diff --git a/manage.sh b/manage.sh
index cb24688..016111d 100755
--- a/manage.sh
+++ b/manage.sh
@@ -52,17 +52,33 @@ case "$cmd" in
 
   start)
     # Start Robin in the background (daemonised via nohup).
+    # Also starts the Vite dev server if a release binary is not available
+    # and Node/nvm is present, so the webview has something to connect to.
     if pgrep -x "$APP_NAME" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
       echo "Robin is already running (PID $(pgrep -x "$APP_NAME"))"
       exit 0
     fi
     bin="$(_require_binary)"
-    echo "Starting Robin in background..."
     export DISPLAY="${DISPLAY:-:0}"
     export RUST_LOG="${RUST_LOG:-robin_lib=info,warn}"
     mkdir -p "$(dirname "$LOG_FILE")"
+
+    # If using the debug binary and no Vite server is running, start one.
+    if [[ "$bin" == *"target/debug"* ]] && ! curl -sf http://localhost:1420 > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+      NVM_DIR="${NVM_DIR:-$HOME/.nvm}"
+      if [[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ]] && command -v npm > /dev/null 2>&1 || { source "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" 2>/dev/null && command -v npm > /dev/null 2>&1; }; then
+        echo "Starting Vite dev server on :1420..."
+        nohup npm --prefix "$SCRIPT_DIR" run dev >> /tmp/robin-vite.log 2>&1 &
+        echo "Vite PID $! — logs: /tmp/robin-vite.log"
+        sleep 2  # give Vite time to bind before Robin connects
+      else
+        echo "Note: no release binary and Node not found — webview will show connection error."
+        echo "Run 'npm install && npm run dev' in $SCRIPT_DIR to fix this."
+      fi
+    fi
+
     nohup "$bin" >> "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1 &
-    echo "Started (PID $!). Logs: $LOG_FILE"
+    echo "Robin started (PID $!). Logs: $LOG_FILE"
     ;;
 
   stop)
@@ -72,6 +88,11 @@ case "$cmd" in
     else
       echo "Robin is not running."
     fi
+    # Stop Vite dev server if we started it.
+    if pgrep -f "vite" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+      pkill -f "node.*vite" 2>/dev/null || true
+      echo "Vite dev server stopped."
+    fi
     ;;
 
   restart)
diff --git a/vite.config.ts b/vite.config.ts
index bbcf80c..b2776bc 100644
--- a/vite.config.ts
+++ b/vite.config.ts
@@ -4,4 +4,9 @@ import vue from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
 // https://vite.dev/config/
 export default defineConfig({
   plugins: [vue()],
+  server: {
+    port: 1420,
+    strictPort: true,  // fail loudly if 1420 is taken rather than silently shifting
+  },
+  clearScreen: false, // keep terminal output readable alongside cargo/Tauri logs
 })