diff --git a/desktop/ui/index.html b/desktop/ui/index.html
index f42074944ce..4a74b191615 100644
--- a/desktop/ui/index.html
+++ b/desktop/ui/index.html
@@ -52,6 +52,173 @@ <h1>OpenCodex</h1>
         <textarea id="diagnostic" readonly spellcheck="false"></textarea>
       </div>
     </main>
-    <script src="./main.js"></script>
+    <!--
+  The startup surface is inlined rather than loaded from a second file, and that is a
+  correctness requirement rather than a packaging preference.
+
+  The webview is not served the policy in tauri.conf.json. The shell appends its own hashes
+  and nonces to script-src, and a hash or nonce in that directive makes any inline allowance
+  inert, so every script has to be named. The shell nonce injector matches script[src^=http]
+  only, so a page that loads its script by relative path is never named -- and on a platform
+  where the asset origin does not satisfy self, that page renders as static markup with no
+  way to say so. Measured on Linux: the asset was served 200 as text/javascript, and not one
+  line of it ran. An inline script carrying the token does run there.
+-->
+    <script nonce="__TAURI_SCRIPT_NONCE__">
+// The bootstrap page is the startup surface. It does not probe anything itself: the shell owns the
+// sequence, its deadline and its diagnostic, and this page renders what it is told. The phase list
+// is asked for rather than written here, so a state added in the shell appears without a second
+// edit — and one removed cannot leave a row behind.
+//
+// What each row shows comes from the shell too, including the states already finished. Rebuilding
+// that history from events would be wrong: the first states finish in milliseconds, so a page whose
+// listener attached a moment late would show a run in progress with nothing behind it.
+//
+// Nothing here uses alert, confirm or prompt. The embedded webview implements none of the
+// WKUIDelegate panel methods on macOS, so a platform dialog is silently declined and the user sees
+// nothing at all. Every message this page has goes into the page — including its own failures,
+// because a surface that cannot report is the problem this file exists to fix.
+
+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");
+const failure = document.querySelector("#failure");
+const retry = document.querySelector("#retry");
+const copy = document.querySelector("#copy");
+const copyState = document.querySelector("#copyState");
+const diagnostic = document.querySelector("#diagnostic");
+
+const MARKS = { done: "✓", failed: "✕", active: "…", pending: "·" };
+
+let phases = [];
+
+function render(progress) {
+  const completed = new Set((progress && progress.completed) || []);
+  const failedPhase = (progress && progress.failedPhase) || null;
+  const current = progress && progress.phase;
+  phaseList.replaceChildren();
+  for (const phase of phases) {
+    let state = "pending";
+    if (phase.id === failedPhase) {
+      state = "failed";
+    } else if (phase.id === current) {
+      state = "active";
+    } else if (completed.has(phase.id)) {
+      state = "done";
+    }
+    const row = document.createElement("li");
+    row.dataset.state = state;
+    const mark = document.createElement("span");
+    mark.className = "mark";
+    mark.textContent = MARKS[state];
+    const label = document.createElement("span");
+    label.textContent = phase.label;
+    row.append(mark, label);
+    phaseList.append(row);
+  }
+}
+
+function apply(progress) {
+  if (!progress) return;
+  headline.textContent = progress.label;
+  detail.textContent = progress.detail || "";
+  const failed = progress.phase === "failed";
+  failure.hidden = !failed;
+  retry.disabled = !progress.canRetry;
+  if (failed) {
+    diagnostic.value = progress.diagnostic || "";
+    copyState.textContent = "";
+  }
+  render(progress);
+}
+
+function reportPageFailure(message, error) {
+  const cause = error && error.message ? error.message : String(error);
+  headline.textContent = "OpenCodex could not read its own startup state.";
+  detail.textContent = message;
+  failure.hidden = false;
+  retry.disabled = false;
+  diagnostic.value = [message, cause].join("\n");
+}
+
+async function copyDiagnostic() {
+  const text = diagnostic.value;
+  if (!text) return;
+  try {
+    await navigator.clipboard.writeText(text);
+    copyState.textContent = "Copied to the clipboard.";
+    return;
+  } catch {
+    // A webview without clipboard access is the reason the text is on screen in the first place.
+  }
+  diagnostic.focus();
+  diagnostic.select();
+  let copied = false;
+  try {
+    copied = document.execCommand("copy");
+  } catch {
+    copied = false;
+  }
+  copyState.textContent = copied
+    ? "Copied to the clipboard."
+    : "The text above is selected — copy it with your keyboard.";
+}
+
+retry.addEventListener("click", async () => {
+  if (!invoke) return;
+  copyState.textContent = "";
+  retry.disabled = true;
+  try {
+    await invoke("retry_startup");
+  } catch (error) {
+    reportPageFailure("The retry could not be sent to the shell.", error);
+  }
+});
+copy.addEventListener("click", copyDiagnostic);
+
+async function start() {
+  if (!invoke || !listen) {
+    headline.textContent = "This page is the OpenCodex desktop shell's startup surface.";
+    detail.textContent = "Open it from the OpenCodex app.";
+    return;
+  }
+  try {
+    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 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);
+  }
+}
+
+start();
+</script>
   </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/desktop/ui/main.js b/desktop/ui/main.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 6431ac08230..00000000000
--- a/desktop/ui/main.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,154 +0,0 @@
-// The bootstrap page is the startup surface. It does not probe anything itself: the shell owns the
-// sequence, its deadline and its diagnostic, and this page renders what it is told. The phase list
-// is asked for rather than written here, so a state added in the shell appears without a second
-// edit — and one removed cannot leave a row behind.
-//
-// What each row shows comes from the shell too, including the states already finished. Rebuilding
-// that history from events would be wrong: the first states finish in milliseconds, so a page whose
-// listener attached a moment late would show a run in progress with nothing behind it.
