diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/ComponentsPage.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/ComponentsPage.tsx
index ae82075b..8f850528 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/ComponentsPage.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/ComponentsPage.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import { useState } from 'preact/hooks';
 import type { ComponentChildren } from 'preact';
 import { Panel } from '../ui/panel/Panel.js';
+import { RelativeTime } from '../ui/relative-time/RelativeTime.js';
 import { StatusChip, type ChipTone } from '../ui/status-chip/StatusChip.js';
 import { Table, type TableColumn } from '../ui/table/Table.js';
 import { TextField } from '../ui/text-field/TextField.js';
@@ -115,6 +116,17 @@ export function ComponentsPage() {
         </Sample>
       </Section>
 
+      <Section title="RelativeTime">
+        <div class="components-chip-row">
+          <Sample label="5s ago, ticking">
+            <RelativeTime epochMs={Date.now() - 5_000} />
+          </Sample>
+          <Sample label="2h ago, ticking">
+            <RelativeTime epochMs={Date.now() - 2 * 3_600_000} />
+          </Sample>
+        </div>
+      </Section>
+
       <Section title="TextField">
         <Sample label="editable">
           <TextFieldSample />
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/HivesPage.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/HivesPage.tsx
index 6fb8f6bd..f2f5550c 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/HivesPage.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/HivesPage.tsx
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ import { useEffect, useState } from 'preact/hooks';
 import { ApiErrorPanel } from '@hive/shared/api-error-panel.js';
 import { readApiError, type ProblemDetails } from '@hive/shared/api-error.js';
 import { Panel } from '../ui/panel/Panel.js';
+import { RelativeTime } from '../ui/relative-time/RelativeTime.js';
 import { StatusChip, type ChipTone } from '../ui/status-chip/StatusChip.js';
 import { Table, type TableColumn } from '../ui/table/Table.js';
-import { fmtAgo } from '../util.js';
 
 type Freshness = 'fresh' | 'stale' | 'never_reported' | 'unknown';
 
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ interface HiveStatus {
   domain: string | null;
   freshness: Freshness;
   last_seen_unix: number | null;
-  age_seconds: number | null;
+  // `age_seconds` (a once-computed-at-fetch age) is part of the wire
+  // shape but deliberately unused here — rendering it directly is the
+  // exact bug `RelativeTime` exists to fix, so this page recomputes the
+  // age client-side from `last_seen_unix` instead.
 }
 
 // One tone + label per freshness value. `unknown` (reporting but absent
@@ -54,8 +57,20 @@ const COLUMNS: TableColumn<HiveStatus>[] = [
     header: 'status',
     render: (h) => {
       const { tone, label } = FRESHNESS[h.freshness];
-      const age = h.age_seconds !== null ? ` (${fmtAgo(h.age_seconds)})` : '';
-      return <StatusChip tone={tone} label={label + age} />;
+      return (
+        <StatusChip
+          tone={tone}
+          label={
+            h.last_seen_unix !== null ? (
+              <>
+                {label} (<RelativeTime epochMs={h.last_seen_unix * 1000} />)
+              </>
+            ) : (
+              label
+            )
+          }
+        />
+      );
     },
   },
 ];
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/relative-time/RelativeTime.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/relative-time/RelativeTime.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7f021dc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/relative-time/RelativeTime.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+// <RelativeTime> — a self-updating relative-age label ("5m ago"), so a
+// tab left open doesn't silently drift out of sync with reality the way
+// a value computed once at fetch time would. Takes the actual UTC
+// instant (`epochMs`), not a precomputed age: the caller doing its own
+// age math ahead of time is exactly the shape that goes stale.
+//
+// Pauses its own ticking while the document is hidden rather than
+// running for no visible benefit, same instinct as the dashboard
+// package's matrix-rain effect — and resyncs immediately on becoming
+// visible again instead of waiting out the rest of a stale interval.
+import { useEffect, useState } from 'preact/hooks';
+import { fmtAgo } from '../../util.js';
+
+// Cheap at the handful of rows/chips this renders for today, and coarse
+// enough to be correct without visibly ticking every frame — the same
+// choice a wall clock makes.
+const TICK_MS = 1000;
+
+export function RelativeTime({ epochMs }: { epochMs: number }) {
+  const [now, setNow] = useState(() => Date.now());
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    let id: ReturnType<typeof setInterval> | undefined;
+
+    const start = () => {
+      setNow(Date.now());
+      id = setInterval(() => setNow(Date.now()), TICK_MS);
+    };
+    const stop = () => {
+      if (id !== undefined) clearInterval(id);
+      id = undefined;
+    };
+
+    if (document.visibilityState === 'visible') start();
+    const onVisibility = () => {
+      if (document.visibilityState === 'visible') start();
+      else stop();
+    };
+    document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', onVisibility);
+    return () => {
+      stop();
+      document.removeEventListener('visibilitychange', onVisibility);
+    };
+  }, []);
+
+  return <>{fmtAgo((now - epochMs) / 1000)}</>;
+}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.tsx
index 354c9459..0db5ef24 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.tsx
@@ -4,10 +4,22 @@
 // single static "configured" tone and grows real online/stale/offline
 // states once a status rollup lands server-side — same component,
 // richer data later, no rebuild.
+import type { ComponentChildren } from 'preact';
 import './StatusChip.css';
 
 export type ChipTone = 'neutral' | 'positive' | 'warning' | 'negative';
 
-export function StatusChip({ tone = 'neutral', label }: { tone?: ChipTone; label: string }) {
+// `label` takes renderable children, not just a string — a freshness
+// chip embeds a live `<RelativeTime>` alongside its static text (e.g.
+// "fresh (5s ago)" where the age keeps ticking), and a plain string
+// couldn't carry that without the chip reaching back into a caller's
+// formatting choices.
+export function StatusChip({
+  tone = 'neutral',
+  label,
+}: {
+  tone?: ChipTone;
+  label: ComponentChildren;
+}) {
   return <span class={'ui-chip ui-chip-' + tone}>{label}</span>;
 }