diff --git a/scripts/fetch-tutorials.ts b/scripts/fetch-tutorials.ts
index 3baea6b9f..6f68b5b48 100644
--- a/scripts/fetch-tutorials.ts
+++ b/scripts/fetch-tutorials.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { performance } from 'node:perf_hooks'
 import { hugoFrontmatterStringify as yamlStringify } from './lib/hugo-yaml.js'
 import { flushDimensionsCache, populateImageDimensions, exportDimensionsForHugo } from './parsers/image-dimensions.js'
 import { composeTutorial } from './parsers/compose.js'
+import { extractFrontmatter } from './parsers/frontmatter.js'
 import { DirectiveParseError } from './parsers/directives.js'
 import './parsers/directives/register-all.js' // side-effect: registers all content-reuse directives
 import { findUnexpandedDirectives } from './parsers/guard-unexpanded-directives.js'
@@ -1226,8 +1227,8 @@ async function main() {
     console.log(`[snippets] fetched ${snippetMap.size} snippet(s) from ${uniqueRepos.length} repo(s)`)
   }
 
-  // #directive-xref-validation: existence catalog for the `:tutorial` and
-  // `::requires` directives. Both validate their slug against ctx.catalogBySlug
+  // #directive-xref-validation: existence + metadata catalog for the `:tutorial`
+  // and `::requires` directives. Both validate their slug against ctx.catalogBySlug
   // and throw DirectiveParseError (→ fatal composeFailures) when it's present but
   // the slug is missing; when it's undefined they fail-open. We enable the fatal
   // path ONLY when discovery came from the authoritative GitHub tier, because the
@@ -1235,19 +1236,52 @@ async function main() {
   // the filter never shrinks allTutorials). A disk/hana/rest fallback could be a
   // stale/partial set and would throw false positives, so we pass undefined there.
   //
-  // Value carries slug-as-title (existence is the load-bearing check; there is no
-  // pre-compose source of real titles for ALL slugs) + time 0. `::requires` reads
-  // entry.title into its card; a real title is a nice-to-have, not required to
-  // catch a dead cross-ref. Keyed lowercase to match the directives' slug casing.
+  // Value carries the REAL title + time, read from each tutorial's frontmatter in
+  // the on-disk cache (every <slug>.md is already written to CACHE_DIR by this
+  // point — the :help prefetch loop above reads the same files). `::requires`
+  // renders entry.title/entry.time into its card and `:tutorial` uses entry.title
+  // as the link label; without real values they showed the raw slug + "0 min".
+  // Fail-open to slug/0 when the file or field is missing (existence still holds).
   let catalogBySlug: Map<string, { title: string; time: number }> | undefined
   if (discoverySource === 'github') {
     catalogBySlug = new Map()
+    // #3091 follow-up: the CAP /build/catalog carries a real title for EVERY
+    // tutorial slug (not just the ones composed this run). On a slug-targeted
+    // rebuild the referenced tutorial's own <slug>.md is NOT fetched into
+    // CACHE_DIR, so the per-file lookup below falls back to slug-as-title and the
+    // xref/prereq card renders a raw slug. Seed a slug→title map from the cached
+    // catalog first; the on-disk frontmatter (which also has `time`) overrides it
+    // when present. loadCapCache() is already read at the fingerprint step above,
+    // so this is a cheap disk read with no extra network.
+    const catalogTitleBySlug = new Map<string, string>()
+    try {
+      for (const m of (loadCapCache()?.tutorialMetas ?? [])) {
+        if (m.title) catalogTitleBySlug.set(m.slug.toLowerCase(), m.title)
+      }
+    } catch { /* no cache yet — per-file + slug fallback still hold */ }
     for (const t of allTutorials) {
-      catalogBySlug.set(t.slug.toLowerCase(), { title: t.slug, time: 0 })
+      const slugLc = t.slug.toLowerCase()
+      let title = catalogTitleBySlug.get(slugLc) ?? t.slug
+      let time = 0
+      const cacheFile = join(CACHE_DIR, `${t.slug}.md`)
+      if (existsSync(cacheFile)) {
+        try {
+          const fm = extractFrontmatter(readFileSync(cacheFile, 'utf-8'))
+          // title is a top-level field on FrontmatterResult; time lives on the
+          // nested `frontmatter` object (coerced to a number by extractFrontmatter).
