fix(steamdeck): the updater stops dirtying the checkout it just pulled into

`update.sh --pull` could abort with "Your local changes to the following files
would be overwritten by merge: web/bun.nix" — before a single service was
restarted — and the only way past it was to delete the file by hand.

The updater did it to itself. web/bun.nix is generated (bun2nix, a pure
function of web/bun.lock) but committed, because the Nix build fetches
node_modules only from it. The web step ran `bun install --frozen-lockfile`
without --ignore-scripts, so web's `postinstall` (`bun2nix -o bun.nix`)
rewrote that tracked file on every update. Harmless while the committed file
is in sync — but main carried a stale web/bun.nix from 1db8f763 to b79d90b4,
so any Deck updated in that window had it rewritten to the *correct* content
and has been sitting dirty ever since. The SDK step has always passed
--ignore-scripts, which is why only web/bun.nix ever went dirty.

Two changes, both in install.sh and update.sh:

  * the web install now passes --ignore-scripts and runs `bun run codegen`
    explicitly. web has two install lifecycle scripts and we want exactly one:
    `prepare` IS `bun run codegen` (orval + paraglide + the i18n check) and is
    required, since src/api/gen, src/paraglide and src/routeTree.gen.ts are
    gitignored and `prebuild` only re-runs orval; `postinstall` is the one that
    writes a committed file. Equivalent to the old behaviour minus bun2nix.

  * --pull restores web/bun.nix and sdk/bun.nix before pulling, which unsticks
    the installs already broken out there. Deliberately NOT `git reset --hard`:
    $SRC is the operator's own checkout and may carry real local work, so a
    still-dirty tree now fails with a message that names the files and the way
    out instead of git's raw abort. Discarding these two is provably lossless —
    regenerating them from the lockfiles is exactly what bun2nix does.

CI already gates the drift that made this visible (scripts/ci/check-bun-nix.sh,
ci.yml), so main cannot ship a stale bun.nix again.

.gitea/workflows/deb.yml

@@ -320,6 +320,46 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           VERSION="$VERSION" BUNDLE_FFMPEG=1 bash packaging/debian/build-deb.sh
 
+      # punktfunk-gamescope for apt. Same reasoning as the RPM leg in rpm.yml: without a packaged
+      # build, a Debian/Ubuntu box has no route to the patched gamescope except compiling it, and a
+      # stock gamescope streams SDR, cursorless, and tells every game its display is 60 Hz.
+      #
+      # CACHED on packaging/gamescope/** alone — it depends on nothing else in this repo, so a
+      # normal push restores a binary instead of spending ~10 minutes on someone else's tree.
+      - uses: actions/cache@v4
+        id: gamescope
+        with:
+          path: gs-cache
+          key: punktfunk-gamescope-noble-${{ hashFiles('packaging/gamescope/**') }}
+
+      - name: Build the patched gamescope
+        if: steps.gamescope.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        # Best-effort, exactly like rpm.yml: the host packages above are the primary delivery and
+        # work without this binary, so a hiccup building an unrelated tree must not fail the job.
+        # `build-dep gamescope` resolves the distro's much older packaged version, so it can come up
+        # short — that is what the `|| true`s absorb, and the marker check downstream is what makes
+        # a half-built result impossible to ship.
+        run: |
+          set -x
+          apt-get update
+          apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends meson ninja-build glslc git || true
+          apt-get build-dep -y gamescope || true
+          if bash packaging/gamescope/build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh \
+               --destdir "$PWD/gs-stage" --prefix /usr --jobs "$(nproc)"; then
+            install -Dm0755 gs-stage/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope
+          else
+            echo "::warning::punktfunk-gamescope failed to build on noble — no .deb this run (gamescope sessions stay SDR)"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Build punktfunk-gamescope .deb
+        # Picked up by the publish loop below, which globs dist/*.deb.
+        run: |
+          if [ -x gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope ] && gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope --version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            bash packaging/debian/build-gamescope-deb.sh --binary gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope
+          else
+            echo "::warning::no usable punktfunk-gamescope — skipping its .deb"
+          fi
+
       - name: Publish to the Gitea apt registry
         env:
           TOKEN: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_TOKEN }}

.gitea/workflows/rpm.yml

@@ -213,6 +213,40 @@ jobs:
             echo "::warning::punktfunk-gamescope failed to build for f${{ matrix.fedver }} — the sysext ships without it (gamescope sessions stay SDR)"
           fi
 
+      # The same binary, as an ordinary RPM. The sysext below is the Atomic/Bazzite delivery; this
+      # is the one a traditional Fedora-family box (Nobara, plain Fedora) can actually install —
+      # until it existed those users had no packaged route to the patched build at all, and a stock
+      # gamescope tells every game its display is 60 Hz whatever the client negotiated.
+      #
+      # Same best-effort rule as the build above: no binary, no package, and the host stays on its
+      # existing SDR/host-composited path. The spec re-checks the +pfhdr marker itself.
+      - name: Package punktfunk-gamescope as an RPM
+        run: |
+          if [ -x gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope ] && gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope --version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            bash packaging/gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh \
+              --binary gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope \
+              --release "$PF_RELEASE"
+          else
+            echo "::warning::no usable punktfunk-gamescope for f${{ matrix.fedver }} — skipping its RPM"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Publish punktfunk-gamescope to the Gitea RPM registry
+        env:
+          TOKEN: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          shopt -s nullglob
+          for rpm in dist/punktfunk-gamescope-*.rpm; do
+            case "$rpm" in *debuginfo*|*debugsource*) continue;; esac
+            NAME=$(rpm -qp --qf '%{NAME}' "$rpm" 2>/dev/null)
+            VR=$(rpm -qp --qf '%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}' "$rpm" 2>/dev/null)
+            ARCH=$(rpm -qp --qf '%{ARCH}' "$rpm" 2>/dev/null)
+            echo "uploading $rpm"
+            curl -fsS -o /dev/null --user "enricobuehler:$TOKEN" -X DELETE \
+              "https://$REGISTRY/api/packages/$OWNER/rpm/$GROUP/package/$NAME/$VR/$ARCH" || true
+            curl -fsS --user "enricobuehler:$TOKEN" --upload-file "$rpm" \
+              "https://$REGISTRY/api/packages/$OWNER/rpm/$GROUP/upload"
+          done
+
       # The no-layering Bazzite path: wrap the just-built host + web RPMs into a systemd-sysext
       # image and publish it to the per-Fedora-major feed (punktfunk-sysext/f43[-canary], …) that
       # `punktfunk-sysext install|update` reads. Same RPMs, same channels — just no rpm-ostree.

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/App.kt

@@ -69,11 +69,14 @@ fun App(forceGamepadUi: Boolean = false) {
     // later manual Back out of the library is not undone by a stale value.
     var reopenLibraryHostId by remember { mutableStateOf<String?>(null) }
 
-    // Console (gamepad) mode mirrors the Apple client: the setting AND (a pad is attached OR this is
-    // a TV OR the dev force flag). Flips live as controllers connect/disconnect.
+    // Console (gamepad) mode mirrors the Apple client: the setting AND (its mode says Always OR a
+    // pad is attached OR this is a TV OR the dev force flag). Flips live as controllers
+    // connect/disconnect — unless the mode is Always, where it simply stays.
     val tv = remember { isTvDevice(context) }
     val controllerConnected by rememberControllerConnected()
-    val gamepadUi = gamepadUiActive(settings.gamepadUiEnabled, controllerConnected, tv, forceGamepadUi)
+    val gamepadUi = gamepadUiActive(
+        settings.gamepadUiEnabled, settings.gamepadUiMode, controllerConnected, tv, forceGamepadUi,
+    )
 
     // Publish the live session process-wide, so a `punktfunk://` link that arrives as a SECOND
     // activity instance (the normal case under `launchMode = standard`) can refuse it before that

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPalette.kt

@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class GamepadPalette(
         )
 
         /**
-         * The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale
+         * The thirteen shipped palettes: the brand default, six more dark fields, then six pale
          * ones. Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the range one way.
          */
         val ALL = listOf(
@@ -77,6 +77,22 @@ class GamepadPalette(
                 ground = Triple(0.075, 0.060, 0.160),
                 accent = Triple(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light = false,
             ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // For OLED and AMOLED panels, where a black pixel is a pixel switched off — no
+                // glow, no power. The first two stops are literally (0,0,0), so the shaded half
+                // of the field is genuinely off rather than "very dark grey", and the ground is
+                // pure black too: the calm mix on the form screens lifts toward nothing. What is
+                // left is a faint indigo→violet ember in the bright corner. The accent stays the
+                // brand violet — focus has to be findable on black.
+                "oled", "OLED",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.000, 0.000, 0.000), Triple(0.000, 0.000, 0.000),
+                    Triple(0.010, 0.020, 0.100), Triple(0.045, 0.016, 0.115),
+                    Triple(0.120, 0.024, 0.130),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
+                accent = Triple(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light = false,
+            ),
             GamepadPalette(
                 // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
                 "nebula", "Nebula",

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsScreen.kt

@@ -665,6 +665,21 @@ internal fun buildSettingsRows(
             "Turn off to use the touch interface even with a controller connected.",
             s.gamepadUiEnabled,
         ) { update(s.copy(gamepadUiEnabled = it)) },
+    ) + listOfNotNull(
+        // WHEN the switch above takes over. Built only while it is ON: turn the switch off from
+        // this very screen and the row under the cursor would otherwise be one deciding nothing,
+        // on a screen that is itself about to disappear.
+        if (s.gamepadUiEnabled) {
+            choice(
+                "gamepadUIMode", GpTab.INTERFACE, null, "Show it",
+                "With a controller: the touch interface comes back when the last one " +
+                    "disconnects. Always keeps this layout either way — for a device that lives " +
+                    "docked to a TV. A TV itself is always in this mode regardless.",
+                GAMEPAD_UI_MODE_OPTIONS, s.gamepadUiMode,
+            ) { update(s.copy(gamepadUiMode = it)) }
+        } else {
+            null
+        },
     )
 }
 

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadUi.kt

@@ -16,15 +16,35 @@ import androidx.compose.runtime.remember
 import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalContext
 import io.unom.punktfunk.kit.Gamepad
 
+/**
+ * [Settings.gamepadUiMode]: take over only while a controller is attached. The default, and what
+ * the switch meant when it was a lone Boolean.
+ */
+const val GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED = "connected"
+
+/**
+ * [Settings.gamepadUiMode]: take over whenever the switch is on, pad or no pad — for a phone or
+ * tablet that lives docked to a TV, where the console layout is the one wanted and the pad is not
+ * always awake.
+ */
+const val GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS = "always"
+
 /**
  * Whether the controller-optimized "console" home (the host carousel + gamepad chrome) should
  * replace the touch UI — the Android mirror of the Apple client's `GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive`:
- * the user's [enabled] setting AND (a controller is attached OR this is a TV OR the dev [forced]
- * flag). A TV counts unconditionally — its remote/gamepad is the only input, so it's always the
- * console UI (as long as the setting is on).
+ * the user's [enabled] setting AND (the [mode] is [GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS] OR a controller is attached
+ * OR this is a TV OR the dev [forced] flag). A TV counts unconditionally — its remote/gamepad is
+ * the only input, so it's always the console UI (as long as the setting is on), which is why the
+ * mode row means nothing there. An unrecognized [mode] waits for a controller, so a value a newer
+ * client wrote can never strand this one in a layout it has no way back out of.
  */
-fun gamepadUiActive(enabled: Boolean, controllerConnected: Boolean, tv: Boolean, forced: Boolean): Boolean =
-    enabled && (controllerConnected || tv || forced)
+fun gamepadUiActive(
+    enabled: Boolean,
+    mode: String,
+    controllerConnected: Boolean,
+    tv: Boolean,
+    forced: Boolean,
+): Boolean = enabled && (mode == GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS || controllerConnected || tv || forced)
 
 /** True on a TV: the leanback/television feature or the TELEVISION ui-mode. */
 fun isTvDevice(context: Context): Boolean {

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/Settings.kt

@@ -94,11 +94,20 @@ data class Settings(
     val touchMode: TouchMode = TouchMode.TRACKPAD,
     /**
      * Swap the whole home screen for the controller-optimized "console" UI (the host carousel +
-     * gamepad chrome) whenever a controller is connected — mirrors the Apple client's
-     * `gamepadUIEnabled`. On by default; turn it off to keep the touch UI even with a pad attached.
+     * gamepad chrome) — mirrors the Apple client's `gamepadUIEnabled`. On by default; turn it off
+     * to keep the touch UI even with a pad attached. WHEN it takes over is [gamepadUiMode].
      * A TV (leanback) is always in this mode regardless (its remote/pad is the only input).
      */
     val gamepadUiEnabled: Boolean = true,
+    /**
+     * When [gamepadUiEnabled] actually takes over — the cross-client `gamepad_ui_mode` pair,
+     * mirroring the Apple client's `gamepadUIMode`: `"connected"` (default, and what the switch
+     * has always meant) waits for a controller; `"always"` keeps the console UI with no pad in
+     * reach, for a phone or tablet that lives docked to a TV. Read only while [gamepadUiEnabled]
+     * is on, which is why both settings screens hide the row when the switch is off. Anything
+     * unrecognized resolves to `"connected"`. A TV ignores it — it is always in console mode.
+     */
+    val gamepadUiMode: String = GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED,
     /**
      * Show the experimental game-library browser (the coverflow reached with Y from a saved host).
      * Fetched from the host's management API over mTLS; needs a paired host. Mirrors the Apple
@@ -107,9 +116,10 @@ data class Settings(
     val libraryEnabled: Boolean = true,
     /**
      * Which colour family the console (gamepad) UI's living backdrop drifts through — the
-     * cross-client `ui_palette` key: `"violet"` (the brand default), `"tide"`, `"forest"`,
-     * `"ember"`, `"rose"`, `"graphite"`. See [GamepadPalette], whose table and maths mirror the
-     * desktop console's and the Apple client's under the same names. Presentation only: nothing
+     * cross-client `ui_palette` key: `"violet"` (the brand default), then `"oled"`, `"nebula"`,
+     * `"abyss"`, `"ember"`, `"moss"`, `"graphite"`, then the six pale fields. See
+     * [GamepadPalette], whose table and maths mirror the desktop console's and the Apple
+     * client's under the same names. Presentation only: nothing
      * about a stream depends on it, so it is a device preference and never part of a profile.
      * An unknown value reads as the default rather than failing — a newer client may have shipped
      * a palette this build doesn't know.
@@ -303,6 +313,8 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
             // Migration: the pre-enum Boolean "trackpad_mode" (true = trackpad, false = direct).
             ?: if (prefs.getBoolean(K_TRACKPAD, true)) TouchMode.TRACKPAD else TouchMode.POINTER,
         gamepadUiEnabled = prefs.getBoolean(K_GAMEPAD_UI, true),
+        gamepadUiMode = prefs.getString(K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED)
+            ?: GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED,
         libraryEnabled = prefs.getBoolean(K_LIBRARY, true),
         uiPalette = prefs.getString(K_UI_PALETTE, "violet") ?: "violet",
         lowLatencyMode = prefs.getBoolean(K_LOW_LATENCY, true),
@@ -344,6 +356,7 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
             .putString(K_STATS_VERBOSITY, s.statsVerbosity.name)
             .putString(K_TOUCH_MODE, s.touchMode.name)
             .putBoolean(K_GAMEPAD_UI, s.gamepadUiEnabled)
+            .putString(K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE, s.gamepadUiMode)
             .putBoolean(K_LIBRARY, s.libraryEnabled)
             .putString(K_UI_PALETTE, s.uiPalette)
             .putBoolean(K_LOW_LATENCY, s.lowLatencyMode)
@@ -384,6 +397,7 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
         const val K_HUD = "stats_hud_enabled"
         const val K_TOUCH_MODE = "touch_mode"
         const val K_GAMEPAD_UI = "gamepad_ui_enabled"
+        const val K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE = "gamepad_ui_mode"
         const val K_LIBRARY = "library_enabled"
         const val K_UI_PALETTE = "ui_palette"
 
@@ -778,6 +792,13 @@ fun smoothBufferOptions(hz: Int): List<Pair<Int, String>> {
     )
 }
 
+/** (stored value, label) for when the console UI takes over — the Apple client's table verbatim.
+ * Only offered while [Settings.gamepadUiEnabled] is on; a TV is in console mode either way. */
+val GAMEPAD_UI_MODE_OPTIONS = listOf(
+    GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED to "With a controller",
+    GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS to "Always",
+)
+
 /** (mode, label) for the touch-input model. */
 val TOUCH_MODE_OPTIONS = listOf(
     TouchMode.TRACKPAD to "Trackpad",

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/SettingsScreen.kt

@@ -592,11 +592,24 @@ private fun GeneralSettings(s: Settings, update: (Settings) -> Unit) {
         SettingsGroup("Interface") {
             ToggleRow(
                 title = "Controller-optimized UI",
-                subtitle = "Switch to the console home when a controller is connected. A TV " +
-                    "always uses it.",
+                subtitle = "Swap the touch home for the console home — the host carousel and " +
+                    "gamepad chrome. A TV always uses it.",
                 checked = s.gamepadUiEnabled,
                 onCheckedChange = { on -> update(s.copy(gamepadUiEnabled = on)) },
             )
+            // Only decides anything while the switch above is on, so it is HIDDEN rather than
+            // dimmed when it isn't — a picker whose every option changes nothing is worse than
+            // no picker, and this group is short enough that nothing jumps far.
+            if (s.gamepadUiEnabled) {
+                SettingDropdown(
+                    label = "Show it",
+                    options = GAMEPAD_UI_MODE_OPTIONS,
+                    selected = s.gamepadUiMode,
+                    caption = "With a controller: the touch home comes back when the last one " +
+                        "disconnects. Always keeps the console home either way — for a device " +
+                        "that lives docked to a TV.",
+                ) { v -> update(s.copy(gamepadUiMode = v)) }
+            }
         }
     }
 }

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPaletteTest.kt

@@ -33,14 +33,14 @@ class GamepadPaletteTest {
     fun tableMatchesTheOtherClients() {
         assertEquals(
             listOf(
-                "violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
+                "violet", "oled", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
                 "holo", "sunset", "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal",
             ),
             GamepadPalette.ALL.map { it.id },
         )
         // Dark fields lead, pale ones follow, so stepping the row walks one direction.
         val firstLight = GamepadPalette.ALL.indexOfFirst { it.light }
-        assertEquals(6, firstLight)
+        assertEquals(7, firstLight)
         assertTrue(GamepadPalette.ALL.drop(firstLight).all { it.light })
         // An unknown name is a newer client's palette, not an error.
         assertEquals("violet", GamepadPalette.named("chartreuse").id)
@@ -72,6 +72,25 @@ class GamepadPaletteTest {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * OLED is the one palette whose selling point is measurable: it has to be genuinely black,
+     * not merely the darkest of the dark fields. The blob field this client draws samples the
+     * ramp at 0.15/0.40/0.65/0.90, so its darkest blob lands in the all-black head of the ramp.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun oledIsActuallyBlack() {
+        val oled = GamepadPalette.named("oled")
+        assertEquals(Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), oled.ground)
+        assertEquals(0f, oled.blobColors[0].red, 1e-6f)
+        assertEquals(0f, oled.blobColors[0].green, 1e-6f)
+        assertEquals(0f, oled.blobColors[0].blue, 1e-6f)
+        val mean = oled.stops.sumOf { luma(it) } / oled.stops.size
+        val darkestOther = GamepadPalette.ALL
+            .filter { it.id != "oled" && it.stops.isNotEmpty() }
+            .minOf { p -> p.stops.sumOf { luma(it) } / p.stops.size }
+        assertTrue("oled means $mean, barely under $darkestOther", mean < darkestOther / 2)
+    }
+
     /** A pale palette really is pale — its ink flips, so a mislabelled one is unreadable. */
     @Test
     fun palettesAreHonestAboutLightness() {

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsRowsTest.kt

@@ -95,4 +95,47 @@ class GamepadSettingsRowsTest {
         // Drawn as a switch, and reading the persisted default.
         assertEquals(true, row(on, "dsCapture").toggled)
     }
+
+    /**
+     * The activation-mode row is a sub-setting of the Controller-optimized UI switch, so it is
+     * OFFERED only while that switch is on — hidden rather than dimmed, because with the switch
+     * off this whole screen is about to be replaced by the touch UI and a dimmed row there would
+     * be one last thing to step past on the way out.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `the activation-mode row follows the switch it belongs to`() {
+        fun ids(enabled: Boolean) = buildSettingsRows(
+            Settings(gamepadUiEnabled = enabled),
+            hasBodyVibrator = false, hasGyroscope = false, av1Capable = false,
+        ) {}.map { it.id }
+
+        val on = ids(enabled = true)
+        assertTrue("the mode row is missing", "gamepadUIMode" in on)
+        assertEquals(
+            "the mode belongs directly under the switch it qualifies",
+            on.indexOf("gamepadUI") + 1,
+            on.indexOf("gamepadUIMode"),
+        )
+        val off = ids(enabled = false)
+        assertFalse("the mode row must not outlive its switch", "gamepadUIMode" in off)
+        assertTrue("the switch itself stays, or it could never be turned back on", "gamepadUI" in off)
+    }
+
+    /** Stepping the mode row writes the shared `gamepad_ui_mode` value, and wraps on A. */
+    @Test
+    fun `the activation-mode row steps the shared key`() {
+        var s = Settings()
+        fun mode() = buildSettingsRows(
+            s, hasBodyVibrator = false, hasGyroscope = false, av1Capable = false,
+        ) { s = it }.first { it.id == "gamepadUIMode" }
+
+        assertEquals(GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, s.gamepadUiMode)
+        assertEquals("With a controller", mode().value)
+        assertFalse("already the first = thud", mode().adjust(-1))
+        assertTrue(mode().adjust(1))
+        assertEquals(GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, s.gamepadUiMode)
+        // A from the last entry wraps home.
+        mode().activate()
+        assertEquals(GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, s.gamepadUiMode)
+    }
 }

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadUiTest.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package io.unom.punktfunk
+
+import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Assert.assertFalse
+import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
+import org.junit.Test
+
+/**
+ * [gamepadUiActive] is pure — table-tested over its inputs, and the mirror of the Apple client's
+ * `GamepadUIEnvironmentTests`. The two clients share the stored `gamepad_ui_mode` values, so a
+ * disagreement here is a device that behaves differently from the same setting.
+ */
+class GamepadUiTest {
+
+    /** The default mode is what the switch meant when it was a lone Boolean. */
+    @Test
+    fun whenConnectedWaitsForAPad() {
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, true, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(false, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, true, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(false, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        // A TV is in console mode whatever the mode says — its remote is the only input.
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, false, tv = true, forced = false))
+    }
+
+    /** Always drops the controller from the decision — but never the switch, which is the one
+     * way back to the touch UI. */
+    @Test
+    fun alwaysIgnoresThePadButNotTheSwitch() {
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, true, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(false, GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(false, GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, true, tv = false, forced = false))
+    }
+
+    /** A value a newer client wrote waits for a pad rather than stranding this build in a
+     * layout it has no way back out of. */
+    @Test
+    fun anUnknownModeWaitsForAPad() {
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(true, "whenever-i-say-so", false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, "whenever-i-say-so", true, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(true, "", false, tv = false, forced = false))
+    }
+
+    /** The shipped default: the console UI still waits for a controller. */
+    @Test
+    fun theDefaultIsUnchangedBehaviour() {
+        val s = Settings()
+        assertTrue(s.gamepadUiEnabled)
+        assertEquals(GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, s.gamepadUiMode)
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(s.gamepadUiEnabled, s.gamepadUiMode, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+    }
+}

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/ProfilesTest.kt

@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ class ProfilesTest {
 
         // Device-scope settings are not in the overlay at all, so no profile can move them.
         assertEquals(base.gamepadUiEnabled, out.gamepadUiEnabled)
+        assertEquals(base.gamepadUiMode, out.gamepadUiMode)
         assertEquals(base.libraryEnabled, out.libraryEnabled)
         assertEquals(base.autoWakeEnabled, out.autoWakeEnabled)
         assertEquals(base.sc2Capture, out.sc2Capture)

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift

@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ struct ContentView: View {
     // with no (extended) controller attached tvOS falls back to HomeView as before.
     @ObservedObject private var gamepadManager = GamepadManager.shared
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled) private var gamepadUIEnabled = true
+    /// When the switch above takes over — "connected" (default) or "always". See
+    /// `GamepadUIEnvironment`.
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode) private var gamepadUIMode =
+        GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
     /// Auto-wake on connect (Settings → General). On (default): a dial to an offline saved host
     /// fires Wake-on-LAN up front and falls into the "Waking…" wait if the dial fails. Off: connects
     /// go straight through with no wake. The explicit "Wake Host" action is unaffected either way.
@@ -113,7 +117,8 @@ struct ContentView: View {
     @Environment(\.scenePhase) private var scenePhase
     private var gamepadUIActive: Bool {
         GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
-            gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled)
+            gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled,
+            mode: gamepadUIMode)
     }
 
     // The body is split in two — `driven` (the screen plus its lifecycle drivers and sheets) and

