which is the only way
+/// round that loses nothing.
+///
+/// The third thing is the *run*, and it is the one the Kotlin original used
+/// to miss (AGENTS.md's "things that have bitten"): every page ends up
+/// here, but `adopt_run` must run on *every* join, not only the one where a
+/// split call was found -- a boundary landing cleanly between two finished
+/// calls, which is most of them, would otherwise leave the older page's
+/// calls under the run name they were folded with. On screen: one run of
+/// tool calls drawn as two groups, with the seam wherever the reader
+/// happened to have paged.
+pub fn join_pages(earlier: &[TranscriptItem], later: &[TranscriptItem]) -> Vec<TranscriptItem> {
+    let (older, newer) = heal_split_message(earlier, later);
+    let started_earlier: std::collections::HashSet<&str> = older
+        .iter()
+        .filter_map(TranscriptItem::as_tool_run)
+        .collect();
+    // Owned rather than borrowed from `newer`: `kept` below needs to consume `newer` by
+    // value, and a map borrowing it would keep that alive.
+    let ended_later: std::collections::HashMap<String, TranscriptItem> = newer
+        .iter()
+        .filter_map(|item| item.as_tool_run().map(|id| (id.to_string(), item.clone())))
+        .filter(|(id, _)| started_earlier.contains(id.as_str()))
+        .collect();
+    let healed: Vec<TranscriptItem> = older
+        .into_iter()
+        .map(|row| match row {
+            TranscriptItem::ToolRun {
+                seq,
+                id,
+                run_id,
+                tool,
+                input,
+                asks: row_asks,
+                images: row_images,
+                ..
+            } if ended_later.contains_key(id.as_str()) => {
+                let &TranscriptItem::ToolRun {
+                    ref output,
+                    done,
+                    asks: ref half_asks,
+                    images: ref half_images,
+                    ..
+                } = &ended_later[id.as_str()]
+                else {
+                    unreachable!("filtered to ToolRun above");
+                };
+                TranscriptItem::ToolRun {
+                    seq,
+                    id,
+                    run_id,
+                    tool,
+                    input,
+                    output: output.clone(),
+                    done,
+                    // Kept from both halves: a question or an image can be
+                    // attached to either, depending on which side of the
+                    // boundary its event fell.
+                    asks: row_asks.into_iter().chain(half_asks.clone()).collect(),
+                    images: row_images.into_iter().chain(half_images.clone()).collect(),
+                }
+            }
+            other => other,
+        })
+        .collect();
+    let kept: Vec<TranscriptItem> = newer
+        .into_iter()
+        .filter(|item| match item.as_tool_run() {
+            Some(id) => !ended_later.contains_key(id),
+            None => true,
+        })
+        .collect();
+    let mut out = adopt_run(&healed, &kept);
+    out.extend(kept);
+    // What this function exists to prevent, checked rather than assumed: the same
+    // call drawn twice, once from the page that saw its start and once from the page
+    // that saw its end. Not a seq-ordering check -- a peer note is stamped with the
+    // seq its turn began at, which can be older than the page it arrived in, so the
+    // two pages' seqs legitimately interleave at the boundary.
+    debug_assert!(
+        {
+            let mut ids: Vec<&str> = out.iter().filter_map(TranscriptItem::as_tool_run).collect();
+            let before = ids.len();
+            ids.sort_unstable();
+            ids.dedup();
+            ids.len() == before
+        },
+        "join_pages left the same tool call in both halves"
+    );
+    out
+}
+
+/// Rejoins a message the page boundary cut, and hands back the two pages to
+/// concatenate. Ported from `TranscriptItems.kt`'s `healSplitMessage`.
+///
+/// `fold_event` never leaves two assistant messages next to each other
+/// inside one page, so two meeting at a join are always the two halves of
+/// one reply, and leaving them apart drew a single answer as two with a
+/// paragraph break through the middle of a sentence.
+///
+/// The newer half keeps its identity, for the reason `adopt_run`'s doc
+/// gives. It grows by what the older half brings, which is safe here and
+/// nowhere else -- the join is at the oldest end of what is loaded, so the
+/// growth extends off the top of the screen.
+fn heal_split_message(
+    earlier: &[TranscriptItem],
+    later: &[TranscriptItem],
+) -> (Vec<TranscriptItem>, Vec<TranscriptItem>) {
+    let (
+        Some(TranscriptItem::AssistantMsg {
+            text: head_text, ..
+        }),
+        Some(TranscriptItem::AssistantMsg {
+            seq: tail_seq,
+            text: tail_text,
+            settled: tail_settled,
+        }),
+    ) = (earlier.last(), later.first())
+    else {
+        return (earlier.to_vec(), later.to_vec());
+    };
+    let merged = TranscriptItem::AssistantMsg {
+        seq: *tail_seq,
+        text: format!("{head_text}{tail_text}"),
+        settled: *tail_settled,
+    };
+    let mut newer = vec![merged];
+    newer.extend(later[1..].iter().cloned());
+    (earlier[..earlier.len() - 1].to_vec(), newer)
+}
+
+/// Hands the older calls at the join the name of the run they are joining.
+/// Ported from `TranscriptItems.kt`'s `adoptRun`.
+///
+/// The two pages were folded separately, so a run split by the boundary
+/// came back as two runs with two names. Naming the joined run after the
+/// *older* half would be the obvious way round and is wrong: the newer half
+/// is the part already on screen, and renaming it is renaming the row the
+/// reader is looking at, which is how a list loses its anchor.
