Reload after an Ace Helper restart sticks on Reconnecting… with no way to sign in #609

After Ace Helper restarts, reloading the browser tab sticks on "Disconnected from your host. Reconnecting…" forever. Nothing says you need to sign in again or how.

What was seen

B restarted Ace Helper (to pick up a gh account switch) and reloaded the browser tab. "The page stayed on 'Disconnected from your host. Reconnecting…' and the console showed WebSocket connection to 'ws://localhost:4142/ws' failed: HTTP Authentication failed." Opening the same sign-in link again in that tab didn't help. It worked only after going to a blank page first and then opening the link, with the same token. "Nothing said I had to sign in again or how."

This is the same family as an unauthenticated browser on a bare URL, which also shows "Reconnecting…" forever with the auth failure only in the console, and ace open printing no link (map ^897).

Steps

1. Sign in to Ace in a browser with the host's link.
2. Restart Ace Helper.
3. Reload the tab.

Expected: a refused WebSocket (401) shows "Sign in again" with how to get a link (ace open, or the desktop menu), and opening the link in the same tab works. Code: apps/app/src/app.tsx:131, apps/host/src/gateway.ts (/ws → 401).

Map: ^897.

Found in the 2026-10-22 two-Mac pair study.