diff --git a/website/package.json b/website/package.json
index a05caa50..493f96c9 100644
--- a/website/package.json
+++ b/website/package.json
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
   "private": true,
   "scripts": {
     "docusaurus": "docusaurus",
+    "prestart": "node scripts/ensure-popular-issues.mjs",
     "start": "docusaurus start",
+    "prebuild": "node scripts/ensure-popular-issues.mjs",
     "build": "docusaurus build",
     "swizzle": "docusaurus swizzle",
     "deploy": "docusaurus deploy",
diff --git a/website/scripts/ensure-popular-issues.mjs b/website/scripts/ensure-popular-issues.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f71f3bc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/website/scripts/ensure-popular-issues.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+// Copyright 2025 Enactic, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+// Ensure static/data/popular-issues.json exists.
+//
+// The GitHubIssues component imports this file at build time, so the bundle
+// fails to compile when it is missing. The file is generated by
+// `npm run fetch-popular-issues` (used in CI), but that requires a GitHub
+// token, so it is not available on a fresh checkout. This writes an empty
+// fallback when the file is absent, letting `start` and `build` run without
+// it. Existing data is never overwritten.
+
+import { existsSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { dirname } from 'node:path';
+
+const target = 'static/data/popular-issues.json';
+
+if (!existsSync(target)) {
+  mkdirSync(dirname(target), { recursive: true });
+  writeFileSync(target, '[]\n');
+}