diff --git a/vibn-frontend/app/[workspace]/project/[projectId]/(home)/preview/page.tsx b/vibn-frontend/app/[workspace]/project/[projectId]/(home)/preview/page.tsx
index 99ea784..02a9077 100644
--- a/vibn-frontend/app/[workspace]/project/[projectId]/(home)/preview/page.tsx
+++ b/vibn-frontend/app/[workspace]/project/[projectId]/(home)/preview/page.tsx
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ function sandboxIframe(src: string, origin: string): boolean {
   }
 }
 
-/** Elapsed time since an ISO string, formatted as "1m 23s". */
+/** Elapsed time since an ISO string, formatted as "1m 23s". Capped at 59m 59s. */
 function useElapsed(sinceIso: string | undefined) {
   const [elapsed, setElapsed] = useState("");
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -29,7 +29,11 @@ function useElapsed(sinceIso: string | undefined) {
       if (ms < 0) return;
       const s = Math.floor(ms / 1000);
       const m = Math.floor(s / 60);
-      setElapsed(m > 0 ? `${m}m ${s % 60}s` : `${s}s`);
+      if (m > 59) {
+        setElapsed("> 1h");
+      } else {
+        setElapsed(m > 0 ? `${m}m ${s % 60}s` : `${s}s`);
+      }
     };
     update();
     const id = setInterval(update, 1000);
@@ -56,8 +60,14 @@ export default function PreviewTab() {
     (p) => p.port === 3000 && p.state === "running",
   );
   // Also track a starting entry so we show the warm-up state instead of blank.
+  // Ignore ghosts older than 15 minutes.
   const primaryStarting = !primaryRunning
-    ? previews.find((p) => p.port === 3000 && p.state === "starting")
+    ? previews.find(
+        (p) =>
+          p.port === 3000 &&
+          p.state === "starting" &&
+          Date.now() - new Date(p.startedAt).getTime() < 15 * 60 * 1000,
+      )
     : undefined;
 
   // Derive in-flight / recently-failed build from prod apps.
diff --git a/vibn-frontend/app/api/projects/[projectId]/dev-server/ensure/route.ts b/vibn-frontend/app/api/projects/[projectId]/dev-server/ensure/route.ts
index baa8221..d2ad713 100644
--- a/vibn-frontend/app/api/projects/[projectId]/dev-server/ensure/route.ts
+++ b/vibn-frontend/app/api/projects/[projectId]/dev-server/ensure/route.ts
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ export async function POST(
     return NextResponse.json({ error: "Project not found" }, { status: 404 });
   }
 
-  // 1. Is a dev server already running or starting?
+  // 1. Is a dev server already running or starting on the primary port?
   const running = await queryOne<{
     id: string;
     state: string;
@@ -63,7 +63,12 @@ export async function POST(
   }>(
     `SELECT id, state, preview_url, command, port
        FROM fs_dev_servers
-      WHERE project_id = $1 AND state IN ('running', 'starting')
+      WHERE project_id = $1
+        AND port = 3000
+        AND (
+          state = 'running' OR
+          (state = 'starting' AND started_at > NOW() - INTERVAL '15 minutes')
+        )
       ORDER BY started_at DESC LIMIT 1`,
     [projectId],
   );
@@ -78,6 +83,7 @@ export async function POST(
   }
 
   // 2. Do we have a previous config to restart from?
+  //    (Limit to port 3000 since that's what the preview pane embeds)
   const last = await queryOne<{
     command: string;
     port: number;
@@ -85,7 +91,7 @@ export async function POST(
   }>(
     `SELECT command, port, preview_url
        FROM fs_dev_servers
-      WHERE project_id = $1
+      WHERE project_id = $1 AND port = 3000
       ORDER BY started_at DESC LIMIT 1`,
     [projectId],
   );