diff --git a/middleware.js b/middleware.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..27d97eb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/middleware.js
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+// Routes crawler requests for `/?v=<nevent>` to the per-video OpenGraph
+// renderer (api/og.js).
+//
+// This has to be middleware rather than a `rewrites` entry in vercel.json:
+// rewrites are evaluated AFTER the filesystem, and `/` matches the static
+// index.html, so the rewrite never fired and crawlers kept getting the
+// site-wide card. Middleware runs before the filesystem check.
+//
+// Deliberately minimal. It matches only `/`, bails immediately when there is no
+// `v` param or the visitor is not a known preview crawler, and never touches
+// the response for a real viewer — they continue to the untouched SPA. If this
+// file is removed the site keeps working, just with the generic card.
+
+import { next, rewrite } from "@vercel/edge";
+import { isCrawlerUserAgent } from "./api/_lib/ogRenderer.mjs";
+
+export const config = {
+  // Only the share-link path. Every other route skips middleware entirely.
+  matcher: "/",
+};
+
+export default function middleware(request) {
+  let url;
+  try {
+    url = new URL(request.url);
+  } catch (err) {
+    return next();
+  }
+
+  // A bare homepage visit is not a share link.
+  if (!url.searchParams.get("v")) {
+    return next();
+  }
+
+  const userAgent = request.headers?.get?.("user-agent") || "";
+  if (!isCrawlerUserAgent(userAgent)) {
+    return next();
+  }
+
+  const target = new URL(url.toString());
+  target.pathname = "/api/og";
+  return rewrite(target);
+}
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 3a4fc0da..417e0987 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
       "dependencies": {
         "@floating-ui/dom": "^1.7.4",
         "@tailwindcss/typography": "^0.5.19",
+        "@vercel/edge": "^1.3.1",
         "autoprefixer": "^10.4.24",
         "cross-env": "^10.1.0",
         "esbuild": "^0.27.3",
@@ -1478,6 +1479,12 @@
       "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT"
     },
+    "node_modules/@vercel/edge": {
+      "version": "1.3.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@vercel/edge/-/edge-1.3.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-k0tKWeYEWOv6qU6+Z8+hv2Nt/u3vFHRZdB0uvwE0DxoddU/5kWX/Chu8F6ojvqmRlnZwuX/7kyZFVeCP6DxqBg==",
+      "license": "Apache-2.0"
+    },
     "node_modules/@vitest/expect": {
       "version": "4.0.18",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@vitest/expect/-/expect-4.0.18.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6a407dce..f0cbc788 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@floating-ui/dom": "^1.7.4",
     "@tailwindcss/typography": "^0.5.19",
+    "@vercel/edge": "^1.3.1",
     "autoprefixer": "^10.4.24",
     "cross-env": "^10.1.0",
     "esbuild": "^0.27.3",
diff --git a/vercel.json b/vercel.json
index e2e36021..9b0e9cb6 100644
--- a/vercel.json
+++ b/vercel.json
@@ -7,37 +7,32 @@
       "unstable": true
     }
   },
-  "rewrites": [
-    {
-      "source": "/",
-      "has": [
-        { "type": "query", "key": "v" },
-        {
-          "type": "header",
-          "key": "user-agent",
-          "value": ".*(facebookexternalhit|Twitterbot|Slackbot|Discordbot|TelegramBot|WhatsApp|LinkedInBot|Pinterest|redditbot|Embedly|Iframely|Mastodon|Bluesky|SkypeUriPreview|vkShare|Googlebot|bingbot|Applebot|YandexBot|DuckDuckBot|Baiduspider|PetalBot|primal).*"
-        }
-      ],
-      "destination": "/api/og"
-    }
-  ],
   "headers": [
     {
       "source": "/sw.min.js",
       "headers": [
-        { "key": "Cache-Control", "value": "no-cache, must-revalidate" }
+        {
+          "key": "Cache-Control",
+          "value": "no-cache, must-revalidate"
+        }
       ]
     },
     {
       "source": "/",
       "headers": [
-        { "key": "Cache-Control", "value": "no-cache, must-revalidate" }
+        {
+          "key": "Cache-Control",
+          "value": "no-cache, must-revalidate"
+        }
       ]
     },
     {
       "source": "/(.*\\.html)",
       "headers": [
-        { "key": "Cache-Control", "value": "no-cache, must-revalidate" }
+        {
+          "key": "Cache-Control",
+          "value": "no-cache, must-revalidate"
+        }
       ]
     }
   ]