diff --git a/packages/app/src/components/left-sidebar.tsx b/packages/app/src/components/left-sidebar.tsx
index 759f0f991..55675e096 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/components/left-sidebar.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/components/left-sidebar.tsx
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ export const LeftSidebar = memo(function LeftSidebar({
     enabled: isCompactLayout || isOpen,
   });
   const { collapsedProjectKeys, shortcutIndexByWorkspaceKey, toggleProjectCollapsed } =
-    useSidebarShortcutModel({ projects, isInitialLoad });
+    useSidebarShortcutModel({ projects });
 
   const groupMode = useSidebarViewStore((state) =>
     activeServerId ? state.getGroupMode(activeServerId) : "project",
diff --git a/packages/app/src/hooks/use-sidebar-shortcut-model.test.tsx b/packages/app/src/hooks/use-sidebar-shortcut-model.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..42af68b15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/app/src/hooks/use-sidebar-shortcut-model.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+/**
+ * @vitest-environment jsdom
+ */
+import React from "react";
+import { act } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { createRoot, type Root } from "react-dom/client";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import type {
+  SidebarProjectEntry,
+  SidebarWorkspaceEntry,
+} from "@/hooks/use-sidebar-workspaces-list";
+import { useSidebarCollapsedSectionsStore } from "@/stores/sidebar-collapsed-sections-store";
+import { useSidebarShortcutModel } from "./use-sidebar-shortcut-model";
+
+function workspace(projectKey: string, workspaceId: string): SidebarWorkspaceEntry {
+  return {
+    workspaceKey: `srv:${workspaceId}`,
+    serverId: "srv",
+    workspaceId,
+    projectKey,
+    projectRootPath: `/repo/${projectKey}`,
+    workspaceDirectory: `/repo/${projectKey}/${workspaceId}`,
+    projectKind: "git",
+    workspaceKind: "worktree",
+    name: workspaceId,
+    title: null,
+    currentBranch: null,
+    statusBucket: "done",
+    statusEnteredAt: null,
+    archivingAt: null,
+    diffStat: null,
+    prHint: null,
+    archiveHasUncommittedChanges: null,
+    archiveUnpushedCommitCount: null,
+    scripts: [],
+    hasRunningScripts: false,
+  };
+}
+
+function project(projectKey: string): SidebarProjectEntry {
+  return {
+    projectKey,
+    projectName: projectKey,
+    projectKind: "git",
+    iconWorkingDir: `/repo/${projectKey}`,
+    canCreateWorktree: true,
+    workspaces: [workspace(projectKey, `${projectKey}-main`)],
+  };
+}
+
+const PROJECTS_BOTH = [project("p1"), project("p2")];
+const PROJECTS_ONLY_SECOND = [project("p2")];
+
+function Probe({ projectSet }: { projectSet: "both" | "onlySecond" }) {
+  const projects = projectSet === "both" ? PROJECTS_BOTH : PROJECTS_ONLY_SECOND;
+  useSidebarShortcutModel({ projects });
+  return null;
+}
+
+describe("useSidebarShortcutModel", () => {
+  let root: Root | null = null;
+  let container: HTMLElement | null = null;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    container = document.createElement("div");
+    document.body.appendChild(container);
+    root = createRoot(container);
+    useSidebarCollapsedSectionsStore.setState({
+      collapsedProjectKeys: new Set(),
+      collapsedStatusGroupKeys: new Set(),
+    });
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    if (root) {
+      act(() => {
+        root?.unmount();
+      });
+    }
+    root = null;
+    container?.remove();
+    container = null;
+  });
+
+  it("keeps a collapsed project collapsed when the project list temporarily omits it", async () => {
+    useSidebarCollapsedSectionsStore.setState({
+      collapsedProjectKeys: new Set(["p1"]),
+    });
+
+    await act(async () => {
+      root?.render(<Probe projectSet="both" />);
+    });
+    await act(async () => {
+      root?.render(<Probe projectSet="onlySecond" />);
+    });
+    await act(async () => {
+      root?.render(<Probe projectSet="both" />);
+    });
+
+    expect(useSidebarCollapsedSectionsStore.getState().collapsedProjectKeys.has("p1")).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/app/src/hooks/use-sidebar-shortcut-model.ts b/packages/app/src/hooks/use-sidebar-shortcut-model.ts
index 2d2bc617d..565b71f08 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/hooks/use-sidebar-shortcut-model.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/hooks/use-sidebar-shortcut-model.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
-import { useEffect, useMemo } from "react";
+import { useMemo } from "react";
 import type { SidebarProjectEntry } from "@/hooks/use-sidebar-workspaces-list";
 import { buildSidebarShortcutModel } from "@/utils/sidebar-shortcuts";
 import { useSidebarCollapsedSectionsStore } from "@/stores/sidebar-collapsed-sections-store";
 
-export function useSidebarShortcutModel(input: {
-  projects: SidebarProjectEntry[];
-  isInitialLoad: boolean;
-}) {
-  const { projects, isInitialLoad } = input;
+export function useSidebarShortcutModel(input: { projects: SidebarProjectEntry[] }) {
+  const { projects } = input;
   const collapsedProjectKeys = useSidebarCollapsedSectionsStore(
     (state) => state.collapsedProjectKeys,
   );
@@ -27,19 +24,6 @@ export function useSidebarShortcutModel(input: {
     [collapsedProjectKeys, projects],
   );
 
-  useEffect(() => {
-    if (isInitialLoad || projects.length === 0) {
-      return;
-    }
-
-    const projectKeys = new Set(projects.map((project) => project.projectKey));
-    for (const key of collapsedProjectKeys) {
-      if (!projectKeys.has(key)) {
-        setProjectCollapsed(key, false);
-      }
-    }
-  }, [collapsedProjectKeys, isInitialLoad, projects, setProjectCollapsed]);
-
   return {
     collapsedProjectKeys,
     shortcutIndexByWorkspaceKey: shortcutModel.shortcutIndexByWorkspaceKey,