diff --git a/movie_editor/frontend/index.html b/movie_editor/frontend/index.html
index 962c1c15..0437a817 100644
--- a/movie_editor/frontend/index.html
+++ b/movie_editor/frontend/index.html
@@ -15,11 +15,19 @@
         var b = document.getElementById("boot-error");
         if (!b) {
           b = document.createElement("div"); b.id = "boot-error";
-          b.style.cssText = "position:fixed;z-index:99999;left:0;right:0;top:0;padding:10px 14px;" +
+          b.style.cssText = "position:fixed;z-index:99999;left:0;right:0;top:0;padding:10px 34px 10px 14px;" +
             "background:#3a1320;color:#ffb3c1;font:12px/1.5 monospace;border-bottom:1px solid #e0566b;white-space:pre-wrap";
+          var x = document.createElement("button");
+          x.textContent = "✕"; x.title = "Dismiss";
+          x.style.cssText = "position:absolute;top:6px;right:8px;background:transparent;border:1px solid #e0566b;" +
+            "color:#ffb3c1;border-radius:6px;cursor:pointer;font:12px monospace;padding:1px 7px;line-height:1.4";
+          x.onclick = function () { b.remove(); };
+          b.appendChild(x);
           (document.body || document.documentElement).appendChild(b);
         }
-        b.textContent = "Movie Editor error — " + msg + "\n(restart ComfyUI + hard-reload Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R; if it persists, send me this text)";
+        var t = b.querySelector(".boot-error-text");
+        if (!t) { t = document.createElement("span"); t.className = "boot-error-text"; b.insertBefore(t, b.firstChild); }
+        t.textContent = "Movie Editor error — " + msg + "\n(restart ComfyUI + hard-reload Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R; if it persists, send me this text)";
       }
       window.addEventListener("error", function (e) {
         show((e.message || "load error") + (e.filename ? "  @ " + e.filename.split("/").pop() + ":" + e.lineno : ""));
diff --git a/movie_editor/server.py b/movie_editor/server.py
index 838f5307..4669eccf 100644
--- a/movie_editor/server.py
+++ b/movie_editor/server.py
@@ -88,7 +88,9 @@ def _prepare_media(proj: Project) -> Optional[dict]:
         src = sc.source
         ref = getattr(src, "media_ref", None)
         tgt = getattr(src, "target", None)
-        if not (src and getattr(src, "type", "") in ("image", "generated_frame") and ref and tgt):
+        # A target is OPTIONAL now (routing is automatic — the image becomes a LoadImage
+        # IMAGE producer that auto-wires). Only an asset reference is required.
+        if not (src and getattr(src, "type", "") in ("image", "generated_frame") and ref):
             continue
         path = media.path_for(ref)
         if not path: