diff --git a/backend/app/services/draft_questions.py b/backend/app/services/draft_questions.py
index d236d14..e35ea4d 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/draft_questions.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/draft_questions.py
@@ -53,7 +53,14 @@ def accept(db: Session, draft: DraftQuestion, batch: DraftBatch, user: User) ->
         raise HTTPException(400, f"Not ready: {', '.join(faults)}")
 
     category_id = category_for(draft, batch)
-    if category_id is not None and not db.get(QuestionCategory, category_id):
+    # A question with no category reaches nothing: no discipline, no organ
+    # system, no relevance, and no row on any tab of the analysis. It would sit
+    # in the bank and be invisible to every page that counts. The batch carries
+    # one so that saying it once covers the whole extraction.
+    if category_id is None:
+        raise HTTPException(400, "Give this batch a category before accepting from it — "
+                                 "a question filed nowhere is invisible to the analysis")
+    if not db.get(QuestionCategory, category_id):
         raise HTTPException(400, "The category this batch files into no longer exists")
 
     question = Question(
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_draft_questions.py b/backend/tests/test_draft_questions.py
index 2d92855..4de962e 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_draft_questions.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_draft_questions.py
@@ -7,19 +7,20 @@ corrected would be sitting in the bank while it was wrong.
 """
 import unittest
 
-from fastapi import FastAPI
+from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException
 from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 from sqlalchemy.pool import StaticPool
 
-import test_quiz_builder  # noqa: F401  — imports every model
+import test_quiz_builder as fixtures  # noqa: F401  — imports every model
 from app.database import Base, get_db
 from app.models.draft_question import DraftBatch, DraftQuestion
 from app.models.question import Question
 from app.models.question_category import QuestionCategory
 from app.models.user import User
 from app.routers import drafts
+from app.services import draft_questions
 from app.utils.auth import get_current_user
 
 
@@ -161,3 +162,50 @@ class DraftTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()
+
+
+class UnfiledDraftTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    """A question filed nowhere is invisible to every page that counts it.
+
+    No category means no discipline, no organ system, no relevance and no row
+    on any tab of the analysis — it would sit in the bank and be seen by
+    nobody. The batch carries the category so saying it once covers the whole
+    extraction.
+    """
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.bank = fixtures.BuilderTests()
+        self.bank.setUp()
+        self.db = self.bank.db
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        self.bank.tearDown()
+
+    def draft_in(self, category_id):
+        batch = DraftBatch(title="Unfiled batch", category_id=category_id,
+                           created_by=1, status="open")
+        self.db.add(batch)
+        self.db.flush()
+        draft = DraftQuestion(
+            batch_id=batch.id, question_text="A 2-year-old with a barking cough.",
+            question_type="mcq", options=["Croup", "Epiglottitis"],
+            correct_answer="Croup", status="pending")
+        self.db.add(draft)
+        self.db.commit()
+        return draft, batch
+
+    def test_an_unfiled_draft_is_refused_and_takes_no_id(self):
+        draft, batch = self.draft_in(None)
+        before = self.db.query(Question).count()
+        with self.assertRaises(HTTPException) as caught:
+            draft_questions.accept(self.db, draft, batch, self.bank.owner)
+        self.assertEqual(caught.exception.status_code, 400)
+        self.assertIn("category", caught.exception.detail)
+        # Nothing was created, so no permanent id was spent on a refusal.
+        self.assertEqual(self.db.query(Question).count(), before)
+        self.assertEqual(draft.status, "pending")
+
+    def test_a_filed_draft_carries_the_batch_s_category_through(self):
+        draft, batch = self.draft_in(1)
+        question = draft_questions.accept(self.db, draft, batch, self.bank.owner)
+        self.assertEqual(question.question_category_id, 1)
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/AnalysisShell.css b/frontend/src/components/AnalysisShell.css
index 5db557b..f132d8d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/AnalysisShell.css
+++ b/frontend/src/components/AnalysisShell.css
@@ -64,15 +64,6 @@
 }
 .ax-rail-show:hover { color: var(--primary); border-color: var(--primary); }
 
