diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/external-site-preview.stories.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/external-site-preview.stories.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a969bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/external-site-preview.stories.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import type { Meta, StoryObj } from "@storybook/tanstack-react";
+
+import { ExternalSitePreview } from "./external-site-preview";
+
+const meta = {
+  title: "Tools/ExternalSitePreview",
+  component: ExternalSitePreview,
+  args: {
+    url: "https://shieldcn.dev",
+    title: "Live preview of Shieldcn",
+    imageAlt: "Shieldcn Open Graph preview",
+    className: "h-[28rem] w-[48rem] border border-border",
+  },
+} satisfies Meta<typeof ExternalSitePreview>;
+
+export default meta;
+type Story = StoryObj<typeof meta>;
+
+export const WithImageFallback: Story = {
+  args: {
+    imageUrl: "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='1200' height='675'%3E%3Crect width='1200' height='675' fill='%23171717'/%3E%3Ctext x='600' y='338' text-anchor='middle' dominant-baseline='middle' fill='%23fafafa' font-family='Arial' font-size='54'%3EOpen Graph preview%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E",
+  },
+};
+
+export const WithoutImageFallback: Story = {
+  args: { imageUrl: null },
+};
+
+export const Mobile: Story = {
+  args: {
+    className: "h-[30rem] w-[22rem] border border-border",
+    imageUrl: "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='1200' height='675'%3E%3Crect width='1200' height='675' fill='%23171717'/%3E%3Ctext x='600' y='338' text-anchor='middle' dominant-baseline='middle' fill='%23fafafa' font-family='Arial' font-size='54'%3EOpen Graph preview%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E",
+  },
+};
diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/external-site-preview.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/external-site-preview.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fae80e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/external-site-preview.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
+import { HiArrowTopRightOnSquare as External, HiGlobeAlt as Globe, HiPhoto as ImageIcon } from "react-icons/hi2";
+
+import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
+import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
+
+export function ExternalSitePreview({
+  url,
+  title,
+  imageUrl,
+  imageAlt = "",
+  className,
+}: {
+  url: string;
+  title: string;
+  imageUrl?: string | null;
+  imageAlt?: string;
+  className?: string;
+}) {
+  const [mode, setMode] = useState<"live" | "image">("live");
+  const [sandbox, setSandbox] = useState<string | null>(null);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    try {
+      const crossOrigin = new URL(url).origin !== window.location.origin;
+      // Cross-origin sites may use their own storage and runtime while the
+      // browser's same-origin policy still prevents access to Modulora.
+      setSandbox(crossOrigin ? "allow-scripts allow-same-origin" : "allow-scripts");
+    } catch {
+      setSandbox("allow-scripts");
+    }
+  }, [url]);
+
+  return (
+    <div className={cn("relative overflow-hidden bg-secondary/20", className)}>
+      {mode === "live" ? (
+        sandbox ? (
+          <iframe
+            src={url}
+            title={title}
+            sandbox={sandbox}
+            referrerPolicy="no-referrer"
+            className="size-full bg-white"
+          />
+        ) : (
+          <div className="size-full bg-secondary/20" aria-hidden />
+        )
+      ) : imageUrl ? (
+        <img src={imageUrl} alt={imageAlt} referrerPolicy="no-referrer" className="size-full object-cover" />
+      ) : (
+        <div className="flex size-full flex-col items-center justify-center gap-2 p-8 text-center text-muted-foreground">
+          <ImageIcon className="size-6" />
+          <p className="text-xs">No Open Graph image was provided by this site.</p>
+        </div>
+      )}
+
+      <div role="group" aria-label="Preview mode" className="absolute left-3 top-3 z-10 flex items-center gap-1 rounded-lg border border-white/15 bg-background/90 p-1 shadow-sm backdrop-blur-sm">
+        <Button type="button" size="sm" variant={mode === "live" ? "secondary" : "ghost"} aria-pressed={mode === "live"} className="h-7 gap-1.5 px-2 text-xs" onClick={() => setMode("live")}><Globe className="size-3.5" />Live site</Button>
+        <Button type="button" size="sm" variant={mode === "image" ? "secondary" : "ghost"} aria-pressed={mode === "image"} disabled={!imageUrl} className="h-7 gap-1.5 px-2 text-xs" onClick={() => setMode("image")}><ImageIcon className="size-3.5" />Image</Button>
+      </div>
+
+      <Button asChild size="icon-sm" variant="secondary" className="absolute right-3 top-3 z-10 shadow-sm">
+        <a href={url} target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" aria-label={`Open ${title} in a new tab`}><External /></a>
+      </Button>
+
+      <span className="pointer-events-none absolute bottom-3 left-3 z-10 rounded-md bg-background/90 px-2 py-1 text-[11px] text-muted-foreground shadow-sm backdrop-blur-sm">
+        {mode === "live" ? "Cross-origin sandbox · forms and popups disabled" : "Open Graph image fallback"}
+      </span>
+    </div>
+  );
+}
diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-detail.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-detail.tsx
index dd148ed..ed195bb 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-detail.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-detail.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { Link } from "@tanstack/react-router";
 import { HiArrowTopRightOnSquare as External, HiCheckBadge as Check, HiGlobeAlt as Globe } from "react-icons/hi2";
+import { ExternalSitePreview } from "@/components/external-site-preview";
 import { Badge } from "@/components/ui/badge";
 import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
 import type { CatalogItem } from "@/data/catalog";
@@ -21,11 +22,13 @@ export function ToolListingDetail({ item }: { item: CatalogItem }) {
       </div>
 