+fn adopt_run(earlier: &[TranscriptItem], later: &[TranscriptItem]) -> Vec<TranscriptItem> {
+    let Some(TranscriptItem::ToolRun { run_id, tool, .. }) = later.first() else {
+        return earlier.to_vec();
+    };
+    // A question is in a run of its own on both sides of the join, the same as it would be
+    // had the two pages been folded as one. Without this the heal would merge a group
+    // straight through the row the reader was asked something on.
+    if tool == ASK_USER_QUESTION {
+        return earlier.to_vec();
+    }
+    let joining = run_id.clone();
+    let tail_len = earlier
+        .iter()
+        .rev()
+        .take_while(|item| matches!(item, TranscriptItem::ToolRun { tool, .. } if tool != ASK_USER_QUESTION))
+        .count();
+    if tail_len == 0 {
+        return earlier.to_vec();
+    }
+    let split = earlier.len() - tail_len;
+    let mut out = earlier[..split].to_vec();
+    out.extend(earlier[split..].iter().cloned().map(|mut item| {
+        // `take_while` above already restricted this slice to non-question tool calls;
+        // this just guards the invariant rather than trusting it silently.
+        debug_assert!(
+            matches!(&item, TranscriptItem::ToolRun { tool, .. } if tool != ASK_USER_QUESTION),
+            "adopt_run must never rename a question's own run"
+        );
+        if let TranscriptItem::ToolRun { run_id, .. } = &mut item {
+            *run_id = joining.clone();
+        }
+        item
+    }));
+    out
+}
+
 /// Folds one transcript event onto `items`, the way `foldEvent` does in
 /// `TranscriptItems.kt`. Every wire event has a case; see the module doc
 /// for the one difference from the Kotlin original (no `Unknown` fallback
@@ -955,4 +1148,134 @@ mod tests {
         let err = fold_page(&values).unwrap_err();
         assert!(err.contains("couldn't parse"));
     }
+
+    fn tool_start(seq: u64, id: &str, tool: &str) -> SeqEvent {
+        event(
+            seq,
+            Event::ToolStart {
+                id: id.to_string(),
+                tool: tool.to_string(),
+                input: serde_json::json!({}),
+            },
+        )
+    }
+
+    fn tool_end(seq: u64, id: &str, output: &str) -> SeqEvent {
+        event(
+            seq,
+            Event::ToolEnd {
+                id: id.to_string(),
+                output: output.to_string(),
+            },
+        )
+    }
+
+    /// AGENTS.md's "things that have bitten": `joinPages` used to run
+    /// `adoptRun` only on the path where a *split* call was found, so a
+    /// boundary landing cleanly between two already-finished calls -- most
+    /// of them -- left the older page's calls under the run name they were
+    /// folded with, drawing one run of tool calls as two groups. Two
+    /// finished, unrelated calls (no id in common) must still end up under
+    /// one run name after the join.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_clean_boundary_between_two_finished_runs_is_still_healed_into_one_run() {
+        let older = fold_all(&[tool_start(1, "a", "Bash"), tool_end(2, "a", "old output")]);
+        let newer = fold_all(&[tool_start(3, "b", "Bash"), tool_end(4, "b", "new output")]);
+        let joined = join_pages(&older, &newer);
+        let run_ids: Vec<_> = joined
+            .iter()
+            .map(|item| match item {
+                TranscriptItem::ToolRun { run_id, .. } => run_id.as_str(),
+                other => panic!("expected only ToolRun items, got {other:?}"),
+            })
+            .collect();
+        assert_eq!(
+            run_ids,
+            vec!["b", "b"],
+            "the older call must adopt the newer, already-on-screen run's name"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_call_split_across_the_boundary_merges_into_one_row() {
+        let older = fold_all(&[tool_start(1, "x", "Bash")]);
+        let newer = fold_all(&[tool_end(2, "x", "the result")]);
+        let joined = join_pages(&older, &newer);
+        assert_eq!(
+            joined,
+            vec![TranscriptItem::ToolRun {
+                seq: 1,
+                id: "x".to_string(),
+                run_id: "x".to_string(),
+                tool: "Bash".to_string(),
+                input: "{}".to_string(),
+                output: "the result".to_string(),
+                done: true,
+                asks: Vec::new(),
+                images: Vec::new(),
+            }],
+            "the older half's tool/input and the newer half's output/done must both survive"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_message_split_across_the_boundary_is_rejoined_with_the_newer_halfs_identity() {
+        let older = vec![TranscriptItem::AssistantMsg {
+            seq: 1,
+            text: "Hel".to_string(),
+            settled: false,
+        }];
+        let newer = vec![
+            TranscriptItem::AssistantMsg {
+                seq: 2,
+                text: "lo".to_string(),
+                settled: true,
+            },
+            TranscriptItem::UserMsg {
+                seq: 3,
+                text: "next".to_string(),
+                attachments: Vec::new(),
+            },
+        ];
+        let joined = join_pages(&older, &newer);
+        assert_eq!(
+            joined,
+            vec![
+                TranscriptItem::AssistantMsg {
+                    seq: 2,
+                    text: "Hello".to_string(),
+                    settled: true,
+                },
+                TranscriptItem::UserMsg {
+                    seq: 3,
+                    text: "next".to_string(),
+                    attachments: Vec::new(),
+                },
+            ]
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// A question is in a run of its own on both sides of a join -- healing
+    /// must never rename the run of calls the reader was asked something
+    /// on, the same rule `splitRun` enforces for a live turn boundary.
