diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index fa2c0a6..3d6e2d3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -27,3 +27,8 @@ Thumbs.db
 # Vite
 vite.config.js.timestamp-*
 vite.config.ts.timestamp-*
+
+homelab/*
+# Full-res source images — kept locally, never deployed (adapter-static copies all of static/)
+assets-src/
+*.original
diff --git a/src/lib/components/SkillTree.svelte b/src/lib/components/SkillTree.svelte
index 96b3d38..383dafb 100644
--- a/src/lib/components/SkillTree.svelte
+++ b/src/lib/components/SkillTree.svelte
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 <script lang="ts">
 	import { onMount } from 'svelte';
+	import { SvelteSet } from 'svelte/reactivity';
 	import { Application, Container } from 'pixi.js';
 	import type { TreeNode } from '$lib/data';
 	import { categoryColorHex } from '$lib/theme';
@@ -45,7 +46,9 @@
 
 	// Stats panel state
 	let statsPanelVisible = $state(false);
-	let expandedBranches = $state(new Set<string>(BRANCH_IDS)); // All expanded by default
+	// SvelteSet, not $state(new Set()) — Svelte 5 does not proxy a plain Set, so
+	// .add()/.delete() would be untracked and the panel would never re-render.
+	let expandedBranches = new SvelteSet<string>(BRANCH_IDS); // All expanded by default
 
 	function openModal(node: TreeNode) {
 		selectedNode = node;
@@ -81,7 +84,6 @@
 		} else {
 			expandedBranches.add(branchId);
 		}
-		expandedBranches = expandedBranches; // Trigger reactivity
 	}
 
 	// Stats calculations (reactive)
@@ -110,16 +112,18 @@
 		await app.init({
 			background: '#05050a',
 			resizeTo: container,
-			antialias: true
+			// The scene is soft glow circles — MSAA costs fill rate and buys almost
+			// nothing here. Sharpness comes from rendering at device resolution instead.
+			antialias: false,
+			resolution: Math.min(window.devicePixelRatio || 1, 2),
+			autoDensity: true,
+			powerPreference: 'high-performance'
 		});
 
 		// PixiJS owns this canvas, not Svelte — mounting it directly is intentional.
 		// eslint-disable-next-line svelte/no-dom-manipulating
 		container.appendChild(app.canvas);
 
-		// Hide loading indicator - PixiJS is ready, welcome title will be LCP
-		isLoading = false;
-
 		// Background layers (gradient → nebula → stars → dust → vignette)
 		const bg = createBackground(app, isMobile);
 
@@ -149,6 +153,11 @@
 			}
 		});
 
+		// Textures are loaded and the scene graph is built — only now is the canvas
+		// genuinely ready. (This used to fire right after app.init(), so the spinner
+		// resolved onto an empty screen.)
+		isLoading = false;
+
 		// Pan / zoom / parallax + keyboard navigation
 		const detachPanZoom = attachPanZoom(controller, {
 			onTooltipMove: (x, y) => {
diff --git a/src/lib/components/StatsPanel.svelte b/src/lib/components/StatsPanel.svelte
index 47429df..868faf0 100644
--- a/src/lib/components/StatsPanel.svelte
+++ b/src/lib/components/StatsPanel.svelte
@@ -212,7 +212,9 @@
 			4px 0 40px rgba(255, 215, 0, 0.3),
 			8px 0 80px rgba(255, 215, 0, 0.15);
 		z-index: 900;
-		transform: translateX(-100%);
+		/* Offset past the box-shadow (8px offset + 80px blur) so the gold glow
+		   doesn't bleed down the left edge of the viewport while closed. */
+		transform: translateX(calc(-100% - 100px));
 		transition: transform 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1);
 		overflow-y: auto;
 		overflow-x: hidden;
diff --git a/src/lib/data.ts b/src/lib/data.ts
index b892434..36c15ce 100644
--- a/src/lib/data.ts
+++ b/src/lib/data.ts
@@ -366,9 +366,9 @@ export const treeNodes: TreeNode[] = [
 		category: 'projects',
 		size: 'small',
 		icon: '/icons/svelte.svg',
-		techStack: ['SvelteKit', 'TypeScript', 'PixiJS', 'GSAP', 'Tailwind CSS'],
+		techStack: ['SvelteKit', 'TypeScript', 'PixiJS', 'GSAP', 'Vitest'],
 		projectUrl: 'https://tehriehldeal.com',
-		repoUrl: 'https://github.com/yourusername/skill-tree-portfolio'
+		repoUrl: 'https://git.tehriehldeal.com/TehRiehlDeal/skill-tree-portfolio'
 	},
 	{
 		id: 'proj-character-builder',
diff --git a/src/lib/pixi/background.ts b/src/lib/pixi/background.ts
index d9d7b93..a975fd1 100644
--- a/src/lib/pixi/background.ts
+++ b/src/lib/pixi/background.ts
@@ -209,18 +209,22 @@ export function createBackground(app: Application, isMobile: boolean): Backgroun
 		});
 	}
 
-	// Animate dust particles drifting
-	app.ticker.add(() => {
-		dustParticles.forEach((p) => {
-			p.graphics.x += p.vx;
-			p.graphics.y += p.vy;
+	// Animate dust particles drifting. Named function + indexed loop: `forEach`
+	// with an inline arrow allocated a fresh closure on every frame.
+	function driftDust() {
+		for (let i = 0; i < dustParticles.length; i++) {
+			const p = dustParticles[i];
+			const g = p.graphics;
+			g.x += p.vx;
+			g.y += p.vy;
 
