diff --git a/src/components/ProjectCard.tsx b/src/components/ProjectCard.tsx
index 42b5478..645a57a 100644
--- a/src/components/ProjectCard.tsx
+++ b/src/components/ProjectCard.tsx
@@ -96,9 +96,17 @@ export default function ProjectCard({
               fontFamily: "'JetBrains Mono', monospace",
               fontSize: '11px',
               color: 'var(--dim)',
+              display: 'flex',
+              alignItems: 'center',
+              gap: '8px',
+              flexWrap: 'wrap',
             }}
           >
-            {featured ? `FEATURED · ${project.num}` : project.num}
+            <span>{featured ? `FEATURED · ${project.num}` : project.num}</span>
+            <span style={{ opacity: 0.5 }}>·</span>
+            <span style={{ textTransform: 'uppercase', letterSpacing: '0.06em' }}>
+              shipped {project.shippedAt}
+            </span>
           </div>
           {featured && live && (
             <div
diff --git a/src/components/ProjectsSection.tsx b/src/components/ProjectsSection.tsx
index d440aa5..58423f9 100644
--- a/src/components/ProjectsSection.tsx
+++ b/src/components/ProjectsSection.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,28 @@
 'use client';
 
-import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';
+import { useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } from 'react';
+import Link from 'next/link';
 import { PROJECTS } from '@/lib/projects-static';
+import generated from '@/lib/projects.generated.json';
 import ProjectCard from '@/components/ProjectCard';
 import ProjectFilters, { type Filter } from '@/components/ProjectFilters';
 
+interface GeneratedRepo {
+  language: string | null;
+  pushedAt: string;
+}
+
+function relativeShipped(iso: string): string {
+  const then = new Date(iso).getTime();
+  const now = Date.now();
+  const days = Math.max(0, Math.round((now - then) / 86400000));
+  if (days <= 1) return 'today';
+  if (days < 7) return `${days}d ago`;
+  if (days < 30) return `${Math.round(days / 7)}w ago`;
+  if (days < 365) return `${Math.round(days / 30)}mo ago`;
+  return `${Math.round(days / 365)}y ago`;
+}
+
 export default function ProjectsSection() {
   const [filter, setFilter] = useState<Filter>('all');
   const sectionRef = useRef<HTMLElement>(null);
@@ -13,6 +31,21 @@ export default function ProjectsSection() {
     (p) => filter === 'all' || p.tags.includes(filter as 'fe' | 'be' | 'ds' | 'oss'),
   );
 
+  const stats = useMemo(() => {
+    const repos = generated.repos as GeneratedRepo[];
+    const languages = new Set(repos.map((r) => r.language).filter(Boolean));
+    const latest = repos.reduce(
+      (acc, r) => (r.pushedAt > acc ? r.pushedAt : acc),
+      '0',
+    );
+    return {
+      shipped: PROJECTS.length,
+      repos: repos.length,
+      languages: languages.size,
+      lastShipped: latest === '0' ? '—' : relativeShipped(latest),
+    };
+  }, []);
+
   // IntersectionObserver to trigger .reveal → .reveal.in
   useEffect(() => {
     const section = sectionRef.current;
@@ -38,6 +71,13 @@ export default function ProjectsSection() {
     return () => observer.disconnect();
   }, [filter]);
 
+  const statTiles: { value: string | number; label: string }[] = [
+    { value: stats.shipped, label: 'Projects shipped' },
+    { value: stats.repos, label: 'Active repos' },
+    { value: stats.languages, label: 'Languages' },
+    { value: stats.lastShipped, label: 'Last shipped' },
+  ];
+
   return (
     <>
       {/* Responsive collapse styles for bento spans */}
@@ -47,9 +87,12 @@ export default function ProjectsSection() {
             grid-column: span 2 !important;
             grid-row: span 1 !important;
           }
+          #projects .stats-strip {
+            grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr) !important;
+          }
         }
         @media (max-width: 640px) {
-          #projects { padding: 60px 0 !important; }
+          #projects { padding: 72px 0 !important; }
           #projects .bento {
             grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr) !important;
             grid-auto-rows: 180px !important;
@@ -63,6 +106,14 @@ export default function ProjectsSection() {
             align-items: stretch !important;
             margin-bottom: 28px !important;
           }
+          #projects .projects-foot {
+            flex-direction: column !important;
+            align-items: stretch !important;
+            gap: 12px !important;
+          }
+          #projects .projects-lede {
+            font-size: 15px !important;
+          }
         }
       `}</style>
 
@@ -70,7 +121,7 @@ export default function ProjectsSection() {
         id="projects"
         className="projects"
         ref={sectionRef}
-        style={{ padding: '100px 0' }}
+        style={{ padding: '140px 0' }}
       >
         <div className="wrap">
           {/* Section head */}
@@ -81,33 +132,112 @@ export default function ProjectsSection() {
             <span>{filtered.length} entries</span>
           </div>
 
-          {/* Projects head: title + filters */}
-          <div
-            className="projects-head reveal"
-            style={{
-              display: 'flex',
-              alignItems: 'flex-end',
-              justifyContent: 'space-between',
-              gap: '24px',
-              marginBottom: '48px',
-              flexWrap: 'wrap',
-            }}
-          >
+          {/* Title block: title + lede */}
+          <div className="reveal" style={{ marginBottom: '40px', maxWidth: '780px' }}>
             <h2
               className="projects-title"
               style={{
                 fontFamily: "'Space Grotesk', sans-serif",
                 fontWeight: 700,
-                fontSize: 'clamp(2.4rem, 5vw, 4.4rem)',
+                fontSize: 'clamp(2.6rem, 5.4vw, 4.8rem)',
                 letterSpacing: '-0.04em',
                 lineHeight: 0.95,
-                margin: 0,
+                margin: '0 0 20px',
                 color: 'var(--text)',
               }}
             >
               Things I&apos;ve shipped{' '}
               <span style={{ color: 'var(--magenta)' }}>recently.</span>
             </h2>
+            <p
+              className="projects-lede"
+              style={{
+                fontSize: '17px',
+                lineHeight: 1.55,
+                color: 'var(--muted)',
+                margin: 0,
+                maxWidth: '640px',
+              }}
+            >
+              A working portfolio of production deploys, side projects, and open-source
+              experiments — the things I&apos;ve actually pushed to{' '}
+              <span style={{ color: 'var(--text)' }}>main</span>. Updated automatically
+              from GitHub, curated by hand.
+            </p>
+          </div>
+
+          {/* Stats strip */}
+          <div
+            className="stats-strip reveal"
+            style={{
+              display: 'grid',
+              gridTemplateColumns: 'repeat(4, 1fr)',
+              gap: '12px',
+              marginBottom: '48px',
+            }}
+          >
+            {statTiles.map((tile) => (
+              <div
+                key={tile.label}
+                style={{
+                  background: 'rgba(255,255,255,.03)',
+                  border: '1px solid var(--line)',
+                  borderRadius: '12px',
+                  padding: '16px 18px',
+                  display: 'flex',
+                  flexDirection: 'column',
+                  gap: '4px',
+                }}
+              >
+                <div
+                  style={{
+                    fontFamily: "'JetBrains Mono', monospace",
+                    fontSize: '24px',
+                    color: 'var(--text)',
+                    fontWeight: 600,
+                    letterSpacing: '-0.02em',
+                  }}
+                >
+                  {tile.value}
+                </div>
+                <div
+                  style={{
+                    fontFamily: "'JetBrains Mono', monospace",
+                    fontSize: '10px',
+                    color: 'var(--dim)',
+                    textTransform: 'uppercase',
+                    letterSpacing: '0.1em',
+                  }}
+                >
+                  {tile.label}
+                </div>
+              </div>
+            ))}
+          </div>
+
+          {/* Filters row */}
+          <div
+            className="projects-head reveal"
+            style={{
+              display: 'flex',
+              alignItems: 'center',
+              justifyContent: 'space-between',
+              gap: '24px',
+              marginBottom: '32px',
+              flexWrap: 'wrap',
+            }}
+          >
+            <div
+              style={{
+                fontFamily: "'JetBrains Mono', monospace",
+                fontSize: '12px',
+                color: 'var(--dim)',
+                textTransform: 'uppercase',
+                letterSpacing: '0.12em',
+              }}
+            >
+              {'// filter by stack'}
+            </div>
             <ProjectFilters value={filter} onChange={setFilter} />
           </div>
 
@@ -117,17 +247,65 @@ export default function ProjectsSection() {
             style={{
               display: 'grid',
               gridTemplateColumns: 'repeat(6, 1fr)',
-              gap: '18px',
-              gridAutoRows: '200px',
+              gap: '20px',
+              gridAutoRows: '220px',
             }}
           >
             {filtered.map((project) => (
-              <ProjectCard
-                key={project.num}
-                project={project}
-              />
+              <ProjectCard key={project.num} project={project} />
             ))}
           </div>
+
+          {/* Bottom CTA strip */}
+          <div
+            className="projects-foot reveal"
+            style={{
+              marginTop: '40px',
+              paddingTop: '24px',
+              borderTop: '1px solid var(--line)',
+              display: 'flex',
+              alignItems: 'center',
+              justifyContent: 'space-between',
+              gap: '16px',
+            }}
+          >
+            <div
+              style={{
+                fontFamily: "'JetBrains Mono', monospace",
+                fontSize: '12px',
+                color: 'var(--dim)',
+              }}
+            >
+              {`// showing ${filtered.length} of ${PROJECTS.length} — full archive available`}
+            </div>
+            <Link
+              href="/projects"
+              style={{
+                fontFamily: "'JetBrains Mono', monospace",
+                fontSize: '13px',
+                color: 'var(--text)',
+                textDecoration: 'none',
+                display: 'inline-flex',
+                alignItems: 'center',
+                gap: '8px',
+                padding: '10px 16px',
+                border: '1px solid var(--line)',
+                borderRadius: '999px',
+                transition: 'border-color .25s, color .25s, background .25s',
+              }}
+              onMouseEnter={(e) => {
+                e.currentTarget.style.borderColor = 'var(--magenta)';
+                e.currentTarget.style.color = 'var(--magenta)';
+              }}
+              onMouseLeave={(e) => {
+                e.currentTarget.style.borderColor = 'var(--line)';
+                e.currentTarget.style.color = 'var(--text)';
+              }}
+            >
+              View all projects
+              <span aria-hidden>→</span>
+            </Link>
+          </div>
         </div>
       </section>
     </>
diff --git a/src/lib/projects-static.ts b/src/lib/projects-static.ts
index f58d057..2724ad1 100644
--- a/src/lib/projects-static.ts
+++ b/src/lib/projects-static.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ export interface BentoProject {
   preview: Preview;
   span: Span;
   href: string;
+  shippedAt: string;
+  shippedAtISO: string;
   featured?: boolean;
   live?: {
     stats: { value: string; label: string; up?: boolean }[];
@@ -224,6 +226,12 @@ const CURATION: Curation[] = [
   },
 ];
 
+function formatShipped(iso: string): string {
+  const d = new Date(iso);
+  const month = d.toLocaleString('en-US', { month: 'short', timeZone: 'UTC' });
+  return `${month} ${d.getUTCFullYear()}`;
+}
+
 export const PROJECTS: BentoProject[] = CURATION.map((c) => {
   const r = repo(c.fullName);
   return {
@@ -235,6 +243,8 @@ export const PROJECTS: BentoProject[] = CURATION.map((c) => {
     preview: c.preview,
     span: c.span,
     href: r.homepageUrl ?? r.url,
+    shippedAt: formatShipped(r.pushedAt),
+    shippedAtISO: r.pushedAt,
     featured: c.featured,
     live: c.live,
   };