diff --git a/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/v2-layout-invariants.test.ts b/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/v2-layout-invariants.test.ts
index ccacc74bf..5758f13de 100644
--- a/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/v2-layout-invariants.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/v2-layout-invariants.test.ts
@@ -2386,3 +2386,358 @@ describe('the landing hero demo (TASK-147)', () => {
     expect(landingPage.match(/v2-landing__shot-bar/g) ?? []).toHaveLength(1);
   });
 });
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// The authenticated shell's height chain (TASK-157).
+//
+// Both defects this block covers are cascade outcomes, not missing text: the
+// desktop one is the content div auto-placing into the `auto` banner row instead
+// of the `1fr` row, and the phone one is a 0,2,0 `height: 100vh` sitting LATER in
+// the sheet than every 0,2,0 `height: 100%` that should bound it. Presence cannot
+// see either — `not.toContain('100vh')` passes while a duplicate rule at EOF
+// repaints the phone, and `toContain('grid-row: 2')` passes while a later rule
+// resets it to auto. So this block parses the sheet into rules carrying their
+// at-rule context, specificity and document order, and asserts on the WINNER of
+// the small cascade it can resolve — the same move as the #1868 specificity
+// comparison, one level up. (ux-lead measured the defect in a browser at 390 and
+// 1200; jsdom has no layout engine, so what is pinned here is the cascade, never
+// the rendered box.)
+//
+// Stated limits, so the next reader does not over-read this: the parser handles
+// simple selectors, max-/min-width conditions, and the `height` / `grid-row`
+// declarations asserted on. It does not resolve percentages against containing
+// blocks, does not model `!important`, and treats unmodelled media features
+// (hover, prefers-reduced-motion) as applying — the conservative direction for a
+// guard whose job is to catch a rule that WINS. The chain matcher at the end of
+// this block walks the descendant axis for class-only compounds, and treats `>`
+// as descendant; every chain it is asked about is single-child, so the two agree.
+describe('the authenticated shell keeps its panes inside the banner row (TASK-157)', () => {
+  const v2 = read('../v2.css');
+
+  type ParsedRule = {
+    selector: string;
+    body: string;
+    media: string[];
+    order: number;
+    classes: string[];
+    specificity: number[];
+  };
+
+  const stripComments = (css: string): string => css.replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, '');
+
+  const classTokens = (compound: string): string[] => (
+    compound.match(/\.[A-Za-z0-9_-]+/g) ?? []
+  ).map((token) => token.slice(1));
+
+  const lastCompound = (selector: string): string => (
+    selector.split(/\s+|>/).filter(Boolean).pop() ?? ''
+  );
+
+  // (ids, classes/attributes/pseudo-classes, elements). Enough for this sheet:
+  // the rules in dispute are 0,1,0 / 0,2,0 / 0,3,0 and no id or `!important` is
+  // involved.
+  const specificityOf = (selector: string): number[] => {
+    const ids = (selector.match(/#[A-Za-z0-9_-]+/g) ?? []).length;
+    const classes = (selector.match(/\.[A-Za-z0-9_-]+/g) ?? []).length
+      + (selector.match(/\[[^\]]*\]/g) ?? []).length
+      + ((selector.match(/:(?!:)[a-z-]+/g) ?? []).length);
+    const elements = (selector
+      .replace(/::?[a-z-]+(\([^)]*\))?/g, ' ')
+      .replace(/[.#][A-Za-z0-9_-]+/g, ' ')
+      .replace(/\[[^\]]*\]/g, ' ')
+      .match(/\b[a-z][a-z0-9-]*\b/g) ?? []).length;
+    return [ids, classes, elements];
+  };
+
+  const parseCascade = (css: string): ParsedRule[] => {
+    const rules: ParsedRule[] = [];
+    let order = 0;
+    const walk = (text: string, media: string[]): void => {
+      let i = 0;
+      while (i < text.length) {
+        const open = text.indexOf('{', i);
+        if (open < 0) return;
+        const head = text.slice(i, open).trim();
+        let depth = 1;
+        let j = open + 1;
+        while (j < text.length && depth > 0) {
+          if (text[j] === '{') depth += 1;
+          else if (text[j] === '}') depth -= 1;
+          j += 1;
+        }
+        const inner = text.slice(open + 1, j - 1);
+        if (head.startsWith('@')) {
+          walk(inner, media.concat([head]));
+        } else {
+          const parts = head.split(',');
+          let p = 0;
+          while (p < parts.length) {
+            const selector = parts[p].trim();
+            if (selector) {
+              rules.push({
+                selector,
+                body: inner,
+                media,
+                order,
+                classes: classTokens(lastCompound(selector)),
+                specificity: specificityOf(selector),
+              });
+              order += 1;
+            }
+            p += 1;
+          }
+        }
+        i = j;
+      }
+    };
+    walk(stripComments(css), []);
+    return rules;
+  };
+
+  const declarations = (body: string): Record<string, string> => {
+    const found: Record<string, string> = {};
+    body.split(';').forEach((entry) => {
+      const at = entry.indexOf(':');
+      if (at < 0) return;
+      found[entry.slice(0, at).trim()] = entry.slice(at + 1).trim();
+    });
+    return found;
+  };
+
+  // A rule applies at a width unless an at-rule it sits inside rules that width
+  // out. Conditions the guard does not model are treated as applying.
