diff --git a/js/subscriptions.js b/js/subscriptions.js
index 5007883d..15081616 100644
--- a/js/subscriptions.js
+++ b/js/subscriptions.js
@@ -27,6 +27,16 @@ import { getApplication } from "./applicationContext.js";
 import { VideoListView } from "./ui/views/VideoListView.js";
 import { ALLOW_NSFW_CONTENT } from "./config.js";
 import { devLogger, userLogger } from "./utils/logger.js";
+import {
+  TinyEventEmitter,
+  isTransientDecryptError,
+  computeRetryDelay,
+  normalizeHexPubkey,
+  normalizeEncryptionToken,
+  serializeSubscriptionTagMatrix,
+  parseSubscriptionPlaintext,
+  parseCachedSubscriptionSnapshot,
+} from "./subscriptionsHelpers.js";
 import {
   noteSignerDecryptTimeout,
   noteSignerDecryptSuccess,
@@ -65,68 +75,6 @@ const DECRYPT_TIMEOUT_MS = 30000;
 // should recover near-instantly. The shorter delay prevents unnecessary wait
 // time during the critical login path when the first decrypt attempt fails.
 const DECRYPT_RETRY_DELAY_MS = 1500;
-const MAX_DECRYPT_RETRY_DELAY_MS = 60000;
-
-// Transient decrypt failures that must RETRY rather than give up: our own
-// timeout, a severed nip-07 message port ("message channel closed"), and the
-// circuit breaker's fast-fail. Without this a brief channel drop during the
-// login burst abandons the subscription list until a refresh (KNOWN_BUGS #0).
-const TRANSIENT_DECRYPT_ERROR_CODES = new Set([
-  "subscriptions-decrypt-timeout",
-  "nip07-channel-unresponsive",
-]);
-const TRANSIENT_DECRYPT_MESSAGE_PATTERNS = [
-  "message channel closed",
-  "could not establish connection",
-  "receiving end does not exist",
-  "extension context invalidated",
-  "connection lost",
-  "channel is unresponsive",
-];
-function isTransientDecryptError(error) {
-  if (!error) return false;
-  if (error.code && TRANSIENT_DECRYPT_ERROR_CODES.has(error.code)) return true;
-  const message =
-    typeof error.message === "string" ? error.message.toLowerCase() : "";
-  if (TRANSIENT_DECRYPT_MESSAGE_PATTERNS.some((p) => message.includes(p))) {
-    return true;
-  }
-  const nested = Array.isArray(error.errors)
-    ? error.errors
-    : Array.isArray(error.cause)
-      ? error.cause
-      : null;
-  if (nested) {
-    return nested.some((entry) => isTransientDecryptError(entry?.error || entry));
-  }
-  return false;
-}
-
-function computeRetryDelay(baseDelayMs, attempt) {
-  const normalizedAttempt =
-    Number.isFinite(attempt) && attempt > 0 ? Math.floor(attempt) : 0;
-  const multiplier = 2 ** normalizedAttempt;
-  const nextDelay = Math.max(250, Math.floor(baseDelayMs * multiplier));
-  return Math.min(MAX_DECRYPT_RETRY_DELAY_MS, nextDelay);
-}
-
-function normalizeHexPubkey(value) {
-  if (typeof value !== "string") {
-    return "";
-  }
-  const trimmed = value.trim();
-  return trimmed ? trimmed.toLowerCase() : "";
-}
-
-function normalizeEncryptionToken(value) {
-  if (typeof value !== "string") {
-    return "";
-  }
-  return value
-    .trim()
-    .toLowerCase()
-    .replace(/[^a-z0-9]/g, "");
-}
 
 function extractEncryptionHints(event) {
   if (!event || typeof event !== "object") {
@@ -212,133 +160,6 @@ function determineDecryptionOrder(event, availableSchemes, cachedScheme = null)
   return prioritized.length ? prioritized : available;
 }
 
-function serializeSubscriptionTagMatrix(values) {
-  const tags = [];
-  const seen = new Set();
-  if (!values) {
-    return JSON.stringify(tags);
-  }
-  const iterable = Array.isArray(values)
-    ? values
-    : values instanceof Set
-    ? Array.from(values)
-    : [];
-  for (const candidate of iterable) {
-    const normalized = normalizeHexPubkey(candidate);
-    if (!normalized || seen.has(normalized)) {
-      continue;
-    }
-    seen.add(normalized);
-    tags.push(["p", normalized]);
-  }
-  return JSON.stringify(tags);
-}
-
-function parseSubscriptionPlaintext(plaintext) {
-  if (typeof plaintext !== "string" || !plaintext) {
-    return [];
-  }
-
-  let parsed;
-  try {
-    parsed = JSON.parse(plaintext);
-  } catch (error) {
-    devLogger.warn(
-      "[SubscriptionsManager] Failed to parse subscription ciphertext as JSON; treating as empty.",
