diff --git a/src/api/client.ts b/src/api/client.ts
index 14206c6..b1b3f4e 100644
--- a/src/api/client.ts
+++ b/src/api/client.ts
@@ -96,8 +96,27 @@ export class ZinoClient {
     this.setToken(null);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * The signed-in user, from the server.
+   *
+   * Needed because **the JWT does not carry roles.** Its claims are only
+   * user_id / name / email / sub / exp / iat — so `currentUser()` below can
+   * restore an identity across a refresh but never a permission set. The login
+   * *response body* has roles, and so does this endpoint; nothing else does.
+   *
+   * Without this, a page reload left every user with no roles, which silently
+   * emptied the action bar on every screen.
+   */
+  me(): Promise<User> {
+    return this.request<User>('GET', '/usr/me');
+  }
+
   /** Decode the persisted JWT into a User — no network round trip, so a hard
-   *  refresh restores the session without flashing the login screen. */
+   *  refresh restores the session without flashing the login screen.
+   *
+   *  NOTE: the token has NO roles claim, so the User this returns always has an
+   *  empty `roles`. The provider follows it up with `me()` for the real
+   *  permission set; anything that gates on roles must tolerate the gap. */
   currentUser(): User | null {
     if (!this.token) return null;
     try {
diff --git a/src/api/config.ts b/src/api/config.ts
index 5237695..e061f92 100644
--- a/src/api/config.ts
+++ b/src/api/config.ts
@@ -148,9 +148,26 @@ export const STAGE_ACTIONS: Record<string, Action[]> = {
   ],
 };
 
+/**
+ * Which actions to offer on a file.
+ *
+ * FAILS OPEN, and that is deliberate. The JWT carries no roles claim, so there
+ * is a real window — a restored session before `/usr/me` answers, or that call
+ * failing — where the console does not know what the user may do. Filtering on
+ * an empty role list in that window hid EVERY button on EVERY file and made a
+ * working app look broken, which is exactly what happened the first time this
+ * shipped.
+ *
+ * So: with no roles known, show every action the stage allows and let the server
+ * refuse what it must. That refusal is safe and legible — the workflow answers
+ * "user 29533 does not have permission for activity …" and the form surfaces it
+ * verbatim. Hiding a button the user needs is the worse failure, because nothing
+ * on screen explains it.
+ */
 export function actionsFor(stage: string | undefined, roles: string[] | undefined): Action[] {
   const all = STAGE_ACTIONS[stage ?? ''] ?? [];
   const mine = roles ?? [];
+  if (mine.length === 0) return all;
   if (mine.some((r) => SUPER_ROLES.includes(r))) return all;
   return all.filter((a) => a.roles.some((r) => mine.includes(r)));
 }
diff --git a/src/api/provider.tsx b/src/api/provider.tsx
index 2865f79..8e629c3 100644
--- a/src/api/provider.tsx
+++ b/src/api/provider.tsx
@@ -33,6 +33,35 @@ export function ZinoProvider({ baseUrl, children }: { baseUrl: string; children:
     client.setAuthErrorHandler(() => setUser(null));
   }, [client]);
 
+  // The token restores WHO you are but not WHAT YOU MAY DO — it carries no roles
+  // claim (only user_id / name / email / sub / exp / iat). So when a session is
+  // restored from storage rather than created by a fresh login, ask the server
+  // for the real user. Without this, a page refresh left roles empty and every
+  // role-gated action bar rendered blank.
+  //
+  // Keyed on "have a token, have no roles" rather than running unconditionally:
+  // a fresh login already carries roles in its response body, and re-fetching
+  // would be a wasted round trip on every mount.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!client.getToken()) return;
+    if ((user?.roles?.length ?? 0) > 0) return;
+    let live = true;
+    client
+      .me()
+      .then((u) => {
+        if (live) setUser(u);
+      })
+      .catch(() => {
+        // Must not sign anyone out — the identity from the token is still good.
+        // Role-gated UI falls OPEN in this case; the server enforces permissions
+        // regardless of what gets rendered.
+      });
+    return () => {
+      live = false;
+    };
+    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
+  }, [client, user?.id, user?.roles?.length]);
+
   const value = useMemo<ZinoContextValue>(
     () => ({
       client,