diff --git a/dashboard/src/components/toc-sidebar.js b/dashboard/src/components/toc-sidebar.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7986db9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dashboard/src/components/toc-sidebar.js
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+/**
+ * toc-sidebar — inject a persistent widget into Observable Framework's
+ * right-column table-of-contents sidebar.
+ *
+ * Observable Framework renders a non-scrolling TOC aside (#observablehq-toc)
+ * in the right column. This helper lets you prepend a custom element to it,
+ * replacing any previously injected element with the same id on each call so
+ * reactive cells can refresh the widget without accumulating duplicates.
+ *
+ * Usage:
+ *   import {injectTocTop} from "./components/toc-sidebar.js";
+ *
+ *   const el = html`<div>…</div>`;
+ *   injectTocTop("my-widget-id", el);   // call again on each reactive update
+ *
+ * @param {string}      id       Stable id used to find and remove the previous
+ *                               instance. Must be unique per widget on the page.
+ * @param {HTMLElement} element  Element to inject. Its id will be set to `id`.
+ * @returns {boolean}            true if injected into the TOC sidebar;
+ *                               false if #observablehq-toc was not found.
+ */
+export function injectTocTop(id, element) {
+  document.getElementById(id)?.remove();
+  element.id = id;
+  const toc = document.querySelector("#observablehq-toc");
+  if (!toc) return false;
+  toc.prepend(element);
+  return true;
+}
diff --git a/dashboard/src/decisions.md b/dashboard/src/decisions.md
index bca6a20..7b98581 100644
--- a/dashboard/src/decisions.md
+++ b/dashboard/src/decisions.md
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ function fmtDuration(ms) {
 # Decisions
 
 ```js
-import {withDocHelp} from "./components/doc-overlay.js";
+import {withDocHelp}   from "./components/doc-overlay.js";
+import {injectTocTop} from "./components/toc-sidebar.js";
 
 // ── KPI computation (uses full data, not filtered) ──────────────────────────
 const _resolved5 = data
@@ -150,22 +151,16 @@ const _kpiBox = html`<div class="kpi-infobox">
 
 withDocHelp(_kpiBox, "/docs/decisions-kpi");
 
-// ── Inject into the TOC sidebar (right column, non-scrolling) ───────────────
-_kpiBox.id = "decisions-kpi-box";
-const _toc = document.querySelector("#observablehq-toc");
-if (_toc) {
-  document.getElementById("decisions-kpi-box")?.remove();
-  _toc.prepend(_kpiBox);
-} else display(html`<div style="float:right;width:215px;margin-left:1rem">${_kpiBox}</div>`);
-```
-
-```js
-display(html`<div class="live-indicator">
+// ── Build sidebar widget: live indicator + KPI box ──────────────────────────
+const _liveEl = html`<div class="live-indicator">
   <span style="color:${_ok ? 'var(--theme-foreground-focus)' : 'red'}">●</span>
   ${_ok
     ? `Live · updated ${_ts?.toLocaleTimeString()}`
     : html`<span style="color:red">Offline — run: <code>make api</code></span>`}
-</div>`);
+</div>`;
+
+const _tocInjected = injectTocTop("decisions-sidebar", html`<div>${_liveEl}${_kpiBox}</div>`);
+if (!_tocInjected) display(html`<div style="float:right;width:215px;margin-left:1rem">${_liveEl}${_kpiBox}</div>`);
 ```
 
 ## Resolution History