       <div className="overflow-hidden rounded-2xl border border-border/60 bg-card/40">
-        <div className="relative aspect-[16/9] min-h-[28rem] bg-secondary/20">
-          {site.ogImageUrl ? <img src={site.ogImageUrl} alt="" className="absolute inset-0 size-full object-cover opacity-30" /> : null}
-          <iframe src={site.url} title={`Live preview of ${item.title}`} sandbox="allow-scripts" referrerPolicy="no-referrer" className="relative size-full bg-white" />
-          <span className="absolute bottom-3 left-3 rounded-md bg-background/90 px-2 py-1 text-[11px] text-muted-foreground shadow-sm backdrop-blur-sm">Isolated live preview · some sites may block embedding</span>
-        </div>
+        <ExternalSitePreview
+          url={site.url}
+          title={`Live preview of ${item.title}`}
+          imageUrl={site.ogImageUrl}
+          imageAlt={`Open Graph preview for ${item.title}`}
+          className="aspect-[16/9] min-h-[28rem]"
+        />
       </div>
 
       <div className="mt-6 grid gap-4 md:grid-cols-2">
diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-editor.stories.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-editor.stories.tsx
index a71450c..4e06fa8 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-editor.stories.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-editor.stories.tsx
@@ -1,8 +1,34 @@
 import type { Meta, StoryObj } from "@storybook/tanstack-react";
+
 import { withRouter } from "../../.storybook/with-router";
 import { ToolListingEditor } from "./tool-listing-editor";
 
-const meta = { title: "Publishing/ToolListingEditor", component: ToolListingEditor, parameters: { layout: "padded" }, decorators: [(Story) => withRouter(Story)], args: { onInspect: async () => ({ ok: true, metadata: { canonicalUrl: "https://example.com", title: "Example design tool", description: "A focused tool for creating accessible interface palettes.", imageUrl: null } }), onSubmit: async () => ({ ok: true }), onSubmitted: async () => {}, onCreateDomain: async (domain) => ({ ok: true, record: { domain, token: "example-token", verified: false } }), onVerifyDomain: async () => ({ ok: true, verified: true }), onDiscoverDomainConnect: async () => ({ supported: false }) } } satisfies Meta<typeof ToolListingEditor>;
+const previewImage = "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='1200' height='675'%3E%3Crect width='1200' height='675' fill='%23171717'/%3E%3Ctext x='600' y='338' text-anchor='middle' dominant-baseline='middle' fill='%23fafafa' font-family='Arial' font-size='54'%3EShieldcn preview%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E";
+
+const meta = {
+  title: "Publishing/ToolListingEditor",
+  component: ToolListingEditor,
+  parameters: { layout: "padded" },
+  decorators: [(Story) => withRouter(Story)],
+  args: {
+    onInspect: async () => ({
+      ok: true,
+      metadata: {
+        canonicalUrl: "https://shieldcn.dev",
+        title: "Shieldcn",
+        description: "Beautiful GitHub README badges and charts styled as shadcn/ui, plus a visual README builder.",
+        imageUrl: previewImage,
+      },
+    }),
+    onSubmit: async () => ({ ok: true }),
+    onSubmitted: async () => {},
+    onCreateDomain: async (domain) => ({ ok: true, record: { domain, token: "example-token", verified: false } }),
+    onVerifyDomain: async () => ({ ok: true, verified: true }),
+    onDiscoverDomainConnect: async () => ({ supported: false }),
+  },
+} satisfies Meta<typeof ToolListingEditor>;
+
 export default meta;
 type Story = StoryObj<typeof meta>;
+
 export const Default: Story = {};
diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-editor.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-editor.tsx
index 5ec7808..794d497 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-editor.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/tool-listing-editor.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { useRef, useState, type FormEvent } from "react";
 import { HiArrowTopRightOnSquare as External, HiGlobeAlt as Globe, HiArrowPath as Loader } from "react-icons/hi2";
 
