diff --git a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/app.js b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/app.js
index 24d22d83..96275567 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/app.js
+++ b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/app.js
@@ -499,14 +499,23 @@ window.marked = marked;
       // answering) the error handler falls it back to the dimmed
       // hyperhive mark (`/favicon.svg`, served by the dashboard
       // itself, always reachable). (issues #195, #202)
-      const iconImg = el('img', { class: 'container-icon-img', src: `${url}icon`, alt: '' });
+      const iconImg = el('img', { class: 'container-icon-img', alt: '' });
       const icon = el('div', { class: 'container-icon' }, iconImg);
-      iconImg.addEventListener('error', () => {
-        if (iconImg.dataset.fallback) return;  // guard: don't loop if the favicon itself 404s
-        iconImg.dataset.fallback = '1';
+      if (c.running) {
+        iconImg.src = `${url}icon`;
+        iconImg.addEventListener('error', () => {
+          if (iconImg.dataset.fallback) return;  // guard: don't loop if the favicon itself 404s
+          iconImg.dataset.fallback = '1';
+          icon.classList.add('icon-unreachable');
+          iconImg.src = '/favicon.svg';
+        });
+      } else {
+        // Container stopped (#432) — skip the doomed `${url}icon` fetch
+        // and go straight to the dimmed hyperhive mark. Avoids a noisy
+        // failed request in the console + the brief broken-image flash.
         icon.classList.add('icon-unreachable');
         iconImg.src = '/favicon.svg';
-      });
+      }
       // Card body: the three stacked content lines, right of the icon.
       const body = el('div', { class: 'card-body' });
 
@@ -527,30 +536,43 @@ window.marked = marked;
       head.append(navStrip);
       const forgeBase = `http://${hostname}:3000`;
       const containerBase = `http://${hostname}:${c.port}`;
-      fetch(`/api/agent/${encodeURIComponent(c.name)}/links`)
-        .then((r) => (r.ok ? r.json() : []))
-        .then((links) => {
-          if (!Array.isArray(links)) return;
-          for (const lnk of links) {
-            const href = lnk.kind === 'forge'    ? forgeBase + (lnk.url || '')
-                       : lnk.kind === 'external' ? (lnk.url || '')
-                       : /* container */            containerBase + (lnk.url || '');
-            const a = el('a', {
-              class: 'nav-link',
-              href,
-              target: '_blank',
-              rel: 'noopener',
-              title: lnk.label || '',
-            });
-            // Plain text — agent-controlled strings stay out of innerHTML.
-            a.textContent = lnk.icon || lnk.label || '';
-            navStrip.append(a);
-          }
-        })
-        .catch(() => { /* graceful: agent down → no strip */ });
+      if (c.running) {
+        fetch(`/api/agent/${encodeURIComponent(c.name)}/links`)
+          .then((r) => (r.ok ? r.json() : []))
+          .then((links) => {
+            if (!Array.isArray(links)) return;
+            for (const lnk of links) {
+              const href = lnk.kind === 'forge'    ? forgeBase + (lnk.url || '')
+                         : lnk.kind === 'external' ? (lnk.url || '')
+                         : /* container */            containerBase + (lnk.url || '');
+              const a = el('a', {
+                class: 'nav-link',
+                href,
+                target: '_blank',
+                rel: 'noopener',
+                title: lnk.label || '',
+              });
+              // Plain text — agent-controlled strings stay out of innerHTML.
+              a.textContent = lnk.icon || lnk.label || '';
+              navStrip.append(a);
+            }
+          })
+          .catch(() => { /* graceful: agent down → no strip */ });
+      }
+      // Status / runtime badges (#432). Pending transients always win
+      // (start / stop / restart / rebuild is in progress). Otherwise:
+      // when the container is stopped, surface a single `■ stopped`
+      // badge and skip everything that depends on a live harness
+      // (alive / rate-limited / needs-login / ctx / status text);
+      // those badges go stale the moment the harness goes away and
+      // just confuse the operator if we keep showing them.
       if (pending) {
         head.append(el('span', { class: 'pending-state' },
           el('span', { class: 'spinner' }, '◐'), ' ', pending + '…'));
+      } else if (!c.running) {
+        head.append(el('span',
+          { class: 'badge badge-muted', title: 'container is shut down — start it to bring the harness back up' },
+          '■ not running'));
       } else if (c.rate_limited) {
         head.append(el('span',
           { class: 'badge badge-rate-limited', title: 'API rate-limited — harness is parked, will retry automatically' },
@@ -581,7 +603,7 @@ window.marked = marked;
           },
           `⏰ ${c.pending_reminders}`));
       }
-      if (c.ctx_tokens != null) {
+      if (c.running && c.ctx_tokens != null) {
         const k = Math.round(c.ctx_tokens / 1000);
         // Thresholds track the model's real context window when the
         // backend supplies it; otherwise fall back to fixed constants.
@@ -602,7 +624,11 @@ window.marked = marked;
       body.append(head);
 
       // ── agent status text ─────────────────────────────────────────
-      if (c.status_text) {
+      // Self-reported status (via set_status MCP tool) — only fresh
+      // while the harness is up. Skip on stopped containers (#432);
+      // the text is from the last time the harness was running and
+      // just misleads now.
+      if (c.running && c.status_text) {
         const nowUnix = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
         const ageStr = c.status_set_at != null
           ? ` (set ${fmtAgeSecs(nowUnix - c.status_set_at)} ago)` : '';