diff --git a/server.ts b/server.ts
index c07d46d..f4e84c7 100644
--- a/server.ts
+++ b/server.ts
@@ -7,25 +7,22 @@ import {
 import * as http from 'node:http';
 
 /**
- * Lazily instantiate AngularNodeAppEngine so the engine boots only when
- * the first request arrives. All routes use RenderMode.Server — every
- * request triggers on-demand SSR that fetches fresh API data before rendering.
+ * Manually import and register the Angular app engine manifest.
+ * The Angular 21 builder generates angular-app-engine-manifest.mjs at build time
+ * but does NOT automatically inject the import into server.mjs.
+ * Without this, AngularNodeAppEngine fails with "Angular app engine manifest is not set"
+ * and every SSR request returns 404.
  */
-let appEngine: AngularNodeAppEngine | null = null;
-function getEngine(): AngularNodeAppEngine {
-  if (!appEngine) {
-    appEngine = new AngularNodeAppEngine();
-  }
-  return appEngine;
-}
+// @ts-ignore — generated at build time by @angular/build
+import engineManifest from './angular-app-engine-manifest.mjs';
+import { ɵsetAngularAppEngineManifest } from '@angular/ssr';
+ɵsetAngularAppEngineManifest(engineManifest);
+
+const appEngine = new AngularNodeAppEngine();
 
-/**
- * Handle incoming requests using the Angular SSR engine.
- * Every request is rendered on the server with fresh data from the API.
- */
 const requestHandler = createNodeRequestHandler(async (req, res, next) => {
   try {
-    const response = await getEngine().handle(req);
+    const response = await appEngine.handle(req);
 
     if (response) {
       await writeResponseToNodeResponse(response, res);
@@ -37,17 +34,24 @@ const requestHandler = createNodeRequestHandler(async (req, res, next) => {
   }
 });
 
-export default requestHandler;
-
 if (isMainModule(import.meta.url)) {
-  const httpServer = http.createServer();
-  httpServer.on('request', async (req: http.IncomingMessage, res: http.ServerResponse) => {
-    requestHandler(req, res, () => {
-      res.statusCode = 404;
-      res.end('Not Found');
-    });
+  console.log('Node.js SSR server ready');
+  const server = http.createServer();
+  server.on('request', async (req, res) => {
+    try {
+      await requestHandler(req, res, () => {
+        res.statusCode = 404;
+        res.end('Not Found');
+      });
+    } catch (error) {
+      console.error('SSR error:', error);
+      res.statusCode = 500;
+      res.end('Internal server error');
+    }
   });
-  httpServer.listen(4200, () => {
-    console.log(`Node SSR server listening on http://localhost:4200`);
+  server.listen(4200, () => {
+    console.log('SSR server listening on http://localhost:4200');
   });
 }
+
+export { requestHandler };