diff --git a/src/server/index.ts b/src/server/index.ts
index 0bebeb2..28a596e 100644
--- a/src/server/index.ts
+++ b/src/server/index.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import { config } from './config.js';
 import { initDatabase, startAutoSave, saveDatabase } from './db/connection.js';
 import { runMigrations } from './db/migrate.js';
 import { syncFromFiles } from './services/store-sync.js';
+import { warmupBrowser } from './scraper/browser-scraper.js';
+import { getEnabledStores } from './models/store.js';
 import { storeRoutes } from './routes/stores.js';
 import { categoryRoutes } from './routes/categories.js';
 import { searchRoutes } from './routes/search.js';
@@ -63,6 +65,12 @@ if (sync.errors.length > 0) {
 
 startAutoSave();
 
+// Pre-launch Chromium if any store needs JS rendering
+const hasJsStores = getEnabledStores().some((s) => s.render_js);
+if (hasJsStores) {
+  warmupBrowser().catch((err) => app.log.warn(`Browser warmup failed: ${err}`));
+}
+
 // Save database on shutdown
 process.on('SIGINT', () => { saveDatabase(); process.exit(0); });
 process.on('SIGTERM', () => { saveDatabase(); process.exit(0); });
diff --git a/src/server/scraper/browser-scraper.ts b/src/server/scraper/browser-scraper.ts
index c581eb0..9badc4a 100644
--- a/src/server/scraper/browser-scraper.ts
+++ b/src/server/scraper/browser-scraper.ts
@@ -116,6 +116,12 @@ export async function scrapeStoreWithBrowser(store: Store, searchUrl: string): P
   }
 }
 
+export async function warmupBrowser(): Promise<void> {
+  log('Warming up browser...');
+  await getBrowser();
+  log('Browser ready');
+}
+
 export async function closeBrowser(): Promise<void> {
   if (browser) {
     await browser.close();