-//
-// Nothing here uses alert, confirm or prompt. The embedded webview implements none of the
-// WKUIDelegate panel methods on macOS, so a platform dialog is silently declined and the user sees
-// nothing at all. Every message this page has goes into the page — including its own failures,
-// because a surface that cannot report is the problem this file exists to fix.
-
-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");
-const failure = document.querySelector("#failure");
-const retry = document.querySelector("#retry");
-const copy = document.querySelector("#copy");
-const copyState = document.querySelector("#copyState");
-const diagnostic = document.querySelector("#diagnostic");
-
-const MARKS = { done: "✓", failed: "✕", active: "…", pending: "·" };
-
-let phases = [];
-
-function render(progress) {
-  const completed = new Set((progress && progress.completed) || []);
-  const failedPhase = (progress && progress.failedPhase) || null;
-  const current = progress && progress.phase;
-  phaseList.replaceChildren();
-  for (const phase of phases) {
-    let state = "pending";
-    if (phase.id === failedPhase) {
-      state = "failed";
-    } else if (phase.id === current) {
-      state = "active";
-    } else if (completed.has(phase.id)) {
-      state = "done";
-    }
-    const row = document.createElement("li");
-    row.dataset.state = state;
-    const mark = document.createElement("span");
-    mark.className = "mark";
-    mark.textContent = MARKS[state];
-    const label = document.createElement("span");
-    label.textContent = phase.label;
-    row.append(mark, label);
-    phaseList.append(row);
-  }
-}
-
-function apply(progress) {
-  if (!progress) return;
-  headline.textContent = progress.label;
-  detail.textContent = progress.detail || "";
-  const failed = progress.phase === "failed";
-  failure.hidden = !failed;
-  retry.disabled = !progress.canRetry;
-  if (failed) {
-    diagnostic.value = progress.diagnostic || "";
-    copyState.textContent = "";
-  }
-  render(progress);
-}
-
-function reportPageFailure(message, error) {
-  const cause = error && error.message ? error.message : String(error);
-  headline.textContent = "OpenCodex could not read its own startup state.";
-  detail.textContent = message;
-  failure.hidden = false;
-  retry.disabled = false;
-  diagnostic.value = [message, cause].join("\n");
-}
-
-async function copyDiagnostic() {
-  const text = diagnostic.value;
-  if (!text) return;
-  try {
-    await navigator.clipboard.writeText(text);
-    copyState.textContent = "Copied to the clipboard.";
-    return;
-  } catch {
-    // A webview without clipboard access is the reason the text is on screen in the first place.
-  }
-  diagnostic.focus();
-  diagnostic.select();
-  let copied = false;
-  try {
-    copied = document.execCommand("copy");
-  } catch {
-    copied = false;
-  }
-  copyState.textContent = copied
-    ? "Copied to the clipboard."
-    : "The text above is selected — copy it with your keyboard.";
-}
-
-retry.addEventListener("click", async () => {
-  if (!invoke) return;
-  copyState.textContent = "";
-  retry.disabled = true;
-  try {
-    await invoke("retry_startup");
-  } catch (error) {
-    reportPageFailure("The retry could not be sent to the shell.", error);
-  }
-});
-copy.addEventListener("click", copyDiagnostic);
-
-async function start() {
-  if (!invoke || !listen) {
-    headline.textContent = "This page is the OpenCodex desktop shell's startup surface.";
-    detail.textContent = "Open it from the OpenCodex app.";
-    return;
-  }
-  try {
-    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 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);
-  }
-}
-
-start();
diff --git a/tests/clients/desktop-startup-surface.test.ts b/tests/clients/desktop-startup-surface.test.ts
index 2f1e6876fd6..72ccc9005a7 100644
--- a/tests/clients/desktop-startup-surface.test.ts
+++ b/tests/clients/desktop-startup-surface.test.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@ const LIB = repoPath(`${SRC}/lib.rs`);
 const SIDECAR = repoPath(`${SRC}/sidecar.rs`);
 const STARTUP = repoPath(`${SRC}/startup.rs`);
 const PROXY = repoPath(`${SRC}/proxy.rs`);
-const PAGE = repoPath("desktop/ui/main.js");
+// The startup surface is one file: the page and its script ship together in index.html,
+// because a script loaded from a second file is not named by the policy the webview is
+// actually served and never runs on some platforms. Read the page as the oracle for both.
+const PAGE = repoPath("desktop/ui/index.html");
 const CONFIG = repoPath("desktop/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json");
 
 function code(path: string): string {
@@ -216,6 +219,18 @@ describe("the bootstrap page reports only what it was told", () => {
     expect(/#failure\[hidden\][^{]*\{[^}]*display:\s*none/.test(markup)).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  test("the bootstrap script carries the nonce token the shell replaces", () => {
+    // The webview is served a policy the configuration file does not contain. Tauri appends its
+    // own hashes and nonces to script-src, and a hash or nonce in that directive makes
+    // 'unsafe-inline' inert, so nothing loads unless it is named. Its injector only tags
+    // script[src^='http'], and this page loads its script by relative path, so the page has to
+    // carry the token itself; the shell replaces it with a real nonce and adds that nonce to the
+    // directive. Without it the surface renders as static markup on the platforms where the
+    // asset origin does not satisfy 'self' — observed on Linux, where the page never ran a line.
+    expect(markup).not.toContain("./main.js");
+    expect(markup).toMatch(/<script nonce="__TAURI_SCRIPT_NONCE__">/);
+  });
+
   test("the handshake with the shell is bounded", () => {
     expect(page).toContain("HANDSHAKE_DEADLINE_MS");
     for (const command of ["startup_phases", "startup_snapshot"]) {