+  const appliesAt = (rule: ParsedRule, width: number): boolean => rule.media.every((at) => {
+    const max = at.match(/max-width:\s*(\d+)px/);
+    const min = at.match(/min-width:\s*(\d+)px/);
+    if (max && width > Number(max[1])) return false;
+    if (min && width < Number(min[1])) return false;
+    return true;
+  });
+
+  const outranks = (a: ParsedRule, b: ParsedRule): boolean => {
+    for (let i = 0; i < 3; i += 1) {
+      if (a.specificity[i] !== b.specificity[i]) return a.specificity[i] > b.specificity[i];
+    }
+    return a.order > b.order;
+  };
+
+  const winnerOf = (rules: ParsedRule[]): ParsedRule => rules.reduce(
+    (best, rule) => (outranks(rule, best) ? rule : best),
+  );
+
+  const rules = parseCascade(v2);
+
+  // The main content pane is rendered as `class="v2-pane v2-pane--main"`, so a
+  // rule can only match it if its last compound requires no other class.
+  const MAIN_PANE = new Set(['v2-pane', 'v2-pane--main']);
+  const mainPaneRules = rules.filter((rule) => rule.classes.length > 0
+    && rule.classes.every((token) => MAIN_PANE.has(token)));
+
+  const BOUNDED_PANE_SELECTOR = '.v2-authenticated-shell__content .v2-shell .v2-pane';
+
+  test('the authenticated content always takes the shell\'s second grid row', () => {
+    const contentRules = rules.filter(
+      (rule) => rule.classes.includes('v2-authenticated-shell__content')
+        && declarations(rule.body)['grid-row'] !== undefined,
+    );
+    // Non-vacuity: the assertions below are about a winner, and a winner chosen
+    // from an empty set asserts nothing.
+    expect(contentRules.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    const winner = winnerOf(contentRules);
+    expect(declarations(winner.body)['grid-row']).toBe('2');
+    expect(winner.selector).toContain('v2-authenticated-shell__content');
+  });
+
+  test('no pane of the authenticated shell takes the viewport height on a phone', () => {
+    const atPhone = mainPaneRules.filter((rule) => declarations(rule.body)['height'] !== undefined
+      && appliesAt(rule, 390));
+    const viewportHeight = atPhone.filter(
+      (rule) => /^100(?:\.0)?(?:vh|dvh|svh)$/.test(declarations(rule.body)['height']),
+    );
+    const bounded = atPhone.filter((rule) => declarations(rule.body)['height'] === '100%');
+    // Non-vacuity, both directions: a filter shaped "every 100vh rule is outranked"
+    // passes loudest when no 100vh rule is found, and a fix that deleted the
+    // bounding rule would otherwise pass by having nothing to compare.
+    expect(viewportHeight.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(bounded.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+
+    viewportHeight.forEach((rule) => {
+      const dominator = bounded.find((candidate) => outranks(candidate, rule));
+      // Named, not counted: a bare `dominated: false` reports that something is
+      // wrong without saying which rule now wins the phone.