-.ax-rail-all {
-  display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 3px; padding: 13px 16px;
-  text-decoration: none; color: var(--text); border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);
-  flex-shrink: 0;
-}
-.ax-rail-all:hover { background: var(--bg); }
-.ax-rail-all strong { font-size: 0.88rem; font-weight: 650; }
-.ax-rail-all span { font-size: 0.76rem; color: var(--text-muted); }
-
 .ax-rail-search {
   flex-shrink: 0; margin: 10px 16px; padding: 8px 11px;
   /* 16px on touch: iOS zooms the page in on any smaller font when a field
@@ -103,10 +94,10 @@
 .ax-rail-empty { margin: 0; padding: 14px 16px; font-size: 0.83rem; color: var(--text-muted); }
 
 /* Which one you are reading. */
-.ax-rail-all.active, .ax-rail-list a.active {
+.ax-rail-list a.active {
   background: var(--option-sel-bg); box-shadow: inset 3px 0 0 var(--primary);
 }
-.ax-rail-all.active strong, .ax-rail-list a.active .ax-rail-title { color: var(--primary); }
+.ax-rail-list a.active .ax-rail-title { color: var(--primary); }
 
 /* ── Narrow ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
 /* Below 1000px the rail stops being a column. It becomes a band above the
@@ -125,7 +116,6 @@
   }
   .ax-layout.is-collapsed .ax-rail { display: flex; max-height: none; }
   .ax-layout.is-collapsed .ax-rail-list,
-  .ax-layout.is-collapsed .ax-rail-all,
   .ax-layout.is-collapsed .ax-rail-search { display: none; }
   .ax-rail-head { border-bottom: 0; }
   .ax-rail-show { display: none; }
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/SessionRail.jsx b/frontend/src/components/SessionRail.jsx
index 406cfe3..0608c4f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/SessionRail.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/SessionRail.jsx
@@ -6,9 +6,15 @@ import SessionProgress from './SessionProgress'
  * The list of sessions, alongside whatever session you are reading.
  *
  * Sessions and analysis are the same subject, so this is the navigation for
- * both: the overall picture sits at the top, every session follows, and the
- * one you are looking at is marked. It replaced a separate sessions page,
- * which listed the same rows a second time under a different heading.
+ * both: every session, with the one you are looking at marked. It replaced a
+ * separate sessions page, which listed the same rows a second time under a
+ * different heading.
+ *
+ * The overall picture is not in here. It used to sit at the top of the rail,
+ * which put lifetime figures one click away while you were standing in front
+ * of a single session — a question nobody asked there. It lives on the
+ * Analysis page's Performance tab, which is the page for it, and the section
+ * bar is how you get back to it.
  *
  * Nothing is truncated. A learner asking "what have I done" wants the whole
  * answer, and the search box is what narrows it. Styling lives in
@@ -33,13 +39,6 @@ export default function SessionRail({ sessions, open, onToggle, loading }) {
 
       {open && (
         <>
-          {/* `end` so this only lights up on /sessions itself, not on every
-              session underneath it. */}
-          <NavLink to="/sessions" end className="ax-rail-all">
-            <strong>Your overall analysis</strong>
-            <span>Everything you have practised</span>
-          </NavLink>
-
           {sessions.length > 6 && (
             <input className="ax-rail-search" type="search" value={query}
               onChange={e => setQuery(e.target.value)}
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/SessionRail.test.jsx b/frontend/src/components/SessionRail.test.jsx
index d77fb6f..5e5a111 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/SessionRail.test.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/SessionRail.test.jsx
@@ -20,10 +20,13 @@ const mount = (props = {}) => render(
 )
 
 describe('the session rail', () => {
-  it('puts the overall analysis above the sessions themselves', () => {
+  it('holds sessions and nothing else', () => {
     mount()
-    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /Your overall analysis/ }))
-      .toHaveAttribute('href', '/sessions')
+    // The overall picture used to sit at the top of this rail, which put
+    // lifetime figures one click away while you were standing in front of a
+    // single session. It lives on the Analysis page's Performance tab.
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('link', { name: /overall analysis/ })).not.toBeInTheDocument()
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /Board Review I\b/ })).toBeInTheDocument()
   })
 
