feat(menu): dimmed keybind hints on menu rows (item 28c)

The audit flagged the root picker as six short rows in ~760px of
empty width; the space now carries discoverability. menuHint renders
a dimmed pango span (size small, 55% alpha) from the SAME keybinds.nix
the Hyprland binds and the SUPER+? cheatsheet come from (prettyKeys),
so hints can never drift. Applied to the root picker (Apps special-
cased — it's rofi drun), all Tools leaves, and the System rows with
direct binds; those menus pass -markup-rows. Contains-glob matching
and the exact "↩ Back" row are unaffected.

Verified: V0; V1 (rendered menu bash -n, spans + 3x -markup-rows
present); visual — tokyo-night 1080p capture shows the hints dimmed
and subordinate on normal and selected rows alike.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

agent/BACKLOG.md

@@ -69,10 +69,10 @@ further palette work graduates from slices (c)/(d) findings;
 headlessly at 1080p and screenshots desktop + open root menu (proven
 on tokyo-night); per-surface punch items from the first full-res
 review:
-  - **rofi root menu width:** ~760px for six short left-hugging rows —
-    either tighten, or use the space: right-aligned `SUPER+CTRL+<key>`
-    hint per row (keybinds.nix already knows them; discoverability
-    win).
+  - ✓ **rofi keybind hints** (shipped iteration #37): dimmed pango
+    hints on root/Tools/System rows, generated from keybinds.nix via
+    the cheatsheet's prettyKeys (single source, can't drift) —
+    capture-verified on tokyo-night.
   - **Icon weight mix `[human]`:** full-color Papirus icons in the
     menus vs all-monochrome bar glyphs — pick: symbolic/monochrome
     menu icons for one system, or color as the menu's identity.

agent/JOURNAL.md

@@ -17,6 +17,27 @@ Template:
 
 ---
 
+## 2026-07-05 — rofi keybind hints (iteration #37, item 28c)
+- **Task:** item 28 slice (c) — the hint column, the audit's biggest
+  remaining UX item.
+- **Did:** rofi.nix: menuHint builds a dimmed pango span
+  (size small, alpha 55%) from keybinds.nix via the cheatsheet's
+  prettyKeys — single source, hints can't drift from the live binds;
+  applied to root (Apps/Theme/Power/Keybindings; Apps special-cased,
+  it's rofi drun not a menu module), Tools (all eight leaves), System
+  (Network/Bluetooth/DND); those three menus now pass -markup-rows.
+  Contains-glob matching and the exact "↩ Back" match are unaffected
+  (labels keep their prefix; Back stays markup-free).
+- **Verified:** V0; V1 rendered menu bash -n + hint spans present +
+  3× -markup-rows; VISUAL — tokyo-night capture: hints render dimmed
+  and subordinate on normal AND selected (accent) rows; Tools/System
+  rows correctly bare.
+- **Pending:** slice-c remainder: summer-rasi placeholder dim,
+  latte/identity captures, icon-weight `[human]`.
+- **Next suggestion:** the placeholder-dim quickie + a latte capture
+  in one tick; then item 28 pauses for Bernardo's icon-weight call
+  and the hardware eyeballs.
+
 ## 2026-07-05 — bar group rhythm + @muted adoption (iteration #36, item 28c)
 - **Task:** item 28 slice (c) — the two queued bar polish items.
 - **Did:** waybar.nix generated CSS: margin-left 14px on the three

modules/home/rofi.nix

@@ -129,6 +129,17 @@ let
   cheatsheetFile = pkgs.writeText "nomarchy-keybinds.txt"
     (lib.concatStringsSep "\n" cheatRows + "\n");
 
