diff --git a/docker/app-dev.sh b/docker/app-dev.sh
index 08de7cb0..dcce5a1c 100755
--- a/docker/app-dev.sh
+++ b/docker/app-dev.sh
@@ -1,22 +1,28 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-# Start the Vite dev server for the compose dev stack, with annotator, media and
-# ui-core rebuilding as they are edited. No install: docker/app.Dockerfile already did it.
+# Start the Vite dev server for the compose dev stack, with browser-inference, annotator,
+# media and ui-core rebuilding as they are edited. No install: docker/app.Dockerfile already
+# did it.
 set -eu
 
-# All three libraries are consumed through their `dist/`, so vite cannot resolve them
+# All four libraries are consumed through their `dist/`, so vite cannot resolve them
 # from source. A blocking build first, because a watcher's first pass is asynchronous and
 # vite would race an empty `dist/`. Topological order matters here (unlike the watch
 # below): ui-core imports @visionset/media, so media must build before ui-core does. The
 # app itself is not built: nothing in dev reads it.
-echo "app-dev: building @visionset/annotator, @visionset/media and @visionset/ui-core"
-pnpm --filter @visionset/annotator --filter @visionset/media --filter @visionset/ui-core build
+# browser-inference also has to build before Vite starts: its ORT artifact directory is
+# served by frontend/app/vite.config.ts rather than being copied into this source tree.
+echo "app-dev: building @visionset/browser-inference, @visionset/annotator, @visionset/media and @visionset/ui-core"
+pnpm --filter @visionset/browser-inference --filter @visionset/annotator --filter @visionset/media --filter @visionset/ui-core build
 
 # tsup's watcher is chokidar underneath, so it already honours CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING from
-# compose.yaml — no polling flags to pass here, unlike tsc before #839. `--watch` alone;
-# tsup accepts no `--preserveWatchOutput`/`--watchFile`/`--watchDirectory` (those were
-# tsc's) and rejects unknown flags outright.
-echo "app-dev: starting watch builds for annotator + media + ui-core"
-pnpm --filter @visionset/annotator --filter @visionset/media --filter @visionset/ui-core --parallel run build --watch &
+# compose.yaml — no polling flags to pass here, unlike tsc before #839. Every package's
+# regular build uses `clean: true`, which is correct for the blocking build above but
+# wrong for a long-lived watcher: Vite may resolve a library between its clean and emit,
+# or read browser-inference's ORT directory before its copy script restores it. Watch
+# tsup directly with cleaning disabled. The blocking build provides a clean output and
+# browser-inference's immutable ORT assets only change when its configuration is rebuilt.
+echo "app-dev: starting watch builds for browser-inference + annotator + media + ui-core"
+pnpm --filter @visionset/browser-inference --filter @visionset/annotator --filter @visionset/media --filter @visionset/ui-core --parallel exec tsup --watch --clean=false &
 WATCH_PID=$!
 
