diff --git a/src/App.tsx b/src/App.tsx
index 395b0ece2..1005a7200 100644
--- a/src/App.tsx
+++ b/src/App.tsx
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 import React from 'react';
 import {FlexColumn, FlexRow} from 'flipper';
 import {connect} from 'react-redux';
-import WelcomeScreen from './chrome/WelcomeScreen';
 import TitleBar from './chrome/TitleBar';
 import MainSidebar from './chrome/MainSidebar';
 import BugReporterDialog from './chrome/BugReporterDialog';
@@ -34,8 +33,8 @@ import {
 } from './reducers/application';
 import {Logger} from './fb-interfaces/Logger';
 import BugReporter from './fb-stubs/BugReporter';
-import BaseDevice from './devices/BaseDevice';
 import {State as Store} from './reducers/index';
+import {StaticView} from './reducers/connections';
 const version = remote.app.getVersion();
 
 type OwnProps = {
@@ -45,10 +44,10 @@ type OwnProps = {
 
 type StateFromProps = {
   leftSidebarVisible: boolean;
-  selectedDevice: BaseDevice | undefined;
-  error: string | null | undefined;
+  error: string | null;
   activeSheet: ActiveSheet;
-  share: ShareType | undefined;
+  share: ShareType | null;
+  staticView: StaticView;
 };
 
 type Props = StateFromProps & OwnProps;
@@ -58,7 +57,7 @@ export class App extends React.Component<Props> {
     // track time since launch
     const [s, ns] = process.hrtime();
     const launchEndTime = s * 1e3 + ns / 1e6;
-    ipcRenderer.on('getLaunchTime', (event, launchStartTime) => {
+    ipcRenderer.on('getLaunchTime', (_: any, launchStartTime: number) => {
       this.props.logger.track(
         'performance',
         'launchTime',
@@ -114,10 +113,10 @@ export class App extends React.Component<Props> {
         <Sheet>{this.getSheet}</Sheet>
         <FlexRow grow={true}>
           {this.props.leftSidebarVisible && <MainSidebar />}
-          {this.props.selectedDevice ? (
-            <PluginContainer logger={this.props.logger} />
+          {this.props.staticView != null ? (
+            React.createElement(this.props.staticView)
           ) : (
-            <WelcomeScreen />
+            <PluginContainer logger={this.props.logger} />
           )}
         </FlexRow>
         <ErrorBar text={this.props.error} />
@@ -129,12 +128,12 @@ export class App extends React.Component<Props> {
 export default connect<StateFromProps, {}, OwnProps, Store>(
   ({
     application: {leftSidebarVisible, activeSheet, share},
-    connections: {selectedDevice, error},
+    connections: {error, staticView},
   }) => ({
     leftSidebarVisible,
-    selectedDevice,
     activeSheet,
     share: share,
     error,
+    staticView,
   }),
 )(App);
diff --git a/src/__tests__/App.electron.tsx b/src/__tests__/App.electron.tsx
index b6e5b8682..631be768f 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/App.electron.tsx
+++ b/src/__tests__/App.electron.tsx
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ test('Empty app state matches snapshot', () => {
         logger={logger}
         bugReporter={bugReporter}
         leftSidebarVisible={false}
-        selectedDevice={null}
+        staticView={null}
         error={null}
         activeSheet={null}
         share={null}
diff --git a/src/chrome/WelcomeScreen.tsx b/src/chrome/WelcomeScreen.tsx
index 316f986fa..ce2a69d21 100644
--- a/src/chrome/WelcomeScreen.tsx
+++ b/src/chrome/WelcomeScreen.tsx
@@ -5,18 +5,19 @@
  * @format
  */
 
-import {
-  styled,
-  FlexColumn,
-  FlexRow,
-  Text,
-  Glyph,
-  colors,
-  brandColors,
-} from 'flipper';
+import {styled} from '../ui/index';
+import FlexColumn from '../ui/components/FlexColumn';
+import FlexRow from '../ui/components/FlexRow';
+import Text from '../ui/components/FlexRow';
+import Glyph from '../ui/components/Glyph';
+import {colors, brandColors} from '../ui/components/colors';
 import isProduction from '../utils/isProduction';
-import {shell, remote} from 'electron';
-import React, {PureComponent} from 'react';
+import isHeadless from '../utils/isHeadless';
+const {shell, remote} = !isHeadless()
+  ? require('electron')
+  : {shell: undefined, remote: undefined};
+import {PureComponent} from 'react';
+import React from 'react';
 
 const Container = styled(FlexColumn)({
   height: '100%',
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ const Title = styled(Text)({
   textAlign: 'center',
   color: colors.light50,
   marginBottom: 16,
+  flexDirection: 'column',
 });
 
 const Version = styled(Text)({
@@ -51,6 +53,7 @@ const Version = styled(Text)({
   fontWeight: 300,
   color: colors.light30,
   marginBottom: 60,
+  flexDirection: 'column',
 });
 
