diff --git a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/builds.js b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/builds.js
index 7c9b3160..711384ed 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/builds.js
+++ b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/builds.js
@@ -19,6 +19,31 @@ let metaInputsState = [];
 let metaUpdateRunning = false;
 let rebuildQueueState = [];
 
+// ─── DAG-derived helpers ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// DagView no longer carries top-level `kind`/`state`/`started_at`/`finished_at`
+// — these are all derived from the NodeView array by the client.
+
+// Rollup state from nodes (failed > cancelled > running > queued).
+// `Done` nodes are excluded from the payload, so a fully-done DAG is absent;
+// an empty nodes array should not arise in practice — return 'done' defensively.
+function rollupState(nodes) {
+  const ns = nodes || [];
+  if (!ns.length) return 'done';
+  if (ns.some((n) => n.state === 'failed')) return 'failed';
+  if (ns.some((n) => n.state === 'cancelled')) return 'cancelled';
+  if (ns.some((n) => n.state === 'running')) return 'running';
+  return 'queued';
+}
+
+
+// Parse an RFC3339 datetime string (from DateTime<Utc>) to unix seconds.
+function isoToSecs(s) {
+  if (!s) return null;
+  const ms = Date.parse(s);
+  return Number.isFinite(ms) ? Math.floor(ms / 1000) : null;
+}
+
+
 function syncFromSnapshot(s) {
   metaInputsState = (s.meta_inputs || []).slice();
   metaUpdateRunning = !!s.meta_update_running;
@@ -120,19 +145,6 @@ function renderMetaInputs(s) {
 
 // ─── rebuild queue ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 const rebuildQueueRowCache = new Map();
-const QUEUE_KIND_GLYPH = {
-  rebuild: '↻',
-  meta_update: '◆',
-  spawn: '✨',
-  destroy: '🗑',
-  restart: '↺',
-  boot: '⚡',
-  perm_change: '🔑',
-  graceful_stop: '⏹',
-  start: '▶',
-  stop: '■',
-  reconcile: '⇄',
-};
 const QUEUE_STATE_GLYPH = {
   queued: '⏸',
   running: '▶',
@@ -140,30 +152,7 @@ const QUEUE_STATE_GLYPH = {
   failed: '✖',
   cancelled: '⊘',
 };
-// Short display labels for the per-DAG node kinds (the primitive ops).
-const NODE_KIND_LABEL = {
-  prebuild: 'prebuild',
-  stop_for_update: 'stop',
-  swap: 'swap',
-  post_swap: 'post swap',
-  provision: 'provision',
-  create: 'create',
-  meta_lock: 'meta lock',
-  reconcile: 'reconcile',
-  signal: 'signal',
-  drain: 'drain',
-  write_dropin: 'dropin',
-  write_perm_file: 'perm file',
-  approval_deploy: 'deploy',
-  set_wanted: 'set wanted',
-  noop: 'noop',
-};
 
-// The currently-running node of a DAG (per-node `step` labels + build
-// logs live on nodes now; the DAG's `state` is a roll-up).
-function runningNode(entry) {
-  return (entry.nodes || []).find((n) => n.state === 'running') || null;
-}
 function firstFailedNode(entry) {
   return (entry.nodes || []).find((n) => n.state === 'failed') || null;
 }
@@ -310,16 +299,16 @@ function nodeComponents(nodes) {
 }
 
 function rebuildQueueEntryFingerprint(entry) {
+  const nodes = entry.nodes || [];
   return JSON.stringify({
-    state: entry.state,
-    kind: entry.kind,
+    state: rollupState(nodes),
     agent: entryAgents(entry),
     source: entry.source,
-    started_at: entry.started_at,
-    enqueued_at: entry.enqueued_at,
-    finished_at: entry.finished_at,
+    started_at: isoToSecs(entry.started_at),
+    created_at: entry.created_at,
+    finished_at: isoToSecs(entry.finished_at),
     reason: entry.reason,
-    nodes: (entry.nodes || []).map((n) => [n.kind, n.state, n.step, n.build_log_id, n.error]),
+    nodes: nodes.map((n) => [n.kind, n.state, isoToSecs(n.started_at), isoToSecs(n.finished_at), n.error]),
   });
 }
 
