docs(changelog): complete 3.4.0 with weekly auto-updates and scroll timing fix (#584 )

* docs(changelog): complete 3.4.0 with weekly auto-updates and scroll timing fix #581 (weekly automatic updates) and #582 (scroll frame-stats idle gap) merged after the 3.4.0 section was written in #580. v3.4.0 will be tagged on main including both, so they belong in 3.4.0. Also record src.common.font_layout (#539, #565), a src.* module plugins may import that shipped in 3.4.0 but was never listed, and mark display_geometry and auto_update_setup as core-internal. Correct the 3.3.0 historical note: remote tags v3.3.0 (bc2dbf38) and v3.3.1 (32d637a4) both report "3.3.0" and both ship sports_shared.py. The "3.2.0" claim came from a stale local tag. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * docs(changelog): cover the whole 3.4.0 release since v3.3.1 The 3.4.0 section listed plugin-facing API and per-element customization but not the rest of what merged since v3.3.1. Group it under subheadings: Install and updates, Scrolling, Plugins, Web interface, Tools and security, Fixes, and put the existing customization block under its own heading. Omitted on purpose: #569 (fixes a regression and an editor race in the unreleased per-element framework), #570 (no runtime change), and test-only, refactor and dev-tooling PRs. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
feat(web): weekly automatic updates with health check and rollback (#581 )
2026-10-13 18:46:37 +00:00 · 2026-09-15 15:24:38 -04:00 · 2026-09-15 10:58:57 -04:00 · 2026-09-14 18:44:52 -04:00 · 2026-09-14 18:36:58 -04:00 · 2026-09-14 17:45:03 -04:00
70 changed files with 5275 additions and 448 deletions
@@ -19,6 +19,166 @@ accepts both, but the store flags the old spelling as deprecated

 ## Unreleased

+## 3.4.0
+
+Plugin-facing changes since 3.3.0 (tag `v3.3.1`) not covered further down:
+
+- `BasePlugin.get_update_interval()` (#555) — return seconds to override the
+  manifest's `update_interval` at runtime (e.g. poll fast only while a game is
+  live), or `None` to keep it. Clamped to at least 5 seconds; a raising or
+  non-numeric return is ignored. Called every scheduling tick, so keep it
+  cheap. Older cores never call it. See `docs/PLUGIN_API_REFERENCE.md`.
+- `src.common.scroll_config` (#523) — turns a plugin's scroll config into a
+  configured `ScrollHelper` in one place, replacing per-plugin resolution that
+  disagreed between tickers, and warns when a speed won't advance whole pixels
+  per panel refresh. Floor on 3.4.0 to import it.
+- **Skins are marked unsupported.** No current scoreboard plugin builds on
+  `src.base_classes`, so the skin hook (`SportsCore._render_game`) never runs.
+  The web UI no longer shows the Visual Skin dropdown, the store hides and
+  refuses `"type": "skin"` entries, and `GET /api/v3/skins` reports
+  `"supported": false`. Saved `skin` config values still load and save.
+  `src/skin_system/` is unchanged.
+- **Web preview size** now comes from `src/display_geometry.py`, the same
+  computation `DisplayManager` uses: double-sided setups preview one screen,
+  and a missing `chain_length` defaults to 2 everywhere (the Starlark magnify
+  default and the sync handshake used 1). The module is core-internal: plugins
+  keep reading `display_manager.width`/`height`.
+- `src.common.font_layout` (#539, #565) — `load_truetype()` is
+  `ImageFont.truetype` with the layout engine pinned, so text lays out the same
+  whether or not the host's Pillow was built with libraqm; `crisp_size()` and
+  `FONT_PIXEL_GRID` give the size a bundled face renders on whole pixels at
+  (`sports_card` still re-exports them); `resolve_asset_path()` resolves
+  `assets/fonts/...` against the install root, not the working directory.
+  Floor on 3.4.0 to import it. Relatedly, `DisplayManager` now draws text
+  1-bit (#521), so golden images recorded against 3.3.x may need regenerating.
+
+### Install and updates
+
+**Weekly automatic updates (#581), off by default.** Switching on
+*Automatically check for and install updates once a week* on the General tab
+(or `first_time_install.sh --enable-auto-update` / `LEDMATRIX_AUTO_UPDATE=1`)
+updates the core and then every installed plugin once a week, preferably 2–5 AM
+local time. It follows the branch the checkout tracks — `main` on a standard
+install — so a device gets whatever has merged there, not only tagged releases.
+See `docs/WEB_INTERFACE_GUIDE.md`.
+
+- The core step is skipped, with the reason shown, when the checkout has local
+  edits or commits, a rebase or merge is in progress, the branch has no
+  upstream, less than 300 MB is free, or that commit was already rolled back.
+- After pulling, `ledmatrix-update-verify.service` restarts the services and
+  requires the web interface to answer and the display to stay up. If they
+  don't, or the new requirements fail to install, it resets to the previous
+  commit, reinstalls its requirements and restarts again. Anything but success
+  shows under the toggle and as a banner on Overview.
+- Plugins update through the Plugin Store even when the core step is skipped,
+  fails or is rolled back. A plugin version whose `ledmatrix_min_version` is
+  above the device's core is held back, not installed. When the core did
+  update, plugins wait for its health check, and are left alone if that check
+  never reports or the rollback fails.
+- No SSH is needed: switching the toggle on restarts the display service, which
+  installs the health-check units (`src/auto_update_setup.py`, core-internal
+  and not a plugin API).
+
+Installer and service fixes:
+
+- rgbmatrix builds on ARMv6 boards (Pi Zero, Pi 1); an existing checkout is
+  moved forward to the new pin and no longer left root-owned (#577).
+- `first_time_install.sh` grants the web user `safe_pip_install.sh`, as
+  `configure_web_sudo.sh` already did, so plugin requirements install where
+  the display service can see them (#579).
+- The web interface starts when `web_display_autostart` is missing or
+  `config.json` is unreadable; only an explicit `false` keeps it down (#556).
+- Installers render every systemd unit from its `systemd/` template, so the
+  boot-time unit-drift warning can clear, non-root installs included (#547).
+
+### Scrolling
+
+- **Frame pacing (#523).** The loop waits only for the rest of each panel
+  refresh instead of a flat 8 ms: 44–46 fps → 100 fps, and slow frames 14% →
+  0.02%, on a 2×128×64 chain. Sub-pixel blending is off by default again (it
+  shimmered on pixel fonts; Vegas mode still opts in).
+- **Whole-pixel steps (#545).** At a speed `scroll_config` can render in whole
+  pixels, every frame advances by exactly the same amount, removing about six
+  hitches a second. A loop that can't keep up now scrolls slightly slow rather
+  than jumping.
+- The eight sports scoreboards scroll through `scroll_config` too (#542): the
+  default 50 px/s holds each frame for two refreshes instead of alternating
+  0 px and 1 px steps.
+- **Frame stats ignore the pause between scrolls (#582).** The `Scroll frame
+  stats` log line counted the idle wait before each scroll as one frame,
+  inflating `max` and the stall rate. `docs/SCROLL_PERFORMANCE.md` now
+  describes the line actually logged.
+
+### Plugins
+
+- `FontManager` registers the bundled `tom_thumb` font, so plugins no longer
+  need a private loader (#534).
+- The test harness's `set_scrolling_state()` accepts `frame_hold`, as
+  `DisplayManager`'s does (#534).
+- A `display()` with nothing to draw should return `False`, the only value the
+  controller skips on; starlark-apps now does, rather than holding a black
+  panel (#534).
+- Starlark apps may set `render_width`/`render_height` in their `config.json`
+  to render at their own canvas size instead of Pixlet's 64×32 (#552).
+- `scripts/render_plugin.py --display-mode <mode>` renders one mode of a
+  multi-mode plugin; scoreboards previously rendered blank (#522).
+- Scoreboards resolve their own directory under the real plugin loader
+  (declare `_PLUGIN_DIR`), so 4x6 text snaps to its 7px grid instead of
+  rendering a pixel narrow, and an unreadable schema is logged (#519, #520).
+  `DisplayManager` loads 4x6 on that grid too (#565).
+- The 5x7 BDF face reports a real height, so rows stacked by
+  `get_font_height()` no longer overlap (#539).
+- `LogoHelper` remembers a missing logo instead of warning every rotation
+  (#548), and the decoded sports logo cache is bounded (#559).
+
+### Web interface
+
+- Installed Plugins has search, All / Enabled / Disabled / Updates filters and
+  sort (#540).
+- Hardened and polished per the September 2026 audit (#568): utility classes
+  such as `.hidden` actually exist, focus rings, labels and modal focus
+  trapping, dark theme throughout, no overflow at phone width, and background
+  streams pause when hidden, with first-load JS/CSS down from 1358 KB to 291 KB.
+- WiFi Connect works from the LEDMatrix-Setup hotspot: the page is answered
+  before the hotspot drops, and reopening it shows why an attempt failed (#571).
+- Pixlet install, the Starlark app store and app toggles work again (#535,
+  #537); the store uses the configured GitHub token and reports a rate limit
+  instead of drawing a blank grid (#541).
+- Plugin config: geochron and news saves no longer always fail (#575), the page
+  survives stored values the schema outgrew (#578), the form uses the full page
+  height (#573), and file-manager widgets show the script's error (#574).
+- The live status stream reports real disk usage and available memory (#558);
+  a system action refused for want of passwordless sudo says so and names
+  `configure_web_sudo.sh` (#560).
+
+### Tools and security
+
+- **CodeQL triage (#561):** 129 of 134 alerts fixed. Three were exploitable
+  path-handling flaws in the web interface and are closed; web UI escapers now
+  escape quotes, and URL fields refuse script schemes. Path checks share
+  `src/common/path_safety.py` (core-internal).
+- **Home Assistant MQTT bridge** (`integrations/mqtt_bridge`, #538): mode
+  select, stop, power and brightness over MQTT Discovery.
+- **Tools tab** manages the MQTT bridge and the Pixlet editor (#554); the
+  editor stays on loopback when `PIXLET_EDITOR_HOST` says so.
+
+### Fixes
+
+- Updating a plugin whose directory is named for its manifest id (leaderboard,
+  music, stocks, weather) silently did nothing (#536).
+- Plugin reconciliation no longer reports working plugins as stale or replaces
+  their config with a stub, and the Overview banner advises each case correctly
+  (#557).
+- Two config saves in the same second no longer share one backup, so rollback
+  restores the version asked for (#564).
+- On-demand: a second request is honoured without a restart (#534), a pinned
+  request stays on its mode, and restarting mid-session loads every plugin
+  again (#538).
+- `/health` and `/display/current` report real state, and the preview no longer
+  freezes on a leftover snapshot temp file (#534).
+
+### Per-element display customization
+
 **Per-element display customization, and the last mile of it into the web UI.**
 A user can set the font, size, colour, position, visibility and alignment of
 individual display elements per plugin -- and, where a plugin has display
@@ -109,6 +269,8 @@ Removed:

 ## 3.3.0

+Historical note: tags `v3.3.0` and `v3.3.1` both report `__version__` "3.3.0" and both ship `src/common/sports_shared.py`, so a "3.3.0" floor always means a core with `sports_shared`.
+
 **The release the sports scoreboards floor on to delete their bundled copies.**
 3.2.0 shipped the unified sports library and made `ledmatrix_min_version`
 enforceable; this ships the last three shared modules and completes the store
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 - `config/config.json` — User plugin configuration (persists across plugin reinstalls)
 - `plugin-repos/` — **Default** plugin install directory used by the
  Plugin Store, set by `plugin_system.plugins_directory` in
-  `config.json` (default per `config/config.template.json:167`).
+  `config.json` (default per `config/config.template.json`).
  Not gitignored.
 - `plugins/` — Legacy/dev plugin location. Gitignored (`plugins/*`).
  Used by `scripts/dev/dev_plugin_setup.sh` for symlinks. The plugin
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 - Each plugin needs: `manifest.json`, `config_schema.json`, `manager.py`, `requirements.txt`
 - Plugin instantiation args: `plugin_id, config, display_manager, cache_manager, plugin_manager`
 - Config schemas use JSON Schema Draft-7
- Display dimensions: always read dynamically from `self.display_manager.matrix.width/height`
+- Display dimensions: always read dynamically from `self.display_manager.width/height` — not `display_manager.matrix.width/height`, because `matrix` is `None` when hardware init fails (the properties fall back to the canvas size)
 - Secrets: namespaced by plugin id in `config/config_secrets.json`, declared
  via `"x-secret": true` in the plugin's config schema, and deep-merged into
  the plugin's config dict at load time — plugins read them with plain
@@ -45,9 +45,12 @@
 - Plugin configs stored in `config/config.json`, NOT in plugin directories — safe across reinstalls
 - Third-party plugins can use their own repo URL with empty `plugin_path`

-## Skin System (visual overlays for sports scoreboards)
+## Skin System (visual overlays for sports scoreboards) — NOT SUPPORTED YET
+- Skins do not render with the current scoreboard plugins: the only hook is `SportsCore._render_game()` in `src/base_classes/sports/core.py`, and no current scoreboard plugin (monorepo or third-party registry) builds on `src.base_classes`
+- So core doesn't offer them: no Visual Skin dropdown (`get_plugin_schema` skips `inject_skin_selector`), the store hides/refuses `"type": "skin"` entries, `GET /api/v3/skins` reports `"supported": false`. Switch: `SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED` in `src/skin_system/__init__.py`
+- Stored `skin` / `skin_options` config values must keep loading and saving (base schema allows them; form saves deep-merge over the stored section)
 - Skins live in `skins/<skin-id>/` (skin.json + skin.py), NOT in plugin dirs — plugin reinstall deletes plugin dirs
- Core: `src/skin_system/` (ScoreboardSkin, SkinContext, runtime); hook: `SportsCore._render_game()` in `src/base_classes/sports/core.py`
+- Core: `src/skin_system/` (ScoreboardSkin, SkinContext, runtime); keep it and its tests
 - Skins render onto `ctx.canvas` only; fallback to built-in renderer on `False`/exception (3 strikes disables for session)
 - View-model guaranteed keys are frozen (see `test/test_skin_system.py::TestViewModelContract`) — renaming keys in `_extract_game_details_common` or sport extractors breaks published skins
 - Validate skins headlessly: `python scripts/validate_skin.py --skin <id>`; docs: `docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md`, `docs/CREATING_SKINS.md`
@@ -463,13 +463,12 @@ For plugin development, check out the [Hello World Plugin](https://github.com/Ch

 ### Visual Skins for Scoreboards

-Want a different look for a sports scoreboard without forking the plugin?
-**Skins** restyle the live/recent/upcoming screens while the plugin keeps
-handling data, scheduling, caching, and vegas mode. Install one with
-`git clone <skin repo> skins/<skin-id>`, select it in the plugin's config,
-and you're done — see [docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md](docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md) (how it
-works) and [docs/CREATING_SKINS.md](docs/CREATING_SKINS.md) (build your own,
-including a ready-made Claude Code prompt).
+**Not supported yet.** Skins are meant to restyle a sports scoreboard's
+live/recent/upcoming screens without forking the plugin, but the current
+scoreboard plugins don't render them: a selected skin has no effect. The web
+UI doesn't offer skin install or selection for that reason. The skin system
+and its docs stay in place for when scoreboards adopt it; see
+[docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md](docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md) for why.

 2. **Built-in Managers Deprecated**: The built-in managers (hockey, football, stocks, etc.) are now deprecated and have been moved to the plugin system. **You must install replacement plugins from the Plugin Store** in the web interface instead. The plugin system provides the same functionality with better maintainability and extensibility.
 </details>
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 {
    "web_display_autostart": true,
+    "auto_update": {
+        "enabled": false
+    },
    "schedule": {
        "enabled": false,
        "mode": "per-day",
@@ -223,8 +223,8 @@ The harness already renders every plugin at a spread of sizes (now
 including 96x48):

 ```bash
-python scripts/check_plugin.py <plugin-dir> --sizes 64x32,128x32,96x48,128x64,256x64
-python scripts/render_plugin.py <plugin-dir> --width 96 --height 48
+python scripts/check_plugin.py --plugin <plugin-id> --sizes 64x32,128x32,96x48,128x64,256x64
+python scripts/render_plugin.py --plugin <plugin-id> --width 96 --height 48
 ```

 `BoundsCheckingDisplayManager` flags right/bottom overflow and now records
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 # Creating Skins

+> **Not supported yet: skins don't render with the current scoreboard
+> plugins.** The only render hook is `SportsCore._render_game()` in
+> `src/base_classes/sports/core.py`, and no current scoreboard (monorepo or
+> third-party) builds on `src.base_classes`, so a skin you build here passes
+> `validate_skin.py` but never appears on the matrix. The web UI and Plugin
+> Store don't offer skins for that reason. Details:
+> [SKIN_SYSTEM.md](SKIN_SYSTEM.md#status-not-supported-yet). The guide below
+> stays accurate for the skin API itself.
+
 A skin restyles a sports scoreboard (live / recent / upcoming) without
 forking the plugin: the plugin keeps fetching data, scheduling, caching, and
 doing vegas mode; your skin only draws. Architecture background:
@@ -19,7 +28,9 @@ panel sizes with **no hardware, no network, no running service**, saves PNGs
 (plus 4x previews) to `skin_renders/`, and fails loudly on errors. Iterate:
 edit → validate → look at the PNGs.

-To see it on your matrix, add to your plugin's section in `config/config.json`:
+To select it, add to your plugin's section in `config/config.json` (this is
+stored and validated, but has no visible effect until a scoreboard uses the
+skin hook — see the note at the top):

 ```json
 "baseball-scoreboard": {
@@ -28,8 +39,8 @@ To see it on your matrix, add to your plugin's section in `config/config.json`:
 }
 ```

-or pick it from the **Visual Skin** dropdown in the web UI (it appears once a
-matching skin is installed). `"skin"` also accepts a per-mode mapping:
+The web UI's **Visual Skin** dropdown is hidden while skins are unsupported.
+`"skin"` also accepts a per-mode mapping:
 `{"live": "my-skin", "recent": "built-in"}`.

 ## The manifest (`skin.json`)
@@ -234,8 +245,9 @@ Tips that keep Claude (and you) out of trouble:
      dev machine

 Distribute by publishing the directory as a git repo (users
-`git clone <repo> skins/<id>`), or submit it to the plugin registry as an
-entry with `"type": "skin"` (see [SKIN_SYSTEM.md](SKIN_SYSTEM.md) §Distribution).
+`git clone <repo> skins/<id>`). Registry entries with `"type": "skin"` are
+hidden and refused by the Plugin Store while skins are unsupported (see
+[SKIN_SYSTEM.md](SKIN_SYSTEM.md) §Distribution).

 **Trust note:** a skin is Python running inside the display service — the
 same trust level as a plugin. Review code before installing skins from
@@ -36,7 +36,11 @@ self.enabled            # Boolean enabled status

 #### `update() -> None`

-Fetch/update data for this plugin. Called based on `update_interval` specified in the plugin's manifest.
+Fetch/update data for this plugin. Called on the plugin's update interval:
+the value `get_update_interval()` returns when it returns a number, otherwise
+the static interval: the `update_interval` in the plugin's manifest, else
+`update_interval` in the plugin's section of `config.json`, else 60 seconds
+(see [`get_update_interval()`](#get_update_interval---optionalfloat) below).

 **Example**:
 ```python
@@ -109,6 +113,46 @@ Called when plugin is enabled.

 Called when plugin is disabled.

+#### `get_update_interval() -> Optional[float]`
+
+How often this plugin wants `update()` called right now, in seconds. The
+manifest's `update_interval` is one static number; override this when the
+right cadence depends on state only the plugin knows, e.g. poll every 15s
+while a game is live and fall back to the manifest value otherwise.
+
+**Returns**: seconds as a number, or `None` (the default) for no opinion.
+
+How `PluginManager` (`_get_plugin_update_interval` in
+`src/plugin_system/plugin_manager.py`) resolves the interval on each
+scheduling tick:
+
+1. It calls `get_update_interval()`. A number wins over everything below.
+   Values under `PluginManager.MIN_DYNAMIC_UPDATE_INTERVAL` (5 seconds) are
+   raised to it.
+2. If the hook returns `None`, raises, or returns something that isn't a
+   finite number (a `bool`, a string, NaN, infinity), it is ignored and the
+   static interval applies: the manifest's `update_interval`, else
+   `update_interval` in the plugin's section of `config.json`, else 60
+   seconds.
+
+The static value is cached per plugin until the plugin is loaded or
+unloaded again, so editing `update_interval` in config takes effect on the
+next reload. The hook's return value is never cached: it is called on every
+tick of the display loop, so keep it to attribute reads (no config lookups,
+no I/O, no locks a fetch might hold) and don't let it raise.
+
+**Example**:
+```python
+def get_update_interval(self):
+    # Fast while something is live, manifest default otherwise.
+    if any(m.live_games for m in self._live_managers):
+        return self.config.get("live_update_interval", 15)
+    return None
+```
+
+Added in core 3.4.0; older cores never call it, so a plugin that relies on
+it should floor `ledmatrix_min_version` at `3.4.0`.
+
 #### `get_display_duration() -> float`

 Get display duration for this plugin. Can be overridden for dynamic durations.
@@ -189,7 +189,9 @@ class BasePlugin(ABC):
    def update(self) -> None:
        """
        Fetch/update data for this plugin.
-        Called based on update_interval in manifest.
+        Called every get_update_interval() seconds when that returns a
+        number, otherwise at the static interval: the manifest's
+        update_interval, else the plugin config's update_interval, else 60s.
        """
        pass
    
@@ -204,6 +206,21 @@ class BasePlugin(ABC):
        """
        pass
    
+    def get_update_interval(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        """
+        Seconds until update() should run again, decided at runtime.
+        Return None (the default) to use the static interval.
+
+        PluginManager._get_plugin_update_interval calls this on every
+        scheduling tick. A number overrides the manifest and is clamped up
+        to PluginManager.MIN_DYNAMIC_UPDATE_INTERVAL (5s); None, a raise,
+        or a non-finite/non-numeric value falls back to the manifest's
+        update_interval, then the plugin config's update_interval, then
+        60s. The static value is cached until the plugin reloads; the hook
+        is not cached, so it must be cheap and must not raise.
+        """
+        return None
+    
    def get_display_duration(self) -> float:
        """
        Get the display duration for this plugin instance.
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ This guide explains how to set up a development workflow for plugins that are ma
 > scale. Existing plugins keep their classic rendering unless they adopt
 > those APIs; nothing migrates automatically.

-> **Just want a different look for an existing sports scoreboard?** You may
-> not need a plugin at all — a **skin** restyles the live/recent/upcoming
-> rendering while the plugin keeps handling data, scheduling, caching, and
-> vegas mode, in ~100 lines of drawing code. See
-> [CREATING_SKINS.md](CREATING_SKINS.md).
+> **Want a different look for an existing sports scoreboard?** Skins are
+> meant for that, but they are **not supported yet**: the current scoreboard
+> plugins don't render them (see [SKIN_SYSTEM.md](SKIN_SYSTEM.md#status-not-supported-yet)).
+> For now, change the look through the plugin's own display settings or its
+> code.

 ## Overview

@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ Going deeper:
 - [ADVANCED_FEATURES.md](ADVANCED_FEATURES.md) — Vegas scroll, on-demand display,
  cache management, background services, permissions
 - [FONT_MANAGER.md](FONT_MANAGER.md) — font system
- [SKIN_SYSTEM.md](SKIN_SYSTEM.md) — skin architecture for sports scoreboards
- [CREATING_SKINS.md](CREATING_SKINS.md) — writing and validating a skin
+- [SKIN_SYSTEM.md](SKIN_SYSTEM.md) — skin architecture for sports scoreboards (not supported yet: current scoreboards don't render skins)
+- [CREATING_SKINS.md](CREATING_SKINS.md) — writing and validating a skin (same caveat)

 ## Reference

@@ -203,26 +203,61 @@ configured speed, so position stays proportional to real time.

 ## Diagnosing a juddery scroller

-**`Avg FPS` will lie to you.** It is a 100-frame moving average, and a 2 ms
-duplicate frame plus a 21 ms double-wait average to exactly 10 ms. A ticker
-that is stalling on half its frames still reports a healthy `100.0`.
+**An average will lie to you.** A 2 ms duplicate frame and a 21 ms double-wait
+mean exactly 10 ms, so a ticker stalling on half its frames still averages to a
+healthy 100 fps. The stats line reports the tail for that reason — read the
+percentiles, not the fps.

-Look at the **distribution** instead:
+Every scroller emits one line every 5 seconds covering *every* frame in that
+window, tagged with the plugin it came from:

