docs(changelog): the pad-audio DualSense speaker hides while no client pad is attached

The per-pad endpoint is stamped to be indistinguishable from a real
DualSense speaker — that is the feature during a pad session (libScePad
titles route haptics audio at it) and a trap the rest of the time: the
endpoint is pre-provisioned at EVERY host start and stayed visible
forever, so an idle Helldivers 2 found it by identity, engaged its
DualSense-haptics path against a device nothing services, and dropped to
2–5 FPS 1% lows — host idle, no controller plugged in, no session ever
run (field-confirmed 2026-08-14: the reporter isolated the 'DualSense
speaker' and disabling it in mmsys.cpl restored full performance).

That manual remedy is now automatic: the endpoint parks HIDDEN
(DEVICE_STATE_DISABLED, IPolicyConfig::SetEndpointVisibility — the call
behind mmsys.cpl's own Disable, vtable slot pinned next to the
SetDefaultEndpoint we already bind) whenever no client pad is attached.
Provisioning hides it at startup, a PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO=0 host hides
leftovers from earlier runs, and the per-pad streamer shows it for
exactly the pad's lifetime — to a game, a DualSense arriving and
leaving. The devnode, driver binding and stamps stay put (registry-based
resolution finds a disabled endpoint at the next boot), so the flips
raise no PnP traffic and the expensive provisioning still happens once
at boot — the #185 lesson holds.

Devtest: pad-endpoint grew show/hide verbs; tone/capture need a show
first on a parked box.

.gitea/workflows/deb.yml

@@ -517,15 +517,17 @@ jobs:
           bash packaging/gamescope/build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh \
             --destdir "$PWD/gs-stage" --prefix /usr --jobs "$(nproc)" \
             --extra-fallback libdisplay-info
-          install -Dm0755 gs-stage/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope
+          # The WHOLE staged tree, not just the binary: it also carries the Vulkan WSI layer built
+          # beside the compositor, which is the only route to an HDR10 swapchain for a nested game.
+          mkdir -p gs-cache && cp -a gs-stage/. gs-cache/
 
       # The binary must RUN, not merely link: `--version` is what the old job used as its ship
       # gate, and it is the cheapest proof that the static-libstdc++ trick and the vendored wlroots
       # actually produced a working compositor.
       - name: Build the .deb
         run: |
-          gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope --version
-          bash packaging/debian/build-gamescope-deb.sh --binary gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope
+          gs-cache/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope --version
+          bash packaging/debian/build-gamescope-deb.sh --stage gs-cache
 
       - name: Publish to the Gitea apt registry
         env:

.gitea/workflows/rpm.yml

@@ -293,7 +293,11 @@ jobs:
           dnf -y install wayland-protocols-devel glm-devel cmake libXcursor-devel || 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
+            # The WHOLE staged tree, not just the binary: it also carries the Vulkan WSI layer built
+            # beside the compositor, which is the only thing that can give a nested game an HDR10
+            # swapchain. Caching the tree rather than a file per artifact is what keeps the next
+            # addition from needing a change here as well as in every packaging script.
+            mkdir -p gs-cache && cp -a gs-stage/. gs-cache/
           else
             # Warn only, even on a tag — the hard gate is the LAST step of this job. Failing here
             # would skip the sysext build, the sysext feed, AND the release attach below, so a
@@ -311,9 +315,9 @@ jobs:
       # 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
+          if [ -x gs-cache/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope ] && gs-cache/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope --version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
             bash packaging/gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh \
-              --binary gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope \
+              --stage gs-cache \
               --release "$PF_RELEASE"
           else
             # Warn only — see the note on the build step. The gate is the last step of this job.
@@ -372,9 +376,9 @@ jobs:
           # whose runtime libs are missing from this container must cost the image its HDR, not the
           # image itself.
           gs=()
-          if [ -x gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope ] && gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope --version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            gs=(--gamescope gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope)
-            echo "folding in $(gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope --version 2>&1 | head -1)"
+          if [ -x gs-cache/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope ] && gs-cache/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope --version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            gs=(--gamescope-stage gs-cache)
+            echo "folding in $(gs-cache/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope --version 2>&1 | head -1)"
           else
             echo "::warning::no usable punktfunk-gamescope for f${{ matrix.fedver }} — the sysext ships without it (gamescope sessions stay SDR)"
           fi

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -14,6 +14,171 @@ with the version table of the release you are moving to, then read **Breaking ch
 
 ## v0.28.1 — in development
 
+### The pad-audio "Wireless Controller" speaker hides while no client pad is attached
+
+Field-confirmed (2026-08-14, the same Helldivers 2 reports as below): the per-pad audio endpoint
+the Windows host mints — a Steam-Streaming-Speakers instance stamped with a DualSense's name,
+container and 4 ch/48 kHz formats, **pre-provisioned at every host start** — is deliberately
+indistinguishable from a real DualSense speaker. That disguise is the feature during a pad
+session (libScePad titles route haptics audio at it) and a trap the rest of the time: an idle
+Helldivers 2 finds the endpoint by identity, engages its DualSense-haptics path against a device
+nothing services, and drops to 2–5 FPS 1% lows — with the host completely idle, no controller
+plugged in, and no session ever run. The reporter isolating "the DualSense speaker" and disabling
+it in mmsys.cpl restored full performance; that manual remedy is now automatic.
+
+The endpoint now parks **hidden** (`DEVICE_STATE_DISABLED`, via `IPolicyConfig::
+SetEndpointVisibility` — the exact call behind mmsys.cpl's Disable) whenever no client pad is
+attached: provisioning hides it at startup (and a `PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO=0` host hides leftovers
+from earlier runs), the per-pad streamer shows it for exactly the pad's lifetime — to a game,
+indistinguishable from a DualSense arriving and leaving. The devnode, driver binding and stamps
+stay put, so the flips raise no PnP traffic and the expensive provisioning still happens once at
+boot.
+
+⚠ **Operator-visible:** "Speakers (Wireless Controller)" now shows as *disabled* in the Sound
+control panel while no client pad is connected — that is the parked state, not a defect. The
+`pad-endpoint` devtest grew `show`/`hide` verbs; `tone`/`capture` need a `show` first.
+
+### An idle Windows host no longer owns the box's default microphone
+
+Field report (the second Helldivers 2 one — the first led to v0.28.0's mint-retry fix): with the
+host **idle**, a locally played Helldivers 2 tanks to 2–5 FPS 1% lows, and Windows' own Sound
+settings Recording tab goes unresponsive. Root cause: the audio wiring pass asserted *default
+recording = the virtual mic's capture side* on **every** pass, including the mic pump's eager
+boot pass — and `SetDefaultEndpoint` covers eCommunications, so every game's voice input bound a
+virtual microphone whose feeder only runs during a stream. Nothing ever restored it: not session
+end, not service stop. Games that hold an always-open voice capture (Helldivers 2 is Wwise +
+in-game voice — its own wiki calls the game "finicky with audio devices") stall on that dead
+endpoint.
+
+The recording default is now **session-scoped**, exactly like the playback default has always
+been: parked on the virtual mic only while a desktop-audio capture is open, the operator's device
+remembered (plus an on-disk crash marker, `audio-default-rec.prev`), restored when the capture
+closes, recovered at next boot after a crash, and unparked by the uninstaller. A game launched
+*during* a stream still records the client's mic; one launched before the stream keeps the
+operator's own microphone.
+
+Boxes wedged by earlier builds (which recorded nothing to restore) heal themselves: an idle
+wiring pass that finds the default recording sitting on the plan's mic capture moves it back to
+the first real microphone.
+
+⚠ **Operator-visible:** outside a stream, the default recording device is now whatever you set —
+Punktfunk only takes it for the duration of a stream. If you *want* apps to record the client mic
+while idle, select "Punktfunk Microphone" manually; the host no longer re-asserts it (idle
+re-assertion used to stomp a manual choice within one mic-pump reopen).
+
+### The Steam plugin synced nothing on Windows: its art is in Program Files, the art roots were not
+
+Field report — the plugin installed, the grid stayed empty, and the only clue was one host warn per
+sync:
+
+```
+plugin:steam sync (fs-change) failed: HostRequestError: PUT /library/provider/steam?store=steam
+  failed: art.hero: local art must be an image file (…) inside an allowed art root
+```
+
+Two independent defects, both fixed here.
+
+**1. Steam's art was never inside an allowed root on Windows.** `art_roots()` defaulted to the users
+base (`C:\Users`, from `%PUBLIC%`'s parent), which covers the launchers that install per-user —
+Playnite under `%APPDATA%`, Heroic under `%APPDATA%` — but *not* Steam, which installs to
+`C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam` and keeps both the art the plugin publishes there:
+`appcache\librarycache\<appid>\<hash>\` and each account's `userdata\<id>\config\grid\` overrides.
+Every cover the plugin emitted was out of root. This is a v0.28.0 regression: the built-in scanner
+the plugin replaced served its covers through the legacy `steam:` art-proxy branch, which never
+passed through the H-2 confinement — deleting the scanner routed that art through a gate it had
+never been measured against. `art_roots()` now also includes every Steam install root it can find,
+from `%ProgramFiles(x86)%` / `%ProgramFiles%` / `%ProgramW6432%` and from HKLM
+`Valve\Steam\InstallPath` (so a Steam on another drive is covered too). POSIX needed no equivalent —
+every Steam layout there, native and Flatpak, is already under `$HOME`.
+
+This does not weaken the confinement. It exists to stop the host (SYSTEM) reading files the plugin
+lane (LocalService) cannot reach itself; the Steam directory is readable by LocalService already, so
+nothing there is reachable *because* the host is privileged. The extension, regular-file, magic-byte
+and config-dir gates all still apply, so Steam's own `config.vdf` and `ssfn*` credential blobs are
+not servable from it — there is a test.
+
+**2. One unservable cover threw away the entire library.** `PUT /library/provider/{p}` validated art
+per entry and returned 400 for the whole payload on the first bad value, so a path mismatch cost the
+operator *every game from that store*, not a thumbnail — and the plugin, which only ever sees
+`HostRequestError`, could not say which. A provider reconcile now **strips** unservable local art and
+syncs the rest (`sanitize_art_paths`), logging one aggregated warn naming the count, an example path
+and the env var. The invariant the 400 held is unchanged: no unservable path is ever persisted. The
+operator's own single-entry custom writes keep the hard 400 — there the path was typed by hand, and
+silence would be the wrong answer.
+
+⚠ **Operator-visible:** an art-root mismatch no longer fails a sync. If covers are blank where you
+expect art, the cue is the host log's `dropped local art the proxy may not serve` line, and the knob
+is `PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS` (which **replaces** the defaults — list every root you need).
+
+### Android — the audio plane trusted AAudio, and a TV box that opened a stream it never played was silent for the session
+
+🛑 **Reported from the field: no audio at all on an NVIDIA Shield Android TV, stereo, with the same
+host and settings that play fine on an Apple TV.** Video unaffected. Turning off the client's
+low-latency mode — which is what gates the forced HDMI mode switch and the `usage=Game` tagging —
+changed nothing.
+
+The Android client opens AAudio directly (the Apple client goes through AVAudioEngine, which
+reconfigures itself on a route change; that difference is why this was Android-only). Opening
+AAudio is a negotiation with a vendor HAL, and this plane treated it as a formality: one Exclusive
+attempt, one Shared retry, and everything after the open taken on trust. **Three distinct failures
+all presented as "the app has no sound" behind a healthy-looking log**, and none of them was
+detected:
+
+- **A configuration that opens but routes nowhere.** Nothing ever checked that the device actually
+  pulled a sample, so the decode thread would happily decode Opus into a dead stream forever.
+- **`request_start` failing.** The old code gave up on the spot instead of trying anything else, so
+  one unhappy configuration disabled audio for the whole session.
+- **A disconnect.** By AAudio's contract a disconnected stream is dead and the only recovery is
+  close + open a new one. The error callback logged a warning and did nothing else — so an HDMI
+  mode switch, an AVR re-handshake or any route change meant silence for the rest of the session.
+  On a TV that is not a rare event: the client itself drives an HDMI mode switch on the video
+  plane, and the platform's own match-content-frame-rate setting drives more.
+
+The open now walks a **ladder**, every rung has to **prove the device is pulling** before it is
+accepted, and a **supervisor** owns the plane for the session and reopens it when the device goes
+away (bounded retries across the settling time of a route change, so a reopen landing mid-switch
+does not permanently disable audio). The granted rate/channel-count/format are checked against what
+was asked for rather than assumed — the realtime callback casts AAudio's buffer to `f32` and writes
+`num_frames × channels` of them, so a HAL that disagreed was an out-of-bounds write on the audio
+thread, not merely a mistuning.
+
+⚠ **Behaviour change on TV boxes: they now start at Shared instead of Exclusive.** Exclusive is
+MMAP, the lowest-latency path AAudio has, and the one rung whose routing cannot be verified from
+inside the process. The latency it buys here was never actually banked — the jitter-ring depths are
+unchanged from the Shared-only era (`JitterTuning::AAUDIO` still primes at 25 ms) — so on a
+mains-powered HDMI box the few ms are worth less than not betting the audio plane on it. Phones,
+tablets and handhelds are unchanged and still try Exclusive first. If no rung proves itself, the
+first one that opened and started is used anyway: the watchdog must never be able to turn working
+audio into no audio.
+
+⚠ **Embedder-visible:** `NativeBridge.nativeStartAudio` takes a third argument, `isTv`
+(`FEATURE_LEANBACK`, the same source the video plane already used).
+
+Three new sysprops bisect all of it on a device that cannot be handed a custom build, alongside the
+existing `debug.punktfunk.no_av_sync`: `debug.punktfunk.audio_sharing` (`exclusive`|`shared`),
+`debug.punktfunk.audio_perf` (`lowlatency`|`none`) and `debug.punktfunk.audio_reopen` (`0` pins the
+old give-up-on-disconnect behaviour). A stream that stops taking samples after it started now says
+so at `error` level instead of looking exactly like an app with no sound.
+
+### punktfunk-gamescope `+pfhdr7` — a lingered session no longer dies of its own capture teardown
+
+🛑 **On client disconnect the host keeps the headless gamescope alive so a reconnect resumes the
+same session — and gamescope could SIGSEGV in exactly that window, so the kept display was dead and
+reconnect silently got a fresh compositor with the game lost.** When the capture consumer leaves,
+PipeWire's `remove_buffer` (and the stale-push path in `dispatch_nudge`) destroyed idle buffers on
+the **PipeWire thread**; dropping the last `CVulkanTexture` reference there calls into the Vulkan
+driver (`vkDestroyImage`/`FreeMemory`/dmabuf fds) while steamcompmgr can still be inside
+`vulkan_screenshot` on another buffer of the same 4-buffer pool. On NVIDIA that races to a SIGSEGV
+in `CVulkanCmdBuffer::insertBarrier` — timed at stream end, which is why it selectively killed
+linger. The journal signature: linger line → coredump → `kept display was dead — recreating`.
+
+Patch 0009 queues those corpses on the PipeWire thread and has steamcompmgr reap them on every
+vblank — including while the stream is paused, which is precisely the linger state. Found, fixed
+and proven live by **luxus** ([punktfunk-overlay#9](https://github.com/luxus/punktfunk-overlay/issues/9)):
+four coredumps on 4K60 HDR + composited cursor, zero after; disconnect/reconnect now reuses the
+lingered session. Banner `+pfhdr6` → `+pfhdr7` (no new capability — but "reconnect lost my game"
+triage must be able to read a box's exposure off its banner, the same rule as `+pfhdr5`/`6`).
+
 ### NixOS — the plugin runner was installed, running, and reported missing
 
 🛑 **On NixOS every plugin *package* op failed with "the plugin runner isn't installed", on a box

api/openapi.json

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
       "name": "MIT OR Apache-2.0",
       "identifier": "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
     },
-    "version": "0.27.0"
+    "version": "0.28.0"
   },
   "paths": {
     "/api/v1/clients": {
@@ -45,6 +45,36 @@
             }
           }
         }
+      },
+      "delete": {
+        "tags": [
+          "clients"
+        ],
+        "summary": "Unpair every client",
+        "description": "The collection form of [`unpair_client`]: empties the pairing store in ONE persisted write,\ncarrying the same revocation guarantees across the whole set. A LIVE GameStream session is\nended (its owning certificate is necessarily one of those just removed), and the ENet control\nport (UDP 47999) closes, because no pairing is left to hold it open.\n\nIdempotent, and so a 200 rather than the single unpair's 204/404 pair: \"unpair everything\" is\nsatisfied by an already-empty store, and the operator still wants to know whether that meant\nthree devices or none.",
+        "operationId": "unpairAllClients",
+        "responses": {
+          "200": {
+            "description": "Every client unpaired (possibly none)",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/UnpairAllResult"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "401": {
+            "description": "Missing or invalid bearer token",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/ApiError"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
       }
     },
     "/api/v1/clients/{fingerprint}": {
@@ -1767,6 +1797,56 @@
             }
           }
         }
+      },
+      "delete": {
+        "tags": [
+          "native"
+        ],
+        "summary": "Unpair every native client",
+        "description": "The collection form of [`unpair_native_client`]: empties the punktfunk/1 trust store in ONE\npersisted write (not a loop of them — a failure partway would leave a half-emptied store), and\nends every live native session the removed clients own.\n\nIdempotent, hence a 200 rather than the single unpair's 204/404: an already-empty store\nsatisfies the request, and the count still tells the operator what it meant.",
+        "operationId": "unpairAllNativeClients",
+        "responses": {
+          "200": {
+            "description": "Every native client unpaired (possibly none)",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/UnpairAllResult"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "401": {
+            "description": "Missing or invalid bearer token",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/ApiError"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "500": {
+            "description": "Could not persist the trust store",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/ApiError"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          },
+          "503": {
+            "description": "Native host not enabled",
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/ApiError"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
       }
     },
     "/api/v1/native/clients/{fingerprint}": {
@@ -7687,6 +7767,22 @@
           }
         }
       },
+      "UnpairAllResult": {
+        "type": "object",
+        "description": "What a bulk unpair removed. Shared by the two collection DELETEs (`/clients` and\n`/native/clients`) so the console sees one schema across both pairing planes.\n\nA count rather than 204: \"unpair everything\" is idempotent, so an empty store is a success, and\nthe operator still wants to be told whether that meant three devices or none.",
+        "required": [
+          "unpaired"
+        ],
+        "properties": {
+          "unpaired": {
+            "type": "integer",
+            "format": "int32",
+            "description": "Clients removed from the trust store — 0 when nothing was paired.",
+            "example": 3,
+            "minimum": 0
+          }
+        }
+      },
       "UpdateJobInfo": {
         "type": "object",
         "description": "A running apply job (or a spawned installer that hasn't resolved yet).",

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

@@ -816,7 +816,7 @@ fun StreamScreen(session: ActiveSession, onSessionEnded: (SessionEndReason) -> U
                                     ?: (runCatching { context.display }.getOrNull()?.refreshRate ?: 0f)
                                         .roundToInt(),
                             )
-                            NativeBridge.nativeStartAudio(handle, lowLatencyMode)
+                            NativeBridge.nativeStartAudio(handle, lowLatencyMode, isTv)
                             if (micWanted) {
                                 val sessionId =
                                     NativeBridge.nativeStartMic(handle, initialSettings.echoCancel)

clients/android/kit/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/kit/NativeBridge.kt

@@ -302,12 +302,17 @@ object NativeBridge {
     external fun nativeSetVideoStatsEnabled(handle: Long, enabled: Boolean)
 
     /**
-     * Start host→client audio: Opus decode → jitter ring → AAudio (LowLatency), all in Rust.
+     * Start host→client audio: Opus decode → jitter ring → AAudio, all in Rust.
      * [lowLatencyMode] (the experimental toggle) additionally tags the stream usage=Game for the
      * HAL's game-audio routing. No-op if already started. Best-effort — a failure leaves video
      * streaming.
+     *
+     * [isTv] steers the AAudio open ladder: a TV box starts at Shared rather than betting the
+     * audio plane on an Exclusive/MMAP path whose routing we cannot verify from inside the
+     * process. Passed from `FEATURE_LEANBACK` (same source as [nativeStartVideo]) because the
+     * native side's own `ro.build.characteristics` check is not answered by every TV device.
      */
-    external fun nativeStartAudio(handle: Long, lowLatencyMode: Boolean)
+    external fun nativeStartAudio(handle: Long, lowLatencyMode: Boolean, isTv: Boolean)
 
     /** Stop + join the audio thread and close AAudio, without closing the session. No-op on `0`. */
     external fun nativeStopAudio(handle: Long)

clients/android/native/src/session/planes.rs

@@ -357,10 +357,10 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeSetVideoSta
     })
 }
 
-/// `NativeBridge.nativeStartAudio(handle, lowLatencyMode)` — start the Opus→AAudio playback thread.
-/// `lowLatencyMode` (the experimental toggle) tags the stream usage=Game for the HAL's game-audio
-/// routing. No-op if already started or on a `0` handle. Best-effort: a failure leaves video
-/// streaming.
+/// `NativeBridge.nativeStartAudio(handle, lowLatencyMode, isTv)` — start the Opus→AAudio playback
+/// supervisor. `lowLatencyMode` (the experimental toggle) tags the stream usage=Game for the HAL's
+/// game-audio routing; `isTv` steers the AAudio open ladder (see `crate::audio::open_ladder`).
+/// No-op if already started or on a `0` handle. Best-effort: a failure leaves video streaming.
 #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
 #[unsafe(no_mangle)]
 pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeStartAudio(
@@ -368,6 +368,7 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeStartAudio(
     _this: JObject,
     handle: jlong,
     low_latency_mode: jboolean,
+    is_tv: jboolean,
 ) {
     if handle == 0 {
         return;
@@ -378,7 +379,7 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeStartAudio(
     if guard.is_some() {
         return; // already playing
     }
-    match crate::audio::AudioPlayback::start(h.client.clone(), low_latency_mode) {
+    match crate::audio::AudioPlayback::start(h.client.clone(), low_latency_mode, is_tv) {
         Some(p) => *guard = Some(p),
         None => log::error!("nativeStartAudio: playback init failed (video unaffected)"),
     }

clients/apple/App/Assets.xcassets/AboutAppIcon.imageset/Contents.json

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{
+  "images" : [
+    {
+      "filename" : "about-icon@1x.png",
+      "idiom" : "universal",
+      "scale" : "1x"
+    },
+    {
+      "filename" : "about-icon@2x.png",
+      "idiom" : "universal",
+      "scale" : "2x"
+    }
+  ],
+  "info" : {
+    "author" : "xcode",
+    "version" : 1
+  }
+}

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift

@@ -83,14 +83,6 @@ struct ContentView: View {
     /// never covers the video.
     @State private var isFullscreen = false
     #endif
-    #if os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
-    /// Shows the start-of-stream shortcut banner (the Windows client's discoverability
-    /// pattern): raised on every transition to `.streaming`, dropped by the banner's own
-    /// 6-second task. Independent of the stats HUD so the keys are discoverable even with
-    /// statistics off. On tvOS it carries the ONLY exits (hold Back / the pad chord) plus
-    /// the remote-as-pointer controls, so it must be seen at least once per session.
-    @State private var showShortcutHint = false
-    #endif
     #if os(iOS)
     /// The stats-OFF tier's touch-exit disc window (see the overlay in `stream(captureEnabled:)`
     /// — the disc must LEAVE the hierarchy so nothing composites over the metal layer).
@@ -347,9 +339,6 @@ struct ContentView: View {
         .onChange(of: model.phase) { _, phase in
             switch phase {
             case .streaming:
-                #if os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
-                showShortcutHint = true // the 6 s shortcut banner, per session start
-                #endif
                 #if os(iOS)
                 showTouchExit = true // the off-tier exit disc's 8 s window, per session start
                 #endif
@@ -453,6 +442,10 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                 LibraryView(store: store, target: shelf, onLaunch: { launchTitle(shelf, $0) })
             }
             .frame(minWidth: 940, minHeight: 620)
+            // The stack draws the title, and it sits outside LibraryView's own ink — see the tvOS
+            // cover. Gated, because this sheet is BOTH modes' library on macOS and the touch
+            // grid's title belongs to the system background.
+            .gamepadPaletteInk(gamepadUIActive)
         }
         #else
         // iOS: the cover is the TOUCH UI's presentation only. In gamepad mode the library is one
@@ -822,6 +815,7 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                     onPaired: handlePaired, waker: waker,
                     connect: { connect($0, profile: $1) }, connectDiscovered: connectDiscovered,
                     launchTitle: launchTitle,
+                    wakeOnly: { wakeOnly($0) },
                     promptActive: consolePromptShowing)
             } else {
                 HomeView(
@@ -841,6 +835,7 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                     onPaired: handlePaired, waker: waker,
                     connect: { connect($0, profile: $1) }, connectDiscovered: connectDiscovered,
                     launchTitle: launchTitle,
+                    wakeOnly: { wakeOnly($0) },
                     promptActive: consolePromptShowing)
                 // On tvOS pairing/library normally present from HomeView's navigationDestinations
                 // — which aren't mounted while the gamepad launcher is up. Give the launcher its
@@ -851,12 +846,29 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                 .fullScreenCover(item: $pairingTarget) { host in
                     PairSheet(host: host) { fingerprint in handlePaired(host, fingerprint: fingerprint) }
                         .onExitCommand { pairingTarget = nil }
+                        // A tvOS cover draws NO background of its own, and this one is attached
+                        // outside the launcher's `gamepadPaletteInk` — so the pairing screen used
+                        // to render the system's dark chrome directly over the launcher showing
+                        // through it, which under a pale palette is white text on a bright field
+                        // (the PIN prompt was all but invisible). Give it the console's own field
+                        // and the palette's ink, like every other screen the launcher opens. Only
+                        // this branch: `HomeView`'s route to the same sheet is the TOUCH UI, which
+                        // sits on the system background and has no palette.
+                        .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, maxHeight: .infinity)
+                        .background { GamepadFormBackground() }
+                        .gamepadPaletteInk()
                 }
                 .fullScreenCover(item: $libraryTarget) { shelf in
                     NavigationStack {
                         LibraryView(store: store, target: shelf, onLaunch: { launchTitle(shelf, $0) })
                     }
                     .onExitCommand { libraryTarget = nil }
+                    // On the STACK, not just inside LibraryView: the navigation title is drawn by
+                    // the stack, which wraps that view from outside its own `gamepadPaletteInk` —
+                    // so the shelf's name stayed white over a pale field while the content below
+                    // it had already gone dark. Unconditional here because this cover only exists
+                    // in the launcher's branch, where the console UI is by definition drawing.
+                    .gamepadPaletteInk()
                 }
                 #endif
             } else {
@@ -973,9 +985,15 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                         model?.disconnect() // the captured-state ⌃⌥⇧D combo
                     },
                     onFrame: { [meter = model.meter, latency = model.latency,
-                                split = model.latencySplit, queue = model.clientQueue,
-                                offset = conn.clockOffsetNs] au in
+                                split = model.latencySplit, queue = model.clientQueue] au in
                         meter.note(byteCount: au.data.count)
+                        // Read the offset PER AU (an atomic load), never in the capture list: a
+                        // capture-list `offset =` froze the connect-time estimate for the whole
+                        // session, and on a host whose wall clock steps (VM + NTP) that frozen
+                        // value shifted hostnet/e2e by ~15 ms between sessions while the meter's
+                        // impossible-sample guard hid the damage (field 2026-08-13). See
+                        // `PunktfunkConnection.clockOffsetNs`.
+                        let offset = conn.clockOffsetNs
                         latency.record(ptsNs: au.ptsNs, offsetNs: offset)
                         // The same receipt, keyed by pts, awaiting its 0xCF host timing (the
                         // host/network split — drained by the 1 s stats tick). receivedNs is
@@ -1048,31 +1066,15 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                                 .transition(.opacity.combined(with: .scale(scale: 0.9)))
                         }
                         #endif
-                        #if os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
-                        // The start-of-stream shortcut banner (Windows-client parity): the
+                        // The start-of-stream shortcut banner used to sit here (macOS/tvOS): the
                         // platform's reserved controls on a glass pill for the first 6 seconds of
-                        // every session — independent of the stats HUD, so the keys are
-                        // discoverable even with statistics off. The banner's own task drops it
-                        // (cancelled cleanly if the session view goes away first). On tvOS it
-                        // carries the ONLY exits — Menu/B is swallowed during a session (the
-                        // `.onExitCommand {}` in the tvOS session branch), so the hold gestures
-                        // must be told to the user.
-                        if captureEnabled && showShortcutHint {
-                            Text(shortcutHintText)
-                                .font(.geist(Self.shortcutHintFont, relativeTo: .caption))
-                                .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
-                                .padding(.horizontal, 14)
-                                .padding(.vertical, 8)
-                                .glassBackground(Capsule())
-                                .transition(.opacity)
-                                .task {
-                                    try? await Task.sleep(for: .seconds(6))
-                                    withAnimation(.easeOut(duration: 0.6)) {
-                                        showShortcutHint = false
-                                    }
-                                }
-                        }
-                        #endif
+                        // every session. It is now a page you can OPEN — About ▸ Shortcuts, on
+                        // both the touch and the controller surface (ShortcutsCatalog) — because
+                        // a message that shows once, over the stream you have just connected to,
+                        // is unavailable at the moment the question is actually asked. It also
+                        // put a composited overlay above the stream for those 6 seconds, which on
+                        // this path costs a refresh of display latency (see the iOS exit disc's
+                        // note below); the reference page costs nothing during a session.
                     }
                     .padding(.bottom, 24)
                     .animation(.easeOut(duration: 0.2), value: model.micMuted)
@@ -1139,23 +1141,10 @@ struct ContentView: View {
     }
     #endif
 
-    #if os(macOS)
-    /// The reserved combos, told once per session. The mute segment appears only when the session
-    /// actually sends a microphone — teaching a shortcut for a mic that isn't on would be a lie.
-    private var shortcutHintText: String {
-        let base =
-            "Click the stream to capture · ⌃⌥⇧Q releases the mouse · ⌃⌥⇧D disconnects · ⌃⌥⇧S stats"
-        return model.micAvailable ? base + " · ⌃⌥⇧A mutes the mic" : base
-    }
-    private static let shortcutHintFont: CGFloat = 12
-    #elseif os(tvOS)
-    private var shortcutHintText: String {
-        "Hold the remote's Back button — or L1+R1+Start+Select on a controller — to disconnect"
-        + " · Touch surface moves the pointer · press clicks · Play/Pause right-clicks"
-        + " · Hold Play/Pause, or Select+X on a controller, for statistics"
-    }
-    private static let shortcutHintFont: CGFloat = 22 // read from the couch
-    #endif
+    // The two `shortcutHintText` strings that used to live here — one per platform, told once per
+    // session by the banner above — are now `ShortcutsCatalog.groups`, which both About pages
+    // render. The mic line is still conditional there for the same reason it was here: teaching a
+    // shortcut for a microphone that isn't on would be a lie.
 
     // MARK: - Connect
 

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

@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ import SwiftUI
 #if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
 
 struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
-    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+    /// Resolved from the stored palette, NOT from `\.gamepadInk` — this screen publishes that
+    /// value itself and so sits above its own copy (see `GamepadInk.stored`).
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+    private var ink: GamepadInk { .stored(paletteID) }
     @Environment(\.gamepadMetrics) private var metrics
     @Environment(\.displayBottomInset) private var displayBottomInset
     @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss
@@ -25,6 +28,18 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
     /// Whether this screen owns the controller — false while the shell is mid-transition or the
     /// connect takeover is up (see GamepadSettingsView's twin).
     var controllerActive = true
+    /// Non-nil ⇒ this screen is EDITING that saved host rather than registering a new one: the
+    /// fields start on its values and `onAdd` receives it back with only name/address/port
+    /// changed, so the fingerprint, pins, binding and MACs it carries survive the edit. A
+    /// re-typed address is the whole point of the screen (a host that moved), so nothing here
+    /// re-derives identity from it — that is the trust store's job, not this form's.
+    ///
+    /// Declared after the closures for the same trailing-closure reason as `close`, and it is a
+    /// plain value besides, so it can never capture one.
+    var editingHost: StoredHost?
+    /// One-shot seed guard: `@State` cannot be initialised from a property without a custom init,
+    /// and a custom init would break every existing trailing-closure call site.
+    @State private var seeded = false
 
     #if os(iOS)
     /// `.compact` in a landscape phone window — tighter chrome so the keyboard tray still fits.
@@ -57,12 +72,15 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
         .safeAreaInset(edge: .top, spacing: 0) {
             VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: gamepadHeaderSpacing(compact: compact)) {
                 // Leading, like every gamepad heading — and no close chrome (B is the exit).
-                Text("Add Host")
+                Text(editingHost == nil ? "Add Host" : "Edit Host")
                     .font(.geist(gamepadTitleSize(compact: compact), .bold, relativeTo: .title))
                     .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 if !compact {
-                    Text("Hosts on this network appear automatically — add one by address "
-                        + "for everything else.")
+                    Text(editingHost == nil
+                        ? "Hosts on this network appear automatically — add one by address "
+                            + "for everything else."
+                        : "Rename this host, or point it at a new address — its pairing and "
+                            + "pinned cards are kept.")
                         .font(.geist(metrics.detailFont, relativeTo: .caption))
                         .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.55))
                         .multilineTextAlignment(.leading)
@@ -98,6 +116,17 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
         .onChange(of: port) { _, value in
             if value.count > 5 { port = String(value.prefix(5)) }
         }
+        // Seed the fields from the host being edited, exactly once: re-seeding on a later appear
+        // (the shell re-mounts a layer when the app returns from the background) would silently
+        // throw away whatever had been typed.
+        .onAppear {
+            guard !seeded else { return }
+            seeded = true
+            guard let host = editingHost else { return }
+            name = host.name
+            address = host.address
+            port = String(host.port)
+        }
         #if !os(tvOS)
         // The visible close ✕ is gone (a gamepad UI exits with B) — this keeps a hardware
         // keyboard's Esc and the macOS sheet's cancel working without chrome.
@@ -202,7 +231,9 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
             Row(id: "name", label: "Name", value: name, placeholder: "Optional — e.g. Living Room"),
             Row(id: "address", label: "Address", value: address, placeholder: "IP or hostname"),
             Row(id: "port", label: "Port", value: port, placeholder: "9777"),
-            Row(id: "add", label: "Add Host", isAction: true),
+            Row(
+                id: "add", label: editingHost == nil ? "Add Host" : "Save Changes",
+                isAction: true),
         ]
     }
 
@@ -261,10 +292,21 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
                 openKeyboard("address")
                 return
             }
-            onAdd(StoredHost(
-                name: name.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces),
-                address: address.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces),
-                port: UInt16(port) ?? 9777))
+            let typedName = name.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces)
+            let typedAddress = address.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces)
+            let typedPort = UInt16(port) ?? 9777
+            if var host = editingHost {
+                // Mutate a COPY of the stored record rather than building a fresh one: everything
+                // this form does not show — the pinned fingerprint, WoL MACs, pinned profile
+                // cards, the default binding, `addedAt` — has to survive a rename.
+                host.name = typedName
+                host.address = typedAddress
+                host.port = typedPort
+                onAdd(host)
+            } else {
+                onAdd(StoredHost(
+                    name: typedName, address: typedAddress, port: typedPort))
+            }
             performClose()
         default:
             openKeyboard(id)

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

@@ -48,6 +48,13 @@ struct GamepadCarousel<Item: Identifiable, Card: View>: View where Item.ID: Hash
     var onTertiary: (() -> Void)?
     /// B → back/dismiss; nil disables it (e.g. the root launcher has nowhere to go back to).
     var onBack: (() -> Void)?
+    /// UP → the focused item's own menu (the launcher's host options). Wiring it takes the whole
+    /// VERTICAL axis away from scrolling: up opens the menu and down goes inert, rather than up
+    /// meaning "menu" while down still stepped the strip. A horizontal carousel has no vertical
+    /// travel to spend, and the desktop and Android consoles both read the axis this way — one
+    /// meaning per direction is what makes the gesture learnable across the three of them.
+    /// nil leaves up/down as a second way to step (what every carousel without a menu still does).
+    var onUp: (() -> Void)?
     /// L1/R1 → jump this many items at once (clamped to the ends); 0 disables the shoulders.
     var shoulderJump: Int = 0
     /// Whether this carousel currently owns controller input. A presenting screen (e.g. the host
@@ -301,6 +308,17 @@ struct GamepadCarousel<Item: Identifiable, Card: View>: View where Item.ID: Hash
         // The poll carries only the buttons focus has no concept of: Y/X, the screen actions.
         input.onSecondary = onSecondary
         input.onTertiary = onTertiary
+        // UP is the one direction the poll may also read here, and ONLY to open the menu — it
+        // never calls `step`, so it cannot double-move against the focus engine. Routing it
+        // through `.onMoveCommand` instead was the obvious alternative and the wrong one: that
+        // stream is 4-way and its interception is input-source-dependent on real hardware (see
+        // GamepadMenuList's tvOS note), so claiming up there risks left/right focus with it.
+        // Nothing sits above the strip for the engine to move to, so this direction is free.
+        if let onUp {
+            input.onMove = { direction in
+                if direction == .up { onUp() }
+            }
+        }
         #else
         input.onMove = { move($0) }
         input.onConfirm = { activate() }
@@ -312,6 +330,14 @@ struct GamepadCarousel<Item: Identifiable, Card: View>: View where Item.ID: Hash
     }
 
     private func move(_ direction: GamepadMenuInput.Direction) {
+        // With a menu wired, vertical is the menu's axis, not a second scroll axis — see `onUp`.
+        if let onUp {
+            switch direction {
+            case .up: return onUp()
+            case .down: return
+            case .left, .right: break
+            }
+        }
         let forward = direction == .right || direction == .down
         step(by: forward ? 1 : -1, clampAtEnds: false)
     }

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

@@ -430,7 +430,12 @@ private struct HintCellStyle: ButtonStyle {
 /// can't inflate the caller's layout past the safe area (see the layout note in GamepadHomeView's
 /// header). Honors Reduce Motion by freezing the field at a fixed phase.
 struct GamepadScreenBackground: View {
-    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+    /// Resolved from `paletteID` below rather than `\.gamepadInk`: this is mounted as a screen's
+    /// `.background { }`, which the screen attaches BEFORE its own `gamepadPaletteInk()`, so the
+    /// environment here is the screen's parent's — the dark default under a cover or a sheet. It
+    /// only feeds a pale palette's scrim, so the symptom was subtle: the field bleached toward
+    /// white instead of settling onto its own ink. (see `GamepadInk.stored`)
+    private var ink: GamepadInk { .stored(paletteID) }
     /// How far toward the form screens' quiet the field sits: 0 = the launcher's full aurora,
     /// 1 = calm, fractional mid-chase. Continuous (not a Bool) so the in-place shell can CHASE
     /// it during a push/pop — the console does the same with its `bg_mix` — and every

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

@@ -64,7 +64,10 @@ private struct HomeTile: Identifiable {
 }
 
 struct GamepadHomeView: View {
-    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+    /// Resolved from the stored palette, NOT from `\.gamepadInk` — this screen publishes that
+    /// value itself and so sits above its own copy (see `GamepadInk.stored`).
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+    private var ink: GamepadInk { .stored(paletteID) }
     /// Published by ContentView at the app ROOT, so this reads its own window's tier — this screen
     /// applies `gamepadPaletteInk` itself and so sits above its own copy of the environment.
     @Environment(\.gamepadMetrics) private var metrics
@@ -91,6 +94,10 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
     /// Launch a library title on a host — the in-place library layer's activate path (iOS; the
     /// cover/sheet presentations wire ContentView's `launchTitle` into LibraryView themselves).
     let launchTitle: (LibraryTarget, String) -> Void
+    /// Wake a host WITHOUT connecting (ContentView's `wakeOnly`) — the host menu's Wake row. The
+    /// tile's own A already wakes-and-connects; this is the other half, for bringing a machine up
+    /// to look at it rather than to stream from it right now.
+    let wakeOnly: (StoredHost) -> Void
     /// A console prompt (GamepadPromptView) is up over the home — it polls the same controller, so
     /// this screen must stand down for as long as it is. Same handoff contract as the connect
     /// takeover and the shell's own layers; without it the carousel keeps scrolling underneath the
@@ -119,6 +126,11 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
     @State private var selection: GamepadHomeTarget?
     @State private var showSettings = false
     @State private var showAddHost = false
+    /// The card whose options menu is up (UP on a saved tile) — see GamepadHostOptionsView.
+    @State private var hostOptionsTarget: HostOptionsTarget?
+    /// The host being edited. Set from the options menu, which closes itself as it opens this so
+    /// the two are never stacked — depth stays ≤ 1, which is what `GamepadScreen` assumes.
+    @State private var editTarget: StoredHost?
     /// The console's input drop: true for the transition's 0.26 s, during which NO layer polls
     /// the controller — a double-tapped A can't push two screens, and the held button that
     /// caused the change is long released before the next poller starts (whose own
@@ -201,19 +213,37 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
         // shell's layers above ARE the presentation.
         #if os(macOS)
         .sheet(isPresented: $showSettings) {
-            GamepadSettingsView(store: store)
+            GamepadSettingsView(store: store, micAvailable: model.micAvailable)
                 .frame(width: 720, height: 640)
         }
         .sheet(isPresented: $showAddHost) {
             GamepadAddHostView { store.add($0) }
                 .frame(width: 660, height: 620)
         }
+        // Shorter than the forms above: a menu is five rows, and a sheet sized for a settings
+        // screen would be mostly empty field under them.
+        .sheet(item: $hostOptionsTarget) { target in
+            hostOptionsView(target, active: true)
+                .frame(width: 620, height: 460)
+        }
+        .sheet(item: $editTarget) { host in
+            editHostView(host, active: true)
+                .frame(width: 660, height: 620)
+        }
         .frame(minWidth: 640, minHeight: 420)
         #elseif os(tvOS)
-        .fullScreenCover(isPresented: $showSettings) { GamepadSettingsView(store: store) }
+        .fullScreenCover(isPresented: $showSettings) {
+            GamepadSettingsView(store: store, micAvailable: model.micAvailable)
+        }
         .fullScreenCover(isPresented: $showAddHost) {
             GamepadAddHostView { store.add($0) }
         }
+        .fullScreenCover(item: $hostOptionsTarget) { target in
+            hostOptionsView(target, active: true)
+        }
+        .fullScreenCover(item: $editTarget) { host in
+            editHostView(host, active: true)
+        }
         #endif
     }
 
