diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 73afda2..acd68a7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ frontend/dist/
 build/bin/verstak-desktop
 smoke-platform
 plugins/
+vendor/
diff --git a/patches/window.c.button-press.patch b/patches/window.c.button-press.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf55ff8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/window.c.button-press.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+--- vendor/github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/internal/frontend/desktop/linux/window.c
++++ vendor/github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/internal/frontend/desktop/linux/window.c
+@@ -329,6 +329,24 @@
+     if (event->button == 3)
+     {
+         return FALSE;
++    }
++
++    // Handle mouse back/forward buttons (GDK button 8 = Back, button 9 = Forward)
++    // WebKitGTK doesn't propagate these correctly to DOM, so we dispatch custom events
++    // that the frontend can listen to for history navigation.
++    if (event->button == 8)
++    {
++        webkit_web_view_run_javascript(WEBKIT_WEB_VIEW(widget),
++            "window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('verstak:navigate-back'));",
++            NULL, NULL, NULL);
++        return TRUE;
++    }
++    if (event->button == 9)
++    {
++        webkit_web_view_run_javascript(WEBKIT_WEB_VIEW(widget),
++            "window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('verstak:navigate-forward'));",
++            NULL, NULL, NULL);
++        return TRUE;
+     }
+ 
+     if (event->type == GDK_BUTTON_PRESS && event->button == 1)
diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
index bcebdd8..715e410 100755
--- a/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -64,6 +64,25 @@ echo "  🧪 go test..."
 (cd "$ROOT" && go test -count=1 ./...)
 echo "  ✅ go test"
 
+# ── Mouse button patch ──
+# WebKitGTK does not propagate buttons 8/9 (XButton1/XButton2) into DOM events.
+# We patch Wails' window.c on Linux to intercept these GTK signals and dispatch
+# CustomEvent('verstak:navigate-back'/'verstak:navigate-forward') into the page.
+echo ""
+echo "[mouse-buttons]"
+PATCH_FILE="$ROOT/patches/window.c.button-press.patch"
+if [ -f "$PATCH_FILE" ]; then
+  echo "  📦 go mod vendor..."
+  (cd "$ROOT" && go mod vendor)
+  echo "  ✅ go mod vendor"
+  echo "  📝 applying window.c.button-press.patch..."
+  (cd "$ROOT" && patch -p0 --forward < "$PATCH_FILE" 2>/dev/null || true)
+  rm -f "$ROOT/vendor/github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/internal/frontend/desktop/linux/window.c.rej"
+  echo "  ✅ window.c patched"
+else
+  echo "  ℹ️  patch file not found at $PATCH_FILE — skipping"
+fi
+
 # ── Wails ──
 echo ""
 echo "[wails]"