diff --git a/lib/emit.ml b/lib/emit.ml
index 08afc7c..308bd90 100644
--- a/lib/emit.ml
+++ b/lib/emit.ml
@@ -3238,25 +3238,105 @@ let emit_global m ?(hidden = false) (g : Tast.global) =
    link's. *)
 let startup_sym = fname ".init-globals"
 
-let emit_startup m ?(hidden = false) (globals : Tast.global list) =
-  match
+(* The startup function runs once per *process* in a release build, because a
+   release build's [main] is entered once. The dev daemon's re-run enters it
+   again: [flan_merged_park] waits for [program_asked] and the loop around it
+   calls [flan_program_main] from the top, so every line of [main] above runs a
+   second time, this call included.
+
+   What that must mean is decided by the defining form, not by the daemon. A
+   [defvar] is Common Lisp's [defvar]: its initialiser runs only if the
+   variable is not already initialised, so its value survives a re-run — which
+   is what the daemon has always promised ("the globals are as it left them")
+   and what a plain zeroed [defvar] already got for free, since .bss is
+   untouched by a second call. A computed one used to be the exception, wiped
+   back to its initial value every re-run. A [defconst] is a constant and the
+   question does not arise for it: it is the linker's image on one backend and
+   a constructor's stores on the other, and neither is reached from here.
+
+   So each computed initialiser guards itself with a flag of its own. Per
+   global and not per startup function, because the rule belongs to the form:
+   a global whose initialiser is added by a later build, or a future form that
+   *does* recompute, decides its own case without the other globals' having to
+   agree.
+
+   Dev builds only. A release build has no re-run to guard against and pays
+   nothing — the body below is then the bare store it always was, byte for
+   byte. The flag is a global of its own rather than a sentinel value in the
+   variable, because there is no value a [defvar] cannot hold.
+
+   Writing the flag *after* the store is safe rather than merely tidy:
+   [Check.no_transfer_in_init] refuses a signal or a restart out of an
+   initialiser, so nothing leaves the guarded branch between the two. *)
+let init_flag n = ".init-once." ^ n
+
+(* The computed globals, the flags that guard them, and the body of the
+   startup function — built here so that the two backends cannot disagree
+   about any of the three. [flags] is empty in a release build. *)
+let startup_plan m (globals : Tast.global list) =
+  let computed =
     List.filter
       (fun (g : Tast.global) -> not (Tast.const_init g.Tast.ginit))
       globals
-  with
-  | [] -> false
-  | computed ->
-    (* One store per global and nothing else: the initialiser itself was lifted
-       into a function of its own, so this frame holds no slots and the [let] a
-       programmer wrote inside an initialiser has a frame of its own to live
-       in. *)
-    let body =
+  in
+  let flags =
+    if not m.dev then []
+    else
       List.map
         (fun (g : Tast.global) ->
-           { Tast.e = Tast.Set (Tast.Pglobal g.Tast.gname, g.Tast.ginit);
-             ty = Types.Unit; loc = g.Tast.ginit.Tast.loc })
+           { Tast.gname = init_flag g.Tast.gname; gty = Types.Bool;
+             ginit =
+               { Tast.e = Tast.Bool false; ty = Types.Bool;
+                 loc = g.Tast.ginit.Tast.loc };
+             gconst = false; gfolded = false })
         computed
-    in
+  in
+  (* Registered so that [place] and the x86 backend's [lower] can find a
+     flag's type the same way they find any other global's. Not added to the
+     program's own [globals] list: nothing the programmer wrote names one, and
+     the daemon's [globals] op answers from the program. *)
+  List.iter
+    (fun (g : Tast.global) -> Hashtbl.replace m.globals g.Tast.gname g.Tast.gty)
+    flags;
+  let body =
