diff --git a/src/renderer/src/app.css b/src/renderer/src/app.css
index 21dc5bd..9567fca 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/app.css
+++ b/src/renderer/src/app.css
@@ -1735,3 +1735,13 @@ video.lightbox-media {
   min-width: 0;
   font-weight: 600;
 }
+
+/* A brand mark kept in its own colours. Unlike a guild icon it is a logo
+   rather than a photo, so it is fitted with breathing room instead of cropped
+   to fill the tile. */
+.rail-mark {
+  width: 74%;
+  height: 74%;
+  object-fit: contain;
+  display: block;
+}
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/assets/sneedchat.png b/src/renderer/src/assets/sneedchat.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3c568d
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/renderer/src/assets/sneedchat.png differ
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/AccountsPanel.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/AccountsPanel.tsx
index a58e02d..a632d19 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/AccountsPanel.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/AccountsPanel.tsx
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ export function AccountsPanel(): JSX.Element {
                 className={`service-chip${adding === service ? ' active' : ''}`}
                 onClick={() => setAdding(adding === service ? null : service)}
               >
-                {icon.svg ? <MaskIcon src={icon.svg} size={16} /> : <Icon name={icon.glyph!} size={16} />}
+                {icon.mark ? <MaskIcon src={icon.mark} size={16} /> : <Icon name={icon.glyph!} size={16} />}
                 {serviceLabel(service)}
               </button>
             )
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@ function AccountRow({ account }: { account: Account }): JSX.Element {
       <div className="account-card-head">
         {account.avatarUrl ? (
           <img className="account-avatar" src={resolveMediaUrl(account.avatarUrl)} alt="" />
-        ) : icon.svg ? (
-          <MaskIcon src={icon.svg} size={20} />
+        ) : icon.mark ? (
+          <MaskIcon src={icon.mark} size={20} />
         ) : (
           <Icon name={icon.glyph!} size={20} />
         )}
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/BufferList.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/BufferList.tsx
index d956318..0d35863 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/BufferList.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/BufferList.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { useMemo } from 'react'
 import { Icon, IconButton, MaskIcon } from './Icon'
 import { ContextMenu, useContextMenu, type MenuEntry } from './ContextMenu'
 import { useChat, useIdSetPref, usePref, useStore } from '../state/hooks'
+import { visibleGroups } from '../lib/groups'
 import type { BufferEntry } from '../state/store'
 import {
   bufferDisplayName,
@@ -38,7 +39,8 @@ export function BufferList(): JSX.Element {
 
   // A stale selection (a guild that went away, a first run) resolves to the
   // first entry rather than an empty pane.
-  const activeGroup = groups.find((g) => g.id === activeGroupId) || groups[0]
+  const shownGroups = useMemo(() => visibleGroups(groups, visible), [groups, visible])
+  const activeGroup = shownGroups.find((g) => g.id === activeGroupId) || shownGroups[0]
   const groupAccount = accounts.find((a) => a.id === activeGroup?.accountId)
 
   // Server buffer first, then most recent activity - the ordering nobilis's
@@ -243,8 +245,8 @@ function BufferRow({
   // name as text in front of every entry.
   const service = serviceIcon(account?.service ?? '')
   const leading = showServiceIcon ? (
-    service.svg ? (
-      <MaskIcon src={service.svg} size={15} />
+    service.mark ? (
+      <MaskIcon src={service.mark} size={15} />
     ) : (
       <Icon name={service.glyph!} size={15} />
     )
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/ServerRail.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/ServerRail.tsx
index e18a1fd..5668884 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/ServerRail.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/ServerRail.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { Icon, MaskIcon } from './Icon'
 import { useChat, useStore } from '../state/hooks'
 import { nickColor, resolveMediaUrl, serviceIcon } from '../lib/util'
+import { visibleGroups } from '../lib/groups'
 import type { BufferGroup } from '../../../shared/wire'
 import type { BufferEntry } from '../state/store'
 
@@ -41,8 +42,13 @@ function RailTile({ group, active, unread, highlight, onSelect }: TileProps): JS
     content = <img className="rail-icon" src={resolveMediaUrl(group.iconUrl)} alt="" />
   } else if (group.kind === 'dms') {
     content = <Icon name="forum" size={22} />
+  } else if (group.kind === 'account' && service.mark && service.colour) {
+    // Artwork with colour worth keeping, shown as-is rather than flattened to
+    // a silhouette - it sits beside full-colour guild icons here, and this is
+    // the one place with room for it.
+    content = <img className="rail-mark" src={service.mark} alt="" />
   } else if (group.kind === 'account') {
-    content = service.svg ? <MaskIcon src={service.svg} size={22} /> : <Icon name={service.glyph!} size={22} />
+    content = service.mark ? <MaskIcon src={service.mark} size={22} /> : <Icon name={service.glyph!} size={22} />
   } else {
     content = (
       <span className="rail-initials" style={{ color: nickColor(group.name) }}>
@@ -82,8 +88,6 @@ export function ServerRail(): JSX.Element | null {
   const activeGroupId = useChat((s) => s.activeGroupId)
   const buffers = useChat((s) => s.buffers)
 
