diff --git a/DECISIONS.md b/DECISIONS.md
index 58b7f67..aecc526 100644
--- a/DECISIONS.md
+++ b/DECISIONS.md
@@ -182,6 +182,30 @@ hydrates when `#root` already has children (a real build/preview load) and falls
 `release-website.yml` needed no changes - `pnpm run build` still ends with static files in
 `website/dist`, just with real markup already in them.
 
+**No-JS visitors get a warning banner, kept outside the React tree on purpose.** A `<noscript>`
+wrapping JSX children inside a hydrated React app is unreliable: React's hydration reconciliation
+ends up creating the children as real DOM nodes even with JS enabled (React uses `createElement`/
+`appendChild`, not the HTML parser's noscript-content-as-text rule the initial static HTML got right
+by luck). The banner lives directly in `index.html` instead, so React never touches it and the
+browser's native noscript hiding is the only thing controlling its visibility. It's `position:
+sticky` so it stays visible while scrolling instead of disappearing with the rest of the page - the
+one warning on this site that matters most, since the whole point of the page is the console demo,
+and a visitor who can't get it to open needs to know why. A `<style>` scoped inside the same
+`<noscript>` (so it too only exists when scripting is disabled) sets Nav's `<header>` to `position:
+static`, ceding the sticky-top-0 spot to the banner - without it, both elements would fight over
+`top: 0` while scrolling and visually overlap.
+
+**`preview:website:watch` rebuilds on save; no new dependencies for it.** `preview:website` (see
+above) is a one-shot build-then-serve, deliberately with no watch mode - a full rebuild here is
+`tsc -b` plus two `vite build` passes plus the prerender script, several seconds of unrelated
+tooling to wire hot-reload around for something reached for occasionally, not run all day like
+`dev:website`. Once it's a full-rebuild-on-change loop instead of true HMR, though, the fix is a
+plain debounce-and-shell-out: `scripts/watch-preview.mjs` uses Node's built-in recursive `fs.watch`
+on `src/` and `index.html` to re-run `pnpm run build`, alongside one long-lived `vite preview`
+process - which reads `dist/` from disk per request, so it reflects each rebuild without restarting.
+No `chokidar` or `concurrently` added for this; a watch-and-shell-out loop this small doesn't need
+either.
+
 ## Where to find the rest
 
 - [README.md](README.md) - installation, configuration, and the `replEnabled: false` escape hatch
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 918fc26..2c29944 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -175,6 +175,10 @@ pnpm build:website
 # prerendered HTML included) - no hot reload, refresh manually after a change
 pnpm preview:website
 
+# Same, but rebuilds automatically on every change under website/src or
+# website/index.html - still no hot reload, just refresh the browser yourself
+pnpm preview:website:watch
+
 # Pull a @codehacks/virtual-console release into the website (see Releasing below)
 pnpm bump:website:latest
 ```
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 69deff3..39e52e5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
         "build:website": "pnpm run install:website && pnpm --dir website build",
 
         "preview:website": "pnpm run build:website && pnpm --dir website preview",
+        "preview:website:watch": "pnpm run install:website && pnpm --dir website preview:watch",
 
         "install:import:published": "pnpm --dir examples/published/react-vite-import install",
         "install:vite-plugin:published": "pnpm --dir examples/published/react-vite-plugin install",
diff --git a/website/README.md b/website/README.md
index 5b3b38c..cce6703 100644
--- a/website/README.md
+++ b/website/README.md
@@ -10,24 +10,30 @@ Standalone project (own `pnpm-workspace.yaml`), same reasoning as `examples/publ
 # from the repo root
 pnpm dev:website
 pnpm build:website
-pnpm preview:website   # build + serve the real static output (dist/), prerendered HTML included
+pnpm preview:website         # build once, then serve the real static output (dist/)
+pnpm preview:website:watch   # same, but rebuilds on every save - refresh the browser yourself
 
 # or directly
 cd website
 pnpm install
 pnpm dev
 pnpm build && pnpm preview
+pnpm preview:watch
 ```
 
 `pnpm dev` (Vite's dev server) never runs the prerender step - `index.html`'s `#root` starts empty
 there and `main.tsx` client-renders into it (see [DECISIONS.md](../DECISIONS.md)). To see and debug
 the actual prerendered HTML a no-JS client or crawler would get - or to check something that only
-happens in the production build - use `preview:website` (or `pnpm build && pnpm preview` from
-`website/`) instead. It's a plain build-then-serve, not a dev server: no hot reload or watch mode,
-so re-run it after each change. That's a deliberate simplicity trade, not a limitation to fix -
-wiring up a watcher for a full rebuild (`tsc` + two `vite build` passes + the prerender script) on
-every change would add real complexity for a workflow that's normally reached for occasionally, not
-kept running all day like `pnpm dev`.
+happens in the production build - use one of the `preview*` commands instead, which build (prerender
+step included) and serve the real `dist/` output. `preview:website` is a one-shot build-then-serve;
+`preview:website:watch` (`scripts/watch-preview.mjs`) rebuilds automatically on every change under
+`src/` or `index.html` and leaves `vite preview` running, so you just refresh the browser after each
+rebuild finishes. No hot reload/HMR - a rebuild here is `tsc` + two `vite build` passes + the
+prerender script, not a single Vite module reload, so wiring up HMR on top of it isn't worth the
+complexity for a workflow you reach for to debug something prerender-specific, not one you'd keep
+open all day like `pnpm dev`. The watcher itself is a plain `node:fs` recursive watch with no new
+dependencies - deliberately, since a debounced full-rebuild loop this small doesn't need a `chokidar`
+or `concurrently` pulled in for it.
 
