diff --git a/agent/BACKLOG.md b/agent/BACKLOG.md
index e2e2632..1772f76 100644
--- a/agent/BACKLOG.md
+++ b/agent/BACKLOG.md
@@ -64,8 +64,30 @@ warn ≥ 2.5 (21×7 pairings green; audit contrast findings 20 → 1 —
 miasma's earthy `bad` stays as identity, good/bad floors stay
 audit-only so no exemption list was needed). Remaining (b): nothing —
 further palette work graduates from slices (c)/(d) findings;
-(c) per-surface polish slices;
-(d) the whole-swap themes brought to the same bar. Visual work is
+(c) per-surface polish slices — capture harness ✓ shipped 2026-07-05
+(iteration #34): `tools/theme-shot.nix` boots the themed desktop
+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).
+  - **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.
+  - **Bar right-cluster rhythm:** confirmed at 1080p — add group
+    margins (tray/net · stats · toggles · battery/notify) on the
+    gaps grid.
+  - **Semantic dim:** bar dim states are `alpha(@text, 0.5)` tints;
+    the palette's `muted` role is now floor-guaranteed (28b) — one
+    semantic source, use `@muted`.
+  - Harness gap: wallpaper needs `~/.nomarchy` seeded in the guest
+    (theme-sync reads runtime state there) — add before vibe-review
+    captures; whole-swap captures (summer-day/night) still pending;
+(d) the whole-swap themes brought to the same bar (module parity
+verified textually 2026-07-05: whole-swaps carry every functional
+module; omitting cpu/memory is identity). Visual work is
 V3-bound by nature — screenshots are the review artifact, hardware
 confirms.
 
diff --git a/agent/JOURNAL.md b/agent/JOURNAL.md
index f3a3397..198d771 100644
--- a/agent/JOURNAL.md
+++ b/agent/JOURNAL.md
@@ -17,6 +17,28 @@ Template:
 
 ---
 
+## 2026-07-05 — 1080p capture harness + first slice-c review (iteration #34, item 28c)
+- **Task:** item 28 slice (c) prep — full-res captures for the
+  per-surface polish pass.
+- **Did:** tools/theme-shot.nix (maintainer tool, THEME env-driven):
+  full themed desktop headless at 1920x1080 via the memory recipe +
+  two fixes over the spike — home-manager.useGlobalPkgs (HM submodule
+  otherwise misses the overlay → 'nomarchy-theme-sync missing') and a
+  menu.png shot (hyprctl dispatch exec nomarchy-menu). Proven on
+  tokyo-night; both shots read. Findings → item 28 punch list: rofi
+  root width vs empty space (→ keybind-hint column idea), icon-weight
+  mix (color Papirus vs mono bar) `[human]`, bar group margins
+  confirmed, alpha-tint dim vs @muted role. Whole-swap module parity
+  verified textually (no drift; cpu/memory omission is identity).
+- **Verified:** harness runs end-to-end (exit 0, screenshots read);
+  eval from tools/ with relative flake path OK. Wallpaper still
+  doesn't paint (theme-sync needs ~/.nomarchy in the guest — fix
+  noted in the header for the next run).
+- **Pending:** capture summer-day/night (whole-swaps) + latte;
+  then the polish slices; icon-weight call is Bernardo's.
+- **Next suggestion:** run the retuned-theme captures + start the
+  cheap polish items (group margins, @muted adoption).
+
 ## 2026-07-05 — P2 floors retuned + gated (iteration #33, item 28b done)
 - **Task:** item 28 slice (b) remainder — the P2 contrast floors.
 - **Did:** 18 hex retunes across 9 themes: muted raised on lumon/
diff --git a/tools/theme-shot.nix b/tools/theme-shot.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1985594
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/theme-shot.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+# Themed-desktop capture harness (item 28 slice c) — boots the full
+# desktop headlessly (software-GL Hyprland) at 1920x1080 and QMP-dumps
+# two screenshots into $out: desktop.png and menu.png (rofi root open).
+# Maintainer tool, NOT a checks.* gate (a full-desktop VM is far too
+# heavy for CI). Impure: THEME env picks the theme slug.
+#   THEME=<slug> nix build --impure -f tools/theme-shot.nix --no-link --print-out-paths
+# Known gap: the wallpaper does not paint — nomarchy-theme-sync resolves
+# state from ~/.nomarchy at runtime, absent in the guest; seed it
+# (cp the flake to ~nomarchy/.nomarchy in testScript) if the wallpaper
+# matters to the shot. Bar + menus render fully.
+let
+  flake = builtins.getFlake ("git+file://" + toString ../.);
+  inherit (flake.inputs) nixpkgs home-manager;
+  pkgs = import nixpkgs {
+    system = "x86_64-linux";
+    overlays = [ flake.overlays.default ];
+    config.allowUnfree = true;
+  };
+  slug = let s = builtins.getEnv "THEME"; in if s == "" then "tokyo-night" else s;
+in
+pkgs.testers.runNixOSTest {
+  name = "theme-shot-${slug}";
+  node.pkgsReadOnly = false;            # nomarchy sets nixpkgs.config
+  node.specialArgs = { username = "nomarchy"; };
+  nodes.machine = { pkgs, lib, ... }: {
+    imports = [ flake.nixosModules.nomarchy home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager ];
+    virtualisation.memorySize = 4096;
+    virtualisation.cores = 4;
+    # Software GL for Hyprland (GLES/aquamarine) without a host GPU.
+    hardware.graphics.enable = true;
+    environment.variables.LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE = "1";
+    boot.initrd.availableKernelModules = [ "virtio_gpu" ];
+    virtualisation.qemu.options = [ "-vga none" "-device virtio-gpu-pci,xres=1920,yres=1080" ];
+
+    users.users.nomarchy = {
+      isNormalUser = true;
+      password = "test";
+      extraGroups = [ "wheel" "video" ];
+    };
+    nomarchy.system.stateFile = flake + "/themes/${slug}.json";
+    services.greetd.settings.initial_session = {
+      command = "start-hyprland";
+      user = "nomarchy";
+    };
+    home-manager.useGlobalPkgs = true;  # HM must see the overlay'd node pkgs
+    home-manager.users.nomarchy = {
+      imports = [ flake.homeModules.nomarchy ];
+      nomarchy.stateFile = flake + "/themes/${slug}.json";
+      nomarchy.idle.enable = false;     # no lock/dpms during the shot
+    };
+  };
+  testScript = ''
+    machine.wait_for_unit("multi-user.target")
+    machine.wait_for_file("/run/user/1000/hypr", 180)
+    machine.sleep(12)
+    # Paint the wallpaper explicitly (awww timing was flaky in the spike).
+    machine.execute("su - nomarchy -c 'XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000 nomarchy-theme-sync wallpaper' >/dev/null 2>&1")
+    machine.sleep(18)
+    machine.screenshot("desktop")
+    # Open the root menu for the polish review.
+    hy = "su - nomarchy -c 'XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000 HYPRLAND_INSTANCE_SIGNATURE=$(ls /run/user/1000/hypr | head -1) hyprctl dispatch exec"
+    machine.execute(hy + " nomarchy-menu' >/dev/null 2>&1")
+    machine.sleep(8)
+    machine.screenshot("menu")
+  '';
+}