diff --git a/frontend/package.json b/frontend/package.json
index 2921914..eb67aa0 100644
--- a/frontend/package.json
+++ b/frontend/package.json
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     "react-day-picker": "^10.0.1",
     "react-dom": "^19.2.7",
     "react-resizable-panels": "^4.11.2",
+    "react-router-dom": "^7.18.1",
     "recharts": "3.8.0",
     "shadcn": "^4.12.0",
     "sonner": "^2.0.7",
diff --git a/frontend/src/Landing.tsx b/frontend/src/Landing.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49d22c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/Landing.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,274 @@
+import { useCallback } from 'react';
+import { Link } from 'react-router-dom';
+import {
+  TrophyIcon,
+  ArrowRightIcon,
+  ChevronDownIcon,
+  EyeIcon,
+  GitMergeIcon,
+  UsersIcon,
+  BellIcon,
+  RadioIcon,
+  DatabaseIcon,
+  SparklesIcon,
+  PlayIcon,
+  MicIcon,
+} from 'lucide-react';
+
+/**
+ * Public marketing landing page for podman.live.
+ * Rendered at "/" without ClerkProvider — needs no secrets.
+ * The live app lives at "/app".
+ */
+export function Landing() {
+  const scrollToStory = useCallback(() => {
+    document.getElementById('story')?.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth', block: 'start' });
+  }, []);
+
+  return (
+    <div className="min-h-screen scroll-smooth bg-[#0b0f17] text-white/90 antialiased">
+      {/* ambient glows */}
+      <div className="pointer-events-none fixed inset-0 overflow-hidden">
+        <div className="absolute -top-40 left-1/2 h-[38rem] w-[38rem] -translate-x-1/2 rounded-full bg-indigo-600/20 blur-[120px]" />
+        <div className="absolute top-1/3 -right-32 h-[26rem] w-[26rem] rounded-full bg-cyan-500/10 blur-[110px]" />
+      </div>
+
+      {/* top nav */}
+      <header className="relative z-20 mx-auto flex max-w-6xl items-center justify-between px-6 py-5">
+        <a href="#top" className="flex items-center gap-2.5">
+          <img src="/podman-logo.svg" alt="PodMan" className="h-7 w-7" />
+          <span className="text-[15px] font-semibold tracking-tight text-white">PodMan</span>
+        </a>
+        <Link
+          to="/app"
+          className="inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 rounded-full border border-white/15 bg-white/5 px-4 py-1.5 text-sm font-medium text-white/90 transition-colors hover:bg-white/10"
+        >
+          Launch app <ArrowRightIcon className="size-4" />
+        </Link>
+      </header>
+
+      {/* hero */}
+      <section id="top" className="relative z-10 mx-auto flex max-w-3xl flex-col items-center px-6 pt-16 pb-24 text-center sm:pt-24">
+        <button
+          onClick={scrollToStory}
+          className="group mb-8 inline-flex items-center gap-2 rounded-full border border-amber-300/30 bg-gradient-to-r from-amber-400/15 to-amber-200/5 px-4 py-1.5 text-sm font-medium text-amber-200 transition-colors hover:border-amber-300/50"
+        >
+          <TrophyIcon className="size-4" />
+          Top 3 — AI Engineer World&apos;s Fair Hackathon 2026
+          <ChevronDownIcon className="size-4 transition-transform group-hover:translate-y-0.5" />
+        </button>
+
+        <h1 className="text-5xl font-semibold leading-[1.05] tracking-tight text-white sm:text-7xl">
+          PodMan
+        </h1>
+        <p className="mt-5 bg-gradient-to-r from-indigo-300 via-sky-300 to-cyan-200 bg-clip-text text-2xl font-medium text-transparent sm:text-3xl">
+          The teammate that sees what git can&apos;t.
+        </p>
+        <p className="mx-auto mt-6 max-w-xl text-base leading-relaxed text-white/60 sm:text-lg">
+          An ambient AI teammate that watches your pod&apos;s screens in realtime — catching merge
+          collisions, duplicated work, and missed handoffs before anyone pushes.
+        </p>
+
+        {/* award chips */}
+        <div className="mt-9 flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-2.5">
+          {[
+            { label: '2nd Overall · 95+ teams', accent: 'text-amber-200 border-amber-300/25 bg-amber-400/10' },
+            { label: 'LiveKit Track — Winner', accent: 'text-sky-200 border-sky-300/25 bg-sky-400/10' },
+            { label: 'DigitalOcean — Best Use', accent: 'text-cyan-200 border-cyan-300/25 bg-cyan-400/10' },
+          ].map((c) => (
+            <span
+              key={c.label}
+              className={`rounded-full border px-3.5 py-1.5 text-[13px] font-medium ${c.accent}`}
+            >
+              {c.label}
+            </span>
+          ))}
+        </div>
+
+        {/* CTAs */}
+        <div className="mt-10 flex flex-col items-center gap-3 sm:flex-row">
+          <button