-      error,
-    );
-    return [];
-  }
-
-  if (Array.isArray(parsed)) {
-    const collected = [];
-    const seen = new Set();
-    for (const entry of parsed) {
-      if (!Array.isArray(entry) || entry.length < 2) {
-        continue;
-      }
-      const marker = typeof entry[0] === "string" ? entry[0].trim().toLowerCase() : "";
-      if (marker !== "p") {
-        continue;
-      }
-      const normalized = normalizeHexPubkey(entry[1]);
-      if (!normalized || seen.has(normalized)) {
-        continue;
-      }
-      seen.add(normalized);
-      collected.push(normalized);
-    }
-    return collected;
-  }
-
-  if (parsed && typeof parsed === "object") {
-    const tagArray = Array.isArray(parsed.tags) ? parsed.tags : [];
-    if (tagArray.length) {
-      try {
-        return parseSubscriptionPlaintext(JSON.stringify(tagArray));
-      } catch {
-        // fall through to legacy handling
-      }
-    }
-
-    const legacy = Array.isArray(parsed.subPubkeys) ? parsed.subPubkeys : [];
-    return legacy.map((value) => normalizeHexPubkey(value)).filter(Boolean);
-  }
-
-  return [];
-}
-
-function parseCachedSubscriptionSnapshot(cached) {
-  if (Array.isArray(cached)) {
-    const normalized = cached.map((value) => normalizeHexPubkey(value)).filter(Boolean);
-    return {
-      subscribedPubkeys: normalized,
-      eventId: null,
-      createdAt: null,
-      hasSnapshot: true,
-    };
-  }
-
-  if (cached && typeof cached === "object") {
-    const listCandidate = Array.isArray(cached.subscribedPubkeys)
-      ? cached.subscribedPubkeys
-      : Array.isArray(cached.subPubkeys)
-        ? cached.subPubkeys
-        : [];
-    const normalized = listCandidate
-      .map((value) => normalizeHexPubkey(value))
-      .filter(Boolean);
-    const eventId = typeof cached.eventId === "string" ? cached.eventId : null;
-    const createdAtRaw = cached.createdAt;
-    const createdAtCandidate =
-      typeof createdAtRaw === "number"
-        ? createdAtRaw
-        : typeof createdAtRaw === "string" && createdAtRaw.trim()
-          ? Number(createdAtRaw)
-          : Number.NaN;
-    const createdAt = Number.isFinite(createdAtCandidate)
-      ? Math.floor(createdAtCandidate)
-      : null;
-    const hasSnapshot =
-      Array.isArray(cached.subscribedPubkeys) ||
-      Array.isArray(cached.subPubkeys) ||
-      Boolean(eventId) ||
-      Number.isFinite(createdAtCandidate);
-    return {
-      subscribedPubkeys: normalized,
-      eventId,
-      createdAt,
-      hasSnapshot,
-    };
-  }
-
-  return {
-    subscribedPubkeys: [],
-    eventId: null,
-    createdAt: null,
-    hasSnapshot: false,
-  };
-}
 
 const getApp = () => getApplication();
 
@@ -347,50 +168,6 @@ const listVideoViewEventsApi = (pointer, options) =>
 const subscribeVideoViewEventsApi = (pointer, options) =>
   subscribeVideoViewEvents(nostrClient, pointer, options);
 
-class TinyEventEmitter {
-  constructor() {
-    this.listeners = new Map();
-  }
-
-  on(eventName, handler) {
-    if (typeof eventName !== "string" || typeof handler !== "function") {
-      return () => {};
-    }
-
-    if (!this.listeners.has(eventName)) {
-      this.listeners.set(eventName, new Set());
-    }
-
-    const handlers = this.listeners.get(eventName);
-    handlers.add(handler);
-
-    return () => {
-      handlers.delete(handler);
-      if (!handlers.size) {
-        this.listeners.delete(eventName);
-      }
-    };
-  }
-
-  emit(eventName, detail) {
-    const handlers = this.listeners.get(eventName);
-    if (!handlers || !handlers.size) {
-      return;
-    }
-
-    for (const handler of Array.from(handlers)) {
-      try {
-        handler(detail);
-      } catch (error) {
-        userLogger.warn(
-          `[SubscriptionsManager] listener for "${eventName}" threw an error`,
-          error,
-        );
-      }
-    }
-  }
-}
-
 /**
  * Manages the user's subscription list (kind=30000 follow set) *privately*,
  * using encrypted NIP-51 tag arrays (prefer NIP-44 v2) for the content field.
