diff --git a/internal/gateway/ui/index.html b/internal/gateway/ui/index.html
index 6775462..7c238ef 100644
--- a/internal/gateway/ui/index.html
+++ b/internal/gateway/ui/index.html
@@ -3000,9 +3000,25 @@ async function renderChat() {
           btn.textContent = t("imgWorking").replace("%d", String(Math.round((Date.now() - t0) / 1000)));
         }, 1000);
         try {
+          // api() is a thin wrapper over fetch(p, o) — o is the NATIVE
+          // fetch options object, so body must be a STRING.
+          //
+          // Passing the object directly made fetch coerce it to the literal
+          // text "[object Object]", the gateway's json.Unmarshal rejected it,
+          // and the page showed a bare "400 Bad Request" with no image and no
+          // usable message. It cost a round of debugging because the DOM, the
+          // model list and the button state were all correct — only the wire
+          // format was wrong, which is invisible until you capture the request.
+          //
+          // JSON.stringify + an explicit Content-Type is what every other
+          // POST in this file does; the missing header plus the object body
+          // meant the server saw Content-Type: text/plain and a string body.
+          const payload = { model: model, prompt: prompt, n: n };
+          if (size) payload.size = size;
           const r = await api("/v1/images/generations", {
             method: "POST",
-            body: size ? { model: model, prompt: prompt, n: n, size: size } : { model: model, prompt: prompt, n: n },
+            headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
+            body: JSON.stringify(payload),
           });
           const empty = $("#it-empty");
           if (empty) empty.remove();
@@ -3483,7 +3499,14 @@ async function renderChat() {
         try {
           const r = await api("/api/sources/discover", {
             method: "POST",
-            body: { base_url: baseUrl, api_key: apiKey },
+            // api() hands its second argument straight to fetch, so `body`
+            // must be a STRING. Passing the object made fetch send the literal
+            // text "[object Object]" and the gateway answered
+            // 400 invalid character 'o' — the Auto-discover button looked
+            // dead while curl against the same endpoint worked, because the
+            // curl test exercised the ENDPOINT and not this BUTTON.
+            headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
+            body: JSON.stringify({ base_url: baseUrl, api_key: apiKey }),
           });
           // The server normalized the URL form. Showing the operator exactly
           // what will be saved is the whole point of probing server-side
diff --git a/internal/gateway/ui_image_wire_test.go b/internal/gateway/ui_image_wire_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56efb32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/gateway/ui_image_wire_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+package gateway
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// TestUI_ImageRequestSendsJSONBody pins the bug that made the image page
+// unusable in production while every DOM assertion still passed.
+//
+// The page called api(path, {method, body: {...}}). api() is
+// `(p, o) => fetch(p, o)` — o is the NATIVE fetch options object, so an object
+// in `body` is coerced by fetch into the literal text "[object Object]". The
+// gateway's json.Unmarshal rejected it, the response was a bare 400 with
+// lat_ms 0, and the page showed an error toast with no image and no usable
+// message.
+//
+// What made this expensive: the pane rendered, the model list had all six
+// models, the button enabled itself, the console was clean. Only the WIRE
+// format was wrong, and nothing in the DOM shows a wire format.
+func TestUI_ImageRequestSendsJSONBody(t *testing.T) {
+	body := sendImageSource(t)
+
+	if !strings.Contains(body, "JSON.stringify") {
+		t.Error("sendImage() does not JSON.stringify its body — fetch coerces " +
+			"the object to the text \"[object Object]\" and the gateway answers " +
+			"400 with lat_ms 0")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(body, `"Content-Type": "application/json"`) {
+		t.Error("sendImage() does not set Content-Type: application/json; the " +
+			"server sees text/plain and may refuse to parse the body")
+	}
+	// The literal defect, asserted so a later refactor reintroducing it fails
+	// here rather than in a browser.
+	if strings.Contains(body, "body: size ? {") || strings.Contains(body, "body: { model") {
+		t.Error("sendImage() still passes an object literal as the fetch body")
+	}
+}
+
+// TestUI_PostCallsSendJSONString guards every POST in the file, not just the
+// image one. The image page happened to be the only place that used api() with
+// an object body, so a check scoped to it would pass while another page had the
+// same defect.
+func TestUI_PostCallsSendJSONString(t *testing.T) {
+	ui := uiSource(t)
+	lines := strings.Split(ui, "\n")
+
+	var bad []string
+	for i, l := range lines {
+		if !strings.Contains(l, `method: "POST"`) {
+			continue
+		}
+		end := i + 8
+		if end > len(lines) {
+			end = len(lines)
+		}
+		window := strings.Join(lines[i:end], "\n")
+		if !strings.Contains(window, "body:") {
+			continue // no body at all: legitimate (a bare trigger)
+		}
+		if strings.Contains(window, "JSON.stringify") || strings.Contains(window, "FormData") {
+			continue
+		}
+		bad = append(bad, strings.TrimSpace(l))
+	}
+	if len(bad) > 0 {
+		t.Errorf("%d POST call(s) send a non-string body:", len(bad))
+		for _, b := range bad {
+			if len(b) > 100 {
+				b = b[:100]
+			}
+			t.Errorf("    %s", b)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// TestUI_ImagePageReportsServerErrors pins that a failed generation surfaces
+// something actionable. The production bug produced a bare "400 Bad Request"
+// toast; the requirement is that the gateway's own message reaches the page.
+func TestUI_ImagePageReportsServerErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	body := sendImageSource(t)
+
+	// api() throws Error(j.error.message) on !r.ok, so appending e.message is
+	// what puts the explanation on screen.
+	if !strings.Contains(body, "e && e.message") {
+		t.Error("sendImage() does not surface the server's error message; a " +
+			"failure would show a bare status with no cause")
+	}
+	// And a success carrying no image must not look like a success.
+	if !strings.Contains(body, "imgNoData") {
+		t.Error("sendImage() does not warn when the upstream returns no image")
+	}
+}
+
+// sendImageSource returns the text of sendImage() only, so an assertion cannot
+// be satisfied by a string that happens to appear elsewhere in the file.
+func sendImageSource(t *testing.T) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	ui := uiSource(t)
+	i := strings.Index(ui, "async function sendImage(")
+	if i < 0 {
+		t.Fatal("sendImage() not found")
+	}
+	body := ui[i:]
+	if end := strings.Index(body[1:], "\n      function "); end > 0 {
+		body = body[:end+1]
+	}
+	return body
+}
\ No newline at end of file