+            onClick={scrollToStory}
+            className="inline-flex h-11 items-center justify-center gap-2 rounded-full bg-gradient-to-r from-indigo-500 to-cyan-400 px-7 text-sm font-semibold text-[#0b0f17] shadow-lg shadow-indigo-500/20 transition-transform hover:scale-[1.02]"
+          >
+            Read the story <ChevronDownIcon className="size-4" />
+          </button>
+          <Link
+            to="/app"
+            className="inline-flex h-11 items-center justify-center gap-2 rounded-full border border-white/15 px-7 text-sm font-semibold text-white/90 transition-colors hover:bg-white/5"
+          >
+            Launch PodMan <ArrowRightIcon className="size-4" />
+          </Link>
+        </div>
+
+        <button
+          onClick={scrollToStory}
+          aria-label="Scroll to read"
+          className="mt-20 animate-bounce text-white/40 transition-colors hover:text-white/70"
+        >
+          <ChevronDownIcon className="size-7" />
+        </button>
+      </section>
+
+      {/* story */}
+      <Section id="story" eyebrow="How it happened" title="Built on stage, in about 24 hours.">
+        <div className="space-y-5 text-[15px] leading-relaxed text-white/70">
+          <p>
+            PodMan was built at the{' '}
+            <span className="text-white">AI Engineer World&apos;s Fair 2026 Hackathon</span> (June
+            27–28) against 95+ teams. It took{' '}
+            <span className="text-amber-200">2nd place overall</span>, and won both the{' '}
+            <span className="text-sky-200">LiveKit</span> track and{' '}
+            <span className="text-cyan-200">DigitalOcean&apos;s Best Use</span> award.
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            We shipped the live demo in a single sprint — a LiveKit room, Gemini watching the
+            screen-share, and a voice that speaks up the moment two engineers drift toward the same
+            code. There wasn&apos;t time on the clock to give it a proper home.
+          </p>
+          <p className="text-white/90">
+            So this is that home — and we&apos;re actively building PodMan out from the hackathon
+            prototype into something a team can actually run every day.
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </Section>
+
+      {/* what it does */}
+      <Section id="what" eyebrow="What it does" title="A teammate in the room, not another dashboard.">
+        <div className="grid gap-4 sm:grid-cols-2">
+          <Feature
+            icon={<EyeIcon className="size-5" />}
+            title="Ambient awareness"
+            body="Joins your pod's LiveKit room and samples every screen-share in realtime — no bots to invoke, no commands to remember."
+          />
+          <Feature
+            icon={<GitMergeIcon className="size-5" />}
+            title="Merge-collision radar"
+            body="Recognizes when two people are converging on the same files or feature and warns them before the conflict ever reaches a push."
+          />
+          <Feature
+            icon={<UsersIcon className="size-5" />}
+            title="Duplicated-work detection"
+            body="Notices when effort overlaps across the team and surfaces it early, so two engineers don't quietly build the same thing."
+          />
+          <Feature
+            icon={<BellIcon className="size-5" />}
+            title="Handoff nudges"
+            body="Speaks up about missed handoffs and stalled threads — and learns which nudges actually helped, so it stays useful, not noisy."
+          />
+        </div>
+      </Section>
+
+      {/* how it works */}
+      <Section id="how" eyebrow="Under the hood" title="Realtime vision, memory, and a voice.">
+        <div className="grid gap-4 sm:grid-cols-3">
+          <Stack icon={<RadioIcon className="size-5" />} name="LiveKit" note="Realtime transport for the shared room and voice delivery." />
+          <Stack icon={<SparklesIcon className="size-5" />} name="Gemini" note="Vision + event detection + the live voice that nudges the team." />
+          <Stack icon={<DatabaseIcon className="size-5" />} name="MongoDB" note="Engineer state, ownership map, events, and which nudges landed." />
+        </div>
+        <div className="mt-6 flex flex-wrap gap-2 text-[13px] text-white/50">
+          {['LiveKit', 'Gemini Live', 'MongoDB Atlas', 'Voyage embeddings', 'Modular MAX', 'Hermes ops'].map((t) => (
+            <span key={t} className="rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-white/[0.03] px-2.5 py-1">
+              {t}
+            </span>
+          ))}
+        </div>
+      </Section>
+
+      {/* demo */}
+      <Section id="demo" eyebrow="See it" title="The 60-second demo.">
