diff --git a/crates/jarvis-gui/build.rs b/crates/jarvis-gui/build.rs
index 765a6f3..0531b18 100644
--- a/crates/jarvis-gui/build.rs
+++ b/crates/jarvis-gui/build.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,40 @@
 fn main() {
     let manifest_dir = std::env::var("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR").unwrap();
-    let lib_path = std::path::Path::new(&manifest_dir)
-        .join("..\\..\\lib\\windows\\amd64");
+    let manifest_path = std::path::Path::new(&manifest_dir);
 
+    let lib_path = manifest_path.join("..\\..\\lib\\windows\\amd64");
     println!("cargo:rustc-link-search=native={}", lib_path.display());
 
+    // Vite outputs the Svelte bundle into ../../frontend/dist/client. If the
+    // user runs a bare `cargo build -p jarvis-gui` without going through
+    // `cargo tauri build`, the beforeBuildCommand in tauri.conf.json never
+    // fires and the new release exe ends up bundling whatever stale dist is
+    // sitting on disk — including UI states from days ago. Force a rebuild
+    // here when any Svelte / TS source under frontend/src changes.
+    let frontend = manifest_path.join("..\\..\\frontend");
+    let src = frontend.join("src");
+    if src.is_dir() {
+        println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", src.display());
+        println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", frontend.join("package.json").display());
+
+        let npm = if cfg!(target_os = "windows") { "npm.cmd" } else { "npm" };
+        let status = std::process::Command::new(npm)
+            .arg("run")
+            .arg("build")
+            .current_dir(&frontend)
+            .status();
+        match status {
+            Ok(s) if s.success() => {
+                println!("cargo:warning=jarvis-gui: frontend rebuilt via npm run build");
+            }
+            Ok(s) => {
+                println!("cargo:warning=jarvis-gui: npm run build exited with {}", s);
+            }
+            Err(e) => {
+                println!("cargo:warning=jarvis-gui: npm not found ({}). Bundling existing dist; run `npm install && npm run build` in frontend/ if the UI looks stale.", e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     tauri_build::build()
 }