diff --git a/delphi-backend/UMainForm.pas b/delphi-backend/UMainForm.pas
index e46a6b0..95df071 100644
--- a/delphi-backend/UMainForm.pas
+++ b/delphi-backend/UMainForm.pas
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ procedure WinStateEventProc(hWinEventHook: THandle; AEvent: DWORD; AWnd: HWND;
   idObject, idChild: LongInt; idEventThread, dwmsEventTime: DWORD); stdcall; forward;
 procedure TrayShowEventProc(hWinEventHook: THandle; AEvent: DWORD; AWnd: HWND;
   idObject, idChild: LongInt; idEventThread, dwmsEventTime: DWORD); stdcall; forward;
+function FindOurFMXAppWindow: HWND; forward;
 
 procedure TMainForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
 begin
@@ -247,6 +248,29 @@ begin
       @TrayShowEventProc, GetCurrentProcessId, 0, WINEVENT_INCONTEXT);
     LogLine('[tray] FormCreate begin at ' + FormatDateTime('hh:nn:ss.zzz', Now) +
             ' show-hook=' + BoolToStr(FShowEventHook <> 0, True));
+    // The decisive piece. Everything else runs on the main thread, which is
+    // BUSY inside FormCreate and pumps no message — so no hook, timer or
+    // queued call can fire while the FMX taskbar proxy is created and shown.
+    // A worker thread is the only thing still running then. It polls for the
+    // proxy and hides it the moment it appears; ShowWindow is safe to call
+    // cross-thread. Stops on GTrayStartupPending or after 10 s, whichever
+    // comes first, so it can never linger.
+    TThread.CreateAnonymousThread(
+      procedure
+      var
+        LWnd: HWND;
+        LTicks: Integer;
+      begin
+        LTicks := 0;
+        while GTrayStartupPending and (LTicks < 1000) do
+        begin
+          LWnd := FindOurFMXAppWindow;
+          if (LWnd <> 0) and IsWindowVisible(LWnd) then
+            ShowWindow(LWnd, SW_HIDE);
+          Sleep(10);
+          Inc(LTicks);
+        end;
+      end).Start;
     TrayHideNow('hide#1 top-of-FormCreate');
   end;
 
@@ -1659,6 +1683,23 @@ end;
 // process shows gets hidden again immediately. Scoped to our process by the
 // hook itself; WebView2 runs in separate processes so its windows never reach
 // here. Torn down as soon as startup finishes.
+// Our FMX taskbar proxy (TFMAppClass), found by class name and filtered on our
+// own process id — the same lookup TPMBridge does, duplicated here because it
+// must work from a worker thread before FBridge even exists.
+function FindOurFMXAppWindow: HWND;
+var
+  LPid: DWORD;
+begin
+  Result := FindWindowEx(0, 0, 'TFMAppClass', nil);
+  while Result <> 0 do
+  begin
+    LPid := 0;
+    GetWindowThreadProcessId(Result, LPid);
+    if LPid = GetCurrentProcessId then Exit;
+    Result := FindWindowEx(0, Result, 'TFMAppClass', nil);
+  end;
+end;
+
 procedure TrayShowEventProc(hWinEventHook: THandle; AEvent: DWORD; AWnd: HWND;
   idObject, idChild: LongInt; idEventThread, dwmsEventTime: DWORD); stdcall;
 begin