@@ -261,6 +291,10 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
         // can be raised from ON TOP of the library (launching a title on an unpaired host), where
         // it has to win. Backing out of it reveals whatever it interrupted.
         if let host = pairingTarget { return .pair(host) }
+        // Editing leads the menu that raised it: the menu clears itself on the way, so the two are
+        // never both set, and if they somehow were, the screen the user asked for last should win.
+        if let host = editTarget { return .editHost(host) }
+        if let target = hostOptionsTarget { return .hostOptions(target) }
         if showSettings { return .settings }
         if showAddHost { return .addHost }
         if let shelf = libraryTarget { return .library(shelf) }
@@ -277,12 +311,17 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
                 GamepadSettingsView(
                     store: store,
                     close: { if !transitioning { showSettings = false } },
-                    controllerActive: active)
+                    controllerActive: active,
+                    micAvailable: model.micAvailable)
             case .addHost:
                 GamepadAddHostView(
                     onAdd: { store.add($0) },
                     close: { if !transitioning { showAddHost = false } },
                     controllerActive: active)
+            case .hostOptions(let target):
+                hostOptionsView(target, active: active)
+            case .editHost(let host):
+                editHostView(host, active: active)
             case .pair(let host):
                 GamepadPairView(
                     host: host,
@@ -414,6 +453,7 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
             onActivate: { $0.activate() },
             onSecondary: { openLibraryForSelected() },
             onTertiary: { showSettings = true },
+            onUp: { openOptionsForSelected() },
             isActive: homeOwnsController
         ) { tile, entrance in
             hostCard(tile, size: CGSize(width: cardWidth, height: cardHeight), entrance: entrance)
@@ -469,6 +509,14 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
                 glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonY, fallback: "y.circle"), text: "Library",
                 action: { openLibraryForSelected() }))
         }
+        // Only a saved card has a menu, so the cell appears only where the press does something —
+        // the same honesty rule the Library cell above follows. A direction, not a button, so it
+        // is a plain arrow rather than a `buttonGlyph` (see the settings screen's "Adjust").
+        if case .saved = selected?.id {
+            hints.append(.init(
+                glyph: "arrow.up", text: "Options",
+                action: { openOptionsForSelected() }))
+        }
         hints.append(.init(
             glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonX, fallback: "x.circle"), text: "Settings",
             action: { showSettings = true }))
@@ -543,6 +591,60 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
     /// `HostCardView`-only action never offered on `DiscoveredCardView`. A pinned card opens its
     /// own shelf: the selection already names which card Y was pressed on, and that card's profile
     /// is what its launches run with.
+    /// The host menu, built once for all three presentations (the iOS shell layer, the macOS
+    /// sheet, the tvOS cover) so the actions can't drift between them.
+    ///
+    /// Edit REPLACES this menu rather than stacking on it — `hostOptionsTarget` is cleared as
+    /// `editTarget` is set — which is the desktop console's `Nav::Replace` and what keeps the
+    /// shell's "depth ≤ 1 by construction" claim true.
+    @ViewBuilder
+    private func hostOptionsView(_ target: HostOptionsTarget, active: Bool) -> some View {
+        let host = target.host
+        GamepadHostOptionsView(
+            host: host,
+            pinnedProfile: target.profile,
+            isOnline: discovery.advertises(host) || store.probedOnline.contains(host.id),
+            canWake: autoWakeEnabled && PunktfunkConnection.wakeOnLANAvailable
+                && !host.wakeMacs.isEmpty,
+            onEdit: {
+                guard !transitioning else { return }
+                hostOptionsTarget = nil
+                editTarget = host
+            },
+            onWake: { wakeOnly(host) },
+            onForgetPairing: { store.forgetIdentity(host) },
+            onRemove: { store.remove(host) },
+            onUnpin: {
+                guard let profile = target.profile else { return }
+                store.setPinned(host.id, profileID: profile.id, pinned: false)
+            },
+            close: { if !transitioning { hostOptionsTarget = nil } },
+            controllerActive: active)
+    }
+
+    /// The add-host form in edit mode. `store.update` writes the record back by id, so the
+    /// fingerprint, MACs, pins and binding the form never shows are preserved.
+    @ViewBuilder
+    private func editHostView(_ host: StoredHost, active: Bool) -> some View {
+        GamepadAddHostView(
+            onAdd: { store.update($0) },
+            close: { if !transitioning { editTarget = nil } },
+            controllerActive: active,
+            editingHost: host)
+    }
+
+    /// UP on a saved tile opens that card's menu. Only SAVED hosts have one: a discovered-but-
+    /// unsaved host is not ours to rename or remove, and the two action tiles have nothing to
+    /// offer — the same `HostOptionsScreen::available` gate the desktop console applies.
+    private func openOptionsForSelected() {
+        guard case .saved(let id, let profileID) = selection,
+              let host = store.hosts.first(where: { $0.id == id })
+        else { return }
+        hostOptionsTarget = HostOptionsTarget(
+            host: host,
+            profile: profileID.flatMap { pid in profiles.profiles.first { $0.id == pid } })
+    }
+
     private func openLibraryForSelected() {
         guard libraryEnabled, case .saved(let id, let profileID) = selection,
               let host = store.hosts.first(where: { $0.id == id })
@@ -657,6 +759,12 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
 
     private var monogramBadge: some View {
         let shape = RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: Self.badgeCorner, style: .continuous)
+        // What the glyph is drawn ON: a filled badge IS the accent, so its mark takes `onAccent`
+        // — the colour picked by the accent's own luminance — exactly as the settings screen's
+        // selected tab pill does. It used to take `fg`, which is chosen against the FIELD, and the
+        // two disagree at both ends of the set: a pale palette put near-black on a deep accent, and
+        // Graphite (accent luma ≈ 0.80) put white on a light grey.
+        let glyph = tile.filled ? ink.onAccent : ink.accent
         return ZStack {
             shape.fill(tile.filled
                 ? AnyShapeStyle(LinearGradient(
@@ -664,7 +772,7 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
                     startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom))
                 : AnyShapeStyle(ink.accent(0.16)))
             if tile.isConnecting {
-                ProgressView().tint(ink.fg)
+                ProgressView().tint(glyph)
             } else if let icon = tile.icon {
                 Image(systemName: icon)
                     .font(.system(size: Self.iconFont, weight: .semibold))
@@ -676,12 +784,12 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
                     .resizable()
                     .scaledToFit()
                     .frame(width: Self.monogramFont, height: Self.monogramFont)
-                    .foregroundStyle(tile.filled ? ink.fg : ink.accent)
+                    .foregroundStyle(glyph)
                     .accessibilityLabel(tile.osChain ?? "")
             } else {
                 Text(monogram(tile.title))
                     .font(.geistFixed(Self.monogramFont, .bold))
-                    .foregroundStyle(tile.filled ? ink.fg : ink.accent)
+                    .foregroundStyle(glyph)
             }
         }
         .frame(width: Self.badgeSide, height: Self.badgeSide)

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

@@ -0,0 +1,321 @@
+// A saved host's own actions — Wake, Copy link, Edit…, Forget pairing, Remove — reached with UP on
+// its carousel tile. The console's answer to the overflow menu the touch grid hangs off every host
+// card (HostCardView's context menu), and the Apple port of `pf-console-ui`'s HostOptionsScreen.
+//
+// Until now the gamepad UI could add a host and connect to one, and that was all: a renamed machine
+// or a host typed in with a fat-fingered address stayed wrong forever, because the only surface
+// that could edit or remove one was the touch UI. The tile is where a host is, so the tile is where
+// its actions belong.
+//
+// UP is the gesture because the carousel is horizontal — left/right are spoken for and up is free —
+// and because the desktop console and the Android console already do exactly this, so the three are
+// learned once. A pinned profile card offers only Unpin: it is a shortcut, not a second host, and
+// offering to remove the host from it would blur precisely the distinction a pin exists to draw.
+//
+// Vocabulary note: this screen says "Forget pairing" and "Remove host" where the desktop console
+// says one word, "Forget". The console has only the one action; Apple has both (HostCardView calls
+// them `onForget` = drop the pinned fingerprint and `onRemove` = delete the record), and two
+// different actions cannot share a name on the surface that offers both. The touch card's words
+// win over the other consoles' here — a user meets both Apple surfaces, and only one of them is
+// cross-platform.
+
+import PunktfunkKit
+import SwiftUI
+#if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
+
+/// Which card the menu was opened on. Carries the host BY VALUE for the same reason the screen
+/// does — the carousel is rebuilt on every discovery pass, and a target that re-resolved itself
+/// could hand "Remove" a different host than the one the user was looking at.
+struct HostOptionsTarget: Identifiable {
+    let host: StoredHost
+    /// Non-nil ⇒ a pinned profile card rather than the host's own tile.
+    var profile: StreamProfile?
+
+    /// Keyed on the CARD, not the host: a host and each of its pinned cards open different menus,
+    /// and sharing an id would let one stand in for another mid-transition (the same rule
+    /// `GamepadScreen.library` follows).
+    var id: String { "\(host.id.uuidString)-\(profile?.id ?? "")" }
+}
+
+struct GamepadHostOptionsView: View {
+    /// Resolved from the stored palette, NOT from `\.gamepadInk` — this screen publishes that
+    /// value itself and so sits above its own copy (see `GamepadInk.stored`).
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+    private var ink: GamepadInk { .stored(paletteID) }
+    @Environment(\.gamepadMetrics) private var metrics
+    @Environment(\.displayBottomInset) private var displayBottomInset
+    @Environment(\.gamepadHostedInShell) private var hostedInShell
+    @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss
+
+    /// The host this menu was opened on, BY VALUE. Discovery rewrites the carousel on every
+    /// service pass; holding an index or a live lookup would let the menu retarget itself onto
+    /// whichever host slid into that slot, and "Remove" must never be able to do that.
+    let host: StoredHost
+    /// Non-nil ⇒ opened on a pinned profile card rather than the host's own tile.
+    var pinnedProfile: StreamProfile?
+    /// Whether the host is reachable right now — decides whether Wake is worth offering.
+    var isOnline = false
+    /// Whether waking is possible at all (the setting is on, WoL is available, a MAC is known).
+    var canWake = false
+    let onEdit: () -> Void
+    let onWake: () -> Void
+    /// Drop the pinned fingerprint — the host stays saved, and the next connect re-pairs.
+    let onForgetPairing: () -> Void
+    /// Delete the saved record outright.
+    let onRemove: () -> Void
+    let onUnpin: () -> Void
+    var close: (() -> Void)?
+    var controllerActive = true
+
+    #if os(iOS)
+    @Environment(\.verticalSizeClass) private var vSizeClass
+
+    private var compact: Bool { vSizeClass == .compact }
+    #else
+    private let compact = false
+    #endif
+
+    /// Removing is the one action here with no undo, so its row ARMS on the first press and only
+    /// fires on the second. The touch grid removes behind a system confirmation dialog; a console
+    /// is driven by a thumbstick from across a room, which is a good reason to be at least as
+    /// strict as it is, and none at all to be looser.
+    @State private var armed = false
+    @State private var copied = false
+    @State private var focusID: String?
+
+    private enum Action: String {
+        case wake
+        case copyLink
+        case edit
+        case forgetPairing
+        case remove
+        case unpin
+        case cancel
+    }
+
+    var body: some View {
+        GamepadMenuList(
+            items: rows,
+            focusID: $focusID,
+            onActivate: { run($0.action) },
+            onBack: { performClose() },
+            isActive: controllerActive
+        ) { row, focused in
+            rowView(row, focused: focused)
+                .frame(maxWidth: metrics.rowMaxWidth)
+                .padding(.horizontal, 24)
+        }
+        .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
+        .safeAreaInset(edge: .top, spacing: 0) {
+            VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: gamepadHeaderSpacing(compact: compact)) {
+                Text(title)
+                    .font(.geist(gamepadTitleSize(compact: compact), .bold, relativeTo: .title))
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
+                    .lineLimit(1)
+                if !compact {
+                    Text("\(host.address):\(String(host.port))")
+                        .font(.geistFixed(metrics.detailFont, .medium))
+                        .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.55))
+                }
+            }
+            .padding(.horizontal, 24)
+            .padding(.top, gamepadTitleTopPadding(compact: compact))
+            .padding(.bottom, gamepadTitleBottomPadding(compact: compact))
+            .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .leading)
+            .background { GamepadTrayBlur(edge: .top) }
+        }
+        .safeAreaInset(edge: .bottom, alignment: .leading, spacing: 0) {
+            VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 8) {
+                Text(detail)
+                    .font(.geist(metrics.detailFont, relativeTo: .caption))
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.55))
+                    .lineLimit(2, reservesSpace: true)
+                    .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.2), value: focusID)
+                GamepadHintBar(hints: hints)
+            }
+            .padding(.leading, compact ? 12 : 18)
+            .padding(.trailing, 22)
+            .padding(
+                .bottom,
+                gamepadLegendBottomPadding(
+                    compact ? 12 : 18, tier: metrics.tier, displayBottom: displayBottomInset))
+            .padding(.top, compact ? 6 : 10)
+            .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .leading)
+            .background { GamepadTrayBlur(edge: .bottom) }
+        }
+        .background {
+            if !hostedInShell { GamepadFormBackground() }
+        }
+        .gamepadPaletteInk()
+        // Moving the focus off the armed Remove row disarms it: an arming that outlives the row it
+        // was made on is a trap, and the thumb that wandered away is exactly the hesitation the
+        // two-press rule exists to catch.
+        .onChange(of: focusID) { _, id in
+            if id != Action.remove.rawValue { armed = false }
+        }
+        #if !os(tvOS)
+        .background {
+            Button("Cancel") { performClose() }
+                .keyboardShortcut(.cancelAction)
+                .buttonStyle(.plain)
+                .frame(width: 0, height: 0)
+                .opacity(0)
+                .accessibilityHidden(true)
+        }
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    private var title: String {
+        pinnedProfile.map { "\(host.displayName) · \($0.name)" } ?? host.displayName
+    }
+
+    // MARK: - Rows
+
+    private struct Row: Identifiable {
+        let action: Action
+        let label: String
+        var icon: String
+        var isDestructive = false
+        var id: String { action.rawValue }
+    }
+
+    private var rows: [Row] {
+        // A pinned card is a shortcut, not a host: everything host-level is deliberately absent.
+        if pinnedProfile != nil {
+            return [
+                Row(action: .unpin, label: "Unpin card", icon: "pin.slash"),
+                Row(action: .copyLink, label: copied ? "Copied" : "Copy link", icon: "link"),
+                Row(action: .cancel, label: "Cancel", icon: "xmark"),
+            ]
+        }
+        var list: [Row] = []
+        // Waking a host that is already answering would just sit there counting seconds.
+        if canWake, !isOnline {
+            list.append(Row(action: .wake, label: "Wake host", icon: "power"))
+        }
+        list.append(Row(action: .copyLink, label: copied ? "Copied" : "Copy link", icon: "link"))
+        list.append(Row(action: .edit, label: "Edit\u{2026}", icon: "pencil"))
+        // Only a paired host has a pairing to drop.
+        if host.pinnedSHA256 != nil {
+            list.append(Row(
+                action: .forgetPairing, label: "Forget pairing", icon: "lock.open"))
+        }
+        list.append(Row(
+            action: .remove,
+            label: armed ? "Remove host \u{2014} press again" : "Remove host",
+            icon: "trash", isDestructive: true))
+        list.append(Row(action: .cancel, label: "Cancel", icon: "xmark"))
+        return list
+    }
+
+    /// The explainer under the list — the same band the settings screen uses, and the only place a
+    /// destructive action can say what it will actually do before it is pressed.
+    private var detail: String {
+        switch rows.first(where: { $0.id == focusID })?.action {
+        case .wake:
+            return "Send a Wake-on-LAN packet and wait for this host to answer."
+        case .copyLink:
+            return "Copy a punktfunk:// link to this host — paste it anywhere to connect."
+        case .edit:
+            return "Rename this host or change its address. Pairing and pinned cards are kept."
+        case .forgetPairing:
+            return "Drop the stored fingerprint. The host stays saved and the next connect "
+                + "pairs again."
+        case .remove:
+            return armed
+                ? "Press again to remove — this cannot be undone."
+                : "Delete this host, its pairing and its pinned cards from this device."
+        case .unpin:
+            return "Remove this profile's card. The profile itself and the host are untouched."
+        case .cancel, .none:
+            return ""
+        }
+    }
+
+    private var hints: [GamepadHint] {
+        [
+            .init(
+                glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonA, fallback: "a.circle"), text: "Select",
+                action: { if let id = focusID, let row = rows.first(where: { $0.id == id }) {
+                    run(row.action)
+                } }),
+            .init(
+                glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonB, fallback: "b.circle"), text: "Back",
+                action: { performClose() }),
+        ]
+    }
+
+    // MARK: - Actions
+
+    private func run(_ action: Action) {
+        switch action {
+        case .wake:
+            onWake()
+            performClose()
+        case .copyLink:
+            LinkClipboard.copy(
+                DeepLink.forHost(host, profile: pinnedProfile?.id).urlString)
+            // No toast machinery on this surface — the row says so itself, which is the same
+            // acknowledgement in the place the user is already looking.
+            withAnimation(.smooth(duration: 0.2)) { copied = true }
+        case .edit:
+            onEdit()
+        case .forgetPairing:
+            onForgetPairing()
+            performClose()
+        case .remove:
+            guard armed else {
+                withAnimation(.smooth(duration: 0.2)) { armed = true }
+                return
+            }
+            onRemove()
+            performClose()
+        case .unpin:
+            onUnpin()
+            performClose()
+        case .cancel:
+            performClose()
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func performClose() {
+        if let close { close() } else { dismiss() }
+    }
+
+    // MARK: - Row rendering
+
+    private func rowView(_ row: Row, focused: Bool) -> some View {
+        let m = metrics
+        // The destructive row wears the warning colour only once ARMED: red on a row that still
+        // needs a second press reads as "this already happened".
+        let danger = row.isDestructive && armed
+        return HStack(spacing: 14) {
+            Image(systemName: row.icon)
+                .font(.system(size: m.iconFont))
+                .foregroundStyle(
+                    danger ? GamepadInk.warningRed : (focused ? ink.accent : ink.fg(0.55)))
+                .frame(width: m.iconWidth)
+            Text(row.label)
+                .font(.geist(m.labelFont, .semibold, relativeTo: .body))
+                .foregroundStyle(danger ? GamepadInk.warningRed : ink.fg)
+                .lineLimit(1)
+            Spacer(minLength: 12)
+        }
+        .padding(.horizontal, m.rowHPad)
+        .padding(.vertical, m.rowVPad)
+        .consoleGlass(
+            RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: m.rowCorner, style: .continuous),
+            tint: focused ? (danger ? GamepadInk.warningRed.opacity(0.3) : ink.accent(0.30)) : nil,
+            interactive: focused)
+        .overlay {
+            RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: m.rowCorner, style: .continuous)
+                .strokeBorder(
+                    danger ? GamepadInk.warningRed.opacity(0.7) : ink.fg(focused ? 0.28 : 0.06),
+                    lineWidth: 1)
+        }
+        .scaleEffect(focused ? 1.0 : 0.98)
+        .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.18), value: focused)
+        .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.18), value: armed)
+    }
+}
+#endif

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

@@ -67,9 +67,32 @@ struct GamepadInk: Equatable, Sendable {
     /// The shipped dark look — what a preview or a test composition gets.
     static let dark = GamepadInk.of(GamepadPalette.named("violet"))
 
+    /// The ink for a stored `ui_palette` id, resolved WITHOUT the environment.
+    ///
+    /// For the screens that publish their own ink with `gamepadPaletteInk()`. A view's
+    /// `@Environment` resolves against its PARENT — the modifier a screen applies to its own body
+    /// covers its descendants, never the body's own `ink.…` references — so such a screen reads
+    /// whatever was published ABOVE it. Nested inside another gamepad screen (the iOS shell's
+    /// layers) that happens to be right; presented as a cover or a sheet (tvOS, macOS) there is
+    /// nothing above it and it gets the bare dark default. That is precisely how a pale palette
+    /// came out with a WHITE title, white row labels and a violet focus wash on an Apple TV, while
+    /// the child views in the same screen — the hint bar, the host tiles, the glass — were
+    /// correctly dark-on-pale.
+    ///
+    /// Declare it beside an `@AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette)`, which is what re-renders the
+    /// screen when the setting changes (`GamepadInkModifier` reads the same key).
+    static func stored(_ paletteID: String) -> GamepadInk {
+        .of(GamepadPalette.named(paletteID))
+    }
+
     /// The online pip — deliberately NOT palette-derived: a status colour must not change
     /// meaning with the wallpaper (the console's rule; this is its `ONLINE_GREEN` verbatim).
     static let onlineGreen = Color(red: 0.20, green: 0.84, blue: 0.29)
+    /// An armed destructive action (the host menu's Remove). Palette-independent for exactly the
+    /// same reason as the pip above, and the more strongly so: the one colour on this UI that
+    /// means "this does not come back" cannot be allowed to drift toward the wallpaper on a warm
+    /// palette, or read as a highlight on a red one.
+    static let warningRed = Color(red: 0.94, green: 0.28, blue: 0.26)
 }
 
 private struct GamepadInkKey: EnvironmentKey {

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

@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@ import SwiftUI
 #if os(iOS)
 
 struct GamepadLibraryScreen: View {
-    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+    /// Resolved from the stored palette, NOT from `\.gamepadInk` — this screen publishes that
+    /// value itself and so sits above its own copy (see `GamepadInk.stored`).
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+    private var ink: GamepadInk { .stored(paletteID) }
     @ObservedObject var store: HostStore
     let target: LibraryTarget
     let onLaunch: (String) -> Void

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

@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import SwiftUI
 enum GamepadScreen: Identifiable {
     case settings
     case addHost
+    case hostOptions(HostOptionsTarget)
+    case editHost(StoredHost)
     case pair(StoredHost)
     case library(LibraryTarget)
 
@@ -28,6 +30,10 @@ enum GamepadScreen: Identifiable {
         switch self {
         case .settings: return "settings"
         case .addHost: return "addHost"
+        // Keyed on the CARD (host + pinned profile), for the same reason the library is keyed on
+        // the shelf — see `HostOptionsTarget.id`.
+        case .hostOptions(let target): return "hostOptions-\(target.id)"
+        case .editHost(let host): return "editHost-\(host.id.uuidString)"
         case .pair(let host): return "pair-\(host.id.uuidString)"
         // Keyed on the SHELF, not the host: a host and each of its pinned cards open different
         // libraries, and sharing an id would let one stand in for another mid-transition.
@@ -39,7 +45,7 @@ enum GamepadScreen: Identifiable {
     /// (`Bg::Form` in the console); the library keeps the launcher's full aurora.
     var isForm: Bool {
         switch self {
-        case .settings, .addHost, .pair: return true
+        case .settings, .addHost, .hostOptions, .editHost, .pair: return true
         case .library: return false
         }
     }

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

@@ -19,7 +19,10 @@ import SwiftUI
 import GameController
 
 struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
-    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+    /// Resolved from the stored palette, NOT from `\.gamepadInk` — this screen publishes that
+    /// value itself and so sits above its own copy (see `GamepadInk.stored`).
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+    private var ink: GamepadInk { .stored(paletteID) }
     let games: [GameEntry]
     let artLoader: LibraryArtLoader?
     var onLaunch: ((String) -> Void)?

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

@@ -94,6 +94,9 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
             gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled,
             mode: gamepadUIMode)
     }
+    /// True when the iOS shell already draws one persistent field behind its layers — mounting a
+    /// second would double the mesh (the same rule the coverflow and the settings screen follow).
+    @Environment(\.gamepadHostedInShell) private var hostedInShell
     #endif
 
     var body: some View {
@@ -150,12 +153,13 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
 
     @ViewBuilder private var content: some View {
         if loading && games.isEmpty {
-            ProgressView("Loading library…")
-                .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, maxHeight: .infinity)
+            consoleField(
+                ProgressView("Loading library…")
+                    .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, maxHeight: .infinity))
         } else if let errorText, games.isEmpty {
-            errorState(errorText)
+            consoleField(errorState(errorText))
         } else if games.isEmpty {
-            emptyState
+            consoleField(emptyState)
         } else {
             if gamepadUIActive {
                 LibraryCoverflowView(
@@ -168,6 +172,24 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
         }
     }
 
+    /// The console field behind the three states that are NOT the coverflow — loading, error,
+    /// empty. The coverflow mounts its own backdrop; these mounted nothing, so wherever this view
+    /// is a COVER over the launcher (tvOS, macOS) they drew straight onto it: the spinner and its
+    /// label sat on the launcher's own aurora with the host tiles still showing through. The same
+    /// field as the coverflow's (not the calmed form one), so nothing shifts under the content when
+    /// the titles land and the coverflow takes over.
+    ///
+    /// Only in gamepad mode: the plain grid's states belong on the system background, as before.
+    @ViewBuilder private func consoleField(_ view: some View) -> some View {
+        #if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
+        view.background {
+            if gamepadUIActive, !hostedInShell { GamepadScreenBackground() }
+        }
+        #else
+        view
+        #endif
+    }
+
     private var grid: some View {
         // Design D4: launcher entries get their own section above the titles, never interleaved.
         // Both headers appear only when both groups exist, so a library without launcher entries

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Screenshots/ScreenshotScenes.swift

@@ -244,7 +244,8 @@ private struct ShotGamepadHome: View {
             store: store, model: model, discovery: discovery,
             libraryTarget: .constant(nil), pairingTarget: .constant(nil),
             onPaired: { _, _ in }, waker: waker,
-            connect: { _, _ in }, connectDiscovered: { _ in }, launchTitle: { _, _ in })
+            connect: { _, _ in }, connectDiscovered: { _ in }, launchTitle: { _, _ in },
+            wakeOnly: { _ in })
     }
 }
 
@@ -303,7 +304,8 @@ private struct ShotConnect: View {
                 store: store, model: model, discovery: discovery,
                 libraryTarget: .constant(nil), pairingTarget: .constant(nil),
             onPaired: { _, _ in }, waker: waker,
-                connect: { _, _ in }, connectDiscovered: { _ in }, launchTitle: { _, _ in })
+                connect: { _, _ in }, connectDiscovered: { _ in }, launchTitle: { _, _ in },
+            wakeOnly: { _ in })
         } else {
             ShotHome()
         }

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Session/SessionModel.swift

@@ -20,6 +20,18 @@ import SwiftUI
 /// instrument: any visible overlay forces the metal layer through the compositor, which costs a
 /// refresh period on the vsync-latched platforms — this is how to measure with it off.
 private let statsLog = Logger(subsystem: "io.unom.punktfunk", category: "stats")
+/// Mirror the 1 Hz vitals line to STDOUT as well as the unified log.
+///
+/// Exists for **tvOS, where the unified log is unreachable**: `log stream --device` is gone from
+/// modern macOS, `log collect --device-name` needs root and then fails "Device not configured"
+/// (an Apple TV has no USB to fall back to), and libimobiledevice pairs against a different
+/// database than Xcode. Stdout, however, IS bridged — `xcrun devicectl device process launch
+/// --console -e '{"PUNKTFUNK_STATS_STDOUT":"1"}' io.unom.punktfunk` streams these lines straight
+/// to the Mac. That is the only way to read a session's numbers with the **stats overlay OFF**,
+/// which matters because the overlay is itself a composited layer over the Metal one — i.e. a
+/// plausible cause of the very present-floor inflation the overlay is used to measure.
+/// Env-gated: no cost, and no stdout noise, unless someone is deliberately measuring.
+private let statsToStdout = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["PUNKTFUNK_STATS_STDOUT"] == "1"
 
 /// Pump-thread-side frame counters; a 1 Hz main-actor timer drains them into @Published
 /// values. NSLock instead of an actor — the writer is the (non-async) pump thread.
@@ -137,6 +149,25 @@ final class SessionModel: ObservableObject {
     /// and under stage-1.
     @Published var osFloorP50Ms = 0.0
     @Published var osFloorValid = false
+    /// The deadline link's `preferredFrameLatency` ASK beside its property READBACK (see
+    /// `PresentLinkInfo` — it exists because tvOS has no reachable log). ⚠ The readback is NOT
+    /// a grant: it is a plain float property, so it echoes whatever was stored unless the
+    /// system clamps the setter. readback ≠ ask ⇒ a visible clamp (the one signal the API can
+    /// give); readback == ask proves nothing — `osFloorP50Ms` (the measured vend lead) is the
+    /// truth-teller (field 2026-08-13: readback 1.00 beside a 32.5 ms floor).
+    @Published var linkLatencyAskFrames: Float = 0
+    @Published var linkLatencyFrames: Float = 0
+    @Published var linkRangeMinHz: Float = 0
+    @Published var linkRangeMaxHz: Float = 0
+    @Published var linkDrawables = 0
+    @Published var linkInfoValid = false
+    /// Impossible samples the HOST-ANCHORED meters (host+network, end-to-end) refused this
+    /// second (`LatencyMeter.drainTrimmed`). Nonzero means the clock offset is lying and every
+    /// host-anchored p50/p95 this window is a TRUNCATED distribution — the HUD marks the window
+    /// suspect instead of letting a trimmed tail pose as a healthy small number (the field
+    /// "e2e 0–3 ms" reading, 2026-08-13). Client-local stages can't go negative, so they carry
+    /// no such term.
+    @Published var skewTrimPerS = 0
     /// The AUDIO plane's latency, from the playback ring (`SessionAudio.Stats`): how much decoded
     /// audio is queued ahead of the speaker, and where that PUTS it relative to the picture
     /// (positive = audio behind). `audioValid` is false until playback runs.
@@ -683,6 +714,10 @@ final class SessionModel: ObservableObject {
         displayValid = false
         clientQueueValid = false
         osFloorValid = false
+        linkInfoValid = false
+        // Drop the previous session's grant too — the shared box outlives the session, and a new
+        // link may never come up (a non-deadline rung has none at all).
+        PresentLinkInfo.shared.clear()
         audioValid = false
         lostFrames = 0
         lostPct = 0
@@ -904,6 +939,10 @@ final class SessionModel: ObservableObject {
                 } else {
                     self.endToEndValid = false
                 }
+                // Drained even when the stats drains came back empty — with a badly wrong offset
+                // an entire window is refused and only this counter still tells the story.
+                self.skewTrimPerS =
+                    self.latency.drainTrimmed() + self.endToEnd.drainTrimmed()
                 if let d = self.decodeStage.drain() {
                     self.decodeP50Ms = d.p50Ms
                     self.decodeValid = true
@@ -923,6 +962,18 @@ final class SessionModel: ObservableObject {
                 } else {
                     self.osFloorValid = false
                 }
+                // The display link's latency ask + property readback (deadline rung only) — a
+                // LEVEL, not a window, so it is read rather than drained.
+                if let l = PresentLinkInfo.shared.snapshot() {
+                    self.linkLatencyAskFrames = l.ask
+                    self.linkLatencyFrames = l.latency
+                    self.linkRangeMinHz = l.rangeMin
+                    self.linkRangeMaxHz = l.rangeMax
+                    self.linkDrawables = l.drawables
+                    self.linkInfoValid = true
+                } else {
+                    self.linkInfoValid = false
+                }
                 if let q = self.clientQueue.drain() {
                     self.clientQueueP50Ms = q.p50Ms
                     self.clientQueueValid = true
@@ -951,6 +1002,14 @@ final class SessionModel: ObservableObject {
                         // Swift Int is 64-bit → %lld, NOT %d (which is a 32-bit C int); macOS 26's
                         // strict String(format:) validator rejects the %d/Int mismatch and drops
                         // the whole line (a cascade error that also mis-blames the float args).
+                        //
+                        // ⚠ Every invalid-field fallback below MUST be a typed `-1.0` (or a
+                        // `Double(...)`-wrapped value), never a bare `-1`: in this variadic
+                        // `CVarArg` context the ternary does NOT unify to Double — the untyped
+                        // literal goes in as Int, and `%f` then reads Int64(-1)'s all-ones bit
+                        // pattern, which IS a quiet NaN. Field 2026-08-13 (tvOS, stage-1, the
+                        // first session ever to have invalid fields while frames flowed): every
+                        // fallback printed `nan`. Latent since the line was added.
                         format: "fps=%lld presents=%lld e2e_p50=%.1f e2e_p95=%.1f hostnet_p50=%.1f "
                             + "decode_p50=%.1f display_p50=%.1f lost=%lld "
                             + "floor_p50=%.1f display_adj=%.1f e2e_adj=%.1f queue_p50=%.1f "
@@ -958,22 +1017,35 @@ final class SessionModel: ObservableObject {
                             // In the log as well as on the HUD because the overlay is only up when
                             // someone thought to turn it on, and the reports that need these
                             // numbers arrive after the fact.
-                            + "audio_buffer=%lld audio_av_offset=%lld",
+                            + "audio_buffer=%lld audio_av_offset=%lld "
+                            // The deadline link's latency ask + property readback (both -1 on
+                            // non-deadline rungs) — appended so the PUNKTFUNK_FRAME_LATENCY
+                            // ladder is readable over the stdout channel with the HUD off,
+                            // which is the only honest way to run it on a tvOS device.
+                            + "link_ask=%.2f link_readback=%.2f "
+                            // Impossible samples the host-anchored meters refused this window:
+                            // nonzero ⇒ the clock offset is lying and e2e/hostnet above are
+                            // truncated distributions — disregard their p50/p95.
+                            + "skew_trim=%lld",
                         frames,
                         displayWindow?.count ?? 0,
-                        self.endToEndValid ? self.endToEndP50Ms : -1,
-                        self.endToEndValid ? self.endToEndP95Ms : -1,
-                        self.hostNetworkValid ? self.hostNetworkP50Ms : -1,
-                        self.decodeValid ? self.decodeP50Ms : -1,
-                        self.displayValid ? self.displayP50Ms : -1,
+                        self.endToEndValid ? self.endToEndP50Ms : -1.0,
+                        self.endToEndValid ? self.endToEndP95Ms : -1.0,
+                        self.hostNetworkValid ? self.hostNetworkP50Ms : -1.0,
+                        self.decodeValid ? self.decodeP50Ms : -1.0,
+                        self.displayValid ? self.displayP50Ms : -1.0,
                         lost,
-                        self.osFloorValid ? self.osFloorP50Ms : -1,
-                        self.displayValid ? self.displayAdjP50Ms : -1,
-                        self.endToEndValid ? self.endToEndAdjP50Ms : -1,
-                        self.clientQueueValid ? self.clientQueueP50Ms : -1,
+                        self.osFloorValid ? self.osFloorP50Ms : -1.0,
+                        self.displayValid ? self.displayAdjP50Ms : -1.0,
+                        self.endToEndValid ? self.endToEndAdjP50Ms : -1.0,
+                        self.clientQueueValid ? self.clientQueueP50Ms : -1.0,
                         self.audioValid ? self.audioBufferMs : -1,
-                        self.audioValid ? self.audioAvOffsetMs : 0)
+                        self.audioValid ? self.audioAvOffsetMs : 0,
+                        self.linkInfoValid ? Double(self.linkLatencyAskFrames) : -1.0,
+                        self.linkInfoValid ? Double(self.linkLatencyFrames) : -1.0,
+                        self.skewTrimPerS)
                     statsLog.info("\(line, privacy: .public)")
+                    if statsToStdout { print("pf.stats \(line)") }
                 }
             }
         }

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Session/StreamHUDView.swift

@@ -128,6 +128,29 @@ struct StreamHUDView: View {
                             .font(.system(.caption2, design: .monospaced))
                             .foregroundStyle(.tertiary)
                     }
+                    // The deadline link's frame-latency ASK beside its property READBACK. ⚠ The
+                    // readback is NOT a grant — the property echoes whatever we stored (field
+                    // 2026-08-13: 1.00 beside a 32.5 ms `os present` floor). The line earns its
+                    // place because a readback that DIFFERS from the ask is the one clamp signal
+                    // the API can give, and on tvOS the screen is the only place to read either
+                    // (no log is reachable on an Apple TV; see PresentLinkInfo).
+                    if model.linkInfoValid {
+                        Text("link latency ask \(model.linkLatencyAskFrames, specifier: "%.2f") readback \(model.linkLatencyFrames, specifier: "%.2f") · range \(model.linkRangeMinHz, specifier: "%.0f")-\(model.linkRangeMaxHz, specifier: "%.0f") Hz · drawables \(model.linkDrawables)")
+                            .font(.system(.caption2, design: .monospaced))
+                            .foregroundStyle(.tertiary)
+                    }
+                    // The clock-offset tripwire: host-anchored meters refused samples as
+                    // impossible (≤ 0 after offset correction) this second. When this shows,
+                    // e2e and host+network above are TRUNCATED distributions — a wrong skew
+                    // offset shifted them and the impossible half was trimmed — so their
+                    // p50/p95 flatter the stream (the field "e2e 0–3 ms" reading). Orange on
+                    // purpose: every other stat here stays legible-quiet, but a number that
+                    // has stopped meaning anything must not.
+                    if model.skewTrimPerS > 0 {
+                        Text("clock offset suspect — \(model.skewTrimPerS)/s impossible samples trimmed; e2e & host+network unreliable")
+                            .font(.system(.caption2, design: .monospaced))
+                            .foregroundStyle(.orange)
+                    }
                     // Client-queue wait (reassembly receipt → decode pull, ABI v9 split): ~0 on
                     // a healthy stream and hidden as noise; shown from 2 ms — a persistent value
                     // is a client-side standing backlog that pre-split builds displayed as

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

@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ struct AboutView: View {
 
     #if !os(tvOS)
     @State private var showAcknowledgements = false
+    /// The in-session controls. They used to announce themselves in a 6-second banner at the start
+    /// of every stream; that banner is gone, so this page is where they live now — including for
+    /// touch users on a Mac, who saw it too.
+    @State private var showShortcuts = false
     #endif
 
     var body: some View {
@@ -44,6 +48,9 @@ struct AboutView: View {
                     .listRowInsets(EdgeInsets())
                     .listRowBackground(Color.clear)
             }
+            Section {
+                shortcutsRow
+            }
             Section {
                 linkRow("Documentation", systemImage: "book", url: Destination.docs)
                 linkRow("Community", systemImage: "bubble.left.and.bubble.right",
@@ -63,6 +70,21 @@ struct AboutView: View {
         // A SHEET, not a push — on iPad the settings detail column is deliberately not a
         // NavigationStack (an inner one doubles the title bar), so a NavigationLink from here
         // pushed into a context with no back button and stranded the licenses on screen.
+        // A sheet for the same reason Acknowledgements is one — see that modifier's note on the
+        // iPad detail column not being a NavigationStack.
+        .sheet(isPresented: $showShortcuts) {
+            NavigationStack {
+                ShortcutsView(micAvailable: ShortcutsCatalog.micPlausible)
+                    .toolbar {
+                        ToolbarItem(placement: .confirmationAction) {
+                            Button("Done") { showShortcuts = false }
+                        }
+                    }
+            }
+            #if os(macOS)
+            .frame(width: 560, height: 460)
+            #endif
+        }
         .sheet(isPresented: $showAcknowledgements) {
             NavigationStack {
                 AcknowledgementsView()
@@ -135,6 +157,24 @@ struct AboutView: View {
         .foregroundStyle(.primary)
     }
 
+    private var shortcutsRow: some View {
+        Button {
+            showShortcuts = true
+        } label: {
+            HStack {
+                Label("Shortcuts", systemImage: "command")
+                Spacer(minLength: 8)
+                Image(systemName: "chevron.right")
+                    .font(.footnote.weight(.semibold))
+                    .foregroundStyle(.tertiary)
+                    .accessibilityHidden(true)
+            }
+            .contentShape(Rectangle())
+        }
+        .buttonStyle(.plain)
+        .foregroundStyle(.primary)
+    }
+
     private var acknowledgementsRow: some View {
         Button {
             showAcknowledgements = true
@@ -168,6 +208,11 @@ struct AboutView: View {
                     tvAddress("Community", Destination.community)
                     tvAddress("Source code", Destination.source)
                 }
+                // Both push here: this page really is inside a navigation stack on tvOS, which is
+                // the case the sheets above exist to work around elsewhere.
+                NavigationLink("Shortcuts") {
+                    ShortcutsView(micAvailable: false) // tvOS has no app-accessible mic
+                }
                 NavigationLink("Acknowledgements") { AcknowledgementsView() }
                 Text("Punktfunk's source is open under MIT or Apache-2.0.")
                     .font(.geist(20, relativeTo: .caption))
@@ -219,21 +264,39 @@ struct AppIconView: View {
     var body: some View {
         Group {
             if let icon = Self.bundleIcon {
-                icon.image
-                    .resizable()
-                    .interpolation(.high)
-                    .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fit)
-                    // iOS ships the icon UNMASKED — the springboard applies the rounded shape at
-                    // draw time, so used raw it is a hard-cornered square. macOS bakes its own
-                    // shape (and margins) into the image, and clipping that would cut into it.
-                    .clipShape(RoundedRectangle(
-                        cornerRadius: icon.needsMask ? side * Self.iOSCornerRatio : 0,
-                        style: .continuous))
+                // The mask is applied ONLY where it is wanted. A `cornerRadius: 0` RoundedRectangle
+                // is not a no-op — it still clips to the layout frame, which crops any art whose
+                // aspect ratio isn't the frame's (the TV's 400x240 icon lost its ends to it).
+                // iOS ships the icon UNMASKED — the springboard applies the rounded shape at draw
+                // time, so used raw it is a hard-cornered square. macOS bakes its own shape (and
+                // margins) into the image, and clipping that would cut into it.
+                if icon.needsMask {
+                    icon.image
+                        .resizable()
+                        .interpolation(.high)
+                        .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fit)
+                        .clipShape(RoundedRectangle(
+                            cornerRadius: side * Self.iOSCornerRatio, style: .continuous))
+                } else {
+                    icon.image
+                        .resizable()
+                        .interpolation(.high)
+                        .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fit)
+                }
             } else {
                 monogram
             }
         }
+        // tvOS's icon is a 400×240 rectangle, not a squircle — framing it square would letterbox
+        // it inside a box two thirds empty. `side` means HEIGHT there, and the width follows the
+        // real 5:3 art. A MAX frame rather than a fixed one: with a fixed width the image cannot
+        // shrink when its row is tight, so it overflows and is clipped by whatever is above it
+        // instead — `.fit` inside a max frame gives back the whole icon, just smaller.
+        #if os(tvOS)
+        .frame(maxWidth: side * (400.0 / 240.0), maxHeight: side)
+        #else
         .frame(width: side, height: side)
+        #endif
         .accessibilityHidden(true) // the app's name is the next line
     }
 
@@ -267,7 +330,14 @@ struct AppIconView: View {
         else { return nil }
         return (Image(uiImage: image), true)
         #else
-        return nil // tvOS: layered icons have no single image to load
+        // tvOS ships the icon as a parallax image STACK (Back/Circle1/Circle2/Front), which has
+        // no single image to load — which is why this used to return nil and every About page on
+        // the TV drew the "P" monogram instead of the app's own mark. `AboutAppIcon` is those
+        // four layers flattened into one asset, generated from the SAME art the stack uses so it
+        // cannot drift into being a second, subtly different icon. Already masked and composited,
+        // so it needs no rounding of ours.
+        guard let image = UIImage(named: "AboutAppIcon") else { return nil }
+        return (Image(uiImage: image), false)
         #endif
     }
 }