diff --git a/js/subscriptionsHelpers.js b/js/subscriptionsHelpers.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8ae47e84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/js/subscriptionsHelpers.js
@@ -0,0 +1,242 @@
+// js/subscriptionsHelpers.js
+//
+// State-free helpers extracted from subscriptions.js to keep that module under
+// the file-size budget. No behavior change.
+
+import { devLogger, userLogger } from "./utils/logger.js";
+
+export class TinyEventEmitter {
+  constructor() {
+    this.listeners = new Map();
+  }
+
+  on(eventName, handler) {
+    if (typeof eventName !== "string" || typeof handler !== "function") {
+      return () => {};
+    }
+
+    if (!this.listeners.has(eventName)) {
+      this.listeners.set(eventName, new Set());
+    }
+
+    const handlers = this.listeners.get(eventName);
+    handlers.add(handler);
+
+    return () => {
+      handlers.delete(handler);
+      if (!handlers.size) {
+        this.listeners.delete(eventName);
+      }
+    };
+  }
+
+  emit(eventName, detail) {
+    const handlers = this.listeners.get(eventName);
+    if (!handlers || !handlers.size) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    for (const handler of Array.from(handlers)) {
+      try {
+        handler(detail);
+      } catch (error) {
+        userLogger.warn(
+          `[SubscriptionsManager] listener for "${eventName}" threw an error`,
+          error,
+        );
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+const MAX_DECRYPT_RETRY_DELAY_MS = 60000;
+
+// Transient decrypt failures that must RETRY rather than give up: our own
+// timeout, a severed nip-07 message port ("message channel closed"), and the
+// circuit breaker's fast-fail. Without this a brief channel drop during the
+// login burst abandons the subscription list until a refresh (KNOWN_BUGS #0).
+const TRANSIENT_DECRYPT_ERROR_CODES = new Set([
+  "subscriptions-decrypt-timeout",
+  "nip07-channel-unresponsive",
+]);
+const TRANSIENT_DECRYPT_MESSAGE_PATTERNS = [
+  "message channel closed",
+  "could not establish connection",
+  "receiving end does not exist",
+  "extension context invalidated",
+  "connection lost",
+  "channel is unresponsive",
+];
+
+export function isTransientDecryptError(error) {
+  if (!error) return false;
+  if (error.code && TRANSIENT_DECRYPT_ERROR_CODES.has(error.code)) return true;
+  const message =
+    typeof error.message === "string" ? error.message.toLowerCase() : "";
+  if (TRANSIENT_DECRYPT_MESSAGE_PATTERNS.some((p) => message.includes(p))) {
+    return true;
+  }
+  const nested = Array.isArray(error.errors)
+    ? error.errors
+    : Array.isArray(error.cause)
+      ? error.cause
+      : null;
+  if (nested) {
+    return nested.some((entry) => isTransientDecryptError(entry?.error || entry));
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+export function computeRetryDelay(baseDelayMs, attempt) {
+  const normalizedAttempt =
+    Number.isFinite(attempt) && attempt > 0 ? Math.floor(attempt) : 0;
+  const multiplier = 2 ** normalizedAttempt;
+  const nextDelay = Math.max(250, Math.floor(baseDelayMs * multiplier));
+  return Math.min(MAX_DECRYPT_RETRY_DELAY_MS, nextDelay);
+}
+
+export function normalizeHexPubkey(value) {
+  if (typeof value !== "string") {
+    return "";
+  }
+  const trimmed = value.trim();
+  return trimmed ? trimmed.toLowerCase() : "";
+}
+
+export function normalizeEncryptionToken(value) {
+  if (typeof value !== "string") {
+    return "";
+  }
+  return value
+    .trim()
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .replace(/[^a-z0-9]/g, "");
+}
+
+export function serializeSubscriptionTagMatrix(values) {
+  const tags = [];
+  const seen = new Set();
+  if (!values) {
+    return JSON.stringify(tags);
+  }
+  const iterable = Array.isArray(values)
+    ? values
+    : values instanceof Set