+    List.map2
+      (fun (g : Tast.global) (flag : Tast.global option) ->
+         let loc = g.Tast.ginit.Tast.loc in
+         let store =
+           { Tast.e = Tast.Set (Tast.Pglobal g.Tast.gname, g.Tast.ginit);
+             ty = Types.Unit; loc }
+         in
+         match flag with
+         | None -> store
+         | Some f ->
+           let mark =
+             { Tast.e =
+                 Tast.Set
+                   (Tast.Pglobal f.Tast.gname,
+                    { Tast.e = Tast.Bool true; ty = Types.Bool; loc });
+               ty = Types.Unit; loc }
+           in
+           { Tast.e =
+               Tast.If
+                 ({ Tast.e = Tast.Global f.Tast.gname; ty = Types.Bool; loc },
+                  { Tast.e = Tast.Unit; ty = Types.Unit; loc },
+                  { Tast.e = Tast.Do [ store; mark ]; ty = Types.Unit; loc });
+             ty = Types.Unit; loc })
+      computed
+      (if flags = [] then List.map (fun _ -> None) computed
+       else List.map (fun f -> Some f) flags)
+  in
+  (computed, flags, body)
+
+let emit_startup m ?(hidden = false) (globals : Tast.global list) =
+  match startup_plan m globals with
+  | [], _, _ -> false
+  | computed, flags, body ->
+    (* One guarded store per global and nothing else: the initialiser itself
+       was lifted into a function of its own, so this frame holds no slots and
+       the [let] a programmer wrote inside an initialiser has a frame of its
+       own to live in. *)
+    List.iter (emit_global m ~hidden) flags;
     emit_fn m ~hidden
       { Tast.name = ".init-globals"; params = []; slots = [||]; snames = [||];
         ret = Types.Unit; body; fdefers = []; fparent = None;
diff --git a/lib/x86.ml b/lib/x86.ml
index ecfae3c..a09af1f 100644
--- a/lib/x86.ml
+++ b/lib/x86.ml
@@ -3964,7 +3964,7 @@ let emit_globals_data (md : Emit.m) (globals : Tast.global list) =
   Buffer.contents out
 
 
-let emit_globals_init ?(cfi = false) ?(ann = false) ~sym (md : Emit.m) ~externs ~fns
+let emit_globals_init ?(cfi = false) ?(ann = false) ?body ~sym (md : Emit.m) ~externs ~fns
       (globals : Tast.global list) =
   let b = create () in
   let f =
@@ -3985,10 +3985,19 @@ let emit_globals_init ?(cfi = false) ?(ann = false) ~sym (md : Emit.m) ~externs
   let cell = ptmp f in
   f.xfer_off <- ptmp f;
   f.xfer_lbl <- new_label f "gxfer";
-  List.iter
-    (fun (g : Tast.global) ->
-       scoped f (fun () -> lower f g.Tast.ginit (Lg (gsym g.Tast.gname, 0))))
-    globals;
+  (* Two shapes, and the second is the computed initialisers in a dev build:
+     [Emit.startup_plan] builds their stores as expressions so that the guard
+     it wraps each one in — see its own note, and [Emit.emit_startup] on the
+     LLVM side — is the same guard on both backends rather than two that have
+     to be kept in step. The constant image below is unguarded stores into
+     their symbols, exactly as it was. *)
+  (match body with
+   | Some es -> List.iter (fun (e : Tast.expr) -> scoped f (fun () -> lower f e sink)) es
+   | None ->
+     List.iter
+       (fun (g : Tast.global) ->
+          scoped f (fun () -> lower f g.Tast.ginit (Lg (gsym g.Tast.gname, 0))))
+       globals);
   (* Nothing has established a handler or a restart by the time either of
      these runs — one of them is a constructor and the other is the first call
      [main] makes — so a transfer out of an initialiser has nowhere to go and
@@ -4372,11 +4381,11 @@ let program ~checks ?(dev = false) ?(debug = false) ?(annotate = false)
      function: see the two symbols' own note. The split is total —
      [Tast.const_init] is what [emit.ml] asks to decide which globals it can
      write into the object — so every global is written exactly once. *)
-  let constants, computed =
-    List.partition
-      (fun (g : Tast.global) -> Tast.const_init g.Tast.ginit)
+  let constants =
