diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d71f982..918fc26 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -171,6 +171,10 @@ pnpm dev:website
 # Build the public website
 pnpm build:website
 
+# Build the public website and serve the real static output (what CI deploys,
+# prerendered HTML included) - no hot reload, refresh manually after a change
+pnpm preview:website
+
 # Pull a @codehacks/virtual-console release into the website (see Releasing below)
 pnpm bump:website:latest
 ```
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b7031ad..69deff3 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@
         "build:published": "pnpm run build:import:published && pnpm run build:vite-plugin:published",
         "build:website": "pnpm run install:website && pnpm --dir website build",
 
+        "preview:website": "pnpm run build:website && pnpm --dir website preview",
+
         "install:import:published": "pnpm --dir examples/published/react-vite-import install",
         "install:vite-plugin:published": "pnpm --dir examples/published/react-vite-plugin install",
         "install:published": "pnpm run install:import:published && pnpm run install:vite-plugin:published",
diff --git a/website/README.md b/website/README.md
index 12cb440..5b3b38c 100644
--- a/website/README.md
+++ b/website/README.md
@@ -10,13 +10,25 @@ Standalone project (own `pnpm-workspace.yaml`), same reasoning as `examples/publ
 # from the repo root
 pnpm dev:website
 pnpm build:website
+pnpm preview:website   # build + serve the real static output (dist/), prerendered HTML included
 
 # or directly
 cd website
 pnpm install
 pnpm dev
+pnpm build && pnpm preview
 ```
 
+`pnpm dev` (Vite's dev server) never runs the prerender step - `index.html`'s `#root` starts empty
+there and `main.tsx` client-renders into it (see [DECISIONS.md](../DECISIONS.md)). To see and debug
+the actual prerendered HTML a no-JS client or crawler would get - or to check something that only
+happens in the production build - use `preview:website` (or `pnpm build && pnpm preview` from
+`website/`) instead. It's a plain build-then-serve, not a dev server: no hot reload or watch mode,
+so re-run it after each change. That's a deliberate simplicity trade, not a limitation to fix -
+wiring up a watcher for a full rebuild (`tsc` + two `vite build` passes + the prerender script) on
+every change would add real complexity for a workflow that's normally reached for occasionally, not
+kept running all day like `pnpm dev`.
+
 ## Deployment
 
 Deployed to GitHub Pages by `.github/workflows/release-website.yml`, independently of the package's own release line - a `website-v{version}` tag deploys the website; a plain `v{version}` tag (the package release) does not. This is its own [vump](https://github.com/okcodes/vump) project (`website` in the root `vump.toml`, tracking this directory's `package.json`), so a site-only change ships with `vump patch --project website --tag --push` and never touches the package's version or npm. See [DECISIONS.md](../DECISIONS.md) for the full reasoning.