diff --git a/src/lib/conversationApi.test.ts b/src/lib/conversationApi.test.ts
index f706439..13850d1 100644
--- a/src/lib/conversationApi.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/conversationApi.test.ts
@@ -21,3 +21,56 @@ describe("conversation API errors", () => {
     );
   });
 });
+
+describe("getConversation request dedupe", () => {
+  it("shares one in-flight fetch across concurrent callers", async () => {
+    let resolveFetch: ((response: Response) => void) | null = null;
+    const fetchMock = vi.fn().mockImplementation(
+      () =>
+        new Promise<Response>((resolve) => {
+          resolveFetch = resolve;
+        })
+    );
+    vi.stubGlobal("fetch", fetchMock);
+
+    const first = getConversation("thread-a");
+    const second = getConversation("thread-a");
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+    resolveFetch!(
+      new Response(JSON.stringify({ thread: {}, state: {} }), {
+        status: 200,
+        headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
+      })
+    );
+    await expect(first).resolves.toEqual({ thread: {}, state: {} });
+    await expect(second).resolves.toEqual({ thread: {}, state: {} });
+
+    // Once settled, the next call fetches again (no stale caching).
+    fetchMock.mockResolvedValue(
+      new Response(JSON.stringify({ thread: {}, state: {} }), {
+        status: 200,
+        headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
+      })
+    );
+    await getConversation("thread-a");
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
+  it("does not dedupe failures into a poisoned entry", async () => {
+    const fetchMock = vi
+      .fn()
+      .mockResolvedValue(
+        new Response(JSON.stringify({ error: "boom" }), { status: 500 })
+      );
+    vi.stubGlobal("fetch", fetchMock);
+
+    await expect(getConversation("thread-b")).rejects.toMatchObject({
+      status: 500,
+    });
+    await expect(getConversation("thread-b")).rejects.toMatchObject({
+      status: 500,
+    });
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/conversationApi.ts b/src/lib/conversationApi.ts
index 311b011..ad564ae 100644
--- a/src/lib/conversationApi.ts
+++ b/src/lib/conversationApi.ts
@@ -72,14 +72,26 @@ export async function createConversation(): Promise<{ threadId: string }> {
   return body;
 }
 
-export async function getConversation(
+// Opening a conversation fires several effects that all need the same
+// snapshot; share one in-flight request instead of fetching 3x.
+const inflightConversations = new Map<string, Promise<ConversationSnapshot>>();
+
+export function getConversation(
   threadId: string
 ): Promise<ConversationSnapshot> {
-  return readJson<ConversationSnapshot>(
-    await fetch(`/api/conversations/${encodeURIComponent(threadId)}`, {
-      cache: "no-store",
-    })
-  );
+  const inflight = inflightConversations.get(threadId);
+  if (inflight) return inflight;
+  const request = fetch(`/api/conversations/${encodeURIComponent(threadId)}`, {
+    cache: "no-store",
+  }).then((response) => readJson<ConversationSnapshot>(response));
+  inflightConversations.set(threadId, request);
+  const cleanup = () => {
+    if (inflightConversations.get(threadId) === request) {
+      inflightConversations.delete(threadId);
+    }
+  };
+  request.then(cleanup, cleanup);
+  return request;
 }
 
 export async function patchConversation(
diff --git a/src/lib/server/conversationResponse.test.ts b/src/lib/server/conversationResponse.test.ts
index 9ac3879..e6d33bc 100644
--- a/src/lib/server/conversationResponse.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/server/conversationResponse.test.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,20 @@ describe("conversation response isolation", () => {
     ).toEqual({ values: { messages: [{ content: "visible" }] } });
   });
 
+  it("strips internal agent state that the browser never reads", () => {
+    // These keys dominate the thread-state payload (1.9MB of 1.9MB) and no
+    // WebUI code path references them; forwarding them is pure parse cost.
+    expect(
+      sanitizeConversationData({
+        values: {
+          _quickjs_snapshot_payload: { snapshot: "x".repeat(100) },
+          skills_metadata: [{ name: "skill-a" }],
+          messages: [{ content: "visible" }],
+        },
+      })
+    ).toEqual({ values: { messages: [{ content: "visible" }] } });
+  });
+
   it("requires all durable metadata fields to match the registry", () => {
     assertThreadMatchesScope(
       "thread-a",
diff --git a/src/lib/server/conversationResponse.ts b/src/lib/server/conversationResponse.ts
index 02d7da8..8ba1062 100644
--- a/src/lib/server/conversationResponse.ts
+++ b/src/lib/server/conversationResponse.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ const INTERNAL_STATE_KEYS = new Set([
   "workspace_dir",
   "workspace_root",
   "workspace_backend",
+  // Agent-internal runtime state. Together these are ~1.9MB of a typical
+  // thread-state payload and no WebUI code path reads them.
+  "_quickjs_snapshot_payload",
+  "skills_metadata",
 ]);
 
 function isRecord(value: unknown): value is Record<string, unknown> {