diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/include/watchdog.php b/Plugin/unraid/include/watchdog.php
index 2c36f99..ff43af1 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/include/watchdog.php
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/include/watchdog.php
@@ -68,6 +68,22 @@ require_once __DIR__ . '/partnership.php';
 // until it doesn't and fails silently in the direction of hiding a real strike.
 const VV_WD_SYS_BOOKKEEPING = ['watchdog_cycle'];
 
+// Every container that exists on this host, running or not, for deciding whether a name in a
+// watchdog list still refers to anything.
+//
+// `docker ps -a` rather than vv_docker_containers() + vv_docker_stopped(): those two are filtered
+// by status and between them still miss states like restarting, and a container this page called
+// "not installed" because it happened to be mid-restart would be worse than not checking at all.
+// The whole point of the badge is that it is only ever shown when it is certainly true.
+//
+// Returns an empty array when docker cannot be reached, and callers must treat that as "unknown"
+// rather than "nothing is installed" — otherwise a docker outage marks every entry dead.
+function vv_wd_installed_containers(): array {
+    @exec("docker ps -a --format '{{.Names}}' 2>/dev/null", $out, $rc);
+    if ($rc !== 0) return [];
+    return array_values(array_filter(array_map('trim', $out), fn($n) => $n !== ''));
+}
+
 // ── Conf array parser (bash arrays) ──────────────────────────────────────────
 
 function vv_wd_bash_array(string $raw, string $varname): array {
diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/pages/watchdog.php b/Plugin/unraid/pages/watchdog.php
index 036246d..bcded00 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/pages/watchdog.php
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/pages/watchdog.php
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@
 //   include/ai_chat.php                   → the shared chat component
 require_once dirname(__DIR__) . '/include/confui.php';
 require_once dirname(__DIR__) . '/include/ai_chat.php';
+// For vv_wd_installed_containers() only. The state on this page still arrives entirely through
+// api/watchdog.php — this include buys one function, not a second collection path.
+require_once dirname(__DIR__) . '/include/watchdog.php';
 ?>
 <style>
 .vv-wd-card    { background:#161616;border:1px solid #2a2a2a;border-radius:6px;padding:10px;min-width:0; }
@@ -104,6 +107,13 @@ require_once dirname(__DIR__) . '/include/ai_chat.php';
 .vv-wl-sum.ok { color:#4caf50; }
 .vv-wl-sum.err{ color:#ef5350; }
 .vv-wl-dirty  { border-color:#3a4a6a !important; }
+/* An entry naming a container that is not installed. Dashed rather than red: it is not an error,
+   it is a line that does nothing — and on the pressure lists that is the difference between what
+   the card implies can be shed and what actually can be. */
+.vv-wl-gone-t { font-size:9px;color:#7a5020;background:#1a1000;border:1px dashed #3a2800;
+                border-radius:2px;padding:0 4px;flex-shrink:0;white-space:nowrap; }
+.vv-wd-pill.missing { opacity:.5;border-style:dashed;color:#7a5020;border-color:#3a2800; }
+.vv-wd-ctr-row.missing .vv-wd-ctr-name { opacity:.5; }
 