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift

@@ -85,16 +85,40 @@ extension EnvironmentValues {
 }
 
 extension View {
-    /// Resolve the stored `ui_palette` and publish its ink to everything below. Applied by the
-    /// gamepad screens' common root so no individual view has to read the setting.
-    func gamepadPaletteInk() -> some View { modifier(GamepadInkModifier()) }
+    /// Resolve the stored `ui_palette` and publish its ink — AND the matching colour scheme — to
+    /// everything below. Applied by the gamepad screens' common root so no individual view has to
+    /// read the setting.
+    ///
+    /// `active` exists for the one surface that is the same view in both worlds: `LibraryView`
+    /// renders the coverflow under the gamepad UI and a plain grid without it. Passing `false`
+    /// publishes nothing, because the touch/desktop layouts sit on the SYSTEM background, where a
+    /// palette's scheme would invert their own system colours instead of matching them.
+    func gamepadPaletteInk(_ active: Bool = true) -> some View {
+        modifier(GamepadInkModifier(active: active))
+    }
 }
 
 private struct GamepadInkModifier: ViewModifier {
+    var active = true
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+    /// The ambient scheme from ABOVE this modifier — what gets republished unchanged when the
+    /// gamepad UI isn't the one drawing, so `active: false` is a true no-op rather than a branch
+    /// that would change this view's identity.
+    @Environment(\.colorScheme) private var systemScheme
 
     func body(content: Content) -> some View {
-        content.environment(\.gamepadInk, GamepadInk.of(GamepadPalette.named(paletteID)))
+        let palette = GamepadPalette.named(paletteID)
+        return content
+            .environment(\.gamepadInk, active ? GamepadInk.of(palette) : .dark)
+            // The ink alone was never enough. Every SYSTEM-derived colour that lands on these
+            // screens — `.secondary` in a placeholder, a `.bordered` button's chrome, a
+            // NavigationStack's title, a material's frost — resolves against the DEVICE's
+            // appearance, which no part of this app had ever set. On iPhone and Mac that is often
+            // Light, so the pale palettes looked correct by accident; an Apple TV is Dark
+            // essentially always, so on tvOS every one of them came out WHITE on a pale field and
+            // the interface was unreadable. Publishing the scheme here — once, beside the ink it
+            // has to agree with — is what makes a pale palette mean "light" to UIKit too.
+            .environment(\.colorScheme, active ? (palette.light ? .light : .dark) : systemScheme)
     }
 }
 

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryView.swift

@@ -32,9 +32,12 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
     // setting off) every platform keeps the plain-grid presentation of this same view.
     @ObservedObject private var gamepadManager = GamepadManager.shared
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled) private var gamepadUIEnabled = true
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode) private var gamepadUIMode =
+        GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
     private var gamepadUIActive: Bool {
         GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
-            gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled)
+            gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled,
+            mode: gamepadUIMode)
     }
     #endif
 
@@ -78,6 +81,16 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
                 }
             }
             #endif
+            #if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
+            // Published HERE, not just inside the coverflow, because the coverflow is only one of
+            // four things this view renders: the loading spinner, the error state and the empty
+            // state sit above it, as do the navigation title and toolbar. On iOS those are wrapped
+            // by GamepadLibraryScreen, which inks the whole thing; tvOS and macOS present this view
+            // directly in a NavigationStack, so under a pale palette every one of them kept the
+            // system's own (dark, on an Apple TV) chrome over a light field. Off when the gamepad
+            // UI isn't drawing — the plain grid belongs to the system background.
+            .gamepadPaletteInk(gamepadUIActive)
+            #endif
     }
 
     @ViewBuilder private var content: some View {

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift

@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.hudPlacement) private var hudPlacement = HUDPlacement.topTrailing.rawValue
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.libraryEnabled) private var libraryEnabled = true
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled) private var gamepadUIEnabled = true
+    /// When the switch above takes over — the row is only built while it is on.
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode) private var gamepadUIMode =
+        GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
     /// The gamepad UI's background colour family — the backdrop BEHIND this screen re-colours as
     /// the row steps, which is why the picker lives here and not in a sheet.
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
@@ -659,6 +662,21 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                 detail: "Turn off to use the touch interface even with a controller connected.",
                 value: $gamepadUIEnabled),
         ]
+        // WHEN the switch above takes over. Built only while it is on: with the switch off this
+        // screen is unreachable in the first place (no gamepad UI to open it from), so a row
+        // that decides nothing would exist purely to be found in a screenshot.
+        if gamepadUIEnabled, let at = list.firstIndex(where: { $0.id == "gamepadUI" }) {
+            list.insert(
+                choiceRow(
+                    id: "gamepadUIMode", tab: .interface, icon: "gamecontroller.circle",
+                    label: "Show it",
+                    detail: "With a controller: the touch interface comes back when the last one "
+                        + "disconnects. Always keeps this layout either way — for a device that "
+                        + "lives on a TV.",
+                    options: SettingsOptions.gamepadUIModes, current: gamepadUIMode
+                ) { gamepadUIMode = $0 },
+                at: at + 1)
+        }
         #if os(macOS)
         // The windowed safe-present toggle slots in after "Smoothness buffer" (staying inside
         // the Video tab) — macOS only, mirroring the touch SettingsView's Presentation row
@@ -707,6 +725,14 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                 at: anchor + 1)
         }
         #endif
+        // The smoothness buffer only decides anything under Smoothness. Every other settings
+        // surface — touch, tvOS, the GTK and WinUI shells — hides it under Lowest latency; this
+        // screen alone left it live and steppable, which is a row that thuds or silently stores
+        // a value nothing reads. Removed here rather than omitted from the literal above so the
+        // macOS safe-present insertion can still anchor on it.
+        if presentPriority != "smooth" {
+            list.removeAll { $0.id == "smoothBuffer" }
+        }
         return list + profileRows
     }
 

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/SettingsOptions.swift

@@ -53,6 +53,14 @@ enum SettingsOptions {
     static let hudPlacements: [(label: String, tag: String)] =
         HUDPlacement.allCases.map { ($0.label, $0.rawValue) }
 
+    /// When the gamepad UI takes over (`DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode`) — only meaningful while
+    /// `gamepadUIEnabled` is on, so every surface that offers it hides the row when the switch
+    /// is off rather than showing a picker that decides nothing.
+    static let gamepadUIModes: [(label: String, tag: String)] = [
+        ("With a controller", GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected),
+        ("Always", GamepadUIEnvironment.modeAlways),
+    ]
+
     /// Presentation intent (`DefaultsKey.presentPriority` — the 2026-07 rebuild that replaced
     /// the visible stage picker with intent; see SessionPresenter's PresentPriority and
     /// design/apple-presentation-rebuild.md). The stage ladder survives only as the hidden

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/SettingsView+Sections.swift

@@ -724,11 +724,24 @@ extension SettingsView {
             #endif
             #if !os(tvOS)
             if !inProfileScope {
-                described("With a controller connected, the host list and library switch to a "
-                    + "controller-friendly layout — larger focus targets, a swipeable cover "
-                    + "browser.") {
+                described("The host list and library switch to a controller-friendly layout — "
+                    + "larger focus targets, a swipeable cover browser.") {
                     Toggle("Gamepad-optimized browsing", isOn: $gamepadUIEnabled)
                 }
+                // Only meaningful while the switch above is on, so it is HIDDEN rather than
+                // disabled when it isn't: a picker whose every option decides nothing is worse
+                // than no picker, and this Section is short enough that nothing jumps far.
+                if gamepadUIEnabled {
+                    described("With a controller: the touch interface comes back when the last "
+                        + "one disconnects. Always keeps the controller-friendly layout either "
+                        + "way — for a device that lives on a TV.") {
+                        Picker("Show it", selection: $gamepadUIMode) {
+                            ForEach(SettingsOptions.gamepadUIModes, id: \.tag) { option in
+                                Text(option.label).tag(option.tag)
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
             }
             #endif
             #if DEBUG && !os(tvOS)

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/SettingsView.swift

@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ struct SettingsView: View {
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.hudPlacement) var hudPlacement = HUDPlacement.topTrailing.rawValue
     @ObservedObject var gamepads = GamepadManager.shared
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled) var gamepadUIEnabled = true
+    /// When the switch above takes over — read (and shown) only while it is on.
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode) var gamepadUIMode =
+        GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
+    /// The gamepad UI's background palette. Edited here on tvOS only (see `tvBody`) — every other
+    /// platform reaches it through the gamepad settings screen, which an Apple TV without a
+    /// controller cannot open.
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) var uiPalette = "violet"
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.autoWake) var autoWakeEnabled = true
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.backgroundKeepAlive) var backgroundKeepAlive = false
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.backgroundTimeoutMinutes) var backgroundTimeoutMinutes = 10
@@ -488,6 +495,22 @@ struct SettingsView: View {
                 TVSelectionRow(
                     title: "Gamepad-optimized browsing",
                     options: [("On", "on"), ("Off", "off")], selection: gamepadUIEnabledTag)
+                // Hidden while the switch above is off — see the touch settings' identical gate.
+                if gamepadUIEnabled {
+                    TVSelectionRow(
+                        title: "Show it",
+                        options: SettingsOptions.gamepadUIModes, selection: $gamepadUIMode)
+                    // The Apple TV's ONLY route to the shared `ui_palette`. Everywhere else the
+                    // Background row lives on the gamepad settings screen, which is reached from
+                    // the gamepad launcher — and on tvOS that launcher needs an extended-profile
+                    // controller, so an Apple TV driven by the Siri Remote alone could not reach
+                    // the palettes at all. It belongs beside "Show it" because both describe the
+                    // same interface: this row is what that interface looks like once it is up.
+                    TVSelectionRow(
+                        title: "Background",
+                        options: GamepadPalette.all.map { (label: $0.name, tag: $0.id) },
+                        selection: $uiPalette)
+                }
                 tvCaption(Self.controllersFooter)
                 NavigationLink("About") { AboutView() }
                     .padding(.top, 8)

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift

@@ -95,24 +95,19 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
     private var materialWash: Color { ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.55 : 0.40) }
 
     func body(content: Content) -> some View {
+        // The scheme goes on the WHOLE modified view, not just the fill inside `.background {}`.
+        // Scoped to the fill it frosts the material correctly and stops there, so a system colour
+        // in the row's own content (a `.secondary` label, a `.bordered` button) still resolved
+        // against the device appearance — which is how the pale palettes came out light-on-light
+        // on tvOS, whose appearance is always Dark. The 26 branch had it right all along; the
+        // tvOS and pre-26 branches were the odd ones out.
         #if os(tvOS)
         // ALWAYS the material fallback on tvOS: the gamepad settings list is 15+ of these
         // surfaces, and live Liquid Glass per row made the whole screen visibly laggy on the
         // Apple TV's GPU (same class of call GlassProminentButton already makes — glass fights
         // the 10-foot platform). The wash and tint ride overlays — two flat fills, no GPU cost.
-        content.background {
-            shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
-                .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
-                .overlay { shape.fill(materialWash) }
-                .overlay {
-                    if let tint { shape.fill(tint) }
-                }
-        }
-        #else
-        if #available(iOS 26, macOS 26, *) {
-            content.glassEffect(glass, in: shape).environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
-        } else {
-            content.background {
+        content
+            .background {
                 shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
                     .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
                     .overlay { shape.fill(materialWash) }
@@ -120,6 +115,21 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
                         if let tint { shape.fill(tint) }
                     }
             }
+            .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+        #else
+        if #available(iOS 26, macOS 26, *) {
+            content.glassEffect(glass, in: shape).environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+        } else {
+            content
+                .background {
+                    shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
+                        .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+                        .overlay { shape.fill(materialWash) }
+                        .overlay {
+                            if let tint { shape.fill(tint) }
+                        }
+                }
+                .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
         }
         #endif
     }
@@ -173,11 +183,14 @@ private struct ConsoleGlassBackground<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
                     in: shape)
                 .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
         } else {
-            content.background {
-                shape.fill(.regularMaterial)
-                    .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
-                    .overlay { shape.fill(ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.55 : 0.40)) }
-            }
+            // Same hoist as ConsoleGlass: the content needs the scheme too, not only the frost.
+            content
+                .background {
+                    shape.fill(.regularMaterial)
+                        .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+                        .overlay { shape.fill(ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.55 : 0.40)) }
+                }
+                .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
         }
     }
 }

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Gamepad/GamepadUIEnvironment.swift

@@ -3,20 +3,40 @@
 // layouts). A pure function, not a singleton: the reactivity comes from callers already observing
 // `GamepadManager.shared` and the `DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled` @AppStorage themselves (the same
 // local-read pattern SettingsView already uses for GamepadManager), so this stays the single place
-// the two combine without adding a second ObservableObject or an environment key nobody else needs.
+// the inputs combine without adding a second ObservableObject or an environment key nobody else needs.
 
 import Foundation
 import PunktfunkShared
 
 public enum GamepadUIEnvironment {
-    /// `enabledSetting` is the user's Settings toggle (`DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled`);
+    /// `DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode`: take over only while a controller is attached. The default,
+    /// and what the switch meant when it was a lone Bool.
+    public static let modeWhenConnected = "connected"
+    /// `DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode`: take over whenever the switch is on, pad or no pad — asked
+    /// for by people driving a TV-connected iPad or a couch Mac, where the console layout is the
+    /// one they want and the pad is not always awake.
+    public static let modeAlways = "always"
+
+    /// `enabledSetting` is the user's Settings switch (`DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled`) — off means
+    /// the touch/desktop UI, full stop. `mode` is `DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode`, and only matters
+    /// once the switch is on: `modeAlways` takes over unconditionally, anything else (including a
+    /// value a newer client wrote) waits for a controller.
+    ///
     /// `gamepadConnected` is `GamepadManager.shared.active != nil` — active only once a usable
     /// controller is actually attached (a non-extended-profile device leaves `active` nil, which
-    /// keeps the touch UI). A `Bool` rather than the `DiscoveredController` itself: this function's
-    /// whole job is the AND, so there's nothing else to inspect, and it keeps the helper testable
-    /// without a real `GCController` (which XCTest can't construct).
-    public static func isActive(gamepadConnected: Bool, enabledSetting: Bool) -> Bool {
-        enabledSetting && (gamepadConnected || forced)
+    /// keeps the touch UI). A `Bool` rather than the `DiscoveredController` itself: this function
+    /// has nothing else to inspect, and it keeps the helper testable without a real `GCController`
+    /// (which XCTest can't construct).
+    /// `mode` carries no default on purpose: a call site that forgot it would silently strand
+    /// everyone who picked Always back on "only with a controller", which is exactly the bug
+    /// this parameter exists to make impossible.
+    public static func isActive(
+        gamepadConnected: Bool,
+        enabledSetting: Bool,
+        mode: String
+    ) -> Bool {
+        guard enabledSetting else { return false }
+        return mode == modeAlways || gamepadConnected || forced
     }
 
     /// Dev-only escape hatch (like ContentView's `PUNKTFUNK_AUTOCONNECT`): pretend a controller is

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkShared/DefaultsKeys.swift

@@ -176,16 +176,23 @@ public enum DefaultsKey {
     /// ("topLeading"/"topTrailing"/"bottomLeading"/"bottomTrailing"). Default top-trailing.
     public static let hudPlacement = "punktfunk.hudPlacement"
     /// iOS/iPadOS/macOS: switch the host list, settings and game library to a controller-friendly
-    /// layout (the console launcher, gamepad-navigable settings, a coverflow-style library)
-    /// whenever a gamepad is connected. On by default; see `GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive`.
+    /// layout (the console launcher, gamepad-navigable settings, a coverflow-style library).
+    /// On by default; WHEN it takes over is `gamepadUIMode`. See `GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive`.
     public static let gamepadUIEnabled = "punktfunk.gamepadUIEnabled"
+    /// When `gamepadUIEnabled` actually takes over: `"connected"` (the default — only while a
+    /// usable controller is attached, the behaviour this switch has always had) or `"always"`,
+    /// for someone who prefers the console layout with no pad in reach (a TV-connected iPad, a
+    /// Mac driven from the couch). Read only while `gamepadUIEnabled` is on, which is why the
+    /// settings rows hide it when the switch is off. Anything unrecognized reads as
+    /// `"connected"`. A device preference, never part of a stream profile.
+    public static let gamepadUIMode = "punktfunk.gamepadUIMode"
     /// Which colour family the gamepad UI's living backdrop drifts through — a
-    /// `GamepadPalette` id ("violet" = the brand default, then "tide"/"forest"/"ember"/
-    /// "rose"/"graphite"). The cross-client `ui_palette` key: the desktop console and the
-    /// Android client carry the same table under the same names. Presentation only, so it is
-    /// a device preference and never part of a stream profile. An unknown value reads as the
-    /// default rather than failing — a newer client may have shipped a palette this build
-    /// doesn't know.
+    /// `GamepadPalette` id ("violet" = the brand default, then "oled"/"nebula"/"abyss"/"ember"/
+    /// "moss"/"graphite", then the pale ones). The cross-client `ui_palette` key: the desktop
+    /// console and the Android client carry the same table under the same names. Presentation
+    /// only, so it is a device preference and never part of a stream profile. An unknown value
+    /// reads as the default rather than failing — a newer client may have shipped a palette this
+    /// build doesn't know.
     public static let uiPalette = "punktfunk.uiPalette"
     /// iPhone: ALSO play the rumble the host addresses to controller 1 (wire pad 0) on this
     /// device's own Taptic Engine — for phone-clip pads that ship without rumble motors, where

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkShared/GamepadPalette.swift

@@ -65,13 +65,25 @@ public struct GamepadPalette: Identifiable, Equatable, Sendable {
         SIMD3(0.22, 0.38, 0.86), SIMD3(0.53, 0.47, 0.96),
     ]
 
-    /// The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale
+    /// The thirteen shipped palettes: the brand default, six more dark fields, then six pale
     /// ones. Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the whole range one way.
     public static let all: [GamepadPalette] = [
         // --- dark fields (white ink) ---
         GamepadPalette(
             id: "violet", name: "Violet", stops: [],
             ground: SIMD3(0.075, 0.060, 0.160), accent: SIMD3(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // For OLED and AMOLED panels, where a black pixel is a pixel switched off — no glow,
+            // no power. The first two stops are literally (0,0,0), so the shaded half of the
+            // field is genuinely off rather than "very dark grey", and the ground is pure black
+            // too: the calm mix on the form screens lifts toward nothing. What is left is a
+            // faint indigo→violet ember in the bright corner. The accent stays the brand violet
+            // — focus has to be findable on black.
+            id: "oled", name: "OLED",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.000, 0.000, 0.000), SIMD3(0.000, 0.000, 0.000),
+                    SIMD3(0.010, 0.020, 0.100), SIMD3(0.045, 0.016, 0.115),
+                    SIMD3(0.120, 0.024, 0.130)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0, 0, 0), accent: SIMD3(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false),
         GamepadPalette(
             // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
             id: "nebula", name: "Nebula",

clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadPaletteTests.swift

@@ -46,12 +46,29 @@ final class GamepadPaletteTests: XCTestCase {
     func testTableMatchesTheOtherClients() {
         XCTAssertEqual(
             GamepadPalette.all.map(\.id),
-            ["violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
+            ["violet", "oled", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
              "holo", "sunset", "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal"])
         // Dark fields lead, pale ones follow, so stepping the row walks one direction.
         let firstLight = GamepadPalette.all.firstIndex { $0.light }
-        XCTAssertEqual(firstLight, 6)
-        XCTAssertTrue(GamepadPalette.all.dropFirst(6).allSatisfy(\.light))
+        XCTAssertEqual(firstLight, 7)
+        XCTAssertTrue(GamepadPalette.all.dropFirst(7).allSatisfy(\.light))
+    }
+
+    /// OLED is the one palette whose selling point is measurable: it has to be genuinely black,
+    /// not merely the darkest of the dark fields.
+    func testOLEDIsActuallyBlack() {
+        let oled = GamepadPalette.named("oled")
+        XCTAssertEqual(oled.ground, SIMD3(0, 0, 0), "the calm lift must be nothing")
+        let cells = oled.meshColors
+        XCTAssertGreaterThanOrEqual(
+            cells.filter { luma($0) == 0 }.count, 3,
+            "the shaded corner has to be switched off, not dimmed")
+        let mean = cells.map(luma).reduce(0, +) / Double(cells.count)
+        let darkestOther = GamepadPalette.all
+            .filter { $0.id != "oled" }
+            .map { p in p.meshColors.map(luma).reduce(0, +) / Double(p.meshColors.count) }
+            .min() ?? 0
+        XCTAssertLessThan(mean, darkestOther / 2, "oled is barely darker than \(darkestOther)")
     }
 
     /// A palette must read as SEVERAL hues, not one hue at several brightnesses — that was

clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadUIEnvironmentTests.swift

@@ -1,14 +1,58 @@
-// GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive is a pure AND — table-tested exhaustively over its 2x2 inputs.
+// GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive is pure — table-tested exhaustively over its inputs.
 
 import XCTest
 
 @testable import PunktfunkKit
 
 final class GamepadUIEnvironmentTests: XCTestCase {
-    func testActiveOnlyWhenEnabledAndConnected() {
-        XCTAssertTrue(GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: true))
-        XCTAssertFalse(GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: false))
-        XCTAssertFalse(GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true))
-        XCTAssertFalse(GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: false))
+    private let connected = GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
+    private let always = GamepadUIEnvironment.modeAlways
+
+    /// The default mode is the behaviour the switch had when it was a lone Bool, so an install
+    /// that never sees the new row is exactly where it was.
+    func testWhenConnectedIsAPlainAnd() {
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: true, mode: connected))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: false, mode: connected))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true, mode: connected))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: false, mode: connected))
+    }
+
+    /// Always drops the controller from the decision entirely — but NOT the switch, which stays
+    /// the one way back to the touch UI.
+    func testAlwaysIgnoresTheControllerButNotTheSwitch() {
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true, mode: always))
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: true, mode: always))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: false, mode: always))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: false, mode: always))
+    }
+
+    /// A value a newer client wrote must wait for a controller, never strand this build in a
+    /// layout it has no way back out of.
+    func testUnknownModeWaitsForAController() {
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true, mode: "whenever-i-say-so"))
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: true, mode: "whenever-i-say-so"))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true, mode: ""))
     }
 }

crates/pf-capture/src/windows/idd_push.rs

@@ -547,7 +547,8 @@ pub struct IddPushCapturer {
     _keepalive: Box<dyn Send>,
 }
 // SAFETY: `IddPushCapturer` is `!Send` only because of its `*mut SharedHeader` raw pointer (and the
-// COM interfaces / the broker's bare control `HANDLE`, which is process-global and never closed). It is
+// COM interfaces; the frame/cursor delivery closures own `Arc` clones of the control device and are
+// `Send + Sync` on their own). It is
 // created, used, and dropped by a SINGLE thread — the owning capture/encode thread — never shared: the
 // `ID3D11DeviceContext` is the device's IMMEDIATE context (single-threaded by D3D11 contract) and is
 // only ever touched from that thread, and the header pointer (into the mapping this struct owns) is

crates/pf-client-core/src/trust.rs

@@ -1174,12 +1174,12 @@ pub struct Settings {
     /// mirrors the Apple client's "Show game library" toggle, default off.
     pub library_enabled: bool,
     /// Which colour family the gamepad UI's living backdrop drifts through — the shared
-    /// `ui_palette` key (`"violet"` = the brand default, then `tide`/`forest`/`ember`/
-    /// `rose`/`graphite`; see `pf-console-ui`'s palette table, and the Apple/Android
-    /// clients' twins). Presentation only: nothing about a stream depends on it, which is
-    /// why it is a device preference and never part of a settings profile. An unknown
-    /// name reads as the default rather than erroring — a newer client may have shipped a
-    /// palette this binary doesn't know.
+    /// `ui_palette` key (`"violet"` = the brand default, then `oled`/`nebula`/`abyss`/
+    /// `ember`/`moss`/`graphite`, then the six pale fields; see `pf-console-ui`'s palette
+    /// table, and the Apple/Android clients' twins). Presentation only: nothing about a
+    /// stream depends on it, which is why it is a device preference and never part of a
+    /// settings profile. An unknown name reads as the default rather than erroring — a
+    /// newer client may have shipped a palette this binary doesn't know.
     #[serde(default = "default_ui_palette")]
     pub ui_palette: String,
     /// Send Wake-on-LAN before connecting to a saved host and wait for it to boot (the

crates/pf-console-ui/src/library.rs

@@ -246,17 +246,34 @@ const CELL_RAMP: [f64; 16] = [
     -0.10,  0.08, -0.06,  0.12,
 ];
 
-/// The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale ones.
+/// The thirteen shipped palettes: the brand default, six more dark fields, then six pale ones.
 /// Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the whole range in one direction.
 /// Adding one here adds it to every console settings screen; the Apple and Android tables must
 /// gain the same entry to keep the `ui_palette` key portable.
 #[rustfmt::skip]
-pub const PALETTES: [Palette; 12] = [
+pub const PALETTES: [Palette; 13] = [
     // --- dark fields (white ink) ---
     Palette {
         id: "violet", name: "Violet", stops: None,
         ground: (0.075, 0.060, 0.160), accent: (0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false,
     },
+    Palette {
+        // For OLED and AMOLED panels, where a black pixel is a pixel switched off — no glow,
+        // no power. The ramp's first two stops are literally (0,0,0), so the whole shaded half
+        // of the field is genuinely off rather than "very dark grey", and the ground is pure
+        // black too: the calm mix on the form screens lifts toward nothing, so settings and
+        // pairing sit on an unlit panel. What is left is a faint indigo→violet ember in the
+        // bright corner, dim enough to stay under a tenth of the other dark fields' mean
+        // luminance while keeping the backdrop a field with somewhere to go rather than a
+        // dead rectangle. The accent stays the brand violet — focus has to be findable on
+        // black.
+        id: "oled", name: "OLED",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.000, 0.000, 0.000), (0.000, 0.000, 0.000), (0.010, 0.020, 0.100),
+            (0.045, 0.016, 0.115), (0.120, 0.024, 0.130),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.0, 0.0, 0.0), accent: (0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false,
+    },
     Palette {
         // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
         id: "nebula", name: "Nebula",
@@ -857,7 +874,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(
             ids,
             [
-                "violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite", "holo", "sunset",
+                "violet", "oled", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite", "holo", "sunset",
                 "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal",
             ]
         );
@@ -867,7 +884,36 @@ mod tests {
             .position(|p| p.light)
             .expect("some are light");
         assert!(PALETTES[first_light..].iter().all(|p| p.light));
-        assert_eq!(first_light, 6);
+        assert_eq!(first_light, 7);
+    }
+
+    /// OLED is the one palette whose selling point is measurable: it has to be genuinely
+    /// black, not merely the darkest of the dark fields. Pure black corners, a mean well
+    /// under every other field's, and a ground that lifts to nothing on the form screens.
+    #[test]
+    fn oled_is_actually_black() {
+        let luma = |c: (f64, f64, f64)| 0.2126 * c.0 + 0.7152 * c.1 + 0.0722 * c.2;
+        let oled = palette("oled");
+        assert_eq!(
+            oled.ground,
+            (0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
+            "the calm lift must be nothing"
+        );
+        let cells = oled.mesh_colors();
+        assert!(
+            cells.iter().filter(|c| luma(**c) == 0.0).count() >= 3,
+            "the shaded corner has to be switched off, not dimmed"
+        );
+        let mean = cells.iter().map(|c| luma(*c)).sum::<f64>() / 16.0;
+        let darkest_other = PALETTES
+            .iter()
+            .filter(|p| p.id != "oled")
+            .map(|p| p.mesh_colors().iter().map(|c| luma(*c)).sum::<f64>() / 16.0)
+            .fold(f64::MAX, f64::min);
+        assert!(
+            mean < darkest_other / 2.0,
+            "oled means {mean:.3}, only half a stop under {darkest_other:.3}"
+        );
     }
 