-			if (p.graphics.x < -20) p.graphics.x = screenWidth + 20;
-			if (p.graphics.x > screenWidth + 20) p.graphics.x = -20;
-			if (p.graphics.y < -20) p.graphics.y = screenHeight + 20;
-			if (p.graphics.y > screenHeight + 20) p.graphics.y = -20;
-		});
-	});
+			if (g.x < -20) g.x = screenWidth + 20;
+			else if (g.x > screenWidth + 20) g.x = -20;
+			if (g.y < -20) g.y = screenHeight + 20;
+			else if (g.y > screenHeight + 20) g.y = -20;
+		}
+	}
+	app.ticker.add(driftDust);
 
 	// ========== VIGNETTE OVERLAY ==========
 	const vignette = new Graphics();
@@ -234,5 +238,16 @@ export function createBackground(app: Application, isMobile: boolean): Backgroun
 	}
 	app.stage.addChild(vignette);
 
+	// The gradient (16 fills) and vignette (13 fills) are near-full-screen and
+	// never change — bake them to a texture instead of recompositing every frame.
+	deepBackgroundContainer.cacheAsTexture(true);
+	vignette.cacheAsTexture(true);
+
+	// Nothing in the background is clickable; skip it during hit-testing.
+	deepBackgroundContainer.interactiveChildren = false;
+	nebulaContainer.interactiveChildren = false;
+	starContainer.interactiveChildren = false;
+	vignette.eventMode = 'none';
+
 	return { deepBackgroundContainer, nebulaContainer, starContainer };
 }
diff --git a/src/lib/pixi/nodes.ts b/src/lib/pixi/nodes.ts
index 84cf9a3..90d177a 100644
--- a/src/lib/pixi/nodes.ts
+++ b/src/lib/pixi/nodes.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Tree node rendering: the origin profile node and regular icon nodes.
 // Nodes start non-interactive (eventMode 'none') until the entrance animation
 // enables them; see animation.ts.
-import { Graphics, Container, Assets, Sprite } from 'pixi.js';
+import { Graphics, Container, Assets, Sprite, type Texture } from 'pixi.js';
 import { gsap } from 'gsap';
 import { treeNodes, type TreeNode } from '$lib/data';
 import { categoryColors } from '$lib/theme';
@@ -51,7 +51,16 @@ export async function createNodes(treeContainer: Container, opts: NodeOpts): Pro
 	const { isMobile } = opts;
 	const nodeObjects: NodeObject[] = [];
 
-	const profileTexture = await Assets.load('/headshot.jpg');
+	// Load every texture in ONE parallel batch. Previously each icon was awaited
+	// inside the loop below, which serialised ~56 round-trips before the tree
+	// could render or accept input.
+	const iconUrls = [...new Set(treeNodes.map((n) => n.icon).filter((s): s is string => !!s))];
+
+	const [profileTexture, iconTextures] = await Promise.all([
+		Assets.load<Texture>('/headshot.jpg'),
+		// Array form resolves to a url -> Texture map and fetches concurrently.
+		iconUrls.length ? Assets.load<Texture>(iconUrls) : Promise.resolve({} as Record<string, Texture>)
+	]);
 
 	for (const node of treeNodes) {
 		const radius = getNodeRadius(node.size, isMobile);
@@ -107,21 +116,20 @@ export async function createNodes(treeContainer: Container, opts: NodeOpts): Pro
 			nodeGraphics.circle(0, 0, radius * 0.75).stroke({ width: 1, color, alpha: 0.2 });
 			nodeContainer.addChild(nodeGraphics);
 
-			if (node.icon) {
-				try {
-					const iconTexture = await Assets.load(node.icon);
-					const iconSprite = new Sprite(iconTexture);
+			const iconTexture = node.icon ? iconTextures[node.icon] : undefined;
+			if (node.icon && !iconTexture) {
+				console.warn(`Could not load icon for ${node.id}:`, node.icon);
+			}
+			if (iconTexture) {
+				const iconSprite = new Sprite(iconTexture);
 
-					const iconSize = radius * 1.4;
-					const scale = iconSize / Math.max(iconTexture.width, iconTexture.height);
-					iconSprite.scale.set(scale);
-					iconSprite.anchor.set(0.5);
-					iconSprite.tint = color;
+				const iconSize = radius * 1.4;
+				const scale = iconSize / Math.max(iconTexture.width, iconTexture.height);
+				iconSprite.scale.set(scale);
+				iconSprite.anchor.set(0.5);
+				iconSprite.tint = color;
 
-					nodeContainer.addChild(iconSprite);
-				} catch {
-					console.warn(`Could not load icon for ${node.id}:`, node.icon);
-				}
+				nodeContainer.addChild(iconSprite);
 			}
 
 			nodeContainer.alpha = 0;
diff --git a/static/headshot.jpg.original b/static/headshot.jpg.original
deleted file mode 100644
index 5a65708..0000000
Binary files a/static/headshot.jpg.original and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/static/profile.jpg.original b/static/profile.jpg.original
deleted file mode 100644
index f3b8236..0000000
Binary files a/static/profile.jpg.original and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/svelte.config.js b/svelte.config.js
index 8aeae27..dc29a9f 100644
--- a/svelte.config.js
+++ b/svelte.config.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ const config = {
 			pages: 'build',
 			assets: 'build',
 			fallback: null,
-			precompress: false,
+			precompress: true,
 			strict: true
 		})
 	}