   it('never launches a test — an unsat session opens its overview instead', () => {
diff --git a/frontend/src/hooks/useDictation.js b/frontend/src/hooks/useDictation.js
index 32ed506..1fab84e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/hooks/useDictation.js
+++ b/frontend/src/hooks/useDictation.js
@@ -4,14 +4,15 @@ import api from '../api/client'
 /**
  * Speaking instead of typing.
  *
- * Two ways to do it, and the browser's own is tried first: `SpeechRecognition`
- * transcribes as you talk, costs nothing, and needs no round trip. Where it is
- * missing — Firefox, and every browser on iOS that is not Safari — the audio
- * is recorded and sent to our own transcriber instead, which is slower but
- * works everywhere a microphone does.
+ * Two ways to do it, and ours is tried first: record the audio and send it to
+ * our own transcriber. It is a round trip, but it behaves the same in every
+ * browser, and the browser's own speech stack announces itself to the user in
+ * ways we do not control — Firefox interrupts the page with a warning about a
+ * missing system library, which is alarming and is not about us.
  *
- * The fallback is also taken when the browser's recogniser fails mid-sentence,
- * because a half-finished dictation is worse than a slow one.
+ * `SpeechRecognition` is the fallback, for a browser that cannot record. It
+ * transcribes as you talk and costs nothing, so it is a fine second choice
+ * where recording is unavailable.
  */
 
 /** Read when asked, not when this module loads: a constant captured at import
@@ -50,11 +51,6 @@ export default function useDictation({ onText, onError } = {}) {
 
   /** Record, then send it to our own transcriber. */
   const record = useCallback(async () => {
-    if (!canRecord()) {
-      onError?.('This browser cannot record audio. Try typing instead.')
-      cleanup()
-      return
-    }
     try {
       stream.current = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({ audio: true })
     } catch {
@@ -86,11 +82,13 @@ export default function useDictation({ onText, onError } = {}) {
     setListening(true)
   }, [cleanup, onError, onText])
 
-  const start = useCallback(async () => {
-    if (listening || transcribing) return
+  /** The browser's own recogniser, where recording is not available. */
+  const listen = useCallback(async () => {
     const Engine = recognition()
-    if (!Engine) { await record(); return }
-
+    if (!Engine) {
+      onError?.('This browser cannot record audio. Try typing instead.')
+      return
+    }
     heard.current = ''
     const engine = new Engine()
     engine.lang = navigator.language || 'en-US'
@@ -108,8 +106,7 @@ export default function useDictation({ onText, onError } = {}) {
         onError?.('No microphone. Check the permission for this site.')
         return
       }
-      if (canRecord()) record()
-      else onError?.('Could not hear anything. Try typing instead.')
+      onError?.('Could not hear anything. Try typing instead.')
     }
     engine.onend = () => {
       setListening(false)
@@ -119,7 +116,14 @@ export default function useDictation({ onText, onError } = {}) {
     recogniser.current = engine
     engine.start()
     setListening(true)
-  }, [cleanup, listening, onError, onText, record, transcribing])
+  }, [cleanup, onError, onText])
+
+  const start = useCallback(async () => {
+    if (listening || transcribing) return
+    // Ours first.
+    if (canRecord()) await record()
+    else await listen()
+  }, [listen, listening, record, transcribing])
 
   const stop = useCallback(() => {
     if (recogniser.current) { recogniser.current.stop(); return }
diff --git a/frontend/src/hooks/useDictation.test.jsx b/frontend/src/hooks/useDictation.test.jsx
index e29c987..5e0d234 100644
--- a/frontend/src/hooks/useDictation.test.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/hooks/useDictation.test.jsx
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ const withBrowserRecogniser = () => {
 }
 
 const withMediaRecorderOnly = () => {
+  engines = []
   delete window.SpeechRecognition
   delete window.webkitSpeechRecognition
   const track = { stop: vi.fn() }
@@ -56,7 +57,27 @@ afterEach(() => {
   delete navigator.mediaDevices
 })
 
