diff --git a/booth/app.py b/booth/app.py
index 3c9d8b7..60340a2 100644
--- a/booth/app.py
+++ b/booth/app.py
@@ -859,7 +859,7 @@ def create_app(
         return RedirectResponse(url=f"/b/{quote(name, safe='')}/", status_code=307)
 
     @app.get("/b/{name}/", response_class=HTMLResponse)
-    def booth_view(request: Request, name: str, download: int = 0):
+    def booth_view(request: Request, name: str, download: int = 0, filter: str = "all"):
         booth = resolve_booth(name)
         # U4: viewing is activity. ABOVE both early returns — the zip download
         # and the verbatim-index.html branch are looks at this booth too, and a
@@ -902,6 +902,7 @@ def create_app(
         held_marks, read_err = hold_read(booth)  # ONE read; see list_booths
         hold = hold_reason(held_marks, read_err)
         marks = held_marks if read_err is None else marks_for(booth)
+        rail, shown = _rail(gallery, marks, filter)
         return templates.TemplateResponse(
             request,
             "booth.html",
@@ -912,7 +913,16 @@ def create_app(
                 # The page could not previously tell keep from release, so it
                 # offered neither and you had to go back to the index.
                 "kept": is_kept(booth),
-                "items": gallery,
+                # THE GRID RENDERS `shown`; everything else reads `gallery`.
+                # Filtering is a VIEW: `shown` is `gallery` with non-matching
+                # items removed and NOTHING re-sorted, so "the third one" means
+                # the same thing with a filter on as with it off. Sorting by
+                # anything filter-derived would look right and silently misfile
+                # the operator's judgment — CLAUDE.md invariant 6.
+                "items": shown,
+                "all_items": gallery,
+                "rail": rail,
+                "filter": rail["active"],
                 # A booth carrying links.md is the standing link board: render
                 # its rows as real UI (link, provenance, pin, per-row + bulk
                 # remove) instead of a markdown blob you can only edit by hand.
@@ -951,7 +961,9 @@ def create_app(
                 "marks": marks,
                 "marks_open": len(open_marks(marks)),
                 # Per-item marks, keyed by rel, so a tile reads its own judgment
-                # without every tile re-filtering the whole list.
+                # without every tile re-filtering the whole list. Keyed off the
+                # FULL gallery, not the filtered one, so a tile hidden by the
+                # current filter still has its marks if the filter changes.
                 "item_marks": {
                     it["name"]: marks_for_target(marks, it["name"]) for it in gallery
                 },
@@ -969,6 +981,41 @@ def create_app(
             },
         )
 
+    FILTERS = ("all", "flagged", "annotated", "unanswered")
+
+    def _rail(gallery: list[dict], marks, requested: str) -> tuple[dict, list[dict]]:
+        """Per-filter counts, and the items the grid should render.
+
+        `requested` ARRIVES FROM A URL, which is operator-editable and
+        link-shared, so an unknown value falls back to `all` rather than
+        indexing a dict by it. A filter nobody can mistype into a 500.
+
+        `unanswered` means HAS AN OPEN PICK — the U4 hold predicate, which
+        already exists and already has a home. The other reading ("has no mark
+        at all") is a genuinely different question and is an open question on
+        the U7 contract, not something to guess at here.
+        """
+        active = requested if requested in FILTERS else "all"
+        open_ids = {m.id for m in open_marks(marks)}
+        buckets: dict[str, list[dict]] = {f: [] for f in FILTERS}
+        for it in gallery:
+            mine = marks_for_target(marks, it["name"])
+            buckets["all"].append(it)
+            if any(m.shape == "flag" and m.flagged for m in mine):
+                buckets["flagged"].append(it)
+            if any(m.shape == "note" for m in mine):
+                buckets["annotated"].append(it)
+            if any(m.id in open_ids for m in mine):
+                buckets["unanswered"].append(it)
+        rail = {
+            "active": active,
+            # ORDER: the declaration order of FILTERS. Stated because a rail is
+            # an ordered collection and invariant 6 binds to it like any other.
+            "counts": [{"key": f, "n": len(buckets[f])} for f in FILTERS],
+            "total": len(gallery),
+        }
+        return rail, buckets[active]
+
     def _board_rows(booth: Path) -> list[dict]:
         """The link board's rows, or [] for a board that cannot be read.
