diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/right-rail/preview-file.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/right-rail/preview-file.tsx
index 7e2fe83ae7..87913b1d55 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/right-rail/preview-file.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/right-rail/preview-file.tsx
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ import {
   writeDesktopFileText
 } from '@/lib/desktop-fs'
 import { Check, Pencil, X } from '@/lib/icons'
+import { createMemoizedMathPlugin } from '@/lib/katex-memo'
 import { shikiLanguageForFilename } from '@/lib/markdown-code'
+import { normalizeFilePreviewMath } from '@/lib/markdown-preprocess'
 import { cn } from '@/lib/utils'
 import type { PreviewTarget } from '@/store/preview'
 import { setPreviewDirty } from '@/store/preview-edit'
@@ -44,6 +46,11 @@ const SOURCE_CHUNK_LINES = 200
 const SOURCE_LINE_PX = 20
 const SOURCE_OVERSCAN_LINES = 400
 
+// Math plugin for the static file preview, configured once at module scope.
+// Mirrors the chat transcript's plugin (`markdown-text.tsx`) — same memoized
+// KaTeX wrapper, with `singleDollarTextMath: true` so `$x$` renders inline.
+const previewMathPlugin = createMemoizedMathPlugin({ singleDollarTextMath: true })
+
 type EmptyStateTone = 'neutral' | 'warning'
 
 const TONE_STYLES: Record<EmptyStateTone, { cube: string; primary: string }> = {
@@ -370,10 +377,18 @@ const MARKDOWN_COMPONENTS = {
 }
 
 function MarkdownPreview({ text }: { text: string }) {
+  const mathText = useMemo(() => normalizeFilePreviewMath(text), [text])
+
   return (
     <div className="preview-markdown mx-auto max-w-3xl px-4 py-3 text-sm text-foreground" data-selectable-text="true">
-      <Streamdown components={MARKDOWN_COMPONENTS} controls={false} mode="static" parseIncompleteMarkdown={false}>
-        {text}
+      <Streamdown
+        components={MARKDOWN_COMPONENTS}
+        controls={false}
+        mode="static"
+        parseIncompleteMarkdown={false}
+        plugins={{ math: previewMathPlugin }}
+      >
+        {mathText}
       </Streamdown>
     </div>
   )
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.file-preview.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.file-preview.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dee8a6ef38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.file-preview.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { normalizeFilePreviewMath } from '@/lib/markdown-preprocess'
+
+describe('normalizeFilePreviewMath', () => {
+  it('leaves single-dollar inline math untouched', () => {
+    expect(normalizeFilePreviewMath('Price is $x^2 + y^2$ today')).toBe('Price is $x^2 + y^2$ today')
+  })
+
+  it('escapes currency dollar amounts so they are not parsed as math', () => {
+    const output = normalizeFilePreviewMath('Rent $500 and utilities $150.')
+
+    expect(output).toContain('\\$500')
+    expect(output).toContain('\\$150')
+  })
+
+  it('does not escape dollars inside code fences', () => {
+    const input = ['Before', '```bash', 'echo $HOME', 'echo $PATH', '```', 'After'].join('\n')
+
+    expect(normalizeFilePreviewMath(input)).toBe(input)
+  })
+
+  it('does not escape dollars inside inline code spans', () => {
+    expect(normalizeFilePreviewMath('Run `echo $HOME` now')).toBe('Run `echo $HOME` now')
+  })
+
+  it('normalizes latex delimiters to dollar math', () => {
+    // `\(…\)` and `\[…\]` are rewritten to `$…$` / `$$…$$` so remark-math parses them.
+    expect(normalizeFilePreviewMath('A formula \\(x + 1\\) inline.')).toBe('A formula $x + 1$ inline.')
+  })
+
+  it('leaves ```math fences untouched (rehype renders language-math directly)', () => {
+    const input = ['```math', 'E = mc^2', '```'].join('\n')
+
+    expect(normalizeFilePreviewMath(input)).toBe(input)
+  })
+
+  it('does not strip citation markers or autolink urls (chat-only transforms omitted)', () => {
+    const input = 'See [3] and https://example.com'
+
+    const output = normalizeFilePreviewMath(input)
+
+    // A chat message would autolink the URL and strip the [3] citation marker;
+    // a file's prose must stay verbatim.
+    expect(output).toBe(input)
+  })
+
+  it('does not strip reasoning blocks (author content, not model output)', () => {
+    const input = '<reasoning>keep me</reasoning>'
+
+    expect(normalizeFilePreviewMath(input)).toBe(input)
+  })
+})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.ts
index 00d5440353..cbecf243c5 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.ts
@@ -521,3 +521,33 @@ export function preprocessMarkdown(text: string): string {
     .join('')
     .replace(/[ \t]+\n/g, '\n')
 }
+
+/**
+ * Math-only normalization for static file previews. Mirrors the math half of
+ * `preprocessMarkdown` — delimiter normalization (`\(…\)`, `\[…\]`), display
+ * math on its own lines, and currency-dollar escaping — but deliberately skips
+ * the chat-only transforms (reasoning-block stripping, `@session:` ref
+ * linking, preview-target stripping, raw-URL autolinking, citation-marker
+ * stripping). A file's prose is author content, not model output, so those
+ * rewrites must not touch it. Code fences and inline code spans pass through
+ * untouched so `$`, `\(` and `\begin` inside listings are never mangled.
+ *
+ * ` ```math ` fences need no preprocessing: remark/rehype emit them as
+ * `<code class="language-math">` and the memoized rehype-katex wrapper renders
+ * them regardless of this function.
+ */
+export function normalizeFilePreviewMath(text: string): string {
+  return text
+    .split(CODE_FENCE_SPLIT_RE)
+    .map(part => {
+      if (/^(?:```|~~~)/.test(part)) {
+        return part
+      }
+
+      return part
+        .split(INLINE_CODE_SPLIT_RE)
+        .map(segment => (segment.startsWith('`') ? segment : normalizeProseMath(segment)))
+        .join('')
+    })
+    .join('')
+}