diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index 4d4751e..41aec08 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -187,7 +187,51 @@ if ((isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] === 'on') || (isset($_SERVER[
 session_start();
 runtime_debug_boot_mark('boot:session_started');
 
-require_once __DIR__ . '/includes/page_routes.php';
+$route_helpers_path = __DIR__ . '/includes/page_routes.php';
+if (is_file($route_helpers_path)) {
+    require_once $route_helpers_path;
+} else {
+    if (!function_exists('page_url')) {
+        function page_url(string $page = 'dashboard', array $params = []): string {
+            $query = $params;
+            $page = strtolower(trim($page));
+            if ($page !== '' && $page !== 'dashboard') {
+                $query = ['page' => $page] + $query;
+            }
+            $queryString = http_build_query($query);
+            return 'index.php' . ($queryString !== '' ? '?' . $queryString : '');
+        }
+    }
+    if (!function_exists('page_normalize_url')) {
+        function page_normalize_url(string $url): string {
+            $url = trim($url);
+            return $url !== '' ? $url : 'index.php';
+        }
+    }
+    if (!function_exists('page_request_is_ajax')) {
+        function page_request_is_ajax(): bool {
+            return strtolower((string)($_SERVER['HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH'] ?? '')) === 'xmlhttprequest';
+        }
+    }
+    if (!function_exists('page_redirect_legacy_url')) {
+        function page_redirect_legacy_url(): void {
+            // Route helper file is missing; keep serving the legacy index.php?page=... URLs.
+        }
+    }
+    if (!function_exists('set_route_page_context')) {
+        function set_route_page_context(string $page): void {
+            $_GET['page'] = $page;
+            $_REQUEST['page'] = $page;
+        }
+    }
+
+    runtime_debug_boot_mark('boot:route_helpers_fallback');
+    @file_put_contents(
+        __DIR__ . '/runtime_debug.log',
+        date('Y-m-d H:i:s') . " || [route_fallback] || Missing include={$route_helpers_path} || uri=" . ($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ?? '') . PHP_EOL,
+        FILE_APPEND
+    );
+}
 if (!defined('APP_ROUTE_BOOTSTRAP')) {
     page_redirect_legacy_url();
 }
diff --git a/page_bootstrap.php b/page_bootstrap.php
index dcf26cc..f946e63 100644
--- a/page_bootstrap.php
+++ b/page_bootstrap.php
@@ -1,14 +1,24 @@
 <?php
 declare(strict_types=1);
 
-require_once __DIR__ . '/includes/page_routes.php';
+$routeHelpersPath = __DIR__ . '/includes/page_routes.php';
+if (is_file($routeHelpersPath)) {
+    require_once $routeHelpersPath;
+}
 
 if (!defined('APP_PAGE')) {
     http_response_code(500);
     exit('Route bootstrap is missing APP_PAGE.');
 }
 
-if (PHP_SAPI !== 'cli' && strtoupper((string)($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ?? 'GET')) === 'GET' && !page_request_is_ajax() && isset($_GET['page'])) {
+if (
+    function_exists('page_request_is_ajax')
+    && function_exists('page_normalize_url')
+    && PHP_SAPI !== 'cli'
+    && strtoupper((string)($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ?? 'GET')) === 'GET'
+    && !page_request_is_ajax()
+    && isset($_GET['page'])
+) {
     $requestUri = (string)($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ?? '');
     $normalized = page_normalize_url($requestUri);
     if ($normalized !== '' && $normalized !== $requestUri) {
@@ -18,5 +28,10 @@ if (PHP_SAPI !== 'cli' && strtoupper((string)($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ?? 'GET
 }
 
 define('APP_ROUTE_BOOTSTRAP', true);
-set_route_page_context(APP_PAGE);
+if (function_exists('set_route_page_context')) {
+    set_route_page_context(APP_PAGE);
+} else {
+    $_GET['page'] = APP_PAGE;
+    $_REQUEST['page'] = APP_PAGE;
+}
 require __DIR__ . '/index.php';