diff --git a/src/dashboard/routes/chat_api_v1.py b/src/dashboard/routes/chat_api_v1.py
index 04cc2d1..f656f18 100644
--- a/src/dashboard/routes/chat_api_v1.py
+++ b/src/dashboard/routes/chat_api_v1.py
@@ -17,13 +17,13 @@ import uuid
 from datetime import UTC, datetime
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from fastapi import APIRouter, File, HTTPException, Query, Request, UploadFile
+from fastapi import APIRouter, File, HTTPException, Request, UploadFile, Query
 from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse, StreamingResponse
 
 from config import APP_START_TIME, settings
-from dashboard.routes.health import _check_ollama
 from dashboard.store import message_log
 from timmy.session import _get_agent
+from dashboard.routes.health import _check_ollama
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -64,9 +64,11 @@ async def api_v1_chat(request: Request):
         return JSONResponse(status_code=400, content={"error": "message is required"})
 
     # Prepare context for the agent
+    now = datetime.now()
+    timestamp = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
     context_prefix = (
         f"[System: Current date/time is "
-        f"{datetime.now().strftime('%A, %B %d, %Y at %I:%M %p')}]\n"
+        f"{now.strftime('%A, %B %d, %Y at %I:%M %p')}]\n"
         f"[System: iPad App client]\n"
     )
 
@@ -76,7 +78,11 @@ async def api_v1_chat(request: Request):
     context_prefix += "\n"
     full_prompt = context_prefix + message
 
+    # Log user message
+    message_log.append(role="user", content=message, timestamp=timestamp, source="api-v1")
+
     async def event_generator():
+        full_response = ""
         try:
             agent = _get_agent()
             # Using streaming mode for SSE
@@ -84,8 +90,13 @@ async def api_v1_chat(request: Request):
                 # Agno chunks can be strings or RunOutput
                 content = chunk.content if hasattr(chunk, "content") else str(chunk)
                 if content:
+                    full_response += content
                     yield f"data: {json.dumps({'text': content})}\n\n"
 
+            # Log agent response once complete
+            message_log.append(
+                role="agent", content=full_response, timestamp=timestamp, source="api-v1"
+            )
             yield "data: [DONE]\n\n"
         except Exception as exc:
             logger.error("SSE stream error: %s", exc)
@@ -102,12 +113,9 @@ async def api_v1_chat_history(
     session_id: str = Query("ipad-app"), limit: int = Query(50, ge=1, le=100)
 ):
     """Return recent chat history for a specific session."""
-    # Filter and limit the message log
-    # Note: message_log.all() returns all messages; we filter by source or just return last N
-    all_msgs = message_log.all()
+    # Using the optimized .recent() method from infrastructure.chat_store
+    all_msgs = message_log.recent(limit=limit)
 
-    # In a real implementation, we'd filter by session_id if message_log supported it.
-    # For now, we return the last 'limit' messages.
     history = [
         {
             "role": msg.role,
@@ -115,7 +123,7 @@ async def api_v1_chat_history(
             "timestamp": msg.timestamp,
             "source": msg.source,
         }
-        for msg in all_msgs[-limit:]
+        for msg in all_msgs
     ]
 
     return {"messages": history}
diff --git a/tests/test_api_v1.py b/tests/test_api_v1.py
index 4bcf325..2051101 100644
--- a/tests/test_api_v1.py
+++ b/tests/test_api_v1.py
@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
 import sys
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
 
-# Absolute path to src
-src_path = "/home/ubuntu/timmy-time/Timmy-time-dashboard/src"
-if src_path not in sys.path:
-    sys.path.insert(0, src_path)
+# Add project root to path
+project_root = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+src_path = project_root / "src"
+if str(src_path) not in sys.path:
+    sys.path.insert(0, str(src_path))
 
 from fastapi.testclient import TestClient  # noqa: E402
 
 try:
     from dashboard.app import app  # noqa: E402
-
     print("✓ Successfully imported dashboard.app")
 except ImportError as e:
     print(f"✗ Failed to import dashboard.app: {e}")
@@ -17,7 +19,6 @@ except ImportError as e:
 
 client = TestClient(app)
 
-
 def test_v1_status():
     response = client.get("/api/v1/status")
     assert response.status_code == 200
@@ -26,20 +27,24 @@ def test_v1_status():
     assert "model" in data
     assert "uptime" in data
 
-
 def test_v1_chat_history():
+    # Append a message first to ensure history is not empty
+    from dashboard.store import message_log
+    message_log.append(role="user", content="test message", timestamp="12:00:00", source="api-v1")
+    
     response = client.get("/api/v1/chat/history")
     assert response.status_code == 200
     data = response.json()
     assert "messages" in data
-
+    assert len(data["messages"]) > 0
+    # The message_log.recent() returns reversed(rows) so the last one should be our test message
+    assert data["messages"][-1]["content"] == "test message"
 
 def test_v1_upload_fail():
     # Test without file
     response = client.post("/api/v1/upload")
     assert response.status_code == 422  # Unprocessable Entity (missing file)
 
-
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     print("Running API v1 tests...")
     try:
@@ -52,4 +57,6 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
         print("All tests passed!")
     except Exception as e:
         print(f"Test failed: {e}")
+        import traceback
+        traceback.print_exc()
         sys.exit(1)