diff --git a/start.example.sh b/start.example.sh
index ebf1df87..c6e72ba9 100644
--- a/start.example.sh
+++ b/start.example.sh
@@ -3,239 +3,6 @@ set -eu
 
 cd /usr/local/indiekit
 NODE_BIN="${NODE_BIN:-/usr/local/bin/node}"
-WEBMENTION_POLL_PID=""
-INDIEKIT_PID=""
-SHUTDOWN_IN_PROGRESS=0
-WEBMENTION_STOP_TIMEOUT="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_STOP_TIMEOUT:-5}"
-INDIEKIT_STOP_TIMEOUT="${INDIEKIT_STOP_TIMEOUT:-20}"
-  WEBMENTION_READY_TIMEOUT="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_READY_TIMEOUT:-180}"
-KILL_DAEMON_PARENT_ON_SHUTDOWN="${KILL_DAEMON_PARENT_ON_SHUTDOWN:-1}"
-
-case "$WEBMENTION_STOP_TIMEOUT" in
-  ''|*[!0-9]*) WEBMENTION_STOP_TIMEOUT=5 ;;
-esac
-
-case "$INDIEKIT_STOP_TIMEOUT" in
-  ''|*[!0-9]*) INDIEKIT_STOP_TIMEOUT=20 ;;
-esac
-
-case "$WEBMENTION_READY_TIMEOUT" in
-  ''|*[!0-9]*) WEBMENTION_READY_TIMEOUT=60 ;;
-esac
-
-case "$KILL_DAEMON_PARENT_ON_SHUTDOWN" in
-  ''|*[!0-9]*) KILL_DAEMON_PARENT_ON_SHUTDOWN=1 ;;
-esac
-
-is_pid_alive() {
-  _pid="$1"
-
-  if [ -z "$_pid" ] || ! kill -0 "$_pid" 2>/dev/null; then
-    return 1
-  fi
-
-  # FreeBSD can report zombies as existing PIDs; exclude them from "alive".
-  if command -v ps >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    _state="$(ps -o stat= -p "$_pid" 2>/dev/null || true)"
-    case "$_state" in
-      *Z*) return 1 ;;
-    esac
-  fi
-
-  return 0
-}
-
-wait_for_pid_exit() {
-  _pid="$1"
-  _timeout="$2"
-  _elapsed=0
-
-  while is_pid_alive "$_pid"; do
-    if [ "$_elapsed" -ge "$_timeout" ]; then
-      return 1
-    fi
-
-    sleep 1
-    _elapsed=$((_elapsed + 1))
-  done
-
-  wait "$_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
-  return 0
-}
-
-stop_webmention_poller() {
-  if [ -n "${WEBMENTION_POLL_PID}" ] && is_pid_alive "${WEBMENTION_POLL_PID}"; then
-    kill "${WEBMENTION_POLL_PID}" 2>/dev/null || true
-
-    if ! wait_for_pid_exit "${WEBMENTION_POLL_PID}" "${WEBMENTION_STOP_TIMEOUT}"; then
-      kill -9 "${WEBMENTION_POLL_PID}" 2>/dev/null || true
-      wait "${WEBMENTION_POLL_PID}" 2>/dev/null || true
-    fi
-  fi
-
-  WEBMENTION_POLL_PID=""
-}
-
-stop_indiekit_server() {
-  if [ -n "${INDIEKIT_PID}" ] && is_pid_alive "${INDIEKIT_PID}"; then
-    kill "${INDIEKIT_PID}" 2>/dev/null || true
-
-    if ! wait_for_pid_exit "${INDIEKIT_PID}" "${INDIEKIT_STOP_TIMEOUT}"; then
-      echo "[indiekit] Shutdown timeout after ${INDIEKIT_STOP_TIMEOUT}s; forcing kill" >&2
-      kill -9 "${INDIEKIT_PID}" 2>/dev/null || true
-      wait "${INDIEKIT_PID}" 2>/dev/null || true
-    fi
-  fi
-
-  INDIEKIT_PID=""
-}
-
-stop_daemon_parent() {
-  if [ "$KILL_DAEMON_PARENT_ON_SHUTDOWN" != "1" ]; then
-    return
-  fi
-
-  if ! command -v ps >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    return
-  fi
-
-  _ppid="${PPID:-}"
-  if [ -z "$_ppid" ] || ! kill -0 "$_ppid" 2>/dev/null; then
-    return
-  fi
-
-  _parent_cmd="$(ps -o command= -p "$_ppid" 2>/dev/null || true)"
-
-  case "$_parent_cmd" in
-    daemon:\ *\(daemon\)*|*/daemon\ *)
-      kill "$_ppid" 2>/dev/null || true
-      ;;
-  esac
-}
-
-start_webmention_poller() {
-  if [ "${WEBMENTION_SENDER_AUTO_POLL:-1}" != "1" ]; then
-    return
-  fi
-
-
-  WEBMENTION_SENDER_HOST="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_HOST:-127.0.0.1}"
-  WEBMENTION_SENDER_PORT="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_PORT:-${PORT:-3000}}"
-  WEBMENTION_SENDER_PATH="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_MOUNT_PATH:-/webmention-sender}"
-  WEBMENTION_SENDER_ORIGIN="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_ORIGIN:-${PUBLICATION_URL:-${SITE_URL:-}}}"
-  WEBMENTION_SENDER_INTERVAL="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_POLL_INTERVAL:-300}"
