diff --git a/PHASE2-FINDINGS.md b/PHASE2-FINDINGS.md
index 2bb4b9031..9e549fab1 100644
--- a/PHASE2-FINDINGS.md
+++ b/PHASE2-FINDINGS.md
@@ -213,6 +213,34 @@ payload to a stub hook that is byte-identical for profiling and production build
 that probe returns a false negative for both. Confirm the Profiler tab with the real
 extension.
 
+## Where the re-render churn actually comes from
+
+`scripts/benchmarks/measure-rerenders.mts` counts React commits on a board nobody is
+touching, and attributes each commit to the shallowest component that re-rendered — the
+point where the update entered the tree.
+
+**An idle board commits 73–96 times per minute**, and in 60 s `@mantine/core/Box`
+re-renders over 30,000 times. That is the churn behind the 650 MB peak: it is transient
+allocation, not retention.
+
+Roughly 80% of those commits enter at the *same place*: an anonymous provider at depth 2
+whose props are `[value, children]` and whose value is `{appDir}` — Next.js's internal
+`HeadManagerContext`. Its value is a fresh object literal on every App Router render, so
+each one re-renders the entire application below it. The remainder enter around
+`__next_metadata_boundary__` / `<title>`, which points the same way.
+
+So the dominant cost is the **App Router root re-rendering about once a second**, not any
+individual widget. No polling `router.refresh()` exists in application code, so the
+trigger is inside Next's own router/metadata handling and is not fixed by anything in
+this PR. That is the next thing to chase, and it is worth more than any further
+component-level tuning: everything else is downstream of it.
+
+`useTimeAgo` was calling `setState` every second even when the rendered label was
+unchanged ("3 minutes ago" holds for a minute), so it now compares before setting. This
+is a correctness fix — idle commits stayed within their 73–96 range afterwards, because
+the app-root churn dominates and this hook is not what drives it. Recorded as *not* a
+measured win.
+
 ## Measured but not pursued
 
 | lever | measured cost | why not pursued |
diff --git a/packages/common/src/hooks.ts b/packages/common/src/hooks.ts
index 969c04c43..ecae6faa0 100644
--- a/packages/common/src/hooks.ts
+++ b/packages/common/src/hooks.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,14 @@ export const useTimeAgo = (timestamp: Date, updateFrequency = 1000) => {
   }, [timestamp]);
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    const intervalId = setInterval(() => setTimeAgo(calculateTimeAgo(timestamp)), updateFrequency);
+    // Only re-render when the rendered text actually changes. The label is coarse
+    // ("3 minutes ago" holds for a whole minute) but the timer ticks every second,
+    // so setting state unconditionally re-rendered the subtree ~60x/minute per
+    // consumer for an identical string.
+    const intervalId = setInterval(() => {
+      const next = calculateTimeAgo(timestamp);
+      setTimeAgo((previous) => (previous === next ? previous : next));
+    }, updateFrequency);
 