 ```bash
-journalctl -u ledmatrix --since "-10min" --no-pager \
-  | grep -oE "Frame time: [0-9.]+ms" | awk '{print $3}' | sed 's/ms//' \
-  | awk '{printf "%.0f\n", $1}' | sort -n | uniq -c
+journalctl -u ledmatrix --since "-10min" --no-pager | grep "Scroll frame stats"
+```
+
+```
+[Plugin: news] Scroll frame stats - 100.0 fps over 501 frames | median 10.00ms
+p95 10.11ms max 12.03ms min 7.98ms | stalls 0 (0.0%) skips 0 (0.0%)
 ```

 Reading it, on a 100 Hz panel:

 | you see | it means |
 |---|---|
-| everything at 10 ms | healthy |
-| a mode at ~2 ms | **duplicate frames** — the swap was skipped because the image did not change. The scroller is advancing less than one pixel per frame. |
-| a mode at 20/30/50 ms | frames missing refreshes — per-frame work is overrunning, or a background thread is holding the GIL |
-| `Avg FPS` above 100 | duplicates present, unless the scroll cycle has completed and is idling |
+| median 10 ms, p95 within ~0.5 ms of it | healthy — locked to the panel |
+| p95 or max at 20/30/50 ms | frames missing refreshes — per-frame work is overrunning, or a background thread is holding the GIL |
+| non-zero **skips**, or a median *below* 10 ms | **duplicate frames** — the swap was skipped because the image did not change, so the frame never waited on vsync. The scroller is advancing less than one pixel per frame. |
+| non-zero **stalls** | frames past 1.5× the median, which is the measure of judder that survives averaging |
+
+`stalls` and `skips` are both counted against that window's own median, so they
+stay meaningful on a panel running at any refresh rate.
+
+To rank every scroller at once rather than reading lines one at a time:
+
+```bash
+journalctl -u ledmatrix --since "-3h" --no-pager | grep "Scroll frame stats" \
+  | sed -E 's/.*- (\S+) - (\[Plugin: [^]]+\] )?Scroll.*median ([0-9.]+)ms p95 ([0-9.]+)ms.*/\1 \3 \4/' \
+  | awk '$2 < 1000 {n[$1]++; m[$1]+=$2; p[$1]+=$3} END {for (k in n)
+        printf "%-28s %5d windows  median %6.2fms  p95 %6.2fms\n", k, n[k], m[k]/n[k], p[k]/n[k]}' \
+  | sort -k7 -rn
+```
+
+The `$2 < 1000` guard drops windows whose median is a whole second or more.
+Those are not frames. Until the idle-gap fix in `log_frame_rate()`, the first
+frame of every scroll was timed against the end of the *previous* scroll, so
+the gap between them was recorded as one enormous sample — it landed in the
+`max` field of otherwise healthy windows and counted as one stall per scroll,
+roughly 0.2% at 500 frames to a window, which is the same order as the real
+stall rates it sat beside. Current builds emit none, but the guard costs
+nothing and keeps the command honest against older journals.
+
+A scroller whose p95 sits several times its median is the one to fix, and it is
+usually the one doing the most per-frame work rather than the one configured
+worst. Measured over 20 minutes with two scrollers set identically at 100 px/s,
+the leaderboard held 10 ms flat while the odds ticker spent ~20% of its frames
+on duplicates. Same settings, different render cost: odds does more per-frame
+work, and more variably, so it is first to land a frame that advances less than
+a whole pixel. Check the render path before the config.

 Then confirm what the plugin actually loaded — config edits do not always reach
 the running code:
@@ -1,5 +1,35 @@
 # Skin System Architecture

+## Status: not supported yet
+
+**Skins don't render with the current scoreboard plugins.** The skin system
+below works in isolation (it loads, validates and renders skins in
+`scripts/validate_skin.py` and `test/test_skin_system.py`), but nothing on a
+running display calls it:
+
+- The only render hook is `SportsCore._render_game()` in
+  `src/base_classes/sports/core.py`.
+- None of the current scoreboard plugins build on `src.base_classes`. The
+  official scoreboards in the `ledmatrix-plugins` monorepo, and the
+  third-party scoreboards in the plugin registry, carry their own sports and
+  rendering code (with the shared `src/common/sports_*` helpers) and never
+  reach `SportsCore._render_game()`.
+
+So a skin can be dropped into `skins/` and named in a plugin's config, but the
+scoreboard keeps drawing its built-in layout. Until a scoreboard adopts the
+hook, core does not offer skins to users:
+
+- The plugin config page shows no **Visual Skin** dropdown.
+- The Plugin Store hides registry entries with `"type": "skin"` and refuses
+  to install one (`POST /api/v3/plugins/install` answers 400 with the reason).
+- `GET /api/v3/skins` still lists what is in `skins/`, with
+  `"supported": false` and a `message`.
+- A config that already contains `"skin"` / `"skin_options"` still loads,
+  validates and saves unchanged; the value is simply unused.
+
+The rest of this document describes the design as built, for whoever wires a
+scoreboard to it.
+
 Skins are user-installable **visual overlays** for the sports scoreboards.
 A skin replaces only the *look* of a scoreboard — the host plugin keeps doing
 data fetching, scheduling, caching, dedup, live-priority takeover, and vegas
@@ -32,8 +62,10 @@ crashing) simply restores the built-in look.

 ## The render funnel

-Every sports scoreboard (baseball, football, basketball, hockey — anything
-built on the `src/base_classes/sports/` package, `core.py`) renders through exactly one seam:
+A sports scoreboard built on the `src/base_classes/sports/` package
+(`core.py`) renders through exactly one seam. No current scoreboard plugin is
+built on it (see [Status](#status-not-supported-yet)), so for them this seam is
+never reached:
 `SportsCore._render_game(game, force_clear)`.

 1. The mode class's `display()` (live, `SportsUpcoming`, `SportsRecent`)
@@ -135,22 +167,26 @@ Inside the plugin's own config section in `config/config.json`:
 `"built-in"` means the stock renderer. Because this rides the plugin's config
 section, it persists across plugin reinstalls like every other setting.

-The web UI shows a **Visual Skin** dropdown for plugins that have matching
-skins installed: `SchemaManager.inject_skin_selector` adds an enum to the
-*served* schema only. Validation never sees the enum — so a config that
-references an uninstalled skin stays valid (rendering just falls back), and
-the currently-configured value is always kept selectable. `GET /api/v3/skins`
-lists installed skins (optionally filtered by `?plugin_id=`).
+`SchemaManager.inject_skin_selector` can add a **Visual Skin** enum to the
+*served* schema for plugins with matching skins installed. While skins are
+unsupported the plugin schema endpoint does not call it, so the dropdown is
+not shown. Validation never sees the enum either way: the base schema allows
+any `skin` value, so a config that references an uninstalled skin stays valid.
+`GET /api/v3/skins` lists installed skins (optionally filtered by
+`?plugin_id=`) and reports `"supported": false`.

 ## Distribution

 - **Manual:** `git clone <skin repo> skins/<skin-id>` — that's the whole
  install. No manifest bumps, no `update_registry.py`; skins are not monorepo
  plugins.
- **Store:** registry entries with `"type": "skin"` install through the same
-  `plugins.json` pipeline; `PluginStoreManager` routes them to `skins/`,
-  validates `skin.json` (including the API major version) instead of
-  `manifest.json`, and never installs dependencies — skins are render-only
+- **Store (disabled while unsupported):** registry entries with
+  `"type": "skin"` are hidden from the store list and refused on install.
+  `PluginStoreManager._install_skin_from_info` is kept: once
+  `SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED` in `src/skin_system/__init__.py` is true, such
+  entries install through the same `plugins.json` pipeline, land in `skins/`,
+  are validated against `skin.json` (including the API major version) instead
+  of `manifest.json`, and never install dependencies — skins are render-only
  (stdlib + PIL + the provided context, no third-party packages in v1).

 ## Trust model
@@ -96,6 +96,33 @@ Configure basic system settings:
 - **Plugin System Settings** — including the `plugins_directory` (default
  `plugin-repos/`) used by the plugin loader
 - **Autostart** options for the display service
+- **Automatic updates** — once a week, update LEDMatrix and every installed
+  plugin with a newer version. Off by default. Runs 2–5 AM local time when
+  possible, otherwise within a day of being due. The last result and next
+  check are shown under the toggle, and anything other than success raises a
+  banner on **Overview**.
+  - *Checks first:* the code update is skipped, with the reason shown, if
+    tracked files were edited locally, the checkout has local commits, a
+    rebase/merge is in progress, the branch has no upstream, less than 300 MB
+    is free, or the newest version already failed once. A failed fetch is
+    retried the next day.
+  - *Health check and rollback:* after pulling, `ledmatrix-update-verify.service`
+    restarts the services and checks that the web interface responds and the
+    display (if it was running) stays up. If not — or if the new dependencies
+    failed to install — it resets to the previous commit, reinstalls the
+    previous dependencies and restarts again. A running display is restarted;
+    a stopped one stays stopped.
+  - *Plugins* update through the Plugin Store, which refuses versions that need
+    a newer LEDMatrix and restores the old copy when an install fails. When the
+    code changed, plugins wait until it passes its health check. Plugins are
+    not health-checked after updating.
+  - *Setup needs no SSH.* Turning the toggle on restarts the display service,
+    which installs the health check (`ledmatrix-update-verify.path` and
+    `.service`); the General tab shows when it is ready, or why setup failed.
+    Until then only plugins update. New installs set it up during
+    installation and can switch updates on with
+    `first_time_install.sh --enable-auto-update` (or `LEDMATRIX_AUTO_UPDATE=1`,
+    which `one-shot-install.sh` passes through), or at the installer's prompt.

 Click **Save** to write changes to `config/config.json`. Most changes
 require a display service restart from **Overview**.
@@ -125,6 +125,72 @@ fi
 # Get the home directory of the actual user
 USER_HOME=$(eval echo ~$ACTUAL_USER)

+# --- rpi-rgb-led-matrix checkout helpers -------------------------------------
+# Run git as whoever owns the project directory. Run as root against a
+# user-owned repo, git refuses it ("dubious ownership"), and anything it does
+# create — such as .git/modules/<submodule> — ends up root-owned, locking the
+# user out of their own checkout. A root-owned install keeps running as root.
+_rgb_repo_owner() {
+    stat -c %U "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR" 2>/dev/null || echo root
+}
+
+_git_as_repo_owner() {
+    local owner
+    owner=$(_rgb_repo_owner)
+    if [ "$(id -u)" = "0" ] && [ "$owner" != "root" ] && command -v sudo >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        sudo -u "$owner" -H git "$@"
+    else
+        git "$@"
+    fi
+}
+
+# Earlier installer versions ran the submodule git commands as root, leaving
+# root-owned files the repo owner (and so _git_as_repo_owner) cannot write.
+_reclaim_rgb_checkout() {
+    local owner path
+    owner=$(_rgb_repo_owner)
+    if [ "$(id -u)" != "0" ] || [ "$owner" = "root" ]; then
+        return 0
+    fi
+    for path in "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master" "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.git/modules/rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master"; do
+        if [ -e "$path" ]; then
+            chown -R "$owner:" "$path" 2>/dev/null || true
+        fi
+    done
+}
+
+# `git pull` on the main repo never moves an existing submodule checkout, so a
+# submodule bump (e.g. the ARMv6 build fix for Pi Zero/1) would never reach a
+# device installed before it. Move the checkout forward to the pinned commit —
+# but never backward or sideways: a user who ran `git submodule update --remote`
+# is newer than the pin and is left alone. Never fatal.
+_sync_rgb_submodule() {
+    local sub="$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master" pinned current
+    if [ ! -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules" ] || ! grep -q "rpi-rgb-led-matrix" "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules" \
+        || [ ! -e "$sub/.git" ]; then
+        return 0
+    fi
+    if ! pinned=$(_git_as_repo_owner -C "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR" rev-parse "HEAD:rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master" 2>/dev/null) \
+        || [ -z "$pinned" ]; then
+        return 0
+    fi
+    current=$(_git_as_repo_owner -C "$sub" rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null) || current=""
+    if [ "$current" = "$pinned" ]; then
+        return 0
+    fi
+    if [ -n "$current" ] && _git_as_repo_owner -C "$sub" cat-file -e "${pinned}^{commit}" 2>/dev/null \
+        && ! _git_as_repo_owner -C "$sub" merge-base --is-ancestor "$current" "$pinned" 2>/dev/null; then
+        echo "rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master is at ${current:0:7}, not behind the pinned ${pinned:0:7}; leaving it as is"
+        return 0
+    fi
+    echo "Updating rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master to the pinned commit ${pinned:0:7}..."
+    if ! _git_as_repo_owner -C "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR" submodule update --init --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master; then
+        echo "⚠ Could not update rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master to the pinned commit; building the existing checkout"
+    fi
+    return 0
+}
+# --- end rpi-rgb-led-matrix checkout helpers ---------------------------------
+
 # Determine the Project Root Directory (where this script is located)
 PROJECT_ROOT_DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)

@@ -154,6 +220,8 @@ SKIP_PERF=${LEDMATRIX_SKIP_PERF:-0}
 SKIP_REBOOT_PROMPT=${LEDMATRIX_SKIP_REBOOT_PROMPT:-0}
 SKIP_SWAP=${LEDMATRIX_SKIP_SWAP:-0}
 BUILD_JOBS_OVERRIDE=${LEDMATRIX_BUILD_JOBS:-}
+# Weekly automatic updates: 1 on, 0 off, empty = ask (interactive) or leave as is.
+AUTO_UPDATE=${LEDMATRIX_AUTO_UPDATE:-}

 usage() {
    cat <<USAGE
@@ -168,12 +236,15 @@ Options:
      --skip-swap           Never add temporary swap for the C++ build
      --build-jobs N        Compile the C++ library with N parallel jobs
                            (default: scaled to available RAM)
+      --enable-auto-update  Turn on weekly automatic updates (with health
+                            check and automatic rollback)
+      --no-auto-update      Leave weekly automatic updates off
  -h, --help                Show this help message and exit

 Environment variables (same effect as flags):
  LEDMATRIX_ASSUME_YES=1, RPI_RGB_FORCE_REBUILD=1, LEDMATRIX_SKIP_SOUND=1,
  LEDMATRIX_SKIP_PERF=1, LEDMATRIX_SKIP_REBOOT_PROMPT=1,
-  LEDMATRIX_SKIP_SWAP=1, LEDMATRIX_BUILD_JOBS=N
+  LEDMATRIX_SKIP_SWAP=1, LEDMATRIX_BUILD_JOBS=N, LEDMATRIX_AUTO_UPDATE=1|0

 Low-memory devices:
  On a Pi with under 2GB of RAM the C++ build is limited to fewer parallel
@@ -191,6 +262,8 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
        --skip-perf) SKIP_PERF=1 ;;
        --no-reboot-prompt) SKIP_REBOOT_PROMPT=1 ;;
        --skip-swap) SKIP_SWAP=1 ;;
+        --enable-auto-update) AUTO_UPDATE=1 ;;
+        --no-auto-update) AUTO_UPDATE=0 ;;
        --build-jobs)
            shift
            if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then echo "--build-jobs requires a number"; usage; exit 1; fi
@@ -797,6 +870,50 @@ else
    echo "✓ Main config file already exists"
 fi

+# Weekly automatic updates (General tab -> Automatic Updates). Off unless asked
+# for: --enable-auto-update / LEDMATRIX_AUTO_UPDATE=1, or "y" at the prompt when
+# installing interactively. Only an explicit choice changes the setting, so
+# re-running the installer with -y never switches it silently.
+if [ -z "$AUTO_UPDATE" ] && [ "$ASSUME_YES" != "1" ] && [ -t 0 ]; then
+    read -p "Automatically check for and install LEDMatrix updates once a week, with automatic rollback if an update breaks something? (y/N): " -n 1 -r
+    echo
+    if [[ $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then AUTO_UPDATE=1; else AUTO_UPDATE=0; fi
+fi
+if [ "$AUTO_UPDATE" = "1" ] || [ "$AUTO_UPDATE" = "0" ]; then
+    if python3 - "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/config/config.json" "$AUTO_UPDATE" <<'PY'
+import json, os, sys, tempfile
+path, enabled = sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2] == "1"
+with open(path, encoding="utf-8") as f:
+    config = json.load(f)
+if not isinstance(config.get("auto_update"), dict):
+    config["auto_update"] = {}
+config["auto_update"]["enabled"] = enabled
+# Written beside the original and swapped in whole: the display service's
+# config watcher may be running and must never read a half-written file.
+original = os.stat(path)
+fd, tmp = tempfile.mkstemp(dir=os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(path)), prefix=".config.")
+try:
+    with os.fdopen(fd, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        json.dump(config, f, indent=4)
+        f.write("\n")
+        f.flush()
+        os.fsync(f.fileno())
+    os.chmod(tmp, original.st_mode & 0o777)
+    if hasattr(os, "chown"):
+        os.chown(tmp, original.st_uid, original.st_gid)
+    os.replace(tmp, path)
+except BaseException:
+    if os.path.exists(tmp):
+        os.unlink(tmp)
+    raise
+PY
+    then
+        if [ "$AUTO_UPDATE" = "1" ]; then echo "✓ Weekly automatic updates enabled"; else echo "✓ Weekly automatic updates off"; fi
+    else
+        echo "⚠ Could not set auto_update in config/config.json; turn it on from the General tab instead"
+    fi
+fi
+
 # Create config_secrets.json from template if missing
 if [ ! -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/config/config_secrets.json" ]; then
    if [ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/config/config_secrets.template.json" ]; then
@@ -1038,8 +1155,9 @@ else
    # so git clone doesn't fail with "destination path already exists".
    _clone_rpi_rgb() {
        rm -rf "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master"
-        git clone https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix.git rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
+        _git_as_repo_owner clone https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix.git rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
    }
+    _reclaim_rgb_checkout
    if [ ! -d "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master" ]; then
        echo "rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master not found. Initializing git submodule..."
        cd "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR"
@@ -1047,7 +1165,7 @@ else
        # Try to initialize submodule if .gitmodules exists
        if [ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules" ] && grep -q "rpi-rgb-led-matrix" "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules"; then
            echo "Initializing rpi-rgb-led-matrix submodule..."
-            if ! retry git submodule update --init --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master; then
+            if ! retry _git_as_repo_owner submodule update --init --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master; then
                echo "⚠ Submodule init failed, cloning directly from GitHub..."
                retry _clone_rpi_rgb
            fi
@@ -1066,12 +1184,14 @@ else
            cd "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR"
            rm -rf rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
            if [ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules" ] && grep -q "rpi-rgb-led-matrix" "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/.gitmodules"; then
-                retry git submodule update --init --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
+                retry _git_as_repo_owner submodule update --init --recursive rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master
            else
                retry _clone_rpi_rgb
            fi
        fi

+        _sync_rgb_submodule
+
        # Add temporary swap on low-memory devices so the compiler survives.
        CURRENT_STEP="Prepare the low-memory build environment"
        if [ "$LOWMEM_AVAILABLE" = "1" ] && [ "$SKIP_SWAP" != "1" ]; then
@@ -1272,7 +1392,7 @@ if [ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/scripts/install/install_web_service.sh" ]; then
        fi
    fi
    
-    if [ ! -f "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-web.service" ] || [ "$NEEDS_UPDATE" = true ]; then
+    if [ ! -f "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-web.service" ] || [ ! -f "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-update-verify.path" ] || [ "$NEEDS_UPDATE" = true ]; then
        bash "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/scripts/install/install_web_service.sh"
        # Ensure systemd sees any new/changed unit files
        systemctl daemon-reload || true
@@ -1288,7 +1408,7 @@ echo ""
 CURRENT_STEP="Harden systemd unit file permissions"
 echo "Step 8.1: Setting systemd unit file permissions..."
 echo "-----------------------------------------------"
-for unit in "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix.service" "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-web.service" "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-wifi-monitor.service"; do
+for unit in "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix.service" "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-web.service" "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-wifi-monitor.service" "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-update-verify.service" "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-update-verify.path"; do
    if [ -f "$unit" ]; then
        chown root:root "$unit" || true
        chmod 644 "$unit" || true
@@ -1416,6 +1536,9 @@ $ACTUAL_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $PYTHON_PATH $PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/display_controll
 $ACTUAL_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $BASH_PATH $PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/start_display.sh
 $ACTUAL_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $BASH_PATH $PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/stop_display.sh
 $ACTUAL_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $BASH_PATH $PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/scripts/fix_perms/safe_plugin_rm.sh *
+# Install a requirements.txt as root via vetted helper, so packages are visible
+# to root-run ledmatrix.service (not just the web interface's own user).
+$ACTUAL_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $BASH_PATH $PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/scripts/fix_perms/safe_pip_install.sh *
 EOF
 if [ -n "$JOURNALCTL_PATH" ]; then
    cat >> /tmp/ledmatrix_web_sudoers << EOF
@@ -1623,6 +1746,19 @@ chmod 755 "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/scripts/install/install_service.sh" "$PROJECT_ROOT_
 # Re-apply special permissions for config directory (lost during normalization)
 chmod 2775 "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/config" || true

+# Harden the sudo-granted helper scripts: root-owned, not writable by the web
+# user (matches scripts/install/configure_web_sudo.sh). The sudoers rules in
+# Step 10 run these as root, so a user-owned copy is a root shell for whoever
+# can edit it. This must come after Step 11's project-wide chown to
+# $ACTUAL_USER, which would otherwise hand them straight back.
+for helper in safe_plugin_rm.sh safe_pip_install.sh; do
+    HELPER_PATH="$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/scripts/fix_perms/$helper"
+    if [ -f "$HELPER_PATH" ]; then
+        chown root:root "$HELPER_PATH" || echo "⚠ Could not set ownership on $HELPER_PATH"
+        chmod 755 "$HELPER_PATH" || echo "⚠ Could not set permissions on $HELPER_PATH"
+    fi
+done
+
 echo "✓ Project file permissions normalized"
 echo ""

@@ -43,10 +43,14 @@ packaging>=23.0,<27.0
 # full feature set, or skip them for a minimal install.
 # ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 #
-# scipy             — sub-pixel interpolation in
-#                     src/common/scroll_helper.py for smoother
-#                     scrolling. Falls back to a simpler shift algorithm.
-#   pip install 'scipy>=1.10.0,<2.0.0'
+# scipy             — nothing, as of #570. It was listed for the sub-pixel
+#                     interpolation path in src/common/scroll_helper.py, but
+#                     get_visible_portion never consulted HAS_SCIPY, so that
+#                     path was dead before it was deleted. The blend that
+#                     replaced it is numpy-only. Do not install it expecting
+#                     smoother scrolling: sub-pixel blending is off by default
+#                     because it reads worse on a coarse panel, not because it
+#                     is missing a library. See docs/SCROLL_PERFORMANCE.md.
 #
 # psutil            — per-plugin resource monitoring in
 #                     src/plugin_system/resource_monitor.py. The monitor
@@ -72,12 +72,8 @@ def load_main_config(path: Path) -> Dict[str, Any]:

 def display_size_from_config(config: Dict[str, Any]) -> tuple:
    """Derive the logical ticker size the way DisplayManager does."""
-    hw = config.get('display', {}).get('hardware', {})
-    cols = int(hw.get('cols', 64))
-    chain = int(hw.get('chain_length', 1))
-    rows = int(hw.get('rows', 32))
-    parallel = int(hw.get('parallel', 1))
-    return cols * chain, rows * parallel
+    from src.display_geometry import logical_size
+    return logical_size(config)


 def enabled_plugin_ids(config: Dict[str, Any]) -> List[str]:
@@ -95,6 +95,19 @@ else
    exit 1
 fi

+# Health check / rollback units for automatic updates; see install_web_service.sh.
+for VERIFY_UNIT in ledmatrix-update-verify.service ledmatrix-update-verify.path; do
+    if [ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/systemd/$VERIFY_UNIT" ]; then
+        VERIFY_UNIT_TMP=$(mktemp)
+        if sed "s|__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__|$ESCAPED_PROJECT_ROOT_DIR|g; s|__USER__|$ESCAPED_ACTUAL_USER|g" "$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/systemd/$VERIFY_UNIT" > "$VERIFY_UNIT_TMP"; then
+            sudo cp "$VERIFY_UNIT_TMP" "/etc/systemd/system/$VERIFY_UNIT"
+        else
+            echo "WARNING: failed to render $VERIFY_UNIT; automatic code updates will stay paused." >&2
+        fi
+        rm -f "$VERIFY_UNIT_TMP"
+    fi
+done
+
 echo "Reloading systemd daemon for web service..."
 sudo systemctl daemon-reload

@@ -102,6 +115,11 @@ if [ -f "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-web.service" ]; then
    echo "Enabling ledmatrix-web.service to start on boot..."
    sudo systemctl enable ledmatrix-web.service

+    if [ -f /etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-update-verify.path ]; then
+        echo "Enabling ledmatrix-update-verify.path (automatic update health check)..."
+        sudo systemctl enable --now ledmatrix-update-verify.path || echo "WARNING: could not enable ledmatrix-update-verify.path; automatic code updates will stay paused" >&2
+    fi
+
    echo "Starting ledmatrix-web.service..."
    sudo systemctl start ledmatrix-web.service

@@ -46,6 +46,22 @@ ESCAPED_ACTUAL_USER=$(sed_escape_replacement "$ACTUAL_USER")
 sed "s|__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__|$ESCAPED_PROJECT_ROOT_DIR|g; s|__USER__|$ESCAPED_ACTUAL_USER|g" \
    "$TEMPLATE" > /etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-web.service

+# Health check and rollback for the web UI's automatic updates. Its own unit so
+# it survives the web service restart it performs; never enabled -- the web
+# interface starts it after an update. Without it, automatic code updates
+# stay paused rather than running with nothing to undo them.
+for VERIFY_UNIT in ledmatrix-update-verify.service ledmatrix-update-verify.path; do
+    VERIFY_TEMPLATE="$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR/systemd/$VERIFY_UNIT"
+    if [ -f "$VERIFY_TEMPLATE" ]; then
+        echo "Writing unit file to /etc/systemd/system/$VERIFY_UNIT"
+        sed "s|__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__|$ESCAPED_PROJECT_ROOT_DIR|g; s|__USER__|$ESCAPED_ACTUAL_USER|g" \
+            "$VERIFY_TEMPLATE" > "/etc/systemd/system/$VERIFY_UNIT"
+        chmod 644 "/etc/systemd/system/$VERIFY_UNIT"
+    else
+        echo "WARNING: $VERIFY_TEMPLATE not found; automatic code updates will stay paused"
+    fi
+done
+
 # Ensure cache directory exists with proper permissions
 # This is a fallback for older systemd versions that don't support CacheDirectory
 # Systemd 239+ will automatically create it via CacheDirectory directive
@@ -80,6 +96,13 @@ systemctl daemon-reload
 echo "Enabling ledmatrix-web.service..."
 systemctl enable ledmatrix-web.service

+# The path unit is what starts the health check after an automatic update.
+if [ -f /etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-update-verify.path ]; then
+    echo "Enabling ledmatrix-update-verify.path..."
+    systemctl enable --now ledmatrix-update-verify.path || \
+        echo "WARNING: could not enable ledmatrix-update-verify.path; automatic code updates will stay paused"
+fi
+
 # Start the service
 echo "Starting ledmatrix-web.service..."
 systemctl start ledmatrix-web.service
@@ -408,6 +408,7 @@ main() {
        # which would silently reinstate the duplicate apt update.
        sudo -E env TMPDIR=/tmp LEDMATRIX_ASSUME_YES=1 \
            LEDMATRIX_APT_UPDATED="${LEDMATRIX_APT_UPDATED:-0}" \
+            LEDMATRIX_AUTO_UPDATE="${LEDMATRIX_AUTO_UPDATE:-}" \
            bash ./first_time_install.sh -y </dev/null
    fi
    INSTALL_EXIT_CODE=$?
@@ -59,10 +59,13 @@ def build_options(hardware, refresh_override=None):
    from rgbmatrix import RGBMatrixOptions

    o = RGBMatrixOptions()
-    o.rows = int(hardware.get("rows", 32))
-    o.cols = int(hardware.get("cols", 64))
-    o.chain_length = int(hardware.get("chain_length", 1))
-    o.parallel = int(hardware.get("parallel", 1))
+    from src.display_geometry import (
+        DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH, DEFAULT_COLS, DEFAULT_PARALLEL, DEFAULT_ROWS,
+    )
+    o.rows = int(hardware.get("rows", DEFAULT_ROWS))
+    o.cols = int(hardware.get("cols", DEFAULT_COLS))
+    o.chain_length = int(hardware.get("chain_length", DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH))
+    o.parallel = int(hardware.get("parallel", DEFAULT_PARALLEL))
    o.brightness = int(hardware.get("brightness", 80))
    o.hardware_mapping = hardware.get("hardware_mapping", "regular")
    o.pwm_bits = int(hardware.get("pwm_bits", 11))
@@ -0,0 +1,277 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Check that an automatic LEDMatrix update left the device working; roll it back if not.
+
+Started by the web interface's weekly updater (web_interface/auto_update.py)
+through ledmatrix-update-verify.service, right after it pulls new code. It has
+to run outside the web service: checking the update means restarting that
+service, and a check running inside it would be killed by its own restart.
+
+It must not be the code it is checking, either. The updater copies this file
+to data/auto_update_verifier.py *before* pulling and the unit runs that copy,
+so a broken update cannot break its own rollback. Standard library only for
+the same reason: the rollback cannot depend on packages the update changed.
+
+The updater leaves data/auto_update_pending.json:
+
+    {"status": "pending", "old_head": ..., "new_head": ...,
+     "display_was_active": bool, "dependency_failures": [...], "created_at": ...}
+
+This moves its status to "verifying" and then to one of "success",
+"rolled_back" or "rollback_failed", with "reason" and "detail" saying why.
+The web interface reports that outcome and raises a banner for anything but
+success.
+"""
+import json
+import os
+import subprocess  # nosec B404 - list-form argv only, no shell  # nosemgrep
+import sys
+from collections import namedtuple
+import tempfile
+import time
+import traceback
+import urllib.error
+import urllib.request
+from pathlib import Path
+
+PENDING_NAME = 'auto_update_pending.json'
+REQUIREMENT_FILES = ('requirements.txt', 'web_interface/requirements.txt')
+WEB_HEALTH_URL = 'http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/v3/system/version'
+#: How long the services get to come up after a restart...
+HEALTH_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 180
+#: ...and how long they must then stay up. Restart=on-failure makes a crash
+#: loop look healthy between attempts, so a single "is-active" proves nothing.
+STABLE_SECONDS = 45
+POLL_SECONDS = 5
+PIP_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 600
+#: sudoers matches the exact command line, so bash is named by path, the same
+#: candidates src/common/permission_utils.install_requirements_file tries.
+BASH_CANDIDATES = ('/usr/bin/bash', '/bin/bash')
+
+#: What a command that could not run at all reports: its callers only read
+#: these three fields, the same ones a completed subprocess has.
+_Failed = namedtuple('_Failed', 'returncode stdout stderr')
+
+
+def pending_path(project_root):
+    return Path(project_root) / 'data' / PENDING_NAME
+
+
+def read_pending(path):
+    try:
+        with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            data = json.load(f)
+        return data if isinstance(data, dict) else None
+    except (OSError, ValueError):
+        return None
+
+
+def write_pending(path, data):
+    path = Path(path)
+    path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    fd, tmp = tempfile.mkstemp(dir=str(path.parent), prefix='.auto_update_pending_')
+    try:
+        with os.fdopen(fd, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            json.dump(data, f, indent=2)
+        os.replace(tmp, path)
+    except BaseException:
+        try:
+            os.unlink(tmp)
+        except OSError:
+            pass
+        raise
+
+
+def _web_responds(url=WEB_HEALTH_URL):
+    try:
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=5) as resp:  # nosec B310 - fixed loopback URL
+            return resp.status == 200
+    except (urllib.error.URLError, OSError, ValueError):
+        return False
+
+
+def _short(sha):
+    return (sha or 'unknown')[:7]
+
+
+class Verifier:
+    def __init__(self, project_root, run=subprocess.run, sleep=time.sleep,
+                 clock=time.monotonic, web_responds=_web_responds, log=None):
+        self.project_root = Path(project_root)
+        self.pending_file = pending_path(project_root)
+        self.run = run
+        self.sleep = sleep
+        self.clock = clock
+        self.web_responds = web_responds
+        self.log = log or (lambda msg: print(f'[auto-update-verify] {msg}', flush=True))
+
+    def _run(self, args, timeout=60):
+        try:
+            return self.run(args, cwd=str(self.project_root), capture_output=True,
+                            text=True, timeout=timeout)
+        except (subprocess.SubprocessError, OSError) as e:
+            return _Failed(returncode=1, stdout='', stderr=str(e))
+
+    # -- services ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def service_active(self, unit):
+        return self._run(['systemctl', 'is-active', unit], timeout=10).stdout.strip() == 'active'
+
+    def restart_count(self, unit):
+        out = self._run(['systemctl', 'show', '-p', 'NRestarts', '--value', unit],
+                        timeout=10).stdout.strip()
+        return int(out) if out.isdigit() else None
+
+    def restart(self, unit):
+        result = self._run(['sudo', '-n', 'systemctl', 'restart', f'{unit}.service'], timeout=90)
+        if result.returncode != 0:
+            self.log(f'restarting {unit} failed: {(result.stderr or "").strip()}')
+        return result.returncode == 0
+
+    def restart_services(self, display):
+        """Restart what should be running. False if any restart command failed."""
+        ok = True
+        # A display the user had stopped stays stopped.
+        if display:
+            ok = self.restart('ledmatrix') and ok
+        return self.restart('ledmatrix-web') and ok
+
+    def wait_healthy(self, display):
+        """None once the services are up and stay up, else what went wrong."""
+        deadline = self.clock() + HEALTH_TIMEOUT_SECONDS + STABLE_SECONDS
+        healthy_since = baseline = None
+        web = disp = False
+        count_known = True
+        while self.clock() < deadline:
+            web = self.web_responds()
+            disp = self.service_active('ledmatrix') if display else True
+            restarts = self.restart_count('ledmatrix') if display else None
+            # Without a restart count a crash loop looks healthy between
+            # attempts, so an unreadable count never counts as stable.
+            count_known = not display or restarts is not None
+            if web and disp and count_known and (healthy_since is None or restarts == baseline):
+                if healthy_since is None:
+                    healthy_since, baseline = self.clock(), restarts
+                elif self.clock() - healthy_since >= STABLE_SECONDS:
+                    return None
+            else:
+                healthy_since = None
+            self.sleep(POLL_SECONDS)
+        problems = []
+        if not web:
+            problems.append('the web interface did not respond')
+        if not disp:
+            problems.append('the display service did not stay running')
+        if web and disp and not count_known:
+            problems.append("the display service's restart count could not be read")
+        return '; '.join(problems) or 'the display service kept restarting'
+
+    # -- rollback ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def changed_requirements(self, old, new):
+        result = self._run(['git', 'diff', '--name-only', old, new])
+        # If the diff is unavailable, reinstall both rather than guess.
+        changed = set(result.stdout.split()) if result.returncode == 0 else set(REQUIREMENT_FILES)
+        return [rel for rel in REQUIREMENT_FILES if rel in changed]
+
+    def install_requirements(self, rel):
+        wrapper = self.project_root / 'scripts' / 'fix_perms' / 'safe_pip_install.sh'
+        req = self.project_root / rel
+        if not req.exists():
+            return True
+        for bash in BASH_CANDIDATES:
+            result = self._run(['sudo', '-n', bash, str(wrapper), str(req)],
+                               timeout=PIP_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
+            if result.returncode == 0:
+                return True
+        return False
+
+    def rollback(self, pending):
+        """Reset to the previous commit and its dependencies. Returns (ok, detail)."""
+        old, new = pending.get('old_head'), pending.get('new_head')
+        if not old:
+            return False, 'the commit to roll back to is unknown'
+        requirements = self.changed_requirements(old, new) if new else list(REQUIREMENT_FILES)
+        # Safe to --hard: the updater refuses to run with local edits to
+        # tracked files, so the only thing this discards is the update.
+        result = self._run(['git', 'reset', '--hard', old], timeout=120)
+        if result.returncode != 0:
+            return False, (f'"git reset --hard {old}" failed: '
+                           f'{(result.stderr or result.stdout or "").strip()}')
+        failed = [rel for rel in requirements if not self.install_requirements(rel)]
+        if failed:
+            return True, ('reinstalling the previous dependencies from ' + ', '.join(failed)
+                          + ' failed; run Install Base Requirements from the Tools tab')
+        return True, ''
+
+    # -- the check itself -------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _finish(self, pending, status, reason=None, detail=None):
+        pending.update({'status': status, 'reason': reason, 'detail': detail or None,
+                        'finished_at': time.time()})
+        write_pending(self.pending_file, pending)
+        self.log(' '.join(p for p in (status, reason or '', detail or '') if p))
+
+    def verify(self):
+        pending = read_pending(self.pending_file)
+        if not pending or pending.get('status') != 'pending':
+            self.log('no update is waiting to be verified')
+            return 0
+        pending['status'] = 'verifying'
+        write_pending(self.pending_file, pending)
+
+        display = bool(pending.get('display_was_active'))
+        dependency_failures = pending.get('dependency_failures') or []
+        if dependency_failures:
+            # Never restart onto code whose packages did not install.
+            reason = 'installing its dependencies failed (' + ', '.join(dependency_failures) + ')'
+        elif not self.restart_services(display):
+            # The old process may still be answering; checking it would pass
+            # an update that never started.
+            reason = 'restarting the services failed'
+        else:
+            reason = self.wait_healthy(display)
+            if reason is None:
+                self._finish(pending, 'success')
+                return 0
+
+        self.log(f'update to {_short(pending.get("new_head"))} is unhealthy ({reason}); '
+                 f'rolling back to {_short(pending.get("old_head"))}')
+        ok, detail = self.rollback(pending)
+        if not ok:
+            self._finish(pending, 'rollback_failed', reason, detail)
+            return 1
+        still = (self.wait_healthy(display) if self.restart_services(display)
+                 else 'restarting the services failed')
+        if still:
+            self._finish(pending, 'rollback_failed', reason,
+                         f'still unhealthy after rolling back: {still}'
+                         + (f'; {detail}' if detail else ''))
+            return 1
+        self._finish(pending, 'rolled_back', reason, detail)
+        return 0
+
+
+def main(argv):
+    if len(argv) != 2:
+        print('usage: auto_update_verify.py PROJECT_ROOT', file=sys.stderr)
+        return 2
+    verifier = Verifier(Path(argv[1]))
+    try:
+        return verifier.verify()
+    except Exception as e:
+        traceback.print_exc()
+        # Whatever happened, the web interface must not be left thinking the
+        # check is still running.
+        try:
+            pending = read_pending(verifier.pending_file) or {}
+            if pending.get('status') in ('pending', 'verifying'):
+                pending.update({'status': 'rollback_failed', 'reason': 'the health check crashed',
+                                'detail': str(e), 'finished_at': time.time()})
+                write_pending(verifier.pending_file, pending)
+        except OSError:
+            pass
+        return 1
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    sys.exit(main(sys.argv))
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # skins/

+> **Not supported yet.** The current scoreboard plugins don't render skins,
+> so a skin placed here and selected in config has no effect, and the web UI
+> and Plugin Store don't offer them. See
+> [docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md](../docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md#status-not-supported-yet).
+
 User-installable **visual skins** for the sports scoreboards. Each
 subdirectory is one skin:

@@ -10,10 +15,10 @@ skins/<skin-id>/
  preview.png   # optional
 ```

- Install a skin: `git clone <skin repo> skins/<skin-id>` (or via the Plugin
-  Store for registry entries with `"type": "skin"`).
+- Install a skin: `git clone <skin repo> skins/<skin-id>`. The Plugin Store
+  refuses registry entries with `"type": "skin"` while skins don't render.
 - Select it: set `"skin": "<skin-id>"` in the plugin's section of
-  `config/config.json`, or use the web UI's Visual Skin dropdown.
+  `config/config.json`. The web UI no longer shows a Visual Skin dropdown.
 - Build one: start from `example-classic-baseball/` and read
  [docs/CREATING_SKINS.md](../docs/CREATING_SKINS.md). Validate with
  `python scripts/validate_skin.py --skin <skin-id>`.
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@ LEDMatrix Display System
 Core source package for the LED Matrix Display project.
 """

-__version__ = "3.3.0"
+__version__ = "3.4.0"

@@ -0,0 +1,221 @@
+"""Install the automatic-update health check, from the display service.
+
+The weekly updater (web_interface/auto_update.py) will not update LEDMatrix
+code unless ledmatrix-update-verify.path and .service are installed: they
+restart the services after an update and roll it back if the device is
+unhealthy. Installing units takes root and the web interface is not root, and
+"SSH in and run an installer" means most people never get updates with a
+safety net.
+
+The display service already runs this repository's code as root, so it
+installs them -- but only while the user has automatic updates turned on, only
+these two units, rendered from the repository's templates for the web
+interface's own user, and it reports what happened in
+data/auto_update_setup.json for the General tab. It grants nothing new: the
+units run as the web user, who can already change the code this process runs.
+
+Called at display startup; the web interface restarts the display service
+when the toggle is switched on, so setup happens straight away. Refreshing a
+unit whose template changed happens the same way, which is why this compares
+content rather than only checking that the files exist.
+"""
+import json
+import logging
+import os
+import re
+import subprocess  # nosec B404 - list-form argv only, no shell  # nosemgrep
+import tempfile
+import time
+from pathlib import Path
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+SYSTEMD_DIR = Path('/etc/systemd/system')
+SERVICE_UNIT = 'ledmatrix-update-verify.service'
+PATH_UNIT = 'ledmatrix-update-verify.path'
+UNITS = (SERVICE_UNIT, PATH_UNIT)
+WEB_UNIT = 'ledmatrix-web.service'
+RESULT_REL = Path('data') / 'auto_update_setup.json'
+_USER_RE = re.compile(r'^[a-z_][a-z0-9_-]{0,31}$')
+
+
+class SetupError(Exception):
+    """A reason setup cannot proceed, worded for the General tab."""
+
+
+def _is_root():
+    return hasattr(os, 'geteuid') and os.geteuid() == 0
+
+
+def _lookup_ids(user):
+    try:
+        import pwd
+        entry = pwd.getpwnam(user)
+        return entry.pw_uid, entry.pw_gid
+    except (ImportError, KeyError):
+        return None
+
+
+def _directive(text, key):
+    match = re.search(rf'^{key}=(.*)$', text or '', re.M)
+    return match.group(1).strip() if match else None
+
+
+def _read(path):
+    try:
+        return Path(path).read_text(encoding='utf-8')
+    except OSError:
+        return None
+
+
+def is_enabled(config):
+    return bool((config.get('auto_update') or {}).get('enabled', False))
+
+
+class UpdateHelperSetup:
+    def __init__(self, project_root=PROJECT_ROOT, systemd_dir=SYSTEMD_DIR, run=subprocess.run,
+                 is_root=_is_root, lookup_ids=_lookup_ids, clock=time.time):
+        self.project_root = Path(project_root)
+        self.systemd_dir = Path(systemd_dir)
+        self.run = run
+        self.is_root = is_root
+        self.lookup_ids = lookup_ids
+        self.clock = clock
+        self.result_file = self.project_root / RESULT_REL
+        self._web_ids = None
+
+    def _systemctl(self, *args):
+        return self.run(['systemctl', *args], capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=60)
+
+    def _check(self, result, what):
+        if result.returncode != 0:
+            raise SetupError(f'"{what}" failed: {(result.stderr or result.stdout or "").strip()}')
+
+    def path_active(self):
+        try:
+            return self._systemctl('is-active', PATH_UNIT).stdout.strip() == 'active'
+        except (subprocess.SubprocessError, OSError):
+            return False
+
+    def ensure(self, config):
+        """Install or refresh the units while automatic updates are on.
+
+        Returns the result recorded for the General tab, or None when there
+        was nothing to do (updates off, or not a systemd host at all).
+        """
+        if not is_enabled(config) or not self.systemd_dir.is_dir():
+            return None
+        try:
+            changed = self._install()
+        except SetupError as e:
+            return self._report('failed', str(e))
+        except (OSError, subprocess.SubprocessError) as e:
+            return self._report('failed', f'Could not install the update health check: {e}')
+        if changed:
+            return self._report('installed', 'Installed the update health check.')
+        return self._report('installed', 'The update health check is installed.', quiet=True)
+
+    def _install(self):
+        if not self.is_root():
+            raise SetupError('The display service is not running as root, so it cannot install the '
+                             'update health check. Run "sudo ./scripts/install/install_web_service.sh" once.')
+
+        web_text = _read(self.systemd_dir / WEB_UNIT)
+        if web_text is None:
+            raise SetupError('The web interface service (ledmatrix-web.service) is not installed.')
+        user = _directive(web_text, 'User') or 'root'
+        ids = self.lookup_ids(user) if _USER_RE.match(user) else None
+        if ids is None:
+            raise SetupError(f'The web interface runs as "{user}", which is not a usable account.')
+        self._web_ids = ids
+        workdir = _directive(web_text, 'WorkingDirectory')
+        if not workdir or Path(workdir).resolve() != self.project_root.resolve():
+            raise SetupError(f'The web interface service runs from {workdir or "an unknown folder"}, '
+                             f'not {self.project_root}.')
+        # Spaces are fine -- the templates quote every command-line path --
+        # but systemd expands % specifiers, and a quote, backslash or line
+        # break would be reinterpreted in a unit file. (On Windows, where the
+        # tests also run, a backslash is the path separator, not a name.)
+        root_text = str(self.project_root)
+        unsafe = set('%"') | ({'\\'} if os.sep == '/' else set())
+        if any(ch in unsafe or ord(ch) < 32 for ch in root_text):
+            raise SetupError(f'LEDMatrix is installed in {root_text!r}, a folder name systemd cannot use '
+                             'in a unit file. Move it to a path without %, quotes, backslashes or '
+                             'control characters.')
+
+        rendered = {}
+        for name in UNITS:
+            template = _read(self.project_root / 'systemd' / name)
+            if template is None:
+                raise SetupError(f'The unit template systemd/{name} is missing.')
+            rendered[name] = (template.replace('__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__', str(self.project_root))
+                              .replace('__USER__', user))
+        # The templates are ordinary repository files. Whatever they say,
+        # this root process only installs a service that runs as the web user
+        # and a path unit that starts exactly that service.
+        if _directive(rendered[SERVICE_UNIT], 'User') != user:
+            raise SetupError(f'systemd/{SERVICE_UNIT} does not run as the web interface user; '
+                             'refusing to install it.')
+        if _directive(rendered[PATH_UNIT], 'Unit') != SERVICE_UNIT:
+            raise SetupError(f'systemd/{PATH_UNIT} does not start {SERVICE_UNIT}; refusing to install it.')
+
+        changed = [name for name in UNITS if _read(self.systemd_dir / name) != rendered[name]]
+        for name in changed:
+            self._write_unit(self.systemd_dir / name, rendered[name])
+        if changed:
+            self._check(self._systemctl('daemon-reload'), 'systemctl daemon-reload')
+            self._check(self._systemctl('enable', PATH_UNIT), f'systemctl enable {PATH_UNIT}')
+            self._check(self._systemctl('restart', PATH_UNIT), f'systemctl restart {PATH_UNIT}')
+        elif not self.path_active():
+            self._check(self._systemctl('enable', '--now', PATH_UNIT), f'systemctl enable --now {PATH_UNIT}')
+            changed = [PATH_UNIT]
+        if not self.path_active():
+            raise SetupError(f'{PATH_UNIT} did not start; see "journalctl -u {PATH_UNIT}".')
+        return bool(changed)
+
+    def _write_unit(self, path, text):
+        fd, tmp = tempfile.mkstemp(dir=str(path.parent), prefix=f'.{path.name}.')
+        try:
+            with os.fdopen(fd, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                f.write(text)
+            os.chmod(tmp, 0o644)
+            os.replace(tmp, path)
+        except BaseException:
+            try:
+                os.unlink(tmp)
+            except OSError:
+                pass
+            raise
+
+    def _report(self, status, message, quiet=False):
+        previous = None
+        try:
+            previous = json.loads(_read(self.result_file) or 'null')
+        except ValueError:
+            pass
+        if quiet and isinstance(previous, dict) and previous.get('status') == status:
+            return previous  # nothing new; don't rewrite it on every boot
+        result = {'status': status, 'message': message, 'at': self.clock()}
+        (logger.info if status == 'installed' else logger.warning)("Automatic update setup: %s", message)
+        try:
+            self.result_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+            fd, tmp = tempfile.mkstemp(dir=str(self.result_file.parent), prefix='.auto_update_setup_')
+            with os.fdopen(fd, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                json.dump(result, f, indent=2)
+            os.chmod(tmp, 0o644)
+            if self._web_ids and hasattr(os, 'chown'):
+                # Only root can give the file away; the result is readable
+                # (0644) either way, so a failed chown must not lose it.
+                try:
+                    os.chown(tmp, *self._web_ids)
+                except OSError:
+                    pass
+            os.replace(tmp, self.result_file)
+        except OSError as e:
+            logger.warning("Could not record automatic update setup result: %s", e)
+        return result
+
+
+def ensure_update_helper(config):
+    return UpdateHelperSetup().ensure(config)
@@ -30,6 +30,12 @@ except ImportError:
    HAS_SCIPY = False


+# How often the frame-stats line is emitted, and therefore also the ceiling
+# on a believable frame time: a scroll that renders at all cannot take this
+# long over one frame, so a sample this large is an idle gap between scrolls.
+FPS_LOG_INTERVAL = 5.0
+
+
 def frame_stats(frame_times: list) -> Dict[str, Any]:
    """Summary statistics over one window of frame durations (seconds).

