diff --git a/agent/BACKLOG.md b/agent/BACKLOG.md
index a8e40ac..3d9a35b 100644
--- a/agent/BACKLOG.md
+++ b/agent/BACKLOG.md
@@ -94,24 +94,6 @@ Next slice: on hardware, run `hyprctl clients` while each is open, read
 the real `class`, then append rules. Also revisit whether blueman/s-c-p
 actually float once seen (regex tolerance for the `.…-wrapped` form).
 
-### 51. Waybar/menu behaviour bugs — V2 render pending
-Fixes shipped V1 (2026-07-09): doctor indicator emits `󰒡` + `class:bad`
-when unhealthy (was empty text → self-hidden); CC appearance toggles print
-"(requires rebuild)"; summer-day scroll `e±1`→`r±1`. **Remaining V2:** a
-theme-shot render with an induced doctor failure to see the glyph (fold into
-#44's `checks.doctor` extension); CC message + scroll are behavioural (V1
-+ self-evident).
-
-### 52. Theme fidelity bugs — btop V2 render pending
-Six per-theme defects fixed 2026-07-09 (rose-pine btop→Dawn; everforest +
-summer-night btop `inactive_fg`; vantablack role inversion; osaka-jade
-text/subtext + warn; catppuccin-latte mantle/accentAlt/ANSI; catppuccin
-Mocha btop). JSON fixes **V0-verified** (`check-theme-contrast` 24×7 all
-pass — accentAlt retuned to Latte mauve `#8839ef`, not the audit's pink
-`#ea76cb` which fails the 3.0 floor). **Remaining V2:** a theme-shot render
-of the btop-changed themes (rose-pine, everforest, summer-night, vantablack,
-catppuccin) — btop.theme isn't contrast-checked.
-
 ### 54. Installer safety + polish — V2 scenarios pending
 Four guards shipped 2026-07-09 (V0/V1: bash -n, flake check, nomarchy-install
 builds): offline `compose-lock` failure now fail-closes instead of a network
diff --git a/agent/HARDWARE-QUEUE.md b/agent/HARDWARE-QUEUE.md
index 0d64f37..6eb308d 100644
--- a/agent/HARDWARE-QUEUE.md
+++ b/agent/HARDWARE-QUEUE.md
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ the failure as a NOW bug in BACKLOG.md. Machines: the **AMD dev box**
 QA machine), the **T14s** (webcam case).
 
 ## Any machine (dev box is fine)
+- [ ] **btop theme fidelity (#52 residual)** — softGL theme-shot cannot
+      open Ghostty, so the hand `btop.theme` assets were only guest-file
+      asserted (main_bg / inactive_fg keys) + desktop/bar rendered for
+      rose-pine, everforest, summer-night, vantablack, catppuccin. On a
+      real session: `nomarchy-theme-sync apply <slug>` then `btop` and
+      confirm backgrounds/text match the theme (esp. rose-pine Dawn light
+      bg `#faf4ed`, vantablack near-black `#0d0d0d`, catppuccin Mocha
+      `#1E1E2E`). One pass cycling those five is enough.
 - [ ] **Battery charge limit re-apply on unplug** — `sudo nixos-rebuild
       switch` with `power.batteryChargeLimit = 80`, physically unplug/replug
       AC, confirm `charge_control_end_threshold` re-reads 80. (udev trigger
diff --git a/agent/JOURNAL.md b/agent/JOURNAL.md
index 714278b..0df01ac 100644
--- a/agent/JOURNAL.md
+++ b/agent/JOURNAL.md
@@ -17,6 +17,24 @@ Template:
 
 ---
 
+## 2026-07-09 — #51+#52 V2 batch: doctor glyph + btop bake
+- **Task:** NEXT #51 (doctor Waybar glyph) + #52 (btop fidelity render).
+- **Did:** theme-shot harness now asserts `nomarchy-doctor-status`
+  (`class:bad` + glyph), guest `btop/themes/nomarchy.theme`, pokes
+  waybar RTMIN+10, best-effort Ghostty+btop shot. Fixed the doctor
+  tripwire so it actually *shows*: absolute path to `nomarchy-doctor`
+  (PATH self-hide), ANSI-stripped tooltip, `󰀨` glyph, `format = "{}"`,
+  signal 10 on generated + whole-swap bars.
+- **Verified:** **V2** — `THEME=<slug> nix build --impure -f tools/theme-shot.nix`
+  green for rose-pine, summer-night, catppuccin, everforest, vantablack;
+  viewed bar crops: red alert-circle before the bell on generated
+  (rose-pine) and whole-swap (summer-night). Scripted btop.theme key
+  checks (Dawn/inactive_fg/Mocha/vantablack) all OK. V0 flake check +
+  contrast 24×7 pass. Ghostty under softGL never opened → btop TUI
+  visual queued V3.
+- **Pending:** HARDWARE-QUEUE btop TUI spot-check (five slugs).
+- **Next suggestion:** #54 installer V2 scenarios, or #33 rofi scrollbar.
+
 ## 2026-07-09 — #43 V2: System ▸ Firmware menu render
 - **Task:** V2 the shipped Firmware menu (#43). theme-shot render of
   `nomarchy-menu system`.
diff --git a/agent/MEMORY.md b/agent/MEMORY.md
index 6def52c..7815595 100644
--- a/agent/MEMORY.md
+++ b/agent/MEMORY.md
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ here the moment a debugging session teaches you something a future
 iteration would otherwise rediscover.
 
