diff --git a/app/pages/login.vue b/app/pages/login.vue
index ecc1674..5776ec7 100644
--- a/app/pages/login.vue
+++ b/app/pages/login.vue
@@ -8,21 +8,33 @@ import { buildIssuerLoginUrl } from '~~/shared/utils/ssoHandoff'
  * monorepo that path resolved to the website's login form. Since the split it
  * resolved to nothing, so signing out dropped the user on a 404.
  */
-const route = useRoute()
-const config = useRuntimeConfig()
+definePageMeta({
+  layout: false,
+  // Forwarding from middleware, not from setup: an `await navigateTo()` in
+  // setup aborts the render it suspends, which leaves a cold load sitting on a
+  // blank page instead of moving it along.
+  middleware: [
+    (to) => {
+      const config = useRuntimeConfig()
+      const issuer = String(config.public.authIssuer || '').replace(/\/+$/, '')
+      const raw = String(to.query.redirect || '/')
+      // Only same-origin paths — never bounce onward to an absolute URL from the query.
+      const target = raw.startsWith('/') && !raw.startsWith('//') ? raw : '/'
 
-definePageMeta({ layout: false })
+      if (issuer) {
+        return navigateTo(buildIssuerLoginUrl(issuer, window.location.origin, target), {
+          external: true,
+        })
+      }
 
-const issuer = String(config.public.authIssuer || '').replace(/\/+$/, '')
-const raw = String(route.query.redirect || '/')
-// Only same-origin paths — never bounce onward to an absolute URL from the query.
-const target = raw.startsWith('/') && !raw.startsWith('//') ? raw : '/'
-
-if (issuer) {
-  await navigateTo(buildIssuerLoginUrl(issuer, window.location.origin, target), { external: true })
-}
-else {
-  // AUTH_MODE=open: no login exists at all, every request is the local identity.
-  await navigateTo(target, { replace: true })
-}
+      // AUTH_MODE=open: no login exists at all, every request is the local identity.
+      return navigateTo(target, { replace: true })
+    },
+  ],
+})
 </script>
+
+<template>
+  <!-- Never seen: the middleware above forwards before this page renders. -->
+  <div />
+</template>
diff --git a/app/pages/start.vue b/app/pages/start.vue
index a3b01c2..6461d97 100644
--- a/app/pages/start.vue
+++ b/app/pages/start.vue
@@ -1,12 +1,22 @@
 <script setup lang="ts">
-const route = useRoute()
-
-definePageMeta({ layout: false })
-
 // This page was /start in the monorepo and became the app's front page in the
 // split (see index.vue). Bookmarks, the website's redirect and every link that
 // predates the split still point at /start, so catch it here instead of
 // showing a 404 — the app should not depend on the website being redeployed
 // for its own old URLs to work.
-await navigateTo({ path: '/', query: route.query }, { replace: true })
+definePageMeta({
+  layout: false,
+  // The redirect has to happen in middleware, not in setup. `await navigateTo()`
+  // inside setup suspends the very first render, and the navigation it waits on
+  // aborts that render: the URL flips to `/` but nothing is ever painted, so the
+  // visitor sits on a blank page until they reload. Middleware runs before the
+  // page renders at all, which is the only place a pure redirect route belongs.
+  middleware: [to => navigateTo({ path: '/', query: to.query }, { replace: true })],
+})
 </script>
+
+<template>
+  <!-- Never seen: the middleware above redirects before this page renders. It
+       exists so a component without a template can never be what is on screen. -->
+  <div />
+</template>