     return () => clearInterval(intervalId); // clear interval on hook unmount
   }, [timestamp, updateFrequency]);
diff --git a/scripts/benchmarks/measure-rerenders.mts b/scripts/benchmarks/measure-rerenders.mts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bfbb394e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/benchmarks/measure-rerenders.mts
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+/**
+ * Counts React commits and per-component re-renders on an idle board.
+ *
+ * The 650 MB browser heap was mostly transient allocation, i.e. re-render churn rather
+ * than retention, so the number that matters is how often components re-render while
+ * nobody is touching the page. Hooks into the devtools commit callback and attributes
+ * each commit to the components that actually re-rendered in it.
+ *
+ *   STRESS_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:PORT \
+ *   node --experimental-strip-types scripts/benchmarks/measure-rerenders.mts
+ */
+import { chromium } from "@playwright/test";
+
+const baseUrl = process.env.STRESS_BASE_URL;
+if (!baseUrl) throw new Error("STRESS_BASE_URL is required");
+const username = process.env.STRESS_USERNAME ?? "demo";
+const password = process.env.STRESS_PASSWORD ?? "demodemo";
+const boardName = process.env.STRESS_BOARD ?? "default";
+const observeMs = Number(process.env.RERENDER_OBSERVE_MS ?? 60_000);
+
+const browser = await chromium.launch();
+const context = await browser.newContext({ viewport: { width: 1920, height: 1080 } });
+
+await context.addInitScript(() => {
+  const state = { commits: 0, byComponent: new Map<string, number>(), roots: new Map<string, number>(), started: 0 };
+  (globalThis as unknown as Record<string, unknown>).__homarrRenderStats = state;
+
+  const nameOf = (fiber: { type?: unknown; elementType?: unknown }) => {
+    const type = (fiber.type ?? fiber.elementType) as
+      | string
+      | { displayName?: string; name?: string }
+      | null
+      | undefined;
+    if (typeof type === "string") return `<${type}>`;
+    if (typeof type === "function" || (type && typeof type === "object")) {
+      return (
+        (type as { displayName?: string; name?: string }).displayName ??
+        (type as { name?: string }).name ??
+        "(anonymous)"
+      );
+    }
+    return null;
+  };
+
+  (globalThis as unknown as Record<string, unknown>).__REACT_DEVTOOLS_GLOBAL_HOOK__ = {
+    renderers: new Map(),
+    supportsFiber: true,
+    inject: () => 1,
+    onCommitFiberUnmount: () => undefined,
+    onPostCommitFiberRoot: () => undefined,
+    onCommitFiberRoot: (_id: unknown, root: { current?: unknown }) => {
+      if (!state.started) return;
+      state.commits++;
+      // Walk only fibers React flagged as updated in this commit.
+      const seen = new Set<unknown>();
+      // Shallowest re-rendering component in this commit — i.e. where the update
+      // entered the tree. Everything below it re-rendered as a consequence.
+      let shallowest: { name: string; depth: number; fiber: Record<string, unknown> } | null = null;
+      const walk = (fiber: Record<string, unknown> | null | undefined, depth: number) => {
+        if (!fiber || seen.has(fiber) || depth > 2000) return;
+        seen.add(fiber);
+        const alternate = fiber.alternate as Record<string, unknown> | null;
+        // A fiber re-rendered if it committed new work over a previous version.
+        if (alternate && fiber.actualDuration !== undefined && (fiber.actualDuration as number) > 0) {
+          const name = nameOf(fiber as never);
+          if (name) {
+            state.byComponent.set(name, (state.byComponent.get(name) ?? 0) + 1);
+            if (!shallowest || depth < shallowest.depth) shallowest = { name, depth, fiber };
+          }
+        }
+        walk(fiber.child as never, depth + 1);
+        walk(fiber.sibling as never, depth);
+      };
+      walk((root.current ?? null) as never, 0);
+      if (shallowest) {
+        const found = shallowest as { name: string; depth: number; fiber?: Record<string, unknown> };
+        // Anonymous components are common; the ancestor chain identifies them.
+        const chain: string[] = [];
+        let up = found.fiber?.return as Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
+        for (let i = 0; i < 8 && up; i++, up = up.return as Record<string, unknown> | undefined) {
+          const name = nameOf(up as never);
+          if (name) chain.push(name);
+        }
+        // At the very top the ancestor chain is empty, so describe it by what it
+        // renders and which props it takes instead.
+        const descendants: string[] = [];
+        let down = found.fiber?.child as Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
+        for (let i = 0; i < 6 && down; i++, down = down.child as Record<string, unknown> | undefined) {
+          const name = nameOf(down as never);
+          if (name) descendants.push(name);
+        }
+        const props = Object.keys((found.fiber?.memoizedProps as object) ?? {}).slice(0, 8);
+        // For a Context.Provider the value's shape names the context far better
+        // than a minified component name does.
+        const rawValue = (found.fiber?.memoizedProps as { value?: unknown } | undefined)?.value;
+        const valueShape =
+          rawValue && typeof rawValue === "object"
+            ? `value{${Object.keys(rawValue).slice(0, 10).join(",")}}`
+            : `value:${typeof rawValue}`;
+        const key =
+          `${found.name} @depth${found.depth}` +
+          ` props[${props.join(",")}] ${valueShape}` +
+          ` > ${descendants.join(" > ")}` +
+          (chain.length ? ` < ${chain.join(" < ")}` : "");
+        state.roots.set(key, (state.roots.get(key) ?? 0) + 1);
+      }
+    },
+    __start: () => {
+      state.started = Date.now();
+      state.commits = 0;
+      state.byComponent.clear();
+      state.roots.clear();
+    },
+  };
+});
+
+const page = await context.newPage();
+await page.goto(`${baseUrl}/auth/login`, { waitUntil: "networkidle" });
+await page.getByLabel("Username").fill(username);
+await page.locator("#password").fill(password);
+await page.locator("css=button[type='submit']").click();
+await page.waitForFunction(() => !window.location.pathname.includes("/auth/login"), undefined, { timeout: 60_000 });
+
+await page.goto(`${baseUrl}/boards/${boardName}`, { waitUntil: "domcontentloaded" });
+await page.locator("[data-homarr-dev-benchmark-board]").waitFor({ state: "visible", timeout: 120_000 });
+await page
+  .waitForFunction(
+    () => {
+      const items = [...document.querySelectorAll('[data-type="item"]')];
+      return (
+        items.length > 0 &&
+        items.every((item) => item.querySelector("[data-homarr-widget-ready],[data-homarr-widget-error]"))
+      );
+    },
+    undefined,
+    { timeout: 120_000 },
+  )
+  .catch(() => console.log("warn: widgets did not all settle"));
+
+// Let the initial render storm finish before counting steady-state churn.
+await page.waitForTimeout(5_000);
+await page.evaluate(() => {
+  (globalThis as unknown as Record<string, { __start: () => void }>).__REACT_DEVTOOLS_GLOBAL_HOOK__.__start();
+});
+
+console.log(`observing an idle board for ${observeMs / 1000}s (no interaction)...`);
+await page.waitForTimeout(observeMs);
+
+const stats = await page.evaluate(() => {
+  const state = (
+    globalThis as unknown as Record<string, { commits: number; byComponent: Map<string, number>; started: number }>
+  ).__homarrRenderStats as unknown as {
+    commits: number;
+    byComponent: Map<string, number>;
+    roots: Map<string, number>;
+    started: number;
+  };
+  return {
+    commits: state.commits,
+    elapsedMs: Date.now() - state.started,
+    top: [...state.byComponent.entries()].sort((a, b) => b[1] - a[1]).slice(0, 20),
+    roots: [...state.roots.entries()].sort((a, b) => b[1] - a[1]).slice(0, 12),
+  };
+});
+
+const perMinute = (stats.commits / stats.elapsedMs) * 60_000;
+console.log(
+  `\ncommits while idle: ${stats.commits} over ${(stats.elapsedMs / 1000).toFixed(0)}s (${perMinute.toFixed(1)}/min)`,
+);
+console.log("\nupdate entered the tree at (commit roots):");
+for (const [name, count] of stats.roots) console.log(String(count).padStart(8), ` ${name}`);
+console.log("\nre-renders by component:");
+for (const [name, count] of stats.top) console.log(String(count).padStart(8), ` ${name}`);
+console.log(`\n${JSON.stringify({ commits: stats.commits, perMinute: Number(perMinute.toFixed(1)) })}`);
+await browser.close();