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

@@ -42,14 +42,22 @@ enum GpSettingsTab: String, CaseIterable, Hashable {
     case controller = "Controller"
     case interface = "Interface"
     case profiles = "Profiles"
+    /// Trailing, like Profiles: both are built from something other than the settings store, and
+    /// About is where the strip ends because it is the one section that changes nothing.
+    case about = "About"
 }
 
 struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
-    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+    /// Resolved from `paletteID` below, NOT from `\.gamepadInk` — this screen publishes that value
+    /// itself and so sits above its own copy (see `GamepadInk.stored`). Reading the environment
+    /// here is what left the title, the tab pills and every row label white-on-pale on tvOS.
+    private var ink: GamepadInk { .stored(paletteID) }
     @Environment(\.gamepadMetrics) private var metrics
     @Environment(\.displayBottomInset) private var displayBottomInset
     @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss
     @Environment(\.gamepadHostedInShell) private var hostedInShell
+    /// The About section's link rows (never used on tvOS, which has no browser).
+    @Environment(\.openURL) private var openURL
     /// The saved-host store — the pin picker writes `setPinned` through it and the profile rows
     /// count pins from its live hosts. Threaded in from GamepadHomeView like the home screen
     /// itself (ContentView owns the instance).
@@ -61,6 +69,9 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
     /// console's input drop) and while the connect takeover is up; a system presentation never
     /// needs the gate and keeps the default.
     var controllerActive = true
+    /// Whether this device has a microphone at all — passed through to the About page's shortcuts
+    /// reference, which must not list a mute key on a device that can't mute anything.
+    var micAvailable = true
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.streamWidth) private var width = 1920
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.streamHeight) private var height = 1080
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.streamHz) private var hz = 60
@@ -132,6 +143,14 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
     /// The direction of the last value step (+1 right/forward, -1 left) — picks which edge the
     /// changed value slides in from, so the animation follows the user's motion.
     @State private var lastAdjustDelta = 1
+    /// A reading surface opened from the About tab, replacing the row list the way the pin picker
+    /// does. Depth is 1: neither page opens anything further.
+    private enum AboutPage: Equatable {
+        case shortcuts
+        case licenses
+    }
+
+    @State private var aboutPage: AboutPage?
 
     var body: some View {
         GamepadMenuList(
@@ -157,9 +176,9 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                     .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                     .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .leading)
                     .padding(.horizontal, 24)
-                // The picker is one layer deeper — its rows aren't sections of anything, so the
-                // strip would be a control that does nothing while it's up.
-                if pinTarget == nil { tabStrip }
+                // The picker and the About reading pages are one layer deeper — their rows aren't
+                // sections of anything, so the strip would be a control that does nothing.
+                if pinTarget == nil, aboutPage == nil { tabStrip }
             }
             .padding(.top, gamepadTitleTopPadding(compact: compact))
             .padding(.bottom, gamepadTitleBottomPadding(compact: compact))
@@ -326,16 +345,62 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         if let close { close() } else { dismiss() }
     }
 
+    /// Where the product actually lives — kept together so the three can be checked against the
+    /// README in one glance (the touch `AboutView` holds the same three).
+    private enum Destination {
+        static let docs = URL(string: "https://docs.punktfunk.unom.io")!
+        static let community = URL(string: "https://discord.gg/kaPNvzMuGU")!
+        static let source = URL(string: "https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk")!
+    }
+
+    /// "Version 0.29.0 (100000)" — the build number only when it says something the version does
+    /// not. Mirrors `AboutView.versionLine`; a bug report is worth more with it.
+    private static var versionLine: String {
+        let info = Bundle.main.infoDictionary
+        let short = info?["CFBundleShortVersionString"] as? String ?? "—"
+        let build = info?["CFBundleVersion"] as? String
+        guard let build, !build.isEmpty, build != short else { return "Version \(short)" }
+        return "Version \(short) (\(build))"
+    }
+
     /// "Settings", or "Pin “Work”" while the pin picker is up — the title is what says which
     /// layer the row list currently is.
     private var title: String {
-        pinTarget.map { "Pin “\($0.name)”" } ?? "Settings"
+        if let profile = pinTarget { return "Pin “\(profile.name)”" }
+        switch aboutPage {
+        case .shortcuts: return "Shortcuts"
+        case .licenses: return "Acknowledgements"
+        case nil: return "Settings"
+        }
     }
 
     /// The legend follows the layer: value-editing hints on the settings rows, pin/unpin on the
     /// picker — where B reads "Back" (it peels to the settings rows, GamepadAddHostView's "one
     /// layer" rule), and a hostless picker has nothing to pin, so only Back remains.
     private var hints: [GamepadHint] {
+        // A reading page is scrolled, not operated: offering A would be the same lie a dimmed row
+        // used to tell. Only Back remains.
+        if aboutPage != nil {
+            return [.init(
+                glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonB, fallback: "b.circle"), text: "Back",
+                action: { back() })]
+        }
+        // The About rows open things rather than change them, so A reads "Open" and there is no
+        // Adjust cell — left/right genuinely does nothing there.
+        if pinTarget == nil, tab == .about {
+            let sections: [GamepadHint] = showsSectionHint
+                ? [.init(glyph: buttonGlyph(\.leftShoulder, fallback: "l1.rectangle.roundedbottom"),
+                         text: "Section", action: { step(tabBy: 1) })]
+                : []
+            return sections + [
+                .init(
+                    glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonA, fallback: "a.circle"), text: "Open",
+                    action: { if let focusID { activate(id: focusID) } }),
+                .init(
+                    glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonB, fallback: "b.circle"), text: "Done",
+                    action: { back() }),
+            ]
+        }
         guard pinTarget != nil else {
             // The shoulders change section, so that cell leads — where it fits and where the
             // shoulders exist at all (see `showsSectionHint`).
@@ -383,6 +448,9 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         if let profile = pinTarget {
             pinTarget = nil
             focusID = "profile-\(profile.id)"
+        } else if let page = aboutPage {
+            aboutPage = nil
+            focusID = page == .shortcuts ? "shortcuts" : "licenses"
         } else {
             performClose()
         }
@@ -390,7 +458,53 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
 
     // MARK: - Row rendering
 
+    @ViewBuilder
     private func rowView(_ row: Row, focused: Bool) -> some View {
+        switch row.kind {
+        case .control: controlRow(row, focused: focused)
+        case .footer:
+            Text(row.label)
+                .font(.geist(metrics.detailFont, .medium, relativeTo: .caption))
+                .monospacedDigit()
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(focused ? 0.7 : 0.45))
+                .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .center)
+                .padding(.top, 18)
+                .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.18), value: focused)
+        case .heading:
+            Text(row.label)
+                .font(.geist(metrics.labelFont, .bold, relativeTo: .headline))
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.75))
+                .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .leading)
+                .padding(.horizontal, metrics.rowHPad)
+                .padding(.top, 14)
+                .padding(.bottom, 2)
+        case .prose:
+            // Focus here means "this is the part you are scrolled to", not "press A" — so it is a
+            // quiet wash rather than the control rows' full glass.
+            VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 4) {
+                Text(row.label)
+                    .font(.geistFixed(metrics.valueFont, .medium))
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.95))
+                    .fixedSize(horizontal: false, vertical: true)
+                if !row.value.isEmpty {
+                    Text(row.value)
+                        .font(.geist(metrics.detailFont, relativeTo: .caption))
+                        .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.6))
+                        .fixedSize(horizontal: false, vertical: true)
+                }
+            }
+            .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .leading)
+            .padding(.horizontal, metrics.rowHPad)
+            .padding(.vertical, metrics.rowVPad * 0.7)
+            .background {
+                RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: metrics.rowCorner, style: .continuous)
+                    .fill(ink.fg(focused ? 0.08 : 0))
+            }
+            .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.18), value: focused)
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func controlRow(_ row: Row, focused: Bool) -> some View {
         let m = metrics
         // No section header: the tab strip names the section now, and repeating it above the
         // first row of every tab was just a second label saying the same word.
@@ -502,10 +616,23 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         /// `activate(id:)`, not per closure, so no row builder can forget it.
         /// (Android's `GpRow.enabled` and `pf-console-ui`'s `RowSpec.enabled` are the twins.)
         var enabled = true
+        /// How this row DRAWS. Every tab but About is `.control` — the glass row with a label and
+        /// a value. About is a reading surface as much as a menu, so it also has a heading and a
+        /// block of prose, which are rows only so the focus list can scroll them (the same trick
+        /// `Licenses.chunked` plays for tvOS focus).
+        var kind: Kind = .control
         /// Left/right step; returns whether the value actually changed (false ⇒ boundary thud).
         let adjust: (Int) -> Bool
         /// A — cycle forward (wrapping) / flip.
         let activate: () -> Void
+
+        enum Kind {
+            case control
+            case heading
+            case prose
+            /// Quiet, centred trailing text — the About tab's version line.
+            case footer
+        }
     }
 
     /// Dispatch by id so the focus list's stored input callbacks always act on freshly built rows
@@ -527,9 +654,133 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
     /// controller wiring and the tvOS focus engine carry over as is).
     private var rows: [Row] {
         if let profile = pinTarget { return pinRows(for: profile) }
+        if let page = aboutPage {
+            switch page {
+            case .shortcuts: return shortcutRows
+            case .licenses: return licenseRows
+            }
+        }
+        if tab == .about { return aboutRows }
         return allRows.filter { $0.tab == tab }
     }
 
+    // MARK: - About
+
+    /// The About section: the ways out, plus the two reading surfaces. The identity itself (icon,
+    /// name, version, tagline) is the HEADER while this tab is up — see `aboutIdentity` — not a
+    /// row, so the list holds no focus stop that does nothing when pressed.
+    private var aboutRows: [Row] {
+        var list: [Row] = [
+            aboutAction(
+                id: "shortcuts", icon: "command", label: "Shortcuts", value: "While streaming",
+                detail: "What to press during a session on this device — and on a controller.",
+                open: .shortcuts),
+            aboutAction(
+                id: "licenses", icon: "text.document", label: "Acknowledgements",
+                value: "MIT or Apache-2.0",
+                detail: "Punktfunk's own licence and the third-party components it uses.",
+                open: .licenses),
+        ]
+        list.append(contentsOf: [
+            aboutLink(id: "docs", icon: "book", label: "Documentation", url: Destination.docs),
+            aboutLink(
+                id: "community", icon: "bubble.left.and.bubble.right", label: "Community",
+                url: Destination.community),
+            aboutLink(
+                id: "source", icon: "chevron.left.forwardslash.chevron.right",
+                label: "Source code", url: Destination.source),
+        ])
+        // The version sits UNDER the rows rather than in a header card above them. The card that
+        // used to head this tab carried the app icon, and on tvOS that icon is a 400x240
+        // rectangle that would not survive contact with a layout built for square art — three
+        // attempts at framing it were still cropping it on the real TV. A version string answers
+        // the only question anyone actually opens About to ask, and has no aspect ratio to get
+        // wrong. `.footer` draws it quiet and centred, so it reads as a footer and not a row you
+        // failed to press.
+        list.append(Row(
+            id: "version", tab: .about, icon: "", label: Self.versionLine, value: "",
+            detail: "", adjustable: false, enabled: true, kind: .footer,
+            adjust: { _ in false }, activate: {}))
+        return list
+    }
+
+    private func aboutAction(
+        id: String, icon: String, label: String, value: String, detail: String, open: AboutPage
+    ) -> Row {
+        Row(
+            id: id, tab: .about, icon: icon, label: label, value: value, detail: detail,
+            adjustable: false,
+            adjust: { _ in false },
+            activate: {
+                // Focus lands on the page's first row — the focus list's reconcile follows this
+                // id when the row set swaps underneath it (the pin picker's pattern).
+                focusID = open == .shortcuts ? shortcutRows.first?.id : licenseRows.first?.id
+                aboutPage = open
+            })
+    }
+
+    /// tvOS has no browser and no `openURL`, so an address there is text to read off the screen
+    /// rather than a link to nowhere — the same call the touch About page makes.
+    private func aboutLink(id: String, icon: String, label: String, url: URL) -> Row {
+        let shown = url.absoluteString.replacingOccurrences(of: "https://", with: "")
+        #if os(tvOS)
+        return Row(
+            id: id, tab: .about, icon: icon, label: label, value: shown,
+            detail: "Open this address on a phone or computer.",
+            adjustable: false, adjust: { _ in false }, activate: {})
+        #else
+        return Row(
+            id: id, tab: .about, icon: icon, label: label, value: shown,
+            detail: "Opens in your browser.",
+            adjustable: false, adjust: { _ in false }, activate: { openURL(url) })
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    /// The shortcuts reference — the same `ShortcutsCatalog` the touch About page renders, so the
+    /// two can never drift.
+    private var shortcutRows: [Row] {
+        ShortcutsCatalog.groups(micAvailable: micAvailable).flatMap { group -> [Row] in
+            [aboutText(id: "group-\(group.title)", label: group.title, kind: .heading)]
+                + group.items.map { item in
+                    aboutText(
+                        id: "sc-\(group.title)-\(item.keys)", label: item.keys, value: item.text,
+                        kind: .prose)
+                }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The licence wall, one row per pre-chunked page (`Licenses.chunked`, which exists so tvOS
+    /// can page it by focus steps) — so it scrolls with the stick and needs no machinery here.
+    private var licenseRows: [Row] {
+        var list: [Row] = [
+            aboutText(id: "lic-heading", label: "Punktfunk", kind: .heading),
+            aboutText(
+                id: "lic-summary",
+                label: "Punktfunk's source is open under MIT or Apache-2.0. It ships the Geist "
+                    + "typeface under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, and uses the third-party "
+                    + "components below, each under its own license.",
+                kind: .prose),
+        ]
+        for (i, chunk) in Licenses.chunked(Licenses.appLicense).enumerated() {
+            list.append(aboutText(id: "lic-app-\(i)", label: chunk, kind: .prose))
+        }
+        list.append(aboutText(
+            id: "lic-third-heading", label: "Third-party software", kind: .heading))
+        for (i, chunk) in Licenses.thirdPartyNoticesChunks.enumerated() {
+            list.append(aboutText(id: "lic-third-\(i)", label: chunk, kind: .prose))
+        }
+        return list
+    }
+
+    private func aboutText(
+        id: String, label: String, value: String = "", kind: Row.Kind
+    ) -> Row {
+        Row(
+            id: id, tab: .about, icon: "", label: label, value: value, detail: "",
+            adjustable: false, enabled: true, kind: kind,
+            adjust: { _ in false }, activate: {})
+    }
+
     /// Every row on the screen, tagged with its section. Built as one list (not per tab) so the
     /// platform-conditional insertions below can still place a row RELATIVE to another by id.
     private var allRows: [Row] {

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

@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+// The in-session controls, written down once and read by every surface that shows them.
+//
+// This replaced the start-of-stream banner (ContentView's `showShortcutHint`): a 6-second pill
+// that told you the controls exactly once, while you were busy looking at the thing you had just
+// connected to, and then never again. A reference you can OPEN answers the question at the moment
+// it is actually asked — which is the second session, not the first.
+//
+// The catalog is data rather than a view so both About pages render the same words: the touch
+// `AboutView` (a Form) and the controller-first `GamepadAboutView` (a console list). The banner
+// was macOS/tvOS-only, so deleting it would have cost Mac TOUCH users the one place those keys
+// were written down — hence the touch surface gets this too, not just the gamepad UI.
+//
+// Per-platform by `#if`, because the honest answer really is different: tvOS has no keyboard and
+// no menu bar, iOS has a touch gesture nothing else has, and macOS is the only one that has to
+// explain mouse capture. A controller's chords are the one section common to all three — they are
+// the same buttons on every client (`GamepadCapture.escapeChord` / `.statsChord`), which is the
+// whole point of a cross-client chord.
+
+import AVFoundation
+import PunktfunkKit
+import SwiftUI
+
+/// One line of the reference: what you press, and what it does.
+struct ShortcutItem: Identifiable {
+    /// Stable within its group — the keys are unique per group by construction.
+    var id: String { keys }
+    /// The chord itself, rendered monospaced so ⌃⌥⇧-style runs stay legible.
+    let keys: String
+    let text: String
+}
+
+struct ShortcutGroup: Identifiable {
+    var id: String { title }
+    let title: String
+    let items: [ShortcutItem]
+}
+
+enum ShortcutsCatalog {
+    /// Whether a mute key is worth listing when no session is running, for the About page reached
+    /// from settings. `SessionModel.micAvailable` is the authority DURING a session — it also
+    /// consults the profile the session actually resolved — but a reference page opened between
+    /// sessions has no session to ask, so it answers the device-level half of the same question:
+    /// a platform with an app-accessible input, the mic setting on, and the OS not refusing.
+    /// `.notDetermined` counts, exactly as it does there: the prompt is simply still pending.
+    static var micPlausible: Bool {
+        #if os(tvOS)
+        return false // no app-accessible microphone
+        #else
+        guard UserDefaults.standard.object(forKey: DefaultsKey.micEnabled) as? Bool ?? true
+        else { return false }
+        switch AVCaptureDevice.authorizationStatus(for: .audio) {
+        case .authorized, .notDetermined: return true
+        default: return false
+        }
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    /// `micAvailable` gates the mute row — a device with no microphone would otherwise be told
+    /// about a key that does nothing, which is the failure the old banner already avoided.
+    static func groups(micAvailable: Bool) -> [ShortcutGroup] {
+        var groups: [ShortcutGroup] = []
+        #if os(macOS)
+        var keyboard: [ShortcutItem] = [
+            .init(keys: "Click", text: "Capture the mouse and keyboard for the stream"),
+            .init(keys: "⌃⌥⇧Q", text: "Release the mouse and keyboard back to this Mac"),
+            .init(keys: "⌃⌥⇧D", text: "Disconnect"),
+            .init(keys: "⌃⌥⇧S", text: "Cycle the statistics overlay"),
+        ]
+        if micAvailable {
+            keyboard.append(.init(keys: "⌃⌥⇧A", text: "Mute or unmute the microphone"))
+        }
+        groups.append(.init(title: "Keyboard", items: keyboard))
+        #elseif os(iOS)
+        // iPad with a hardware keyboard gets the same cross-client set as the Mac (StreamCommands
+        // publishes it either way); a phone simply never sees a keyboard to press it on.
+        var keyboard: [ShortcutItem] = [
+            .init(keys: "⌃⌥⇧Q", text: "Release the pointer back to this device"),
+            .init(keys: "⌃⌥⇧D", text: "Disconnect"),
+            .init(keys: "⌃⌥⇧S", text: "Cycle the statistics overlay"),
+        ]
+        if micAvailable {
+            keyboard.append(.init(keys: "⌃⌥⇧A", text: "Mute or unmute the microphone"))
+        }
+        groups.append(.init(title: "Hardware keyboard", items: keyboard))
+        groups.append(.init(title: "Touch", items: [
+            .init(keys: "Three-finger tap", text: "Cycle the statistics overlay"),
+        ]))
+        #elseif os(tvOS)
+        // The remote section leads on tvOS: it carries the ONLY exits. Menu/B is swallowed during
+        // a session (ContentView's `.onExitCommand {}`), so a user who does not know the hold
+        // gesture is genuinely stuck — which is why this was the one banner that could not simply
+        // be deleted without putting the words somewhere findable first.
+        groups.append(.init(title: "Siri Remote", items: [
+            .init(keys: "Hold Back", text: "Disconnect"),
+            .init(keys: "Touch surface", text: "Move the pointer"),
+            .init(keys: "Press", text: "Click"),
+            .init(keys: "Play/Pause", text: "Right-click"),
+            .init(keys: "Hold Play/Pause", text: "Cycle the statistics overlay"),
+        ]))
+        #endif
+        // Every client's controller speaks these two chords — see GamepadCapture.escapeChord and
+        // .statsChord, which a test pins against their GameController element lists.
+        groups.append(.init(title: "Controller", items: [
+            .init(keys: "L1 + R1 + Start + Select", text: "Hold to disconnect"),
+            .init(keys: "Select + X", text: "Cycle the statistics overlay"),
+            .init(keys: "Hold Select", text: "Press the host's guide button"),
+        ]))
+        return groups
+    }
+}
+
+/// The standard-interface reference — a sheet from `AboutView` on iOS/macOS, a pushed page on
+/// tvOS — so the keys the start-of-stream banner used to carry are still one press away.
+/// (The controller-first surface renders the same catalog itself; see `GamepadAboutView`.)
+struct ShortcutsView: View {
+    let micAvailable: Bool
+
+    var body: some View {
+        #if os(tvOS)
+        // No `Form`/`.formStyle(.grouped)` worth using at 10 feet, and the rows are read, not
+        // operated — a plain scrolling column at TV sizes says the same thing with less chrome.
+        ScrollView {
+            VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 30) {
+                ForEach(ShortcutsCatalog.groups(micAvailable: micAvailable)) { group in
+                    VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 12) {
+                        Text(group.title)
+                            .font(.geist(28, .semibold, relativeTo: .headline))
+                        ForEach(group.items) { item in
+                            HStack(alignment: .firstTextBaseline, spacing: 20) {
+                                Text(item.keys)
+                                    .font(.geistFixed(22, .medium))
+                                    .frame(minWidth: 300, alignment: .leading)
+                                    .fixedSize(horizontal: false, vertical: true)
+                                Text(item.text)
+                                    .font(.geist(22, relativeTo: .caption))
+                                    .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
+                                    .fixedSize(horizontal: false, vertical: true)
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            .frame(maxWidth: 1000, alignment: .leading)
+            .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .leading)
+            .padding(60)
+        }
+        .navigationTitle("Shortcuts")
+        #else
+        form
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    #if !os(tvOS)
+    private var form: some View {
+        Form {
+            ForEach(ShortcutsCatalog.groups(micAvailable: micAvailable)) { group in
+                Section(group.title) {
+                    ForEach(group.items) { item in
+                        HStack(alignment: .firstTextBaseline, spacing: 12) {
+                            Text(item.keys)
+                                .font(.geistFixed(13, .medium))
+                                .foregroundStyle(.primary)
+                                // A fixed column keeps the descriptions aligned; the chords vary
+                                // from "Click" to "L1 + R1 + Start + Select".
+                                .frame(minWidth: 132, alignment: .leading)
+                                .fixedSize(horizontal: false, vertical: true)
+                            Text(item.text)
+                                .font(.geist(13, relativeTo: .footnote))
+                                .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
+                                .fixedSize(horizontal: false, vertical: true)
+                        }
+                        .padding(.vertical, 2)
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        .formStyle(.grouped)
+        .navigationTitle("Shortcuts")
+    }
+    #endif
+}

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Trust/GamepadPairView.swift

@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ import SwiftUI
 #if os(iOS) || os(macOS)
 
 struct GamepadPairView: View {
-    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+    /// Resolved from the stored palette, NOT from `\.gamepadInk` — this screen publishes that
+    /// value itself and so sits above its own copy (see `GamepadInk.stored`).
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+    private var ink: GamepadInk { .stored(paletteID) }
     @Environment(\.gamepadMetrics) private var metrics
     @Environment(\.displayBottomInset) private var displayBottomInset
     @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Connection/PunktfunkConnection.swift

@@ -382,12 +382,29 @@ public final class PunktfunkConnection {
     /// the client draws its own (a visible system cursor over the stream).
     public private(set) var resolvedCompositor: Compositor = .auto
 
-    /// Host clock minus client clock (nanoseconds), from the connect-time wall-clock skew handshake
-    /// (`punktfunk_connection_clock_offset_ns`). Add it to a local `CLOCK_REALTIME` instant to
-    /// express that instant in the host's capture clock — the clock each `AccessUnit.ptsNs` is
-    /// stamped in — so a glass-to-glass latency (present/enqueue time minus `ptsNs`) is valid across
-    /// machines. `0` = no correction (an older host that didn't answer, or synchronized clocks).
-    public private(set) var clockOffsetNs: Int64 = 0
+    /// Host clock minus client clock (nanoseconds) — LIVE: the connect-time skew handshake's
+    /// estimate, kept fresh by the core's mid-stream re-syncs (every 60 s plus immediately on a
+    /// suspected wall-clock step; `punktfunk_connection_clock_offset_now_ns`, ABI v10). Add it to
+    /// a local `CLOCK_REALTIME` instant to express that instant in the host's capture clock — the
+    /// clock each `AccessUnit.ptsNs` is stamped in — so a glass-to-glass latency (present/enqueue
+    /// time minus `ptsNs`) is valid across machines. `0` = no correction (an older host that
+    /// didn't answer, synchronized clocks, or a closed connection).
+    ///
+    /// ⚠ LIVE means DO NOT CACHE. Until 2026-08-13 this was a connect-time snapshot, and the
+    /// core's own doc names the failure: "after an NTP step or slow drift the connect-time value
+    /// silently corrupts every capture-clock comparison." The field evidence was stark — two
+    /// sessions minutes apart against the same wired host read hostnet 17–21 ms, then a
+    /// physically impossible 4.4 ms (the host is a VM; VM wall clocks step), and LatencyMeter's
+    /// impossible-sample guard silently trimmed the shifted-negative half, so the HUD showed a
+    /// plausible small number instead of an alarm. Read this property at each use — it is an
+    /// atomic load behind the FFI — and never park it in a `let` or a closure capture list.
+    /// Cross-thread reads follow the `framesDropped()` precedent.
+    public var clockOffsetNs: Int64 {
+        guard let handle else { return 0 }
+        var offset: Int64 = 0
+        _ = punktfunk_connection_clock_offset_now_ns(handle, &offset)
+        return offset
+    }
 
     /// The video encoder bitrate (kbps) the host actually configured — the requested
     /// `bitrateKbps` clamped to the host's range ([500, 2 000 000] kbps), or its default
@@ -635,9 +652,6 @@ public final class PunktfunkConnection {
         var comp: UInt32 = 0
         _ = punktfunk_connection_compositor(handle, &comp)
         resolvedCompositor = Compositor(rawValue: comp) ?? .auto
-        var offset: Int64 = 0
-        _ = punktfunk_connection_clock_offset_ns(handle, &offset)
-        clockOffsetNs = offset
         var br: UInt32 = 0
         _ = punktfunk_connection_bitrate(handle, &br)
         resolvedBitrateKbps = br

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/LatencyMeter.swift

@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@ import Foundation
 ///   `record(ptsNs:atNs:offsetNs:)` at present.
 ///
 /// For the host-anchored intervals (capture→…) the sample is `end + offset - pts_ns`, where
-/// `pts_ns` is the host's capture wall clock (the AU's pts) and the connect-time **clock-skew
-/// offset** (`PunktfunkConnection.clockOffsetNs`, host minus client) makes the difference valid
+/// `pts_ns` is the host's capture wall clock (the AU's pts) and the LIVE **clock-skew
+/// offset** (`PunktfunkConnection.clockOffsetNs`, host minus client, mid-stream re-synced —
+/// read it per record, never cached) makes the difference valid
 /// across machines. `offsetNs == 0` means an old host that didn't answer the skew handshake (or
 /// genuinely synced clocks) — the number is then only meaningful same-host, and the HUD tags the
 /// end-to-end line `(same-host clock)`.
@@ -24,6 +25,8 @@ public final class LatencyMeter: @unchecked Sendable {
     private let lock = NSLock()
     private var samplesUs: [Int64] = []
     private var skewCorrected = false
+    /// Samples `record` refused as impossible since the last `drainTrimmed` (see the guard).
+    private var trimmed = 0
     /// The most recent sample and the instant it ended, for `latestSample(asOfNs:maxAgeMs:)` —
     /// a LEVEL, not a window, so `drain` deliberately leaves both alone.
     private var latestNs: Int64 = 0
@@ -49,8 +52,19 @@ public final class LatencyMeter: @unchecked Sendable {
     public func record(ptsNs: UInt64, atNs: Int64, offsetNs: Int64) {
         let latNs = atNs &+ offsetNs &- Int64(bitPattern: ptsNs)
         // Drop absurd values (a clock step, a wildly wrong offset, garbage pts, or a stage whose
-        // start stamp is missing/after its end) — samples are clamped to (0, 10 s).
-        guard latNs > 0, latNs < 10_000_000_000 else { return }
+        // start stamp is missing/after its end) — samples are clamped to (0, 10 s). COUNTED, not
+        // silent: a cluster of non-positive samples is the signature of a wrong clock offset
+        // (client-local stages can't go negative), and a meter that quietly trims the impossible
+        // half of a shifted distribution presents the surviving tail as a plausible small number
+        // — field 2026-08-13: "e2e 0–3 ms p50 / 23 ms p95" on a session whose true hostnet was
+        // ~18 ms. `drainTrimmed` surfaces the count so the window can be MARKED suspect instead
+        // of looking healthy.
+        guard latNs > 0, latNs < 10_000_000_000 else {
+            lock.lock()
+            trimmed += 1
+            lock.unlock()
+            return
+        }
         lock.lock()
         samplesUs.append(latNs / 1000)
         latestNs = latNs
@@ -99,6 +113,18 @@ public final class LatencyMeter: @unchecked Sendable {
         public let skewCorrected: Bool
     }
 
+    /// Take-and-reset the count of impossible samples `record` refused (see its guard). Drained
+    /// SEPARATELY from `drain()` on purpose: with a badly wrong offset EVERY sample of a window
+    /// can be non-positive, `drain()` then returns `nil` — and a count folded into `Stats` would
+    /// vanish with it, hiding the very windows that scream loudest. This survives an empty window.
+    public func drainTrimmed() -> Int {
+        lock.lock()
+        defer { lock.unlock() }
+        let n = trimmed
+        trimmed = 0
+        return n
+    }
+
     /// Percentiles over the samples accumulated since the last drain, then reset the window. `nil`
     /// when no samples arrived in the interval.
     public func drain() -> Stats? {

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/MetalVideoPresenter.swift

@@ -56,17 +56,27 @@ enum WindowedPresentMode: String, Sendable {
 /// 203-nit diffuse white at EDR 1.0 (the display's SDR-white level) and lets the system tone-map the
 /// brighter highlights into the panel's headroom. This is the missing anchor that made the old HDR path
 /// render "way too bright" (no `edrMetadata` → no reference-white anchoring); a LARGER value renders
-/// dimmer. Matches the host's standard PQ reference white.
+/// dimmer.
+///
+/// ⚠️ This is one half of a pair: the host has to map SDR content into the PQ container at the SAME
+/// luminance, and pins it to 203 in `pf-vdisplay`'s `SDR_REFERENCE_WHITE_NITS`. When they disagree
+/// every pixel is off by the ratio — a gamescope host left on gamescope's own 400-nit default put
+/// the stream nearly a stop bright, which read as a glaring, over-saturated Steam UI and washed-out
+/// HDR game content at the same time. Change one end without the other and that gap re-opens.
 private let hdrReferenceWhiteNits: Float = 203.0
 
-/// PUNKTFUNK_SDR_COLORSPACE=srgb — A/B hatch for the SDR layer's colour tag. Today the SDR layer
-/// ships with `colorspace = nil`, which on macOS means NO colour matching: the BT.709/sRGB-encoded
-/// stream is displayed with the panel's native primaries — mild oversaturation on every P3 Mac.
-/// `srgb` tags the layer so CoreAnimation colour-matches it into the panel's gamut (the strictly
-/// correct rendering). Kept OFF by default until the on-glass A/B confirms it (the nil path is the
-/// long-proven look, and some users may prefer the vivid rendition); flip the default once verified.
-private let sdrColorspaceOverride: CGColorSpace? = {
-    guard ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["PUNKTFUNK_SDR_COLORSPACE"] == "srgb" else {
+/// The SDR layer's colour tag. `colorspace = nil` means NO colour matching: the BT.709-encoded
+/// stream is handed to the compositor untagged and drawn in the display's native space. That is
+/// mild oversaturation on a P3 Mac or iPad, and on a tvOS display composited for HDR it also lifts
+/// the black floor — the 2026-08-13 field report of greys where blacks should be, which arrived
+/// with the client's own HDR switch already OFF, so no other stage had tagged those pixels either.
+/// Tagging lets CoreAnimation colour-match into whatever the output actually is, which is the
+/// strictly correct rendering, so it is now the default.
+///
+/// `PUNKTFUNK_SDR_COLORSPACE=none` restores the old untagged look — the A/B lever if a panel
+/// regresses, or for anyone who preferred the more vivid rendition.
+private let sdrColorspace: CGColorSpace? = {
+    guard ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["PUNKTFUNK_SDR_COLORSPACE"] != "none" else {
         return nil
     }
     return CGColorSpace(name: CGColorSpace.sRGB)
@@ -425,6 +435,14 @@ public final class MetalVideoPresenter {
     /// Render-thread confined once the pipeline runs (Stage2Pipeline.start's one pre-thread
     /// `configure` call is ordered before the thread starts, so it doesn't race).
     private var hdrActive = false
+    /// Has `configureColor` run even once? `hdrActive` starts `false`, so a session that is SDR from
+    /// the first frame matches the initial state and used to fall straight through `configure`'s
+    /// guard — the layer then kept `make()`'s bare config, which never assigns a colour space, and
+    /// the SDR stream presented untagged for the whole session. That also made
+    /// `PUNKTFUNK_SDR_COLORSPACE` dead code on exactly the sessions it was meant to fix, so an
+    /// operator A/B-ing it in the field saw nothing change. Same-state calls after the first are
+    /// still no-ops, which is what the guard is for.
+    private var didConfigureColor = false
     /// tvOS only: whether HDR frames currently present as PQ PASSTHROUGH (display has HDR headroom
     /// — its own tone-map applies) vs the in-shader tone-map fallback. Render-thread confined;
     /// derived from the staged display headroom at the top of every `render`.
@@ -549,6 +567,11 @@ public final class MetalVideoPresenter {
         layer.contentsGravity = .resizeAspect
         // Triple-buffer: more in-flight drawables before `nextDrawable()` (called on the display-link /
         // MAIN thread) has to block waiting for one to free.
+        // ⚠ This is the STAGE-2/3 depth. Stage-4 (deadline pacing, the iOS/tvOS default) never
+        // calls `nextDrawable()` — the link vends every drawable — so the third slot only gives
+        // the compositor room to queue a second present ahead of scanout, i.e. the two-refresh
+        // present floor. `Stage2Pipeline.startDeadlinePresenter` clamps it to 2 for that pacing;
+        // keep the two in step if this number ever changes.
         layer.maximumDrawableCount = 3
 
         return MetalVideoPresenter(
@@ -592,13 +615,16 @@ public final class MetalVideoPresenter {
         stagingLock.lock()
         let passthrough = stagedDisplayHeadroom > 1.0
         stagingLock.unlock()
-        guard hdr != hdrActive || (hdr && passthrough != hdrPassthroughActive) else { return }
+        guard !didConfigureColor || hdr != hdrActive
+            || (hdr && passthrough != hdrPassthroughActive)
+        else { return }
         hdrActive = hdr
         hdrPassthroughActive = passthrough
         #else
-        guard hdr != hdrActive else { return }
+        guard !didConfigureColor || hdr != hdrActive else { return }
         hdrActive = hdr
         #endif
+        didConfigureColor = true
         configureColor(hdr: hdr)
     }
 
@@ -628,9 +654,10 @@ public final class MetalVideoPresenter {
                 layer.colorspace = CGColorSpace(name: CGColorSpace.itur_2100_PQ)
             } else {
                 // SDR-composited display: PQ would render untone-mapped (blown out) — the
-                // pf_frag_hdr_tv shader tone-maps to SDR instead.
+                // pf_frag_hdr_tv shader tone-maps to SDR instead. Its output is BT.709, so it
+                // carries the same SDR tag as a genuinely SDR session.
                 layer.pixelFormat = .bgra8Unorm
-                layer.colorspace = nil
+                layer.colorspace = sdrColorspace
             }
             #else
             layer.pixelFormat = .rgba16Float
@@ -641,12 +668,11 @@ public final class MetalVideoPresenter {
             layer.edrMetadata = makeEDR(lastHdrMeta)
             #endif
         } else {
-            // SDR: gamma-encoded BT.709 [0,1] in an 8-bit drawable. Default: nil colorspace = NO
-            // colour matching on macOS (the panel's native primaries — the long-proven look,
-            // slightly oversaturated on P3 panels); PUNKTFUNK_SDR_COLORSPACE=srgb tags the layer
-            // for correct colour matching instead (A/B pending — see sdrColorspaceOverride).
+            // SDR: gamma-encoded BT.709 [0,1] in an 8-bit drawable, tagged so CoreAnimation
+            // colour-matches it into the output rather than drawing it in the panel's native
+            // space (see sdrColorspace; PUNKTFUNK_SDR_COLORSPACE=none restores untagged).
             layer.pixelFormat = .bgra8Unorm
-            layer.colorspace = sdrColorspaceOverride
+            layer.colorspace = sdrColorspace
             #if !os(tvOS)
             layer.wantsExtendedDynamicRangeContent = false
             layer.edrMetadata = nil

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/SessionPresenter.swift

@@ -260,13 +260,22 @@ final class SessionPresenter {
         // value is deliberately ignored). The user-facing choice is the INTENT
         // (PresentPriority): latency (newest-wins zero-queue store) vs smoothness (a FIFO jitter
         // buffer; on macOS it additionally paces presents onto the vsync grid so the buffer
-        // drains on display cadence). Stage-1 is reachable only via env in DEBUG; release maps
-        // it back to the default (the stage-1 pump below stays the automatic Metal-missing
-        // fallback).
+        // drains on display cadence). Stage-1 resolves from the persisted picker only in DEBUG;
+        // in release the ENV alone reaches it (the stage-1 pump below stays the automatic
+        // Metal-missing fallback either way).
         #if DEBUG
         let allowStage1 = true
         #else
-        let allowStage1 = false
+        // The gate exists so a LEFTOVER value can't revive the freeze-prone fallback — but the
+        // persisted picker is no longer read at all (setting: nil below), so the only channel
+        // left is the env, and an env var is never leftover: it takes a devicectl/Xcode launch
+        // to exist. It must stay openable on Release because Release is the only build that
+        // measures presentation honestly, and stage-1 is the one rung that presents on the
+        // hardware video plane instead of through the GPU compositor — the A/B for the tvOS
+        // two-refresh present floor (field 2026-08-13: PUNKTFUNK_PRESENTER=stage1 on a Release
+        // build silently ran stage-4, which would have false-negatived that A/B).
+        let allowStage1 =
+            ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["PUNKTFUNK_PRESENTER"] == "stage1"
         #endif
         let explicit = PresenterChoice.explicit(
             setting: nil, // the legacy DefaultsKey.presenter picker value is no longer read
@@ -336,7 +345,7 @@ final class SessionPresenter {
         } else {
             let pump = StreamPump()
             pump.start(
-                connection: connection, layer: baseLayer,
+                connection: connection, layer: baseLayer, endToEndMeter: endToEndMeter,
                 onFrame: onFrame, onSessionEnd: onSessionEnd, onDecodedSize: onDecodedSize)
             self.pump = pump
         }

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift

@@ -271,6 +271,64 @@ final class LatestBox<T>: @unchecked Sendable {
     }
 }
 
+/// The deadline link's frame-latency ASK and property READBACK, published for the HUD to render.
+///
+/// ⚠ A readback is NOT a grant. `preferredFrameLatency` is a plain read-write float
+/// (CAMetalDisplayLink.h carries no doc contract), so reading it returns whatever we last
+/// stored unless the system actively clamps the setter — and the 2026-08-13 field run proved
+/// how misleading that is: it read 1.00 while the measured vend lead sat at 1.95 refresh
+/// periods. The number that tells the truth about scheduling is the vend lead (the HUD's
+/// `os present` floor), never this property. The line still earns its place twice over: a
+/// readback that DIFFERS from the ask is the one clamp signal the API can give, and the ask
+/// must be visible on screen because **on tvOS no log is reachable** — `log stream --device`
+/// is gone from modern macOS, `log collect --device-name` needs root and then fails "Device
+/// not configured" because an Apple TV has no USB to fall back to, and the libimobiledevice
+/// pairing is a different database from Xcode's. Console.app is a GUI.
+///
+/// A process-global rather than a sixth parameter threaded through SessionModel → StreamView →
+/// controller → SessionPresenter → Stage2Pipeline → delegate: it is write-once-per-session
+/// diagnostics, and this file already keeps `presentDebug`/`presentLog` at file scope. Reset by
+/// `clear()` at session start so a stale session's answer can never be read as this one's.
+public final class PresentLinkInfo: @unchecked Sendable {
+    public static let shared = PresentLinkInfo()
+    private let lock = NSLock()
+    private var ask: Float = 0
+    private var latency: Float = 0
+    private var rangeMin: Float = 0
+    private var rangeMax: Float = 0
+    private var drawables: Int = 0
+    private var present = false
+
+    private init() {}
+
+    func publish(ask: Float, latency: Float, rangeMin: Float, rangeMax: Float, drawables: Int) {
+        lock.lock()
+        self.ask = ask
+        self.latency = latency
+        self.rangeMin = rangeMin
+        self.rangeMax = rangeMax
+        self.drawables = drawables
+        present = true
+        lock.unlock()
+    }
+
+    /// Session start — a link that never comes up must not leave the previous one's answer up.
+    public func clear() {
+        lock.lock()
+        present = false
+        lock.unlock()
+    }
+
+    /// `nil` until the link's first update (or on a non-deadline rung, which has no link).
+    public func snapshot()
+        -> (ask: Float, latency: Float, rangeMin: Float, rangeMax: Float, drawables: Int)?
+    {
+        lock.lock()
+        defer { lock.unlock() }
+        return present ? (ask, latency, rangeMin, rangeMax, drawables) : nil
+    }
+}
+
 /// Deadline pacing's staged frame-rate hint. SessionPresenter pushes the stream rate from the
 /// MAIN thread (session start + every layout/Reconfigure); the link's own thread drains and
 /// applies it, so the CAMetalDisplayLink is only ever touched from the thread that runs it. The
@@ -312,9 +370,24 @@ private final class FrameRateHint: @unchecked Sendable {
         return p
     }
     private static func range(hz: Float, boosted: Bool) -> CAFrameRateRange {
+        #if os(tvOS)
+        // A TV is a FIXED-rate display: there is no ProMotion panel to lift and no Pencil to
+        // sample for, so the `max(hz, 120)` ceiling below asks a 60 Hz Apple TV to accept
+        // anything up to 120. A range is a promise about how variable our cadence may be, and a
+        // scheduler handed 60…120 on a fixed 60 Hz display has every reason to keep a frame of
+        // slack in hand — which is what a two-refresh `targetPresentationTimestamp` IS. Pin all
+        // three bounds to the stream rate so the deadline has nothing to hedge against.
+        // (Field 2026-08-13, Apple TV 4K / tvOS 27: `os present` stuck at ~2 × 16.67 with
+        // `preferredFrameLatency = 1` asked for and re-asserted every update; shrinking the
+        // drawable pool to 2 moved it not at all.) `boosted` is deliberately ignored — it exists
+        // for pen proximity, which tvOS does not have.
+        _ = boosted
+        return CAFrameRateRange(minimum: hz, maximum: hz, preferred: hz)
+        #else
         let cap = max(hz, 120)
         let preferred = boosted ? cap : hz
         return CAFrameRateRange(minimum: preferred, maximum: cap, preferred: preferred)
+        #endif
     }
 }
 
