diff --git a/.scripts/build_with_toolchain.ps1 b/.scripts/build_with_toolchain.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83d6759
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.scripts/build_with_toolchain.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+Param(
+    [Parameter(ValueFromRemainingArguments=$true)]
+    [string[]]$Args
+)
+
+function Get-LatestDir($root) {
+    if (-not (Test-Path $root)) { return $null }
+    Get-ChildItem -Path $root -Directory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
+        Where-Object { $_.Name -match '^[0-9]' } |
+        Sort-Object {[version]($_.Name)} -Descending |
+        Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty FullName
+}
+
+# Windows Kits (Program Files (x86))
+$kitsRoot = "${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Windows Kits\10\bin"
+$kitsLatest = Get-LatestDir $kitsRoot
+$kitsBinX64 = if ($kitsLatest) { Join-Path $kitsLatest 'x64' } else { $null }
+
+# MSVC (search common Program Files locations)
+$msvcDirs = @()
+$possibleRoots = @(
+    "${env:ProgramFiles}\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC",
+    "${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC"
+)
+foreach ($pr in $possibleRoots) {
+    if (Test-Path $pr) {
+        $msvcDirs += Get-ChildItem -Path $pr -Directory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName
+    }
+}
+$msvcLatest = $null
+if ($msvcDirs.Count -gt 0) {
+    $msvcLatest = $msvcDirs | Sort-Object { [version]((Split-Path $_ -Leaf)) } -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
+}
+$msvcBin = if ($msvcLatest) { Join-Path $msvcLatest 'bin\Hostx64\x64' } else { $null }
+
+$added = @()
+if ($msvcBin -and (Test-Path $msvcBin)) { $env:PATH = $msvcBin + ';' + $env:PATH; $added += $msvcBin }
+if ($kitsBinX64 -and (Test-Path $kitsBinX64)) { $env:PATH = $kitsBinX64 + ';' + $env:PATH; $added += $kitsBinX64 }
+
+Write-Host "Prepended to PATH:" -ForegroundColor Cyan
+if ($added.Count -eq 0) { Write-Host " (no toolchain bins found; building with current PATH)" -ForegroundColor Yellow }
+foreach ($p in $added) { Write-Host " - $p" }
+
+# Execute prepare step then build (same sequence as existing package.json 'build')
+try {
+    & node scripts/prepare-resources.cjs
+    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { throw 'prepare-resources.cjs failed' }
+} catch {
+    Write-Error "prepare-resources.cjs failed: $_"
+    exit 1
+}
+
+if (Get-Command bun -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
+    & bun run build @Args
+    exit $LASTEXITCODE
+} else {
+    & tauri build --config src/backend/tauri.conf.json @Args
+    exit $LASTEXITCODE
+}
diff --git a/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.cjs b/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c28b7d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+const fs = require('fs');
+const p = process.argv[2];
+if (!p) { console.error('Usage: node dump_gguf_specials.cjs <file>'); process.exit(2); }
+const b = fs.readFileSync(p);
+let s = b.toString('utf8');
+const keys = ['special_eog_ids','special_eos_id','special_tokens','tokenizer.ggml.tokens'];
+for (const k of keys) {
+  const idx = s.indexOf(k);
+  if (idx===-1) { console.log(`${k}: NOT FOUND`); continue; }
+  const start = Math.max(0, idx-200), end = Math.min(s.length, idx+600);
+  console.log('='.repeat(40));
+  console.log(`Key: ${k} at char ${idx}`);
+  console.log(s.slice(start,end));
+}
+const m = s.match(/special_eog_ids\s*arr\[.*?\]\s*=\s*\[(.*?)\]/s);
+if (m) console.log('parsed special_eog_ids:', m[1].trim()); else console.log('special_eog_ids pattern not parsed');
+const m2 = s.match(/special_eos_id\s*u32\s*=\s*(\d+)/);
+if (m2) console.log('parsed special_eos_id:', m2[1]); else console.log('special_eos_id pattern not parsed');
+// Additional searches for tokens mentioned in logs
+const toks = ['end_of_turn','<end_of_turn>','<eos>','eog','eog_ids'];
+for (const t of toks) {
+  const idx = s.indexOf(t);
+  if (idx===-1) continue;
+  const start = Math.max(0, idx-80), end = Math.min(s.length, idx+80);
+  console.log('----');
+  console.log(`Found token text: ${t} at ${idx}`);
+  console.log(s.slice(start,end));
+}
diff --git a/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.js b/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d08c2c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+const fs = require('fs');
+const p = process.argv[2];