 const Item = styled(FlexRow)({
@@ -125,12 +128,13 @@ export default class WelcomeScreen extends PureComponent<Props, State> {
           <Logo src="./icon.png" />
           <Title>Welcome to Flipper</Title>
           <Version>
-            {isProduction()
+            {isProduction() && remote
               ? `Version ${remote.app.getVersion()}`
               : 'Development Mode'}
           </Version>
           <Item
             onClick={() =>
+              shell &&
               shell.openExternal(
                 'https://fbflipper.com/docs/getting-started.html',
               )
@@ -145,6 +149,7 @@ export default class WelcomeScreen extends PureComponent<Props, State> {
           </Item>
           <Item
             onClick={() =>
+              shell &&
               shell.openExternal(
                 'https://fbflipper.com/docs/tutorial/intro.html',
               )
@@ -157,6 +162,7 @@ export default class WelcomeScreen extends PureComponent<Props, State> {
           </Item>
           <Item
             onClick={() =>
+              shell &&
               shell.openExternal(
                 'https://fbflipper.com/docs/getting-started.html',
               )
@@ -169,6 +175,7 @@ export default class WelcomeScreen extends PureComponent<Props, State> {
           </Item>
           <Item
             onClick={() =>
+              shell &&
               shell.openExternal('https://github.com/facebook/flipper/issues')
             }>
             <Icon size={20} name="posts" color={brandColors.Flipper} />
diff --git a/src/chrome/WelcomeScreenHeadless.tsx b/src/chrome/WelcomeScreenHeadless.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a2e6edc18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/chrome/WelcomeScreenHeadless.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018-present Facebook.
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ * @format
+ */
+
+export class WelcomeScreenHeadless {
+  // NoOp
+}
diff --git a/src/reducers/connections.tsx b/src/reducers/connections.tsx
index 65527db3d..fb39850dc 100644
--- a/src/reducers/connections.tsx
+++ b/src/reducers/connections.tsx
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ import {isEqual} from 'lodash';
 import iosUtil from '../fb-stubs/iOSContainerUtility';
 import {performance} from 'perf_hooks';
 import {SAVED_PLUGINS_COUNT} from '../Client';
+import isHeadless from '../utils/isHeadless';
+const WelcomeScreen = isHeadless()
+  ? require('../chrome/WelcomeScreenHeadless').default
+  : require('../chrome/WelcomeScreen').default;
+export type StaticView = null | typeof WelcomeScreen;
 
 export type State = {
   devices: Array<BaseDevice>;
@@ -32,6 +37,7 @@ export type State = {
     errorMessage?: string;
   }>;
   deepLinkPayload: null | string;
+  staticView: StaticView;
 };
 
 export type Action =
@@ -99,11 +105,14 @@ export type Action =
       type: 'CLIENT_SHOW_MORE_OR_LESS';
       payload: string;
     }
-  | {type: 'CLEAR_LRU_PLUGINS_HISTORY'};
+  | {type: 'CLEAR_LRU_PLUGINS_HISTORY'}
+  | {
+      type: 'SET_STATIC_VIEW';
+      payload: StaticView;
+    };
 
 const DEFAULT_PLUGIN = 'DeviceLogs';
 const DEFAULT_DEVICE_BLACKLIST = [MacDevice];
-
 const INITAL_STATE: State = {
   devices: [],
   androidEmulators: [],
@@ -118,15 +127,24 @@ const INITAL_STATE: State = {
   clients: [],
   uninitializedClients: [],
   deepLinkPayload: null,
+  staticView: WelcomeScreen,
 };
 
 const reducer = (state: State = INITAL_STATE, action: Action): State => {
   switch (action.type) {
+    case 'SET_STATIC_VIEW': {
+      const {payload} = action;
+      return {
+        ...state,
+        staticView: payload,
+      };
+    }
     case 'SELECT_DEVICE': {
       const {payload} = action;
       return {
         ...state,
         selectedApp: null,
+        staticView: null,
         selectedPlugin: DEFAULT_PLUGIN,
         selectedDevice: payload,
         userPreferredDevice: payload.title,
@@ -143,7 +161,7 @@ const reducer = (state: State = INITAL_STATE, action: Action): State => {
       const {payload} = action;
       const devices = state.devices.concat(payload);
       let {selectedDevice, selectedPlugin} = state;
-
+      let staticView: StaticView = state.staticView;
       // select the default plugin
       let selection: Partial<State> = {
         selectedApp: null,
@@ -156,6 +174,7 @@ const reducer = (state: State = INITAL_STATE, action: Action): State => {
 
       if (!selectedDevice && canBeDefaultDevice) {
         selectedDevice = payload;
+        staticView = null;
         if (selectedPlugin) {
           // We already had a plugin selected, but no device. This is happening
           // when the Client connected before the Device.
@@ -163,6 +182,7 @@ const reducer = (state: State = INITAL_STATE, action: Action): State => {
         }
       } else if (payload.title === state.userPreferredDevice) {
         selectedDevice = payload;
+        staticView = null;
       } else {
         // We didn't select the newly connected device, so we don't want to
         // change the plugin.
@@ -175,6 +195,7 @@ const reducer = (state: State = INITAL_STATE, action: Action): State => {
         // select device if none was selected before
         selectedDevice,
         ...selection,
+        staticView,
       };
     }
     case 'UNREGISTER_DEVICES': {
@@ -197,6 +218,7 @@ const reducer = (state: State = INITAL_STATE, action: Action): State => {
       if (selectedDeviceWasRemoved) {
         selection = {
           selectedDevice: devices[devices.length - 1] || null,
+          staticView: selectedDevice != null ? null : WelcomeScreen,
           selectedApp: null,
           selectedPlugin: DEFAULT_PLUGIN,
         };