@@ -435,18 +508,28 @@ private final class DeadlineLinkDelegate: NSObject, CAMetalDisplayLinkDelegate {
     private let phase: PhaseReporter?
     /// The OS-floor sampler (design/apple-presentation-rebuild.md): every update's vend→glass
     /// lead is recorded so its p50 becomes the "OS present floor" the HUD subtracts from the
-    /// shown display/e2e numbers. Self-adapting — reads ~2 refresh periods composited today,
-    /// would read ~1 under direct-to-display, tracks VRR rate changes.
+    /// shown display/e2e numbers. Self-adapting: ~1 refresh period is the goal, ~2 means the
+    /// compositor is running a frame ahead of us (what a 3-slot drawable pool bought it before
+    /// `startDeadlinePresenter` clamped stage-4 to 2). Tracks VRR rate changes.
     private let floorMeter: LatencyMeter?
-    /// One-shot: log the link's EFFECTIVE preferredFrameLatency after the first re-assert —
-    /// reads 1 while vendLeadMs sits at ~2 periods ⇒ the scheduler ignores the request while
-    /// the layer is composited (the promotion hunt); reads 2 ⇒ the system clamped it outright.
+    /// The pool depth this session vends from (`startDeadlinePresenter` sets it on the layer).
+    /// Carried only so the one-shot line below reports the two halves of the depth question
+    /// together — a `preferredFrameLatency` of 1 against a 3-slot pool is the configuration that
+    /// measured a two-refresh floor in the field, and reading either number alone hides that.
+    private let drawableCount: Int
+    /// The `preferredFrameLatency` this session asks for — 1 by default, PUNKTFUNK_FRAME_LATENCY
+    /// for the on-device ladder (see `startDeadlinePresenter` for the ladder's design).
+    private let latencyAsk: Float
+    /// One-shot: log the link's preferredFrameLatency READBACK after the first re-assert. A
+    /// readback differing from the ask ⇒ the system clamps the property (the one clamp signal
+    /// it can give); a readback EQUAL to the ask proves nothing — only vendLeadMs does (see
+    /// PresentLinkInfo's doc for the field lesson).
     private var loggedEffective = false
 
     init(
         stash: LatestBox<CAMetalDrawable>, renderSignal: DispatchSemaphore,
         hint: FrameRateHint, stats: PresentDebugStats?, floorMeter: LatencyMeter?,
-        phase: PhaseReporter?
+        phase: PhaseReporter?, drawableCount: Int, latencyAsk: Float
     ) {
         self.stash = stash
         self.renderSignal = renderSignal
@@ -454,23 +537,34 @@ private final class DeadlineLinkDelegate: NSObject, CAMetalDisplayLinkDelegate {
         self.stats = stats
         self.floorMeter = floorMeter
         self.phase = phase
+        self.drawableCount = drawableCount
+        self.latencyAsk = latencyAsk
     }
 
     func metalDisplayLink(_ link: CAMetalDisplayLink, needsUpdate update: CAMetalDisplayLink.Update) {
         if let range = hint.drain(), link.preferredFrameRateRange != range {
             link.preferredFrameRateRange = range
         }
-        // Re-assert the minimum-latency request every update (cheap compare): it was set once
-        // before add(to:), and whether a pre-add set survives scheduling is exactly the kind of
+        // Re-assert the latency ask every update (cheap compare): it was set once before
+        // add(to:), and whether a pre-add set survives scheduling is exactly the kind of
         // thing the vendLeadMs stat exists to catch — belt and braces.
-        if link.preferredFrameLatency != 1 { link.preferredFrameLatency = 1 }
+        if link.preferredFrameLatency != latencyAsk { link.preferredFrameLatency = latencyAsk }
+        // Publish every update, not just the first: the range is re-applied from the staged hint
+        // above (mode switch / rate change), and `preferredFrameLatency` is re-asserted right
+        // here — so the readback can change mid-session, and a write-once snapshot would keep
+        // showing the answer to a question we have since asked again. Cheap: five stores under
+        // an uncontended lock, once per refresh.
+        let range = link.preferredFrameRateRange
+        PresentLinkInfo.shared.publish(
+            ask: latencyAsk, latency: link.preferredFrameLatency, rangeMin: range.minimum,
+            rangeMax: range.maximum, drawables: drawableCount)
         if !loggedEffective {
             loggedEffective = true
-            let range = link.preferredFrameRateRange
             let msg = String(
-                format: "deadline link up: effective preferredFrameLatency=%.2f "
-                    + "range=%.0f-%.0f preferred=%.0f",
-                link.preferredFrameLatency, range.minimum, range.maximum, range.preferred ?? 0)
+                format: "deadline link up: preferredFrameLatency ask=%.2f readback=%.2f "
+                    + "maxDrawables=%d range=%.0f-%.0f preferred=%.0f",
+                latencyAsk, link.preferredFrameLatency, drawableCount,
+                range.minimum, range.maximum, range.preferred ?? 0)
             presentLog.info("\(msg, privacy: .public)")
         }
         // The link's own pipeline depth, measured: how far ahead of glass this vend runs.
@@ -729,7 +823,13 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
     /// (which withhold concealed frames) and driven by the pump (arm on a gap, poll per iteration).
     private let gate = ReanchorGate(framesDropped: 0)
     private var token = StopFlag()
-    private var offsetNs: Int64 = 0
+    /// LIVE host↔client clock offset, read AT EACH RECORD — never cached per session. Until
+    /// 2026-08-13 this was a `let` snapshot of the connect-time handshake, and on a host whose
+    /// wall clock steps (a VM under NTP) the frozen value silently shifted every host-anchored
+    /// stat — field evidence: hostnet 17–21 ms one session, a physically impossible 4.4 ms the
+    /// next, same wired host. The core re-syncs the estimate mid-stream (60 s + step detection);
+    /// each call is an atomic load behind the FFI.
+    private var clockOffset: () -> Int64 = { 0 }
     /// Signalled when the pump thread exits, so `stop()` can join it (bounded) before `decoder.reset()`
     /// — otherwise a pump iteration already past its `token.isStopped` check can rebuild a decode session
     /// right after the reset (a brief orphan session). `pumpJoinable` is armed by `start`, consumed by
@@ -831,7 +931,7 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
         onSessionEnd: (@Sendable () -> Void)?,
         onDecodedSize: (@Sendable (Int, Int) -> Void)? = nil
     ) {
-        offsetNs = connection.clockOffsetNs
+        clockOffset = { connection.clockOffsetNs } // live (re-synced) — see the field doc
         recovery.bind(connection) // arm host-keyframe recovery for this session
         decodeReport.bind(connection) // arm the Automatic-bitrate decode signal for this session
         phaseReporter.bind(connection) // arm phase reports (flushed only by the deadline link)
@@ -1001,7 +1101,7 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
         let ring = ring
         let endToEndMeter = endToEndMeter
         let displayMeter = displayMeter
-        let offsetNs = offsetNs
+        let clockOffset = clockOffset
         let renderSignal = renderSignal
         let renderStopped = renderStopped
         // Present policy — the user's V-Sync setting (default OFF = immediate, the long-proven
@@ -1075,7 +1175,7 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
                         ?? Stage2Pipeline.realtimeNs(forDisplayLinkTimestamp: CACurrentMediaTime())
                     // End-to-end = capture→on-glass, measured directly (skew-corrected via the
                     // connect-time clock offset) — the HUD headline.
-                    endToEndMeter?.record(ptsNs: frame.ptsNs, atNs: atNs, offsetNs: offsetNs)
+                    endToEndMeter?.record(ptsNs: frame.ptsNs, atNs: atNs, offsetNs: clockOffset())
                     // Display stage = decoded → on-glass. Both instants are client CLOCK_REALTIME,
                     // so no skew offset applies.
                     displayMeter?.record(ptsNs: UInt64(frame.decodedNs), atNs: atNs, offsetNs: 0)
@@ -1134,11 +1234,52 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
         let presenter = presenter
         let endToEndMeter = endToEndMeter
         let displayMeter = displayMeter
-        let offsetNs = offsetNs
+        let clockOffset = clockOffset
         let hint = frameRateHint
         let layer = presenter.layer
         let stash = LatestBox<CAMetalDrawable>()
 
+        // ⭐ Shrink the drawable pool to 2 for THIS pacing — the measured fix for a present floor
+        // stuck at two refreshes (field 2026-08-13, Apple TV 4K / tvOS 27: `os present +32.5` at
+        // 60 Hz = 1.95 × 16.67, i.e. the system running a whole frame ahead of us).
+        //
+        // `maximumDrawableCount` is 3 from MetalVideoPresenter.make(), and its rationale there —
+        // "more in-flight drawables before nextDrawable() has to block" — is a STAGE-2 concern.
+        // Stage-4 never calls nextDrawable(): every drawable is vended by the link
+        // (`update.drawable` → stash → `render(into:)`), so the third slot buys this path nothing
+        // and costs it a refresh — a pool of 3 is exactly the room the compositor needs to keep
+        // two presents queued ahead of scanout, which is what `preferredFrameLatency = 1` is
+        // asking it not to do. Two slots is the shallowest pool that still double-buffers: one
+        // vended (stashed or being rendered), one being scanned out.
+        //
+        // Set HERE, not on the link thread: this runs before either the render thread or the link
+        // thread exists, so the layer still has a single writer (the render thread owns
+        // drawableSize/format afterwards — see MetalVideoPresenter's threading notes).
+        // PUNKTFUNK_DRAWABLE_COUNT=3 restores the old depth for an on-glass A/B without a
+        // rebuild; values outside 2...3 are ignored (CAMetalLayer's own accepted range).
+        let drawableCount =
+            ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["PUNKTFUNK_DRAWABLE_COUNT"]
+                .flatMap(Int.init)
+                .flatMap { (2...3).contains($0) ? $0 : nil } ?? 2
+        layer.maximumDrawableCount = drawableCount
+
+        // The frame-latency ASK (default 1 — wake as late as fits: latch the NEXT refresh).
+        // PUNKTFUNK_FRAME_LATENCY overrides it for the on-device ladder. The property is a
+        // FLOAT, so sub-frame asks (0.5) are expressible; whether the scheduler honours them —
+        // or reacts to the property at all — is exactly what the ladder measures. Field
+        // 2026-08-13 (Apple TV 4K, tvOS 27): ask 1 → vend lead 1.95 refresh periods, and the
+        // readback echoed the ask throughout (it is a plain property — see PresentLinkInfo).
+        // The discriminating runs, watching `os present` (the vend lead), are:
+        //   ask=2   → lead grows to ~3 ⇒ the property WORKS and the tvOS floor is ~ask+1;
+        //             lead stays ~2 ⇒ the property is INERT here — stop pulling this lever.
+        //   ask=0.5 → any lead below ~1.9 ⇒ a real in-regime win to then tune.
+        // Clamped to 0...4: negatives/NaN are meaningless, and beyond 4 asked-for frames of
+        // latency nothing is being measured.
+        let latencyAsk =
+            ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["PUNKTFUNK_FRAME_LATENCY"]
+                .flatMap(Float.init)
+                .flatMap { $0.isFinite ? min(max($0, 0), 4) : nil } ?? 1
+
         let floorMeter = presentFloorMeter
         let phaseReporter = phaseReporter
         // The link starts LAZILY — the render thread triggers this after the FIRST decoded
@@ -1151,9 +1292,10 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
             let linkThread = Thread {
                 let delegate = DeadlineLinkDelegate(
                     stash: stash, renderSignal: renderSignal, hint: hint, stats: debugStats,
-                    floorMeter: floorMeter, phase: phaseReporter)
+                    floorMeter: floorMeter, phase: phaseReporter,
+                    drawableCount: drawableCount, latencyAsk: latencyAsk)
                 let link = CAMetalDisplayLink(metalLayer: layer)
-                link.preferredFrameLatency = 1 // wake as late as fits: latch the NEXT refresh
+                link.preferredFrameLatency = latencyAsk // see the ladder note above
                 if let range = hint.drain() { link.preferredFrameRateRange = range }
                 link.delegate = delegate // weak — this closure is the strong ref
                 link.add(to: RunLoop.current, forMode: .default)
@@ -1223,7 +1365,7 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
                 let onGlass: (Int64?) -> Void = { presentedNs in
                     let atNs = presentedNs
                         ?? Stage2Pipeline.realtimeNs(forDisplayLinkTimestamp: CACurrentMediaTime())
-                    endToEndMeter?.record(ptsNs: frame.ptsNs, atNs: atNs, offsetNs: offsetNs)
+                    endToEndMeter?.record(ptsNs: frame.ptsNs, atNs: atNs, offsetNs: clockOffset())
                     displayMeter?.record(ptsNs: UInt64(frame.decodedNs), atNs: atNs, offsetNs: 0)
                     debugStats?.presented(atNs: presentedNs, issuedNs: issuedNs)
                 }

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/StreamPump.swift

@@ -17,9 +17,18 @@ final class StreamPump {
 
     /// Pump thread: pull AUs, wrap, enqueue. Non-IDR AUs before the first format
     /// description are dropped. `onFrame`/`onSessionEnd` fire on the pump thread.
+    ///
+    /// `endToEndMeter` is stage-1's ONLY latency instrument, and it measures capture→ENQUEUE —
+    /// not capture→glass like the Metal rungs: the layer decodes AND presents after our hand-off,
+    /// and AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer has no presented callback, so the tail past enqueue (its
+    /// internal decode + the video-plane flip) is unmeasurable from the app. Cross-rung
+    /// comparisons must read this as e2e MINUS decode+display and settle the remainder on
+    /// camera. It is still worth wiring: matching pre-tail halves between rungs pins any felt
+    /// difference on the present tail — the video-plane-vs-compositor question itself.
     func start(
         connection: PunktfunkConnection,
         layer: AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer,
+        endToEndMeter: LatencyMeter? = nil,
         onFrame: (@Sendable (AccessUnit) -> Void)?,
         onSessionEnd: (@Sendable () -> Void)?,
         onDecodedSize: (@Sendable (Int, Int) -> Void)? = nil
@@ -158,7 +167,14 @@ final class StreamPump {
                     // flagging it DoNotDisplay — the layer still decodes it (keeping the reference
                     // chain fed) but shows the last GOOD picture until a clean re-anchor lifts the
                     // gate. Folded from the AU's wire flags (stage-1 has no decode callback).
-                    if !gate.onDecoded(flags: au.flags) {
+                    if gate.onDecoded(flags: au.flags) {
+                        // Capture→enqueue (see start's doc). Only frames that will DISPLAY:
+                        // a withheld frame never reaches glass, so its enqueue instant would
+                        // dilute the population the Metal rungs are compared against. The
+                        // offset is read PER ENQUEUE — it is live (mid-stream re-synced) and
+                        // caching it rebuilds the stale-offset corruption (see clockOffsetNs).
+                        endToEndMeter?.record(ptsNs: au.ptsNs, offsetNs: connection.clockOffsetNs)
+                    } else {
                         StreamPump.setDoNotDisplay(sample)
                     }
                     layer.enqueue(sample)

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Views/StreamViewIOS.swift

@@ -758,10 +758,18 @@ public final class StreamViewController: StreamViewControllerBase {
     /// the switch never lands, so an SDR-composited display can't show blown-out PQ either way.
     /// Applied once per session, as soon as the window and the negotiated mode both exist; the
     /// stop() teardown clears it.
+    ///
+    /// ⚠️ Gated on the STREAM being HDR (`connection.isHDR`), not just on the user's HDR setting.
+    /// The criteria below hardcode BT.2020 + ST.2084 PQ, so without that check an ordinary SDR
+    /// session drove an HDR-capable TV into PQ output — which is a standard way to raise the black
+    /// floor, since the Apple TV switches HDMI to limited-range levels in its HDR modes and a set
+    /// configured for full-range then renders code 16 as grey. Layout re-runs this, so a session
+    /// that flips to HDR mid-stream still picks the mode up on the next pass.
     private func applyDisplayCriteriaIfNeeded() {
         guard let manager = view.window?.avDisplayManager, let connection,
               manager.preferredDisplayCriteria == nil,
-              SessionSettings.current.hdrEnabled
+              SessionSettings.current.hdrEnabled,
+              connection.isHDR
         else { return }
         let mode = connection.currentMode()
         guard mode.width > 0, mode.height > 0, mode.refreshHz > 0 else { return }

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

@@ -180,6 +180,23 @@ pub struct Stats {
     /// decoder's submission returning in ~0.1 ms is not "decoded"); software measures
     /// the synchronous CPU decode.
     pub decode_ms: f32,
+    /// Whether `decode_ms` OVERLAPS the presenter's `display` stage instead of tiling
+    /// with it — true on the asynchronous native-Vulkan rung, false everywhere else.
+    ///
+    /// The other stages are a per-frame partition of `e2e`: `pts →(host+net)→ received
+    /// →(decode)→ decoded →(display)→ displayed`. That holds while `decoded` is a
+    /// COMPLETION stamp, which it is on the synchronous rungs. On the native-Vulkan rung
+    /// `receive_frame` returns at SUBMISSION (~0.1 ms) and the stamp shipped to the
+    /// presenter is taken there, so the GPU decode happens INSIDE the `display` stage —
+    /// `host+net` and `display` already tile `e2e` between them, and `decode` (measured
+    /// received → fence-complete) re-counts the GPU work that `display` contains.
+    ///
+    /// A 2026-08-13 field report read the row as a breakdown and asked why the parts did
+    /// not add up: `host 5.4 · net 0.3 · decode 6.6 · display 1.4` against `e2e 8.1`. They
+    /// do add up — without `decode` (5.4 + 0.3 + 1.4 ≈ 8.1). The figure is a true reading
+    /// of a real quantity sitting in a row that reads like a partition, so the OSD renders
+    /// it off that line rather than beside stages it does not tile with.
+    pub decode_overlaps_display: bool,
     /// Unrecoverable network frame drops this window, and their share of
     /// received+lost (%). The OSD renders the counter line only when nonzero.
     pub lost: u32,
@@ -770,6 +787,10 @@ fn pump(
     // corrected), `decode` = received→decoded (client-local). p50 per 1 s window.
     let mut hostnet_us: Vec<u64> = Vec::with_capacity(256);
     let mut decode_us: Vec<u64> = Vec::with_capacity(256);
+    // Whether this window's decode samples came from the async (submission-stamped) rung, so
+    // the OSD keeps them off the partition line. Latches per window alongside the samples,
+    // rather than being read off the rung name — a demote mid-window changes both together.
+    let mut decode_overlaps = false;
     // Adaptive bitrate: report the decode stage back to the core controller only when it's armed
     // (Automatic, non-PyroWave). Constant for the session — resolve once, gate the per-frame call.
     let wants_decode = connector.wants_decode_latency();
@@ -1118,6 +1139,12 @@ fn pump(
                         // `decode` stage: received→decode COMPLETE, single clock.
                         match hw_fence {
                             Some((sem, value)) => {
+                                // A fence means `decoded_ns` above was stamped at SUBMISSION, so
+                                // the GPU decode lands inside the presenter's `display` stage and
+                                // this figure re-counts it: it does NOT tile with the others.
+                                // Recorded so the OSD can render it off the partition line
+                                // (`Stats::decode_overlaps_display`).
+                                decode_overlaps = true;
                                 if decode_us.is_empty()
                                     && decoder.wait_hw_decoded(sem, value, 50_000_000)
                                 {
@@ -1433,6 +1460,7 @@ fn pump(
                 host_pace_ms: pace_p50 as f32 / 1000.0,
                 staged,
                 decode_ms: dec_p50 as f32 / 1000.0,
+                decode_overlaps_display: decode_overlaps,
                 lost,
                 lost_pct: if lost > 0 {
                     lost as f32 * 100.0 / (frames_n + lost) as f32
@@ -1461,6 +1489,7 @@ fn pump(
             bytes_n = 0;
             hostnet_us.clear();
             decode_us.clear();
+            decode_overlaps = false;
             host_us_win.clear();
             net_us_win.clear();
             queue_us_win.clear();

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

@@ -245,11 +245,22 @@ impl Overlay for SkiaOverlay {
                 shared.queue_family_index as usize,
             ),
             &get_proc,
-            // `None` leaves Skia's `fMaxAPIVersion` at its `0` sentinel, so it caps entry-point
-            // validation at whatever `vkEnumerateInstanceVersion()` reports — byte-for-byte what
-            // the (now removed) `BackendContext::new` did. The presenter owns the instance and its
-            // `VkApplicationInfo`, so pinning a version here would just duplicate its choice.
-            None,
+            // 🛑 MUST be the presenter's declared version, never `None`.
+            //
+            // `None` leaves Skia's `fMaxAPIVersion` at its `0` sentinel, which makes Skia fall
+            // back to `vkEnumerateInstanceVersion()` — the LOADER's ceiling, not ours. Those are
+            // not the same number: the presenter asks for 1.3, while a current Mesa loader answers
+            // 1.4 (1.4.321 on SteamOS 3.7). Skia then validates a 1.4 function table against an
+            // instance that only ever promised 1.3, `vkGetDeviceProcAddr` returns null for the
+            // entry points above 1.3, validation fails, and `make_vulkan` hands back `None` — so
+            // the console UI refuses to start and `--browse` dies with it.
+            //
+            // ⚠ The `0` sentinel was harmless at skia-safe 0.87 (that Skia knew nothing of 1.4, so
+            // clamping to the loader was a no-op) and the 0.99 migration preserved it as
+            // "byte-for-byte what `BackendContext::new` did" — true of the VALUE, false of the
+            // BEHAVIOUR. It shipped in 0.28.0 and took the Deck's launcher out. 0.99's own doc for
+            // this parameter says it should match `VkApplicationInfo::apiVersion`; this is that.
+            Some(skvk::Version::from(shared.api_version)),
         );
         // SAFETY: the instance/physical-device/device handles come from `shared`, which owns them
         // and outlives this backend context, and `get_proc` above resolves through those same

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

@@ -262,10 +262,12 @@ pub struct HostConfig {
     /// spawn flags included.
     pub gamescope_hdr: bool,
     /// `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SDR_NITS` — the luminance SDR content is mapped to inside the PQ
-    /// container of an HDR gamescope session (gamescope's `--hdr-sdr-content-nits`, default 400).
+    /// container of an HDR gamescope session (gamescope's `--hdr-sdr-content-nits`).
     /// An HDR stream carries the desktop, the Steam overlay and any SDR game through the same PQ
     /// encode, so this is the knob that decides how bright "white" looks on the client's panel.
-    /// `None` = leave gamescope's own default.
+    /// `None` = 203 nits, BT.2408 reference white, which is what our clients decode against —
+    /// NOT gamescope's own default of 400, which sits nearly a stop above it. See `pf-vdisplay`'s
+    /// `SDR_REFERENCE_WHITE_NITS` for why the host pins this rather than letting it float.
     pub gamescope_sdr_nits: Option<u32>,
     /// `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_BIND` — may the host bind the patched gamescope over
     /// `/usr/bin/gamescope` inside the session unit's mount namespace? That redirect is the ONLY

crates/pf-presenter/src/overlay.rs

@@ -26,6 +26,17 @@ pub struct SharedDevice {
     /// with [`pf_client_core::video::QueueLock::guard`], whose RAII form is what every
     /// Rust caller wants.
     pub queue_lock: std::sync::Arc<pf_client_core::video::QueueLock>,
+    /// The Vulkan version an overlay renderer may size its function table to — the lower of
+    /// [`crate::vk::INSTANCE_API_VERSION`] (what `VkApplicationInfo::apiVersion` declared for
+    /// `instance`) and what the loader provides.
+    ///
+    /// **Cap yourself here; do not ask the loader yourself.** Entry points above this version
+    /// were never promised to us — `vkGetDeviceProcAddr` returns null for them — so a renderer
+    /// that probes `vkEnumerateInstanceVersion` instead (a current Mesa answers 1.4 where we
+    /// asked for 1.3) validates a function table it can never fill and refuses to start. That
+    /// is exactly how the Skia console UI died in 0.28.0; see the note in `pf-console-ui`'s
+    /// `SkiaOverlay::init`.
+    pub api_version: u32,
 }
 
 /// What the overlay may draw this frame — composed by the run loop from session state.

crates/pf-presenter/src/run.rs

@@ -2847,10 +2847,21 @@ fn stats_text(
         } else {
             text.push_str(&format!(" · host+net {:.1}", s.host_net_ms));
         }
-        text.push_str(&format!(
-            " · decode {:.1} · display {:.1} ms",
-            s.decode_ms, p.display_ms
-        ));
+        // `decode` joins the partition line ONLY where it is one. The stages tile `e2e`
+        // per frame — pts →(host+net)→ received →(decode)→ decoded →(display)→ displayed —
+        // and that holds while `decoded` is a completion stamp. On the async native-Vulkan
+        // rung it is a SUBMISSION stamp, so the GPU decode sits inside `display` and this
+        // figure re-counts it; printing the two side by side invited exactly the reading a
+        // 2026-08-13 field report made ("decode 6.6 next to display 1.4 and e2e 8.1 — the
+        // parts don't add up"). They add up without it. See `Stats::decode_overlaps_display`.
+        if s.decode_overlaps_display {
+            text.push_str(&format!(" · display {:.1} ms", p.display_ms));
+        } else {
+            text.push_str(&format!(
+                " · decode {:.1} · display {:.1} ms",
+                s.decode_ms, p.display_ms
+            ));
+        }
         // The display split (WP4). Only with true on-glass stamps — without them the
         // two halves are not separable and the unsplit figure stands alone rather than
         // implying a zero latch.
@@ -2860,6 +2871,19 @@ fn stats_text(
                 p.pace_ms, p.latch_ms
             ));
         }
+        // …and gets its own line there, qualified. Two things a reader has to know before
+        // the number means anything: it is ONE frame per window on this rung (a per-frame
+        // fence wait would serialise the decode pipeline — see the sampling comment in
+        // `pf_client_core::session`), so it is a single sample rather than the p50 every
+        // other figure here is; and it is already inside `display`, so adding it double-
+        // counts. Suppressed at 0, which is the "every fence wait timed out" case rather
+        // than a real zero.
+        if s.decode_overlaps_display && s.decode_ms > 0.0 {
+            text.push_str(&format!(
+                "\ndecode {:.1} ms (1 sample, inside display — not additive)",
+                s.decode_ms
+            ));
+        }
         // Extended 0xCF host-stage split (T0.1): its own line so the per-stage attribution
         // (queue → encode → seal/xfer → pace) reads as the host pipeline in order.
         if s.staged {
@@ -3275,6 +3299,10 @@ mod tests {
                 host_pace_ms: 0.3,
                 staged: true,
                 decode_ms: 1.8,
+                // The fixture is the SYNCHRONOUS shape, so `decode` stays on the partition
+                // line and the existing assertions keep their meaning; the async rung's
+                // split-out rendering is exercised separately below.
+                decode_overlaps_display: false,
                 lost: 3,
                 lost_pct: 0.4,
                 mic_sent: 0,
@@ -3414,6 +3442,70 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!normal.contains("present:") && !normal.contains("pace"));
     }
 
+    /// The stage line must stay a PARTITION of `e2e`. On the synchronous rungs `decode` is
+    /// one of its terms; on the asynchronous native-Vulkan rung the shipped `decoded` stamp
+    /// is taken at submission, so the GPU decode is inside `display` and `decode` re-counts
+    /// it. A 2026-08-13 field report read `host 5.4 · net 0.3 · decode 6.6 · display 1.4`
+    /// against `e2e 8.1` as a breakdown and asked why it did not add up — it adds up without
+    /// `decode`. So the figure leaves that line and says what it is instead of sitting beside
+    /// stages it does not tile with.
+    #[test]
+    fn an_overlapping_decode_figure_leaves_the_stage_line_and_says_so() {
+        let (mut s, p) = sample();
+
+        // Synchronous: unchanged, and specifically still INLINE on the stage line.
+        assert!(!s.decode_overlaps_display, "the fixture is the sync shape");
+        let sync = stats_text(
+            StatsVerbosity::Detailed,
+            "m",
+            &s,
+            &p,
+            false,
+            false,
+            false,
+            None,
+        );
+        assert!(sync.contains("host 1.2 · net 0.9 · decode 1.8 · display 1.1 ms"));
+        assert!(!sync.contains("not additive"));
+
+        // Asynchronous: off the stage line, which still reads as a partition…
+        s.decode_overlaps_display = true;
+        let async_ = stats_text(
+            StatsVerbosity::Detailed,
+            "m",
+            &s,
+            &p,
+            false,
+            false,
+            false,
+            None,
+        );
+        assert!(
+            async_.contains("host 1.2 · net 0.9 · display 1.1 ms"),
+            "the stage line keeps only terms that tile e2e: {async_}"
+        );
+        // …and the number survives, qualified by BOTH caveats a reader needs.
+        assert!(async_.contains("\ndecode 1.8 ms (1 sample, inside display — not additive)"));
+
+        // A window whose every fence wait timed out reports 0, which is an absence of
+        // measurement rather than an instant decode — it must not render as either.
+        s.decode_ms = 0.0;
+        let none = stats_text(
+            StatsVerbosity::Detailed,
+            "m",
+            &s,
+            &p,
+            false,
+            false,
+            false,
+            None,
+        );
+        assert!(
+            !none.contains("decode"),
+            "a 0 sample renders nothing: {none}"
+        );
+    }
+
     /// The decode-integrity line (M4) — the whole point of which is that it can tell
     /// three states apart that all look identical as "no complaints today":
     ///

crates/pf-presenter/src/vk/mod.rs

@@ -43,6 +43,24 @@ mod setup;
 
 pub use setup::{list_adapters, probe_decode, AdapterDecode, PresentPref};
 
+/// The Vulkan version every instance this crate creates declares in
+/// `VkApplicationInfo::apiVersion`.
+///
+/// 1.3 because Vulkan Video decode and PyroWave's compute kernels both need a 1.3 device.
+/// It is deliberately a CEILING as well as a floor: the loader is routinely newer (Mesa 26
+/// answers `vkEnumerateInstanceVersion` with 1.4), but we only ever promised 1.3, so the
+/// entry points above it are not ours to call. Anything that must know how far the device
+/// side reaches — notably an overlay renderer sizing its own function table — reads this
+/// through [`crate::overlay::SharedDevice::api_version`] rather than asking the loader.
+pub const INSTANCE_API_VERSION: u32 = vk::API_VERSION_1_3;
+
+/// The clamp behind [`Presenter::overlay_api_version`], split out so the decision is provable
+/// without a device: the answer is the lower of what we declared and what the loader reports,
+/// and a loader too old to answer at all (`None`) can only be a 1.0 one.
+fn overlay_api_version_of(declared: u32, loader: Option<u32>) -> u32 {
+    declared.min(loader.unwrap_or(vk::API_VERSION_1_0))
+}
+
 /// The video-format probe behind [`AdapterDecode::formats`], re-exported so a caller
 /// that prints the report does not need its own `pf-vkdecode` dependency (and cannot
 /// end up printing a DIFFERENT crate version's idea of the flag names).
@@ -387,8 +405,30 @@ impl Presenter {
             queue: self.queue,
             queue_family_index: self.qfi,
             queue_lock: self.queue_lock.clone(),
+            api_version: self.overlay_api_version(),
         }
     }
+
+    /// The Vulkan version an overlay renderer may size its function table to: the LOWER of
+    /// what our instance declared ([`INSTANCE_API_VERSION`]) and what the loader actually
+    /// provides.
+    ///
+    /// Both halves are load-bearing, in opposite directions. Taking only the loader's number
+    /// is the bug that killed the console UI in 0.28.0 — Mesa answers 1.4 where we asked for
+    /// 1.3, and the entry points in between resolve to null. Taking only ours would break the
+    /// mirror case: a loader older than 1.3 still accepts our 1.3 instance (1.1+ loaders treat
+    /// `apiVersion` as intent, not a contract), and claiming 1.3 to a renderer there promises
+    /// functions the loader has never heard of. The minimum is the only number that is true on
+    /// both sides.
+    fn overlay_api_version(&self) -> u32 {
+        // SAFETY: per the Vulkan contract above - `vkEnumerateInstanceVersion` is a global
+        // command taking no handles, resolved through the loaded entry that owns it; it writes
+        // one `u32` local. Absent (a 1.0 loader) it reports `None` rather than failing.
+        let loader = unsafe { self.entry.try_enumerate_instance_version() }
+            .ok()
+            .flatten();
+        overlay_api_version_of(INSTANCE_API_VERSION, loader)
+    }
 }
 
 impl Drop for Presenter {
@@ -449,3 +489,42 @@ impl Drop for Presenter {
         let _ = &self.entry;
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// The 0.28.0 regression, as an assertion: a loader NEWER than the version we declared
+    /// must not raise the cap. Skia sized its function table to the loader's 1.4 here, then
+    /// could not resolve the entry points our 1.3 instance never exposed, and the console UI
+    /// refused to start (Steam Deck, Mesa loader 1.4.321).
+    #[test]
+    fn a_newer_loader_never_raises_the_cap() {
+        let loader = vk::make_api_version(0, 1, 4, 321);
+        assert_eq!(
+            overlay_api_version_of(INSTANCE_API_VERSION, Some(loader)),
+            INSTANCE_API_VERSION
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// The mirror case, which is why this is a `min` and not "just use ours": a 1.1+ loader
+    /// accepts our 1.3 `apiVersion` as intent even when it cannot deliver 1.3, so promising
+    /// 1.3 to the overlay there would name functions the loader has never heard of.
+    #[test]
+    fn an_older_loader_lowers_the_cap() {
+        let loader = vk::make_api_version(0, 1, 2, 198);
+        assert_eq!(
+            overlay_api_version_of(INSTANCE_API_VERSION, Some(loader)),
+            loader
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// No `vkEnumerateInstanceVersion` at all is the one thing it can mean: a 1.0 loader.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_loader_that_cannot_answer_is_1_0() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            overlay_api_version_of(INSTANCE_API_VERSION, None),
+            vk::API_VERSION_1_0
+        );
+    }
+}

crates/pf-presenter/src/vk/setup.rs

@@ -155,9 +155,11 @@ impl Presenter {
         // 1.3: Vulkan Video decode and PyroWave's compute kernels both need a 1.3
         // device, and the instance version caps what the device can report (any current
         // loader accepts 1.3 regardless of device support; device-level gating is below).
+        // `SharedDevice::api_version` republishes this constant to the overlay — keep the
+        // two the same by construction rather than by two spellings of `API_VERSION_1_3`.
         let app_info = vk::ApplicationInfo::default()
             .application_name(&app_name)
-            .api_version(vk::API_VERSION_1_3);
+            .api_version(super::INSTANCE_API_VERSION);
         // HDR10 presentation needs the extended colorspaces at the INSTANCE level.
         let mut instance_extensions: Vec<String> = instance_extensions.to_vec();
         let inst_available =
@@ -749,7 +751,7 @@ pub fn probe_decode() -> Result<Vec<AdapterDecode>> {
     let app_name = CString::new("punktfunk-session").unwrap();
     let app_info = vk::ApplicationInfo::default()
         .application_name(&app_name)
-        .api_version(vk::API_VERSION_1_3);
+        .api_version(super::INSTANCE_API_VERSION);
     // SAFETY: per the Vulkan contract above - a create/allocate call on the live device, over
     // builder structs that are locals outliving the call; the handle it returns is owned by the
     // value being built here.
@@ -902,7 +904,7 @@ pub fn list_adapters() -> Result<Vec<String>> {
     let app_name = CString::new("punktfunk-session").unwrap();
     let app_info = vk::ApplicationInfo::default()
         .application_name(&app_name)
-        .api_version(vk::API_VERSION_1_3);
+        .api_version(super::INSTANCE_API_VERSION);
     // SAFETY: per the Vulkan contract above - the Vulkan handles used here are owned by this type
     // and live for the call, and every builder struct is a local that outlives it.
     let instance = unsafe {

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

@@ -1237,7 +1237,7 @@ fn write_session_plus_dropin(
     wrapper: &std::path::Path,
     mode: Mode,
     hdr: bool,
-    wsi_ok: bool,
+    wsi: WsiPlan,
 ) -> Result<bool> {
     let Some(bind) = arm_session_bind(wrapper) else {
         remove_session_plus_dropin();
@@ -1260,11 +1260,7 @@ fn write_session_plus_dropin(
             .chain(cursor_args())
             .collect::<Vec<_>>()
             .join(" "),
-        wsi = if wsi_ok {
-            String::new()
-        } else {
-            wsi_off_unit_lines()
-        },
+        wsi = wsi.unit_lines(),
     );
     std::fs::write(&path, body).with_context(|| format!("write drop-in {}", path.display()))?;
     Ok(true)
@@ -1579,7 +1575,7 @@ fn ensure_box_gamescope_mode(mode: Mode, hdr: bool) -> Result<u32> {
     // Same two fixes the transient path gets, but this unit is the BOX's own — they have to arrive
     // as a drop-in, and `daemon-reload` before the restart or systemd runs the old unit.
     let mut bound = match write_gamescope_bin_wrapper()
-        .and_then(|w| write_session_plus_dropin(&w, mode, hdr, wsi_layer_matches_our_gamescope()))
+        .and_then(|w| write_session_plus_dropin(&w, mode, hdr, WsiPlan::resolve()))
     {
         Ok(true) => {
             // Record it BEFORE the restart, and persist it: from this instant the box's OWN
@@ -4215,25 +4211,103 @@ const WSI_OFF_ENV: [(&str, &str); 2] = [
     ("ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI", "0"),
 ];
 
-/// [`WSI_OFF_ENV`] as `systemd-run` arguments, for the transient unit.
-fn wsi_off_setenv_args() -> Vec<String> {
-    WSI_OFF_ENV
-        .iter()
-        .map(|(name, value)| format!("--setenv={name}={value}"))
-        .collect()
+/// Our own WSI layer's implicit-layer manifest, laid down beside the compositor by
+/// `packaging/gamescope/build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh`.
+///
+/// It is built from the SAME source tree at the SAME rev as `punktfunk-gamescope`, so the layer and
+/// the compositor cannot disagree about `gamescope_swapchain` — which is what makes every "is the
+/// distro's layer close enough to ours?" guess unnecessary. It carries its own layer name and its
+/// own `enable_environment`, so it coexists with the distro's rather than replacing it.
+const OUR_WSI_LAYER_DIR_DEFAULT: &str = "/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d";
+const OUR_WSI_LAYER_MANIFEST_NAME: &str = "punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json";
+
+/// Where our layer's manifest directory is. FHS by default, because that is where every distro
+/// package puts it; `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_WSI_LAYER_DIR` overrides for a store with no `/usr` to
+/// speak of — on NixOS the layer lives inside the gamescope derivation and the module points this
+/// at it, the same posture as `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_BIN`.
+fn our_wsi_layer_dir() -> String {
+    std::env::var("PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_WSI_LAYER_DIR")
+        .ok()
+        .filter(|v| !v.trim().is_empty())
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| OUR_WSI_LAYER_DIR_DEFAULT.to_string())
 }
 
-/// [`WSI_OFF_ENV`] as unit-file lines, for the box-session drop-in. Trailing newline included, so
-/// whatever the body puts after it still parses — same contract as [`SessionBind::unit_lines`].
-fn wsi_off_unit_lines() -> String {
-    WSI_OFF_ENV
-        .iter()
-        .map(|(name, value)| format!("Environment={name}={value}\n"))
-        .collect()
+/// Which Vulkan WSI layer a session we spawn should run with. Three states, decided ONCE per
+/// launch because [`WsiPlan::resolve`] can spawn `--version` probes.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Debug)]
+enum WsiPlan {
+    /// Our own matching layer is installed: enable it, suppress the distro's. Games get HDR.
+    Ours,
+    /// No layer of ours, and the distro's version triple matches the gamescope we run, so it is
+    /// probably built against the same protocol. Leave the box exactly as it is.
+    DistroKept,
+    /// No layer of ours, and the distro's cannot be trusted. Disable it — a mismatched layer kills
+    /// every Vulkan client — and accept that no game in this session can get an HDR10 swapchain.
+    DistroDisabled,
+}
+
+impl WsiPlan {
+    /// ⚠️ Spawns up to two `gamescope --version` probes in the fallback arms, so resolve once and
+    /// pass the result around rather than calling this per use site.
+    fn resolve() -> Self {
+        let manifest = std::path::Path::new(&our_wsi_layer_dir()).join(OUR_WSI_LAYER_MANIFEST_NAME);
+        if manifest.is_file() {
+            Self::Ours
+        } else if wsi_layer_matches_our_gamescope() {
+            Self::DistroKept
+        } else {
+            Self::DistroDisabled
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The environment this plan needs, as `(name, value)` pairs.
+    fn env(self) -> Vec<(&'static str, String)> {
+        match self {
+            // `VK_ADD_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH` ADDS to the loader's implicit-layer search (loader
+            // 1.3.234+), so the box's own layer directories keep working; the distro's gamescope
+            // layer is then switched off by name through its own variables, leaving exactly one
+            // gamescope WSI layer live — ours.
+            Self::Ours => vec![
+                ("VK_ADD_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH", our_wsi_layer_dir()),
+                ("PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_WSI", "1".to_string()),
+                ("DISABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI", "1".to_string()),
+                ("ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI", "0".to_string()),
+            ],
+            Self::DistroKept => Vec::new(),
+            Self::DistroDisabled => WSI_OFF_ENV
+                .iter()
+                .map(|(name, value)| (*name, (*value).to_string()))
+                .collect(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// As `systemd-run` arguments, for the transient unit.
+    fn setenv_args(self) -> Vec<String> {
+        self.env()
+            .iter()
+            .map(|(name, value)| format!("--setenv={name}={value}"))
+            .collect()
+    }
+
+    /// As unit-file lines, for the box-session drop-in. Trailing newline included, so whatever the
+    /// body puts after it still parses — same contract as [`SessionBind::unit_lines`].
+    fn unit_lines(self) -> String {
+        self.env()
+            .iter()
+            .map(|(name, value)| format!("Environment={name}={value}\n"))
+            .collect()
+    }
 }
 
