diff --git a/src/components/MaintenanceGate.tsx b/src/components/MaintenanceGate.tsx
index 6306a60..a0db7ab 100644
--- a/src/components/MaintenanceGate.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MaintenanceGate.tsx
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ import { supabase } from "@/integrations/supabase/client";
 const MAINTENANCE_SETTING_KEY = "site.maintenance_mode";
 
 function isAdminOrAuthPath(pathname: string) {
-  return /^\/(?:auth|mfa-verify|dashboard|admin)(?:\/|$)/.test(pathname);
+  return /^\/(?:auth|mfa-setup|mfa-verify|forgot-password|reset-password|dashboard|admin)(?:\/|$)/.test(
+    pathname,
+  );
 }
 
 export function MaintenanceGate({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
diff --git a/src/lib/error-page.ts b/src/lib/error-page.ts
index 725235c..5a7e325 100644
--- a/src/lib/error-page.ts
+++ b/src/lib/error-page.ts
@@ -1,30 +1,54 @@
-export function renderErrorPage(): string {
+function renderStatusPage({
+  title,
+  heading,
+  message,
+}: {
+  title: string;
+  heading: string;
+  message: string;
+}) {
   return `<!doctype html>
 <html lang="en">
   <head>
     <meta charset="utf-8" />
-    <title>This page didn't load</title>
+    <title>${title}</title>
     <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
     <style>
-      body { font: 15px/1.5 system-ui, -apple-system, sans-serif; background: #fafafa; color: #111; display: grid; place-items: center; min-height: 100vh; margin: 0; padding: 1.5rem; }
-      .card { max-width: 28rem; width: 100%; text-align: center; padding: 2rem; }
-      h1 { font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 0 0 0.5rem; }
-      p { color: #4b5563; margin: 0 0 1.5rem; }
-      .actions { display: flex; gap: 0.5rem; justify-content: center; flex-wrap: wrap; }
-      a, button { padding: 0.5rem 1rem; border-radius: 0.375rem; font: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; border: 1px solid transparent; }
-      .primary { background: #111; color: #fff; }
-      .secondary { background: #fff; color: #111; border-color: #d1d5db; }
+      :root { color-scheme: dark; font: 15px/1.6 system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", sans-serif; background: #0b0b14; color: #f7f5ff; }
+      * { box-sizing: border-box; }
+      body { display: grid; place-items: center; min-height: 100vh; margin: 0; padding: 1.5rem; }
+      main { width: 100%; max-width: 34rem; text-align: center; }
+      .brand { color: #b9a3ff; font-size: .75rem; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: .22em; text-transform: uppercase; }
+      h1 { margin: 1rem 0 .75rem; font-size: clamp(2rem, 8vw, 3rem); line-height: 1.15; }
+      p { margin: 0; color: #a6a3b5; }
+      a { display: inline-block; margin-top: 1.5rem; padding: .65rem 1rem; border: 1px solid #39324d; border-radius: .75rem; color: #f7f5ff; text-decoration: none; }
+      a:hover { background: #191626; }
     </style>
   </head>
   <body>
-    <div class="card">
-      <h1>This page didn't load</h1>
-      <p>Something went wrong on our end. You can try refreshing or head back home.</p>
-      <div class="actions">
-        <button class="primary" onclick="location.reload()">Try again</button>
-        <a class="secondary" href="/">Go home</a>
-      </div>
-    </div>
+    <main>
+      <div class="brand">CodeForge</div>
+      <h1>${heading}</h1>
+      <p>${message}</p>
+      <a href="/">Go to homepage</a>
+    </main>
   </body>
 </html>`;
 }
+
+export function renderErrorPage() {
+  return renderStatusPage({
+    title: "500 — Something went wrong | CodeForge",
+    heading: "500 — Something went wrong",
+    message: "An unexpected error occurred on our end. Please try again in a little while.",
+  });
+}
+
+export function renderMaintenancePage() {
+  return renderStatusPage({
+    title: "503 — Maintenance in progress | CodeForge",
+    heading: "We’ll be back soon",
+    message:
+      "CodeForge is temporarily unavailable while maintenance is in progress. Please check back shortly.",
+  });
+}
diff --git a/src/routes/__root.tsx b/src/routes/__root.tsx
index 54cb428..08582a5 100644
--- a/src/routes/__root.tsx
+++ b/src/routes/__root.tsx
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ function ErrorComponent({ error, reset }: { error: Error; reset: () => void }) {
   return (
     <div className="flex min-h-screen items-center justify-center px-4">
       <div className="glass max-w-md rounded-2xl p-8 text-center">
-        <h1 className="text-xl font-semibold">Something went wrong</h1>
+        <h1 className="text-xl font-semibold">500 — Something went wrong</h1>
         <p className="mt-2 text-sm text-muted-foreground">
           An unexpected error occurred. Please try again.
         </p>
diff --git a/src/start.ts b/src/start.ts
index 2086427..e3564cc 100644
--- a/src/start.ts
+++ b/src/start.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,49 @@
 import { createStart, createMiddleware } from "@tanstack/react-start";
 
-import { renderErrorPage } from "./lib/error-page";
+import { renderErrorPage, renderMaintenancePage } from "./lib/error-page";
 import { attachSupabaseAuth } from "@/integrations/supabase/auth-attacher";
 
+const maintenanceSettingKey = "site.maintenance_mode";
+
+function isAdminOrAuthPath(pathname: string) {
+  return /^\/(?:auth|mfa-setup|mfa-verify|forgot-password|reset-password|dashboard|admin)(?:\/|$)/.test(
+    pathname,
+  );
+}
+
+const maintenanceMiddleware = createMiddleware().server(async ({ next, request }) => {
+  if (request.method !== "GET" || !request.headers.get("accept")?.includes("text/html")) {
+    return next();
+  }
+
+  const pathname = new URL(request.url).pathname;
+  if (isAdminOrAuthPath(pathname)) return next();
+
+  try {
+    const { supabaseAdmin } = await import("@/integrations/supabase/client.server");
+    const { data, error } = await supabaseAdmin
+      .from("site_settings")
+      .select("value")
+      .eq("key", maintenanceSettingKey)
+      .maybeSingle();
+    if (error) throw error;
+    if (data?.value === "true") {
+      return new Response(renderMaintenancePage(), {
+        status: 503,
+        headers: {
+          "content-type": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
+          "cache-control": "no-store",
+          "retry-after": "300",
+        },
+      });
+    }
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.error("Unable to check CodeForge maintenance mode", error);
+  }
+
+  return next();
+});
+
 const errorMiddleware = createMiddleware().server(async ({ next }) => {
   try {
     return await next();
@@ -20,5 +61,5 @@ const errorMiddleware = createMiddleware().server(async ({ next }) => {
 
 export const startInstance = createStart(() => ({
   functionMiddleware: [attachSupabaseAuth],
-  requestMiddleware: [errorMiddleware],
+  requestMiddleware: [maintenanceMiddleware, errorMiddleware],
 }));