diff --git a/app-prefixable/dev.ts b/app-prefixable/dev.ts
index e453ef55..f05a4b75 100644
--- a/app-prefixable/dev.ts
+++ b/app-prefixable/dev.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,42 @@ function withNoStoreHeaders(response: Response) {
   })
 }
 
+function stripHopByHopHeaders(headers: Headers) {
+  const connection = headers.get("connection")
+  if (connection) {
+    for (const name of connection.split(",")) {
+      const trimmed = name.trim()
+      if (trimmed) headers.delete(trimmed)
+    }
+  }
+
+  for (const name of [
+    "connection",
+    "content-length",
+    "host",
+    "keep-alive",
+    "proxy-authenticate",
+    "proxy-authorization",
+    "te",
+    "trailer",
+    "transfer-encoding",
+    "upgrade",
+  ]) {
+    headers.delete(name)
+  }
+}
+
+function normalizeDevProxiedResponse(response: Response) {
+  const normalized = normalizeProxiedResponse(response)
+  const headers = new Headers(normalized.headers)
+  stripHopByHopHeaders(headers)
+  return new Response(normalized.body, {
+    status: normalized.status,
+    statusText: normalized.statusText,
+    headers,
+  })
+}
+
 const server = Bun.serve<{ target: string }>({
   port: PORT,
   idleTimeout: 0, // Disable timeout for SSE connections
@@ -94,6 +130,7 @@ const server = Bun.serve<{ target: string }>({
     if (isApiPath(strippedPath)) {
       const target = new URL(strippedPath + url.search, API_URL)
       const headers = new Headers(req.headers)
+      stripHopByHopHeaders(headers)
 
       // SSE requests - just pass through the response body directly
       if (strippedPath.startsWith("/event")) {
@@ -102,6 +139,7 @@ const server = Bun.serve<{ target: string }>({
           const response = await fetch(target.toString(), {
             method: req.method,
             headers,
+            signal: req.signal,
           })
 
           if (!response.ok) {
@@ -140,8 +178,9 @@ const server = Bun.serve<{ target: string }>({
           method: req.method,
           headers,
           body,
+          signal: req.signal,
         })
-        return withNoStoreHeaders(normalizeProxiedResponse(response))
+        return withNoStoreHeaders(normalizeDevProxiedResponse(response))
       } catch (e) {
         console.error("[Proxy] API error:", e)
         return withNoStoreHeaders(new Response("API proxy error", { status: 502 }))
diff --git a/app-prefixable/src/context/global-events.tsx b/app-prefixable/src/context/global-events.tsx
index 686dd4d9..c4823812 100644
--- a/app-prefixable/src/context/global-events.tsx
+++ b/app-prefixable/src/context/global-events.tsx
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import { createStore, produce } from "solid-js/store"
 import { useServer } from "./server"
 import { createSSEParser } from "../utils/sse"
 
+const MAX_GLOBAL_EVENT_CONNECTIONS = 16
+
 /**
  * Alert priority: permission (highest) > question > busy
  */
@@ -157,6 +159,12 @@ export function GlobalEventsProvider(props: ParentProps & {
     }, 5000))
   }
 
+  function wantedDirectories(dirs: string[], active: string | undefined) {
+    const wanted = new Set(dirs.slice(0, MAX_GLOBAL_EVENT_CONNECTIONS + 1))
+    if (active) wanted.delete(active)
+    return new Set([...wanted].slice(0, MAX_GLOBAL_EVENT_CONNECTIONS))
+  }
+
   function connectToDirectory(dir: string) {
     if (connections.has(dir)) return
     // Don't connect when a remote server is active
@@ -349,9 +357,8 @@ export function GlobalEventsProvider(props: ParentProps & {
           if (disposed) return
           // Don't reconnect when a remote server is active — local projects don't exist there
           if (!activeServer().isDefault) return
-          const active = props.activeDirectory()
-          const wanted = props.projects().some((p) => p.worktree === dir)
-          if (wanted && dir !== active) {
+          const wanted = wantedDirectories(props.projects().map((p) => p.worktree), props.activeDirectory())
+          if (wanted.has(dir)) {
             connectToDirectory(dir)
             return
           }
@@ -567,18 +574,22 @@ export function GlobalEventsProvider(props: ParentProps & {
         return
       }
 
-      const wanted = new Set(current.dirs)
-      if (current.active) wanted.delete(current.active)
+      const limitedWanted = wantedDirectories(current.dirs, current.active)
+
+      for (const [dir] of [...reconnectTimers]) {
+        if (limitedWanted.has(dir)) continue
+        disconnectDirectory(dir)
+      }
 
       // Disconnect directories we no longer need (including newly-active project)
       for (const dir of [...connections.keys()]) {
-        if (!wanted.has(dir)) {
+        if (!limitedWanted.has(dir)) {
           disconnectDirectory(dir)
         }
       }
 
       // Connect to new inactive directories
-      for (const dir of wanted) {
+      for (const dir of limitedWanted) {
         if (!connections.has(dir)) {
           connectToDirectory(dir)
         }