diff --git a/tests/playwright/history.spec.js b/tests/playwright/history.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8cf2f28b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/playwright/history.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+// History navigation tests — back/forward buttons (HTMX 4.0 style)
+// Verifies that popstate re-renders content, restores scroll position,
+// and matches a fresh load of the same URL.
+
+const { test, expect } = require('playwright/test');
+const { BASE_URL, waitForSxReady, loadPage, trackErrors } = require('./helpers');
+
+test.describe('History navigation', () => {
+  let t;
+  test.beforeEach(({ page }) => { t = trackErrors(page); });
+  test.afterEach(() => { expect(t.errors()).toEqual([]); });
+
+  test('back button restores previous page content', async ({ page }) => {
+    await loadPage(page, '(geography)');
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-content')).toContainText('Geography');
+
+    // Navigate forward
+    await page.click('a[href*="geography.(reactive)"]:not([href*="runtime"])');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-content')).toContainText('Reactive Islands', { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Back button
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await expect(page).not.toHaveURL(/reactive/);
+
+    // Content must update to match the URL
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-content')).toContainText('Geography', { timeout: 5000 });
+  });
+
+  test('forward button restores next page content', async ({ page }) => {
+    await loadPage(page, '(geography)');
+
+    // Navigate forward
+    await page.click('a[href*="geography.(reactive)"]:not([href*="runtime"])');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-content')).toContainText('Reactive Islands', { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Back
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-content')).toContainText('Geography', { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Forward
+    await page.goForward();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-content')).toContainText('Reactive Islands', { timeout: 5000 });
+  });
+
+  test('back button after multiple navigations', async ({ page }) => {
+    await loadPage(page, '');
+
+    // Navigate: home -> geography -> reactive
+    await page.click('a[sx-get*="(geography)"]');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await page.waitForTimeout(1000);
+
+    await page.click('a[href*="geography.(reactive)"]:not([href*="runtime"])');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await page.waitForTimeout(1000);
+
+    // Back to geography
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await expect(page).not.toHaveURL(/reactive/);
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-content')).toContainText('Geography', { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Back to home
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/sx\/?$/, { timeout: 5000 });
+  });
+
+  test('back button is SPA nav, not full reload', async ({ page }) => {
+    await loadPage(page, '(geography)');
+
+    // Set marker that survives SPA nav but not full reload
+    await page.evaluate(() => window.__history_marker = true);
+
+    // Navigate forward
+    await page.click('a[href*="geography.(reactive)"]:not([href*="runtime"])');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Marker should survive forward SPA nav
+    expect(await page.evaluate(() => window.__history_marker)).toBe(true);
+
+    // Back button
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Marker should survive back nav (no full reload)
+    expect(await page.evaluate(() => window.__history_marker)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test('nav sidebar updates on back button', async ({ page }) => {
+    await loadPage(page, '(geography)');
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-nav')).toContainText('Geography');
+
+    // Navigate forward
+    await page.click('a[href*="geography.(reactive)"]:not([href*="runtime"])');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Back button
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Nav should show Geography content, not Reactive Islands
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-nav')).toContainText('Geography', { timeout: 5000 });
+  });
+
+  test('layout preserved after back button', async ({ page }) => {
+    await loadPage(page, '(geography)');
+
+    await page.click('a[href*="geography.(reactive)"]:not([href*="runtime"])');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Key layout elements must exist and not be duplicated
+    const layout = await page.evaluate(() => ({
+      contentCount: document.querySelectorAll('#sx-content').length,
+      navCount: document.querySelectorAll('#sx-nav').length,
+      headerCount: document.querySelectorAll('[data-sx-island="layouts/header"]').length,
+    }));
+    expect(layout.contentCount).toBe(1);
+    expect(layout.navCount).toBe(1);
+    expect(layout.headerCount).toBe(1);
+  });
+
+  test('scroll position saved on forward nav', async ({ page }) => {
+    await loadPage(page, '(geography)');
+
+    // Scroll down
+    await page.evaluate(() => window.scrollTo(0, 200));
+    await page.waitForTimeout(100);
+
+    // Navigate forward — should save scroll via replaceState
+    await page.click('a[href*="geography.(reactive)"]:not([href*="runtime"])');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // Check that the previous history entry has scrollY saved
+    const state = await page.evaluate(() => {
+      // Can't read previous entry state directly, but we can check
+      // that pushState was called with state on the current entry
+      return window.history.state;
+    });
+    // Current entry (the new page) won't have scrollY,
+    // but we can verify the mechanism works by going back
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+
+    // The page should have restored (browser handles the state object)
+    // We verify the content loaded correctly as the primary check
+    await expect(page.locator('#sx-content')).toContainText('Geography', { timeout: 5000 });
+  });
+
+  test('back button content matches fresh load', async ({ page }) => {
+    await loadPage(page, '(geography)');
+
+    // Navigate forward
+    await page.click('a[href*="geography.(reactive)"]:not([href*="runtime"])');
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/reactive/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await page.waitForTimeout(1000);
+
+    // Go back
+    await page.goBack();
+    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/geography/, { timeout: 5000 });
+    await page.waitForTimeout(1000);
+
+    // Snapshot the back-button DOM
+    const backContent = await page.evaluate(() =>
+      document.querySelector('#sx-content')?.textContent?.trim().substring(0, 200));
+
+    // Fresh load the same URL
+    await page.goto(page.url(), { waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded' });
+    await waitForSxReady(page);
+
+    const freshContent = await page.evaluate(() =>
+      document.querySelector('#sx-content')?.textContent?.trim().substring(0, 200));
+
+    // Back-button content should match fresh load
+    expect(backContent).toBe(freshContent);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/web/boot.sx b/web/boot.sx
index cbb727b4..31ebb26f 100644
--- a/web/boot.sx
+++ b/web/boot.sx
@@ -433,7 +433,15 @@
       (run-post-render-hooks)
       (flush-collected-styles)
       (set-timeout (fn () (process-elements nil)) 0)
-      (dom-listen (dom-window) "popstate" (fn (e) (handle-popstate 0)))
+      (dom-listen
+        (dom-window)
+        "popstate"
+        (fn
+          (e)
+          (let
+            ((state (host-get e "state"))
+              (scrollY (if state (or (dict-get state "scrollY") 0) 0)))
+            (handle-popstate scrollY))))
       (dom-set-attr
         (host-get (dom-document) "documentElement")
         "data-sx-ready"
diff --git a/web/engine.sx b/web/engine.sx
index 5c94e9b3..89c2de58 100644
--- a/web/engine.sx
+++ b/web/engine.sx
@@ -719,7 +719,9 @@
         hdr-replace
         (browser-replace-state hdr-replace)
         (and push-url (not (= push-url "false")))
-        (browser-push-state (if (= push-url "true") url push-url))
+        (do
+          (save-scroll-position)
+          (browser-push-state (if (= push-url "true") url push-url)))
         (and replace-url (not (= replace-url "false")))
         (browser-replace-state (if (= replace-url "true") url replace-url))))))
 