+    #[test]
+    fn adopt_run_never_renames_into_a_question_row() {
+        let older = fold_all(&[tool_start(1, "a", "Bash"), tool_end(2, "a", "done")]);
+        let newer = vec![TranscriptItem::ToolRun {
+            seq: 3,
+            id: "q".to_string(),
+            run_id: "q".to_string(),
+            tool: ASK_USER_QUESTION.to_string(),
+            input: "{}".to_string(),
+            output: String::new(),
+            done: false,
+            asks: Vec::new(),
+            images: Vec::new(),
+        }];
+        let joined = join_pages(&older, &newer);
+        match &joined[0] {
+            TranscriptItem::ToolRun { run_id, .. } => assert_eq!(run_id, "a"),
+            other => panic!("expected a ToolRun, got {other:?}"),
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/client-core/src/transcript_source.rs b/client-core/src/transcript_source.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bb0ee9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client-core/src/transcript_source.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,588 @@
+//! Where a session screen gets a transcript from: this phone's copy first,
+//! the server for the rest. Ported from `app/.../TranscriptSource.kt`; see
+//! `docs/TRANSCRIPT_CACHE.md` for the design this implements and
+//! `docs/CLIENT_CORE.md` for how this file corresponds to the Kotlin.
+//!
+//! One seam rather than a cache the screen has to remember to consult.
+//! Everything fetched before is asked of this, and everything the server
+//! sends is written into the cache on the way past, so a caller never
+//! learns which side answered. The one rule worth keeping in mind: the
+//! cache is never load-bearing. Every read here has a network path beside
+//! it producing the same result.
+//!
+//! **Not ported**: `EventStream.kt`'s reconnect-with-backoff loop and the
+//! ability to close a live stream from another thread. Both are wall-clock
+//! and thread-lifetime concerns that belong to whatever runtime the caller
+//! embeds this crate in (a Tokio task, an iris timer, a Kotlin coroutine
+//! scope) rather than to this pure logic -- `follow` below is the same
+//! decorator shape `iris/desktop-app/src/app.rs` and
+//! `iris/android-app/src/transcript_client.rs` already hand-wrote around
+//! `event_stream::follow_session_events`, just with the cache write built
+//! in so a future caller does not have to repeat it a third time.
+
+use event_model::SeqEvent;
+
+use crate::api::{ApiClient, ApiError, Transport};
+use crate::event_stream::{self, StreamItem};
+use crate::transcript_cache::SessionCache;
+
+/// How many events a session screen opens with, cached or fetched.
+///
+/// The server's own default page size, named here because the cached
+/// opening has to be the same size as the fetched one -- a reader must not
+/// get a shorter first screen for having been here before (`OPENING_WINDOW`
+/// in the Kotlin original).
+pub const OPENING_WINDOW: u32 = 80;
+
+/// A transcript-line parse failure, told apart from [`ApiError`] so a
+/// caller can tell "the server is unreachable" from "the server (or this
+/// phone's own disk) sent something this build cannot read" -- the two
+/// mean different things to a reader (retry, versus a build that is
+/// behind).
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct ParseError(pub String);
+
+impl std::fmt::Display for ParseError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        f.write_str(&self.0)
+    }
+}
+impl std::error::Error for ParseError {}
+
+/// Either half of what can go wrong asking for a page: the network, or a
+/// line neither the cache's nor the server's copy of `parseSeqEvent` could
+/// read.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum PageError {
+    Api(ApiError),
+    Parse(ParseError),
+}
+
+impl From<ApiError> for PageError {
+    fn from(e: ApiError) -> Self {
+        Self::Api(e)
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<ParseError> for PageError {
+    fn from(e: ParseError) -> Self {
+        Self::Parse(e)
+    }
+}
+
+/// What [`TranscriptSource::page`] found, kept as two states rather than
+/// one possibly-empty list.
+///
+/// The difference is the whole of AGENTS.md's `loadOlderPage` incident: an
+/// empty [`Self::Events`] means "this conversation has no more history",
+/// which a caller is meant to latch, and [`Self::NothingLoaded`] means the
+/// question could not be asked yet, which it must not. Collapsing the two
+/// into an empty `Vec` puts the bug back, because the caller cannot tell
+/// them apart -- and `unwrap_or_default()` on an `Option` would do the
+/// same silently.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
+pub enum OlderPage {
+    /// The events before the cursor, oldest first. Empty means the start
+    /// of the conversation has been reached.
+    Events(Vec<SeqEvent>),
+    /// Nothing is loaded, so there was no cursor to page back from
+    /// (`before == 0`). Not an answer about the conversation at all.
+    NothingLoaded,
+}
+
+fn parse_line(line: &str) -> Result<SeqEvent, ParseError> {
+    serde_json::from_str(line).map_err(|e| ParseError(format!("{e}")))
+}
+
+/// This phone's copy of one session's transcript, plus the server it
+/// falls back to. Ported from the Kotlin `TranscriptSource` class.
+pub struct TranscriptSource<T: Transport> {
+    api: ApiClient<T>,
+    session_id: String,
+    pub cache: SessionCache,
+}
+
+impl<T: Transport> TranscriptSource<T> {
+    pub fn new(api: ApiClient<T>, session_id: impl Into<String>, cache: SessionCache) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            api,
+            session_id: session_id.into(),
+            cache,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The cached opening window, or `None` when there is nothing usable
+    /// to draw.
+    ///
+    /// Meant to be drawn *before* [`Self::probe`] returns, which is the
+    /// whole point of the feature: the rows are on screen while the check
+    /// that they are still the server's rows is in flight, and a failed
+    /// check replaces them exactly as a reset does.
