diff --git a/frontend/src/AnalyticsView.vue b/frontend/src/AnalyticsView.vue
index 0b79ba0..fe2fa2f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/AnalyticsView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/AnalyticsView.vue
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@
 // Analytics viewer rendered as a normal page inside #main. Receives live
 // analytics data over /_api/ws/analytics (admin-gated by the auth proxy) and
 // renders totals, smoothed visit/views curves, a transition map, and recent
-// visit/crawler tables. Read-only.
+// visit/crawler tables. The same socket serves the contact inbox (the
+// "messages" tab, MessagesView): visitor threads arrive with the snapshot
+// and replies go back down it (docs/messages.md).
 // See docs/analytics.md for the data format.
 import { computed, onMounted, onUnmounted, ref, watch } from 'vue'
 import { fetchJson } from 'paskia'
@@ -31,6 +33,7 @@ import VisitorCharts from './VisitorCharts.vue'
 import { VIEW_W } from './analytics/chart.js'
 import { authReconnect, reconnectPolicy, socketSlot, watchConnecting } from './reconnect'
 import ConnNote from './ConnNote.vue'
+import MessagesView from './MessagesView.vue'
 
 // Same centering margin as the charts, so the totals row's left edge
 // aligns with the chart svg above the natural width.
@@ -70,6 +73,28 @@ const hashRange = location.hash.slice(1)
 const range = ref(RANGES[hashRange] ? hashRange : 'week')
 let rangePinned = Boolean(RANGES[hashRange])
 
+// The contact inbox rides the same socket (docs/messages.md): frames with
+// a `type` field are messaging payloads, the type-less snapshot is
+// analytics. The header switches between the two views.
+const tab = ref('analytics')
+const threads = ref([])
+const unreadTotal = computed(() => threads.value.reduce((n, t) => n + (t.unread ? 1 : 0), 0))
+
+function lastT(t) {
+  return t.messages.length ? t.messages[t.messages.length - 1].t : t.created
+}
+
+function upsertThread(thread) {
+  const rest = threads.value.filter((t) => t.id !== thread.id)
+  threads.value = [thread, ...rest].sort((a, b) => lastT(b).localeCompare(lastT(a)))
+}
+
+function wsSend(obj) {
+  if (ws?.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) ws.send(JSON.stringify(obj))
+}
+function onReply({ id, text }) { wsSend({ type: 'reply', id, text }) }
+function onRead(id) { wsSend({ type: 'read', id }) }
+
 function connect() {
   if (ws || !mounted) return
   conn.value = 'connecting'
@@ -84,7 +109,22 @@ function connect() {
   }
   ws.onmessage = (event) => {
     try {
-      data.value = JSON.parse(event.data)
+      const msg = JSON.parse(event.data)
+      // Contact-messaging frames carry a type field (docs/messages.md);
+      // the type-less snapshot is analytics data.
+      if (msg?.type === 'threads') {
+        threads.value = msg.threads
+        return
+      }
+      if (msg?.type === 'thread') {
+        upsertThread(msg)
+        return
+      }
+      if (msg?.type === 'contact-error') {
+        console.warn('contact:', msg.detail)
+        return
+      }
+      data.value = msg
       if (!rangePinned) {
         rangePinned = true
         const starts = (data.value?.visits || [])
@@ -300,7 +340,15 @@ const abuseRows = computed(() => formatAbuseRows(rangeData.value?.abuse || [], c
     <div class="analytics-panel">
       <header>
         <h1>Analytics</h1>
-        <nav class="ranges">
+        <nav class="tabs">
+          <button type="button" :class="{ active: tab === 'analytics' }" @click="tab = 'analytics'">
+            analytics
+          </button>
+          <button type="button" :class="{ active: tab === 'messages' }" @click="tab = 'messages'">
+            messages<span v-if="unreadTotal" class="badge">{{ unreadTotal }}</span>
+          </button>
+        </nav>
+        <nav v-show="tab === 'analytics'" class="ranges">
           <button v-for="(r, key) in RANGES" :key="key" type="button"
                   :class="{ active: range === key }" @click="range = key">
             {{ r.label }}
@@ -309,6 +357,8 @@ const abuseRows = computed(() => formatAbuseRows(rangeData.value?.abuse || [], c
         <a href="/" class="close" title="home">✕</a>
       </header>
       <ConnNote :text="connNote" />
+      <MessagesView v-if="tab === 'messages'" :threads="threads" @reply="onReply" @read="onRead" />
+      <div v-show="tab === 'analytics'">
       <p v-if="error" class="error">⚠️ {{ error }}</p>
       <p v-else-if="!data" class="loading">loading…</p>
       <template v-else>
@@ -447,6 +497,7 @@ const abuseRows = computed(() => formatAbuseRows(rangeData.value?.abuse || [], c
           </div>
         </section>
       </template>
+      </div>
     </div>
   </div>
 </template>
@@ -484,7 +535,8 @@ const abuseRows = computed(() => formatAbuseRows(rangeData.value?.abuse || [], c
   margin-left: auto;
 }
 
