diff --git a/products/jbrowse-web/src/loadHubSpec.ts b/products/jbrowse-web/src/loadHubSpec.ts
index 02cf81c0ad..1644cfcb76 100644
--- a/products/jbrowse-web/src/loadHubSpec.ts
+++ b/products/jbrowse-web/src/loadHubSpec.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ export async function loadHubSpec(
         },
       })),
     })
+    const { session } = rootModel
+    // @ts-expect-error
+    session.makeConnection(session.sessionConnections[0])
   } catch (e) {
     console.error(e)
     rootModel.session?.notifyError(`${e}`, e)