@@ -158,9 +164,11 @@ class ScrollHelper:
        self.last_progress_log_time: Optional[float] = None
        self.progress_log_interval = 5.0  # seconds
        
-        # Frame rate tracking
+        # Frame rate tracking. last_frame_time is None until the first frame
+        # of a scroll is rendered -- see log_frame_rate() for why timing from
+        # construction (or from the end of the previous scroll) is wrong.
        self.frame_count = 0
-        self.last_frame_time = time.time()
+        self.last_frame_time: Optional[float] = None
        self.last_fps_log_time = time.time()
        self.frame_times = []
        # Every frame time since the last stats line, so the 5s summary can
@@ -764,6 +772,10 @@ class ScrollHelper:
        # Reset last_update_time to prevent large delta_time on next update
        # This ensures smooth scrolling after reset without jumping ahead
        self.last_update_time = now
+        # Same reasoning for the frame-rate clock: the first frame after a
+        # reset has no predecessor in this scroll, and timing it against the
+        # last frame of the previous one measures the idle gap between them.
+        self.last_frame_time = None
        self.logger.debug("Scroll position reset")

    def reset(self) -> None:
@@ -962,11 +974,37 @@ class ScrollHelper:
        Log frame rate statistics for performance monitoring.
        """
        current_time = time.time()
-        
+
+        # The first frame of a scroll has no predecessor, so it has no frame
+        # time. Measuring one anyway records the whole idle gap since the last
+        # scroll as a single frame: on hardware that produced windows reading
+        # "0.0 fps over 1 frames | median 136776.02ms", and -- worse, because
+        # it is not obviously wrong -- put that gap in the max field of
+        # otherwise healthy windows and counted it as one stall per scroll.
+        # At ~500 frames to a window that is ~0.2%, which is the same order as
+        # the real stall rates being measured, so the number could not be
+        # trusted at all. Seed the clock and take no sample.
+        if self.last_frame_time is None:
+            self.last_frame_time = current_time
+            # Restart the window with the scroll. Otherwise the boundary is
+            # already long overdue when the second frame arrives, and the new
+            # scroll opens by reporting a window of exactly one frame.
+            self.last_fps_log_time = current_time
+            return
+
        # Calculate instantaneous frame time
        frame_time = current_time - self.last_frame_time
+
+        # A caller that scrolls without ever calling reset_scroll() never arms
+        # the sentinel above, so catch the same gap by its size. Nothing that
+        # renders a scroll produces a frame longer than the log interval; a
+        # sample that large is an idle period, not a frame.
+        if frame_time >= FPS_LOG_INTERVAL:
+            self.last_frame_time = current_time
+            return
+
        self.frame_times.append(frame_time)
-        
+
        # Keep only last 100 frames for average
        if len(self.frame_times) > 100:
            self.frame_times.pop(0)
@@ -979,17 +1017,21 @@ class ScrollHelper:
        # duplicate and a 21ms double-wait mean exactly 10ms). Chasing scroll
        # judder needs the tail, so keep the window and report percentiles.
        self._window.append(frame_time)
-        
+
        # Log FPS every 5 seconds to avoid spam
-        if current_time - self.last_fps_log_time >= 5.0:
-            self.logger.info(
-                "Scroll frame stats - %s",
-                format_frame_stats(self._window or [frame_time]),
-            )
+        if current_time - self.last_fps_log_time >= FPS_LOG_INTERVAL:
+            # An empty window means every sample in this interval was dropped
+            # as an idle gap. There is nothing to report, and reporting the
+            # gap itself is the bug above.
+            if self._window:
+                self.logger.info(
+                    "Scroll frame stats - %s",
+                    format_frame_stats(self._window),
+                )
            self.last_fps_log_time = current_time
            self.frame_count = 0
            self._window = []
-        
+
        self.last_frame_time = current_time
        self.frame_count += 1
    
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ from typing import Callable, Optional
 import numpy as np
 from PIL import Image

+from src.display_geometry import DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH
+
 # Raw-frame wire format: 8-byte magic + 4-byte header + raw RGB pixels
 # Much faster than PNG: no encode/decode, negligible CPU, same UDP packet size
 _RAW_MAGIC = b'SYNC_RAW'
@@ -194,7 +196,7 @@ class DisplaySyncManager:
        local_cols = hw.get("cols", 64)
        peer_rows = int(msg.get("rows", 0))
        peer_cols = int(msg.get("cols", 0))
-        peer_chain = int(msg.get("chain", 1))
+        peer_chain = int(msg.get("chain", DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH))

        compatible = peer_rows == local_rows and peer_cols == local_cols

@@ -589,7 +591,7 @@ class DisplaySyncManager:
            "t": "hello",
            "rows": hw.get("rows", 32),
            "cols": hw.get("cols", 64),
-            "chain": hw.get("chain_length", 1),
+            "chain": hw.get("chain_length", DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH),
        }).encode("utf-8")
        heartbeat = json.dumps({"t": "hb"}).encode("utf-8")
        dest = ("<broadcast>", self.port)
@@ -660,7 +662,7 @@ class DisplaySyncManager:
            "port": self.port,
            "local_rows": hw.get("rows", 32),
            "local_cols": hw.get("cols", 64),
-            "local_chain": hw.get("chain_length", 1),
+            "local_chain": hw.get("chain_length", DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH),
        }

        if self.role == SyncRole.STANDALONE:
@@ -119,6 +119,15 @@ class DisplayController:
                # validator.raise_on_errors()  # Uncomment to fail fast on errors
        except Exception as e:
            logger.warning(f"Startup validation could not be completed: {e}")
+
+        # Automatic updates need their health-check units, and this is the
+        # one root process running project code, so it installs them while
+        # automatic updates are on. See src/auto_update_setup.py.
+        try:
+            from src.auto_update_setup import ensure_update_helper
+            ensure_update_helper(self.config)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning("Automatic update setup could not be completed: %s", e)
        
        config_time = time.time()
        self.display_manager = DisplayManager(self.config)
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+"""Display size from config: the one computation every caller shares.
+
+``DisplayManager`` sizes its canvas from ``display.hardware`` plus
+``display.double_sided``. The web preview, the Starlark magnify default and
+the multi-display sync handshake used to re-derive that size themselves,
+each with its own defaults (``chain_length`` fell back to 2 in one place and
+1 in three others) and none of them applying double-sided mode. They now all
+call this module.
+
+Kept free of hardware imports on purpose: the web interface imports it, and
+``display_manager`` pulls in ``rgbmatrix``.
+"""
+
+import logging
+from typing import Any, Dict, Mapping, Optional, Tuple
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Match config/config.template.json's display.hardware block.
+DEFAULT_ROWS = 32
+DEFAULT_COLS = 64
+DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH = 2
+DEFAULT_PARALLEL = 1
+
+
+def _display(config: Optional[Mapping[str, Any]]) -> Mapping[str, Any]:
+    # A hand-edited config.json can hold anything here; treat a non-mapping
+    # like a missing block so callers get the defaults, not AttributeError.
+    display = (config or {}).get('display')
+    return display if isinstance(display, Mapping) else {}
+
+
+def _hardware(config: Optional[Mapping[str, Any]]) -> Mapping[str, Any]:
+    hw = _display(config).get('hardware')
+    return hw if isinstance(hw, Mapping) else {}
+
+
+def physical_size(config: Optional[Mapping[str, Any]]) -> Tuple[int, int]:
+    """Width and height of the whole panel chain, in pixels.
+
+    ``cols * chain_length`` by ``rows * parallel``. Raises ``ValueError`` or
+    ``TypeError`` on a non-numeric value, as ``DisplayManager`` does; callers
+    decide their own fallback.
+
+    A non-finite value (``Infinity``, which Python's JSON parser accepts in a
+    hand-edited config.json) raises ``ValueError`` too, not ``OverflowError``,
+    so every caller's existing fallback catches it.
+    """
+    hw = _hardware(config)
+    try:
+        rows = int(hw.get('rows', DEFAULT_ROWS))
+        cols = int(hw.get('cols', DEFAULT_COLS))
+        chain_length = int(hw.get('chain_length', DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH))
+        parallel = int(hw.get('parallel', DEFAULT_PARALLEL))
+    except OverflowError as e:
+        raise ValueError(f"display.hardware size is not finite: {e}") from e
+    return max(1, cols * chain_length), max(1, rows * parallel)
+
+
+def resolve_double_sided(physical_width: int, physical_height: int,
+                         ds_config: Dict[str, Any],
+                         quiet: bool = False) -> Optional[Dict[str, Any]]:
+    """Validate the ``display.double_sided`` config against the physical size.
+
+    Returns a dict ``{copies, axis, logical_width, logical_height}`` when the
+    feature is enabled and the physical panel divides evenly into ``copies``
+    along the chosen axis, otherwise ``None`` (single-screen behaviour). Bad
+    config is logged and disabled rather than raised — a misconfigured panel
+    should still light up.
+
+    Only pixels are checked, not whole panels: ``chain_length`` and
+    ``parallel`` don't say which axis a panel lies on once an orientation
+    ``Rotate:`` or U-mapper ``pixel_mapper_config`` rearranges the chain.
+
+    ``quiet`` suppresses the log lines, for callers that run on every web
+    request and would otherwise repeat them on each poll.
+    """
+    def _log(level, *args):
+        if not quiet:
+            logger.log(level, *args)
+
+    if not isinstance(ds_config, dict) or not ds_config.get('enabled', False):
+        return None
+
+    copies = ds_config.get('copies', 2)
+    if not isinstance(copies, int) or copies < 2:
+        _log(logging.WARNING,
+             "double_sided: 'copies' must be an integer >= 2 (got %r); "
+             "disabling double-sided mode", copies)
+        return None
+
+    axis = ds_config.get('axis', 'horizontal')
+    if axis not in ('horizontal', 'vertical'):
+        _log(logging.WARNING,
+             "double_sided: 'axis' must be 'horizontal' or 'vertical' "
+             "(got %r); defaulting to 'horizontal'", axis)
+        axis = 'horizontal'
+
+    # Horizontal splits the chain (panels side by side); vertical splits the
+    # parallel outputs (panels stacked). The split axis must divide evenly.
+    if axis == 'horizontal':
+        if physical_width % copies != 0:
+            _log(logging.WARNING,
+                 "double_sided: physical width %d is not divisible by copies "
+                 "%d; disabling double-sided mode", physical_width, copies)
+            return None
+        logical_width = physical_width // copies
+        logical_height = physical_height
+    else:
+        if physical_height % copies != 0:
+            _log(logging.WARNING,
+                 "double_sided: physical height %d is not divisible by copies "
+                 "%d; disabling double-sided mode", physical_height, copies)
+            return None
+        logical_width = physical_width
+        logical_height = physical_height // copies
+
+    _log(logging.INFO,
+         "double_sided enabled: %d copies on %s axis — logical screen %dx%d "
+         "tiled across physical %dx%d", copies, axis, logical_width,
+         logical_height, physical_width, physical_height)
+    return {
+        'copies': copies,
+        'axis': axis,
+        'logical_width': logical_width,
+        'logical_height': logical_height,
+    }
+
+
+def logical_size(config: Optional[Mapping[str, Any]],
+                 quiet: bool = True) -> Tuple[int, int]:
+    """The size plugins draw at and the web preview shows.
+
+    The physical size, divided by ``double_sided.copies`` along its axis when
+    double-sided mode is enabled and valid — the same answer
+    ``DisplayManager.width``/``height`` give.
+    """
+    width, height = physical_size(config)
+    ds = resolve_double_sided(width, height,
+                              _display(config).get('double_sided') or {},
+                              quiet=quiet)
+    if ds is not None:
+        return ds['logical_width'], ds['logical_height']
+    return width, height
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ from contextlib import contextmanager
 from pathlib import Path
 from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
 from src.common.font_layout import crisp_size, load_truetype, resolve_asset_path
+from src.display_geometry import (
+    DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH, DEFAULT_COLS, DEFAULT_PARALLEL, DEFAULT_ROWS,
+    physical_size, resolve_double_sided,
+)
 import threading
 import time
 from collections import OrderedDict
@@ -123,62 +127,10 @@ class _LogicalMatrix:
        setattr(object.__getattribute__(self, "_matrix"), name, value)


-def _resolve_double_sided(physical_width: int, physical_height: int,
-                          ds_config: Dict[str, Any]) -> Optional[Dict[str, Any]]:
-    """Validate the ``display.double_sided`` config against the physical size.
-
-    Returns a dict ``{copies, axis, logical_width, logical_height}`` when the
-    feature is enabled and the physical panel divides evenly into ``copies``
-    along the chosen axis, otherwise ``None`` (single-screen behaviour). Bad
-    config is logged and disabled rather than raised — a misconfigured panel
-    should still light up.
-    """
-    if not isinstance(ds_config, dict) or not ds_config.get('enabled', False):
-        return None
-
-    copies = ds_config.get('copies', 2)
-    if not isinstance(copies, int) or copies < 2:
-        logger.warning(
-            "double_sided: 'copies' must be an integer >= 2 (got %r); "
-            "disabling double-sided mode", copies)
-        return None
-
-    axis = ds_config.get('axis', 'horizontal')
-    if axis not in ('horizontal', 'vertical'):
-        logger.warning(
-            "double_sided: 'axis' must be 'horizontal' or 'vertical' "
-            "(got %r); defaulting to 'horizontal'", axis)
-        axis = 'horizontal'
-
-    # Horizontal splits the chain (panels side by side); vertical splits the
-    # parallel outputs (panels stacked). The split axis must divide evenly.
-    if axis == 'horizontal':
-        if physical_width % copies != 0:
-            logger.warning(
-                "double_sided: physical width %d is not divisible by copies "
-                "%d; disabling double-sided mode", physical_width, copies)
-            return None
-        logical_width = physical_width // copies
-        logical_height = physical_height
-    else:
-        if physical_height % copies != 0:
-            logger.warning(
-                "double_sided: physical height %d is not divisible by copies "
-                "%d; disabling double-sided mode", physical_height, copies)
-            return None
-        logical_width = physical_width
-        logical_height = physical_height // copies
-
-    logger.info(
-        "double_sided enabled: %d copies on %s axis — logical screen %dx%d "
-        "tiled across physical %dx%d", copies, axis, logical_width,
-        logical_height, physical_width, physical_height)
-    return {
-        'copies': copies,
-        'axis': axis,
-        'logical_width': logical_width,
-        'logical_height': logical_height,
-    }
+# Moved to src/display_geometry.py so the web preview, Starlark magnify and
+# sync handshake compute the display size exactly as DisplayManager does
+# without importing rgbmatrix. Aliased here for existing callers.
+_resolve_double_sided = resolve_double_sided


 class DisplayManager:
@@ -327,10 +279,10 @@ class DisplayManager:
            runtime_config = self.config.get('display', {}).get('runtime', {})
            
            # Basic hardware settings
-            options.rows = hardware_config.get('rows', 32)
-            options.cols = hardware_config.get('cols', 64)
-            options.chain_length = hardware_config.get('chain_length', 2)
-            options.parallel = hardware_config.get('parallel', 1)
+            options.rows = hardware_config.get('rows', DEFAULT_ROWS)
+            options.cols = hardware_config.get('cols', DEFAULT_COLS)
+            options.chain_length = hardware_config.get('chain_length', DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH)
+            options.parallel = hardware_config.get('parallel', DEFAULT_PARALLEL)
            options.hardware_mapping = hardware_config.get('hardware_mapping', 'adafruit-hat-pwm')
            
            # Performance and stability settings
@@ -421,13 +373,7 @@ class DisplayManager:
            # Create a fallback image for web preview using configured dimensions when available
            self.matrix = None
            try:
-                hardware_config = self.config.get('display', {}).get('hardware', {}) if self.config else {}
-                rows = int(hardware_config.get('rows', 32))
-                cols = int(hardware_config.get('cols', 64))
-                chain_length = int(hardware_config.get('chain_length', 2))
-                parallel = int(hardware_config.get('parallel', 1))
-                fallback_width = max(1, cols * chain_length)
-                fallback_height = max(1, rows * parallel)
+                fallback_width, fallback_height = physical_size(self.config)
                # Mirror double-sided in fallback so the preview shows one screen.
                ds_config = self.config.get('display', {}).get('double_sided', {}) if self.config else {}
                ds = _resolve_double_sided(fallback_width, fallback_height, ds_config)
@@ -1338,9 +1338,16 @@ class PluginStoreManager:
            self.logger.error(f"Plugin not found in registry: {plugin_id}")
            return False

-        # Visual skins share the registry but install to skins/, not to a
-        # plugin directory (docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md)
+        # Visual skins share the registry. _install_skin_from_info can put one
+        # in skins/, but no current scoreboard plugin renders skins, so the
+        # store refuses them rather than installing something that does
+        # nothing (docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md). Manual installs under skins/ and
+        # uninstall_skin are unaffected.
        if (plugin_info.get('type') or 'plugin') == 'skin':
+            from src.skin_system import SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED, SKINS_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE
+            if not SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED:
+                self.logger.error(f"Not installing skin {plugin_id}: {SKINS_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE}")
+                return False
            return self._install_skin_from_info(plugin_id, plugin_info, branch)

        repo_url = plugin_info.get('repo')
@@ -6,7 +6,19 @@ upcoming) while the host plugin keeps doing data fetching, scheduling,
 caching, live priority, and vegas mode. See docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md.
 """

-from src.skin_system.skin_base import (
+# Skins are not offered to users yet. The only render hook is
+# SportsCore._render_game in src/base_classes/sports/core.py, and none of the
+# current scoreboard plugins (monorepo or third-party) build on
+# src.base_classes, so a selected skin never draws. The web UI and store
+# read these instead of offering install/selection; stored "skin" config
+# values still load and save. See docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md.
+SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED = False
+SKINS_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE = (
+    "Skins aren't supported yet: the current scoreboard plugins don't render "
+    "them. Installed skins and saved skin settings are kept but have no effect."
+)
+
+from src.skin_system.skin_base import (  # noqa: E402
    SKIN_API_VERSION,
    VIEW_MODEL_VERSION,
    ScoreboardSkin,
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ class StartupValidator:
    _UNITS = (
        ("systemd/ledmatrix.service", "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix.service"),
        ("systemd/ledmatrix-web.service", "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-web.service"),
+        ("systemd/ledmatrix-update-verify.service", "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-update-verify.service"),
+        ("systemd/ledmatrix-update-verify.path", "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-update-verify.path"),
    )

    def _validate_systemd_units(self) -> None:
@@ -714,9 +714,24 @@ class WiFiManager:
    _IP_FORWARD_SAVE_PATH = Path("/tmp/ledmatrix_ip_forward_saved")  # nosec B108 - process-specific named file; device is single-user RPi
    # Written when AP mode is manually force-enabled; prevents daemon auto-disable
    _FORCE_AP_FLAG_PATH = Path("/tmp/ledmatrix_force_ap_active")  # nosec B108 - process-specific named file; device is single-user RPi
+    # Written by the web process while connect_to_network runs. Joining a network
+    # from the setup AP takes the AP down first, and the monitor daemon (a separate
+    # process) would otherwise see "disconnected" on its next tick and bring the
+    # AP straight back up mid-connect.
+    _CONNECT_IN_PROGRESS_FLAG_PATH = Path("/tmp/ledmatrix_wifi_connect_in_progress")  # nosec B108 - process-specific named file; device is single-user RPi
+    # Longest a connect can legitimately take (AP teardown, nmcli's 30s timeout,
+    # verification, restore). An older flag was left by a process that died.
+    _CONNECT_FLAG_MAX_AGE_SECONDS = 180
    # Ensures the startup stale-flag cleanup runs once per process, not per instantiation
    _startup_cleanup_done: bool = False

+    def _connect_in_progress(self) -> bool:
+        try:
+            age = time.time() - self._CONNECT_IN_PROGRESS_FLAG_PATH.stat().st_mtime
+        except OSError:
+            return False
+        return age < self._CONNECT_FLAG_MAX_AGE_SECONDS
+
    def _validate_ap_config(self) -> Tuple[str, int]:
        """Return a sanitized (ssid, channel) pair from config, falling back to defaults."""
        ssid = str(self.config.get("ap_ssid", DEFAULT_AP_SSID))
@@ -1270,6 +1285,21 @@ class WiFiManager:
            logger.warning("Rejected WiFi connect request: %s", error)
            return False, error

+        try:
+            self._CONNECT_IN_PROGRESS_FLAG_PATH.touch()
+        except OSError as e:
+            logger.warning(f"Could not create connect-in-progress flag: {e}")
+        try:
+            return self._connect_validated(ssid, password)
+        finally:
+            try:
+                self._CONNECT_IN_PROGRESS_FLAG_PATH.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+            except OSError as e:
+                # Never mask the connect result; the age limit retires the flag.
+                logger.warning(f"Could not remove connect-in-progress flag: {e}")
+
+    def _connect_validated(self, ssid: str, password: str) -> Tuple[bool, str]:
+        """connect_to_network after validation, with the in-progress flag held."""
        # Save current connection info for failsafe restoration
        original_connection = None
        original_ssid = None
@@ -2690,7 +2720,15 @@ address=/detectportal.firefox.com/192.168.4.1
                if self._disconnected_checks > 0:
                    logger.debug("Network connected, resetting disconnected check counter")
                self._disconnected_checks = 0
-            
+
+            if self._connect_in_progress():
+                # A connect has just taken the AP down on purpose. Leave the
+                # radio alone, and restart the grace period so a failed attempt
+                # (which re-enables the AP itself) isn't followed by a flap.
+                logger.debug("WiFi connect in progress; skipping AP management this check")
+                self._disconnected_checks = 0
+                return False
+
            # Only enable AP if we've had enough consecutive disconnected checks
            should_have_ap = (auto_enable and 
                            is_disconnected and 
@@ -14,6 +14,16 @@ This directory contains systemd service unit files for LEDMatrix services.
  - Starts automatically on boot if `web_display_autostart` is enabled
  - Uses `scripts/utils/start_web_conditionally.py`

+- **`ledmatrix-update-verify.service`** / **`.path`** - Automatic update health check and rollback
+  - The path unit starts the service when the web interface creates
+    `data/auto_update_verify.request` after a weekly automatic update
+  - Installed by the installers, or by the display service when automatic
+    updates are turned on in the web UI (`src/auto_update_setup.py`)
+  - Restarts the services, checks they stay up, and otherwise resets to the
+    previous commit and its dependencies
+  - Runs `data/auto_update_verifier.py`, a copy of
+    `scripts/utils/auto_update_verify.py` taken before the update
+
 - **`ledmatrix-wifi-monitor.service`** - WiFi monitor daemon service
  - Monitors WiFi/Ethernet connectivity
  - Automatically enables/disables access point mode
@@ -43,7 +53,8 @@ This directory contains systemd service unit files for LEDMatrix services.

 These service files are installed by the installation scripts in `scripts/install/`:
 - `install_service.sh` installs `ledmatrix.service`
- `install_web_service.sh` installs `ledmatrix-web.service`
+- `install_web_service.sh` installs `ledmatrix-web.service` and the
+  `ledmatrix-update-verify` service and path units
 - `install_wifi_monitor.sh` installs `ledmatrix-wifi-monitor.service`
 - `install_dns_fix.sh` installs `ledmatrix-dns-fix.service` (opt-in, not run
  by the normal installer)
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# This is a template. Do not install it directly -- it is installed with
+# ledmatrix-update-verify.service by scripts/install/install_web_service.sh,
+# or by the display service when automatic updates are turned on
+# (src/auto_update_setup.py). Substitutes:
+#   __PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__  -> the directory the project is installed in
+#
+# Starts the automatic update health check when the web interface asks for it
+# by creating data/auto_update_verify.request. A path unit rather than a
+# sudoers rule: the web interface needs no extra privilege to trigger it, and
+# the service it starts runs as the web interface's own user.
+
+[Unit]
+Description=Watch for LED Matrix automatic update health check requests
+
+[Path]
+PathExists=__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__/data/auto_update_verify.request
+Unit=ledmatrix-update-verify.service
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# This is a template. Do not install it directly -- run
+# scripts/install/install_web_service.sh (or install_service.sh); the display
+# service also installs it when automatic updates are turned on
+# (src/auto_update_setup.py). Substitutes:
+#   __PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__  -> the directory the project is installed in
+#   __USER__              -> the user the web interface runs as
+#
+# Health check and rollback for the web interface's weekly automatic update
+# (web_interface/auto_update.py). A separate unit because the check restarts
+# ledmatrix-web.service, which would kill it if it ran there.
+#
+# Never enabled itself: ledmatrix-update-verify.path starts it when the web
+# interface creates data/auto_update_verify.request. It runs as the web
+# interface's own user, and ExecStart points at the copy the updater makes
+# before pulling, so the update being checked cannot replace its checker.
+# Command-line paths are quoted so an install folder with spaces still works.
+
+[Unit]
+Description=LED Matrix automatic update health check and rollback
+
+[Service]
+Type=oneshot
+User=__USER__
+WorkingDirectory=__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__
+# Consume the request first, so the path unit cannot start this again.
+ExecStartPre=/bin/rm -f "__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__/data/auto_update_verify.request"
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 "__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__/data/auto_update_verifier.py" "__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__"
+TimeoutStartSec=30min
+StandardOutput=syslog
+StandardError=syslog
+SyslogIdentifier=ledmatrix-update-verify
@@ -841,6 +841,23 @@
      "POST"
    ]
  ],
+  [
+    "/api/v3/system/auto-update",
+    "api_v3.get_auto_update_status",
+    [
+      "GET",
+      "HEAD",
+      "OPTIONS"
+    ]
+  ],
+  [
+    "/api/v3/system/auto-update/dismiss",
+    "api_v3.dismiss_auto_update_alert",
+    [
+      "OPTIONS",
+      "POST"
+    ]
+  ],
  [
    "/api/v3/system/check-update",
    "api_v3.check_for_update",
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ def wifi_manager():
    """Patch WiFiManager where it is defined; yield the instance mock."""
    with patch("src.wifi_manager.WiFiManager") as cls:
        instance = MagicMock()
+        # A bare MagicMock is truthy, which would send every connect down
+        # the setup-AP background path.
+        instance._is_ap_mode_active.return_value = False
        cls.return_value = instance
        yield instance

@@ -97,6 +100,129 @@ class TestConnect:
        assert "RuntimeError" in body["details"]


+class TestConnectThroughSetupAp:
+    """With the setup AP up, the phone making the request is connected through
+    the very network the connect tears down. A synchronous answer can never
+    arrive, so the route answers 202 first and connects in the background."""
+
+    URL = "/api/v3/wifi/connect"
+
+    @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+    def ap_active(self, api_v3_module, wifi_manager, monkeypatch):
+        from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import wifi as wifi_routes
+        wifi_manager._is_ap_mode_active.return_value = True
+        monkeypatch.setattr(wifi_routes, "_AP_HANDOFF_DELAY_SECONDS", 0)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(wifi_routes, "_last_connect_attempt", None)
+        self.spawned = []
+        monkeypatch.setattr(wifi_routes, "_spawn", self.spawned.append)
+        self.routes = wifi_routes
+
+    def _run_spawned(self):
+        assert len(self.spawned) == 1
+        self.spawned.pop()()
+
+    def test_answers_202_before_connecting(self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager):
+        response = api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet", "password": "hunter22"})
+        assert response.status_code == 202
+        assert response.get_json()["status"] == "pending"
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.assert_not_called()
+        assert self.routes._last_connect_snapshot()["state"] == "pending"
+
+    def test_background_result_is_reported_by_status(self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager):
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.return_value = (True, "Connected to HomeNet")
+        api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet", "password": "hunter22"})
+        self._run_spawned()
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.assert_called_once_with("HomeNet", "hunter22")
+
+        wifi_manager.config = {}
+        wifi_manager.get_wifi_status.return_value = MagicMock(
+            connected=True, ssid="HomeNet", ip_address="10.0.0.5", signal=70,
+            ap_mode_active=False)
+        attempt = api_v3_client.get("/api/v3/wifi/status").get_json()["data"]["last_connect_attempt"]
+        assert attempt["ssid"] == "HomeNet"
+        assert attempt["state"] == "success"
+        assert "hunter22" not in str(attempt)
+
+    def test_wrong_password_is_flagged(self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager):
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.return_value = (
+            False, "wrong_password: Secrets were required, but not provided")
+        api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet", "password": "hunter22"})
+        self._run_spawned()
+        attempt = self.routes._last_connect_snapshot()
+        assert attempt["state"] == "failed"
+        assert attempt["error_type"] == "wrong_password"
+        assert attempt["message"] == "Incorrect password for HomeNet"
+
+    def test_manager_exception_is_recorded_as_a_failure(self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager):
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.side_effect = RuntimeError("nmcli vanished")
+        api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet"})
+        self._run_spawned()
+        attempt = self.routes._last_connect_snapshot()
+        assert attempt["state"] == "failed"
+        assert "RuntimeError" in attempt["message"]
+
+    def test_a_second_connect_while_one_is_pending_is_refused(self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager):
+        api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet"})
+        response = api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "OtherNet"})
+        assert response.status_code == 409
+        assert len(self.spawned) == 1
+
+    def test_pending_is_honoured_after_the_ap_has_gone_down(self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager):
+        # The background attempt tears the AP down long before it finishes; a
+        # second click must not slip through as a synchronous connect.
+        api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet"})
+        wifi_manager._is_ap_mode_active.return_value = False
+        response = api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "OtherNet"})
+        assert response.status_code == 409
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_a_thread_that_fails_to_start_does_not_leave_pending_behind(
+            self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager, monkeypatch):
+        def refuse(_target):
+            raise RuntimeError("can't start new thread")
+        monkeypatch.setattr(self.routes, "_spawn", refuse)
+        assert api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet"}).status_code == 500
+        assert self.routes._last_connect_snapshot() is None
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(self.routes, "_spawn", self.spawned.append)
+        assert api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet"}).status_code == 202
+
+
+class TestConnectSerializedWithoutAp:
+    """Without the AP the route connects synchronously, but still one attempt
+    at a time: a second connect_to_network would remove the in-progress flag
+    the daemon relies on when the first finishes."""
+
+    URL = "/api/v3/wifi/connect"
+
+    @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+    def no_prior_attempt(self, api_v3_module, monkeypatch):
+        from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import wifi as wifi_routes
+        monkeypatch.setattr(wifi_routes, "_last_connect_attempt", None)
+        self.routes = wifi_routes
+
+    def test_a_connect_during_a_synchronous_connect_is_refused(
+            self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager):
+        inner = []
+
+        def connect(ssid, password):
+            if not inner:
+                inner.append(api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "OtherNet"}))
+            return True, f"Connected to {ssid}"
+
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.side_effect = connect
+        response = api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet"})
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert inner[0].status_code == 409
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.assert_called_once_with("HomeNet", "")
+        assert self.routes._last_connect_snapshot()["state"] == "success"
+
+    def test_an_exception_does_not_leave_pending_behind(self, api_v3_client, wifi_manager):
+        wifi_manager.connect_to_network.side_effect = RuntimeError("nmcli gone")
+        assert api_v3_client.post(self.URL, json={"ssid": "HomeNet"}).status_code == 500
+        assert self.routes._last_connect_snapshot()["state"] == "failed"
+
+
 class TestDisconnect:
    URL = "/api/v3/wifi/disconnect"

