diff --git a/docs/SIDEBAR.md b/docs/SIDEBAR.md
index c1af7e3..4c34bbf 100644
--- a/docs/SIDEBAR.md
+++ b/docs/SIDEBAR.md
@@ -307,9 +307,10 @@ lands on the first row it was hiding. A highlight parked on a skipped row —
 reachable by clicking a folder header — still steps to its neighbour rather
 than jumping to the end of the list.
 
-The web client needs a chord to reach the list at all (`Ctrl+Shift+H`, and the
-same chord back): an attached terminal owns every plain keystroke. The TUI uses
-`ctrl-w h`.
+The web client needs a chord to reach the list at all (leader-`h` — `Ctrl+A h`
+by default — and the same chord back): an attached terminal owns every plain
+keystroke, and Escape is left to reach the pane's shell/app instead. The TUI
+uses `ctrl-w h`.
 
 Everything else is the same key on both clients:
 
diff --git a/web/src/attach.ts b/web/src/attach.ts
index 3886680..02c3e5e 100644
--- a/web/src/attach.ts
+++ b/web/src/attach.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ import { Terminal } from "@xterm/xterm";
 import "@xterm/xterm/css/xterm.css";
 
 import { attachWsUrl } from "./routes.js";
-import { FOCUS_SIDEBAR_EVENT } from "./catalog.js";
-import { CommandSet, defineCommands } from "./commands.js";
 import { escapeHtml } from "./html.js";
 import { INITIAL_RECONNECT_MS, MAX_RECONNECT_MS } from "./reconnect.js";
 import { applyModsToChar, cursorSeq, tildeSeq } from "./keys.js";
@@ -14,15 +12,6 @@ import { splitCommand, toolIconSvg } from "./toolIcon.js";
 import type { ClientControl, Uuid } from "./types.js";
 import { WebglPolicy } from "./webglRenderer.js";
 
-// The pane's half of the command registry (#148): plain Escape hands the
-// keyboard back to the session list, the pair to the list's Tab.
-const paneKeys = new CommandSet(
-  defineCommands({
-    "pane.focusList": () => document.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent(FOCUS_SIDEBAR_EVENT)),
-  }),
-  { preventDefault: false },
-);
-
 /** One budget for the whole page — see webglRenderer.ts for why contexts are
  *  rationed rather than handed to every connection. */
 const webglPolicy = new WebglPolicy();
@@ -221,15 +210,6 @@ export function createAttachConnection(
     }
   }
 
-  // Plain Escape hands the keyboard back to the session list instead of the
-  // shell/app. `false` tells xterm to skip its own handling of this event —
-  // which is also why the set doesn't `preventDefault`: swallowing here is
-  // xterm's return value, not the browser's.
-  term.attachCustomKeyEventHandler((e) => {
-    if (e.type !== "keydown") return true;
-    return !paneKeys.handle(e);
-  });
-
   // Touch scrolling: xterm's built-in touch handling is jittery (drags crawl a
   // line at a time and stall), so map finger drags ourselves. Two routes:
   //   • normal buffer  → term.scrollLines walks the scrollback.
diff --git a/web/src/catalog.ts b/web/src/catalog.ts
index ab8364c..f7e8f0b 100644
--- a/web/src/catalog.ts
+++ b/web/src/catalog.ts
@@ -53,10 +53,6 @@ export function requestOpenCommandBar(): void {
  *  connection pool. */
 export const FOCUS_PANE_EVENT = "catalog-focus-pane";
 
-/** Ask the shell to hand the keyboard back to the session list — what Escape
- *  does when the pane's terminal is focused. Handled in main.ts. */
-export const FOCUS_SIDEBAR_EVENT = "catalog-focus-sidebar";
-
 /** Ask the shell to open the spawn modal seeded from an existing session
  *  ("Spawn similar"). Detail is the session being cloned. */
 export const SPAWN_SIMILAR_EVENT = "catalog-spawn-similar";
diff --git a/web/src/commands.test.ts b/web/src/commands.test.ts
index 93ce959..70b2d2d 100644
--- a/web/src/commands.test.ts
+++ b/web/src/commands.test.ts
@@ -133,31 +133,28 @@ describe("CommandSet", () => {
     expect(run).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
   });
 
-  it("keeps plain keys deaf inside a form field, and chorded ones live", () => {
+  it("keeps plain keys deaf inside a form field, and leader chords live from the pane", () => {
     const plain = vi.fn();
     const chorded = vi.fn();
     const set = new CommandSet(
-      defineCommands({ "spawn.open": plain, "focus.toggle": chorded }),
+      defineCommands({ "spawn.open": plain, "focus.toggle": chorded }, DEFAULT_LEADER),
+      { leader: DEFAULT_LEADER },
     );
     const input = el("<input>");
     expect(pressOn(set, input, "n")).toBe(false);
     expect(plain).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
-    expect(pressOn(set, input, "H", { ctrlKey: true, shiftKey: true })).toBe(true);
+    // focus.toggle hangs off the leader (#166): a plain, unmodified Escape is
+    // left for the pane's shell/app instead.
+    const terminal = el('<textarea class="xterm-helper-textarea"></textarea>');
+    pressOn(set, terminal, "a", { ctrlKey: true });
+    expect(pressOn(set, terminal, "h")).toBe(true);
     expect(chorded).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
 