     /// Every colour a palette produces stays in gamut, and a pale palette really is pale —

crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/settings.rs

@@ -258,11 +258,17 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         }
     }
 
-    /// The rows of the CURRENT tab. Profiles is built from the catalog: one row per
-    /// profile, or the explainer placeholder while there are none.
-    fn row_ids(&self) -> Vec<RowId> {
+    /// The rows of the CURRENT tab, minus any whose setting has nothing to act on (see
+    /// [`row_applies`]). Profiles is built from the catalog: one row per profile, or the
+    /// explainer placeholder while there are none.
+    fn row_ids(&self, ctx: &Ctx) -> Vec<RowId> {
         if self.tab != PROFILES_TAB {
-            return TABS[self.tab].1.to_vec();
+            return TABS[self.tab]
+                .1
+                .iter()
+                .copied()
+                .filter(|id| row_applies(*id, ctx.settings))
+                .collect();
         }
         if self.profiles.is_empty() {
             vec![RowId::NoProfiles]
@@ -271,6 +277,16 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Pull the cursor back onto the list. Every tab but Profiles used to be a fixed length,
+    /// so this only mattered on entry ([`show_tab`]); the smoothness buffer's row now comes
+    /// and goes, and another writer (a desktop shell, a session's match-window persist) can
+    /// take it away between frames while this screen is open.
+    fn clamp_cursor(&mut self, len: usize) {
+        if self.list.cursor >= len {
+            self.list.jump_to(len.saturating_sub(1));
+        }
+    }
+
     #[cfg(test)]
     pub(crate) fn tab_for_test(&self) -> usize {
         self.tab
@@ -278,21 +294,22 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
 
     /// L1/R1 (and Tab/PgUp/PgDn) — move one tab, wrapping (the strip is a ring, like A's
     /// value cycle), keeping each tab's own cursor.
-    fn switch_tab(&mut self, delta: i32) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
+    fn switch_tab(&mut self, delta: i32, ctx: &Ctx) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
         let n = TABS.len() as i32;
-        self.show_tab((self.tab as i32 + delta).rem_euclid(n) as usize)
+        self.show_tab((self.tab as i32 + delta).rem_euclid(n) as usize, ctx)
     }
 
     /// Show `tab`, parking the cursor the outgoing tab was on. Also the pointer's path in:
     /// a press on a pill names a tab outright rather than a direction to step in.
-    fn show_tab(&mut self, tab: usize) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
+    fn show_tab(&mut self, tab: usize, ctx: &Ctx) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
         if tab >= TABS.len() {
             return None;
         }
         self.tab_cursors[self.tab] = self.list.cursor;
         self.tab = tab;
-        // Clamp the remembered cursor: the Profiles tab's length follows the catalog.
-        let len = self.row_ids().len();
+        // Clamp the remembered cursor: the Profiles tab's length follows the catalog, and
+        // Video's follows whether the smoothness buffer is offered.
+        let len = self.row_ids(ctx).len();
         self.list
             .jump_to(self.tab_cursors[self.tab].min(len.saturating_sub(1)));
         Some(MenuPulse::Move)
@@ -302,10 +319,11 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
     /// there is never meant for a row.
     pub(crate) fn pointer(&mut self, p: Pointer, ctx: &mut Ctx, fx: &mut Outbox) -> bool {
         if let Some(tab) = self.strip.pointer(p) {
-            self.show_tab(tab);
+            self.show_tab(tab, ctx);
             return true;
         }
-        let ids = self.row_ids();
+        let ids = self.row_ids(ctx);
+        self.clamp_cursor(ids.len());
         let (msg, pulse) = self.list.pointer(p, ids.len());
         if matches!(msg, ListMsg::None) && pulse.is_none() {
             return false;
@@ -325,11 +343,12 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
                 fx.pop();
                 return None;
             }
-            MenuEvent::JumpBack => return self.switch_tab(-1),
-            MenuEvent::JumpForward => return self.switch_tab(1),
+            MenuEvent::JumpBack => return self.switch_tab(-1, ctx),
+            MenuEvent::JumpForward => return self.switch_tab(1, ctx),
             _ => {}
         }
-        let ids = self.row_ids();
+        let ids = self.row_ids(ctx);
+        self.clamp_cursor(ids.len());
         let (msg, pulse) = self.list.menu(ev, ids.len());
         self.apply_row(msg, pulse, &ids, ctx, fx)
     }
@@ -344,8 +363,14 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         ctx: &mut Ctx,
         fx: &mut Outbox,
     ) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
+        // A cursor with no row under it can only mean the list shrank between the clamp above
+        // and here, which nothing does today — but indexing on the assumption would turn that
+        // into a panic in a shipping console rather than a dropped keypress.
+        let Some(&focused) = ids.get(self.list.cursor) else {
+            return pulse;
+        };
         // The Profiles rows navigate instead of editing the settings file.
-        match ids[self.list.cursor] {
+        match focused {
             RowId::Profile(i) => {
                 return match msg {
                     ListMsg::Activate => {
@@ -378,7 +403,7 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         }
         match msg {
             ListMsg::Adjust(delta) => {
-                let changed = adjust(ids[self.list.cursor], delta, false, ctx);
+                let changed = adjust(focused, delta, false, ctx);
                 if changed {
                     ctx.settings.save();
                     Some(MenuPulse::Move)
@@ -388,7 +413,7 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
             }
             ListMsg::Activate => {
                 // A cycles forward WRAPPING, so every option is reachable one-handed.
-                if adjust(ids[self.list.cursor], 1, true, ctx) {
+                if adjust(focused, 1, true, ctx) {
                     ctx.settings.save();
                 }
                 pulse
@@ -397,8 +422,8 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         }
     }
 
-    pub(crate) fn hints(&self, _ctx: &Ctx) -> Vec<Hint> {
-        let ids = self.row_ids();
+    pub(crate) fn hints(&self, ctx: &Ctx) -> Vec<Hint> {
+        let ids = self.row_ids(ctx);
         // The shoulders always change section, so that hint leads on every row.
         let mut hints = vec![Hint::new(HintKey::Shoulders, "Section")];
         hints.extend(match ids.get(self.list.cursor) {
@@ -445,7 +470,8 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
             rect.right,
             rect.bottom - detail_h as f32,
         );
-        let ids = self.row_ids();
+        let ids = self.row_ids(ctx);
+        self.clamp_cursor(ids.len());
         let rows: Vec<RowSpec> = ids
             .iter()
             .map(|id| row_spec(*id, ctx, &self.profiles))
@@ -466,6 +492,24 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
     }
 }
 
+/// Whether a row is OFFERED at all, as opposed to offered-but-inert.
+///
+/// The two are a real distinction. Echo cancellation and the pad rows follow a switch the user
+/// can see a line or two above them, so dimming them shows the relationship — dropping them
+/// would just make settings appear and disappear as the switch flips. The smoothness buffer is
+/// different: it is not a sub-setting of a switch, it is a knob on ONE of two intents, and
+/// under Lowest latency it names a quantity that doesn't exist. Every other settings surface —
+/// the GTK and WinUI shells, the Apple touch/tvOS screens, the Android touch screen — hides it
+/// there. This screen was the lone exception because its row list was fixed; it is rebuilt from
+/// this filter each frame now, and the row it drops sits directly BELOW the row that drops it,
+/// so the cursor is never under anything that moves.
+fn row_applies(id: RowId, s: &pf_client_core::trust::Settings) -> bool {
+    match id {
+        RowId::SmoothBuffer => s.present_priority == "smooth",
+        _ => true,
+    }
+}
+
 fn row_spec(id: RowId, ctx: &Ctx, profiles: &[(String, String)]) -> RowSpec {
     // The Profiles section: name + how many hosts pin it (counted from the live rows, so
     // it reflects what the carousel shows). Read-only here beyond opening the pin screen.
@@ -497,18 +541,17 @@ fn row_spec(id: RowId, ctx: &Ctx, profiles: &[(String, String)]) -> RowSpec {
         _ => {}
     }
     let s = &ctx.settings;
-    // Several rows follow another: echo cancellation only means anything while the mic
-    // streams, the pad rows only while any controller is forwarded at all, and the
-    // smoothness buffer only while that intent is chosen. All go dim and inert otherwise
-    // — the same relationship the desktop shells draw by greying a row out (they hide the
-    // buffer row entirely; a fixed row list can't, and a row that vanished mid-list would
-    // move everything under the cursor).
+    // Two rows follow a switch a line or two above them: echo cancellation only means
+    // anything while the mic streams, and the pad rows only while any controller is
+    // forwarded at all. Both go dim and inert otherwise — the same relationship the desktop
+    // shells draw by greying a row out, and dimming (not dropping) is what shows the
+    // relationship. The smoothness buffer used to be listed here too; it is dropped from the
+    // list instead now — see [`row_applies`] for why that one is different.
     let enabled = match id {
         RowId::EchoCancel => s.mic_enabled,
         RowId::Pad | RowId::PadType | RowId::SystemButtons | RowId::GuideGesture => {
             s.gamepad_forwarding
         }
-        RowId::SmoothBuffer => s.present_priority == "smooth",
         _ => true,
     };
     let (header, label, value): (Option<&'static str>, &str, String) = match id {
@@ -848,7 +891,10 @@ fn adjust(id: RowId, delta: i32, wrap: bool, ctx: &mut Ctx) -> bool {
             step_option(cur, PRESENT_PRIORITIES.len(), delta, wrap)
                 .map(|i| s.present_priority = PRESENT_PRIORITIES[i].0.to_string())
         }
-        // Inert unless smoothness is chosen — a boundary thud, matching the dimmed row.
+        // Under Lowest latency the row isn't offered at all ([`row_applies`]), so this branch
+        // is only reachable if another writer flipped the intent between the frame that built
+        // the list and the keypress that lands here — a boundary thud, not a stored value
+        // nothing will read.
         RowId::SmoothBuffer => {
             if s.present_priority == "smooth" {
                 let cur = SMOOTH_BUFFERS
@@ -1093,9 +1139,6 @@ mod tests {
         fake_home();
         let mut s = SettingsScreen::with_profiles(Vec::new());
         rendered(&mut s);
-        // Row 0 of the leading tab is Resolution, whose first step is Native → Match
-        // window: one field, one unambiguous effect to assert on.
-        assert_eq!(s.row_ids()[0], RowId::Resolution);
         let first = s.list.row_rect(0).expect("the list drew its rows");
         let (mut settings, pads) = ctx_parts();
         settings.save(); // seat the fake HOME's file — `apply_row` rebases on it
@@ -1109,6 +1152,9 @@ mod tests {
             device_name: "t",
             t: 0.0,
         };
+        // Row 0 of the leading tab is Resolution, whose first step is Native → Match
+        // window: one field, one unambiguous effect to assert on.
+        assert_eq!(s.row_ids(&ctx)[0], RowId::Resolution);
         let mut fx = Outbox::default();
         assert!(!ctx.settings.match_window);
         assert!(s.pointer(press(first), &mut ctx, &mut fx));
@@ -1232,13 +1278,12 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(ctx.settings.echo_cancel);
     }
 
-    /// The smoothness buffer follows the presentation intent, exactly as echo cancellation
-    /// follows the mic: dimmed and inert under Lowest latency (where holding frames means
-    /// nothing), live under Smoothness. The desktop shells hide the row instead; a fixed
-    /// row list dims it, because a row vanishing mid-list would shift everything under the
-    /// cursor.
+    /// The smoothness buffer is OFFERED only under Smoothness — under Lowest latency it names
+    /// a quantity that doesn't exist, so the row is gone from the Video tab rather than sitting
+    /// there dimmed. This is what the GTK and WinUI shells and the Apple/Android screens have
+    /// always done; this screen was the exception until its row list stopped being fixed.
     #[test]
-    fn smoothness_buffer_follows_the_intent() {
+    fn smoothness_buffer_is_offered_only_under_smoothness() {
         let (mut settings, pads) = ctx_parts();
         assert_eq!(settings.present_priority, "latency", "the shipped default");
         let library = crate::library::LibraryShared::default();
@@ -1251,24 +1296,93 @@ mod tests {
             device_name: "t",
             t: 0.0,
         };
-        assert!(!row_spec(RowId::SmoothBuffer, &ctx, &[]).enabled);
+        let mut s = SettingsScreen::with_profiles(Vec::new());
+        s.tab = TABS
+            .iter()
+            .position(|(name, _)| *name == "Video")
+            .expect("the Video tab");
+
+        let video = s.row_ids(&ctx);
+        assert!(
+            !video.contains(&RowId::SmoothBuffer),
+            "latency hides the buffer row: {video:?}"
+        );
+        assert!(video.contains(&RowId::PresentPriority), "the intent stays");
+        // Even reached out of band it writes nothing — the list it came from is a frame old.
         assert!(
             !adjust(RowId::SmoothBuffer, 1, false, &mut ctx),
             "latency intent = thud"
         );
         assert_eq!(ctx.settings.smooth_buffer, 0, "and nothing was written");
 
-        // Stepping the intent to Smoothness brings the buffer row to life.
+        // Stepping the intent to Smoothness brings the row into the list, directly under it.
         assert!(adjust(RowId::PresentPriority, 1, false, &mut ctx));
         assert_eq!(ctx.settings.present_priority, "smooth");
-        assert!(row_spec(RowId::SmoothBuffer, &ctx, &[]).enabled);
+        let video = s.row_ids(&ctx);
+        let intent = video
+            .iter()
+            .position(|id| *id == RowId::PresentPriority)
+            .expect("the intent row");
+        assert_eq!(
+            video.get(intent + 1),
+            Some(&RowId::SmoothBuffer),
+            "the row that comes and goes sits BELOW the row that decides it, so the cursor \
+             never has anything move out from under it"
+        );
         assert!(adjust(RowId::SmoothBuffer, 1, false, &mut ctx));
         assert_eq!(ctx.settings.smooth_buffer, 1);
 
-        // The intent wraps back and the row goes inert again.
+        // The intent wraps back and the row leaves again — with the cursor parked on the
+        // intent row, which is where a user who just stepped it necessarily is.
+        s.list.cursor = intent;
         assert!(adjust(RowId::PresentPriority, -1, false, &mut ctx));
         assert_eq!(ctx.settings.present_priority, "latency");
-        assert!(!row_spec(RowId::SmoothBuffer, &ctx, &[]).enabled);
+        let video = s.row_ids(&ctx);
+        assert!(!video.contains(&RowId::SmoothBuffer));
+        assert_eq!(
+            video.get(s.list.cursor),
+            Some(&RowId::PresentPriority),
+            "the cursor is still on the row the user was stepping"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// A cursor parked past the end of a list that shrank underneath it is pulled back rather
+    /// than indexed with — the console must not panic because another writer changed the
+    /// presentation intent while its settings screen was open.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_shrinking_list_pulls_the_cursor_back() {
+        // `apply_row` rebases on the FILE before acting, so this has to be seated — and
+        // seated with the SHRUNKEN list's intent, which is the state being tested.
+        fake_home();
+        let (mut settings, pads) = ctx_parts();
+        settings.present_priority = "latency".into();
+        settings.save();
+        settings.present_priority = "smooth".into();
+        let library = crate::library::LibraryShared::default();
+        let mut ctx = Ctx {
+            hosts: &[],
+            library: &library,
+            settings: &mut settings,
+            pads: &pads,
+            deck: false,
+            device_name: "t",
+            t: 0.0,
+        };
+        let mut s = SettingsScreen::with_profiles(Vec::new());
+        s.tab = TABS
+            .iter()
+            .position(|(name, _)| *name == "Video")
+            .expect("the Video tab");
+        // Park on the last row while the buffer row is still there…
+        s.list.cursor = s.row_ids(&ctx).len() - 1;
+        let parked = s.list.cursor;
+        // …then take it away behind the screen's back, as a desktop shell would.
+        ctx.settings.present_priority = "latency".into();
+        let mut fx = Outbox::default();
+        let pulse = s.menu(MenuEvent::Confirm, &mut ctx, &mut fx);
+        assert!(pulse.is_some(), "the press was routed, not dropped");
+        assert!(s.list.cursor < parked, "the cursor came back onto the list");
+        assert!(fx.nav.is_none());
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -1392,7 +1506,7 @@ mod tests {
             ("p2".into(), "Game".into()),
         ]);
         s.tab = PROFILES_TAB;
-        let ids = s.row_ids();
+        let ids = s.row_ids(&ctx);
         assert_eq!(ids, vec![RowId::Profile(0), RowId::Profile(1)]);
 
         let spec = row_spec(RowId::Profile(0), &ctx, &s.profiles);
@@ -1438,7 +1552,7 @@ mod tests {
         };
         let mut s = SettingsScreen::with_profiles(Vec::new());
         s.tab = PROFILES_TAB;
-        let ids = s.row_ids();
+        let ids = s.row_ids(&ctx);
         assert_eq!(ids, vec![RowId::NoProfiles]);
         let spec = row_spec(RowId::NoProfiles, &ctx, &s.profiles);
         assert!(!spec.enabled);

crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/tests.rs

@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ fn dump_console_screens() {
     for _ in 0..5 {
         s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::JumpForward);
     }
-    for id in ["violet", "ember", "abyss", "holo", "sunset", "mint"] {
+    for id in ["violet", "oled", "ember", "abyss", "holo", "sunset", "mint"] {
         s.settings.ui_palette = id.to_string();
         dump(&mut s, 40, 8, &format!("03-settings-{id}"), true);
     }

crates/pf-host-config/src/lib.rs

@@ -260,6 +260,18 @@ pub struct HostConfig {
     /// encode, so this is the knob that decides how bright "white" looks on the client's panel.
     /// `None` = leave gamescope's own default.
     pub gamescope_sdr_nits: Option<u32>,
+    /// `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_REFRESH_RATES` — extra refresh rates (Hz, comma-separated) a gamescope
+    /// session offers its clients on top of the one it runs at, e.g. `60,90,120`.
+    ///
+    /// A headless gamescope has no EDID, so it cannot work out what else its display could run at:
+    /// on a stock build it advertises exactly ONE rate and Steam's in-session display settings show
+    /// a single entry. Our `+pfhdr3` build takes this list (`--custom-refresh-rates`) and publishes
+    /// it, which is what puts real choices in that menu. The session's own rate is always included
+    /// whatever is set here, so this can only ever ADD options.
+    ///
+    /// Empty (the default) = advertise only the negotiated rate. Ignored on a stock gamescope,
+    /// which has no flag to take it.
+    pub gamescope_refresh_rates: Vec<u32>,
     /// `PUNKTFUNK_RECOVER_SESSION_CMD` — operator hook fired (debounced) when a client connects while NO
     /// graphical session is live for this uid: the state a compositor crash leaves behind (gnome-shell
     /// SIGSEGV → GDM greeter, whose auto-login is once-per-boot, so the box would otherwise need a walk-up
@@ -379,6 +391,12 @@ impl HostConfig {
             gamescope_sdr_nits: val("PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SDR_NITS")
                 .and_then(|s| s.trim().parse::<u32>().ok())
                 .filter(|n| (1..=10_000).contains(n)),
+            // Unparseable entries are DROPPED rather than failing the host: this only ever widens a
+            // menu, and the session's own rate is added back unconditionally, so the worst a typo
+            // can cost is the extra option the operator wanted — never the session.
+            gamescope_refresh_rates: parse_refresh_rates(
+                val("PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_REFRESH_RATES").as_deref(),
+            ),
             recover_session_cmd: val("PUNKTFUNK_RECOVER_SESSION_CMD")
                 .filter(|s| !s.trim().is_empty()),
             on_connect_cmd: val("PUNKTFUNK_ON_CONNECT_CMD").filter(|s| !s.trim().is_empty()),
@@ -397,6 +415,20 @@ impl HostConfig {
     }
 }
 
+/// `"60, 90,120"` → `[60, 90, 120]`, sorted and deduped. Junk entries and out-of-range rates are
+/// skipped rather than rejected wholesale — see the call site for why. Pure + unit-tested.
+fn parse_refresh_rates(raw: Option<&str>) -> Vec<u32> {
+    let mut out: Vec<u32> = raw
+        .unwrap_or_default()
+        .split(',')
+        .filter_map(|s| s.trim().parse::<u32>().ok())
+        .filter(|&hz| (1..=1000).contains(&hz))
+        .collect();
+    out.sort_unstable();
+    out.dedup();
+    out
+}
+
 impl HostConfig {
     /// The rate to hand the compositor as the GAME's refresh: the session's rate, capped by
     /// [`Self::max_fps`]. Only the compositor's game-facing rate goes through here — the session's
@@ -446,6 +478,24 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(c.game_fps(0), 0);
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn refresh_rate_list_parses_and_tolerates_junk() {
+        assert_eq!(parse_refresh_rates(Some("60,90,120")), vec![60, 90, 120]);
+        // Spaces, unsorted input and duplicates all normalise.
+        assert_eq!(
+            parse_refresh_rates(Some(" 120, 60 ,90, 60")),
+            vec![60, 90, 120]
+        );
+        // Unset and empty are the default: advertise only the session's own rate.
+        assert!(parse_refresh_rates(None).is_empty());
+        assert!(parse_refresh_rates(Some("")).is_empty());
+        assert!(parse_refresh_rates(Some("   ")).is_empty());
+        // A typo costs its own entry, never the whole list — the knob only widens a menu.
+        assert_eq!(parse_refresh_rates(Some("60,abc,120")), vec![60, 120]);
+        // Out of range in both directions (0 is not a refresh rate; 1920 is a width).
+        assert_eq!(parse_refresh_rates(Some("0,60,1920")), vec![60]);
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn audio_output_mode_parses_its_spellings() {
         for (s, want) in [

crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ mod heads;
 mod splash;
 use discovery::{
     check_gamescope_version, find_gamescope_eis_socket, find_gamescope_node, gamescope_bin,
+    gamescope_can_composite_external_overlay, gamescope_can_offer_refresh_rates,
     gamescope_node_present, poll_managed_node, wait_for_node,
 };
 pub(crate) use discovery::{
@@ -1153,17 +1154,9 @@ fn gamescope_argvs() -> Vec<Vec<String>> {
 /// also the final filter that separates a compositor from anything else [`gamescope_argvs`] let by.
 fn current_gamescope_output_size() -> Option<(u32, u32)> {
     gamescope_argvs().into_iter().find_map(|args| {
-        let flag = |names: &[&str]| -> Option<u32> {
-            args.iter().enumerate().find_map(|(i, a)| {
-                names
-                    .contains(&a.as_str())
-                    .then(|| args.get(i + 1).and_then(|v| v.parse().ok()))
-                    .flatten()
-            })
-        };
         match (
-            flag(&["-W", "--output-width"]),
-            flag(&["-H", "--output-height"]),
+            argv_u32(&args, &["-W", "--output-width"]),
+            argv_u32(&args, &["-H", "--output-height"]),
         ) {
             (Some(w), Some(h)) => Some((w, h)),
             _ => None,
@@ -1171,6 +1164,104 @@ fn current_gamescope_output_size() -> Option<(u32, u32)> {
     })
 }
 