-
-  case "$WEBMENTION_SENDER_PATH" in
-    /*) ;;
-    *) WEBMENTION_SENDER_PATH="/$WEBMENTION_SENDER_PATH" ;;
-  esac
-
-  case "$WEBMENTION_SENDER_INTERVAL" in
-    ''|*[!0-9]*) WEBMENTION_SENDER_INTERVAL=300 ;;
-  esac
-
-  WEBMENTION_SENDER_ORIGIN="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_ORIGIN%/}"
-
-  if ! command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    echo "[webmention] curl not found; skipping auto-send polling" >&2
-    return
-  fi
-
-  if [ -z "$WEBMENTION_SENDER_ORIGIN" ]; then
-    echo "[webmention] SITE_URL/PUBLICATION_URL missing; skipping auto-send polling" >&2
-    return
-  fi
-
-  # If host includes protocol (http/https), use as-is, else prepend http://
-  case "$WEBMENTION_SENDER_HOST" in
-    http*://*) WEBMENTION_SENDER_ENDPOINT="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_HOST}${WEBMENTION_SENDER_PATH}" ;;
-    *) WEBMENTION_SENDER_ENDPOINT="http://${WEBMENTION_SENDER_HOST}:${WEBMENTION_SENDER_PORT}${WEBMENTION_SENDER_PATH}" ;;
-  esac
-
-  # Wait for the local endpoint to answer (any HTTP status) before polling.
-  WEBMENTION_READY_ELAPSED=0
-  while true; do
-    if ! is_pid_alive "${INDIEKIT_PID}"; then
-      echo "[webmention] Indiekit exited before poller startup; skipping" >&2
-      return
-    fi
-
-    WEBMENTION_READY_CODE="$(
-      curl -sS -o /dev/null -m 2 -w '%{http_code}' "${WEBMENTION_SENDER_ENDPOINT}" 2>/dev/null || true
-    )"
-
-    case "$WEBMENTION_READY_CODE" in
-      200) break ;;
-      ''|000|502|503|504) ;;
-      *) echo "[webmention] Waiting for HTTP 200, got $WEBMENTION_READY_CODE" >&2 ;;
-    esac
-
-    if [ "$WEBMENTION_READY_ELAPSED" -ge "$WEBMENTION_READY_TIMEOUT" ]; then
-      echo "[webmention] Startup readiness timeout after ${WEBMENTION_READY_TIMEOUT}s; starting poller anyway" >&2
-      break
-    fi
-
-    sleep 1
-    WEBMENTION_READY_ELAPSED=$((WEBMENTION_READY_ELAPSED + 1))
-  done
-
-  (
-    echo "[webmention] Starting auto-send polling every ${WEBMENTION_SENDER_INTERVAL}s (${WEBMENTION_SENDER_ENDPOINT})"
-
-    while true; do
-      if ! is_pid_alive "${INDIEKIT_PID}"; then
-        echo "[webmention] Indiekit stopped; exiting poller"
-        break
-      fi
-
-      TOKEN="$({
-        WEBMENTION_ORIGIN="$WEBMENTION_SENDER_ORIGIN" \
-        WEBMENTION_SECRET="$SECRET" \
-        "$NODE_BIN" -e '
-          const jwt = require("jsonwebtoken");
-          const me = process.env.WEBMENTION_ORIGIN;
-          const secret = process.env.WEBMENTION_SECRET;
-          if (!me || !secret) process.exit(1);
-          process.stdout.write(
-            jwt.sign({ me, scope: "update" }, secret, { expiresIn: "5m" }),
-          );
-        ' 2>/dev/null;
-      } || true)"
-
-      if [ -n "$TOKEN" ]; then
-        RESULT="$(curl -sS -X POST "${WEBMENTION_SENDER_ENDPOINT}?token=${TOKEN}" 2>&1 || true)"
-
-        if [ -n "$RESULT" ]; then
-          echo "[webmention] $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - $RESULT"
-        else
-          echo "[webmention] $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - ok"
-        fi
-      else
-        echo "[webmention] $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - token generation failed"
-      fi
-
-      sleep "$WEBMENTION_SENDER_INTERVAL"
-    done
-  ) &
-
-  WEBMENTION_POLL_PID="$!"
-}
-
-shutdown() {
-  if [ "${SHUTDOWN_IN_PROGRESS}" = "1" ]; then
-    return
-  fi
-
-  SHUTDOWN_IN_PROGRESS=1
-  trap '' INT TERM HUP
-
-  # Stop poller first so shutdown does not generate connection-refused spam.
-  stop_webmention_poller
-  stop_indiekit_server
-  stop_daemon_parent
-}
-
-trap 'shutdown; exit 0' INT TERM HUP
 