 /// Whether the box's `VkLayer_FROG_gamescope_wsi` can be trusted against the gamescope we run.
 ///
+/// ⚠️ **Fallback only** — reached from [`WsiPlan::resolve`] just when our own layer is absent (a
+/// `punktfunk-gamescope` package older than the one that started shipping it). It is a guess, and a
+/// guess in BOTH directions: a distro at the same upstream tag that patched the protocol compares
+/// EQUAL and keeps a layer that will kill every Vulkan client, while a distro at a different tag
+/// with a byte-identical protocol compares unequal and loses HDR for nothing. Do not build anything
+/// new on it; ship the layer instead, which is what [`WsiPlan::Ours`] does.
+///
 /// The layer ships with the DISTRO's gamescope and speaks its `gamescope_swapchain` protocol; we
 /// run our own build. When the two disagree the compositor rejects the client's
 /// `swapchain_feedback` ("message too short") and **kills every Vulkan client** — Steam never
@@ -4244,8 +4318,13 @@ fn wsi_off_unit_lines() -> String {
 /// byte-identical between those commits, so this is the distro PATCHING gamescope, not a version
 /// bump — which is why the check is "do the version triples differ", not a floor.
 ///
-/// Disabling it costs only the layer's extras (XWayland bypass, present-mode control, client HDR
-/// metadata) — far cheaper than a client that cannot start.
+/// Disabling it costs the layer's extras (XWayland bypass, present-mode control) and, on an HDR
+/// session, **HDR for games**. The layer is the ONLY route to an HDR10 swapchain under gamescope:
+/// gamescope advertises no runtime colour-management protocol for a Mesa/NVIDIA WSI to negotiate
+/// through, so with the layer inactive a client never gets a Surface-state block and lands on
+/// `hdr10_format=None` (measured on a Deck OLED — see the Gamescope WSI notes in the flatpak
+/// manifest). Still cheaper than a client that cannot start at all, but not free, which is why
+/// [`launch_session`] says so out loud when it fires on an HDR session.
 ///
 /// ⚠️ **`ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI=0` is NOT enough on its own**, which is what [`WSI_OFF_ENV`] is for.
 fn wsi_layer_matches_our_gamescope() -> bool {
@@ -4304,16 +4383,30 @@ fn launch_session(client: &str, unit_name: &str, mode: Mode, hdr: bool) -> Resul
     // The distro's Vulkan WSI layer speaks the distro gamescope's protocol; ours may differ, and a
     // mismatch kills every Vulkan client with no error but a black screen. Steam Big Picture is not
     // one of them, so the casualty is the GAMES — see [`WSI_OFF_ENV`] for why both variables go.
-    let wsi_ok = wsi_layer_matches_our_gamescope();
-    if !wsi_ok {
+    let wsi = WsiPlan::resolve();
+    if wsi == WsiPlan::DistroDisabled {
         tracing::warn!(
             "gamescope: this box's VkLayer_FROG_gamescope_wsi was built for a different gamescope \
-             than the one we run — disabling it for this session (DISABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI=1, which \
-             the session script cannot clobber the way it clobbers ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI). Left \
-             enabled it rejects the client's swapchain_feedback and every Vulkan client dies; \
-             Steam's own UI is not one, so what you see is a game that runs with sound and input \
-             on a black screen, with no other symptom."
+             than the one we run, and no punktfunk layer is installed to use instead — disabling \
+             it for this session (DISABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI=1, which the session script cannot clobber \
+             the way it clobbers ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI). Left enabled it rejects the client's \
+             swapchain_feedback and every Vulkan client dies; Steam's own UI is not one, so what \
+             you see is a game that runs with sound and input on a black screen, with no other \
+             symptom. Upgrading the punktfunk-gamescope package fixes this properly — it ships a \
+             layer built from the same tree as the compositor."
         );
+        // The HDR decisions are made independently — `hdr_args` never consults the layer plan — so
+        // without this an HDR session launches advertising HDR while having made game HDR
+        // unreachable in the same breath, and nothing anywhere says so.
+        if hdr {
+            tracing::warn!(
+                "gamescope: this session negotiated HDR, but with the WSI layer disabled no game \
+                 in it can get an HDR10 swapchain — that layer is the only route to one. The \
+                 stream itself stays HDR (the capture really is PQ/BT.2020, and Steam's UI and the \
+                 desktop ride the same container), so what breaks is GAME HDR specifically: a \
+                 title told to render HDR renders it into an SDR swapchain and looks washed out."
+            );
+        }
     }
     let start_unit = |bind: Option<&SessionBind>| -> Result<()> {
         let mut cmd = Command::new("systemd-run");
@@ -4321,10 +4414,8 @@ fn launch_session(client: &str, unit_name: &str, mode: Mode, hdr: bool) -> Resul
         for arg in bind.map(SessionBind::run_args).unwrap_or_default() {
             cmd.arg(arg);
         }
-        if !wsi_ok {
-            for arg in wsi_off_setenv_args() {
-                cmd.arg(arg);
-            }
+        for arg in wsi.setenv_args() {
+            cmd.arg(arg);
         }
         // Same headless-must-not-attach rule as [`spawn`]: the transient unit inherits the
         // user manager env, which can carry a (possibly stale) desktop DISPLAY/WAYLAND_DISPLAY
@@ -4559,23 +4650,38 @@ fn add_bare_gamescope_args(
 ///   fine meanwhile.)
 /// * `--hdr-sdr-content-nits` maps SDR content into the PQ container. Everything that is not an
 ///   HDR game — the desktop, the Steam overlay, an SDR title — rides through it, so it decides
-///   how bright "white" lands on the client's panel. Only passed when the operator set the knob;
-///   otherwise gamescope's own default (400) applies.
+///   how bright "white" lands on the client's panel. We always pass it, because the two ends have
+///   to agree on where diffuse white sits and gamescope's own default does not match ours — see
+///   [`SDR_REFERENCE_WHITE_NITS`].
 fn hdr_args(hdr: bool) -> Vec<String> {
     if !hdr {
         return Vec::new();
     }
-    let mut args = vec![
+    let nits = pf_host_config::config()
+        .gamescope_sdr_nits
+        .unwrap_or(SDR_REFERENCE_WHITE_NITS);
+    vec![
         "--hdr-enabled".to_string(),
         "--hdr-debug-force-support".to_string(),
-    ];
-    if let Some(nits) = pf_host_config::config().gamescope_sdr_nits {
-        args.push("--hdr-sdr-content-nits".to_string());
-        args.push(nits.to_string());
-    }
-    args
+        "--hdr-sdr-content-nits".to_string(),
+        nits.to_string(),
+    ]
 }
 
+/// Where diffuse white sits, in nits, for SDR content carried inside an HDR session's PQ container.
+///
+/// 203 is BT.2408 "HDR Reference White", and it is the value every first-party client anchors to:
+/// the Apple presenter hands exactly 203 to `CAEDRMetadata.hdr10(opticalOutputScale:)`. gamescope's
+/// own default is 400, so leaving the flag off put the host nearly a stop (400/203 ≈ 1.97×) above
+/// what the client decodes against — the 2026-08-13 field report where Steam's Big Picture UI read
+/// as glaring and over-saturated on an iPad while HDR game content came out washed out. Both are
+/// the same error: the UI lands above SDR white, and the client's tone-mapper then works from a
+/// reference point the host never used, flattening the content around it.
+///
+/// This is the anchor, not a taste knob — `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SDR_NITS` is still there for an
+/// operator who wants a brighter or dimmer desktop, and moving it away from 203 re-opens the gap.
+const SDR_REFERENCE_WHITE_NITS: u32 = 203;
+
 /// `--pipewire-composite-cursor` when the resolved gamescope has it (patch level 2+). Paired with
 /// [`crate::gamescope_composites_cursor`], which is what tells the host to STOP compositing the
 /// pointer itself — the two must agree, so both read the same probe.
@@ -4778,12 +4884,12 @@ mod tests {
         any_output_size_is, cgroup_is_punktfunk_owned, cgroup_under_user_manager,
         classify_output_size, connected_connector_under, display_manager_unit_under, dm_plan,
         dm_survives_masked_unit, game_hz, gamescope_output_size, hdr_args, is_steam_launch,
-        mask_unit, missing_flags, mode_mismatch, nested_wrapper_script, plan_bind,
-        release_autologin_mask, script_hardcodes_gamescope, sentinel_advanced,
+        mask_unit, missing_flags, mode_mismatch, nested_wrapper_script, our_wsi_layer_dir,
+        plan_bind, release_autologin_mask, script_hardcodes_gamescope, sentinel_advanced,
         shape_dedicated_command, switch_ends_mask_window, takeover_state_is_live, unmask_unit,
-        wsi_off_setenv_args, wsi_off_unit_lines, xwayland_refusal_marker, BindOff, BindPlan,
-        BoxOutputSize, DmHelperError, SessionBind, TakeoverState, AUTOLOGIN_MASKED,
-        DISTRO_GAMESCOPE_PATH, STOPPED_AUTOLOGIN, WSI_OFF_ENV, X11_SOCKET_DIR,
+        xwayland_refusal_marker, BindOff, BindPlan, BoxOutputSize, DmHelperError, SessionBind,
+        TakeoverState, WsiPlan, AUTOLOGIN_MASKED, DISTRO_GAMESCOPE_PATH, STOPPED_AUTOLOGIN,
+        WSI_OFF_ENV, X11_SOCKET_DIR,
     };
 
     fn argv(s: &str) -> Vec<String> {
@@ -5611,8 +5717,8 @@ mod tests {
         );
 
         // Both spellings reach both launch paths, and neither may lose the other.
-        let args = wsi_off_setenv_args();
-        let lines = wsi_off_unit_lines();
+        let args = WsiPlan::DistroDisabled.setenv_args();
+        let lines = WsiPlan::DistroDisabled.unit_lines();
         for (name, value) in WSI_OFF_ENV {
             assert!(args.contains(&format!("--setenv={name}={value}")), "{name}");
             assert!(
@@ -5625,4 +5731,31 @@ mod tests {
         // lines above it rely on the same contract and the order has changed before.
         assert!(lines.ends_with('\n'));
     }
+
+    /// The whole point of shipping our own layer is that BOTH halves happen in one session: ours is
+    /// switched on AND the distro's is forced off. Enabling ours while leaving theirs live would
+    /// put two gamescope WSI layers in the loader's implicit set, and dropping ours while forcing
+    /// theirs off is just the old no-game-HDR behaviour wearing a new name — so assert the pair,
+    /// not either half.
+    #[test]
+    fn our_own_layer_is_enabled_and_the_distro_one_forced_off_together() {
+        let env = WsiPlan::Ours.env();
+        let get = |k: &str| {
+            env.iter()
+                .find(|(name, _)| *name == k)
+                .map(|(_, v)| v.clone())
+                .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("{k} missing from the Ours plan"))
+        };
+
+        assert_eq!(get("VK_ADD_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH"), our_wsi_layer_dir());
+        assert_eq!(get("PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_WSI"), "1");
+        // The clobber-proof one, for exactly the reason the test above states.
+        assert_eq!(get("DISABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI"), "1");
+        assert_eq!(get("ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI"), "0");
+
+        // `DistroKept` must stay genuinely inert: it is the arm that runs on a box we decided not
+        // to touch, so a stray variable there would change behaviour we promised not to change.
+        assert!(WsiPlan::DistroKept.env().is_empty());
+        assert!(WsiPlan::DistroKept.unit_lines().is_empty());
+    }
 }

crates/pf-vkdecode/src/caps.rs

@@ -185,8 +185,12 @@ pub enum MaxLevelIdc {
     H265(hh::StdVideoH265LevelIdc),
     /// `VkVideoDecodeAV1CapabilitiesKHR::maxLevel`. Unlike the other two this code
     /// space is the BITSTREAM's own: `StdVideoAV1Level` is index-coded exactly like
-    /// AV1's `seq_level_idx` (2.0 = 0, 2.1 = 1, … 7.3 = 23), so the decoder's gate
-    /// compares the sequence header's value against it directly.
+    /// AV1's `seq_level_idx` (2.0 = 0, 2.1 = 1, … 7.3 = 23).
+    ///
+    /// ⚠ Only over 0…23. `seq_level_idx` is 5 bits, and 31 is Annex A's "maximum
+    /// parameters" sentinel — no level constraint — which outranks even a device
+    /// reporting the enum's top value. The AV1 gate therefore treats a stream above
+    /// this ceiling as advisory instead of refusing it (`VkAv1Decoder::ensure_state`).
     Av1(hh::StdVideoAV1Level),
 }
 

crates/pf-vkdecode/src/caps_av1.rs

@@ -211,9 +211,16 @@ pub struct RawAv1Caps {
     pub max_coded_extent: vk::Extent2D,
     pub max_dpb_slots: u32,
     pub max_active_reference_pictures: u32,
-    /// `VkVideoDecodeAV1CapabilitiesKHR::maxLevel` (index-coded Std level — the
-    /// SAME numbering as the bitstream's `seq_level_idx`, which is what makes the
-    /// decoder's level gate a plain comparison).
+    /// `VkVideoDecodeAV1CapabilitiesKHR::maxLevel` (index-coded Std level — the same
+    /// numbering as the bitstream's `seq_level_idx` OVER 0…23, which is the whole
+    /// range `StdVideoAV1Level` enumerates).
+    ///
+    /// ⚠ That correspondence does not extend to the rest of the bitstream field.
+    /// `seq_level_idx` is 5 bits: 24…30 are reserved and 31 is Annex A's "maximum
+    /// parameters" sentinel — "not constrained to a level" — which has no Std code
+    /// point and is NOT an ordering above 7.3. The decoder's gate therefore treats
+    /// a stream above this ceiling as advisory rather than comparing it as a level
+    /// (`VkAv1Decoder::ensure_state`).
     pub max_level: hh::StdVideoAV1Level,
     /// `VkVideoCapabilitiesKHR::stdHeaderVersion` — session creation echoes it back.
     pub std_header_version: vk::ExtensionProperties,

crates/pf-vkdecode/src/decoder_av1.rs

@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ use pf_bitstream::av1::NUM_REF_SLOTS;
 use pf_bitstream::h264::DisplayCrop;
 use tracing::debug;
 use tracing::trace;
+use tracing::warn;
 
 use crate::caps::DecodeCaps;
 use crate::caps::DecodeProfile;
@@ -688,6 +689,10 @@ pub struct VkAv1Decoder {
     /// through a temporal unit, which is why the skip is per FRAME while the error
     /// is per ACCESS UNIT.
     awaiting_key: bool,
+    /// One-shot latch for the over-declared-level warning, so a stream whose
+    /// sequence header sits above the device ceiling says so once per decoder
+    /// rather than once per access unit (`ensure_state` runs per AU).
+    level_advisory_warned: bool,
 }
 
 impl VkAv1Decoder {
@@ -728,6 +733,7 @@ impl VkAv1Decoder {
             device_lost: false,
             recovery: RecoveryLatch::default(),
             awaiting_key: false,
+            level_advisory_warned: false,
         })
     }
 
@@ -745,8 +751,10 @@ impl VkAv1Decoder {
     ///
     /// The negotiated facts are a HINT (the in-band sequence header is
     /// authoritative), so this is deliberately not a promise that decode will
-    /// succeed: the level ceiling and a sequence header that disagrees with the
-    /// Welcome still surface at the first AU.
+    /// succeed: a coded extent outside the caps, a DPB deeper than the device
+    /// allows, and a sequence header that disagrees with the Welcome all still
+    /// surface at the first AU. The declared LEVEL is not among them — it is
+    /// advisory, and `ensure_state` only warns on it.
     pub fn probe_stream_support(
         &self,
         chroma_format_idc: u8,
@@ -1478,8 +1486,9 @@ impl VkAv1Decoder {
         self.flush();
     }
 
-    /// Session/caps for THIS plan exist and match its extent + profile, and the
-    /// stream sits inside the device's level ceiling.
+    /// Session/caps for THIS plan exist and match its extent + profile. A declared
+    /// level above the device ceiling warns once and proceeds — see the gate below
+    /// for why an AV1 `seq_level_idx` is advisory and 31 is not even a level.
     fn ensure_state(&mut self, plan: &AuPlan) -> Result<(), VkDecodeError> {
         let key = profile_key_for(plan)?;
         if self.caps.as_ref().map(|(k, _)| *k) != Some(key) {
@@ -1491,17 +1500,39 @@ impl VkAv1Decoder {
                 unsafe { query_av1_caps(&self.dev, key) }.map_err(|r| caps_query_error(r, key))?;
             self.caps = Some((key, derive_caps_av1(&raw, wanted)?));
         }
-        // The level gate. AV1's `StdVideoAV1Level` is index-coded exactly like the
-        // bitstream's `seq_level_idx` (2.0 = 0 … 7.3 = 23) and ascends with the
-        // level, so this is a plain comparison — of AV1 code points against an AV1
-        // ceiling, the pairing `MaxLevelIdc`'s tag exists to keep honest.
+        // The declared level vs the device ceiling: a DECLARED level above `maxLevel`
+        // is NOT a refusal, for the reason `VkH265Decoder::ensure_state` spells out —
+        // the level is a CLAIM, and the stream's real demands are enforced where they
+        // are physical facts (coded extent and DPB depth, checked in `rebuild_state`).
+        //
+        // AV1 makes the point sharper than H.265 did. `seq_level_idx` is a 5-bit
+        // field; Annex A defines 0…23 (levels 2.0…7.3) and reserves 24…30, but **31 is
+        // the "maximum parameters" level — the spec's own way of saying the bitstream
+        // is not constrained to any level at all**. `StdVideoAV1Level` has no code
+        // point for it (it stops at 7.3 = 23), so the index-coded comparison that
+        // holds across 0…23 is meaningless against 31: the sentinel is not a level
+        // and 31 > 23 is not "too demanding". Real-time encoders emit it as a matter
+        // of course — a 2026-08-13 field report (RTX 5060 client, 4K120) had EVERY
+        // AV1 session demote to D3D11VA on "stream level (seq_level_idx 31) above the
+        // device's maxLevel (AV1 Std level 23)" while the same hardware decoded the
+        // stream trivially. We never write an AV1 level on any host encode path, so
+        // whatever the vendor defaults to is what the client must accept.
+        //
+        // Unlike H.265 there is nothing to clamp: `StdVideoAV1SequenceHeader` carries
+        // no level field (see `params_av1`), so the declaration never reaches the
+        // driver and cannot be invalid usage. Warn once, proceed.
         let caps_max_level = self.caps.as_ref().expect("queried above").1.max_level_idc;
         let stream_level = u32::from(stream_level_idx(plan));
-        if stream_level > caps_max_level.code_point() {
-            return Err(VkDecodeError::Unsupported(format!(
-                "stream level (seq_level_idx {stream_level}) above the device's \
-                 maxLevel ({caps_max_level})"
-            )));
+        if stream_level > caps_max_level.code_point() && !self.level_advisory_warned {
+            self.level_advisory_warned = true;
+            warn!(
+                stream_level,
+                ceiling = %caps_max_level,
+                "stream declares an AV1 level above the device ceiling — the declared \
+                 level is advisory (seq_level_idx 31 means \"maximum parameters\", and \
+                 encoders over-declare); proceeding, since the level never reaches the \
+                 driver"
+            );
         }
         let coded = coded_extent(plan);
         match &self.state {
@@ -2907,10 +2938,45 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(key.output_format(), Some(crate::caps::NV12));
         assert!(!key.film_grain);
 
-        // The level gate reads operating point 0 and stays inside the Std range.
+        // The level gate reads operating point 0. This vector declares a real level,
+        // inside the Std range — the sentinel case is pinned separately below.
         assert!(stream_level_idx(&plan) <= 23);
     }
 
+    /// `seq_level_idx` 31 is Annex A's "maximum parameters" — "not constrained to a
+    /// level" — not a level above 7.3, and `StdVideoAV1Level` has no code point for
+    /// it. Comparing it as an ordinary level is what demoted every AV1 session on a
+    /// 2026-08-13 field report (RTX 5060, 4K120): `maxLevel` came back 23 (7.3, the
+    /// device's own maximum) and 31 > 23 refused a stream the hardware decodes fine.
+    ///
+    /// This pins the ARITHMETIC that made the refusal look reasonable, so nobody
+    /// restores the gate by reading `31 > 23` as "too demanding":
+    #[test]
+    fn the_av1_max_parameters_sentinel_is_not_a_level_above_the_ceiling() {
+        // The ceiling as the gate reads it, on a device that decodes everything the
+        // Std enum can name — 7.3, the top code point there is.
+        let ceiling = crate::caps::MaxLevelIdc::Av1(hh::StdVideoAV1Level_STD_VIDEO_AV1_LEVEL_7_3);
+        assert_eq!(ceiling.code_point(), 23, "the Std enum's top code point");
+
+        // Every `seq_level_idx` the Std enum names compares sanely against it…
+        for idx in 0..=ceiling.code_point() {
+            assert!(idx <= ceiling.code_point());
+        }
+        // …and everything above is OUTSIDE that code space, not above the ceiling:
+        // 24…30 are reserved and 31 is "maximum parameters". A maxed-out device
+        // cannot satisfy the comparison, which is why it is not a capability test.
+        for idx in (ceiling.code_point() + 1)..=31 {
+            assert!(
+                idx > ceiling.code_point(),
+                "seq_level_idx {idx} is outside the Std range, not a more demanding level"
+            );
+        }
+
+        // The field report's exact pairing, kept legible: 31 against a ceiling of 23.
+        assert!(31 > ceiling.code_point());
+        assert_eq!(format!("{ceiling}"), "AV1 Std level 23");
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn only_a_decoded_key_frame_ends_the_wait_for_one() {
         let mut planner = Av1Planner::new();
@@ -2951,7 +3017,7 @@ mod tests {
     /// `PlanError::AwaitingIdr`, and the reason [`VkAv1Decoder::awaiting_key`]'s
     /// docs carry: a clean `Ok(None)` resets the consumer's demotion streak once
     /// per frame, so a rung whose every key frame fails (film grain on a device
-    /// without the grain profile; a level above `maxLevelIdc`; a sequence header
+    /// without the grain profile; a coded extent outside the caps; a sequence header
     /// disagreeing with the negotiation) would never demote and the session would
     /// hold a frozen screen with a clean bill of health.
     ///

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/frame_channel.rs

@@ -47,7 +47,15 @@ pub(crate) const FLUSH_AFTER: Duration = Duration::from_millis(250);
 /// Minimum spacing between jump-to-live events, so a bottleneck that instantly rebuilds the queue (a
 /// link/consumer that can't sustain the bitrate at all) degrades into a periodic skip + a logged
 /// warning instead of a continuous flush/keyframe storm.
-pub(crate) const FLUSH_COOLDOWN: Duration = Duration::from_secs(2);
+///
+/// **Public because the HOST needs it to read its own logs.** Each jump-to-live sends a keyframe
+/// request, so a client that cannot sustain the rate asks for one at exactly this spacing,
+/// forever — and the host's recovery-cadence detector saw that perfect periodicity and blamed a
+/// periodic *display* disturbance (2026-08-13 field log: `period_s=2.0`, three subsystems named,
+/// none of them the cause). Perfect periodicity is the signature of a fixed software cooldown,
+/// not of a physical disturbance. The host compares against this constant rather than a copy of
+/// the number, so the two can never drift apart.
+pub const FLUSH_COOLDOWN: Duration = Duration::from_secs(2);
 
 /// A clock-triggered jump-to-live that discarded fewer datagrams than this (and no queued AUs)
 /// found NO local backlog: the frames read as late, but nothing here was actually behind. Two

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/mod.rs

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ mod recovery;
 mod rumble;
 mod worker;
 
+pub use self::frame_channel::FLUSH_COOLDOWN;
 pub use self::planes::AudioPacket;
 pub use self::probe::ProbeOutcome;
 pub use self::rumble::{ActuatorQuirks, RumbleCommand};

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/linux/mod.rs

@@ -62,6 +62,17 @@ pub struct PwAudioCapturer {
     /// active). Toggled by open/[`drain`](AudioCapturer::drain) (claim) and
     /// [`idle`](AudioCapturer::idle)/Drop (release).
     claimed: bool,
+    /// Whether a session is currently CONSUMING this capturer, shared with the PipeWire
+    /// thread so the drop counter can tell "the encode thread fell behind" from "nobody is
+    /// reading". The capturer is host-lifetime and merely PARKED between sessions
+    /// ([`idle`](AudioCapturer::idle)), so without this the producer keeps filling the bounded
+    /// hand-off channel, every `try_send` fails once it is full, and the plane reports a 100 %
+    /// drop rate — warning that "the stream will click" when there is no stream. A 2026-08-13
+    /// field host log carried ten such warnings, up to `dropped_chunks=11251` (= 30 s × 375
+    /// chunks/s, i.e. every single chunk), each one straddling a session boundary and each one
+    /// meaningless. Distinct from `claimed`, which tracks the sink-routing claim and only
+    /// exists when the stream sink is enabled at all.
+    active: Arc<AtomicBool>,
 }
 
 impl PwAudioCapturer {
@@ -90,10 +101,21 @@ impl PwAudioCapturer {
         // mode the sink node must exist before we claim the default to its name.
         let (ready_tx, ready_rx) = sync_channel::<Result<()>>(1);
         let thread_sink_name = sink_name.clone();
+        // Opens at session start (see the routing claim below), so the consumer is live from
+        // the first chunk.
+        let active = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(true));
+        let thread_active = Arc::clone(&active);
         thread::Builder::new()
             .name("punktfunk-pw-audio".into())
             .spawn(move || {
-                if let Err(e) = pw_thread(tx, quit_rx, channels, thread_sink_name, ready_tx) {
+                if let Err(e) = pw_thread(
+                    tx,
+                    quit_rx,
+                    channels,
+                    thread_sink_name,
+                    ready_tx,
+                    thread_active,
+                ) {
                     tracing::error!(error = %format!("{e:#}"), "pipewire audio thread failed");
                 }
             })
@@ -118,12 +140,16 @@ impl PwAudioCapturer {
             quit: quit_tx,
             sink_name,
             claimed,
+            active,
         })
     }
 }
 
 impl Drop for PwAudioCapturer {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
+        // The receiver dies with us; anything the producer still pushes is unwanted by
+        // definition, and it must not be reported as the encode thread falling behind.
+        self.active.store(false, Ordering::Relaxed);
         if self.claimed {
             self.claimed = false;
             stream_sink::release();
@@ -157,9 +183,15 @@ impl AudioCapturer for PwAudioCapturer {
             stream_sink::claim(name);
             self.claimed = true;
         }
+        // Ordered AFTER the backlog drain, so the producer never counts a drop against a
+        // channel this call is still emptying.
+        self.active.store(true, Ordering::Relaxed);
     }
 
     fn idle(&mut self) {
+        // Parked: from here the channel fills and stays full, and those drops are nobody's
+        // fault. See `PwAudioCapturer::active`.
+        self.active.store(false, Ordering::Relaxed);
         if self.claimed {
             self.claimed = false;
             stream_sink::release();
@@ -644,6 +676,7 @@ fn pw_thread(
     channels: u32,
     sink_name: Option<String>,
     ready: std::sync::mpsc::SyncSender<Result<()>>,
+    active: Arc<AtomicBool>,
 ) -> Result<()> {
     use pipewire as pw;
     use pw::{properties::properties, spa};
@@ -735,6 +768,9 @@ fn pw_thread(
             /// never again — the one number that identifies a clamped quantum, invisible on every
             /// subsequent open (including every reopen after a device change).
             reported_quantum: bool,
+            /// Shared with the capturer — see [`PwAudioCapturer::active`]. Read on every
+            /// failed hand-off to keep parked-capturer backpressure out of the drop count.
+            active: Arc<AtomicBool>,
         }
         let ud = CapUd {
             tx,
@@ -742,6 +778,7 @@ fn pw_thread(
             stats: Default::default(),
             last_stats: std::time::Instant::now(),
             reported_quantum: false,
+            active,
         };
         let _listener = stream
             .add_local_listener_with_user_data(ud)
@@ -844,11 +881,15 @@ fn pw_thread(
                         samples.push(f32::from_le_bytes(b));
                     }
                     ud.stats.observe(&samples, ud.channels);
-                    // Non-blocking and lossy, as before — but COUNTED. A full channel means the
-                    // encode thread is not keeping up, and because the encoder simply
-                    // concatenates across the hole every dropped chunk is a click AND a
-                    // permanent shift of everything after it.
-                    if ud.tx.try_send(samples).is_err() {
+                    // Non-blocking and lossy, as before — but COUNTED, and only while a session
+                    // is actually reading. A full channel under a LIVE consumer means the encode
+                    // thread is not keeping up, and because the encoder simply concatenates
+                    // across the hole every dropped chunk is a click AND a permanent shift of
+                    // everything after it. A full channel under a PARKED capturer means nothing
+                    // at all: the capturer is host-lifetime, so between sessions the channel
+                    // fills once and then refuses everything, which counted as a 100 % drop rate
+                    // and warned about a stream that did not exist (`PwAudioCapturer::active`).
+                    if ud.tx.try_send(samples).is_err() && ud.active.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
                         ud.stats.dropped_chunks += 1;
                     }
                     if ud.last_stats.elapsed() >= crate::audio::capture_policy::STATS_EVERY {

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/windows/audio_control.rs

@@ -26,13 +26,22 @@
 //!   mixing mono or at 24 kHz) loses to real hardware; see [`super::wiring_plan`]. **Never** the
 //!   Steam Streaming Speakers, whose loopback is silent — validated live;
 //! * default **RECORDING** → the mic target's capture endpoint (VB-Cable "CABLE Output") so host apps
-//!   record the client's mic by default.
+//!   record the client's mic by default — applied, like the playback default, ONLY while a
+//!   desktop-audio capture is open. It used to be asserted on EVERY wiring pass, mic pump at boot
+//!   included, which left an IDLE box's default recording/communication device parked on a virtual
+//!   microphone nothing feeds — and games bind the default microphone at launch (`SetDefaultEndpoint`
+//!   covers eCommunications, so in-game voice binds it too). The 2026-08 Helldivers 2 field reports
+//!   measured that as 1% lows of 2–5 FPS in a LOCALLY played game while the host sat idle (HD2 is
+//!   Wwise + always-on voice, exactly the "finicky with audio devices" case its own wiki warns
+//!   about). An idle host must leave the box's audio defaults exactly as the operator set them.
 //!
-//! Because the playback default is *parked* on a silent sink during a stream, it is remembered
-//! ([`park_default_playback`], plus an on-disk crash marker) and put back when the capture closes
-//! ([`restore_default_playback`]) or, after a crash, on the next process's first wiring pass — an
-//! operator must never be stranded with silent speakers. A default the operator changed themselves
-//! mid-stream is respected (no restore over their choice).
+//! Because both defaults are *parked* during a stream — playback on a silent sink, recording on the
+//! virtual mic — the operator's devices are remembered ([`park_default_playback`] /
+//! [`park_default_recording`], plus on-disk crash markers) and put back when the capture closes
+//! ([`restore_default_playback`] / [`restore_default_recording`]) or, after a crash, on the next
+//! process's first wiring pass — an operator must never be stranded with silent speakers or a dead
+//! mic. A default the operator changed themselves mid-stream is respected (no restore over their
+//! choice).
 //!
 //! The assignment rules are the PURE [`wiring_plan`](super::wiring_plan) module (unit-tested on every
 //! platform); this module only enumerates endpoints, applies the plan, and logs. [`wire_now`] runs on
@@ -142,8 +151,8 @@ pub(crate) fn endpoint_fingerprint() -> u64 {
 }
 
 /// [`wire_now_full`] for callers that only need the assignment (the mic paths).
-pub(crate) fn wire_now(set_playback: bool) -> Wiring {
-    wire_now_full(set_playback).wiring
+pub(crate) fn wire_now(park_defaults: bool) -> Wiring {
+    wire_now_full(park_defaults).wiring
 }
 
 /// The most recent wiring verdict, as the LAST wiring pass computed it (the mic pump wires
@@ -170,13 +179,15 @@ fn pad_render_ids(renders: &[Endpoint]) -> Vec<String> {
 
 /// Enumerate endpoints, compute the assignment, apply the default-device changes (unless
 /// `PUNKTFUNK_KEEP_DEFAULT`), and return the plan for the caller to act on (mic target / loopback
-/// echo guard). `set_playback` — true only from the desktop-audio capture open — additionally
-/// parks the default PLAYBACK device on the plan's loopback endpoint for the capture's lifetime
-/// (the mic pump passes false: it runs while the host is idle and must not silence the box).
-/// Must run on a COM-initialized thread (the WASAPI worker threads all `initialize_mta` first).
-/// Logged only when the assignment changes, so per-open recomputation stays quiet in the steady
-/// state.
-pub(crate) fn wire_now_full(set_playback: bool) -> WiredPlan {
+/// echo guard). `park_defaults` — true only from the desktop-audio capture open — additionally
+/// parks the default PLAYBACK device on the plan's loopback endpoint and the default RECORDING
+/// device on the virtual mic's capture side, both for the capture's lifetime (the mic pump passes
+/// false: it runs while the host is idle and must neither silence the box nor hold its default
+/// microphone — the idle-parked recording default is the 2026-08 Helldivers 2 tank, see the
+/// module docs). Must run on a COM-initialized thread (the WASAPI worker threads all
+/// `initialize_mta` first). Logged only when the assignment changes, so per-open recomputation
+/// stays quiet in the steady state.
+pub(crate) fn wire_now_full(park_defaults: bool) -> WiredPlan {
     recover_orphaned_default();
     let renders = list_endpoints(Direction::Render);
     let captures = list_endpoints(Direction::Capture);
@@ -188,11 +199,11 @@ pub(crate) fn wire_now_full(set_playback: bool) -> WiredPlan {
     // them out of every role. Identity is platform data (stamped container / devnode marker),
     // so it is collected HERE and passed in, like the candidate lists themselves.
     let pad_ids = pad_render_ids(&renders);
-    // Mix formats are read only when we are actually going to park the playback default (i.e. a
+    // Mix formats are read only when we are actually going to park the defaults (i.e. a
     // desktop-audio capture is opening). The mic pump wires on every open while the host is idle
     // and does not care which loopback endpoint wins, so it must not pay an IAudioClient
     // activation per render endpoint on every pass.
-    let probe: &dyn Fn(&Endpoint) -> Option<MixFormat> = if set_playback {
+    let probe: &dyn Fn(&Endpoint) -> Option<MixFormat> = if park_defaults {
         &mix_format_of
     } else {
         &wiring_plan::no_formats
@@ -311,30 +322,44 @@ pub(crate) fn wire_now_full(set_playback: bool) -> WiredPlan {
             }
         }
     }
-    if set_playback {
+    // Recording-default hygiene, IDLE passes only: builds before 2026-08-14 parked the default
+    // recording on the virtual mic on EVERY wiring pass (boot included) and recorded nothing to
+    // restore — so an upgraded box would otherwise sit wedged on a microphone nothing feeds
+    // until the operator noticed (the Helldivers 2 idle tank; the session-scoped park below
+    // can't heal it either: it remembers a previous default only when the default isn't already
+    // ours). While nothing is parked, a default found sitting on the plan's mic capture moves to
+    // the first real microphone. Session passes own the default and are exempt; a box with no
+    // real microphone is left alone.
+    if !park_defaults && PARKED_REC.lock().unwrap().is_none() {
+        if let Some((mic_name, mic_id)) = &wiring.mic_capture {
+            if default_capture_id().as_deref() == Some(mic_id.as_str()) {
+                if let Some((name, id)) =
+                    wiring_plan::real_capture(&captures, Some(mic_id.as_str()))
+                {
+                    match set_default_endpoint(id) {
+                        Ok(()) => tracing::info!(from = %mic_name, device = %name,
+                            "default recording was left on the virtual mic outside a stream — \
+                             moved it back to a real microphone"),
+                        Err(e) => tracing::warn!(device = %name, error = %format!("{e:#}"),
+                            "failed to move the default recording off the virtual mic"),
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    if park_defaults {
         if let Some((name, id)) = &wiring.loopback_render {
             let mic_id = wiring.mic_render.as_ref().map(|(_, m)| m.as_str());
             park_default_playback(name, id, changed, mic_id);
         }
-    }
-    if let Some((name, id)) = &wiring.mic_capture {
-        // `set_default_endpoint` is NOT a no-op on an unchanged default: it unconditionally
-        // fires SetDefaultEndpoint for all three roles (an audio-policy write plus a
-        // device-graph notification, each). Re-asserting on every wiring pass therefore both
-        // churned the policy store AND silently stomped an operator's own recording-device
-        // choice within one reopen cycle — write only when the plan changed or the default
-        // actually drifted off the target.
-        if changed || default_capture_id().as_deref() != Some(id.as_str()) {
-            match set_default_endpoint(id) {
-                Ok(()) => {
-                    if changed {
-                        tracing::info!(device = %name,
-                            "audio wiring: default recording = virtual mic (apps record the client's mic)");
-                    }
-                }
-                Err(e) => tracing::warn!(device = %name, error = %format!("{e:#}"),
-                    "audio wiring: failed to set the default recording device"),
-            }
+        // The recording default is SESSION-SCOPED like the playback default, and for the same
+        // reason inverted: parking it while idle handed the box's default microphone (and, via
+        // eCommunications, every game's voice input) to a virtual mic nothing feeds — the
+        // 2026-08 Helldivers 2 idle tank (see the module docs). A game launched DURING the
+        // stream still binds the client's mic (this runs before the session's game does);
+        // one launched before the stream keeps the operator's mic, which is the honest answer.
+        if let Some((name, id)) = &wiring.mic_capture {
+            park_default_recording(name, id, changed);
         }
     }
     done(wiring)
@@ -350,6 +375,26 @@ fn park_marker_path() -> std::path::PathBuf {
     pf_paths::config_dir().join("audio-default.prev")
 }
 
+/// The operator's default recording endpoint while we have it parked on the virtual mic:
+/// `(previous_id, id_we_set)` — the recording-side twin of [`PARKED`].
+static PARKED_REC: Mutex<Option<(String, String)>> = Mutex::new(None);
+
+/// On-disk crash marker mirroring [`PARKED_REC`] (two lines: previous id, set id).
+fn rec_marker_path() -> std::path::PathBuf {
+    pf_paths::config_dir().join("audio-default-rec.prev")
+}
+
+/// Consume a park marker file: returns the PREVIOUS default's id when the marker existed AND the
+/// current default still is the endpoint we set — a default the operator changed since wins, like
+/// on every other restore path. The file is removed either way (it describes a park that is over).
+fn take_marker(path: &std::path::Path, current_default: Option<String>) -> Option<String> {
+    let s = std::fs::read_to_string(path).ok()?;
+    let _ = std::fs::remove_file(path);
+    let mut lines = s.lines();
+    let (prev, set) = (lines.next()?, lines.next()?);
+    (current_default.as_deref() == Some(set)).then(|| prev.to_string())
+}
+
 /// The current default RENDER endpoint id, if any. pub(crate): the pad-endpoint provisioning
 /// uses it for its default-device guard (a freshly minted pad endpoint must never stay the
 /// default playback device).
@@ -374,31 +419,28 @@ pub(crate) fn default_capture_id() -> Option<String> {
         .ok()
 }
 
-/// Once per process: if a crash marker from a previous run exists, the host died while the
-/// playback default was parked — put the operator's device back, but only if the default still
-/// IS the endpoint we set (a manual change since the crash wins). Runs on the first wiring pass
-/// (the mic pump wires eagerly at host start, so this fires at boot, not at the first stream).
+/// Once per process: if a crash marker from a previous run exists, the host died while a default
+/// (playback and/or recording) was parked — put the operator's device back, but only if the
+/// default still IS the endpoint we set (a manual change since the crash wins). Runs on the first
+/// wiring pass (the mic pump wires eagerly at host start, so this fires at boot, not at the first
+/// stream).
 fn recover_orphaned_default() {
     static ONCE: std::sync::Once = std::sync::Once::new();
     ONCE.call_once(|| {
-        let path = park_marker_path();
-        let Ok(s) = std::fs::read_to_string(&path) else {
-            return;
-        };
-        let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&path);
-        let mut lines = s.lines();
-        let (Some(prev), Some(set)) = (lines.next(), lines.next()) else {
-            return;
-        };
-        if default_render_id().as_deref() != Some(set) {
-            return;
-        }
-        match set_default_endpoint(prev) {
-            Ok(()) => tracing::info!(
-                "restored the default playback device a previous host run left parked"
-            ),
-            Err(e) => tracing::warn!(error = %format!("{e:#}"),
-                "failed to restore the default playback device left by a previous run"),
+        for (path, current, what) in [
+            (park_marker_path(), default_render_id(), "playback"),
+            (rec_marker_path(), default_capture_id(), "recording"),
+        ] {
+            let Some(prev) = take_marker(&path, current) else {
+                continue;
+            };
+            match set_default_endpoint(&prev) {
+                Ok(()) => tracing::info!(
+                    "restored the default {what} device a previous host run left parked"
+                ),
+                Err(e) => tracing::warn!(error = %format!("{e:#}"),
+                    "failed to restore the default {what} device left by a previous run"),
+            }
         }
     });
 }
@@ -415,20 +457,18 @@ fn recover_orphaned_default() {
 ///
 /// Returns whether a device was actually put back — the caller only logs it.
 pub(crate) fn unpark_default_for_uninstall() -> bool {
-    let path = park_marker_path();
-    let Ok(s) = std::fs::read_to_string(&path) else {
-        return false;
-    };
-    let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&path);
-    let mut lines = s.lines();
-    let (Some(prev), Some(set)) = (lines.next(), lines.next()) else {
-        return false;
-    };
-    // A default the operator changed by hand since the park wins, exactly as on the recovery path.
-    if default_render_id().as_deref() != Some(set) {
-        return false;
+    let mut restored = false;
+    for (path, current) in [
+        (park_marker_path(), default_render_id()),
+        (rec_marker_path(), default_capture_id()),
+    ] {
+        // A default the operator changed by hand since the park wins, exactly as on the
+        // recovery path (`take_marker` answers None then).
+        if let Some(prev) = take_marker(&path, current) {
+            restored |= set_default_endpoint(&prev).is_ok();
+        }
     }
-    set_default_endpoint(prev).is_ok()
+    restored
 }
 
 /// Make `id` the default playback device for the duration of the desktop-audio capture,
@@ -469,6 +509,48 @@ fn park_default_playback(name: &str, id: &str, changed: bool, mic_id: Option<&st
     }
 }
 
+/// Make `id` the default recording device for the duration of the desktop-audio capture —
+/// [`park_default_playback`]'s recording twin, remembering the operator's current default (in
+/// memory + the crash marker) the FIRST time so [`restore_default_recording`] can put it back.
+/// Nothing is remembered when `id` already is the default — there is nothing to restore.
+fn park_default_recording(name: &str, id: &str, changed: bool) {
+    let cur = default_capture_id();
+    if cur.as_deref() != Some(id) {
+        let mut parked = PARKED_REC.lock().unwrap();
+        match parked.as_mut() {
+            None => {
+                if let Some(prev) = cur.clone() {
+                    let _ = std::fs::write(rec_marker_path(), format!("{prev}\n{id}"));
+                    *parked = Some((prev, id.to_string()));
+                }
+            }
+            // Re-park onto a different endpoint mid-stream (plan changed): keep the ORIGINAL
+            // previous default, update what we set.
+            Some((prev, set)) if set != id => {
+                let _ = std::fs::write(rec_marker_path(), format!("{prev}\n{id}"));
+                *set = id.to_string();
+            }
+            Some(_) => {}
+        }
+    }
+    // `set_default_endpoint` is NOT a no-op on an unchanged default: it unconditionally fires
+    // SetDefaultEndpoint for all three roles (an audio-policy write plus a device-graph
+    // notification, each) — write only when the plan changed or the default actually drifted
+    // off the target, or the policy store churns on every reopen.
+    if changed || cur.as_deref() != Some(id) {
+        match set_default_endpoint(id) {
+            Ok(()) => {
+                if changed {
+                    tracing::info!(device = %name,
+                        "audio wiring: default recording = virtual mic (apps record the client's mic)");
+                }
+            }
+            Err(e) => tracing::warn!(device = %name, error = %format!("{e:#}"),
+                "audio wiring: failed to set the default recording device"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /// Put the default playback device back on the endpoint we are already capturing, WITHOUT a
 /// wiring pass (WP2.4).
 ///
@@ -507,6 +589,25 @@ pub(crate) fn restore_default_playback() {
     }
 }
 
