diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/message-queue-ui-state.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/message-queue-ui-state.test.ts
index a93eb73849..57eb3433f0 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/message-queue-ui-state.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/message-queue-ui-state.test.ts
@@ -203,6 +203,69 @@ test('queue_update events drive the independent desktop queue projection', () =>
   assert.equal(transientMessages.size, 0);
 });
 
+test('a rootless resubscription seed retires a stale queued card', () => {
+  // Switch away → the queue drains rootless → navigate back. The projector's
+  // rootless seed now carries the authoritative queue (apache/maka#5520
+  // review), so the card the client kept from before it left must go.
+  const controller = createAppShellSessionUiStateController();
+  const handlers = createAppShellSessionEventHandlers({
+    uiLocale: 'zh-CN',
+    activeIdRef: { current: 'session-1' },
+    liveTurnBySessionRef: controller.liveTurnBySessionRef,
+    refreshMessages: async () => true,
+    refreshSessions: async () => [],
+    setLiveTurnBySession: controller.setLiveTurnBySession,
+    setInteractionBySession: controller.setInteractionBySession,
+    setMessageQueueBySession: controller.setMessageQueueBySession,
+    removeTransientMessage: () => {},
+    showModelSetupToast() {},
+    toastApi: { error() {} },
+  });
+
+  handlers.handleEvent('session-1', {
+    type: 'queue_update',
+    id: 'queue-1',
+    turnId: 'turn-1',
+    ts: 1,
+    queueRevision: 3,
+    steering: ['adjust this run'],
+    followup: [],
+    steeringEntries: [
+      {
+        entryId: 'entry-steer',
+        messageId: 'message-steer',
+        content: { text: 'adjust this run' },
+        placement: 'current_turn' as const,
+        state: 'queued' as const,
+      },
+    ],
+    followupEntries: [],
+  });
+  assert.ok(
+    controller.getState().messageQueueBySession['session-1'],
+    'the card is visible before the client leaves',
+  );
+
+  // The resubscription seed's authoritative empty queue: the drain landed
+  // while the Session was inactive, and the root Turn is gone.
+  handlers.handleEvent('session-1', {
+    type: 'queue_update',
+    id: 'host-queue:host-1:4',
+    turnId: '',
+    ts: 2,
+    queueRevision: 4,
+    steering: [],
+    followup: [],
+    steeringEntries: [],
+    followupEntries: [],
+  });
+  assert.equal(
+    controller.getState().messageQueueBySession['session-1'],
+    undefined,
+    'the stale card does not survive the resubscription',
+  );
+});
+
 test('steering delivery clears a promoted follow-up from the desktop queue', () => {
   const controller = createAppShellSessionUiStateController();
   const handlers = createAppShellSessionEventHandlers({
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/runtime-host-session-observer.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/runtime-host-session-observer.test.ts
index e92339ef85..73f9582c4e 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/runtime-host-session-observer.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/runtime-host-session-observer.test.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,13 @@ test('projects root lifecycle without fabricating content events', async (t) =>
   if (seed?.type === 'host_observation_seed') {
     assert.deepEqual(seed.observerIds, ['execution-observer']);
     assert.equal(seed.execution.rootTurn, null);
-    assert.deepEqual(seed.events, []);
+    // The rootless seed carries the authoritative queue once, so a stale
+    // queued card from an earlier observation retires on re-subscription
+    // (apache/maka#5520 review).
+    assert.deepEqual(
+      seed.events.map((event) => event.type),
+      ['queue_update'],
+    );
   }
   const seededCount = messages.length;
   events.push({
diff --git a/packages/runtime-host/src/__tests__/session-projector.test.ts b/packages/runtime-host/src/__tests__/session-projector.test.ts
index 6a8849631b..c08e943654 100644
--- a/packages/runtime-host/src/__tests__/session-projector.test.ts
+++ b/packages/runtime-host/src/__tests__/session-projector.test.ts
@@ -431,6 +431,63 @@ test('reseeds an empty queue after queued successors completed while disconnecte
   assert.deepEqual(queue.followupEntries, []);
 });
 