 /* One host per row — inner grid sizes all cards equally */
 .vv-wd-host-row {
@@ -144,24 +154,28 @@ $_vv_wd_defs = [
     // First, because it is the one people come to this page looking for: the answer to "stop
     // telling me about this container". Everything below tunes what a watchdog does; this is how
     // you take something out of its hands entirely.
-    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_WATCHDOG_SCAN_IGNORE',         'kind' => 'list',
+    // 'check' — whether a name that matches no installed container is worth marking. True where a
+    // dead entry silently costs something: a Tier 1 limit that guards nothing, or a stop-list slot
+    // that sheds no memory at hard pressure. False here, because ignoring something that no longer
+    // exists is exactly what this list is for.
+    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_WATCHDOG_SCAN_IGNORE',         'kind' => 'list', 'check' => false,
      'title' => 'Scan ignore', 'unit' => '',
      'hint'  => 'Left alone completely — no strikes, no restarts, no unhealthy or OOM reports. '
               . 'For containers you knowingly run broken or stopped. It silences real faults as '
               . 'readily as noise, so it is the wrong tool for one that is merely loud.'],
-    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_WATCHDOG_CONTAINERS',          'kind' => 'map',
+    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_WATCHDOG_CONTAINERS',          'kind' => 'map', 'check' => true,
      'title' => 'Memory limits (Tier 1)', 'unit' => 'MB',
      'hint'  => 'Restarted when it holds more than this. Tier 1 is per container and acts before '
               . 'any pressure tier does.'],
-    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_RW_PAUSE_CONTAINERS',          'kind' => 'list',
+    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_RW_PAUSE_CONTAINERS',          'kind' => 'list', 'check' => true,
      'title' => 'Pause at medium pressure', 'unit' => '',
      'hint'  => 'Paused — not stopped — while RAM sits below the medium threshold, and resumed on '
               . 'recovery. Safe for anything that can lose a few minutes.'],
-    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_RW_STOP_CONTAINERS',           'kind' => 'list',
+    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_RW_STOP_CONTAINERS',           'kind' => 'list', 'check' => true,
      'title' => 'Stop at hard pressure', 'unit' => '',
      'hint'  => 'Stopped outright at the hard threshold, and not restarted automatically. The last '
               . 'step before the memory shutdown.'],
-    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_WATCHDOG_REQUIRED_CONTAINERS', 'kind' => 'list',
+    ['key' => $_vv_wd_me . '_WATCHDOG_REQUIRED_CONTAINERS', 'kind' => 'list', 'check' => true,
      'title' => 'Required', 'unit' => '',
      'hint'  => 'Must be running. Missing is a strike whether or not the container is being '
               . 'watched for anything else.'],
@@ -181,6 +195,17 @@ foreach ($_vv_wd_defs as $_d) {
     ];
 }
 ?>
+<?php
+// Which container names still refer to something. Emitted once and read by both surfaces that
+// draw these lists — the editors below and the inventory card in the polled grid — so the two
+// cannot disagree about whether an entry is dead.
+//
+// Empty means "could not ask docker", not "nothing is installed", and every consumer checks the
+// length before badging anything. A docker outage must not repaint the page as though every list
+// were full of ghosts.
+$_vv_wd_installed = vv_wd_installed_containers();
+?>
+<script>window.VvWdInstalled = <?= json_encode($_vv_wd_installed, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES) ?>;</script>
 <?php if ($_vv_wd_lists): ?>
 <div id="vv-wd-lists" style="display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(auto-fit,minmax(320px,1fr));gap:12px;margin-top:12px;"></div>
 <script>window.VvWdLists = <?= json_encode($_vv_wd_lists, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES) ?>;</script>
@@ -306,6 +331,22 @@ function _pill(label, cls) {
   return `<span class="vv-wd-pill ${cls}">${vvEscHtml(label)}</span>`;
 }
 
+// ── Does this name still refer to a container? ───────────────────────────────
+// One resolver for both surfaces. Answers false only when it is certain: an empty install set
+// means docker could not be asked, and every caller then badges nothing rather than everything.
+const _installed = new Set(window.VvWdInstalled || []);
+function _known(name) { return !_installed.size || _installed.has(String(name || '').trim()); }
+
+// Applied to the lists whose entries are container names, and deliberately NOT to the appdata
+// ceilings. Those are documented as containers but hold `7dtd`, which is an appdata folder — the
+// container is 7DaysToDie. Until that rule is pinned down, badging them would mark a working
+// entry dead, and a wrong badge on this page is worse than a missing one: the whole value of it
+// is that it is believed.
+function _pillK(label, cls) {
+  return _known(label) ? _pill(label, cls)
+                       : `<span class="vv-wd-pill ${cls} missing" title="No container by this name is installed — this entry does nothing">${vvEscHtml(label)}</span>`;
+}
+
 function _levelLabel(level) {
   return ['OK', 'SOFT', 'MEDIUM', 'HARD'][level] || '?';
 }
@@ -545,28 +586,39 @@ function _configCard(node) {
   const stop = cfg.stop_list || [];
   const crit = cfg.critical  || [];
 