@@ -0,0 +1,683 @@
+"""Weekly automatic updates (web_interface/auto_update.py).
+
+The updater pulls code and restarts services unattended. These pin down that
+it runs only when asked and due, refuses to touch a checkout it could damage,
+never leaves new code running without a health check, and reports every
+failure instead of logging it and moving on.
+
+Git runs for real against a throwaway origin/device clone pair; systemd, sudo
+and the health check service are faked.
+"""
+import json
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+sys.path.insert(0, str(ROOT))
+
+from web_interface import auto_update as au  # noqa: E402
+
+# Local time is pinned to UTC below, so 03:00 is inside the quiet hours.
+NIGHT = datetime(2026, 9, 14, 3, 0, tzinfo=timezone.utc).timestamp()
+NOON = datetime(2026, 9, 14, 12, 0, tzinfo=timezone.utc).timestamp()
+ON = {'auto_update': {'enabled': True}}
+OFF = {'auto_update': {'enabled': False}}
+
+needs_git = pytest.mark.skipif(shutil.which('git') is None, reason='git not installed')
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def local_is_utc(monkeypatch):
+    """Pin 'local time' so quiet-hours checks don't depend on the host zone."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(au, '_zone', lambda name: timezone.utc)
+
+
+def git(cwd, *args):
+    result = subprocess.run(['git', '-c', 'user.name=t', '-c', 'user.email=t@example.com', *args],
+                            cwd=str(cwd), capture_output=True, text=True)
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+    return result.stdout.strip()
+
+
+class Repo:
+    """An origin, a checkout that publishes to it, and the device's clone."""
+
+    def __init__(self, tmp):
+        self.seed = tmp / 'seed'
+        self.seed.mkdir()
+        git(self.seed, 'init', '-q', '-b', 'main')
+        (self.seed / 'app.py').write_text('v = 1\n')
+        git(self.seed, 'add', '.')
+        git(self.seed, 'commit', '-qm', 'one')
+        self.origin = tmp / 'origin.git'
+        git(tmp, 'clone', '-q', '--bare', str(self.seed), str(self.origin))
+        git(self.seed, 'remote', 'add', 'origin', str(self.origin))
+        self.device = tmp / 'device'
+        git(tmp, 'clone', '-q', str(self.origin), str(self.device))
+
+    def head(self):
+        return git(self.device, 'rev-parse', 'HEAD')
+
+    def publish(self, text='v = 2\n'):
+        (self.seed / 'app.py').write_text(text)
+        git(self.seed, 'commit', '-qam', 'next')
+        git(self.seed, 'push', '-q', 'origin', 'main')
+        return git(self.seed, 'rev-parse', 'HEAD')
+
+
+def real_pull(device, **extra):
+    def core_update():
+        before = git(device, 'rev-parse', 'HEAD')
+        r = subprocess.run(['git', 'pull', '-q', '--rebase', '--autostash'],
+                           cwd=str(device), capture_output=True, text=True)
+        after = git(device, 'rev-parse', 'HEAD')
+        result = {'status': 'success' if r.returncode == 0 else 'error',
+                  'message': 'Code updated successfully.' if r.returncode == 0 else r.stderr,
+                  'restart_required': before != after, 'dependency_failures': []}
+        result.update(extra)
+        return result
+    return core_update
+
+
+class FakeStore:
+    def __init__(self, plugins_dir, versions, bump=(), fail=()):
+        self.plugins_dir = str(plugins_dir)
+        self.bump, self.fail = set(bump), set(fail)
+        for pid, version in versions.items():
+            d = Path(plugins_dir) / pid
+            d.mkdir(parents=True)
+            (d / 'manifest.json').write_text(json.dumps({'id': pid, 'version': version}))
+        self.updated_calls = []
+
+    def list_installed_plugins(self):
+        return [p.name for p in Path(self.plugins_dir).iterdir()]
+
+    def _get_local_git_info(self, path):
+        return None
+
+    def update_plugin(self, pid):
+        self.updated_calls.append(pid)
+        if pid in self.fail:
+            return False
+        if pid in self.bump:
+            path = Path(self.plugins_dir) / pid / 'manifest.json'
+            m = json.loads(path.read_text())
+            m['version'] = '9.9.9'
+            path.write_text(json.dumps(m))
+        return True
+
+
+class Harness:
+    """An AutoUpdater on a real clone.
+
+    ``helper`` is whether the health check's path unit is active; ``pickup``
+    whether the health check actually starts when asked. Starting it is
+    simulated the way systemd does it: the request file is consumed
+    (ExecStartPre) and the verifier marks the pending update "verifying".
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, tmp, repo, *, helper=True, pickup=True, core_update=None, store=None,
+                 disk_free=10 ** 12, display_active=True, enabled=True, clock=NIGHT):
+        self.sudo, self.restarts, self.now = [], [], clock
+        self.state_at_handoff = None
+
+        def run(args, **kwargs):
+            if args[0] == 'sudo':
+                self.sudo.append(list(args))
+                return subprocess.CompletedProcess(args, 0, stdout='', stderr='')
+            return subprocess.run(args, **kwargs)
+
+        def sleep(seconds):
+            updater = self.updater
+            if self.state_at_handoff is None:
+                self.state_at_handoff = au.load_state(updater.state_file)
+            if pickup and updater.request_file.exists():
+                updater.request_file.unlink()
+                pending = au._read_json(updater.pending_file)
+                pending['status'] = 'verifying'
+                au._write_json(updater.pending_file, pending)
+
+        self.config = {'auto_update': {'enabled': enabled}, 'timezone': 'UTC'}
+        cm = MagicMock()
+        cm.load_config.return_value = self.config
+        self.updater = au.AutoUpdater(
+            config_manager=cm, core_update=core_update or real_pull(repo.device),
+            store_manager=store, project_root=repo.device, clock=lambda: self.now,
+            restart=self.restarts.append, run=run,
+            service_active=lambda unit: display_active, helper_ready=lambda: helper,
+            disk_free=lambda path: disk_free, sleep=sleep)
+
+    @property
+    def state(self):
+        return au.load_state(self.updater.state_file)
+
+    @property
+    def pending(self):
+        return au._read_json(self.updater.pending_file)
+
+    def write_pending(self, **fields):
+        au._write_json(self.updater.pending_file, fields)
+
+
+def stub_updater(tmp_path, outcome='up_to_date', message='ok', store=None, enabled=True, clock=NIGHT):
+    """For scheduling and plugin tests: the core update is stubbed out."""
+    cm = MagicMock()
+    cm.load_config.return_value = {'auto_update': {'enabled': enabled}, 'timezone': 'UTC'}
+    restarts = []
+    updater = au.AutoUpdater(config_manager=cm, core_update=MagicMock(), store_manager=store,
+                             project_root=tmp_path, clock=lambda: clock,
+                             restart=restarts.append)
+    updater.update_core = MagicMock(return_value={'outcome': outcome, 'message': message})
+    return updater, restarts
+
+
+# -- scheduling ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+class TestIsDue:
+    def test_not_before_next_due(self):
+        assert not au.is_due(100, 200, 3)
+
+    def test_in_quiet_hours_once_due(self):
+        assert au.is_due(200, 200, 3)
+
+    def test_waits_for_quiet_hours(self):
+        assert not au.is_due(200, 100, 12)
+
+    def test_gives_up_waiting_after_grace(self):
+        assert au.is_due(100 + au.QUIET_HOURS_GRACE_SECONDS, 100, 12)
+
+
+class TestTick:
+    def test_disabled_never_runs(self, tmp_path):
+        updater, _ = stub_updater(tmp_path, enabled=False)
+        assert updater.tick() is False
+        updater.update_core.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_enabling_at_noon_waits_for_the_night(self, tmp_path):
+        updater, _ = stub_updater(tmp_path, clock=NOON)
+        assert updater.tick() is False
+        updater.update_core.assert_not_called()
+        assert au.load_state(updater.state_file)['next_due'] == NOON
+
+    def test_runs_when_due_and_schedules_a_week_out(self, tmp_path):
+        updater, _ = stub_updater(tmp_path)
+        assert updater.tick() is True
+        state = au.load_state(updater.state_file)
+        assert state['next_due'] == NIGHT + au.UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS
+        assert updater.tick() is False, "ran twice in one night"
+
+    def test_transient_error_retries_next_day(self, tmp_path):
+        updater, _ = stub_updater(tmp_path, outcome='error', message='no network')
+        updater.tick()
+        state = au.load_state(updater.state_file)
+        assert state['next_due'] == NIGHT + au.RETRY_AFTER_FAILURE_SECONDS
+        assert state['alert']['message'] == 'no network'
+
+    def test_blocked_keeps_weekly_cadence_but_alerts(self, tmp_path):
+        updater, _ = stub_updater(tmp_path, outcome='blocked', message='local edits')
+        updater.tick()
+        state = au.load_state(updater.state_file)
+        assert state['next_due'] == NIGHT + au.UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS
+        assert 'local edits' in state['alert']['message']
+
+
+# -- checks before touching the checkout ---------------------------------------
+
+@needs_git
+class TestPreflightRefuses:
+    def test_nothing_new_is_up_to_date(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo)
+        result = h.updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'up_to_date'
+        assert result['status'] == 'success'
+        assert h.sudo == [] and 'alert' not in h.state
+
+    def test_without_the_health_check_code_is_not_touched(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        old = repo.head()
+        repo.publish()
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo, helper=False)
+        result = h.updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'blocked'
+        assert repo.head() == old
+        assert 'health check is set up' in result['core_message']
+        assert h.state['alert']
+
+    def test_local_edits_are_never_stashed(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        old = repo.head()
+        repo.publish()
+        (repo.device / 'app.py').write_text('mine\n')
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo)
+        result = h.updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'blocked'
+        assert 'app.py' in result['core_message']
+        assert repo.head() == old
+        assert (repo.device / 'app.py').read_text() == 'mine\n'
+        assert git(repo.device, 'stash', 'list') == ''
+
+    def test_local_commits_block(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        repo.publish()
+        (repo.device / 'extra.txt').write_text('x\n')
+        git(repo.device, 'add', 'extra.txt')
+        git(repo.device, 'commit', '-qm', 'local')
+        mine = repo.head()
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo)
+        result = h.updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'blocked'
+        assert 'local commit' in result['core_message']
+        assert repo.head() == mine
+
+    def test_a_rebase_really_in_progress_blocks(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        repo.publish('v = 2\n')
+        (repo.device / 'app.py').write_text('v = mine\n')
+        git(repo.device, 'commit', '-qam', 'local')
+        git(repo.device, 'fetch', '-q')
+        stopped = subprocess.run(['git', '-c', 'user.name=t', '-c', 'user.email=t@example.com',
+                                  'rebase', 'origin/main'], cwd=str(repo.device), capture_output=True, text=True)
+        assert stopped.returncode != 0, "the rebase should stop on the conflict"
+        result = Harness(tmp_path, repo).updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'blocked'
+        assert 'rebase is in progress' in result['core_message']
+        assert (repo.device / '.git' / 'rebase-merge').exists(), "a live rebase must be left alone"
+
+    def test_an_abandoned_rebase_is_cleared_and_the_update_runs(self, tmp_path):
+        """Found on a real device: a pull stopped mid-rebase a week earlier,
+        HEAD was later checked out to a branch, and the leftover rebase
+        directory would have blocked every automatic update forever."""
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        leftover = repo.device / '.git' / 'rebase-merge'
+        leftover.mkdir()
+        (leftover / 'head-name').write_text('refs/heads/main\n')
+        new = repo.publish()
+        result = Harness(tmp_path, repo).updater.run()
+        assert not leftover.exists()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'verifying'
+        assert repo.head() == new
+
+    def test_a_merge_in_progress_blocks(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        repo.publish()
+        (repo.device / '.git' / 'MERGE_HEAD').write_text(repo.head() + '\n')
+        result = Harness(tmp_path, repo).updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'blocked'
+        assert 'merge is in progress' in result['core_message']
+
+    def test_low_disk_blocks(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        repo.publish()
+        result = Harness(tmp_path, repo, disk_free=10 * 1024 * 1024).updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'blocked'
+        assert 'disk space' in result['core_message']
+
+    def test_unreachable_origin_retries_tomorrow(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        git(repo.device, 'remote', 'set-url', 'origin', str(tmp_path / 'nowhere'))
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo)
+        result = h.updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'error'
+        assert h.state['next_due'] == NIGHT + au.RETRY_AFTER_FAILURE_SECONDS
+
+    def test_version_already_rolled_back_is_not_retried(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        old = repo.head()
+        bad = repo.publish()
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo)
+        au.save_state({'rolled_back_head': bad}, h.updater.state_file)
+        result = h.updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'up_to_date'
+        assert 'rolled back before' in result['core_message']
+        assert repo.head() == old and h.sudo == []
+
+
+# -- the update and its hand-off to the health check ---------------------------
+
+@needs_git
+class TestUpdateIsVerified:
+    def test_pull_hands_off_to_the_health_check(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        old = repo.head()
+        new = repo.publish()
+        store = FakeStore(tmp_path / 'plugins', {'weather': '1.0.0'}, bump={'weather'})
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo, store=store)
+        result = h.updater.run()
+
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'verifying' and result['status'] == 'pending'
+        assert repo.head() == new
+        assert h.pending == {**h.pending, 'status': 'verifying', 'old_head': old, 'new_head': new,
+                             'display_was_active': True, 'dependency_failures': []}
+        assert not h.updater.request_file.exists(), "the request is consumed when the check starts"
+        assert h.sudo == [], "triggering the health check needs no privilege"
+        assert h.restarts == [], "restarts belong to the health check, not the web process"
+        assert store.updated_calls == [], "plugins must wait until the new code is verified"
+        assert h.state['plugins_pending'] is True
+        assert h.updater.verifier_copy.read_text() == au.VERIFIER_SOURCE.read_text()
+
+    def test_state_is_saved_before_the_health_check_restarts_this_process(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        repo.publish()
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo)
+        h.updater.run()
+        assert h.state_at_handoff['last_result']['core_outcome'] == 'verifying'
+        assert h.state_at_handoff['plugins_pending'] is True
+
+    def test_dependency_failures_reach_the_health_check(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        repo.publish()
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo,
+                    core_update=real_pull(repo.device, dependency_failures=['requirements.txt']))
+        h.updater.run()
+        assert h.pending['dependency_failures'] == ['requirements.txt']
+
+    def test_a_health_check_that_never_starts_means_the_update_is_undone(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        old = repo.head()
+        repo.publish()
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo, pickup=False)
+        result = h.updater.run()
+        assert repo.head() == old
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'blocked'
+        assert 'did not start' in result['core_message']
+        assert h.pending is None and not h.updater.request_file.exists()
+        assert h.state['alert']
+
+    def test_failed_pull_retries_tomorrow(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        old = repo.head()
+        repo.publish()
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo,
+                    core_update=lambda: {'status': 'error', 'message': 'Update failed: network'})
+        result = h.updater.run()
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'error'
+        assert repo.head() == old
+        assert h.state['next_due'] == NIGHT + au.RETRY_AFTER_FAILURE_SECONDS
+
+    def test_failed_pull_that_moved_head_is_rolled_back(self, tmp_path):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        old = repo.head()
+        repo.publish()
+        pull = real_pull(repo.device)
+
+        def half_failed():
+            pull()
+            return {'status': 'error', 'message': 'Update failed: interrupted'}
+        result = Harness(tmp_path, repo, core_update=half_failed).updater.run()
+        assert repo.head() == old
+        assert 'rolled back' in result['core_message']
+
+
+# -- reporting the health check's outcome --------------------------------------
+
+@needs_git
+class TestHealthCheckOutcome:
+    def _after_update(self, tmp_path, **pending):
+        repo = Repo(tmp_path)
+        store = FakeStore(tmp_path / 'plugins', {'weather': '1.0.0'}, bump={'weather'})
+        h = Harness(tmp_path, repo, store=store)
+        au.save_state({'plugins_pending': True, 'next_due': NIGHT + au.UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS,
+                       'last_result': {'core_outcome': 'verifying', 'status': 'pending',
+                                       'plugins_deferred': True}}, h.updater.state_file)
+        h.write_pending(old_head='a' * 40, new_head='b' * 40, created_at=NIGHT, **pending)
+        return h, store
+
+    def test_waits_while_the_check_runs(self, tmp_path):
+        h, store = self._after_update(tmp_path, status='verifying')
+        h.now = NIGHT + 60
+        assert h.updater.tick() is False
+        assert store.updated_calls == [] and h.pending
+
+    def test_success_then_runs_the_deferred_plugins(self, tmp_path):
+        h, store = self._after_update(tmp_path, status='success')
+        assert h.updater.tick() is True
+        result = h.state['last_result']
+        assert result['core_outcome'] == 'updated' and result['status'] == 'success'
+        assert result['plugins_updated'] == ['weather']
+        assert h.restarts == ['ledmatrix']
+        assert 'alert' not in h.state and h.pending is None
+
+    def test_rollback_alerts_and_remembers_the_bad_commit(self, tmp_path):
+        h, store = self._after_update(tmp_path, status='rolled_back',
+                                      reason='the web interface did not respond')
+        h.updater.tick()
+        assert 'rolled back' in h.state['alert']['message']
+        assert 'the web interface did not respond' in h.state['alert']['message']
+        assert h.state['rolled_back_head'] == 'b' * 40
+        assert store.updated_calls == ['weather'], "the old code is healthy; plugins may update"
+
+    def test_failed_rollback_alerts_and_skips_plugins(self, tmp_path):
+        h, store = self._after_update(tmp_path, status='rollback_failed',
+                                      reason='display down', detail='reset failed')
+        h.updater.tick()
+        assert f'git reset --hard {"a" * 40}' in h.state['alert']['message']
+        assert store.updated_calls == []
+        assert h.state['plugins_pending'] is False
+
+    def test_a_check_that_never_reports_back_alerts(self, tmp_path):
+        h, _ = self._after_update(tmp_path, status='verifying')
+        h.now = NIGHT + au.VERIFY_LOST_SECONDS + 1
+        h.updater.tick()
+        assert h.state['last_result']['core_outcome'] == 'lost'
+        assert 'never reported back' in h.state['alert']['message']
+
+    def test_dismissed_alert_stays_hidden_until_a_new_one(self, tmp_path):
+        h, _ = self._after_update(tmp_path, status='rolled_back', reason='x')
+        h.updater.tick()
+        alert_id = h.state['alert']['id']
+
+        def status():
+            return au.describe_status(h.config, state_file=h.updater.state_file,
+                                      pending_file=h.updater.pending_file,
+                                      setup_file=tmp_path / 'no-setup.json', helper=lambda: True)
+        assert status()['alert_id'] == alert_id
+        au.dismiss_alert(alert_id, h.updater.state_file)
+        assert status()['alert'] is None
+        state = h.state
+        state['alert'] = {'id': 'newer', 'message': 'again'}
+        au.save_state(state, h.updater.state_file)
+        assert status()['alert'] == 'again'
+
+
+def test_describe_status_reports_setup(tmp_path):
+    setup = tmp_path / 'setup.json'
+    setup.write_text(json.dumps({'status': 'failed', 'message': 'not root'}))
+    kwargs = dict(state={}, state_file=tmp_path / 's.json', pending_file=tmp_path / 'p.json',
+                  setup_file=setup)
+    on = au.describe_status(ON, helper=lambda: False, **kwargs)
+    assert on['verifier_installed'] is False
+    assert (on['setup_status'], on['setup_message']) == ('failed', 'not root')
+
+    def never(): raise AssertionError("systemctl asked while updates are off")
+    assert au.describe_status(OFF, helper=never, **kwargs)['verifier_installed'] is None
+
+
+# -- setting it up from the web UI ----------------------------------------------
+
+class TestSetupFromTheWebUI:
+    def _host(self, monkeypatch, ready=False, active=True, restart_ok=True):
+        restarts = []
+        monkeypatch.setattr(au, 'helper_ready', lambda: ready)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(au, '_service_active', lambda unit: active)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(au, 'restart_service', lambda unit: restarts.append(unit) or restart_ok)
+        return restarts
+
+    def test_switching_on_restarts_the_display_to_finish_setup(self, monkeypatch):
+        restarts = self._host(monkeypatch)
+        note = au.start_setup_if_needed(False, ON)
+        assert restarts == ['ledmatrix']
+        assert 'display is restarting' in note
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize('was_enabled, config, ready', [
+        (True, ON, False),   # already on: an unrelated save must not restart the display
+        (False, OFF, False),  # still off
+        (False, ON, True),   # already set up
+    ])
+    def test_nothing_to_do(self, monkeypatch, was_enabled, config, ready):
+        restarts = self._host(monkeypatch, ready=ready)
+        assert au.start_setup_if_needed(was_enabled, config) is None
+        assert restarts == []
+
+    def test_a_stopped_display_is_not_started(self, monkeypatch):
+        restarts = self._host(monkeypatch, active=False)
+        assert 'next time the display service starts' in au.start_setup_if_needed(False, ON)
+        assert restarts == []
+
+    def test_a_failed_restart_says_so(self, monkeypatch):
+        self._host(monkeypatch, restart_ok=False)
+        assert 'Could not restart' in au.start_setup_if_needed(False, ON)
+
+
+# -- plugins --------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+class TestPlugins:
+    def test_nothing_changed_restarts_nothing(self, tmp_path):
+        store = FakeStore(tmp_path / 'plugins', {'clock': '1.0.0'})
+        updater, restarts = stub_updater(tmp_path, store=store)
+        updater.run()
+        assert store.updated_calls == ['clock']
+        assert restarts == []
+
+    def test_plugin_update_restarts_display_only(self, tmp_path):
+        store = FakeStore(tmp_path / 'plugins', {'clock': '1.0.0', 'weather': '1.0.0'},
+                          bump={'weather'})
+        updater, restarts = stub_updater(tmp_path, store=store)
+        result = updater.run()
+        assert result['plugins_updated'] == ['weather']
+        assert restarts == ['ledmatrix']
+
+    def test_plugin_failure_alerts_but_keeps_weekly_cadence(self, tmp_path):
+        store = FakeStore(tmp_path / 'plugins', {'zip-only': '1.0.0'}, fail={'zip-only'})
+        updater, _ = stub_updater(tmp_path, store=store)
+        result = updater.run()
+        assert result['plugins_failed'] == ['zip-only'] and result['status'] == 'error'
+        state = au.load_state(updater.state_file)
+        assert 'zip-only' in state['alert']['message']
+        assert state['next_due'] == NIGHT + au.UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS
+
+    def test_local_only_plugins_are_left_alone(self, tmp_path):
+        store = FakeStore(tmp_path / 'plugins', {'mine': '1.0.0'})
+        path = tmp_path / 'plugins' / 'mine' / 'manifest.json'
+        path.write_text(json.dumps({'id': 'mine', 'version': '1.0.0', 'local_only': True}))
+        updater, _ = stub_updater(tmp_path, store=store)
+        updater.run()
+        assert store.updated_calls == []
+
+
+def test_restart_service_skips_a_stopped_unit(monkeypatch):
+    calls = []
+
+    def run(args, **kwargs):
+        calls.append(args)
+        return MagicMock(stdout='inactive\n', returncode=3, stderr='')
+    monkeypatch.setattr(au.subprocess, 'run', run)
+    assert au.restart_service('ledmatrix') is False
+    assert calls == [['systemctl', 'is-active', 'ledmatrix']], (
+        "a display the user stopped must not be started by an update")
+
+
+def test_core_update_names_the_requirement_files_that_failed():
+    """The health check refuses code whose dependencies did not install, so
+    the failure has to arrive as data, not only as a sentence in the message."""
+    from web_interface.blueprints import api_v3 as pkg
+    from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import system
+
+    heads = iter(['aaa111\n', 'bbb222\n'])
+
+    def run(args, **kwargs):
+        if args[:2] == ['git', 'rev-parse'] and args[-1] == 'HEAD':
+            out = next(heads, 'bbb222\n')
+        elif args[:2] == ['git', 'diff']:
+            out = 'requirements.txt\n'
+        elif '@{u}' in args:
+            out = 'origin/main\n'
+        else:
+            out = ''
+        return subprocess.CompletedProcess(args, 0, stdout=out, stderr='')
+
+    pkg.api_v3.plugin_store_manager = None
+    failed_install = subprocess.CompletedProcess([], 1, stdout='', stderr='boom')
+    with patch.object(pkg.subprocess, 'run', run), \
+            patch.object(system, '_pip_install_requirements', return_value=failed_install):
+        result = system.perform_core_update()
+    assert result['status'] == 'success'
+    assert result['dependency_failures'] == ['requirements.txt']
+
+
+# -- web routes -------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def api_client(monkeypatch):
+    from flask import Flask
+    from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import api_v3
+    app = Flask(__name__)
+    app.register_blueprint(api_v3, url_prefix='/api/v3')
+    cm = MagicMock()
+    cm.load_config.return_value = {'timezone': 'UTC', 'auto_update': {'enabled': True}}
+    cm.get_raw_file_content.return_value = {}
+    cm.save_config_atomic.return_value = MagicMock(status=MagicMock(value='success'), message=None)
+    api_v3.config_manager = cm
+    api_v3.plugin_manager = MagicMock(plugins={})
+    # Never restart a real display from a test run.
+    setup_calls = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(au, 'start_setup_if_needed',
+                        lambda was_enabled, config: setup_calls.append(was_enabled) or None)
+    return app.test_client(), cm, setup_calls
+
+
+class TestStatusRoutes:
+    def test_status_carries_the_alert(self, api_client, monkeypatch):
+        client, _, _ = api_client
+        monkeypatch.setattr(au, 'describe_status', lambda config: {'alert': 'rolled back', 'alert_id': '7'})
+        data = client.get('/api/v3/system/auto-update').get_json()['data']
+        assert data == {'alert': 'rolled back', 'alert_id': '7'}
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize('body', [{}, [1], 'x', 5])
+    def test_dismiss_needs_an_id_in_a_json_object(self, api_client, body):
+        client, _, _ = api_client
+        assert client.post('/api/v3/system/auto-update/dismiss', json=body).status_code == 400
+
+    def test_dismiss(self, api_client, monkeypatch):
+        client, _, _ = api_client
+        calls = []
+        monkeypatch.setattr(au, 'dismiss_alert', calls.append)
+        assert client.post('/api/v3/system/auto-update/dismiss', json={'alert_id': '7'}).status_code == 200
+        assert calls == ['7']
+
+
+class TestSettingsSave:
+    def _saved(self, cm):
+        return cm.save_config_atomic.call_args[0][0]
+
+    def test_checked_toggle_saves_enabled(self, api_client):
+        client, cm, setup_calls = api_client
+        cm.load_config.return_value = {'timezone': 'UTC'}
+        resp = client.post('/api/v3/config/main', json={'timezone': 'UTC', 'auto_update_enabled': 'true'})
+        assert resp.status_code == 200
+        saved = self._saved(cm)
+        assert saved['auto_update'] == {'enabled': True}
+        assert 'auto_update_enabled' not in saved, "the form field must not leak into config.json"
+        assert setup_calls == [False], "setup is told the toggle was previously off"
+
+    def test_unchecked_toggle_on_general_save_disables(self, api_client):
+        client, cm, setup_calls = api_client
+        resp = client.post('/api/v3/config/main', json={'timezone': 'UTC'})
+        assert resp.status_code == 200
+        assert self._saved(cm)['auto_update'] == {'enabled': False}
+        assert setup_calls == [True]
+
+    def test_setup_note_reaches_the_user(self, api_client, monkeypatch):
+        client, cm, _ = api_client
+        cm.load_config.return_value = {'timezone': 'UTC'}
+        monkeypatch.setattr(au, 'start_setup_if_needed',
+                            lambda was_enabled, config: 'Finishing automatic update setup: the display is restarting.')
+        body = client.post('/api/v3/config/main',
+                           json={'timezone': 'UTC', 'auto_update_enabled': 'true'}).get_json()
+        assert 'the display is restarting' in body['message']
@@ -0,0 +1,214 @@
+"""Installing the automatic-update health check from the display service.
+
+src/auto_update_setup.py is how a user who never opens a terminal gets updates
+with a safety net: it runs as root inside the display service and writes
+systemd units. So it has to install exactly the right thing when asked, do
+nothing when not asked, refuse templates that would run as anyone but the web
+user, and say why whenever it could not finish.
+"""
+import json
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+sys.path.insert(0, str(ROOT))
+
+from src import auto_update_setup as aus  # noqa: E402
+
+ON = {'auto_update': {'enabled': True}}
+
+
+class FakeSystemctl:
+    def __init__(self, fail=(), activates=True):
+        self.calls = []
+        self.fail = set(fail)
+        self.activates = activates
+        self.active = False
+
+    def __call__(self, args, **kwargs):
+        assert args[0] == 'systemctl', args
+        self.calls.append(args[1:])
+        verb = args[1]
+        if verb == 'is-active':
+            return subprocess.CompletedProcess(args, 0 if self.active else 3,
+                                               stdout='active\n' if self.active else 'inactive\n', stderr='')
+        if verb in self.fail:
+            return subprocess.CompletedProcess(args, 1, stdout='', stderr=f'{verb} refused')
+        if verb in ('restart', 'enable') and self.activates and (verb == 'restart' or '--now' in args):
+            self.active = True
+        return subprocess.CompletedProcess(args, 0, stdout='', stderr='')
+
+
+def project(tmp_path, user='hdpi', workdir=None, name='LEDMatrix'):
+    root = tmp_path / name
+    (root / 'systemd').mkdir(parents=True)
+    for name in aus.UNITS:
+        shutil.copy(ROOT / 'systemd' / name, root / 'systemd' / name)
+    etc = tmp_path / 'etc'
+    etc.mkdir()
+    (etc / aus.WEB_UNIT).write_text(
+        f'[Service]\nUser={user}\nWorkingDirectory={workdir or root}\n', encoding='utf-8')
+    return root, etc
+
+
+def setup(root, etc, systemctl, root_user=True):
+    return aus.UpdateHelperSetup(project_root=root, systemd_dir=etc, run=systemctl,
+                                 is_root=lambda: root_user,
+                                 lookup_ids=lambda user: None if user == 'ghost' else (1000, 1000),
+                                 clock=lambda: 1234.0)
+
+
+def result(root):
+    return json.loads((root / aus.RESULT_REL).read_text())
+
+
+def test_does_nothing_while_updates_are_off(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    systemctl = FakeSystemctl()
+    assert setup(root, etc, systemctl).ensure({'auto_update': {'enabled': False}}) is None
+    assert systemctl.calls == []
+    assert not (etc / aus.SERVICE_UNIT).exists()
+    assert not (root / aus.RESULT_REL).exists()
+
+
+def test_installs_both_units_for_the_web_user(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    systemctl = FakeSystemctl()
+    out = setup(root, etc, systemctl).ensure(ON)
+
+    assert out['status'] == 'installed' and result(root)['status'] == 'installed'
+    service = (etc / aus.SERVICE_UNIT).read_text()
+    assert 'User=hdpi' in service
+    assert f'ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 "{root}/data/auto_update_verifier.py" "{root}"' in service
+    assert f'PathExists={root}/data/auto_update_verify.request' in (etc / aus.PATH_UNIT).read_text()
+    assert '__' not in service
+    assert ['daemon-reload'] in systemctl.calls
+    assert ['enable', aus.PATH_UNIT] in systemctl.calls
+    assert systemctl.active
+
+
+def test_second_start_changes_nothing(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    systemctl = FakeSystemctl()
+    setup(root, etc, systemctl).ensure(ON)
+    first = result(root)
+    systemctl.calls.clear()
+    setup(root, etc, systemctl).ensure(ON)
+    assert systemctl.calls == [['is-active', aus.PATH_UNIT], ['is-active', aus.PATH_UNIT]]
+    assert result(root) == first, "an unchanged setup must not rewrite its result every boot"
+
+
+def test_a_changed_template_is_reinstalled(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    systemctl = FakeSystemctl()
+    setup(root, etc, systemctl).ensure(ON)
+    template = root / 'systemd' / aus.SERVICE_UNIT
+    template.write_text(template.read_text() + '\n# newer\n')
+    systemctl.calls.clear()
+    assert setup(root, etc, systemctl).ensure(ON)['message'] == 'Installed the update health check.'
+    assert (etc / aus.SERVICE_UNIT).read_text().endswith('# newer\n')
+    assert ['daemon-reload'] in systemctl.calls
+
+
+def test_a_template_that_would_not_run_as_the_web_user_is_refused(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    template = root / 'systemd' / aus.SERVICE_UNIT
+    template.write_text(template.read_text().replace('User=__USER__', 'User=root'))
+    systemctl = FakeSystemctl()
+    out = setup(root, etc, systemctl).ensure(ON)
+    assert out['status'] == 'failed' and 'refusing' in out['message']
+    assert not (etc / aus.SERVICE_UNIT).exists()
+    assert systemctl.calls == []
+
+
+def test_a_path_unit_that_starts_something_else_is_refused(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    template = root / 'systemd' / aus.PATH_UNIT
+    template.write_text(template.read_text().replace('Unit=ledmatrix-update-verify.service', 'Unit=other.service'))
+    out = setup(root, etc, FakeSystemctl()).ensure(ON)
+    assert out['status'] == 'failed' and not (etc / aus.PATH_UNIT).exists()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('case, expected', [
+    ('not_root', 'not running as root'),
+    ('no_web_unit', 'not installed'),
+    ('other_folder', 'runs from'),
+    ('bad_user', 'not a usable account'),
+])
+def test_reports_why_it_could_not_install(tmp_path, case, expected):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path, user='ghost' if case == 'bad_user' else 'hdpi',
+                        workdir=tmp_path / 'elsewhere' if case == 'other_folder' else None)
+    if case == 'no_web_unit':
+        (etc / aus.WEB_UNIT).unlink()
+    out = setup(root, etc, FakeSystemctl(), root_user=case != 'not_root').ensure(ON)
+    assert out['status'] == 'failed' and expected in out['message']
+    assert result(root)['message'] == out['message']
+    assert not (etc / aus.SERVICE_UNIT).exists()
+
+
+def test_a_path_unit_that_will_not_start_is_a_failure(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    out = setup(root, etc, FakeSystemctl(activates=False)).ensure(ON)
+    assert out['status'] == 'failed' and 'did not start' in out['message']
+
+
+def test_systemctl_errors_are_reported(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    out = setup(root, etc, FakeSystemctl(fail={'daemon-reload'})).ensure(ON)
+    assert out['status'] == 'failed' and 'daemon-reload refused' in out['message']
+
+
+def test_not_a_systemd_host_is_left_alone(tmp_path):
+    root, _ = project(tmp_path)
+    systemctl = FakeSystemctl()
+    assert setup(root, tmp_path / 'no-etc', systemctl).ensure(ON) is None
+    assert systemctl.calls == []
+
+
+def test_a_folder_with_spaces_is_quoted_in_the_commands(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path, name='LED Matrix')
+    assert setup(root, etc, FakeSystemctl()).ensure(ON)['status'] == 'installed'
+    service = (etc / aus.SERVICE_UNIT).read_text()
+    assert f'ExecStartPre=/bin/rm -f "{root}/data/auto_update_verify.request"' in service
+    assert f'ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 "{root}/data/auto_update_verifier.py" "{root}"' in service
+
+
+def test_a_folder_name_systemd_would_reinterpret_is_refused(tmp_path):
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path, name='LED%Matrix')
+    systemctl = FakeSystemctl()
+    out = setup(root, etc, systemctl).ensure(ON)
+    assert out['status'] == 'failed' and 'systemd cannot use' in out['message']
+    assert not (etc / aus.SERVICE_UNIT).exists() and systemctl.calls == []
+
+
+def test_installer_sets_the_toggle_without_a_half_written_config(tmp_path):
+    """first_time_install.sh may run while the display service watches
+    config.json; the file must be replaced whole, never truncated in place."""
+    import re
+    text = (ROOT / 'first_time_install.sh').read_text(encoding='utf-8').replace('\r\n', '\n')
+    script = next(s for s in re.findall(r"<<'PY'\n(.*?)\nPY\n", text, re.S) if 'auto_update' in s)
+    assert 'os.replace(' in script
+    config = tmp_path / 'config.json'
+    config.write_text(json.dumps({'timezone': 'UTC', 'auto_update': {'enabled': False}}))
+    run = subprocess.run([sys.executable, '-', str(config), '1'], input=script, text=True,
+                         capture_output=True)
+    assert run.returncode == 0, run.stderr
+    assert json.loads(config.read_text()) == {'timezone': 'UTC', 'auto_update': {'enabled': True}}
+    assert [p.name for p in tmp_path.iterdir()] == ['config.json'], "a temp file was left behind"
+
+
+def test_the_result_is_kept_when_it_cannot_be_given_to_the_web_user(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Caught by CI, which runs as a non-root Linux user: chown needs root, and
+    a failed chown used to discard the result, so the General tab never
+    learned whether setup worked."""
+    def refuse(*args):
+        raise PermissionError('Operation not permitted')
+    monkeypatch.setattr(aus.os, 'chown', refuse, raising=False)
+    root, etc = project(tmp_path)
+    out = setup(root, etc, FakeSystemctl()).ensure(ON)
+    assert out['status'] == 'installed'
+    assert result(root) == out
@@ -0,0 +1,248 @@
+"""The automatic update's health check and rollback (scripts/utils/auto_update_verify.py).
+
+This is what stands between an unattended update and a device that no longer
+works, so each way an update can fail is exercised against a real git repo:
+the new commit is checked out, the services are "restarted", and whether they
+come up healthy depends on which commit they were restarted onto. Only
+systemd, sudo and the HTTP check are faked.
+"""
+import importlib.util
+import re
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+sys.path.insert(0, str(ROOT))
+
+_spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(
+    'auto_update_verify', ROOT / 'scripts' / 'utils' / 'auto_update_verify.py')
+av = importlib.util.module_from_spec(_spec)
+_spec.loader.exec_module(av)
+
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(shutil.which('git') is None, reason='git not installed')
+
+
+def git(cwd, *args):
+    result = subprocess.run(['git', '-c', 'user.name=t', '-c', 'user.email=t@example.com', *args],
+                            cwd=str(cwd), capture_output=True, text=True)
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+    return result.stdout.strip()
+
+
+def done(args, stdout='', rc=0):
+    return subprocess.CompletedProcess(args, rc, stdout=stdout, stderr='' if rc == 0 else 'failed')
+
+
+def updated_repo(tmp_path, new_requirements=False):
+    """A checkout on a new commit, with the commit it came from."""
+    repo = tmp_path / 'LEDMatrix'
+    repo.mkdir()
+    git(repo, 'init', '-q', '-b', 'main')
+    (repo / 'app.py').write_text('v = 1\n')
+    (repo / 'requirements.txt').write_text('requests\n')
+    git(repo, 'add', '.')
+    git(repo, 'commit', '-qm', 'old')
+    old = git(repo, 'rev-parse', 'HEAD')
+    (repo / 'app.py').write_text('v = 2\n')
+    if new_requirements:
+        (repo / 'requirements.txt').write_text('requests\nnewthing\n')
+    git(repo, 'commit', '-qam', 'new')
+    return repo, old, git(repo, 'rev-parse', 'HEAD')
+
+
+class FakeHost:
+    """systemd, sudo and the web interface.
+
+    Services run whatever commit was checked out when they were last
+    restarted; ``failure`` says how they misbehave on the new commit
+    ("display_down", "web_down", "crash_loop") or on any commit ("always").
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, repo, bad_head, failure=None, pip_ok=True, restart_failures=0, count_readable=True):
+        self.repo, self.bad_head, self.failure, self.pip_ok = repo, bad_head, failure, pip_ok
+        self.restart_failures = restart_failures  # how many restart commands fail, first to last
+        self.count_readable = count_readable
+        self.running_head = None  # not restarted yet: still the old, healthy code
+        self.restarts = []        # (unit, commit it was restarted onto)
+        self.pip_installs = []
+        self.now = 0.0
+        self.nrestarts = 0
+
+    def broken(self, kind):
+        if self.running_head is None:
+            return False
+        return self.failure == 'always' or (self.running_head == self.bad_head and self.failure == kind)
+
+    def run(self, args, **kwargs):
+        if args[0] == 'git':
+            return subprocess.run(args, **kwargs)
+        if args[:2] == ['systemctl', 'is-active']:
+            return done(args, 'failed\n' if self.broken('display_down') else 'active\n')
+        if args[:2] == ['systemctl', 'show']:
+            if not self.count_readable:
+                return done(args, rc=1)
+            if self.broken('crash_loop'):
+                self.nrestarts += 1
+            return done(args, f'{self.nrestarts}\n')
+        if args[0] == 'sudo' and any(a.endswith('safe_pip_install.sh') for a in args):
+            self.pip_installs.append(args[-1])
+            return done(args, rc=0 if self.pip_ok else 1)
+        if args[:4] == ['sudo', '-n', 'systemctl', 'restart']:
+            if self.restart_failures:
+                self.restart_failures -= 1
+                return done(args, rc=1)  # the old process keeps running
+            self.running_head = git(self.repo, 'rev-parse', 'HEAD')
+            self.restarts.append((args[4], self.running_head))
+            return done(args)
+        raise AssertionError(f'unexpected command: {args}')
+
+    def web_responds(self):
+        return not self.broken('web_down')
+
+    def sleep(self, seconds):
+        self.now += seconds
+
+    def verifier(self):
+        return av.Verifier(self.repo, run=self.run, sleep=self.sleep, clock=lambda: self.now,
+                           web_responds=self.web_responds, log=lambda msg: None)
+
+
+def check(tmp_path, failure=None, new_requirements=False, pip_ok=True, restart_failures=0,
+          count_readable=True, **pending):
+    repo, old, new = updated_repo(tmp_path, new_requirements)
+    fields = {'status': 'pending', 'old_head': old, 'new_head': new,
+              'display_was_active': True, 'dependency_failures': []}
+    fields.update(pending)
+    av.write_pending(av.pending_path(repo), fields)
+    host = FakeHost(repo, new, failure, pip_ok, restart_failures, count_readable)
+    code = host.verifier().verify()
+    result = av.read_pending(av.pending_path(repo))
+    return code, result, host, git(repo, 'rev-parse', 'HEAD'), old, new
+
+
+def test_a_healthy_update_is_kept(tmp_path):
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path)
+    assert code == 0 and result['status'] == 'success'
+    assert head == new
+    assert host.restarts == [('ledmatrix.service', new), ('ledmatrix-web.service', new)]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('failure, reason', [
+    ('display_down', 'the display service did not stay running'),
+    ('web_down', 'the web interface did not respond'),
+    ('crash_loop', 'the display service kept restarting'),
+])
+def test_an_unhealthy_update_is_rolled_back(tmp_path, failure, reason):
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, failure)
+    assert code == 0
+    assert result['status'] == 'rolled_back' and result['reason'] == reason
+    assert head == old
+    assert host.restarts[-2:] == [('ledmatrix.service', old), ('ledmatrix-web.service', old)]
+
+
+def test_a_stopped_display_is_not_started(tmp_path):
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, display_was_active=False)
+    assert result['status'] == 'success'
+    assert [unit for unit, _ in host.restarts] == ['ledmatrix-web.service']
+
+
+def test_failed_dependencies_roll_back_before_anything_restarts_onto_them(tmp_path):
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, dependency_failures=['requirements.txt'])
+    assert result['status'] == 'rolled_back'
+    assert 'requirements.txt' in result['reason']
+    assert head == old
+    assert all(commit == old for _, commit in host.restarts), host.restarts
+
+
+def test_rollback_reinstalls_the_previous_dependencies(tmp_path):
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, 'display_down', new_requirements=True)
+    assert result['status'] == 'rolled_back' and result['detail'] is None
+    assert host.pip_installs == [str(tmp_path / 'LEDMatrix' / 'requirements.txt')]
+
+
+def test_a_failed_dependency_reinstall_is_reported(tmp_path):
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, 'display_down', new_requirements=True,
+                                               pip_ok=False)
+    assert result['status'] == 'rolled_back' and head == old
+    assert 'Install Base Requirements' in result['detail']
+
+
+def test_still_broken_after_rolling_back_is_rollback_failed(tmp_path):
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, 'always')
+    assert code == 1 and result['status'] == 'rollback_failed'
+    assert 'still unhealthy after rolling back' in result['detail']
+
+
+def test_a_failed_restart_is_not_mistaken_for_a_healthy_update(tmp_path):
+    """When the restart command itself fails the old process keeps answering,
+    so checking it would pass an update that never started."""
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, restart_failures=1)
+    assert result['status'] == 'rolled_back'
+    assert result['reason'] == 'restarting the services failed'
+    assert head == old
+
+
+def test_restarts_that_keep_failing_after_rollback_are_rollback_failed(tmp_path):
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, restart_failures=100)
+    assert code == 1 and result['status'] == 'rollback_failed'
+    assert 'restarting the services failed' in result['detail']
+
+
+def test_an_unreadable_restart_count_is_never_called_stable(tmp_path):
+    """With no restart count a crash loop looks healthy between attempts."""
+    code, result, host, head, old, new = check(tmp_path, count_readable=False)
+    assert result['status'] != 'success'
+    assert 'restart count could not be read' in result['reason']
+
+
+def test_nothing_pending_does_nothing(tmp_path):
+    repo, _, _ = updated_repo(tmp_path)
+    host = FakeHost(repo, None)
+    assert host.verifier().verify() == 0
+    assert host.restarts == []
+
+
+def test_a_crash_is_recorded_not_left_as_running(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    repo, old, new = updated_repo(tmp_path)
+    av.write_pending(av.pending_path(repo), {'status': 'pending', 'old_head': old, 'new_head': new})
+
+    def boom(self):
+        raise RuntimeError('boom')
+    monkeypatch.setattr(av.Verifier, 'verify', boom)
+    assert av.main(['auto_update_verify.py', str(repo)]) == 1
+    result = av.read_pending(av.pending_path(repo))
+    assert result['status'] == 'rollback_failed' and result['detail'] == 'boom'
+
+
+def test_units_installers_and_updater_agree():
+    """The request file, the copied verifier, the unit names and the places
+    that install them must all line up, or the health check silently never
+    starts on real devices -- and code updates stay paused."""
+    from web_interface import auto_update as au
+    from src import auto_update_setup as aus
+    from src.startup_validator import StartupValidator
+
+    service = (ROOT / 'systemd' / aus.SERVICE_UNIT).read_text(encoding='utf-8')
+    path = (ROOT / 'systemd' / aus.PATH_UNIT).read_text(encoding='utf-8')
+    request = f'__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__/{au.REQUEST_REL.as_posix()}'
+    assert f'PathExists={request}' in path
+    assert f'Unit={aus.SERVICE_UNIT}' in path
+    assert f'ExecStartPre=/bin/rm -f "{request}"' in service, "the request must be consumed or the path unit re-fires"
+    assert f'"__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__/{au.VERIFIER_COPY_REL.as_posix()}" "__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__"' in service
+    assert au.PENDING_REL.name == av.PENDING_NAME
+    assert au.PATH_UNIT == aus.PATH_UNIT and au.SETUP_RESULT_REL == aus.RESULT_REL
+
+    for installer in ('scripts/install/install_web_service.sh', 'scripts/install/install_service.sh'):
+        text = (ROOT / installer).read_text(encoding='utf-8')
+        assert 'ledmatrix-update-verify.service ledmatrix-update-verify.path' in text, installer
+        assert 'enable --now ledmatrix-update-verify.path' in text, installer
+    for unit in aus.UNITS:
+        assert (f'systemd/{unit}', f'/etc/systemd/system/{unit}') in StartupValidator._UNITS
+
+    # Triggering takes no privilege any more; no sudoers rule should linger.
+    for sudoers in ('scripts/install/configure_web_sudo.sh', 'first_time_install.sh'):
+        assert not re.search(r'NOPASSWD:.*update-verify', (ROOT / sudoers).read_text(encoding='utf-8')), sudoers
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+"""The web preview must be the size DisplayManager actually renders at.
+
+Before src/display_geometry.py, the preview endpoints computed
+``cols * chain_length`` by ``rows * parallel`` themselves, ignored
+``display.double_sided`` (so a double-sided panel previewed two screens side
+by side), and the ``chain_length`` fallback was 2 in DisplayManager but 1 in
+the Starlark magnify default and the sync handshake.
+"""
+
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+from flask import Flask
+
+from src.display_geometry import (
+    DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH, DEFAULT_COLS, DEFAULT_PARALLEL, DEFAULT_ROWS,
+    logical_size, physical_size,
+)
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+
+
+def _config(hardware=None, double_sided=None):
+    display = {'hardware': hardware or {}}
+    if double_sided is not None:
+        display['double_sided'] = double_sided
+    return {'display': display}
+
+
+def test_defaults_match_the_config_template():
+    template = json.loads(
+        (REPO_ROOT / 'config' / 'config.template.json').read_text(encoding='utf-8'))
+    hw = template['display']['hardware']
+    assert (DEFAULT_ROWS, DEFAULT_COLS, DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH, DEFAULT_PARALLEL) == (
+        hw['rows'], hw['cols'], hw['chain_length'], hw['parallel'])
+
+
+def test_missing_hardware_uses_the_template_defaults():
+    assert physical_size({}) == (128, 32)
+    assert logical_size({}) == (128, 32)
+
+
+def test_parallel_multiplies_height():
+    cfg = _config({'rows': 32, 'cols': 64, 'chain_length': 2, 'parallel': 2})
+    assert physical_size(cfg) == (128, 64)
+
+
+def test_double_sided_horizontal_previews_one_screen():
+    cfg = _config({'rows': 32, 'cols': 64, 'chain_length': 4, 'parallel': 1},
+                  {'enabled': True, 'copies': 2, 'axis': 'horizontal'})
+    assert physical_size(cfg) == (256, 32)
+    assert logical_size(cfg) == (128, 32)
+
+
+def test_double_sided_vertical_splits_parallel():
+    cfg = _config({'rows': 32, 'cols': 64, 'chain_length': 2, 'parallel': 2},
+                  {'enabled': True, 'copies': 2, 'axis': 'vertical'})
+    assert logical_size(cfg) == (128, 32)
+
+
+def test_double_sided_that_does_not_divide_falls_back_to_physical():
+    cfg = _config({'rows': 32, 'cols': 64, 'chain_length': 2, 'parallel': 1},
+                  {'enabled': True, 'copies': 3, 'axis': 'horizontal'})
+    assert logical_size(cfg) == (128, 32)
+
+
+def test_disabled_double_sided_is_ignored():
+    cfg = _config({'chain_length': 4}, {'enabled': False, 'copies': 2})
+    assert logical_size(cfg) == (256, 32)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('display', ['oops', ['a'], 1, {'hardware': 'oops'},
+                                     {'hardware': ['a']}])
+def test_non_mapping_display_config_uses_the_defaults(display):
+    assert physical_size({'display': display}) == (128, 32)
+    assert logical_size({'display': display}) == (128, 32)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('key', ['rows', 'cols', 'chain_length', 'parallel'])
+def test_infinite_hardware_value_raises_value_error(key):
+    # json.loads accepts Infinity; int(inf) raises OverflowError, which the
+    # Starlark magnify default and the preview stream did not catch (HTTP 500).
+    cfg = _config({key: json.loads('Infinity')})
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        physical_size(cfg)
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        logical_size(cfg)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def display_client(monkeypatch):
+    from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import api_v3
+    config_manager = MagicMock()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(api_v3, 'config_manager', config_manager, raising=False)
+    app = Flask(__name__)
+    app.config['TESTING'] = True
+    app.register_blueprint(api_v3, url_prefix='/api/v3')
+    with app.test_client() as client:
+        yield client, config_manager
+
+
+def test_display_current_reports_the_logical_size(display_client):
+    client, config_manager = display_client
+    config_manager.load_config.return_value = _config(
+        {'rows': 32, 'cols': 64, 'chain_length': 4, 'parallel': 2},
+        {'enabled': True, 'copies': 2, 'axis': 'horizontal'})
+
+    data = client.get('/api/v3/display/current').get_json()['data']
+
+    assert (data['width'], data['height']) == (128, 64)
+
+
+def test_display_current_defaults_chain_length_like_display_manager(display_client):
+    client, config_manager = display_client
+    config_manager.load_config.return_value = _config({'rows': 32, 'cols': 64})
+
+    data = client.get('/api/v3/display/current').get_json()['data']
+
+    assert (data['width'], data['height']) == (64 * DEFAULT_CHAIN_LENGTH, 32)
+
+
+def test_display_current_falls_back_to_the_shared_default(display_client):
+    client, config_manager = display_client
+    config_manager.load_config.side_effect = ValueError('unreadable')
+
+    data = client.get('/api/v3/display/current').get_json()['data']
+
+    assert (data['width'], data['height']) == logical_size({}) == (128, 32)
+
+
+def test_preview_callers_do_not_rederive_the_size():
+    """Every preview/size caller goes through display_geometry, so none of
+    them can drift back to a private chain_length default."""
+    for rel in ('web_interface/app.py',
+                'web_interface/blueprints/api_v3/display.py',
+                'web_interface/blueprints/api_v3/__init__.py',
+                'src/common/sync_manager.py',
+                'src/display_manager.py'):
+        source = (REPO_ROOT / rel).read_text(encoding='utf-8')
+        assert "get('chain_length', 1)" not in source, rel
+        assert 'get("chain_length", 1)' not in source, rel
+        assert 'cols * chain_length' not in source, rel
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ from PIL import ImageFont

