diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.css b/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.css
index cd62e67..972efcc 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.css
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.css
@@ -138,9 +138,19 @@
 
 @media (max-width: 820px) {
   .ai-page, .ai-page.is-folded { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
-  .ai-rail { position: static; display: none; max-height: none; }
-  .ai-rail.is-open { display: block; }
-  .ai-rail-toggle { display: inline-block; }
+  /* A drawer from the left, like the session's questions and an article's
+     contents — not a panel that pushes the conversation down the page. */
+  .ai-rail {
+    position: fixed; top: 0; bottom: 0; left: 0; z-index: 40;
+    width: min(320px, 86vw); max-height: none; overflow-y: auto;
+    background: var(--card-bg); border-right: 1px solid var(--border);
+    box-shadow: 8px 0 28px rgba(15, 23, 42, .18);
+    transform: translateX(-100%); visibility: hidden;
+    transition: transform .18s ease, visibility .18s;
+  }
+  .ai-rail.is-open { transform: none; visibility: visible; }
+  .ai-rail-backdrop { position: fixed; inset: 0; z-index: 39; background: rgba(15, 23, 42, .38); }
+  .ai-rail-toggle { display: none; }
   .ai-msg.is-user { max-width: 88%; }
   .ai-hero-title { font-size: 1.35rem; }
 }
@@ -202,3 +212,34 @@
   margin: 18px 0 8px; padding-top: 14px; border-top: 1px solid var(--border);
   font-size: 0.95rem; font-weight: 700; color: var(--text);
 }
+
+/* A citation in the prose. Small, raised, and obviously a control — it was
+   plain text that looked like a reference and did nothing. */
+.ai-cite {
+  display: inline-block; margin: 0 1px; padding: 0 5px;
+  border-radius: 5px; text-decoration: none;
+  background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--primary) 10%, transparent);
+  color: var(--primary); font-size: 0.78em; font-weight: 700;
+  vertical-align: 1px; line-height: 1.5;
+}
+.ai-cite:hover { background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--primary) 22%, transparent); }
+
+/* The source a number just pointed at, for a moment. */
+.ai-sources li.is-called {
+  background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--primary) 12%, transparent);
+  border-radius: 8px;
+  transition: background .3s ease;
+}
+
+/* The session an answer just built. It exists either way — "Later" leaves it
+   in the sessions list rather than throwing it away — so both controls are
+   ordinary buttons and neither is a warning. */
+.ai-built {
+  display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 4px; margin-top: 12px;
+  padding: 12px 14px; border-radius: 10px;
+  background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--primary) 7%, transparent);
+  border: 1px solid color-mix(in srgb, var(--primary) 20%, transparent);
+}
+.ai-built strong { font-size: 0.92rem; }
+.ai-built span { font-size: 0.82rem; color: var(--text-muted); }
+.ai-built-actions { display: flex; gap: 8px; margin-top: 8px; flex-wrap: wrap; }
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.jsx b/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.jsx
index 262cc31..36285cc 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.jsx
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ import { Link, useNavigate, useSearchParams } from 'react-router-dom'
 import ReactMarkdown from 'react-markdown'
 import remarkGfm from 'remark-gfm'
 import api from '../api/client'
+import useMediaQuery from '../hooks/useMediaQuery'
+import { useSessionDrawer } from '../context/SessionDrawer'
 import useDictation, { canDictate } from '../hooks/useDictation'
 import './AiModePage.css'
 import { sessionTitle } from '../utils/sessionTitle'
@@ -106,17 +108,42 @@ function practiseLabel(citations) {
   return `Practise ${topics === 1 ? 'this topic' : `these ${topics} topics`}`
 }
 