-  if (groups.length <= 1) return null
-
   // Unread rolls up from the buffers under each entry, so a guild whose
   // channels are all collapsed away still shows it has something waiting.
   const totals = new Map<string, { unread: number; highlight: boolean }>()
@@ -95,9 +99,13 @@ export function ServerRail(): JSX.Element | null {
     totals.set(b.groupId, t)
   }
 
+  const visible = visibleGroups(groups, buffers as BufferEntry[])
+
+  if (visible.length <= 1) return null
+
   return (
     <nav className="server-rail" aria-label="Servers">
-      {groups.map((g) => {
+      {visible.map((g) => {
         const t = totals.get(g.id)
         return (
           <RailTile
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/groups.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/groups.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c8e789
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/groups.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import type { BufferGroup } from '../../../shared/wire'
+import type { BufferEntry } from '../state/store'
+
+/**
+ * The rail entries worth drawing.
+ *
+ * An account entry is the home for buffers no backend grouped, which is how
+ * IRC, Sneedchat and Matrix reach the rail at all. Discord never puts anything
+ * there - every channel belongs to a guild and every DM to the DM entry - so
+ * its account entry would be a tile that opens an empty pane.
+ *
+ * Emptiness alone is not enough to hide one: IRC and Sneedchat have no buffers
+ * either until they finish connecting, and Sneedchat's Tor bootstrap makes
+ * that several seconds. So an account with nothing anywhere yet keeps its
+ * tile, and only one whose buffers all live elsewhere loses it.
+ *
+ * Shared by the rail and the channel pane deliberately - if they disagreed,
+ * the selected group could be one with no tile, leaving a pane the user cannot
+ * navigate away from.
+ */
+export function visibleGroups(groups: BufferGroup[], buffers: BufferEntry[]): BufferGroup[] {
+  const inGroup = new Map<string, number>()
+  const inAccount = new Map<string, number>()
+  for (const b of buffers) {
+    inAccount.set(b.accountId, (inAccount.get(b.accountId) ?? 0) + 1)
+    if (b.groupId) inGroup.set(b.groupId, (inGroup.get(b.groupId) ?? 0) + 1)
+  }
+  return groups.filter((g) => {
+    if (g.kind !== 'account') return true
+    if ((inGroup.get(g.id) ?? 0) > 0) return true
+    return (inAccount.get(g.accountId) ?? 0) === 0
+  })
+}
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/lib/util.ts b/src/renderer/src/lib/util.ts
index 0c567a5..7de7c5a 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/lib/util.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/lib/util.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import discordSvg from '../assets/discord.svg'
+import sneedchatMark from '../assets/sneedchat.png'
 import matrixSvg from '../assets/matrix.svg'
 
 /**
@@ -26,12 +27,30 @@ export function guildOf(name: string): string {
  * XMPP (which has no widely recognised mark), and "vpn_lock" evokes the
  * Tor-only transport Sneedchat runs over.
  */
-export function serviceIcon(service: string): { svg?: string; glyph?: string } {
+/**
+ * A service's brand mark.
+ *
+ * `mark` is artwork whose *alpha* is the silhouette, so it works as a CSS mask
+ * regardless of being an SVG or a PNG - which is what lets these sit quietly in
+ * a list, painted in the surrounding text colour like any other icon.
+ *
+ * `colour` says the artwork's own colours are worth keeping where there is
+ * room for them - the rail, where it sits beside full-colour guild icons -
+ * while the same file still masks down to a monochrome glyph in the compact
+ * places.
+ */
+export interface ServiceIcon {
+  mark?: string
+  colour?: boolean
+  glyph?: string
+}
+
+export function serviceIcon(service: string): ServiceIcon {
   switch (service) {
     case 'discord':
-      return { svg: discordSvg }
+      return { mark: discordSvg }
     case 'matrix':
-      return { svg: matrixSvg }
+      return { mark: matrixSvg }
     case 'irc':
       return { glyph: 'tag' }
     case 'slack':
@@ -40,7 +59,7 @@ export function serviceIcon(service: string): { svg?: string; glyph?: string } {
     case 'xmpp':
       return { glyph: 'forum' }
     case 'sockchat':
-      return { glyph: 'vpn_lock' }
+      return { mark: sneedchatMark, colour: true }
     default:
       return { glyph: 'chat' }
   }