+        <div className="overflow-hidden rounded-2xl border border-white/10 bg-black/40 shadow-2xl">
+          <div className="relative w-full" style={{ paddingBottom: '56.25%' }}>
+            <iframe
+              className="absolute inset-0 h-full w-full"
+              src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/bWJIsIWTgr0"
+              title="PodMan demo"
+              allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
+              allowFullScreen
+            />
+          </div>
+        </div>
+        <div className="mt-4 flex items-center gap-2 text-sm text-white/40">
+          <PlayIcon className="size-4" /> Watch the pod get its warning before the collision.
+        </div>
+      </Section>
+
+      {/* final CTA */}
+      <section className="relative z-10 mx-auto max-w-3xl px-6 py-24 text-center">
+        <div className="rounded-3xl border border-white/10 bg-gradient-to-b from-white/[0.06] to-transparent px-8 py-14">
+          <MicIcon className="mx-auto size-8 text-cyan-300" />
+          <h2 className="mt-5 text-3xl font-semibold tracking-tight text-white sm:text-4xl">
+            Put PodMan in your pod.
+          </h2>
+          <p className="mx-auto mt-4 max-w-md text-[15px] leading-relaxed text-white/60">
+            Open a room and let it watch the work. It&apos;s an early build we&apos;re actively
+            shaping — jump in and try it.
+          </p>
+          <Link
+            to="/app"
+            className="mt-8 inline-flex h-12 items-center justify-center gap-2 rounded-full bg-gradient-to-r from-indigo-500 to-cyan-400 px-8 text-sm font-semibold text-[#0b0f17] shadow-lg shadow-indigo-500/20 transition-transform hover:scale-[1.02]"
+          >
+            Launch PodMan <ArrowRightIcon className="size-4" />
+          </Link>
+        </div>
+      </section>
+
+      {/* footer */}
+      <footer className="relative z-10 border-t border-white/10">
+        <div className="mx-auto flex max-w-6xl flex-col items-center justify-between gap-3 px-6 py-8 text-sm text-white/40 sm:flex-row">
+          <div className="flex items-center gap-2">
+            <img src="/podman-logo.svg" alt="" className="h-5 w-5 opacity-70" />
+            <span>PodMan · podman.live</span>
+          </div>
+          <span>Built at AI Engineer World&apos;s Fair 2026 · 2nd Overall</span>
+        </div>
+      </footer>
+    </div>
+  );
+}
+
+function Section({
+  id,
+  eyebrow,
+  title,
+  children,
+}: {
+  id: string;
+  eyebrow: string;
+  title: string;
+  children: React.ReactNode;
+}) {
+  return (
+    <section id={id} className="relative z-10 border-t border-white/[0.06] py-20">
+      <div className="mx-auto max-w-3xl px-6">
+        <p className="text-sm font-medium tracking-wide text-cyan-300/80 uppercase">{eyebrow}</p>
+        <h2 className="mt-3 text-3xl font-semibold tracking-tight text-white sm:text-4xl">{title}</h2>
+        <div className="mt-8">{children}</div>
+      </div>
+    </section>
+  );
+}
+
+function Feature({ icon, title, body }: { icon: React.ReactNode; title: string; body: string }) {
+  return (
+    <div className="rounded-2xl border border-white/10 bg-white/[0.03] p-6 transition-colors hover:border-white/20">
+      <div className="flex size-10 items-center justify-center rounded-xl bg-gradient-to-br from-indigo-500/20 to-cyan-400/20 text-cyan-200">
+        {icon}
+      </div>
+      <h3 className="mt-4 text-lg font-semibold text-white">{title}</h3>
+      <p className="mt-2 text-[14px] leading-relaxed text-white/60">{body}</p>
+    </div>
+  );
+}
+
+function Stack({ icon, name, note }: { icon: React.ReactNode; name: string; note: string }) {
+  return (
+    <div className="rounded-2xl border border-white/10 bg-white/[0.03] p-6">
+      <div className="flex items-center gap-2.5 text-white">
+        <span className="text-cyan-200">{icon}</span>
+        <span className="text-base font-semibold">{name}</span>
+      </div>
+      <p className="mt-3 text-[14px] leading-relaxed text-white/60">{note}</p>
+    </div>
+  );
+}
diff --git a/frontend/src/main.tsx b/frontend/src/main.tsx
index e2082d5..8f63ca7 100644
--- a/frontend/src/main.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/main.tsx
@@ -1,24 +1,53 @@
 import { StrictMode } from 'react';
 import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';
+import { BrowserRouter, Routes, Route } from 'react-router-dom';
 import { ClerkProvider } from '@clerk/react';
 import { shadcn } from '@clerk/ui/themes';
 import App from './App.js';
+import { Landing } from './Landing.js';
 import './index.css';
 import '@clerk/ui/themes/shadcn.css';
 import { TooltipProvider } from '@/components/ui/tooltip';
 
