diff --git a/internal/api/api.go b/internal/api/api.go
index e85579a8..6e039e5d 100644
--- a/internal/api/api.go
+++ b/internal/api/api.go
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ func Mount(r chi.Router, pool *pgxpool.Pool, logger *slog.Logger, events *playev
 			authed.Get("/radio", h.handleRadio)
 			authed.Get("/discover/suggestions", h.handleListSuggestions)
 			authed.Get("/home", h.handleGetHome)
+			authed.Get("/home/index", h.handleGetHomeIndex)
 			authed.Post("/events", h.handleEvents)
 			authed.Get("/events/stream", h.handleEventsStream)
 			authed.Post("/likes/tracks/{id}", h.handleLikeTrack)
diff --git a/internal/api/home.go b/internal/api/home.go
index c3d2464e..f0f14640 100644
--- a/internal/api/home.go
+++ b/internal/api/home.go
@@ -49,6 +49,54 @@ func (h *handlers) handleGetHome(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, out)
 }
 
+// handleGetHomeIndex implements GET /api/home/index. Returns the same
+// five sections /api/home computes, but as flat slices of entity IDs
+// rather than denormalized objects. Drives the Flutter per-item
+// rendering path — the client hydrates each tile against the
+// per-entity endpoints, so this response is tiny (a few KB at most)
+// and the cold-visit round-trip is correspondingly short.
+//
+// Shares the recommendation.HomeData computation with /api/home; the
+// DB cost is identical. A future optimisation could add ID-only
+// query variants, but the JSON savings already shrink the wire
+// payload by roughly an order of magnitude on populated libraries.
+func (h *handlers) handleGetHomeIndex(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	user, ok := requireUser(w, r)
+	if !ok {
+		return
+	}
+	data, err := recommendation.HomeData(r.Context(), h.pool, user.ID)
+	if err != nil {
+		h.logger.Error("api: home index data", "err", err)
+		writeErr(w, apierror.InternalMsg("failed to load home", err))
+		return
+	}
+
+	out := HomeIndexPayload{
+		RecentlyAddedAlbums: make([]string, 0, len(data.RecentlyAddedAlbums)),
+		RediscoverAlbums:    make([]string, 0, len(data.RediscoverAlbums)),
+		RediscoverArtists:   make([]string, 0, len(data.RediscoverArtists)),
+		MostPlayedTracks:    make([]string, 0, len(data.MostPlayedTracks)),
+		LastPlayedArtists:   make([]string, 0, len(data.LastPlayedArtists)),
+	}
+	for _, row := range data.RecentlyAddedAlbums {
+		out.RecentlyAddedAlbums = append(out.RecentlyAddedAlbums, uuidToString(row.Album.ID))
+	}
+	for _, row := range data.RediscoverAlbums {
+		out.RediscoverAlbums = append(out.RediscoverAlbums, uuidToString(row.Album.ID))
+	}
+	for _, row := range data.RediscoverArtists {
+		out.RediscoverArtists = append(out.RediscoverArtists, uuidToString(row.Artist.ID))
+	}
+	for _, row := range data.MostPlayedTracks {
+		out.MostPlayedTracks = append(out.MostPlayedTracks, uuidToString(row.Track.ID))
+	}
+	for _, row := range data.LastPlayedArtists {
+		out.LastPlayedArtists = append(out.LastPlayedArtists, uuidToString(row.Artist.ID))
+	}
+	writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, out)
+}
+
 // Compile-time guard that dbq has the row types we need; if the SQL is
 // regenerated with a different name, this fails fast at build time.