 
diff --git a/booth/templates/base.html b/booth/templates/base.html
index 6a1c448..823d403 100644
--- a/booth/templates/base.html
+++ b/booth/templates/base.html
@@ -520,6 +520,16 @@
     /* A board row whose booth has been swept. Marked, never auto-removed. */
     .board-row.board-dead{opacity:.45}
     .board-dead-tag{font-size:.9em;color:#f2b8b5;opacity:.9}
+      /* U7 — the rail, and the grid cursor. */
+    .rail{position:sticky;top:0;z-index:5;display:flex;gap:.5rem;align-items:baseline;
+          padding:.4rem .6rem;margin:.6rem 0;background:var(--bg,#111);
+          border-bottom:1px solid var(--line,#2a2a2a);flex-wrap:wrap}
+    .rail-total{font-weight:600}
+    .rail-f{font-size:.85em;padding:.1rem .45rem;border-radius:3px;text-decoration:none;
+            opacity:.65;border:1px solid transparent}
+    .rail-f:hover{opacity:1}
+    .rail-f.on{opacity:1;border-color:var(--line,#2a2a2a);background:rgba(255,255,255,.06)}
+    figure.item.is-cursor{outline:2px solid #7aa2f7;outline-offset:2px}
   </style>
 </head>
 <body>
diff --git a/booth/templates/booth.html b/booth/templates/booth.html
index 9713a51..78656d6 100644
--- a/booth/templates/booth.html
+++ b/booth/templates/booth.html
@@ -243,7 +243,29 @@
   {# `elif items` and not a bare `else`: a board booth has NO gallery items (its
      links.md is rendered as the board above and filtered out), so a plain else
      would emit an empty <div class="gallery"> under the board. #}
-  <div class="gallery">
+  {# THE RAIL. Totals and per-filter counts, as LINKS with a query parameter —
+     resolved server-side, so the whole thing works with JavaScript off. The
+     gallery is the surface the operator actually reviews on and U3 already
+     cost the verbatim path its no-JS operation; this one does not repeat that.
+
+     ORDER: the declaration order of FILTERS in app.py. A rail is an ordered
+     collection and invariant 6 binds to it like any other.
+
+     ⚠ NO JUMP-TO-GROUP ANCHORS YET. Replacing directory sections with
+     filename-derived groups is a scope departure from ROADMAP's U7 row that
+     the operator has not ruled on; see docs/contracts/u7_navigation.contract.md
+     and tests/test_navigation.py::test_no_group_rail_is_shipped_yet, which
+     fails the moment somebody builds it anyway. #}
+  <div class="rail">
+    <span class="rail-total">{{ rail.total }} item{{ '' if rail.total == 1 else 's' }}</span>
+    {% for f in rail.counts %}
+      <a class="rail-f{% if f.key == filter %} on{% endif %}"
+         data-filter="{{ f.key }}"
+         href="/b/{{ name_url }}/{% if f.key != 'all' %}?filter={{ f.key }}{% endif %}"
+         {% if f.key == filter %}aria-current="true"{% endif %}>{{ f.key }} <b>{{ f.n }}</b></a>
+    {% endfor %}
+  </div>
+  <div class="gallery" id="grid" tabindex="-1">
     {% for it in items %}
     {% if it.doc and it.rendered is not none %}
       {# Docs render INLINE, collapsible, and closable — not a link to a
@@ -329,6 +351,56 @@
   </div>
 {% endif %}
 
+{% if items %}
+<script id="gridkeys">
+/* GRID KEYBOARD — U7. Additive by construction: every action it reaches is a
+   control that already exists on the tile and already works with a mouse, so
+   the page is complete without this file. It is bound ONLY when there is a
+   grid ({% raw %}{% if items %}{% endraw %} above): binding it on the standing
+   link board would swallow `f` and flag nothing.
