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+# valw Phase 6: the toolbar (design)
+
+Date: 2026-10-03
+Status: approved in brainstorming, pending written-spec review
+Builds on: Phases 0–5 (on `main`); vision section 4.6
+
+## 1. Goal
+
+A Cmd+Shift+5-style bar: `valw toolbar` shows a floating bar at the
+bottom of the focused output, the user picks a mode (and, if they like, a
+timer, the cursor and the preview), and that mode runs as if started from
+the command line.
+
+Success: every mode starts from the bar with one click, the options are
+remembered, and nothing of the bar or its countdown ends up in a shot.
+
+### Out of scope
+
+- A remembered region drawn on screen and a separate Capture button (the
+  macOS "select, then capture" flow).
+- Save-location choices; screen recording.
+
+## 2. Decisions
+
+| Question | Decision | Why |
+|---|---|---|
+| Flow | Clicking a mode starts it at once | Simple and fast |
+| Options | Timer (None / 5 s / 10 s), Show cursor, Show preview | User choice |
+| Rendering | A layer-shell surface drawn with tiny-skia and the editor's bundled font | Floats without niri rules; same stack as the overlay and preview; no new dependency |
+| Memory | Last mode and options in `$XDG_STATE_HOME/valw/toolbar.toml` | The config may become a read-only home-manager file |
+
+## 3. Behaviour
+
+### 3.1 The bar
+
+- A layer surface (namespace `valw-toolbar`, overlay layer, exclusive
+  keyboard) covering niri's focused output. It is transparent except for
+  the bar, which sits 24 logical px above the bottom edge, horizontally
+  centred; covering the output is what lets a click beside the bar close
+  it.
+- Contents, left to right: **Screen**, **Window**, **Region**, a
+  separator, **Zoom**, a separator, **Options ▾**. Labels in English,
+  13 px, white; background `#1c1c1e` at 90 % opacity with 12 px corner
+  radius; buttons 32 px tall with 12 px horizontal padding.
+- The last used mode is highlighted (a lighter fill); the button under
+  the pointer is highlighted more lightly.
+- Drawn at the output's scale (buffer at physical size, viewporter to
+  logical size), as the overlay does.
+
+### 3.2 Options
+
+**Options ▾** toggles a small menu above the bar, aligned to the button:
+
+- Timer: None / 5 s / 10 s (one of three)
+- Show cursor (check)
+- Show preview (check)
+
+Clicks in the menu change the option and keep the menu open. The options
+apply only to captures started from the bar; the config is untouched.
+
+### 3.3 Starting a mode
+
+- A click on Screen, Window, Region or Zoom closes the bar (its surface is
+  destroyed and the destruction flushed) and starts the mode with the
+  options: Show cursor → `--cursor`; Show preview off → `--no-preview`.
+- With a timer, a countdown pill (namespace `valw-countdown`, the same
+  style, about 64 × 40 px, bottom-centred where the bar was) shows the
+  seconds left, 5 → 1 (or 10 → 1), redrawn every second, and is destroyed
+  before the mode starts so it is never captured. Esc during the
+  countdown cancels (exit 3); the pill has exclusive keyboard focus.
+- The chosen mode and options are saved before the mode starts.
+
+### 3.4 Leaving
+
+Esc, a click outside the bar and its menu, or the compositor closing the
+surface: nothing is captured, exit code 3 (`Cancelled`), like Esc in
+region mode.
+
+### 3.5 Memory
+
+`toolbar.toml` holds `mode` (`screen` | `window` | `region` | `zoom`),
+`timer` (0, 5, 10), `cursor` and `preview` (booleans). Without a file the
+defaults are: mode `region`, timer 0, `cursor = capture.show_cursor`,
+`preview = preview.enabled` from the config. An unreadable or invalid file
+logs a warning and uses the defaults; it is overwritten on the next save.
+
+## 4. Structure
+
+| File | Role |
+|---|---|
+| `src/toolbar/layout.rs` | Pure: button and menu rectangles from the measured label widths; `hit(point) -> Option<Target>` for the bar and the menu |
+| `src/toolbar/state.rs` | `ToolbarState` load/save, defaults from the config |
+| `src/toolbar/countdown.rs` | The countdown pill and its timing |
+| `src/toolbar/mod.rs` | `run(wl, outputs, config) -> Result<Choice>`: the surface, drawing (tiny-skia + `editor::text`), input |
+| `src/main.rs` | `Command::Toolbar`; the choice becomes `capture(mode, common)` |
+| `src/wayland.rs` | Routing configure/pointer/keyboard/focus events to the toolbar |
+
+## 5. Testing
+
+Unit tests (`cargo nextest`):
+- `layout`: buttons in order, non-overlapping, centred; hits on each
+  button, the separators (none), outside (none); menu rows' hits.
+- `state`: defaults from the config, save/load round trip, a broken file
+  falls back to the defaults, unknown keys are ignored.
+- `countdown`: the sequence of numbers for 5 and 10 s, and that 0 means
+  no countdown.
+- `main`: the CLI parses `toolbar`; a choice maps to the right mode and
+  flags.
+
+Manual checks go to the Phase 6 section of `docs/test-checklist.md`.
+
+## 6. Definition of done
+
+`cargo clippy -- -D warnings`, `cargo fmt --check`, `cargo nextest run`
+and `nix flake check` pass; the checklist section is written.