 ## Deployment
 
diff --git a/website/index.html b/website/index.html
index 33d3913..a9cf7ec 100644
--- a/website/index.html
+++ b/website/index.html
@@ -29,14 +29,22 @@
 
 <body class="bg-neutral-950 text-neutral-100">
     <noscript>
-        <div class="border-b border-amber-400/20 bg-amber-400/[0.06]">
-            <div class="mx-auto flex max-w-6xl items-center justify-center gap-2 px-6 py-2.5 text-center text-sm text-amber-200">
-                <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="size-4 shrink-0" aria-hidden="true">
+        <!-- Only active in no-JS (that's what being inside <noscript> means): cedes the
+             sticky-top-0 spot to the banner below instead of Nav (Nav.tsx), which would
+             otherwise fight it for that spot while scrolling. -->
+        <style>
+            header {
+                position: static !important;
+            }
+        </style>
+        <div class="sticky top-0 z-50 border-b border-amber-400/30 bg-amber-400/10 backdrop-blur-sm">
+            <div class="mx-auto flex max-w-6xl items-center justify-center gap-2.5 px-6 py-3 text-center text-sm font-medium text-amber-200">
+                <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="size-5 shrink-0" aria-hidden="true">
                     <path d="m21.73 18-8-14a2 2 0 0 0-3.46 0l-8 14A2 2 0 0 0 4 21h16a2 2 0 0 0 1.73-3Z" />
                     <path d="M12 9v4" />
                     <path d="M12 17h.01" />
                 </svg>
-                <span>JavaScript is disabled, so the live console demo below won't open — everything else on this page still works.</span>
+                <span>JavaScript is disabled — the live console demo won't open. Enable it in your browser to try it.</span>
             </div>
         </div>
     </noscript>
diff --git a/website/package.json b/website/package.json
index 9d68880..61d9b7f 100644
--- a/website/package.json
+++ b/website/package.json
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
         "dev": "vite",
         "build": "tsc -b && vite build && vite build --config vite.ssr.config.ts --ssr src/entry-server.tsx --outDir dist-ssr && node scripts/prerender.mjs",
         "preview": "vite preview",
+        "preview:watch": "node scripts/watch-preview.mjs",
         "typecheck": "tsc -b --noEmit",
         "clean": "rm -rf dist dist-ssr .vite"
     },
diff --git a/website/scripts/watch-preview.mjs b/website/scripts/watch-preview.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..117da6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/website/scripts/watch-preview.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+// Rebuilds on every source change and serves the result, for debugging the
+// prerendered/SSR output without a manual build+preview cycle each time. No
+// hot reload: `vite preview` reads dist/ from disk per request, so a
+// browser refresh after each rebuild is enough - see website/README.md for
+// why this doesn't try to preserve HMR too.
+import { spawn } from 'node:child_process';
+import { watch } from 'node:fs';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+const websiteDir = path.dirname(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)));
+
+function run(command, args) {
+    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        const child = spawn(command, args, { cwd: websiteDir, stdio: 'inherit', shell: true });
+        child.on('exit', code => (code === 0 ? resolve() : reject(new Error(`${command} exited with code ${code}`))));
+    });
+}
+
+let building = false;
+let rebuildQueued = false;
+
+async function rebuild() {
+    if (building) {
+        rebuildQueued = true;
+        return;
+    }
+
+    building = true;
+    console.log('\n[watch] building...');
+
+    try {
+        await run('pnpm', ['run', 'build']);
+        console.log('[watch] build done - refresh your browser');
+    } catch (error) {
+        console.error('[watch] build failed:', error.message);
+    }
+
+    building = false;
+
+    if (rebuildQueued) {
+        rebuildQueued = false;
+        await rebuild();
+    }
+}
+
+await rebuild();
+
+spawn('pnpm', ['run', 'preview'], { cwd: websiteDir, stdio: 'inherit', shell: true });
+
+watch(path.join(websiteDir, 'src'), { recursive: true }, () => rebuild());
+watch(path.join(websiteDir, 'index.html'), () => rebuild());