+
+   Focus moves in RENDER ORDER, which is the item order filtered by the current
+   filter and never re-sorted — so `→` walks the grid in the same sequence the
+   operator reads it, and the same sequence the zoom ring uses. */
+(function () {
+  var grid = document.getElementById('grid');
+  if (!grid) return;
+  var tiles = function () { return [].slice.call(grid.querySelectorAll('figure.item')); };
+  var at = -1;
+  function focus(i) {
+    var t = tiles();
+    if (!t.length) return;
+    at = Math.max(0, Math.min(i, t.length - 1));
+    t.forEach(function (el, j) { el.classList.toggle('is-cursor', j === at); });
+    t[at].scrollIntoView({ block: 'nearest' });
+  }
+  function current() { var t = tiles(); return at >= 0 && at < t.length ? t[at] : null; }
+  function click(sel) {
+    var el = current(); if (!el) return;
+    var b = el.querySelector(sel); if (b) b.click();
+  }
+  document.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
+    /* Never steal a key the operator is typing into a note or a URL bar. */
+    var tag = (e.target.tagName || '').toLowerCase();
+    if (tag === 'input' || tag === 'textarea' || e.target.isContentEditable) return;
+    if (e.metaKey || e.ctrlKey || e.altKey) return;
+    switch (e.key) {
+      case 'ArrowRight': focus(at + 1); e.preventDefault(); break;
+      case 'ArrowLeft':  focus(at <= 0 ? 0 : at - 1); e.preventDefault(); break;
+      case 'f': click('.flagbtn, [name="target"]'); e.preventDefault(); break;
+      case 'n': var el = current();
+                if (el) { var f = el.querySelector('input[type=text], textarea');
+                          if (f) { f.focus(); e.preventDefault(); } }
+                break;
+      case 'Enter': click('a[href^="view"]'); break;
+      case 'Escape':
+        tiles().forEach(function (x) { x.classList.remove('is-cursor'); });
+        at = -1; break;
+    }
+  });
+})();
+</script>
+{% endif %}
 <script>
   /* Copy-to-clipboard for any .copy-btn[data-copy]. The Booth serves over plain
      HTTP on a LAN IP, where navigator.clipboard is undefined (secure-context
diff --git a/docs/contracts/u7_navigation.contract.md b/docs/contracts/u7_navigation.contract.md
index 581aac4..887167e 100644
--- a/docs/contracts/u7_navigation.contract.md
+++ b/docs/contracts/u7_navigation.contract.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 contract_version: "0.1-PROPOSED"
-status: "PROPOSED — NOT APPROVED. The scope below departs from ROADMAP's U7 row on measured grounds and the operator has not ruled on it. Do not implement, and do not treat this as settled, until he has."
+status: "PARTIALLY LANDED. The three components ROADMAP already ratifies — rail, filters, grid keyboard — are implemented and deployed (tests/test_navigation.py, 12 tests). The FOURTH, replacing directory sections with filename-derived groups, is NOT built and is the one scope-direction call below. The scope below departs from ROADMAP's U7 row on measured grounds and the operator has not ruled on it. Do not implement, and do not treat this as settled, until he has."
 module: "booth.items + booth.app (gallery navigation)"
 purpose: "The last unit before the 1.0 cut. A gallery booth renders as one flat wall with no way to filter it, no way to move through it from the keyboard, and no grouping — so a review of sixty-odd renders is a scroll-and-squint. ROADMAP names four components: sections, a sticky rail, filters, grid keyboard. THE MEASUREMENT KILLS THE FIRST AND REPLACES IT: not one of the eleven live gallery booths has a subdirectory, so sections buy nothing, while a filename-prefix heuristic yields 5-16 sensible groups on four of the five large galleries. This unit ships the rail, the filters, the grid keyboard, and GROUPS DERIVED FROM FILENAMES rather than from a directory tree that does not exist."
 depends_on:
@@ -36,8 +36,18 @@ open_questions:
 
 # U7 — navigation at the size the booths actually are
 
-**⚠ PROPOSED. The scope departs from ROADMAP on measured grounds; the operator
-has not ruled. Nothing here is implemented.**
+**⚠ PARTIALLY LANDED, DELIBERATELY.**
+
+| component | ROADMAP says | state |
+|---|---|---|
+| sticky rail | ratified | **landed** — totals + per-filter counts, links not scripts |
+| filters | ratified | **landed** — all / flagged / annotated / unanswered |
+| grid keyboard | ratified | **landed** — `←/→ f n Enter Esc`, bound only when a grid exists |
+| **sections → filename groups** | **departs from it** | **NOT BUILT.** The one scope-direction call here, and it is the operator's. `test_no_group_rail_is_shipped_yet` fails the moment somebody builds it anyway, so the departure cannot arrive by accident. |
+
+`unanswered` was taken to mean **has an open pick** — the U4 hold predicate,
+which already exists and already has a home. The other reading ("has no mark at
+all") is a real and different question and stays an open question below.
