diff --git a/dashboard/src/v2/hooks/use-update-status.ts b/dashboard/src/v2/hooks/use-update-status.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..821fb8554e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dashboard/src/v2/hooks/use-update-status.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { useEffect, useMemo, useState } from "preact/hooks";
+import { fetchUpdateStatus, type UpdateStatus } from "../lib/system-api.js";
+
+export interface UseUpdateStatusResult {
+  status: UpdateStatus | null;
+  updateAvailable: boolean;
+  latestVersion: string | null;
+}
+
+export function useUpdateStatus(): UseUpdateStatusResult {
+  const [status, setStatus] = useState<UpdateStatus | null>(null);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    let cancelled = false;
+
+    void fetchUpdateStatus()
+      .then((nextStatus) => {
+        if (!cancelled) {
+          setStatus(nextStatus);
+        }
+      })
+      .catch(() => undefined);
+
+    return () => {
+      cancelled = true;
+    };
+  }, []);
+
+  const updateAvailable = status?.updateAvailable === true;
+  const latestVersion = status?.latestVersion ?? null;
+
+  return useMemo(
+    () => ({ status, updateAvailable, latestVersion }),
+    [status, updateAvailable, latestVersion],
+  );
+}
diff --git a/docs-web/architecture/dashboard-architecture.md b/docs-web/architecture/dashboard-architecture.md
index 686bae7456..3a899d8e24 100644
--- a/docs-web/architecture/dashboard-architecture.md
+++ b/docs-web/architecture/dashboard-architecture.md
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ State is managed with a mix of:
   - `useDashboardRuntimeData()` — live execution data.
   - `useRealtimeResource()` — generic WebSocket subscription wrapper.
   - `useProjectData()` — active project / sprint.
+  - `useUpdateStatus()` — one-shot system update availability from `/api/system/update-status`.
   - `useSprints()`, `usePreviewSessions()`, `useChatPageData()`, `useSettingsPageState()`, `useMemoryPageData()`, `useOverviewPageData()`, `useExecutionTimeline()`, `useProgressiveList()`.
 
 Hooks own their own subscription lifecycle — they subscribe on mount, unsubscribe on unmount.
diff --git a/docs-web/content/docs/architecture-dashboard-architecture.mdx b/docs-web/content/docs/architecture-dashboard-architecture.mdx
index 1bec56e16e..2217365ae3 100644
--- a/docs-web/content/docs/architecture-dashboard-architecture.mdx
+++ b/docs-web/content/docs/architecture-dashboard-architecture.mdx
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ State is managed with a mix of:
   - `useDashboardRuntimeData()` — live execution data.
   - `useRealtimeResource()` — generic WebSocket subscription wrapper.
   - `useProjectData()` — active project / sprint.
+  - `useUpdateStatus()` — one-shot system update availability from `/api/system/update-status`.
   - `useSprints()`, `usePreviewSessions()`, `useChatPageData()`, `useSettingsPageState()`, `useMemoryPageData()`, `useOverviewPageData()`, `useExecutionTimeline()`, `useProgressiveList()`.
 
