diff --git a/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/KPIStrip.tsx b/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/KPIStrip.tsx
index af3877c91..541c0e838 100644
--- a/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/KPIStrip.tsx
+++ b/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/KPIStrip.tsx
@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ export function KPIStrip(props: KPIStripProps) {
             <p class="text-2xl font-mono font-semibold text-base-content mt-1">
               {props.workloads.total}
             </p>
+            <p class="text-[11px] text-muted mt-0.5">
+              {workloadsPresentation.supportingText}
+            </p>
             <p class="text-xs text-muted mt-0.5">
               <span class="font-mono font-medium text-emerald-600 dark:text-emerald-400">
                 {props.workloads.running}
diff --git a/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/TrendCharts.tsx b/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/TrendCharts.tsx
index 581465d66..26816aeb8 100644
--- a/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/TrendCharts.tsx
+++ b/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/TrendCharts.tsx
@@ -40,6 +40,14 @@ function normalizeRange(range: HistoryTimeRange): SummaryTimeRange {
 
 export function TrendCharts(props: TrendChartsProps) {
   const selectedRange = createMemo(() => normalizeRange(props.trendRange()));
+  const emptyStateTitle = createMemo(() =>
+    props.overview.infrastructure.total > 0 ? 'History is warming up' : 'No infrastructure trends yet',
+  );
+  const emptyStateBody = createMemo(() =>
+    props.overview.infrastructure.total > 0
+      ? 'Pulse needs a couple of CPU and memory samples from connected infrastructure before these charts render.'
+      : 'These charts appear after connected systems start reporting infrastructure CPU and memory history.',
+  );
 
   const cpuSeries = createMemo<InteractiveSparklineSeries[]>(() => {
     const resources = props.overview.infrastructure.topCPU.slice(0, 5);
@@ -125,8 +133,12 @@ export function TrendCharts(props: TrendChartsProps) {
         </div>
       </Show>
       <Show when={!props.trends.error && props.trends.infrastructure.emptyMessage}>
-        <div class="mb-2 rounded border border-border bg-surface px-2 py-1.5 text-[11px] text-muted">
-          {props.trends.infrastructure.emptyMessage}
+        <div class="mb-2 rounded border border-border bg-surface px-3 py-2 text-[11px] text-muted">
+          <p class="font-medium text-base-content">{emptyStateTitle()}</p>
+          <p class="mt-1">{emptyStateBody()}</p>
+          <p class="mt-1 text-[10px] uppercase tracking-wide text-muted/80">
+            {props.trends.infrastructure.emptyMessage}
+          </p>
         </div>
       </Show>
 
diff --git a/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/__tests__/KPIStrip.test.tsx b/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/__tests__/KPIStrip.test.tsx
index fdd98efc9..0b65fe14d 100644
--- a/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/__tests__/KPIStrip.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/__tests__/KPIStrip.test.tsx
@@ -3,18 +3,20 @@ import { render, screen } from '@solidjs/testing-library';
 import { KPIStrip } from '../KPIStrip';
 
 describe('KPIStrip', () => {
-  it('renders alert summary counts', () => {
+  it('keeps the workloads card explicitly discoverable for containers, VMs, and pods', () => {
     render(() => (
       <KPIStrip
-        infrastructure={{ total: 8, online: 7 }}
-        workloads={{ total: 12, running: 10 }}
-        storage={{ capacityPercent: 63, totalUsed: 630, totalCapacity: 1000 }}
-        alerts={{ activeCritical: 2, activeWarning: 3, total: 5 }}
+        infrastructure={{ total: 5, online: 5 }}
+        workloads={{ total: 33, running: 28 }}
+        storage={{ capacityPercent: 27, totalUsed: 20, totalCapacity: 75 }}
+        alerts={{ activeCritical: 1, activeWarning: 16, total: 17 }}
       />
     ));
 
-    expect(screen.getByText('Alerts')).toBeInTheDocument();
-    expect(screen.getByText('5')).toBeInTheDocument();
-    expect(screen.getByText(/critical ·/)).toBeInTheDocument();
+    const workloadsLink = screen.getByRole('link', { name: /workloads/i });
+    expect(workloadsLink.getAttribute('href')).toBe('/workloads');
+    expect(screen.getByText('VMs, containers, and pods')).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.getByText('28')).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.getByText(/running/i)).toBeInTheDocument();
   });
 });
diff --git a/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/__tests__/TrendCharts.test.tsx b/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/__tests__/TrendCharts.test.tsx
index 371db1704..7b832d523 100644
--- a/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/__tests__/TrendCharts.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend-modern/src/features/dashboardOverview/__tests__/TrendCharts.test.tsx
@@ -61,6 +61,15 @@ describe('TrendCharts', () => {
     const [range, setRange] = createSignal<HistoryTimeRange>('1h');
     render(() => (
       <TrendCharts
+        overview={makeOverview({
+          infrastructure: {
+            total: 2,
+            byStatus: {},
+            byType: {},
+            topCPU: [],
+            topMemory: [],
+          },
+        })}
         trends={makeTrends({
           infrastructure: {
             cpu: new Map(),
@@ -68,12 +77,17 @@ describe('TrendCharts', () => {
             emptyMessage: 'Gathering first sample…',
           },
         })}
-        overview={makeOverview()}
         trendRange={range}
         setTrendRange={setRange}
       />
     ));
 
+    expect(screen.getByText('History is warming up')).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(
+      screen.getByText(
+        'Pulse needs a couple of CPU and memory samples from connected infrastructure before these charts render.',
+      ),
+    ).toBeTruthy();
     expect(screen.getByText('Gathering first sample…')).toBeTruthy();
   });
 });
diff --git a/frontend-modern/src/utils/__tests__/dashboardKpiPresentation.test.ts b/frontend-modern/src/utils/__tests__/dashboardKpiPresentation.test.ts
index 69a8bc081..fbc567a6f 100644
--- a/frontend-modern/src/utils/__tests__/dashboardKpiPresentation.test.ts
+++ b/frontend-modern/src/utils/__tests__/dashboardKpiPresentation.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ describe('dashboardKpiPresentation', () => {
     });
     expect(getDashboardKpiPresentation('workloads')).toMatchObject({
       label: 'Workloads',
+      supportingText: 'VMs, containers, and pods',
     });
     expect(getDashboardKpiPresentation('storage')).toMatchObject({
       label: 'Storage',
diff --git a/frontend-modern/src/utils/dashboardKpiPresentation.ts b/frontend-modern/src/utils/dashboardKpiPresentation.ts
index 8e0dcfaab..877cd3e7e 100644
--- a/frontend-modern/src/utils/dashboardKpiPresentation.ts
+++ b/frontend-modern/src/utils/dashboardKpiPresentation.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ export type DashboardKpiKey = 'infrastructure' | 'workloads' | 'storage' | 'aler
 
 export interface DashboardKpiPresentation {
   label: string;
+  supportingText?: string;
   cardClassName: string;
   iconClassName: string;
   icon: Component<{ class?: string }>;
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ const DASHBOARD_KPI_PRESENTATION: Record<DashboardKpiKey, DashboardKpiPresentati
   },
   workloads: {
     label: 'Workloads',
+    supportingText: 'VMs, containers, and pods',
     cardClassName:
       'h-full border-l-[3px] border-l-violet-500 dark:border-l-violet-400 bg-surface group-hover:bg-surface-hover transition-colors',
     iconClassName: 'w-3.5 h-3.5 text-violet-500/50 dark:text-violet-400/50',