diff --git a/docs/ISSUES.md b/docs/ISSUES.md
index 421731ab..70672e8d 100644
--- a/docs/ISSUES.md
+++ b/docs/ISSUES.md
@@ -24,6 +24,55 @@ What does NOT go here:
 - Every session: scan OPEN issues at start; promote/close anything we touched during the session before ending.
 - Promoting to a Phase: mark as `DONE (promoted to Phase X)` + commit SHA where the Phase entry landed.
 
+## #399 — Launcher: no test ever constructs MainWindow, so code-behind defects reach the user gate
+
+**Status:** OPEN
+**Severity:** HIGH (process class: this gap let #398 — a crash on every
+modal open/close — pass 14,012 green tests and reach the user gate)
+**Filed:** 2026-08-15 (found while launching the launcher for the LA11 gate)
+**Component:** tests/AcDream.Launcher.Tests
+
+`tests/AcDream.Launcher.Tests` is ViewModel-only — its csproj has no
+Avalonia headless package, and no test instantiates `MainWindow` or any
+view. `LauncherWindowViewModelTests` proved the modal state machine while
+the code-behind that consumes it was never executed once, which is exactly
+how #398's null `x:Name` fields survived every automated gate.
+
+**Fix direction.** Add `Avalonia.Headless.XUnit` to the launcher test
+project and a focused view test that constructs `MainWindow`, asserts every
+`x:Name` field the code-behind dereferences is non-null, and drives each
+modal (editor kinds, first-run wizard, update prompt) through open and
+close so the focus/restore paths actually run. That catches the class —
+any null named control or throwing handler — not just #398's spelling.
+
+**Acceptance:** a headless view test fails against the pre-#398 code
+(`AvaloniaXamlLoader.Load`) and passes after, and runs in the portable
+Windows+Ubuntu CI lane alongside the existing launcher tests.
+
+## #398 — Launcher: fatal startup/dispatcher exceptions are reported without a stack
+
+**Status:** OPEN
+**Severity:** MODERATE (diagnosability)
+**Filed:** 2026-08-15
+**Component:** `src/AcDream.Launcher/Program.cs`
+
+`Program.Main`'s top-level guard prints only `ex.Message` before returning
+74. For the `MainWindow` NullReferenceException fixed at `d54b8a78` that
+produced `Launcher startup failed safely: Object reference not set to an
+instance of an object.` with no file, line, or frame — diagnosis required
+temporarily editing the guard to print the full exception and rebuilding.
+An alpha user hitting a crash can give us nothing actionable.
+
+**Fix direction.** Keep stderr terse, but write the full exception
+(`ToString()`, including inner exceptions) to a crash file under the
+resolved data root, and print that path. Must honor the LA11 redaction
+contract: the crash file is subject to the same credential-value scanning
+as the status stream, and must never contain a password or a raw command
+line.
+
+**Acceptance:** a fatal startup exception produces a crash file with the
+stack, stderr names its path, and the redaction suite covers the new sink.
+
 ## #397 — Windows: LauncherProcessSupervisor.Stop has no reliable graceful-stop signal for a no-window console host
 
 **Status:** IN-PROGRESS — the isolated process-group implementation and real