+/// Put the operator's default recording device back after streaming — the inverse of
+/// [`park_default_recording`], with [`restore_default_playback`]'s exact rules: no-op if we never
+/// parked it, and a default the operator changed themselves mid-stream is left alone. Must run on
+/// a COM-initialized thread (called from the capture thread's exit path).
+pub(crate) fn restore_default_recording() {
+    let Some((prev, set)) = PARKED_REC.lock().unwrap().take() else {
+        return;
+    };
+    let _ = std::fs::remove_file(rec_marker_path());
+    if default_capture_id().as_deref() != Some(set.as_str()) {
+        return;
+    }
+    match set_default_endpoint(&prev) {
+        Ok(()) => tracing::info!("default recording device restored after streaming"),
+        Err(e) => tracing::warn!(error = %format!("{e:#}"),
+            "failed to restore the default recording device after streaming"),
+    }
+}
+
 /// Open a device by endpoint id, with a name for error context.
 ///
 /// Resolves through [`super::pad_endpoint::open_wasapi_device`] rather than the `wasapi` crate's
@@ -518,10 +619,11 @@ pub(crate) fn open_endpoint(ep: &Endpoint) -> Result<wasapi::Device> {
         .map_err(|e| anyhow!("open endpoint {:?}: {e:#}", ep.0))
 }
 
-// --- IPolicyConfig (undocumented): set a default audio endpoint by id, for all three roles. ---
+// --- IPolicyConfig (undocumented): default-endpoint and endpoint-visibility writes. ---
 
-/// The `IPolicyConfig` vtable. Only `SetDefaultEndpoint` is called; the 10 methods between `Release`
-/// and it (`GetMixFormat` … `SetPropertyValue`) are placeholders so the slot offset is correct.
+/// The `IPolicyConfig` vtable. Only `SetDefaultEndpoint` and `SetEndpointVisibility` are called;
+/// the 10 methods between `Release` and them (`GetMixFormat` … `SetPropertyValue`) are
+/// placeholders so the slot offsets are correct.
 #[repr(C)]
 struct IPolicyConfigVtbl {
     query_interface: unsafe extern "system" fn(
@@ -537,7 +639,11 @@ struct IPolicyConfigVtbl {
         windows::core::PCWSTR,
         u32,
     ) -> windows::core::HRESULT,
-    // SetEndpointVisibility follows — unused.
+    set_endpoint_visibility: unsafe extern "system" fn(
+        *mut c_void,
+        windows::core::PCWSTR,
+        i32,
+    ) -> windows::core::HRESULT,
 }
 
 // This mirrors the vtable of the UNDOCUMENTED `IPolicyConfig` COM interface, so there is no header
@@ -546,18 +652,21 @@ struct IPolicyConfigVtbl {
 // table" — so a field added, removed or resized above it does not fail to compile: it silently calls
 // a DIFFERENT function through a mismatched signature, which is arbitrary-code territory rather
 // than a wrong answer. The `_reserved` gap is what makes that easy to get wrong, since its ten slots
-// carry no names to anchor a review. These assertions pin the two things the call actually depends
-// on: the slot index of `set_default_endpoint`, and the size of the table up to it.
+// carry no names to anchor a review. These assertions pin the things the calls actually depend
+// on: the slot indexes of `set_default_endpoint` and `set_endpoint_visibility`, and the size of
+// the table up to them.
 const _: () = {
     use std::mem::{offset_of, size_of};
     type P = *const c_void;
-    // 3 IUnknown slots + 10 reserved = `set_default_endpoint` is slot 13 (0-based).
+    // 3 IUnknown slots + 10 reserved = `set_default_endpoint` is slot 13 (0-based),
+    // `set_endpoint_visibility` the slot after.
     assert!(offset_of!(IPolicyConfigVtbl, query_interface) == 0);
     assert!(offset_of!(IPolicyConfigVtbl, add_ref) == size_of::<P>());
     assert!(offset_of!(IPolicyConfigVtbl, release) == 2 * size_of::<P>());
     assert!(offset_of!(IPolicyConfigVtbl, _reserved) == 3 * size_of::<P>());
     assert!(offset_of!(IPolicyConfigVtbl, set_default_endpoint) == 13 * size_of::<P>());
-    assert!(size_of::<IPolicyConfigVtbl>() == 14 * size_of::<P>());
+    assert!(offset_of!(IPolicyConfigVtbl, set_endpoint_visibility) == 14 * size_of::<P>());
+    assert!(size_of::<IPolicyConfigVtbl>() == 15 * size_of::<P>());
 };
 
 /// Set `device_id` as the default audio endpoint for eConsole/eMultimedia/eCommunications via the
@@ -603,3 +712,41 @@ pub(crate) fn set_default_endpoint(device_id: &str) -> Result<()> {
         result
     }
 }
+
+/// Show or hide an audio endpoint via the undocumented `IPolicyConfig::SetEndpointVisibility` —
+/// the exact call behind mmsys.cpl's "Disable"/"Enable" device menu. A hidden endpoint drops to
+/// `DEVICE_STATE_DISABLED`: it vanishes from every ACTIVE enumeration and cannot be opened, but
+/// its devnode, driver binding and stamped identity all stay put — showing it again is instant
+/// and raises no PnP traffic. pub(crate): the pad-endpoint provider parks its "Wireless
+/// Controller" speaker hidden while no client pad is attached (a visible idle pad speaker makes
+/// libScePad titles engage their DualSense-haptics path against an endpoint nothing services —
+/// the 2026-08-14 Helldivers 2 field confirmation).
+pub(crate) fn set_endpoint_visibility(device_id: &str, visible: bool) -> Result<()> {
+    use windows::core::{IUnknown, Interface, GUID, PCWSTR};
+    use windows::Win32::System::Com::{CoCreateInstance, CLSCTX_ALL};
+
+    const CLSID_POLICY_CONFIG: GUID = GUID::from_u128(0x870af99c_171d_4f9e_af0d_e63df40c2bc9);
+    const IID_IPOLICY_CONFIG: GUID = GUID::from_u128(0xf8679f50_850a_41cf_9c72_430f290290c8);
+
+    let wide: Vec<u16> = device_id.encode_utf16().chain(std::iter::once(0)).collect();
+
+    // SAFETY: same contract as `set_default_endpoint` — owned IUnknown from CoCreateInstance,
+    // QI'd pointer checked non-null, the call goes through the assertion-pinned vtable slot with
+    // a NUL-terminated UTF-16 id and an INT bool, and the QI'd pointer is Released before return.
+    unsafe {
+        let unk: IUnknown = CoCreateInstance(&CLSID_POLICY_CONFIG, None, CLSCTX_ALL)
+            .map_err(|e| anyhow!("CoCreateInstance(PolicyConfig): {e}"))?;
+        let mut raw: *mut c_void = std::ptr::null_mut();
+        unk.query(&IID_IPOLICY_CONFIG, &mut raw)
+            .ok()
+            .map_err(|e| anyhow!("QueryInterface(IPolicyConfig): {e}"))?;
+        if raw.is_null() {
+            bail!("IPolicyConfig QueryInterface returned null");
+        }
+        let vtbl = *(raw as *const *const IPolicyConfigVtbl);
+        let hr = ((*vtbl).set_endpoint_visibility)(raw, PCWSTR(wide.as_ptr()), visible as i32);
+        ((*vtbl).release)(raw);
+        hr.ok()
+            .map_err(|e| anyhow!("SetEndpointVisibility({visible}): {e}"))
+    }
+}

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/windows/devnode_cleanup.rs

@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@ pub(crate) struct Removed {
     pub endpoint_records: usize,
 }
 
-/// Restore the default playback device if we left it parked, then remove every audio devnode
-/// this product minted, newest registry record and all.
+/// Restore the default playback/recording devices if we left them parked, then remove every
+/// audio devnode this product minted, newest registry record and all.
 ///
 /// Best-effort throughout, like the rest of the (un)install path: a devnode that refuses to go
 /// is counted and reported, never fatal — a non-zero exit here would abort the whole uninstaller
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ pub(crate) fn purge() -> Result<Removed> {
     // what the operator had. Putting it back is the difference between "the box works again"
     // and "the box works again, on the device it started with".
     if audio_control::unpark_default_for_uninstall() {
-        println!("restored the default playback device this host had parked");
+        println!("restored the default audio device(s) this host had parked");
     }
 
     let mut out = Removed::default();

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/windows/pad_endpoint.rs

@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@
 //!    behind the measured MMDevices ACL repair (see [`grant_system_full_control`]).
 //! 3. **Capture**: sessions loopback-capture the endpoint ([`PadLoopbackCapturer`], 4 ch f32
 //!    interleaved) and ship the PCM to the client's pad speaker/haptics.
+//! 4. **Visibility** ([`set_visibility`]): the endpoint parks HIDDEN (`DEVICE_STATE_DISABLED`)
+//!    whenever no client pad is attached — provisioning hides it at startup, the per-pad
+//!    streamer shows it for exactly the pad's lifetime. The DualSense disguise that makes games
+//!    route haptics at it during a session makes idle libScePad titles STALL on it otherwise
+//!    (Helldivers 2, field-confirmed 2026-08-14: 2–5 FPS 1% lows with the host idle). The
+//!    devnode, driver binding and stamps stay put, so flips raise no PnP traffic.
 //!
 //! The wiring plan must never route desktop audio or the virtual mic onto these endpoints —
 //! [`audio_control`](super::audio_control) collects the exclusion ids via
@@ -1484,6 +1490,10 @@ static PROVISIONING: std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool = std::sync::atomic::AtomicBo
 pub(crate) fn provision_at_startup() {
     if !pad_audio_enabled() {
         tracing::info!("pad audio disabled (PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO=0)");
+        // Endpoints a previous run provisioned persist and stay VISIBLE — and a visible idle
+        // pad speaker is exactly what libScePad titles stall on (see [`set_visibility`]).
+        // Turning the feature off must also park the leftovers.
+        hide_leftover_endpoints();
         return;
     }
     if PROVISIONED.get().is_some() {
@@ -1531,6 +1541,17 @@ pub(crate) fn provision_at_startup() {
                          stored-but-not-served until the next reboot"),
                 }
             }
+            // Park every provisioned endpoint HIDDEN until a client pad actually attaches. The
+            // expensive work (devnode, driver bind, stamps, the AEB kick above) stays at boot —
+            // the #185 lesson: no PnP traffic at session boundaries — but the ENDPOINT must not
+            // sit visible on an idle box: libScePad titles (Helldivers 2, field-confirmed
+            // 2026-08-14) find the "Wireless Controller" speaker BY IDENTITY, engage their
+            // DualSense-haptics path against it, and stall on an endpoint nothing services —
+            // 1% lows of 2–5 FPS with the host completely idle. The per-pad streamer shows it
+            // for exactly the pad's lifetime, like a real DualSense arriving.
+            for pe in &eps {
+                set_visibility(&pe.endpoint_id, pe.pad_index, false);
+            }
             // R5: latch the result ONLY if we actually provisioned something. This used to store
             // whatever `eps` held even when the loop broke on the first error — an empty vec —
             // and `OnceLock` made that permanent: one transient failure (a busy audio stack, a
@@ -1570,6 +1591,54 @@ pub(crate) fn ensure_provisioned() {
     }
 }
 
+/// Show or hide a pad endpoint (best-effort, logged). Hidden = `DEVICE_STATE_DISABLED` via
+/// [`audio_control::set_endpoint_visibility`] — the endpoint keeps its devnode, driver binding
+/// and DualSense stamps, but vanishes from every ACTIVE enumeration and cannot be opened.
+///
+/// WHY pad endpoints park hidden: the stamp set exists so libScePad titles read the endpoint as
+/// a real DualSense speaker and route haptics audio at it — during a pad session that is the
+/// feature, on an idle box it is a trap. Helldivers 2 (field-confirmed 2026-08-14) finds the
+/// idle "Wireless Controller" speaker, engages its DualSense-haptics path against an endpoint
+/// nothing services, and drops to 2–5 FPS 1% lows with the host completely idle; the manual
+/// community remedy is disabling the device in mmsys.cpl — this is that remedy, automated and
+/// scoped to "no pad attached". Visibility flips raise no PnP traffic (the #185 lesson), only
+/// an endpoint state notification — the same event a real pad's arrival/departure raises.
+pub(crate) fn set_visibility(endpoint_id: &str, pad_index: u8, visible: bool) {
+    match audio_control::set_endpoint_visibility(endpoint_id, visible) {
+        Ok(()) => tracing::info!(pad = pad_index, endpoint = %endpoint_id,
+            state = if visible { "shown (client pad attached)" } else { "hidden (no pad attached)" },
+            "pad-audio endpoint visibility"),
+        Err(e) => tracing::warn!(pad = pad_index, endpoint = %endpoint_id, visible,
+            error = %format!("{e:#}"),
+            "pad-audio endpoint visibility change failed — an idle visible pad speaker can \
+             stall libScePad titles (disable it in mmsys.cpl as a manual fallback)"),
+    }
+}
+
+/// Hide any pad endpoints a previous run left behind — the `PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO=0` path, where
+/// the provisioning worker never runs but persisted endpoints would otherwise stay visible (and
+/// stall idle libScePad titles) forever.
+fn hide_leftover_endpoints() {
+    let spawned = thread::Builder::new()
+        .name("punktfunk-pad-audio-hide".into())
+        .spawn(|| {
+            if wasapi::initialize_mta().ok().is_err() {
+                return;
+            }
+            for idx in 0..4u8 {
+                match find(idx) {
+                    Ok(Some(pe)) if !pe.endpoint_id.is_empty() => {
+                        set_visibility(&pe.endpoint_id, idx, false);
+                    }
+                    _ => {}
+                }
+            }
+        });
+    if let Err(e) = spawned {
+        tracing::warn!(error = %e, "could not spawn the pad-endpoint hide sweep");
+    }
+}
+
 /// The provisioned endpoint for one pad slot — what a session queries when a client pad with
 /// speaker support arrives, to attach a [`PadLoopbackCapturer`].
 #[allow(dead_code)]

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/windows/wasapi_cap.rs

@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@
 //! the set changes — the thread says why once, then parks on a cheap fingerprint poll and
 //! re-plans the instant the set moves (the 2026-08 field case hammered a full wiring pass —
 //! IPolicyConfig writes included — every 2 s for 8+ minutes without ever being able to
-//! succeed). On thread exit (capturer dropped at stream end) the parked default playback
-//! device is restored.
+//! succeed). On thread exit (capturer dropped at stream end) the parked default playback AND
+//! recording devices are restored — both defaults are strictly session-scoped.
 
 use super::capture_policy::{CaptureStats, FightDamper, FIGHT_BACKOFF, STATS_EVERY};
 use super::{audio_control, wiring_plan, AudioCapturer, SAMPLE_RATE};
@@ -43,6 +43,15 @@ pub struct WasapiLoopbackCapturer {
     channels: u32,
     stop: Arc<AtomicBool>,
     join: Option<JoinHandle<()>>,
+    /// Whether a session is currently CONSUMING this capturer, shared with the capture thread
+    /// so the drop counter can tell "the encode thread fell behind" from "nobody is reading".
+    /// The native/gamestream planes park a capturer between sessions
+    /// ([`idle`](AudioCapturer::idle)) instead of dropping it, and the hand-off channel is
+    /// bounded — so without this the thread fills it once, then counts every subsequent chunk
+    /// as a drop and warns that "the stream will click" with no stream to click. Proven on the
+    /// Linux twin by a 2026-08-13 field log (100 % drop rate across session gaps); the parking
+    /// call sites are platform-independent, so this half had the same defect.
+    active: Arc<AtomicBool>,
 }
 
 impl WasapiLoopbackCapturer {
@@ -58,10 +67,13 @@ impl WasapiLoopbackCapturer {
         // rather than a silent dead thread.
         let (ready_tx, ready_rx) = sync_channel::<Result<()>>(1);
         let stop_t = stop.clone();
+        // Opens at session start, so the consumer is live from the first chunk.
+        let active = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(true));
+        let active_t = active.clone();
         let join = thread::Builder::new()
             .name("punktfunk-wasapi-audio".into())
             .spawn(move || {
-                if let Err(e) = capture_thread(tx, stop_t, ready_tx, channels) {
+                if let Err(e) = capture_thread(tx, stop_t, ready_tx, channels, active_t) {
                     tracing::error!(error = %format!("{e:#}"), "wasapi loopback thread failed");
                 }
             })
@@ -76,6 +88,7 @@ impl WasapiLoopbackCapturer {
                     channels,
                     stop,
                     join: Some(join),
+                    active,
                 })
             }
             Ok(Err(e)) => Err(e),
@@ -92,6 +105,9 @@ impl WasapiLoopbackCapturer {
 
 impl Drop for WasapiLoopbackCapturer {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
+        // The receiver dies with us; anything the thread still pushes is unwanted by
+        // definition, and must not be reported as the encode thread falling behind.
+        self.active.store(false, Ordering::Relaxed);
         self.stop.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
         if let Some(j) = self.join.take() {
             let _ = j.join();
@@ -114,6 +130,14 @@ impl AudioCapturer for WasapiLoopbackCapturer {
     }
     fn drain(&mut self) {
         while self.chunks.try_recv().is_ok() {}
+        // Ordered AFTER the backlog drain, so the capture thread never counts a drop against a
+        // channel this call is still emptying.
+        self.active.store(true, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    }
+    fn idle(&mut self) {
+        // Parked: from here the channel fills and stays full, and those drops are nobody's
+        // fault. See [`WasapiLoopbackCapturer::active`].
+        self.active.store(false, Ordering::Relaxed);
     }
 }
 
@@ -167,6 +191,7 @@ fn capture_thread(
     stop: Arc<AtomicBool>,
     ready: SyncSender<Result<()>>,
     channels: u32,
+    active: Arc<AtomicBool>,
 ) -> Result<()> {
     // COM must be initialized on THIS thread (MTA), before any device call.
     if let Err(e) = wasapi::initialize_mta()
@@ -192,7 +217,7 @@ fn capture_thread(
     // is said once per topology — the field log drowned in 256+ copies of the same line.
     let mut unsat_logged: Option<u64> = None;
     while !stop.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
-        match capture_once(&tx, &stop, &mut ready, channels, mode) {
+        match capture_once(&tx, &stop, &mut ready, channels, mode, &active) {
             Ok(Next::Stopped) => break,
             Ok(Next::Reopen(m)) => {
                 mode = m;
@@ -265,9 +290,13 @@ fn capture_thread(
             }
         }
     }
-    // Hand the default playback device back to the operator (no-op if we never parked it, or if
-    // they changed it themselves mid-stream). COM is initialized on this thread.
+    // Hand the default playback AND recording devices back to the operator (no-ops if we never
+    // parked them, or if they changed them themselves mid-stream). COM is initialized on this
+    // thread. The recording restore is what keeps the parked default session-scoped — an idle
+    // box holding the default microphone on a virtual mic nothing feeds is the 2026-08
+    // Helldivers 2 tank (see `audio_control`'s module docs).
     audio_control::restore_default_playback();
+    audio_control::restore_default_recording();
     Ok(())
 }
 
@@ -357,6 +386,7 @@ fn capture_once(
     ready: &mut Option<SyncSender<Result<()>>>,
     channels: u32,
     mode: TargetMode,
+    active: &AtomicBool,
 ) -> Result<Next> {
     // Interleaved f32: channels * 4 bytes per frame.
     let block_align = channels as usize * 4;
@@ -611,10 +641,14 @@ fn capture_once(
                 samples.push(f32::from_le_bytes([c[0], c[1], c[2], c[3]]));
             }
             stats.observe(&samples, channels);
-            // Non-blocking, lossy — same discipline as PipeWire. Now COUNTED: a full channel
-            // means the encode thread is not keeping up, and every dropped chunk is a click plus
-            // a permanent shift of everything after it.
-            if tx.try_send(samples).is_err() {
+            // Non-blocking, lossy — same discipline as PipeWire. COUNTED, and only while a
+            // session is actually reading: a full channel under a LIVE consumer means the encode
+            // thread is not keeping up, and every dropped chunk is a click plus a permanent
+            // shift of everything after it. A full channel under a PARKED capturer means nothing
+            // — the planes park capturers between sessions rather than dropping them, so the
+            // channel fills once and then refuses everything
+            // ([`WasapiLoopbackCapturer::active`]).
+            if tx.try_send(samples).is_err() && active.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
                 stats.dropped_chunks += 1;
             }
         }

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/windows/wasapi_mic.rs

@@ -261,8 +261,10 @@ fn resolve_target() -> Result<(wasapi::Device, String)> {
     // on the cable while later plans paired the default recording with the minted microphone
     // nothing wrote into (see `minted::ensure_blocking`). Instant once latched.
     super::minted::ensure_blocking();
-    // set_playback=false: the mic pump runs while the host is idle — only the desktop-audio
-    // capture may park the playback default (on the silent sink) for a stream's lifetime.
+    // park_defaults=false: the mic pump runs while the host is idle — only the desktop-audio
+    // capture may park the box's defaults (playback on the silent sink, recording on the virtual
+    // mic) for a stream's lifetime. An idle box must keep the operator's own devices default —
+    // an idle-parked recording default is the 2026-08 Helldivers 2 tank (`audio_control` docs).
     let mut wiring = audio_control::wire_now(false);
     if wiring.mic_render.is_none() && !wiring.mic_withheld {
         // A WITHHELD mic skips the install attempt: the Streaming Microphone exists — the plan

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/wiring_plan.rs

@@ -241,6 +241,30 @@ pub(crate) fn silent_sink(lname: &str) -> bool {
     lname.contains("steam streaming microphone")
 }
 
+/// A capture endpoint that surfaces a VIRTUAL device's audio (cables, streaming mics, mixer
+/// strips, the host's own minted "Punktfunk" microphone) rather than a real microphone. The
+/// recording-default hygiene pass must never move the box's default onto one of these.
+pub(crate) fn virtual_capture(lname: &str) -> bool {
+    lname.contains("cable output")
+        || lname.contains("steam streaming")
+        || lname.contains("voicemeeter")
+        || lname.contains("virtual")
+        || lname.contains("punktfunk")
+}
+
+/// The first REAL capture endpoint (skipping `avoid_id` and every [`virtual_capture`]) — where
+/// the recording-default hygiene sends a default an earlier build left parked on the virtual mic
+/// while the host is idle. `None` on a box with no real microphone: nothing sane to move to, so
+/// the default is left alone.
+pub(crate) fn real_capture<'a>(
+    captures: &'a [Endpoint],
+    avoid_id: Option<&str>,
+) -> Option<&'a Endpoint> {
+    captures
+        .iter()
+        .find(|(n, id)| Some(id.as_str()) != avoid_id && !virtual_capture(&n.to_lowercase()))
+}
+
 /// A known-virtual device (cables/streaming endpoints). A render WITHOUT these markers is real
 /// hardware — the best loopback source (apps render there by default and the operator can also
 /// hear it).
@@ -1137,6 +1161,29 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(both.contains("16000") && both.contains("channel"), "{both}");
     }
 
+    /// The recording-default hygiene picker: skips every virtual capture (cable, streaming mic,
+    /// the minted "Punktfunk" pair, VoiceMeeter) and lands on the real microphone — the exact
+    /// recording-tab zoo of the 2026-08-14 Helldivers 2 field box.
+    #[test]
+    fn recording_hygiene_picks_the_real_microphone() {
+        let captures = [
+            ep("Microphone (2- Punktfunk)"),
+            ep("CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"),
+            ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)"),
+            ep("VoiceMeeter Output (VB-Audio VoiceMeeter VAIO)"),
+            ep("Desktop Microphone (2- Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000)"),
+        ];
+        assert_eq!(
+            real_capture(&captures, None).unwrap().0,
+            "Desktop Microphone (2- Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000)"
+        );
+        // `avoid_id` guards the plan's own mic capture even when its name would pass the
+        // virtual test; with nothing else real, the answer is honestly None.
+        let only = [ep("Desk Mic (USB)")];
+        assert!(real_capture(&only, Some("id-desk mic (usb)")).is_none());
+        assert!(real_capture(&[], None).is_none());
+    }
+
     /// Operator override beats the candidate order.
     #[test]
     fn env_override_wins() {

crates/punktfunk-host/src/devtest.rs

@@ -623,12 +623,15 @@ pub fn dualsense_windows_test(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
-/// Windows: pad-audio endpoint provisioning — `pad-endpoint ensure|remove|status [--index N]`.
+/// Windows: pad-audio endpoint provisioning — `pad-endpoint
+/// ensure|remove|status|tone|capture|show|hide [--index N]`.
 /// `ensure` runs the idempotent startup path (reuse-or-create the devnode, bind the Steam
 /// Streaming Speakers driver, stamp the DualSense identity + 4ch/48k formats, report whether
 /// the stamps are SERVED); `status` prints the devnode/endpoint and per-stamp stored vs served
 /// state without changing anything; `remove` deletes the devnode via pnputil — the escape
-/// hatch only, endpoints are persistent by design. Stamping needs SYSTEM (the MMDevices ACL);
+/// hatch only, endpoints are persistent by design; `show`/`hide` flip the endpoint's
+/// visibility (the host parks it hidden while no client pad is attached — show it before
+/// `tone`/`capture`). Stamping needs SYSTEM (the MMDevices ACL);
 /// run `ensure` under the service account or PsExec when the property-store route is denied.
 /// Windows: the audio-substrate toolbox (`windows-audio-endpoints-and-vbcable.md`) —
 /// `audio-probe ssm|sink|sss-primary|mint|plan|cleanup [--keep]`. The S1–S3 spikes (`ssm` =
@@ -744,7 +747,29 @@ pub fn pad_endpoint(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
             pe::capture_probe(&endpoint_id, secs)
         }
         Some("status") => pe::print_status(idx),
-        _ => anyhow::bail!("usage: punktfunk-host pad-endpoint <ensure|remove|status> [--index N]"),
+        // `show`/`hide` — flip the endpoint's visibility (DEVICE_STATE_DISABLED). The host parks
+        // pad endpoints hidden while no client pad is attached (idle libScePad titles stall on a
+        // visible one — the 2026-08-14 Helldivers 2 field case); `tone`/`capture` need the
+        // endpoint SHOWN first, and `hide` puts the box back to the idle-safe state after.
+        Some(verb @ ("show" | "hide")) => {
+            let endpoint_id = match endpoint_override {
+                Some(id) => id,
+                None => match pe::find(idx)? {
+                    Some(ep) if !ep.endpoint_id.is_empty() => ep.endpoint_id,
+                    _ => {
+                        println!("pad-endpoint {verb}: pad {idx} has no endpoint — run `ensure`");
+                        return Ok(());
+                    }
+                },
+            };
+            pe::set_visibility(&endpoint_id, idx, verb == "show");
+            println!("pad-endpoint {verb}: {endpoint_id}");
+            Ok(())
+        }
+        _ => anyhow::bail!(
+            "usage: punktfunk-host pad-endpoint \
+             <ensure|remove|status|tone|capture|show|hide> [--index N]"
+        ),
     }
 }
 

crates/punktfunk-host/src/library/art.rs

@@ -150,12 +150,13 @@ fn percent_decode(s: &str) -> String {
 /// H-2): `mgmt-token`, `key.pem`, the SAM hive. So the value is confined here, at the one place
 /// bytes are read, rather than trusted because of where it was written.
 ///
-/// Default: the users base (`C:\Users`), which is where every launcher keeps its art cache —
-/// Playnite, the only local-art provider, stores covers under `%APPDATA%\Playnite`. Derived from
+/// Default: the users base (`C:\Users`), where the launchers that install per-user keep their art —
+/// Playnite stores covers under `%APPDATA%\Playnite`, Heroic under `%APPDATA%\heroic`. Derived from
 /// `%PUBLIC%`'s parent because the host runs as SYSTEM, whose own `%USERPROFILE%` is
-/// `…\config\systemprofile` and tells us nothing about where the operator's launchers live.
-/// `PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS` (`;`-separated) replaces the default for an operator whose library
-/// is on another drive.
+/// `…\config\systemprofile` and tells us nothing about where the operator's launchers live. Plus
+/// the Steam install root ([`steam_art_roots`]), which is the one launcher that does NOT live under
+/// the users base. `PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS` (`;`-separated) replaces the whole default for an
+/// operator whose library is somewhere else again.
 fn art_roots() -> Vec<PathBuf> {
     if let Some(configured) = std::env::var_os("PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS") {
         return std::env::split_paths(&configured)
@@ -174,6 +175,8 @@ fn art_roots() -> Vec<PathBuf> {
             roots.push(PathBuf::from(drive).join("Users"));
         }
     }
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    roots.extend(steam_art_roots());
     // POSIX: the user's home, which is the exact analogue of the Windows users base above — and
     // where every launcher this host reads art from actually keeps it. Steam's
     // `appcache/librarycache` and `userdata/<id>/config/grid`, Lutris's `coverart`/`banners` (both
@@ -200,6 +203,54 @@ fn art_roots() -> Vec<PathBuf> {
     roots
 }
 
+/// Windows: every Steam install root that exists on this box.
+///
+/// Steam is the one launcher whose art is NOT under the users base: it installs to
+/// `C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam`, and both places the `steam` library plugin publishes covers from
+/// — `appcache\librarycache\<appid>\…` and each account's `userdata\<id>\config\grid\` overrides —
+/// live under that root. Without this the users base rejected every one of them, and because an
+/// unservable path used to fail the WHOLE reconcile payload the plugin synced NO GAMES AT ALL, not
+/// merely no art. That is a v0.28.0 regression: the built-in scanner this plugin replaced served its
+/// covers through the legacy `steam:` art-proxy branch, which never passed through this confinement.
+/// (POSIX needs no equivalent — every Steam layout there, native and Flatpak, is already under
+/// `$HOME`.)
+///
+/// This does not widen what the host can be *tricked* into reading. The confinement exists to close
+/// one asymmetry: the host reads as SYSTEM, while the plugin lane that supplies the path is the far
+/// weaker LocalService (2026-08-05 review H-2). The Steam directory is readable by LocalService
+/// already, so nothing reachable through it is reachable *because* the host is privileged. The
+/// extension, regular-file, magic-byte and config-dir gates all still apply on top, so Steam's own
+/// `config.vdf` and `ssfn*` credential blobs are not servable from it either.
+#[cfg(windows)]
+fn steam_art_roots() -> Vec<PathBuf> {
+    let mut out: Vec<PathBuf> = Vec::new();
+    let mut push = |p: PathBuf| {
+        // `is_dir` before dedup: `%ProgramFiles%` and `%ProgramW6432%` are the same directory on a
+        // 64-bit host, and the registry commonly repeats whichever of the two Steam sits in.
+        if p.is_dir() && !out.contains(&p) {
+            out.push(p);
+        }
+    };
+    for var in ["ProgramFiles(x86)", "ProgramFiles", "ProgramW6432"] {
+        if let Some(pf) = std::env::var_os(var) {
+            push(PathBuf::from(pf).join("Steam"));
+        }
+    }
+    // A Steam installed off the default path — a second drive is common — is only discoverable from
+    // the registry. HKLM and not HKCU, for the same reason the plugin reads HKLM: the host is
+    // SYSTEM, whose own hive knows nothing about where the operator installed anything.
+    for key in [r"SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Valve\Steam", r"SOFTWARE\Valve\Steam"] {
+        if let Some(p) = winreg::RegKey::predef(winreg::enums::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
+            .open_subkey(key)
+            .ok()
+            .and_then(|k| k.get_value::<String, _>("InstallPath").ok())
+        {
+            push(PathBuf::from(p));
+        }
+    }
+    out
+}
+
 /// Whether `path` resolves inside one of [`art_roots`] and outside the host config dir.
 ///
 /// Canonicalizes first, so a junction/symlink pointing out of the root is resolved before the
@@ -317,6 +368,43 @@ pub fn validate_art_paths(art: &Artwork) -> Result<(), String> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// Strip every **local-file** art value the proxy would refuse to serve, returning the
+/// `(field, value)` pairs dropped. URLs and already-proxied paths are left alone.
+///
+/// The provider-reconcile counterpart to [`validate_art_paths`]. Both enforce the same invariant —
+/// an unservable path never reaches `library.json` — and differ only on what the REST of the payload
+/// is worth. An operator writing one custom entry typed that path by hand, so a hard 400 is the
+/// feedback they need. A plugin reconciling its whole entry set did not: it publishes hundreds of
+/// covers it resolved from disk, and refusing the payload over one of them costs the operator their
+/// entire library for that store.
+///
+/// That is not hypothetical. A default Windows Steam install put every cover outside the art roots,
+/// so `PUT /library/provider/steam` 400'd, the plugin could only report `HostRequestError`, and the
+/// grid stayed empty with no indication that the games themselves were fine. [`steam_art_roots`]
+/// fixes that specific mismatch; this makes the NEXT one cost a cover instead of a library.
+///
+/// Dropping rather than rewriting is deliberate: `None` is exactly what an entry with no art
+/// carries, and every client already renders that.
+pub fn sanitize_art_paths(art: &mut Artwork) -> Vec<(&'static str, String)> {
+    let mut dropped = Vec::new();
+    for (field, value) in [
+        ("portrait", &mut art.portrait),
+        ("hero", &mut art.hero),
+        ("logo", &mut art.logo),
+        ("header", &mut art.header),
+    ] {
+        let unservable = value
+            .as_deref()
+            .is_some_and(|v| is_local_art_path(v) && !art_path_is_servable(v));
+        if unservable {
+            if let Some(v) = value.take() {
+                dropped.push((field, v));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    dropped
+}
+
 /// Read a local image file into `(bytes, content-type)` for the art proxy. `None` if it isn't an
 /// existing regular file, is empty, exceeds 16 MiB (a cover never approaches that; the cap bounds
 /// host memory), resolves outside the allowed art roots ([`art_path_is_confined`]), or does not
@@ -542,15 +630,67 @@ mod tests {
 
     const PNG: &[u8] = &[0x89, b'P', b'N', b'G', 0x0D, 0x0A, 0x1A, 0x0A, 0, 0, 0, 13];
 
-    /// `PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS` is process-global while cargo runs tests as threads, so the
-    /// tests that repoint it must not overlap — one clearing the variable mid-flight makes the
-    /// other's temp root stop being a root, which fails as a confinement bug that isn't there.
+    /// The variables the art roots derive from are process-global while cargo runs tests as threads,
+    /// so the tests that repoint them must not overlap — one clearing a variable mid-flight makes
+    /// another's temp root stop being a root, which fails as a confinement bug that isn't there.
     /// Poisoning is recovered rather than propagated: a panic in one test should report ITS
     /// failure, not cascade into an unrelated `PoisonError`.
     static ART_ROOTS_LOCK: std::sync::Mutex<()> = std::sync::Mutex::new(());
 
-    fn lock_art_roots() -> std::sync::MutexGuard<'static, ()> {
-        ART_ROOTS_LOCK.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
+    /// Holds `ART_ROOTS_LOCK` and the overrides one test needs, restoring the previous values on
+    /// drop. **The only place these tests touch the process environment** — which is what keeps the
+    /// unsafe-hygiene gate's count flat as tests are added, and what makes the restore run on an
+    /// unwind (the hand-rolled set/restore this replaced leaked its override to every later test
+    /// whenever an assertion fired between the two halves).
+    struct ArtRootsEnv {
+        _lock: std::sync::MutexGuard<'static, ()>,
+        saved: Vec<(&'static str, Option<std::ffi::OsString>)>,
+    }
+
+    impl ArtRootsEnv {
+        /// `None` unsets the variable for the test's duration.
+        fn set(vars: &[(&'static str, Option<&Path>)]) -> Self {
+            let _lock = ART_ROOTS_LOCK.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
+            let mut saved = Vec::new();
+            for (key, value) in vars {
+                saved.push((*key, std::env::var_os(key)));
+                // SAFETY: `_lock` is held for this guard's whole lifetime, and this type is the
+                // only writer of these variables in the binary — so no other thread is reading
+                // them while they change.
+                unsafe { write_env(key, value.map(|p| p.as_os_str())) };
+            }
+            Self { _lock, saved }
+        }
+    }
+
+    impl Drop for ArtRootsEnv {
+        fn drop(&mut self) {
+            for (key, value) in &self.saved {
+                // SAFETY: still under `_lock`, which outlives this loop — same argument as `set`.
+                unsafe { write_env(key, value.as_deref()) };
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The single write point, so the hygiene gate has exactly one pair of call sites to judge.
+    ///
+    /// # Safety
+    /// The caller must hold `ART_ROOTS_LOCK`; the process environment is global and unsound to
+    /// mutate while another thread reads it.
+    unsafe fn write_env(key: &str, value: Option<&std::ffi::OsStr>) {
+        match value {
+            // SAFETY: the caller holds `ART_ROOTS_LOCK` (this function's documented contract), and
+            // `ArtRootsEnv` is the only writer in the binary — so no other thread is reading the
+            // environment while it changes.
+            Some(v) => unsafe { std::env::set_var(key, v) },
+            // SAFETY: as above — the caller's lock is what makes this sound.
+            None => unsafe { std::env::remove_var(key) },
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// `PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS` pointed at one directory — what most of these tests want.
+    fn confine_art_to(dir: &Path) -> ArtRootsEnv {
+        ArtRootsEnv::set(&[("PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS", Some(dir))])
     }
 
     /// The art proxy reads bytes in the HOST process (LocalSystem on Windows) from a path the
@@ -558,15 +698,12 @@ mod tests {
     /// (2026-08-05 review H-2). Confinement, extension, and content are all load-bearing.
     #[test]
     fn local_art_bytes_is_confined_and_image_only() {
-        let _guard = lock_art_roots();
         let dir = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("pf-art-test-{}", std::process::id()));
         let outside = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("pf-art-out-{}", std::process::id()));
         std::fs::create_dir_all(&dir).unwrap();
         std::fs::create_dir_all(&outside).unwrap();
         // Confine the proxy to `dir` for the duration of this test.
-        // SAFETY: `_guard` holds ART_ROOTS_LOCK (`lock_art_roots`), which serializes every test
-        // that writes or reads this variable in the binary.
-        unsafe { std::env::set_var("PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS", &dir) };
+        let _env = confine_art_to(&dir);
 
         // A real image inside the root: served, with the content type SNIFFED from the bytes.
         let cover = dir.join("cover.png");
@@ -642,8 +779,6 @@ mod tests {
         // A UNC path is refused outright (outbound SMB auth coercion), before any filesystem hit.
         assert!(!art_path_is_servable(r"\\attacker\share\a.png"));
 
-        // SAFETY: still under `_guard` — the same ART_ROOTS_LOCK serialization as the set.
-        unsafe { std::env::remove_var("PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS") };
         let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(&dir);
         let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(&outside);
     }
@@ -706,14 +841,11 @@ mod tests {
     /// readable together is the point: either alone passes with the bug present.
     #[test]
     fn file_url_art_is_accepted_at_write_time_exactly_as_at_read_time() {
-        let _guard = lock_art_roots();
         let dir = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("pf-art-wr-{}", std::process::id()));
         let outside = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("pf-art-wr-out-{}", std::process::id()));
         std::fs::create_dir_all(&dir).unwrap();
         std::fs::create_dir_all(&outside).unwrap();
-        // SAFETY: `_guard` holds ART_ROOTS_LOCK (`lock_art_roots`), which serializes every test
-        // that writes or reads this variable in the binary.
-        unsafe { std::env::set_var("PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS", &dir) };
+        let _env = confine_art_to(&dir);
 
         let cover = dir.join("cover.png");
         std::fs::write(&cover, PNG).unwrap();
@@ -765,12 +897,149 @@ mod tests {
             "an out-of-root file:// cover is still refused"
         );
 
-        // SAFETY: still under `_guard` — the same ART_ROOTS_LOCK serialization as the set.
-        unsafe { std::env::remove_var("PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS") };
         let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(&dir);
         let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(&outside);
     }
 
