diff --git a/lib/host/otel.sx b/lib/host/otel.sx
index 6fabdb2a..4bc562c0 100644
--- a/lib/host/otel.sx
+++ b/lib/host/otel.sx
@@ -474,20 +474,15 @@
                                   (unquote (str "p99 " (otel/-ms (get r :p99))))))))))
                   routes)))))))))
 
-(define otel/dashboard
+;; the refreshing content — everything that changes as spans arrive. Served on its
+;; own at GET /otel/fragment; the poll swaps THIS into #otel-body.
+(define otel/-dashboard-body
   (fn ()
     (let ((m (otel/metrics (otel/recent)))
           (lt (otel/latest-trace))
           (traces (otel/recent-traces)))
       (quasiquote
-        (div :id "otel-dashboard"
-          ;; SPA-native live refresh: the SX engine polls GET /otel every 3s and
-          ;; swaps this div in place (outerHTML). The poll is a boosted request, so
-          ;; the route returns the text/sx fragment — no full reload, stays in the
-          ;; SPA. (No <meta refresh>, which would blow away the SPA shell.)
-          :sx-get "/otel" :sx-trigger "every 3s" :sx-target "#otel-dashboard" :sx-swap "outerHTML"
-          (h1 "OpenTelemetry")
-          (p :style "font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7" "live · refreshes every 3s in-app")
+        (div
           (h2 "latency by route")
           (p :style "font-size:0.75em;opacity:0.7"
             (span :style "color:#4c9a8f" "▉ p50") "  "
@@ -504,6 +499,19 @@
           (h2 "recent traces")
           (unquote (otel/-traces-list traces)))))))
 
+(define otel/dashboard
+  (fn ()
+    (quasiquote
+      (div :id "otel-dashboard"
+        (h1 "OpenTelemetry")
+        (p :style "font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7" "live · refreshes every 3s in-app")
+        ;; STABLE polling element: it fetches GET /otel/fragment every 3s and swaps
+        ;; its OWN inner content (innerHTML), so #otel-body itself is never removed —
+        ;; its poll interval keeps firing (an outerHTML self-swap would delete the
+        ;; polling element after one tick). Boosted → text/sx, so no full reload.
+        (div :id "otel-body" :sx-get "/otel/fragment" :sx-trigger "every 3s" :sx-swap "innerHTML"
+          (unquote (otel/-dashboard-body)))))))
+
 ;; ── routes ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 ;; Dual-mode, wired into the SPA: a boosted (SX-Request) fetch — a link click OR
 ;; the 3s poll — gets the dashboard as a text/sx fragment the WASM kernel renders
@@ -515,11 +523,18 @@
     (fn (req)
       (host/blog--resp req 200
         (host/blog--page req "OpenTelemetry" (otel/dashboard))))))
+;; the poll target: always the refreshing body as a text/sx fragment (the WASM
+;; kernel swaps it into #otel-body). Two segments, so /:slug can't shadow it.
+(define otel/dashboard-fragment-route
+  (dream-get "/otel/fragment"
+    (fn (req)
+      (dream-response 200 {:content-type "text/sx; charset=utf-8"}
+        (serialize (otel/-dashboard-body))))))
 (define otel/stream-route
   (dream-get "/otel/stream"
     (fn (req)
       (dream-response 200 {:content-type "text/event-stream"} (otel/-stream-body)))))
-(define otel/routes (list otel/dashboard-route otel/stream-route))
+(define otel/routes (list otel/dashboard-route otel/dashboard-fragment-route otel/stream-route))
 
 ;; ── P7: OTLP-JSON export ──────────────────────────────────────────────
 ;; Serialize spans to the OTLP/JSON schema (resourceSpans → scopeSpans → spans)
diff --git a/lib/host/tests/otel.sx b/lib/host/tests/otel.sx
index cb8fea3e..d0d9b9b7 100644
--- a/lib/host/tests/otel.sx
+++ b/lib/host/tests/otel.sx
@@ -235,7 +235,16 @@
 (host-ot-test "dashboard SSRs the waterfall svg" (contains? host-ot-dash "<svg") true)
 (host-ot-test "dashboard shows a route in the strip" (contains? host-ot-dash "/feed") true)
 (host-ot-test "dashboard self-refreshes via SPA poll (sx-trigger)" (contains? host-ot-dash "every 3s") true)
-(host-ot-test "dashboard poll targets itself" (contains? host-ot-dash "otel-dashboard") true)
+(host-ot-test "dashboard polls the fragment endpoint" (contains? host-ot-dash "/otel/fragment") true)
+(host-ot-test "dashboard has a stable polling body" (contains? host-ot-dash "otel-body") true)
+
+;; the poll endpoint: the refreshing body as text/sx
+(define host-ot-frag
+  ((dream-route-handler otel/dashboard-fragment-route) (dream-request "GET" "/otel/fragment" {} "")))
+(host-ot-test "GET /otel/fragment is text/sx"
+  (contains? (str (dream-headers host-ot-frag)) "text/sx") true)
+(host-ot-test "GET /otel/fragment serves the latency chart"
+  (contains? (dream-resp-body host-ot-frag) "latency by route") true)
 (host-ot-test "dashboard shows the latency chart legend" (contains? host-ot-dash "p99 (tail)") true)
 
 ;; the SSE endpoint emits a span event, SSE-framed