+import { ExternalSitePreview } from "@/components/external-site-preview";
 import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
 import { Dialog, DialogContent, DialogDescription, DialogFooter, DialogHeader, DialogTitle } from "@/components/ui/dialog";
 import { DnsRecordCard, OneClickSetup } from "@/components/domain-verify";
@@ -123,13 +124,16 @@ export function ToolListingEditor({ onInspect, onSubmit, onSubmitted, onCreateDo
       <div className="min-h-[34rem] overflow-hidden rounded-xl border border-border/60 bg-card/30">
         {preview ? (
           <div className="flex h-full flex-col">
-            <div className="relative aspect-[16/10] min-h-80 border-b border-border/60 bg-secondary/20">
-              <iframe src={preview.canonicalUrl} title={`Live preview of ${preview.title || title}`} sandbox="allow-scripts" referrerPolicy="no-referrer" className="size-full bg-white" />
-              {preview.imageUrl ? <img src={preview.imageUrl} alt="" referrerPolicy="no-referrer" className="pointer-events-none absolute bottom-3 right-3 h-20 w-32 rounded-md border border-white/20 object-cover shadow-lg" /> : null}
-            </div>
+            <ExternalSitePreview
+              url={preview.canonicalUrl}
+              title={`Live preview of ${preview.title || title}`}
+              imageUrl={preview.imageUrl}
+              imageAlt={`Open Graph preview for ${preview.title || title}`}
+              className="aspect-[16/10] min-h-80 border-b border-border/60"
+            />
             <div className="flex flex-1 flex-col gap-2 p-5">
               <div className="flex items-start justify-between gap-4"><div><p className="text-lg font-semibold">{title || preview.title}</p><p className="text-sm text-muted-foreground">{description || preview.description}</p></div><External className="mt-1 size-4 shrink-0 text-muted-foreground" /></div>
-              <p className="mt-auto text-xs text-muted-foreground">The iframe uses an opaque sandbox without same-origin access. Sites that block framing still retain their mirrored Open Graph image.</p>
+              <p className="mt-auto text-xs text-muted-foreground">The live preview keeps forms and popups disabled. If a site blocks framing or cannot run embedded, switch to its Open Graph image or open it in a new tab.</p>
             </div>
           </div>
         ) : <div className="flex h-full min-h-[34rem] flex-col items-center justify-center gap-3 p-8 text-center text-muted-foreground"><Globe className="size-8" /><p className="text-sm font-medium text-foreground">Inspect a verified site</p><p className="max-w-sm text-xs">Modulora will fetch its Open Graph metadata, mirror the preview image, and prepare the isolated live preview.</p></div>}
diff --git a/apps/web/src/lib/manual-redirect-fetch.ts b/apps/web/src/lib/manual-redirect-fetch.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e7974c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/src/lib/manual-redirect-fetch.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+export async function fetchWithManualRedirects({
+  inputUrl,
+  validateUrl,
+  fetcher = fetch,
+  init = {},
+  maximumRedirects = 3,
+}: {
+  inputUrl: URL;
+  validateUrl: (url: URL) => Promise<boolean> | boolean;
+  fetcher?: typeof fetch;
+  init?: RequestInit;
+  maximumRedirects?: number;
+}): Promise<{ url: URL; response: Response } | null> {
+  let current = inputUrl;
+  for (let redirect = 0; redirect <= maximumRedirects; redirect += 1) {
+    if (!(await validateUrl(current))) return null;
+    const response = await fetcher(current, { ...init, redirect: "manual" });
+    if (response.status >= 300 && response.status < 400) {
+      const location = response.headers.get("location");
+      if (!location) return null;
+      await response.body?.cancel();
+      current = new URL(location, current);
+      continue;
+    }
+    return { url: current, response };
+  }
+  return null;
+}
diff --git a/apps/web/src/lib/tool-metadata.ts b/apps/web/src/lib/tool-metadata.ts
index 8bcc95a..c042934 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/lib/tool-metadata.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/lib/tool-metadata.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { normalizeDomain } from "./domains";
 import { storeImage } from "./media";
+import { fetchWithManualRedirects } from "./manual-redirect-fetch";
 import { extractToolMetadata, isPrivateOrReservedIp, type ToolMetadata } from "./tool-metadata-core";
 
 const MAX_HTML_BYTES = 512 * 1024;
@@ -84,20 +85,38 @@ async function fetchVerifiedPage(inputUrl: string, verifiedDomain: string): Prom
   throw new Error("The site redirected too many times.");
 }
 
