diff --git a/next.config.ts b/next.config.ts
index a40238b..373738f 100644
--- a/next.config.ts
+++ b/next.config.ts
@@ -19,8 +19,16 @@ const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
 	// pi-ai's provider catalog (39 JSON files) vanished from the trace and
 	// the server 500s on module load. Include the whole data dirs of the
 	// runtime-loaded engine packages.
+	// pdfjs-dist (sources v0 live smoke, 2026-09-19): its legacy build loads
+	// the node fake worker (pdf.worker.mjs) and our standard_fonts dir via
+	// runtime-resolved paths — invisible to the tracer. Bundling (without
+	// serverExternalPackages below) additionally breaks the worker's
+	// import.meta.url resolution inside .next/dev chunks — the live smoke
+	// caught it; unit tests run unbundled and never see it.
 	outputFileTracingIncludes: {
 		"*": [
+			"node_modules/pdfjs-dist/legacy/**/*",
+			"node_modules/pdfjs-dist/standard_fonts/**/*",
 			"node_modules/@earendil-works/pi-ai/dist/providers/data/**/*",
 			"node_modules/@earendil-works/pi-agent-core/dist/**/*.json",
 			// onnxruntime-node: the .node binding was traced, but its
@@ -38,6 +46,7 @@ const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
 		"@earendil-works/pi-ai",
 		"@earendil-works/pi-agent-core",
 		"@huggingface/transformers",
+		"pdfjs-dist", // sources v0: bundling breaks its node fake-worker path
 	],
 };
 
diff --git a/src/agent/subagents/headless.ts b/src/agent/subagents/headless.ts
index 77f5a1c..4652f6b 100644
--- a/src/agent/subagents/headless.ts
+++ b/src/agent/subagents/headless.ts
@@ -326,8 +326,12 @@ async function renderPdfPages(
 		const page = await browser.newPage();
 		await page.setViewport({ width: 1200, height: 1600, deviceScaleFactor: 1 });
 		await page.goto(pathToFileURL(file).href, { waitUntil: "load", timeout: 30_000 });
+		// Standard-font data as a file URL (live-smoke finding 2026-09-19:
+		// without it pdfjs renders non-embedded standard fonts via fallback);
+		// verbosity 0 = errors only (JBIG2 noise on scanned PDFs).
+		const fontsUrl = pathToFileURL(path.join(PATHS_nodeModules(), "pdfjs-dist", "standard_fonts") + path.sep).href;
 		const results = await page.evaluate(
-			async (b64pdf, workerUrl, pageNos, dpi) => {
+			async (b64pdf, workerUrl, pageNos, dpi, fontsUrl) => {
 				// window-scope dynamic import (Chrome evaluates this string in the
 				// shim page, not under Node)
 				const pdfjs = (await import(workerUrl)) as typeof import("pdfjs-dist");
@@ -335,7 +339,7 @@ async function renderPdfPages(
 				const bin = atob(b64pdf);
 				const bytes = new Uint8Array(bin.length);
 				for (let i = 0; i < bin.length; i++) bytes[i] = bin.charCodeAt(i);
-				const doc = await pdfjs.getDocument({ data: bytes }).promise;
+				const doc = await pdfjs.getDocument({ data: bytes, standardFontDataUrl: fontsUrl, verbosity: 0 }).promise;
 				const out: Array<{ page: number; dataUrl: string; w: number; h: number }> = [];
 				for (const pageNo of pageNos) {
 					if (pageNo < 1 || pageNo > doc.numPages) continue;
@@ -355,6 +359,7 @@ async function renderPdfPages(
 			pdfjsUrl,
 			pages,
 			dpi,
+			fontsUrl,
 		);
 		return results.map((r) => ({
 			page: r.page,
diff --git a/src/agent/subagents/pdf-ops.ts b/src/agent/subagents/pdf-ops.ts
index 9741df0..0c2c25f 100644
--- a/src/agent/subagents/pdf-ops.ts
+++ b/src/agent/subagents/pdf-ops.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import * as fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import * as path from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 
 /**
  * PDF plumbing for the pdf-reader sub-agent — sources v0 (2026-09): Node
@@ -42,12 +43,22 @@ async function loadPdfjs() {
 	return pdfjs;
 }
 
+/** Standard-font data dir (live-smoke finding 2026-09-19: without it pdfjs
+ *  warns and falls back on non-embedded standard fonts — Helvetica, Times…).
+ *  The node side takes a plain filesystem path. Resolved from this module's
+ *  location, the headless.ts PATHS_nodeModules idiom. */
+export function standardFontsDir(): string {
+	return path.join(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "..", "..", "..", "node_modules", "pdfjs-dist", "standard_fonts") + path.sep;
+}
+
 async function openDocument(filePath: string) {
 	const pdfjs = await loadPdfjs();
 	const data = new Uint8Array(await fs.readFile(filePath));
 	// The legacy build in plain node runs on a main-thread fake worker (no
 	// workerSrc needed); teardown is the loading task's destroy().
-	const task = pdfjs.getDocument({ data });
+	// verbosity 0 = errors only — scanned PDFs (JBIG2 XObjects) otherwise
+	// flood the log with per-page warnings (live-smoke finding 2026-09-19).
+	const task = pdfjs.getDocument({ data, standardFontDataUrl: standardFontsDir(), verbosity: 0 });
 	return { doc: await task.promise, task };
 }