 var _ = dbq.ListMostPlayedTracksForUserRow{}.Track
diff --git a/internal/api/home_test.go b/internal/api/home_test.go
index 2f953f9b..123161b5 100644
--- a/internal/api/home_test.go
+++ b/internal/api/home_test.go
@@ -77,3 +77,67 @@ func TestHome_RecentlyAddedSurfacesAlbums(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("artist_name = %q, want ArtistOne", got.RecentlyAddedAlbums[0].ArtistName)
 	}
 }
+
+func newHomeIndexRouter(h *handlers) chi.Router {
+	r := chi.NewRouter()
+	r.Get("/api/home/index", h.handleGetHomeIndex)
+	return r
+}
+
+func doGetHomeIndex(h *handlers, user dbq.User) *httptest.ResponseRecorder {
+	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/api/home/index", nil)
+	req = withUser(req, user)
+	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	newHomeIndexRouter(h).ServeHTTP(w, req)
+	return w
+}
+
+func TestHomeIndex_EmptyForNewUser(t *testing.T) {
+	h, pool := testHandlers(t)
+	user := seedUser(t, pool, "alice", "pw", false)
+
+	w := doGetHomeIndex(h, user)
+	if w.Code != http.StatusOK {
+		t.Fatalf("status = %d, want 200; body = %s", w.Code, w.Body.String())
+	}
+	var got HomeIndexPayload
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(w.Body.Bytes(), &got); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("decode: %v", err)
+	}
+	// Same non-nil slice contract as /api/home so client parsers can
+	// trust `length == 0` instead of branching on null.
+	if got.RecentlyAddedAlbums == nil || got.RediscoverAlbums == nil ||
+		got.RediscoverArtists == nil || got.MostPlayedTracks == nil ||
+		got.LastPlayedArtists == nil {
+		t.Errorf("payload has nil slice: %+v", got)
+	}
+	if len(got.RecentlyAddedAlbums) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("RecentlyAddedAlbums len = %d, want 0", len(got.RecentlyAddedAlbums))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestHomeIndex_RecentlyAddedReturnsIDs(t *testing.T) {
+	h, pool := testHandlers(t)
+	user := seedUser(t, pool, "alice", "pw", false)
+	q := dbq.New(pool)
+	artist, _ := q.UpsertArtist(context.Background(), dbq.UpsertArtistParams{
+		Name: "ArtistOne", SortName: "ArtistOne",
+	})
+	album, _ := q.UpsertAlbum(context.Background(), dbq.UpsertAlbumParams{
+		Title: "Newest", SortTitle: "Newest", ArtistID: artist.ID,
+	})
+
+	w := doGetHomeIndex(h, user)
+	if w.Code != http.StatusOK {
+		t.Fatalf("status = %d, body = %s", w.Code, w.Body.String())
+	}
+	var got HomeIndexPayload
+	_ = json.Unmarshal(w.Body.Bytes(), &got)
+	if len(got.RecentlyAddedAlbums) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("len = %d, want 1", len(got.RecentlyAddedAlbums))
+	}
+	want := uuidToString(album.ID)
+	if got.RecentlyAddedAlbums[0] != want {
+		t.Errorf("id = %q, want %q", got.RecentlyAddedAlbums[0], want)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/api/types.go b/internal/api/types.go
index 9a0a4e02..d9fc0c06 100644
--- a/internal/api/types.go
+++ b/internal/api/types.go
@@ -118,6 +118,24 @@ type HomePayload struct {
 	LastPlayedArtists   []ArtistRef `json:"last_played_artists"`
 }
 
+// HomeIndexPayload is the response body of GET /api/home/index — the
+// per-item rendering variant of /api/home. Same sections, same caps,
+// but each section is a flat slice of entity IDs (UUID strings)
+// instead of denormalized objects. Slices are non-nil at JSON encode
+// time so empty sections render as `[]`.
+//
+// Client fetches this, then hydrates each tile against the per-entity
+// endpoints (/api/albums/{id}, /api/artists/{id}, /api/tracks/{id})
+// for genuine progressive rendering. The section name implies the
+// entity type so no per-entry type tag is needed.
+type HomeIndexPayload struct {
+	RecentlyAddedAlbums []string `json:"recently_added_albums"`
+	RediscoverAlbums    []string `json:"rediscover_albums"`
+	RediscoverArtists   []string `json:"rediscover_artists"`
+	MostPlayedTracks    []string `json:"most_played_tracks"`
+	LastPlayedArtists   []string `json:"last_played_artists"`
+}
+
 // HistoryEvent is one play in a user's listening history. Used by
 // /api/me/history; one event per row from play_events.
 type HistoryEvent struct {