+async function fetchPublicImage(inputUrl: URL): Promise<Response | null> {
+  const result = await fetchWithManualRedirects({
+    inputUrl,
+    validateUrl: async (url) => {
+      if (url.protocol !== "https:") return false;
+      await assertPublicHostname(url.hostname);
+      return true;
+    },
+    init: {
+      headers: { accept: "image/png,image/jpeg,image/webp" },
+      signal: AbortSignal.timeout(8_000),
+    },
+  });
+  return result?.response ?? null;
+}
+
 async function mirrorOgImage(imageUrl: string | null, userId: string): Promise<string | null> {
   if (!imageUrl) return null;
-  const url = new URL(imageUrl);
-  await assertPublicHostname(url.hostname);
-  const response = await fetch(url, { redirect: "error", signal: AbortSignal.timeout(8_000) });
-  if (!response.ok) return null;
-  const type = (response.headers.get("content-type") ?? "").split(";")[0] ?? "";
-  if (!["image/png", "image/jpeg", "image/webp"].includes(type)) return null;
-  let bytes: Uint8Array;
-  try { bytes = await readBoundedBytes(response, 2 * 1024 * 1024); }
-  catch { return null; }
-  const ownedBytes = new Uint8Array(bytes);
-  const result = await storeImage(`tool-previews/${userId}`, new File([ownedBytes.buffer], "og-image", { type }));
-  return result.ok ? result.url ?? null : null;
+  try {
+    const response = await fetchPublicImage(new URL(imageUrl));
+    if (!response?.ok) return null;
+    const type = (response.headers.get("content-type") ?? "").split(";")[0] ?? "";
+    if (!["image/png", "image/jpeg", "image/webp"].includes(type)) return null;
+    const bytes = await readBoundedBytes(response, 2 * 1024 * 1024);
+    const ownedBytes = new Uint8Array(bytes);
+    const result = await storeImage(`tool-previews/${userId}`, new File([ownedBytes.buffer], "og-image", { type }));
+    return result.ok ? result.url ?? null : null;
+  } catch {
+    // A preview image is optional. DNS, redirect, size, or storage failures
+    // fail closed by omitting the image rather than blocking the listing.
+    return null;
+  }
 }
 
 export async function fetchToolMetadata(inputUrl: string, verifiedDomain: string, userId: string, options: { mirrorImage?: boolean } = { mirrorImage: true }): Promise<ToolMetadata & { canonicalUrl: string }> {
diff --git a/apps/web/test/manual-redirect-fetch.test.ts b/apps/web/test/manual-redirect-fetch.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d955cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/test/manual-redirect-fetch.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+import { fetchWithManualRedirects } from "../src/lib/manual-redirect-fetch";
+
+describe("fetchWithManualRedirects", () => {
+  it("uses Workers-compatible manual redirects and validates every destination", async () => {
+    const fetcher = vi.fn()
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response(null, { status: 302, headers: { location: "https://cdn.example.com/card.png" } }))
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response(new Uint8Array([1, 2, 3]), { status: 200, headers: { "content-type": "image/png" } }));
+    const validated: string[] = [];
+
+    const result = await fetchWithManualRedirects({
+      inputUrl: new URL("https://example.com/card"),
+      validateUrl: (url) => { validated.push(url.toString()); return url.protocol === "https:"; },
+      fetcher: fetcher as typeof fetch,
+    });
+
+    expect(result?.url.toString()).toBe("https://cdn.example.com/card.png");
+    expect(result?.response.status).toBe(200);
+    expect(validated).toEqual(["https://example.com/card", "https://cdn.example.com/card.png"]);
+    expect(fetcher).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(fetcher.mock.calls.every(([, init]) => init?.redirect === "manual")).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("fails closed before fetching a redirect that violates URL policy", async () => {
+    const fetcher = vi.fn().mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response(null, { status: 302, headers: { location: "http://private.example/card.png" } }));
+    const result = await fetchWithManualRedirects({
+      inputUrl: new URL("https://example.com/card"),
+      validateUrl: (url) => url.protocol === "https:",
+      fetcher: fetcher as typeof fetch,
+    });
+
+    expect(result).toBeNull();
+    expect(fetcher).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+});