diff --git a/hermes_cli/main.py b/hermes_cli/main.py
index bdbf0390a68..7b5834aea6b 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/main.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/main.py
@@ -841,6 +841,11 @@ _NPM_LOCK_RUNTIME_KEYS = frozenset({"ideallyInert"})
 def _tui_need_npm_install(root: Path) -> bool:
     """True when @hermes/ink is missing or node_modules is behind package-lock.json.
 
+    Prebuilt bundle mode: when ``dist/entry.js`` exists and there is no
+    ``package-lock.json`` (nix install layout only ships ``dist/`` +
+    ``package.json``), skip reinstall entirely — the bundle is self-contained
+    and there is nothing to install.
+
     Compares ``package-lock.json`` against ``node_modules/.package-lock.json``
     (npm's hidden lockfile) by **content**, not mtime: git checkouts and npm
     rewrites can bump the root lockfile's timestamp even when installed deps
@@ -858,10 +863,16 @@ def _tui_need_npm_install(root: Path) -> bool:
     we'd rather not force a reinstall for them. Falls back to mtime
     comparison if either lockfile is unparseable.
     """
+    lock = root / "package-lock.json"
+    entry = root / "dist" / "entry.js"
+    # Prebuilt self-contained bundle (nix / packaged release): no lockfile
+    # shipped, dist/entry.js is the single runtime artefact.
+    if entry.is_file() and not lock.is_file():
+        return False
+
     ink = root / "node_modules" / "@hermes" / "ink" / "package.json"
     if not ink.is_file():
         return True
-    lock = root / "package-lock.json"
     if not lock.is_file():
         return False
     marker = root / "node_modules" / ".package-lock.json"
diff --git a/nix/checks.nix b/nix/checks.nix
index 8adb56628d2..269699eef66 100644
--- a/nix/checks.nix
+++ b/nix/checks.nix
@@ -154,8 +154,7 @@ json.dump(sorted(leaf_paths(DEFAULT_CONFIG)), sys.stdout, indent=2)
           test -f ${hermes-agent}/ui-tui/dist/entry.js || (echo "FAIL: compiled entry.js missing"; exit 1)
           echo "PASS: compiled entry.js present"
 
-          test -d ${hermes-agent}/ui-tui/node_modules || (echo "FAIL: node_modules missing"; exit 1)
-          echo "PASS: node_modules present"
+          # self-contained bundle; no runtime node_modules expected
 
           grep -q "HERMES_TUI_DIR" ${hermes-agent}/bin/hermes || \
             (echo "FAIL: HERMES_TUI_DIR not in wrapper"; exit 1)
diff --git a/nix/tui.nix b/nix/tui.nix
index 7453fa2673d..eb25d52f905 100644
--- a/nix/tui.nix
+++ b/nix/tui.nix
@@ -24,16 +24,11 @@ pkgs.buildNpmPackage (npm // {
 
     mkdir -p $out/lib/hermes-tui
 
+    # Single self-contained bundle built by scripts/build.mjs (esbuild).
+    # No runtime node_modules needed.
     cp -r dist $out/lib/hermes-tui/dist
 
-    # runtime node_modules
-    cp -r node_modules $out/lib/hermes-tui/node_modules
-
-    # @hermes/ink is a file: dependency, we need to copy it in fr
-    rm -f $out/lib/hermes-tui/node_modules/@hermes/ink
-    cp -r packages/hermes-ink $out/lib/hermes-tui/node_modules/@hermes/ink
-
-    # package.json needed for "type": "module" resolution
+    # package.json kept for "type": "module" resolution on `node dist/entry.js`.
     cp package.json $out/lib/hermes-tui/
 
     runHook postInstall
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_tui_npm_install.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_tui_npm_install.py
index e56196e07ed..8e16c5e9dea 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_tui_npm_install.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_tui_npm_install.py
@@ -89,6 +89,12 @@ def test_no_install_without_lockfile_when_ink_present(tmp_path: Path, main_mod)
     assert main_mod._tui_need_npm_install(tmp_path) is False
 