 # Optional: load environment from local .env file
 # (dotenv syntax, supports spaces in values).
@@ -293,20 +60,37 @@ done
 "${NODE_BIN}" node_modules/@indiekit/indiekit/bin/cli.js serve --config indiekit.config.mjs &
 INDIEKIT_PID="$!"
 
-start_webmention_poller
+# Webmention sender — polls every 5 minutes (see @rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-webmention-sender README)
+WEBMENTION_POLL_INTERVAL="${WEBMENTION_SENDER_POLL_INTERVAL:-300}"
+WEBMENTION_ENDPOINT="http://127.0.0.1:${PORT:-3000}${WEBMENTION_SENDER_MOUNT_PATH:-/webmention-sender}"
+WEBMENTION_ORIGIN="${PUBLICATION_URL:-${SITE_URL:-}}"
 
-# Keep the parent shell responsive to TERM/HUP from rc(8)/daemon while the
-# Node process runs. A blocking wait can delay trap execution on some shells.
-INDIEKIT_EXIT_CODE=0
+(
+  echo "[webmention] Starting auto-send polling every ${WEBMENTION_POLL_INTERVAL}s (${WEBMENTION_ENDPOINT})"
+  while true; do
+    TOKEN="$(
+      WEBMENTION_ORIGIN="$WEBMENTION_ORIGIN" WEBMENTION_SECRET="$SECRET" \
+      "${NODE_BIN}" -e '
+        const jwt = require("jsonwebtoken");
+        const me = process.env.WEBMENTION_ORIGIN;
+        const secret = process.env.WEBMENTION_SECRET;
+        if (!me || !secret) process.exit(1);
+        process.stdout.write(jwt.sign({ me, scope: "update" }, secret, { expiresIn: "5m" }));
+      ' 2>/dev/null || true
+    )"
 
-while is_pid_alive "${INDIEKIT_PID}"; do
-  sleep 1
-done
+    if [ -n "$TOKEN" ]; then
+      RESULT="$(curl -sS -X POST "${WEBMENTION_ENDPOINT}?token=${TOKEN}" 2>&1 || true)"
+      echo "[webmention] $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - ${RESULT:-ok}"
+    else
+      echo "[webmention] $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - token generation failed"
+    fi
+
+    sleep "$WEBMENTION_POLL_INTERVAL"
+  done
+) &
+POLLER_PID="$!"
+
+trap 'kill "${POLLER_PID}" 2>/dev/null || true' EXIT INT TERM
 
-set +e
 wait "${INDIEKIT_PID}"
-INDIEKIT_EXIT_CODE="$?"
-set -e
-
-stop_webmention_poller
-exit "${INDIEKIT_EXIT_CODE}"