+test('projects a queue drain that lands while no root Turn is live', () => {
+  // apache/maka#5520: a drain observed after the root Turn is gone must still
+  // reach the renderer, or a phantom queued card survives whose retract fails
+  // with not_found forever. Seeding stays silent for rootless snapshots — the
+  // Desktop observer pins an empty seed there — because a client that never
+  // observed the session has no stale card to clear.
+  const projector = new RuntimeHostSessionProjector(
+    snapshot({ queue: queue(2, [steeringEntry('queued')]) }),
+    createRuntimeHostSessionProjectionSeed([], snapshot()),
+    () => 10,
+  );
+
+  const drained = projector.accept({
+    kind: 'subscription.session_projection',
+    hostEpoch: 'host-1',
+    subscriptionId: 'subscription-1',
+    sequence: 1,
+    snapshot: snapshot({ projectionRevision: 2, rootTurn: null, queue: queue(3, []) }),
+  });
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    drained.events.map((event) => event.type),
+    ['queue_update'],
+  );
+  const update = drained.events.find(
+    (event): event is Extract<SessionEvent, { type: 'queue_update' }> =>
+      event.type === 'queue_update',
+  );
+  assert.ok(update, 'the drained queue must be projected');
+  assert.deepEqual(update.steering, []);
+  assert.deepEqual(update.followup, []);
+});
+
+test('seeding a rootless snapshot conveys the authoritative queue', () => {
+  // A Desktop that navigates away unsubscribes; if the queue drains while the
+  // Session is inactive, the resubscribing client's stale queued card survives
+  // until a queue_update that the rootless seed never produced (apache/maka
+  // #5520 review). The rootless seed must carry the authoritative queue once.
+  const projector = new RuntimeHostSessionProjector(
+    snapshot({ rootTurn: null, queue: queue(3, []) }),
+    createRuntimeHostSessionProjectionSeed([], snapshot()),
+    () => 10,
+  );
+
+  const seeded = projector.seedActive(true);
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    seeded.map((event) => event.type),
+    ['queue_update'],
+  );
+  const update = seeded.find(
+    (event): event is Extract<SessionEvent, { type: 'queue_update' }> =>
+      event.type === 'queue_update',
+  );
+  assert.ok(update);
+  assert.deepEqual(update.steering, []);
+  assert.deepEqual(update.followup, []);
+});
+
 test('reseeds the latest provider retry when the active Turn still carries one', () => {
   const retry = {
     phase: 'scheduled' as const,
diff --git a/packages/runtime-host/src/adapter/session-projector.ts b/packages/runtime-host/src/adapter/session-projector.ts
index 32a0feb4ae..36c1d639a6 100644
--- a/packages/runtime-host/src/adapter/session-projector.ts
+++ b/packages/runtime-host/src/adapter/session-projector.ts
@@ -160,7 +160,20 @@ export class RuntimeHostSessionProjector {
 
   seedActive(includeAssistantText: boolean): SessionEvent[] {
     const root = this.#snapshot.rootTurn;
-    if (!root) return [];
+    if (!root) {
+      // A Session whose root Turn is gone still owns an authoritative queue:
+      // a client resubscribing after navigating away may hold a stale queued
+      // card that only this seed can retire, because no live drain will run
+      // while it is the active view (apache/maka#5520 review). Snapshots that
+      // carry no queue at all project as empty.
+      const queue = this.#snapshot.queue ?? {
+        hostEpoch: '',
+        queueRevision: 0,
+        steering: [],
+        followup: [],
+      };
+      return [projectQueueUpdate(this.#unplacedQueue(queue), '', this.#now())];
+    }
     const events: SessionEvent[] = [];
     const queueEvents =
       this.#projectMessageAdmissions || queueHasEntries(this.#snapshot.queue)
@@ -403,8 +416,18 @@ export class RuntimeHostSessionProjector {
     for (const interaction of newlyPendingInteractions(previousSnapshot, next)) {
       events.push(...projectRuntimeHostInteractionRequest(interaction, this.#now()));
     }
-    if (root && queueChanged(previousSnapshot.queue, next.queue)) {
-      events.push(projectQueueUpdate(this.#unplacedQueue(next.queue), root.turnId, this.#now()));
+    if (queueChanged(previousSnapshot.queue, next.queue)) {
+      // Project the authoritative queue even with no live Turn: a drain that
+      // lands after the root Turn is gone must still reach observers, or a
+      // queued card survives as a phantom whose retract fails with not_found
+      // (apache/maka#5520).
+      events.push(
+        projectQueueUpdate(
+          this.#unplacedQueue(next.queue),
+          root?.turnId ?? previousRoot?.turnId ?? '',
+          this.#now(),
+        ),
+      );
     }
     if (startedTurn) this.#accumulators.clear();
     // Emit the presentation-only compaction-started event when the root Turn