diff --git a/frontend/electron/main.cjs b/frontend/electron/main.cjs
index 26bbfa4..12599ef 100644
--- a/frontend/electron/main.cjs
+++ b/frontend/electron/main.cjs
@@ -161,13 +161,26 @@ function stopSidecar() {
 
 async function apiIsRunning(timeoutMs = 250) {
   try {
-    await fetchStatus(timeoutMs)
+    await fetchHealth(timeoutMs)
     return true
   } catch {
     return false
   }
 }
 
+function fetchHealth(timeoutMs = 1000) {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const request = http.get(`${apiBase}/health`, (response) => {
+      response.resume()
+      response.statusCode === 200
+        ? resolve()
+        : reject(new Error(`status ${response.statusCode}`))
+    })
+    request.on("error", reject)
+    request.setTimeout(timeoutMs, () => request.destroy(new Error("timeout")))
+  })
+}
+
 function fetchStatus(timeoutMs = 1000) {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
     const request = http.get(`${apiBase}/status`, (response) => {
diff --git a/src/resolve_time_tracker/api.py b/src/resolve_time_tracker/api.py
index 20a17f0..8a84e36 100644
--- a/src/resolve_time_tracker/api.py
+++ b/src/resolve_time_tracker/api.py
@@ -382,6 +382,10 @@ def create_app(
     )
     app.state.api = api
 
+    @app.get("/health")
+    def health() -> dict[str, bool]:
+        return {"ok": True}
+
     @app.get("/status")
     def status() -> dict[str, Any]:
         return api.refresh()
diff --git a/tests/test_api.py b/tests/test_api.py
index 553e0a4..b8db41d 100644
--- a/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_api.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import unittest
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from pathlib import Path
-from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
 
 from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
 
@@ -296,6 +296,19 @@ def test_allows_frontend_origin(self):
 
         self.assertEqual("*", response.headers["access-control-allow-origin"])
 
+    def test_health_does_not_poll_resolve(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp:
+            engine = Mock()
+            with SQLiteStore(
+                Path(tmp) / "tracker.sqlite3", check_same_thread=False
+            ) as store:
+                response = TestClient(create_app(store, tracking_engine=engine)).get(
+                    "/health"
+                )
+
+        self.assertEqual({"ok": True}, response.json())
+        engine.poll.assert_not_called()
+
     def test_run_api_starts_tracking_api_with_resolve_bridge(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp:
             with (