diff --git a/crates/tauri-app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs b/crates/tauri-app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
index 0643205..5309827 100644
--- a/crates/tauri-app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/tauri-app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
@@ -543,8 +543,9 @@ pub fn run() {
         .unwrap_or_else(|_| "http://127.0.0.1:2584".to_string());
 
     let state = AppState {
-        pds: PdsHttpClient::new(pds_url),
-        appview: AppViewClient::new(appview_url),
+        pds: PdsHttpClient::new(pds_url.clone()),
+        appview: AppViewClient::new(appview_url.clone()),
+        appview_url,
         store: store::SessionStore::new(),
     };
 
@@ -722,6 +723,7 @@ pub fn run() {
             open_external_url,
             profile_get_record,
             profile_set,
+            get_api_urls,
         ])
         .run(tauri::generate_context!())
         .expect("error while running maarcadetweet");
@@ -741,6 +743,32 @@ async fn profile_get_record(
         .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
 }
 
+/// Frontend-side base URLs the Tauri shell was started with. Used by
+/// the Svelte components to build absolute fetch URLs — a relative
+/// `/api/...` resolves against the Vite dev origin (port 1430), not
+/// the AppView (port 2584), and the Vite server has no proxy
+/// configured, so the fetch lands on a 404 HTML page and
+/// `response.json()` throws `SyntaxError`.
+#[derive(serde::Serialize)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
+struct ApiUrls {
+    pds_url: String,
+    appview_url: String,
+}
+
+#[tauri::command]
+fn get_api_urls(state: tauri::State<'_, AppState>) -> ApiUrls {
+    // Sync command — the URLs are immutable for the lifetime of the
+    // Tauri shell (read from MAARCADETWEET_*_URL at startup), so no
+    // async machinery is needed. Returns the AppView URL the
+    // frontend needs; PDS URL is exposed too so future fetch-based
+    // XRPC calls don't have to add their own command.
+    ApiUrls {
+        pds_url: state.pds.base_url.clone(),
+        appview_url: state.appview_url.clone(),
+    }
+}
+
 #[tauri::command]
 async fn profile_set(
     state: tauri::State<'_, AppState>,
diff --git a/crates/tauri-app/src-tauri/src/state.rs b/crates/tauri-app/src-tauri/src/state.rs
index 94b7bfc..aab1d63 100644
--- a/crates/tauri-app/src-tauri/src/state.rs
+++ b/crates/tauri-app/src-tauri/src/state.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 pub struct AppState {
     pub pds: crate::pds_client::PdsHttpClient,
     pub appview: crate::appview_client::AppViewClient,
+    /// Base URL of the AppView service (`http://host:port`, no
+    /// trailing slash). Stored verbatim so the frontend can build
+    /// absolute URLs for fetch calls — a relative `/api/profile/…`
+    /// would resolve against the Vite dev origin, not the AppView.
+    pub appview_url: String,
     pub store: crate::store::SessionStore,
 }
diff --git a/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/api/client.ts b/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/api/client.ts
index 5fe25d9..e0310f1 100644
--- a/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/api/client.ts
+++ b/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/api/client.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,33 @@ async function tauriCall<T>(cmd: string, fallback: T, args?: Record<string, unkn
   return invoke<T>(cmd, args);
 }
 
+/// Base URLs the Tauri shell was started with. Exposed via the
+/// `get_api_urls` command so the Svelte components can build
+/// absolute fetch URLs — a relative `/api/...` resolves against
+/// the Vite dev origin (port 1430), not the AppView (port 2584),
+/// and `response.json()` then throws `SyntaxError` on the 404
+/// HTML page. Cached after the first successful call.
+let _apiUrlsCache: { pdsUrl: string; appviewUrl: string } | null = null;
+
+export type ApiUrls = { pdsUrl: string; appviewUrl: string };
+
+/// Fetch the AppView + PDS base URLs from the Rust shell. Returns
+/// the cached value on subsequent calls.
+export async function getApiUrls(): Promise<ApiUrls> {
+  if (_apiUrlsCache) return _apiUrlsCache;
+  const urls = await safeInvoke<ApiUrls>("get_api_urls");
+  _apiUrlsCache = urls;
+  return urls;
+}
+
+/// Convenience: just the AppView base URL (the only one the UI
+/// currently needs for direct fetch calls). Same caching as
+/// `getApiUrls`.
+export async function getAppviewUrl(): Promise<string> {
+  const { appviewUrl } = await getApiUrls();
+  return appviewUrl;
+}
+
 /**
  * Strict variant of `tauriCall` for actions that MUST hit the
  * Tauri runtime (login, register, logout, post, like, etc.). In
diff --git a/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/ProfileView.svelte b/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/ProfileView.svelte
index fa5db70..7f58c05 100644
--- a/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/ProfileView.svelte
+++ b/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/ProfileView.svelte
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
     pickAndUploadImage,
     fetchBlob,
     releaseBlob,
+    getAppviewUrl,
   } from "../api/client";
   import { onDestroy, onMount } from "svelte";
 
@@ -74,7 +75,12 @@
   async function load() {
     viewModel = { kind: "loading" };
     try {
-      const r = await fetch(`/api/profile/${encodeURIComponent(handle)}`);
+      // Absolute URL because the Tauri webview's origin is the Vite
+      // dev server (port 1430), not the AppView (port 2584) — a
+      // relative `/api/profile/…` would resolve against Vite, hit a
+      // 404 HTML page, and `r.json()` would throw `SyntaxError`.
+      const base = await getAppviewUrl();
+      const r = await fetch(`${base}/api/profile/${encodeURIComponent(handle)}`);
       if (!r.ok) {
         viewModel = {
           kind: "error",