+          if (fm.title) title = fm.title
+          const t = fm.frontmatter?.time
+          if (typeof t === 'number' && Number.isFinite(t)) time = t
+        } catch {
+          // Corrupt/unreadable cache entry — keep catalog/slug fallback (existence
+          // check is what the fatal guard depends on; metadata is best-effort).
+        }
+      }
+      catalogBySlug.set(slugLc, { title, time })
     }
-    console.log(`[xref] slug-existence catalog enabled (${catalogBySlug.size} slugs; dead :tutorial/::requires refs now fail the build)`)
+    console.log(`[xref] slug catalog enabled (${catalogBySlug.size} slugs; ${catalogTitleBySlug.size} titles from CAP catalog, frontmatter overrides where cached; dead :tutorial/::requires refs now fail the build)`)
   } else {
-    console.log(`[xref] slug-existence catalog DISABLED — discovery source '${discoverySource ?? 'cache'}' is not authoritative (fail-open on cross-ref validation)`)
+    console.log(`[xref] slug catalog DISABLED — discovery source '${discoverySource ?? 'cache'}' is not authoritative (fail-open on cross-ref validation)`)
   }
 
   // Build-time safety net (#directive-rollout): names of directives that SHOULD
diff --git a/scripts/parsers/__tests__/cap-catalog-title.test.ts b/scripts/parsers/__tests__/cap-catalog-title.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..800a52587
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/parsers/__tests__/cap-catalog-title.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+// scripts/parsers/__tests__/cap-catalog-title.test.ts
+// #3091 follow-up: fetchBuildCatalog must carry each tutorial's `title` into
+// tutorialMetas. fetch-tutorials.ts seeds the xref/prereq catalogBySlug from
+// these titles so :tutorial / ::requires cross-references render a real title
+// (not the raw slug) even on slug-targeted rebuilds, where the referenced
+// tutorial's own <slug>.md is never fetched into CACHE_DIR.
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import { fetchBuildCatalog } from '../cap.js';
+
+const CATALOG = {
+  missions: [],
+  hierarchies: [],
+  standaloneGroups: [],
+  categories: [],
+  tutorials: [
+    { slug: 'hana-cloud-mission-trial-1', title: 'Understand How the SAP HANA Cloud Free Tier Service can be Used', categorySlugs: [] },
+    { slug: 'no-title-slug', categorySlugs: ['cat-a'] }, // title absent → omitted, not slug-filled
+  ],
+  featured: [],
+};
+
+afterEach(() => vi.restoreAllMocks());
+
+describe('fetchBuildCatalog title capture (#3091)', () => {
+  it('threads tutorials[].title into tutorialMetas', async () => {
+    vi.stubGlobal('fetch', vi.fn(async () => ({
+      ok: true,
+      status: 200,
+      statusText: 'OK',
+      json: async () => CATALOG,
+    })));
+
+    const res = await fetchBuildCatalog('http://localhost:4004');
+    const bySlug = new Map(res.tutorialMetas.map(m => [m.slug, m]));
+
+    expect(bySlug.get('hana-cloud-mission-trial-1')?.title)
+      .toBe('Understand How the SAP HANA Cloud Free Tier Service can be Used');
+    // A tutorial with no title must NOT get a fabricated one — the slug-as-title
+    // fallback lives in fetch-tutorials.ts, not here; here title stays undefined.
+    expect(bySlug.get('no-title-slug')?.title).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(bySlug.get('no-title-slug')?.categorySlugs).toEqual(['cat-a']);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/scripts/parsers/cap.ts b/scripts/parsers/cap.ts
index 5670e3406..bd3b0b046 100644
--- a/scripts/parsers/cap.ts
+++ b/scripts/parsers/cap.ts
@@ -80,12 +80,16 @@ export async function fetchBuildCatalog(baseUrl: string): Promise<{
     hierarchies: MissionHierarchy[]
     standaloneGroups?: StandaloneGroup[]
     categories?: CategoryMeta[]
-    tutorials?: Array<{ slug: string; categorySlugs?: string[] }>
+    tutorials?: Array<{ slug: string; title?: string; categorySlugs?: string[] }>
     featured?: BrowseFeaturedEntry[]
   }
   const tutorialMetas: CatalogTutorialMeta[] = (data.tutorials ?? []).map(t => ({
     slug: t.slug,
     categorySlugs: t.categorySlugs ?? [],
+    // #3091 follow-up: carry the real title so the xref/prereq catalog can label
+    // :tutorial / ::requires links with it even on slug-targeted rebuilds (where
+    // the referenced tutorial's own <slug>.md is not fetched into CACHE_DIR).
