diff --git a/app/bin/diet_guard_desktop.dart b/app/bin/diet_guard_desktop.dart
index 3b1a2ed..d4a2f61 100644
--- a/app/bin/diet_guard_desktop.dart
+++ b/app/bin/diet_guard_desktop.dart
@@ -104,14 +104,17 @@ Future<bool> _provisionSyncAccount(String home, int port) async {
     '--disable-gpu',
     '--user-data-dir=${_profileDir(home)}',
     '--virtual-time-budget=45000',
-    '--dump-dom',
+    // Surface the page's own log() output, so a failure inside the app
+    // is visible in the terminal that started the provisioning run.
+    '--enable-logging=stderr',
     'http://localhost:$port',
   ]);
-  final code = await process.exitCode;
-  if (code != 0) {
-    stderr.writeln('Headless provisioning run exited with $code.');
-    return false;
-  }
+  // No --virtual-time-budget: it makes Chrome SIGKILL itself when the budget
+  // expires, which both reads as a failure and can cut the sync short. Give
+  // the page a real window of wall-clock time instead, then close it.
+  await Future<void>.delayed(const Duration(seconds: 40));
+  process.kill();
+  await process.exitCode;
   stdout.writeln(
     'Provisioning run complete. Launch normally to confirm it is connected.',
   );
diff --git a/app/lib/screens/log_meal_screen.dart b/app/lib/screens/log_meal_screen.dart
index 8a42575..74ac5e6 100644
--- a/app/lib/screens/log_meal_screen.dart
+++ b/app/lib/screens/log_meal_screen.dart
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 /// screen: "I can open the diet app on my phone and fill meal I ate."
 library;
 
-import 'dart:async';
 
+import 'dart:async';
+import 'dart:developer';
 import 'package:crdt_sync/crdt_sync.dart';
 import 'package:diet_guard_app/models/food_entry.dart';
 import 'package:diet_guard_app/models/food_suggestion.dart';
@@ -136,9 +137,17 @@ class _LogMealScreenState extends State<LogMealScreen>
       }
       if (!mounted) return;
       await _refreshSlots();
-    } on Exception {
-      // Best-effort: ignore (offline, transient GitHub errors, unmocked
-      // platform channels under test, etc.).
+    } on Object catch (error, stackTrace) {
+      // Best-effort, but never silent: this swallowed the reason a desktop
+      // install could not publish at all, which looked identical to "nothing
+      // to sync". Offline and unmocked-platform-channel-under-test both land
+      // here too, so it stays non-fatal -- it just says why now.
+      log(
+        'diet_guard auto-sync failed',
+        level: 1000,
+        error: error,
+        stackTrace: stackTrace,
+      );
     } finally {
       _autoSyncing = false;
     }