diff --git a/.devcontainer/WELCOME.txt b/.devcontainer/WELCOME.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2aed6aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/WELCOME.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+
+██████╗ ██████╗ ██╗   ██╗██╗  ██╗████████╗     ██╗███████╗
+██╔══██╗██╔══██╗██║   ██║╚██╗██╔╝╚══██╔══╝     ██║██╔════╝
+██║  ██║██████╔╝██║   ██║ ╚███╔╝    ██║        ██║███████╗
+██║  ██║██╔══██╗██║   ██║ ██╔██╗    ██║   ██   ██║╚════██║
+██████╔╝██║  ██║╚██████╔╝██╔╝ ██╗   ██║██╗╚█████╔╝███████║
+╚═════╝ ╚═╝  ╚═╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═╝  ╚═╝   ╚═╝╚═╝ ╚════╝ ╚══════╝
+
+Welcome to the Druxt serverless starterkit.
+
+Dependencies are installed, and the Drupal backend is provisioned and
+running on port 8888. This site builds to full static output, so Drupal
+only matters at build time - nothing needs to be running once it ships.
+
+Pick a task:
+
+  npm run dev             Nuxt dev server (port 3000)
+  npm run generate        Build the full static site into nuxt/dist
+  npm run info            What is running, and where
+
+  npm run start           Restart the backend (npm run stop halts it)
+  npm run login           Print a one-time Drupal login link
+  npm run reset           Wipe the database (npm run setup provisions it again)
+
+  npm run drush -- <cmd>  Run Drush, e.g. npm run drush -- core:status
+
+Both ports above are forwarded automatically.
+
+Happy building.
diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
index b6abbf8..acd4406 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@
     }
   },
   "customizations": {
+    // Codespaces opens the welcome guide on first attach; other clients get it
+    // from the shell rc hook post-create.sh installs.
+    "codespaces": {
+      "openFiles": [".devcontainer/WELCOME.txt"]
+    },
     "vscode": {
       "settings": {
         // Absolute path to where the mise feature installs the binary
@@ -79,5 +84,6 @@
     }
   },
   "postCreateCommand": "bash .devcontainer/post-create.sh",
+  "postStartCommand": "bash .devcontainer/post-start.sh",
   "remoteUser": "vscode"
 }
diff --git a/.devcontainer/post-create.sh b/.devcontainer/post-create.sh
index ffdabaf..dca8cd4 100755
--- a/.devcontainer/post-create.sh
+++ b/.devcontainer/post-create.sh
@@ -57,6 +57,25 @@ echo 'extension=gd' | sudo tee "$CONF_DIR/gd.ini" > /dev/null
 php -r "exit(extension_loaded('gd') ? 0 : 1);" || { echo "gd extension failed to load" >&2; exit 1; }
 
 
+echo "==> Greeting new terminals with the welcome guide"
+# postAttachCommand output goes to whatever launched the container - DevPod
+# prints it to its own CLI log, outside the container - so someone opening a
+# terminal never sees it. The shell's own rc file is the only place that
+# reliably reaches them.
+#
+# Both rc files, because the base image ships bash and zsh and which one a
+# terminal opens depends on the client. Every interactive shell, not once: a
+# one-shot marker gets spent by whichever shell the editor opens first, which
+# is rarely the one the user is looking at.
+for rc in "$HOME/.bashrc" "$HOME/.zshrc"; do
+  cat >> "$rc" <<SH
+
+case \$- in
+  *i*) cat "$(pwd)/.devcontainer/WELCOME.txt" ;;
+esac
+SH
+done
+
 echo "==> Trusting this repo's mise.toml"
 mise trust
 
@@ -66,3 +85,6 @@ echo "==> Running npm install (triggers the full setup pipeline)"
 # app's pinned Node 16 works fine but emits a wall of EBADENGINE
 # warnings that drowns the real setup output on first run.
 npm install --loglevel=error
+
+echo "==> Ready"
+cat .devcontainer/WELCOME.txt
diff --git a/.devcontainer/post-start.sh b/.devcontainer/post-start.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..40ea80a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/post-start.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Start the Drupal backend on every container start. Without this, stopping and
+# resuming a container leaves the frontend pointing at a backend that is no
+# longer listening, which looks like a broken install rather than a stopped
+# process.
+#
+# Skipped, with a pointer, when the site was never provisioned (a post-create
+# that failed part way), so one broken create does not also fail every start.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+cd drupal
+if [ ! -f web/sites/default/settings.local.php ]; then
+  echo "The Drupal backend is not provisioned. Run: npm run setup" >&2
+  exit 0
+fi
+.devtools/start