diff --git a/src/public/index.html b/src/public/index.html
index 8a79ef3..aaf1642 100644
--- a/src/public/index.html
+++ b/src/public/index.html
@@ -540,8 +540,16 @@ <h1>Episode<span>Guard</span><span class="version-badge" id="version-badge"></sp
         if (currentView === 'dashboard') prependDashboardRow(row);
       } catch {}
     };
-    sseSource.onopen  = () => { const d=document.getElementById('live-dot'); if(d)d.classList.remove('paused'); };
-    sseSource.onerror = () => { const d=document.getElementById('live-dot'); if(d)d.classList.add('paused'); };
+    sseSource.onopen  = () => {
+      const d=document.getElementById('live-dot'); if(d)d.classList.remove('paused');
+      const empty=document.getElementById('live-feed')?.querySelector('.live-empty');
+      if(empty) empty.textContent='Connected. Waiting for new events...';
+    };
+    sseSource.onerror = () => {
+      const d=document.getElementById('live-dot'); if(d)d.classList.add('paused');
+      const empty=document.getElementById('live-feed')?.querySelector('.live-empty');
+      if(empty) empty.textContent='Disconnected. Reconnecting...';
+    };
   }
 
   function initLiveFeed() {
diff --git a/src/routes/api.js b/src/routes/api.js
index d2c4a20..38e20fb 100644
--- a/src/routes/api.js
+++ b/src/routes/api.js
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ router.get('/logs/stream', (req, res) => {
   res.setHeader('Content-Type',  'text/event-stream');
   res.setHeader('Cache-Control', 'no-cache');
   res.setHeader('Connection',    'keep-alive');
+  res.setHeader('X-Accel-Buffering', 'no'); // stop nginx/proxy buffering so SSE streams immediately
   res.flushHeaders();
 
   // Seed with events from the last 10 minutes only