 from src.element_style import (
    alias_keys,
+    element_color,
    ElementStyleResolver,
    _load_font_sized,
    native_bdf_size,
@@ -306,6 +307,18 @@ class TestUserOverrides:
        assert not style.user_forced
        assert style.color == (255, 0, 0)

+    def test_color_override_clamps_out_of_range_components(self, style_schema_path):
+        """The resolver path normalizes colour separately from element_color
+        (see src/element_style.py's _resolve) -- a rejection there reads as
+        "not configured" and the element would silently get the default
+        colour back instead of the clamped one the user asked for."""
+        config = {"customization": {"title_text": {"text_color": [999, -5, 20]}}}
+        style = _resolver(config, style_schema_path).style(
+            "title_text", classic_font="PressStart2P-Regular.ttf",
+            classic_size=8, classic_color=(255, 255, 255))
+        assert style.user_forced_color
+        assert style.color == (255, 0, 20)
+
    def test_offsets(self, style_schema_path):
        config = {"customization": {"layout": {
            "title_text": {"x_offset": 4, "y_offset": -2}}}}
@@ -1270,3 +1283,49 @@ class TestAdoptedModes:
        font = self._live()["score_text"]["properties"]["font"]
        assert font["x-options"]["maxFixedSize"] == 16
        assert "null" in font["type"]
+
+
+class TestElementColorClamps:
+    """An out-of-range component is clamped, not thrown away.
+
+    #569 fixed this in _normalize_color and #572 covered the resolver path,
+    whose own test notes that "the resolver path normalizes colour separately
+    from element_color". This covers the other one: the stateless element_color()
+    that src.common.sports_card delegates to, which is the path all nine
+    scoreboard plugins take for every per-element colour they draw.
+
+    It regressed once already. element_color() moved here with the per-element
+    customization framework, the coercion rejected out-of-range components where
+    the reader it replaced clamped them, and rejection reads as "not configured"
+    -- so a single component over 255 painted the element white while the user's
+    chosen colour sat in their config. Every scoreboard's
+    test_element_text_colors.py failed on it.
+    """
+
+    CFG = {"customization": {
+        "rank_text": {"text_color": [999, -5, 20]},
+        "score_text": {"text_color": "#FF0000"},
+        "period_text": {"text_color": [0, 255, 255]},
+        "team_name": {"text_color": "nonsense"},
+    }}
+
+    def test_out_of_range_components_are_clamped(self):
+        assert element_color(self.CFG, "rank_text") == (255, 0, 20)
+
+    def test_in_range_values_are_unchanged(self):
+        assert element_color(self.CFG, "period_text") == (0, 255, 255)
+
+    def test_hex_still_parses(self):
+        assert element_color(self.CFG, "score_text") == (255, 0, 0)
+
+    def test_an_unparseable_value_still_falls_back(self):
+        assert element_color(self.CFG, "team_name") == (255, 255, 255)
+
+    def test_a_missing_element_still_falls_back(self):
+        assert element_color(self.CFG, "detail_text") == (255, 255, 255)
+
+    def test_it_agrees_with_coerce_rgb(self):
+        from src.common.sports_card import coerce_rgb
+        for value in ([999, -5, 20], [300, 300, 300], [-1, -1, -1], [0, 128, 255]):
+            cfg = {"customization": {"rank_text": {"text_color": value}}}
+            assert element_color(cfg, "rank_text") == coerce_rgb(value, (0, 0, 0)), value
@@ -0,0 +1,238 @@
+"""
+Tests for the rpi-rgb-led-matrix checkout helpers in first_time_install.sh, and
+for the contract between scripts/install/one-shot-install.sh and that script.
+
+Background: the submodule was pinned to a commit whose RP1 backend emits the
+ARMv7-only `dmb ishst` instruction, so the build failed on every ARMv6 board
+(Pi Zero / Zero W / Pi 1). Bumping the pin fixes fresh installs, but `git pull`
+never moves an existing submodule checkout, and earlier installers ran the
+submodule git commands as root, leaving .git/modules/<submodule> root-owned and
+the user locked out of their own checkout.
+
+These cover everything that runs without root. The ownership-repair path
+(root, a second user, chown) mutates the system, so -- as with the swap helpers
+in test_install_lowmem.py -- it is exercised manually instead.
+"""
+
+import os
+import re
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+INSTALLER = ROOT / "first_time_install.sh"
+ONE_SHOT = ROOT / "scripts" / "install" / "one-shot-install.sh"
+
+BEGIN = "# --- rpi-rgb-led-matrix checkout helpers"
+END = "# --- end rpi-rgb-led-matrix checkout helpers"
+SUB = "rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master"
+
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(
+    not sys.platform.startswith("linux"), reason="exercises the installer's bash under Linux"
+)
+
+
+def helper_block() -> str:
+    text = INSTALLER.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    assert text.count(BEGIN) == 1 and text.count(END) == 1, "helper block markers missing or duplicated"
+    return text[text.index(BEGIN): text.index(END)]
+
+
+def git(*args: str, cwd: Path, env: dict) -> str:
+    result = subprocess.run(["git", *args], cwd=cwd, env=env, capture_output=True, text=True)
+    assert result.returncode == 0, f"git {' '.join(args)} failed: {result.stderr}"
+    return result.stdout.strip()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def git_env(tmp_path):
+    config = tmp_path / "gitconfig"
+    config.write_text(
+        "[user]\n\tname = t\n\temail = t@t\n"
+        "[protocol \"file\"]\n\tallow = always\n"
+        "[init]\n\tdefaultBranch = master\n"
+        "[advice]\n\tdetachedHead = false\n",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    return {
+        "PATH": "/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin",
+        "HOME": str(tmp_path),
+        "GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL": str(config),
+        "GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM": "1",
+    }
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def upstream(tmp_path, git_env):
+    """A stand-in for hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix with commits A -> B -> C."""
+    up = tmp_path / "upstream"
+    up.mkdir()
+    git("init", "-q", ".", cwd=up, env=git_env)
+    commits = {}
+    for name, filename in (("A", "Makefile"), ("B", "b"), ("C", "c")):
+        (up / filename).write_text(name, encoding="utf-8")
+        git("add", ".", cwd=up, env=git_env)
+        git("commit", "-qm", name, cwd=up, env=git_env)
+        commits[name] = git("rev-parse", "HEAD", cwd=up, env=git_env)
+    return up, commits
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def make_project(tmp_path, git_env, upstream):
+    """make_project(checkout) -> project pinned at B, submodule checked out at `checkout`."""
+    up, commits = upstream
+
+    def _make(checkout: str) -> Path:
+        project = tmp_path / f"project-{checkout}"
+        project.mkdir()
+        git("init", "-q", ".", cwd=project, env=git_env)
+        git("submodule", "add", "-q", str(up), SUB, cwd=project, env=git_env)
+        git("checkout", "-q", commits["B"], cwd=project / SUB, env=git_env)
+        git("add", SUB, cwd=project, env=git_env)
+        git("commit", "-qm", "pin", cwd=project, env=git_env)
+        git("checkout", "-q", commits[checkout], cwd=project / SUB, env=git_env)
+        return project
+
+    return _make
+
+
+def run_helpers(snippet: str, project: Path, env: dict) -> subprocess.CompletedProcess:
+    """Run a snippet against the helpers under the installer's own strict mode."""
+    script = (
+        "set -Eeuo pipefail\n"
+        "trap 'echo ERR_TRAP_FIRED >&2; exit 99' ERR\n"
+        f"{helper_block()}\n"
+        f'PROJECT_ROOT_DIR="{project}"\n'
+        f"{snippet}\n"
+    )
+    return subprocess.run(["bash", "-c", script], capture_output=True, text=True, env=env)
+
+
+def head_of(project: Path, env: dict) -> str:
+    return git("rev-parse", "HEAD", cwd=project / SUB, env=env)
+
+
+class TestInstallerStructure:
+    def test_installer_is_syntactically_valid(self):
+        result = subprocess.run(["bash", "-n", str(INSTALLER)], capture_output=True, text=True)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+
+    def test_helper_block_defines_the_helpers(self):
+        block = helper_block()
+        for name in ("_rgb_repo_owner", "_git_as_repo_owner", "_reclaim_rgb_checkout", "_sync_rgb_submodule"):
+            assert re.search(rf"^{name}\(\) \{{", block, re.M), f"{name} is not defined in the helper block"
+
+    def test_every_called_underscore_function_is_defined_before_use(self):
+        # A renamed helper with a stale call site aborts the installer with
+        # "command not found" under set -e -- the users this protects are the
+        # ones least able to recover from that.
+        lines = INSTALLER.read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines()
+        defined_at = {}
+        for number, line in enumerate(lines, 1):
+            match = re.match(r"\s*(_[A-Za-z0-9_]+)\(\) \{", line)
+            if match:
+                defined_at.setdefault(match.group(1), number)
+        # A name in command position; `_name=value` is an assignment and
+        # `_name() {` a definition, so neither counts as a call.
+        call = re.compile(r"(?:^\s*|\bretry\s+|\bif\s+!?\s*|&&\s*|\|\|\s*|\$\()(_[A-Za-z0-9_]+)\b(?!\(\)|=|\[)")
+        for number, line in enumerate(lines, 1):
+            if line.lstrip().startswith("#"):
+                continue
+            for name in call.findall(line):
+                if name.startswith("_") and not re.match(r"_[A-Z0-9_]+$", name):  # skip $_VARS
+                    assert name in defined_at, f"line {number} calls undefined function {name}"
+                    # Functions defined inside another function body run later;
+                    # top-level calls must come after the definition.
+                    if not line.startswith((" ", "\t")):
+                        assert defined_at[name] < number, f"line {number} calls {name} before it is defined"
+
+
+class TestSyncSubmodule:
+    def test_checkout_behind_the_pin_is_moved_forward(self, make_project, upstream, git_env):
+        project = make_project("A")
+        result = run_helpers("_reclaim_rgb_checkout; _sync_rgb_submodule", project, git_env)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert head_of(project, git_env) == upstream[1]["B"]
+
+    def test_checkout_newer_than_the_pin_is_left_alone(self, make_project, upstream, git_env):
+        # What `git submodule update --remote` -- advice the installer itself
+        # prints for Pi 5 -- leaves behind. Must never be rolled back.
+        project = make_project("C")
+        result = run_helpers("_sync_rgb_submodule", project, git_env)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert head_of(project, git_env) == upstream[1]["C"]
+        assert "leaving it as is" in result.stdout
+
+    def test_checkout_at_the_pin_is_a_silent_no_op(self, make_project, upstream, git_env):
+        project = make_project("B")
+        result = run_helpers("_sync_rgb_submodule", project, git_env)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert result.stdout == ""
+        assert head_of(project, git_env) == upstream[1]["B"]
+
+    def test_unreachable_pin_warns_and_keeps_the_checkout(self, make_project, upstream, git_env):
+        project = make_project("A")
+        ghost = "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234567"
+        git("update-index", "--cacheinfo", f"160000,{ghost},{SUB}", cwd=project, env=git_env)
+        git("commit", "-qm", "ghost pin", cwd=project, env=git_env)
+        result = run_helpers("_sync_rgb_submodule", project, git_env)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert "ERR_TRAP_FIRED" not in result.stderr
+        assert "Could not update" in result.stdout
+        assert head_of(project, git_env) == upstream[1]["A"]
+
+    def test_local_files_blocking_the_checkout_are_not_clobbered(self, make_project, git_env):
+        project = make_project("A")
+        (project / SUB / "b").write_text("mine", encoding="utf-8")  # B adds a tracked `b`
+        result = run_helpers("_sync_rgb_submodule", project, git_env)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert (project / SUB / "b").read_text(encoding="utf-8") == "mine"
+
+    def test_directory_without_git_metadata_is_a_no_op(self, make_project, git_env):
+        project = make_project("A")
+        subprocess.run(["rm", "-rf", str(project / SUB / ".git"), str(project / ".git" / "modules")], check=True)
+        result = run_helpers("_sync_rgb_submodule", project, git_env)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert result.stdout == ""
+
+    def test_project_without_the_submodule_configured_is_a_no_op(self, tmp_path, git_env):
+        project = tmp_path / "plain"
+        (project / SUB).mkdir(parents=True)
+        result = run_helpers("_sync_rgb_submodule", project, git_env)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert result.stdout == ""
+
+
+class TestOwnershipHelpersWithoutRoot:
+    @pytest.mark.skipif(hasattr(os, "geteuid") and os.geteuid() == 0, reason="covers the non-root path")
+    def test_reclaim_is_a_no_op_and_git_runs_directly(self, make_project, git_env):
+        project = make_project("B")
+        result = run_helpers("_reclaim_rgb_checkout; _git_as_repo_owner --version", project, git_env)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert result.stdout.startswith("git version")
+
+
+class TestOneShotContract:
+    """one-shot-install.sh clones the repo and hands off to first_time_install.sh."""
+
+    def test_one_shot_invokes_the_installer_at_the_repo_root(self):
+        one_shot = ONE_SHOT.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        assert "first_time_install.sh -y" in one_shot
+        assert INSTALLER.is_file()
+
+    def test_installer_accepts_everything_the_one_shot_passes(self):
+        one_shot = ONE_SHOT.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        installer = INSTALLER.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        assert re.search(r"^\s*-y\|--yes\)", installer, re.M), "installer no longer parses -y"
+        for var in sorted(set(re.findall(r"\b(LEDMATRIX_[A-Z_]+)=", one_shot))):
+            assert var in installer, f"one-shot passes {var}, which first_time_install.sh never reads"
+
+    def test_installer_initialises_the_submodule_itself(self):
+        # The one-shot clones without --recurse-submodules, so the installer is
+        # the only thing that ever fetches the matrix library.
+        assert "--recurse-submodules" not in ONE_SHOT.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        installer = INSTALLER.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        assert re.search(rf"submodule update --init --recursive {SUB}", installer)
@@ -387,9 +387,81 @@ class TestFrameStatsPercentiles:

    def test_log_frame_rate_emits_the_line_and_clears_the_window(self, helper):
        helper._window = [0.010] * 20
+        helper.last_frame_time = time.time()  # arm the clock; see below
        helper.last_fps_log_time = 0.0  # force the 5s boundary
        with patch.object(helper.logger, "info") as info:
            helper.log_frame_rate()
        assert info.called
        assert "Scroll frame stats" in info.call_args[0][0]
        assert helper._window == []
+
+
+class TestIdleGapIsNotAFrame:
+    """The first frame of a scroll has no predecessor, so timing one measures
+    the idle gap since the last scroll rather than a frame.
+
+    Left in, that gap lands in the max field of otherwise healthy windows and
+    counts as one stall per scroll start -- about 0.2% at 500 frames to a
+    window, which is the same order as the real stall rates it sits next to.
+    The stall rate is the number used to judge whether a scroll change worked,
+    so it has to be clean.
+    """
+
+    def test_clock_starts_unarmed(self, helper):
+        assert helper.last_frame_time is None
+
+    def test_first_frame_seeds_the_clock_without_sampling(self, helper):
+        helper.log_frame_rate()
+        assert helper.last_frame_time is not None
+        assert helper._window == []
+        assert helper.frame_times == []
+
+    def test_second_frame_is_sampled(self, helper):
+        helper.log_frame_rate()
+        helper.log_frame_rate()
+        assert len(helper._window) == 1
+
+    def test_reset_scroll_disarms_the_clock(self, helper):
+        helper.log_frame_rate()
+        assert helper.last_frame_time is not None
+        helper.reset_scroll()
+        assert helper.last_frame_time is None
+
+    def test_gap_longer_than_the_log_interval_is_dropped(self, helper):
+        """Covers callers that scroll without ever calling reset_scroll()."""
+        helper.last_frame_time = time.time() - 137.0  # a real observed gap
+        helper.log_frame_rate()
+        assert helper._window == []
+        assert helper.frame_times == []
+
+    def test_a_gap_does_not_reach_the_stats_line(self, helper):
+        helper.last_frame_time = time.time() - 137.0
+        helper.last_fps_log_time = 0.0  # the 5s boundary is also due
+        with patch.object(helper.logger, "info") as info:
+            helper.log_frame_rate()
+        assert not info.called, "the idle gap was reported as a frame"
+
+    def test_window_of_only_gaps_logs_nothing(self, helper):
+        """A window whose every sample was dropped has nothing to report --
+        and reporting the gap itself is the bug this guards."""
+        helper.last_fps_log_time = 0.0
+        with patch.object(helper.logger, "info") as info:
+            helper.log_frame_rate()   # seeds
+            helper.last_frame_time = time.time() - 137.0
+            helper.log_frame_rate()   # dropped
+        assert not info.called
+
+    def test_seeding_restarts_the_window_timer(self, helper):
+        """A new scroll should not open by reporting a one-frame window."""
+        helper.last_fps_log_time = 0.0  # boundary long overdue
+        helper.log_frame_rate()         # seeds
+        with patch.object(helper.logger, "info") as info:
+            helper.log_frame_rate()     # first real frame
+        assert not info.called
+        assert len(helper._window) == 1
+
+    def test_a_normal_frame_still_counts(self, helper):
+        helper.last_frame_time = time.time() - 0.010
+        helper.log_frame_rate()
+        assert len(helper._window) == 1
+        assert helper._window[0] == pytest.approx(0.010, abs=0.005)
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+"""The two installers that write /etc/sudoers.d/ledmatrix_web must agree.
+
+first_time_install.sh (Step 10, a heredoc) and scripts/install/configure_web_sudo.sh
+(a block of echo lines) each generate the web user's sudo allow-list. They
+drifted: configure_web_sudo.sh granted scripts/fix_perms/safe_pip_install.sh
+but first_time_install.sh did not, so on a device set up only by the first-time
+installer permission_utils.install_requirements_file could not use the root
+wrapper and fell back to a user-level install that root-run ledmatrix.service
+may not see (and the auto-update rollback reported its reinstall as failed).
+
+This compares the granted command sets after normalising the spellings that
+differ between the files but expand identically at install time:
+$WEB_USER/$ACTUAL_USER, $PROJECT_ROOT/$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR, and the helper-path
+variables configure_web_sudo.sh defines ($SAFE_RM_PATH, ...).
+
+It also checks that every fix_perms helper granted via sudo is hardened to
+root:root in both scripts -- and, in first_time_install.sh, after Step 11's
+project-wide chown to the user, which would otherwise undo it.
+"""
+import re
+from pathlib import Path
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+FIRST_TIME = ROOT / "first_time_install.sh"
+CONFIGURE = ROOT / "scripts" / "install" / "configure_web_sudo.sh"
+
+#: Grants that intentionally exist in only one installer, as normalised
+#: commands. There are none today; add one here with a reason rather than
+#: loosening the comparison.
+ONLY_IN_FIRST_TIME = frozenset()
+ONLY_IN_CONFIGURE = frozenset()
+
+
+def _text(path):
+    return path.read_text(encoding="utf-8", errors="replace")
+
+
+def _web_sudoers_section(path):
+    """The part of the script that writes the ledmatrix_web allow-list.
+
+    first_time_install.sh also writes other files later (WiFi permissions are
+    delegated to a separate script, but keep this robust against future
+    additions), so restrict it to Step 10.
+    """
+    text = _text(path)
+    if path == FIRST_TIME:
+        start = text.index('CURRENT_STEP="Configure passwordless sudo access"')
+        end = text.index('CURRENT_STEP="Configure WiFi management permissions"')
+        return text[start:end]
+    return text
+
+
+def _variables(text):
+    """Simple NAME="..." assignments, so $SAFE_RM_PATH can be expanded."""
+    return {m.group(1): m.group(2)
+            for m in re.finditer(r'^\s*([A-Z_]+)="([^"$]*\$[^"]*)"\s*$', text, re.M)}
+
+
+def _normalise(command, variables):
+    for _ in range(3):  # helper paths reference $PROJECT_ROOT
+        command = re.sub(r"\$\{?([A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*)\}?",
+                         lambda m: variables.get(m.group(1), m.group(0)), command)
+    command = command.replace("$PROJECT_ROOT_DIR", "$PROJECT_ROOT")
+    return " ".join(command.split())
+
+
+def _grants(path):
+    """{(tags, command)} for every ledmatrix_web rule the script writes."""
+    section = _web_sudoers_section(path)
+    variables = _variables(_text(path))
+    grants = set()
+    for line in section.splitlines():
+        m = re.search(r'\$(?:WEB_USER|ACTUAL_USER) ALL=\(ALL\) (NOPASSWD:(?:NOEXEC:)?)\s*(.*)$',
+                      line)
+        if not m:
+            continue
+        command = m.group(2).rstrip().rstrip('"').rstrip()
+        grants.add((m.group(1), _normalise(command, variables)))
+    return grants
+
+
+def test_both_installers_generate_rules():
+    # Guards against the parser silently matching nothing in either file.
+    assert len(_grants(FIRST_TIME)) >= 15
+    assert len(_grants(CONFIGURE)) >= 15
+
+
+def test_installers_grant_the_same_commands():
+    first = _grants(FIRST_TIME)
+    configure = _grants(CONFIGURE)
+    only_first = {c for c in first - configure if c[1] not in ONLY_IN_FIRST_TIME}
+    only_configure = {c for c in configure - first if c[1] not in ONLY_IN_CONFIGURE}
+    assert not only_first and not only_configure, (
+        "ledmatrix_web sudoers drift between installers:\n"
+        f"  only in first_time_install.sh: {sorted(only_first)}\n"
+        f"  only in configure_web_sudo.sh: {sorted(only_configure)}")
+
+
+def test_pip_install_helper_is_granted():
+    wanted = ("NOPASSWD:", "$BASH_PATH $PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/fix_perms/safe_pip_install.sh *")
+    assert wanted in _grants(FIRST_TIME)
+    assert wanted in _grants(CONFIGURE)
+
+
+def _granted_helpers():
+    helpers = set()
+    for _, command in _grants(FIRST_TIME) | _grants(CONFIGURE):
+        m = re.search(r"scripts/fix_perms/([\w.-]+\.sh)", command)
+        if m:
+            helpers.add(m.group(1))
+    return helpers
+
+
+def test_every_granted_helper_is_hardened_in_configure_web_sudo():
+    text = _text(CONFIGURE)
+    variables = _variables(text)
+    hardened = {Path(_normalise(m.group(2), variables)).name
+                for m in re.finditer(r"sudo (chown root:root|chmod 755) \"?([^\"\s]+)", text)
+                if m.group(1).startswith("chown")}
+    assert _granted_helpers() <= hardened, _granted_helpers() - hardened
+
+
+def test_every_granted_helper_is_hardened_in_first_time_install_after_chown():
+    text = _text(FIRST_TIME)
+    project_chown = text.index('-exec chown -h "$ACTUAL_USER:$ACTUAL_USER"')
+    loop = re.search(r"for helper in ([^;]+); do\n(.*?)\ndone", text, re.S)
+    assert loop, "no helper-hardening loop in first_time_install.sh"
+    assert "chown root:root" in loop.group(2) and "chmod 755" in loop.group(2)
+    assert loop.start() > project_chown, (
+        "helper hardening runs before Step 11's project-wide chown, which undoes it")
+    assert _granted_helpers() <= set(loop.group(1).split())
@@ -40,6 +40,57 @@ def _wire(wm, connected, ethernet, ap_active):
    wm._save_cached_scan = MagicMock()
    wm._FORCE_AP_FLAG_PATH = MagicMock()
    wm._FORCE_AP_FLAG_PATH.exists.return_value = False
+    wm._connect_in_progress = MagicMock(return_value=False)
+
+
+class TestConnectInProgressHoldsOffTheDaemon:
+    """Connecting from the setup AP takes the AP down before joining. The
+    daemon had already counted the whole AP session as "disconnected", so its
+    next tick re-enabled the AP in the middle of the connect."""
+
+    def test_no_ap_enable_while_a_connect_is_running(self, wm):
+        _wire(wm, connected=False, ethernet=False, ap_active=False)
+        wm._connect_in_progress.return_value = True
+        wm._disconnected_checks = 10  # accumulated while the AP was up
+        changed, *_ = wm.check_and_manage_ap_mode_with_state()
+        assert changed is False
+        wm.enable_ap_mode.assert_not_called()
+        assert wm._disconnected_checks == 0
+
+    def test_grace_period_restarts_after_the_connect(self, wm):
+        _wire(wm, connected=False, ethernet=False, ap_active=False)
+        wm._connect_in_progress.return_value = True
+        wm._disconnected_checks = 10
+        wm.check_and_manage_ap_mode_with_state()
+        wm._connect_in_progress.return_value = False
+        wm.check_and_manage_ap_mode_with_state()
+        wm.enable_ap_mode.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_flag_is_held_for_the_connect_and_removed_after(self, wm, tmp_path):
+        flag = tmp_path / "connecting"
+        wm._CONNECT_IN_PROGRESS_FLAG_PATH = flag
+        seen = []
+        wm._connect_validated = lambda ssid, pw: seen.append(flag.exists()) or (True, "ok")
+        assert wm.connect_to_network("HomeNet", "hunter22") == (True, "ok")
+        assert seen == [True]
+        assert not flag.exists()
+
+    def test_flag_is_removed_when_the_connect_raises(self, wm, tmp_path):
+        flag = tmp_path / "connecting"
+        wm._CONNECT_IN_PROGRESS_FLAG_PATH = flag
+        wm._connect_validated = MagicMock(side_effect=RuntimeError("nmcli gone"))
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError):
+            wm.connect_to_network("HomeNet", "hunter22")
+        assert not flag.exists()
+
+    def test_a_stale_flag_from_a_dead_process_is_ignored(self, wm, tmp_path):
+        flag = tmp_path / "connecting"
+        flag.touch()
+        wm._CONNECT_IN_PROGRESS_FLAG_PATH = flag
+        assert WiFiManager._connect_in_progress(wm) is True
+        old = flag.stat().st_mtime - WiFiManager._CONNECT_FLAG_MAX_AGE_SECONDS - 1
+        os.utime(flag, (old, old))
+        assert WiFiManager._connect_in_progress(wm) is False


 class TestWithState:
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ class TestConnectEndpointSurfacesTheRefusal:
    def wifi_manager(self):
        with patch("src.wifi_manager.WiFiManager") as cls:
            instance = MagicMock()
+            instance._is_ap_mode_active.return_value = False
            cls.return_value = instance
            yield instance

@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+"""An array of objects with no ``x-widget`` must survive a save of its own form.
+
+Geochron's ``cities`` is a list of ``{name, lat, lon, timezone}`` objects and
+names no widget. The template sent that to the comma-separated text input,
+which renders each city as a Python dict repr joined by commas. Saving the
+untouched form posted those back as a list of strings, the schema rejected
+them, and *every* save of the plugin failed with 400 "Configuration
+validation failed" -- no setting on the page could be changed.
+
+So the test renders the real form, submits what a browser would, and requires
+the save to succeed with the cities intact.
+"""
+
+import json
+import sys
+from html.parser import HTMLParser
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+from flask import Flask
+from werkzeug.datastructures import MultiDict
+
+PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent
+sys.path.insert(0, str(PROJECT_ROOT))
+
+CITIES = [
+    {"name": "New York", "lat": 40.71, "lon": -74.01, "timezone": "America/New_York"},
+    {"name": "Tokyo", "lat": 35.68, "lon": 139.65, "timezone": "Asia/Tokyo"},
+]
+
+SCHEMA = {
+    "type": "object",
+    "properties": {
+        "enabled": {"type": "boolean", "default": False},
+        "timezone": {"type": ["string", "null"], "default": None},
+        "show_cities": {"type": "boolean", "default": True},
+        "cities": {
+            "type": "array",
+            "maxItems": 8,
+            "items": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                    "name": {"type": "string", "maxLength": 20},
+                    "lat": {"type": "number", "minimum": -90, "maximum": 90},
+                    "lon": {"type": "number", "minimum": -180, "maximum": 180},
+                    "timezone": {"type": "string"},
+                },
+                "required": ["name", "lat", "lon"],
+                "additionalProperties": False,
+            },
+            "default": CITIES,
+        },
+    },
+    "required": ["enabled"],
+    "additionalProperties": False,
+}
+
+STORED = {"enabled": True, "timezone": None, "show_cities": True,
+          "cities": CITIES}
+
+
+class _FormFields(HTMLParser):
+    """Collect what a browser would submit from the rendered form."""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super().__init__()
+        self.pairs = []
+        self._select = None
+        self._select_first = None
+        self._select_chosen = None
+
+    def handle_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
+        a = dict(attrs)
+        name = a.get("name")
+        if tag == "input" and name and "disabled" not in a:
+            if a.get("type") in ("checkbox", "radio") and "checked" not in a:
+                return
+            if a.get("type") in ("button", "submit", "file"):
+                return
+            self.pairs.append((name, a.get("value", "")))
+        elif tag == "select" and name:
+            self._select, self._select_first, self._select_chosen = name, None, None
+        elif tag == "option" and self._select:
+            if self._select_first is None:
+                self._select_first = a.get("value", "")
+            if "selected" in a:
+                self._select_chosen = a.get("value", "")
+
+    def handle_endtag(self, tag):
+        if tag == "select" and self._select:
+            chosen = self._select_chosen if self._select_chosen is not None else self._select_first
+            self.pairs.append((self._select, chosen or ""))
+            self._select = None
+
+
+def _render_form():
+    from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader, select_autoescape
+
+    env = Environment(
+        loader=FileSystemLoader(str(PROJECT_ROOT / "web_interface" / "templates")),
+        autoescape=select_autoescape(["html"]),
+    )
+    plugin = {"id": "demo", "name": "Demo", "description": "", "enabled": True,
+              "author": "me", "version": "1.0.0"}
+    return env.get_template("v3/partials/plugin_config.html").render(
+        plugin=plugin, schema=SCHEMA, config=json.loads(json.dumps(STORED)))
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def post(tmp_path):
+    from src.plugin_system.schema_manager import SchemaManager
+    from web_interface.blueprints import api_v3 as a
+
+    originals = {k: getattr(a.api_v3, k, None)
+                 for k in ("config_manager", "schema_manager", "plugin_manager")}
+
+    pdir = tmp_path / "plugins" / "demo"
+    pdir.mkdir(parents=True)
+    (pdir / "config_schema.json").write_text(json.dumps(SCHEMA), encoding="utf-8")
+
+    store = {"demo": json.loads(json.dumps(STORED))}
+    cm = MagicMock()
+    cm.load_config.side_effect = lambda: json.loads(json.dumps(store))
+    cm.get_raw_file_content.return_value = {}
+    cm.get_config_path.return_value = str(tmp_path / "config.json")
+
+    def _save(cfg, **_kw):
+        store.clear()
+        store.update(cfg)
+        return type("R", (), {"status": type("S", (), {"value": "success"})(),
+                              "message": None})()
+
+    cm.save_config_atomic.side_effect = _save
+
+    a.api_v3.config_manager = cm
+    a.api_v3.schema_manager = SchemaManager(plugins_dir=tmp_path / "plugins",
+                                            project_root=tmp_path)
+    pm = MagicMock()
+    pm.plugins = {}
+    pm.get_plugin.return_value = None
+    a.api_v3.plugin_manager = pm
+
+    app = Flask(__name__)
+    app.config["TESTING"] = True
+    app.register_blueprint(a.api_v3, url_prefix="/api/v3")
+    client = app.test_client()
+
+    def _post(pairs):
+        resp = client.post("/api/v3/plugins/config?plugin_id=demo",
+                           data=MultiDict(pairs))
+        return resp, store.get("demo", {})
+
+    try:
+        yield _post
+    finally:
+        for k, v in originals.items():
+            setattr(a.api_v3, k, v)
+
+
+def test_the_form_does_not_flatten_objects_into_text():
+    html = _render_form()
+    assert "{&#39;name&#39;" not in html and "{'name'" not in html, (
+        "cities rendered as a dict repr in a comma-separated text box")
+
+
+def test_saving_the_untouched_form_succeeds(post):
+    parser = _FormFields()
+    parser.feed(_render_form())
+    resp, cfg = post(parser.pairs)
+    assert resp.status_code == 200, resp.get_json()
+    assert cfg["cities"] == CITIES
+
+
+def test_an_item_without_its_optional_object_does_not_gain_an_empty_one(post):
+    """News: a custom feed with no logo. The unchecked-checkbox pass walked
+    into ``logo`` to look for booleans and left ``logo: {}`` behind, which
+    fails the logo's ``required: [id, path]`` -- 400 on every save."""
+    from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import _set_missing_booleans_to_false
+
+    props = {"feeds": {"type": "object", "properties": {"custom_feeds": {
+        "type": "array",
+        "items": {"type": "object", "properties": {
+            "name": {"type": "string"},
+            "enabled": {"type": "boolean"},
+            "logo": {"type": "object", "required": ["id", "path"],
+                     "properties": {"id": {"type": "string"},
+                                    "path": {"type": "string"}}},
+            "extra": {"type": "object",
+                      "properties": {"flag": {"type": "boolean"}}},
+        }},
+    }}}}
+    cfg = {"feeds": {"custom_feeds": [{"name": "Verge", "enabled": True}]}}
+    _set_missing_booleans_to_false(
+        cfg, props, {"feeds.custom_feeds.0.name"}, sections={"feeds"})
+
+    item = cfg["feeds"]["custom_feeds"][0]
+    assert "logo" not in item
+    # A nested object that really does hold an unchecked box still gets it.
+    assert item["extra"] == {"flag": False}
+    assert item["enabled"] is False
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+"""Stored values the current schema no longer describes must not break the form.
+
+Two cases from the news plugin:
+
+* ``global.dynamic_duration`` used to be a boolean and is now an object. An
+  install that has not saved since still holds ``true``; rendering the nested
+  section did ``key in true`` and the whole config page failed to load.
+* A custom feed logo stored with a ``path`` but no ``id``. The template always
+  emitted an empty ``logo.id`` input, which the save route parsed to ``None``
+  and the schema rejected (``Expected type string``) -- 400 on every save.
+"""
+
+import json
+import sys
+from html.parser import HTMLParser
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+from flask import Flask
+from werkzeug.datastructures import MultiDict
+
+PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent
+sys.path.insert(0, str(PROJECT_ROOT))
+
+SCHEMA = {
+    "type": "object",
+    "properties": {
+        "enabled": {"type": "boolean", "default": True},
+        "global": {"type": "object", "properties": {
+            "dynamic_duration": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                    "enabled": {"type": "boolean", "default": True},
+                    "min_duration_seconds": {"type": "integer", "default": 30,
+                                             "minimum": 10, "maximum": 300},
+                },
+                "additionalProperties": False,
+            },
+        }, "additionalProperties": False},
+        "feeds": {"type": "object", "properties": {
+            "custom_feeds": {
+                "type": "array",
+                "x-widget": "custom-feeds",
+                "items": {
+                    "type": "object",
+                    "properties": {
+                        "name": {"type": "string"},
+                        "url": {"type": "string"},
+                        "enabled": {"type": "boolean", "default": True},
+                        "logo": {"type": "object", "required": ["path"],
+                                 "properties": {"id": {"type": "string"},
+                                                "path": {"type": "string"}}},
+                    },
+                    "required": ["name", "url"],
+                    "additionalProperties": False,
+                },
+            },
+        }, "additionalProperties": False},
+    },
+    "required": ["enabled"],
+    "additionalProperties": False,
+}
+
+LOGO_PATH = "assets/plugins/news/uploads/verge.png"
+STORED = {
+    "enabled": True,
+    "global": {"dynamic_duration": True},
+    "feeds": {"custom_feeds": [{"name": "Verge",
+                                "url": "https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml",
+                                "enabled": True,
+                                "logo": {"path": LOGO_PATH}}]},
+}
+
+
+class _FormFields(HTMLParser):
+    """Collect what a browser would submit from the rendered form."""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super().__init__()
+        self.pairs = []
+
+    def handle_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
+        a = dict(attrs)
+        if tag != "input" or not a.get("name") or "disabled" in a:
+            return
+        if a.get("type") in ("checkbox", "radio") and "checked" not in a:
+            return
+        if a.get("type") in ("button", "submit", "file"):
+            return
+        self.pairs.append((a["name"], a.get("value", "")))
+
+
+def _render():
+    from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader, select_autoescape
+
+    env = Environment(
+        loader=FileSystemLoader(str(PROJECT_ROOT / "web_interface" / "templates")),
+        autoescape=select_autoescape(["html"]),
+    )
+    plugin = {"id": "demo", "name": "Demo", "description": "", "enabled": True,
+              "author": "me", "version": "1.0.0"}
+    return env.get_template("v3/partials/plugin_config.html").render(
+        plugin=plugin, schema=SCHEMA, config=json.loads(json.dumps(STORED)))
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def post(tmp_path):
+    from src.plugin_system.schema_manager import SchemaManager
+    from web_interface.blueprints import api_v3 as a
+
+    originals = {k: getattr(a.api_v3, k, None)
+                 for k in ("config_manager", "schema_manager", "plugin_manager")}
+
+    pdir = tmp_path / "plugins" / "demo"
+    pdir.mkdir(parents=True)
+    (pdir / "config_schema.json").write_text(json.dumps(SCHEMA), encoding="utf-8")
+
+    store = {"demo": json.loads(json.dumps(STORED))}
+    cm = MagicMock()
+    cm.load_config.side_effect = lambda: json.loads(json.dumps(store))
+    cm.get_raw_file_content.return_value = {}
+    cm.get_config_path.return_value = str(tmp_path / "config.json")
+
+    def _save(cfg, **_kw):
+        store.clear()
+        store.update(cfg)
+        return type("R", (), {"status": type("S", (), {"value": "success"})(),
+                              "message": None})()
+
+    cm.save_config_atomic.side_effect = _save
+
+    a.api_v3.config_manager = cm
+    a.api_v3.schema_manager = SchemaManager(plugins_dir=tmp_path / "plugins",
+                                            project_root=tmp_path)
+    pm = MagicMock()
+    pm.plugins = {}
+    pm.get_plugin.return_value = None
+    a.api_v3.plugin_manager = pm
+
+    app = Flask(__name__)
+    app.config["TESTING"] = True
+    app.register_blueprint(a.api_v3, url_prefix="/api/v3")
+    client = app.test_client()
+
+    def _post(pairs):
+        resp = client.post("/api/v3/plugins/config?plugin_id=demo",
+                           data=MultiDict(pairs))
+        return resp, store.get("demo", {})
+
+    try:
+        yield _post
+    finally:
+        for k, v in originals.items():
+            setattr(a.api_v3, k, v)
+
+
+def test_a_scalar_stored_under_an_object_field_still_renders():
+    html = _render()
+    assert 'name="global.dynamic_duration.min_duration_seconds"' in html
+
+
+def test_a_logo_without_an_id_posts_no_id_field():
+    parser = _FormFields()
+    parser.feed(_render())
+    names = [name for name, _ in parser.pairs]
+    assert "feeds.custom_feeds.0.logo.path" in names
+    assert "feeds.custom_feeds.0.logo.id" not in names
+
+
+def test_saving_that_form_succeeds_and_upgrades_the_legacy_value(post):
+    parser = _FormFields()
+    parser.feed(_render())
+    resp, cfg = post(parser.pairs)
+    assert resp.status_code == 200, resp.get_json()
+    assert isinstance(cfg["global"]["dynamic_duration"], dict)
+    # The legacy `true` was the on switch; upgrading must not turn it off.
+    assert cfg["global"]["dynamic_duration"]["enabled"] is True
+    assert cfg["global"]["dynamic_duration"]["min_duration_seconds"] == 30
+    assert cfg["feeds"]["custom_feeds"][0]["logo"] == {"path": LOGO_PATH}
@@ -748,18 +748,13 @@ def display_preview_generator():
        except OSError:
            pass  # display side treats a missing marker as "no viewer"
    
-    # Get display dimensions from config
+    # Get display dimensions from config: the logical size DisplayManager
+    # renders at, so double-sided setups preview one screen
+    from src.display_geometry import logical_size
    try:
-        main_config = config_manager.load_config()
-        cols = main_config.get('display', {}).get('hardware', {}).get('cols', 64)
-        chain_length = main_config.get('display', {}).get('hardware', {}).get('chain_length', 2)
-        rows = main_config.get('display', {}).get('hardware', {}).get('rows', 32)
-        parallel = main_config.get('display', {}).get('hardware', {}).get('parallel', 1)
-        width = cols * chain_length
-        height = rows * parallel
-    except (KeyError, TypeError, ValueError, ConfigError):
-        width = 128
-        height = 64
+        width, height = logical_size(config_manager.load_config())
+    except (KeyError, TypeError, ValueError, AttributeError, ConfigError):
+        width, height = logical_size({})
    
    while True:
        try:
@@ -1052,8 +1047,36 @@ def check_health_monitor():
            _reconciliation_started = True
            _threading.Thread(target=_run_startup_reconciliation, daemon=True).start()