 
+def test_no_install_prebuilt_bundle_mode(tmp_path: Path, main_mod) -> None:
+    """dist/entry.js present and no package-lock.json → prebuilt bundle, skip npm install."""
+    _touch_tui_entry(tmp_path)
+    assert main_mod._tui_need_npm_install(tmp_path) is False
+
+
 def test_build_needed_when_local_ink_bundle_missing(tmp_path: Path, main_mod) -> None:
     _touch_tui_entry(tmp_path)
     _touch_ink(tmp_path)
diff --git a/ui-tui/package-lock.json b/ui-tui/package-lock.json
index 017e9913bd9..c6d1e6be49d 100644
--- a/ui-tui/package-lock.json
+++ b/ui-tui/package-lock.json
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
         "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^8",
         "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^8",
         "babel-plugin-react-compiler": "^1.0.0",
+        "esbuild": "~0.27.0",
         "eslint": "^9",
         "eslint-plugin-perfectionist": "^5",
         "eslint-plugin-react": "^7",
diff --git a/ui-tui/package.json b/ui-tui/package.json
index 061e3bc4484..1edee8cabfe 100644
--- a/ui-tui/package.json
+++ b/ui-tui/package.json
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "npm run build --prefix packages/hermes-ink && tsx --watch src/entry.tsx",
     "start": "tsx src/entry.tsx",
-    "build": "npm run build --prefix packages/hermes-ink && tsc -p tsconfig.build.json && npm run build:compile && chmod +x dist/entry.js",
-    "build:compile": "babel dist --out-dir dist --config-file ./babel.compiler.config.cjs --extensions .js --keep-file-extension",
+    "build": "node scripts/build.mjs",
     "type-check": "tsc --noEmit -p tsconfig.json",
     "lint": "eslint src/ packages/",
     "lint:fix": "eslint src/ packages/ --fix",
@@ -34,6 +33,7 @@
     "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^8",
     "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^8",
     "babel-plugin-react-compiler": "^1.0.0",
+    "esbuild": "~0.27.0",
     "eslint": "^9",
     "eslint-plugin-perfectionist": "^5",
     "eslint-plugin-react": "^7",
diff --git a/ui-tui/scripts/build.mjs b/ui-tui/scripts/build.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2c7b55f76fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui-tui/scripts/build.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// Bundles src/entry.tsx into a single self-contained dist/entry.js.
+// No runtime node_modules needed.
+import { build } from 'esbuild'
+import { readFileSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
+import { dirname, resolve } from 'node:path'
+
+const here = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url))
+const root = resolve(here, '..')
+const out = resolve(root, 'dist/entry.js')
+
+// `react-devtools-core` is only imported when DEV=true at runtime (Ink dev
+// mode). Stub it out so the bundle doesn't carry the dep.
+const stubDevtools = {
+  name: 'stub-react-devtools-core',
+  setup(b) {
+    b.onResolve({ filter: /^react-devtools-core$/ }, args => ({
+      path: args.path,
+      namespace: 'stub-devtools'
+    }))
+    b.onLoad({ filter: /.*/, namespace: 'stub-devtools' }, () => ({
+      contents: 'export default { initialize() {}, connectToDevTools() {} }',
+      loader: 'js'
+    }))
+  }
+}
+
+await build({
+  entryPoints: [resolve(root, 'src/entry.tsx')],
+  bundle: true,
+  platform: 'node',
+  format: 'esm',
+  target: 'node20',
+  outfile: out,
+  jsx: 'automatic',
+  jsxImportSource: 'react',
+  // Skip the prebuilt @hermes/ink bundle — esbuild's __esm helper doesn't
+  // await nested async init, which breaks lazy-initialized exports like
+  // `render`. Bundling from source sidesteps that.
+  alias: { '@hermes/ink': resolve(root, 'packages/hermes-ink/src/entry-exports.ts') },
+  plugins: [stubDevtools],
+  // Some transitive deps use CommonJS `require(...)` at runtime. ESM bundles
+  // don't get a `require` binding automatically, so we inject one.
+  banner: {
+    js: "import { createRequire as __cr } from 'node:module'; const require = __cr(import.meta.url);"
+  },
+  logLevel: 'info'
+})
+
+// esbuild preserves the shebang from src/entry.tsx into the bundle, but Nix's
+// patchShebangs phase mangles `/usr/bin/env -S node --foo --bar` (it strips
+// the `node` token, leaving a broken interpreter). The hermes_cli launcher
+// always invokes this file as `node dist/entry.js` anyway, so the shebang is
+// redundant — strip it.
+const body = readFileSync(out, 'utf8')
+if (body.startsWith('#!')) {
+  writeFileSync(out, body.slice(body.indexOf('\n') + 1))
+}
+
+console.log(`built ${out}`)