+      expect({
+        selector: rule.selector,
+        height: declarations(rule.body)['height'],
+        outrankedBy: dominator ? dominator.selector : null,
+      }).toEqual({
+        selector: rule.selector,
+        height: declarations(rule.body)['height'],
+        outrankedBy: expect.any(String),
+      });
+    });
+
+    const winner = winnerOf(atPhone);
+    expect(declarations(winner.body)['height']).toBe('100%');
+    expect(winner.selector).toBe(BOUNDED_PANE_SELECTOR);
+  });
+
+  test('the bounded pane rule stays a phone rule', () => {
+    // It must not apply at desktop, where the pane keeps its 16px gutter
+    // (`.v2-authenticated-shell .v2-pane--main { height: calc(100% - 16px) }`).
+    //
+    // Stated on purpose: this requires the SPECIFICITY-scoped form, not merely a
+    // rule that happens to win. A same-specificity `.v2-shell .v2-pane {
+    // height: 100% }` added after the 100vh rule also bounds the phone today —
+    // and is the shape that has failed twice here, because the next rule written
+    // later takes the width back. Measured as m7 in the mutation campaign: it reds
+    // this pair deliberately.
+    const scoped = rules.filter((rule) => rule.selector === BOUNDED_PANE_SELECTOR);
+    expect(scoped.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(scoped.filter((rule) => appliesAt(rule, 390)).length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(scoped.filter((rule) => appliesAt(rule, 1200))).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  test('the selectors this guard ranks are the ones the components render', () => {
+    // The chain the winning selector walks: content div > shell > pane. Checked
+    // against the components so the guard cannot pass on a chain the app does
+    // not build.
+    expect(read('../V2App.tsx')).toContain('v2-authenticated-shell__content');
+    expect(read('../components/V2Layout.tsx')).toContain("'v2-shell'");
+    expect(read('../components/V2Thread.tsx')).toContain('"v2-pane v2-pane--main"');
+    expect(read('../components/V2FeaturePage.tsx')).toContain('v2-pane v2-pane--main');
+  });
+
+  // ---- the phone pods list: the tab bar has to stay reachable -----------------
+  //
+  // ux-lead's design gate failed the first head here (390, `/v2`, verified user):
+  // 0 of 4 tabs hit-testable, on a short list and a long one. The height chain
+  // asserted above is still true under the fix — the aside is still `100%` —
+  // because what changed is the BOX that percentage resolves against, and the
+  // aside's stacking. So the same parser is asked two different questions: what
+  // wins `padding-bottom` on the list shell, and what wins `z-index` on the list
+  // aside. Neither is visible to a presence check.
+
+  // Class-only compounds. Anything carrying a pseudo or an attribute is skipped
+  // rather than mis-ranked, which is the honest direction: the alternative is a
+  // matcher that guesses.
+  const MODELABLE_COMPOUND = /^[A-Za-z0-9_.-]+$/;
+
+  // Outermost first; each entry is the class set of one rendered element.
+  const LIST_CHAIN = [
+    ['v2-authenticated-shell__content'],
+    ['v2-shell', 'v2-shell--list'],
+    ['v2-pane', 'v2-pods-aside', 'v2-pods-aside--page'],
+  ];
+  const TAB_BAR = [['v2-mobile-tabs']];
+
+  const matchesChain = (selector: string, chain: string[][]): boolean => {
+    const compounds = selector.split(/\s*>\s*|\s+/).filter(Boolean);
+    if (compounds.length === 0 || !compounds.every((c) => MODELABLE_COMPOUND.test(c))) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    let from = 0;
+    let i = 0;
+    while (i < compounds.length) {
+      const wanted = classTokens(compounds[i]);
+      let found = -1;
+      let j = from;
+      while (j < chain.length) {
+        const rendered = chain[j];
+        let all = true;
+        let k = 0;
+        while (k < wanted.length) {
+          if (!rendered.includes(wanted[k])) { all = false; break; }
+          k += 1;
+        }
+        if (all) { found = j; break; }
+        j += 1;
+      }
+      if (found < 0) return false;
+      from = found + 1;
+      i += 1;
+    }
+    return true;
+  };
+
+  const chainRules = (chain: string[][], width: number): ParsedRule[] => rules.filter(
+    (rule) => appliesAt(rule, width) && matchesChain(rule.selector, chain),
+  );
+
+  // `padding-bottom`, or the `padding` shorthand it may be written as. A guard
+  // that read only the longhand would pass while the shorthand took the space
+  // back — and the shorthand is how this rule is written.