+    ? Array.from(values)
+    : [];
+  for (const candidate of iterable) {
+    const normalized = normalizeHexPubkey(candidate);
+    if (!normalized || seen.has(normalized)) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    seen.add(normalized);
+    tags.push(["p", normalized]);
+  }
+  return JSON.stringify(tags);
+}
+
+export function parseSubscriptionPlaintext(plaintext) {
+  if (typeof plaintext !== "string" || !plaintext) {
+    return [];
+  }
+
+  let parsed;
+  try {
+    parsed = JSON.parse(plaintext);
+  } catch (error) {
+    devLogger.warn(
+      "[SubscriptionsManager] Failed to parse subscription ciphertext as JSON; treating as empty.",
+      error,
+    );
+    return [];
+  }
+
+  if (Array.isArray(parsed)) {
+    const collected = [];
+    const seen = new Set();
+    for (const entry of parsed) {
+      if (!Array.isArray(entry) || entry.length < 2) {
+        continue;
+      }
+      const marker = typeof entry[0] === "string" ? entry[0].trim().toLowerCase() : "";
+      if (marker !== "p") {
+        continue;
+      }
+      const normalized = normalizeHexPubkey(entry[1]);
+      if (!normalized || seen.has(normalized)) {
+        continue;
+      }
+      seen.add(normalized);
+      collected.push(normalized);
+    }
+    return collected;
+  }
+
+  if (parsed && typeof parsed === "object") {
+    const tagArray = Array.isArray(parsed.tags) ? parsed.tags : [];
+    if (tagArray.length) {
+      try {
+        return parseSubscriptionPlaintext(JSON.stringify(tagArray));
+      } catch {
+        // fall through to legacy handling
+      }
+    }
+
+    const legacy = Array.isArray(parsed.subPubkeys) ? parsed.subPubkeys : [];
+    return legacy.map((value) => normalizeHexPubkey(value)).filter(Boolean);
+  }
+
+  return [];
+}
+
+export function parseCachedSubscriptionSnapshot(cached) {
+  if (Array.isArray(cached)) {
+    const normalized = cached.map((value) => normalizeHexPubkey(value)).filter(Boolean);
+    return {
+      subscribedPubkeys: normalized,
+      eventId: null,
+      createdAt: null,
+      hasSnapshot: true,
+    };
+  }
+
+  if (cached && typeof cached === "object") {
+    const listCandidate = Array.isArray(cached.subscribedPubkeys)
+      ? cached.subscribedPubkeys
+      : Array.isArray(cached.subPubkeys)
+        ? cached.subPubkeys
+        : [];
+    const normalized = listCandidate
+      .map((value) => normalizeHexPubkey(value))
+      .filter(Boolean);
+    const eventId = typeof cached.eventId === "string" ? cached.eventId : null;
+    const createdAtRaw = cached.createdAt;
+    const createdAtCandidate =
+      typeof createdAtRaw === "number"
+        ? createdAtRaw
+        : typeof createdAtRaw === "string" && createdAtRaw.trim()
+          ? Number(createdAtRaw)
+          : Number.NaN;
+    const createdAt = Number.isFinite(createdAtCandidate)
+      ? Math.floor(createdAtCandidate)
+      : null;
+    const hasSnapshot =
+      Array.isArray(cached.subscribedPubkeys) ||
+      Array.isArray(cached.subPubkeys) ||
+      Boolean(eventId) ||
+      Number.isFinite(createdAtCandidate);
+    return {
+      subscribedPubkeys: normalized,
+      eventId,
+      createdAt,
+      hasSnapshot,
+    };
+  }
+
+  return {
+    subscribedPubkeys: [],
+    eventId: null,
+    createdAt: null,
+    hasSnapshot: false,
+  };
+}
diff --git a/scripts/check-file-size.mjs b/scripts/check-file-size.mjs
index 6afb975b..994b5440 100644
--- a/scripts/check-file-size.mjs
+++ b/scripts/check-file-size.mjs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ const GRANDFATHERED = {
   "js/ui/loginModalController.js": 2552,
   "js/historyView.js": 2613,
   "js/services/moderationService.js": 2512,
-  "js/subscriptions.js": 2426,
+  "js/subscriptions.js": 2361,
   "js/userBlocks.js": 2428,
   "js/services/nostrService.js": 2227,
   "js/nostr/watchHistory.js": 2388,