-function Answer({ content, citations, onPractise, practising }) {
+function Answer({ content, citations, onPractise, practising, built, onStart, onLater }) {
   const index = new Map(citations.map((c, i) => [c.marker, i + 1]))
   // The match swallows the space before the marker, so the number replaces it
   // rather than following it and leaving a double gap.
+  // Written as a markdown link to the source's own anchor, so the number in
+  // the prose is a control and not a decoration. It was plain text: three
+  // citations at the end of a sentence that looked like references and did
+  // nothing, which is worse than not numbering them at all.
   const numbered = content.replace(CITATION, (_match, kind, ref) => {
     const number = index.get(`[[${kind}:${ref}]]`)
-    return number ? ` [${number}]` : ''
+    return number ? ` [${number}](#ai-source-${number})` : ''
   })
+  const jump = (event, number) => {
+    event.preventDefault()
+    const target = document.getElementById(`ai-source-${number}`)
+    if (!target) return
+    target.scrollIntoView({ block: 'center', behavior: 'smooth' })
+    // Flashed rather than left highlighted: it says which one without
+    // permanently marking a source as special.
+    target.classList.add('is-called')
+    setTimeout(() => target.classList.remove('is-called'), 1400)
+  }
+  const components = {
+    a: ({ node, href, children, ...props }) => {
+      const cited = /^#ai-source-(\d+)$/.exec(href || '')
+      if (!cited) return <a {...props} href={href} target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">{children}</a>
+      return (
+        <a {...props} href={href} className="ai-cite"
+          aria-label={`Source ${cited[1]}`}
+          onClick={event => jump(event, cited[1])}>{children}</a>
+      )
+    },
+  }
   return (
     <div className="ai-answer">
-      <ReactMarkdown remarkPlugins={[remarkGfm]}>{numbered}</ReactMarkdown>
+      <ReactMarkdown remarkPlugins={[remarkGfm]} components={components}>{numbered}</ReactMarkdown>
       {citations.length > 0 && (
         /* At the end, under a heading that counts them. They are what the
            answer rests on, so they are read after it — putting the practise
@@ -126,7 +153,7 @@ function Answer({ content, citations, onPractise, practising }) {
         <h3 className="ai-sources-head">Sources ({citations.length})</h3>
         <ol className="ai-sources">
           {citations.map((citation, i) => (
-            <li key={citation.marker}>
+            <li key={citation.marker} id={`ai-source-${i + 1}`}>
               <span className="ai-source-num">{i + 1}</span>
               {/* A cited question opens where it is, not somewhere else.
                   `/questions/:id` is the editor, so following one dropped a
@@ -154,12 +181,26 @@ function Answer({ content, citations, onPractise, practising }) {
             to build from, and named after what it will build — it used to sit
             under every reply including "how can I help you today?", where it
             offered to make a session out of nothing and said only "this". */}
-        {onPractise && (
+        {onPractise && !built && (
           <button type="button" className="ai-practise" disabled={practising}
             onClick={onPractise}>
             {practising ? 'Building a session…' : `▶ ${practiseLabel(citations)}`}
           </button>
         )}
+        {built && (
+          <div className="ai-built" role="status">
+            <strong>
+              {built.count} question{built.count === 1 ? '' : 's'} ready
+            </strong>
+            <span>Sit it now, or leave it in your sessions and carry on here.</span>
+            <div className="ai-built-actions">
+              <button type="button" className="btn btn-primary btn-sm"
+                onClick={() => onStart(built.quizId)}>Start now</button>
+              <button type="button" className="btn btn-secondary btn-sm"
+                onClick={onLater}>Later</button>
+            </div>
+          </div>
+        )}
         </>
       )}
     </div>
@@ -190,10 +231,23 @@ export default function AiModePage() {
   // Two different rails: an overlay on a narrow screen, a column that can be
   // folded away on a wide one.
   const [railOpen, setRailOpen] = useState(false)
+  // The header's menu opens the chats on a phone, the way it opens a session's
+  // questions and an article's contents. Above 820px the rail is beside the
+  // conversation and there is nothing to open.
+  const narrow = useMediaQuery('(max-width: 820px)')
+  const { register: registerDrawer } = useSessionDrawer()
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!narrow) return undefined
+    return registerDrawer(() => setRailOpen(true))
+  }, [narrow, registerDrawer])
   const [railFolded, setRailFolded] = useState(false)
   const [moreStarters, setMoreStarters] = useState(false)
   // Which answer is being turned into a session, if any.
   const [practising, setPractising] = useState(null)
+  //: The session just built from an answer, until the learner says what to do
+  //: with it. It exists on the server either way — "later" is not a promise to
+  //: build one, it is a session already in the list.
+  const [built, setBuilt] = useState(null)
   const endRef = useRef(null)
   const navigate = useNavigate()
   const [searchParams, setSearchParams] = useSearchParams()
@@ -270,7 +324,11 @@ export default function AiModePage() {
       // of "Custom test from Sep 12, 1 AM".
       const res = await api.post(`/ai/conversations/${activeId}/practice`,
         { message_id: messageId, title: sessionTitle('AI Mode session') })
-      navigate(`/study/${res.data.quiz_id}?start=1`)
+      // Built, and offered rather than entered. Leaving mid-conversation to
+      // sit twenty questions is a decision, and it was being made for the
+      // learner by a button that read "Practise these 3 topics" — the session
+      // is now made, kept, and waiting either way.
+      setBuilt({ messageId, quizId: res.data.quiz_id, count: res.data.questions_count })
     } catch (err) {
       setError(apiError(err, 'Could not build a session from this answer'))
     } finally {
@@ -354,10 +412,12 @@ export default function AiModePage() {
 
