diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 3b88e176092..08fb47490c2 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -249,6 +249,12 @@ jobs:
               cp junit-results.xml doc/_build/test-results/test-doc/junit.xml;
               cp coverage.xml doc/_build/test-results/test-doc/coverage.xml;
             fi;
+      # Build the development MNE wheel that the JupyterLite browser kernel
+      # will install, once, before Sphinx runs. Building it here rather than
+      # from conf.py keeps it out of the per-invocation docs build.
+      - run:
+          name: Build MNE wheel for JupyterLite
+          command: python doc/sphinxext/build_lite_wheel.py
       # Build docs
       - run:
           name: make html
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 21275b21c0b..bf714cd5b15 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ mne/viz/_brain/tests/.ipynb_checkpoints
 
 dist/
 doc/_build/
+doc/pypi/
 doc/generated/
 doc/auto_examples/
 doc/auto_tutorials/
diff --git a/doc/changes/dev/14135.other.rst b/doc/changes/dev/14135.other.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2ca04fb6248
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/changes/dev/14135.other.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add a build script and CI step that produce the development MNE wheel the JupyterLite browser kernel installs, by `Natneal B`_.
diff --git a/doc/sphinxext/build_lite_wheel.py b/doc/sphinxext/build_lite_wheel.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..817f7f99885
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/sphinxext/build_lite_wheel.py
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+"""Build the development MNE wheel for the JupyterLite browser kernel.
+
+Run this once before building the docs, either in CI or locally::
+
+    python doc/sphinxext/build_lite_wheel.py
+
+The wheel is written to ``doc/pypi``, where the jupyterlite-pyodide-kernel
+PipliteAddon discovers, copies and indexes it (adding it to ``pipliteUrls`` in
+``jupyter-lite.json``), so the browser kernel installs the current development
+MNE rather than the older release from PyPI. See
+https://jupyterlite.readthedocs.io/en/latest/howto/pyodide/wheels.html
+
+Both functions are importable, so a docs build can reuse a wheel that is already
+present rather than building one on every invocation::
+
+    from build_lite_wheel import build_wheel, find_wheels
+
+    wheels = find_wheels() or build_wheel()
+"""
+
+# Authors: The MNE-Python contributors.
+# License: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright the MNE-Python contributors.
+
+import json
+import os
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import urllib.request
+from pathlib import Path
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2]
+PYPI_WHEELS_DIR = REPO_ROOT / "doc" / "pypi"
+
+
+def find_wheels():
+    """Return the MNE wheels already present in ``doc/pypi``.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    wheels : list of pathlib.Path
+        Paths of the MNE wheels found, empty if there are none.
+    """
+    return sorted(PYPI_WHEELS_DIR.glob("mne-*.whl"))
+
+
+def _latest_pypi_version():
+    """Return the newest MNE version on PyPI, or None if it cannot be reached.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    version : str | None
+        The version string, or None if PyPI could not be queried.
+    """
+    # Broad on purpose: this only ever runs while raising, so a network problem
+    # here must not replace the real error with a less useful one.
+    try:
+        url = "https://pypi.org/pypi/mne/json"
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=10) as response:
+            return json.load(response)["info"]["version"]
+    except Exception:
+        return None
+
+
+def build_wheel():
+    """Build the development MNE wheel into ``doc/pypi``.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    wheels : list of pathlib.Path
+        Paths of the MNE wheels that were built.
+    """
+    # The version below is pinned, so each build writes the same filename and
+    # wheels do not pile up. Clearing first is about determinism instead: this
+    # directory is the piplite index, so it should hold the wheel this build
+    # produced and nothing else, including anything left by a manual pip wheel.
+    shutil.rmtree(PYPI_WHEELS_DIR, ignore_errors=True)
+    PYPI_WHEELS_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+
+    # The wheel is built from pyproject.toml as it stands: Pyodide 314 ships
+    # matplotlib 3.10.8, scipy 1.18.0 and numpy 2.4.3, all of which satisfy the
+    # minimums MNE declares, so none of them needs relaxing for the browser.
+    os.environ["SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION"] = "9999.0.1"
+    # NB: build isolation is left ON (the default). MNE uses the hatchling build
+    # backend, so pip must create an isolated build env to install
+    # hatchling/hatch-vcs; --no-build-isolation fails with "Cannot import
+    # 'hatchling.build'" on CI, where those build deps are not in the base
+    # environment.
+    subprocess.run(
+        [
+            sys.executable,
+            "-m",
+            "pip",
+            "wheel",
+            REPO_ROOT,
+            "--no-deps",
+            "-w",
+            PYPI_WHEELS_DIR,
+        ],
+        check=True,
+    )
+
+    # Fail loudly rather than silently letting the browser kernel fall back to
+    # the released MNE from PyPI.
+    wheels = find_wheels()
+    if not wheels:
+        latest = _latest_pypi_version()
+        fallback = f"MNE {latest}" if latest else "the latest MNE release"
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"JupyterLite: no MNE wheel was built into {PYPI_WHEELS_DIR}; the "
+            f"browser kernel would fall back to {fallback} from PyPI. Check the "
+            "'pip wheel' output above."
+        )
+    return wheels
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    built = ", ".join(str(wheel) for wheel in build_wheel())
+    print(f"[JupyterLite] Built MNE wheel(s) for the browser kernel: {built}")
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f2d17cf1967..202ab5d6cbd 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ doc = [
   "graphviz",
   "intersphinx_registry >= 0.2405.27",
   "ipython != 8.7.0",  # also in "full-no-qt" and "test"
+  "jupyterlite-pyodide-kernel",
+  "jupyterlite-sphinx",
   "memory_profiler >= 0.16",
   "mne-bids",
   "mne-connectivity",
diff --git a/tools/circleci_uv_overrides.txt b/tools/circleci_uv_overrides.txt
index e68be19682e..fc19663d27e 100644
--- a/tools/circleci_uv_overrides.txt
+++ b/tools/circleci_uv_overrides.txt
@@ -5,3 +5,17 @@
 # so uv does not drop those dependencies (the override takes precedence over the
 # command line, including its extras).
 -e .[full-pyside6]
+
+# Floor for the browser kernel, so it stays on the Pyodide 314 line. Up to
+# jupyterlite-sphinx 0.22.1 the jupyterlite-core cap was < 0.8, which held the
+# kernel at Pyodide 0.29.3 and its matplotlib 3.8.4, one minor below the 3.9
+# MNE declares. 0.23.0 raised that cap to < 0.9, so the resolution now reaches
+# Pyodide 314 unaided and these two lines change nothing today. They stay as a
+# guard: anything that pulls jupyterlite-sphinx back below 0.23 would otherwise
+# drop the browser to the old Pyodide and quietly stop meeting MNE's matplotlib
+# bound. Pyodide 314 ships matplotlib 3.10.8, scipy 1.18.0 and numpy 2.4.3, all
+# of which satisfy MNE, so the wheel build needs no version patching at all.
+# The core line is the one that does the work; the kernel line pins the intent
+# in case something else ever constrains the kernel directly.
+jupyterlite-core>=0.8.1
+jupyterlite-pyodide-kernel>=0.8