diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/pages/ai.php b/Plugin/unraid/pages/ai.php
index 1410962..18a7394 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/pages/ai.php
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/pages/ai.php
@@ -341,10 +341,22 @@
                         + `<div class="vv-ai-body">${esc(text)}</div></div>`));
     scroll();
   }
+  let pendingTimer = null;
   function addPending() {
     const n = el(`<div class="vv-ai-msg bot" id="vv-ai-pending"><div class="vv-ai-role">Varaverk</div>`
-               + `<div class="vv-ai-pending"><span class="vv-ai-dot"></span><span id="vv-ai-phase">starting…</span></div></div>`);
+               + `<div class="vv-ai-pending"><span class="vv-ai-dot"></span>`
+               + `<span id="vv-ai-phase">starting…</span>`
+               + `<span id="vv-ai-elapsed" style="color:#333;font-family:monospace"></span></div></div>`);
     chat().appendChild(n); scroll();
+    // An elapsed counter distinguishes "working" from "wedged" at a glance. Without it a stalled
+    // turn and a slow one look identical, and the slow case here is legitimately ~40s.
+    const t0 = Date.now();
+    clearInterval(pendingTimer);
+    pendingTimer = setInterval(() => {
+      const e = $('vv-ai-elapsed');
+      if (!e) { clearInterval(pendingTimer); return; }
+      e.textContent = Math.round((Date.now() - t0) / 1000) + 's';
+    }, 1000);
   }
   function phase(t) { const p = $('vv-ai-phase'); if (p) p.textContent = t; }
 
@@ -389,7 +401,16 @@
 
   // ── Ask / poll ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   function send() {
-    if (busy) return;
+    // Never fail silently on a stuck flag. A turn that ends without finish() — a throw, a poll
+    // loop that stopped, a tab left open across a deploy — would otherwise make every later
+    // click a no-op with the previous "starting…" still on screen, which reads as a hang that
+    // produces no request and therefore no server-side trace at all. That cost a diagnosis
+    // session; it now says so and offers the way out.
+    if (busy) {
+      addError('A previous question is still marked in-flight, so this one was not sent. '
+             + 'Reload the tab to reset it.');
+      return;
+    }
     const q = $('vv-ai-input').value.trim();
     if (!q) return;
 
@@ -439,7 +460,11 @@
       .catch(e => { addError('Request failed: ' + (e && e.message ? e.message : e)); finish(); });
   }
 
-  function finish() { busy = false; $('vv-ai-send').disabled = false; }
+  function finish() {
+    busy = false;
+    $('vv-ai-send').disabled = false;
+    clearInterval(pendingTimer);
+  }
 
   function poll(token, started) {
     if (Date.now() - started > POLL_CEIL) {