+  # Dimmed keybind hints on menu rows (item 28c) — the same keybinds.nix
+  # + prettyKeys the cheatsheet uses, so they can never drift from the
+  # live binds. Pango spans; the menus that show them pass -markup-rows.
+  # Empty (no hint) when a module has no direct bind.
+  menuHint = module:
+    let m = lib.filter (b: b.action == "exec, nomarchy-menu ${module}") keybinds.binds;
+    in lib.optionalString (m != [ ])
+      "  <span size='small' alpha='55%'>${prettyKeys (lib.head m)}</span>";
+  # Apps opens rofi drun directly, not a nomarchy-menu module.
+  appsHint = "  <span size='small' alpha='55%'>SUPER + D</span>";
+
   nomarchy-menu = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "nomarchy-menu" ''
     # Nomarchy menu dispatcher — thin presentation layer over
     # `rofi -dmenu`; actions delegate to nomarchy-theme-sync, systemctl,
@@ -552,16 +563,16 @@ ${themeRows}
         # Tools submenu — utilities you invoke. Each leaf is also reachable
         # directly (SUPER+CTRL+<mnemonic>); this just keeps the root short.
         choice=$( {
-          row "Calculator" accessories-calculator
-          row "Clipboard"  edit-paste
-          row "Emoji"      face-smile-big
-          row "Files"      system-file-manager
-          row "Web search" system-search
-          row "Capture"    applets-screenshooter
-          command -v hyprpicker >/dev/null 2>&1 && row "Color picker" preferences-desktop-color
-          row "Ask Claude" internet-chat
+          row "Calculator${menuHint "calc"}" accessories-calculator
+          row "Clipboard${menuHint "clipboard"}"  edit-paste
+          row "Emoji${menuHint "emoji"}"      face-smile-big
+          row "Files${menuHint "files"}"      system-file-manager
+          row "Web search${menuHint "web"}" system-search
+          row "Capture${menuHint "capture"}"    applets-screenshooter
+          command -v hyprpicker >/dev/null 2>&1 && row "Color picker${menuHint "colorpicker"}" preferences-desktop-color
+          row "Ask Claude${menuHint "ask"}" internet-chat
           back
-        } | rofi -dmenu -show-icons -p Tools) || exit 0
+        } | rofi -dmenu -show-icons -markup-rows -p Tools) || exit 0
         case "$choice" in
           "$BACK")     exec "$0" ;;
           *Calc*)      exec "$0" calc ;;
@@ -580,14 +591,14 @@ ${themeRows}
         # the submenu shrinks to match the hardware, like the Waybar modules.
         bats=(/sys/class/power_supply/BAT*)
         choice=$( {
-          row "Network"        network-wireless
+          row "Network${menuHint "network"}"        network-wireless
           row "VPN"            network-vpn
-          row "Bluetooth"      bluetooth
+          row "Bluetooth${menuHint "bluetooth"}"      bluetooth
           [ -e "''${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-/run/user/$(id -u)}/pulse/native" ] \
             && row "Audio" audio-volume-high
           row "Display" video-display
           command -v system-config-printer >/dev/null 2>&1 && row "Printers" printer
-          row "Do Not Disturb" notification-disabled
+          row "Do Not Disturb${menuHint "dnd"}" notification-disabled
           if systemctl --user is-active --quiet hyprsunset.service 2>/dev/null
           then row "Night light (on)"  weather-clear-night
           else row "Night light (off)" weather-clear-night
@@ -609,7 +620,7 @@ ${themeRows}
             row "Power profile" preferences-system-power
           fi
           back
-        } | rofi -dmenu -show-icons -p System) || exit 0
+        } | rofi -dmenu -show-icons -markup-rows -p System) || exit 0
         case "$choice" in
           "$BACK")            exec "$0" ;;
           *Network*)          exec "$0" network ;;
@@ -633,13 +644,13 @@ ${themeRows}
         # short and scannable. Apps/Theme/Power/Keybindings are frequent enough
         # to keep at the top; everything else lives under Tools or System.
         choice=$( {
-          row "Apps"        applications-all
-          row "Theme"       preferences-desktop-theme
+          row "Apps${appsHint}"        applications-all
+          row "Theme${menuHint "theme"}"       preferences-desktop-theme
           row "Tools"       applications-utilities
           row "System"      preferences-system
-          row "Power"       system-shutdown
-          row "Keybindings" preferences-desktop-keyboard
-        } | rofi -dmenu -show-icons -p Menu) || exit 0
+          row "Power${menuHint "power"}"       system-shutdown
+          row "Keybindings${menuHint "keybinds"}" preferences-desktop-keyboard
+        } | rofi -dmenu -show-icons -markup-rows -p Menu) || exit 0
         case "$choice" in
           *Apps*)        exec rofi -show drun ;;
           *Theme*)       exec "$0" theme ;;