diff --git a/ROADMAP.md b/ROADMAP.md
index d78decd..506738b 100644
--- a/ROADMAP.md
+++ b/ROADMAP.md
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ Living plan for product quality, auth/email reliability, and automation.
 
 ## Later
 
-- [ ] Proper DEV deploy (`next start` + CI image) instead of long-lived `next dev`
+- [x] Proper DEV deploy (`next start` + CI image) instead of long-lived `next dev` — `scripts/deploy-viewer.sh`, `ecosystem.config.js.example` uses `next start -p 3001`
 - [ ] Ansible/app_setup path aligned with `/opt/punimtag/viewer-frontend/.env` (not `/srv/app`)
 - [ ] OpenAPI-driven contract suite (playkit / consumer)
 - [ ] Multi-browser matrix (firefox/webkit)
diff --git a/ecosystem.config.js.example b/ecosystem.config.js.example
index 90a0eef..27de305 100644
--- a/ecosystem.config.js.example
+++ b/ecosystem.config.js.example
@@ -60,12 +60,15 @@ module.exports = {
     },
     {
       name: 'punimtag-viewer',
-      script: 'npm',
-      args: 'run start:3001',
+      // Production: run `npm run build` in viewer-frontend before `pm2 start`.
+      // Do not use `next dev` on long-lived hosts (slow, wrong behavior vs prod).
+      script: './scripts/with-sharp-libpath.sh',
+      args: 'next start -p 3001',
       cwd: '/opt/punimtag/viewer-frontend', // CHANGE: Update to your deployment directory
-      interpreter: 'node',
+      interpreter: 'bash',
       env: {
         PORT: '3001',
+        NODE_ENV: 'production',
       },
       error_file: '/home/appuser/.pm2/logs/punimtag-viewer-error.log', // CHANGE: Update user home directory
       out_file: '/home/appuser/.pm2/logs/punimtag-viewer-out.log', // CHANGE: Update user home directory
diff --git a/scripts/deploy-viewer.sh b/scripts/deploy-viewer.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8a532af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/deploy-viewer.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Build viewer for production and restart PM2 process.
+# Usage: ./scripts/deploy-viewer.sh [--skip-install]
+set -euo pipefail
+
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+VIEWER="$ROOT/viewer-frontend"
+SKIP_INSTALL=0
+for arg in "$@"; do
+  case "$arg" in
+    --skip-install) SKIP_INSTALL=1 ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+cd "$VIEWER"
+if [[ "$SKIP_INSTALL" -eq 0 ]]; then
+  npm ci --prefer-offline
+fi
+npm run build
+
+cd "$ROOT"
+if pm2 describe punimtag-viewer >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  pm2 restart punimtag-viewer --update-env
+else
+  pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --only punimtag-viewer
+fi
+
+echo "Viewer deployed (next start). Logs: pm2 logs punimtag-viewer --lines 30"