diff --git a/clicker/clicker.py b/clicker/clicker.py
index f5f38bb..1d0fe60 100644
--- a/clicker/clicker.py
+++ b/clicker/clicker.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Requires the AutoBuyer page switch to be ON — that's the master arming switch.
 
 import argparse
 import json
+import re
 import random
 import sys
 import time
@@ -38,6 +39,16 @@ class DashboardError(RuntimeError):
     pass
 
 
+class TransientError(DashboardError):
+    """A failure that is worth retrying: a 5xx, or the server briefly unreachable.
+
+    Next's dev server intermittently serves a 500 while it recompiles a route —
+    it reads a build manifest mid-write and fails to parse it. That is a blip in
+    the pipeline, not a verdict about the page, and it should not kill a run that
+    is halfway through spending money.
+    """
+
+
 class NotFoundError(DashboardError):
     """The extension reached the page and the element simply isn't there.
 
@@ -53,6 +64,26 @@ class NotFoundError(DashboardError):
 _ABSENT_MARKERS = ("No element matches", "no index")
 
 
+def _summarise_error_body(body: str, limit: int = 200) -> str:
+    """Keep an error readable.
+
+    A dev-server 500 answers with a full HTML page — several kilobytes of script
+    tags and a stack trace — and printing it raw buries the one line that says
+    what went wrong.
+    """
+    try:
+        return str(json.loads(body).get("error", body))[:limit]
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        pass
+
+    if "<!DOCTYPE" in body or "<html" in body:
+        match = re.search(r'"message":"(.*?)"', body)
+        detail = match.group(1) if match else "no detail in the page"
+        return f"server returned an HTML error page ({detail[:limit]})"
+
+    return body[:limit]
+
+
 def _is_absent(message: str) -> bool:
     return any(marker in message for marker in _ABSENT_MARKERS)
 
@@ -72,14 +103,11 @@ class Dashboard:
             with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=self.timeout) as resp:
                 return json.loads(resp.read().decode())
         except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc:
-            body = exc.read().decode(errors="replace")
-            try:
-                message = json.loads(body).get("error", body)
-            except json.JSONDecodeError:
-                message = body
-            raise DashboardError(f"{method} {path} -> HTTP {exc.code}: {message}") from None
+            message = _summarise_error_body(exc.read().decode(errors="replace"))
+            cls = TransientError if exc.code >= 500 else DashboardError
+            raise cls(f"{method} {path} -> HTTP {exc.code}: {message}") from None
         except urllib.error.URLError as exc:
-            raise DashboardError(f"Cannot reach {self.base} — {exc.reason}") from None
+            raise TransientError(f"Cannot reach {self.base} — {exc.reason}") from None
 
     def status(self) -> dict:
         return self._request("/api/autobuyer/status")
@@ -100,8 +128,17 @@ class Dashboard:
         request_id = queued["id"]
 
         deadline = time.monotonic() + timeout
+        last_transient = None
         while time.monotonic() < deadline:
-            row = self._request(f"/api/autobuyer/locate?id={request_id}")
+            try:
+                row = self._request(f"/api/autobuyer/locate?id={request_id}")
+            except TransientError as exc:
+                # The extension may well answer while the server is having a
+                # moment; keep polling rather than failing the run over a blip.
+                last_transient = exc
+                time.sleep(POLL_INTERVAL)
+                continue
+
             if row["status"] == "done":
                 return row["result"]
             if row["status"] == "error":
@@ -110,6 +147,11 @@ class Dashboard:
                 raise cls(f"Extension could not locate it: {detail}")
             time.sleep(POLL_INTERVAL)
 
+        if last_transient is not None:
+            raise DashboardError(
+                f"No answer within {timeout:g}s, and the dashboard kept erroring "
+                f"({last_transient})"
+            )
         raise DashboardError(
             f"No answer within {timeout:g}s. Is the extension installed, is Chrome "
             f"running, and is the AutoBuyer switch ON?"
diff --git a/clicker/runner.py b/clicker/runner.py
index ed37801..b2e35c8 100644
--- a/clicker/runner.py
+++ b/clicker/runner.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ HEARTBEAT_SECONDS = 2.0
 # Bumped whenever the step vocabulary or the locate protocol changes. Reported in
 # the heartbeat so the dashboard can say "restart your runner" instead of letting
 # a stale process fail on a step type it has never heard of.
-VERSION = "0.12.0"
+VERSION = "0.13.0"
 
 # Shared with the heartbeat thread: whether a run is currently executing.
 _busy = threading.Event()
diff --git a/lib/db.ts b/lib/db.ts
index 297041f..2065fca 100644
--- a/lib/db.ts
+++ b/lib/db.ts
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ export const RUNNER_TIMEOUT_MS = 7000;
 /** The runner version this server's step vocabulary requires. A running process
  *  doesn't reload when the source changes, so an older one silently fails on
  *  steps it predates — the dashboard warns instead. */
-export const RUNNER_EXPECTED_VERSION = '0.12.0';
+export const RUNNER_EXPECTED_VERSION = '0.13.0';
 
 export interface RunnerHeartbeat {
     at: number;