diff --git a/docs/USE_CASES_AND_EFFORT.md b/docs/USE_CASES_AND_EFFORT.md
index a9e4e09..579f5d2 100644
--- a/docs/USE_CASES_AND_EFFORT.md
+++ b/docs/USE_CASES_AND_EFFORT.md
@@ -71,11 +71,20 @@ operational and integration scenarios**.
           - "traefik.http.routers.grafana.middlewares=authyes-forwardauth@docker"
     ```
 - **Why it's painless:**
-  - Traefik intercepts unauthenticated requests at the network edge in $<1$ms
-    before traffic reaches the container.
+  - **Dual-Response Protocol:** If a human opens a protected app in a browser
+    (`Accept: text/html`), Auth-Yes immediately issues a `302 Redirect` to
+    `https://auth.atyg.org/login?redirect=...`. Upon touching their passkey, the
+    user is automatically bounced back to the exact URL/tab they originally
+    requested.
+  - **Headless & API Transparency:** Background scripts, daemons, and cURL calls
+    receive clean `401 Unauthorized` responses without getting stuck in HTML
+    redirect loops.
+  - **Open Redirect Protection (CWE-601):** The return URL is strictly validated
+    against approved domains (`*.atyg.org` and localhost) to eliminate phishing
+    attack vectors.
   - Auth-Yes validates the wildcard session cookie and injects
-    `X-Forwarded-User: alice` downstream so Grafana automatically logs the user
-    into their profile.
+    `X-Forwarded-User: alice` downstream so Grafana or Portainer automatically
+    logs the user into their profile.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/server/main.test.ts b/server/main.test.ts
index 56305d6..d02b1cd 100644
--- a/server/main.test.ts
+++ b/server/main.test.ts
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ Deno.test("Tier 1 & 2: GET /api/forward-auth - Valid session", async () => {
   valkeyStub.restore();
 });
 
-Deno.test("Tier 1 & 2: GET /api/forward-auth - Missing session", async () => {
+Deno.test("Tier 1 & 2: GET /api/forward-auth - Missing session (API request)", async () => {
   const req = new Request("http://localhost/api/forward-auth", {
     headers: { "X-Forwarded-Host": "test.app.local" },
   });
@@ -91,6 +91,39 @@ Deno.test("Tier 1 & 2: GET /api/forward-auth - Missing session", async () => {
   valkeyStub.restore();
 });
 
+Deno.test("Tier 1 & 2: GET /api/forward-auth - Missing session (Browser request with text/html)", async () => {
+  const req = new Request("http://localhost/api/forward-auth", {
+    headers: {
+      "X-Forwarded-Host": "ed-droid.atyg.org",
+      "X-Forwarded-Uri": "/control-panel",
+      "X-Forwarded-Proto": "https",
+      Accept: "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8",
+    },
+  });
+
+  const valkeyStub = stub(valkey, "get", (key: any) => {
+    const k = String(key);
+    if (k.startsWith("auth:app_by_host:")) {
+      return Promise.resolve(
+        JSON.stringify({ id: "app-id-1", name: "ed-droid" }),
+      );
+    }
+    return Promise.resolve(null);
+  });
+
+  const res = await app.request(req);
+  assertEquals(res.status, 302);
+  const location = res.headers.get("Location");
+  assertExists(location);
+  assertEquals(
+    location?.includes(
+      "login?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fed-droid.atyg.org%2Fcontrol-panel",
+    ),
+    true,
+  );
+  valkeyStub.restore();
+});
+
 Deno.test("Tier 1 & 2: GET /api/forward-auth - Expired session", async () => {
   const valkeyStub = stub(valkey, "get", (key: any) => {
     const k = String(key);
diff --git a/server/main.ts b/server/main.ts
index c298ce9..3679c2c 100644
--- a/server/main.ts
+++ b/server/main.ts
@@ -1055,6 +1055,22 @@ app.get("/api/forward-auth", async (c) => {
   // Standard User Session Path
   const auth = await getAuthenticatedUser(c);
   if (!auth) {
+    const accept = c.req.header("Accept") || "";
+    const proto = c.req.header("X-Forwarded-Proto") || "https";
+    const uri = c.req.header("X-Forwarded-Uri") || "/";
+    const originalUrl = `${proto}://${host}${uri}`;
+
+    // If a browser is requesting a webpage, seamlessly redirect to login
+    if (accept.includes("text/html")) {
+      const loginDomain = rpID || "auth.atyg.org";
+      return c.redirect(
+        `https://${loginDomain}/login?redirect=${
+          encodeURIComponent(originalUrl)
+        }`,
+        302,
+      );
+    }
+
     return c.text("Unauthorized", 401);
   }
 
diff --git a/ui/public/auth-client.js b/ui/public/auth-client.js
index d459558..c0bee70 100644
--- a/ui/public/auth-client.js
+++ b/ui/public/auth-client.js
@@ -220,8 +220,29 @@ async function startWebAuthnLogin(username) {
 
     if (verificationJSON.success) {
       setStatus("Login successful! Redirecting...");
+      let targetRedirect = "/dashboard";
+      try {
+        const params = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
+        const rawRedirect = params.get("redirect");
+        if (rawRedirect) {
+          if (rawRedirect.startsWith("/") && !rawRedirect.startsWith("//")) {
+            targetRedirect = rawRedirect;
+          } else {
+            const parsed = new URL(rawRedirect);
+            if (
+              parsed.hostname.endsWith(".atyg.org") ||
+              parsed.hostname === "atyg.org" ||
+              parsed.hostname === "localhost"
+            ) {
+              targetRedirect = rawRedirect;
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      } catch (_e) {
+        // Fallback to default
+      }
       setTimeout(() => {
-        globalThis.location.href = "/dashboard";
+        globalThis.location.href = targetRedirect;
       }, 1000);
     } else {
       setStatus(verificationJSON.error || "Login verification failed", true);