diff --git a/frontend/src/views/CloudFolderView.vue b/frontend/src/views/CloudFolderView.vue
index f8eb76d..bfc0868 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/CloudFolderView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/CloudFolderView.vue
@@ -127,9 +127,12 @@ async function load() {
   error.value = ''
   cloudStore.setBrowseState({ freshness: 'refreshing' })
   try {
+    // "root" is a route-only sentinel. The browse API represents the
+    // connection root by omitting parent_ref (the empty string here).
+    const parentRef = folderId.value && folderId.value !== 'root' ? folderId.value : ''
     const data = await api.getCloudFoldersByConnectionId(
       connectionId.value,
-      folderId.value ?? 'root'
+      parentRef
     )
     items.value = data.items ?? []
     /**
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/__tests__/CloudFolderView.test.js b/frontend/src/views/__tests__/CloudFolderView.test.js
index 19eaa97..7943e2f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/__tests__/CloudFolderView.test.js
+++ b/frontend/src/views/__tests__/CloudFolderView.test.js
@@ -71,10 +71,11 @@ afterEach(() => {
 })
 
 describe('CloudFolderView', () => {
-  it('calls getCloudFoldersByConnectionId with connection UUID, never provider slug', async () => {
+  it('browses the connection root without forwarding the route-only root sentinel', async () => {
     const w = mount(CloudFolderView, { global: { stubs: globalStubs } })
     await flushPromises()
-    expect(api.getCloudFoldersByConnectionId).toHaveBeenCalledWith('uuid-conn-1', 'root')
+    expect(api.getCloudFoldersByConnectionId).toHaveBeenCalledWith('uuid-conn-1', '')
+    expect(api.getCloudFoldersByConnectionId).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith('uuid-conn-1', 'root')
     // Never called with provider slug
     expect(api.getCloudFoldersByConnectionId).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith('google_drive', expect.anything())
   })