starts fine, smooth idle 30secs, rough idle, then dies

Yeah, sounds like fuel delivery and specifically after the cold start period. If you give it gas to put it above idle, will it still die after those 30 second? Also, if it has died and you start it again, will it run for a while and die again or does it not run at all?

The EGR is usually activated at cruising speeds and shouldn't affect idle speed but you can remove the vacuum line to it to see if that stops the problem.