 ## Testing & VM recipes
+- **theme-shot softGL cannot start Ghostty** — `btop.png` is best-effort
+  (usually identical to desktop). Guest asserts on
+  `~/.config/btop/themes/nomarchy.theme` prove baking; the TUI look is
+  hardware/GL tier (HARDWARE-QUEUE).
+- **Waybar `custom/doctor` tripwire:** status helper must invoke
+  `nomarchy-doctor` by **absolute store path** (waybar's env can miss
+  system PATH → `command -v … || exit 0` self-hides forever); empty
+  `"text"` also self-hides; strip ANSI before packing the tooltip; use
+  signal 10 + `format = "{}"`. theme-shot asserts class:bad + glyph and
+  pokes RTMIN+10 before the desktop shot.
 - **tuigreet dies silently under runNixOSTest** (even bare, no theme
   flag: greetd sits as "(greetd)" with no child, nothing in the
   journal — its stderr goes to the VT) — nixpkgs' own greetd test uses
diff --git a/modules/home/waybar.nix b/modules/home/waybar.nix
index bbd68ef..f667834 100644
--- a/modules/home/waybar.nix
+++ b/modules/home/waybar.nix
@@ -115,12 +115,19 @@ let
   # exits 0, so the module only appears when the sheet has a ✖ (the
   # same self-hide discipline as vpn/nightlight/updates). The tooltip
   # carries the first failing lines; click opens the full sheet.
+  # Absolute path to the doctor binary: waybar's custom-module env can
+  # miss system PATH, and `command -v … || exit 0` then self-hides forever.
   doctorStatus = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "nomarchy-doctor-status" ''
-    command -v nomarchy-doctor >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 0
-    out=$(nomarchy-doctor 2>/dev/null) && exit 0
-    tip=$(printf '%s\n' "$out" | grep '✖' | head -5 \
+    out=$(${pkgs.nomarchy-doctor}/bin/nomarchy-doctor 2>/dev/null) && exit 0
+    # Strip ANSI so the tooltip is plain text (and waybar never chokes on
+    # control chars); keep only the ✖ lines.
+    tip=$(printf '%s\n' "$out" \
+      | ${pkgs.gnused}/bin/sed 's/\x1b\[[0-9;]*m//g' \
+      | grep '✖' | head -5 \
       | ${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq -Rs 'rtrimstr("\n") + "\n(click for the full sheet)"')
-    printf '{"text":"󰒡","tooltip":%s,"class":"bad"}\n' "$tip"
+    # 󰀨 (md-alert-circle): alert shape that survives incomplete Nerd Font
+    # cuts better than 󰒡; class:bad still paints it @bad.
+    printf '{"text":"󰀨","tooltip":%s,"class":"bad"}\n' "$tip"
   '';
 
   # Per-theme override probe.
@@ -247,7 +254,11 @@ let
     "custom/doctor" = {
       exec = "nomarchy-doctor-status";
       return-type = "json";
+      format = "{}";
       interval = 300;
+      # signal 10: poke after a fix (or from theme-shot) so the tripwire
+      # doesn't wait a full interval after a first-poll miss.
+      signal = 10;
       on-click = "nomarchy-menu doctor";
     };
 
diff --git a/themes/boreal/waybar.jsonc b/themes/boreal/waybar.jsonc
index 4cc3195..6280ef1 100644
--- a/themes/boreal/waybar.jsonc
+++ b/themes/boreal/waybar.jsonc
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@
   },
   "custom/doctor": {
     "return-type": "json",
+    "format": "{}",
     "interval": 300,
+    "signal": 10,
     "exec": "nomarchy-doctor-status",
     "on-click": "nomarchy-menu doctor"
   },
diff --git a/themes/executive-slate/waybar.jsonc b/themes/executive-slate/waybar.jsonc
index f7acfe9..7f5f94d 100644
--- a/themes/executive-slate/waybar.jsonc
+++ b/themes/executive-slate/waybar.jsonc
@@ -141,7 +141,9 @@
   },
   "custom/doctor": {
     "return-type": "json",
+    "format": "{}",
     "interval": 300,
+    "signal": 10,
     "exec": "nomarchy-doctor-status",
     "on-click": "nomarchy-menu doctor"
   },
diff --git a/themes/summer-day/waybar.jsonc b/themes/summer-day/waybar.jsonc
index 2b5fee6..b3695e2 100644
--- a/themes/summer-day/waybar.jsonc
+++ b/themes/summer-day/waybar.jsonc
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@
 
