diff --git a/settings/theming.nix b/settings/theming.nix
index 237a035..970d163 100644
--- a/settings/theming.nix
+++ b/settings/theming.nix
@@ -270,26 +270,28 @@ let
     theme[process_end]="${base08}"
   '');
 
-  # One `<key> <value>` per line, applied by theme-apply with a separate
-  # `hyprctl keyword` each. NOT `hyprctl --batch`: a batch reports one
-  # combined result, so a single rejected key silently takes the rest of the
-  # colours with it. Per-key, a bad one names itself in the journal and the
-  # other nine still land.
+  # Lua, fed to `hyprctl eval`. NOT `hyprctl keyword`, which answers
+  #   "keyword can't work with non-legacy parsers. Use eval."
+  # under the Lua config this repo uses (settings/hyprland.nix sets
+  # configType = "lua"). eval runs in the live VM with isDynamicParse() true,
+  # so hl.config schedules the refresh that actually repaints the borders.
   #
-  # Mirrors the colour keys set statically in settings/hyprland.nix, which
-  # stay the build-time fallback until theme-apply first runs.
-  hyprKeywords = s: pkgs.writeText "hypr.keywords" ''
-    general:col.active_border rgb(${s.base04})
-    general:col.inactive_border rgb(${s.base03})
-    decoration:shadow:color rgba(${s.base00}99)
-    group:col.border_active rgb(${s.base04})
-    group:col.border_inactive rgb(${s.base03})
-    group:col.border_locked_active rgb(${s.base05})
-    group:groupbar:text_color rgb(${s.base05})
-    group:groupbar:col.active rgb(${s.base04})
-    group:groupbar:col.inactive rgb(${s.base03})
-    misc:background_color rgb(${s.base00})
-  '';
+  # Keys are dot-joined here, matching how the Lua config manager flattens
+  # nested tables — the same shape settings/hyprland.nix already declares,
+  # which stays the build-time fallback until theme-apply first runs.
+  #
+  # One line, not pretty-printed: hyprctl joins its argv into the request
+  # string, so keeping the payload free of newlines keeps it intact.
+  hyprLua = s: pkgs.writeText "hypr.lua" ("hl.config({" + lib.concatStringsSep "," [
+    ''general={["col.active_border"]="rgb(${s.base04})",["col.inactive_border"]="rgb(${s.base03})"}''
+    ''decoration={shadow={color="rgba(${s.base00}99)"}}''
+    (''group={["col.border_active"]="rgb(${s.base04})",''
+     + ''["col.border_inactive"]="rgb(${s.base03})",''
+     + ''["col.border_locked_active"]="rgb(${s.base05})",''
+     + ''groupbar={text_color="rgb(${s.base05})",''
+     + ''["col.active"]="rgb(${s.base04})",["col.inactive"]="rgb(${s.base03})"}}'')
+    ''misc={background_color="rgb(${s.base00})"}''
+  ] + "})");
 
   # A featherweight icon theme that inherits Papirus-Dark and overrides only
   # the folder faces, rather than a recoloured copy of the whole 200MB tree
@@ -343,7 +345,7 @@ let
     cp ${gtk4Css s}         $out/gtk4.css
     cp ${ghosttyConf s}     $out/ghostty.conf
     cp ${btopTheme s}       $out/btop.theme
-    cp ${hyprKeywords s}    $out/hypr.keywords
+    cp ${hyprLua s}         $out/hypr.lua
     cp ${pkgs.writeText "vesktop.css" (stylixize s (builtins.readFile "${inputs.self}/templates/vesktop-quickCss.css"))} $out/vesktop.css
     cp ${pkgs.writeText "zen.css"     (stylixize s (builtins.readFile "${inputs.self}/templates/zen-userChrome.css"))}   $out/zen.css
     ln -s ${iconTheme s} $out/icons
@@ -360,7 +362,7 @@ let
     check gtk3.css    '@define-color window_bg_color'
     check gtk4.css    'adw-gtk3/gtk-4.0/gtk.css'
     check ghostty.conf '^background = #'
-    check hypr.keywords 'col.active_border rgb('
+    check hypr.lua    'col.active_border"]="rgb('
     check vesktop.css '^  --bg-4: #'
   '';
 