@@ -375,62 +364,57 @@ function renderRebuildQueue(s) {
 }
 
 function renderQueueEntry(entry) {
+  const nodes = entry.nodes || [];
+  const state = rollupState(nodes);
+  const startedAt = isoToSecs(entry.started_at);
+  const finishedAt = isoToSecs(entry.finished_at);
+  const createdAt = isoToSecs(entry.created_at);
+
   const li = el('li', {
-    class: 'rebuild-queue-entry rqe-' + entry.state,
+    class: 'rebuild-queue-entry rqe-' + state,
     'data-id': String(entry.id),
   });
   li.append(
-    el('span', { class: 'rqe-state', title: entry.state }, QUEUE_STATE_GLYPH[entry.state] || '?'),
+    el('span', { class: 'rqe-state', title: state }, QUEUE_STATE_GLYPH[state] || '?'),
     ' ',
-    el('span', { class: 'rqe-kind', title: entry.kind },
-      (QUEUE_KIND_GLYPH[entry.kind] || '?') + ' ' + entry.kind),
+    el('span', { class: 'rqe-kind' }, entry.source),
     ' ',
     el('code', { class: 'rqe-agent' }, entryAgents(entry)),
   );
   li.append(' ', el('span', { class: 'rqe-source rqe-source-' + entry.source }, entry.source));
-  if (entry.state === 'queued') {
+  if (state === 'queued') {
     li.append(' ', el('span', {
       class: 'rqe-when',
-      'data-rqe-enqueued': String(entry.enqueued_at),
-    }, '· queued ' + fmtAgo(entry.enqueued_at)));
-  } else if (entry.state === 'running' && entry.started_at) {
-    const elapsed = Math.max(0, Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000 - entry.started_at));
+      'data-rqe-enqueued': String(createdAt ?? ''),
+    }, '· queued ' + (createdAt ? fmtAgo(createdAt) : '')));
+  } else if (state === 'running' && startedAt) {
+    const elapsed = Math.max(0, Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) - startedAt);
     li.append(' ', el('span', {
       class: 'rqe-when',
-      'data-rqe-elapsed': String(entry.started_at),
+      'data-rqe-elapsed': String(startedAt),
     }, '· ' + fmtElapsed(elapsed)));
-  } else if (entry.finished_at) {
+  } else if (finishedAt) {
     li.append(' ', el('span', {
       class: 'rqe-when',
-      'data-rqe-finished': String(entry.finished_at),
-      'data-rqe-state': entry.state,
-    }, '· ' + entry.state + ' ' + fmtAgo(entry.finished_at)));
+      'data-rqe-finished': String(finishedAt),
+      'data-rqe-state': state,
+    }, '· ' + state + ' ' + fmtAgo(finishedAt)));
   }
   if (entry.reason) {
     const r = entry.reason.split('\n')[0];
     li.append(' ', el('span', { class: 'rqe-reason', title: entry.reason }, '— ' + truncate(r, 60)));
   }
-  // Per-node chain: every DAG node in dependency order with its own
-  // state glyph, live step label, and build-log link. This is the
-  // node-aware render that makes queue jumps / partial progress
-  // visible (e.g. reconcile running while swap failed).
-  //
-  // A DAG's actual shape is its `deps` graph, not an incidental property
-  // like `n.agent` — render *that* structure (via nodeComponents, which
-  // splits on `deps` and topo-sorts each piece), not a heuristic grouping.
-  // A DAG made of independent subgraphs (e.g. a multi-agent restart, no
-  // cross-agent deps) naturally comes back as multiple components and
-  // gets one line each; a single connected DAG (the common case) stays
-  // one component and renders exactly as the old one-line chain did.
-  const nodes = entry.nodes || [];
+  // Per-node chain: every DAG node in dependency order with its own state
+  // glyph and a log link. The DAG's actual shape is its `deps` graph —
+  // render that structure (via nodeComponents) not a heuristic grouping.
+  // `Done` nodes are excluded from the payload by the backend, so only
+  // live nodes appear here; `Failed` DAGs linger until the history cap.
   if (nodes.length) {
     const components = nodeComponents(nodes);
     const multi = components.length > 1;
     for (const compNodes of components) {
       const chain = el('div', { class: 'rqe-nodes' });
       if (multi) {
-        // Label from the component's own nodes (informational only — the
-        // split itself came from `deps`, not from agent).
         const agents = [];
         for (const n of compNodes) {
           if (n.agent && !agents.includes(n.agent)) agents.push(n.agent);
@@ -443,43 +427,43 @@ function renderQueueEntry(entry) {
           class: 'rqe-node rqe-node-' + n.state,
           title: n.kind + ' · ' + n.state + (n.error ? ' — ' + n.error : ''),
         },
-          (QUEUE_STATE_GLYPH[n.state] || '?') + ' ' + (NODE_KIND_LABEL[n.kind] || n.kind));
+          (QUEUE_STATE_GLYPH[n.state] || '?') + ' ' + n.kind);
         chain.append(chip);
-        if (n.build_log_id != null) {
+        // Log link — keyed by node id, fetched on demand from /api/build-log/<node_id>.
+        // `n.has_log` is set by the backend exactly when the node has a captured
+        // log (equiv to old `build_log_id != null`). Lock/noop/store-only nodes
+        // have has_log=false and never get a link.
+        if (n.has_log) {
           chain.append(el('a', {
             class: 'rqe-log-link rqe-node-log',
-            href: '/builds.html?id=' + n.build_log_id + '#buildlogs',
+            href: '/api/build-log/' + n.id + '/raw',
             target: '_blank',
-            title: 'view build log #' + n.build_log_id,
+            title: 'download build log for ' + n.kind + ' node',
           }, '⎙'));
         }
       });
       li.append(chain);
     }
   }
-  const running = runningNode(entry);
-  if (running && running.step) {
-    li.append(el('div', { class: 'rqe-step' }, '↳ ' + running.step));
-  }
   const failed = firstFailedNode(entry);
   if (failed && failed.error) {
     li.append(el('pre', { class: 'rqe-error', title: failed.error }, truncate(failed.error, 200)));
   }
-  if (entry.state === 'queued') {
+  if (state === 'queued') {
     const cancelForm = el('form', {
       method: 'POST',
       action: '/api/rebuild-queue/' + entry.id + '/cancel',
       class: 'inline rqe-cancel',
       'data-async': '',
       'data-confirm':
-        `cancel ${entry.kind} for \`${entryAgents(entry)}\` (queue id ${entry.id})? ` +
+        `cancel ${entry.source} for \`${entryAgents(entry)}\` (queue id ${entry.id})? ` +
         `the row drops from the queue and never runs. running / done / failed entries can't be cancelled this way.`,
     });
     cancelForm.append(el('button', {
       type: 'submit',
       class: 'rqe-cancel-btn',
-      title: 'cancel this queued ' + entry.kind,
-      'aria-label': 'cancel queued ' + entry.kind + ' for ' + entryAgents(entry),
+      title: 'cancel this queued ' + entry.source,
+      'aria-label': 'cancel queued ' + entry.source + ' for ' + entryAgents(entry),
     }, '✗'));
     li.append(cancelForm);
   }
@@ -487,51 +471,83 @@ function renderQueueEntry(entry) {
 }
 