+    pub fn cached_opening(&self, limit: usize) -> Option<Vec<SeqEvent>> {
+        self.cache.tail()?;
+        let lines = self.cache.newest(limit);
+        if lines.is_empty() {
+            return None;
+        }
+        match lines.iter().map(|l| parse_line(l)).collect() {
+            Ok(events) => Some(events),
+            // A line this build cannot read at all, which the cache's own checks cannot
+            // see: it reads a seq off a line, not an event. Nothing to serve, so a cold
+            // open.
+            Err(ParseError(_)) => {
+                self.cache.purge();
+                None
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Whether the server's event at the cached cursor is still the cached
+    /// one.
+    ///
+    /// A caller must not resume a live stream from a cached seq unless it
+    /// is the same conversation: a transcript is append-only in ordinary
+    /// use, but the file backing it can be replaced or truncated (a
+    /// sandbox re-seeded with the same ids, a backup restored, a session
+    /// re-imported), and the server's catch-up on such a file would hand
+    /// this phone a continuation of a *different* conversation, spliced
+    /// onto the cached one with no seam. Caught with one request of a few
+    /// hundred bytes.
+    ///
+    /// `Ok(false)` purges the cache and means "open cold". `Err` is the
+    /// server not being askable, which is neither: the cached rows stay
+    /// on screen and the caller tries again on its own reconnect schedule.
+    ///
+    /// What this cannot see is a line changed in the middle of the file
+    /// with the tail intact -- that is what a full reload is for.
+    pub fn probe(&self) -> Result<bool, ApiError> {
+        let Some(tail) = self.cache.tail() else {
+            return Ok(false);
+        };
+        // `before = seq + 1` is the newest event with seq <= the cursor, which is the
+        // event *at* the cursor when the server still has one there.
+        let page = self.api.fetch_transcript_lines(
+            &self.session_id,
+            Some(tail.seq + 1),
+            1,
+            false,
+            None,
+        )?;
+        let matches = page.len() == 1
+            && parse_line(&tail.line)
+                .map(|cached| cached == page[0].1)
+                .unwrap_or(false);
+        if !matches {
+            self.cache.purge();
+        }
+        Ok(matches)
+    }
+
+    /// Today's opening fetch, kept as the start of the live run. Only
+    /// called when the cache has nothing to open with, or when
+    /// [`Self::probe`] said what it had was not the server's.
+    pub fn fetch_opening(&self) -> Result<Vec<SeqEvent>, ApiError> {
+        let page =
+            self.api
+                .fetch_transcript_lines(&self.session_id, None, OPENING_WINDOW, false, None)?;
+        for (line, event) in &page {
+            self.cache.append(line, event.seq);
+        }
+        self.cache.flush();
+        Ok(page.into_iter().map(|(_, event)| event).collect())
+    }
+
+    /// The page before `before`: from the cache when it holds it,
+    /// otherwise from the server bounded by what the cache already has.
+    ///
+    /// The server bound (`after`) is what keeps the cache worth having. A
+    /// coalesced page reaches back as far as its row count takes it -- a
+    /// single reply is hundreds of lines -- so a page fetched after the
+    /// reader has been away could run straight past the cached run and
+    /// overlap it, and an overlapping page cannot be stored. Told where
+    /// this phone's copy starts, the server stops there instead.
+    ///
+    /// `before == 0` answers [`OlderPage::NothingLoaded`] without asking
+    /// the cache or the server anything -- see AGENTS.md's "things that
+    /// have bitten": there is no event before the first one, so the
+    /// request is not a harmless no-op, and its empty answer is
+    /// indistinguishable from having reached the start of history.
+    /// Guarded here rather than left to every caller, because it is a fact
+    /// about the question, not about who is asking it.
+    pub fn page(&self, before: u64, limit: u32, coalesce: bool) -> Result<OlderPage, PageError> {
+        if before == 0 {
+            return Ok(OlderPage::NothingLoaded);
+        }
+        if let Some(lines) = self.cache.page(before, limit as usize, coalesce) {
+            let events: Vec<SeqEvent> = lines
+                .iter()
+                .map(|l| parse_line(l).map_err(PageError::from))
+                .collect::<Result<_, _>>()?;
+            return Ok(OlderPage::Events(events));
+        }
+        let after = self.cache.covered_up_to(before).map(|v| v - 1);
+        let page = self.api.fetch_transcript_lines(
+            &self.session_id,
+            Some(before),
+            limit,
+            coalesce,
+            after,
+        )?;
+        if let Some((_, first_event)) = page.first() {
+            // `before` rather than the newest line's seq: a coalesced page covers
+            // everything up to the cursor it was asked with, and nothing in its lines
+            // says so.
+            let lines: Vec<String> = page.iter().map(|(line, _)| line.clone()).collect();
+            self.cache
+                .store_page(&lines, first_event.seq, before, coalesce);
+        }
+        Ok(OlderPage::Events(
+            page.into_iter().map(|(_, event)| event).collect(),
+        ))
+    }
+
+    /// [`event_stream::follow_session_events`], with every frame written to
+    /// the cache before `on_item` sees it.
+    ///
+    /// Before, so that an event held back for a reader who is scrolled
+    /// away is already on disk -- what the cache holds is what the server
+    /// sent, not what a screen has got round to drawing. Flushed on each
+    /// status change, which is a turn's boundary and the granularity a
+    /// crash may as well lose, and once more when the stream ends.
+    pub fn follow(
+        &self,
+        after: u64,
+        mut on_item: impl FnMut(StreamItem) -> bool,
+    ) -> Result<(), ApiError> {
+        let cache = &self.cache;
+        let result = event_stream::follow_session_events(
+            self.api.transport(),
+            &self.session_id,
+            after,
+            |item| {
+                if let StreamItem::Event { raw, event } = &item {
+                    cache.append(raw, event.seq);
+                    if matches!(event.event, event_model::Event::Status { .. }) {
+                        cache.flush();
+                    }
+                }
+                on_item(item)
+            },
+        );
+        cache.flush();
+        result
+    }
+
+    /// Leaves the cache with everything it was given -- called once a
+    /// caller is done with this source, mirroring the Kotlin `close`'s
+    /// final flush (that method's stream cancellation itself is the
+    /// runtime concern the module doc says is not ported here).
