diff --git a/frontend/src/api/client.ts b/frontend/src/api/client.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..04fe194e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/api/client.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+const BASE = import.meta.env.VITE_BACKEND_URL ?? "http://localhost:8787";
+
+export async function apiFetch<T>(path: string, init?: RequestInit): Promise<T> {
+  const res = await fetch(`${BASE}${path}`, {
+    headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+    ...init,
+  });
+  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${await res.text().catch(() => "")}`);
+  return res.status === 204 ? (undefined as T) : ((await res.json()) as T);
+}
+
+export { BASE };
diff --git a/frontend/src/api/models.ts b/frontend/src/api/models.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..13d9e041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/api/models.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+import { apiFetch } from "./client";
+
+export const listModels = () => apiFetch<{ models: unknown[] }>("/models");
diff --git a/frontend/src/api/sessions.test.ts b/frontend/src/api/sessions.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a31bd177
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/api/sessions.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import { http, HttpResponse } from "msw";
+import { server } from "../test/msw";
+import { createSession, listSessions } from "./sessions";
+
+test("createSession POSTs and returns the id", async () => {
+  server.use(http.post("http://localhost:8787/sessions", () => HttpResponse.json({ id: "s1" })));
+  expect(await createSession({ workspace: "w", question: "q" })).toEqual({ id: "s1" });
+});
+test("listSessions GETs the array", async () => {
+  server.use(http.get("http://localhost:8787/sessions", () => HttpResponse.json([{ id: "s1", status: "open", question: "q", summary: null, created_at: "t", updated_at: null, author: null }])));
+  const rows = await listSessions();
+  expect(rows[0].id).toBe("s1");
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/api/sessions.ts b/frontend/src/api/sessions.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..466ccc32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/api/sessions.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { apiFetch } from "./client";
+import type { SessionSummary, UiResponse } from "./types";
+
+export const createSession = (i: {
+  workspace: string;
+  question: string;
+  provider?: string;
+  model?: string;
+  thinking?: string;
+  name?: string;
+}) => apiFetch<{ id: string }>("/sessions", { method: "POST", body: JSON.stringify(i) });
+
+export const listSessions = () => apiFetch<SessionSummary[]>("/sessions");
+
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+export const getSession = (id: string) => apiFetch<any>(`/sessions/${id}`);
+
+export const postResponse = (id: string, uiResponse: UiResponse) =>
+  apiFetch<void>(`/sessions/${id}/response`, {
+    method: "POST",
+    body: JSON.stringify({ ui_response: uiResponse }),
+  });
+
+export const postSteer = (id: string, text: string) =>
+  apiFetch<void>(`/sessions/${id}/steer`, {
+    method: "POST",
+    body: JSON.stringify({ text }),
+  });
+
+export const closeSession = (id: string) =>
+  apiFetch<void>(`/sessions/${id}/close`, { method: "POST" });
+
+export const resumeSession = (id: string) =>
+  apiFetch<void>(`/sessions/${id}/resume`, { method: "POST" });
diff --git a/frontend/src/api/sql.ts b/frontend/src/api/sql.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eac4ff40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/api/sql.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import { apiFetch } from "./client";
+import type { PreviewResult } from "./types";
+
+export const sqlPreview = (
+  id: string,
+  opts: { limit?: number; offset?: number } = {}
+) =>
+  apiFetch<PreviewResult>(`/sessions/${id}/sql/preview`, {
+    method: "POST",
+    body: JSON.stringify(opts),
+  });
+
+export const sqlExport = (id: string) =>
+  apiFetch<{ path: string }>(`/sessions/${id}/sql/export`, { method: "POST" });
diff --git a/frontend/src/api/types.ts b/frontend/src/api/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2482b884
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/api/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+export interface WidgetOption {
+  id: string;
+  label: string;
+  meta?: Record<string, unknown>;
+  selected?: boolean;
+  recommended?: boolean;
+  opens?: WidgetDescriptor;
+}
+
+export interface WidgetDescriptor {
+  id: string;
+  schema_version?: number;
+  session_id?: string;
+  phase?: string;
+  title?: string;
+  intro?: string;
+  widget: "info" | "select" | "multiselect" | "freetext" | "artifact-gate" | "artifact" | string;
+  options?: WidgetOption[];
+  reserved?: string[];
+  allow_empty?: boolean;
+  artifact?: { kind: string; content?: string; [k: string]: unknown };
+  level?: "info" | "warning" | "error";
+  text?: string;
+  [k: string]: unknown;
+}
+
+export interface UiResponse {
+  id: string;
+  kind?: string;
+  choices?: string[];
+  text?: string;
+  decision?: { type: string };
+  control?: string;
+}
+
+export type StreamEvent =
+  | { type: "ui_request"; ui_request: WidgetDescriptor }
+  | { type: "text_delta"; text: string }
+  | { type: "info"; level?: "info" | "warning" | "error"; text: string }
+  | { type: "system_event"; event: string; [k: string]: unknown };
+
+export interface SessionSummary {
+  id: string;
+  status: string;
+  question: string;
+  summary: string | null;
+  created_at: string;
+  updated_at: string | null;
+  author: string | null;
+}
+
+export interface PreviewResult {
+  columns: string[];
+  rows: unknown[][];
+  execution_ms: number;
+  truncated: boolean;
+  limit: number;
+  offset: number;
+}
diff --git a/frontend/src/api/workspaces.ts b/frontend/src/api/workspaces.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43c612bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/api/workspaces.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+import { apiFetch } from "./client";
+
+export const listWorkspaces = () =>
+  apiFetch<{ name: string; file: string }[]>("/workspaces");
diff --git a/frontend/src/test/msw.ts b/frontend/src/test/msw.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..818dc20c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/test/msw.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+import { setupServer } from "msw/node";
+export const server = setupServer();
diff --git a/frontend/src/test/setup.ts b/frontend/src/test/setup.ts
index f149f27a..2e6c3aa6 100644
--- a/frontend/src/test/setup.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/test/setup.ts
@@ -1 +1,6 @@
 import "@testing-library/jest-dom/vitest";
+import { server } from "./msw";
+
+beforeAll(() => server.listen());
+afterEach(() => server.resetHandlers());
+afterAll(() => server.close());
diff --git a/frontend/tsconfig.json b/frontend/tsconfig.json
index 4f46cd45..b50126cc 100644
--- a/frontend/tsconfig.json
+++ b/frontend/tsconfig.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     "noEmit": true,
     "esModuleInterop": true,
     "skipLibCheck": true,
-    "types": ["vitest/globals", "@testing-library/jest-dom"],
+    "types": ["vitest/globals", "@testing-library/jest-dom", "vite/client"],
     "paths": {
       "@/*": ["./src/*"]
     }