diff --git a/src/commands/compute.ts b/src/commands/compute.ts
index e2b69e0..ff96335 100644
--- a/src/commands/compute.ts
+++ b/src/commands/compute.ts
@@ -411,7 +411,22 @@ export async function computeStatus(serviceName: string | undefined, opts: LifeO
   const id = resolveComputeServiceId(services, serviceName)
   const r = await api.request('GET', `/projects/${p.projectId}/services/${id}/state`)
   if (opts.json) return printJson(r)
-  info(`compute ${serviceName ?? id}: desired=${r.desiredState}  live=${r.state}`)
+  for (const line of statusLines(serviceName ?? id, r)) info(line)
+}
+
+type LastFailure = { kind: 'deploy' | 'build'; at: string; reason: string; buildId?: string; buildSource?: 'github' | 'archive' }
+
+/** `insta compute status` lines. The platform sends `lastFailure` only while the newest deploy
+ *  attempt is a failure, so `live=none` comes with its reason instead of sending the user to dig
+ *  through `compute repo --json` or the build record (insta-platform #646). */
+export function statusLines(label: string, r: { desiredState?: string; state?: string; lastFailure?: LastFailure }): string[] {
+  const lines = [`compute ${label}: desired=${r.desiredState}  live=${r.state}`]
+  const f = r.lastFailure
+  if (!f) return lines
+  const at = Number.isNaN(Date.parse(f.at)) ? f.at : `${new Date(f.at).toISOString().slice(0, 16).replace('T', ' ')} UTC`
+  lines.push(`last ${f.kind} failed ${at}: ${f.reason}`)
+  if (f.buildId) lines.push(`  → insta build logs ${f.buildId} --source ${f.buildSource ?? 'github'}`)
+  return lines
 }
 
 // ---- exec (one-shot command; no interactive shell/PTY) ----
diff --git a/test/compute-status.test.ts b/test/compute-status.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2599bbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/compute-status.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+// `insta compute status` rendering: `live=none` must come with the reason the newest deploy
+// attempt failed, and the build-logs command when it was a build (insta-platform #646).
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest'
+import { statusLines } from '../src/commands/compute.js'
+
+describe('statusLines', () => {
+  it('prints only desired vs live when the platform sends no failure', () => {
+    expect(statusLines('api', { desiredState: 'running', state: 'running' })).toEqual(['compute api: desired=running  live=running'])
+  })
+
+  it('prints the failure reason and the build-logs command for a repo build', () => {
+    expect(statusLines('api', {
+      desiredState: 'running', state: 'none',
+      lastFailure: { kind: 'deploy', at: '2026-10-08T09:34:03.123Z', reason: 'app on the vm not ready (listening on :8080) within 2m0s', buildId: '6a20f7bb-0000-4000-8000-000000000000', buildSource: 'github' },
+    })).toEqual([
+      'compute api: desired=running  live=none',
+      'last deploy failed 2026-10-08 09:34 UTC: app on the vm not ready (listening on :8080) within 2m0s',
+      '  → insta build logs 6a20f7bb-0000-4000-8000-000000000000 --source github',
+    ])
+  })
+
+  it('names an archive build source and a build-phase failure', () => {
+    const lines = statusLines('api', { desiredState: 'running', state: 'none', lastFailure: { kind: 'build', at: '2026-10-08T09:34:03Z', reason: 'no Dockerfile', buildId: 'op-1', buildSource: 'archive' } })
+    expect(lines[1]).toBe('last build failed 2026-10-08 09:34 UTC: no Dockerfile')
+    expect(lines[2]).toBe('  → insta build logs op-1 --source archive')
+  })
+
+  it('an image deploy has no build to point at', () => {
+    expect(statusLines('api', { desiredState: 'running', state: 'stopped', lastFailure: { kind: 'deploy', at: '2026-10-08T09:34:03Z', reason: 'nothing on 8080' } }))
+      .toEqual(['compute api: desired=running  live=stopped', 'last deploy failed 2026-10-08 09:34 UTC: nothing on 8080'])
+  })
+})