+    pub fn close(&self) {
+        self.cache.flush();
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use crate::api::{Body, RawResponse};
+    use std::collections::VecDeque;
+    use std::io::Read;
+    use std::sync::Mutex;
+
+    /// A transport that answers fixed bodies in call order, and records
+    /// every path it was asked for -- so a test can assert *how many*
+    /// requests a method made, which is the point for the `before == 0`
+    /// guard (AGENTS.md's regression: the guard must stop the request
+    /// before it happens, not merely tolerate the empty answer).
+    #[derive(Default)]
+    struct ScriptedTransport {
+        responses: Mutex<VecDeque<(u16, String)>>,
+        calls: Mutex<Vec<String>>,
+    }
+
+    impl ScriptedTransport {
+        fn respond(&self, status: u16, body: impl Into<String>) {
+            self.responses
+                .lock()
+                .unwrap()
+                .push_back((status, body.into()));
+        }
+
+        fn call_count(&self) -> usize {
+            self.calls.lock().unwrap().len()
+        }
+    }
+
+    impl Transport for ScriptedTransport {
+        fn request(
+            &self,
+            _method: &str,
+            path: &str,
+            _body: Option<Body>,
+        ) -> Result<RawResponse, ApiError> {
+            self.calls.lock().unwrap().push(path.to_string());
+            let (status, body) = self
+                .responses
+                .lock()
+                .unwrap()
+                .pop_front()
+                .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("ScriptedTransport got an unscripted request: {path}"));
+            Ok(RawResponse {
+                status,
+                body: body.into_bytes(),
+            })
+        }
+
+        fn stream(&self, path: &str) -> Result<Box<dyn Read + Send>, ApiError> {
+            self.calls.lock().unwrap().push(path.to_string());
+            let (_, body) = self
+                .responses
+                .lock()
+                .unwrap()
+                .pop_front()
+                .unwrap_or_else(|| {
+                    panic!("ScriptedTransport got an unscripted stream request: {path}")
+                });
+            Ok(Box::new(std::io::Cursor::new(body.into_bytes())))
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn source(
+        transport: ScriptedTransport,
+        cache_root: &std::path::Path,
+    ) -> TranscriptSource<ScriptedTransport> {
+        let api = ApiClient::new(transport);
+        let cache = crate::transcript_cache::TranscriptCache::new(cache_root).session("s1");
+        TranscriptSource::new(api, "s1", cache)
+    }
+
+    fn status_line(seq: u64) -> String {
+        format!(r#"{{"seq":{seq},"ts":1.0,"type":"status","state":"idle"}}"#)
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_cold_cache_has_no_opening_and_fetches_from_the_server() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(200, format!("[{}]", status_line(1)));
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+
+        assert_eq!(source.cached_opening(80), None);
+        let opening = source.fetch_opening().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(opening.len(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(opening[0].seq, 1);
+        // The fetch wrote through: reopening the same cache now has something to show.
+        assert!(source.cache.tail().is_some());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn probe_matching_the_cached_tail_leaves_the_cache_alone() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(200, format!("[{}]", status_line(1)));
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+        source.fetch_opening().unwrap();
+
+        let transport2 = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport2.respond(200, format!("[{}]", status_line(1)));
+        let cache = crate::transcript_cache::TranscriptCache::new(dir.path()).session("s1");
+        let source2 = TranscriptSource::new(ApiClient::new(transport2), "s1", cache);
+        assert!(source2.probe().unwrap());
+        assert!(source2.cache.tail().is_some());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn probe_mismatching_the_cached_tail_purges_the_cache() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(200, format!("[{}]", status_line(1)));
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+        source.fetch_opening().unwrap();
+
+        // The server now answers with a different event at the same seq -- the file
+        // behind this session was replaced.
+        let transport2 = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        let different = r#"{"seq":1,"ts":1.0,"type":"status","state":"running"}"#.to_string();
+        transport2.respond(200, format!("[{different}]"));
+        let cache = crate::transcript_cache::TranscriptCache::new(dir.path()).session("s1");
+        let source2 = TranscriptSource::new(ApiClient::new(transport2), "s1", cache);
+        assert!(!source2.probe().unwrap());
+        assert!(source2.cache.tail().is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn probe_finding_no_server_leaves_the_cache_untouched() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(200, format!("[{}]", status_line(1)));
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+        source.fetch_opening().unwrap();
+
+        let transport2 = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport2.respond(500, "server on fire");
+        let cache = crate::transcript_cache::TranscriptCache::new(dir.path()).session("s1");
+        let source2 = TranscriptSource::new(ApiClient::new(transport2), "s1", cache);
+        assert!(source2.probe().is_err());
+        assert!(
+            source2.cache.tail().is_some(),
+            "an unreachable server must not be treated as a mismatch"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// The regression this module exists to close: `before == 0` must
+    /// never reach the network or the cache, because an empty answer there
+    /// is indistinguishable from "there is genuinely no more history" --
+    /// AGENTS.md's `loadOlderPage` incident.