+  // Only this host's lists can be checked — VvWdInstalled is what docker on THIS machine reports,
+  // and marking a partner's entry dead against it would be a guess dressed as a fact.
+  const P = node.is_me ? _pillK : _pill;
+  const K = name => node.is_me && !_known(name);
+
   const monHtml = mon.length === 0
     ? '<div style="color:#333;font-size:11px;">none</div>'
     : mon.map(([name, mb]) => {
         const gb = (mb / 1024).toFixed(0);
-        return `<div class="vv-wd-ctr-row"><span class="vv-wd-ctr-name">${vvEscHtml(name)}</span><span class="vv-wd-ctr-lim">${gb} GB</span></div>`;
+        return `<div class="vv-wd-ctr-row${K(name) ? ' missing' : ''}"`
+             + `${K(name) ? ' title="No container by this name is installed — this limit does nothing"' : ''}>`
+             + `<span class="vv-wd-ctr-name">${vvEscHtml(name)}</span>`
+             + `<span class="vv-wd-ctr-lim">${K(name) ? 'not installed' : gb + ' GB'}</span></div>`;
       }).join('');
 
   const reqHtml = req.length === 0
     ? '<div style="color:#333;font-size:11px;">none</div>'
-    : `<div class="vv-wd-pill-row">${req.map(c => _pill(c, crit.includes(c) ? '' : '')).join('')}</div>`;
+    : `<div class="vv-wd-pill-row">${req.map(c => P(c, '')).join('')}</div>`;
 
   const ignHtml = ign.length === 0
     ? '<div style="color:#3a3a3a;font-size:11px;">none</div>'
+    // Never badged, unlike the lists above. An ignore entry naming a container that is gone costs
+    // nothing — something that does not exist is not being watched either way — and seven dashed
+    // pills here would teach the eye to skip a badge that has to be believed on the stop list.
     : `<div class="vv-wd-pill-row">${ign.map(c => _pill(c, '')).join('')}</div>`;
 
   const pausHtml = paus.length === 0
     ? '<div style="color:#3a3a3a;font-size:11px;">none</div>'
-    : `<div class="vv-wd-pill-row">${paus.map(c => _pill(c, 'warn')).join('')}</div>`;
+    : `<div class="vv-wd-pill-row">${paus.map(c => P(c, 'warn')).join('')}</div>`;
 
   const stopHtml = stop.length === 0
     ? '<div style="color:#3a3a3a;font-size:11px;">none</div>'
-    : `<div class="vv-wd-pill-row">${stop.map(c => _pill(c, 'err')).join('')}</div>`;
+    : `<div class="vv-wd-pill-row">${stop.map(c => P(c, 'err')).join('')}</div>`;
 
   return `<div class="vv-wd-card" style="grid-column:span 4;">
     <div style="display:flex;gap:6px;align-items:center;margin-bottom:8px;">
@@ -864,6 +916,7 @@ setInterval(vvWdLoad, 30000);
                  ? `<span class="vv-wl-gb">${(+r.value / 1024).toFixed(1)} GB</span>` : '';
         el.innerHTML =
             `<input class="vv-wl-name" value="${vvEscAttr(r.name)}" spellcheck="false">`
+          + `<span class="vv-wl-gone-t" style="display:none">not installed</span>`
           + (def.kind === 'map'
               ? `<input class="vv-wl-val" value="${vvEscAttr(r.value)}" inputmode="numeric">`
                 + `<span class="vv-wl-unit">${vvEscHtml(def.unit)}</span>${gb}`
@@ -872,7 +925,16 @@ setInterval(vvWdLoad, 30000);
           + (r.gone ? '↺' : '×') + '</button>';
 
         const [nameEl, valEl] = [el.querySelector('.vv-wl-name'), el.querySelector('.vv-wl-val')];
-        nameEl.addEventListener('input', () => { r.name = nameEl.value.trim(); mark(); });
+        const tagEl = el.querySelector('.vv-wl-gone-t');
+        // Re-checked on every keystroke, so correcting a stale name clears the badge as soon as it
+        // matches something real — which is the whole workflow this is meant to support. Blank
+        // rows are exempt: a half-typed new entry is not a dead one.
+        const tag = () => {
+          const n = nameEl.value.trim();
+          tagEl.style.display = (def.check && n !== '' && !_known(n)) ? '' : 'none';
+        };
+        tag();
+        nameEl.addEventListener('input', () => { r.name = nameEl.value.trim(); tag(); mark(); });
         if (valEl) valEl.addEventListener('input', () => { r.value = valEl.value.trim(); mark(); });
         // Marked rather than spliced out, so a mis-click is one click back and the reason written
         // beside the entry is still there to read while deciding.