+_auto_updater = None
+
+
+def start_auto_update_scheduler():
+    """Start the weekly auto-update thread (web_interface/auto_update.py).
+
+    Called by the launchers, not at import: tests and dev tools import this
+    module, and none of them should ever git pull. Idle unless
+    auto_update.enabled is set, so it is safe to always start.
+    """
+    global _auto_updater
+    if _auto_updater is not None:
+        return _auto_updater
+    from web_interface.auto_update import AutoUpdater
+    from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3.system import perform_core_update
+    _auto_updater = AutoUpdater(
+        config_manager=config_manager,
+        core_update=perform_core_update,
+        store_manager=plugin_store_manager,
+        plugin_manager=plugin_manager,
+        schema_manager=schema_manager,
+        operation_history=operation_history,
+    )
+    _auto_updater.start()
+    return _auto_updater
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
    import os as _os
+    start_auto_update_scheduler()
    # threaded=True is Flask's default since 1.0 but stated explicitly so that
    # long-lived /api/v3/stream/* SSE connections don't starve other requests.
    # Debug mode is off by default; opt in with FLASK_DEBUG=1 in the environment.
@@ -0,0 +1,700 @@
+"""Weekly automatic updates: LEDMatrix code, then installed plugins.
+
+Turned on by ``auto_update.enabled`` in config.json (General tab, or the
+installer's --enable-auto-update). Off by default: an update pulls new code and
+restarts the display, which nobody should get without asking for it.
+
+Nothing here is allowed to leave a device broken without saying so:
+
+* **Checks first.** The code update is skipped, and the reason reported, when
+  the checkout has local edits or commits, a rebase or merge is in progress,
+  the branch has no upstream, disk is low, the newest commit was already
+  rolled back once, or the health check is not set up.
+* **Verified, and rolled back.** The pull itself is the Overview "Update Code"
+  path (``perform_core_update``). Restarting and checking the result is handed
+  to ledmatrix-update-verify.service (scripts/utils/auto_update_verify.py),
+  started through ledmatrix-update-verify.path by a request file, which
+  survives the web service restart, confirms both services come up and stay
+  up, and otherwise resets to the previous commit and its dependencies.
+* **Set up without SSH.** Those units are installed by the installer, or by the
+  display service when the toggle is switched on (src/auto_update_setup.py).
+* **Plugins after the code.** Plugins use the Plugin Store's own update, which
+  refuses versions this core cannot run and restores the old copy when an
+  install fails. When the code changed they wait until it passed its check,
+  so they are never gated against code that is about to be rolled back.
+* **Loud failures.** Anything other than success is written to the state file,
+  shown under the toggle and raised as a banner on the Overview tab.
+
+The schedule survives restarts through data/auto_update_state.json (gitignored).
+"""
+import importlib.util
+import json
+import logging
+import os
+import shutil
+import subprocess  # nosec B404 - list-form argv only, no shell  # nosemgrep
+import tempfile
+import threading
+import time
+from datetime import datetime
+from pathlib import Path
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+STATE_REL = Path('data') / 'auto_update_state.json'
+PENDING_REL = Path('data') / 'auto_update_pending.json'
+REQUEST_REL = Path('data') / 'auto_update_verify.request'
+SETUP_RESULT_REL = Path('data') / 'auto_update_setup.json'
+VERIFIER_COPY_REL = Path('data') / 'auto_update_verifier.py'
+VERIFIER_SOURCE = PROJECT_ROOT / 'scripts' / 'utils' / 'auto_update_verify.py'
+STATE_FILE = PROJECT_ROOT / STATE_REL
+PENDING_FILE = PROJECT_ROOT / PENDING_REL
+SETUP_RESULT_FILE = PROJECT_ROOT / SETUP_RESULT_REL
+
+VERIFY_UNIT = 'ledmatrix-update-verify'
+PATH_UNIT = f'{VERIFY_UNIT}.path'
+
+UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS = 7 * 24 * 3600
+#: A failure that is probably transient (usually no network) is retried the
+#: next day rather than a week later.
+RETRY_AFTER_FAILURE_SECONDS = 24 * 3600
+#: Local hours an update prefers, since it restarts the display...
+QUIET_HOURS = range(2, 5)
+#: ...but a device that is never powered at night must still get updates.
+QUIET_HOURS_GRACE_SECONDS = 24 * 3600
+CHECK_INTERVAL_SECONDS = 30 * 60
+#: Let the web service settle after boot (and never pull in a crash loop).
+STARTUP_DELAY_SECONDS = 10 * 60
+MIN_FREE_BYTES = 300 * 1024 * 1024
+#: How long the health check gets to pick up a request before the update is undone.
+HANDOFF_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 90
+#: The health check takes a few minutes at most; far past that, it is lost.
+VERIFY_LOST_SECONDS = 45 * 60
+
+#: Core outcomes that need the user's attention.
+ERROR_OUTCOMES = frozenset({'error', 'blocked', 'rolled_back', 'rollback_failed', 'lost'})
+
+HELPER_MISSING_MESSAGE = (
+    "LEDMatrix code updates are paused until the update health check is set up. "
+    "The display service sets it up when it starts while automatic updates are on, "
+    "so restart the display from the Overview tab. If this keeps happening, the "
+    "setup result under Automatic Updates on the General tab says why. Plugin "
+    "updates still run."
+)
+
+_STATE_LOCK = threading.RLock()
+
+
+def is_enabled(config):
+    return bool((config.get('auto_update') or {}).get('enabled', False))
+
+
+def _read_json(path):
+    try:
+        with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            data = json.load(f)
+        return data if isinstance(data, dict) else None
+    except (OSError, ValueError):
+        return None
+
+
+def _write_json(path, data):
+    path = Path(path)
+    tmp = None
+    try:
+        path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        fd, tmp = tempfile.mkstemp(dir=str(path.parent), prefix=f'.{path.stem}_')
+        with os.fdopen(fd, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            json.dump(data, f, indent=2)
+        os.replace(tmp, path)
+        tmp = None
+    finally:
+        if tmp and os.path.exists(tmp):
+            try:
+                os.unlink(tmp)
+            except OSError:
+                pass
+
+
+def _unlink(path):
+    try:
+        Path(path).unlink()
+    except OSError:
+        pass
+
+
+def load_state(state_file=STATE_FILE):
+    return _read_json(state_file) or {}
+
+
+def save_state(state, state_file=STATE_FILE):
+    with _STATE_LOCK:
+        try:
+            _write_json(state_file, state)
+        except OSError as e:
+            logger.warning("Could not save auto-update state: %s", e)
+
+
+def dismiss_alert(alert_id, state_file=STATE_FILE):
+    with _STATE_LOCK:
+        state = load_state(state_file)
+        state['alert_dismissed'] = str(alert_id)
+        save_state(state, state_file)
+
+
+def _zone(tz_name):
+    try:
+        from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
+        return ZoneInfo(tz_name) if tz_name else None
+    except Exception:
+        return None
+
+
+def _local_datetime(ts, tz_name):
+    return datetime.fromtimestamp(ts, _zone(tz_name))
+
+
+def _short(sha):
+    return (sha or 'unknown')[:7]
+
+
+def is_due(now, next_due, local_hour):
+    """Due once ``next_due`` has passed, in quiet hours or after the grace period."""
+    if next_due is None or now < next_due:
+        return False
+    return local_hour in QUIET_HOURS or now >= next_due + QUIET_HOURS_GRACE_SECONDS
+
+
+def _plugin_fingerprint(store_manager, plugin_dir):
+    """(manifest version, git sha): what changing tells us an update landed."""
+    version = None
+    try:
+        with open(plugin_dir / 'manifest.json', 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            manifest = json.load(f)
+        if manifest.get('local_only'):
+            return None
+        version = manifest.get('version')
+    except (OSError, ValueError):
+        pass
+    sha = None
+    try:
+        git_info = store_manager._get_local_git_info(plugin_dir)
+        sha = git_info.get('sha') if git_info else None
+    except Exception:
+        logger.debug("git info unavailable for %s", plugin_dir, exc_info=True)
+    return (version, sha)
+
+
+def update_plugins(store_manager, operation_history=None):
+    """Update every installed plugin that has an update. Returns (updated, failed)."""
+    updated, failed = [], []
+    plugins_dir = Path(store_manager.plugins_dir)
+    for plugin_id in sorted(store_manager.list_installed_plugins()):
+        plugin_dir = plugins_dir / plugin_id
+        before = _plugin_fingerprint(store_manager, plugin_dir)
+        if before is None:
+            continue  # local_only: managed by hand, never from the registry
+        try:
+            ok = store_manager.update_plugin(plugin_id)
+        except Exception:
+            logger.exception("Automatic update of plugin %s raised", plugin_id)
+            ok = False
+        if not ok:
+            failed.append(plugin_id)
+            status = 'failed'
+        elif _plugin_fingerprint(store_manager, plugin_dir) != before:
+            updated.append(plugin_id)
+            status = 'success'
+        else:
+            continue  # already current; not worth a history entry every week
+        if operation_history:
+            try:
+                operation_history.record_operation(
+                    'update', plugin_id=plugin_id, status=status,
+                    details={'automatic': True})
+            except Exception:
+                logger.debug("Could not record auto-update history", exc_info=True)
+    return updated, failed
+
+
+def _service_active(unit):
+    try:
+        result = subprocess.run(['systemctl', 'is-active', unit],
+                                capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=5)
+        return result.stdout.strip() == 'active'
+    except (subprocess.SubprocessError, OSError):
+        return False
+
+
+def helper_ready():
+    """True when the health check can be triggered (its path unit is watching)."""
+    return _service_active(PATH_UNIT)
+
+
+def restart_service(unit):
+    """Restart a unit only if it is running, via the sudoers-allowed command."""
+    if not _service_active(unit):
+        return False
+    try:
+        result = subprocess.run(['sudo', '-n', 'systemctl', 'restart', f'{unit}.service'],
+                                capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=30)
+    except (subprocess.SubprocessError, OSError) as e:
+        logger.warning("Auto-update could not restart %s: %s", unit, e)
+        return False
+    if result.returncode != 0:
+        logger.warning("Auto-update restart of %s failed: %s", unit, result.stderr.strip())
+    return result.returncode == 0
+
+
+def start_setup_if_needed(was_enabled, config):
+    """After settings are saved: switching updates on finishes setting them up.
+
+    The health check units are installed by the display service at startup
+    (src/auto_update_setup.py), so switching the toggle on restarts it.
+    Returns a note for the save message, or None.
+    """
+    if was_enabled or not is_enabled(config) or helper_ready():
+        return None
+    if not _service_active('ledmatrix'):
+        return 'Automatic update setup finishes the next time the display service starts.'
+    if restart_service('ledmatrix'):
+        return 'Finishing automatic update setup: the display is restarting.'
+    return 'Could not restart the display to finish automatic update setup; restart it from the Overview tab.'
+
+
+def _load_verifier(path):
+    spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location('ledmatrix_auto_update_verifier', str(path))
+    module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+    spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+    return module
+
+
+class AutoUpdater:
+    """Decides when an automatic update is due and runs it."""
+
+    def __init__(self, config_manager, core_update, store_manager=None,
+                 plugin_manager=None, schema_manager=None, operation_history=None,
+                 project_root=PROJECT_ROOT, state_file=None, clock=time.time,
+                 restart=restart_service, run=subprocess.run,
+                 service_active=_service_active, helper_ready=helper_ready,
+                 verifier_source=VERIFIER_SOURCE, disk_free=None, sleep=time.sleep):
+        self.config_manager = config_manager
+        self.core_update = core_update
+        self.store_manager = store_manager
+        self.plugin_manager = plugin_manager
+        self.schema_manager = schema_manager
+        self.operation_history = operation_history
+        self.project_root = Path(project_root)
+        self.state_file = Path(state_file) if state_file else self.project_root / STATE_REL
+        self.pending_file = self.project_root / PENDING_REL
+        self.request_file = self.project_root / REQUEST_REL
+        self.verifier_copy = self.project_root / VERIFIER_COPY_REL
+        self.verifier_source = Path(verifier_source)
+        self.clock = clock
+        self.restart = restart
+        self.run_command = run
+        self.service_active = service_active
+        self.helper_ready = helper_ready
+        self.disk_free = disk_free or (lambda path: shutil.disk_usage(path).free)
+        self.sleep = sleep
+        self._stop = threading.Event()
+        self._thread = None
+
+    # -- scheduling ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def tick(self):
+        """Do whatever is due. Returns True if an update ran."""
+        now = self.clock()
+        state = load_state(self.state_file)
+        # Before the enabled check: a verification started before the user
+        # switched updates off still has to be reported.
+        if self._finalize_verification(state, now) == 'waiting':
+            return False
+
+        try:
+            config = self.config_manager.load_config()
+        except Exception:
+            logger.debug("Auto-update could not load config", exc_info=True)
+            return False
+        if not is_enabled(config):
+            return False
+
+        if state.get('plugins_pending'):
+            self._run_deferred_plugins(state, now)
+            return True
+
+        if state.get('next_due') is None:
+            # Just switched on: due now, which in practice means the next
+            # quiet-hours window rather than the moment Save was clicked.
+            state['next_due'] = now
+            save_state(state, self.state_file)
+
+        local_hour = _local_datetime(now, config.get('timezone')).hour
+        if not is_due(now, state['next_due'], local_hour):
+            return False
+        self.run(state)
+        return True
+
+    def run(self, state=None):
+        state = load_state(self.state_file) if state is None else state
+        logger.info("Automatic update starting")
+        try:
+            core = self.update_core(state)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.exception("Automatic core update raised")
+            core = {'outcome': 'error', 'message': f'The LEDMatrix update failed unexpectedly: {e}'}
+
+        deferred = core['outcome'] == 'verifying'
+        updated, failed = ([], []) if deferred else self._update_plugins()
+        self._store_run(state, core, updated, failed)
+        logger.info("Automatic update: core %s (%s); plugins updated=%s failed=%s%s",
+                    core['outcome'], core['message'], updated, failed,
+                    '; plugins wait for the health check' if deferred else '')
+
+        # Code restarts belong to the health check; this only covers plugins.
+        if updated:
+            self.restart('ledmatrix')
+        return state['last_result']
+
+    def _store_run(self, state, core, updated, failed):
+        now = self.clock()
+        deferred = core['outcome'] == 'verifying'
+        state.update({
+            'last_run': now,
+            'next_due': now + (RETRY_AFTER_FAILURE_SECONDS if core['outcome'] == 'error'
+                               else UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS),
+            'plugins_pending': deferred,
+            'last_result': {
+                'core_outcome': core['outcome'],
+                'core_message': core['message'],
+                'plugins_updated': updated,
+                'plugins_failed': failed,
+                'plugins_deferred': deferred,
+            },
+        })
+        self._apply_result(state, now)
+        save_state(state, self.state_file)
+
+    # -- core update --------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _git(self, *args, timeout=60):
+        return self.run_command(['git', *args], cwd=str(self.project_root),
+                                capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=timeout)
+
+    def _count(self, rev_range):
+        out = self._git('rev-list', '--count', rev_range).stdout.strip()
+        return int(out) if out.isdigit() else 0
+
+    def preflight(self, state):
+        """Decide whether the code update may run.
+
+        Returns ``(outcome, message, info)`` with outcome ``ready``,
+        ``up_to_date``, ``blocked`` (needs the user) or ``error`` (retry soon).
+        """
+        if not self.helper_ready():
+            return 'blocked', HELPER_MISSING_MESSAGE, {}
+
+        git_dir = self._git('rev-parse', '--git-dir')
+        if git_dir.returncode != 0:
+            return 'blocked', 'LEDMatrix is not installed as a git checkout, so it cannot update itself.', {}
+        git_dir = Path(git_dir.stdout.strip())
+        if not git_dir.is_absolute():
+            git_dir = self.project_root / git_dir
+        rebase_dirs = [git_dir / name for name in ('rebase-merge', 'rebase-apply') if (git_dir / name).exists()]
+        if rebase_dirs:
+            # A rebase really in progress leaves HEAD detached. With HEAD back
+            # on a branch it was abandoned -- typically a pull that stopped on
+            # a conflict, then a checkout -- and it makes every later pull
+            # fail. It holds no work (local edits are checked separately
+            # below), so clear it rather than strand a device nobody SSHes into.
+            if self._git('symbolic-ref', '-q', 'HEAD').returncode != 0:
+                return 'blocked', ('A git rebase is in progress in the LEDMatrix folder. '
+                                   'Finish or abort it; automatic updates will not touch it.'), {}
+            cleared = self._git('rebase', '--quit')
+            if cleared.returncode != 0 or any(path.exists() for path in rebase_dirs):
+                return 'blocked', ('An abandoned git rebase in the LEDMatrix folder could not be cleared: '
+                                   f'{(cleared.stderr or "").strip() or "unknown error"}.'), {}
+            logger.warning("Cleared an abandoned git rebase from %s", ', '.join(str(p) for p in rebase_dirs))
+        if (git_dir / 'MERGE_HEAD').exists():
+            return 'blocked', ('A git merge is in progress in the LEDMatrix folder. '
+                               'Finish or abort it; automatic updates will not touch it.'), {}
+
+        if self._git('rev-parse', '--abbrev-ref', '--symbolic-full-name', '@{u}').returncode != 0:
+            return 'blocked', ('The current branch has no upstream to update from (or HEAD is detached). '
+                               'Use Update Code once, or Tools -> Switch branch.'), {}
+
+        # Mode-only changes are ignored: older installers chmod tracked
+        # scripts, and --autostash in the pull carries those across. Plugin
+        # folders are separate installs, as in perform_core_update.
+        status = self._git('-c', 'core.fileMode=false', 'status', '--porcelain', '--untracked-files=no')
+        changed = [line[3:] for line in status.stdout.splitlines()
+                   if line.strip() and 'plugins/' not in line and 'plugin-repos/' not in line]
+        if status.returncode != 0 or changed:
+            example = f' (for example {changed[0]})' if changed else ''
+            return 'blocked', (f'{len(changed) or "Some"} tracked file(s) in the LEDMatrix folder were edited '
+                               f'locally{example}. Automatic updates will not stash your changes; '
+                               'commit or revert them, or update manually with Update Code.'), {}
+
+        free = self.disk_free(str(self.project_root))
+        if free < MIN_FREE_BYTES:
+            return 'blocked', (f'Only {free // (1024 * 1024)} MB of disk space is free; an update '
+                               f'needs at least {MIN_FREE_BYTES // (1024 * 1024)} MB.'), {}
+
+        fetch = self._git('fetch', '--quiet', timeout=120)
+        if fetch.returncode != 0:
+            detail = next((ln.strip() for ln in (fetch.stderr or '').splitlines() if ln.strip()), '')
+            return 'error', f'Could not check for LEDMatrix updates: {detail or "git fetch failed"}.', {}
+
+        ahead = self._count('@{u}..HEAD')
+        if ahead:
+            return 'blocked', (f'This checkout has {ahead} local commit(s) that are not upstream. '
+                               'Automatic updates will not rebase them; update manually with Update Code.'), {}
+        if not self._count('HEAD..@{u}'):
+            return 'up_to_date', 'LEDMatrix is already up to date.', {}
+
+        upstream = self._git('rev-parse', '@{u}').stdout.strip()
+        if upstream and upstream == state.get('rolled_back_head'):
+            return 'up_to_date', (f'The newest LEDMatrix version ({_short(upstream)}) failed its health '
+                                  'check and was rolled back before; waiting for a newer one.'), {}
+        head = self._git('rev-parse', 'HEAD').stdout.strip()
+        return 'ready', '', {'old_head': head, 'upstream_head': upstream}
+
+    def update_core(self, state):
+        try:
+            outcome, message, info = self.preflight(state)
+        except (subprocess.SubprocessError, OSError) as e:
+            return {'outcome': 'error', 'message': f'Pre-update checks failed: {e}.'}
+        if outcome != 'ready':
+            return {'outcome': outcome, 'message': message}
+        old_head = info['old_head']
+
+        display_was_active = self.service_active('ledmatrix')
+        try:
+            # Copied before pulling, so the checker is the known-good version.
+            self.verifier_copy.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+            shutil.copy2(self.verifier_source, self.verifier_copy)
+            verifier = _load_verifier(self.verifier_copy)
+        except Exception as e:
+            return {'outcome': 'error', 'message': f'Could not prepare the update health check: {e}.'}
+
+        try:
+            core = self.core_update()
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.exception("perform_core_update raised")
+            core = {'status': 'error', 'message': f'Update failed: {e}'}
+        new_head = self._git('rev-parse', 'HEAD').stdout.strip()
+        pending = {
+            'status': 'pending',
+            'old_head': old_head,
+            'new_head': new_head,
+            'display_was_active': display_was_active,
+            'dependency_failures': list(core.get('dependency_failures') or []),
+            'created_at': self.clock(),
+        }
+
+        def rollback():
+            return verifier.Verifier(self.project_root, run=self.run_command).rollback(pending)
+
+        if core.get('status') != 'success':
+            message = core.get('message') or 'The LEDMatrix update failed.'
+            if new_head and new_head != old_head:
+                ok, detail = rollback()
+                message += (' The partial update was rolled back.' if ok
+                            else f' Rolling back the partial update also failed: {detail}.')
+                if not ok:
+                    return {'outcome': 'rollback_failed', 'message': message}
+            return {'outcome': 'error', 'message': message}
+        if new_head == old_head:
+            return {'outcome': 'up_to_date', 'message': core.get('message') or 'LEDMatrix is already up to date.'}
+
+        handoff = {'outcome': 'verifying',
+                   'message': (f'Updated LEDMatrix from {_short(old_head)} to {_short(new_head)}; '
+                               'restarting and checking the services.')}
+        # Recorded before the handoff: the health check restarts this process.
+        self._store_run(state, handoff, [], [])
+        try:
+            _write_json(self.pending_file, pending)
+            self.request_file.write_text(new_head, encoding='utf-8')
+            picked_up = self._wait_for_pickup()
+        except OSError as e:
+            logger.error("Could not request the update health check: %s", e)
+            picked_up = False
+        if picked_up:
+            return handoff
+
+        # No health check means no update: undo it while the old code is
+        # still the code that is running.
+        logger.error("%s did not start the health check; rolling the update back", PATH_UNIT)
+        _unlink(self.request_file)
+        _unlink(self.pending_file)
+        ok, detail = rollback()
+        if not ok:
+            return {'outcome': 'rollback_failed',
+                    'message': (f'The update health check did not start, and rolling back to '
+                                f'{_short(old_head)} failed: {detail}.')}
+        return {'outcome': 'blocked',
+                'message': ('The update health check did not start, so the update was undone. '
+                            f'Check "systemctl status {PATH_UNIT}".'
+                            + (f' Note: {detail}.' if detail else ''))}
+
+    def _wait_for_pickup(self):
+        for _ in range(HANDOFF_TIMEOUT_SECONDS):
+            pending = _read_json(self.pending_file)
+            if pending and pending.get('status') != 'pending':
+                return True
+            self.sleep(1)
+        pending = _read_json(self.pending_file)
+        return bool(pending and pending.get('status') != 'pending')
+
+    def _finalize_verification(self, state, now):
+        """Fold the health check's outcome into the state. None, 'waiting' or 'done'."""
+        pending = _read_json(self.pending_file)
+        if pending is None:
+            return None
+        status = pending.get('status')
+        old, new = pending.get('old_head'), pending.get('new_head')
+        reason, detail = pending.get('reason'), pending.get('detail')
+
+        if status in ('pending', 'verifying'):
+            if now - float(pending.get('created_at') or now) < VERIFY_LOST_SECONDS:
+                return 'waiting'
+            outcome = 'lost'
+            message = (f'LEDMatrix was updated to {_short(new)}, but its health check never reported back, '
+                       'so it is not known whether the device is healthy. '
+                       f'See "journalctl -u {VERIFY_UNIT}".')
+        elif status == 'success':
+            outcome = 'updated'
+            message = (f'Updated LEDMatrix from {_short(old)} to {_short(new)}; '
+                       'the services restarted and stayed healthy.')
+        elif status == 'rolled_back':
+            outcome = 'rolled_back'
+            message = (f'The LEDMatrix update to {_short(new)} was rolled back to {_short(old)} because '
+                       f'{reason or "it failed its health check"}.' + (f' Note: {detail}.' if detail else ''))
+            state['rolled_back_head'] = new
+        else:
+            outcome = 'rollback_failed'
+            message = (f'The LEDMatrix update to {_short(new)} failed ({reason or "unknown reason"}) and '  # nosec B608 - user-facing message, not SQL  # nosemgrep
+                       f'could not be rolled back: {detail or "unknown error"}. The device may need '
+                       f'attention: run "git reset --hard {old}" in the LEDMatrix folder, then restart '
+                       'the display and web services.')
+
+        result = state.setdefault('last_result', {})
+        result.update({'core_outcome': outcome, 'core_message': message})
+        if outcome not in ('updated', 'rolled_back'):
+            # The device is in an unknown state; don't pile plugin changes on it.
+            state['plugins_pending'] = False
+            result['plugins_deferred'] = False
+        self._apply_result(state, now)
+        save_state(state, self.state_file)
+        _unlink(self.pending_file)
+        (logger.info if outcome == 'updated' else logger.error)("Automatic update: %s", message)
+        return 'done'
+
+    # -- plugins and reporting ----------------------------------------------
+
+    def _update_plugins(self):
+        if not self.store_manager:
+            return [], []
+        updated, failed = update_plugins(self.store_manager, self.operation_history)
+        for plugin_id in updated:
+            if self.schema_manager:
+                self.schema_manager.invalidate_cache(plugin_id)
+        if updated and self.plugin_manager:
+            try:
+                self.plugin_manager.discover_plugins()
+            except Exception:
+                logger.debug("discover_plugins after auto-update failed", exc_info=True)
+        return updated, failed
+
+    def _run_deferred_plugins(self, state, now):
+        state['plugins_pending'] = False
+        updated, failed = self._update_plugins()
+        result = state.setdefault('last_result', {})
+        result.update({'plugins_updated': updated, 'plugins_failed': failed, 'plugins_deferred': False})
+        self._apply_result(state, now)
+        save_state(state, self.state_file)
+        if updated:
+            self.restart('ledmatrix')
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _apply_result(state, now):
+        result = state.get('last_result') or {}
+        outcome = result.get('core_outcome')
+        failed = result.get('plugins_failed') or []
+        if outcome in ERROR_OUTCOMES or failed:
+            result['status'] = 'error'
+        elif outcome == 'verifying':
+            result['status'] = 'pending'
+        else:
+            result['status'] = 'success'
+
+        if result['status'] == 'error':
+            parts = []
+            if outcome in ERROR_OUTCOMES:
+                parts.append(result.get('core_message') or 'The LEDMatrix update failed.')
+            if failed:
+                parts.append('These plugins failed to update: ' + ', '.join(failed) + '.')
+            state['alert'] = {'id': str(int(now * 1000)), 'message': ' '.join(parts)}
+        elif result['status'] == 'success':
+            state.pop('alert', None)
+
+    # -- thread -------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def start(self):
+        if self._thread and self._thread.is_alive():
+            return
+        self._thread = threading.Thread(target=self._loop, name='auto-update', daemon=True)
+        self._thread.start()
+
+    def stop(self):
+        self._stop.set()
+
+    def _loop(self):
+        if self._stop.wait(STARTUP_DELAY_SECONDS):
+            return
+        while True:
+            try:
+                self.tick()
+            except Exception:
+                logger.exception("Automatic update check failed")
+            if self._stop.wait(CHECK_INTERVAL_SECONDS):
+                return
+
+
+def describe_status(config, state=None, state_file=STATE_FILE, pending_file=PENDING_FILE,
+                    setup_file=SETUP_RESULT_FILE, helper=None):
+    """What the General tab and the Overview banner show."""
+    state = load_state(state_file) if state is None else state
+    tz = config.get('timezone')
+    fmt = '%b %d, %Y %I:%M %p'
+    pending = _read_json(pending_file) or {}
+    setup = _read_json(setup_file) or {}
+    enabled = is_enabled(config)
+    out = {
+        'last_run': None, 'summary': None, 'status': None, 'next_due': None,
+        'alert': None, 'alert_id': None,
+        # Only asked while enabled: it runs systemctl, on every page load.
+        'verifier_installed': (helper or helper_ready)() if enabled else None,
+        'setup_status': setup.get('status'),
+        'setup_message': setup.get('message'),
+        'verifying': pending.get('status') in ('pending', 'verifying'),
+    }
+    if state.get('last_run'):
+        out['last_run'] = _local_datetime(state['last_run'], tz).strftime(fmt)
+        result = state.get('last_result') or {}
+        out['status'] = result.get('status')
+        parts = [result.get('core_message') or 'No result recorded.']
+        if result.get('plugins_updated'):
+            parts.append('Plugins updated: ' + ', '.join(result['plugins_updated']) + '.')
+        if result.get('plugins_failed'):
+            parts.append('Plugins that failed to update: ' + ', '.join(result['plugins_failed']) + '.')
+        if result.get('plugins_deferred') and state.get('plugins_pending'):
+            parts.append('Plugin updates run once the code update passes its health check.')
+        out['summary'] = ' '.join(parts)
+    if enabled and state.get('next_due'):
+        out['next_due'] = _local_datetime(state['next_due'], tz).strftime(fmt)
+    alert = state.get('alert')
+    if alert and alert.get('id') != state.get('alert_dismissed'):
+        out['alert'], out['alert_id'] = alert.get('message'), alert.get('id')
+    return out
@@ -1131,14 +1131,20 @@ def _set_missing_booleans_to_false(plugin_config, schema_props, form_keys, prefi
        elif prop_type == 'object' and 'properties' in prop_schema:
            # Recurse into nested objects
            if config_node is not None:
-                # Inside an array item — ensure nested dict exists in item
-                if prop_name not in node or not isinstance(node[prop_name], dict):
-                    node[prop_name] = {}
+                # Inside an array item. Walk into the existing dict, or a scratch
+                # one that is attached only if a boolean actually landed in it:
+                # an optional object the item never had (a custom feed with no
+                # logo) must stay absent, because an empty stub fails the
+                # object's own `required` list and 400s every save.
+                existing = node.get(prop_name)
+                child = existing if isinstance(existing, dict) else {}
                _set_missing_booleans_to_false(
                    plugin_config, prop_schema['properties'], form_keys, full_path,
-                    config_node=node[prop_name],
+                    config_node=child,
                    sections=sections, submitted_parents=submitted_parents
                )
+                if child is not existing and child:
+                    node[prop_name] = child
            else:
                _set_missing_booleans_to_false(
                    plugin_config, prop_schema['properties'], form_keys, full_path,
@@ -1687,11 +1693,14 @@ def _standalone_render_starlark_app(app_id: str) -> Tuple[bool, int, Optional[st

    magnify = plugin_config.get('magnify')
    if magnify is None:
-        hw = full_config.get('display', {}).get('hardware', {})
-        cols = hw.get('cols', 64)
-        chain = hw.get('chain_length', 1)
-        rows = hw.get('rows', 32)
-        magnify = max(1, min(8, int(min((cols * chain) / 64, rows / 32))))
+        # The size DisplayManager renders at (shared defaults, double-sided
+        # applied), so the Pixlet render matches the screen it lands on
+        from src.display_geometry import logical_size
+        try:
+            width, height = logical_size(full_config)
+        except (TypeError, ValueError):
+            width, height = 64, 32
+        magnify = max(1, min(8, int(min(width / 64, height / 32))))
    else:
        try:
            magnify = max(1, min(8, int(magnify)))
@@ -454,16 +454,21 @@ def save_main_config():

        # Merge with existing config (similar to original implementation)
        current_config = api_v3.config_manager.load_config()
+        was_auto_update_enabled = bool((current_config.get('auto_update') or {}).get('enabled'))

        # Handle general settings
        # Note: Checkboxes don't send data when unchecked, so we need to check if we're updating general settings
        # If any general setting is present, we're updating the general tab
        is_general_update = any(k in data for k in ['timezone', 'city', 'state', 'country', 'web_display_autostart',
-                                                     'auto_discover', 'auto_load_enabled', 'development_mode', 'plugins_directory'])
+                                                     'auto_discover', 'auto_load_enabled', 'development_mode', 'plugins_directory',
+                                                     'auto_update_enabled'])

        if is_general_update:
            # For checkbox: if not present in data during general update, it means unchecked
            current_config['web_display_autostart'] = _coerce_to_bool(data.get('web_display_autostart'))
+            if not isinstance(current_config.get('auto_update'), dict):
+                current_config['auto_update'] = {}
+            current_config['auto_update']['enabled'] = _coerce_to_bool(data.get('auto_update_enabled'))

        if 'timezone' in data:
            current_config['timezone'] = data['timezone']
@@ -1033,7 +1038,7 @@ def save_main_config():
            if key in ['timezone', 'city', 'state', 'country',
                       'web_display_autostart', 'auto_discover',
                       'auto_load_enabled', 'development_mode',
-                       'plugins_directory', 'target_fps']:
+                       'plugins_directory', 'target_fps', 'auto_update_enabled']:
                continue
            # Skip fields that are already handled above in their own named sections.
            # Without this, every form field name lands as a top-level config key too.
@@ -1068,7 +1073,17 @@ def save_main_config():
        except ImportError:
            pass

-        return success_response(message='Configuration saved successfully')
+        message = 'Configuration saved successfully'
+        # Switching automatic updates on finishes their setup, which needs
+        # the display service to restart (web_interface/auto_update.py).
+        try:
+            from web_interface import auto_update
+            note = auto_update.start_setup_if_needed(was_auto_update_enabled, current_config)
+            if note:
+                message = f'{message}. {note}'
+        except Exception:
+            logger.warning("Automatic update setup could not be started", exc_info=True)
+        return success_response(message=message)
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error("Error saving config", exc_info=True)
        return error_response(
@@ -25,23 +25,14 @@ def get_display_current():

        snapshot_path = "/tmp/led_matrix_preview.png"

-        # Get display dimensions from config
+        # Get display dimensions from config: the logical size DisplayManager
+        # renders at, so double-sided setups preview one screen
+        from src.display_geometry import logical_size
        try:
-            if api_v3.config_manager:
-                main_config = api_v3.config_manager.load_config()
-                hardware_config = main_config.get('display', {}).get('hardware', {})
-                cols = hardware_config.get('cols', 64)
-                chain_length = hardware_config.get('chain_length', 2)
-                rows = hardware_config.get('rows', 32)
-                parallel = hardware_config.get('parallel', 1)
-                width = cols * chain_length
-                height = rows * parallel
-            else:
-                width = 128
-                height = 64
+            config = api_v3.config_manager.load_config() if api_v3.config_manager else {}
+            width, height = logical_size(config)
        except Exception:
-            width = 128
-            height = 64
+            width, height = logical_size({})

        # Try to read snapshot file
        image_data = None
@@ -154,9 +154,15 @@ def list_skins():
    """List installed visual skins (docs/SKIN_SYSTEM.md).

    Optional ?plugin_id=... filters to skins matching that plugin.
+
+    The response carries ``supported: false`` and a ``message``: the current
+    scoreboard plugins don't render skins, so a client must not present
+    these as selectable.
    """
    try:
-        from src.skin_system import skin_runtime
+        from src.skin_system import (
+            SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED, SKINS_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE, skin_runtime,
+        )

        plugin_id = request.args.get('plugin_id')
        if plugin_id:
@@ -181,7 +187,10 @@ def list_skins():
                'modes': manifest.get('modes', []),
                'has_preview': bool(preview and (skin_dir / preview).is_file()),
            })
-        return jsonify({'status': 'success', 'data': {'skins': payload}})
+        data = {'skins': payload, 'supported': SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED}
+        if not SKINS_RENDER_SUPPORTED:
+            data['message'] = SKINS_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE
+        return jsonify({'status': 'success', 'data': data})
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error('Error in list_skins', exc_info=True)
        return jsonify({'status': 'error', 'message': 'An error occurred; see logs for details', 'details': describe_exception(e)}), 500
@@ -1256,6 +1256,16 @@ def install_plugin():
        plugin_id = data['plugin_id']
        branch = data.get('branch')  # Optional branch parameter

+        # A registry skin would install but never render with the current
+        # scoreboards; refuse it with the reason rather than a generic failure
+        try:
+            registry_entry = api_v3.plugin_store_manager.get_registry_info(plugin_id)
+        except Exception:
+            registry_entry = None
+        if isinstance(registry_entry, dict) and (registry_entry.get('type') or 'plugin') == 'skin':
+            from src.skin_system import SKINS_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE
+            return jsonify({'status': 'error', 'message': SKINS_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE}), 400
+
        # Install the plugin
        # Log the plugins directory being used for debugging
        plugins_dir = api_v3.plugin_store_manager.plugins_dir
@@ -1456,9 +1466,13 @@ def get_registry_from_url():
        registry = api_v3.plugin_store_manager.fetch_registry_from_url(repo_url)

        if registry:
+            # Skins aren't offered: current scoreboards don't render them
            return jsonify({
                'status': 'success',
-                'plugins': registry.get('plugins', []),
+                'plugins': [
+                    p for p in registry.get('plugins', [])
+                    if not (isinstance(p, dict) and (p.get('type') or 'plugin') == 'skin')
+                ],
                'registry_url': repo_url
            })
        else:
@@ -1573,6 +1587,10 @@ def list_plugin_store():
        # Format plugins for the web interface
        formatted_plugins = []
        for plugin in plugins:
+            # Registry skins install but never render with the current
+            # scoreboards, so the store doesn't offer them
+            if (plugin.get('type') or 'plugin') == 'skin':
+                continue
            formatted_plugins.append({
                'id': plugin.get('id'),
                'name': plugin.get('name'),
@@ -2649,18 +2667,11 @@ def get_plugin_schema():
        schema = schema_mgr.load_schema(plugin_id, use_cache=True)

        if schema:
-            # Offer installed visual skins as a dropdown (returns a copy;
-            # the cached schema and validation are never enum-restricted)
-            try:
-                current_skin = None
-                if api_v3.config_manager:
-                    config = api_v3.config_manager.load_config()
-                    current_skin = config.get(plugin_id, {}).get('skin')
-                injected = schema_mgr.inject_skin_selector(schema, plugin_id, current_skin)
-                if isinstance(injected, dict):
-                    schema = injected
-            except Exception:
-                logger.debug('Skin selector injection failed for %s', plugin_id, exc_info=True)
+            # No "Visual Skin" dropdown: the current scoreboard plugins don't
+            # render skins (src.skin_system.SKINS_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE), so
+            # schema_mgr.inject_skin_selector is deliberately not called. A
+            # stored "skin" value is unaffected: validation still allows it
+            # and a form save deep-merges over the stored section, keeping it.
            return jsonify({'status': 'success', 'data': {'schema': schema}})

        # Return a simple default schema if file not found
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import (
    get_git_version, jsonify, logger, os, request, resolve_pull_command,
    shutil, subprocess,
 )
+import threading
+
 import web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 as _pkg
 # Read through the module rather than bound by value: tests patch these
 # as module attributes, and a value binding would not see the patch.
@@ -120,6 +122,32 @@ def get_system_version():
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error("get_system_version failed: %s", e, exc_info=True)
        return jsonify({'status': 'error', 'message': 'Unable to retrieve version'}), 500
+@api_v3.route('/system/auto-update', methods=['GET'])
+def get_auto_update_status():
+    """Weekly automatic update status: last result, next check, and any alert.
+
+    No local except: a failure falls through to the app-wide handler in
+    web_interface/app.py, which logs the traceback and returns the redacted
+    detail -- the response every route gives, without a second copy here.
+    """
+    from web_interface import auto_update
+    config = api_v3.config_manager.load_config() if api_v3.config_manager else {}
+    return jsonify({'status': 'success', 'data': auto_update.describe_status(config)})
+
+
+@api_v3.route('/system/auto-update/dismiss', methods=['POST'])
+def dismiss_auto_update_alert():
+    """Hide the current automatic-update banner until a new alert replaces it."""
+    from web_interface import auto_update
+    payload = request.get_json(silent=True)
+    # A JSON array or scalar is a bad request, not a 500.
+    alert_id = str(payload.get('alert_id') or '').strip() if isinstance(payload, dict) else ''
+    if not alert_id:
+        return jsonify({'status': 'error', 'message': 'alert_id required'}), 400
+    auto_update.dismiss_alert(alert_id)
+    return jsonify({'status': 'success'})
+
+
@api_v3.route('/system/check-update', methods=['GET'])
 def check_for_update():
    """Check whether a newer LEDMatrix commit is available on origin/main."""
@@ -198,6 +226,219 @@ def _sudo_hint_for(text):
    return None


