diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/build.mjs b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/build.mjs
index 7c4874cf..4e680219 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/build.mjs
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/build.mjs
@@ -5,17 +5,10 @@
 //   dist/static/main.js          served at /static/main.js (ESM bundle,
 //                                 Preact + wouter-preact)
 //   dist/static/main.js.map      source map sibling
-//   dist/static/main.css         every component's own `import
-//                                 './Foo.css'` (Shell.css, Panel.css, …),
-//                                 folded by esbuild into one companion
-//                                 output alongside main.js — no separate
-//                                 build step, this falls out of bundling
-//                                 main.tsx with `bundle: true`
 //   dist/static/colors.css       served at /static/colors.css
 //   dist/static/theme.css        served at /static/theme.css
-//   dist/static/swarm-ui.css     served at /static/swarm-ui.css — just the
-//                                 shared base reset now (@import resolved
-//                                 from @hive/shared), NOT component styles
+//   dist/static/swarm-ui.css     served at /static/swarm-ui.css (@import
+//                                 resolved from @hive/shared)
 //
 // Not yet wired into any Rust binary's `ServeDir` — swarm-controller
 // only serves `/health` today (see swarm-controller/README.md); this
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/App.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/App.tsx
index 6909ef8c..5430dffb 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/App.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/App.tsx
@@ -1,34 +1,35 @@
-// Root shell component. Real route (`/`) is still a placeholder — the
-// swarm's hive roster is the next piece of work to land into it — but
-// it now mounts inside <Shell> and uses the ui/ primitives, so that
-// page lands as a content change, not a structural one.
+// Root shell component. Empty start page for now — functionality
+// (swarm roster, target-state view, whatever the swarm-controller
+// epic eventually needs) is out of scope until auth against authelia
+// is figured out. What's here IS in scope: a real router + deep-link
+// shape that the per-hive dashboard's vanilla-JS + custom-element MPA
+// doesn't have, so later work has a shell to land routes into instead
+// of bolting routing on after the fact.
 import { Route, Switch } from 'wouter-preact';
-import { Shell } from './shell/Shell.js';
-import { Panel } from './ui/panel/Panel.js';
 
 function Home() {
   return (
-    <Panel title="overview">
-      <p>hive roster lands here, sequenced after this shell.</p>
-    </Panel>
+    <main class="swarm-ui-empty">
+      <h1>swarm ui</h1>
+      <p>nothing here yet — project-bootstrap placeholder.</p>
+    </main>
   );
 }
 
 function NotFound() {
   return (
-    <Panel title="404">
+    <main class="swarm-ui-empty">
+      <h1>404</h1>
       <p>no route here.</p>
-    </Panel>
+    </main>
   );
 }
 
