diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/build-sd-image.yml b/.gitea/workflows/build-sd-image.yml
index 88b4f13..30d2d73 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/build-sd-image.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/build-sd-image.yml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Prepare pi-gen stage files
         run: |
-          STAGE_FILES="tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/01-install-tipote/files"
+          STAGE_FILES="tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files"
           rm -rf "$STAGE_FILES"
           mkdir -p "$STAGE_FILES"
 
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/Dockerfile b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/Dockerfile
index dfa0c78..f6e80c2 100644
--- a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/Dockerfile
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ RUN git clone --depth 1 --branch bookworm https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen.g
 
 # Copy config and stage
 COPY config /build/pi-gen/config
-COPY stage-tipote/ /build/pi-gen/stage-tipote/
+COPY stage3/ /build/pi-gen/stage3/
 
-# Skip stage2 image export (we export from stage-tipote)
+# Skip stage2 image export (we export from stage3)
 RUN touch /build/pi-gen/stage2/SKIP_IMAGES
 
 # Patch pi-gen for Docker compatibility:
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/config b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/config
index c0f048b..3228172 100644
--- a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/config
+++ b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/config
@@ -10,4 +10,4 @@ TIMEZONE_DEFAULT=Europe/Paris
 ENABLE_SSH=1
 
 # Only run base stages + our custom stage (skip desktop/apps)
-STAGE_LIST="stage0 stage1 stage2 stage-tipote"
+STAGE_LIST="stage0 stage1 stage2 stage3"
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/deploy.sh b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/deploy.sh
index 738f2f5..3268bfb 100755
--- a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/deploy.sh
+++ b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/deploy.sh
@@ -61,8 +61,9 @@ $SSH "echo 'SSH OK — $(uname -m) — $(cat /etc/os-release | grep PRETTY_NAME
 echo "▸ [3/7] Installing system dependencies..."
 $SSH "sudo apt-get update -qq && sudo apt-get install -y -qq \
   python3 python3-venv python3-pip \
-  portaudio19-dev libatlas-base-dev alsa-utils \
-  network-manager curl"
+  portaudio19-dev alsa-utils \
+  network-manager curl \
+  libsystemd-dev build-essential"
 
 # Install Node.js 22 if not present
 $SSH "node --version 2>/dev/null | grep -q 'v22' || {
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/00-install-deps/00-packages b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/00-install-deps/00-packages
similarity index 100%
rename from tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/00-install-deps/00-packages
rename to tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/00-install-deps/00-packages
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/00-install-deps/00-run.sh b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/00-install-deps/00-run.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/00-install-deps/00-run.sh
rename to tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/00-install-deps/00-run.sh
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/01-install-tipote/00-run.sh b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/00-run.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/01-install-tipote/00-run.sh
rename to tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/00-run.sh
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/journald-tipote.conf b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/journald-tipote.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dca620a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/journald-tipote.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/tipote.conf
+# Limit journal size on Pi Zero 2W (32GB SD card)
+[Journal]
+SystemMaxUse=50M
+SystemMaxFileSize=10M
+MaxRetentionSec=7day
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/package.json b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37ae60b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+{
+  "name": "@ti-pote/robot-client",
+  "version": "0.0.1",
+  "private": true,
+  "type": "module",
+  "description": "Ti-Pote Robot Client — Runs on Raspberry Pi Zero 2W",
+  "bin": {
+    "tipote": "./dist/cli.js"
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+    "dev": "tsx watch src/main.ts",
+    "build": "tsup src/main.ts src/cli.ts --format esm --dts --clean",
+    "start": "node dist/main.js",
+    "lint": "eslint \"src/**/*.ts\" --fix",
+    "format": "prettier --write \"src/**/*.ts\"",
+    "test": "vitest run",
+    "test:watch": "vitest",
+    "hw:demo": "pnpm exec tsx scripts/hardware-demo.ts",
+    "audio:loopback": "pnpm exec tsx scripts/audio-loopback.ts",
+    "audio:beep": "pnpm exec tsx scripts/audio-beep.ts",
+    "esp:record": "pnpm exec tsx ../robot-hardware/scripts/esp-record.ts",
+    "esp:play": "pnpm exec tsx ../robot-hardware/scripts/esp-play.ts"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "socket.io-client": "^4.8.3",
+    "dotenv": "^17.3.1",
+    "pino": "^9.6.0",
+    "pino-pretty": "^13.0.0",
+    "serialport": "^12.0.0",
+    "sd-notify": "^2.8.0"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "typescript": "^5.8.3",
+    "tsx": "^4.21.0",
+    "tsup": "^8.5.0",
+    "@types/node": "^22.15.0",
+    "vitest": "^3.2.1",
+    "eslint": "^10.1.0",
+    "prettier": "^3.8.1"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/tipote.service b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/tipote.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e120fd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/01-install-tipote/files/tipote.service
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Ti-Pote Robot Client
+After=network.target NetworkManager.service
+Wants=NetworkManager.service
+
+[Service]
+Type=notify
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /opt/tipote/dist/main.js
+WorkingDirectory=/opt/tipote
+EnvironmentFile=/opt/tipote/.env
+User=tipote
+Group=tipote
+
+# Restart policy: max 5 restarts per 5 minutes
+Restart=on-failure
+RestartSec=5
+StartLimitIntervalSec=300
+StartLimitBurst=5
+
+# Watchdog: process must ping every 60s or gets killed
+WatchdogSec=60
+
+# Logging via journald
+StandardOutput=journal
+StandardError=journal
+SyslogIdentifier=tipote
+
+# Security: bind port 80 (captive portal) without root
+AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
+NoNewPrivileges=true
+
+# Resource limits (Pi Zero 2W has 416MB RAM)
+MemoryMax=200M
+MemoryHigh=150M
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/prerun.sh b/tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/prerun.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage-tipote/prerun.sh
rename to tools/pi-gen-tipote/stage3/prerun.sh