 
 ## The defect, re-measured rather than inherited
 
diff --git a/tests/test_navigation.py b/tests/test_navigation.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1f63ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_navigation.py
@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+"""U7 slice 1 — the rail, the filters, the grid keyboard.
+
+⚠ SCOPE. This covers ONLY the three components ROADMAP's U7 row already
+ratifies: a sticky rail, filters, and grid keyboard. The fourth — replacing
+directory sections with filename-derived groups — is a scope DEPARTURE proposed
+in `docs/contracts/u7_navigation.contract.md` and is deliberately NOT built
+here, because it is the operator's call and he has not made it. The rail
+therefore carries totals and filter counts and no jump-to-group anchors yet.
+
+`unanswered` is taken to mean HAS AN OPEN PICK — the U4 hold predicate, which
+already exists and already has a home. The alternative reading ("has no mark at
+all") is a real and different question and is the contract's open question.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import pathlib
+import sys
+
+import pytest
+from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+sys.path.insert(0, str(pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.parent))
+
+from booth.app import create_app  # noqa: E402
+from booth.marks import declare_pick, set_flag, write_note  # noqa: E402
+
+PNG = b"\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n"
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def gallery(tmp_path):
+    """A booth with one of each: flagged, annotated, open pick, and plain."""
+    b = tmp_path / "g"
+    b.mkdir()
+    for n in ("a.png", "b.png", "c.png", "d.png"):
+        (b / n).write_bytes(PNG)
+    set_flag(b, "a.png", True)
+    write_note(b, "b.png", "a remark")
+    declare_pick(b, "q", {"prompt": "Which?", "options": ["x", "y"]}, target="c.png")
+    app = create_app(tmp_path, ttl_hours=24, start_sweeper=False)
+    return TestClient(app), b
+
+
+def _tiles(body: str) -> list[str]:
+    """The rels the grid actually rendered, in render order."""
+    import re
+    # `data-item` already exists on every tile (both the doc and media
+    # variants). Reusing it rather than adding a parallel `data-rel` is the
+    # same one-fact-one-place discipline INV-1 states for item facts.
+    return re.findall(r'data-item="([^"]+)"', body)
+
+
+def test_the_rail_counts_every_filter(gallery):
+    c, _ = gallery
+    body = c.get("/b/g/").text
+    assert 'class="rail"' in body
+    for token in ("all", "flagged", "annotated", "unanswered"):
+        assert f'data-filter="{token}"' in body, token
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("flt,expected", [
+    ("all", ["a.png", "b.png", "c.png", "d.png"]),
+    ("flagged", ["a.png"]),
+    ("annotated", ["b.png"]),
+    ("unanswered", ["c.png"]),
+])
+def test_a_filter_narrows_the_grid_server_side(gallery, flt, expected):
+    """INV-4: a filter is a LINK, not a script. Fetched directly, with no JS
+    executed, the server must return the narrowed grid.
+
+    Defeating change: binding filters to a click handler and returning the full
+    grid for every URL — under which this test gets four tiles every time."""
+    c, _ = gallery
+    assert _tiles(c.get(f"/b/g/?filter={flt}").text) == expected
+
+
+def test_filtering_never_reorders(gallery):
+    """INV-2, the load-bearing one. Grouping and filtering are VIEWS.
+
+    The defeating change is sorting the grid by anything derived from the
+    filter — which looks right and silently changes what "the third one" means,
+    the misfiled-judgment failure CLAUDE.md invariant 6 exists to prevent.
+
+    Asserted as a SUBSEQUENCE rather than a set: order is the property, so a
+    filter that returned the right tiles in the wrong sequence must go red."""
+    c, _ = gallery
+    # ⚠ THE BASELINE IS COMPUTED INDEPENDENTLY, and that is the whole test.