-.ranges button {
+.ranges button,
+.tabs button {
   padding: 0.2rem 0.7rem;
   font: inherit;
   font-size: 0.9rem;
@@ -495,13 +547,32 @@ const abuseRows = computed(() => formatAbuseRows(rangeData.value?.abuse || [], c
   cursor: pointer;
 }
 
-.ranges button:hover { color: var(--text); }
+.ranges button:hover,
+.tabs button:hover { color: var(--text); }
 
-.ranges button.active {
+.ranges button.active,
+.tabs button.active {
   color: var(--text);
   border-color: var(--accent);
 }
 
+.tabs {
+  display: flex;
+  gap: 0.25rem;
+}
+
+.tabs .badge {
+  display: inline-block;
+  min-width: 1.1em;
+  margin-left: 0.3em;
+  padding: 0 0.25em;
+  border-radius: 1em;
+  background: var(--accent);
+  color: var(--bg, Canvas);
+  font-size: 0.8em;
+  text-align: center;
+}
+
 .close {
   padding: 0 0.3rem;
   background: none;
diff --git a/frontend/src/MessagesView.vue b/frontend/src/MessagesView.vue
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4322466
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/MessagesView.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,250 @@
+<script setup>
+// The admin contact inbox on /_a: thread list plus the selected thread
+// with a reply composer. Threads and replies ride the analytics socket
+// (AnalyticsView owns it and passes them down); message HTML is the
+// server's strict-markdown rendering — injected verbatim, never user
+// markup (pagerite/messages.py).
+import { computed, nextTick, ref, watch } from 'vue'
+import Composer from './Composer.vue'
+
+const props = defineProps({
+  threads: { type: Array, default: () => [] },
+})
+const emit = defineEmits(['reply', 'read'])
+
+const selected = ref('')
+const scroll = ref(null)
+
+const thread = computed(() => props.threads.find((t) => t.id === selected.value) || null)
+
+// Auto-open the first thread once the list arrives.
+watch(
+  () => props.threads.length,
+  (n) => {
+    if (n && !selected.value) selected.value = props.threads[0].id
+  },
+  { immediate: true },
+)
+
+// Opening a thread marks it read on the server (the updated payload
+// comes back around and clears the dot).
+watch(thread, (t) => {
+  if (!t) return
+  if (t.unread) emit('read', t.id)
+  scrollDown()
+})
+
+watch(() => thread.value?.messages?.length, scrollDown)
+
+async function scrollDown() {
+  await nextTick()
+  if (scroll.value) scroll.value.scrollTop = scroll.value.scrollHeight
+}
+
+function lastMsg(t) {
+  return t.messages[t.messages.length - 1] || null
+}
+
+// List-row preview: the last message's visible text (the html is
+// server-rendered strict markdown, safe to parse here).
+function preview(t) {
+  const m = lastMsg(t)
+  if (!m) return ''
+  const div = document.createElement('div')
+  div.innerHTML = m.html
+  const who = m.admin ? `${m.admin}: ` : ''
+  return (who + (div.textContent || '')).slice(0, 80)
+}
+
+function fmtTime(t) {
+  return new Date(t).toLocaleString(undefined, { dateStyle: 'medium', timeStyle: 'short' })
+}
+
+function send(md) {
+  if (thread.value) emit('reply', { id: thread.value.id, text: md })
+}
+</script>
+
+<template>
+  <div class="messages-view">
+    <aside class="thread-list">
+      <p v-if="!threads.length" class="empty">no messages yet</p>
+      <button
+        v-for="t in threads"
+        :key="t.id"
+        type="button"
+        class="thread-row"
+        :class="{ active: t.id === selected }"
+        @click="selected = t.id"
+      >
+        <span class="dot" :class="{ unread: t.unread }"></span>
+        <span class="peek">
+          <strong>{{ t.id.slice(0, 8) }}</strong>
+          {{ preview(t) }}
+        </span>