+/// The numeric value following the first of `names` present in `argv`. Pure + unit-tested — it is
+/// the shared reader behind both the output-size probe above and the mode verification below.
+fn argv_u32(argv: &[String], names: &[&str]) -> Option<u32> {
+    argv.iter().enumerate().find_map(|(i, a)| {
+        names
+            .contains(&a.as_str())
+            .then(|| argv.get(i + 1).and_then(|v| v.parse().ok()))
+            .flatten()
+    })
+}
+
+/// Did the MODE we asked an indirectly-spawned session for actually reach its gamescope?
+///
+/// [`verify_managed_spawn_flags`] answers the same question for the capability flags and REFUSES
+/// the session when they are missing, because the retry then resolves a different (correct) plan.
+/// The mode has no such recovery: relaunching would hand the session the exact same environment and
+/// lose it the same way, so refusing would only loop. It is not silent either, though — and it used
+/// to be, in the way that costs the most:
+///
+/// `--nested-refresh` is the ONLY refresh a headless gamescope has. `CHeadlessBackend::Init`
+/// assigns `g_nOutputRefresh = g_nNestedRefresh`, defaulting to **60 Hz** when the flag is absent,
+/// and that one number is what the session composites at, what `vblankmanager` paces to, and what
+/// Steam and every game are told the display runs at. It reaches a `gamescope-session-plus` only
+/// through the `GAMESCOPE_BIN` wrapper — which the session script is free to lose (a `sessions.d`
+/// file sourced with `set -a` can reassign `GAMESCOPE_BIN`; one that sets `GAMESCOPECMD` outright
+/// skips the whole builder). When that happened the stream still ran, still looked right, and still
+/// showed the client's own fps counter at the negotiated rate — because the encode loop repeats the
+/// held frame — while the game underneath was capped to 60. Field report 2026-08-08.
+///
+/// So: warn, name the numbers, and carry on. Same "any running gamescope carrying it" rule as the
+/// flag check, and the same silence when `/proc` cannot be read.
+fn warn_if_mode_lost(mode: Mode, want_hz: u32) {
+    let argvs = gamescope_argvs();
+    let lost = mode_mismatch(mode.width, mode.height, want_hz, &argvs);
+    if lost.is_empty() {
+        return;
+    }
+    tracing::warn!(
+        lost = %lost.join(", "),
+        "gamescope: the session did not start at the mode we asked for — the session script \
+         dropped GAMESCOPE_BIN / SCREEN_WIDTH / SCREEN_HEIGHT. A headless gamescope reports \
+         `--nested-refresh` as its ONE refresh rate (60 Hz when the flag never arrives), so games \
+         and Steam will believe the display runs at that rate however fast the stream is. Install \
+         punktfunk-gamescope, or check /etc/gamescope-session-plus/sessions.d/ for a file that \
+         overrides GAMESCOPE_BIN or sets GAMESCOPECMD"
+    );
+}
+
+/// Which parts of the requested mode no running gamescope was started with, as human-readable
+/// `asked=…, got=…` fragments. Empty when it matches — or when there is nothing to compare against,
+/// which is the same fail-open rule [`missing_flags`] has and for the same reason. Pure +
+/// unit-tested.
+fn mode_mismatch(want_w: u32, want_h: u32, want_hz: u32, argvs: &[Vec<String>]) -> Vec<String> {
+    if argvs.is_empty() {
+        return Vec::new();
+    }
+    let mut lost = Vec::new();
+    let sizes: Vec<(u32, u32)> = argvs
+        .iter()
+        .filter_map(|a| {
+            Some((
+                argv_u32(a, &["-W", "--output-width"])?,
+                argv_u32(a, &["-H", "--output-height"])?,
+            ))
+        })
+        .collect();
+    // No gamescope carries an output size at all → we cannot tell ours apart from a nested one;
+    // stay quiet rather than warn on every box that runs a second gamescope.
+    if !sizes.is_empty() && !sizes.contains(&(want_w, want_h)) {
+        lost.push(format!(
+            "resolution asked={want_w}x{want_h}, got={}",
+            sizes
+                .iter()
+                .map(|(w, h)| format!("{w}x{h}"))
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+                .join("/")
+        ));
+    }
+    let rates: Vec<u32> = argvs
+        .iter()
+        .filter_map(|a| argv_u32(a, &["-r", "--nested-refresh"]))
+        .collect();
+    if !rates.contains(&want_hz) {
+        lost.push(match rates.as_slice() {
+            // The flag is absent everywhere — the exact shape that silently yields 60 Hz.
+            [] => format!(
+                "refresh asked={want_hz}Hz, got=no --nested-refresh at all (gamescope defaults to \
+                 60Hz headless)"
+            ),
+            got => format!(
+                "refresh asked={want_hz}Hz, got={}Hz",
+                got.iter().map(u32::to_string).collect::<Vec<_>>().join("/")
+            ),
+        });
+    }
+    lost
+}
+
 /// Did the flags we passed an INDIRECTLY-spawned session actually reach its gamescope?
 ///
 /// The bare spawn builds argv itself and cannot lose them. The two managed modes can: a
@@ -2337,12 +2428,29 @@ fn launch_session(client: &str, unit_name: &str, mode: Mode, hdr: bool) -> Resul
     let wrapper = write_gamescope_bin_wrapper()?;
     stop_session(unit_name); // clear any stale unit + relay so a relaunch is clean
     let hz = mode.refresh_hz.max(1);
-    // The two rates are deliberately different when the frame limiter is set. CUSTOM_REFRESH_RATES
-    // generates the mode the session ADVERTISES, which must stay the client's — that is what makes
-    // games see the real refresh instead of the box's EDID. PF_HZ becomes `--nested-refresh`, the
-    // rate the game is clamped to, and is the only one the limiter touches. Identical when it's
-    // unset, which is the default.
+    // ONE rate reaches gamescope, and it is `--nested-refresh` (via the wrapper's `PF_HZ`). On the
+    // headless backend that flag IS the output refresh — `CHeadlessBackend::Init` assigns
+    // `g_nOutputRefresh = g_nNestedRefresh` — so it is simultaneously the rate the session
+    // composites at, the rate `vblankmanager` paces to, and the rate Steam and every game are told
+    // the display runs at. When the frame limiter (`PUNKTFUNK_MAX_FPS`) is set they all drop
+    // together; that is the trade the knob is, and it is off by default.
+    //
+    // `CUSTOM_REFRESH_RATES` below does NOT do this, whatever its name suggests: it is the *set* of
+    // rates the session may offer, and `gamescope-session-plus` gates it on the binary having
+    // `--custom-refresh-rates`, which no upstream gamescope has ever had. On a stock gamescope it
+    // is inert (it was a silent no-op for years); on our `+pfhdr3` build it is what puts more than
+    // one entry in Steam's refresh menu. Either way it cannot fix a wrong `--nested-refresh`.
     let game = game_hz(mode.refresh_hz);
+    // The advertised SET, which always contains the rate we actually run at.
+    let offered = {
+        let mut r = pf_host_config::config().gamescope_refresh_rates.clone();
+        if !r.contains(&hz) {
+            r.push(hz);
+        }
+        r.sort_unstable();
+        r.dedup();
+        r.iter().map(u32::to_string).collect::<Vec<_>>().join(",")
+    };
     let start_unit = || -> Result<()> {
         let status = Command::new("systemd-run")
             .args(["--user", "--collect", &format!("--unit={unit_name}")])
@@ -2366,7 +2474,7 @@ fn launch_session(client: &str, unit_name: &str, mode: Mode, hdr: bool) -> Resul
             ))
             .arg(format!("--setenv=GAMESCOPE_BIN={}", wrapper.display()))
             .arg("--setenv=DRM_MODE=cvt")
-            .arg(format!("--setenv=CUSTOM_REFRESH_RATES={hz}"))
+            .arg(format!("--setenv=CUSTOM_REFRESH_RATES={offered}"))
             .arg("--")
             .arg(SESSION_PLUS_BIN)
             .arg(client)
@@ -2394,6 +2502,9 @@ fn launch_session(client: &str, unit_name: &str, mode: Mode, hdr: bool) -> Resul
                 stop_session(unit_name);
                 return Err(e);
             }
+            // Loud, but not fatal — see [`warn_if_mode_lost`] for why this one warns where the
+            // capability flags above refuse.
+            warn_if_mode_lost(mode, game);
             return Ok(id);
         }
         if Instant::now() >= deadline {
@@ -2526,7 +2637,15 @@ fn add_bare_gamescope_args(
     if grab_cursor {
         command.arg("--force-grab-cursor");
     }
-    for arg in hdr_args(hdr).into_iter().chain(cursor_args()) {
+    // `-r` above is what this headless session will REPORT as its refresh (the headless backend
+    // assigns `g_nOutputRefresh = g_nNestedRefresh`), so it is already correct here. This adds the
+    // rest of the SET the in-session UI may offer — the bare spawn passes it directly, with none of
+    // the session-script indirection the managed path has to route it through.
+    for arg in hdr_args(hdr)
+        .into_iter()
+        .chain(cursor_args())
+        .chain(refresh_rate_args(hz))
+    {
         command.arg(arg);
     }
     command.args(["--xwayland-count", "1", "--"]);
@@ -2571,11 +2690,48 @@ fn hdr_args(hdr: bool) -> Vec<String> {
 /// host-side (it costs the host a full-frame pass, and on the zero-CSC encode source it cannot be
 /// done at all). Empty on a stock gamescope, which is exactly the old behaviour.
 fn cursor_args() -> Vec<String> {
+    let mut args = Vec::new();
     if gamescope_can_composite_cursor() {
-        vec!["--pipewire-composite-cursor".to_string()]
-    } else {
-        Vec::new()
+        args.push("--pipewire-composite-cursor".to_string());
     }
+    // The external overlay (mangoapp — the Deck UI's fps/frametime readout, patch level 4+). Unlike
+    // the cursor there is no host-side fallback: the host cannot reconstruct another process's
+    // overlay window, so without this the layer is simply absent from every gamescope stream.
+    if gamescope_can_composite_external_overlay() {
+        args.push("--pipewire-composite-external-overlay".to_string());
+    }
+    args
+}
+
+/// `--custom-refresh-rates <list>` when the resolved gamescope has it (patch level 3+): the rates a
+/// HEADLESS session may offer its clients.
+///
+/// Without it a headless connector advertises exactly one rate, so Steam's in-session display
+/// settings show a single entry and a game reads the display as that one number. `session_hz` is
+/// always in the list — it is the mode the session actually runs at, and an advertised set that
+/// excluded it would be a lie in the other direction.
+///
+/// The operator can widen the set (`PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_REFRESH_RATES=60,90,120`) so the in-session
+/// UI offers real choices; unset, we advertise the one rate we run at, which is what the client
+/// asked for.
+fn refresh_rate_args(session_hz: u32) -> Vec<String> {
+    if !gamescope_can_offer_refresh_rates() {
+        return Vec::new();
+    }
+    let mut rates = pf_host_config::config().gamescope_refresh_rates.clone();
+    if !rates.contains(&session_hz) {
+        rates.push(session_hz);
+    }
+    rates.sort_unstable();
+    rates.dedup();
+    vec![
+        "--custom-refresh-rates".to_string(),
+        rates
+            .iter()
+            .map(u32::to_string)
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+            .join(","),
+    ]
 }
 
 /// Spawn `gamescope --backend headless -W w -H h -r hz -- <app>`. The app comes from
@@ -2717,7 +2873,7 @@ mod tests {
     use super::{
         cgroup_is_punktfunk_owned, cgroup_under_user_manager, connected_connector_under,
         display_manager_unit_under, dm_plan, dm_survives_masked_unit, game_hz, hdr_args,
-        is_steam_launch, missing_flags, nested_wrapper_script, sentinel_advanced,
+        is_steam_launch, missing_flags, mode_mismatch, nested_wrapper_script, sentinel_advanced,
         shape_dedicated_command,
     };
 
@@ -2949,6 +3105,63 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!cgroup_is_punktfunk_owned(""));
     }
 
+    /// The silent-60Hz guard. A headless gamescope reports `--nested-refresh` as its ONE refresh
+    /// rate and falls back to 60 Hz when the flag never arrives, so a session that lost the
+    /// `GAMESCOPE_BIN` wrapper streams at the client's rate while telling every game it is 60 —
+    /// the exact shape of the 2026-08-08 field report, and invisible without this.
+    #[test]
+    fn mode_mismatch_names_what_the_session_actually_got() {
+        let argv = |s: &str| -> Vec<String> { s.split(' ').map(str::to_string).collect() };
+
+        // The good case: our own managed spawn, carrying everything we asked for.
+        let ok = vec![argv(
+            "/usr/bin/gamescope --backend headless -W 1920 -H 1080 --nested-refresh 120 --steam",
+        )];
+        assert!(mode_mismatch(1920, 1080, 120, &ok).is_empty());
+
+        // THE field case: the wrapper was dropped, so there is no `--nested-refresh` anywhere and
+        // gamescope silently ran its 60 Hz default. Size still landed (SCREEN_WIDTH survived).
+        let lost = vec![argv(
+            "/usr/bin/gamescope --backend headless -W 1920 -H 1080 --steam",
+        )];
+        let got = mode_mismatch(1920, 1080, 120, &lost);
+        assert_eq!(got.len(), 1, "only the refresh is wrong: {got:?}");
+        assert!(got[0].contains("asked=120Hz"), "{got:?}");
+        assert!(got[0].contains("no --nested-refresh at all"), "{got:?}");
+
+        // A wrong rate is reported with the number it actually got, not just "missing".
+        let wrong = vec![argv("gamescope -W 1920 -H 1080 --nested-refresh 60")];
+        let got = mode_mismatch(1920, 1080, 120, &wrong);
+        assert_eq!(got.len(), 1);
+        assert!(got[0].contains("got=60Hz"), "{got:?}");
+
+        // Resolution lost too (SCREEN_WIDTH/HEIGHT dropped as well) — both are named.
+        let both = vec![argv("gamescope -W 1280 -H 720")];
+        assert_eq!(mode_mismatch(1920, 1080, 120, &both).len(), 2);
+
+        // Fail OPEN, exactly like `missing_flags`: nothing to compare against says nothing. A box
+        // with a second gamescope that carries no output size must not produce a false alarm.
+        assert!(mode_mismatch(1920, 1080, 120, &[]).is_empty());
+
+        // ANY running gamescope carrying the mode satisfies it — a Deck commonly runs a nested one
+        // beside the session, and demanding that every gamescope match would reject a good session.
+        let two = vec![
+            argv("gamescope -W 1280 -H 800 --nested-refresh 60"),
+            argv("gamescope -W 1920 -H 1080 --nested-refresh 120"),
+        ];
+        assert!(mode_mismatch(1920, 1080, 120, &two).is_empty());
+
+        // The long spellings are read too.
+        let long = vec![argv(
+            "gamescope --output-width 1920 --output-height 1080 --nested-refresh 120",
+        )];
+        assert!(mode_mismatch(1920, 1080, 120, &long).is_empty());
+
+        // A flag with no value after it must not panic or read past the end.
+        let truncated = vec![argv("gamescope -W 1920 -H 1080 --nested-refresh")];
+        assert_eq!(mode_mismatch(1920, 1080, 120, &truncated).len(), 1);
+    }
+
     /// The silent-cursor guard: a managed session that ignored `GAMESCOPE_BIN` / the PATH shim runs
     /// a stock gamescope, and the host — already told the compositor would paint the pointer —
     /// paints none either. Only a compositor we can SEE, missing a flag we can NAME, may fail.

crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope/discovery.rs

@@ -449,6 +449,34 @@ pub(crate) fn gamescope_can_composite_cursor() -> bool {
     gamescope_patch_level() >= 2 && !flags_lost()
 }
 
+/// Does the resolved gamescope let us hand a headless session the list of refresh rates it may
+/// offer (`--custom-refresh-rates`)?
+///
+/// Below this level a headless gamescope advertises **one** rate — whatever `--nested-refresh`
+/// resolved to, or its own 60 Hz default — and no resolution list at all, because its connector
+/// returns empty spans from `GetModes()`/`GetValidDynamicRefreshRates()` and reports an INTERNAL
+/// screen (which makes `update_mode_atoms` delete the mode-list atom outright). So on a stock
+/// gamescope, Steam's in-session display settings show exactly one refresh rate and no
+/// resolutions, and games read the display as 60 Hz whatever the client negotiated.
+///
+/// `gamescope-session-plus` has probed for this flag for years (`CUSTOM_REFRESH_RATES` is gated on
+/// `gamescope --help` mentioning it) — upstream simply never had it, so the env var it plumbs was
+/// a no-op everywhere.
+pub(crate) fn gamescope_can_offer_refresh_rates() -> bool {
+    gamescope_patch_level() >= 3 && !flags_lost()
+}
+
+/// Can the resolved gamescope paint the EXTERNAL OVERLAY — mangoapp, the Deck-UI fps/frametime
+/// readout — into its PipeWire node (`--pipewire-composite-external-overlay`)?
+///
+/// `paint_pipewire` has never referenced that layer on any upstream version, so a client whose
+/// only view of the session is the node sees the overlay it just enabled simply not appear.
+/// Unlike the cursor there is no host-side substitute: the host cannot reconstruct someone else's
+/// overlay window.
+pub(crate) fn gamescope_can_composite_external_overlay() -> bool {
+    gamescope_patch_level() >= 4 && !flags_lost()
+}
+
 /// Has a spawn been observed where our flags did NOT reach the gamescope process?
 ///
 /// The binary probe above answers "can it", which is all the bare spawn needs — there we build

crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/windows/manager.rs

@@ -299,16 +299,21 @@ struct Pinger {
 /// The manager's control-device cache. Reopenable: a driver upgrade / WUDFHost restart kills the
 /// cached handle (every IOCTL fails with a gone-class code forever), so such a failure RETIRES it and
 /// the next [`VirtualDisplayManager::ensure_device`] reopens the (new) device interface, re-running
-/// the version handshake. Retired handles are deliberately kept alive — never closed — for the
-/// process lifetime: the pinger/linger threads and every capturer's `ChannelBroker` hold BARE
-/// `HANDLE` copies whose soundness contract is "never closed"; a retired handle only ever FAILS
-/// IOCTLs, which every holder already tolerates. Reopens are rare (a driver restart), so the retained
-/// list is bounded in practice.
+/// the version handshake.
+///
+/// Ownership is `Arc` all the way out: every consumer — `acquire`'s IOCTL runs, the pinger/linger
+/// threads, the capture layer's delivery closures — holds its OWN clone across its use, so retiring
+/// here merely drops the manager's reference and the handle CLOSES when the last in-flight user
+/// drains. That close is load-bearing, not housekeeping: an open control handle is exactly what
+/// vetoes the PnP disable/restart the wake-from-sleep recovery leans on (field 2026-08-08 — every
+/// reload REFUSED `Generic failure`; `reset-pf-vdisplay.ps1` stops the whole host service precisely
+/// to get its handles closed, and Arc ownership buys the same release without dying). The previous
+/// contract kept retired handles open for the process lifetime because bare `HANDLE` copies were
+/// smuggled into threads and closures; those copies are gone, and nothing may rely on a dead
+/// handle staying open again.
 #[derive(Default)]
 struct DeviceSlot {
     current: Option<Arc<OwnedHandle>>,
-    /// Never dropped — see the type doc (bare-`HANDLE` holders rely on no-close).
-    retired: Vec<Arc<OwnedHandle>>,
     /// `CLEAR_ALL` (crashed-host orphan reap) runs only on the FIRST open of the process; a reopen
     /// races sessions this process still considers live and must not raze them.
     opened_once: bool,
@@ -397,11 +402,6 @@ pub fn vdm() -> &'static VirtualDisplayManager {
         .expect("VirtualDisplayManager used before a backend initialised it")
 }
 
-/// The live pf-vdisplay control-device handle, for the IDD-push capturer's sealed-channel delivery
-/// (`IOCTL_SET_FRAME_CHANNEL`). Safe to hand out as a bare `HANDLE`: cached handles are never closed
-/// for the process lifetime — a dead one is RETIRED (kept alive, see [`DeviceSlot`]), so a stale copy
-/// can only fail IOCTLs, never dangle. `None` before the first backend open — impossible for a
-/// capturer, which only exists on a monitor the manager created.
 /// Can this host's pf-vdisplay driver run the v5 hardware-cursor channel? Reads the
 /// handshake-latched protocol version, opening the control device once if no session has
 /// opened it yet this service run (the same open every session performs anyway) — so the
@@ -421,7 +421,13 @@ pub fn hw_cursor_capable() -> bool {
     m.driver_proto.load(Ordering::Relaxed) >= 5
 }
 
-pub fn control_device_handle() -> Option<HANDLE> {
+/// The live pf-vdisplay control device, for the IDD-push capturer's sealed-channel delivery
+/// (`IOCTL_SET_FRAME_CHANNEL`) — an `Arc` clone the caller (and every closure it builds) holds for
+/// as long as it may issue IOCTLs: the handle stays open while any holder lives and closes when the
+/// last drains, which is what lets the wake-from-sleep recovery's PnP disable proceed once the
+/// manager retires it (see [`DeviceSlot`]). `None` before the first backend open — impossible for a
+/// capturer, which only exists on a monitor the manager created.
+pub fn control_device_handle() -> Option<Arc<OwnedHandle>> {
     VDM.get().and_then(VirtualDisplayManager::device_handle)
 }
 
@@ -497,17 +503,28 @@ fn is_device_gone(e: &anyhow::Error) -> bool {
     GONE.contains(&w.code().0)
 }
 
+/// The transient raw `HANDLE` view of an Arc-held control device, for the backend IOCTL surface.
+/// Sound only while the `Arc` it borrows from is held — which the borrow makes structural: every
+/// use site necessarily has the owning clone alive across the call, so a concurrent retire (which
+/// now really closes the handle once its users drain — see [`DeviceSlot`]) can never close it
+/// mid-IOCTL.
+fn dev_raw(dev: &OwnedHandle) -> HANDLE {
+    HANDLE(dev.as_raw_handle())
+}
+
 impl VirtualDisplayManager {
     pub(crate) fn backend_name(&self) -> &'static str {
         self.driver.name()
     }
 
     /// Open + cache the control device; REOPEN when a gone-classified failure retired the cached one
-    /// (driver upgrade / WUDFHost restart). The `device` mutex serializes racing opens.
-    fn ensure_device(&self) -> Result<HANDLE> {
+    /// (driver upgrade / WUDFHost restart). The `device` mutex serializes racing opens. Returns an
+    /// `Arc` clone the caller holds across every IOCTL it derives from it — a concurrent retire then
+    /// drops only the manager's reference and closes nothing under the caller (see [`DeviceSlot`]).
+    fn ensure_device(&self) -> Result<Arc<OwnedHandle>> {
         let mut slot = self.device.lock().unwrap();
         if let Some(d) = &slot.current {
-            return Ok(HANDLE(d.as_raw_handle()));
+            return Ok(d.clone());
         }
         let reap = !slot.opened_once;
         claim_instance()?;
@@ -519,35 +536,33 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
         slot.opened_once = true;
         self.watchdog_s.store(watchdog_s, Ordering::Relaxed);
         self.driver_proto.store(driver_proto, Ordering::Relaxed);
-        let raw = HANDLE(handle.as_raw_handle());
-        slot.current = Some(Arc::new(handle));
+        let dev = Arc::new(handle);
+        slot.current = Some(dev.clone());
         if !reap {
             tracing::info!("virtual-display control device reopened (retired handle replaced)");
         }
-        Ok(raw)
+        Ok(dev)
     }
 
-    /// The live control handle for the pinger/linger threads. `None` before the first acquire opened
-    /// it, or between a retire and the next reopen.
-    fn device_handle(&self) -> Option<HANDLE> {
-        self.device
-            .lock()
-            .unwrap()
-            .current
-            .as_ref()
-            .map(|d| HANDLE(d.as_raw_handle()))
+    /// The live control device for the pinger/linger threads — an `Arc` clone the caller holds
+    /// across its IOCTLs. `None` before the first acquire opened it, or between a retire and the
+    /// next reopen.
+    fn device_handle(&self) -> Option<Arc<OwnedHandle>> {
+        self.device.lock().unwrap().current.clone()
     }
 
-    /// Retire the cached control handle after a gone-classified IOCTL failure. The handle is retained
-    /// un-closed (see [`DeviceSlot`]); the next [`ensure_device`](Self::ensure_device) reopens the
-    /// (new) device interface and re-runs the version handshake.
+    /// Retire the cached control handle after a gone-classified IOCTL failure: drop the manager's
+    /// reference, so the handle CLOSES once the last in-flight user drains (see [`DeviceSlot`]) —
+    /// the release the wake-from-sleep recovery needs before it can cycle the adapter devnode. The
+    /// next [`ensure_device`](Self::ensure_device) reopens the (new) device interface and re-runs
+    /// the version handshake.
     fn invalidate_device(&self, why: &anyhow::Error) {
         let mut slot = self.device.lock().unwrap();
-        if let Some(cur) = slot.current.take() {
+        if slot.current.take().is_some() {
             tracing::warn!(
-                "virtual-display control device retired — reopening on next use (cause: {why:#})"
+                "virtual-display control device retired — closes when its last user drains, \
+                 reopening on next use (cause: {why:#})"
             );
-            slot.retired.push(cur);
         }
     }
 
@@ -620,11 +635,11 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                     old_target,
                     "IDD-push reconnect — preempting the kept (lingering/pinned) monitor, recreating a fresh one"
                 );
-                // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires `dev` to be a valid control handle; `dev` is the
-                // value `ensure_device()` returned above (cached handles are never closed — a dead one
-                // is retired, kept alive; see `DeviceSlot`). `mon` was just removed from the map, so it
+                // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires `dev` to be a valid control handle; the `dev`
+                // Arc `ensure_device()` returned above is held across this call, so the handle stays
+                // open even against a concurrent retire. `mon` was just removed from the map, so it
                 // is exclusively owned here — no aliasing.
-                unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev, &mut inner, mon) };
+                unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev_raw(&dev), &mut inner, mon) };
                 // Let the OS finish the ASYNC monitor departure before the next ADD; a back-to-back
                 // REMOVE→ADD races the teardown and the ADD IOCTL is rejected under reconnect churn.
                 // Verified-state wait, ceiling = the old fixed 400 ms settle (latency plan P0.3).
@@ -657,11 +672,11 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                     wudf_pid = mon.wudf_pid,
                     "virtual monitor's WUDFHost is gone — preempting the dead monitor, recreating"
                 );
-                // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires a valid control handle; `dev` is the value
-                // `ensure_device()` returned above (cached handles are never closed — a dead one is
-                // retired, kept alive; see `DeviceSlot`). `mon` was just removed from the map, so it
+                // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires a valid control handle; the `dev` Arc
+                // `ensure_device()` returned above is held across this call, so the handle stays
+                // open even against a concurrent retire. `mon` was just removed from the map, so it
                 // is exclusively owned here — no aliasing.
-                unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev, &mut inner, mon) };
+                unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev_raw(&dev), &mut inner, mon) };
                 // Same async-departure settle as the reconnect preempt above (verified wait, P0.3).
                 let _ = wait_target_departed(old_target, Duration::from_millis(400));
             }
@@ -693,9 +708,10 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                         else {
                             unreachable!("just matched Active");
                         };
-                        // SAFETY: `dev` is the handle `ensure_device()` returned above; the CCD
-                        // waits inside run under the held `state` lock (this fn's discipline).
-                        match unsafe { self.resize_in_place(dev, mon, mode) } {
+                        // SAFETY: the `dev` Arc `ensure_device()` returned above is held across
+                        // this call (so the handle stays open); the CCD waits inside run under
+                        // the held `state` lock (this fn's discipline).
+                        match unsafe { self.resize_in_place(dev_raw(&dev), mon, mode) } {
                             Ok(()) => {
                                 // Same join semantics as the re-arrival: +1 ref for the new
                                 // (build-then-drop overlap) lease; `gen` untouched, so the old
@@ -734,10 +750,11 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                 let Some(SlotState::Active { mon, refs }) = inner.slots.remove(&slot) else {
                     unreachable!("just matched Active");
                 };
-                // SAFETY: `dev` is the handle `ensure_device()` returned above; `re_add` touches the
-                // live topology under the held `state` lock. `mon` is owned here (removed from the map).
+                // SAFETY: the `dev` Arc `ensure_device()` returned above is held across this call
+                // (so the handle stays open); `re_add` touches the live topology under the held
+                // `state` lock. `mon` is owned here (removed from the map).
                 let new_mon = match unsafe {
-                    self.re_add(dev, &mut inner, slot, &mon, mode, client_hdr)
+                    self.re_add(dev_raw(&dev), &mut inner, slot, &mon, mode, client_hdr)
                 } {
                     ReAdd::Arrived(m) => *m,
                     ReAdd::RolledBack {
@@ -815,11 +832,11 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
         }
 
