diff --git a/desktop/ui/index.html b/desktop/ui/index.html
index 0a10a6e4534..f42074944ce 100644
--- a/desktop/ui/index.html
+++ b/desktop/ui/index.html
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
       #phases li[data-state="done"] { color: #4b8b3b; }
       #phases li[data-state="failed"] { color: #b3261e; font-weight: 600; }
       #failure { margin-top: 1.25rem; display: grid; gap: .75rem; }
+      #failure[hidden] { display: none; }
       .actions { display: flex; gap: .6rem; align-items: center; }
       button { border: 0; border-radius: .5rem; padding: .6rem 1rem; background: #2563eb; color: white; cursor: pointer; font: inherit; }
       button.secondary { background: #e3e3e8; color: #202124; }
diff --git a/desktop/ui/main.js b/desktop/ui/main.js
index 3f4516bda1a..6431ac08230 100644
--- a/desktop/ui/main.js
+++ b/desktop/ui/main.js
@@ -16,6 +16,26 @@ const bridge = window.__TAURI__;
 const invoke = bridge && bridge.core && bridge.core.invoke;
 const listen = bridge && bridge.event && bridge.event.listen;
 
+// The shell owns the sequence and its deadline. The page has no deadline of its own: an invoke
+// whose command never answers returns a promise that neither settles nor rejects, and the page
+// then keeps its initial markup forever - the headline still says the run is starting, the
+// checklist is empty, and the only thing on screen is a Retry button with an empty diagnostic.
+// That is indistinguishable from a hung product. Bounding the handshake turns the silence into a
+// failure the page can report and the user can copy.
+const HANDSHAKE_DEADLINE_MS = 5000;
+
+function withDeadline(work, what) {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const timer = setTimeout(() => {
+      reject(new Error('the shell did not answer ' + what + ' within ' + HANDSHAKE_DEADLINE_MS + ' ms'));
+    }, HANDSHAKE_DEADLINE_MS);
+    Promise.resolve(work).then(
+      (value) => { clearTimeout(timer); resolve(value); },
+      (error) => { clearTimeout(timer); reject(error); },
+    );
+  });
+}
+
 const headline = document.querySelector("#headline");
 const detail = document.querySelector("#detail");
 const phaseList = document.querySelector("#phases");
@@ -120,12 +140,12 @@ async function start() {
     return;
   }
   try {
-    phases = (await invoke("startup_phases")).filter((phase) => !phase.terminal);
+    phases = (await withDeadline(invoke("startup_phases"), "startup_phases")).filter((phase) => !phase.terminal);
     render(null);
     // The listener goes on before the snapshot is read, so a transition landing between the two is
     // delivered rather than lost.
-    await listen("startup-phase", (event) => apply(event.payload));
-    apply(await invoke("startup_snapshot"));
+    await withDeadline(listen("startup-phase", (event) => apply(event.payload)), "the startup-phase subscription");
+    apply(await withDeadline(invoke("startup_snapshot"), "startup_snapshot"));
   } catch (error) {
     reportPageFailure("The startup surface could not reach the shell.", error);
   }
diff --git a/tests/clients/desktop-startup-surface.test.ts b/tests/clients/desktop-startup-surface.test.ts
index 781416398c5..2f1e6876fd6 100644
--- a/tests/clients/desktop-startup-surface.test.ts
+++ b/tests/clients/desktop-startup-surface.test.ts
@@ -197,3 +197,31 @@ describe("desktop startup surface", () => {
     expect(page).toContain("clipboard.writeText");
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * The surface has to be able to stay silent.
+ *
+ * Two defects made it speak when it had nothing to say and stay quiet when it did. An id rule
+ * with display: grid outranks the user-agent [hidden] { display: none } rule, so the failure
+ * block - the Retry button and the empty diagnostic box - was painted during every normal start.
+ * And an invoke whose command never answers returns a promise that neither settles nor rejects,
+ * so the page kept its initial markup for as long as the shell stayed silent. Together they are
+ * the screen a user reads as a dead application: a starting headline, no checklist, one Retry.
+ */
+describe("the bootstrap page reports only what it was told", () => {
+  const markup = readFileSync(repoPath("desktop/ui/index.html"), "utf8");
+  const page = readFileSync(PAGE, "utf8");
+
+  test("the failure block honours its hidden attribute", () => {
+    expect(/#failure\[hidden\][^{]*\{[^}]*display:\s*none/.test(markup)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test("the handshake with the shell is bounded", () => {
+    expect(page).toContain("HANDSHAKE_DEADLINE_MS");
+    for (const command of ["startup_phases", "startup_snapshot"]) {
+      const bounded = 'withDeadline(invoke(\"' + command + '\")';
+      expect(page.includes(bounded)).toBe(true);
+    }
+    expect(page).toContain("withDeadline(listen(");
+  });
+});