diff --git a/src/three-components/OrientationCubeCanvas.tsx b/src/three-components/OrientationCubeCanvas.tsx
index 78eea711..b8004ef3 100644
--- a/src/three-components/OrientationCubeCanvas.tsx
+++ b/src/three-components/OrientationCubeCanvas.tsx
@@ -28,19 +28,14 @@ function computePointInFront(
 export const OrientationCubeCanvas = () => {
   const { mainCameraRef } = useCameraController()
   const containerRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
-  const canvasRef = useRef<HTMLCanvasElement | null>(null)
-  const rendererRef = useRef<THREE.WebGLRenderer | null>(null)
-  const sceneRef = useRef<THREE.Scene | null>(null)
-  const cameraRef = useRef<THREE.PerspectiveCamera | null>(null)
-  const animationFrameRef = useRef<number | null>(null)
 
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!containerRef.current) return
 
     // Create canvas
+    const container = containerRef.current
     const canvas = document.createElement("canvas")
-    canvasRef.current = canvas
-    containerRef.current.appendChild(canvas)
+    container.appendChild(canvas)
 
     // Create renderer
     const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({
@@ -50,16 +45,13 @@ export const OrientationCubeCanvas = () => {
     })
     renderer.setSize(120, 120)
     renderer.setPixelRatio(window.devicePixelRatio)
-    rendererRef.current = renderer
 
     // Create scene
     const scene = new THREE.Scene()
-    sceneRef.current = scene
 
     // Create camera
     const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(75, 1, 0.1, 1000)
     camera.up.set(0, 0, 1)
-    cameraRef.current = camera
 
     // Add ambient light
     const ambientLight = new THREE.AmbientLight(0xffffff, Math.PI / 2)
@@ -146,6 +138,7 @@ export const OrientationCubeCanvas = () => {
     group.add(bottomText)
 
     // Animation loop
+    let animationFrameId: number | null = null
     const animate = () => {
       if (mainCameraRef.current) {
         const cameraPosition = computePointInFront(
@@ -160,15 +153,19 @@ export const OrientationCubeCanvas = () => {
       }
 
       renderer.render(scene, camera)
-      animationFrameRef.current = requestAnimationFrame(animate)
+      animationFrameId = requestAnimationFrame(animate)
     }
 
     animate()
 
     // Cleanup
     return () => {
-      if (animationFrameRef.current) {
-        cancelAnimationFrame(animationFrameRef.current)
+      // StrictMode clears DOM refs before replaying passive effects, so clean up
+      // the canvas owned by this effect instead of reading containerRef.current.
+      canvas.remove()
+
+      if (animationFrameId !== null) {
+        cancelAnimationFrame(animationFrameId)
       }
 
       frontText.dispose()
@@ -186,10 +183,6 @@ export const OrientationCubeCanvas = () => {
       scene.clear()
       renderer.dispose()
       renderer.forceContextLoss()
-
-      if (canvasRef.current && containerRef.current) {
-        containerRef.current.removeChild(canvasRef.current)
-      }
     }
   }, [mainCameraRef])
 
diff --git a/tests/orientation-cube-strict-mode.test.tsx b/tests/orientation-cube-strict-mode.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ea18f25e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/orientation-cube-strict-mode.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+import { expect, mock, test } from "bun:test"
+import { JSDOM } from "jsdom"
+import { StrictMode, act } from "react"
+import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client"
+import * as THREE from "three"
+
+class MockWebGLRenderer {
+  setSize() {}
+  setPixelRatio() {}
+  render() {}
+  dispose() {}
+  forceContextLoss() {}
+}
+
+class MockText extends THREE.Object3D {
+  text = ""
+  color = ""
+  fontSize = 0
+  anchorX = ""
+  anchorY = ""
+  depthOffset = 0
+  font: string | null = null
+
+  sync() {}
+  dispose() {}
+}
+
+mock.module("three", () => ({
+  ...THREE,
+  WebGLRenderer: MockWebGLRenderer,
+}))
+mock.module("troika-three-text", () => ({ Text: MockText }))
+
+const { CameraControllerProvider } = await import(
+  "../src/contexts/CameraControllerContext"
+)
+const { OrientationCubeCanvas } = await import(
+  "../src/three-components/OrientationCubeCanvas"
+)
+
+test("keeps one orientation canvas after a StrictMode effect replay", async () => {
+  const dom = new JSDOM('<div id="root"></div>')
+  const previousWindow = globalThis.window
+  const previousDocument = globalThis.document
+  const previousRequestAnimationFrame = globalThis.requestAnimationFrame
+  const previousCancelAnimationFrame = globalThis.cancelAnimationFrame
+  let animationFrameId = 0
+
+  Object.assign(globalThis, {
+    window: dom.window,
+    document: dom.window.document,
+    requestAnimationFrame: () => ++animationFrameId,
+    cancelAnimationFrame: () => {},
+    IS_REACT_ACT_ENVIRONMENT: true,
+  })
+
+  const container = document.getElementById("root")!
+  const reactRoot = createRoot(container)
+
+  try {
+    await act(async () => {
+      reactRoot.render(
+        <StrictMode>
+          <CameraControllerProvider defaultTarget={new THREE.Vector3()}>
+            <OrientationCubeCanvas />
+          </CameraControllerProvider>
+        </StrictMode>,
+      )
+    })
+
+    expect(container.querySelectorAll("canvas")).toHaveLength(1)
+  } finally {
+    await act(async () => reactRoot.unmount())
+    Object.assign(globalThis, {
+      window: previousWindow,
+      document: previousDocument,
+      requestAnimationFrame: previousRequestAnimationFrame,
+      cancelAnimationFrame: previousCancelAnimationFrame,
+      IS_REACT_ACT_ENVIRONMENT: false,
+    })
+    dom.window.close()
+  }
+})