         // The slot is empty: create a fresh monitor for it.
-        // SAFETY: `create_monitor` requires `dev` to be a valid control handle; `dev` is the handle
-        // `ensure_device()` returned above (cached handles are never closed — a dead one is retired,
-        // kept alive; see `DeviceSlot`), and we hold the `state` lock.
+        // SAFETY: `create_monitor` requires `dev` to be a valid control handle; the `dev` Arc
+        // `ensure_device()` returned above is held across this call (so the handle stays open even
+        // against a concurrent retire), and we hold the `state` lock.
         let mon = match unsafe {
-            self.create_monitor(dev, mode, slot, client_hdr, hw_cursor, &mut inner)
+            self.create_monitor(dev_raw(&dev), mode, slot, client_hdr, hw_cursor, &mut inner)
         } {
             // The cached device died under us (driver upgrade / WUDFHost restart, detected only
             // now — e.g. the host sat idle past the pinger-less window). Retire it, reopen, and
@@ -831,9 +848,18 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                 tracing::info!(
                     "virtual-display control device reopened — retrying the monitor create"
                 );
-                // SAFETY: as above — `dev` is the handle the reopening `ensure_device` just
-                // returned, and the `state` lock is still held.
-                unsafe { self.create_monitor(dev, mode, slot, client_hdr, hw_cursor, &mut inner)? }
+                // SAFETY: as above — the `dev` Arc the reopening `ensure_device` just returned is
+                // held across this call, and the `state` lock is still held.
+                unsafe {
+                    self.create_monitor(
+                        dev_raw(&dev),
+                        mode,
+                        slot,
+                        client_hdr,
+                        hw_cursor,
+                        &mut inner,
+                    )?
+                }
             }
             r => r?,
         };
@@ -887,13 +913,12 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
             let mut warned = false;
             while !stop_t.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
                 if let Some(h) = vdm().device_handle() {
-                    // SAFETY: `ping` requires `dev` to be a valid control handle. `h` is from
-                    // `device_handle()` (the `Some` branch) — cached handles are NEVER closed for the
-                    // process lifetime (a dead one is retired, kept alive; see `DeviceSlot`), so the
-                    // handle stays valid for this call even if it was retired concurrently — at worst
-                    // the IOCTL fails. The pinger thread only spins while the `&'static` manager
-                    // singleton lives.
-                    match unsafe { vdm().driver.ping(h) } {
+                    // SAFETY: `ping` requires `dev` to be a valid control handle. The `h` Arc from
+                    // `device_handle()` is held across this call, so the handle stays open even if
+                    // it is retired concurrently — at worst the IOCTL fails (the retire drops only
+                    // the manager's reference; see `DeviceSlot`). The pinger thread only spins
+                    // while the `&'static` manager singleton lives.
+                    match unsafe { vdm().driver.ping(dev_raw(&h)) } {
                         Ok(()) => warned = false,
                         Err(e) if is_device_gone(&e) => {
                             // The device itself is gone (driver upgrade / WUDFHost restart) — pings
@@ -1897,12 +1922,11 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                         slot,
                         "virtual-display: last session left (deliberate quit) — tearing down now, linger skipped"
                     );
-                    // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires `dev` to be the live control handle; `dev`
-                    // is the cached process-lifetime `OwnedHandle` from `device_handle()` (the `Some`
-                    // checked above; cached handles are never closed — a dead one is retired, kept
-                    // alive). `mon` was moved out of the map under the `state` lock, so it is
-                    // exclusively owned here — no aliasing.
-                    unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev, &mut inner, mon) };
+                    // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires `dev` to be the live control handle; the
+                    // `dev` Arc from `device_handle()` (the `Some` checked above) is held across
+                    // this call, so the handle stays open. `mon` was moved out of the map under the
+                    // `state` lock, so it is exclusively owned here — no aliasing.
+                    unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev_raw(&dev), &mut inner, mon) };
                 }
                 None => {
                     inner.slots.insert(
@@ -1980,10 +2004,10 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                             "IDD-push setup: force-preempting the stuck-Active prior monitor (its IddCx swap-chain is dead)"
                         );
                         // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires `dev` to be the live control handle;
-                        // `dev` is the cached process-lifetime `OwnedHandle` from `device_handle()`
-                        // (the `Some` checked above). `mon` was moved out of the map under the
-                        // `state` lock, so it is exclusively owned here — no aliasing.
-                        unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev, &mut inner, mon) };
+                        // the `dev` Arc from `device_handle()` (the `Some` checked above) is held
+                        // across this call, so the handle stays open. `mon` was moved out of the
+                        // map under the `state` lock, so it is exclusively owned here — no aliasing.
+                        unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev_raw(&dev), &mut inner, mon) };
                         // Let the OS finish the ASYNC departure before the next ADD (mirrors the
                         // acquire() Lingering-preempt settle).
                         thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(400));
@@ -2051,11 +2075,12 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                             // its session. Lock order stays state → device (teardown's invalidate
                             // path), same as every other holder; the pinger takes only the device
                             // lock — no inversion.
-                            // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires a valid control handle; `dev` is
-                            // from `self.device_handle()` (cached handles are never closed — a dead
-                            // one is retired, kept alive; see `DeviceSlot`). `mon` was moved out of
-                            // the map under the lock, so it is exclusively owned here.
-                            unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev, &mut g, mon) };
+                            // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` requires a valid control handle; the `dev`
+                            // Arc from `self.device_handle()` is held across this call, so the
+                            // handle stays open (a concurrent retire drops only the manager's
+                            // reference; see `DeviceSlot`). `mon` was moved out of the map under
+                            // the lock, so it is exclusively owned here.
+                            unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev_raw(&dev), &mut g, mon) };
                         }
                     }
                 })
@@ -2218,11 +2243,11 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
             if let Some(SlotState::Lingering { mon, .. } | SlotState::Pinned { mon }) =
                 inner.slots.remove(&k)
             {
-                // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` needs a live control handle; `dev` is from
-                // `device_handle()` (cached handles are never closed — a dead one is retired, kept
-                // alive; see `DeviceSlot`). `mon` was moved out of the map under the `state` lock,
-                // so it is exclusively owned here — no aliasing.
-                unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev, &mut inner, mon) };
+                // SAFETY: `teardown_removed` needs a live control handle; the `dev` Arc from
+                // `device_handle()` is held across this call, so the handle stays open (see
+                // `DeviceSlot`). `mon` was moved out of the map under the `state` lock, so it is
+                // exclusively owned here — no aliasing.
+                unsafe { self.teardown_removed(dev_raw(&dev), &mut inner, mon) };
                 released += 1;
             }
         }

crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/windows/pf_vdisplay.rs

@@ -100,14 +100,27 @@ unsafe fn ioctl(h: HANDLE, code: u32, input: &[u8], output: &mut [u8]) -> Result
 /// `reset-pf-vdisplay.ps1` step 2 (proven on-box). Best-effort + idempotent: only NOT-present nodes
 /// (`Status != OK`) are removed, so the LIVE session's monitor (`Status OK`) is never touched; any
 /// failure is logged and swallowed. Returns the number removed.
+///
+/// The outcome is logged UNCONDITIONALLY, as found + removed: the old script counted only removals
+/// and the host spoke only when that count was positive, so a reap whose pnputil never launched and
+/// a box with no ghosts produced byte-identical logs (silence) — the same vacuous-signal family as
+/// the `status=OK` trap [`reload_vdisplay_adapter`] answers — while ghosts ratcheted toward the
+/// wedge with every sleep cycle.
 fn reap_ghost_monitors() -> u32 {
     // Mirrors reset-pf-vdisplay.ps1 step 2. powershell is always present for the SYSTEM service; the
     // matched tokens ('OK', 'punktfunk', the InstanceId) are locale-invariant, so this is safe on a
     // non-English box (unlike a .ps1 *file* read in the machine codepage).
+    //
+    // pnputil is resolved by full path and `$LASTEXITCODE` pre-seeded to failure before every
+    // launch, exactly like the reload path below: a LocalSystem service's PATH need not include
+    // System32 (and a SYSTEM process must not trust PATH anyway — a planted `pnputil.exe` would run
+    // elevated), and the old bare-name call failed INVISIBLY there — `SilentlyContinue` swallowed
+    // the miss, no exit code was written, and the ghosts stayed to wedge `IOCTL_ADD` at 0x80070490.
     const REAP_PS: &str = "$ErrorActionPreference='SilentlyContinue'; \
-        $g = Get-PnpDevice -Class Monitor | Where-Object { $_.Status -ne 'OK' -and $_.FriendlyName -match 'punktfunk' }; \
-        $n = 0; foreach ($d in $g) { pnputil /remove-device $d.InstanceId *> $null; if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) { $n++ } }; \
-        Write-Output $n";
+        $g = @(Get-PnpDevice -Class Monitor | Where-Object { $_.Status -ne 'OK' -and $_.FriendlyName -match 'punktfunk' }); \
+        $pnp = ($env:SystemRoot + '\\System32\\pnputil.exe'); \
+        $n = 0; foreach ($d in $g) { $LASTEXITCODE = 1; if (Test-Path $pnp) { & $pnp /remove-device $d.InstanceId *> $null }; if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) { $n++ } }; \
+        Write-Output ($g.Count.ToString() + ' ' + $n)";
     // Resolve powershell by full path — the LocalSystem service's PATH is not guaranteed to include
     // System32 — with a bare-name fallback.
     let ps = std::env::var("SystemRoot")
@@ -125,17 +138,29 @@ fn reap_ghost_monitors() -> u32 {
         .output()
     {
         Ok(o) => {
-            let n = String::from_utf8_lossy(&o.stdout)
-                .trim()
-                .parse::<u32>()
-                .unwrap_or(0);
-            if n > 0 {
+            let raw = String::from_utf8_lossy(&o.stdout);
+            let Some((found, removed)) = parse_reap_output(&raw) else {
                 tracing::warn!(
-                    reaped = n,
+                    output = %raw.trim(),
+                    "pf-vdisplay: ghost-monitor reap died before reporting — ghost nodes (if any) still pin IddCx monitor slots"
+                );
+                return 0;
+            };
+            if found == 0 {
+                tracing::info!("pf-vdisplay: no ghost (not-present) virtual-monitor nodes to reap");
+            } else if removed < found {
+                tracing::warn!(
+                    found,
+                    removed,
+                    "pf-vdisplay: ghost-monitor reap could NOT remove every ghost node — the leftovers keep pinning IddCx monitor slots toward the 0x80070490 wedge"
+                );
+            } else {
+                tracing::warn!(
+                    reaped = removed,
                     "pf-vdisplay: reaped ghost (not-present) virtual-monitor nodes — IddCx slot-exhaustion prevention"
                 );
             }
-            n
+            removed
         }
         Err(e) => {
             tracing::warn!(error = %e, "pf-vdisplay: ghost-monitor reap could not spawn powershell");
@@ -144,6 +169,18 @@ fn reap_ghost_monitors() -> u32 {
     }
 }
 
+/// Parse [`reap_ghost_monitors`]'s script output — `"<found> <removed>"`. Split out to be testable
+/// without a box, like [`classify_reload_output`]: the field failure this answers was a reap whose
+/// outcome could not be decoded from the log at all, so the decoding is worth pinning down. `None`
+/// = the script died before reporting (callers treat that as "removed nothing", loudly).
+fn parse_reap_output(out: &str) -> Option<(u32, u32)> {
+    let mut it = out.split_whitespace().map(str::parse::<u32>);
+    match (it.next(), it.next()) {
+        (Some(Ok(found)), Some(Ok(removed))) => Some((found, removed)),
+        _ => None,
+    }
+}
+
 /// What an adapter-cycle attempt actually DID — deliberately NOT the devnode's PnP status afterwards.
 /// The old script reported that status, and a device it had failed to touch at all still reads `OK`,
 /// so a no-op cycle was indistinguishable from a real one in the log (field report 2026-08-02: a
@@ -178,6 +215,14 @@ fn reload_vdisplay_adapter() -> AdapterCycle {
     // device description — locale-invariant). Same spawn shape as `reap_ghost_monitors` above; the
     // reported tokens are ours, so parsing them is locale-invariant too.
     //
+    // The selector prefers LIVE devnodes: `Get-PnpDevice` also lists not-present PHANTOMS (an
+    // upgrade/reinstall leftover), and the old `Select-Object -First 1` could hand every recovery
+    // attempt a phantom — whose disable AND restart both fail — while a live node sat unexamined.
+    // A phantom-only state gets its own truthful refusal: no reload lever can revive a devnode
+    // record whose device is GONE; only re-creating the node (reinstall) can. `Present` is the
+    // authoritative bit, with `Status -ne 'Unknown'` as the fallback should it read null; live
+    // `OK` nodes sort ahead of problem-state ones.
+    //
     // Every step that can fail is `-ErrorAction Stop` inside a `try` — the old script ran the whole
     // cycle under `SilentlyContinue` and then reported `(Get-PnpDevice …).Status`, which reports the
     // DEVICE, not the cycle: a disable that was refused left the device untouched, started, and
@@ -188,10 +233,19 @@ fn reload_vdisplay_adapter() -> AdapterCycle {
     // let "never ran" read as "returned 0". Pre-seeding a failure means only a real exit 0 reports a
     // reload. pnputil is resolved by full path — a LocalSystem service's PATH need not include
     // System32.
+    //
+    // The REFUSED line carries the evidence a field log needs to tell the failure modes apart
+    // (2026-08-08: a woken box logged only `REFUSED Generic failure` — the WMI catch-all — leaving
+    // handle-veto vs phantom vs problem-state undecidable): how many devnodes matched and how many
+    // are live, the chosen node's PnP Status + ConfigManager problem code, and the pnputil
+    // /restart-device exit code the old script threw away (3010 = needs a reboot, which is its own
+    // diagnosis).
     const CYCLE_PS: &str = "$ErrorActionPreference='SilentlyContinue'; \
-        $ad = Get-PnpDevice -Class Display | Where-Object { $_.FriendlyName -match 'punktfunk Virtual Display' } | Select-Object -First 1; \
-        if (-not $ad) { Write-Output 'ABSENT'; exit }; \
-        $id = $ad.InstanceId; $err = ''; \
+        $all = @(Get-PnpDevice -Class Display | Where-Object { $_.FriendlyName -match 'punktfunk Virtual Display' }); \
+        if ($all.Count -eq 0) { Write-Output 'ABSENT'; exit }; \
+        $live = @($all | Where-Object { $_.Present -or $_.Status -ne 'Unknown' } | Sort-Object { $_.Status -ne 'OK' }); \
+        if ($live.Count -eq 0) { Write-Output ('REFUSED only phantom (not-present) adapter devnodes remain (' + $all.Count + ') - the device node itself is gone and no reload can revive it; reinstalling the host re-creates it'); exit }; \
+        $ad = $live[0]; $id = $ad.InstanceId; $err = ''; \
         try { \
             Disable-PnpDevice -InstanceId $id -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction Stop; Start-Sleep -Seconds 2; \
             try { Enable-PnpDevice -InstanceId $id -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction Stop } \
@@ -201,9 +255,11 @@ fn reload_vdisplay_adapter() -> AdapterCycle {
         } catch { $err = ($_.Exception.Message -replace '\\s+', ' ') }; \
         $pnp = ($env:SystemRoot + '\\System32\\pnputil.exe'); $LASTEXITCODE = 1; \
         if (Test-Path $pnp) { & $pnp /restart-device $id *> $null }; \
-        if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) { Start-Sleep -Seconds 2; \
+        $rx = $LASTEXITCODE; \
+        if ($rx -eq 0) { Start-Sleep -Seconds 2; \
             Write-Output ('RELOADED restart ' + (Get-PnpDevice -InstanceId $id).Status) } \
-        else { Enable-PnpDevice -InstanceId $id -Confirm:$false; Write-Output ('REFUSED ' + $err) }";
+        else { Enable-PnpDevice -InstanceId $id -Confirm:$false; \
+            Write-Output ('REFUSED devnodes=' + $all.Count + ' live=' + $live.Count + ' status=' + $ad.Status + ' problem=' + $ad.ConfigManagerErrorCode + ' restart_exit=' + $rx + ' ' + $err) }";
     let ps = std::env::var("SystemRoot")
         .map(|r| format!(r"{r}\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"))
         .unwrap_or_else(|_| "powershell.exe".to_string());
@@ -1050,10 +1106,12 @@ const BRIEF_RETRY: Duration = Duration::from_secs(3);
 /// them rather than N interleaved ones — each of which tears down the stack the others are waiting
 /// on. The second caller through typically finds the interface already up and returns at once.
 ///
-/// Taken ONLY by [`ensure_available`], which holds no manager lock, and released before the retire
-/// hook below takes the manager's `device` mutex. That is what keeps the lock order one-way:
-/// [`VdisplayDriver::open`] runs *inside* that same `device` mutex, so if it could also take this
-/// lock the two orders would invert and deadlock. It cannot — it never reloads.
+/// Taken ONLY by [`ensure_available`], which holds no manager lock. The lock order is one-way —
+/// `RECOVERY` → `device`: the recovery's handle-release hooks (`invalidate_cached_device`, which
+/// drops the manager's reference so the control handle can CLOSE before the PnP cycle) take the
+/// `device` mutex while this is held. It must stay one-way: [`VdisplayDriver::open`] runs *inside*
+/// that same `device` mutex, so if it could also take this lock the two orders would invert and
+/// deadlock. It cannot — it never reloads.
 static RECOVERY: std::sync::Mutex<()> = std::sync::Mutex::new(());
 
 /// [`is_available`], with self-heal — and with PATIENCE, which is the part that matters after a
@@ -1069,10 +1127,11 @@ pub fn ensure_available() -> Result<()> {
         let _serialize = RECOVERY.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
         wait_for_interface(NOT_READY_GRACE, true)
     };
-    // OUTSIDE the recovery lock, by the ordering contract on `RECOVERY`. A reload tore the driver
-    // stack down and back up, so any control handle a previous session cached is dead by
-    // construction — retire it while we know that for certain, rather than leaving the next session
-    // to discover it by having an IOCTL fail. No-op before any backend opened the device.
+    // A reload tore the driver stack down and back up, so any control handle cached MEANWHILE (a
+    // racing open during the arrival window) is dead by construction — retire it while we know
+    // that for certain, rather than leaving the next session to discover it by having an IOCTL
+    // fail. Usually a no-op now: the recovery path already released the manager's reference
+    // before the reload (the handle-drain that lets the PnP cycle proceed at all).
     if reloaded {
         super::manager::invalidate_cached_device(
             "the pf-vdisplay adapter was reloaded (hostless-zombie recovery)",
@@ -1119,12 +1178,33 @@ fn wait_for_interface(not_ready_grace: Duration, reload: bool) -> (Result<OwnedH
         // Track how long we have seen NOTHING. Reset by any sighting, so a device that flickers
         // between absent and not-ready is treated as the transition it is.
         if probe.is_absent() {
+            if absent_since.is_none() && reload {
+                // First absent sighting on the recovery path: drop the manager's reference to the
+                // (dead) control device NOW, so the ABSENT_SETTLE below doubles as the drain window
+                // for every outstanding `Arc` clone — the handle then actually CLOSES before the
+                // reload runs. An open control handle is exactly what vetoes the PnP disable (and
+                // can wedge the pnputil restart) that the reload leans on; reset-pf-vdisplay.ps1
+                // stops the whole host service to get the same release (field 2026-08-08: every
+                // reload on a woken box came back REFUSED `Generic failure`). Gated on `reload`:
+                // the BRIEF_RETRY caller runs inside the manager's `device` mutex, where taking it
+                // again would deadlock — and that caller never reloads anyway.
+                super::manager::invalidate_cached_device(
+                    "control interface absent — releasing the host's own device handle ahead of a \
+                     possible adapter reload",
+                );
+            }
             absent_since.get_or_insert_with(Instant::now);
         } else {
             absent_since = None;
         }
         let absent_long_enough = absent_since.is_some_and(|t| t.elapsed() >= ABSENT_SETTLE);
         if reload && !reloaded && (absent_long_enough || Instant::now() >= deadline) {
+            // The not-ready path reaches here without the absent-sighting release above — drop the
+            // manager's reference now for the same reason (idempotent: a second call is a no-op).
+            super::manager::invalidate_cached_device(
+                "adapter reload imminent — releasing the host's own device handle (open handles \
+                 veto the PnP cycle)",
+            );
             match reload_vdisplay_adapter() {
                 // No devnode at all — waiting cannot conjure a driver. Fail immediately rather than
                 // burning the arrival window on a box that simply does not have it installed.
@@ -1195,6 +1275,32 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    /// A refusal must carry evidence, not just a verdict. The 2026-08-08 field log showed only
+    /// `REFUSED Generic failure` — the WMI catch-all — leaving handle-veto vs phantom vs
+    /// problem-state undecidable from the log. The enriched line's tokens (devnode counts, PnP
+    /// status, problem code, the pnputil restart exit code the old script discarded) must survive
+    /// decoding verbatim, and the phantom-only state must decode as a refusal too — a reload
+    /// cannot revive a devnode record whose device is gone.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_refusal_keeps_its_evidence() {
+        let why = match classify_reload_output(
+            "REFUSED devnodes=2 live=1 status=OK problem=0 restart_exit=3010 Generic failure",
+        ) {
+            AdapterCycle::Refused(why) => why,
+            other => panic!("expected Refused, got {}", variant(&other)),
+        };
+        for token in ["devnodes=2", "live=1", "status=OK", "restart_exit=3010"] {
+            assert!(why.contains(token), "{token} must survive: {why:?}");
+        }
+        assert!(matches!(
+            classify_reload_output(
+                "REFUSED only phantom (not-present) adapter devnodes remain (2) - the device node \
+                 itself is gone and no reload can revive it; reinstalling the host re-creates it"
+            ),
+            AdapterCycle::Refused(why) if why.contains("phantom")
+        ));
+    }
+
     /// The outcomes callers branch on: `NotInstalled` fails a session fast, `Reloaded` earns the
     /// arrival window, and the lever that worked stays visible in the log (`restart` means the
     /// disable was refused and something still holds the device open).
@@ -1226,6 +1332,29 @@ mod tests {
         ));
     }
 
+    /// The reap's outcome must decode losslessly — the field ratchet (0.23→0.25) was a reap whose
+    /// bare-named pnputil never launched under the LocalSystem PATH while the host stayed silent:
+    /// "no ghosts" and "removed nothing" were byte-identical. Found and removed now travel
+    /// separately so a leftover ghost is loud, and the old single-number output (or a powershell
+    /// that died before reporting) must not decode as anything.
+    #[test]
+    fn reap_output_decodes_found_and_removed() {
+        assert_eq!(parse_reap_output("3 3\r\n"), Some((3, 3)));
+        assert_eq!(
+            parse_reap_output("4 0"),
+            Some((4, 0)),
+            "pnputil unlaunchable"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(parse_reap_output("0 0"), Some((0, 0)), "clean box");
+        for dead in ["5", "", "   ", "garbage", "OK"] {
+            assert_eq!(
+                parse_reap_output(dead),
+                None,
+                "{dead:?} is not a reap report"
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
     /// `is_absent` is what decides between WAITING and performing device surgery, so the two states
     /// it separates are pinned here. An interface that is registered but not yet ACTIVE is a devnode
     /// mid-transition — the wake-from-sleep case — and reloading the adapter under it only lengthens

crates/punktfunk-host/src/capture.rs

@@ -194,27 +194,29 @@ pub fn capture_virtual_output(
     crate::inject::set_stream_target(Some(target.target_id));
     let pref = vout.preferred_mode;
     let keep = vout.keepalive;
-    // The sealed-channel delivery seam: resolve the pf-vdisplay control device ONCE (it is
-    // process-global — a dead one is retired, kept alive — so the raw value is stable for the
-    // process) and wrap `send_frame_channel` in a `Send + Sync` closure the IDD-push capturer calls
-    // at ring attach. This is the ONE reach into `crate::vdisplay` the capturer would otherwise make;
-    // building it here keeps the capture→vdisplay dependency out of pf-capture (plan §W6).
+    // The sealed-channel delivery seam: resolve the pf-vdisplay control device ONCE and wrap
+    // `send_frame_channel` in a `Send + Sync` closure the IDD-push capturer calls at ring attach.
+    // This is the ONE reach into `crate::vdisplay` the capturer would otherwise make; building it
+    // here keeps the capture→vdisplay dependency out of pf-capture (plan §W6).
     let control = crate::vdisplay::manager::control_device_handle().ok_or_else(|| {
         anyhow::anyhow!(
             "pf-vdisplay control device not open (monitor not created via the manager?)"
         )
     })?;
-    // `HANDLE` is not `Send`; capture the raw value and rebuild it inside the closure (the control
-    // device is never closed for the process lifetime, so the value stays valid).
-    let control_raw = control.0 as isize;
+    // Each closure keeps its own `Arc<OwnedHandle>` clone (`Send + Sync`), so the handle is open
+    // for exactly as long as any delivery closure lives — and CLOSES once the manager retires it
+    // and the last session drops, which is what lets the wake-from-sleep recovery's PnP device
+    // cycle proceed (an open control handle vetoes it).
+    let control_frame = control.clone();
     let sender: pf_capture::FrameChannelSender = std::sync::Arc::new(
         move |req: &pf_driver_proto::control::SetFrameChannelRequest| {
-            // SAFETY: `control_raw` is the pf-vdisplay control handle resolved above; it is never
-            // closed for the process lifetime, so reconstructing the `HANDLE` and issuing the
-            // `IOCTL_SET_FRAME_CHANNEL` is sound (`send_frame_channel`'s precondition).
+            // SAFETY: the captured `control_frame` Arc keeps the control handle open across this
+            // call — `send_frame_channel`'s precondition.
             unsafe {
                 crate::vdisplay::driver::send_frame_channel(
-                    windows::Win32::Foundation::HANDLE(control_raw as *mut core::ffi::c_void),
+                    windows::Win32::Foundation::HANDLE(
+                        std::os::windows::io::AsRawHandle::as_raw_handle(&*control_frame),
+                    ),
                     req,
                 )
             }
@@ -231,14 +233,17 @@ pub fn capture_virtual_output(
     // Cursor-forward sessions (M2c): hand the capturer the v5 cursor-channel delivery closure —
     // its presence opts the session in (the capturer creates + delivers the CursorShm section,
     // the driver declares the IddCx hardware cursor). Built exactly like `sender` above.
+    let control_cursor = control.clone();
     let cursor_sender: Option<pf_capture::CursorChannelSender> = want.hw_cursor.then(|| {
         std::sync::Arc::new(
             move |req: &pf_driver_proto::control::SetCursorChannelRequest| {
-                // SAFETY: `control_raw` is the pf-vdisplay control handle resolved above; it is
-                // never closed for the process lifetime (`send_cursor_channel`'s precondition).
+                // SAFETY: the captured `control_cursor` Arc keeps the control handle open across
+                // this call (`send_cursor_channel`'s precondition).
                 unsafe {
                     crate::vdisplay::driver::send_cursor_channel(
-                        windows::Win32::Foundation::HANDLE(control_raw as *mut core::ffi::c_void),
+                        windows::Win32::Foundation::HANDLE(
+                            std::os::windows::io::AsRawHandle::as_raw_handle(&*control_cursor),
+                        ),
                         req,
                     )
                 }
@@ -261,11 +266,13 @@ pub fn capture_virtual_output(
                 target_id,
                 enable: enable as u32,
             };
-            // SAFETY: `control_raw` is the pf-vdisplay control handle resolved above; it is
-            // never closed for the process lifetime (`send_cursor_forward`'s precondition).
+            // SAFETY: the captured `control` Arc keeps the control handle open across this call
+            // (`send_cursor_forward`'s precondition).
             unsafe {
                 crate::vdisplay::driver::send_cursor_forward(
-                    windows::Win32::Foundation::HANDLE(control_raw as *mut core::ffi::c_void),
+                    windows::Win32::Foundation::HANDLE(
+                        std::os::windows::io::AsRawHandle::as_raw_handle(&*control),
+                    ),
                     &req,
                 )?;
             }

docs-site/content/docs/client-settings.md

@@ -96,11 +96,12 @@ those hiccups out, at that buffer's worth of added delay. Linux and Windows apps
 home; the Apple and Android apps have carried the same setting for a while, and it is stored
 under the same name, so a [profile](/docs/profiles-and-links) means the same thing on every device.
 
