diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 052e5638d..e83917146 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -472,6 +472,8 @@ DOCS_PYTHON ?= .venv/bin/python
 DOCS_JUPYTEXT ?= .venv/bin/jupytext
 FERN_VERSION ?= $(shell jq -r .version fern/fern.config.json)
 FERN ?= npx -y fern-api@$(FERN_VERSION)
+FERN_ORG ?= $(shell jq -r .organization fern/fern.config.json)
+FERN_GLOBAL_THEME ?= $(shell awk '/^global-theme:/ { print $$2; exit }' fern/docs.yml)
 
 # Route urllib/requests/httpx through certifi's CA bundle. Necessary when uv
 # resolves $(DOCS_PYTHON_VERSION) to a python.org installer build, which ships without
@@ -506,10 +508,34 @@ check-fern-docs-locally:
 	@$(MAKE) check-fern-docs
 	@echo "✅ Fern docs check complete"
 
+check-fern-theme-access:
+	@if [ -n "$(FERN_GLOBAL_THEME)" ]; then \
+		cd fern && $(FERN) docs theme list --org $(FERN_ORG) --json >/dev/null || { \
+			echo ""; \
+			echo "Unable to access Fern global theme '$(FERN_GLOBAL_THEME)' for org '$(FERN_ORG)'."; \
+			echo "Fix: sign in to https://dashboard.buildwithfern.com, then run:"; \
+			echo "  cd fern && $(FERN) login"; \
+			echo "If it still fails, export a privileged DOCS_FERN_TOKEN as FERN_TOKEN."; \
+			exit 1; \
+		}; \
+	fi
+
 serve-fern-docs-locally:
 	@$(MAKE) install-docs-deps
 	@$(MAKE) prepare-fern-docs
-	cd fern && PNPM_CONFIG_DANGEROUSLY_ALLOW_ALL_BUILDS=true $(FERN) docs dev
+	@$(MAKE) serve-fern-docs-dev
+
+serve-fern-docs-dev:
+	@if $(MAKE) check-fern-theme-access >/dev/null 2>&1; then \
+		cd fern && PNPM_CONFIG_DANGEROUSLY_ALLOW_ALL_BUILDS=true $(FERN) docs dev; \
+	else \
+		echo "Unable to access Fern global theme '$(FERN_GLOBAL_THEME)' for org '$(FERN_ORG)'."; \
+		echo "Serving with the local NVIDIA-style fallback. Run 'make check-fern-theme-access' for auth details."; \
+		$(MAKE) serve-fern-docs-local-theme; \
+	fi
+
+serve-fern-docs-local-theme:
+	@PNPM_CONFIG_DANGEROUSLY_ALLOW_ALL_BUILDS=true $(DOCS_PYTHON) fern/scripts/serve-local-docs-preview.py --root fern -- $(FERN) docs dev
 