diff --git a/web/lib/boot-helpers.sx b/web/lib/boot-helpers.sx
index 5f363fc1..6dbe91b9 100644
--- a/web/lib/boot-helpers.sx
+++ b/web/lib/boot-helpers.sx
@@ -501,7 +501,10 @@
                   "#sx-content")))
             (if
               (try-client-route (url-pathname href) target-sel)
-              (do (browser-push-state nil "" href) (browser-scroll-to 0 0))
+              (do
+                (save-scroll-position)
+                (browser-push-state nil "" href)
+                (browser-scroll-to 0 0))
               (do
                 (log-info (str "sx:route server fetch " href))
                 (dom-set-attr link "sx-get" href)
diff --git a/web/orchestration.sx b/web/orchestration.sx
index ae57ae4a..4b1da282 100644
--- a/web/orchestration.sx
+++ b/web/orchestration.sx
@@ -527,6 +527,7 @@
                   (if
                     client-routed
                     (do
+                      (save-scroll-position)
                       (browser-push-state (get live-info "url"))
                       (browser-scroll-to 0 0))
                     (do
@@ -1553,11 +1554,23 @@
                       (dom-dispatch el event-name detail))))))))
         els))))
 
+(define
+  save-scroll-position
+  :effects (io)
+  (fn
+    ()
+    (let
+      ((scrollY (host-get (dom-window) "scrollY")))
+      (browser-replace-state
+        (dict "scrollY" scrollY)
+        ""
+        (browser-location-href)))))
+
 (define
   handle-popstate
   :effects (mutation io)
   (fn
-    ((scrollY :as number))
+    (scrollY)
     (let
       ((url (browser-location-href))
         (boost-el (dom-query "[sx-boost]"))
@@ -1566,9 +1579,8 @@
             boost-el
             (let
               ((attr (dom-get-attr boost-el "sx-boost")))
-              (if (and attr (not (= attr "true"))) attr nil))
-            nil))
-        (target-sel (or target-sel "#main-panel"))
+              (if (and attr (not (= attr "true"))) attr "#sx-content"))
+            "#sx-content"))
         (target (dom-query target-sel))
         (pathname (url-pathname url)))
       (when
@@ -1577,7 +1589,7 @@
           (try-client-route pathname target-sel)
           (browser-scroll-to 0 scrollY)
           (let
-            ((headers (build-request-headers target (loaded-component-names) _css-hash)))
+            ((headers (build-request-headers target "GET" url)))
             (fetch-and-restore target url headers scrollY)))))))
 
 (define