diff --git a/dashboard/lib/health.js b/dashboard/lib/health.js
index 855ad94..72b4f8c 100644
--- a/dashboard/lib/health.js
+++ b/dashboard/lib/health.js
@@ -28,6 +28,14 @@ import { rateVerification } from './stats.js';
  * drynet3. An hour means something is genuinely wrong, not slow. */
 const PAYOUT_STALL_SEC = 3600;
 
+/* The enforcer's first template after a new block carries only the witness
+ * commitment; the sidechain commitments follow on the next poll, ~30s later.
+ * Measured on betanet: every block, never longer than one 30s poll. A bare
+ * template younger than this is that gap, not a fault — four polls of grace,
+ * and an enforcer that really stopped committing still fails within one
+ * monitor interval after it. */
+const TEMPLATE_COMMIT_GRACE_SEC = 120;
+
 /* The block subsidy at a height, on the standard schedule: 50 BTC, halved
  * every 210,000 blocks. Chains derived from Bitcoin — mainnet, testnet,
  * signet, and forknets that keep their parent's height — all share it;
@@ -415,10 +423,14 @@ export function health(handle) {
      * so nothing else complains — but no sidechain can be merge-mined into
      * them, which is what stalled Thunder before. */
     checks.push(guard('template_commitments', 'Templates carry sidechain commitments', () => {
-        const r = one(d, `SELECT source, cb_op_returns FROM templates
-                           ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1`);
+        const r = one(d, `SELECT source, cb_op_returns,
+                                 strftime('%s','now') - ts AS age
+                            FROM templates ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1`);
         if (!r) return { ok: true, unavailable: true, detail: 'no templates recorded yet' };
         const ok = r.source === 'enforcer' && Number(r.cb_op_returns) > 1;
+        if (!ok && Number(r.age) < TEMPLATE_COMMIT_GRACE_SEC)
+            return { ok: true, value: Number(r.cb_op_returns),
+                     detail: 'new block — commitments pending' };
         return { ok, value: Number(r.cb_op_returns),
                  detail: ok ? null
                     : `mining ${r.source} templates with ${r.cb_op_returns} OP_RETURN(s) — no sidechain can merge-mine` };
diff --git a/dashboard/test/health.test.js b/dashboard/test/health.test.js
index 8adc7a5..2b74c9b 100644
--- a/dashboard/test/health.test.js
+++ b/dashboard/test/health.test.js
@@ -293,6 +293,31 @@ test('an enforcer template with only a witness commitment is caught', () => {
     assert.ok(failing(health(db)).includes('template_commitments'));
 });
 
+/* Every new block opens with one bare enforcer template for ~30s before the
+ * commitments arrive. That gap must not raise the alarm. */
+test('a bare template only seconds old is the new-block gap, not a failure', () => {
+    const db = makeDb();
+    db.prepare(`INSERT INTO templates (ts,height,prev_hash,bits,network_difficulty,
+                    coinbase_value_sats,tx_count,tx_fees_sats,source,cb_spendable,
+                    cb_op_returns,longpoll,rate_sats_per_diff)
+                VALUES (?, 3, 'bb', '1a', 111157.455, 312500000, 1, 0,
+                        'enforcer', 1, 1, 1, ?)`).run(Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) - 20, RATE);
+    const h = health(db);
+    assert.ok(!failing(h).includes('template_commitments'));
+    assert.match(h.checks.find(c => c.id === 'template_commitments').detail, /pending/);
+});
+
+/* ...but one that outlives the grace is the real thing. */
+test('a bare template past the grace period is caught', () => {
+    const db = makeDb();
+    db.prepare(`INSERT INTO templates (ts,height,prev_hash,bits,network_difficulty,
+                    coinbase_value_sats,tx_count,tx_fees_sats,source,cb_spendable,
+                    cb_op_returns,longpoll,rate_sats_per_diff)
+                VALUES (?, 3, 'bb', '1a', 111157.455, 312500000, 1, 0,
+                        'enforcer', 1, 1, 1, ?)`).run(Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) - 180, RATE);
+    assert.ok(failing(health(db)).includes('template_commitments'));
+});
+
 /* A check that cannot run must not read as a pass, and must not take the
  * page down either. */
 test('a DB missing a table degrades to unavailable, not to healthy', () => {