diff --git a/plugin/Cargo.lock b/plugin/Cargo.lock
index 078a0bc..134d244 100644
--- a/plugin/Cargo.lock
+++ b/plugin/Cargo.lock
@@ -97,6 +97,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-segmentation",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "ctor"
+version = "0.13.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3429e8f8e3ce0ffe475c411850f70468c70d7a87d2ac3d15dd44703fb885aede"
+dependencies = [
+ "link-section",
+ "linktime-proc-macro",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cxx"
 version = "1.0.194"
@@ -328,6 +338,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "cc",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "link-section"
+version = "0.13.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ea2c24837c4fd5ab6a31d64133eae954f5199247523cf29586117e85245c0dd3"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "linktime-proc-macro"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a44cd706ff0d503ee32b2071166510ca27e281228de10cd3aa8d35ff94560f81"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "memchr"
 version = "2.8.0"
@@ -338,6 +360,7 @@ checksum = "f8ca58f447f06ed17d5fc4043ce1b10dd205e060fb3ce5b979b8ed8e59ff3f79"
 name = "nova-plugin"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "ctor",
  "cxx",
  "cxx-qt",
  "cxx-qt-build",
diff --git a/plugin/Cargo.toml b/plugin/Cargo.toml
index 81f7021..cdf4ef5 100644
--- a/plugin/Cargo.toml
+++ b/plugin/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ cast_sign_loss = "allow"
 cxx = "1.0"
 cxx-qt = "0.8.1"
 cxx-qt-lib = { version = "0.8.1", features = ["qt_full"] }
+ctor = "0.13"
 libc = "0.2"
 
 [build-dependencies]
diff --git a/plugin/src/cpu_service.rs b/plugin/src/cpu_service.rs
index 21b7b67..cf5fc59 100644
--- a/plugin/src/cpu_service.rs
+++ b/plugin/src/cpu_service.rs
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ impl Default for CpuServiceRust {
 
 impl cxx_qt::Initialize for qobject::CpuService {
     fn initialize(mut self: Pin<&mut Self>) {
+        eprintln!("[nova-plugin] CpuService::initialize");
         let max_freqs = read_core_max_freqs();
         let types = infer_core_types(&max_freqs);
 
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ impl cxx_qt::Initialize for qobject::CpuService {
 
 impl qobject::CpuService {
     fn poll(mut self: Pin<&mut Self>) {
+        eprintln!("[nova-plugin] CpuService::poll");
         let curr = cpu::read_stat();
         let freqs = cpu::read_core_freqs();
         let prev = self.as_ref().rust().prev_stat.clone();
diff --git a/plugin/src/lib.rs b/plugin/src/lib.rs
index f0fd243..9155649 100644
--- a/plugin/src/lib.rs
+++ b/plugin/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
 pub mod cpu_service;
 pub mod stats;
 pub mod system_stats;
+
+// Fires when the .so is dlopen'd. Tells us the plugin file actually loaded,
+// independent of whether qml_register_types runs.
+#[ctor::ctor(unsafe)]
+fn on_dylib_load() {
+    eprintln!("[nova-plugin] dylib loaded (libNovaStats.so)");
+}
diff --git a/plugin/src/system_stats.rs b/plugin/src/system_stats.rs
index 6e5f295..a48f482 100644
--- a/plugin/src/system_stats.rs
+++ b/plugin/src/system_stats.rs
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ impl Default for SystemStatsServiceRust {
 
 impl cxx_qt::Initialize for qobject::SystemStatsService {
     fn initialize(mut self: Pin<&mut Self>) {
+        eprintln!("[nova-plugin] SystemStatsService::initialize");
         let backend = gpu::detect_gpu();
         let available = !matches!(backend, gpu::GpuBackend::None);
         let vendor = match &backend {
@@ -132,6 +133,7 @@ impl cxx_qt::Initialize for qobject::SystemStatsService {
 
 impl qobject::SystemStatsService {
     fn poll(mut self: Pin<&mut Self>) {
+        eprintln!("[nova-plugin] SystemStatsService::poll");
         self.as_mut().poll_mem();
         self.as_mut().poll_temp();
         self.as_mut().poll_gpu();
@@ -142,8 +144,15 @@ impl qobject::SystemStatsService {
     }
 
     fn poll_mem(mut self: Pin<&mut Self>) {
-        let Some(m) = mem::read_meminfo() else { return };
+        let Some(m) = mem::read_meminfo() else {
+            eprintln!("[nova-plugin] poll_mem: read_meminfo returned None");
+            return;
+        };
         let pct = m.percent as i32;
+        eprintln!(
+            "[nova-plugin] poll_mem: pct={pct} used={:.2}gb total={:.2}gb",
+            m.used_gb, m.total_gb
+        );
         self.as_mut().set_mem_percent(pct);
         self.as_mut().set_mem_used_gb(m.used_gb);
         self.as_mut().set_mem_total_gb(m.total_gb);