diff --git a/packages/base/file-formats/pdf-viewer.gts b/packages/base/file-formats/pdf-viewer.gts
index a0041519d53..f285400e08d 100644
--- a/packages/base/file-formats/pdf-viewer.gts
+++ b/packages/base/file-formats/pdf-viewer.gts
@@ -16,8 +16,12 @@ import { FileObject } from './file-resources';
 import type { FilePreviewSignature } from './file-preview-stage';
 
 export class PdfViewer extends GlimmerComponent<FilePreviewSignature> {
-  // The served document URL. The auth service worker injects the realm token on
-  // the native `<object>` request, the same path `<img>`/`<audio>` use.
+  // The served document URL, loaded by the native `<object>` as a plain
+  // browser fetch. `<object>`/`<embed>` loads bypass service workers (per
+  // the ServiceWorker spec), so no Authorization header can be attached:
+  // the document renders only when the realm is publicly readable. The
+  // realm's content negotiation keys off the request's Sec-Fetch-Dest to
+  // serve the file's bytes here rather than the host app shell.
   get resourceUrl(): string {
     return this.args.model?.resourceUrl ?? this.args.model?.url ?? '';
   }
diff --git a/packages/realm-server/handlers/serve-index.ts b/packages/realm-server/handlers/serve-index.ts
index a790485d9ca..c7dad27be78 100644
--- a/packages/realm-server/handlers/serve-index.ts
+++ b/packages/realm-server/handlers/serve-index.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,21 @@ const headLog = logger('realm-server:head');
 const isolatedLog = logger('realm-server:isolated');
 const scopedCSSLog = logger('realm-server:scoped-css');
 
+// An <object>/<embed> load advertises text/html in its Accept header (the
+// browser issues it as a frame-style navigation), but it is always embedding
+// a document, never the app — answering with the shell boots the host app
+// recursively inside the preview. Sec-Fetch-Dest is the only place these
+// loads are distinguishable from an address-bar navigation (which carries
+// `document` and must keep opening the app); browsers stamp it on requests
+// to trustworthy origins (HTTPS and localhost). The distinction has to be
+// drawn here on the server: service workers are spec-required to pass
+// <object>/<embed> loads straight to the network without a fetch event, so
+// no client-side layer ever sees these requests.
+function isDocumentEmbedRequest(ctxt: Koa.Context): boolean {
+  let destination = ctxt.header['sec-fetch-dest'];
+  return destination === 'embed' || destination === 'object';
+}
+
 export function createServeIndex(deps: ServeIndexDeps): ServeIndexHandlers {
   let {
     serverURL,
@@ -212,6 +227,11 @@ export function createServeIndex(deps: ServeIndexDeps): ServeIndexHandlers {
   }
 
   let serveIndex = async (ctxt: Koa.Context, next: Koa.Next) => {
+    if (isDocumentEmbedRequest(ctxt)) {
+      // Fall through to the realm, which serves the file's own bytes and
+      // lets its content type decide what the embed renders.
+      return next();
+    }
     let acceptHeader = ctxt.header.accept ?? '';
     let lowerAcceptHeader = acceptHeader.toLowerCase();
     let includesVndMimeType = lowerAcceptHeader.includes('application/vnd.');
@@ -377,6 +397,9 @@ export function createServeIndex(deps: ServeIndexDeps): ServeIndexHandlers {
         ctxt.set('ETag', etag);
         ctxt.set('Cache-Control', 'public, max-age=0, must-revalidate');
         ctxt.vary('Accept');
+        // The shell is withheld from document embeds (see
+        // isDocumentEmbedRequest), so a cached copy must not satisfy them.
+        ctxt.vary('Sec-Fetch-Dest');
         return;
       }
     }
@@ -607,6 +630,9 @@ export function createServeIndex(deps: ServeIndexDeps): ServeIndexHandlers {
       ctxt.set('ETag', etag);
       ctxt.set('Cache-Control', 'public, max-age=0, must-revalidate');
       ctxt.vary('Accept');
+      // The shell is withheld from document embeds (see
+      // isDocumentEmbedRequest), so a cached copy must not satisfy them.
+      ctxt.vary('Sec-Fetch-Dest');
     }
 
