diff --git a/packages/studio/src/hooks/useLivePlayheadTime.ts b/packages/studio/src/hooks/useLivePlayheadTime.ts
index 72c0d2972..af7adcd70 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/hooks/useLivePlayheadTime.ts
+++ b/packages/studio/src/hooks/useLivePlayheadTime.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@
  * dragged as well as while it is playing.
  */
 import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
-import { liveTime, usePlayerStore } from "../player";
+// The store's own module, not the `player` barrel: the barrel pulls the whole
+// timeline in, and a timeline component importing this hook closes a cycle.
+import { liveTime, usePlayerStore } from "../player/store/playerStore";
 
 /** Long enough to be much cheaper than a frame, short enough to read as motion. */
 const THROTTLE_MS = 33;
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupHeader.tsx b/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupHeader.tsx
index d43d407d8..959f395b5 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupHeader.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupHeader.tsx
@@ -41,6 +41,58 @@ interface TimelineGroupHeaderProps {
  * A group's own row header: caret (member disclosure) + `▤` + label + count +
  * mute + solo + FX + `∿ n` (lane disclosure).
  */
+
+/**
+ * The group's name, which IS the way into its rack — a group is an element
+ * carrying `data-fx-chain`, so selecting it is what puts the chain in the
+ * property panel. Its own component because the header it sits in already
+ * carries six controls and was over the complexity gate with this inline.
+ */
+function GroupNameButton({
+  label,
+  memberCount,
+  hidden,
+  onOpenFxRack,
+}: {
+  label: string;
+  memberCount: number;
+  hidden: boolean;
+  onOpenFxRack: () => void;
+}) {
+  return (
+    <button
+      type="button"
+      tabIndex={-1}
+      aria-label={`Open ${label} effects`}
+      title="Open effects"
+      className="flex min-w-0 flex-1 items-center gap-1.5 rounded border-0 bg-transparent p-0 text-left text-[11px] text-white hover:text-[#3CE6AC] focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-1 focus-visible:outline-[#3CE6AC]"
+      onPointerDown={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}
+      onClick={(event) => {
+        event.stopPropagation();
+        onOpenFxRack();
+      }}
+    >
+      <span aria-hidden="true" className="shrink-0 text-[12px] leading-none text-white/50">
+        ▤
+      </span>
+      {/* Struck through, not merely dimmed — the designs are explicit that "a
+          muted track that only looks dim is a track someone re-mutes by
+          accident", and a muted GROUP silences every member at once, so it is
+          the most expensive one to misread. */}
+      <span className={`min-w-0 flex-1 truncate font-medium${hidden ? " line-through" : ""}`}>
+        {label}
+      </span>
+      <span
+        className="shrink-0 rounded-full bg-white/10 px-1 text-[9px] leading-[14px] tabular-nums text-white/55"
+        aria-hidden="true"
+        title={`${memberCount} tracks`}
+      >
+        {memberCount}
+      </span>
+    </button>
+  );
+}
+
 export function TimelineGroupHeader({
   label,
   memberCount,
@@ -95,43 +147,12 @@ export function TimelineGroupHeader({
           ▸
         </span>
       </button>
-      {/* The group's name IS the way into its rack. A group is an element
-          carrying `data-fx-chain`, so selecting it is what puts the chain in
-          the property panel — but nothing on this row said so, and the FX
-          popover's footer was the only route to it. A button rather than a
-          click handler on the row: it has to be reachable by keyboard, and the
-          sibling controls each stopPropagation already, so widening the target
-          to the whole row would only add ambiguity over their hit areas. */}
-      <button
-        type="button"
-        tabIndex={-1}
-        aria-label={`Open ${label} effects`}
-        title="Open effects"
-        className="flex min-w-0 flex-1 items-center gap-1.5 rounded border-0 bg-transparent p-0 text-left text-[11px] text-white hover:text-[#3CE6AC] focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-1 focus-visible:outline-[#3CE6AC]"
-        onPointerDown={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}
-        onClick={(event) => {
-          event.stopPropagation();
-          onOpenFxRack();
-        }}
-      >
-        <span aria-hidden="true" className="shrink-0 text-[12px] leading-none text-white/50">
-          ▤
-        </span>
-        {/* Struck through, not merely dimmed — the designs are explicit that "a
-            muted track that only looks dim is a track someone re-mutes by
-            accident", and a muted GROUP silences every member at once, so it is
-            the most expensive one to misread. */}
-        <span className={`min-w-0 flex-1 truncate font-medium${hidden ? " line-through" : ""}`}>
-          {label}
-        </span>
-        <span
-          className="shrink-0 rounded-full bg-white/10 px-1 text-[9px] leading-[14px] tabular-nums text-white/55"
-          aria-hidden="true"
-          title={`${memberCount} tracks`}
-        >
-          {memberCount}
-        </span>
-      </button>
+      <GroupNameButton
+        label={label}
+        memberCount={memberCount}
+        hidden={hidden}
+        onOpenFxRack={onOpenFxRack}
+      />
       <button
         type="button"
         tabIndex={-1}