diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8fb9eb8..b3da1b6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ dist/
 .nitro/
 .tanstack/
 
+# Wrangler's local state and scratch dirs, written by `make web:preview`
+# (wrangler dev). Machine-local simulation of the Cloudflare runtime.
+.wrangler/
+
 # Turbo
 .turbo/
 
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index e1e0337..49a7e16 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -300,6 +300,18 @@ until the merge. Build logs live in the dashboard, not in the Actions tab.
 This is why `apps/web/wrangler.jsonc` declares no `env` block — one worker, and the branch
 decides the command. `make web:deploy` remains as a manual override that authenticates as you.
 
+**What gets deployed is prerendered, not server-rendered.** `vite.config.ts` passes
+`prerender: { enabled: true }` to `tanstackStart()`, so the build runs the server bundle once and
+writes `dist/client/index.html` — which is the worker's assets directory, so Cloudflare serves
+the page as a static file and the worker is never invoked for a normal view. It is still built
+and still deployed: it answers whatever the assets do not match, which is what renders the 404.
+
+That has a consequence worth knowing before you reach for one. **A server function or route
+loader added to this app will run at build time, not per request** — its result gets baked into
+the HTML. That is correct for this site, which has one route and imports all of its copy from
+`src/content/*.json`, but the day the page genuinely needs request-dependent output, turning
+prerendering off is the change to make, not working around it.
+
 ## Releases
 
 `@airshiplabs/cli` is the only package published to npm. Everything else in the workspace is
diff --git a/apps/web/vite.config.ts b/apps/web/vite.config.ts
index 837b188..764b90b 100644
--- a/apps/web/vite.config.ts
+++ b/apps/web/vite.config.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,20 @@ import { defineConfig } from "vite";
 //
 // Port 5173; airship's overlay always takes TARGET + 1, so `make run` serves the
 // editor on 5174. See the root Makefile.
+//
+// Prerendered, because nothing on this page depends on the request. There is one
+// route, its copy is imported from content/*.json at build time, and there is not
+// a server function or loader in the app — so SSR was rendering the same bytes on
+// every hit. `prerender` runs that same server bundle once at build time and
+// writes dist/client/index.html, which is already the worker's assets directory:
+// Cloudflare serves it as a static file and the worker never wakes up for a normal
+// page view. The worker is still built and still deployed — it is what answers
+// paths the assets do not match, which is how the 404 keeps rendering.
 export default defineConfig({
-  plugins: [tailwindcss(), tanstackStart(), react()],
+  plugins: [
+    tailwindcss(),
+    tanstackStart({ prerender: { enabled: true } }),
+    react(),
+  ],
   server: { port: 5173 },
 });