diff --git a/frontend/src/hooks/useConversationMessages.ts b/frontend/src/hooks/useConversationMessages.ts
index 9c507d8..e0ba482 100644
--- a/frontend/src/hooks/useConversationMessages.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/hooks/useConversationMessages.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ export function useConversationMessages(
 
   const abortControllerRef = useRef<AbortController | null>(null);
   const fetchingConversationIdRef = useRef<string | null>(null);
+  const latestReconcileRequestIdRef = useRef(0);
   const messagesRef = useRef<Message[]>([]);
   const hasOlderMessagesRef = useRef(false);
   const hasNewerMessagesRef = useRef(false);
@@ -215,7 +216,7 @@ export function useConversationMessages(
   );
 
   const reconcileFromBackend = useCallback(
-    (conversation: Conversation, signal: AbortSignal) => {
+    (conversation: Conversation, signal: AbortSignal, requestId: number) => {
       const conversationId = conversation.id;
       api
         .getMessages(
@@ -228,6 +229,7 @@ export function useConversationMessages(
         )
         .then((data) => {
           if (fetchingConversationIdRef.current !== conversationId) return;
+          if (latestReconcileRequestIdRef.current !== requestId) return;
 
           const dataWithPendingAck = data.map((msg) => applyPendingAck(msg));
           const merged = messageCache.reconcile(messagesRef.current, dataWithPendingAck);
@@ -352,7 +354,9 @@ export function useConversationMessages(
   const triggerReconcile = useCallback(() => {
     if (!isMessageConversation(activeConversation)) return;
     const controller = new AbortController();
-    reconcileFromBackend(activeConversation, controller.signal);
+    const requestId = latestReconcileRequestIdRef.current + 1;
+    latestReconcileRequestIdRef.current = requestId;
+    reconcileFromBackend(activeConversation, controller.signal, requestId);
   }, [activeConversation, reconcileFromBackend]);
 
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -365,6 +369,7 @@ export function useConversationMessages(
     const conversationChanged = prevId !== newId;
     fetchingConversationIdRef.current = newId;
     prevConversationIdRef.current = newId;
+    latestReconcileRequestIdRef.current = 0;
 
     // Preserve around-loaded context on the same conversation when search clears targetMessageId.
     if (!conversationChanged && !targetMessageId) {
@@ -433,7 +438,9 @@ export function useConversationMessages(
         seenMessageContent.current = new Set(cached.seenContent);
         setHasOlderMessages(cached.hasOlderMessages);
         setMessagesLoading(false);
-        reconcileFromBackend(activeConversation, controller.signal);
+        const requestId = latestReconcileRequestIdRef.current + 1;
+        latestReconcileRequestIdRef.current = requestId;
+        reconcileFromBackend(activeConversation, controller.signal, requestId);
       } else {
         void fetchLatestMessages(true, controller.signal);
       }
diff --git a/frontend/src/test/useConversationMessages.race.test.ts b/frontend/src/test/useConversationMessages.race.test.ts
index e56399a..38e3d44 100644
--- a/frontend/src/test/useConversationMessages.race.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/test/useConversationMessages.race.test.ts
@@ -224,6 +224,48 @@ describe('useConversationMessages conversation switch', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('useConversationMessages background reconcile ordering', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    mockGetMessages.mockReset();
+    messageCache.clear();
+  });
+
+  it('ignores stale reconnect reconcile responses that finish after newer ones', async () => {
+    const conv = createConversation();
+    mockGetMessages.mockResolvedValueOnce([
+      createMessage({ id: 42, text: 'initial snapshot', acked: 0 }),
+    ]);
+
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useConversationMessages(conv));
+
+    await waitFor(() => expect(result.current.messagesLoading).toBe(false));
+    expect(result.current.messages[0].text).toBe('initial snapshot');
+
+    const firstReconcile = createDeferred<Message[]>();
+    const secondReconcile = createDeferred<Message[]>();
+    mockGetMessages
+      .mockReturnValueOnce(firstReconcile.promise)
+      .mockReturnValueOnce(secondReconcile.promise);
+
+    act(() => {
+      result.current.triggerReconcile();
+      result.current.triggerReconcile();
+    });
+
+    secondReconcile.resolve([createMessage({ id: 42, text: 'newer snapshot', acked: 2 })]);
+    await waitFor(() => expect(result.current.messages[0].text).toBe('newer snapshot'));
+    expect(result.current.messages[0].acked).toBe(2);
+
+    firstReconcile.resolve([createMessage({ id: 42, text: 'stale snapshot', acked: 1 })]);
+    await act(async () => {
+      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 0));
+    });
+
+    expect(result.current.messages[0].text).toBe('newer snapshot');
+    expect(result.current.messages[0].acked).toBe(2);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('useConversationMessages forward pagination', () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     mockGetMessages.mockReset();