-it('uses the browser recogniser when there is one, and never calls the server', async () => {
+it('records and sends to our own transcriber, even where the browser has its own', async () => {
+  // Ours first. The browser's speech stack announces itself to the user in
+  // ways we do not control — Firefox interrupts the page with a warning about
+  // a missing system library, which is alarming and is not about us.
+  withMediaRecorderOnly()
+  withBrowserRecogniser()
+  api.post.mockResolvedValue({ data: { text: 'A neonate with bilious vomiting' } })
+  render(<Harness />)
+  await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'))
+  await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByRole('button')).toHaveTextContent('listening'))
+  await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'))
+  await waitFor(() => expect(api.post).toHaveBeenCalledWith('/tts/transcribe', expect.any(FormData)))
+  await waitFor(() => expect(document.title).toBe('A neonate with bilious vomiting'))
+  // The browser recogniser was never constructed, so it never spoke up.
+  expect(engines).toHaveLength(0)
+})
+
+it('uses the browser recogniser only where there is no recording', async () => {
+  engines = []
+  delete navigator.mediaDevices
+  delete window.MediaRecorder
   withBrowserRecogniser()
   render(<Harness />)
   await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'))
@@ -66,42 +87,23 @@ it('uses the browser recogniser when there is one, and never calls the server',
   engine.onresult({ resultIndex: 0, results: [{ isFinal: true, 0: { transcript: 'What causes stridor' } }] })
   await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'))
   await waitFor(() => expect(document.title).toBe('What causes stridor'))
-  // Free and local: nothing was uploaded.
   expect(api.post).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
 })
 
-it('records and sends to our own transcriber where the browser has none', async () => {
-  withMediaRecorderOnly()
-  api.post.mockResolvedValue({ data: { text: 'A neonate with bilious vomiting' } })
-  render(<Harness />)
-  await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'))
-  await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByRole('button')).toHaveTextContent('listening'))
-  await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'))
-  await waitFor(() => expect(api.post).toHaveBeenCalledWith('/tts/transcribe', expect.any(FormData)))
-  await waitFor(() => expect(document.title).toBe('A neonate with bilious vomiting'))
-})
-
-it('falls back to recording when the browser recogniser fails mid-sentence', async () => {
-  withBrowserRecogniser()
-  const track = { stop: vi.fn() }
-  navigator.mediaDevices = { getUserMedia: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ getTracks: () => [track] }) }
-  window.MediaRecorder = function Recorder() { this.start = vi.fn(); this.state = 'recording'; return this }
-  render(<Harness />)
-  await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'))
-  engines[engines.length - 1].onerror({ error: 'network' })
-  // A half-finished dictation is worse than a slow one.
-  await waitFor(() => expect(navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia).toHaveBeenCalled())
-})
-
 it('a refused microphone is an answer, not a fault to route around', async () => {
-  withBrowserRecogniser()
-  navigator.mediaDevices = { getUserMedia: vi.fn() }
   const onError = vi.fn()
+  // Recording is available and the learner says no. Both halves must be
+  // present or the hook would take the recogniser instead, which is a
+  // different test.
+  window.MediaRecorder = function Recorder() { this.start = vi.fn(); return this }
+  navigator.mediaDevices = { getUserMedia: vi.fn().mockRejectedValue(new Error('denied')) }
+  withBrowserRecogniser()
   render(<Harness onError={onError} />)
   await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'))
-  engines[engines.length - 1].onerror({ error: 'not-allowed' })
-  expect(onError).toHaveBeenCalledWith('No microphone. Check the permission for this site.')
-  expect(navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  // No silent hop to the browser recogniser to ask a second time.
+  await waitFor(() => expect(onError).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+    'No microphone. Check the permission for this site.'))
+  expect(engines).toHaveLength(0)
 })
 
 it('offers nothing at all where neither exists', () => {
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/AnalysisSessionPage.test.jsx b/frontend/src/pages/AnalysisSessionPage.test.jsx
index 38a9c2b..3ba6b86 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/AnalysisSessionPage.test.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/AnalysisSessionPage.test.jsx
@@ -121,11 +121,12 @@ describe('a session that has been sat', () => {
     expect(screen.queryByText(/still unanswered/)).not.toBeInTheDocument()
   })
 