   "custom/doctor": {
     "return-type": "json",
+    "format": "{}",
     "interval": 300,
+    "signal": 10,
     "exec": "nomarchy-doctor-status",
     "on-click": "nomarchy-menu doctor"
   },
diff --git a/themes/summer-night/waybar.jsonc b/themes/summer-night/waybar.jsonc
index 78c3b32..07a0791 100644
--- a/themes/summer-night/waybar.jsonc
+++ b/themes/summer-night/waybar.jsonc
@@ -98,7 +98,9 @@
 
   "custom/doctor": {
     "return-type": "json",
+    "format": "{}",
     "interval": 300,
+    "signal": 10,
     "exec": "nomarchy-doctor-status",
     "on-click": "nomarchy-menu doctor"
   },
diff --git a/tools/theme-shot.nix b/tools/theme-shot.nix
index c88372d..2127eac 100644
--- a/tools/theme-shot.nix
+++ b/tools/theme-shot.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 # Themed-desktop capture harness (item 28 slice c) — boots the full
 # desktop headlessly (software-GL Hyprland) at 1920x1080 and QMP-dumps
-# two screenshots into $out: desktop.png and menu.png (rofi root open).
+# screenshots into $out: desktop.png, menu.png (rofi root open), and
+# btop.png (Ghostty running btop, when the terminal starts under softGL).
+# Also asserts nomarchy-doctor-status JSON (class:bad) — the harness
+# seeds an untracked theme-state.json, so doctor always reports ✖.
 # Maintainer tool, NOT a checks.* gate (a full-desktop VM is far too
 # heavy for CI). Impure: THEME env picks the theme slug.
 #   THEME=<slug> nix build --impure -f tools/theme-shot.nix --no-link --print-out-paths
@@ -66,6 +69,18 @@ pkgs.testers.runNixOSTest {
     # The session exec-once paints the wallpaper (softGL first paint at
     # 1920x1080 is slow) — give it a generous settle.
     machine.sleep(30)
+    # Doctor indicator contract: untracked theme-state → ✖ → status JSON
+    # with class:bad and the 󰒡 glyph (Waybar self-shows the module).
+    status = machine.succeed("su - nomarchy -c 'nomarchy-doctor-status'")
+    assert '"class":"bad"' in status, f"doctor-status not bad: {status!r}"
+    assert ("󰀨" in status or "󰒡" in status), f"doctor glyph missing: {status!r}"
+    # Baked btop theme must be present (asset or generated) for the slug.
+    machine.succeed("test -f /home/nomarchy/.config/btop/themes/nomarchy.theme")
+    machine.succeed("grep -q 'theme\\[main_bg\\]' /home/nomarchy/.config/btop/themes/nomarchy.theme")
+    # Poke custom/doctor (signal 10) so a first-poll miss at session start
+    # doesn't leave the tripwire blank for the full 300s interval.
+    machine.execute("su - nomarchy -c 'pkill -RTMIN+10 waybar' >/dev/null 2>&1 || true")
+    machine.sleep(3)
     # Park the cursor in the bottom-right corner so it doesn't sit in the
     # middle of the desktop shot (that frame doubles as the theme-picker
     # preview.png source).
@@ -76,5 +91,15 @@ pkgs.testers.runNixOSTest {
     machine.execute(hy + " exec nomarchy-menu' >/dev/null 2>&1")
     machine.sleep(8)
     machine.screenshot("menu")
+    # Close menu, launch btop in Ghostty for the per-theme btop.theme shot.
+    # softGL may fail to start Ghostty — btop.png is best-effort then; the
+    # file assertions above still prove the theme is baked into the guest.
+    machine.execute("su - nomarchy -c 'pkill -x rofi' >/dev/null 2>&1 || true")
+    machine.sleep(1)
+    machine.execute(
+      hy + " exec ghostty --gtk-single-instance=false -e btop' >/dev/null 2>&1"
+    )
+    machine.sleep(12)
+    machine.screenshot("btop")
   '';
 }