+    #[test]
+    fn paging_before_the_first_event_makes_no_request_at_all() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+        assert_eq!(source.page(0, 80, true).unwrap(), OlderPage::NothingLoaded);
+        assert_eq!(source.api.transport().call_count(), 0);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_page_already_covered_by_the_cache_never_reaches_the_server() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(200, format!("[{},{}]", status_line(1), status_line(2)));
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+        source.fetch_opening().unwrap();
+
+        let calls_before = source.api.transport().call_count();
+        let OlderPage::Events(page) = source.page(2, 10, true).unwrap() else {
+            panic!("a cursor of 2 is a real question about the conversation");
+        };
+        assert_eq!(page.len(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(page[0].seq, 1);
+        assert_eq!(
+            source.api.transport().call_count(),
+            calls_before,
+            "a cache hit must not touch the network"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// With nothing older cached there is no floor to give the server, so
+    /// the request carries no `after` at all.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_server_page_with_nothing_older_cached_carries_no_bound() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(200, format!("[{}]", status_line(5)));
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+        source.fetch_opening().unwrap();
+
+        let transport2 = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport2.respond(200, format!("[{}]", status_line(3)));
+        let cache = crate::transcript_cache::TranscriptCache::new(dir.path()).session("s1");
+        let source2 = TranscriptSource::new(ApiClient::new(transport2), "s1", cache);
+        source2.page(5, 10, true).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(
+            source2.api.transport().calls.lock().unwrap()[0],
+            "/sessions/s1/transcript?limit=10&before=5&coalesce=true"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// The half the test above cannot show: when the cache *does* hold an
+    /// older run, the fetch is floored at its end, or the page would run
+    /// straight past it and overlap -- which `store_page` then refuses,
+    /// silently costing the phone the page it just paid for.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_server_page_is_floored_at_the_end_of_the_cached_run() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let cache = crate::transcript_cache::TranscriptCache::new(dir.path()).session("s1");
+        // A stored page covering [3, 6) and two live events above it, so the run this
+        // phone holds is [3, 8) -- the newest chunk has to be an appended one, or the
+        // cache reads the directory as damaged and discards it.
+        let lines: Vec<String> = (3..6).map(status_line).collect();
+        assert!(cache.store_page(&lines, 3, 6, true));
+        cache.append(&status_line(6), 6);
+        cache.append(&status_line(7), 7);
+        cache.flush();
+
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(200, format!("[{}]", status_line(9)));
+        let source = TranscriptSource::new(ApiClient::new(transport), "s1", cache);
+        source.page(10, 10, true).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(
+            source.api.transport().calls.lock().unwrap()[0],
+            "/sessions/s1/transcript?limit=10&before=10&coalesce=true&after=7",
+            "the fetch must stop one seq below where this phone's copy ends"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// A page the server could not answer is an error, never an empty
+    /// page: the caller would read the second as "this conversation has no
+    /// more history" and stop paging for good.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_failing_server_page_is_an_error_rather_than_an_empty_one() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(500, "server on fire");
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+        assert!(matches!(source.page(9, 10, true), Err(PageError::Api(_)),));
+    }
+
+    /// A cached line this build cannot read is told apart from the network
+    /// failing, for the same reason: neither is "no more history".
+    #[test]
+    fn an_unreadable_cached_page_is_a_parse_error_rather_than_an_empty_one() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let cache = crate::transcript_cache::TranscriptCache::new(dir.path()).session("s1");
+        cache.store_page(
+            &[r#"{"seq":3,"but":"not an event"}"#.to_string()],
+            3,
+            4,
+            true,
+        );
+        cache.append(&status_line(4), 4);
+        cache.flush();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        let source = TranscriptSource::new(ApiClient::new(transport), "s1", cache);
+        assert!(matches!(source.page(4, 10, true), Err(PageError::Parse(_)),));
+        assert_eq!(
+            source.api.transport().call_count(),
+            0,
+            "a cache hit that cannot be read must not fall through to the server unnoticed"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_bad_cached_opening_line_purges_rather_than_panicking() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let cache = crate::transcript_cache::TranscriptCache::new(dir.path()).session("s1");
+        cache.append("not json at all", 1);
+        cache.flush();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        let source = TranscriptSource::new(ApiClient::new(transport), "s1", cache);
+        assert_eq!(source.cached_opening(80), None);
+        assert!(
+            source.cache.tail().is_none(),
+            "a damaged line purges the cache"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn follow_writes_events_to_the_cache_before_the_caller_sees_them() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let transport = ScriptedTransport::default();
+        transport.respond(200, format!("{}\n\n", sse_frame(&status_line(1))));
+        let source = source(transport, dir.path());
+        let mut seen = Vec::new();
+        source
+            .follow(0, |item| {
+                if let StreamItem::Event { event, .. } = item {
+                    seen.push(event.seq);
+                }
+                true
+            })
+            .unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(seen, vec![1]);
+        assert_eq!(source.cache.tail().unwrap().seq, 1);
+    }
+
+    fn sse_frame(data: &str) -> String {
+        format!("data:{data}")
+    }
+}
diff --git a/docs/CLIENT_CORE.md b/docs/CLIENT_CORE.md
index bc07d25..d2bc7eb 100644
--- a/docs/CLIENT_CORE.md
+++ b/docs/CLIENT_CORE.md
@@ -25,16 +25,19 @@ next (a Masonry or iris transcript screen, most likely).