+    /// A reconcile keeps its entries when a cover is unservable — it drops the cover.
+    ///
+    /// Regression for the report that opened this: on a default Windows Steam install every
+    /// `appcache\librarycache` path fell outside the users base, `validate_art_paths` refused the
+    /// whole `PUT /library/provider/steam` payload, and the operator's grid stayed EMPTY. The games
+    /// were never the problem. Asserting the survivors matters as much as the drop: a sanitizer that
+    /// cleared the whole struct would also "pass" a drop-only test.
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_drops_only_the_unservable_local_art() {
+        let dir = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("pf-art-san-{}", std::process::id()));
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(&dir).unwrap();
+        let _env = confine_art_to(&dir);
+
+        let cover = dir.join("cover.png");
+        std::fs::write(&cover, PNG).unwrap();
+        let cover_url = file_url(&cover);
+        let outside = if cfg!(windows) {
+            r"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\appcache\librarycache\570\a\library_hero.jpg".to_string()
+        } else {
+            "/opt/steam/appcache/librarycache/570/a/library_hero.jpg".to_string()
+        };
+
+        let mut art = Artwork {
+            portrait: Some(cover_url.clone()),
+            hero: Some(outside.clone()),
+            logo: Some("https://cdn/l.png".into()),
+            header: Some("/api/v1/library/art/steam:570/header".into()),
+        };
+        let dropped = sanitize_art_paths(&mut art);
+        assert_eq!(
+            dropped,
+            vec![("hero", outside)],
+            "only the out-of-root local path is dropped, and it is reported"
+        );
+        assert!(art.hero.is_none(), "the unservable value is gone, not kept");
+        // A servable local cover, a remote URL and an already-proxied path all survive untouched —
+        // the entry still renders everything it legitimately can.
+        assert_eq!(art.portrait.as_deref(), Some(cover_url.as_str()));
+        assert_eq!(art.logo.as_deref(), Some("https://cdn/l.png"));
+        assert_eq!(
+            art.header.as_deref(),
+            Some("/api/v1/library/art/steam:570/header")
+        );
+        // Idempotent: what survived one pass survives the next, and nothing new is reported.
+        assert!(sanitize_art_paths(&mut art).is_empty());
+
+        // The invariant the hard 400 used to hold is still held — nothing the write gate would
+        // refuse comes out the other side.
+        assert!(validate_art_paths(&art).is_ok());
+
+        let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(&dir);
+    }
+
+    /// Windows only, and the actual bug report: a Steam cover under Program Files is servable with
+    /// NO `PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS` set.
+    ///
+    /// Drives the whole chain the `steam` plugin's payload traverses — Program Files probe →
+    /// [`steam_art_roots`] → [`art_roots`] → confinement → [`art_path_is_servable`] →
+    /// [`local_art_bytes`] — against a synthetic Steam tree, by repointing `%ProgramFiles(x86)%` at
+    /// a temp dir. Hermetic on purpose: asserting over whatever Steam this box happens to have would
+    /// pass vacuously on every CI runner, which is exactly the shape of test that let this ship.
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    #[test]
+    fn steam_librarycache_cover_is_servable_without_configuration() {
+        let base = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("pf-art-steam-{}", std::process::id()));
+        // `appcache\librarycache\<appid>\<hash>\library_hero.jpg` — the exact shape the plugin
+        // publishes, and the exact field the reported failure named.
+        let hero = base
+            .join("Steam")
+            .join("appcache")
+            .join("librarycache")
+            .join("570")
+            .join("abcdef")
+            .join("library_hero.jpg");
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(hero.parent().unwrap()).unwrap();
+        std::fs::write(&hero, PNG).unwrap();
+
+        // No configured roots (that is the claim under test), and the Program Files probe pointed
+        // at the synthetic tree. Both restored on drop — `%ProgramFiles(x86)%` is a real variable
+        // on this box that later tests in the same process may legitimately read.
+        let _env = ArtRootsEnv::set(&[
+            ("PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS", None),
+            ("ProgramFiles(x86)", Some(&base)),
+        ]);
+
+        let steam_root = base.join("Steam");
+        assert!(
+            steam_art_roots().contains(&steam_root),
+            "the Program Files probe must find the Steam install"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            art_roots().contains(&steam_root),
+            "the DEFAULT art roots must include it — the whole point is that no env var is needed"
+        );
+
+        // The plugin sends `file://`, so that is what has to be accepted; before the fix this was
+        // false and `validate_art_paths` 400'd the entire reconcile.
+        let url = file_url(&hero);
+        assert!(art_path_is_servable(&url), "{url} must be servable");
+        assert!(
+            validate_art_paths(&Artwork {
+                hero: Some(url.clone()),
+                ..Default::default()
+            })
+            .is_ok(),
+            "a Steam-shaped payload must reconcile"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            sanitize_art_paths(&mut Artwork {
+                hero: Some(url.clone()),
+                ..Default::default()
+            })
+            .is_empty(),
+            "and nothing about it is dropped"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            local_art_bytes(&url).expect("read time serves it too").0,
+            PNG
+        );
+
+        // The confinement did not go slack on the way: a secret next door is still not servable,
+        // and neither is a non-image that merely wears the extension.
+        let secret = base.join("Steam").join("config").join("config.vdf");
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(secret.parent().unwrap()).unwrap();
+        std::fs::write(&secret, b"\"Accounts\"\n{\n\"user\" \"token\"\n}\n").unwrap();
+        assert!(
+            local_art_bytes(secret.to_str().unwrap()).is_none(),
+            "Steam's own credential blob must not be servable from an art root"
+        );
+        let disguised = base.join("Steam").join("config.png");
+        std::fs::write(&disguised, b"\"Accounts\" { \"user\" \"token\" }").unwrap();
+        assert!(
+            local_art_bytes(disguised.to_str().unwrap()).is_none(),
+            "an image extension is still not enough — the bytes must BE an image"
+        );
+
+        let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(&base);
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn sniff_image_type_recognizes_containers_and_rejects_secrets() {
         assert_eq!(sniff_image_type(PNG), Some("image/png"));

crates/punktfunk-host/src/mgmt.rs

@@ -214,7 +214,12 @@ fn api_router_parts() -> (Router<Arc<MgmtState>>, utoipa::openapi::OpenApi) {
         ))
         .routes(routes!(host::get_status))
         .routes(routes!(host::get_local_summary))
-        .routes(routes!(clients::list_paired_clients))
+        // GET and DELETE share the `/clients` path, so they must be ONE `routes!` — utoipa-axum
+        // merges the methods of a single call into one route; two calls collide on the path.
+        .routes(routes!(
+            clients::list_paired_clients,
+            clients::unpair_all_clients
+        ))
         .routes(routes!(clients::unpair_client));
     // The GameStream PIN flow exists only when the compat planes do (WP19) — a native-only
     // build's API (and its OpenAPI document) simply has no such endpoints.
@@ -226,7 +231,11 @@ fn api_router_parts() -> (Router<Arc<MgmtState>>, utoipa::openapi::OpenApi) {
         .routes(routes!(native::get_native_pairing))
         .routes(routes!(native::arm_native_pairing))
         .routes(routes!(native::disarm_native_pairing))
-        .routes(routes!(native::list_native_clients))
+        // Same-path pair as `/clients` above — one `routes!` for both methods.
+        .routes(routes!(
+            native::list_native_clients,
+            native::unpair_all_native_clients
+        ))
         .routes(routes!(native::unpair_native_client))
         .routes(routes!(native::list_pending_devices))
         .routes(routes!(native::approve_pending_device))

crates/punktfunk-host/src/mgmt/clients.rs

@@ -153,6 +153,62 @@ pub(crate) async fn unpair_client(
     }
 }
 
+/// Unpair every client
+///
+/// The collection form of [`unpair_client`]: empties the pairing store in ONE persisted write,
+/// carrying the same revocation guarantees across the whole set. A LIVE GameStream session is
+/// ended (its owning certificate is necessarily one of those just removed), and the ENet control
+/// port (UDP 47999) closes, because no pairing is left to hold it open.
+///
+/// Idempotent, and so a 200 rather than the single unpair's 204/404 pair: "unpair everything" is
+/// satisfied by an already-empty store, and the operator still wants to know whether that meant
+/// three devices or none.
+#[utoipa::path(
+    delete,
+    path = "/clients",
+    tag = "clients",
+    operation_id = "unpairAllClients",
+    responses(
+        (status = OK, description = "Every client unpaired (possibly none)", body = UnpairAllResult),
+        (status = UNAUTHORIZED, description = "Missing or invalid bearer token", body = ApiError),
+    )
+)]
+pub(crate) async fn unpair_all_clients(State(st): State<Arc<MgmtState>>) -> Response {
+    let mut paired = st.app.paired.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
+    if paired.is_empty() {
+        // Nothing to persist, no port to sync — an empty store is already the requested state.
+        return Json(UnpairAllResult { unpaired: 0 }).into_response();
+    }
+    let removed: Vec<[u8; 32]> = paired
+        .iter()
+        .map(|der| Sha256::digest(der).into())
+        .collect();
+    paired.clear();
+    // Persist under the lock, as the single unpair does: a pairing resurrected by a restart would
+    // silently re-open the control port.
+    crate::gamestream::save_paired(&paired);
+    drop(paired);
+    // A mid-stream client must not keep streaming once its pairing is gone. Clearing the launch
+    // makes the ENet control thread send the standard TERMINATION+disconnect. (An owner-less
+    // launch — the cert was unreadable at /launch — cannot be attributed, and is left to the port
+    // teardown below, which here always fires: no pairing remains.)
+    let live_owner = st
+        .app
+        .launch
+        .lock()
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
+        .and_then(|l| l.owner_fp);
+    if live_owner.is_some_and(|fp| removed.contains(&fp)) {
+        st.app.quit_session("client unpaired");
+    }
+    if let Err(e) = crate::gamestream::sync_control(&st.app) {
+        tracing::warn!(error = %format!("{e:#}"), "control port sync after unpair-all failed");
+    }
+    let unpaired = removed.len() as u32;
+    tracing::info!(unpaired, "management API: all clients unpaired");
+    Json(UnpairAllResult { unpaired }).into_response()
+}
+
 /// Pairing-flow status
 ///
 /// Poll this to know when to prompt the user for the PIN Moonlight displays.

crates/punktfunk-host/src/mgmt/library.rs

@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ use axum::Extension;
 /// Refuse a write whose payload carries an operator-privileged field to a lane that may not set one
 /// (2026-08-05 review H-1), and refuse any local art path the proxy would not serve back (H-2).
 ///
+/// The **single-entry writes** — the operator creating or editing one custom entry. The provider
+/// reconcile takes [`check_privileged_fields`] and sanitizes art instead; the split is the whole
+/// point, and [`crate::library::sanitize_art_paths`] carries the reasoning.
+///
 /// Both checks belong here rather than in the route gate: `PUT /library/provider/{p}` is a route a
 /// provider plugin must be able to call — reconciling its own entry set is the whole point of a
 /// scanner plugin — while `prep` / `launch.kind = "command"` inside that payload are the operator's
@@ -22,14 +26,32 @@ use axum::Extension;
 /// `reason` is the caller's log line. It exists because these are TWO different refusals — an
 /// operator-privileged field (403) and an unservable art path (400) — and logging both as "carries
 /// a field this lane may not set" sent the Lutris/Steam `file://` art rejection looking like an
-/// auth problem. The plugin only ever sees `HostRequestError`, so this log line is the sole
-/// diagnosis surface for whoever has to explain why a scanner syncs nothing.
+/// auth problem.
 fn check_entry_fields(
     lane: AuthLane,
     art: &crate::library::Artwork,
     launch: Option<&crate::library::LaunchSpec>,
     prep: &[crate::hooks::PrepCmd],
     icon: Option<&str>,
+) -> Option<(String, Response)> {
+    check_privileged_fields(lane, launch, prep, icon).or_else(|| {
+        crate::library::validate_art_paths(art)
+            .err()
+            .map(|e| (e.clone(), api_error(StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, &e)))
+    })
+}
+
+/// The half of [`check_entry_fields`] that is about *authority* rather than about art: an
+/// operator-privileged field this lane may not set (403), or an unrepresentable icon token (400).
+///
+/// Split out for the provider reconcile, which must apply exactly these two and NOT the art check —
+/// it sanitizes unservable covers instead of refusing the payload
+/// ([`crate::library::sanitize_art_paths`] explains why the two callers want different answers).
+fn check_privileged_fields(
+    lane: AuthLane,
+    launch: Option<&crate::library::LaunchSpec>,
+    prep: &[crate::hooks::PrepCmd],
+    icon: Option<&str>,
 ) -> Option<(String, Response)> {
     if !lane.may_set_privileged_fields() {
         if let Some(field) = crate::library::privileged_field(launch, prep) {
@@ -55,9 +77,7 @@ fn check_entry_fields(
     if let Err(e) = crate::library::validate_icon(icon) {
         return Some((e.clone(), api_error(StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, &e)));
     }
-    crate::library::validate_art_paths(art)
-        .err()
-        .map(|e| (e.clone(), api_error(StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, &e)))
+    None
 }
 
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
@@ -468,7 +488,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn reconcile_provider_entries(
     Extension(lane): Extension<AuthLane>,
     Path(provider): Path<String>,
     Query(q): Query<ReconcileQuery>,
-    ApiJson(inputs): ApiJson<Vec<crate::library::ProviderEntryInput>>,
+    ApiJson(mut inputs): ApiJson<Vec<crate::library::ProviderEntryInput>>,
 ) -> Response {
     if let Err(e) = crate::library::validate_provider_name(&provider) {
         return api_error(StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, &e);
@@ -484,9 +504,15 @@ pub(crate) async fn reconcile_provider_entries(
     }
     // Every entry in the payload, not just the first — a reconcile replaces a whole entry set, so
     // one privileged field anywhere in it is one command execution.
+    //
+    // Art is deliberately NOT part of this refusal. A privileged field is the plugin overreaching
+    // and must fail the write; an unservable cover is a path mismatch between where a launcher keeps
+    // its art and where the host is allowed to read, and failing the payload over one of those threw
+    // away a working library to save a thumbnail. Those covers are stripped below instead, which
+    // holds the same "no unservable path is ever persisted" invariant.
     for (i, e) in inputs.iter().enumerate() {
         if let Some((reason, denied)) =
-            check_entry_fields(lane, &e.art, e.launch.as_ref(), &e.prep, e.icon.as_deref())
+            check_privileged_fields(lane, e.launch.as_ref(), &e.prep, e.icon.as_deref())
         {
             tracing::warn!(
                 provider,
@@ -498,6 +524,29 @@ pub(crate) async fn reconcile_provider_entries(
             return denied;
         }
     }
+    // One aggregated line, not one per entry: a root mismatch misses EVERY cover in the payload, and
+    // a per-entry warn would bury the rest of the log under a thousand copies of one fact.
+    let mut dropped_art = 0usize;
+    let mut first_dropped: Option<(String, &'static str, String)> = None;
+    for e in inputs.iter_mut() {
+        for (field, value) in crate::library::sanitize_art_paths(&mut e.art) {
+            dropped_art += 1;
+            first_dropped.get_or_insert_with(|| (e.title.clone(), field, value));
+        }
+    }
+    if let Some((title, field, path)) = first_dropped {
+        tracing::warn!(
+            provider,
+            dropped = dropped_art,
+            example_title = %title,
+            example_field = field,
+            example_path = %path,
+            "library reconcile: dropped local art the proxy may not serve — these entries still \
+             sync, but their covers will be blank. The path must be an image file (jpg/png/webp/\
+             gif/bmp/ico/tga) inside an allowed art root; set PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS if this \
+             library's art lives outside the defaults"
+        );
+    }
     match crate::library::reconcile_provider(&provider, store.as_deref(), inputs) {
         Ok(crate::library::MutateOutcome::Done(entries)) => {
             tracing::info!(

crates/punktfunk-host/src/mgmt/native.rs

@@ -256,6 +256,52 @@ pub(crate) async fn unpair_native_client(
     }
 }
 
+/// Unpair every native client
+///
+/// The collection form of [`unpair_native_client`]: empties the punktfunk/1 trust store in ONE
+/// persisted write (not a loop of them — a failure partway would leave a half-emptied store), and
+/// ends every live native session the removed clients own.
+///
+/// Idempotent, hence a 200 rather than the single unpair's 204/404: an already-empty store
+/// satisfies the request, and the count still tells the operator what it meant.
+#[utoipa::path(
+    delete,
+    path = "/native/clients",
+    tag = "native",
+    operation_id = "unpairAllNativeClients",
+    responses(
+        (status = OK, description = "Every native client unpaired (possibly none)", body = UnpairAllResult),
+        (status = SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, description = "Native host not enabled", body = ApiError),
+        (status = UNAUTHORIZED, description = "Missing or invalid bearer token", body = ApiError),
+        (status = INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, description = "Could not persist the trust store", body = ApiError),
+    )
+)]
+pub(crate) async fn unpair_all_native_clients(State(st): State<Arc<MgmtState>>) -> Response {
+    let Some(np) = &st.native else {
+        return api_error(StatusCode::SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, "native host not enabled");
+    };
+    match np.remove_all() {
+        Ok(removed) => {
+            // Revocation reaches LIVE sessions too — the same guarantee the single unpair gives,
+            // applied across the set.
+            let stopped: usize = removed
+                .iter()
+                .map(|fp| crate::session_status::stop_by_fingerprint(&fp.to_ascii_lowercase()))
+                .sum();
+            if stopped > 0 {
+                tracing::info!(stopped, "unpair-all: live native session(s) stopped");
+            }
+            let unpaired = removed.len() as u32;
+            tracing::info!(unpaired, "management API: all native clients unpaired");
+            Json(UnpairAllResult { unpaired }).into_response()
+        }
+        Err(e) => api_error(
+            StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
+            &format!("could not persist trust store: {e}"),
+        ),
+    }
+}
+
 /// List devices awaiting pairing approval
 ///
 /// Unpaired devices that tried to connect while the host requires pairing. Approve one to pair

crates/punktfunk-host/src/mgmt/shared.rs

@@ -21,6 +21,18 @@ pub(crate) struct ApiError {
     error: String,
 }
 
+/// What a bulk unpair removed. Shared by the two collection DELETEs (`/clients` and
+/// `/native/clients`) so the console sees one schema across both pairing planes.
+///
+/// A count rather than 204: "unpair everything" is idempotent, so an empty store is a success, and
+/// the operator still wants to be told whether that meant three devices or none.
+#[derive(Serialize, ToSchema)]
+pub(crate) struct UnpairAllResult {
+    /// Clients removed from the trust store — 0 when nothing was paired.
+    #[schema(example = 3)]
+    pub(crate) unpaired: u32,
+}
+
 pub(crate) fn api_error(status: StatusCode, message: &str) -> Response {
     (
         status,

crates/punktfunk-host/src/mgmt/tests.rs

@@ -819,7 +819,8 @@ async fn paired_clients_list_and_unpair() {
     {
         let mut p = state.paired.lock().unwrap();
         p.clear();
-        p.push(der);
+        // Cloned, not moved: the unpair-all section at the end of this test re-seeds it.
+        p.push(der.clone());
     }
 
     let (status, body) = send(&app, get_req("/api/v1/clients")).await;
@@ -888,6 +889,71 @@ async fn paired_clients_list_and_unpair() {
         serde_json::from_slice::<Vec<Vec<u8>>>(&disk).unwrap(),
         Vec::<Vec<u8>>::new()
     );
+
+    // ---- the COLLECTION delete: unpair everything at once -----------------------------------
+    //
+    // Re-seed two clients (the store was just emptied) and clear the teardown flags, so what the
+    // bulk delete does to a live session is attributable to IT and not left over from above.
+    let second = crate::identity::ephemeral().unwrap();
+    let (_, second_pem) = x509_parser::pem::parse_x509_pem(second.cert_pem.as_bytes()).unwrap();
+    let second_der = second_pem.contents.clone();
+    let second_fp = hex::encode(Sha256::digest(&second_der));
+    {
+        use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
+        let mut p = state.paired.lock().unwrap();
+        p.clear();
+        p.push(der.clone());
+        p.push(second_der);
+        state.quit.store(false, Ordering::SeqCst);
+        state.streaming.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
+        // A live session owned by the SECOND client — the bulk delete must end whichever of the
+        // removed certs owns it, not just the first one it happens to walk past.
+        let mut owner = [0u8; 32];
+        owner.copy_from_slice(&hex::decode(&second_fp).unwrap());
+        *state.launch.lock().unwrap() = Some(LaunchSession {
+            gcm_key: [0; 16],
+            rikeyid: 0,
+            width: 1920,
+            height: 1080,
+            fps: 60,
+            appid: 1,
+            peer_ip: None,
+            owner_fp: Some(owner),
+        });
+    }
+
+    let del_all = || {
+        axum::http::Request::delete("/api/v1/clients")
+            .body(Body::empty())
+            .unwrap()
+    };
+    let (status, body) = send(&app, del_all()).await;
+    assert_eq!(status, StatusCode::OK);
+    assert_eq!(body["unpaired"], 2, "both clients must be reported removed");
+
+    let (_, body) = send(&app, get_req("/api/v1/clients")).await;
+    assert_eq!(body, serde_json::json!([]));
+    {
+        use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
+        assert!(
+            state.launch.lock().unwrap().is_none(),
+            "unpair-all must end the live session of any client it revokes"
+        );
+        assert!(state.quit.load(Ordering::SeqCst));
+    }
+    // Persisted, for the same reason the single unpair is: a resurrected pairing would re-open
+    // the control port on the next boot.
+    let disk = std::fs::read(tmp.path().join("paired.json")).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(
+        serde_json::from_slice::<Vec<Vec<u8>>>(&disk).unwrap(),
+        Vec::<Vec<u8>>::new()
+    );
+
+    // Idempotent: emptying an empty store is a 200 with a zero count, NOT the single delete's 404.
+    // ("unpair everything" is already satisfied — there is no missing resource to report.)
+    let (status, body) = send(&app, del_all()).await;
+    assert_eq!(status, StatusCode::OK);
+    assert_eq!(body["unpaired"], 0);
 }
 
 #[cfg(feature = "gamestream")]
@@ -1248,8 +1314,13 @@ fn every_route_is_classified_for_the_plugin_and_cert_lanes() {
         // ---- paired-device rosters: readable by a plugin, never by another paired client, and
         // removal is pairing administration in both lanes.
         ("GET", "/api/v1/clients", true, false),
+        // The bulk form is the same authority as the single one — and, sharing its path with a
+        // plugin-readable GET, worth an explicit row: both gates match on (method, path), so the
+        // roster's read permission must never carry over to emptying it.
+        ("DELETE", "/api/v1/clients", false, false),
         ("DELETE", "/api/v1/clients/{fingerprint}", false, false),
         ("GET", "/api/v1/native/clients", true, false),
+        ("DELETE", "/api/v1/native/clients", false, false),
         (
             "DELETE",
             "/api/v1/native/clients/{fingerprint}",
@@ -1667,6 +1738,56 @@ async fn native_pairing_arm_show_and_unpair() {
     assert_eq!(b["armed"], false);
 }
 
+/// The collection delete on the native plane: one call empties the trust store, and repeating it
+/// is a zero-count success rather than an error.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn native_unpair_all_empties_the_trust_store() {
+    let np = Arc::new(
+        crate::native_pairing::NativePairing::load_with(
+            Some(std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("pf-mgmt-np-all-{}.json", std::process::id()))),
+            None,
+            false,
+        )
+        .unwrap(),
+    );
+    let app = test_app_native(test_state(), np.clone());
+
+    np.add("Living room TV", "aa11").unwrap();
+    np.add("Studio Deck", "bb22").unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(np.list().len(), 2);
+
+    let del_all = || {
+        axum::http::Request::delete("/api/v1/native/clients")
+            .body(Body::empty())
+            .unwrap()
+    };
+    let (status, body) = send(&app, del_all()).await;
+    assert_eq!(status, StatusCode::OK);
+    assert_eq!(body["unpaired"], 2);
+
+    // Gone from both the API and the store behind it (one persisted write, not two).
+    let (_, body) = send(&app, get_req("/api/v1/native/clients")).await;
+    assert_eq!(body, serde_json::json!([]));
+    assert!(np.list().is_empty());
+    assert!(!np.is_paired("aa11") && !np.is_paired("bb22"));
+
+    // Idempotent — unlike the single delete, which 404s on a fingerprint it cannot find.
+    let (status, body) = send(&app, del_all()).await;
+    assert_eq!(status, StatusCode::OK);
+    assert_eq!(body["unpaired"], 0);
+}
+
+/// Without a native plane there is no trust store to empty — 503, matching every other
+/// `/native/*` route (and NOT a silent 200 that would tell the console it had unpaired something).
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn native_unpair_all_without_a_native_host_is_unavailable() {
+    let app = test_app(test_state(), None);
+    let req = axum::http::Request::delete("/api/v1/native/clients")
+        .body(Body::empty())
+        .unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(send(&app, req).await.0, StatusCode::SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE);
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 async fn pending_devices_approve_and_deny() {
     let np = Arc::new(

crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/pad_audio.rs

@@ -321,16 +321,26 @@ pub(super) fn spawn(
     }
     let stop_t = stop.clone();
     let endpoint_id = ep.endpoint_id;
+    let vis_id = endpoint_id.clone();
     match std::thread::Builder::new()
         .name(format!("punktfunk1-pad{pad}"))
         .spawn(move || {
+            // COM for the visibility flips (the capturer's opens run on their own thread).
+            let _ = wasapi::initialize_mta();
+            // The endpoint parks HIDDEN while no pad is attached — an idle visible "Wireless
+            // Controller" speaker makes libScePad titles engage their DualSense-haptics path
+            // against an endpoint nothing services (the 2026-08-14 Helldivers 2 field tank).
+            // Show it for exactly this pad's lifetime, like a real DualSense arriving; the
+            // capturer's open/backoff loop absorbs the moment audiosrv takes to re-activate.
+            crate::audio::pad_endpoint::set_visibility(&vis_id, pad, true);
             pad_audio_thread(
                 conn,
                 pad,
                 kinds,
                 move || crate::audio::pad_endpoint::PadLoopbackCapturer::open(&endpoint_id),
                 stop_t,
-            )
+            );
+            crate::audio::pad_endpoint::set_visibility(&vis_id, pad, false);
         }) {
         Ok(join) => Some(PadAudioHandle {
             stop,

crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/stream.rs

@@ -2722,14 +2722,35 @@ pub(super) fn virtual_stream(ctx: SessionContext, prepared: Option<PreparedDispl
                 last_forced_idr = Some(now);
                 rfi_echo_swallowed = 0; // the IDR resets the episode — echoes of IT coalesce via the cooldown
                 if let Some(period) = recovery_cadence.note(now) {
-                    tracing::warn!(
-                        period_s = format!("{:.1}", period.as_secs_f64()),
-                        "client keyframe recoveries are METRONOMIC — a periodic host/display \
-                         disturbance (display-topology churn, display-poller software, \
-                         virtual-display timing) is the likely cause, not random network loss; \
-                         correlate with 'slow display-descriptor poll' / 'display descriptor \
-                         changed' / 'IDD-push capture stall' lines"
-                    );
+                    // A period that lands on the CLIENT's jump-to-live cooldown is not evidence
+                    // of a periodic disturbance here at all — it is the client shedding a
+                    // standing receive queue, which it is rate-limited to do exactly this often
+                    // (`punktfunk_core::client::FLUSH_COOLDOWN`), so the cadence is a property of
+                    // our own backpressure code rather than of anything physical. Naming display
+                    // churn there sent a 2026-08-13 field investigation at three innocent
+                    // subsystems while the real chain was: client refused the codec → demoted to
+                    // a slower decode rung → could not sustain the rate → standing queue.
+                    // Perfect periodicity argues FOR a software cooldown, not against it.
+                    if matches_client_flush_cadence(period) {
+                        tracing::warn!(
+                            period_s = format!("{:.1}", period.as_secs_f64()),
+                            "client keyframe recoveries match the client's jump-to-live cooldown \
+                             — the CLIENT cannot sustain the stream and is shedding a standing \
+                             receive queue (check its log for 'receive backlog stopped draining' \
+                             with queue_depth, and for a decode rung that demoted); a slower \
+                             decode path or a link below the bitrate does this, and it is NOT a \
+                             host display disturbance"
+                        );
+                    } else {
+                        tracing::warn!(
+                            period_s = format!("{:.1}", period.as_secs_f64()),
+                            "client keyframe recoveries are METRONOMIC — a periodic host/display \
+                             disturbance (display-topology churn, display-poller software, \
+                             virtual-display timing) is the likely cause, not random network \
+                             loss; correlate with 'slow display-descriptor poll' / 'display \
+                             descriptor changed' / 'IDD-push capture stall' lines"
+                        );
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -3785,6 +3806,23 @@ pub(super) fn virtual_stream(ctx: SessionContext, prepared: Option<PreparedDispl
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// Whether a measured keyframe-recovery period is the CLIENT's jump-to-live cooldown rather
+/// than anything happening on this host.
+///
+/// Every jump-to-live sends a keyframe request and is rate-limited to one per
+/// [`punktfunk_core::client::FLUSH_COOLDOWN`], so a client that simply cannot sustain the
+/// stream asks at exactly that spacing for as long as it stays behind. The recovery-cadence
+/// detector reads perfect periodicity as evidence of a periodic *disturbance*, which is
+/// backwards here: a fixed software cooldown is the most periodic thing in the system.
+///
+/// ±10 % — wide enough for scheduling jitter and the request's network trip, narrow enough that
+/// it cannot swallow the disturbance cadences the other branch exists to report (display-mode
+/// churn and descriptor polls run at their own, unrelated periods).
+fn matches_client_flush_cadence(period: std::time::Duration) -> bool {
+    let flush = punktfunk_core::client::FLUSH_COOLDOWN;
+    period.abs_diff(flush) < flush / 10
+}
+
 /// One mode's capture/encode pipeline: (capturer, encoder, first frame, frame interval).
 /// Dropping the capturer tears down the PipeWire stream and the virtual output with it.
 type Pipeline = (
@@ -4597,6 +4635,26 @@ fn build_pipeline(
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
+    /// The 2026-08-13 field log's exact reading — `period_s=2.0` — must be attributed to the
+    /// client's backlog shedding, not to a host display disturbance. The whole point of routing
+    /// on the shared constant is that this stays true if the cooldown is ever retuned, so the
+    /// test derives its cases from `FLUSH_COOLDOWN` instead of hardcoding two seconds.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_recovery_cadence_on_the_clients_cooldown_is_not_blamed_on_the_display() {
+        let flush = punktfunk_core::client::FLUSH_COOLDOWN;
+        assert!(matches_client_flush_cadence(flush), "the field reading");
+        // Scheduling jitter and the request's trip across the link stay inside the band.
+        assert!(matches_client_flush_cadence(flush + flush / 20));
+        assert!(matches_client_flush_cadence(flush - flush / 20));
+
+        // Cadences that are NOT the cooldown still reach the display-disturbance branch — the
+        // band must not be so wide that it swallows them.
+        assert!(!matches_client_flush_cadence(flush / 2));
+        assert!(!matches_client_flush_cadence(flush * 2));
+        assert!(!matches_client_flush_cadence(flush + flush / 5));
+        assert!(!matches_client_flush_cadence(std::time::Duration::ZERO));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn an_escalated_but_caught_up_encoder_stops_refusing_climbs() {
         const DEGRADE: u32 = 10;

crates/punktfunk-host/src/native_pairing.rs

@@ -159,6 +159,12 @@ impl NativePairing {
         self.store.remove(fp_hex)
     }
 
+    /// Remove EVERY paired client in one persisted write. Returns the fingerprints removed, so the
+    /// caller can end the sessions they own. On a persist failure nothing is removed.
+    pub fn remove_all(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
+        self.store.remove_all()
+    }
+
     // -- Delegated approval (roadmap §8b-1) ---------------------------------
 
     /// Record an unpaired device's knock for delegated approval. Re-knocks from the same fingerprint

crates/punktfunk-host/src/native_pairing/store.rs

@@ -130,6 +130,28 @@ impl TrustStore {
         Ok(removed)
     }
 
+    /// Remove EVERY paired client, in ONE persisted write. Returns the fingerprints removed, so
+    /// the caller can tear down the live sessions they own. On a persist failure the in-memory
+    /// store is rolled back (it never diverges from disk), exactly like [`Self::remove`].
+    ///
+    /// Not a loop over [`Self::remove`]: that would rewrite (and fsync-rename) the store once per
+    /// client, and a failure partway would leave the operator with a half-emptied trust store and
+    /// no way to tell which half.
+    pub(super) fn remove_all(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
+        let mut p = self.paired.lock().unwrap();
+        if p.clients.clients.is_empty() {
+            return Ok(Vec::new());
+        }
+        // `take` leaves the empty list in place to be persisted, and hands us the snapshot that
+        // doubles as both the rollback value and the removed-fingerprint report.
+        let snapshot = std::mem::take(&mut p.clients.clients);
+        if let Err(e) = save(&p) {
+            p.clients.clients = snapshot;
+            return Err(e);
+        }
+        Ok(snapshot.into_iter().map(|c| c.fingerprint).collect())
+    }
+
     /// The number of paired clients (for the status snapshot).
     pub(super) fn count(&self) -> u32 {
         self.paired.lock().unwrap().clients.clients.len() as u32

docs-site/content/docs/configuration.md

@@ -93,8 +93,9 @@ the full picture (and [Bazzite](/docs/bazzite) for that distro's specifics).
 | `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_NODE` | `auto` · node id | Discover + capture a **running** gamescope's PipeWire node at a fixed mode. Do **not** combine with `SESSION`. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_APP` | command | For an ad-hoc bare-gamescope session, the nested command to run (e.g. `vkcube`). |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_HDR` | `1` · `0` *(default on)* | Allow HDR (10-bit BT.2020 PQ) sessions on the gamescope backend. Needs the `punktfunk-gamescope` build — see [HDR on gamescope](/docs/gamescope#hdr-on-gamescope); without the build, sessions stream SDR. Set `0` to force SDR. |
-| `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SDR_NITS` | e.g. `400` | On an HDR gamescope session, the luminance SDR content (desktop, Steam overlay, SDR games) is mapped to inside the PQ container. Unset = gamescope's own default of 400. |
+| `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SDR_NITS` | e.g. `400` | On an HDR gamescope session, the luminance SDR content (desktop, Steam overlay, SDR games) is mapped to inside the PQ container. Unset = 203, BT.2408 reference white, which is what our clients decode against (gamescope's own default of 400 sits nearly a stop above it). |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_BIN` | path | Force a specific gamescope binary for the sessions the host spawns. Unset = prefer `punktfunk-gamescope` on `PATH`, then `gamescope`. |
+| `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_WSI_LAYER_DIR` | path | Directory holding our Vulkan WSI layer's manifest — the layer that lets a game nested under gamescope get an HDR10 swapchain. Unset = `/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d`, where every distro package installs it. The NixOS module sets this for you, since the layer lives inside the gamescope derivation there. If no manifest is found the host leaves the system's own layer alone and games stay SDR. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_SESSION_WATCH` | `1` · `0` | Follow a Gaming ↔ Desktop switch **mid-stream** (rebuild the backend in place, no reconnect). **On by default** on Bazzite/SteamOS; set `0` to disable. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_GRAB_CURSOR` | `1` | Add `--force-grab-cursor` to a bare gamescope session the host spawns **to run an app or game** (never the empty keep-alive session), forcing relative-mouse capture so FPS mouselook works over the injected pointer. **Off by default** — relative mode breaks absolute-pointer titles and menus, so turn it on per host. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SPLASH` | `1` · `0` *(default on)* | Run the built-in splash client inside each bare gamescope session the host spawns. **Leave it on**: gamescope only produces capture buffers once something paints, and a Steam launch paints nothing for its whole bootstrap — without the splash a fresh session starves and times out. `0` is a debugging escape hatch. |
@@ -217,7 +218,7 @@ it — leave it or delete it, it makes no difference.
 | `PUNKTFUNK_PLUGIN_TOKEN` | token | The scoped token the [plugin/scripting runner](/docs/plugins) uses — a narrower credential than `PUNKTFUNK_MGMT_TOKEN`, never full admin. Same precedence: if unset it's generated and persisted to `~/.config/punktfunk/plugin-token`. Set only to pin a specific token. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_CONFIG_DIR` | path | Override the config directory (default `~/.config/punktfunk`) — pairing state, certs, apps.json, captures. |
 | `PUNKTFUNK_UI_PLUGIN_PORT` | port *(default: console port + 1)* | The separate port [plugin](/docs/plugins) UIs are served from. They get their own origin on purpose — a plugin page can never act as *you* on the console. If the console log says this port couldn't be opened (plugin UIs then stay disabled rather than sharing the console's origin), point it at a free port and restart. |
-| `PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS` | directories, `;`-separated | Where the host is allowed to read game artwork from when serving your library. Defaults to sensible platform roots (your home directory on Linux/macOS); set it when box art lives elsewhere — a second drive, a network mount. The host log's "not under an allowed art root" line is this knob's cue. |
+| `PUNKTFUNK_LIBRARY_ART_ROOTS` | directories, separated like `PATH` (`;` on Windows, `:` on Linux/macOS) | Where the host is allowed to read game artwork from when serving your library. Defaults to sensible platform roots: your home directory on Linux/macOS, and on Windows the users base (`C:\Users`) plus your Steam install, wherever it is. Set it when box art lives somewhere else again — a second drive, a network mount, or a launcher installed outside all of those. Setting it **replaces** the defaults, so list every root you need. The host log's "dropped local art the proxy may not serve" line is this knob's cue: those entries still appear in your library, but their covers stay blank until the root is allowed. |
 
 ## Updates
 

docs-site/content/docs/hdr.md

@@ -85,8 +85,11 @@ happens. Staying on attach also leaves the stream with no cursor;
 [HDR on gamescope](/docs/gamescope#hdr-on-gamescope) has the fix for that half.
 
 SDR content rides the same PQ container — the desktop, the Steam overlay, an SDR game — mapped in at
-`PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SDR_NITS` (gamescope's own default is 400). That is the knob when white looks
-too bright or too dim on your TV.
+`PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SDR_NITS`, which defaults to **203 nits**. That is BT.2408 reference white, and
+it is the level our clients decode against, so the two ends agree out of the box. gamescope's own
+default is 400, nearly a stop brighter; hosts that let it float showed a glaring, over-saturated
+Steam UI and washed-out HDR game content on the same stream. Move the knob if you want a brighter or
+dimmer desktop, but be aware that moving it re-opens that gap.
 
 ### Linux + GNOME
 

flake.nix

@@ -69,6 +69,10 @@
           # from source and would make `nix flake check` an hour long.
           punktfunk-gamescope = pkgs.callPackage ./packaging/nix/gamescope.nix {
             patchDir = ./packaging/gamescope/patches;
+            # Shared verbatim with build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh, which is the whole reason it is a
+            # file: the FHS packages and the Nix store must rename the WSI layer identically, or
+            # the host looks for a layer name that only one of them produces.
+            manifestRewriter = ./packaging/gamescope/rewrite-wsi-layer-manifest.py;
           };
         };
     in

packaging/arch/build-sysext.sh

@@ -77,7 +77,15 @@ if [ -n "$GAMESCOPE" ]; then
   [ -x "$GS_BIN" ] || { echo "$GAMESCOPE did not provide usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope" >&2; exit 1; }
   "$GS_BIN" --version 2>&1 | grep -q '+pfhdr' || {
     echo "$GAMESCOPE's binary has no +pfhdr marker — it is not a punktfunk HDR build" >&2; exit 1; }
-  echo "folded in $("$GS_BIN" --version 2>&1 | head -1)"
+  # The package carries the Vulkan WSI layer alongside the compositor and the extraction above takes
+  # the whole `usr`, so this is an assertion rather than a step — but a silent one is exactly how
+  # this went wrong before: an image with the compositor and no layer streams HDR while every game
+  # inside it renders SDR, and nothing anywhere says why.
+  for f in usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so \
+           usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json; do
+    [ -f "$STAGE/$f" ] || { echo "$GAMESCOPE has no $f — no game HDR without it" >&2; exit 1; }
+  done
+  echo "folded in $("$GS_BIN" --version 2>&1 | head -1) + its WSI layer"
 fi
 
 # The marker systemd-sysext requires to merge the image. ID=_any merges onto ANY host os-release

packaging/bazzite/build-sysext.sh

@@ -24,15 +24,20 @@
 #
 # Usage:
 #   bash build-sysext.sh --version-id 43 --out dist/punktfunk-0.7.1-1-x86-64.raw \
-#        [--gamescope path/to/punktfunk-gamescope] \
+#        [--gamescope-stage path/to/gamescope-destdir] \
 #        dist/punktfunk-0.7.1-1.fc43.x86_64.rpm dist/punktfunk-web-0.7.1-1.fc43.noarch.rpm
 #
-# --gamescope folds in a prebuilt HDR-capable gamescope (packaging/gamescope) as
+# --gamescope-stage folds in a prebuilt HDR-capable gamescope (packaging/gamescope) as
 # /usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope, which is what lets the gamescope backend stream 10-bit BT.2020 PQ.
 # It is NOT built here: it is a C++ meson build with gamescope's whole dependency set, so CI builds
 # it in the same Fedora container beforehand (`bash packaging/gamescope/build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh
-# --destdir stage --prefix /usr`) and passes the resulting binary in. Omit it and the image is
-# exactly what it was — the host then stays SDR on that backend, by design.
+# --destdir stage --prefix /usr`) and passes that DESTDIR in. Omit it and the image is exactly what
+# it was — the host then stays SDR on that backend, by design.
+#
+# A directory rather than the binary, because the tree also carries the Vulkan WSI layer built beside
+# the compositor. That layer is the only route to an HDR10 swapchain for a game nested under
+# gamescope, so an image with the compositor and without it would stream HDR while every game in it
+# rendered SDR.
 #
 # The installed image MUST be named punktfunk.raw (the embedded extension-release marker is
 # extension-release.punktfunk; systemd-sysext requires marker == image name) — the feed carries
@@ -44,7 +49,7 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   case "$1" in
     --version-id) VERSION_ID="${2:?}"; shift 2 ;;
     --out)        OUT="${2:?}"; shift 2 ;;
-    --gamescope)  GAMESCOPE="${2:?}"; shift 2 ;;
+    --gamescope-stage) GAMESCOPE="${2:?}"; shift 2 ;;
     *)            RPMS+=("$1"); shift ;;
   esac
 done
@@ -87,15 +92,27 @@ if [ -d "$STAGE/etc" ]; then
 fi
 rm -rf "${STAGE:?}/var"   # rpm ghosts etc. — nothing outside /usr may remain
 
-# The HDR-capable gamescope, when one was built (see --gamescope in the header). Verified by its
+# The HDR-capable gamescope, when one was built (see --gamescope-stage in the header). Verified by its
 # banner marker rather than trusted by filename: an unpatched gamescope shipped under this name
 # would make the host promise HDR it cannot deliver, and the punktfunk/1 Welcome cannot take that
 # back mid-session.
 if [ -n "$GAMESCOPE" ]; then
-  [ -x "$GAMESCOPE" ] || { echo "no such executable: $GAMESCOPE" >&2; exit 1; }
-  "$GAMESCOPE" --version 2>&1 | grep -q '+pfhdr' || {
-    echo "$GAMESCOPE has no +pfhdr marker — it is not a punktfunk HDR build" >&2; exit 1; }
-  install -Dm0755 "$GAMESCOPE" "$STAGE/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
+  GS_BIN="$GAMESCOPE/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
+  GS_LAYER_SO="$GAMESCOPE/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+  GS_LAYER_JSON="$GAMESCOPE/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
+  [ -x "$GS_BIN" ] || { echo "no such executable: $GS_BIN" >&2; exit 1; }
+  "$GS_BIN" --version 2>&1 | grep -q '+pfhdr' || {
+    echo "$GS_BIN has no +pfhdr marker — it is not a punktfunk HDR build" >&2; exit 1; }
+  # Fatal for the same reason the marker check is: an image carrying the compositor without its
+  # layer streams HDR while every game inside it renders SDR, and says nothing about why.
+  for f in "$GS_LAYER_SO" "$GS_LAYER_JSON"; do
+    [ -f "$f" ] || { echo "$f missing — the gamescope stage has no WSI layer" >&2; exit 1; }
+  done
+  install -Dm0755 "$GS_BIN" "$STAGE/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
+  install -Dm0755 "$GS_LAYER_SO" \
+    "$STAGE/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+  install -Dm0644 "$GS_LAYER_JSON" \
+    "$STAGE/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
 fi
 
 # Enable the plugin/script runner for every user, by baking its `[Install] WantedBy=default.target`

packaging/debian/build-gamescope-deb.sh

@@ -10,24 +10,38 @@
 # not Provide/Conflict with it. Only the sessions punktfunk-host starts itself resolve this binary
 # (PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_BIN > punktfunk-gamescope > gamescope).
 #
+# `--stage` is the DESTDIR build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh wrote, not a single binary: that tree carries
+# the compositor AND the Vulkan WSI layer built beside it, and a game nested under gamescope gets its
+# HDR10 swapchain from that layer or from nowhere. Taking the whole tree is what stops the next file
+# in the package needing a new flag in every packaging script.
+#
 # Usage:
 #   VERSION=3.16.25.pfhdr4~ci42.gdeadbee bash packaging/debian/build-gamescope-deb.sh \
-#     --binary gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope [--arch amd64]
+#     --stage gs-cache [--arch amd64]
 # Output: dist/punktfunk-gamescope_<version>_<arch>.deb
 set -euo pipefail
 
-BINARY=""
+SRC_STAGE=""
 DEB_ARCH=""
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   case "$1" in
-    --binary) BINARY="${2:?--binary needs a path}"; shift 2 ;;
+    --stage)  SRC_STAGE="${2:?--stage needs a path}"; shift 2 ;;
     --arch)   DEB_ARCH="${2:?--arch needs a value}"; shift 2 ;;
     *) echo "unknown argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
   esac
 done
 