 Hooks own their own subscription lifecycle — they subscribe on mount, unsubscribe on unmount.
diff --git a/docs/architecture/dashboard-resource-layer.md b/docs/architecture/dashboard-resource-layer.md
index 8c46bf8176..a671c07b48 100644
--- a/docs/architecture/dashboard-resource-layer.md
+++ b/docs/architecture/dashboard-resource-layer.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Data fetching is governed by a unified resource layer rather than ad-hoc `useEff
 - Direct websocket payload updates (where the event contains the full updated resource) are batched using `requestAnimationFrame`. This coalesces bursts of updates into at most one render per animation frame, preventing the main thread from saturating during high-frequency realtime events.
 - In-flight project-level requests are abort-safe: if a shared project-level request is aborted by its initial caller unmounting, subsequent callers automatically retry instead of inheriting a poisoned aborted promise. Cache entries are populated only from successful, non-aborted fetches.
 - Dashboard API reads are non-cacheable at the HTTP boundary. The shared frontend JSON helper sends `cache: "no-store"` by default, and backend `/api/*`, `/health`, and `/ready` responses carry no-store headers so browser and Electron sessions always request live runtime data.
+- One-shot system reads that do not need realtime invalidation stay in narrow v2 hooks. `useUpdateStatus()` loads `/api/system/update-status` once on mount through the typed `fetchUpdateStatus` client helper, derives `updateAvailable` and `latestVersion` from the returned contract, and treats fetch failures as a quiet "no update" state for shell consumers.
 - Project effective-settings reads are coalesced per project while a request is in flight and then stabilized through the effective-settings cache. This keeps layout chrome, sprint rows, and active pages from starting duplicate `/settings/effective` requests during the same mount burst. Explicit settings reloads use `cache: "reload"` after save/reset so the page reflects persisted settings instead of a warmed effective-settings payload.
 - Dashboard agent preset listing returns existing SQLite presets immediately and schedules markdown/source synchronization in a throttled background task. First-time projects with no presets still await the initial sync so default agents are seeded, while internal planning/MCP callers continue to use the strict `listAgentPresets` path that awaits sync and source decoration.
 
diff --git a/tests/dashboard/hooks/use-update-status.test.tsx b/tests/dashboard/hooks/use-update-status.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..18a5798db4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/dashboard/hooks/use-update-status.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+/** @vitest-environment jsdom */
+import { renderHook, waitFor } from "@testing-library/preact";
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { useUpdateStatus } from "../../../dashboard/src/v2/hooks/use-update-status.js";
+import { fetchUpdateStatus, type UpdateStatus } from "../../../dashboard/src/v2/lib/system-api.js";
+
+vi.mock("../../../dashboard/src/v2/lib/system-api.js", () => ({
+  fetchUpdateStatus: vi.fn(),
+}));
+
+const makeUpdateStatus = (overrides: Partial<UpdateStatus>): UpdateStatus => ({
+  currentVersion: "0.9.3",
+  latestVersion: null,
+  updateAvailable: false,
+  releaseUrl: "https://github.com/codeux-ai/codeux/releases/latest",
+  downloadTargets: {
+    npm: {
+      kind: "npm",
+      label: "npm",
+      url: "https://www.npmjs.com/package/@codeuxai/codeux",
+    },
+    electron: {
+      kind: "electron",
+      label: "Desktop app",
+      url: "https://github.com/codeux-ai/codeux/releases/latest",
+    },
+  },
+  checkedAt: "2026-07-09T00:00:00.000Z",
+  ...overrides,
+});
+
+describe("useUpdateStatus", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it("exposes available updates with the latest version", async () => {
+    vi.mocked(fetchUpdateStatus).mockResolvedValueOnce(makeUpdateStatus({
+      latestVersion: "0.9.4",
+      updateAvailable: true,
+    }));
+
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useUpdateStatus());
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(result.current.updateAvailable).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    expect(result.current.latestVersion).toBe("0.9.4");
+    expect(result.current.status?.updateAvailable).toBe(true);
+    expect(fetchUpdateStatus).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("treats an up-to-date payload as no update available", async () => {
+    vi.mocked(fetchUpdateStatus).mockResolvedValueOnce(makeUpdateStatus({
+      latestVersion: "0.9.3",
+      updateAvailable: false,
+    }));
+
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useUpdateStatus());
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(result.current.status).not.toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    expect(result.current.updateAvailable).toBe(false);
+    expect(result.current.latestVersion).toBe("0.9.3");
+    expect(fetchUpdateStatus).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("treats a rejected fetch as no update available", async () => {
+    vi.mocked(fetchUpdateStatus).mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error("network unavailable"));
+
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useUpdateStatus());
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(fetchUpdateStatus).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    });
+
+    expect(result.current.status).toBeNull();
+    expect(result.current.updateAvailable).toBe(false);
+    expect(result.current.latestVersion).toBeNull();
+  });
+});