diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8d8e73d..01f8e7a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,3 +5,6 @@ _site/
 *.log
 .env
 docker-compose.yml
+
+# Local browser fixtures for document-based development
+src/posts/*.md
diff --git a/eleventy.config.js b/eleventy.config.js
index 82aa7c7..9589e97 100644
--- a/eleventy.config.js
+++ b/eleventy.config.js
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ import { filters } from "./src/_filters/index.js";
 import { postComparator, isPostPublic } from "./src/_utils/sort-posts.js";
 
 export default function (eleventyConfig) {
+  // Build ignored local post fixtures without making them Git-tracked.
+  eleventyConfig.setUseGitIgnore(false);
+
   // 1. Static Asset Passthrough Copy
   eleventyConfig.addPassthroughCopy({ "src/assets": "assets" });
 
@@ -66,7 +69,6 @@ export default function (eleventyConfig) {
     return [...tagSet].sort();
   });
 
-
   // 6. Dev Server Options (dynamic port binding)
   eleventyConfig.setServerOptions({
     port: parseInt(process.env.PORT || "8080", 10)
diff --git a/src/_filters/index.js b/src/_filters/index.js
index 53e3640..9504cf7 100644
--- a/src/_filters/index.js
+++ b/src/_filters/index.js
@@ -62,13 +62,44 @@ export const extractHeadings = (htmlContent) => {
   return headings;
 };
 
+const leadingTerminalPreviewHeading = /^\s*<h1\b[^>]*\bid=(["'])terminal-preview\1[^>]*>[\s\S]*?<\/h1>/i;
+
+const terminalPreviewBounds = (htmlContent) => {
+  if (!htmlContent || typeof htmlContent !== "string") return null;
+
+  const heading = htmlContent.match(leadingTerminalPreviewHeading);
+  if (!heading) return null;
+
+  const contentAfterHeading = htmlContent.slice(heading[0].length);
+  const nextArticleHeading = contentAfterHeading.search(/<h[1-6]\b/i);
+  if (nextArticleHeading === -1) return null;
+
+  const leadingArticleWhitespace = contentAfterHeading
+    .slice(0, nextArticleHeading)
+    .match(/\s*$/)?.[0] || "";
+
+  return {
+    preview: contentAfterHeading.slice(0, nextArticleHeading),
+    article: leadingArticleWhitespace + contentAfterHeading.slice(nextArticleHeading)
+  };
+};
+
+export const extractTerminalPreview = (htmlContent) => terminalPreviewBounds(htmlContent)?.preview || "";
+
+export const removeTerminalPreview = (htmlContent) => {
+  if (!htmlContent || typeof htmlContent !== "string") return "";
+  return terminalPreviewBounds(htmlContent)?.article || htmlContent;
+};
+
 export const filters = {
   postDate,
   isoDate,
   limit,
   filterTagList,
   readingTime,
-  extractHeadings
+  extractHeadings,
+  extractTerminalPreview,
+  removeTerminalPreview
 };
 
 export default filters;
diff --git a/src/_includes/layouts/post.njk b/src/_includes/layouts/post.njk
index 1d6ba59..5366f0e 100644
--- a/src/_includes/layouts/post.njk
+++ b/src/_includes/layouts/post.njk
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   <!-- Left Sticky Sidebar: Document Outline & Telemetry -->
   <aside class="article-sidebar" aria-label="Article Sidebar">
     <!-- Dynamic Table of Contents -->
-    {% set headings = content | extractHeadings %}
+    {% set headings = (content | removeTerminalPreview) | extractHeadings %}
     {% if headings.length > 0 %}
       <div class="sidebar-tile">
         <div class="sidebar-heading">
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 
         <div class="stat-row">
           <span>DURATION:</span>
-          <span class="stat-val">{{ content | readingTime(readingTime) }}</span>
+          <span class="stat-val">{{ (content | removeTerminalPreview) | readingTime(readingTime) }}</span>
         </div>
         {% if difficulty %}
           <div class="stat-row">
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@
           <time datetime="{{ date | isoDate }}">{{ date | postDate }}</time>
         </span>
         <span>&bull;</span>
-        <span class="meta-item">{{ content | readingTime(readingTime) }}</span>
+        <span class="meta-item">{{ (content | removeTerminalPreview) | readingTime(readingTime) }}</span>
         {% if difficulty %}
           <span>&bull;</span>
           <span class="meta-item" style="color: var(--accent-amber);">DIFFICULTY: {{ difficulty }}</span>
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
     </header>
 