 # Backgrounded rather than `exec`, so this shell stays PID 1 and keeps the trap.
diff --git a/docker/app.Dockerfile b/docker/app.Dockerfile
index 056409bd..6269b088 100644
--- a/docker/app.Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/app.Dockerfile
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ WORKDIR /workspace
 # Manifests and lockfile only, so a source edit does not re-run the install.
 COPY pnpm-workspace.yaml pnpm-lock.yaml package.json ./
 COPY frontend/annotator/package.json ./frontend/annotator/
+COPY frontend/browser-inference/package.json ./frontend/browser-inference/
 COPY frontend/ui-core/package.json ./frontend/ui-core/
 COPY frontend/media/package.json ./frontend/media/
 COPY frontend/app/package.json ./frontend/app/
@@ -37,8 +38,12 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/pnpm-store \
 # purpose (Playwright, which this image never runs). tsup.config.ts is required too:
 # app-dev.sh builds these packages with tsup (#839), and it reads no CLI entry, so
 # without the config file on disk it fails with "No input files". ui-core imports
-# @visionset/media (#847), so it needs the same treatment.
+# @visionset/media (#847), and app's Vite configuration reads the ORT assets that
+# @visionset/browser-inference emits, so both need the same treatment.
 COPY frontend/annotator/tsconfig*.json frontend/annotator/tsup.config.ts ./frontend/annotator/
+COPY frontend/browser-inference/tsconfig*.json frontend/browser-inference/tsup.config.ts ./frontend/browser-inference/
+COPY frontend/browser-inference/scripts ./frontend/browser-inference/scripts
+COPY frontend/browser-inference/src ./frontend/browser-inference/src
 COPY frontend/ui-core/tsconfig*.json frontend/ui-core/tsup.config.ts ./frontend/ui-core/
 COPY frontend/media/tsconfig*.json frontend/media/tsup.config.ts ./frontend/media/
 COPY frontend/app/tsconfig.json frontend/app/vite.config.ts frontend/app/index.html ./frontend/app/
diff --git a/docker/compose.yaml b/docker/compose.yaml
index 38c2c976..22f70454 100644
--- a/docker/compose.yaml
+++ b/docker/compose.yaml
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ services:
       # image's node_modules. Manifests, tsconfigs, vite.config.ts and index.html are
       # baked into the image, so editing one needs `build`.
       - ../frontend/annotator/src:/workspace/frontend/annotator/src
+      - ../frontend/browser-inference/src:/workspace/frontend/browser-inference/src
       - ../frontend/media/src:/workspace/frontend/media/src
       - ../frontend/ui-core/src:/workspace/frontend/ui-core/src
       - ../frontend/app/src:/workspace/frontend/app/src
diff --git a/tests/scripts/compose_browser_inference.test.mjs b/tests/scripts/compose_browser_inference.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..990c6806
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/scripts/compose_browser_inference.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+// Run with: pnpm test:scripts  (also part of the root `pnpm test`)
+//
+// The Compose app image starts Vite, whose configuration serves the ORT assets emitted
+// by @visionset/browser-inference. That package is consumed through `dist/`, so merely
+// installing its dependencies is insufficient: the image needs its build inputs and
+// app-dev.sh must build it before Vite reads the configuration.
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
+import { test } from "node:test";
+
+const ROOT = join(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "..", "..");
+const read = (...parts) => readFileSync(join(ROOT, ...parts), "utf8");
+
+test("the Compose app image builds browser-inference before Vite starts", () => {
+  const dockerfile = read("docker", "app.Dockerfile");
+  const devScript = read("docker", "app-dev.sh");
+  const compose = read("docker", "compose.yaml");
+
+  assert.match(
+    dockerfile,
+    /^COPY frontend\/browser-inference\/package\.json \.\/frontend\/browser-inference\/$/m,
+    "docker/app.Dockerfile must copy browser-inference's manifest before pnpm install",
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    dockerfile,
+    /^COPY frontend\/browser-inference\/src \.\/frontend\/browser-inference\/src$/m,
+    "docker/app.Dockerfile must bake browser-inference's build source into the app image",
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    dockerfile,
+    /^COPY frontend\/browser-inference\/scripts \.\/frontend\/browser-inference\/scripts$/m,
+    "docker/app.Dockerfile must bake browser-inference's ORT-copy build script into the app image",
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    dockerfile,
+    /^COPY frontend\/browser-inference\/tsconfig\*\.json frontend\/browser-inference\/tsup\.config\.ts \.\/frontend\/browser-inference\/$/m,
+    "docker/app.Dockerfile must bake browser-inference's tsup configuration into the app image",
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    devScript,
+    /pnpm --filter @visionset\/browser-inference(?:\s|$).* build/m,
+    "docker/app-dev.sh must build browser-inference before starting Vite",
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    devScript,
+    /pnpm --filter @visionset\/browser-inference --filter @visionset\/annotator --filter @visionset\/media --filter @visionset\/ui-core --parallel exec tsup --watch --clean=false/m,
+    "docker/app-dev.sh must watch every library without clearing its dist output",
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    compose,
+    /^\s*- \.\.\/frontend\/browser-inference\/src:\/workspace\/frontend\/browser-inference\/src$/m,
+    "docker/compose.yaml must mount browser-inference source for the watcher",
+  );
+});