diff --git a/chat/static/app.css b/chat/static/app.css
index 97cb0fd..0f2a654 100644
--- a/chat/static/app.css
+++ b/chat/static/app.css
@@ -285,17 +285,81 @@ body.drawer-modal-open { overflow: hidden; }
 /* Scoped overrides for the drawer-content the server renders into
    .drawer-panel-body. Keeps the existing class names working but
    re-tunes them for the warm-paper context. */
+/* Tabs nav — sits at the top of .drawer-content and lets the user
+   pivot between Scene / Cast / Story / Turns groups. Underline-style
+   active indicator (a single muted-amber rule) keeps the editorial
+   feel — no pills, no boxes, no hover-fills. */
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tabs {
+  display: flex;
+  gap: 6px;
+  margin: 0 -8px 14px;  /* bleed the divider rule slightly past the body padding */
+  padding: 0 8px 0;
+  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--rule);
+  flex-wrap: wrap;
+}
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab {
+  appearance: none;
+  background: transparent;
+  border: none;
+  padding: 10px 14px 12px;
+  margin-bottom: -1px;  /* sit on top of the parent's border-bottom */
+  font-family: var(--serif);
+  font-size: 15px;
+  font-weight: 400;
+  letter-spacing: 0.02em;
+  color: var(--ink-faint);
+  border-bottom: 2px solid transparent;
+  cursor: pointer;
+  transition:
+    color var(--duration) var(--ease),
+    border-color var(--duration) var(--ease);
+  border-radius: 0;  /* strip the global button radius */
+}
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab:hover {
+  color: var(--ink);
+  background: transparent;
+  border-color: transparent;
+}
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab.is-active {
+  color: var(--ink);
+  border-bottom-color: var(--accent);
+  background: transparent;
+}
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab.is-active:hover {
+  background: transparent;
+  color: var(--ink);
+}
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab:focus-visible {
+  outline: 2px solid var(--accent);
+  outline-offset: 2px;
+  border-radius: 2px;
+}
+
+/* Panes — only one visible at a time. Uses [hidden] so the JS can
+   toggle attribute-driven instead of class-driven. */
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab-pane[hidden] { display: none; }
+
+/* Sections inside a pane: drop the section-level rules since the
+   tabs already segment the content. Keep the section h3 as a sub-
+   heading inside its pane — useful when a tab groups multiple
+   sections (e.g. Cast = Guest + Group + Edges). */
 .drawer-panel-body .drawer-section {
-  padding: 14px 0;
+  padding: 14px 0 18px;
   border-bottom: 1px solid var(--rule);
 }
-.drawer-panel-body .drawer-section:last-child { border-bottom: none; }
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab-pane > .drawer-section:first-child { padding-top: 6px; }
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab-pane > .drawer-section:last-child { border-bottom: none; padding-bottom: 4px; }
+/* When a pane has only one section, suppress the redundant h3 since
+   the tab label is the same name. */
+.drawer-panel-body .drawer-tab-pane:has(> .drawer-section:only-child) > .drawer-section > h3 {
+  display: none;
+}
 .drawer-panel-body .drawer-section h3 {
   margin: 0 0 10px;
   font-family: var(--serif);
   font-weight: 500;
-  font-size: 13px;
-  letter-spacing: 0.14em;
+  font-size: 12px;
+  letter-spacing: 0.16em;
   text-transform: uppercase;
   color: var(--accent);
 }
diff --git a/chat/templates/chat.html b/chat/templates/chat.html
index 2d4ef1f..9328e18 100644
--- a/chat/templates/chat.html
+++ b/chat/templates/chat.html
@@ -62,14 +62,28 @@
 </div>
 