     <div class="markdown-prose">
-      {{ content | safe }}
+      {{ content | removeTerminalPreview | safe }}
     </div>
   </article>
 </div>
diff --git a/src/_includes/partials/featured-card.njk b/src/_includes/partials/featured-card.njk
index c2d4536..3b4053c 100644
--- a/src/_includes/partials/featured-card.njk
+++ b/src/_includes/partials/featured-card.njk
@@ -32,21 +32,23 @@
       {{ featured.data.excerpt }}
     </p>
 
-    <!-- Terminal Code Preview Snippet -->
-    <div class="terminal-code-box">
-      <div class="code-titlebar">
-        <span class="code-title">
-          <span style="color: var(--accent-cyan);">&gt;</span>
-          <span>init_cluster.sh</span>
-        </span>
-        <span>POSIX sh</span>
-      </div>
-      <div class="code-content">
-        <pre><code class="language-bash"># System initialization and node health check
-./cluster.sh --verify-nodes
-curl -s https://api.local/healthz | jq .status</code></pre>
-      </div>
-    </div>
+    {% if featured.data.terminal == true %}
+      {% set terminalPreview = featured.templateContent | extractTerminalPreview %}
+      {% if terminalPreview %}
+        <div class="terminal-code-box terminal-preview-box">
+          <div class="code-titlebar">
+            <span class="code-title">
+              <span style="color: var(--accent-cyan);">&gt;</span>
+              <span>TERMINAL PREVIEW</span>
+            </span>
+            <span>MARKDOWN</span>
+          </div>
+          <div class="terminal-preview-content">
+            {{ terminalPreview | safe }}
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      {% endif %}
+    {% endif %}
 
     <div class="featured-cta-row">
       <div class="tag-cluster">
diff --git a/src/assets/css/components/code-box.css b/src/assets/css/components/code-box.css
index 11599ec..dd9703d 100644
--- a/src/assets/css/components/code-box.css
+++ b/src/assets/css/components/code-box.css
@@ -65,6 +65,35 @@
   font-family: var(--font-code);
 }
 