-**Smoothness buffer** — *default: Automatic (two frames).* Only shown under **Smoothness**. How
-many frames are held back before showing. Each frame absorbs roughly one screen refresh of network
-hiccup and costs one refresh of delay — so on a 120 Hz screen, two frames is about 17 ms of extra
-delay bought against 17 ms of jitter. If you never see stutter, you don't need this. Wherever
-**Prioritize** is offered, and greyed out until you pick Smoothness.
+**Smoothness buffer** — *default: Automatic (two frames).* How many frames are held back before
+showing. Each frame absorbs roughly one screen refresh of network hiccup and costs one refresh of
+delay — so on a 120 Hz screen, two frames is about 17 ms of extra delay bought against 17 ms of
+jitter. If you never see stutter, you don't need this. The row appears wherever **Prioritize** is
+offered, and only once you have picked **Smoothness** — under Lowest latency there are no held
+frames for it to count, so it isn't shown at all.
 
 **V-Sync** — *default: on.* Tear-free presentation. Turning it off asks the GPU to show each frame
 the instant it's ready instead of waiting for the screen's next refresh: the lowest delay a display
@@ -263,6 +264,43 @@ when you return to the host list. The console home carries the row for the deskt
 shares the store — a Gaming-Mode launch is fullscreen whatever it says. iPhone, iPad, Apple TV
 and Android have no equivalent.
 
+## Interface
+
+These change how the client itself looks and behaves. None of them touches a stream, so none of them
+can live in a [profile](/docs/profiles-and-links) — they are decisions about the device in front of
+you.
+
+**Gamepad-optimized browsing** — *default: on.* Swaps the touch or desktop home for the
+controller-optimized one: the host carousel, larger focus targets, a swipeable cover browser, and
+settings you can step with a thumbstick. The Apple and Android apps have this switch. Turn it off to
+stay in the touch interface even with a pad in your hands. On Linux, Windows and the Steam Deck the
+controller-optimized home is a separate entry point rather than a switch, so there is nothing to
+turn off. An Android TV is always in this mode — its remote is the only input it has.
+
+**Show it** — *default: With a controller.* Only shown while the switch above is on, and it decides
+*when* that switch takes effect. **With a controller** is the long-standing behaviour: the
+controller-optimized home appears as a pad connects and the touch interface returns when the last one
+disconnects. **Always** keeps the controller-optimized home either way — for a phone or tablet that
+lives docked to a TV, where the pad isn't always awake but the couch layout is always the one you
+want. Apple and Android. (An Android TV is in that mode regardless, so the choice changes nothing
+there.)
+
+**Background** — *default: Violet.* The colour family the controller-optimized home's living backdrop
+drifts through. Thirteen of them: seven dark fields — **Violet**, **OLED**, **Nebula**, **Abyss**,
+**Ember**, **Moss**, **Graphite** — then six pale ones, **Holo**, **Sunset**, **Bloom**, **Dawn**,
+**Mint** and **Opal**, which flip the whole interface to dark text on a light field. The backdrop
+recolours as you step the row, so pick by looking. **OLED** is the one with a practical point rather
+than a decorative one: it is true black — most of the frame is pixels switched off, which on an OLED
+or AMOLED panel means no glow and no power drawn, with only a faint violet ember left in one corner.
+Stored under the same name on every client, so a phone, a Deck and a desktop set to Mint all look
+alike. Appearance only — nothing about a stream depends on it.
+
+The row lives in the controller-optimized settings themselves — the screen you reach with **X** from
+the controller-optimized home — on every platform that has one, which includes the Steam Deck and the
+Linux and Windows console home. The Apple TV is the exception: it carries **Background** in its
+ordinary Settings instead, next to **Show it**, because its controller-optimized home needs a real
+controller to open and the palettes would otherwise be unreachable from the Siri Remote.
+
 ## Overlay
 
 **Statistics overlay** — *default: Normal.* Four tiers — Off, Compact, Normal, Detailed — each a
@@ -292,6 +330,10 @@ stay global and **cannot be put in a settings profile**:
   profile forwards.
 - **Auto-wake on connect** and **Show game library** — decisions about this device and this network,
   not about how a given host is streamed.
+- Everything under **Interface** — **Gamepad-optimized browsing**, **Show it** and **Background**.
+  How this client looks and which layout it wears has nothing to do with how a host streams to it,
+  so binding them to a host would only make the same device change appearance depending on what it
+  connected to.
 
 One switch you might expect here isn't in Settings at all: **Share clipboard** lives in a saved
 host's own edit sheet, because handing a machine your clipboard is a decision about that one host —

docs-site/content/docs/configuration.md

@@ -134,7 +134,8 @@ See your desktop page ([KDE](/docs/kde), [GNOME](/docs/gnome)) for when to set t
 | `PUNKTFUNK_PYROWAVE_MAX_MBPS` | `N` (Mbps) | Cap the [PyroWave](/docs/pyrowave) Automatic bitrate pin, for a host on a link that the open-loop pin can outrun (e.g. 4:4:4 + HDR at 5120×1440@240 pins ~5.3 Gbps, over a 5GbE link). Unset = no cap. Only affects Automatic (bitrate `0`) PyroWave sessions; an explicit client bitrate bypasses it. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_DSCP` | `1` | Opt-in DSCP / `SO_PRIORITY` QoS tagging on the media sockets. No-op on the wire on Windows without a qWAVE policy. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_OH264_THREADS` / `PUNKTFUNK_OH264_GOP` | `N` | Software (openh264) encoder tuning: encode threads (default 2 — latency over throughput) and GOP length in frames (unset = about ten minutes' worth, `fps × 600`; set `0` for encoder-auto). Only relevant with `PUNKTFUNK_ENCODER=software`. |
-| `PUNKTFUNK_MAX_FPS` | `N` (fps) *(default: no limit)* | **Frame limiter for the game** — how fast the compositor lets it render. It does *not* cap the stream: the client still negotiates and receives its full rate, because the encode loop re-encodes the held frame whenever the compositor produced no new one (an almost-empty P-frame). A 60-capped game on a 120 Hz session still sends 120 frames a second, and the GPU time the game gives up goes to capture and encode instead — and to heat and battery on a laptop or handheld. **gamescope only today**: it takes this as `--nested-refresh`, the rate it clamps the game to; that is the nested output's rate, so everything gamescope composites moves at it. Other compositors have no equivalent lever and ignore it. |
+| `PUNKTFUNK_MAX_FPS` | `N` (fps) *(default: no limit)* | **Frame limiter for the game** — how fast the compositor lets it render. It does *not* cap the stream: the client still negotiates and receives its full rate, because the encode loop re-encodes the held frame whenever the compositor produced no new one (an almost-empty P-frame). A 60-capped game on a 120 Hz session still sends 120 frames a second, and the GPU time the game gives up goes to capture and encode instead — and to heat and battery on a laptop or handheld. **gamescope only today**: it takes this as `--nested-refresh`, the rate it clamps the game to; that is the nested output's rate, so everything gamescope composites moves at it. Other compositors have no equivalent lever and ignore it. ⚠️ On gamescope that one number is also the refresh the session **reports**: Steam's in-session display settings and every game will read the display as `N` Hz, and a game that paces itself to the display will hold itself there. If you want a quieter box without games believing the panel changed, cap the client's requested refresh instead. |
+| `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_REFRESH_RATES` | e.g. `60,90,120` *(default: just the session's own rate)* | Extra refresh rates a gamescope session **offers** in its in-session display settings. A headless gamescope has no EDID, so it cannot work out what else the display could run at — without this it advertises exactly one rate and Steam's refresh menu has a single entry. The rate the session actually runs at is always included, so this can only add options. Needs the `punktfunk-gamescope` build (`+pfhdr3`); ignored on a stock gamescope, which has no flag to take it. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_VDISPLAY_HZ_MULT` | `1`–`4` *(default `1` = off)* | Run the **virtual display** at a multiple of the session's frame rate without sending a single extra frame. A compositor paints on its own vblank, so a frame finished just after the capture sampled waits nearly a whole interval to be picked up — the jittery part of the latency budget. At `2` that worst case halves. Costs the compositor and GPU the extra composites, so it's opt-in. If the backend won't give the multiplied rate it reports what it achieved and the stream paces to that. |
 
 ## Gamepads

docs-site/content/docs/gamescope.md

@@ -161,6 +161,9 @@ To stream real HDR you need `punktfunk-gamescope`: gamescope plus a small patch
 own name and does **not** replace your system gamescope — your Gaming Mode keeps using that one.
 
 - **Bazzite / Fedora Atomic** — included in the Punktfunk sysext; `punktfunk-sysext update` gets it.
+- **Fedora, Nobara and other RPM boxes** — `sudo dnf install punktfunk-gamescope` from the same
+  Punktfunk repo the host comes from.
+- **Debian / Ubuntu** — `sudo apt install punktfunk-gamescope` from the Punktfunk apt repo.
 - **Arch** — the `punktfunk-gamescope` package.
 - **SteamOS (Steam Deck installer)** — built and wired automatically by
   `scripts/steamdeck/install.sh` / `update.sh`.
@@ -200,6 +203,22 @@ These apply to the **Gaming Mode (gamescope)** path only; the desktop path is un
   capture node, so the overlay is missing from an otherwise perfect picture. Either case is logged
   at startup with the version found. Bazzite's and SteamOS's current gamescope is past both; this
   only bites if you've pinned an old one.
+- **On a stock gamescope, Gaming Mode reports the wrong refresh rate — and offers no resolutions.**
+  A headless gamescope has no EDID, and upstream's headless connector advertises no display modes
+  and no refresh rates at all. Steam's in-session display settings then show a single refresh entry
+  and an empty resolution list, and that one entry is whatever the session was launched with — or
+  **60 Hz** if the launch flag went missing. Games that pace themselves to the display will hold
+  themselves there, even though the stream is running at your client's full rate (the client's own
+  fps counter keeps reading correctly, because the encoder repeats held frames — so the counter is
+  not the thing to trust here; an in-game fps readout is). `punktfunk-gamescope` publishes the real
+  mode and rate, and `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_REFRESH_RATES=60,90,120` puts more than one entry in that
+  menu. If the host log says *"the session did not start at the mode we asked for"*, a file in
+  `/etc/gamescope-session-plus/sessions.d/` is overriding `GAMESCOPE_BIN` or setting `GAMESCOPECMD`.
+- **The performance overlay (fps / frametime / stats) needs the patched build.** It is mangoapp,
+  which gamescope draws as an *external overlay* — a layer upstream's capture composite has never
+  included on any version, so on a stock gamescope you can turn the overlay on and it simply will
+  not appear in the stream. There is no host-side substitute: the host cannot reconstruct another
+  process's overlay window. `punktfunk-gamescope` paints it into the capture stream.
 - **The cursor comes from the compositor when it can, and from the host otherwise.** A stock
   gamescope leaves the pointer out of its captured image, so the host reads it separately and draws
   it into every frame — a full pass over the picture, and the fastest encode source cannot blend at

packaging/debian/build-gamescope-deb.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Package an already-built punktfunk-gamescope binary as a .deb, for the Gitea apt registry.
+#
+# Counterpart to ../gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh, and the same argument: the binary is a
+# ~10-minute meson build of an unrelated tree that CI does once and caches, so this repacks rather
+# than rebuilds. The Arch package (../gamescope/PKGBUILD) is the one recipe that builds from source,
+# because that is what makepkg is for.
+#
+# Installed as /usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope — it does NOT replace the distro's gamescope, and does
+# not Provide/Conflict with it. Only the sessions punktfunk-host starts itself resolve this binary
+# (PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_BIN > punktfunk-gamescope > gamescope).
+#
+# Usage:
+#   VERSION=3.16.25.pfhdr4~ci42.gdeadbee bash packaging/debian/build-gamescope-deb.sh \
+#     --binary gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope [--arch amd64]
+# Output: dist/punktfunk-gamescope_<version>_<arch>.deb
+set -euo pipefail
+
+BINARY=""
+DEB_ARCH=""
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+  case "$1" in
+    --binary) BINARY="${2:?--binary needs a path}"; shift 2 ;;
+    --arch)   DEB_ARCH="${2:?--arch needs a value}"; shift 2 ;;
+    *) echo "unknown argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+[ -n "$BINARY" ] || { echo "ERROR: --binary is required" >&2; exit 2; }
+[ -x "$BINARY" ] || { echo "ERROR: $BINARY is not an executable file" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+PKG="punktfunk-gamescope"
+ROOTDIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.." && pwd)"
+cd "$ROOTDIR"
+
+DEB_ARCH="${DEB_ARCH:-$(dpkg --print-architecture)}"
+
+# The marker is the host's whole capability probe: a binary that lost the patches installs fine and
+# then silently streams SDR, cursorless, at a 60 Hz-advertising session. Refuse to package it.
+BANNER="$("$BINARY" --version 2>&1 | head -1)"
+case "$BANNER" in
+  *'+pfhdr'*) ;;
+  *) echo "ERROR: $BINARY has no +pfhdr marker — it is not a punktfunk gamescope build" >&2
+     echo "       banner: $BANNER" >&2
+     exit 1 ;;
+esac
+
+# Derive the version from the binary when the caller did not pass one — it is the only source that
+# cannot drift from what is actually in the package.
+if [ -z "${VERSION:-}" ]; then
+  UPSTREAM="$(printf '%s\n' "$BANNER" | grep -o '[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+' | head -1)"
+  PFHDR="$(printf '%s\n' "$BANNER" | grep -o '+pfhdr[0-9]\+' | head -1 | tr -d '+')"
+  [ -n "$UPSTREAM" ] || { echo "ERROR: no X.Y.Z version in banner: $BANNER" >&2; exit 1; }
+  VERSION="${UPSTREAM}.${PFHDR}"
+fi
+
+STAGE="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$STAGE"' EXIT
+# mktemp gives 0700; the package root has to be world-readable or `dpkg-deb -c` shows the tree as
+# root-only and some tooling refuses it.
+chmod 0755 "$STAGE"
+install -Dm0755 "$BINARY" "$STAGE/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
+mkdir -p "$STAGE/DEBIAN"
+
+# Shared-library dependencies straight from the binary's own ELF NEEDED entries. That is what makes
+# the package honest about the Ubuntu release it was compiled on: gamescope links a broad set
+# (wlroots, SDL, libliftoff, vulkan, xwayland's libs), and hand-listing them would rot.
+DEPS=""
+if command -v dpkg-shlibdeps >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  # dpkg-shlibdeps insists on running from a package root with a debian/ dir.
+  mkdir -p "$STAGE/debian"
+  : > "$STAGE/debian/control"
+  ( cd "$STAGE" && dpkg-shlibdeps -O --ignore-missing-info usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope 2>/dev/null ) \
+    > "$STAGE/.shlibdeps" || true
+  DEPS="$(sed -n 's/^shlibs:Depends=//p' "$STAGE/.shlibdeps" | head -1)"
+  rm -rf "$STAGE/debian" "$STAGE/.shlibdeps"
+fi
+[ -n "$DEPS" ] || echo "WARNING: dpkg-shlibdeps produced no Depends — packaging without them" >&2
+
+{
+  echo "Package: $PKG"
+  echo "Version: $VERSION"
+  echo "Architecture: $DEB_ARCH"
+  echo "Maintainer: unom <packages@unom.io>"
+  echo "Section: utils"
+  echo "Priority: optional"
+  [ -n "$DEPS" ] && echo "Depends: $DEPS"
+  # Not a hard dependency in either direction: the host works without this binary (SDR,
+  # host-composited cursor), and someone may want the binary for their own capture consumer.
+  echo "Recommends: punktfunk-host"
+  echo "Homepage: https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk"
+  echo "Description: gamescope with punktfunk's PipeWire capture patches"
+  echo " gamescope built from the upstream revision punktfunk pins, plus the patches in"
+  echo " packaging/gamescope/patches:"
+  echo " ."
+  echo "  * 10-bit BT.2020/PQ capture formats, so an HDR game reaches a capture consumer as HDR"
+  echo "    instead of pre-tonemapped SDR."
+  echo "  * --pipewire-composite-cursor: the pointer is painted into the capture stream, so a"
+  echo "    consumer with no cursor of its own gets one and the host stops blending one in."
+  echo "  * A headless session advertises its real mode and refresh rates (and"
+  echo "    --custom-refresh-rates), so Steam and games see the resolution and refresh the stream"
+  echo "    actually runs at instead of an unnamed 60 Hz panel."
+  echo "  * --pipewire-composite-external-overlay: the mangoapp performance overlay is painted"
+  echo "    into the capture stream, so the fps/stats readout is visible remotely."
+  echo " ."
+  echo " Installed as /usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope; your system gamescope is untouched."
+} > "$STAGE/DEBIAN/control"
+
+mkdir -p dist
+OUT="dist/${PKG}_${VERSION}_${DEB_ARCH}.deb"
+dpkg-deb --build --root-owner-group "$STAGE" "$OUT"
+echo "==> wrote $OUT"
+echo "    banner: $BANNER"

packaging/gamescope/PKGBUILD

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ pkgname=punktfunk-gamescope
 # bump it with the marker so pacman sees a new version when only our patches moved.
 _gsver=3.16.25
 _gsrev=8c676c399c761e4540587f61004c957993d12fea
-pkgver="${_gsver}.pfhdr2"
+pkgver="${_gsver}.pfhdr4"
 pkgrel=1
 pkgdesc="gamescope with 10-bit BT.2020/PQ PipeWire capture, for punktfunk HDR streaming"
 arch=('x86_64' 'aarch64')

packaging/gamescope/README.md

@@ -13,7 +13,21 @@ The patches here add the missing half, and nothing else. See
 |---|---|---|
 | `0001-pipewire-offer-10-bit-BT.2020-PQ-capture-formats-HDR.patch` | Offer SPA `xRGB_210LE`/`xBGR_210LE` with MANDATORY SMPTE ST.2084 + BT.2020 props, map them to `DRM_FORMAT_XRGB2101010`/`XBGR2101010`, and composite them with `g_ScreenshotColorMgmtLutsHDR` + `EOTF_PQ` | **Yes** — offered against [gamescope#2126](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/gamescope/issues/2126) |
 | `0002-pipewire-optionally-composite-the-cursor-into-the-ca.patch` | `--pipewire-composite-cursor` (off by default): paint the pointer into the capture stream, using the same `MouseCursor::paint` call the scanout composite uses | **Yes** — independently useful to any consumer with no cursor of its own |
-| `0003-punktfunk-stamp-the-version-banner-with-pfhdrN.patch` | Append `+pfhdr<N>` to the `--version` banner | **No** — ours only, retired when the two above land upstream |
+| `0003-headless-advertise-the-virtual-display-s-mode-and-re.patch` | Give `CHeadlessConnector` a real `GetModes()` + `GetValidDynamicRefreshRates()` from the resolved `-W`/`-H`/`-r`, report `GAMESCOPE_SCREEN_TYPE_EXTERNAL` so `update_mode_atoms` publishes the list, and add `--custom-refresh-rates` | **Yes** — a headless session that cannot report its own mode is a plain bug |
+| `0004-pipewire-optionally-composite-the-external-overlay-i.patch` | `--pipewire-composite-external-overlay` (off by default): paint the external overlay layer (mangoapp — the fps/stats readout) into the capture stream | **Yes** — same shape as the cursor patch, same argument |
+| `0005-punktfunk-stamp-the-version-banner-with-pfhdrN.patch` | Append `+pfhdr<N>` to the `--version` banner | **No** — ours only, retired when the functional patches above land upstream |
+
+### Why the headless patch matters
+
+A headless gamescope is how a streaming host gives a game a display: the caller passes the
+client's exact mode and expects the session to run at it. It *does* — but it never told anyone.
+`CHeadlessConnector` returned an empty span from both `GetModes()` and
+`GetValidDynamicRefreshRates()` and reported `GAMESCOPE_SCREEN_TYPE_INTERNAL`, so
+`update_mode_atoms()` **deleted** `GAMESCOPE_DISPLAY_MODE_LIST_EXTERNAL` (no resolution list) and
+`wlserver_send_gamescope_control()` fell through to a **one-entry** refresh list built from
+`g_nOutputRefresh` (no refresh list). With `-r` absent that entry is `Init()`'s 60 Hz default, so a
+client on a 120 Hz panel was told its display was 60 Hz — and games capped themselves to it. Field
+report 2026-08-08: "gamescope only shows 60hz and there's no other option".
 
 ### Why the cursor patch matters more than it looks
 
@@ -40,6 +54,8 @@ The number is a **monotonic patch-set revision**, so one probe answers every cap
 |---|---|
 | `+pfhdr1` | 10-bit BT.2020/PQ capture formats |
 | `+pfhdr2` | …and `--pipewire-composite-cursor` |
+| `+pfhdr3` | …and the headless connector advertises its mode + `--custom-refresh-rates` |
+| `+pfhdr4` | …and `--pipewire-composite-external-overlay` |
 
 Bump it whenever a patch adds or changes something the host must know about before it spawns.
 
