diff --git a/crates/maestro-web/build.rs b/crates/maestro-web/build.rs
index 2549375..61570cc 100644
--- a/crates/maestro-web/build.rs
+++ b/crates/maestro-web/build.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,16 @@ fn main() {
         println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", web_dir.join(rel).display());
     }
 
+    // Also watch the embedded OUTPUT directory. The input watches above decide
+    // whether THIS script re-runs and regenerates `web/dist`; but `include_dir!`
+    // in `static_bundle.rs` reads `web/dist`, and cargo has no other declared
+    // dependency on those output files. Without this watch, an incremental build
+    // could regenerate `web/dist` yet keep the OLD bundle embedded. Tying the
+    // crate's recompilation to the regenerated output makes the fresh assets
+    // actually get re-embedded.
+    let dist_dir = web_dir.join("dist");
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", dist_dir.display());
+
     require_tool("pnpm");
     require_tool("node");
 
@@ -40,6 +50,21 @@ fn main() {
         Command::new("pnpm").arg("build").current_dir(&web_dir),
         "pnpm build",
     );
+
+    // Sanity-check that pnpm build actually produced the bundle `include_dir!`
+    // expects. A green build that embeds an empty/placeholder dir is worse than
+    // a loud failure here.
+    let index_html = dist_dir.join("index.html");
+    let produced = std::fs::metadata(&index_html)
+        .map(|m| m.is_file() && m.len() > 0)
+        .unwrap_or(false);
+    if !produced {
+        panic!(
+            "`pnpm build` did not produce the expected bundle at {} \
+             (missing or empty) — check the vite `outDir`.",
+            index_html.display()
+        );
+    }
 }
 
 fn require_tool(tool: &str) {
diff --git a/crates/maestro-web/tests/embedded_bundle.rs b/crates/maestro-web/tests/embedded_bundle.rs
index 0448f43..4bd3c06 100644
--- a/crates/maestro-web/tests/embedded_bundle.rs
+++ b/crates/maestro-web/tests/embedded_bundle.rs
@@ -18,4 +18,12 @@ async fn embedded_index_is_real_spa_not_placeholder() {
         !html.contains("maestro-web is running"),
         "served index is the placeholder, not the built bundle"
     );
+    // Stronger signal than `id="app"` (which appears in both source and built
+    // HTML): the vite build rewrites the entry to a hashed `/assets/index-<hash>`
+    // bundle, whereas the un-built source references `/src/main.ts`. This catches
+    // both an empty/placeholder embed and the staleness case.
+    assert!(
+        html.contains("/assets/index-"),
+        "served index does not reference a vite-built hashed asset; got:\n{html}"
+    );
 }