     ctxt.body = responseHTML;
@@ -616,6 +642,9 @@ export function createServeIndex(deps: ServeIndexDeps): ServeIndexHandlers {
   let serveHostApp = async (ctxt: Koa.Context, next: Koa.Next) => {
     let acceptHeader = (ctxt.header.accept ?? '').toLowerCase();
     let isHead = ctxt.method === 'HEAD';
+    if (isDocumentEmbedRequest(ctxt)) {
+      return next();
+    }
     if (!isHead && !acceptHeader.includes('text/html')) {
       return next();
     }
diff --git a/packages/realm-server/tests/server-endpoints/index-responses-test.ts b/packages/realm-server/tests/server-endpoints/index-responses-test.ts
index 79474252b6a..4caf271ee25 100644
--- a/packages/realm-server/tests/server-endpoints/index-responses-test.ts
+++ b/packages/realm-server/tests/server-endpoints/index-responses-test.ts
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ module(`server-endpoints/${basename(import.meta.filename)}`, function () {
                           </template>
                         };
                       }`,
+          // A binary document for the embed-negotiation tests — the realm
+          // serves it verbatim with its extension's content type.
+          'report.pdf': '%PDF-1.4 fake-pdf-bytes',
           'person.gts': `import {
                             contains,
                             field,
@@ -1164,6 +1167,85 @@ module(`server-endpoints/${basename(import.meta.filename)}`, function () {
           'scoped CSS content is preserved from last_known_good_deps after card enters error state',
         );
       });
+
+      // An <object>/<embed> load advertises text/html in its Accept header
+      // (the browser issues it as a frame-style navigation), but it is
+      // embedding a document — an app-shell answer would boot the host app
+      // recursively inside the preview. The server tells these loads apart
+      // from address-bar navigations by Sec-Fetch-Dest (see
+      // isDocumentEmbedRequest in handlers/serve-index.ts). Service workers
+      // are spec-required to bypass <object>/<embed> loads, so this
+      // negotiation is only testable — and only fixable — at the wire.
+      module('document embed negotiation', function () {
+        // The Accept header a browser attaches both to <object>/<embed>
+        // loads and to address-bar navigations — Sec-Fetch-Dest is the only
+        // discriminator between them.
+        const FRAME_STYLE_ACCEPT =
+          'text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,image/apng,*/*;q=0.8,application/signed-exchange;v=b3;q=0.7';
+
+        test('serves document bytes, not the app shell, when Sec-Fetch-Dest is embed', async function (assert) {
+          let response = await request
+            .get('/test/report.pdf')
+            .set('Accept', FRAME_STYLE_ACCEPT)
+            .set('Sec-Fetch-Dest', 'embed');
+
+          assert.strictEqual(response.status, 200, 'serves the file');
+          assert.ok(
+            response.headers['content-type']?.includes('application/pdf'),
+            `content type comes from the file, not the shell (got ${response.headers['content-type']})`,
+          );
+          assert.notOk(
+            (response.text ?? '').includes('<title>'),
+            'the app shell is not served to a document embed',
+          );
+        });
+
+        test('serves document bytes when Sec-Fetch-Dest is object', async function (assert) {
+          let response = await request
+            .get('/test/report.pdf')
+            .set('Accept', FRAME_STYLE_ACCEPT)
+            .set('Sec-Fetch-Dest', 'object');
+
+          assert.strictEqual(response.status, 200, 'serves the file');
+          assert.ok(
+            response.headers['content-type']?.includes('application/pdf'),
+            `content type comes from the file, not the shell (got ${response.headers['content-type']})`,
+          );
+        });
+
+        test('an address-bar navigation to the same file URL still opens the app', async function (assert) {
+          let response = await request
+            .get('/test/report.pdf')
+            .set('Accept', FRAME_STYLE_ACCEPT)
+            .set('Sec-Fetch-Dest', 'document');
+
+          assert.strictEqual(response.status, 200, 'serves HTML response');
+          assert.ok(
+            response.headers['content-type']?.includes('text/html'),
+            'content type is text/html',
+          );
+          assert.ok(
+            response.text.includes('<title>'),
+            'the app shell is served',
+          );
+        });
+
+        test('an HTML-accepting request with no Sec-Fetch-Dest still opens the app', async function (assert) {
+          let response = await request
+            .get('/test/report.pdf')
+            .set('Accept', FRAME_STYLE_ACCEPT);
+
+          assert.strictEqual(response.status, 200, 'serves HTML response');
+          assert.ok(
+            response.headers['content-type']?.includes('text/html'),
+            'content type is text/html',
+          );
+          assert.ok(
+            response.text.includes('<title>'),
+            'the app shell is served',
+          );
+        });
+      });
     },
   );
 
@@ -1248,6 +1330,10 @@ module(`server-endpoints/${basename(import.meta.filename)}`, function () {
         response.headers['vary']?.includes('Accept'),
         'Vary header includes Accept',
       );
+      assert.ok(
+        response.headers['vary']?.includes('Sec-Fetch-Dest'),
+        'Vary header includes Sec-Fetch-Dest (the shell is withheld from document embeds, so a cached copy must not satisfy them)',
+      );
     });
 
     test('HEAD request includes ETag and Cache-Control headers', async function (assert) {