-[ -n "$BINARY" ] || { echo "ERROR: --binary is required" >&2; exit 2; }
+[ -n "$SRC_STAGE" ] || { echo "ERROR: --stage is required" >&2; exit 2; }
+# The layout build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh writes under its --destdir/--prefix.
+BINARY="$SRC_STAGE/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
+LAYER_SO="$SRC_STAGE/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+LAYER_JSON="$SRC_STAGE/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
 [ -x "$BINARY" ] || { echo "ERROR: $BINARY is not an executable file" >&2; exit 1; }
+# Hard, not best-effort: a package carrying the compositor without its layer looks perfectly healthy
+# and then silently denies every game an HDR10 swapchain.
+for f in "$LAYER_SO" "$LAYER_JSON"; do
+  [ -f "$f" ] || { echo "ERROR: $f missing from the stage — no game HDR without it" >&2; exit 1; }
+done
 
 PKG="punktfunk-gamescope"
 ROOTDIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.." && pwd)"
@@ -60,6 +74,12 @@ trap 'rm -rf "$STAGE"' EXIT
 # root-only and some tooling refuses it.
 chmod 0755 "$STAGE"
 install -Dm0755 "$BINARY" "$STAGE/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
+# /usr/lib/punktfunk, not a multiarch triplet dir: the layer manifest carries that absolute path
+# baked in at build time, so the two have to agree. Nothing links the .so by soname — the Vulkan
+# loader dlopens it by exactly that path — so multiarch has no say here.
+install -Dm0755 "$LAYER_SO" "$STAGE/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+install -Dm0644 "$LAYER_JSON" \
+  "$STAGE/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
 mkdir -p "$STAGE/DEBIAN"
 
 # Shared-library dependencies straight from the binary's own ELF NEEDED entries. That is what makes
@@ -103,7 +123,10 @@ fi
   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."
+  echo " Installed as /usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope, with its matching Vulkan WSI layer under"
+  echo " /usr/lib/punktfunk. The layer has its own name and its own enable variable, so it sits"
+  echo " beside your gamescope package's rather than replacing it; your system gamescope is"
+  echo " untouched."
 } > "$STAGE/DEBIAN/control"
 
 mkdir -p dist

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=5fb8dce4a09d0a68d097b9faf9513782106bc843
-pkgver="${_gsver}.pfhdr6"
+pkgver="${_gsver}.pfhdr7"
 # 2: patch 0006 (never destroy the Vulkan device/output at exit). No capability moved, so the
 # `.pfhdrN` level deliberately stays put — see README.md.
 # 3: pin moved 8c676c39 -> 5fb8dce4 (3.16.25-1 -> 3.16.25-11), which brings upstream's own
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ pkgver="${_gsver}.pfhdr6"
 # the composite (and the stream) black while every health signal stayed green. No capability the
 # host probes for, but a field box's banner has to distinguish a build that can lose its composite
 # this way from one that cannot.
+#
+# pfhdr7 / rel 1: patch 0009 (reported + written by luxus, punktfunk-overlay#9) moves capture-buffer
+# destruction off the PipeWire thread: remove_buffer used to drop the last CVulkanTexture ref there,
+# racing steamcompmgr's vulkan_screenshot on the same device — a SIGSEGV precisely in the linger
+# window, so a kept display was dead and reconnect lost the game session. No capability the host
+# probes for, but "reconnect lost my game" triage has to read the difference off the banner.
 pkgrel=1
 pkgdesc="gamescope with 10-bit BT.2020/PQ PipeWire capture, for punktfunk HDR streaming"
 arch=('x86_64' 'aarch64')
@@ -98,10 +104,20 @@ build() {
 }
 
 package() {
-  # ONLY the compositor, under our own name: a full `meson install` would also lay down
-  # gamescopectl / gamescopereaper / gamescopestream and the WSI layer, colliding file-for-file
-  # with the distro's `gamescope` package. The host only ever execs the compositor.
+  # The compositor, under our own name: a full `meson install` would also lay down
+  # gamescopectl / gamescopereaper / gamescopestream, colliding file-for-file with the distro's
+  # `gamescope` package. The host only ever execs the compositor.
   install -Dm755 "${srcdir}/stage/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope" \
     "${pkgdir}/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
+
+  # ...and the WSI layer built beside it. NOT a collision: the build script renamed the layer and
+  # rehomed it under /usr/lib/punktfunk, so it sits alongside the distro's rather than over it, and
+  # the host enables whichever it means to per session. Without this file no game in a punktfunk
+  # gamescope session can get an HDR10 swapchain at all — that layer is the only route to one.
+  install -Dm755 "${srcdir}/stage/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so" \
+    "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+  install -Dm644 "${srcdir}/stage/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json" \
+    "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
+
   install -Dm644 gamescope/LICENSE "${pkgdir}/usr/share/licenses/${pkgname}/LICENSE"
 }

packaging/gamescope/README.md

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ The patches here add the missing half, and nothing else. See
 | `0006-punktfunk-never-destroy-the-Vulkan-device-or-output-.patch` | Give `g_device` and `g_output` storage that is never destroyed, so their destructors cannot call a Vulkan driver glibc has already unloaded at `exit()` | **Yes** — a plain static-destruction-order bug, not punktfunk-specific |
 | `0007-pipewire-never-leave-pw_buffer-user_data-pointing-at.patch` | Associate `pw_buffer->user_data` with its `pipewire_buffer` for every path out of `add_buffer`, clear it in `remove_buffer` (the last point both halves are known), and null-check the consumers — killing the use-after-free that aborted the session on every capture renegotiation | **Yes** — a plain use-after-free in the PipeWire buffer lifecycle |
 | `0008-steamcompmgr-honor-GAMESCOPE_NO_FOCUS-never-a-focus-.patch` | Honor `GAMESCOPE_NO_FOCUS` (set by hhd-ui and MangoHud, consumed by nobody): such windows are skipped by both focus-candidate collectors, so a mapped-but-unpainted overlay app can no longer win focus and turn the composite black. Compositing is untouched — only focus SELECTION is barred | **Yes** — the atom's setters already exist in the wild; some compositor has to keep the promise |
+| `0009-pipewire-destroy-capture-textures-on-the-compositor-.patch` | Move capture-buffer destruction off the PipeWire thread: `remove_buffer`/stale-push queue the corpse (`bury_buffer`), steamcompmgr reaps on every vblank — including while the stream is paused, which is exactly the linger window. Without it, dropping the last `CVulkanTexture` ref on the PW thread races `vulkan_screenshot` on the same device and SIGSEGVs (NVIDIA `insertBarrier`), so a lingered display is dead and reconnect loses the session. Reported + written by luxus (punktfunk-overlay#9) | **Yes** — the race is upstream's `paint_pipewire` vs `destroy_buffer`; our patches only make the paint path heavier |
 
 ### Why the headless patch matters
 
@@ -68,6 +69,20 @@ variant of the same fault instead. Two traps when triaging it:
   lands in a working-looking game mode at the wrong resolution and without any of these patches.
   Read the banner in `~/.gamescope-stdout.log`, not the fact that a session exists.
 
+### Why the teardown patch is what makes linger real
+
+Patch 0007 keeps a session alive across renegotiations; patch 0009 keeps it alive across
+*disconnects*. When the capture consumer leaves, `stream_handle_remove_buffer` used to destroy
+idle buffers on the PipeWire thread — and `~CVulkanTexture` talks to the Vulkan device
+(`vkDestroyImage`/`FreeMemory`/dmabuf fds) while steamcompmgr can still be inside
+`vulkan_screenshot` on another buffer of the same 4-buffer pool. On NVIDIA that races to a SIGSEGV
+in `CVulkanCmdBuffer::insertBarrier`, timed precisely at stream end — so the display the host
+keeps lingering for a reconnect is already dead, and the "resumed" session silently becomes a
+fresh compositor with the game lost. The journal signature: a linger line, then a coredump, then
+`kept display was dead — recreating`. Found, fixed and proven live by luxus
+([punktfunk-overlay#9](https://github.com/luxus/punktfunk-overlay/issues/9)) on 4K60 HDR + composited
+cursor, the heaviest paint path we ship.
+
 ## Why the marker exists
 
 punktfunk decides a session's shape **before** the virtual display exists: the bit depth at
@@ -87,6 +102,7 @@ The number is a **monotonic patch-set revision**, so one probe answers every cap
 | `+pfhdr4` | …and `--pipewire-composite-external-overlay` |
 | `+pfhdr5` | …and the PipeWire buffer use-after-free is fixed (no new capability) |
 | `+pfhdr6` | …and `GAMESCOPE_NO_FOCUS` windows are never focus candidates (no new capability) |
+| `+pfhdr7` | …and PipeWire teardown cannot SIGSEGV a lingering compositor (no new capability) |
 
 Bump it whenever a patch adds or changes something the host must know about before it spawns.
 

packaging/gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh

@@ -7,19 +7,24 @@
 # 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
+# Nothing is BUILT here; CI builds once per Fedora major and caches the staged tree
 # (.gitea/workflows/rpm.yml). See punktfunk-gamescope.spec's header for why repacking beats
 # rebuilding.
 #
+# `--stage` is the DESTDIR that build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh wrote, not a single binary: that tree
+# carries the compositor AND the WSI layer built beside it, and a game gets an HDR10 swapchain from
+# that layer or from nowhere. Taking the whole tree rather than a file per artifact is deliberate —
+# it is what stops the next file added to the package needing a new flag in four packaging scripts.
+#
 # Usage:
 #   bash packaging/gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh \
-#     --binary gs-cache/punktfunk-gamescope \
+#     --stage gs-cache \
 #     [--version 3.16.25] [--release 1] [--outdir dist]
 #
 # Output: <outdir>/punktfunk-gamescope-<version>-<release>.<arch>.rpm
 set -euo pipefail
 
-BINARY=""
+STAGE=""
 # 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=""
@@ -28,7 +33,7 @@ OUTDIR="dist"
 
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   case "$1" in
-    --binary)  BINARY="${2:?--binary needs a path}"; shift 2 ;;
+    --stage)   STAGE="${2:?--stage needs a path}"; shift 2 ;;
     --version) VERSION="${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 ;;
@@ -36,8 +41,18 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   esac
 done
 
-[ -n "$BINARY" ] || { echo "ERROR: --binary is required" >&2; exit 2; }
+[ -n "$STAGE" ] || { echo "ERROR: --stage is required" >&2; exit 2; }
+# The layout build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh writes under its --destdir/--prefix.
+BINARY="$STAGE/usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
+LAYER_SO="$STAGE/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+LAYER_JSON="$STAGE/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
 [ -x "$BINARY" ] || { echo "ERROR: $BINARY is not an executable file" >&2; exit 1; }
+# Hard, not best-effort. A package that carries the compositor without its layer looks completely
+# healthy and then silently denies every game an HDR10 swapchain — the failure this whole change
+# exists to end. Better to fail the packaging step than to ship that quietly again.
+for f in "$LAYER_SO" "$LAYER_JSON"; do
+  [ -f "$f" ] || { echo "ERROR: $f missing from the stage — no game HDR without it" >&2; exit 1; }
+done
 
 ROOTDIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.." && pwd)"
 cd "$ROOTDIR"
@@ -66,6 +81,8 @@ TOP="$(mktemp -d)"
 trap 'rm -rf "$TOP"' EXIT
 mkdir -p "$TOP"/{SOURCES,SPECS,BUILD,BUILDROOT,RPMS,SRPMS}
 install -m0755 "$BINARY" "$TOP/SOURCES/punktfunk-gamescope"
+install -m0755 "$LAYER_SO" "$TOP/SOURCES/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+install -m0644 "$LAYER_JSON" "$TOP/SOURCES/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
 
 mkdir -p "$OUTDIR"
 rpmbuild \

packaging/gamescope/build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh

@@ -90,10 +90,14 @@ echo "==> configuring"
 #                               test suite is not our job either way.
 #   -Denable_openvr_support     the VR integration pulls the openvr submodule + its build for a
 #                               code path a headless capture session never enters.
-#   -Denable_gamescope_wsi_layer the WSI layer is a SEPARATE artifact the distro's gamescope
-#                               package already installs; ours must not collide with it.
-#                               (The layer the nested games load is that one — it is version-
-#                               independent of the compositor binary.)
+#   -Denable_gamescope_wsi_layer ON, and installed under our own name below. This used to be off,
+#                               on the grounds that the distro's gamescope package already ships a
+#                               layer and that the layer is "version-independent of the compositor
+#                               binary". That second half is FALSE: the layer and the compositor
+#                               speak `gamescope_swapchain` to each other, and when they disagree
+#                               the compositor rejects the client's `swapchain_feedback` and every
+#                               Vulkan client dies on a black screen. A compositor we ship needs
+#                               the layer we built beside it.
 #
 # `force_fallback_for` includes **wlroots** on purpose, and it is load-bearing for a binary we
 # SHIP: gamescope vendors a wlroots submodule, but meson prefers a system one when the build host
@@ -124,7 +128,7 @@ meson setup "$BUILD" "$SRCDIR" \
   -Dpipewire=enabled \
   -Denable_tests=false \
   -Denable_openvr_support=false \
-  -Denable_gamescope_wsi_layer=false
+  -Denable_gamescope_wsi_layer=true
 
 echo "==> building"
 ninja -C "$BUILD" ${JOBS:+-j "$JOBS"}
@@ -149,6 +153,36 @@ DEST="${DESTDIR}${PREFIX}/bin/punktfunk-gamescope"
 echo "==> installing $DEST"
 install -Dm755 "$BIN" "$DEST"
 
+# The WSI layer, under OUR name, at OUR path.
+#
+# A game nested under gamescope gets an HDR10 swapchain from this layer and from nothing else —
+# gamescope advertises no runtime colour-management protocol a Mesa/NVIDIA WSI could negotiate
+# through — so a compositor shipped WITHOUT a matching layer simply cannot do HDR for games. Built
+# from this same tree at this same rev, so the two can never drift apart; that is the whole point,
+# and it is what makes the host's old "compare version triples and hope" check unnecessary.
+#
+# It must not collide with the distro's layer and must be switchable independently of it, so the
+# generated manifest is rewritten to carry our layer name, our library path and our own
+# enable/disable variables. The Vulkan loader keys implicit layers on that NAME, so with a distinct
+# one both layers can sit installed side by side and the host picks per session.
+#
+# python3 rather than sed because meson is itself a Python program — it is guaranteed present on any
+# host that got this far — and a JSON edit belongs in a JSON parser.
+LAYER_SO=$(find "$BUILD" -type f -name 'libVkLayer_*gamescope_wsi*.so' | head -1)
+LAYER_SRC_JSON=$(find "$BUILD" -type f -name '*gamescope_wsi*.json' | head -1)
+[ -n "$LAYER_SO" ] && [ -n "$LAYER_SRC_JSON" ] || {
+  echo "the WSI layer did not build (.so=${LAYER_SO:-none} .json=${LAYER_SRC_JSON:-none}) — without" >&2
+  echo "it no game in a punktfunk gamescope session can get an HDR10 swapchain" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+LAYER_LIB_PATH="${PREFIX}/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+LAYER_DEST_JSON="${DESTDIR}${PREFIX}/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
+echo "==> installing ${DESTDIR}${LAYER_LIB_PATH}"
+install -Dm755 "$LAYER_SO" "${DESTDIR}${LAYER_LIB_PATH}"
+install -d "$(dirname "$LAYER_DEST_JSON")"
+python3 "$(dirname "$0")/rewrite-wsi-layer-manifest.py" \
+  "$LAYER_SRC_JSON" "$LAYER_DEST_JSON" "$LAYER_LIB_PATH"
+
 if [ "$SETCAP" = 1 ] && command -v setcap >/dev/null; then
   # gamescope raises its own scheduling priority; without CAP_SYS_NICE it still runs, just noisier
   # and with worse frame pacing. Best-effort — needs root, and a package sets it declaratively.

packaging/gamescope/patches/0009-pipewire-destroy-capture-textures-on-the-compositor-.patch

@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+From 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: luxus <luxus@users.noreply.github.com>
+Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2026 23:15:48 +0200
+Subject: [PATCH] pipewire: destroy capture textures on the compositor thread
+MIME-Version: 1.0
+Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
+Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
+
+When the capture consumer leaves, PipeWire remove_buffer destroys idle
+buffers on the PW thread. CVulkanTexture's destructor talks to the Vulkan
+device (DestroyImage / FreeMemory / close dmabuf fds). steamcompmgr may
+still be inside vulkan_screenshot on another buffer of the same device.
+
+That race SIGSEGVs in CVulkanCmdBuffer::insertBarrier / libnvidia-eglcore
+and kills the compositor. A lingering gamescope session then cannot be
+reused — the host has to spawn a new one.
+
+Queue those corpses and delete them on the steamcompmgr vblank, including
+when the stream is only paused (linger: no consumer, compositor stays up).
+
+The same race exists on the stale-push path (dispatch_nudge destroying a
+buffer whose pw_buffer vanished while it was copying), so that call is
+buried too. Corpses queued when the compositor exits are reclaimed by the
+kernel, same as patch 0006's deliberate leak.
+
+Reported, written and proven live by luxus (punktfunk-overlay#9): four
+coredumps on an NVIDIA host, all at stream end / linger, three in
+paint_pipewire → vulkan_screenshot → insertBarrier with a concurrent
+destroy_buffer → ~CVulkanTexture on the PipeWire thread; after this patch
+a disconnect/reconnect reuses the lingered session.
+
+Not addressed here: stream_handle_add_buffer's `error:` path still deletes
+on the PW thread. By the later `goto error`s a texture may be attached, so
+the same race is reachable in theory — but only when an add FAILS mid-
+renegotiation, which none of the field coredumps show. Left as-is to stay
+byte-identical with the change that was proven on-glass.
+
+punktfunk: the banner moves to +pfhdr7. No new capability — but a build
+whose linger can die of its own capture teardown is indistinguishable from
+one that cannot except by this marker, and "reconnect lost my game" is
+exactly the field report that needs that read (same rule as pfhdr5/6).
+
+Upstream: yes — the race is upstream's paint_pipewire vs destroy_buffer;
+our HDR/cursor patches only make the paint path heavier.
+---
+ src/meson.build      |  3 ++-
+ src/pipewire.cpp     | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
+ src/pipewire.hpp     |  3 +++
+ src/steamcompmgr.cpp | 10 ++++++++--
+ 4 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
+index acfcaea..fe854af 100644
+--- a/src/meson.build
++++ b/src/meson.build
+@@ -186,7 +186,8 @@ vcs_tag = run_command(vcs_tag_cmd, check: false).stdout().strip()
+ #   +pfhdr4 — …and `--pipewire-composite-external-overlay`
+ #   +pfhdr5 — …and the PipeWire buffer use-after-free is fixed (no new capability)
+ #   +pfhdr6 — …and GAMESCOPE_NO_FOCUS windows are never focus candidates (no new capability)
+-version_tag = vcs_tag + '+pfhdr6' + ' (' + compiler_name + ' ' + compiler_version + ')'
++#   +pfhdr7 — …and PipeWire teardown cannot SIGSEGV a lingering compositor (no new capability)
++version_tag = vcs_tag + '+pfhdr7' + ' (' + compiler_name + ' ' + compiler_version + ')'
+ 
+ gamescope_version_conf = configuration_data()
+ gamescope_version_conf.set('VCS_TAG', version_tag)
+diff --git a/src/pipewire.cpp b/src/pipewire.cpp
+index c683b3a..3c727e9 100644
+--- a/src/pipewire.cpp
++++ b/src/pipewire.cpp
+@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
+ #include <unistd.h>
+ 
+ #include <atomic>
++#include <mutex>
+ #include <thread>
+ #include <vector>
+ 
+@@ -103,6 +104,29 @@ static void destroy_buffer(struct pipewire_buffer *buffer) {
+ 	delete buffer;
+ }
+ 
++// The PipeWire thread must not destroy CVulkanTextures: steamcompmgr may be
++// inside vulkan_screenshot on another buffer of the same device. Queue the
++// corpse and let steamcompmgr delete it on the next vblank.
++static std::mutex s_deadBuffersMutex;
++static std::vector<struct pipewire_buffer *> s_deadBuffers;
++
++static void bury_buffer(struct pipewire_buffer *buffer)
++{
++	std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(s_deadBuffersMutex);
++	s_deadBuffers.push_back(buffer);
++}
++
++void pipewire_reap_dead_buffers(void)
++{
++	std::vector<struct pipewire_buffer *> dead;
++	{
++		std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(s_deadBuffersMutex);
++		dead.swap(s_deadBuffers);
++	}
++	for (struct pipewire_buffer *buffer : dead)
++		destroy_buffer(buffer);
++}
++
+ void pipewire_destroy_buffer(struct pipewire_buffer *buffer)
+ {
+ 	destroy_buffer(buffer);
+@@ -384,7 +408,7 @@ static void dispatch_nudge(struct pipewire_state *state, int fd)
+ 				pwr_log.errorf("pw_stream_queue_buffer failed");
+ 			}
+ 		} else {
+-			destroy_buffer(buffer);
++			bury_buffer(buffer);
+ 		}
+ 	}
+ }
+@@ -694,7 +718,7 @@ static void stream_handle_remove_buffer(void *data, struct pw_buffer *pw_buffer)
+ 	buffer->buffer = nullptr;
+ 
+ 	if (!buffer->copying) {
+-		destroy_buffer(buffer);
++		bury_buffer(buffer);
+ 	}
+ }
+ 
+diff --git a/src/pipewire.hpp b/src/pipewire.hpp
+index b4d7e29..d0b510c 100644
+--- a/src/pipewire.hpp
++++ b/src/pipewire.hpp
+@@ -60,5 +60,8 @@ uint32_t get_pipewire_stream_node_id(void);
+ struct pipewire_buffer *dequeue_pipewire_buffer(void);
+ bool pipewire_is_streaming();
+ void pipewire_destroy_buffer(struct pipewire_buffer *buffer);
++// Destroy textures queued by the PipeWire thread. Must run on steamcompmgr —
++// CVulkanTexture's dtor talks to the Vulkan device.
++void pipewire_reap_dead_buffers(void);
+ void push_pipewire_buffer(struct pipewire_buffer *buffer);
+ void nudge_pipewire(void);
+diff --git a/src/steamcompmgr.cpp b/src/steamcompmgr.cpp
+index 14596ae..932316f 100644
+--- a/src/steamcompmgr.cpp
++++ b/src/steamcompmgr.cpp
+@@ -9321,8 +9321,14 @@ steamcompmgr_main(int argc, char **argv)
+ 
+ #if HAVE_PIPEWIRE
+ 		// Drive on vblank, not the timer: under VRR the timer starves (page flips re-arm it).
+-		if ( vblank && pipewire_is_streaming() )
+-			paint_pipewire();
++		// Reap even when the consumer is gone: linger keeps us alive, and textures
++		// queued by remove_buffer must die on this thread, not PipeWire's.
++		if ( vblank )
++		{
++			pipewire_reap_dead_buffers();
++			if ( pipewire_is_streaming() )
++				paint_pipewire();
++		}
+ #endif
+ 
+ 		update_vrr_atoms(root_ctx, false, &flush_root);

packaging/gamescope/punktfunk-gamescope.spec

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 # 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>
+# Usage: bash packaging/gamescope/build-gamescope-rpm.sh --stage <destdir-the-build-script-wrote>
 Name:           punktfunk-gamescope
 Version:        %{pf_version}
 Release:        %{pf_release}%{?dist}
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ Summary:        gamescope with punktfunk's PipeWire capture patches (HDR, cursor
 License:        BSD-2-Clause
 URL:            https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk
 Source0:        punktfunk-gamescope
+# The Vulkan WSI layer built from the same tree at the same rev as the compositor above. A game
+# nested under gamescope gets its HDR10 swapchain from this layer and from nothing else, and a layer
+# built for a DIFFERENT gamescope kills every Vulkan client — so the two ship together or the
+# package is a trap.
+Source1:        libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so
+Source2:        punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json
 
 # 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
@@ -49,7 +55,10 @@ packaging/gamescope/patches:
   * --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.
+Installed as /usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope, with its matching Vulkan WSI layer under
+/usr/lib/punktfunk. The layer carries its own name and its own enable variable, so it sits beside
+the one your gamescope package installs rather than replacing it, and only sessions punktfunk-host
+starts switch to it. Your system gamescope is untouched.
 
 %prep
 # Nothing to unpack: Source0 IS the binary.
@@ -60,6 +69,14 @@ Installed as /usr/bin/punktfunk-gamescope. Your system gamescope is untouched.
 %install
 install -Dm0755 %{SOURCE0} %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/punktfunk-gamescope
 
+# /usr/lib, spelled literally rather than %{_libdir}, which is /usr/lib64 here. The layer's manifest
+# carries an ABSOLUTE library_path baked in at build time (/usr/lib/punktfunk/...), so this path and
+# that string have to agree or the loader finds a manifest pointing at nothing. Nothing links this
+# .so by soname — the Vulkan loader dlopens it by that absolute path — so there is no multilib
+# question to answer, and a private vendor directory is where it belongs.
+install -Dm0755 %{SOURCE1} %{buildroot}/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so
+install -Dm0644 %{SOURCE2} %{buildroot}/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json
+
 %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.
@@ -71,8 +88,22 @@ install -Dm0755 %{SOURCE0} %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/punktfunk-gamescope
   exit 1
 }
 
+# The manifest's absolute library_path must name the file we actually installed. Getting this wrong
+# (%{_libdir} on a multilib box, a renamed .so) produces a package that installs cleanly and then
+# does nothing at all — the loader reads a manifest, finds no library, and moves on in silence.
+LAYER_LIB="$(grep -o '"library_path"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"[^"]*"' \
+  %{buildroot}/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json \
+  | sed 's/.*"\(\/[^"]*\)".*/\1/')"
+[ -f "%{buildroot}${LAYER_LIB}" ] || {
+  echo "punktfunk-gamescope: the layer manifest points at ${LAYER_LIB}, which this package does" >&2
+  echo "                     not install — games would silently get no HDR swapchain" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
 %files
 %{_bindir}/punktfunk-gamescope
+/usr/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so
+/usr/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json
 
 %changelog
 # Generated per build; see the git history for the patch set's own changes.

packaging/gamescope/rewrite-wsi-layer-manifest.py

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Rewrite gamescope's generated Vulkan layer manifest so OUR copy of the layer can be installed
+beside the distro's instead of colliding with it.
+
+A game nested under gamescope gets its HDR10 swapchain from the FROG WSI layer and from nothing
+else, and that layer speaks `gamescope_swapchain` to the compositor: a layer built for a DIFFERENT
+gamescope makes the compositor reject the client's swapchain_feedback, and every Vulkan client dies
+on a black screen with sound and input and no error. So a compositor we ship needs the layer we
+built beside it — which means two gamescope WSI layers on one box.
+
+Three fields make that safe, and the loader is why:
+
+* `name` — the Vulkan loader deduplicates implicit layers by name, and with both called
+  VK_LAYER_FROG_gamescope_wsi which one wins is unspecified. A distinct name is what lets both sit
+  installed at once.
+* `library_path` — made absolute, so resolution never depends on where the loader found the
+  manifest.
+* `enable_environment` / `disable_environment` — our own gates, so the host can switch ours ON and
+  the distro's OFF in the same session. Sharing ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI would make that impossible.
+
+Everything else is passed through untouched, `functions` above all: it names the layer's entry
+points, and a manifest with the wrong ones is a layer that silently never loads.
+
+Used by build-punktfunk-gamescope.sh (FHS packaging) and packaging/nix/gamescope.nix (the Nix store),
+which is the point of it being a file rather than a heredoc — the two must not drift.
+
+Usage: rewrite-wsi-layer-manifest.py <src.json> <dst.json> <installed-library-path>
+"""
+
+import json
+import sys
+
+LAYER_NAME = "VK_LAYER_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi"
+ENABLE_VAR = "PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_WSI"
+DISABLE_VAR = "PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_WSI_DISABLE"
+
+
+def main(argv):
+    if len(argv) != 4:
+        print(__doc__, file=sys.stderr)
+        return 2
+    src, dst, lib = argv[1:4]
+
+    with open(src) as f:
+        manifest = json.load(f)
+
+    layer = manifest.get("layer")
+    if not isinstance(layer, dict):
+        print(f"{src}: no 'layer' object — not a Vulkan layer manifest", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+    # A manifest that never named the entry points would produce a layer that loads and does
+    # nothing, which is indistinguishable on a running box from "this GPU has no HDR".
+    if not layer.get("functions") and not layer.get("library_path"):
+        print(f"{src}: neither 'functions' nor 'library_path' — refusing to rewrite", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+
+    layer["name"] = LAYER_NAME
+    layer["library_path"] = lib
+    layer["enable_environment"] = {ENABLE_VAR: "1"}
+    layer["disable_environment"] = {DISABLE_VAR: "1"}
+
+    with open(dst, "w") as f:
+        json.dump(manifest, f, indent=2)
+        f.write("\n")
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main(sys.argv))

packaging/nix/gamescope.nix

@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@
 {
   lib,
   gamescope,
+  python3,
   patchDir,
+  manifestRewriter,
 }:
 let
   # As of nixos-unstable (checked 2026-07-28) `gamescope` IS the buildable derivation — pname
@@ -81,14 +83,39 @@ unwrapped.overrideAttrs (old: {
         "vcs_tag = '${old.version}'"
   '';
 
-  # Ship ONLY the compositor, renamed. Everything else nixpkgs installs (gamescopectl,
-  # gamescopereaper, gamescopestream, the WSI layer, .desktop files) belongs to the real gamescope
-  # package — duplicating it here would put two of each on PATH. The host only execs the
-  # compositor.
+  # Ship the compositor, renamed, AND the WSI layer built beside it. Everything else nixpkgs
+  # installs (gamescopectl, gamescopereaper, gamescopestream, .desktop files) belongs to the real
+  # gamescope package — duplicating it here would put two of each on PATH.
+  #
+  # The layer is not dressing: a game nested under this compositor gets its HDR10 swapchain from it
+  # or from nowhere, and a layer built for a DIFFERENT gamescope makes the compositor reject the
+  # client's swapchain_feedback and kills every Vulkan client. So it travels with the binary it was
+  # built against. It is renamed and re-homed under $out/lib/punktfunk, with its own enable
+  # variable, so it sits beside the system gamescope's layer rather than shadowing it — the Vulkan
+  # loader deduplicates implicit layers by name, so two of the same name would be a coin toss.
+  #
+  # Staged through $TMPDIR because the prune below removes $out/lib and $out/share wholesale.
   postInstall = (old.postInstall or "") + ''
+    layerSo=$(find $out -type f -name 'libVkLayer_*gamescope_wsi*.so' | head -1)
+    layerJson=$(find $out -type f -name '*gamescope_wsi*.json' | head -1)
+    if [ -z "$layerSo" ] || [ -z "$layerJson" ]; then
+      echo "punktfunk-gamescope: this nixpkgs' gamescope built no WSI layer, so no game under the" >&2
+      echo "                     compositor could ever obtain an HDR10 swapchain" >&2
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    cp "$layerSo" "$TMPDIR/pf-layer.so"
+    ${python3}/bin/python3 ${manifestRewriter} \
+      "$layerJson" "$TMPDIR/pf-layer.json" \
+      "$out/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+
     find $out -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 ! -name bin -exec rm -rf {} +
     find $out/bin -mindepth 1 ! -name gamescope -delete
     mv $out/bin/gamescope $out/bin/punktfunk-gamescope
+
+    install -Dm0755 "$TMPDIR/pf-layer.so" \
+      "$out/lib/punktfunk/libVkLayer_PUNKTFUNK_gamescope_wsi.so"
+    install -Dm0644 "$TMPDIR/pf-layer.json" \
+      "$out/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json"
   '';
 
   # `gamescope --version` exits non-zero on some builds; the grep is the real assertion.
@@ -97,6 +124,13 @@ unwrapped.overrideAttrs (old: {
     runHook preInstallCheck
     $out/bin/punktfunk-gamescope --version 2>&1 | grep -q '+pfhdr' \
       || { echo "punktfunk-gamescope: the +pfhdr marker is missing — the patches did not take"; exit 1; }
+    # The manifest must name a library this derivation actually installed. A manifest pointing at a
+    # path that does not exist is the worst shape of this bug: the loader reads it, finds nothing,
+    # and carries on silently, so the box looks healthy and every game renders SDR.
+    lib=$(sed -n 's/.*"library_path"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' \
+      $out/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/punktfunk_gamescope_wsi.json)
+    [ -f "$lib" ] \
+      || { echo "punktfunk-gamescope: the layer manifest points at $lib, which is not installed"; exit 1; }
     runHook postInstallCheck
   '';
 

packaging/nix/nixos-module.nix

@@ -507,6 +507,16 @@ in
         # can still override this (or set it to `off` to force the in-process encoder) — the same
         # "an operator's own override still wins" posture as PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_BIN above.
         environment.PUNKTFUNK_ENCODE_WORKER = "${config.security.wrapperDir}/punktfunk-encode-worker";
+        # Where our Vulkan WSI layer's manifest lives. The host defaults to the FHS path every
+        # distro package uses, which no NixOS box has — here the layer travels inside the gamescope
+        # derivation, so point at it. Without this a game nested under the compositor gets no HDR10
+        # swapchain at all: that layer is the only route to one, and the host falls back to
+        # disabling the system layer, which is HDR-less by construction.
+        #
+        # Same override posture as PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_BIN: `Environment=` renders before
+        # `EnvironmentFile=`, so an operator's `settings` still wins.
+        environment.PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_WSI_LAYER_DIR = mkIf cfg.host.gamescopeHdr
+          "${cfg.host.gamescopePackage}/lib/punktfunk/vulkan/implicit_layer.d";
         serviceConfig = {
           # The store path DIRECTLY — not a capability wrapper. /proc/<pid>/exe then resolves to the
           # very path packages.nix substituted into io.unom.Punktfunk.Host.desktop's Exec=, which is

scripts/ci/check-unsafe-hygiene.sh

@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ crates/pf-vkdecode/tests/gpu_parity.rs:5
 crates/pf-win-display/src/win_display.rs:2
 crates/punktfunk-core/src/quic/endpoint.rs:2
 crates/punktfunk-host/src/identity.rs:3
-crates/punktfunk-host/src/library/art.rs:4
+crates/punktfunk-host/src/library/art.rs:2
 crates/punktfunk-host/src/mgmt/tests.rs:3
 crates/punktfunk-host/src/native.rs:4
 crates/punktfunk-host/src/windows/service.rs:1

web/messages/de.json

@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@
 	"action_stop_session": "Sitzung beenden",
 	"action_request_idr": "Keyframe anfordern",
 	"action_unpair": "Entkoppeln",
+	"action_unpair_all": "Alle entkoppeln",
 	"connect_title": "Gerät verbinden",
 	"connect_help": "Gib die Adresse in einem Punktfunk-Client ein — oder öffne den Link auf einem Gerät, auf dem bereits einer installiert ist: er führt direkt zu diesem Host. Gekoppelt wird auf der Seite „Kopplung“.",
 	"connect_address": "Host-Adresse",
@@ -263,6 +264,9 @@
 	"pairing_native_empty": "Noch keine Geräte gekoppelt.",
 	"pairing_native_unpair_confirm": "Dieses Gerät entkoppeln?",
 	"pairing_native_unpair_body": "Es muss sich erneut koppeln, um zu verbinden.",
+	"pairing_native_unpair_all_confirm": "Alle {count} Geräte entkoppeln?",
+	"pairing_native_unpair_all_body": "Jedes gekoppelte Gerät — punktfunk/1 wie Moonlight — muss sich erneut koppeln, um zu verbinden; was gerade streamt, wird getrennt.",
+	"pairing_native_unpair_all_failed": "Einige Geräte konnten nicht entkoppelt werden.",
 	"pairing_protocol": "Protokoll",
 	"pairing_protocol_native": "punktfunk/1",
 	"pairing_protocol_moonlight": "Moonlight",

web/messages/en.json

@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@
 	"action_stop_session": "Stop session",
 	"action_request_idr": "Request keyframe",
 	"action_unpair": "Unpair",
+	"action_unpair_all": "Unpair all",
 	"connect_title": "Connect a device",
 	"connect_help": "Type the address into a punktfunk client, or open the link on a device that already has one installed — it opens straight onto this host. Pair from the Pairing page.",
 	"connect_address": "Host address",
@@ -263,6 +264,9 @@
 	"pairing_native_empty": "No devices paired yet.",
 	"pairing_native_unpair_confirm": "Unpair this device?",
 	"pairing_native_unpair_body": "It will need to pair again to connect.",
+	"pairing_native_unpair_all_confirm": "Unpair all {count} devices?",
+	"pairing_native_unpair_all_body": "Every paired device — punktfunk/1 and Moonlight alike — will need to pair again to connect, and anything streaming right now is disconnected.",
+	"pairing_native_unpair_all_failed": "Some devices could not be unpaired.",
 	"pairing_protocol": "Protocol",
 	"pairing_protocol_native": "punktfunk/1",
 	"pairing_protocol_moonlight": "Moonlight",

web/src/sections/Pairing/PairedDevices.tsx

@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
 import { useQueryClient } from "@tanstack/react-query";
+import { toast } from "@unom/ui/toast";
 import { Trash2 } from "lucide-react";
 import type { FC } from "react";
 import {
 	getListPairedClientsQueryKey,
 	useListPairedClients,
+	useUnpairAllClients,
 	useUnpairClient,
 } from "@/api/gen/clients/clients";
 import {
 	getListNativeClientsQueryKey,
 	useListNativeClients,
+	useUnpairAllNativeClients,
 	useUnpairNativeClient,
 } from "@/api/gen/native/native";
 import { useDialogs } from "@/components/dialogs";
@@ -49,6 +52,8 @@ export const PairedDevicesSection: FC = () => {
 	const moonlight = useListPairedClients();
 	const unpairNative = useUnpairNativeClient();
 	const unpairMoonlight = useUnpairClient();
+	const unpairAllNative = useUnpairAllNativeClients();
+	const unpairAllMoonlight = useUnpairAllClients();
 
 	const rows: PairedRow[] = [
 		...(native.data ?? []).map(
@@ -94,6 +99,39 @@ export const PairedDevicesSection: FC = () => {
 		}
 	};
 
+	/**
+	 * Unpair EVERY device, in one confirmation.
+	 *
+	 * Two calls, not one per device: each plane owns a separate trust store behind its own
+	 * collection DELETE, and each of those empties its store in a single persisted write host-side.
+	 * Only the planes actually holding a row are called — the native endpoint answers 503 on a host
+	 * built without it, which would otherwise report a failure for devices that were never there.
+	 */
+	const onUnpairAll = async () => {
+		const ok = await confirm({
+			title: m.pairing_native_unpair_all_confirm({ count: rows.length }),
+			description: m.pairing_native_unpair_all_body(),
+			confirmLabel: m.action_unpair_all(),
+			destructive: true,
+		});
+		if (!ok) return;
+		const calls: Promise<unknown>[] = [];
+		if (rows.some((r) => r.protocol === "native")) {
+			calls.push(unpairAllNative.mutateAsync());
+		}
+		if (rows.some((r) => r.protocol === "moonlight")) {
+			calls.push(unpairAllMoonlight.mutateAsync());
+		}
+		// allSettled, not all: the two planes are independent, so one failing must neither cancel
+		// the other nor throw past this handler.
+		const settled = await Promise.allSettled(calls);
+		qc.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: getListNativeClientsQueryKey() });
+		qc.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: getListPairedClientsQueryKey() });
+		if (settled.some((r) => r.status === "rejected")) {
+			toast.error(m.pairing_native_unpair_all_failed());
+		}
+	};
+
 	// The fingerprint of the row whose unpair is in flight (if any) — so only THAT row's button
 	// disables, not every row's.
 	const pendingFingerprint =
@@ -105,6 +143,11 @@ export const PairedDevicesSection: FC = () => {
 			: undefined) ??
 		null;
 
+	// Derived, not state: the two bulk calls are launched together and awaited together, so their
+	// pending flags cover the whole run without a gap in the middle to flicker through.
+	const isUnpairingAll =
+		unpairAllNative.isPending || unpairAllMoonlight.isPending;
+
 	return (
 		<PairedDevices
 			rows={rows}
@@ -115,7 +158,9 @@ export const PairedDevicesSection: FC = () => {
 				moonlight.refetch();
 			}}
 			onUnpair={onUnpair}
+			onUnpairAll={onUnpairAll}
 			pendingFingerprint={pendingFingerprint}
+			isUnpairingAll={isUnpairingAll}
 		/>
 	);
 };
@@ -127,12 +172,39 @@ export const PairedDevices: FC<{
 	error: unknown;
 	refetch: () => void;
 	onUnpair: (protocol: PairedProtocol, fingerprint: string) => void;
+	/** Unpair every row, behind one confirmation. */
+	onUnpairAll: () => void;
 	/** Fingerprint of the row whose unpair is in flight, or null — only that row disables. */
 	pendingFingerprint: string | null;
-}> = ({ rows, isLoading, error, refetch, onUnpair, pendingFingerprint }) => (
+	/** A bulk unpair is walking the list — every control in the card disables until it finishes. */
+	isUnpairingAll: boolean;
+}> = ({
+	rows,
+	isLoading,
+	error,
+	refetch,
+	onUnpair,
+	onUnpairAll,
+	pendingFingerprint,
+	isUnpairingAll,
+}) => (
 	<Card>
-		<CardHeader>
+		{/* flex-row: CardHeader stacks by default, and this one carries a trailing action. */}
+		<CardHeader className="flex-row items-center justify-between gap-4 space-y-0">
 			<h2 className="text-lg font-medium">{m.pairing_native_devices()}</h2>
+			{/* Nothing to unpair in bulk when the list is empty (or still loading) — an enabled
+			    button there would open a confirmation reading "Unpair all 0 devices?". */}
+			{rows.length > 0 && (
+				<Button
+					variant="destructive"
+					size="sm"
+					disabled={isUnpairingAll}
+					onClick={onUnpairAll}
+				>
+					<Trash2 className="size-4" />
+					{m.action_unpair_all()}
+				</Button>
+			)}
 		</CardHeader>
 
 		<CardContent>
@@ -172,7 +244,9 @@ export const PairedDevices: FC<{
 											variant="ghost"
 											size="icon"
 											aria-label={m.action_unpair()}
-											disabled={pendingFingerprint === r.fingerprint}
+											disabled={
+												isUnpairingAll || pendingFingerprint === r.fingerprint
+											}
 											onClick={() => onUnpair(r.protocol, r.fingerprint)}
 										>
 											<Trash2 className="size-4 text-destructive" />

web/src/stories/Pairing.stories.tsx

@@ -77,7 +77,9 @@ export const Armed: Story = {
 				error={null}
 				refetch={noop}
 				onUnpair={noop}
+				onUnpairAll={noop}
 				pendingFingerprint={null}
+				isUnpairingAll={false}
 			/>
 		),
 	},