 const clerkPublishableKey = import.meta.env.VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY;
+const hasClerk = typeof clerkPublishableKey === 'string' && clerkPublishableKey.startsWith('pk_');
 
-if (!clerkPublishableKey) {
-  throw new Error('Missing VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY');
-}
-
-createRoot(document.getElementById('root')!).render(
-  <StrictMode>
-    <ClerkProvider publishableKey={clerkPublishableKey} appearance={{ theme: shadcn }}>
+function AppRoute() {
+  if (!hasClerk) {
+    // Secrets not provisioned yet — show a graceful placeholder instead of crashing.
+    return (
+      <div className="flex min-h-screen flex-col items-center justify-center gap-3 bg-[#0b0f17] px-6 text-center text-white/80">
+        <img src="/podman-logo.svg" alt="PodMan" className="h-10 w-10" />
+        <h1 className="text-xl font-semibold text-white">PodMan is deploying</h1>
+        <p className="max-w-sm text-sm text-white/50">
+          The live app is being provisioned. Check back shortly.
+        </p>
+        <a href="/" className="mt-2 text-sm text-cyan-300 hover:underline">
+          ← Back to home
+        </a>
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+  return (
+    <ClerkProvider
+      publishableKey={clerkPublishableKey}
+      appearance={{ theme: shadcn }}
+      afterSignOutUrl="/"
+    >
       <TooltipProvider>
         <App />
       </TooltipProvider>
     </ClerkProvider>
+  );
+}
+
+createRoot(document.getElementById('root')!).render(
+  <StrictMode>
+    <BrowserRouter>
+      <Routes>
+        <Route path="/" element={<Landing />} />
+        <Route path="/app/*" element={<AppRoute />} />
+      </Routes>
+    </BrowserRouter>
   </StrictMode>,
 );
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index ffdb34b..f10ddf3 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -154,6 +154,9 @@ importers:
       react-resizable-panels:
         specifier: ^4.11.2
         version: 4.11.2(react-dom@19.2.7(react@19.2.7))(react@19.2.7)
+      react-router-dom:
+        specifier: ^7.18.1
+        version: 7.18.1(react-dom@19.2.7(react@19.2.7))(react@19.2.7)
       recharts:
         specifier: 3.8.0
         version: 3.8.0(@types/react@19.2.17)(react-dom@19.2.7(react@19.2.7))(react-is@19.2.7)(react@19.2.7)(redux@5.0.1)
@@ -3838,6 +3841,10 @@ packages:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-yki5XnKuf750l50uGTllt6kKILY4nQ1eNIQatoXEByZ5dWgnKqbnqmTrBE5B4N7lrMJKQ2ytWMiTO2o0v6Ew/w==}
     engines: {node: '>= 0.6'}
 
