diff --git a/docker/frontend/public/sw.js b/docker/frontend/public/sw.js
index 0075c57..be4eb50 100644
--- a/docker/frontend/public/sw.js
+++ b/docker/frontend/public/sw.js
@@ -37,9 +37,15 @@ const cachedFetch = (request) =>
     return response;
   });
 
-// Offline, the studio the app is for; the landing page for a build without /app.
-const offlineShell = async () =>
-  (await caches.match('/app')) ?? (await caches.match('/')) ?? Response.error();
+// Offline, the route that was asked for if this browser has ever been on it, then
+// the studio the app is for, then the landing page for a build without /app. The
+// route first because that is the copy a visit keeps up to date: the other two may
+// be shells of a build the deploy has replaced.
+const offlineShell = async (request) =>
+  (await caches.match(new Request(new URL(request.url).pathname))) ??
+  (await caches.match('/app')) ??
+  (await caches.match('/')) ??
+  Response.error();
 
 self.addEventListener('install', (event) => {
   // Best effort, one route at a time: a deploy caught mid-flight must not leave the
@@ -73,12 +79,28 @@ self.addEventListener('fetch', (event) => {
   // `no-store` because a plain fetch is not the network: it may be answered by the
   // browser's own cache, which is the other place a stale shell hides.
   if (request.mode === 'navigate') {
-    event.respondWith(fetch(request, { cache: 'no-store' }).catch(offlineShell));
+    event.respondWith(
+      fetch(request, { cache: 'no-store' })
+        .then((response) => {
+          // The shell kept for offline is the one the server handed over last, not
+          // the one this worker installed with: a navigation that fails — a deploy
+          // recreating the container is the ordinary way one does — otherwise
+          // answers with the build of the first visit, `activate` never runs to
+          // replace it while this worker's bytes stay the same, and the browser
+          // runs an old build until a reload happens to land after the server is
+          // back. Stored under the route the navigation asked for, which is one of
+          // the three SHELL keys — a navigation request is not a key a cache takes.
+          if (response.ok) {
+            const copy = response.clone();
+            const key = new Request(new URL(request.url).pathname);
+            caches.open(VERSION).then((cache) => cache.put(key, copy)).catch(() => {});
+          }
+          return response;
+        })
+        .catch(() => offlineShell(request))
+    );
     return;
   }
-
-  // ponytail: a navigation is never written back, the precached entry is what
-  // answers offline. Add a put() here once a route must survive on its own.
   if (STATIC.test(url.pathname)) {
     event.respondWith(caches.match(request).then((hit) => hit ?? cachedFetch(request)));
     return;
diff --git a/docker/frontend/src/Library.tsx b/docker/frontend/src/Library.tsx
index 774be3d..875252c 100644
--- a/docker/frontend/src/Library.tsx
+++ b/docker/frontend/src/Library.tsx
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
   listEditedIds,
   listFolders,
   normPath,
+  onLibraryBlocked,
   pickFolder,
   readPhotoFile,
   readPhotos,
@@ -376,6 +377,15 @@ function Catalogue() {
   // the folders and cannot tell whether the remembered subfolder still exists.
   const [loaded, setLoaded] = useState(false);
 
+  // Whether another tab still holds the library database at the version it was
+  // opened with — a tab left open across a build. Nothing can be read until it
+  // goes, and the screen would otherwise sit blank with no reason on it.
+  const [libraryBlocked, setLibraryBlocked] = useState(false);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    onLibraryBlocked(setLibraryBlocked);
+    return () => onLibraryBlocked(null);
+  }, []);
+
   // The folder the catalogue is copied into, and whether the browser is still
   // letting this page write to it — which it stops doing when the tab closes, so
   // the row below says so rather than letting a write fail quietly. The ref is
@@ -1614,6 +1624,12 @@ function Catalogue() {
               ) : null}
             </div>
 