-  it("keeps pane commands live inside the terminal's textarea", () => {
-    const run = vi.fn();
-    const set = new CommandSet(defineCommands({ "pane.focusList": run }), {
-      preventDefault: false,
-    });
+  it("leaves a plain Escape for the pane instead of binding it", () => {
+    const set = new CommandSet(defineCommands({ "spawn.open": vi.fn() }));
     const textarea = el('<textarea class="xterm-helper-textarea"></textarea>');
-    const e = key("Escape");
-    Object.defineProperty(e, "target", { value: textarea });
-    expect(set.handle(e)).toBe(true);
-    expect(run).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
-    // xterm is told to swallow by the return value, not by the browser default.
-    expect(e.defaultPrevented).toBe(false);
+    expect(pressOn(set, textarea, "Escape")).toBe(false);
   });
 });
 
@@ -173,6 +170,7 @@ describe("the leader", () => {
     const byId = new Map(commandSpecs("ctrl-b").map((s) => [s.id, s]));
     expect(byId.get("pane.literalCtrlK")?.keys).toEqual(["ctrl-b ctrl-k"]);
     expect(byId.get("pane.literalLeader")?.keys).toEqual(["ctrl-b ctrl-b"]);
+    expect(byId.get("focus.toggle")?.keys).toEqual(["ctrl-b h"]);
     // Commands that do not hang off the leader are untouched.
     expect(byId.get("bar.open")?.keys).toEqual(["ctrl-k"]);
   });
diff --git a/web/src/commands.ts b/web/src/commands.ts
index a692072..4eff30d 100644
--- a/web/src/commands.ts
+++ b/web/src/commands.ts
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ const SPECS: readonly SpecSource[] = [
     id: "focus.toggle",
     label: "Move the keyboard between the session list and the pane",
     group: "Session list",
-    keys: ["ctrl-shift-h"],
+    keys: [`${DEFAULT_LEADER} h`],
+    leaderKeys: (leader) => [`${leader} h`],
     scope: "global",
   },
   {
@@ -145,13 +146,6 @@ const SPECS: readonly SpecSource[] = [
     keys: ["tab"],
     scope: "list",
   },
-  {
-    id: "pane.focusList",
-    label: "Hand the keyboard back to the session list, from the pane",
-    group: "Session list",
-    keys: ["esc"],
-    scope: "pane",
-  },
   {
     id: "help.toggle",
     label: "Show or hide this help",
diff --git a/web/src/main.ts b/web/src/main.ts
index 8bc489f..f8e5f74 100644
--- a/web/src/main.ts
+++ b/web/src/main.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ import { loadLayout, saveLayout } from "./persistence.js";
 import { createPreviewSchedule } from "./previewSchedule.js";
 import {
   FOCUS_PANE_EVENT,
-  FOCUS_SIDEBAR_EVENT,
   OPEN_COMMAND_BAR_EVENT,
   OPEN_SPAWN_EVENT,
   SESSION_SELECT_EVENT,
@@ -440,10 +439,11 @@ const spawnKeys = new CommandSet(
   }),
 );
 
-// Ctrl+Shift+H moves the keyboard between the session list and the pane, the
-// web counterpart of the TUI's `ctrl-w h`. It has to be a chord: an attached
-// terminal owns every plain keystroke, so nothing unmodified could ever get
-// the focus back out of it.
+// Leader-h moves the keyboard between the session list and the pane, the web
+// counterpart of the TUI's `ctrl-w h`. It has to be a chord behind the
+// leader: an attached terminal owns every plain keystroke, and Ctrl+Shift+H
+// is already claimed by the browser (history), so nothing unmodified — or
+// modified with a common browser chord — could get the focus back out of it.
 //
 // This set also owns the leader (`[tui].leader`, `ctrl-a` by default, served
 // on `/api/info`): it holds the key as a partial chord and takes select-all off
@@ -528,8 +528,8 @@ window.addEventListener(
 );
 
 
-// Tab in the session list hands the keyboard to the pane; Escape in the pane
-// hands it back — the pair the TUI gets from `tab` and `esc`.
+// Tab in the session list hands the keyboard to the pane; leader-h (focus.toggle,
+// above) hands it back the other way.
 document.addEventListener(FOCUS_PANE_EVENT, () => {
   // Handing the keyboard to a previewed pane is choosing it: the preview stops
   // being provisional rather than snapping back the moment the list blurs.
@@ -537,10 +537,6 @@ document.addEventListener(FOCUS_PANE_EVENT, () => {
   if (previewed) focusSession(previewed);
   pool.focusTerminal();
 });
-document.addEventListener(FOCUS_SIDEBAR_EVENT, () => {
-  drawer.open(); // no-op on desktop; on mobile the list is off-canvas
-  sidebar.focusList();
-});
 
 /** Open/focus a session and reflect it in the shell chrome. Shared by the
  *  hash router and the sidebar's click-driven path (#133), which can't rely