@@ -385,9 +387,15 @@ let
     theme="$1"
     [ -d "$theme" ] || exit 0
 
-    # One line per run, so the journal answers "did it fire, and with what?"
-    # without any guessing: journalctl --user -u quickshell | grep theme-apply
-    echo "theme-apply: $theme" >&2
+    # Everything from here lands in one log, truncated per run. NOT the
+    # journal: quickshell starts this with execDetached, which drops the
+    # child's stdio, so anything written to stderr goes nowhere. This file is
+    # the only record of what a switch actually did.
+    #   cat ~/.local/state/theme-apply.log
+    log="$HOME/.local/state/theme-apply.log"
+    mkdir -p "$(dirname "$log")"
+    exec >"$log" 2>&1
+    echo "theme-apply $(date -Is): $theme"
 
     ln -sfn "$theme" ${lib.escapeShellArg stateLink}
 
@@ -409,16 +417,12 @@ let
     cp -r "$theme"/icons/. "$icons"/
     chmod -R u+w "$icons"
 
-    # Hyprland takes its colours live, one keyword at a time. hyprctl answers
-    # "ok" and exits 0 even for a key it did not like, so the reply is what
-    # gets checked — anything else is named in quickshell's journal
-    # (journalctl --user -u quickshell) instead of vanishing.
-    while read -r key value; do
-      [ -n "$key" ] || continue
-      reply=$(${pkgs.hyprland}/bin/hyprctl keyword "$key" "$value" 2>&1)
-      [ "$reply" = "ok" ] \
-        || echo "theme-apply: hyprctl keyword $key $value -> $reply" >&2
-    done < "$theme/hypr.keywords"
+    # Hyprland takes its colours live. `hyprctl eval`, not `hyprctl keyword`:
+    # keyword is a legacy-parser command and refuses outright under the Lua
+    # config. eval answers "ok", or a string naming every key it rejected —
+    # hl.config carries on past a bad key, so the rest still land.
+    reply=$(${pkgs.hyprland}/bin/hyprctl eval "$(cat "$theme/hypr.lua")" 2>&1)
+    [ "$reply" = "ok" ] || echo "hyprctl eval -> $reply"
 
     # Ghostty holds its config in one process (gtk-single-instance), so a new
     # window inherits whatever the daemon parsed at startup — reopening a
@@ -440,7 +444,7 @@ let
       # dev.fred.spotify) — those windows are the same process.
       if ${pkgs.hyprland}/bin/hyprctl -j clients 2>/dev/null \
           | ${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq -e 'any(.[].class; test("ghostty|^dev\\.fred\\."))' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-        echo "theme-apply: ghostty reload-config failed; open terminals keep the old theme" >&2
+        echo "ghostty reload-config failed; open terminals keep the old theme"
       else
         ${pkgs.systemd}/bin/systemctl --user restart ghostty-daemon.service 2>/dev/null || true
       fi
@@ -489,6 +493,19 @@ in
       stylix.targets.ghostty.enable = false;
       stylix.targets.btop.enable = false;
 
+      # The one that made ghostty look unthemeable. stylix's fish target
+      # sources base16-fish, which is a base16-SHELL script: at every shell
+      # start it printf's OSC 4 (palette 0-15) and OSC 10/11 (fg/bg) with the
+      # BUILD-TIME colours, overwriting whatever ghostty just loaded. So a
+      # wallpaper switch reloaded ghostty correctly and fish immediately
+      # painted the old scheme back over it — and opening a new window ran
+      # fish again, which is why reopening never helped either. Only
+      # selection-background, which base16-fish does not touch, got through.
+      #
+      # Off, fish leaves the palette alone and inherits the terminal's, so
+      # every ANSI-coloured program in a ghostty window follows a switch live.
+      stylix.targets.fish.enable = false;
+
       # Everything stylix's gtk target did apart from writing gtk.css.
       gtk.theme = { package = pkgs.adw-gtk3; name = "adw-gtk3"; };
       # Explicitly null, not merely unset: home-manager defaults gtk4.theme to