+    # The first version of this compared each filtered view against the
+    # UNFILTERED RESPONSE — and a mutation that reversed the order reversed
+    # both sides, so it stayed green under the exact change it forbade. Caught
+    # by running the mutation rather than trusting the assertion, which is the
+    # discipline in persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-vacuous-falsifiers.md and
+    # which this test failed first time out.
+    #
+    # The independent truth is U1 INV-3: the item order IS `sorted(rel)`. So
+    # each filtered view must be sorted, full stop, with no reference to any
+    # other response.
+    for flt in ("all", "flagged", "annotated", "unanswered"):
+        got = _tiles(c.get(f"/b/g/?filter={flt}").text)
+        assert got == sorted(got), f"{flt} rendered out of sorted(rel) order: {got}"
+    # and every filtered view is a SUBSEQUENCE of the true order, not a reshuffle
+    every = sorted(["a.png", "b.png", "c.png", "d.png"])
+    for flt in ("all", "flagged", "annotated", "unanswered"):
+        got = _tiles(c.get(f"/b/g/?filter={flt}").text)
+        assert got == [r for r in every if r in got], flt
+
+
+def test_an_unknown_filter_falls_back_to_all_and_does_not_500(gallery):
+    """A filter arrives from a URL, which is operator-editable and link-shared.
+    Defeating change: indexing a dict by the raw parameter."""
+    c, _ = gallery
+    for junk in ("nonsense", "", "../../etc", "flagged;drop"):
+        r = c.get(f"/b/g/?filter={junk}")
+        assert r.status_code == 200, junk
+        assert len(_tiles(r.text)) == 4, junk
+
+
+def test_the_zoom_ring_is_identical_under_every_filter(gallery):
+    """The ring is the item order filtered to images and must not notice the
+    grid's filter — otherwise `next` means something different depending on how
+    the operator arrived, and a flag lands on the wrong artifact.
+
+    Defeating change: building the ring from the filtered list."""
+    c, _ = gallery
+    rings = set()
+    for flt in ("all", "flagged", "annotated", "unanswered"):
+        c.get(f"/b/g/?filter={flt}")
+        body = c.get("/b/g/b.png?view=1").text
+        import re
+        rings.add(tuple(re.findall(r'href="([^"]*\.png[^"]*)"', body)))
+    assert len(rings) == 1, f"the ring changed with the filter: {rings}"
+
+
+def test_the_rail_is_absent_on_a_booth_with_no_grid(tmp_path):
+    """INV-5's sibling: a rail over nothing is chrome. The standing link board
+    has no items, so it must not render one."""
+    b = tmp_path / "links"
+    b.mkdir()
+    (b / "links.md").write_text("- [r](https://x.test/) <sub>· a · 2026-09-01 00:00</sub>\n")
+    c = TestClient(create_app(tmp_path, ttl_hours=24, start_sweeper=False))
+    assert 'class="rail"' not in c.get("/b/links/").text
+
+
+def test_the_keyboard_is_not_bound_when_there_is_no_grid(tmp_path):
+    """INV-5. Defeating change: binding the handler unconditionally, so `f` on
+    the standing link board swallows the keystroke and flags nothing."""
+    b = tmp_path / "links"
+    b.mkdir()
+    (b / "links.md").write_text("- [r](https://x.test/) <sub>· a · 2026-09-01 00:00</sub>\n")
+    c = TestClient(create_app(tmp_path, ttl_hours=24, start_sweeper=False))
+    assert "gridkeys" not in c.get("/b/links/").text
+
+
+def test_the_keyboard_is_bound_when_there_is_one(gallery):
+    c, _ = gallery
+    assert "gridkeys" in c.get("/b/g/").text
+
+
+def test_no_group_rail_is_shipped_yet(gallery):
+    """⚠ SCOPE GUARD, and it is deliberate. Replacing directory sections with
+    filename-derived groups is a scope DEPARTURE from ROADMAP's U7 row that the
+    operator has not ruled on. This test fails the moment somebody builds it
+    anyway, so the departure cannot arrive by accident while he is away."""
+    c, _ = gallery
+    body = c.get("/b/g/").text
+    assert "data-group" not in body
+    assert 'class="rail-groups"' not in body
+    assert 'class="rail"' in body, "the approved rail must still be here"