diff --git a/qa/_measure_topbar.mjs b/qa/_measure_topbar.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44b3a48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qa/_measure_topbar.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+// DOM-introspection — measure topbar item count, sizes, overlap.
+import { chromium } from "playwright";
+
+const URL = "https://canvas.flow-master.ai/";
+const b = await chromium.launch({ headless: true });
+const ctx = await b.newContext({ viewport: { width: 1440, height: 900 } });
+const p = await ctx.newPage();
+await ctx.addInitScript(() => localStorage.setItem("fm.canvas.tour.seen", String(Date.now())));
+
+await p.goto(URL, { waitUntil: "domcontentloaded" });
+await p.waitForTimeout(2500);
+
+console.log("=== LOGIN PAGE ===");
+const loginHas = await p.evaluate(() => ({
+  topbar: !!document.querySelector(".topbar"),
+  personaChips: document.querySelectorAll(".persona-chip").length,
+  ssoBtn: !!document.querySelector(".sso-btn"),
+  emailInput: !!document.querySelector("input[type='email']"),
+  banner: document.querySelector(".global-banner, .login-banner")?.textContent?.slice(0, 100) || null,
+}));
+console.log(JSON.stringify(loginHas, null, 2));
+
+console.log("\n=== POST-LOGIN ===");
+await p.locator(".persona-chip").filter({ hasText: /Mariana/ }).click();
+await p.waitForSelector(".topbar", { timeout: 15000 }).catch(() => {});
+await p.waitForTimeout(3000);
+
+const topbar = await p.evaluate(() => {
+  const tb = document.querySelector(".topbar");
+  if (!tb) return null;
+  const items = Array.from(tb.children).map((el) => ({
+    tag: el.tagName.toLowerCase(),
+    class: el.className,
+    text: el.textContent?.trim().slice(0, 50),
+    width: el.getBoundingClientRect().width,
+  }));
+  const tabs = Array.from(tb.querySelectorAll(".tab")).map((el) => el.textContent?.trim());
+  const actions = Array.from(tb.querySelectorAll(".topbar-actions > *")).map((el) => ({
+    tag: el.tagName.toLowerCase(),
+    class: el.className.slice(0, 40),
+    text: el.textContent?.trim().slice(0, 30),
+  }));
+  return {
+    totalWidth: tb.getBoundingClientRect().width,
+    children: items,
+    tabs,
+    actionsCount: actions.length,
+    actions,
+    overflows: tb.scrollWidth > tb.clientWidth,
+  };
+});
+console.log(JSON.stringify(topbar, null, 2));
+
+console.log("\n=== USER MENU ===");
+await p.locator(".user-avatar").first().click().catch(() => {});
+await p.waitForTimeout(800);
+const menu = await p.evaluate(() => {
+  const m = document.querySelector(".user-menu-pop");
+  if (!m) return { open: false };
+  const items = Array.from(m.querySelectorAll(".user-menu-item")).map((el) => el.textContent?.trim().slice(0, 50));
+  return { open: true, items, width: m.getBoundingClientRect().width };
+});
+console.log(JSON.stringify(menu, null, 2));
+
+await b.close();
diff --git a/qa/_probe_dom.mjs b/qa/_probe_dom.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1eef659
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qa/_probe_dom.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import { chromium } from "playwright";
+
+const b = await chromium.launch({ headless: true });
+const ctx = await b.newContext({ viewport: { width: 1440, height: 900 } });
+const p = await ctx.newPage();
+const calls = [];
+p.on("response", async (r) => {
+  const u = r.url();
+  if (u.includes("/api/")) {
+    calls.push({ status: r.status(), method: r.request().method(), url: u.replace("https://canvas.flow-master.ai", "") });
+  }
+});
+p.on("console", (m) => { if (m.type() === "error") console.log("CONSOLE-ERR:", m.text().slice(0, 200)); });
+p.on("pageerror", (e) => console.log("PAGE-ERR:", e.message.slice(0, 200)));
+await ctx.addInitScript(() => localStorage.setItem("fm.canvas.tour.seen", String(Date.now())));
+
+await p.goto("https://canvas.flow-master.ai/", { waitUntil: "domcontentloaded" });
+await p.waitForTimeout(2500);
+await p.locator(".persona-chip").filter({ hasText: /Mariana/ }).click();
+// Live auth can take 6-10s; wait for shell to flip
+await p.waitForFunction(() => !document.querySelector("[class*='shell-login']"), null, { timeout: 30000 }).catch(() => {});
+await p.waitForTimeout(3000);
+
+const state = await p.evaluate(() => {
+  const shell = document.querySelector("[class*='shell-']")?.className;
+  const topbar = document.querySelector("header.topbar");
+  const tabs = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(".tab")).map(t => t.textContent?.trim());
+  const headerByTag = document.querySelector("header")?.outerHTML?.slice(0, 200);
+  return {
+    shell,
+    hasTopbar: !!topbar,
+    headerByTag,
+    tabCount: tabs.length,
+    tabs,
+    sceneText: document.querySelector(".scene")?.innerText?.slice(0, 300) || null,
+  };
+});
+console.log(JSON.stringify(state, null, 2));
+
+await p.screenshot({ path: "/tmp/canvas-evidence/measure.png", fullPage: false });
+console.log("screenshot /tmp/canvas-evidence/measure.png");
+
+console.log("\n=== api calls ===");
+for (const c of calls) console.log(`  ${c.status} ${c.method} ${c.url.slice(0, 100)}`);
+
+await b.close();
diff --git a/src/state/store.ts b/src/state/store.ts
index 652b6d5..a25ff06 100644
--- a/src/state/store.ts
+++ b/src/state/store.ts
@@ -272,7 +272,9 @@ export const useApp = create<AppState>((set, get) => {
           isAuthed: true,
         });
         get().pushToast("ok", `Signed in as ${me.email}`);
-        if (get().mode === "live") await get().refreshLive();
+        // Fire-and-forget the live scenario fetch. Login completion must NOT
+        // block on every EA2 read; the Mission scene re-fetches on mount.
+        void get().refreshLive().catch(() => { /* surfaced via liveError */ });
       } catch (e) {
         get().pushToast("err", `Login failed: ${(e as Error).message.slice(0, 80)}`);
         throw e;