@@ -142,7 +158,7 @@ Note what is NOT in that table: the `.deb`. Debian/Ubuntu boxes build it by hand
 ## Verifying the patch on a box (P0 exit)
 
 ```sh
-punktfunk-gamescope --version                    # must contain +pfhdr2
+punktfunk-gamescope --version                    # must contain +pfhdr4
 punktfunk-gamescope --backend headless -W 1920 -H 1080 -r 60 \
     --hdr-enabled --hdr-debug-force-support --pipewire-composite-cursor -- vkcube &
 pw-dump | grep -A40 '"gamescope"'                # node offers xRGB_210LE / xBGR_210LE

packaging/gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Package an already-built punktfunk-gamescope binary as an RPM, for the Gitea RPM registry.
+#
+# WHY this exists: before it, the only ways to get punktfunk-gamescope were the Bazzite/Atomic
+# sysext, the Arch package, the SteamOS installer, a NixOS option — or building gamescope from
+# source yourself. A traditional Fedora-family box (Nobara, plain Fedora, Nobara-derived HTPCs)
+# had no packaged route at all, which is how a field report ended up on a stock gamescope streaming
+# a session that told every game the display was 60 Hz.
+#
+# The binary is NOT built here; CI builds it once per Fedora major and caches it
+# (.gitea/workflows/rpm.yml). See punktfunk-gamescope.spec's header for why repacking beats
+# rebuilding.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   bash packaging/gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh \
+#     --binary gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope \
+#     [--version 3.16.25] [--release 1] [--outdir dist]
+#
+# Output: <outdir>/punktfunk-gamescope-<version>-<release>.<arch>.rpm
+set -euo pipefail
+
+BINARY=""
+# Default the version to the upstream gamescope the pinned revision describes as, suffixed with the
+# patch-set revision — same shape as the Arch package's `pkgver`, so the two channels read alike.
+VERSION=""
+RELEASE="1"
+OUTDIR="dist"
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+  case "$1" in
+    --binary)  BINARY="${2:?--binary needs a path}"; shift 2 ;;
+    --version) VERSION="${2:?--version needs a value}"; shift 2 ;;
+    --release) RELEASE="${2:?--release needs a value}"; shift 2 ;;
+    --outdir)  OUTDIR="${2:?--outdir needs a value}"; shift 2 ;;
+    *) echo "unknown argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+[ -n "$BINARY" ] || { echo "ERROR: --binary is required" >&2; exit 2; }
+[ -x "$BINARY" ] || { echo "ERROR: $BINARY is not an executable file" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+ROOTDIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.." && pwd)"
+cd "$ROOTDIR"
+
+# Derive the version from the binary itself when not told: it is the only source that cannot drift
+# from what is actually being packaged. `gamescope version 3.16.25-1-g8c676c3+pfhdr4 (gcc …)` →
+# `3.16.25` + the marker. RPM versions may not contain `-`, hence the trailing `.pfhdrN` form.
+BANNER="$("$BINARY" --version 2>&1 | head -1)"
+case "$BANNER" in
+  *'+pfhdr'*) ;;
+  *) echo "ERROR: $BINARY has no +pfhdr marker — it is not a punktfunk gamescope build" >&2
+     echo "       banner: $BANNER" >&2
+     exit 1 ;;
+esac
+PFHDR="$(printf '%s\n' "$BANNER" | grep -o '+pfhdr[0-9]\+' | head -1 | tr -d '+')"
+if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
+  UPSTREAM="$(printf '%s\n' "$BANNER" | grep -o '[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+' | head -1)"
+  [ -n "$UPSTREAM" ] || { echo "ERROR: no X.Y.Z version in banner: $BANNER" >&2; exit 1; }
+  VERSION="${UPSTREAM}.${PFHDR}"
+fi
+
+echo "==> packaging $BINARY as punktfunk-gamescope-${VERSION}-${RELEASE}"
+echo "    banner: $BANNER"
+
+TOP="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$TOP"' EXIT
+mkdir -p "$TOP"/{SOURCES,SPECS,BUILD,BUILDROOT,RPMS,SRPMS}
+install -m0755 "$BINARY" "$TOP/SOURCES/punktfunk-gamescope"
+
+mkdir -p "$OUTDIR"
+rpmbuild \
+  --define "_topdir $TOP" \
+  --define "pf_version $VERSION" \
+  --define "pf_release $RELEASE" \
+  -bb packaging/gamescope/punktfunk-gamescope.spec
+
+find "$TOP/RPMS" -name '*.rpm' -exec cp -v {} "$OUTDIR/" \;
+echo "==> wrote $(find "$OUTDIR" -name 'punktfunk-gamescope-*.rpm' -newer "$TOP" -print -quit 2>/dev/null || echo "$OUTDIR"/punktfunk-gamescope-*.rpm)"

packaging/gamescope/patches/0003-headless-advertise-the-virtual-display-s-mode-and-re.patch

@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+From 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: =?UTF-8?q?Enrico=20B=C3=BChler?= <enrico.buehler@unom.io>
+Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2026 13:13:09 +0000
+Subject: [PATCH] headless: advertise the virtual display's mode and refresh
+ rates
+MIME-Version: 1.0
+Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
+Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
+
+A headless gamescope is how a remote-desktop/streaming host gives a game a
+display: the caller passes the client's exact mode with -W/-H/-r and expects
+the session to run at it. It does composite at that rate — but it never told
+anyone. CHeadlessConnector returned an empty span from both GetModes() and
+GetValidDynamicRefreshRates(), and reported GAMESCOPE_SCREEN_TYPE_INTERNAL.
+
+Both halves of that are visible to clients:
+
+  * update_mode_atoms() takes the INTERNAL branch, which DELETES
+    GAMESCOPE_DISPLAY_MODE_LIST_EXTERNAL — so there is no resolution list.
+  * wlserver_send_gamescope_control() finds no valid dynamic refresh rates and
+    falls through to a one-entry list built from g_nOutputRefresh — so there is
+    no refresh list either, just whatever the session happens to run at. With
+    -r absent that is the 60 Hz default from Init(), and a client on a 120 Hz
+    panel is told its display is 60 Hz and caps itself accordingly.
+
+Populate both from the mode Init() has already resolved, and report EXTERNAL:
+a virtual display is not a built-in panel, and INTERNAL is what suppressed the
+mode list in the first place. GetConnector() follows so a lookup by type cannot
+contradict the connector's own answer.
+
+--custom-refresh-rates lists the rates the display may switch between, for a
+backend that has no EDID to derive them from (gamescope-session-plus already
+passes this env through, gated on the flag existing). The running rate is always
+included, so the advertised set can never exclude the mode in use.
+
+Only the headless backend changes; every other backend derives its modes from a
+real connector and is untouched.
+---
+ src/Backends/HeadlessBackend.cpp | 66 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
+ src/main.cpp                     | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++
+ 2 files changed, 103 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/src/Backends/HeadlessBackend.cpp b/src/Backends/HeadlessBackend.cpp
+index 8e45400..3168c88 100644
+--- a/src/Backends/HeadlessBackend.cpp
++++ b/src/Backends/HeadlessBackend.cpp
+@@ -3,8 +3,13 @@
+ #include "wlserver.hpp"
+ #include "refresh_rate.h"
+ 
++#include <algorithm>
++#include <vector>
++
+ extern int g_nPreferredOutputWidth;
+ extern int g_nPreferredOutputHeight;
++// `--custom-refresh-rates` (main.cpp): the rates this virtual display may switch between.
++extern std::vector<uint32_t> g_customRefreshRates;
+ 
+ namespace gamescope
+ {
+@@ -18,9 +23,16 @@ namespace gamescope
+         {
+         }
+ 
++        // A headless gamescope IS a virtual display: its mode is whatever the caller asked
++        // for (`-W`/`-H`/`-r`), never a fixed built-in panel. Reporting INTERNAL made
++        // `update_mode_atoms` DELETE GAMESCOPE_DISPLAY_MODE_LIST_EXTERNAL and set the
++        // GAMESCOPE_CONTROL_DISPLAY_FLAG_INTERNAL_DISPLAY flag, so a client driving this
++        // session was offered no resolutions at all — and, with the empty rate list below,
++        // no refresh rates either. EXTERNAL is both the honest answer and the one that lets
++        // the mode list reach Steam.
+         virtual gamescope::GamescopeScreenType GetScreenType() const override
+         {
+-            return GAMESCOPE_SCREEN_TYPE_INTERNAL;
++            return GAMESCOPE_SCREEN_TYPE_EXTERNAL;
+         }
+         virtual GamescopePanelOrientation GetCurrentOrientation() const override
+         {
+@@ -44,7 +56,7 @@ namespace gamescope
+ 		}
+         virtual std::span<const BackendMode> GetModes() const override
+         {
+-            return std::span<const BackendMode>{};
++            return m_Modes;
+         }
+ 
+         virtual bool SupportsVRR() const override
+@@ -58,7 +70,7 @@ namespace gamescope
+         }
+         virtual std::span<const uint32_t> GetValidDynamicRefreshRates() const override
+         {
+-            return std::span<const uint32_t>{};
++            return m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates;
+         }
+ 
+         virtual void GetNativeColorimetry(
+@@ -90,8 +102,42 @@ namespace gamescope
+             return 0;
+ 		}
+ 
++        // Publish the mode this session was actually started with, plus every refresh rate it
++        // is allowed to switch between. Called once from CHeadlessBackend::Init(), after the
++        // -W/-H/-r defaults are resolved, because that is the first point at which the answer
++        // exists — and it has to exist before the first `gamescope_control` bind, which is
++        // what hands Steam the list.
++        void SetVirtualMode( uint32_t uWidth, uint32_t uHeight, uint32_t uRefreshHz,
++                             std::span<const uint32_t> uOfferRatesHz )
++        {
++            m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates.clear();
++            m_Modes.clear();
++
++            auto AddRate = [ this ]( uint32_t uRate )
++            {
++                if ( !uRate )
++                    return;
++                if ( std::find( m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates.begin(), m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates.end(), uRate )
++                     == m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates.end() )
++                    m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates.push_back( uRate );
++            };
++
++            for ( uint32_t uRate : uOfferRatesHz )
++                AddRate( uRate );
++            // The rate we are running at is always offerable, whatever the caller listed —
++            // otherwise Steam is handed a set that excludes the mode it is looking at.
++            AddRate( uRefreshHz );
++
++            std::sort( m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates.begin(), m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates.end() );
++
++            for ( uint32_t uRate : m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates )
++                m_Modes.push_back( BackendMode{ uWidth, uHeight, uRate } );
++        }
++
+     private:
+         BackendConnectorHDRInfo m_HDRInfo{};
++        std::vector<BackendMode> m_Modes;
++        std::vector<uint32_t> m_ValidDynamicRefreshRates;
+     };
+ 
+ 	class CHeadlessBackend final : public CBaseBackend
+@@ -125,6 +171,16 @@ namespace gamescope
+ 			if ( g_nOutputRefresh == 0 )
+ 				g_nOutputRefresh = ConvertHztomHz( 60 );
+ 
++			// Hand the connector the resolved mode. Until this existed the headless connector
++			// advertised NOTHING — no modes, no dynamic refresh rates — so `wlserver`'s
++			// `active_display_info` fell through to a one-entry list built from g_nOutputRefresh
++			// and every client concluded the display was a 60 Hz panel it could not change.
++			m_Connector.SetVirtualMode(
++				uint32_t( g_nOutputWidth ),
++				uint32_t( g_nOutputHeight ),
++				ConvertmHzToHz( uint32_t( g_nOutputRefresh ) ),
++				g_customRefreshRates );
++
+ 			if ( !vulkan_init( vulkan_get_instance(), VK_NULL_HANDLE ) )
+ 			{
+ 				return false;
+@@ -200,7 +256,9 @@ namespace gamescope
+ 		}
+ 		virtual IBackendConnector *GetConnector( GamescopeScreenType eScreenType ) override
+ 		{
+-			if ( eScreenType == GAMESCOPE_SCREEN_TYPE_INTERNAL )
++			// Must agree with CHeadlessConnector::GetScreenType() — a lookup by type that
++			// contradicted the connector's own answer would hand callers the wrong screen.
++			if ( eScreenType == GAMESCOPE_SCREEN_TYPE_EXTERNAL )
+ 				return &m_Connector;
+ 
+ 			return nullptr;
+diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
+index 1eb35b3..2c4fb50 100644
+--- a/src/main.cpp
++++ b/src/main.cpp
+@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ const struct option *gamescope_options = (struct option[]){
+ 	{ "prefer-output", required_argument, nullptr, 'O' },
+ 	{ "default-touch-mode", required_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 	{ "generate-drm-mode", required_argument, nullptr, 0 },
++	{ "custom-refresh-rates", required_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 	{ "immediate-flips", no_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 	{ "framerate-limit", required_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 
+@@ -232,6 +233,7 @@ const char usage[] =
+ 	"  -O, --prefer-output            list of connectors in order of preference (ex: DP-1,DP-2,DP-3,HDMI-A-1)\n"
+ 	"  --default-touch-mode           0: hover, 1: left, 2: right, 3: middle, 4: passthrough\n"
+ 	"  --generate-drm-mode            DRM mode generation algorithm (cvt, fixed)\n"
++	"  --custom-refresh-rates         comma-separated refresh rates (Hz) this display may switch between, eg. 60,90,120 (headless only)\n"
+ 	"  --immediate-flips              Enable immediate flips, may result in tearing\n"
+ 	"\n"
+ #if HAVE_OPENVR
+@@ -297,6 +299,10 @@ int g_nNestedHeight = 0;
+ int g_nNestedRefresh = 0;
+ int g_nNestedUnfocusedRefresh = 0;
+ int g_nNestedDisplayIndex = 0;
++// `--custom-refresh-rates`, in Hz. Consumed by the headless backend, which has no EDID to
++// derive a mode list from and so cannot answer "what else could this display run at" on its
++// own. Empty = offer only the rate the session was started at.
++std::vector<uint32_t> g_customRefreshRates;
+ 
+ uint32_t g_nOutputWidth = 0;
+ uint32_t g_nOutputHeight = 0;
+@@ -447,6 +453,39 @@ static enum gamescope::GamescopeBackend parse_backend_name(const char *str)
+ 	}
+ }
+ 
++// `--custom-refresh-rates 60,90,120` -> { 60, 90, 120 }. Anything unparseable is a hard error,
++// exactly like every other option value: silently dropping a rate would leave a display
++// advertising a list the caller never asked for, which is worse than not starting.
++static std::vector<uint32_t> parse_refresh_rate_list(const char *str)
++{
++	std::vector<uint32_t> rates;
++	std::string_view svRest{ str };
++	while ( !svRest.empty() )
++	{
++		const size_t nComma = svRest.find( ',' );
++		std::string_view svTok = svRest.substr( 0, nComma );
++		svRest = nComma == std::string_view::npos ? std::string_view{} : svRest.substr( nComma + 1 );
++
++		// `Parse` is `std::from_chars`, which rejects leading blanks outright — trim so that a
++		// perfectly ordinary "60, 90, 120" is not an error.
++		while ( !svTok.empty() && svTok.front() == ' ' )
++			svTok.remove_prefix( 1 );
++		while ( !svTok.empty() && svTok.back() == ' ' )
++			svTok.remove_suffix( 1 );
++
++		std::optional<uint32_t> oRate = gamescope::Parse<uint32_t>( svTok );
++		// 1000 Hz is not a limit anyone will meet; it is there so a typo'd "1920" cannot become a
++		// refresh rate that every consumer then has to sanity-check for us.
++		if ( !oRate || *oRate == 0 || *oRate > 1000 )
++		{
++			fprintf( stderr, "gamescope: invalid value for --custom-refresh-rates: %s\n", str );
++			exit( 1 );
++		}
++		rates.push_back( *oRate );
++	}
++	return rates;
++}
++
+ static int parse_integer(const char *str, const char *optionName)
+ {
+ 	auto result = gamescope::Parse<int>(str);
+@@ -800,6 +839,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
+ 					gamescope::cv_touch_click_mode = (gamescope::TouchClickMode) parse_integer( optarg, opt_name );
+ 				} else if (strcmp(opt_name, "generate-drm-mode") == 0) {
+ 					g_eGamescopeModeGeneration = parse_gamescope_mode_generation( optarg );
++				} else if (strcmp(opt_name, "custom-refresh-rates") == 0) {
++					g_customRefreshRates = parse_refresh_rate_list( optarg );
+ 				} else if (strcmp(opt_name, "force-orientation") == 0) {
+ 					g_DesiredInternalOrientation = force_orientation( optarg );
+ 				} else if (strcmp(opt_name, "sharpness") == 0 ||

packaging/gamescope/patches/0004-pipewire-optionally-composite-the-external-overlay-i.patch

@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+From 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: =?UTF-8?q?Enrico=20B=C3=BChler?= <enrico.buehler@unom.io>
+Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2026 13:17:14 +0000
+Subject: [PATCH] pipewire: optionally composite the external overlay into the
+ capture stream
+MIME-Version: 1.0
+Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
+Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
+
+paint_pipewire() is a separate, reduced composite from the scanout one. It
+paints the focus window, the override window and — since 3.16.23 — the Steam
+overlay, but it has never referenced externalOverlayWindow. That layer is
+mangoapp: the fps / frametime / stats readout the Deck UI turns on.
+
+On a real handheld the omission is invisible, because the person who enabled
+the overlay is looking at the panel it is drawn on. For a consumer whose ONLY
+view of the session is this node — a remote-desktop or streaming host — the
+overlay simply does not exist: the user turns it on, sees nothing, and there is
+nothing they can configure to change that.
+
+Add --pipewire-composite-external-overlay, off by default for the same reason
+--pipewire-composite-cursor is: the node has never carried this layer, and a
+consumer showing the stream to the same person already looking at the screen
+would get two of them.
+
+Two details worth naming:
+
+- The overlay's commit id joins the repaint test. Its numbers change every
+  frame precisely while the picture behind them is static, which is exactly
+  the case the existing focus/override-only test skips — without this the
+  stream would show a frozen overlay.
+- It is painted WITHOUT NoScale, unlike paint_all. There the overlay is
+  already sized to the output; here currentOutputWidth/Height are the capture
+  size, so a stream captured at another resolution needs it scaled to match.
+
+Notifications are deliberately left out: unlike a performance overlay, they are
+not something the viewer asked to see on that screen.
+---
+ src/main.cpp         |  3 +++
+ src/steamcompmgr.cpp | 39 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ 2 files changed, 42 insertions(+)
+
+diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
+index 2c4fb50..b406caf 100644
+--- a/src/main.cpp
++++ b/src/main.cpp
+@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ const struct option *gamescope_options = (struct option[]){
+ 	{ "disable-color-management", no_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 	{ "sdr-gamut-wideness", required_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 	{ "pipewire-composite-cursor", no_argument, nullptr, 0 },
++	{ "pipewire-composite-external-overlay", no_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 	{ "hdr-enabled", no_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 	{ "hdr-sdr-content-nits", required_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+ 	{ "hdr-itm-enabled", no_argument, nullptr, 0 },
+@@ -208,6 +209,8 @@ const char usage[] =
+ 	"  --cursor-scale-height          if specified, sets a base output height to linearly scale the cursor against.\n"
+ 	"  --virtual-connector-strategy   Specifies how we should make virtual connectors.\n"
+ 	"  --pipewire-composite-cursor    composite the cursor into the PipeWire capture stream (off by default: the node has never carried it, and a consumer that draws its own would get two)\n"
++	"  --pipewire-composite-external-overlay\n"
++	"                                 composite the external overlay layer (mangoapp) into the PipeWire capture stream (off by default, like the cursor)\n"
+ 	"  --hdr-enabled                  enable HDR output (needs Gamescope WSI layer enabled for support from clients)\n"
+ 	"                                 If this is not set, and there is a HDR client, it will be tonemapped SDR.\n"
+ 	"  --sdr-gamut-wideness           Set the 'wideness' of the gamut for SDR comment. 0 - 1.\n"
+diff --git a/src/steamcompmgr.cpp b/src/steamcompmgr.cpp
+index 5c65420..0d293c6 100644
+--- a/src/steamcompmgr.cpp
++++ b/src/steamcompmgr.cpp
+@@ -2323,6 +2323,12 @@ gamescope::ConVar<bool> cv_pipewire_composite_cursor{ "pipewire_composite_cursor
+ 	"default: the node has never carried the pointer, and a consumer that draws its own would get "
+ 	"two." };
+ 
++gamescope::ConVar<bool> cv_pipewire_composite_external_overlay{ "pipewire_composite_external_overlay", false,
++	"Composite the external overlay layer (mangoapp — the performance overlay) into the PipeWire "
++	"capture stream (--pipewire-composite-external-overlay). Off by default, like the cursor: the "
++	"node has never carried it, and a consumer showing the stream to the same person already "
++	"looking at the screen would get two." };
++
+ static void paint_pipewire()
+ {
+ 	static struct pipewire_buffer *s_pPipewireBuffer = nullptr;
+@@ -2440,14 +2446,31 @@ static void paint_pipewire()
+ 		}
+ 	}
+ 
++	// The external overlay — mangoapp, i.e. the fps/frametime/stats readout. `paint_all` draws
++	// it on the scanout composite; this reduced one never referenced it, so a consumer whose
++	// ONLY view of the session is this node could not see the overlay the user had turned on.
++	// Gated on the focus-appid for the same reason the Steam overlay above is: a consumer that
++	// asked for one specific app is asking for that app, not for the session's chrome.
++	static uint64_t s_ulLastExternalOverlayCommitId = 0;
++	steamcompmgr_win_t *pExternalOverlay = nullptr;
++	if ( cv_pipewire_composite_external_overlay && !ulFocusAppId &&
++	     pFocus->externalOverlayWindow && pFocus->externalOverlayWindow->opacity )
++		pExternalOverlay = pFocus->externalOverlayWindow;
++	// Its commit id has to join the repaint test below, or the overlay would freeze at whatever
++	// it read when the game last presented — the numbers on it change every frame precisely
++	// WHILE the picture behind them is static, which is the case the test would otherwise skip.
++	const uint64_t ulExternalOverlayCommitId = window_last_done_commit_id( pExternalOverlay );
++
+ 	if ( ulFocusCommitId == s_ulLastFocusCommitId &&
+ 	     ulOverrideCommitId == s_ulLastOverrideCommitId &&
++	     ulExternalOverlayCommitId == s_ulLastExternalOverlayCommitId &&
+ 	     bDrawCursor == s_bLastCursorDrawn &&
+ 	     nCursorX == s_nLastCursorX && nCursorY == s_nLastCursorY )
+ 		return;
+ 
+ 	s_ulLastFocusCommitId = ulFocusCommitId;
+ 	s_ulLastOverrideCommitId = ulOverrideCommitId;
++	s_ulLastExternalOverlayCommitId = ulExternalOverlayCommitId;
+ 	s_bLastCursorDrawn = bDrawCursor;
+ 	s_nLastCursorX = nCursorX;
+ 	s_nLastCursorY = nCursorY;
+@@ -2475,6 +2498,16 @@ static void paint_pipewire()
+ 				( cv_overlay_unmultiplied_alpha ? PaintWindowFlag::CoverageMode : 0 )  );
+ 	}
+ 
++	// Deliberately WITHOUT `NoScale`, which is what the scanout composite uses: there the
++	// overlay is already sized to the output, while here `currentOutputWidth/Height` are the
++	// capture size, and a stream captured at anything other than the session's own resolution
++	// would otherwise get the overlay at the wrong size in the corner.
++	if ( pExternalOverlay )
++	{
++		paint_window( pExternalOverlay, pExternalOverlay, &frameInfo, nullptr, PaintWindowFlag::NoFilter |
++				( cv_overlay_unmultiplied_alpha ? PaintWindowFlag::CoverageMode : 0 ) );
++	}
++
+ 	// The cursor, when this stream was asked for it. gamescope keeps the pointer OUT of the
+ 	// PipeWire node by default — it lives on a hardware plane for scanout, and a remote-play
+ 	// consumer that draws its own would end up with two — so a consumer that has no cursor of
+@@ -8457,6 +8490,12 @@ steamcompmgr_main(int argc, char **argv)
+ 					cv_pipewire_composite_cursor = true;
+ #else
+ 					fprintf( stderr, "gamescope: --pipewire-composite-cursor ignored (built without PipeWire)\n" );
++#endif
++				} else if (strcmp(opt_name, "pipewire-composite-external-overlay") == 0) {
++#if HAVE_PIPEWIRE
++					cv_pipewire_composite_external_overlay = true;
++#else
++					fprintf( stderr, "gamescope: --pipewire-composite-external-overlay ignored (built without PipeWire)\n" );
+ #endif
+ 				} else if (strcmp(opt_name, "hdr-enabled") == 0 || strcmp(opt_name, "hdr-enable") == 0) {
+ 					cv_hdr_enabled = true;

packaging/gamescope/patches/0005-punktfunk-stamp-the-version-banner-with-pfhdrN.patch

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 From 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
 From: =?UTF-8?q?Enrico=20B=C3=BChler?= <enrico.buehler@unom.io>
-Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:42:01 +0200
+Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2026 13:17:37 +0000
 Subject: [PATCH] punktfunk: stamp the version banner with +pfhdrN
 MIME-Version: 1.0
 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
@@ -8,25 +8,27 @@ Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
 
 punktfunk decides a session's shape before the virtual display exists — the
 bit depth in the Welcome (irrevocable; a PQ stream on an 8-bit encoder is a
-hard error), and whether it must composite the cursor host-side before the
-encoder is even opened. Both answers therefore have to be static properties of
-the resolved binary rather than something negotiated later.
+hard error), whether it must composite the cursor host-side before the encoder
+is even opened, and which flags the spawn has to carry. All of those have to be
+static properties of the resolved binary rather than something negotiated later.
 
-The number is a monotonic patch-set revision, so one probe answers both:
+The number is a monotonic patch-set revision, so one probe answers all of them:
   +pfhdr1  10-bit BT.2020/PQ capture formats
   +pfhdr2  …and --pipewire-composite-cursor
+  +pfhdr3  …and the headless connector advertises its mode + --custom-refresh-rates
+  +pfhdr4  …and --pipewire-composite-external-overlay
 
 NOT for upstream: drop this once the functional patches land there and plain
 version floors answer the same questions.
 ---
- src/meson.build | 7 ++++++-
- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
+ src/meson.build | 9 ++++++++-
+ 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 
 diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
-index 662f752..af48d01 100644
+index 662f752..12fd38a 100644
 --- a/src/meson.build
 +++ b/src/meson.build
-@@ -177,7 +177,12 @@ compiler_version = cc.version()
+@@ -177,7 +177,14 @@ compiler_version = cc.version()
  
  vcs_tag_cmd = ['git', 'describe', '--always', '--tags', '--dirty=+']
  vcs_tag = run_command(vcs_tag_cmd, check: false).stdout().strip()
@@ -36,7 +38,9 @@ index 662f752..af48d01 100644
 +# punktfunk/1 Welcome is irrevocable). The number is a monotonic PATCH-SET revision:
 +#   +pfhdr1 — 10-bit BT.2020/PQ capture formats on the PipeWire node
 +#   +pfhdr2 — …and `--pipewire-composite-cursor`
-+version_tag = vcs_tag + '+pfhdr2' + ' (' + compiler_name + ' ' + compiler_version + ')'
++#   +pfhdr3 — …and the headless connector advertises its mode + `--custom-refresh-rates`
++#   +pfhdr4 — …and `--pipewire-composite-external-overlay`
++version_tag = vcs_tag + '+pfhdr4' + ' (' + compiler_name + ' ' + compiler_version + ')'
  
  gamescope_version_conf = configuration_data()
  gamescope_version_conf.set('VCS_TAG', version_tag)

packaging/gamescope/punktfunk-gamescope.spec

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# punktfunk-gamescope — gamescope carrying punktfunk's capture patches, installed under its own
+# name so it sits BESIDE the distro's gamescope (Game Mode keeps using that one).
