diff --git a/.ai/contexts/subagent-observability.md b/.ai/contexts/subagent-observability.md
index b3d254e..16ad5f8 100644
--- a/.ai/contexts/subagent-observability.md
+++ b/.ai/contexts/subagent-observability.md
@@ -255,22 +255,24 @@ lost (Show Archived brought it back), but the old behaviour hid this by
 accident: archiving the children too really did empty `project.sessions`, so
 the disappearance was legitimate.
 
-The guard now carries `keepForOrphanSubagents = !anyFilterActive &&
-subagentIndex.size > 0`. When `filtered` is empty, every indexed subagent is by
-definition an orphan (`allTopLevelIds` is built from the rendered items, which
-are none), so the existing orphan bucket renders them under a surviving header.
-The `!anyFilterActive` half is load-bearing: without it, `showStarredOnly` /
-`showRunningOnly` / `showTodayOnly` / an active search would resurrect every
-project that merely owns a subagent, since subagents never satisfy those
-filters. The other cases the guard protects are untouched — an empty project
-directory still renders (`subagentIndex.size === 0`), a filtered-out project
-still hides, and `_projectMatchedOnly` still short-circuits ahead of it.
-
-Still open, reported but not fixed: when a search matches **only** subagent
-transcripts in a project, `refreshSidebar` narrows `sessions` to those matches
-and `processProjectSessions` then filters them all out, so the project
-disappears from the results instead of surfacing the matching transcript. That
-needs a UI decision (render the hit as an orphan group?), not just a filter.
+The guard now carries `keepForOrphanSubagents = subagentIndex.size > 0 &&
+!showStarredOnly && !showRunningOnly && !showTodayOnly`. When `filtered` is
+empty, every indexed subagent is by definition an orphan (`allTopLevelIds` is
+built from the rendered items, which are none), so the existing orphan bucket
+renders them under a surviving header. The three named filters are
+load-bearing: without excluding them, `showStarredOnly` / `showRunningOnly` /
+`showTodayOnly` would resurrect every project that merely owns a subagent,
+since subagents never satisfy those filters. Search is deliberately **not** in
+that exclusion list: `refreshSidebar` (`public/app.js`) has already dropped any
+project with zero matching sessions before `processProjectSessions` ever runs,
+so by the time this guard is reached under an active search, `subagentIndex`
+being non-empty means a subagent transcript is the match — keeping the project
+alive surfaces it instead of losing it. The orphan bucket's default-collapsed
+state is overridden the same way (`expanded = searchMatchIds !== null || ...`)
+so the matching subagent doesn't require an extra click to see. The other
+cases the guard protects are untouched — an empty project directory still
+renders (`subagentIndex.size === 0`), a filtered-out project still hides, and
+`_projectMatchedOnly` still short-circuits ahead of it.
 
 ## If you change this, also check
 
@@ -278,6 +280,7 @@ needs a UI decision (render the hit as an orphan group?), not just a filter.
 - `test/dom-subagent-transcript.test.js` — 4 tests covering the routing branch + transcript render
 - `test/dom-sidebar.test.js` — covers orphan group rendering
 - `test/dom-project-archive-all.test.js` — pins the project archive-all filter
+- `test/dom-sidebar-search-subagent-hits.test.js` — pins the search-only-hits-a-subagent case and the showStarredOnly regression, one test per guard clause
 - `test/session-transitions.test.js` — spawn/complete/heartbeat lifecycle plus
   the resurrection guards above
 - `test/dom-grid-subagent-pills.test.js` — pins the grid-view IPC handler arity
diff --git a/public/sidebar.js b/public/sidebar.js
index e0c4788..6938f3f 100644
--- a/public/sidebar.js
+++ b/public/sidebar.js
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ function renderProjects(projects, resort) {
     }
     const anyFilterActive = showStarredOnly || showRunningOnly || showTodayOnly || searchMatchIds !== null;
     // see .ai/contexts/subagent-observability.md
-    const keepForOrphanSubagents = !anyFilterActive && subagentIndex.size > 0;
+    const keepForOrphanSubagents = subagentIndex.size > 0 && !showStarredOnly && !showRunningOnly && !showTodayOnly;
     if (filtered.length === 0 && !project._projectMatchedOnly && !keepForOrphanSubagents && (project.sessions.length > 0 || anyFilterActive)) return null;
 
