diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/pages/ai.php b/Plugin/unraid/pages/ai.php
index 18a7394..9dc09d5 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/pages/ai.php
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/pages/ai.php
@@ -57,6 +57,17 @@
 //   api/ai.php          stats / ask / poll / clear
 //   api/readscript.php  source viewer contents
 // ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+<?php
+// Build stamp. The tab bar uses Unraid's localURL, which swaps content by AJAX without tearing
+// down the previous page's JavaScript — so a stale copy of this script can keep running, and
+// its timers keep firing, while a new copy is injected. That makes "is the browser executing
+// the code I just deployed" unanswerable from the server alone. Rendered into the DOM and
+// logged on every render so both sides can be compared.
+$_vv_ai_build = substr(md5_file(__FILE__), 0, 8);
+if (is_dir('/var/log/varaverk')) {
+    @file_put_contents('/var/log/varaverk/ai.log',
+        date('Y-m-d H:i:s') . ' RENDER page build=' . $_vv_ai_build . "\n", FILE_APPEND | LOCK_EX);
+}
 ?>
 <style>
 #vv-ai-wrap { display:flex; flex-direction:column; gap:12px; }
@@ -190,7 +201,8 @@
       </select>
       <label class="vv-ai-toggle"><input type="checkbox" id="vv-ai-think" checked> reasoning</label>
       <button class="vv-ai-btn ghost" id="vv-ai-clear" type="button">Clear</button>
-      <span class="vv-ai-hint">Ctrl+Enter to send · history capped at 3 turns</span>
+      <span class="vv-ai-hint">Ctrl+Enter to send · 3-turn history · build <?=$_vv_ai_build?>
+        <span id="vv-ai-live" style="color:#e57">· JS NOT RUNNING</span></span>
       <button class="vv-ai-btn" id="vv-ai-send" type="button">Ask</button>
     </div>
   </div>
@@ -533,7 +545,19 @@
     finish();
   });
 
+  // Proves to the page itself that this copy of the script is the one running, and that its
+  // click handler is attached. If the marker still reads NOT RUNNING, the browser is executing
+  // an older copy and no amount of server-side deployment will change what the button does.
+  const live = $('vv-ai-live');
+  if (live) { live.style.color = '#4a4a4a'; live.textContent = '· JS live'; }
+
+  // Old copies of this script survive a tab swap and keep their timers. Tearing the previous
+  // one down stops N banners polling in parallel, and stops a stale closure's busy flag from
+  // being the thing the user is actually looking at.
+  if (window.__vvAiTeardown) { try { window.__vvAiTeardown(); } catch (e) {} }
+  const bannerTimer = setInterval(loadBanner, 30000);
+  window.__vvAiTeardown = function () { clearInterval(bannerTimer); clearInterval(pendingTimer); };
+
   loadBanner();
-  setInterval(loadBanner, 30000);
 })();
 </script>