 | `sse.rs`                                  | `Sse.kt` (the framing half)               | Done, new tests (Kotlin had none of its own beyond integration) |
 | `api.rs`                                  | `Api.kt`                                  | Partial -- see below |
 | `event_stream.rs`                         | `EventStream.kt`                          | Done |
-| `transcript_fold.rs`                      | `TranscriptItems.kt`, `ToolRows.kt`       | Partial -- see below |
+| `transcript_fold.rs`                      | `TranscriptItems.kt`, `ToolRows.kt`       | Done -- see below |
 | `config.rs`                                | `ServerConfig.kt`'s `handleEnrollment`   | New, desktop-only so far -- see below |
-| *(not started)*                           | `TranscriptSource.kt`                     | Not started |
+| `transcript_source.rs`                    | `TranscriptSource.kt`                     | Done -- see below |
 | *(not ported, and may never be)*          | `TranscriptUnits.kt`                      | Out of scope -- see below |
 
 Every file above whose Kotlin counterpart had a JVM unit test (`AnsiTest`,
 `HighlighterTest`, `TranscriptCacheTest`) has had every one of those test
 cases ported alongside it, plus new tests for the pieces that had none
-(`sse.rs`, `api.rs`, `event_stream.rs`, `transcript_fold.rs`). Test count by
-crate as of this writing: **85 in `client-core`**, 0 in `event-model` (its
+(`sse.rs`, `api.rs`, `event_stream.rs`, `transcript_fold.rs`,
+`transcript_source.rs` -- the Kotlin `TranscriptSource.kt`/`TranscriptItems.kt`
+had no JVM unit tests of their own, so these were written fresh against the
+Kotlin source and AGENTS.md's paging incidents as the spec). Test count by
+crate as of this writing: **109 in `client-core`**, 0 in `event-model` (its
 types carry no logic of their own to test -- `server/`'s own tests exercise
 them via `session::transcript`'s round-trip coverage).
 
@@ -88,13 +91,27 @@ the full table to work from when one of these is next.
 including tool-call/question/image attachment and peer-message placement.
 `group_tool_runs` groups adjacent calls into `TranscriptRow::Tools`.
 
-**Not ported:** `TranscriptItems.kt`'s `joinPages` (and its
-`healSplitMessage`/`adoptRun` helpers) -- the page-boundary healing that
-merges a tool call split across two fetched pages and re-merges a run a
-boundary cut through. This matters the moment paging backward through
-history is exercised; it is deliberately left rather than rushed, since
-it is exactly the kind of boundary logic this project's own "things that
-have bitten" section warns reads fine and is wrong at the edges.
+`join_pages` (with `heal_split_message` and `adopt_run`, both private) is
+now ported too, 2026-09-06 -- the page-boundary healing that merges a tool
+call split across two fetched pages, rejoins a message a boundary cut
+through, and renames a run of tool calls onto whichever name is already on
+screen. Ported with AGENTS.md's "things that have bitten" incidents as the
+spec rather than a JVM test file (`TranscriptItems.kt` had none of its
+own): `a_clean_boundary_between_two_finished_runs_is_still_healed_into_one_run`
+is the regression test for the bug that shipped -- `adopt_run` must run on
+*every* join, not only the one where a split call was found, or a boundary
+landing cleanly between two already-finished calls (most of them) leaves
+one run drawn as two. `a_call_split_across_the_boundary_merges_into_one_row`,
+`a_message_split_across_the_boundary_is_rejoined_with_the_newer_halfs_identity`,
+and `adopt_run_never_renames_into_a_question_row` cover the other three
+edges the Kotlin doc calls out. `join_pages` ends in a `debug_assert!`
+that no tool id survives in both halves -- the duplicate row it exists to
+prevent, checked rather than assumed. What it deliberately does *not*
+assert is seq ordering across the boundary: a peer note carries the seq
+its turn began at (`place_peer_note`), which can be older than the page
+it arrived in, so the two pages' seqs legitimately interleave there. An
+earlier draft asserted it and would have panicked in debug builds on an
+ordinary transcript.
 
 **Known gap, and a decision for whoever closes it:** `event_model::Event`
 has no `Unknown`/catch-all variant, unlike `Events.kt`'s hand-kept mirror.
@@ -119,12 +136,61 @@ caller-specific (the code rules' "ask for the least you need"). Its only
 caller today is `desktop-app`; a future Android build of this crate would
 be a second one, not a reason to move the type.
 
+## What `transcript_source.rs` covers, and what it does not
+
+`TranscriptSource<T: Transport>` is the seam a session screen asks for a
+page, ported test-for-test against the Kotlin doc rather than a JVM test
+file (there wasn't one): `cached_opening`, `probe`, `fetch_opening`,
+`page` and `follow`, each matching its Kotlin namesake's contract --
+including `probe`'s three-way outcome (matches / cache purged /
+unreachable, told apart so a caller never treats "couldn't ask" as "was
+wrong") and `page`'s cache-vs-server split bounded by `covered_up_to`.
+
+Two additions beyond a literal port, both load-bearing:
+
+- **`page(before, ..)` refuses `before == 0` before touching the cache or
+  the network**, answering `OlderPage::NothingLoaded`. This is AGENTS.md's
+  `loadOlderPage` incident (`before = 0` is "no event before the first
+  one," indistinguishable from "reached the start of history" if a caller
+  ever asks it) moved out of the Kotlin screen and into this layer, so
+  every future caller gets the guard rather than having to remember it.
+  **The return type is `OlderPage`, not a `Vec`, and that is the guard.**
+  The Kotlin's two falses are different answers -- `oldestSeq == 0`
+  returns without touching `moreHistory`, an empty page latches it false
+  -- so a port that answered both with an empty list would have moved the
+  bug rather than fixed it, one layer down and out of sight of the screen
+  that used to hold the check. `OlderPage::Events(vec![])` means the start
+  of the conversation; `OlderPage::NothingLoaded` is not an answer about
+  the conversation at all. Reviewed 2026-09-06.