+  const bottomPadding = (body: string): string | undefined => {
+    const found = declarations(body);
+    if (found['padding-bottom'] !== undefined) return found['padding-bottom'];
+    if (found.padding === undefined) return undefined;
+    const parts = found.padding.split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean);
+    // 2 values are vertical|horizontal, 3 are top|horizontal|bottom, 4 are
+    // top|right|bottom|left — so the bottom is the LAST value in 3- and 4-value
+    // form, and the first in 1- and 2-value form. Getting this wrong reads a
+    // `padding: 0 0 56px` as no reservation at all, which is how it was caught.
+    const bottomIndex: Record<number, number> = { 1: 0, 2: 0, 3: 2, 4: 2 };
+    const at = bottomIndex[parts.length];
+    return at === undefined ? undefined : parts[at];
+  };
+
+  test('the phone list reserves the tab bar\'s own height inside its box', () => {
+    const shellRules = chainRules(LIST_CHAIN, 390)
+      .filter((rule) => bottomPadding(rule.body) !== undefined);
+    // Non-vacuity, both parts: a winner of an empty set asserts nothing, and the
+    // specificity claim below needs a one-class competitor to be about.
+    expect(shellRules.length).toBeGreaterThan(1);
+    const oneClass = shellRules.filter((rule) => rule.specificity[1] <= 1);
+    expect(oneClass.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+
+    const barRules = chainRules(TAB_BAR, 390)
+      .filter((rule) => declarations(rule.body)['height'] !== undefined);
+    expect(barRules.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    const barHeight = declarations(winnerOf(barRules).body)['height'];
+
+    const winner = winnerOf(shellRules);
+    // Derived, not restated: the reserved space must equal the bar it reserves,
+    // so a bar that grows reds this without anyone editing two numbers.
+    expect(bottomPadding(winner.body)).toBe(barHeight);
+    expect(bottomPadding(winner.body)).toMatch(/^[1-9]\d*px$/);
+    // …and it has to win on SPECIFICITY rather than on coming later. A one-class
+    // rule of the same name below it takes the padding back — the shape that has
+    // failed twice in this sheet, and why ux-lead's spec asks for the two-class
+    // selector. Mutation m4 reds this line and only this line.
+    expect(winner.specificity[1]).toBeGreaterThan(winnerOf(oneClass).specificity[1]);
+  });
+
+  test('the list aside does not stack over the tab bar', () => {
+    const asideRules = chainRules(LIST_CHAIN, 390)
+      .filter((rule) => declarations(rule.body)['z-index'] !== undefined);
+    // Non-vacuity: the reset needs something to beat. The drawer rule that
+    // stacks the aside at 60 must be in the set, or this ranks a winner among
+    // rules that never disagreed.
+    expect(asideRules.length).toBeGreaterThan(1);
+    expect(asideRules.map((rule) => declarations(rule.body)['z-index'])).toContain('60');
+
+    const barRules = chainRules(TAB_BAR, 390)
+      .filter((rule) => declarations(rule.body)['z-index'] !== undefined);
+    expect(barRules.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    const barZ = Number(declarations(winnerOf(barRules).body)['z-index']);
+    expect(Number.isNaN(barZ)).toBe(false);
+
+    const aside = winnerOf(asideRules);
+    const z = declarations(aside.body)['z-index'];
+    // `auto` never forms a stacking context; any number at or above the bar's own
+    // z-index paints over it. The bar is fixed, so being under it in paint order
+    // is the whole of being tappable.
+    const stacks = z !== 'auto' && Number(z) >= barZ;
+    // Named, not boolean: a bare `stacks: true` says something is wrong without
+    // saying which rule now wins the list.