+  cookie@1.1.1:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-ei8Aos7ja0weRpFzJnEA9UHJ/7XQmqglbRwnf2ATjcB9Wq874VKH9kfjjirM6UhU2/E5fFYadylyhFldcqSidQ==}
+    engines: {node: '>=18'}
+
   copy-to-clipboard@3.3.3:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-2KV8NhB5JqC3ky0r9PMCAZKbUHSwtEo4CwCs0KXgruG43gX5PMqDEBbVU4OUzw2MuAWUfsuFmWvEKG5QRfSnJA==}
 
@@ -5784,6 +5791,23 @@ packages:
       react: ^18.0.0 || ^19.0.0
       react-dom: ^18.0.0 || ^19.0.0
 
+  react-router-dom@7.18.1:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-KaZh+X/6UtEp28x51AUYZDMg9NGoz2ja3dNHa+ta/tk40vCzKhQ/RypCWBMLbmDr6//E24Vv5uPsrqXFozdkAg==}
+    engines: {node: '>=20.0.0'}
+    peerDependencies:
+      react: '>=18'
+      react-dom: '>=18'
+
+  react-router@7.18.1:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-GDLgg3i3uM0aeJO3Fm+TCS+sDQ7gu12T6x0qdTEzcwqEfleci7JwugVNIF3U//0FWKnJT7ptG+20B2jfDqnZAg==}
+    engines: {node: '>=20.0.0'}
+    peerDependencies:
+      react: '>=18'
+      react-dom: '>=18'
+    peerDependenciesMeta:
+      react-dom:
+        optional: true
+
   react-style-singleton@2.2.3:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-b6jSvxvVnyptAiLjbkWLE/lOnR4lfTtDAl+eUC7RZy+QQWc6wRzIV2CE6xBuMmDxc2qIihtDCZD5NPOFl7fRBQ==}
     engines: {node: '>=10'}
@@ -5987,6 +6011,9 @@ packages:
   set-blocking@2.0.0:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-KiKBS8AnWGEyLzofFfmvKwpdPzqiy16LvQfK3yv/fVH7Bj13/wl3JSR1J+rfgRE9q7xUJK4qvgS8raSOeLUehw==}
 
+  set-cookie-parser@2.7.2:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-oeM1lpU/UvhTxw+g3cIfxXHyJRc/uidd3yK1P242gzHds0udQBYzs3y8j4gCCW+ZJ7ad0yctld8RYO+bdurlvw==}
+
   set-function-length@1.2.2:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-pgRc4hJ4/sNjWCSS9AmnS40x3bNMDTknHgL5UaMBTMyJnU90EgWh1Rz+MC9eFu4BuN/UwZjKQuY/1v3rM7HMfg==}
     engines: {node: '>= 0.4'}
@@ -10670,6 +10697,8 @@ snapshots:
 
   cookie@0.7.2: {}
 
+  cookie@1.1.1: {}
+
   copy-to-clipboard@3.3.3:
     dependencies:
       toggle-selection: 1.0.6
@@ -12806,6 +12835,20 @@ snapshots:
       react: 19.2.7
       react-dom: 19.2.7(react@19.2.7)
 
+  react-router-dom@7.18.1(react-dom@19.2.7(react@19.2.7))(react@19.2.7):
+    dependencies:
+      react: 19.2.7
+      react-dom: 19.2.7(react@19.2.7)
+      react-router: 7.18.1(react-dom@19.2.7(react@19.2.7))(react@19.2.7)
+
+  react-router@7.18.1(react-dom@19.2.7(react@19.2.7))(react@19.2.7):
+    dependencies:
+      cookie: 1.1.1
+      react: 19.2.7
+      set-cookie-parser: 2.7.2
+    optionalDependencies:
+      react-dom: 19.2.7(react@19.2.7)
+
   react-style-singleton@2.2.3(@types/react@19.2.17)(react@19.2.7):
     dependencies:
       get-nonce: 1.0.1
@@ -13104,6 +13147,8 @@ snapshots:
 
   set-blocking@2.0.0: {}
 
+  set-cookie-parser@2.7.2: {}
+
   set-function-length@1.2.2:
     dependencies:
       define-data-property: 1.1.4