diff --git a/.project/concepts/app-architecture/_debt.md b/.project/concepts/app-architecture/_debt.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8b7499
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.project/concepts/app-architecture/_debt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Doc-debt — app-architecture
+
+> Presence of a block = doc to update. Processed → delete the block; no blocks left → delete this file.
+> One block = one "big change": `why` + `files` + `verify` (leaves to review).
+
+## Raw markers (consolidate into blocks, then delete)
+- TOUCHED src/app/frontend.tsx @2026-08-16 (session 0b064e8b-1717-421f-a20e-a4318ad217b1)
diff --git a/src/app/frontend.tsx b/src/app/frontend.tsx
index 615b195..c8c9d87 100644
--- a/src/app/frontend.tsx
+++ b/src/app/frontend.tsx
@@ -4,19 +4,32 @@
  *
  * It is included in `src/index.html`.
  *
- * Before loading the app tree it pulls the RUNTIME shared-wallet config (dev
- * server + `bun run start`, which serve from src/ and so miss build.ts's
- * compile-time `define`), sets the global, then dynamically imports `App` so
- * `sharedWallet.ts` reads the value on evaluation. In a build.ts bundle the
- * password is already inlined via `define`, so this step is skipped (NODE_ENV).
+ * Before loading the app tree it pulls the RUNTIME shared-wallet config, sets
+ * the global, then dynamically imports `App` so `sharedWallet.ts` reads the
+ * value on evaluation. A `build.ts` bundle already carries the value inlined by
+ * `define`, and then there is nothing to fetch.
+ *
+ * WHICH ONE APPLIES IS NOT `NODE_ENV`. This used to skip the fetch under
+ * `NODE_ENV=production`, on the reasoning "production means built". This
+ * project's production does NOT build: the container copies the sources and
+ * runs `bun run start` (= `NODE_ENV=production bun src/index.ts`), serving from
+ * src/ exactly as dev does. Nothing ever serves `dist/`. So the deployed app
+ * skipped the only step that could give it a wallet, `ensureIdentity()` threw
+ * for want of one, and it could never sign anybody in — while `/festipod-config.json`
+ * sat there, served and unasked.
+ *
+ * The question is therefore "was the value inlined?", never "am I in
+ * production?" — ask the global itself.
  */
 
 import { StrictMode } from "react";
 import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client";
 
-/** Fetch the runtime shared-wallet config and set the global (dev/start only). */
+/** Fetch the runtime shared-wallet config and set the global, unless it is already there. */
 async function loadRuntimeConfig(): Promise<void> {
-  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === "production") return; // build.ts define provides it
+  // Already inlined by `build.ts`'s `define` → nothing to fetch. Bracket access,
+  // so that same `define` (which rewrites the dotted global) leaves this read alone.
+  if ((globalThis as Record<string, unknown>)["__FESTIPOD_SHARED_WALLET_PASSWORD__"] != null) return;
   try {
     const res = await fetch("/festipod-config.json");
     if (!res.ok) return;