diff --git a/api/tree.ts b/api/tree.ts
index 10918d0..948e219 100644
--- a/api/tree.ts
+++ b/api/tree.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { readFileSync, readdirSync, writeFileSync, statSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { existsSync, readFileSync, readdirSync, writeFileSync, statSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { join, resolve } from 'node:path';
 
 // The todo tree: `todo/<theme>/<item>.md`, one item per file, frontmatter + hand-written prose.
@@ -88,6 +88,16 @@ export function patchFrontmatter(text: string, updates: Record<string, string>):
 export function readTree(root: string): { themes: TodoTheme[] } {
   const themes = readdirSync(root)
     .filter((d) => statSync(join(root, d)).isDirectory())
+    /*
+      A THEME is a directory with an `_index.md`. Anything else under the folder is ignored.
+
+      This used to assume every subdirectory was one, which was safe when the only possible root was the
+      platform's own `todo/`. It is not safe now: point a project at a repository root — an easy mistake,
+      since `todo/` sits inside one — and this read `src/_index.md`, threw ENOENT, and the board showed a
+      500 that the panel reported as a permission problem. Skipping is also just correct for a real todo
+      folder, which may hold a README or a script beside its themes.
+    */
+    .filter((d) => existsSync(join(root, d, '_index.md')))
     .sort()
     .map((theme) => {
       const files = readdirSync(join(root, theme)).filter((f) => f.endsWith('.md'));
diff --git a/manifest.ts b/manifest.ts
index d9efc7d..a98d28a 100644
--- a/manifest.ts
+++ b/manifest.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ import type { PluginManifest } from '@@/plugins/manifest';
  */
 export const manifest: PluginManifest = {
   publisher: 'officerdev',
-  version: '2026.08.29.01',
+  version: '2026.08.29.02',
   platform: '>=1.0.0',
 
   label: 'Kanban',
diff --git a/web/BoardPanel.tsx b/web/BoardPanel.tsx
index 0015378..ba16b3e 100644
--- a/web/BoardPanel.tsx
+++ b/web/BoardPanel.tsx
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import ReactMarkdown from 'react-markdown';
 import remarkGfm from 'remark-gfm';
 import { AlertTriangle, CalendarClock, X } from 'lucide-react';
 import { cn } from '@/lib/utils';
+import { errorText } from 'helpers/error-text';
 import type { TodoItem } from './useKanban';
 import { useSelectedProject, useTodoItem, useTodoPatch, useTodoTree } from './useKanban';
 
@@ -54,16 +55,52 @@ export const BoardPanel = () => {
     return qs ? `?${qs}` : '.';
   };
 
-  if (error) {
+  if (project === null) {
     return (
       <div className="flex h-full items-center justify-center p-8 text-center text-sm text-muted-foreground">
-        The todo board is owner-only, and this account was refused. Nothing here is broken — there is simply nothing to
-        show.
+        Choose a project on the left, or add one.
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+
+  /*
+    THE ERROR, not a guess at it.
+
+    This said "the todo board is owner-only, and this account was refused" — true of the version in the
+    platform, where `/todos` was `kind: 'admin'`, and false here, where the permission is grantable. It
+    survived the extraction as a sentence describing a rule that no longer exists, and the first real
+    failure it met was a 500 from a mis-pointed project, which it reported as a permission problem.
+
+    A wrong explanation is worse than none: it sends somebody to check their account when the answer is
+    on screen in the panel beside them.
+  */
+  if (error) {
+    return (
+      <div className="flex h-full flex-col items-center justify-center gap-2 p-8 text-center text-sm text-muted-foreground">
+        <span>This board could not be read.</span>
+        <span className="max-w-md text-xs text-destructive">{errorText(error, 'unknown error')}</span>
       </div>
     );
   }
   if (isLoading || !data) {
-    return <div className="flex h-full items-center justify-center text-sm text-muted-foreground">Reading todo/…</div>;
+    return <div className="flex h-full items-center justify-center text-sm text-muted-foreground">Reading…</div>;
+  }
+
+  /*
+    No themes at all is almost always the same mistake — the project points at a repository rather than
+    at the folder inside it that holds the themes. Said here, where somebody is looking, rather than left
+    as an empty board that reads like "no work outstanding".
+  */
+  if (data.themes.length === 0) {
+    return (
+      <div className="flex h-full flex-col items-center justify-center gap-2 p-8 text-center text-sm text-muted-foreground">
+        <span>No themes in this folder.</span>
+        <span className="max-w-md text-xs">
+          A theme is a directory with an <code>_index.md</code> in it. If you pointed this at a repository, the folder
+          you want is usually <code>todo/</code> inside it.
+        </span>
+      </div>
+    );
   }
 
   const themes = data.themes.filter((t) => t.items.length > 0);