+.terminal-preview-box {
+  margin: 0;
+}
+
+.terminal-preview-content {
+  padding: 14px 16px;
+  color: var(--text-primary);
+  font-size: 0.82rem;
+  line-height: 1.55;
+}
+
+.terminal-preview-content > :first-child {
+  margin-top: 0;
+}
+
+.terminal-preview-content > :last-child {
+  margin-bottom: 0;
+}
+
+.terminal-preview-content pre {
+  margin: 10px 0;
+  padding: 10px 12px;
+  overflow-x: auto;
+  background-color: var(--bg-surface);
+  border: var(--border-width) solid var(--border-color);
+  border-radius: var(--border-radius-sm);
+  font-family: var(--font-code);
+}
+
 /* Syntax Highlighting Tokens (Prism / 11ty Syntax Highlight) */
 .token.comment,
 .token.prolog,
diff --git a/test/featured-terminal-preview.test.js b/test/featured-terminal-preview.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f990e29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/featured-terminal-preview.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import nunjucks from "nunjucks";
+import path from "node:path";
+import {
+  extractTerminalPreview,
+  filterTagList,
+  isoDate,
+  postDate,
+  readingTime
+} from "../src/_filters/index.js";
+
+const includesDir = path.resolve("src/_includes");
+
+function renderFeaturedCard(terminal) {
+  const env = new nunjucks.Environment(new nunjucks.FileSystemLoader(includesDir), { autoescape: false });
+  env.addFilter("extractTerminalPreview", extractTerminalPreview);
+  env.addFilter("filterTagList", filterTagList);
+  env.addFilter("isoDate", isoDate);
+  env.addFilter("postDate", postDate);
+  env.addFilter("readingTime", readingTime);
+
+  const featured = {
+    url: "/dispatches/example/",
+    date: "2026-10-06",
+    data: {
+      featured: true,
+      terminal,
+      tags: ["systems"],
+      title: "Example dispatch",
+      excerpt: "An example featured dispatch used to verify the terminal preview."
+    },
+    templateContent: `
+      <h1 id="terminal-preview">Terminal preview</h1>
+      <p>Inspect the first five lines:</p>
+      <pre><code class="language-bash">cat /dispatches/example | head -n 5</code></pre>
+      <h1 id="investigation">Investigation</h1>
+      <p>The public article begins here.</p>
+    `
+  };
+
+  return env.render("partials/featured-card.njk", {
+    collections: { posts: [featured] }
+  });
+}
+
+test("Featured terminal preview: renders Markdown output only when terminal frontmatter is true", () => {
+  const output = renderFeaturedCard(true);
+
+  assert.match(output, /class="[^"]*terminal-code-box[^"]*"/);
+  assert.match(output, /Inspect the first five lines:/);
+  assert.match(output, /cat \/dispatches\/example \| head -n 5/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(output, /Terminal preview/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(output, /init_cluster\.sh/);
+});
+
+test("Featured terminal preview: does not render when terminal frontmatter is false or absent", () => {
+  assert.doesNotMatch(renderFeaturedCard(false), /terminal-code-box/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(renderFeaturedCard(undefined), /terminal-code-box/);
+});
diff --git a/test/local-post-fixtures.test.js b/test/local-post-fixtures.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a64e93f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/local-post-fixtures.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+
+const config = fs.readFileSync(path.resolve("eleventy.config.js"), "utf-8");
+
+test("Eleventy config: builds local ignored post fixtures", () => {
+  assert.match(config, /setUseGitIgnore\(false\)/);
+});
diff --git a/test/post-terminal-preview-layout.test.js b/test/post-terminal-preview-layout.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08e5c91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/post-terminal-preview-layout.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+
+const postLayout = fs.readFileSync(path.resolve("src/_includes/layouts/post.njk"), "utf-8");
+
+test("Post layout: omits the leading terminal preview from the public article body", () => {
+  assert.match(postLayout, /content\s*\|\s*removeTerminalPreview\s*\|\s*safe/);
+});
diff --git a/test/terminal-preview-boundary.test.js b/test/terminal-preview-boundary.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f01f33e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/terminal-preview-boundary.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { extractTerminalPreview, removeTerminalPreview } from "../src/_filters/index.js";
+
+test("Terminal previews: stop before the first subsequent Markdown heading at any level", () => {
+  const renderedPost = `
+    <h1 id="terminal-preview">Terminal preview</h1>
+    <p>Plain Markdown preview text is supported.</p>
+    <h2 id="findings">Findings</h2>
+    <p>The article begins here.</p>
+  `;
+
+  assert.match(extractTerminalPreview(renderedPost), /Plain Markdown preview text/);
+  assert.match(removeTerminalPreview(renderedPost), /^\n    <h2 id="findings">/);
+});
diff --git a/test/terminal-preview.test.js b/test/terminal-preview.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..332bab8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/terminal-preview.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import {
+  extractTerminalPreview,
+  removeTerminalPreview
+} from "../src/_filters/index.js";
+
+test("Terminal previews: extracts rendered Markdown between the leading preview and article headings", () => {
+  const renderedPost = `
+    <h1 id="terminal-preview">Terminal preview</h1>
+    <p>Use the following command:</p>
+    <pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash">cat /dispatches/example | head -n 5</code></pre>
+    <h1 id="investigation">Investigation</h1>
+    <p>The public article starts here.</p>
+  `;
+
+  assert.equal(
+    extractTerminalPreview(renderedPost),
+    `\n    <p>Use the following command:</p>\n    <pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash">cat /dispatches/example | head -n 5</code></pre>\n    `
+  );
+  assert.equal(
+    removeTerminalPreview(renderedPost),
+    `\n    <h1 id="investigation">Investigation</h1>\n    <p>The public article starts here.</p>\n  `
+  );
+});
+
+test("Terminal previews: ignores missing, misplaced, and malformed preview headings", () => {
+  const regularPost = "<h1 id=\"article\">Article</h1><p>Visible text.</p>";
+  const misplacedPreview = "<h1 id=\"article\">Article</h1><h1 id=\"terminal-preview\">Terminal preview</h1><p>Do not extract.</p>";
+
+  assert.equal(extractTerminalPreview(regularPost), "");
+  assert.equal(removeTerminalPreview(regularPost), regularPost);
+  assert.equal(extractTerminalPreview(misplacedPreview), "");
+  assert.equal(removeTerminalPreview(misplacedPreview), misplacedPreview);
+  assert.equal(extractTerminalPreview(null), "");
+  assert.equal(removeTerminalPreview(null), "");
+});