+        <time>{{ fmtTime(lastMsg(t)?.t || t.created) }}</time>
+      </button>
+    </aside>
+    <section v-if="thread" class="thread">
+      <div ref="scroll" class="thread-messages">
+        <div
+          v-for="m in thread.messages"
+          :key="m.id"
+          class="contact-msg"
+          :class="{ mine: m.admin }"
+        >
+          <!-- Server-rendered strict markdown only (see ContactPanel). -->
+          <div class="contact-msg-body" v-html="m.html"></div>
+          <footer>
+            <span v-if="m.admin" class="who">{{ m.admin }}</span>
+            <a v-if="m.page" class="page" :href="m.page" title="sent from this page">{{ m.page }}</a>
+            <time>{{ fmtTime(m.t) }}</time>
+          </footer>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <Composer placeholder="Reply…" @send="send" />
+    </section>
+    <section v-else class="thread">
+      <p class="empty">select a thread</p>
+    </section>
+  </div>
+</template>
+
+<style scoped>
+.messages-view {
+  display: flex;
+  gap: 1rem;
+  margin-top: 1rem;
+  min-height: 60vh;
+}
+
+.thread-list {
+  display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
+  gap: 0.2rem;
+  width: 16rem;
+  flex-shrink: 0;
+}
+.thread-row {
+  display: flex;
+  align-items: baseline;
+  gap: 0.4rem;
+  padding: 0.35rem 0.5rem;
+  border: 1px solid var(--line);
+  border-radius: 0.4rem;
+  background: none;
+  color: var(--text, CanvasText);
+  font: inherit;
+  font-size: 0.85rem;
+  text-align: left;
+  cursor: pointer;
+}
+.thread-row.active {
+  border-color: var(--accent);
+}
+.thread-row .dot {
+  flex-shrink: 0;
+  width: 0.5rem;
+  height: 0.5rem;
+  border-radius: 50%;
+  background: transparent;
+}
+.thread-row .dot.unread {
+  background: var(--accent);
+}
+.thread-row .peek {
+  flex: 1;
+  overflow: hidden;
+  white-space: nowrap;
+  text-overflow: ellipsis;
+  color: var(--muted);
+}
+.thread-row .peek strong {
+  color: var(--text, CanvasText);
+  font-weight: 600;
+}
+.thread-row time {
+  flex-shrink: 0;
+  color: var(--muted);
+  font-size: 0.75rem;
+}
+
+.thread {
+  flex: 1;
+  display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
+  gap: 0.6rem;
+  min-width: 0;
+}
+.thread-messages {
+  flex: 1;
+  overflow-y: auto;
+  max-height: 65vh;
+  padding-right: 0.2rem;
+}
+.empty {
+  color: var(--muted);
+  text-align: center;
+  margin-top: 2rem;
+}
+
+.contact-msg {
+  max-width: 85%;
+  margin: 0.45rem 0;
+  padding: 0.35rem 0.6rem;
+  border-radius: 0.6rem;
+  background: color-mix(var(--muted) 12%, transparent);
+}
+.contact-msg.mine {
+  margin-left: auto;
+  background: color-mix(var(--accent) 16%, transparent);
+}
+.contact-msg-body {
+  overflow-wrap: break-word;
+}
+.contact-msg-body :deep(p) {
+  margin: 0.25em 0;
+}
+.contact-msg-body :deep(img) {
+  max-width: 100%;
+  border-radius: 0.3rem;
+}
+.contact-msg-body :deep(a.attachment) {
+  display: inline-block;
+  padding: 0.05em 0.5em;
+  border: 1px solid var(--line);
+  border-radius: 1em;
+  background: var(--bg, Canvas);
+  text-decoration: none;
+  white-space: nowrap;
+}
+.contact-msg footer {
+  display: flex;
+  gap: 0.5rem;
+  justify-content: flex-end;
+  align-items: baseline;
+  color: var(--muted);
+  font-size: 0.75rem;
+}
+.contact-msg footer .who {
+  font-weight: 600;
+}
+.contact-msg footer .page {
+  color: var(--muted);
+  overflow: hidden;
+  white-space: nowrap;
+  text-overflow: ellipsis;
+}
+.contact-msg footer .page:hover {
+  color: var(--accent);
+}
+
+@media (max-width: 48rem) {
+  .messages-view {
+    flex-direction: column;
+  }
+  .thread-list {
+    width: 100%;
+  }
+}
+</style>