+    List.filter (fun (g : Tast.global) -> Tast.const_init g.Tast.ginit)
       p.Tast.globals
   in
+  let computed, init_flags, init_body = Emit.startup_plan md p.Tast.globals in
   let ginit, gr =
     emit_globals_init ~cfi:debug ~ann:annotate ~sym:data_sym md ~externs ~fns
       constants
@@ -4386,8 +4395,8 @@ let program ~checks ?(dev = false) ?(debug = false) ?(annotate = false)
   let startup = computed <> [] in
   if startup then begin
     let t, r =
-      emit_globals_init ~cfi:debug ~ann:annotate ~sym:init_sym md ~externs ~fns
-        computed
+      emit_globals_init ~cfi:debug ~ann:annotate ~body:init_body ~sym:init_sym
+        md ~externs ~fns computed
     in
     Buffer.add_string text t;
     Buffer.add_string rodata r
@@ -4446,7 +4455,11 @@ let program ~checks ?(dev = false) ?(debug = false) ?(annotate = false)
          (asm_sym abi_marker) (asm_sym abi_marker) (asm_sym abi_marker)
          (asm_sym abi_marker));
   if dev then Buffer.add_string out (emit_cells p);
-  Buffer.add_string out (emit_globals_data md p.Tast.globals);
+  (* The program's globals, and then — in a dev build only — one zeroed byte
+     per computed initialiser, which is the flag [Emit.startup_plan] guards it
+     with. Zeroed is what "has not run yet" is, and .bss is what a re-run does
+     not touch. *)
+  Buffer.add_string out (emit_globals_data md (p.Tast.globals @ init_flags));
   Buffer.add_string out "\n\t.section\t.rodata\n";
   Buffer.add_buffer out rodata;
   (* The per-type dyn descriptors, as runtime/flan_dyn.h's [flan_desc] laid out
diff --git a/test/programs/dev-rerun.flan b/test/programs/dev-rerun.flan
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94ce033
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/programs/dev-rerun.flan
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+;;;; What a re-run does to a global, which is decided by the form that
+;;;; defined it and not by the daemon.
+;;;;
+;;;; A [defvar] is Common Lisp's [defvar]: its initialiser runs only if the
+;;;; variable is not already initialised, so its value survives a re-run. A
+;;;; plain zeroed one always did — .bss is untouched by a second entry into
+;;;; main — and a computed one did not, because the startup function [main]
+;;;; calls ran again from the top and stored the initial value back over
+;;;; whatever the last run had left. A [defconst] is a constant and the
+;;;; question does not arise.
+;;;;
+;;;; So each line printed below is a claim about one of those cases, and the
+;;;; run number is the first of them: [runs] is computed, so before the fix it
+;;;; counted 1, 1, 1.
+(import agent "vendor:agent")
+
+(defconst base i64 40)
+
+;; Computed, and the whole reproduction: the initialiser is a call, so it is
+;; lifted into the startup function rather than written into the image.
+(defn start [] i64 base)
+
+(defvar counter i64 (start))
+
+;; Zero-valued, which needs no startup at all and must keep needing none.
+(defvar zeroed i64)
+
+;; A computed dyn global: the map is built by a function, rooted before the
+;; startup function runs, and mutated by every run. Its contents have to
+;; survive a re-run for the same reason [counter]'s value does, and its root
+;; has to survive collection either way.
+(defn table [] dyn {:runs 0})
+
+(defvar state dyn (table))
+
+(defn main [] i32
+  (agent/start "/tmp/flan-dev-rerun-fallback.sock")
+  (set counter (+ counter 1))
+  (set zeroed (+ zeroed 2))
+  (put state :runs (+ (get state :runs) 1))
+  (print "counter ") (print counter) (println "")
+  (print "zeroed ") (print zeroed) (println "")
+  (print "runs ") (print (get state :runs)) (println "")
+  (print "base ") (print base) (println "")
+  ;; Long enough for a client to be served, short enough to park well inside
+  ;; any watchdog — dev-macro.flan's clock, for its reason.
+  (dotimes [i 200]
+    (agent/wait 5))
+  0)