 <script>
-// Drawer modal — open/close + focus management. Re-fetches content
-// from the server on every open by dispatching a 'drawer-open' event
-// that the panel's hx-trigger picks up.
+// Drawer modal — open/close, focus management, and post-swap
+// tab-grouping. The server's /chats/<id>/drawer response is left
+// unchanged; this script post-processes the swapped HTML to:
+//   1. Pull the bot name from the legacy <header><h2> and use it as
+//      the modal title.
+//   2. Remove the legacy header (it has its own onclick="hidden"
+//      close that targets the OLD drawer semantics — broken now).
+//   3. Walk .drawer-section blocks and group them into 4 tabs by
+//      their <h3> title:
+//        Scene  : Scene, Activity
+//        Cast   : Guest, Group, Edges
+//        Story  : Events, Threads, Branches
+//        Turns  : Recent turns, Significance review
+//      A tab nav is rendered above the sections; clicking switches
+//      which group is visible. Empty tabs (no matching sections) are
+//      hidden.
 (function () {
   const modal = document.getElementById('drawer-modal');
   const toggle = document.querySelector('.drawer-toggle');
   if (!modal || !toggle) return;
-  const closeButton = modal.querySelector('.drawer-panel-close');
+  const titleEl = modal.querySelector('#drawer-modal-title');
+  const body = modal.querySelector('.drawer-panel-body');
   const panel = modal.querySelector('.drawer-panel');
 
   let lastFocus = null;
@@ -87,7 +101,10 @@
     document.body.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('drawer-open'));
     // Focus the close button so Escape / Enter both work
     // immediately and screen readers announce the dialog.
-    requestAnimationFrame(() => closeButton.focus());
+    requestAnimationFrame(() => {
+      const closeBtn = modal.querySelector('.drawer-panel-close');
+      if (closeBtn) closeBtn.focus();
+    });
   }
 
   function close() {
@@ -107,14 +124,29 @@
 
   toggle.addEventListener('click', open);
 
-  // Backdrop click closes; clicks INSIDE the panel must not bubble
-  // up and trip the backdrop handler.
-  modal.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
-    const target = e.target;
-    if (target instanceof HTMLElement && target.hasAttribute('data-drawer-close')) {
-      close();
-    }
-  });
+  // Bind close DIRECTLY to every element flagged data-drawer-close.
+  // Event delegation through .stopPropagation() previously swallowed
+  // the close button's click (it sits inside .drawer-panel, which
+  // stops propagation to keep backdrop clicks from leaking through
+  // the panel itself). Direct binding sidesteps that and keeps the
+  // panel-stops-propagation rule for everything else.
+  function bindCloseTargets(root) {
+    root.querySelectorAll('[data-drawer-close]').forEach((el) => {
+      // Idempotent: only bind once per element.
+      if (el.dataset.drawerCloseBound === '1') return;
+      el.dataset.drawerCloseBound = '1';
+      el.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
+        e.preventDefault();
+        e.stopPropagation();
+        close();
+      });
+    });
+  }
+  bindCloseTargets(modal);
+  // Clicks inside the panel that AREN'T close targets must not
+  // reach the backdrop click handler. (We don't have one currently
+  // — backdrop close is via data-drawer-close on the backdrop div —
+  // but stopPropagation here is defensive against future handlers.)
   panel.addEventListener('click', (e) => e.stopPropagation());
 
