diff --git a/src/pages/index.astro b/src/pages/index.astro
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index 0000000..89b07d9
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+++ b/src/pages/index.astro
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+---
+// / — the landing route map. The smallest page migration in the refactor:
+// six cards rendered through `RouteCard` inside a `GridGroup`, copy lifted
+// from the `chapters` collection (`src/content/chapters/landing.json`,
+// id `landing`).
+//
+// Migrated from `index.html` per plans/astro-refactor/task-12-page-landing.md.
+// The page is the project's static entry point — it ships zero JavaScript.
+// Wrapped in `ChapterLayout` so the chapters.css palette (the drifted
+// chapter surface this page has always rendered with) loads before the
+// components resolve any colour, and so the surrounding chrome (TopBar,
+// SiteFooter, shared CSS) stays in lock-step with the chapter pages that
+// already migrated.
+
+import { getEntry } from 'astro:content';
+import ChapterLayout from '../layouts/ChapterLayout.astro';
+import ChapterHero from '../components/blocks/ChapterHero.astro';
+import GridGroup from '../components/blocks/GridGroup.astro';
+import RouteCard from '../components/blocks/RouteCard.astro';
+
+const landing = await getEntry('chapters', 'landing');
+if (!landing) throw new Error('landing page entry missing from chapters collection');
+const base = import.meta.env.BASE_URL;
+
+// Landing-page copy is English-only today: the existing index.html always
+// rendered English, and wiring the full bilingual toggle is a separate task
+// (the language-toggle island in `.agents/rules/astro.md`). When that ship
+// lands, the `lang` value flows through the same pattern as the other
+// chapter pages and every `.en` access below becomes a `[lang]` lookup.
+const lang = 'en';
+const data = landing.data;
+const cards = data.cards ?? [];
+---
+
+<ChapterLayout
+  title="AI For Dummies — Start here"
+  description="AI For Dummies: a practical route map for models, agents, worktrees, skills, rules, and verification."
+>
+  <a slot="top-previous" href={base} aria-current="page">AI FOR DUMMIES</a>
+  <span slot="top-center">00 / START HERE</span>
+  <a slot="top-next" href={`${base}skills-review/`}>review desk ↗</a>
+
+  <ChapterHero eyebrow={data.eyebrow[lang]} tone="red">
+    <span slot="title" set:html={data.title[lang]} />
+    <p>{data.lede[lang]}</p>
+    <a slot="foot" class="guide-launch" href={`${base}full-guide/`}
+      >Take the full field guide <span>→</span></a
+    >
+  </ChapterHero>
+
+  <GridGroup label="Guide chapters" columns={3}>
+    {
+      cards.map((card) => (
+        <RouteCard
+          number={card.label[lang]}
+          title={card.title[lang]}
+          summary={card.copy[lang]}
+          href={`${base}${card.href}`}
+          cta={card.cta?.[lang] ?? 'Open chapter →'}
+        />
+      ))
+    }
+  </GridGroup>
+
+  <section class="landing-note">
+    <span>{data.threadLabel?.[lang]}</span>
+    <strong>{data.threadText?.[lang]}</strong>
+  </section>
+
+  <span slot="footer-text">{data.footer?.[lang]}</span>
+</ChapterLayout>
+
+<style>
+  /* Page-level styles only. Anything reusable belongs in a component.
+     `.guide-launch` and `.landing-note` lived in `landing.css` and were
+     unique to this route, so they stay inline rather than earning a block
+     of their own. See `.agents/rules/componentization.md`. */
+
+  .guide-launch {
+    display: inline-flex;
+    gap: 14px;
+    align-items: center;
+    margin-top: 20px;
+    padding: 12px 16px;
+    background: var(--ink);
+    color: var(--paper);
+    /* token-gap: legacy 12px fixed from landing.css; --step-0 is 11px;
+       no token matches 12px; owner design-system-keeper */
+    font:
+      700 12px ui-monospace,
+      monospace;
+    letter-spacing: 0.06em;
+    text-decoration: none;
+    text-transform: uppercase;
+    transition:
+      transform 0.2s ease,
+      background 0.2s ease;
+  }
+
+  .guide-launch:hover {
+    transform: translateY(-3px);
+    background: var(--blue);
+  }
+
+  .guide-launch span {
+    color: var(--gold);
+    /* token-gap: legacy 22px arrow from landing.css; no --step-* covers 22px; owner design-system-keeper */
+    font-size: 22px;
+    line-height: 0;
+  }
+
+  .landing-note {
+    display: grid;
+    grid-template-columns: 170px minmax(0, 1fr);
+    gap: 30px;
+    margin: 0 0 70px;
+    padding: 25px 0;
+    border-top: 1px solid var(--ink);
+    border-bottom: 1px solid var(--ink);
+  }
+
+  .landing-note span {
+    color: var(--red);
+    /* token-gap: legacy 11px monospace eyebrow (no DM Mono in stack);
+       --step-0 also resolves to 11px but with different font weight;
+       preserved verbatim from landing.css; owner design-system-keeper */
+    font:
+      700 11px ui-monospace,
+      monospace;
+    letter-spacing: 0.1em;
+  }
+
+  .landing-note strong {
+    /* token-gap: clamp(22px,3.2vw,42px) is specific to this strip; no
+       --step-* ramp covers both endpoints; owner design-system-keeper */
+    font-size: clamp(22px, 3.2vw, 42px);
+    line-height: 1.08;
+    letter-spacing: -0.04em;
+  }
+
+  /* token-gap: 520px collapse from landing.css (was bottom-bar threshold); owner design-system-keeper */
+  @media (max-width: 520px) {
+    .landing-note {
+      grid-template-columns: 1fr;
+      gap: 9px;
+      margin-bottom: 45px;
+    }
+  }
+
+  @media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
+    .guide-launch {
+      transition: none;
+    }
+    .guide-launch:hover {
+      transform: none;
+    }
+  }
+</style>