+    expect({ selector: aside.selector, z, stacks }).toEqual({
+      selector: aside.selector, z, stacks: false,
+    });
+  });
+
+  test('the list chain this guard ranks is the chain the components render', () => {
+    const layout = read('../components/V2Layout.tsx');
+    expect(layout).toContain('v2-shell v2-shell--list');
+    expect(layout).toContain('<V2MobileTabs');
+    expect(read('../components/V2PodsSidebar.tsx')).toContain("' v2-pods-aside--page'");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/v2/v2.css b/frontend/src/v2/v2.css
index 143aa6d1e..07a370785 100644
--- a/frontend/src/v2/v2.css
+++ b/frontend/src/v2/v2.css
@@ -403,6 +403,14 @@ body.modern-ui.v2-canvas {
 }
 
 .v2-authenticated-shell__content {
+  /* Row 2 always, not by auto-placement. Row 1 is the `auto` row the banner
+     sits in, so a verified user (no banner) has the content as the FIRST grid
+     child and auto-placement put it in that row instead: the inset card then
+     sized to its own content and any page shorter than the viewport ended
+     178-195px above the bottom gutter instead of 14 (TASK-157, ux-lead at
+     1200). Row 1 collapses to 0 with nothing in it, which is the same layout
+     the banner variant already produced. */
+  grid-row: 2;
   min-width: 0;
   min-height: 0;
   overflow: hidden;
@@ -10041,6 +10049,21 @@ body.modern-ui.v2-canvas {
     height: 100vh;
   }
 
+  /* A pane INSIDE the authenticated shell is bounded by the shell's content box,
+     not by the viewport: that box has already had the verify-email banner
+     subtracted from it, so a 100vh pane overflows below the fold by the banner's
+     height. With its own `overflow: hidden` the pod header then sits under the
+     banner — the back button, the title and the inspector toggle all untappable,
+     and there is nothing to scroll (TASK-157, ux-lead at 390, ux-lead's P1).
+     Ranked (0,3,0) against the (0,2,0) rule above so it wins on specificity, not
+     on coming later: the same lesson as #1868, where a tie resolved by file
+     order silently erased a component's own declarations. The 100vh rule itself
+     stays — it is the right height outside this shell — and this guard is what
+     keeps it from winning here. */
+  .v2-authenticated-shell__content .v2-shell .v2-pane {
+    height: 100%;
+  }
+
   .v2-pods-aside {
     width: min(86vw, 320px);
   }
@@ -10971,18 +10994,43 @@ body.modern-ui.v2-canvas {
 .v2-root button.v2-thread__back { display: none; }
 
 @media (max-width: 760px) {
-  /* The list is a page: full width, no drawer, no backdrop. */
-  .v2-shell--list {
+  /* The list is a page: full width, no drawer, no backdrop.
+
+     The list is also the one route where the aside IS a page pane, so the
+     (0,3,0) bounding rule added for TASK-157 reaches it: the aside stops being
+     `calc(100vh - 56px)` and becomes 100% of the shell's content box. Two
+     consequences, both measured by ux-lead at 390 on both banner states
+     (2026-09-25), and both fixed here rather than in that rule — the bounding
+     rule is right for pod, Connectors, Agents and Settings:
+
+     1. Nothing reserved the tab bar inside the list's box, so the aside grew to
+        the full 844 and ran under the fixed bar: 0 of 4 tabs hit-testable, on a
+        short list and a long one, banner up or down. The bottom padding below
+        IS that reservation, and its value is the bar's own height — see the
+        guard, which compares the two rather than restating either. The two-class
+        selector is required: a one-class rule of the same name would take the
+        padding back off by document order.
+
+     2. The drawer's reset was incomplete — z-index stayed 60. `.v2-shell--list`
+        is a flex container, and a flex item with a z-index other than `auto`
+        forms a stacking context even while static, so the aside painted over
+        the bar (fixed, z 40) and the bar could be neither seen nor tapped.
+
+     `calc(100vh - 56px)` was dropped rather than kept as a fallback: the rule
+     above outranks it in every render of this shell, so it was already inert.
+     The banner state is fixed by the same padding — main failed the banner case
+     before this change. */
+  .v2-shell.v2-shell--list {
     display: flex;
     flex-direction: column;
     gap: 0;
-    padding: 0;
+    padding: 0 0 56px;
   }
 
   .v2-shell--list .v2-pods-aside--page {
     position: static;
+    z-index: auto;
     width: 100%;
-    height: calc(100vh - 56px);
     transform: none;
     box-shadow: none;
     border: 0;