+            {libraryBlocked ? (
+              <p className="hint adm-note" data-key="lib-blocked">
+                {t('lib.blocked')}
+              </p>
+            ) : null}
+
             {/* The folders are on their way in for as long as the catalogue behind
                 them is being read back, and a screen that says there is no folder
                 before it has looked is a screen that says it every visit. */}
diff --git a/docker/frontend/src/engine/library.ts b/docker/frontend/src/engine/library.ts
index a3a2213..b25ec18 100644
--- a/docker/frontend/src/engine/library.ts
+++ b/docker/frontend/src/engine/library.ts
@@ -213,9 +213,21 @@ async function migrateLegacyDatabase(db: IDBDatabase): Promise<void> {
 
 let dbPromise: Promise<IDBDatabase> | null = null;
 
+// One library database per browser, so every tab shares it — and a tab left open
+// across a build holds it at the version it was opened with. The browser answers
+// the newer tab's open with silence until that tab goes: no error, no rows, no
+// note, a LIBRARY that has simply not loaded and never says why. The wait is
+// reported instead, and it ends by itself when the other tab is closed or reloaded.
+let blockedSink: ((blocked: boolean) => void) | null = null;
+
+export function onLibraryBlocked(fn: ((blocked: boolean) => void) | null): void {
+  blockedSink = fn;
+}
+
 function openDb(): Promise<IDBDatabase> {
   dbPromise ??= new Promise<IDBDatabase>((resolve, reject) => {
     const req = indexedDB.open(DB_NAME, DB_VERSION);
+    req.onblocked = () => blockedSink?.(true);
     req.onupgradeneeded = () => {
       const db = req.result;
       if (!db.objectStoreNames.contains(FOLDERS)) db.createObjectStore(FOLDERS, { keyPath: 'name' });
@@ -230,6 +242,7 @@ function openDb(): Promise<IDBDatabase> {
       if (!db.objectStoreNames.contains(EDITS)) db.createObjectStore(EDITS, { keyPath: 'photoId' });
     };
     req.onsuccess = () => {
+      blockedSink?.(false);
       const db = req.result;
       void migrateLegacyDatabase(db).then(() => resolve(db));
     };
diff --git a/docker/frontend/src/i18n/en.ts b/docker/frontend/src/i18n/en.ts
index 8039f8a..c74429a 100644
--- a/docker/frontend/src/i18n/en.ts
+++ b/docker/frontend/src/i18n/en.ts
@@ -296,6 +296,8 @@ export const en: Dict = {
   'lib.scanned': 'Scanned {folder}: {added}/{total} new frames.',
   'lib.empty': 'Nothing in this folder yet.',
   'lib.noFolders': 'No folder yet. Hit ADD FOLDER and pick a photo folder on this machine.',
+  'lib.blocked':
+    'Another tab of this app is holding the library open from an older build. Close that tab, or reload it, and this one picks the library up.',
   'lib.missing': 'Could not open {name} — the file has been moved or deleted.',
   'lib.failed': 'That folder could not be read.',
   'lib.unsupported':
diff --git a/docker/frontend/src/i18n/vi.ts b/docker/frontend/src/i18n/vi.ts
index 1f93090..bafd521 100644
--- a/docker/frontend/src/i18n/vi.ts
+++ b/docker/frontend/src/i18n/vi.ts
@@ -309,6 +309,8 @@ export const vi = {
   'lib.scanned': 'Đã quét {folder}: {added}/{total} ảnh mới.',
   'lib.empty': 'Chưa có ảnh nào trong thư mục này.',
   'lib.noFolders': 'Chưa có thư mục nào. Bấm THÊM THƯ MỤC để chọn một thư mục ảnh trên máy.',
+  'lib.blocked':
+    'Một tab khác của ứng dụng đang giữ thư viện ở bản cũ hơn. Hãy đóng tab đó, hoặc tải lại nó, để tab này mở được thư viện.',
   'lib.missing': 'Không mở được {name} — tệp đã bị di chuyển hoặc xoá.',
   'lib.failed': 'Không đọc được thư mục này.',
   'lib.unsupported':