 export function App() {
   return (
-    <Shell>
-      <Switch>
-        <Route path="/" component={Home} />
-        <Route component={NotFound} />
-      </Switch>
-    </Shell>
+    <Switch>
+      <Route path="/" component={Home} />
+      <Route component={NotFound} />
+    </Switch>
   );
 }
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/css.d.ts b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/css.d.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 8597bb2b..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/css.d.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-// Ambient module for `import './Foo.css'` side-effect imports (esbuild
-// resolves these directly, see build.mjs; tsc otherwise has no idea what
-// a `.css` specifier is and refuses the whole side-effect import).
-declare module '*.css';
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/index.html b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/index.html
index 6766527b..9ed89442 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/index.html
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/index.html
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
   <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/colors.css">
   <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/theme.css">
   <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/swarm-ui.css">
-  <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/main.css">
 </head>
 <body>
   <div id="root"></div>
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/shell/Shell.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/shell/Shell.css
deleted file mode 100644
index 4a6de52c..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/shell/Shell.css
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-/* <Shell> — header bar + nav row + the content column every route
-   renders into. Colour vars come from ../theme.css (same base16 slots
-   the per-hive dashboard uses, so this reads as recognizably
-   hyperhive) — the layout itself is this package's own, not
-   @hive/shared's chrome.css. */
-.shell-header {
-  display: flex;
-  align-items: center;
-  gap: 1.5em;
-  padding: 0.75em 1.25em;
-  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);
-  background: var(--bg-elev);
-}
-.shell-brand {
-  font-weight: 600;
-  color: var(--purple);
-  letter-spacing: 0.02em;
-}
-.shell-nav {
-  display: flex;
-  gap: 1em;
-}
-.shell-nav-link {
-  color: var(--muted);
-  text-decoration: none;
-  padding: 0.25em 0;
-  border-bottom: 2px solid transparent;
-}
-.shell-nav-link:hover {
-  color: var(--fg);
-}
-.shell-nav-link-active {
-  color: var(--fg);
-  border-bottom-color: var(--purple);
-}
-.shell-body {
-  max-width: 60em;
-  margin: 0 auto;
-  padding: 1.5em 1.25em;
-}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/shell/Shell.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/shell/Shell.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index 9a25878e..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/shell/Shell.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-// <Shell> — page chrome every swarm-ui route mounts inside: a header
-// bar (swarm branding) plus a nav row linking the app's real routes.
-// Preact-native styling — `./Shell.css` imported right here, not
-// wired centrally, so the component and its styles travel together
-// (esbuild folds every imported `.css` reachable from `main.tsx` into
-// one `main.css` companion output, see build.mjs) — deliberately not
-// @hive/shared's chrome.css page-header pattern, which is the per-hive
-// MPA dashboard's visual language. This package is a clean field, not
-// an inheritor of that look.
-//
-// Route list lives here, not prop-drilled from App — one small SPA
-// has exactly one place that needs to know its own nav, and this is
-// it. Grows additively as real routes land (a swarm-wide agent roster
-// is next); no speculative entries.
-import type { ComponentChildren } from 'preact';
-import { Link, useRoute } from 'wouter-preact';
-import './Shell.css';
-
-const NAV_ITEMS: { href: string; label: string }[] = [{ href: '/', label: 'overview' }];
-
-function NavLink({ href, label }: { href: string; label: string }) {
-  const [active] = useRoute(href);
-  return (
-    <Link href={href} className={'shell-nav-link' + (active ? ' shell-nav-link-active' : '')}>
-      {label}
-    </Link>
-  );
-}
-
-export function Shell({ children }: { children: ComponentChildren }) {
-  return (
-    <div class="shell">
-      <header class="shell-header">
-        <span class="shell-brand">hyperhive swarm</span>
-        <nav class="shell-nav">
-          {NAV_ITEMS.map((item) => (
-            <NavLink key={item.href} href={item.href} label={item.label} />
-          ))}
-        </nav>
-      </header>
-      <div class="shell-body">{children}</div>
-    </div>
-  );
-}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/swarm-ui.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/swarm-ui.css
index 5289a7a2..43134567 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/swarm-ui.css
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/swarm-ui.css
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
-/* Page-level base only — component styles are colocated with their
-   component (`./Shell.css` imported by shell/Shell.tsx, etc.) and
-   land in the `main.css` companion esbuild emits alongside `main.js`
-   (see build.mjs), not here. This file stays just the shared reset
-   every page needs regardless of which components a route happens to
-   use. */
 @import "@hive/shared/base.css";
+
+/* Bootstrap placeholder only — real layout comes with the first
+   route that actually needs one. */
+.swarm-ui-empty {
+  max-width: 40em;
+  margin: 4em auto;
+  padding: 0 1em;
+}
+.swarm-ui-empty h1 {
+  color: var(--purple);
+}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/panel/Panel.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/panel/Panel.css
deleted file mode 100644
index 23a40980..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/panel/Panel.css
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-.ui-panel {
-  border: 1px solid var(--border);
-  border-radius: 0.5em;
-  background: var(--bg-elev);
-}
-.ui-panel-title {
-  margin: 0;
-  padding: 0.75em 1em;
-  font-size: 1em;
-  font-weight: 600;
-  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);
-}
-.ui-panel-body {
-  padding: 1em;
-}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/panel/Panel.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/panel/Panel.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index de8f88db..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/panel/Panel.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-// <Panel> — the one generic container primitive every route needs: a
-// bordered surface with an optional title, no other opinions. Not a
-// card-with-actions/footer/whatever kit — those get added the first
-// time a real page actually needs one, not speculatively ahead of it.
-import type { ComponentChildren } from 'preact';
-import './Panel.css';
-
-export function Panel({ title, children }: { title?: string; children: ComponentChildren }) {
-  return (
-    <section class="ui-panel">
-      {title ? <h2 class="ui-panel-title">{title}</h2> : null}
-      <div class="ui-panel-body">{children}</div>
-    </section>
-  );
-}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.css
deleted file mode 100644
index c6908552..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.css
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-.ui-chip {
-  display: inline-block;
-  padding: 0.15em 0.6em;
-  border-radius: 1em;
-  font-size: 0.85em;
-  line-height: 1.4;
-  background: var(--purple-dim);
-  color: var(--fg);
-}
-.ui-chip-neutral {
-  color: var(--muted);
-}
-.ui-chip-positive {
-  color: var(--green);
-}
-.ui-chip-warning {
-  color: var(--amber);
-}
-.ui-chip-negative {
-  color: var(--red);
-}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index 354c9459..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/status-chip/StatusChip.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-// <StatusChip> — a small labelled state indicator. Generic over
-// `tone` rather than a fixed status vocabulary (`online`/`offline`/…)
-// because the first real caller (the hive roster) starts with a
-// 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 './StatusChip.css';
-
-export type ChipTone = 'neutral' | 'positive' | 'warning' | 'negative';
-
-export function StatusChip({ tone = 'neutral', label }: { tone?: ChipTone; label: string }) {
-  return <span class={'ui-chip ui-chip-' + tone}>{label}</span>;
-}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.css
deleted file mode 100644
index f990dae6..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.css
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-.ui-table {
-  width: 100%;
-  border-collapse: collapse;
-}
-.ui-table th {
-  text-align: left;
-  font-weight: 600;
-  color: var(--muted);
-  padding: 0.5em 0.75em;
-  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);
-}
-.ui-table td {
-  padding: 0.5em 0.75em;
-  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);
-}
-.ui-table tr:last-child td {
-  border-bottom: none;
-}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index 3e852063..00000000
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-// <Table> — a generic column-defined table, the shape the hive roster
-// (name / domain / status chip, one row per hive) needs. Columns own
-// their own cell rendering rather than this component knowing about
-// any particular row shape, so it stays reusable for the swarm-wide
-// agent roster later without a rewrite.
-import type { ComponentChildren } from 'preact';
-import './Table.css';
-
-export interface TableColumn<T> {
-  key: string;
-  header: string;
-  render: (row: T) => ComponentChildren;
-}
-
-export function Table<T>({
-  columns,
-  rows,
-  rowKey,
-}: {
-  columns: TableColumn<T>[];
-  rows: T[];
-  rowKey: (row: T) => string;
-}) {
-  return (
-    <table class="ui-table">
-      <thead>
-        <tr>
-          {columns.map((c) => (
-            <th key={c.key}>{c.header}</th>
-          ))}
-        </tr>
-      </thead>
-      <tbody>
-        {rows.map((row) => (
-          <tr key={rowKey(row)}>
-            {columns.map((c) => (
-              <td key={c.key}>{c.render(row)}</td>
-            ))}
-          </tr>
-        ))}
-      </tbody>
-    </table>
-  );
-}