   // Escape closes only when the modal is open.
@@ -124,6 +156,126 @@
       close();
     }
   });
+
+  // ---- Tabs: group server-rendered .drawer-section blocks ----
+
+  const TAB_GROUPS = [
+    { id: 'scene', label: 'Scene', sections: ['Scene', 'Activity'] },
+    { id: 'cast',  label: 'Cast',  sections: ['Guest', 'Group', 'Edges'] },
+    { id: 'story', label: 'Story', sections: ['Events', 'Threads', 'Branches'] },
+    { id: 'turns', label: 'Turns', sections: ['Recent turns', 'Significance review'] },
+  ];
+
+  function tabIdForSection(h3Text) {
+    const t = (h3Text || '').trim();
+    for (const g of TAB_GROUPS) {
+      if (g.sections.includes(t)) return g.id;
+    }
+    return 'scene'; // unknown sections fall into the first tab
+  }
+
+  function buildTabs() {
+    // Clean up the legacy server-rendered header inside the body
+    // (duplicate close + duplicate title).
+    const legacyHeader = body.querySelector(':scope > .drawer-content > .drawer-header');
+    if (legacyHeader) {
+      // Promote the bot name to the modal title before discarding.
+      const h2 = legacyHeader.querySelector('h2');
+      if (h2 && h2.textContent.trim()) {
+        titleEl.textContent = h2.textContent.trim();
+      }
+      legacyHeader.remove();
+    }
+
+    // The drawer-content wrapper holds all the sections. Group them.
+    const content = body.querySelector('.drawer-content');
+    if (!content) return;
+
+    const sections = Array.from(content.querySelectorAll(':scope > .drawer-section'));
+    if (sections.length === 0) return;
+
+    // Bucket sections by tab id.
+    const buckets = new Map(TAB_GROUPS.map((g) => [g.id, []]));
+    for (const sec of sections) {
+      const h3 = sec.querySelector(':scope > h3');
+      const tabId = tabIdForSection(h3 ? h3.textContent : '');
+      buckets.get(tabId).push(sec);
+    }
+
+    // Build the tab nav. Skip empty buckets so the nav reflects
+    // what the chat actually has (e.g. no Guest tab when 1:1).
+    const nav = document.createElement('nav');
+    nav.className = 'drawer-tabs';
+    nav.setAttribute('role', 'tablist');
+
+    const panes = document.createElement('div');
+    panes.className = 'drawer-tab-panes';
+
+    let firstActive = null;
+    for (const group of TAB_GROUPS) {
+      const items = buckets.get(group.id);
+      if (!items.length) continue;
+
+      const btn = document.createElement('button');
+      btn.type = 'button';
+      btn.className = 'drawer-tab';
+      btn.setAttribute('role', 'tab');
+      btn.id = `drawer-tab-${group.id}`;
+      btn.dataset.tabTarget = group.id;
+      btn.textContent = group.label;
+      btn.setAttribute('aria-controls', `drawer-pane-${group.id}`);
+      nav.appendChild(btn);
+
+      const pane = document.createElement('section');
+      pane.className = 'drawer-tab-pane';
+      pane.id = `drawer-pane-${group.id}`;
+      pane.setAttribute('role', 'tabpanel');
+      pane.setAttribute('aria-labelledby', `drawer-tab-${group.id}`);
+      // Move the section nodes into the pane (preserves any HTMX
+      // event listeners and the sections' interactive forms).
+      for (const sec of items) pane.appendChild(sec);
+      panes.appendChild(pane);
+
+      if (!firstActive) firstActive = group.id;
+    }
+
+    // Replace the existing content with [nav][panes].
+    content.innerHTML = '';
+    content.appendChild(nav);
+    content.appendChild(panes);
+
+    // Tab click handler.
+    nav.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
+      const target = e.target;
+      if (!(target instanceof HTMLElement)) return;
+      const tabId = target.dataset.tabTarget;
+      if (!tabId) return;
+      activateTab(content, tabId);
+    });
+
+    if (firstActive) activateTab(content, firstActive);
+  }
+
+  function activateTab(content, tabId) {
+    content.querySelectorAll('.drawer-tab').forEach((btn) => {
+      const isActive = btn.dataset.tabTarget === tabId;
+      btn.classList.toggle('is-active', isActive);
+      btn.setAttribute('aria-selected', String(isActive));
+      btn.setAttribute('tabindex', isActive ? '0' : '-1');
+    });
+    content.querySelectorAll('.drawer-tab-pane').forEach((pane) => {
+      const isActive = pane.id === `drawer-pane-${tabId}`;
+      pane.toggleAttribute('hidden', !isActive);
+    });
+  }
+
+  // Run after every HTMX swap into the panel body. Covers the
+  // initial open AND any subsequent server-driven re-render
+  // (e.g. an in-drawer form submit that returns refreshed HTML).
+  body.addEventListener('htmx:afterSwap', () => {
+    buildTabs();
+    bindCloseTargets(modal);
+  });
 })();
 </script>
 <script>