-  it('keeps the session rail beside it', async () => {
+  it('keeps the session rail beside it, holding only sessions', async () => {
     mountAttempt()
     const rail = await screen.findByRole('complementary', { name: 'Sessions' })
-    expect(within(rail).getByRole('link', { name: /Your overall analysis/ }))
-      .toHaveAttribute('href', '/sessions')
+    expect(within(rail).getByText('My Custom Test')).toBeInTheDocument()
+    // Lifetime figures are not the question in front of one session.
+    expect(within(rail).queryByRole('link', { name: /overall analysis/ })).not.toBeInTheDocument()
   })
 })
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/LandingPage.jsx b/frontend/src/pages/LandingPage.jsx
index 59e7e5b..723df08 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/LandingPage.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/LandingPage.jsx
@@ -183,6 +183,20 @@ function AuthModal({ mode, onClose, onSwitch }) {
   const [resendSent, setResendSent] = useState(false)
   const [resending, setResending] = useState(false)
   const [registered, setRegistered] = useState(false)
+  // Whether this site is invite only. The register page asks the same
+  // question; this form is the other door and used not to ask at all, so
+  // turning the gate on left everyone here failing with "an invite code is
+  // required" and nowhere to put one.
+  const [inviteRequired, setInviteRequired] = useState(false)
+  const [inviteCode, setInviteCode] = useState('')
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    let live = true
+    api.get('/auth/signup-policy')
+      .then(res => { if (live) setInviteRequired(!!res.data?.invite_required) })
+      .catch(() => {})
+    return () => { live = false }
+  }, [])
 
   const reset = () => { setError(''); setUnverified(false); setResendSent(false); setRegistered(false) }
   const switchMode = (m) => { reset(); setName(''); setEmail(''); setPassword(''); onSwitch(m) }
@@ -206,7 +220,11 @@ function AuthModal({ mode, onClose, onSwitch }) {
     setError('')
     setLoading(true)
     try {
-      const res = await api.post('/auth/register', { email, password, name, turnstile_token: turnstileToken || null })
+      const res = await api.post('/auth/register', {
+        email, password, name,
+        turnstile_token: turnstileToken || null,
+        invite_code: inviteCode.trim() || null,
+      })
       if (res.data.requires_verification) {
         setRegistered(true)
       } else {
@@ -324,8 +342,25 @@ function AuthModal({ mode, onClose, onSwitch }) {
                 <label>Password</label>
                 <input type="password" value={password} onChange={e => setPassword(e.target.value)} required minLength={8} />
               </div>
+              {inviteRequired && (
+                <div className="form-group">
+                  <label htmlFor="modal-invite-code">Invite code</label>
+                  {/* Asked for only where it is needed. The form never says
+                      whether a code is valid before the account is made —
+                      that would be a place to guess them. */}
+                  <input id="modal-invite-code" value={inviteCode} required autoComplete="off"
+                    placeholder="From whoever invited you"
+                    style={{ textTransform: 'uppercase', letterSpacing: '0.08em' }}
+                    onChange={e => setInviteCode(e.target.value.toUpperCase())} />
+                  <small style={{ color: 'var(--text-muted)', fontSize: '0.8rem' }}>
+                    This site is invite only.
+                  </small>
+                </div>
+              )}
               <TurnstileWidget onVerify={setTurnstileToken} />
-              <button className="btn btn-primary" style={{ width: '100%' }} disabled={loading || (TURNSTILE_SITE_KEY && !turnstileToken)}>
+              <button className="btn btn-primary" style={{ width: '100%' }}
+                disabled={loading || (TURNSTILE_SITE_KEY && !turnstileToken)
+                  || (inviteRequired && !inviteCode.trim())}>
                 {loading ? 'Creating account…' : 'Sign Up'}
               </button>
             </form>