     // Sort
@@ -567,7 +567,8 @@ function renderProjects(projects, resort) {
         // section is rarely the user's focus and can grow long on long-lived
         // projects (this very session has 1300+ orphan subagents).
         const orphanStateKey = 'orphanExpanded:' + projectPath;
-        const expanded = localStorage.getItem(orphanStateKey) === '1';
+        // see .ai/contexts/subagent-observability.md
+        const expanded = searchMatchIds !== null || localStorage.getItem(orphanStateKey) === '1';
 
         const orphanGroup = document.createElement('div');
         orphanGroup.className = 'sidebar-orphan-subagents' + (expanded ? '' : ' collapsed');
diff --git a/test/dom-sidebar-search-subagent-hits.test.js b/test/dom-sidebar-search-subagent-hits.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a07d73d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/dom-sidebar-search-subagent-hits.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+// Regression coverage: a search hit that lives only inside a subagent
+// transcript used to vanish entirely from the sidebar. See
+// .ai/contexts/subagent-observability.md for the full trace of how the hit
+// reaches searchMatchIds and where it used to get dropped at render time
+// (sidebar.js processProjectSessions()'s keepForOrphanSubagents guard, and
+// the orphan-bucket default-collapsed state).
+
+const test = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert/strict');
+
+const { setupSidebarDom, makeSampleProject } = require('./dom-setup');
+
+// Mirrors what app.js's refreshSidebar() produces when only a subagent
+// session matched the search: `sessions` is reduced to just the matching
+// subagent, the parent top-level session is filtered out entirely.
+function projectWithOnlySubagentHit() {
+  return makeSampleProject({
+    sessions: [
+      {
+        sessionId: 'sub:s-top-1:agent-1',
+        parentSessionId: 's-top-1',
+        agentId: 'agent-1',
+        subagentType: 'explore',
+        description: 'explore subagent',
+        modified: '2026-05-22T09:59:00.000Z',
+        messageCount: 1,
+      },
+    ],
+  });
+}
+
+test('search hit that is only a subagent: project renders and the subagent is visible unfolded', () => {
+  const ctx = setupSidebarDom();
+  try {
+    ctx.window.searchMatchIds = new Set(['sub:s-top-1:agent-1']);
+
+    ctx.sidebar.renderProjects([projectWithOnlySubagentHit()], true);
+
+    const projectGroup = ctx.document.getElementById(ctx.sidebar.folderId('/home/dev/myproj'));
+    assert.ok(projectGroup, 'project group must still be rendered when its only match is a subagent');
+
+    const subagentItem = ctx.document.getElementById('si-sub:s-top-1:agent-1');
+    assert.ok(subagentItem, 'the matching subagent item must be rendered');
+
+    const orphanGroup = projectGroup.querySelector('.sidebar-orphan-subagents');
+    assert.ok(orphanGroup, 'orphan subagent bucket must be rendered');
+    assert.ok(!orphanGroup.classList.contains('collapsed'), 'orphan bucket must be expanded during an active search, not hidden behind a click');
+  } finally {
+    ctx.destroy();
+  }
+});
+
+test('regression: showStarredOnly still hides a project whose only sessions are an unstarred top-level plus a subagent', () => {
+  const ctx = setupSidebarDom();
+  try {
+    ctx.window.showStarredOnly = true;
+
+    const project = makeSampleProject({
+      sessions: [
+        {
+          sessionId: 's-top-1',
+          name: 'main session',
+          summary: 'top level 1',
+          modified: '2026-05-22T10:00:00.000Z',
+          starred: false,
+          archived: 0,
+          messageCount: 12,
+        },
+        {
+          sessionId: 's-sub-1',
+          parentSessionId: 's-top-1',
+          subagentType: 'explore',
+          description: 'explore subagent',
+          modified: '2026-05-22T09:59:00.000Z',
+          messageCount: 3,
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+
+    ctx.sidebar.renderProjects([project], true);
+
+    const projectGroup = ctx.document.getElementById(ctx.sidebar.folderId('/home/dev/myproj'));
+    assert.equal(projectGroup, null, 'a subagent must never keep a project alive under showStarredOnly — subagents are never starred');
+  } finally {
+    ctx.destroy();
+  }
+});