   return (
     <div className={`ai-page${railFolded ? ' is-folded' : ''}`}>
-      <button className="ai-rail-toggle" aria-expanded={railOpen}
-        onClick={() => setRailOpen(v => !v)}>
-        {railOpen ? '✕ Close chats' : '☰ Chats'}
-      </button>
+      {/* No in-page Chats button. On a phone the menu in the header opens this
+          rail, the way it opens a session's questions and an article's
+          contents — one control, in the same place, on every page. */}
+      {railOpen && (
+        <div className="ai-rail-backdrop" aria-hidden="true" onClick={() => setRailOpen(false)} />
+      )}
 
       <aside className={`ai-rail${railOpen ? ' is-open' : ''}`}>
         <div className="ai-rail-head">
@@ -403,6 +463,9 @@ export default function AiModePage() {
                   ? <p>{message.content}</p>
                   : <Answer content={message.content} citations={message.citations || []}
                       practising={practising === message.id}
+                      built={built?.messageId === message.id ? built : null}
+                      onStart={quizId => navigate(`/study/${quizId}?start=1`)}
+                      onLater={() => setBuilt(null)}
                       onPractise={() => practise(message.id)} />}
               </div>
             ))}
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.test.jsx b/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.test.jsx
index e46bfea..ca7f5c5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.test.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/AiModePage.test.jsx
@@ -46,9 +46,16 @@ describe('AI Mode', () => {
 
     // The marker itself never reaches the reader.
     expect(message.textContent).not.toContain('[[article:7]]')
-    expect(message.textContent).toContain('Fever first [1]')
+
+    // The number in the prose is a control, not a decoration: it takes the
+    // reader to the source it stands for. It used to be plain text that
+    // looked like a reference and did nothing.
+    const cite = within(message).getByRole('link', { name: 'Source 1' })
+    expect(cite).toHaveAttribute('href', '#ai-source-1')
+    expect(cite).toHaveTextContent('1')
 
     const sources = within(message).getAllByRole('link')
+      .filter(node => !node.getAttribute('href').startsWith('#'))
     expect(sources[0]).toHaveAttribute('href', '/articles/7')
     // A section citation deep-links into the section it came from.
     expect(sources[1]).toHaveAttribute('href', '/articles/7?section=abc')
@@ -136,7 +143,7 @@ describe('AI Mode', () => {
 
   it('turns an answer into a session, and says so when there is nothing to sit', async () => {
     mockApi(threads, [answer])
-    api.post.mockResolvedValue({ data: { quiz_id: 91, count: 6 } })
+    api.post.mockResolvedValue({ data: { quiz_id: 91, questions_count: 6 } })
     mount()
     await userEvent.click(await screen.findByRole('button', { name: 'Febrile seizures' }))
     // Named after what it will build, and named before it is pressed.
@@ -145,6 +152,14 @@ describe('AI Mode', () => {
       '/ai/conversations/1/practice',
       expect.objectContaining({ message_id: 22, title: expect.stringContaining('AI Mode session from') })))
 
+    // Built, and offered rather than entered: leaving a conversation to sit
+    // twenty questions is a decision, and "Later" leaves the session in the
+    // list rather than throwing it away.
+    expect(await screen.findByText(/6 questions ready/)).toBeInTheDocument()
+    expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Start now' })).toBeInTheDocument()
+    await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Later' }))
+    expect(screen.queryByText(/questions ready/)).not.toBeInTheDocument()
+
     // Nothing in the bank matches: said plainly, not as a broken button.
     api.post.mockRejectedValue({ response: { data: { detail: 'No questions in your bank match this conversation yet' } } })
     await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: '▶ Practise these 2 topics' }))