 // ─── running-rebuild live log ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
-// One persistent live-log panel for the first currently-building node
-// (build logs are per-node now; with buildSlots = 1 at most one nix
-// build runs at a time). Keyed to that node's build_log_id and kept in
-// its own container (#rebuild-live-log) so the queue's row re-render —
-// which rebuilds rows as the build step advances — never tears down the
-// open SSE stream.
-let liveLogEs = null;
-let liveLogId = null;
-let liveLogDone = false;
+// One persistent live-log panel for the first currently-building node.
+// Keyed to that node's id and kept in its own container (#rebuild-live-log)
+// so the queue's row re-render never tears down an open poll.
+//
+// Build logs are fetched by polling GET /api/build-log/<node_id> (returns
+// {stdout, stderr}) rather than SSE — a running node's log re-fetches on the
+// rebuild_queue_changed tick; a terminal node's log is static (one last fetch
+// on transition, then done).
+let liveLogId = null;      // current node id being shown
+let liveLogDone = false;   // true once the node left 'running'
 let liveLogCollapsed = false;
+let liveLogPollTimer = null;
 
-function closeLiveLogStream() {
-  if (liveLogEs) { liveLogEs.close(); liveLogEs = null; }
+function clearLiveLogPoll() {
+  if (liveLogPollTimer) { clearInterval(liveLogPollTimer); liveLogPollTimer = null; }
 }
 
-// First (dag, node) pair with a running node that opened a build log.
+// First (entry, node) pair with a running node that has a log.
+// Gate on has_log so lock/noop/store-only nodes don't open a blank panel.
 function findLiveBuild(queue) {
   for (const e of queue || []) {
-    if (e.state !== 'running') continue;
-    for (const n of e.nodes || []) {
-      if (n.state === 'running' && n.build_log_id != null) {
-        return { entry: e, node: n };
-      }
-    }
+    if (rollupState(e.nodes || []) !== 'running') continue;
+    const node = (e.nodes || []).find((n) => n.state === 'running' && n.has_log);
+    if (node) return { entry: e, node };
   }
   return null;
 }
 
