Fix: Never pair exclusionMode with exclusiveZone

Quickshell's exclusiveZone setter flips exclusionMode back to Normal as a
side effect, so a window declaring both is at the mercy of which property
the QML engine applies last. The 2026-09-14 Qt update changed that order
and every full-screen overlay slid under the bar.

Each overlay now declares ExclusionMode.Ignore alone. The capture picker
was the visible failure: it started under the bar, the full-output freeze
frame was squeezed into a shorter box, and every selection landed one
bar-height off in the real capture.

tests/quickshell/exclusion-idiom-contract fails any file that pairs them.

README.md

@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ docs/           Settings reference, and the design specs behind the work
 
 ## Tests
 
-189 of them, under `tests/`. `tests/contracts.manifest` classifies every
+190 of them, under `tests/`. `tests/contracts.manifest` classifies every
 contract by the capabilities it needs. Run the hermetic set, or grant a
 specific external capability when automation needs it:
 

config/dot/quickshell/modules/capture/CaptureOverlay.qml

@@ -27,9 +27,13 @@ PanelWindow {
         right: true
     }
 
-    // Fullscreen overlays must not reserve space, or every window on the
-    // workspace gets resized as the picker opens and closes.
-    exclusiveZone: 0
+    // Ignore, and nothing else: reserve no space (or every window on the
+    // workspace resizes as the picker opens and closes) and respect nobody's
+    // (or the window starts under the bar, the full-output freeze frame is
+    // squeezed into a shorter box, and every selection lands one bar-height
+    // off in the real capture). Never pair this with exclusiveZone; see
+    // tests/quickshell/exclusion-idiom-contract.
+    exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
 
     WlrLayershell.namespace: "qs-capture" // matched by a layerrule in hypr/rules.lua
     WlrLayershell.layer: WlrLayer.Overlay

config/dot/quickshell/modules/cheatsheet/Cheatsheet.qml

@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ PanelWindow {
 
     anchors { top: true; bottom: true; left: true; right: true }
     color: "transparent"
-    exclusiveZone: 0
     exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
 
     // The `^qs-popover` prefix rule in hypr/rules.lua blurs what is behind

config/dot/quickshell/modules/dock/Dock.qml

@@ -55,7 +55,6 @@ PanelWindow {
     color: "transparent"
 
     // A dock that reserved space would not be intellihiding.
-    exclusiveZone: 0
     exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
 
     // Matched by the `qs-dock` layer rule in hypr/rules.lua — do not rename.

config/dot/quickshell/modules/dock/DockPickOverlay.qml

@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ PanelWindow {
 
     anchors { top: true; bottom: true; left: true; right: true }
     color: "transparent"
-    exclusiveZone: 0
     exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
 
     // Blurred by the `^qs-popover` rule in hypr/rules.lua; the scrim is painted

config/dot/quickshell/modules/notifications/VisualBell.qml

@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ PanelWindow {
     // Reserve nothing and respect nothing: the glow is drawn over the whole
     // output including under the bar and the dock, which is what makes it
     // visible from wherever the eyes happen to be.
-    exclusiveZone: 0
     exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
     color: "transparent"
 

config/dot/quickshell/modules/osd/Osd.qml

@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ PanelWindow {
     screen: root.modelData
     anchors.bottom: true
     margins.bottom: Theme.dockIconSize + Theme.dockPadding * 2 + Theme.barGap * 3
-    exclusiveZone: 0
     exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
     implicitWidth: root.desiredWidth
     implicitHeight: 64

config/dot/quickshell/modules/overview/Overview.qml

@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ PanelWindow {
     }
 
     color: "transparent"
-    exclusiveZone: 0
     exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
 
     // Matched by the `qs-overlay` layer rule in hypr/rules.lua — do not rename.

config/dot/quickshell/modules/settings/DisplayIdentify.qml

@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ Variants {
         implicitWidth: 260
         implicitHeight: 172
         color: "transparent"
-        exclusiveZone: 0
         exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
         mask: Region {}
 

config/dot/quickshell/modules/settings/README.md

@@ -383,6 +383,13 @@ Lua-configured Hyprland, prints the refusal to stdout, and exits 0. `eval` exits
 0 on syntax and runtime errors too. The only trustworthy signal that a write
 landed is reading the value back.
 
+**`exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore` goes alone.** Quickshell's `exclusiveZone`
+setter flips `exclusionMode` back to `Normal` as a side effect, so a window that
+declares both is at the mercy of which property the QML engine applies last.
+The 2026-09-14 Qt update changed that order and every full-screen overlay slid
+under the bar. `tests/quickshell/exclusion-idiom-contract` fails any file that
+pairs them.
+
 **The Settings window is tiled.** `implicitWidth` is a hint; the layout decides,
 and it ranges from a half-screen split to the full display. `SliderRow` stacks
 its control under the label below 520px. Test narrow.

config/dot/quickshell/modules/welcome/Welcome.qml

@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ PanelWindow {
 
     anchors { top: true; bottom: true; left: true; right: true }
     color: "transparent"
-    exclusiveZone: 0
     exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
 
     WlrLayershell.namespace: "qs-popover-welcome"

tests/contracts.manifest

@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ live-desktop tests/quickshell/dock-position-contract
 # Reads Hyprland option descriptions from the live compositor to verify enum
 # mappings.
 live-compositor tests/quickshell/enum-hypr-map-contract
+hermetic tests/quickshell/exclusion-idiom-contract
 hermetic tests/quickshell/fingerprint-contract
 # Reads the host firewall state through the production firewall helper.
 live-host tests/quickshell/firewall-contract

tests/quickshell/exclusion-idiom-contract

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# A window that wants the whole output must ask for ExclusionMode.Ignore and
+# nothing else. Quickshell's exclusiveZone setter forces exclusionMode back to
+# Normal as a side effect, so a window declaring both
+#
+#     exclusiveZone: 0
+#     exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
+#
+# ends up with whichever property the QML engine applied last, and that order
+# is not ours to control: the 2026-09-14 Qt/Quickshell update flipped it, every
+# full-screen overlay slid down under the bar, and the screenshot picker's
+# frozen frame stopped lining up with the screen it was a picture of. This pins
+# the order-independent idiom: Ignore alone, never paired with exclusiveZone.
+
+set -uo pipefail
+
+repo_dir="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)"
+qs="$repo_dir/config/dot/quickshell"
+
+fail() { printf 'exclusion idiom contract: %s\n' "$1" >&2; exit 1; }
+[[ -d "$qs/modules" ]] || fail "missing $qs/modules"
+
+python3 - "$qs" <<'PY'
+import re, sys, pathlib
+qs = pathlib.Path(sys.argv[1])
+problems = []
+ignore = re.compile(r'\bexclusionMode\s*:\s*ExclusionMode\.Ignore\b')
+zone = re.compile(r'^\s*(?:WlrLayershell\.)?exclusiveZone\s*:', re.M)
+checked = 0
+for path in sorted(qs.rglob('*.qml')):
+    text = path.read_text()
+    if not ignore.search(text):
+        continue
+    checked += 1
+    for m in zone.finditer(text):
+        line = text.count('\n', 0, m.start()) + 1
+        problems.append(f"{path.relative_to(qs)}:{line}: exclusiveZone set in a file that uses "
+                        "ExclusionMode.Ignore; drop it, Ignore already means -1")
+if checked == 0:
+    problems.append("no window uses ExclusionMode.Ignore; the overlays this pins are gone")
+if problems:
+    print('\n'.join(problems), file=sys.stderr)
+    sys.exit(1)
+PY