+    ...(typeof t.title === 'string' && t.title ? { title: t.title } : {}),
   }))
   return {
     missions: data.missions,
diff --git a/scripts/parsers/types.ts b/scripts/parsers/types.ts
index 8f685c843..89f8648f5 100644
--- a/scripts/parsers/types.ts
+++ b/scripts/parsers/types.ts
@@ -414,6 +414,7 @@ export interface CategoryMeta {
 export interface CatalogTutorialMeta {
   slug: string
   categorySlugs: string[]
+  title?: string
 }
 
 // Full CodeCheckSpec — used by the publish pipeline. NEVER ship to the
diff --git a/scripts/sync-approuter-css.cjs b/scripts/sync-approuter-css.cjs
index e33cdc688..f375bbd98 100644
--- a/scripts/sync-approuter-css.cjs
+++ b/scripts/sync-approuter-css.cjs
@@ -127,6 +127,43 @@ async function main() {
   const base = approuterUrl.replace(/\/+$/, '');
   const pages = page ? [page] : DEFAULT_PAGES;
 
+  // 0) PREFER SOURCE WHEN THE DEPLOY ALREADY SHIPPED IT (#3091 follow-up).
+  //    #2920's sync-from-approuter exists to avoid baking a hash the approuter
+  //    does NOT serve (→ 404 / unstyled). But it has a failure mode: a CSS-only
+  //    SOURCE change ships on a deploy (build:css rotates the fingerprinted file,
+  //    and the new file IS served) yet NEVER reaches HANA pages — every rebuild
+  //    re-pins the OLD hash it scrapes from the (still-stale) served pages, a
+  //    self-perpetuating loop (observed 2026-11-10: console line-wrap CSS fix
+  //    deployed as 863da9b0… but all pages kept referencing 9dbb07c7…).
+  //
+  //    Break it WITHOUT reintroducing drift: build from source, then verify the
+  //    approuter actually SERVES the source-built hash (200). If it does, the
+  //    deploy already shipped these exact bytes — baking the source hash is safe
+  //    (no 404) AND propagates the new CSS to republished pages. If it does not
+  //    (source is ahead of the deploy — the pre-#2920 drift the guard blocks),
+  //    fall through to the sync-from-approuter path below unchanged.
+  try {
+    buildFromSource();
+    const srcBytes = fs.readFileSync(outFile);
+    const srcHash = crypto.createHash('sha256').update(srcBytes).digest('hex');
+    const srcUrl = `/css/sap-fundamental.${srcHash}.css`;
+    const probe = await fetchWithRetry(base + srcUrl, { asBuffer: true });
+    if (probe.ok && probe.body) {
+      const servedHash = crypto.createHash('sha256').update(probe.body).digest('hex');
+      if (servedHash === srcHash) {
+        log(`source CSS hash ${srcHash.slice(0, 12)} IS served by the approuter → keeping source build (deploy already shipped it; new CSS will propagate to republished pages)`);
+        return 0;
+      }
+      // Served bytes at the source URL don't match (edge-mangled / corrupt) —
+      // don't trust it; fall through to the canonical discover-and-pin path.
+      log(`source hash ${srcHash.slice(0, 12)} returned 200 but bytes mismatch — falling through to approuter sync`);
+    } else {
+      log(`approuter does NOT serve source hash ${srcHash.slice(0, 12)} (HTTP ${probe.status}) → source is ahead of the deploy; syncing from approuter to avoid drift`);
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    log(`source pre-build/probe failed (${e && e.message ? e.message : e}); syncing from approuter`);
+  }
+
   // 1) Discover the served sap-fundamental href from a rendered page.
   let href = '';
   for (const p of pages) {