diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/mod.rs b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/mod.rs
index 4cd8baf3..4f2b9117 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/mod.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/mod.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet, VecDeque};
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::time::Duration;
 use tokio::sync::{broadcast, mpsc, RwLock};
-use tracing::{error, info};
+use tracing::{error, info, warn};
 
 /// How often to broadcast our identity advertisement (seconds).
 const ADVERT_INTERVAL: Duration = Duration::from_secs(60);
@@ -52,6 +52,22 @@ const RX_STALL_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(1800);
 /// Maximum stored messages (circular buffer).
 const MAX_MESSAGES: usize = 100;
 
+/// On-disk message-history file under `data_dir/` (written by
+/// `spawn_message_persister`, restored by `load_persisted_messages`).
+const MESSAGES_FILE: &str = "mesh-messages.json";
+
+/// Serialized form of the persisted history. `send_seqs` rides along because
+/// the per-target outbound sequence counters must survive restarts too:
+/// receivers dedup on (sender_pubkey, sender_seq), so a node that reboots and
+/// starts counting from 1 again has its first messages silently dropped by
+/// every peer that already saw those sequence numbers.
+#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
+struct PersistedMessages {
+    messages: Vec<MeshMessage>,
+    #[serde(default)]
+    send_seqs: HashMap<u32, u64>,
+}
+
 /// Check if two ISO8601 timestamps are within N seconds of each other.
 fn within_seconds_iso(ts1: &str, ts2: &str, secs: i64) -> bool {
     use chrono::DateTime;
@@ -402,6 +418,90 @@ impl MeshState {
         let count = self.peers.read().await.len();
         self.status.write().await.peer_count = count;
     }
+
+    /// Restore the persisted message history + outbound sequence counters.
+    /// Called once at service startup, before the listener spawns. Missing
+    /// file (fresh node) is normal; a corrupt file is logged and skipped
+    /// rather than blocking mesh startup.
+    pub async fn load_persisted_messages(&self) {
+        let path = self.data_dir.join(MESSAGES_FILE);
+        let bytes = match tokio::fs::read(&path).await {
+            Ok(b) => b,
+            Err(e) if e.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => return,
+            Err(e) => {
+                warn!("mesh: reading {} failed: {e}", path.display());
+                return;
+            }
+        };
+        let persisted: PersistedMessages = match serde_json::from_slice(&bytes) {
+            Ok(p) => p,
+            Err(e) => {
+                warn!("mesh: parsing {} failed (skipping restore): {e}", path.display());
+                return;
+            }
+        };
+        let count = persisted.messages.len();
+        let max_id = persisted.messages.iter().map(|m| m.id).max().unwrap_or(0);
+        *self.messages.write().await = persisted.messages.into();
+        if !persisted.send_seqs.is_empty() {
+            *self.next_send_seq.write().await = persisted.send_seqs;
+        }
+        {
+            let mut id = self.next_message_id.write().await;
+            if *id <= max_id {
+                *id = max_id + 1;
+            }
+        }
+        info!("mesh: restored {count} persisted messages (next id {})", max_id + 1);
+    }
+}
+
+/// Persist the message history on a low-rate timer instead of hooking every
+/// mutation path (store, delivered/transport/encrypted stamps, edits, deletes,
+/// read-receipt prunes — and whatever gets added next). Serializing ≤100
+/// messages every few seconds is trivial; the write is skipped when nothing
+/// changed, and at most the last few seconds of history are lost on a hard
+/// kill — versus the entire history, which is what a restart cost before this
+/// existed. Atomic write-then-rename, 0600 (DM plaintext lives in this file).
+pub fn spawn_message_persister(state: Arc<MeshState>) {
+    tokio::spawn(async move {
+        use std::os::unix::fs::PermissionsExt;
+        let path = state.data_dir.join(MESSAGES_FILE);
+        let tmp = path.with_extension("json.tmp");
+        let mut last_written: Option<Vec<u8>> = None;
+        let mut tick = tokio::time::interval(Duration::from_secs(5));
+        tick.set_missed_tick_behavior(tokio::time::MissedTickBehavior::Delay);
+        loop {
+            tick.tick().await;
+            let snapshot = PersistedMessages {
+                messages: state.messages.read().await.iter().cloned().collect(),
+                send_seqs: state.next_send_seq.read().await.clone(),
+            };
+            let json = match serde_json::to_vec_pretty(&snapshot) {
+                Ok(j) => j,
+                Err(e) => {
+                    warn!("mesh: serializing message history failed: {e}");
+                    continue;
+                }
+            };
+            if last_written.as_deref() == Some(json.as_slice()) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            if let Err(e) = tokio::fs::write(&tmp, &json).await {
+                warn!("mesh: writing {} failed: {e}", tmp.display());
+                continue;
+            }
+            let perms = std::fs::Permissions::from_mode(0o600);
+            if let Err(e) = tokio::fs::set_permissions(&tmp, perms).await {
+                warn!("mesh: chmod {} failed: {e}", tmp.display());
+            }
+            if let Err(e) = tokio::fs::rename(&tmp, &path).await {
+                warn!("mesh: renaming {} -> {} failed: {e}", tmp.display(), path.display());
+                continue;
+            }
+            last_written = Some(json);
+        }
+    });
 }
 
 /// Spawn the background mesh listener task.
diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/mod.rs b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/mod.rs
index 8dcb3101..62681b16 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/mod.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/mod.rs
@@ -691,6 +691,13 @@ impl MeshService {
             }
         }
 
+        // Restore the message history + outbound send-sequence counters, then
+        // keep them persisted. Until 2026-07-22 both were RAM-only: every
+        // restart wiped the chat history, and the reset sequence counters made
+        // peers drop the first post-reboot messages as (pubkey, seq) replays.
+        state.load_persisted_messages().await;
+        listener::spawn_message_persister(Arc::clone(&state));
+
         Ok(Self {
             state,
             config,