 convert-execute-notebooks:
 ifeq ($(USE_CACHE),1)
@@ -720,7 +746,7 @@ clean-test-coverage:
 .PHONY: bench-cli-startup bench-cli-startup-verbose \
         build build-config build-engine build-interface \
         check-all check-all-fix check-config check-engine check-interface \
-        check-fern-docs check-fern-docs-locally check-fern-release-version check-license-headers \
+        check-fern-docs check-fern-docs-locally check-fern-release-version check-fern-theme-access check-license-headers \
         clean clean-dist clean-notebooks clean-pycache clean-test-coverage \
         convert-execute-notebooks \
         coverage coverage-config coverage-engine coverage-interface \
@@ -729,7 +755,7 @@ clean-test-coverage:
         generate-colab-notebooks generate-fern-notebooks generate-fern-notebooks-with-outputs help \
         install install-dev install-dev-notebooks install-dev-recipes install-docs-deps \
         lint lint-config lint-engine lint-fix lint-fix-config lint-fix-engine lint-fix-interface lint-interface \
-        perf-import perf-import-runtime prepare-fern-docs prepare-fern-release publish serve-fern-docs-locally show-versions \
+        perf-import perf-import-runtime prepare-fern-docs prepare-fern-release publish serve-fern-docs-dev serve-fern-docs-local-theme serve-fern-docs-locally show-versions \
         health-checks \
         test test-config test-config-isolated test-e2e test-engine test-engine-isolated \
         test-interface test-interface-isolated test-isolated \
diff --git a/fern/README.md b/fern/README.md
index f7f5ffdc7..ef0abd74c 100644
--- a/fern/README.md
+++ b/fern/README.md
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ make serve-fern-docs-locally
 ```
 
 `serve-fern-docs-locally` generates notebook artifacts before starting `fern docs dev`. It does not publish.
+It uses the real NVIDIA global theme when Fern auth can access it. Without that access, it serves from a temporary local preview config with a close NVIDIA-style fallback.
 
 ## CI and publishing
 
@@ -146,6 +147,10 @@ render-time guard (`document.getElementById`, a module flag) would risk an SSR
 hydration mismatch. If per-instance duplication ever matters, revisit once Fern
 supports React's `<style precedence>` hoisting.
 
+The only checked-in standalone CSS is `styles/local-preview.css`, used by
+`make serve-fern-docs-locally` only when the Fern global theme is inaccessible.
+It is not referenced from `docs.yml`.
+
 ## Common commands
 
 Primary local commands:
@@ -174,3 +179,9 @@ Raw Fern CLI commands, normally wrapped by Make:
 | `fern docs dev` | Local preview at `http://localhost:3000` |
 | `fern check` | Validate `docs.yml` and MDX |
 | `fern generate --docs --preview` | Hosted preview on `*.docs.buildwithfern.com` (needs Fern token) |
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+| Symptom | Fix |
+|---------|-----|
+| Local preview uses the local fallback theme | Sign in to https://dashboard.buildwithfern.com, run `cd fern && npx -y fern-api@$(jq -r .version fern.config.json) login`, then retry. If it still falls back, export a privileged `DOCS_FERN_TOKEN` as `FERN_TOKEN`. |
diff --git a/fern/scripts/serve-local-docs-preview.py b/fern/scripts/serve-local-docs-preview.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d992626ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fern/scripts/serve-local-docs-preview.py
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+"""Serve Fern docs with a local approximation of the NVIDIA global theme."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import signal
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import yaml
+
+LOCAL_THEME_CONFIG = {
+    "layout": {
+        "searchbar-placement": "header",
+        "page-width": "1376px",
+        "sidebar-width": "248px",
+        "content-width": "812px",
+        "tabs-placement": "header",
+        "hide-feedback": True,
+    },
+    "colors": {
+        "accent-primary": {
+            "dark": "#76B900",
+            "light": "#004B31",
+        },
+        "background": {
+            "dark": "#000000",
+            "light": "#FFFFFF",
+        },
+    },
+    "theme": {
+        "page-actions": "toolbar",
+        "footer-nav": "minimal",
+    },
+}
+
+
+def parse_args() -> argparse.Namespace:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument("--root", default="fern", help="Path to the Fern docs root")
+    parser.add_argument("command", nargs=argparse.REMAINDER)
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    if args.command[:1] == ["--"]:
+        args.command = args.command[1:]
+    if not args.command:
+        parser.error("missing command to run")
+    return args
+
+
+def write_local_docs_config(root: Path, preview_root: Path) -> None:
+    config = yaml.safe_load((root / "docs.yml").read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    config.pop("global-theme", None)
+
+    for key, value in LOCAL_THEME_CONFIG.items():
+        config.setdefault(key, value)
+
+    logo = dict(config.get("logo") or {})
+    logo.setdefault("height", 20)
+    config["logo"] = logo
+
+    css = config.get("css")
+    local_css = "./styles/local-preview.css"
+    if css is None:
+        config["css"] = [local_css]
+    elif isinstance(css, list) and local_css not in css:
+        config["css"] = [*css, local_css]
+    elif isinstance(css, str) and css != local_css:
+        config["css"] = [css, local_css]
+
+    (preview_root / "docs.yml").write_text(
+        yaml.safe_dump(config, sort_keys=False),
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+
+
+def build_preview_root(root: Path, preview_root: Path) -> None:
+    for child in root.iterdir():
+        if child.name == "docs.yml":
+            continue
+        target = preview_root / child.name
+        target.symlink_to(child, target_is_directory=child.is_dir())
+    write_local_docs_config(root, preview_root)
+
+
+def run_command(command: list[str], cwd: Path) -> int:
+    process = subprocess.Popen(command, cwd=cwd)
+    try:
+        return process.wait()
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        process.send_signal(signal.SIGINT)
+        return process.wait()
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    args = parse_args()
+    root = Path(args.root).resolve()
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="fern-local-preview-") as temp_dir:
+        preview_root = Path(temp_dir) / "fern"
+        preview_root.mkdir()
+        build_preview_root(root, preview_root)
+        print(f"Using local Fern preview config at {preview_root / 'docs.yml'}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return run_command(args.command, preview_root)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())
diff --git a/fern/styles/local-preview.css b/fern/styles/local-preview.css
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..db325d195
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fern/styles/local-preview.css
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+:root {
+    --nv-green: #76b900;
+    --nv-green-dark: #004b31;
+    --nv-black: #000000;
+    --nv-white: #ffffff;
+}
+
+a,
+.fern-mdx-link {
+    text-decoration-color: var(--nv-green) !important;
+}
+
+.fern-mdx-link:hover {
+    color: var(--nv-green-dark) !important;
+}
+
+html[data-theme="dark"] .fern-mdx-link:hover {
+    color: var(--nv-green) !important;
+}
+
+.fern-header,
+header {
+    border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border, rgba(118, 185, 0, 0.24)) !important;
+}
+
+#fern-sidebar {
+    border-right: 1px solid var(--border, rgba(118, 185, 0, 0.2)) !important;
+}
+
+.fern-sidebar-link[aria-current="page"],
+.fern-sidebar-link[data-state="active"] {
+    border-left: 3px solid var(--nv-green) !important;
+}
+
+.fern-sidebar-link:hover,
+.fern-card:hover {
+    box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 1px rgba(118, 185, 0, 0.38) !important;
+}
+
+button,
+[role="button"] {
+    border-radius: 4px;
+}
+
+code,
+pre {
+    border-color: rgba(118, 185, 0, 0.18) !important;
+}