+  `paging_before_the_first_event_makes_no_request_at_all` asserts zero
+  transport calls, not just the variant, since a request that happens to
+  answer empty is exactly what caused the original bug, and
+  `a_failing_server_page_is_an_error_rather_than_an_empty_one` plus
+  `an_unreadable_cached_page_is_a_parse_error_rather_than_an_empty_one`
+  are the same rule for the two ways a page can fail.
+- **`fetch_transcript_lines`** (new in `api.rs`) hands back each line
+  paired with the exact server bytes it came from, via
+  `serde_json::value::RawValue` rather than re-serializing a parsed
+  `Value` -- the cache and a live SSE frame for the same event have to
+  agree byte-for-byte, which is exactly what the `serde_json`
+  float-rounding bug (AGENTS.md) was about. The existing
+  `fetch_transcript_page` is untouched (other callers under `iris/`
+  depend on its signature); the two share a `transcript_path` helper so
+  the query string is written in one place.
+
+**Not ported:** `EventStream.kt`'s reconnect-with-backoff loop, and
+`TranscriptSource.close`'s ability to cancel a live stream from another
+thread. Both are wall-clock/thread-lifetime policy that belongs to
+whichever runtime embeds this crate (iris's own timers, a Tokio task, a
+Kotlin coroutine scope), not to this pure logic -- `follow` is the same
+"write to the cache, then hand the frame to the caller" decorator
+`iris/desktop-app/src/app.rs` and `iris/android-app/src/transcript_client.rs`
+already hand-wrote around `event_stream::follow_session_events` before this
+existed; the cache write moved into one shared place so a third caller
+does not repeat it again by hand.
+
 ## What is not started at all
 
-- **`TranscriptSource.kt`** -- the layer that decides whether a page comes
-  from the transcript cache or the server, and stitches the two. Needs
-  `transcript_cache.rs` and `api.rs`'s transcript-page method, both of
-  which exist now, so this is unblocked whenever picked up.
 - **The markdown *block* model beyond syntax spans** -- `highlight/markdown.rs`
   colours a `.md` file or fence for the highlighter, but does not build the
   block tree (headings, lists, tables, fences as distinct nodes) that a
@@ -142,5 +208,6 @@ be a second one, not a reason to move the type.
 
 `./run-tests.sh` from the repo root now runs `event-model`, `client-core`
 and `server` in that order (each `cargo test`, forwarding arguments the
-same way it always has). From `client-core/` directly: `cargo test`,
-`cargo clippy --all-targets`, `cargo fmt` -- all clean as of this writing.
+same way it always has). From `client-core/` directly: `cargo test`
+(109 tests), `cargo clippy --all-targets`, `cargo fmt` -- all clean as of
+this writing (2026-09-06).
diff --git a/docs/RUST.md b/docs/RUST.md
index c3c5d9b..986acd8 100644
--- a/docs/RUST.md
+++ b/docs/RUST.md
@@ -177,12 +177,32 @@ closes it.
       touch pan from the same mechanism `List` uses, not a copy.
 - [ ] **Streaming re-layout** (IRIS_TODO.md's last section) — after the
       above, since they make the stream phase unrepresentative today.
-- [ ] **client-core prerequisites for P1, in parallel** (pure Rust,
-      disjoint from `iris/`): `TranscriptSource`'s cache-vs-server
-      stitching and `joinPages`/`healSplitMessage`/`adoptRun` page-boundary
-      healing, per `CLIENT_CORE.md`. Ported with the Kotlin tests as the
-      spec. Cheap to have ready if P0 passes, and no rendering risk if
-      it does not.
+- [x] **client-core prerequisites for P1, in parallel** (pure Rust,
+      disjoint from `iris/`), closed 2026-09-06: `TranscriptSource`'s
+      cache-vs-server stitching (new `client-core/src/transcript_source.rs`)
+      and `joinPages`/`healSplitMessage`/`adoptRun` page-boundary healing
+      (new functions in `transcript_fold.rs`), per `CLIENT_CORE.md`. Ported
+      against the Kotlin source and AGENTS.md's paging incidents as the
+      spec (`TranscriptSource.kt`/`TranscriptItems.kt` had no JVM unit
+      tests of their own to port test-for-test). `client-core` goes from
+      85 to 109 tests; `cargo test`/`clippy --all-targets`/`fmt` all clean.
+      Both AGENTS.md regressions have a dedicated test: `loadOlderPage`'s
+      `before == 0` guard moved into `TranscriptSource::page` itself
+      (`paging_before_the_first_event_makes_no_request_at_all` asserts
+      zero transport calls, not just an empty result), and
+      `a_clean_boundary_between_two_finished_runs_is_still_healed_into_one_run`
+      pins `adopt_run` running on *every* join rather than only the
+      split-call path. One incidental fix needed to port `TranscriptSource`
+      faithfully: `api.rs` gained `fetch_transcript_lines` (additive, the
+      existing `fetch_transcript_page` untouched since `iris/` depends on
+      its signature), which pairs each event with the exact server bytes
+      it came from via `serde_json::value::RawValue` rather than
+      re-serializing a parsed `Value` -- needed so the cache and a live SSE
+      frame agree byte-for-byte, the same class of bug as the
+      `float_roundtrip` fix. Deliberately not ported: `EventStream.kt`'s
+      reconnect/backoff and cross-thread stream cancellation, which are
+      runtime policy for whichever framework embeds this crate, not pure
+      logic -- see `CLIENT_CORE.md`'s new section for the full account.
 - **Then**: redeliver `~/host/bench/iris-bench-arm64.apk` for Iris with
   its README saying what changed, and record any choice she should see in
   `DECISIONS.md`.