+if (!p) { console.error('Usage: node dump_gguf_specials.js <file>'); process.exit(2); }
+const b = fs.readFileSync(p);
+let s = b.toString('utf8');
+const keys = ['special_eog_ids','special_eos_id','special_tokens','tokenizer.ggml.tokens'];
+for (const k of keys) {
+  const idx = s.indexOf(k);
+  if (idx===-1) { console.log(`${k}: NOT FOUND`); continue; }
+  const start = Math.max(0, idx-200), end = Math.min(s.length, idx+600);
+  console.log('='.repeat(40));
+  console.log(`Key: ${k} at char ${idx}`);
+  console.log(s.slice(start,end));
+}
+const m = s.match(/special_eog_ids\s*arr\[.*?\]\s*=\s*\[(.*?)\]/s);
+if (m) console.log('parsed special_eog_ids:', m[1].trim()); else console.log('special_eog_ids pattern not parsed');
+const m2 = s.match(/special_eos_id\s*u32\s*=\s*(\d+)/);
+if (m2) console.log('parsed special_eos_id:', m2[1]); else console.log('special_eos_id pattern not parsed');
diff --git a/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.py b/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..577f257
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.scripts/dump_gguf_specials.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+if len(sys.argv) < 2:
+    print('Usage: dump_gguf_specials.py <path-to-gguf>')
+    sys.exit(2)
+
+p = Path(sys.argv[1])
+if not p.exists():
+    print('File not found:', p)
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+b = p.read_bytes()
+try:
+    s = b.decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
+except Exception as e:
+    s = ''.join(chr(c) if 32 <= c < 127 else '.' for c in b)
+
+keys = ['special_eos_id', 'special_eog_ids', 'special_tokens', 'tokenizer.ggml.tokens']
+for k in keys:
+    idx = s.find(k)
+    if idx == -1:
+        print(f"{k}: NOT FOUND")
+        continue
+    start = max(0, idx-200)
+    end = min(len(s), idx+600)
+    snippet = s[start:end]
+    print('='*40)
+    print(f'Key: {k} at byte {idx}')
+    print(snippet)
+    print()
+
+# Also attempt to find patterns like 'special_eog_ids arr' and numeric lists
+import re
+m = re.search(r'special_eog_ids\s*arr\[.*?\]\s*=\s*\[(.*?)\]', s, re.S)
+if m:
+    print('parsed special_eog_ids:', m.group(1).strip())
+else:
+    print('special_eog_ids pattern not parsed')
+
+m2 = re.search(r'special_eos_id\s*u32\s*=\s*(\d+)', s)
+if m2:
+    print('parsed special_eos_id:', m2.group(1))
+else:
+    print('special_eos_id pattern not parsed')
diff --git a/.scripts/health_check.ps1 b/.scripts/health_check.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0684f6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.scripts/health_check.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+$urls = @(
+    'http://127.0.0.1:8080/',
+    'http://127.0.0.1:8080/health',
+    'http://127.0.0.1:8080/status',
+    'http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/health',
+    'http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/health'
+)
+
+foreach ($u in $urls) {
+    Write-Host '---'
+    Write-Host 'URL:' $u
+    try {
+        $r = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $u -UseBasicParsing -TimeoutSec 5
+        Write-Host 'Status:' $r.StatusCode
+        if ($r.Content) {
+            $c = $r.Content
+            if ($c.Length -gt 1000) { $c = $c.Substring(0,1000) + '...[truncated]' }
+            Write-Host 'Body:'
+            Write-Host $c
+        }
+    } catch {
+        Write-Host 'Error:' $_.Exception.Message
+    }
+}
diff --git a/.scripts/run_and_check.ps1 b/.scripts/run_and_check.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..619d457
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.scripts/run_and_check.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Start telos-db, run health checks, show tail of log, then stop
+Param()
+Set-Location $PSScriptRoot.Replace('\.scripts','')
+if (-not (Test-Path 'logs')) { New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path 'logs' | Out-Null }
+$proc = Start-Process -FilePath .\target\debug\telos-db.exe -ArgumentList '--n_ctx','2048','--cache-ram','0' -RedirectStandardOutput .\logs\start.log -RedirectStandardError .\logs\start.err -NoNewWindow -PassThru
+Start-Sleep -Seconds 6
+& .\.scripts\health_check.ps1
+Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
+Write-Host "--- Recent startup log ---"
+Get-Content .\logs\start.log -Tail 200 | ForEach-Object { Write-Host $_ }
+try { Stop-Process -Id $proc.Id -Force } catch { Write-Warning "Failed to stop process: $_" }