+async function fetchAndRenderLiveLog(nodeId, pre) {
+  try {
+    const r = await fetch('/api/build-log/' + nodeId);
+    if (!r.ok) return;
+    const data = await r.json();
+    const text = [data.stdout, data.stderr ? '--- stderr ---\n' + data.stderr : ''].filter(Boolean).join('\n');
+    if (pre.textContent !== text) {
+      const atBottom = pre.scrollHeight - pre.scrollTop - pre.clientHeight < 40;
+      pre.textContent = text;
+      if (atBottom) pre.scrollTop = pre.scrollHeight;
+    }
+  } catch { /* network blip — ignore, next poll will retry */ }
+}
+
 function renderRebuildLiveLog(queue) {
   const root = $('rebuild-live-log');
   if (!root) return;
   const live = findLiveBuild(queue);
 
   if (!live) {
-    closeLiveLogStream();
+    clearLiveLogPoll();
     liveLogId = null;
     liveLogDone = false;
     if (!root.hidden) { root.hidden = true; root.replaceChildren(); }
     return;
   }
   const { entry: running, node: liveNode } = live;
-  if (liveNode.build_log_id === liveLogId && (liveLogEs || liveLogDone)) return;
 
-  closeLiveLogStream();
-  liveLogId = liveNode.build_log_id;
+  // Same node, already polling — just let the timer tick (or do a final
+  // fetch if the node just went non-running and we haven't marked done yet).
+  if (liveNode.id === liveLogId) {
+    if (!liveLogDone && liveNode.state !== 'running') {
+      clearLiveLogPoll();
+      liveLogDone = true;
+      const pre = root.querySelector('.rebuild-live-log-output');
+      const badge = root.querySelector('.rebuild-live-log-badge');
+      if (pre) fetchAndRenderLiveLog(liveNode.id, pre);
+      if (badge) {
+        const ok = liveNode.state !== 'failed';
+        badge.className = 'rebuild-live-log-badge ' + (ok ? 'rll-ok' : 'rll-fail');
+        badge.textContent = liveNode.state;
+      }
+    }
+    return;
+  }
+
+  // New node — tear down old poll, rebuild the panel.
+  clearLiveLogPoll();
+  liveLogId = liveNode.id;
   liveLogDone = false;
   root.hidden = false;
   root.replaceChildren();
@@ -555,35 +571,21 @@ function renderRebuildLiveLog(queue) {
   const header = el('div', { class: 'rebuild-live-log-header' },
     toggle, ' ',
     el('span', { class: 'rebuild-live-log-title' }, 'live build log — '),
-    // This header labels one specific node's log stream (`liveNode`), not
-    // the DAG as a whole — so it's the node's own agent, not the DAG's
-    // full agent set (which would mislabel a single agent's log with every
-    // agent once DAGs span multiple).
+    // Label the specific node's agent, not the whole DAG's agent set.
     el('code', { class: 'rqe-agent' }, liveNode.agent),
-    ' ', el('span', { class: 'rqe-kind' },
-      (running.kind || 'rebuild') + ' · ' + (NODE_KIND_LABEL[liveNode.kind] || liveNode.kind)),
+    ' ', el('span', { class: 'rqe-kind' }, running.source + ' · ' + liveNode.kind),
     ' ', badge, ' ',
     el('a', {
       class: 'rebuild-live-log-raw',
-      href: '/api/build-logs/id/' + liveNode.build_log_id + '/raw',
-      download: 'build-log-' + liveNode.build_log_id + '.txt',
+      href: '/api/build-log/' + liveNode.id + '/raw',
+      download: 'build-log-' + liveNode.id + '.txt',
     }, '↓ raw'),
   );
   root.append(header, pre);
 
-  liveLogEs = openBuildLogStream(liveNode.build_log_id, pre, {
-    onDone: (status) => {
-      liveLogDone = true;
-      badge.className = 'rebuild-live-log-badge ' + (status === 'ok' ? 'rll-ok' : 'rll-fail');
-      badge.textContent = status;
-      liveLogEs = null;
-    },
-    onError: () => {
-      badge.className = 'rebuild-live-log-badge rll-fail';
-      badge.textContent = 'stream error';
-      liveLogEs = null;
-    },
-  });
+  // Start polling.
+  fetchAndRenderLiveLog(liveNode.id, pre);
+  liveLogPollTimer = setInterval(() => fetchAndRenderLiveLog(liveNode.id, pre), 2000);
 }
 
 // ─── rebuild-queue count pill ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -592,7 +594,8 @@ function updateRebuildCount() {
   if (!pill) return;
   let n = 0;
   for (const e of rebuildQueueState) {
-    if (e.state === 'queued' || e.state === 'running') n++;
+    const s = rollupState(e.nodes || []);
+    if (s === 'queued' || s === 'running') n++;
   }
   if (n > 0) { pill.textContent = String(n); pill.hidden = false; }
   else { pill.hidden = true; }