+#
+# This spec REPACKS a binary that was already built, rather than building gamescope itself: the
+# build is a ~10-minute meson compile of an unrelated tree that CI already does once per Fedora
+# major and caches (.gitea/workflows/rpm.yml). Rebuilding it inside rpmbuild would double that for
+# no gain, and would need network access in the build root to fetch the upstream tree.
+#
+# The counterpart for Arch is packaging/gamescope/PKGBUILD, which DOES build from source, because
+# makepkg fetches sources by design and the AUR-style recipe is what an Arch user expects.
+#
+# Usage: bash packaging/gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh --binary <path-to-punktfunk-gamescope>
+Name:           punktfunk-gamescope
+Version:        %{pf_version}
+Release:        %{pf_release}%{?dist}
+Summary:        gamescope with punktfunk's PipeWire capture patches (HDR, cursor, overlay, virtual-display modes)
+
+# gamescope is BSD-2-Clause; our patches are contributed under the same terms.
+License:        BSD-2-Clause
+URL:            https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk
+Source0:        punktfunk-gamescope
+
+# Not `Provides: gamescope` and not `Conflicts:` either — this ships a differently-named binary and
+# is designed to coexist. A box's Game Mode session keeps running the distro's gamescope; only the
+# sessions punktfunk-host starts itself resolve this one (PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_BIN >
+# punktfunk-gamescope > gamescope).
+#
+# The runtime library Requires are auto-generated by rpmbuild from the binary's ELF NEEDED entries,
+# which is exactly right here: this binary is soname-coupled to the Fedora major it was compiled
+# on, and the generated Requires are what stop it installing on the wrong one.
+Recommends:     punktfunk-host
+
+# Nothing is compiled here, so there is no debuginfo to extract; without this rpmbuild fails
+# looking for sources it was never given.
+%global debug_package %{nil}
+
+%description
+gamescope built from the upstream revision punktfunk pins, plus the patches in
+packaging/gamescope/patches:
+
+  * 10-bit BT.2020/PQ capture formats on the PipeWire node, so an HDR game reaches a capture
+    consumer as HDR instead of pre-tonemapped SDR.
+  * --pipewire-composite-cursor: paint the pointer into the capture stream, so a consumer with no
+    cursor of its own gets one — and the host stops blending one in, which frees the encoder's
+    fastest zero-copy source.
+  * A headless session advertises its real mode and refresh rates (and --custom-refresh-rates), so
+    Steam and games see the resolution and refresh the stream actually runs at instead of an
+    unnamed 60 Hz panel.
+  * --pipewire-composite-external-overlay: paint the mangoapp performance overlay into the capture
+    stream, so the fps/stats readout is visible to someone watching remotely.
+
+Installed as /usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope. Your system gamescope is untouched.
+
+%prep
+# Nothing to unpack: Source0 IS the binary.
+
+%build
+# Nothing to build — see the header.
+
+%install
+install -Dm0755 %{SOURCE0} %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/punktfunk-gamescope
+
+%check
+# The marker is the host's entire capability probe (`gamescope_patch_level()`): a binary that lost
+# the patches would install fine and then silently stream SDR with no cursor. Refuse to package it.
+#
+# Executed in the build root, which is the same container the binary was compiled in — if that ever
+# stops being true this check is the thing that notices.
+%{buildroot}%{_bindir}/punktfunk-gamescope --version 2>&1 | grep -q '+pfhdr' || {
+  echo "punktfunk-gamescope: the +pfhdr marker is missing — the patches did not take" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+%files
+%{_bindir}/punktfunk-gamescope
+
+%changelog
+# Generated per build; see the git history for the patch set's own changes.

packaging/nix/gamescope.nix

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ unwrapped.overrideAttrs (old: {
     );
 
   # nixpkgs builds from a `fetchFromGitHub` src, so there is no `.git` for `git describe` and the
-  # banner would read `+pfhdr2 (gcc …)` with no version at all — which the host's diagnostic
+  # banner would read `+pfhdrN (gcc …)` with no version at all — which the host's diagnostic
   # version gate then misreads (it takes the first X.Y.Z triple it finds, i.e. the compiler's).
   # Substituting the real version in keeps `--version` honest AND keeps our marker.
   postPatch = (old.postPatch or "") + ''

scripts/steamdeck/install.sh

@@ -147,7 +147,10 @@ if [ "$WITH_WEB" = 1 ]; then
     distrobox enter "$BOX" -- bash -lc "
 set -e
 export PATH=\$HOME/.bun/bin:\$PATH
-cd '$SRC/web' && bun install --frozen-lockfile && bun run build
+# --ignore-scripts + explicit codegen: keep in step with scripts/steamdeck/update.sh, which
+# explains why (web's `postinstall` writes the COMMITTED web/bun.nix; its `prepare`/codegen is
+# required because src/api/gen, src/paraglide and src/routeTree.gen.ts are gitignored).
+cd '$SRC/web' && bun install --frozen-lockfile --ignore-scripts && bun run codegen && bun run build
 "
     [ -f "$SRC/web/.output/server/index.mjs" ] || die "web build did not produce web/.output/server/index.mjs"
     ok "web console built"

scripts/steamdeck/update.sh

@@ -20,7 +20,28 @@ TARGET_DIR="$SRC/target-steamos"
 WEB=0; [ -f "$HOME/.config/systemd/user/punktfunk-web.service" ] && WEB=1
 
 if [ "${1:-}" = "--pull" ]; then
-    if [ -d "$SRC/.git" ]; then log "git pull"; git -C "$SRC" pull --ff-only; ok "pulled"; else die "$SRC is not a git checkout — rsync new source then run without --pull"; fi
+    [ -d "$SRC/.git" ] || die "$SRC is not a git checkout — rsync new source then run without --pull"
+    # web/bun.nix and sdk/bun.nix are GENERATED (bun2nix, a pure function of the matching bun.lock —
+    # packaging/nix/README.md) yet COMMITTED, because the Nix build fetches node_modules only from
+    # them. Until the --ignore-scripts fix below, web's `bun install` here ran its `postinstall`
+    # (`bun2nix -o bun.nix`) and rewrote that tracked file on every single update. That is invisible
+    # while the committed file is in sync — but main carried a STALE web/bun.nix from 1db8f763 to
+    # b79d90b4, so any Deck updated in that window had the file rewritten to the *correct* content
+    # and has been sitting dirty ever since. The next `git pull --ff-only` that touches it then dies
+    # with "Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge", and the update
+    # stops before a single service is restarted.
+    #
+    # Restore ONLY these two derived paths. Not a blanket `git reset --hard`: $SRC is the operator's
+    # own checkout (they may have patched a source file, or be carrying a cherry-pick), and silently
+    # deleting that to save an update is a far worse trade than one legible error. Discarding these
+    # two is provably lossless — regenerating them from the lockfiles is exactly what bun2nix does.
+    git -C "$SRC" checkout -- web/bun.nix sdk/bun.nix 2>/dev/null || true
+    log "git pull"
+    git -C "$SRC" pull --ff-only \
+        || die "git pull --ff-only failed in $SRC. If it named locally-modified files, this checkout
+  has local changes: review them with 'git -C $SRC status', then commit or stash them (or discard
+  one with 'git -C $SRC checkout -- <file>') and re-run. Nothing was rebuilt or restarted."
+    ok "pulled"
 fi
 
 log "Rebuilding host (release)"
@@ -29,7 +50,14 @@ distrobox enter "$BOX" -- bash -lc "set -e; export PATH=\$HOME/.cargo/bin:\$PATH
 ok "host rebuilt"
 if [ "$WEB" = 1 ]; then
     log "Rebuilding web console"
-    distrobox enter "$BOX" -- bash -lc "set -e; export PATH=\$HOME/.bun/bin:\$PATH; cd '$SRC/web' && bun install --frozen-lockfile && bun run build"
+    # --ignore-scripts, then `bun run codegen` explicitly: web has TWO install lifecycle scripts and
+    # we want exactly one of them. `prepare` (= codegen: orval + paraglide + the i18n check) is
+    # REQUIRED — src/api/gen, src/paraglide and src/routeTree.gen.ts are gitignored, and `prebuild`
+    # only re-runs orval, so dropping codegen leaves the build without its i18n messages. But
+    # `postinstall` (`bun2nix -o bun.nix`) writes a COMMITTED file, and an updater must never dirty
+    # the tree it just pulled into — that is what broke `--pull` above. The SDK install below has
+    # always passed --ignore-scripts, which is why only web/bun.nix ever went dirty.
+    distrobox enter "$BOX" -- bash -lc "set -e; export PATH=\$HOME/.bun/bin:\$PATH; cd '$SRC/web' && bun install --frozen-lockfile --ignore-scripts && bun run codegen && bun run build"
     ok "web rebuilt"
 fi
 

sdk/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "@punktfunk/host",
-	"version": "0.1.3",
+	"version": "0.1.4",
 	"description": "TypeScript SDK for the punktfunk streaming host: typed management-API client + lifecycle event stream, built on Effect.",
 	"type": "module",
 	"license": "MIT OR Apache-2.0",
@@ -13,7 +13,13 @@
 	"bugs": {
 		"url": "https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk/issues"
 	},
-	"keywords": ["punktfunk", "game-streaming", "automation", "sdk", "effect"],
+	"keywords": [
+		"punktfunk",
+		"game-streaming",
+		"automation",
+		"sdk",
+		"effect"
+	],
 	"main": "./dist/index.js",
 	"types": "./dist/index.d.ts",
 	"exports": {
@@ -29,7 +35,10 @@
 	"bin": {
 		"punktfunk-scripting": "./dist/runner-cli.js"
 	},
-	"files": ["dist", "README.md"],
+	"files": [
+		"dist",
+		"README.md"
+	],
 	"publishConfig": {
 		"registry": "https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/npm/"
 	},

sdk/src/plugins.ts

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import * as fs from "node:fs";
 import * as path from "node:path";
 import { configDir } from "./config.js";
+import { SDK_VERSION } from "./version.js";
 
 /** The `@punktfunk` package registry (Gitea's npm registry for the `unom` org). */
 export const REGISTRY = "https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/npm/";
@@ -187,6 +188,109 @@ const runBun = (action: "add" | "remove", pkgs: string[], opts: PkgOpts): void =
 	}
 };
 
+/** The SDK version installed in a plugins tree, or undefined if it isn't installed at all. */
+export const installedSdkVersion = (
+	dir = pluginsDirDefault(),
+): string | undefined => {
+	try {
+		const manifest = path.join(
+			dir,
+			"node_modules",
+			"@punktfunk",
+			"host",
+			"package.json",
+		);
+		const v = (
+			JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(manifest, "utf8")) as { version?: string }
+		).version;
+		return typeof v === "string" ? v : undefined;
+	} catch {
+		return undefined;
+	}
+};
+
+/**
+ * Bring the plugins tree's `@punktfunk/host` up to the version THIS runner was built from.
+ *
+ * **Why this exists.** The SDK is the seam every plugin registers through, but each plugin resolves
+ * it from the plugins tree, and `bun.lock` pins it to an exact version with an integrity hash. No
+ * user-facing flow re-resolves that pin: installing a plugin, reinstalling it, even updating it to a
+ * newer release all leave the SDK where it is, because the plugin's `^0.1.x` range is already
+ * satisfied. Measured on 2026-08-08 — publishing `@punktfunk/host@0.1.3` (the release that lets a
+ * library scanner register `category`, so it stays out of the console nav) reached **no existing
+ * install**, and the only thing that moved it was deleting the lockfile by hand over ssh. Shipping a
+ * fix that needs an ssh session is not shipping a fix.
+ *
+ * The runner is the right owner: it is bundled from this same `sdk/` at the host's release commit
+ * (`packaging/arch/PKGBUILD` builds `src/runner-cli.ts` into the punktfunk-scripting package), so
+ * `SDK_VERSION` is by construction the SDK that matches the host now on disk. A host upgrade then
+ * carries the SDK with it and nobody touches a runner.
+ *
+ * **Why the whole lockfile.** A targeted `bun add @punktfunk/host@<v>` at the root does NOT work
+ * while plugins still declare the SDK in their own `dependencies` (they do, though none import it):
+ * bun honours their locked resolution and gives each plugin a private nested copy, which then
+ * SHADOWS the root — measured, 5 nested copies. A lockless resolve hoists one copy for everyone,
+ * also measured. Once the plugins drop that spurious dependency this can become the targeted form.
+ *
+ * Safety: the plugins' own versions are pinned exactly in the root `package.json`, so a re-resolve
+ * cannot move them; only shared transitive deps float within their declared ranges. The lockfile is
+ * backed up first and restored if the install fails, and any failure is logged and swallowed — a
+ * dependency refresh must never stop the plugins that are already working from loading.
+ */
+export const reconcileSharedSdk = (
+	dir = pluginsDirDefault(),
+	log: (line: string) => void = (l) => console.log(l),
+): void => {
+	const have = installedSdkVersion(dir);
+	// Nothing installed = no plugins yet; the first `bun add` resolves the current SDK on its own.
+	if (have === undefined || have === SDK_VERSION) return;
+
+	const lock = path.join(dir, "bun.lock");
+	const backup = `${lock}.pf-bak`;
+	log(
+		`[plugins] @punktfunk/host ${have} installed, this host ships ${SDK_VERSION} — refreshing`,
+	);
+	let restore = false;
+	try {
+		if (fs.existsSync(lock)) {
+			fs.copyFileSync(lock, backup);
+			fs.rmSync(lock);
+			restore = true;
+		}
+		const res = Bun.spawnSync([process.execPath, "install", "--ignore-scripts"], {
+			cwd: dir,
+			stdio: ["inherit", "inherit", "inherit"],
+		});
+		if (!res.success) {
+			throw new Error(`bun install exited ${res.exitCode ?? "?"}`);
+		}
+		const now = installedSdkVersion(dir);
+		if (now !== SDK_VERSION) {
+			// The install "succeeded" and still did not deliver the version — better to sit on the
+			// known-good tree than to keep a half-resolved one.
+			throw new Error(`still ${now ?? "absent"} after install`);
+		}
+		restore = false;
+		if (fs.existsSync(backup)) fs.rmSync(backup);
+		log(`[plugins] @punktfunk/host is now ${SDK_VERSION}`);
+	} catch (e) {
+		log(
+			`[plugins] WARNING: could not refresh @punktfunk/host (${
+				e instanceof Error ? e.message : e
+			}) — plugins keep running against ${have}`,
+		);
+		if (restore && fs.existsSync(backup)) {
+			try {
+				fs.copyFileSync(backup, lock);
+				fs.rmSync(backup);
+			} catch {
+				// The backup is still on disk under its own name; say so rather than pretend.
+				log(`[plugins] the previous lockfile is at ${backup}`);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+};
+
 /** Install one or more plugins by friendly name or package. */
 export const addPlugins = (names: string[], opts: PkgOpts = {}): void => {
 	const pkgs = names.map((n) => resolvePackage(n, opts));

sdk/src/runner-cli.ts

@@ -23,7 +23,12 @@
 // package that may live on somebody else's registry — but they are ordinary CLI flags too.
 import { Effect, Fiber } from "effect";
 import { installLogShipper } from "./log-ship.js";
-import { addPlugins, listInstalled, removePlugins } from "./plugins.js";
+import {
+	addPlugins,
+	listInstalled,
+	reconcileSharedSdk,
+	removePlugins,
+} from "./plugins.js";
 import { discoverUnits, runner } from "./runner.js";
 
 const arg = (flag: string): string | undefined => {
@@ -166,6 +171,13 @@ const keepAlive = setInterval(() => {}, 2 ** 31 - 1);
 // a plugin failing to load are the first ones out.
 const shipper = installLogShipper();
 
+// Before any plugin loads: make the tree's shared SDK the one this runner was built from. A host
+// upgrade is the only moment that can deliver an SDK fix to already-installed plugins, and this is
+// that moment — see `reconcileSharedSdk`. Deliberately AFTER the log shipper so the operator can
+// read what it did from the console's Logs page, and BEFORE `runner()` so plugins import the
+// refreshed copy rather than the one they were started with.
+reconcileSharedSdk(options.pluginsDir);
+
 const fiber = Effect.runFork(runner(options));
 let stopping = false;
 const shutdown = (signal: string) => {

sdk/src/version.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+/**
+ * The version of this SDK, as a value the bundled runner can read about ITSELF.
+ *
+ * A constant rather than an import of `package.json`: `tsconfig.build.json` sets `rootDir: "src"`,
+ * so reaching one directory up breaks the npm build, and the runner ships as a single bundled
+ * `runner-cli.js` with no `package.json` beside it (`/usr/share/punktfunk-scripting/`), so there is
+ * nothing to read at runtime either. Inlining it at build time is the only form that survives both.
+ *
+ * `version.test.ts` fails if this and `package.json` disagree, so the duplication cannot rot.
+ */
+export const SDK_VERSION = "0.1.4";

sdk/test/reconcile-sdk.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+// `reconcileSharedSdk` runs on EVERY runner start, so its no-op path is the safety-critical one:
+// a false positive deletes a working lockfile and re-resolves the whole tree on a box that was
+// fine. These tests pin the decision, not the install (which needs a registry).
+import * as fs from "node:fs";
+import * as os from "node:os";
+import * as path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import { installedSdkVersion, reconcileSharedSdk } from "../src/plugins.js";
+import { SDK_VERSION } from "../src/version.js";
+
+const dirs: string[] = [];
+
+/** A plugins tree whose installed `@punktfunk/host` is `version` (omit for "not installed"). */
+const tree = (version?: string): string => {
+	const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "pf-reconcile-"));
+	dirs.push(dir);
+	fs.writeFileSync(path.join(dir, "package.json"), '{"private":true}\n');
+	fs.writeFileSync(path.join(dir, "bun.lock"), "ORIGINAL-LOCK\n");
+	if (version !== undefined) {
+		const host = path.join(dir, "node_modules", "@punktfunk", "host");
+		fs.mkdirSync(host, { recursive: true });
+		fs.writeFileSync(
+			path.join(host, "package.json"),
+			JSON.stringify({ name: "@punktfunk/host", version }),
+		);
+	}
+	return dir;
+};
+
+afterEach(() => {
+	for (const d of dirs.splice(0)) fs.rmSync(d, { recursive: true, force: true });
+});
+
+describe("installedSdkVersion", () => {
+	test("reads the installed version, and is undefined when absent", () => {
+		expect(installedSdkVersion(tree("0.1.2"))).toBe("0.1.2");
+		expect(installedSdkVersion(tree())).toBeUndefined();
+	});
+
+	test("is undefined rather than throwing on a corrupt manifest", () => {
+		const dir = tree("0.1.2");
+		fs.writeFileSync(
+			path.join(dir, "node_modules", "@punktfunk", "host", "package.json"),
+			"{ not json",
+		);
+		expect(installedSdkVersion(dir)).toBeUndefined();
+	});
+});
+
+describe("reconcileSharedSdk", () => {
+	// The common case, every start, on every healthy box: touch nothing.
+	test("is a silent no-op when the installed SDK already matches", () => {
+		const dir = tree(SDK_VERSION);
+		const lines: string[] = [];
+		reconcileSharedSdk(dir, (l) => lines.push(l));
+		expect(fs.readFileSync(path.join(dir, "bun.lock"), "utf8")).toBe(
+			"ORIGINAL-LOCK\n",
+		);
+		expect(lines).toEqual([]);
+	});
+
+	// A tree with no SDK has no plugins yet — the first `bun add` resolves the current one, so
+	// there is nothing to refresh and nothing to log about.
+	test("is a silent no-op when no SDK is installed at all", () => {
+		const dir = tree();
+		const lines: string[] = [];
+		reconcileSharedSdk(dir, (l) => lines.push(l));
+		expect(fs.readFileSync(path.join(dir, "bun.lock"), "utf8")).toBe(
+			"ORIGINAL-LOCK\n",
+		);
+		expect(lines).toEqual([]);
+	});
+
+	// The failure path matters as much as the happy one: this runs unattended at boot, and the
+	// tree it just took the lockfile away from is the one the operator's plugins load from. The
+	// install cannot succeed here (the fake package.json resolves nothing), so this exercises the
+	// real rollback.
+	test("restores the lockfile and keeps going when the refresh fails", () => {
+		const dir = tree("0.0.1-not-a-real-version");
+		const lines: string[] = [];
+		expect(() => reconcileSharedSdk(dir, (l) => lines.push(l))).not.toThrow();
+		expect(fs.readFileSync(path.join(dir, "bun.lock"), "utf8")).toBe(
+			"ORIGINAL-LOCK\n",
+		);
+		expect(lines.join("\n")).toContain("WARNING");
+		// And it names both versions, so the log says what it was trying to do.
+		expect(lines.join("\n")).toContain("0.0.1-not-a-real-version");
+		expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(dir, "bun.lock.pf-bak"))).toBe(false);
+	});
+});

sdk/test/version.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+// The one thing that keeps `SDK_VERSION` honest. The runner compares it against the SDK actually
+// installed in the plugins tree and reinstalls on a mismatch, so a stale constant would either
+// reinstall forever (constant behind) or never deliver a fix (constant ahead of a release).
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import { SDK_VERSION } from "../src/version.js";
+
+describe("SDK_VERSION", () => {
+	test("matches package.json — bump both or neither", () => {
+		// Read rather than import: `tsconfig.build.json` pins `rootDir: "src"`, so a JSON import of
+		// the manifest would not compile for the npm build even though bun would run it fine.
+		const pkg = JSON.parse(
+			readFileSync(new URL("../package.json", import.meta.url), "utf8"),
+		) as { version: string };
+		expect(SDK_VERSION).toBe(pkg.version);
+	});
+
+	test("is a plain semver triple", () => {
+		// The runner compares it to an installed version string, so anything with a range operator
+		// (`^0.1.3`) would never compare equal and would reinstall on every start.
+		expect(SDK_VERSION).toMatch(/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/);
+	});
+});

web/server/routes/api/plugin-config/[id].ts

@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+// GET/PUT /api/plugin-config/<id> — a plugin's `__config`, readable from the CONSOLE origin.
+//
+// The Library section's "Game sources" settings drawer renders a form from a library plugin's
+// `__config` (the kit's generic settings surface, so a scanner needs no SPA of its own). It fetched
+// `/plugin-ui/<id>/__config` same-origin — and that stopped working the moment plugin UIs moved to
+// their own origin (2026-08-05 review H-3): `middleware/auth.ts` answers 404 for `/plugin-ui/**` on
+// the console origin, unconditionally and by design. The drawer is the only NON-IFRAME consumer of
+// that path, so nothing else noticed, and settings silently failed to open for every library plugin.
+//
+// The fix is deliberately not "point the drawer at the plugin origin". That needs CORS plus
+// cross-site cookies, and it would put a plugin-controlled response inside a credentialed
+// cross-origin fetch — reopening the hole the split exists to close. What the drawer needs is DATA,
+// not an embedded UI: this reads the JSON server-side over loopback and returns it same-origin, so
+// no plugin HTML or JS is ever served from the console origin.
+//
+// Auth: `/api/**` is always session-gated (`isPublicPath`), so reaching here means a logged-in
+// operator, and it answers 401 as JSON rather than redirecting — which is what a `fetch` needs. The
+// plugin's per-boot secret stays server-side, exactly as in the `/plugin-ui` proxy.
+import {
+	defineEventHandler,
+	getRouterParam,
+	readRawBody,
+	setResponseStatus,
+} from "h3";
+import {
+	bustCredential,
+	fetchUiCredential,
+	PLUGIN_ID_RE,
+} from "../../../util/pluginProxy";
+
+/** `GET` reads schema + current value; `PUT` validates and saves. Nothing else is forwarded. */
+const ALLOWED = new Set(["GET", "PUT"]);
+
+export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
+	const id = getRouterParam(event, "id");
+	if (!id || !PLUGIN_ID_RE.test(id)) {
+		setResponseStatus(event, 404);
+		return { error: "not a valid plugin id" };
+	}
+	const method = event.method;
+	if (!ALLOWED.has(method)) {
+		setResponseStatus(event, 405);
+		return { error: "method not allowed" };
+	}
+	// Read the body BEFORE the retry below: `readRawBody` drains the stream, so a second attempt
+	// would forward an empty PUT and quietly save `{}` over the operator's config.
+	const body =
+		method === "PUT"
+			? ((await readRawBody(event, false)) as Uint8Array | undefined)
+			: undefined;
+
+	const attempt = async (bustCache: boolean): Promise<Response | null> => {
+		const cred = await fetchUiCredential(id, { bustCache });
+		if (!cred) return null;
+		try {
+			return await fetch(`http://127.0.0.1:${cred.port}/__config`, {
+				method,
+				headers: {
+					authorization: `Bearer ${cred.secret}`,
+					...(method === "PUT" ? { "content-type": "application/json" } : {}),
+				},
+				body: body as BodyInit | undefined,
+			});
+		} catch {
+			return null;
+		}
+	};
+
+	// A plugin's secret rotates when its process restarts, which happens well inside the credential
+	// cache's TTL — so a 401 here means "stale credential", not "denied". Same one-shot retry the
+	// `/plugin-ui` proxy does, for the same reason.
+	let res = await attempt(false);
+	if (res?.status === 401) {
+		bustCredential(id);
+		res = await attempt(true);
+	}
+	if (!res) {
+		setResponseStatus(event, 502);
+		return { error: `plugin ${id} is not reachable` };
+	}
+
+	setResponseStatus(event, res.status);
+	// Pass the plugin's own body through untouched: a 400 from `__config` carries the decode issue
+	// the drawer shows the operator, and rewriting it would throw away the only useful part.
+	const text = await res.text();
+	try {
+		return JSON.parse(text) as unknown;
+	} catch {
+		return { error: text || `plugin ${id} answered ${res.status}` };
+	}
+});

web/src/sections/Library/SourceSettings.tsx

@@ -26,9 +26,15 @@ import { m } from "@/paraglide/messages";
  * A library source's settings, rendered as a **generic form** from the plugin's own JSON Schema.
  *
  * The point (design D7, closing G8): a scanner plugin ships no SPA at all. It serves
- * `GET/PUT /__config` from the kit, and the console renders whatever schema comes back. Everything
- * goes through the existing session-gated `/plugin-ui/<id>/…` proxy, so there is **zero new host
- * surface** — the browser never learns the plugin's port or secret.
+ * `GET/PUT /__config` from the kit, and the console renders whatever schema comes back. The browser
+ * never learns the plugin's port or secret — the console reads it server-side over loopback.
+ *
+ * That read goes through `/api/plugin-config/<id>` on the CONSOLE origin, not the `/plugin-ui/…`
+ * proxy this used to call. Plugin UIs live on their own origin (2026-08-05 review H-3) and the
+ * console origin now answers 404 for `/plugin-ui/**` by design, which broke this drawer for every
+ * library plugin — it is the one consumer of that path that is not an iframe. What it needs is
+ * DATA, not an embedded UI, so it gets JSON same-origin and no plugin markup ever reaches the
+ * console origin.
  *
  * Fields the derivation can't express fall back to a raw JSON editor. That fallback is what bounds
  * the risk of the whole approach: worst case the drawer is a validated textarea, and the PUT still
@@ -51,7 +57,7 @@ export const SourceSettingsDialog: FC<{
 		let cancelled = false;
 		(async () => {
 			try {
-				const res = await fetch(`/plugin-ui/${pluginId}/__config`, {
+				const res = await fetch(`/api/plugin-config/${pluginId}`, {
 					credentials: "same-origin",
 				});
 				if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);
@@ -77,7 +83,7 @@ export const SourceSettingsDialog: FC<{
 	const save = async (value: JsonObject) => {
 		setSaving(true);
 		try {
-			const res = await fetch(`/plugin-ui/${pluginId}/__config`, {
+			const res = await fetch(`/api/plugin-config/${pluginId}`, {
 				method: "PUT",
 				credentials: "same-origin",
 				headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },