diff --git a/lib/modarchive/fetch.ts b/lib/modarchive/fetch.ts
index e07f664..6130c3d 100644
--- a/lib/modarchive/fetch.ts
+++ b/lib/modarchive/fetch.ts
@@ -8,12 +8,15 @@
 // without poisoning the cache. No retries — failures are surfaced
 // immediately so the chart pane can offer a Retry button.
 
-const USER_AGENT =
-  "CoolModFiles (+https://github.com/no42-org/CoolModFiles)";
+const USER_AGENT = "CoolModFiles (+https://github.com/no42-org/CoolModFiles)";
 
-export async function fetchHtml(url: string): Promise<string> {
+export async function fetchHtml(
+  url: string,
+  signal?: AbortSignal
+): Promise<string> {
   const res = await fetch(url, {
     method: "GET",
+    signal,
     redirect: "follow",
     headers: {
       "User-Agent": USER_AGENT,
diff --git a/lib/modarchive/latest-id.test.ts b/lib/modarchive/latest-id.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2e4760
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/modarchive/latest-id.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 Ronny Trommer <ronny@no42.org>
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+ */
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from "vitest";
+
+const rss = (id: number) =>
+  `<item><link>https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&amp;query=${id}</link>` +
+  `<enclosure url="https://api.modarchive.org/downloads.php?moduleid=${id}#x.mod"/></item>`;
+
+async function load() {
+  vi.resetModules();
+  return (await import("./latest-id")).getLatestId;
+}
+
+describe("getLatestId", () => {
+  let fetchMock: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    fetchMock = vi.fn();
+    vi.stubGlobal("fetch", fetchMock);
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+    vi.useRealTimers();
+  });
+
+  it("returns the fallback without waiting for the feed", async () => {
+    fetchMock.mockReturnValue(new Promise(() => {}));
+    const getLatestId = await load();
+    expect(getLatestId(42)).toBe(42);
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("serves the fetched id once the refresh lands, without refetching", async () => {
+    fetchMock.mockResolvedValue(new Response(rss(200123)));
+    const getLatestId = await load();
+    getLatestId(42);
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(getLatestId(42)).toBe(200123));
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("starts only one refresh while one is in flight", async () => {
+    fetchMock.mockReturnValue(new Promise(() => {}));
+    const getLatestId = await load();
+    getLatestId(42);
+    getLatestId(42);
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps the fallback when the feed fails and retries after a minute", async () => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers({ toFake: ["Date"] });
+    fetchMock.mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error("down"));
+    fetchMock.mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response(rss(300)));
+    const getLatestId = await load();
+    getLatestId(42);
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 10));
+    expect(getLatestId(42)).toBe(42);
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    vi.setSystemTime(Date.now() + 61 * 1000);
+    getLatestId(42);
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(getLatestId(42)).toBe(300));
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps the fallback on a non-2xx response", async () => {
+    fetchMock.mockResolvedValue(new Response(rss(500), { status: 503 }));
+    const getLatestId = await load();
+    getLatestId(42);
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 10));
+    expect(getLatestId(42)).toBe(42);
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("recovers when fetch throws synchronously", async () => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers({ toFake: ["Date"] });
+    fetchMock.mockImplementationOnce(() => {
+      throw new Error("sync");
+    });
+    fetchMock.mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response(rss(400)));
+    const getLatestId = await load();
+    getLatestId(42);
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 10));
+    vi.setSystemTime(Date.now() + 61 * 1000);
+    getLatestId(42);
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(getLatestId(42)).toBe(400));
+  });
+
+  it("refreshes again after the TTL expires", async () => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers({ toFake: ["Date"] });
+    fetchMock.mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response(rss(100)));
+    fetchMock.mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response(rss(101)));
+    const getLatestId = await load();
+    getLatestId(42);
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(getLatestId(42)).toBe(100));
+    vi.setSystemTime(Date.now() + 61 * 60 * 1000);
+    getLatestId(42);
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(getLatestId(42)).toBe(101));
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/lib/modarchive/latest-id.ts b/lib/modarchive/latest-id.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff67d09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/modarchive/latest-id.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 Ronny Trommer <ronny@no42.org>
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+ */
+
+// Newest modarchive.org module id, used as the upper bound for random
+// picks. The RSS feed takes several seconds to answer, so the page never
+// awaits it: callers get the cached value (or the fallback before the
+// first fetch lands) and a stale value triggers a background refresh.
+// Assumes a long-lived server process (the Docker standalone deploy);
+// a serverless runtime may freeze before the refresh completes.
+
+import { fetchHtml } from "./fetch";
+
+const RSS_URL = "https://modarchive.org/rss.php?request=uploads";
+const TTL_MS = 60 * 60 * 1000;
+const RETRY_MS = 60 * 1000;
+const TIMEOUT_MS = 10_000;
+
+let cached: number | undefined;
+let nextCheckAt = 0;
+let refreshing: Promise<void> | undefined;
+
+async function refresh(): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    const rss = await fetchHtml(RSS_URL, AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS));
+    const id = Number(rss.split("downloads.php?moduleid=")[1].split("#")[0]);
+    if (!Number.isInteger(id) || id <= 0) throw new Error(`bad id ${id}`);
+    cached = id;
+    nextCheckAt = Date.now() + TTL_MS;
+  } catch {
+    // Keep the previous value; retry sooner than a full TTL.
+    nextCheckAt = Date.now() + RETRY_MS;
+  }
+}
+
+export function getLatestId(fallback: number): number {
+  if (!refreshing && Date.now() >= nextCheckAt) {
+    refreshing = refresh().finally(() => {
+      refreshing = undefined;
+    });
+  }
+  return cached ?? fallback;
+}
diff --git a/pages/index.tsx b/pages/index.tsx
index a9eb9f0..0497140 100644
--- a/pages/index.tsx
+++ b/pages/index.tsx
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 Ronny Trommer <ronny@no42.org>
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+ */
 import React from "react";
 import Head from "next/head";
 import type { GetServerSideProps } from "next";
@@ -5,6 +9,7 @@ import type { GetServerSideProps } from "next";
 import Player from "../components/Player";
 import Footer from "../components/Footer";
 import { modArchive, library, type Source } from "../components/sources";
+import { getLatestId } from "../lib/modarchive/latest-id";
 import {
   getRandomInt,
   getRandomFromArray,
@@ -111,17 +116,7 @@ export const getServerSideProps: GetServerSideProps<IndexProps> = async ({
     backSideContent = "";
   }
 
-  let latestId: number;
-  try {
-    const rss_req = await fetch(
-      "https://modarchive.org/rss.php?request=uploads",
-      { method: "GET" }
-    );
-    const rss = await rss_req.text();
-    latestId = Number(rss.split("downloads.php?moduleid=")[1].split("#")[0]);
-  } catch {
-    latestId = RANDOM_MAX;
-  }
+  const latestId = getLatestId(RANDOM_MAX);
 
   let initialSource: Source | null = null;
   if (query.source === "modarchive" && query.id) {