+_core_update_lock = threading.Lock()
+
+
+def perform_core_update():
+    """Pull the latest LEDMatrix code and sync its dependencies.
+
+    Shared by the Overview "Update Code" button and the weekly automatic
+    updater (web_interface/auto_update.py), so both take exactly the same
+    path. Returns the JSON-able payload the button has always received:
+    ``status``, ``message`` and ``restart_required``.
+    """
+    # The button and the scheduler can fire together; two pulls racing
+    # over one checkout (and one stash) is how local changes get lost.
+    if not _core_update_lock.acquire(blocking=False):
+        return {'status': 'error', 'restart_required': False,
+                'message': 'An update is already in progress; try again shortly.'}
+    try:
+        return _perform_core_update_locked()
+    finally:
+        _core_update_lock.release()
+
+
+def _perform_core_update_locked():
+    project_dir = str(PROJECT_ROOT)
+
+    # Decide how to pull BEFORE stashing. If this checkout cannot be
+    # updated at all, stashing first would put the user's local changes
+    # away for an update that was never going to run.
+    pull_args, upstream_note, pull_error = resolve_pull_command(project_dir)
+    if pull_error:
+        logger.warning("git pull not attempted: %s", pull_error)
+        return {'status': 'error', 'message': pull_error, 'restart_required': False}
+
+    # Check if there are local changes that need to be stashed
+    # Exclude plugins directory - plugins are separate repos and shouldn't be stashed with base project
+    # Use --untracked-files=no to skip untracked files check (much faster with symlinked plugins)
+    try:
+        status_result = subprocess.run(
+            ['git', 'status', '--porcelain', '--untracked-files=no'],
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            timeout=30,
+            cwd=project_dir
+        )
+        # Filter out any changes in plugins directory - plugins are separate repositories
+        # Git status format: XY filename (where X is status of index, Y is status of work tree)
+        status_lines = [line for line in status_result.stdout.strip().split('\n')
+                       if line.strip() and 'plugins/' not in line]
+        has_changes = bool('\n'.join(status_lines).strip())
+    except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
+        # If status check times out, assume there might be changes and proceed
+        # This is safer than failing the update
+        has_changes = True
+        status_result = type('obj', (object,), {'stdout': '', 'stderr': 'Status check timed out'})()
+
+    stash_info = ""
+
+    # Stash local changes if they exist (excluding plugins)
+    # Plugins are separate repositories and shouldn't be stashed with base project updates
+    if has_changes:
+        try:
+            # Use pathspec to exclude plugins directory from stash
+            stash_result = subprocess.run(
+                ['git', 'stash', 'push', '-m', 'LEDMatrix auto-stash before update', '--', ':!plugins'],
+                capture_output=True,
+                text=True,
+                timeout=30,
+                cwd=project_dir
+            )
+            if stash_result.returncode == 0:
+                logger.debug("git stash: stashed local changes before pull")
+                stash_info = " Local changes were stashed."
+            else:
+                logger.warning("git stash failed before pull (returncode=%d)", stash_result.returncode)
+        except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
+            logger.warning("git stash timed out, proceeding with pull")
+
+    # Record HEAD before the pull so dependency changes can be detected
+    old_head = None
+    try:
+        _pre = subprocess.run(['git', 'rev-parse', 'HEAD'],
+                              capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10, cwd=project_dir)
+        if _pre.returncode == 0:
+            old_head = _pre.stdout.strip()
+    except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
+        logger.warning("git rev-parse timed out before pull")
+
+    # Whether the pull actually brought new code in. "Already up to
+    # date" is a success too, and prompting for a restart then would
+    # train users to ignore the prompt.
+    code_changed = False
+    # Requirement files whose install failed. The automatic updater refuses
+    # to restart onto code whose dependencies did not install.
+    dependency_failures = []
+
+    # Perform the git pull. Branches without an upstream were given
+    # an explicit "origin <branch>" above so the update still works.
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        pull_args,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        timeout=60,
+        cwd=project_dir
+    )
+
+    # Give the branch tracking information so the next pull is a plain
+    # `git pull` — otherwise every update repeats the fallback.
+    if result.returncode == 0 and upstream_note:
+        branch = _git_current_branch(project_dir)
+        if branch:
+            try:
+                subprocess.run(
+                    ['git', 'branch', f'--set-upstream-to=origin/{branch}', branch],
+                    capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10, cwd=project_dir)
+            except (subprocess.TimeoutExpired, OSError) as exc:
+                logger.debug("could not set upstream for %s: %s", branch, exc)
+
+    # Return custom response for git_pull
+    if result.returncode == 0:
+        pull_message = "Code updated successfully."
+        if has_changes:
+            pull_message = f"Code updated successfully. Local changes were automatically stashed.{stash_info}"
+        if result.stdout and "Already up to date" not in result.stdout:
+            pull_message = f"Code updated successfully.{stash_info}"
+        if upstream_note:
+            pull_message = f"{pull_message} {upstream_note}"
+
+        # Keep Python dependencies in sync automatically: if the pull
+        # changed a requirements file, install it now — users updating
+        # from the web UI (most of them) never SSH in to pip install.
+        # Installs go through the same root-visible path as the
+        # Tools-tab buttons (_pip_install_requirements).
+        dep_notes = []
+        try:
+            _post = subprocess.run(['git', 'rev-parse', 'HEAD'],
+                                   capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10, cwd=project_dir)
+            new_head = _post.stdout.strip() if _post.returncode == 0 else None
+            if old_head and new_head and old_head != new_head:
+                code_changed = True
+                diff = subprocess.run(
+                    ['git', 'diff', '--name-only', f'{old_head}..{new_head}'],
+                    capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=15, cwd=project_dir)
+                changed = set(diff.stdout.split()) if diff.returncode == 0 else set()
+                for rel in ('requirements.txt', 'web_interface/requirements.txt'):
+                    req_path = PROJECT_ROOT / rel
+                    if rel not in changed or not req_path.exists():
+                        continue
+                    # Each file's install is isolated: a timeout or
+                    # OSError (e.g. the sudo wrapper/interpreter
+                    # missing) on one file must not abort the other.
+                    try:
+                        r = _pip_install_requirements(req_path, timeout=180)
+                        if r.returncode == 0:
+                            dep_notes.append(f"Dependencies from {rel} updated.")
+                        else:
+                            dependency_failures.append(rel)
+                            dep_notes.append(
+                                f"Dependency install from {rel} failed — "
+                                "run Install Base Requirements from the Tools tab.")
+                            logger.warning("post-update pip install failed for %s: %s",
+                                           rel, _truncate_output(r.stdout, r.stderr))
+                    except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
+                        dependency_failures.append(rel)
+                        dep_notes.append(
+                            f"Dependency install from {rel} timed out — "
+                            "run Install Base Requirements from the Tools tab.")
+                        logger.warning("post-update pip install timed out for %s", rel)
+                    except OSError as install_err:
+                        dependency_failures.append(rel)
+                        dep_notes.append(
+                            f"Dependency install from {rel} failed — "
+                            "run Install Base Requirements from the Tools tab.")
+                        logger.warning("post-update pip install errored for %s: %s",
+                                       rel, install_err)
+        except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
+            logger.warning("post-update dependency sync timed out")
+        if dep_notes:
+            pull_message += " " + " ".join(dep_notes)
+        # A `git pull` restores built-in plugins (committed under
+        # plugin-repos/) even if the user uninstalled them. Re-remove
+        # any the user previously uninstalled so the update doesn't
+        # resurrect them.
+        if api_v3.plugin_store_manager:
+            try:
+                purged = api_v3.plugin_store_manager.purge_uninstalled_plugins()
+                if purged:
+                    logger.info(
+                        "Re-removed %d uninstalled plugin(s) restored by update: %s",
+                        len(purged), ", ".join(purged),
+                    )
+            except (OSError, RuntimeError) as purge_err:
+                logger.warning("Post-update plugin purge failed: %s", purge_err)
+    else:
+        logger.warning("git pull failed (returncode=%d): %s", result.returncode, result.stderr)
+        # Show git's own first line: "check logs" leaves the user with
+        # nothing to act on, and these failures are usually actionable
+        # (conflicting local commits, no upstream, network).
+        detail = next((ln.strip() for ln in (result.stderr or '').splitlines()
+                       if ln.strip()), '')
+        pull_message = f"Update failed: {detail}" if detail else "Update failed; check logs for details"
+
+    # Nothing here restarts anything: the pull replaces files on
+    # disk while the display and web services keep running the code
+    # they loaded at boot. Without this the user is told the update
+    # succeeded and sees no change until they happen to reboot.
+    return {
+        'status': 'success' if result.returncode == 0 else 'error',
+        'message': pull_message,
+        'restart_required': bool(result.returncode == 0 and code_changed),
+        'dependency_failures': dependency_failures,
+    }
+
+
@api_v3.route('/system/action', methods=['POST'])
 def execute_system_action():
    """Execute system actions (start/stop/reboot/etc)"""
@@ -265,188 +506,7 @@ def execute_system_action():
            result = subprocess.run(['sudo', 'poweroff'],
                                 capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10)
        elif action == 'git_pull':
-            # Use PROJECT_ROOT instead of hardcoded path
-            project_dir = str(PROJECT_ROOT)
-
-            # Decide how to pull BEFORE stashing. If this checkout cannot be
-            # updated at all, stashing first would put the user's local changes
-            # away for an update that was never going to run.
-            pull_args, upstream_note, pull_error = resolve_pull_command(project_dir)
-            if pull_error:
-                logger.warning("git pull not attempted: %s", pull_error)
-                return jsonify({'status': 'error', 'message': pull_error})
-
-            # Check if there are local changes that need to be stashed
-            # Exclude plugins directory - plugins are separate repos and shouldn't be stashed with base project
-            # Use --untracked-files=no to skip untracked files check (much faster with symlinked plugins)
-            try:
-                status_result = subprocess.run(
-                    ['git', 'status', '--porcelain', '--untracked-files=no'],
-                    capture_output=True,
-                    text=True,
-                    timeout=30,
-                    cwd=project_dir
-                )
-                # Filter out any changes in plugins directory - plugins are separate repositories
-                # Git status format: XY filename (where X is status of index, Y is status of work tree)
-                status_lines = [line for line in status_result.stdout.strip().split('\n')
-                               if line.strip() and 'plugins/' not in line]
-                has_changes = bool('\n'.join(status_lines).strip())
-            except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
-                # If status check times out, assume there might be changes and proceed
-                # This is safer than failing the update
-                has_changes = True
-                status_result = type('obj', (object,), {'stdout': '', 'stderr': 'Status check timed out'})()
-
-            stash_info = ""
-
-            # Stash local changes if they exist (excluding plugins)
-            # Plugins are separate repositories and shouldn't be stashed with base project updates
-            if has_changes:
-                try:
-                    # Use pathspec to exclude plugins directory from stash
-                    stash_result = subprocess.run(
-                        ['git', 'stash', 'push', '-m', 'LEDMatrix auto-stash before update', '--', ':!plugins'],
-                        capture_output=True,
-                        text=True,
-                        timeout=30,
-                        cwd=project_dir
-                    )
-                    if stash_result.returncode == 0:
-                        logger.debug("git stash: stashed local changes before pull")
-                        stash_info = " Local changes were stashed."
-                    else:
-                        logger.warning("git stash failed before pull (returncode=%d)", stash_result.returncode)
-                except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
-                    logger.warning("git stash timed out, proceeding with pull")
-
-            # Record HEAD before the pull so dependency changes can be detected
-            old_head = None
-            try:
-                _pre = subprocess.run(['git', 'rev-parse', 'HEAD'],
-                                      capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10, cwd=project_dir)
-                if _pre.returncode == 0:
-                    old_head = _pre.stdout.strip()
-            except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
-                logger.warning("git rev-parse timed out before pull")
-
-            # Whether the pull actually brought new code in. "Already up to
-            # date" is a success too, and prompting for a restart then would
-            # train users to ignore the prompt.
-            code_changed = False
-
-            # Perform the git pull. Branches without an upstream were given
-            # an explicit "origin <branch>" above so the update still works.
-            result = subprocess.run(
-                pull_args,
-                capture_output=True,
-                text=True,
-                timeout=60,
-                cwd=project_dir
-            )
-
-            # Give the branch tracking information so the next pull is a plain
-            # `git pull` — otherwise every update repeats the fallback.
-            if result.returncode == 0 and upstream_note:
-                branch = _git_current_branch(project_dir)
-                if branch:
-                    try:
-                        subprocess.run(
-                            ['git', 'branch', f'--set-upstream-to=origin/{branch}', branch],
-                            capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10, cwd=project_dir)
-                    except (subprocess.TimeoutExpired, OSError) as exc:
-                        logger.debug("could not set upstream for %s: %s", branch, exc)
-
-            # Return custom response for git_pull
-            if result.returncode == 0:
-                pull_message = "Code updated successfully."
-                if has_changes:
-                    pull_message = f"Code updated successfully. Local changes were automatically stashed.{stash_info}"
-                if result.stdout and "Already up to date" not in result.stdout:
-                    pull_message = f"Code updated successfully.{stash_info}"
-                if upstream_note:
-                    pull_message = f"{pull_message} {upstream_note}"
-
-                # Keep Python dependencies in sync automatically: if the pull
-                # changed a requirements file, install it now — users updating
-                # from the web UI (most of them) never SSH in to pip install.
-                # Installs go through the same root-visible path as the
-                # Tools-tab buttons (_pip_install_requirements).
-                dep_notes = []
-                try:
-                    _post = subprocess.run(['git', 'rev-parse', 'HEAD'],
-                                           capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10, cwd=project_dir)
-                    new_head = _post.stdout.strip() if _post.returncode == 0 else None
-                    if old_head and new_head and old_head != new_head:
-                        code_changed = True
-                        diff = subprocess.run(
-                            ['git', 'diff', '--name-only', f'{old_head}..{new_head}'],
-                            capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=15, cwd=project_dir)
-                        changed = set(diff.stdout.split()) if diff.returncode == 0 else set()
-                        for rel in ('requirements.txt', 'web_interface/requirements.txt'):
-                            req_path = PROJECT_ROOT / rel
-                            if rel not in changed or not req_path.exists():
-                                continue
-                            # Each file's install is isolated: a timeout or
-                            # OSError (e.g. the sudo wrapper/interpreter
-                            # missing) on one file must not abort the other.
-                            try:
-                                r = _pip_install_requirements(req_path, timeout=180)
-                                if r.returncode == 0:
-                                    dep_notes.append(f"Dependencies from {rel} updated.")
-                                else:
-                                    dep_notes.append(
-                                        f"Dependency install from {rel} failed — "
-                                        "run Install Base Requirements from the Tools tab.")
-                                    logger.warning("post-update pip install failed for %s: %s",
-                                                   rel, _truncate_output(r.stdout, r.stderr))
-                            except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
-                                dep_notes.append(
-                                    f"Dependency install from {rel} timed out — "
-                                    "run Install Base Requirements from the Tools tab.")
-                                logger.warning("post-update pip install timed out for %s", rel)
-                            except OSError as install_err:
-                                dep_notes.append(
-                                    f"Dependency install from {rel} failed — "
-                                    "run Install Base Requirements from the Tools tab.")
-                                logger.warning("post-update pip install errored for %s: %s",
-                                               rel, install_err)
-                except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
-                    logger.warning("post-update dependency sync timed out")
-                if dep_notes:
-                    pull_message += " " + " ".join(dep_notes)
-                # A `git pull` restores built-in plugins (committed under
-                # plugin-repos/) even if the user uninstalled them. Re-remove
-                # any the user previously uninstalled so the update doesn't
-                # resurrect them.
-                if api_v3.plugin_store_manager:
-                    try:
-                        purged = api_v3.plugin_store_manager.purge_uninstalled_plugins()
-                        if purged:
-                            logger.info(
-                                "Re-removed %d uninstalled plugin(s) restored by update: %s",
-                                len(purged), ", ".join(purged),
-                            )
-                    except (OSError, RuntimeError) as purge_err:
-                        logger.warning("Post-update plugin purge failed: %s", purge_err)
-            else:
-                logger.warning("git pull failed (returncode=%d): %s", result.returncode, result.stderr)
-                # Show git's own first line: "check logs" leaves the user with
-                # nothing to act on, and these failures are usually actionable
-                # (conflicting local commits, no upstream, network).
-                detail = next((ln.strip() for ln in (result.stderr or '').splitlines()
-                               if ln.strip()), '')
-                pull_message = f"Update failed: {detail}" if detail else "Update failed; check logs for details"
-
-            # Nothing here restarts anything: the pull replaces files on
-            # disk while the display and web services keep running the code
-            # they loaded at boot. Without this the user is told the update
-            # succeeded and sees no change until they happen to reboot.
-            return jsonify({
-                'status': 'success' if result.returncode == 0 else 'error',
-                'message': pull_message,
-                'restart_required': bool(result.returncode == 0 and code_changed),
-            })
+            return jsonify(perform_core_update())
        elif action == 'checkout_branch':
            # Switch branches from the Tools tab. Needed because a checkout
            # that predates tracking (or a restored backup) can leave the pi
@@ -3,10 +3,73 @@
 Routes decorate the shared `api_v3` Blueprint from ._common, so their
 endpoint names are unchanged by living here.
 """
+import threading
+import time
+
 from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import (
    api_v3, describe_exception, jsonify, logger, request,
 )

+# Joining a network while the setup AP is up has to take the AP down first,
+# and the caller is almost always a phone connected *through* that AP. Run
+# synchronously, the request outlives the link it arrived on: the browser
+# never gets an answer and the Connect button appears to do nothing. So in AP
+# mode the connect runs in the background and the result is kept here, where
+# /wifi/status can report it once the user is back on either network.
+_connect_lock = threading.Lock()
+_last_connect_attempt = None
+# Lets the 202 reach the phone before hostapd stops.
+_AP_HANDOFF_DELAY_SECONDS = 2.0
+
+
+def _last_connect_snapshot():
+    with _connect_lock:
+        return dict(_last_connect_attempt) if _last_connect_attempt else None
+
+
+def _spawn(target):
+    threading.Thread(target=target, name='wifi-connect', daemon=True).start()
+
+
+def _connect_result_payload(ssid, success, message):
+    """Shape a connect_to_network result for the client.
+
+    The manager flags a rejected passphrase by prefixing the message with
+    "wrong_password:"; the setup pages key off `error_type` rather than
+    parsing nmcli's wording.
+    """
+    if success:
+        return {'status': 'success', 'message': message}
+    payload = {'status': 'error', 'message': message or 'Failed to connect to network'}
+    if message and message.startswith('wrong_password:'):
+        payload['error_type'] = 'wrong_password'
+        payload['message'] = f'Incorrect password for {ssid}'
+    return payload
+
+
+def _record_connect_result(ssid, payload):
+    global _last_connect_attempt
+    with _connect_lock:
+        _last_connect_attempt = {
+            'ssid': ssid,
+            'state': 'success' if payload['status'] == 'success' else 'failed',
+            'message': payload['message'],
+            'error_type': payload.get('error_type'),
+            'finished_at': time.time(),
+        }
+
+
+def _run_background_connect(ssid, password):
+    try:
+        time.sleep(_AP_HANDOFF_DELAY_SECONDS)
+        from src.wifi_manager import WiFiManager
+        success, message = WiFiManager().connect_to_network(ssid, password)
+        payload = _connect_result_payload(ssid, success, message)
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.error("Background WiFi connect failed", exc_info=True)
+        payload = {'status': 'error', 'message': describe_exception(e)}
+    _record_connect_result(ssid, payload)
+

 def _parse_bool_ish(value):
    """Coerce a JSON value that is supposed to be a boolean.
@@ -65,7 +128,8 @@ def get_wifi_status():
                'ip_address': status.ip_address,
                'signal': status.signal,
                'ap_mode_active': status.ap_mode_active,
-                'auto_enable_ap_mode': auto_enable_ap
+                'auto_enable_ap_mode': auto_enable_ap,
+                'last_connect_attempt': _last_connect_snapshot(),
            }
        })
    except Exception as e:
@@ -149,7 +213,12 @@ def scan_wifi_networks():
        }), 500
@api_v3.route('/wifi/connect', methods=['POST'])
 def connect_wifi():
-    """Connect to a WiFi network"""
+    """Connect to a WiFi network.
+
+    With the setup AP active this answers 202 at once and connects in the
+    background (see _last_connect_attempt); otherwise it waits for the result.
+    """
+    global _last_connect_attempt
    try:
        from src.wifi_manager import WiFiManager

@@ -177,18 +246,50 @@ def connect_wifi():
        password = data.get('password', '') or ''

        wifi_manager = WiFiManager()
-        success, message = wifi_manager.connect_to_network(ssid, password)
+        ap_mode_active = wifi_manager._is_ap_mode_active()

-        if success:
+        # One attempt at a time on either path: concurrent connects fight over
+        # the radio, and the first to finish would clear the in-progress flag
+        # the monitor daemon still needs for the other. The check can't depend
+        # on AP state either -- a background attempt takes the AP down long
+        # before it finishes.
+        with _connect_lock:
+            if _last_connect_attempt and _last_connect_attempt['state'] == 'pending':
+                return jsonify({
+                    'status': 'error',
+                    'message': f"Already connecting to {_last_connect_attempt['ssid']}"
+                }), 409
+            _last_connect_attempt = {
+                'ssid': ssid, 'state': 'pending', 'message': None,
+                'error_type': None, 'finished_at': None,
+            }
+
+        if ap_mode_active:
+            try:
+                _spawn(lambda: _run_background_connect(ssid, password))
+            except Exception:
+                # Nothing will ever finish this attempt; don't leave every
+                # later request refused.
+                with _connect_lock:
+                    _last_connect_attempt = None
+                raise
            return jsonify({
-                'status': 'success',
-                'message': message
-            })
-        else:
-            return jsonify({
-                'status': 'error',
-                'message': message or 'Failed to connect to network'
-            }), 400
+                'status': 'pending',
+                'message': (
+                    f'Connecting to {ssid}. The LEDMatrix-Setup network will turn off, '
+                    'so this page will lose its connection.'
+                ),
+                'data': {'ssid': ssid},
+            }), 202
+
+        try:
+            success, message = wifi_manager.connect_to_network(ssid, password)
+        except Exception as e:
+            _record_connect_result(ssid, {'status': 'error', 'message': describe_exception(e)})
+            raise
+        payload = _connect_result_payload(ssid, success, message)
+        _record_connect_result(ssid, payload)
+        return jsonify(payload), (200 if success else 400)
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error("Error connecting to WiFi", exc_info=True)
        return jsonify({
@@ -525,8 +525,15 @@ def _load_general_partial():
    try:
        if pages_v3.config_manager:
            main_config = pages_v3.config_manager.load_config()
+            try:
+                from web_interface.auto_update import describe_status
+                auto_update_status = describe_status(main_config)
+            except Exception:
+                logger.debug("Could not read auto-update status", exc_info=True)
+                auto_update_status = None
            return render_template('v3/partials/general.html',
-                                 main_config=main_config)
+                                 main_config=main_config,
+                                 auto_update_status=auto_update_status)
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error("Error loading partial", exc_info=True)
        return "Error loading partial", 500
@@ -100,8 +100,9 @@ def main():
    werkzeug_logger.error = log_exception_filtered
    
    # Import and run the Flask app
-    from web_interface.app import app
-    
+    from web_interface.app import app, start_auto_update_scheduler
+    start_auto_update_scheduler()
+
    print("Starting LED Matrix Web Interface V3...")
    print("Web server binding to: 0.0.0.0:5000")
    
@@ -440,8 +440,13 @@
                headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
                body: JSON.stringify(body)
            });
-            if (!r.ok) throw new Error('Server error ' + r.status);
            const ct = r.headers.get('content-type') || '';
+            if (!r.ok) {
+                // A failing action script comes back as a 400 whose JSON body
+                // carries the script's own message; surface it, not the status.
+                const data = ct.includes('application/json') ? await r.json().catch(() => null) : null;
+                throw new Error(data?.message || 'Server error ' + r.status);
+            }
            if (!ct.includes('application/json')) {
                const txt = await r.text();
                throw new Error('Unexpected response: ' + txt.slice(0, 120));
@@ -729,12 +729,14 @@
    window._pfmToggle = async function (fieldId, categoryName, enabled) {
        const st = getState(fieldId);
        const result = await callAction(st.pluginId, st.actions.toggle, { category_name: categoryName, enabled })
-            .catch(() => ({ status: 'error' }));
+            .catch(() => ({ status: 'error', message: 'Network error' }));
        if (result.status === 'success') {
            notify(enabled ? `${categoryName} enabled` : `${categoryName} disabled`, 'success');
            await loadFiles(fieldId);
        } else {
-            notify('Toggle failed', 'error');
+            // The action endpoint relays the script's own message on failure;
+            // without it every error reads as a bare "Toggle failed".
+            notify(result.message ? `Toggle failed: ${result.message}` : 'Toggle failed', 'error');
            await loadFiles(fieldId); // revert UI
        }
    };
@@ -1556,22 +1556,18 @@ function renderInstalledCards(plugins, total) {

        return `
        <div class="plugin-card">
-            <div class="flex items-start justify-between mb-4">
-                <div class="flex-1 min-w-0">
-                    <div class="flex items-center flex-wrap gap-2 mb-2">
+            <div class="mb-4">
+                <!-- Header row: only the name and badges share a line with the
+                     toggle, so the metadata and description below get the
+                     card's full width. -->
+                <div class="flex items-start justify-between gap-3 mb-2">
+                    <div class="flex items-center flex-wrap gap-2 min-w-0">
                        <h4 class="font-semibold text-gray-900 text-base">${escapeHtml(plugin.name || plugin.id)}</h4>
                        ${plugin.is_starlark_app ? '<span class="badge badge-warning"><i class="fas fa-star mr-1"></i>Starlark</span>' : ''}
                        ${plugin.verified ? '<span class="badge badge-success"><i class="fas fa-check-circle mr-1"></i>Verified</span>' : ''}
                    </div>
-                    <div class="text-sm text-gray-600 space-y-1.5 mb-3">
-                        <p class="flex items-center"><i class="fas fa-user mr-2 text-gray-400 w-4"></i>${escapeHtml(plugin.author || 'Unknown')}</p>
-                        ${plugin.version ? `<p class="flex items-center flex-wrap gap-1.5"><i class="fas fa-tag mr-2 text-gray-400 w-4"></i>v${escapeHtml(plugin.version)}${plugin.update_available && plugin.latest_version ? `<span class="badge badge-info" title="Installed v${escapeAttr(plugin.version)} → latest v${escapeAttr(plugin.latest_version)}"><i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-up mr-1"></i>v${escapeHtml(plugin.latest_version)} available</span>` : ''}</p>` : ''}
-                        <p class="flex items-center"><i class="fas fa-folder mr-2 text-gray-400 w-4"></i>${escapeHtml(plugin.category || 'General')}</p>
-                    </div>
-                    <p class="text-sm text-gray-700 leading-relaxed">${escapeHtml(plugin.description || 'No description available')}</p>
-                </div>
                <!-- Toggle Switch in Top Right -->
-                <div class="flex-shrink-0 ml-4">
+                <div class="flex-shrink-0">
                    <label class="relative inline-flex items-center cursor-pointer group">
                        <!-- input.peer must stay immediately before the visible pill:
                             peer-focus:* only reaches a following sibling. -->
@@ -1598,6 +1594,13 @@ function renderInstalledCards(plugins, total) {
                        </div>
                    </label>
                </div>
+                </div>
+                <div class="text-sm text-gray-600 space-y-1.5 mb-3">
+                    <p class="flex items-center"><i class="fas fa-user mr-2 text-gray-400 w-4"></i>${escapeHtml(plugin.author || 'Unknown')}</p>
+                    ${plugin.version ? `<p class="flex items-center flex-wrap gap-1.5"><i class="fas fa-tag mr-2 text-gray-400 w-4"></i>v${escapeHtml(plugin.version)}${plugin.update_available && plugin.latest_version ? `<span class="badge badge-info" title="Installed v${escapeAttr(plugin.version)} → latest v${escapeAttr(plugin.latest_version)}"><i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-up mr-1"></i>v${escapeHtml(plugin.latest_version)} available</span>` : ''}</p>` : ''}
+                    <p class="flex items-center"><i class="fas fa-folder mr-2 text-gray-400 w-4"></i>${escapeHtml(plugin.category || 'General')}</p>
+                </div>
+                <p class="text-sm text-gray-700 leading-relaxed">${escapeHtml(plugin.description || 'No description available')}</p>
            </div>

            <!-- Plugin Tags -->
@@ -99,6 +99,16 @@ select:focus-visible,input:focus-visible{outline:2px solid var(--accent);outline
  </div>
 </div>

+<div id="handoff-view" class="card hidden" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="handoff-title">
+  <div class="success-box">
+    <svg class="icon" style="color:var(--accent)" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" aria-hidden="true"><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 1 1-2.64-6.36"/><path d="M21 3v6h-6"/></svg>
+    <p class="title" id="handoff-title">Connecting to <span id="handoff-ssid"></span></p>
+    <p class="hint">LEDMatrix-Setup has turned off, so this page can’t follow along any more.</p>
+    <p class="hint"><strong>If it worked:</strong> the LED display shows the new address. Rejoin your home WiFi and open it.</p>
+    <p class="hint"><strong>If it didn’t:</strong> LEDMatrix-Setup comes back within a few minutes. Rejoin it and reopen this page to see why.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
 <div class="footer">
  <a href="/">Open Full Interface</a>
 </div>
@@ -259,17 +269,16 @@ function doConnect() {
  }, 60000)
  .then(readJson)
  .then(function(data) {
-    if (data.status === 'success') {
+    if (data.status === 'pending') {
+      // Connecting in the background; this network is about to go away.
+      showMsg(handoffMessage(ssid), 'info');
+      setTimeout(function() { checkNewIP(ssid); }, 3000);
+    } else if (data.status === 'success') {
      clearMsg();
      // Poll for the new IP
      setTimeout(function() { checkNewIP(ssid); }, 3000);
    } else {
-      var msg = data.error_type === 'wrong_password'
-        ? 'Incorrect password — please try again.'
-        : (data.message || 'Couldn’t connect to ' + ssid + '. Check the network name and password, then try again.');
-      showMsg(msg, 'err');
-      resetConnect();
-      if (data.error_type === 'wrong_password') $('password').focus();
+      showConnectError(data, ssid);
    }
  })
  .catch(function(e) {
@@ -279,12 +288,49 @@ function doConnect() {
      return;
    }
    // Connection may drop if AP mode was disabled — that's expected
-    clearMsg();
-    showMsg('Connection attempt sent. If the page stops responding, the device is connecting to ' + ssid + '.', 'info');
-    setTimeout(function() { showSuccessFallback(ssid); }, 5000);
+    showHandoff(ssid);
  });
 }

+function handoffMessage(ssid) {
+  return 'Connecting to ' + ssid + '. LEDMatrix-Setup will turn off and your phone will disconnect from it. ' +
+    'If it works, the LED display shows its new address. If not, LEDMatrix-Setup comes back within a few minutes: ' +
+    'rejoin it and reopen this page to see why.';
+}
+
+function resetConnectBtn() {
+  var btn = $('btn-connect');
+  connecting = false;
+  btn.removeAttribute('aria-busy');
+  btn.textContent = 'Connect';
+  updateConnectBtn();
+}
+
+// `attempt` is a /wifi/connect error body or a failed last_connect_attempt.
+function showConnectError(attempt, ssid) {
+  var name = attempt.ssid || ssid;
+  var wrongPassword = attempt.error_type === 'wrong_password';
+  var msg = wrongPassword
+    ? 'Incorrect password for ' + name + ' — please try again.'
+    : (attempt.message || 'Couldn’t connect to ' + name + '. Check the network name and password, then try again.');
+  // A background failure brings the AP back: put the form back too.
+  $('handoff-view').classList.add('hidden');
+  $('setup-form').classList.remove('hidden');
+  showMsg(msg, 'err');
+  resetConnectBtn();
+  if (wrongPassword) $('password').focus();
+}
+
+function showHandoff(ssid) {
+  $('setup-form').classList.add('hidden');
+  $('success-view').classList.add('hidden');
+  var view = $('handoff-view');
+  view.classList.remove('hidden');
+  $('handoff-ssid').textContent = ssid;
+  clearMsg();
+  view.focus();
+}
+
 var MAX_IP_RETRIES = 20;

 function checkNewIP(ssid, retriesLeft) {
@@ -296,18 +342,38 @@ function checkNewIP(ssid, retriesLeft) {
  fetchWithTimeout('/api/v3/wifi/status', {}, 8000)
    .then(readJson)
    .then(function(data) {
-      if (data.status === 'success' && data.data && data.data.connected && data.data.ip_address) {
-        showSuccess(data.data.ip_address);
+      var d = (data.status === 'success' && data.data) || {};
+      var attempt = d.last_connect_attempt;
+      if (attempt && attempt.ssid === ssid && attempt.state === 'failed') {
+        showConnectError(attempt);
+      } else if (d.connected && d.ip_address && !d.ap_mode_active) {
+        showSuccess(d.ip_address);
      } else {
        setTimeout(function() { checkNewIP(ssid, retriesLeft - 1); }, 3000);
      }
    })
    .catch(function() {
-      // AP likely down — show fallback
-      showSuccessFallback(ssid);
+      // The setup network went down, which is what connecting does.
+      showHandoff(ssid);
    });
 }

+// A failed attempt brings LEDMatrix-Setup back; tell the user who rejoined why.
+function showPreviousFailure() {
+  fetchWithTimeout('/api/v3/wifi/status', {}, 8000)
+    .then(readJson)
+    .then(function(data) {
+      var attempt = data.data && data.data.last_connect_attempt;
+      if (attempt && attempt.state === 'failed' && !data.data.connected) {
+        var reason = attempt.error_type === 'wrong_password'
+          ? 'the password was incorrect'
+          : (attempt.message || 'an unknown error');
+        showMsg('Last attempt to connect to ' + attempt.ssid + ' failed: ' + reason + '.', 'err');
+      }
+    })
+    .catch(function() {});
+}
+
 function revealSuccess(text) {
  $('setup-form').classList.add('hidden');
  var view = $('success-view');
@@ -326,6 +392,7 @@ function showSuccessFallback(ssid) {
 }

 // Auto-scan on load
+showPreviousFailure();
 doScan();
 </script>
 </body>
@@ -44,6 +44,44 @@
            </label>
        </div>

+        <!-- Weekly Automatic Updates -->
+        <div class="form-group" id="setting-general-auto_update" data-setting-key="auto_update.enabled">
+            <label class="flex items-center">
+                <input type="checkbox"
+                       name="auto_update_enabled"
+                       value="true"
+                       {% if (main_config.auto_update or {}).enabled %}checked{% endif %}
+                       class="form-control h-4 w-4 text-blue-600 focus:ring-blue-500 border-gray-300 rounded">
+                <span class="ml-2 text-sm font-medium text-gray-900">Automatically check for and install updates once a week</span>
+                {{ ui.help_tip('Once a week, update LEDMatrix and every installed plugin that has a newer version.\nSkipped (and reported) if you have local changes, low disk space, or the rollback service is missing. After updating, the services are restarted and checked; if they do not stay healthy, the update is rolled back automatically.\nRuns overnight (2-5 AM in your timezone) when possible. Problems show as a banner on Overview. A stopped display is not started. Default: off.', 'Automatic Updates') }}
+            </label>
+            {% if auto_update_status and (main_config.auto_update or {}).enabled and auto_update_status.verifier_installed is sameas false %}
+            <p class="mt-1 ml-6 text-xs text-amber-700">
+                {% if auto_update_status.setup_status == 'failed' %}
+                Setting up the update health check failed: {{ auto_update_status.setup_message }}
+                LEDMatrix code updates are paused until it is fixed; plugin updates still run.
+                {% else %}
+                Setting up the update health check. The display service does this when it starts, so it is
+                ready shortly after saving (or once the display is started). LEDMatrix code updates begin after that.
+                {% endif %}
+            </p>
+            {% endif %}
+            {% if auto_update_status and auto_update_status.verifying %}
+            <p class="mt-1 ml-6 text-xs text-blue-700">An update was just installed and its health check is running.</p>
+            {% endif %}
+            {% if auto_update_status and (auto_update_status.last_run or auto_update_status.next_due) %}
+            <div class="mt-1 ml-6 text-xs text-gray-500 space-y-1">
+                {% if auto_update_status.last_run %}
+                <p>Last automatic update: {{ auto_update_status.last_run }}
+                   <span class="{{ 'text-red-600' if auto_update_status.status == 'error' else '' }}">— {{ auto_update_status.summary }}</span></p>
+                {% endif %}
+                {% if auto_update_status.next_due %}
+                <p>Next check: {{ auto_update_status.next_due }} or the first overnight window after it</p>
+                {% endif %}
+            </div>
+            {% endif %}
+        </div>
+
        <!-- Timezone -->
        <div class="form-group" id="setting-general-timezone" data-setting-key="timezone">
            <label for="timezone" class="block text-sm font-medium text-gray-700">Timezone{{ ui.help_tip('Time zone used for clocks, schedules, and time-based content.\nChoose the zone where the display physically lives so on/off schedules fire at the correct local time.', 'Timezone') }}</label>
@@ -1,3 +1,44 @@
+<!-- Automatic update banner: a weekly update that failed, was blocked or was rolled back -->
+<div id="auto-update-banner" class="bg-red-50 border border-red-300 rounded-lg p-4 mb-4 flex items-start" style="display:none !important" role="alert">
+    <div class="flex-shrink-0 mr-3 mt-0.5">
+        <i class="fas fa-exclamation-circle text-red-500"></i>
+    </div>
+    <div class="flex-1">
+        <p class="text-sm font-medium text-red-800">Automatic Update Needs Attention</p>
+        <p class="text-sm text-red-700 mt-1" id="auto-update-banner-text"></p>
+        <p class="text-xs text-red-600 mt-1">Details are under Automatic Updates on the General tab.</p>
+    </div>
+    <button type="button" onclick="window.dismissAutoUpdateBanner()" class="ml-4 flex-shrink-0 text-red-500 hover:text-red-600" aria-label="Dismiss">
+        <i class="fas fa-times"></i>
+    </button>
+</div>
+<script>
+(function () {
+    fetch('/api/v3/system/auto-update')
+        .then(function (r) { return r.json(); })
+        .then(function (resp) {
+            var d = resp.data || {};
+            if (!d.alert) return;
+            document.getElementById('auto-update-banner-text').textContent = d.alert;
+            var banner = document.getElementById('auto-update-banner');
+            banner.dataset.alertId = d.alert_id || '';
+            banner.style.setProperty('display', 'flex', 'important');
+        })
+        .catch(function () {});
+
+    // Dismissal is stored server-side, so the banner stays gone on every
+    // device until a new failure raises a new alert.
+    window.dismissAutoUpdateBanner = function () {
+        var banner = document.getElementById('auto-update-banner');
+        banner.style.setProperty('display', 'none', 'important');
+        fetch('/api/v3/system/auto-update/dismiss', {
+            method: 'POST',
+            headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
+            body: JSON.stringify({alert_id: banner.dataset.alertId})
+        }).catch(function () {});
+    };
+}());
+</script>
 <!-- Reconciliation warning banner: shown when startup reconciliation found stale plugin config entries -->
 <div id="reconciliation-banner" class="bg-yellow-50 border border-yellow-300 rounded-lg p-4 mb-4 flex items-start" style="display:none !important" role="alert">
    <div class="flex-shrink-0 mr-3 mt-0.5">
@@ -315,7 +315,14 @@
            
            {# Array - check for file upload widget first (to avoid breaking static-image plugin), then checkbox-group, then array of objects #}
            {% elif field_type == 'array' %}
-            {% set x_widget = prop.get('x-widget') or prop.get('x_widget') %}
+            {# An array of objects with no widget named would otherwise reach the
+               comma-separated text input, which joins each item as a Python dict
+               repr and posts it back as a list of strings -- the schema rejects
+               that and every save of the plugin returns 400. The table widget
+               already edits any array of objects, so make it the default. #}
+            {% set _items = prop.get('items') or {} %}
+            {% set x_widget = prop.get('x-widget') or prop.get('x_widget')
+                or ('array-table' if (_items.get('type') == 'object' and _items.get('properties')) else none) %}
            {% if x_widget == 'file-upload' %}
                {# File upload widget for arrays #}
                {% set upload_config = prop.get('x-upload-config') or {} %}
@@ -606,7 +613,11 @@
                                                {% if logo_path %}
                                                <img src="/{{ logo_path }}" alt="Logo" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="w-8 h-8 object-cover rounded border" id="{{ field_id }}_logo_preview_{{ item_index }}">
                                                <input type="hidden" name="{{ full_key }}.{{ item_index }}.logo.path" value="{{ logo_path }}">
-                                                <input type="hidden" name="{{ full_key }}.{{ item_index }}.logo.id" value="{{ logo_value.get('id', '') }}">
+                                                {# Only when there is one, as custom-feeds.js does: a blank id
+                                                   is saved as null and fails the id's string type. #}
+                                                {% if logo_value.get('id') %}
+                                                <input type="hidden" name="{{ full_key }}.{{ item_index }}.logo.id" value="{{ logo_value.get('id') }}">
+                                                {% endif %}
                                                {% else %}
                                                <span class="text-xs text-gray-400">No logo</span>
                                                {% endif %}
@@ -1101,8 +1112,21 @@
    {% set section_id = (plugin_id ~ '-section-' ~ full_key)|replace('.', '-')|replace('_', '-') %}
    {% set label = prop.title if prop.title else key|replace('_', ' ')|title %}
    {% set description = prop.description if prop.description else '' %}
-    {% set nested_value = value if value else {} %}
-    
+    {# Only a dict can be looked into. A schema that turns a legacy scalar into
+       an object (news' dynamic_duration: true -> {enabled, ...}) still finds
+       the scalar in config.json until the next save, and `key in true` is a
+       TypeError that takes down the whole config page. A legacy boolean was
+       the on/off switch the object's `enabled` now holds, so carry it over --
+       rendering {} would draw that checkbox unchecked and the next save would
+       quietly turn the feature off. The save then writes the object. #}
+    {% if value is mapping %}
+        {% set nested_value = value %}
+    {% elif value is boolean and 'enabled' in (prop.properties or {}) %}
+        {% set nested_value = {'enabled': value} %}
+    {% else %}
+        {% set nested_value = {} %}
+    {% endif %}
+
    <div class="nested-section border border-gray-300 rounded-lg mb-4">
        <button type="button" 
                class="w-full bg-gray-100 hover:bg-gray-200 px-4 py-3 flex items-center justify-between text-left transition-colors rounded-t-lg"
@@ -1259,7 +1283,7 @@
            <div class="bg-gray-50 rounded-lg p-4">
                <h3 class="text-md font-medium text-gray-900 mb-3">Configuration</h3>
                {{ ui.settings_filter("Filter this plugin's settings…") }}
-                <div class="space-y-4 max-h-96 overflow-y-auto pr-2">
+                <div class="space-y-4">
                    {% if schema and schema.properties %}
                        {# Use property order if defined, otherwise use natural order #}
                        {# Skip 'enabled' field - it's handled by the header toggle #}
@@ -197,7 +197,11 @@
    <!-- Messages -->
    <div x-show="message" 
         x-text="message"
-         :class="messageType === 'error' ? 'bg-red-50 border-red-200 text-red-800' : 'bg-green-50 border-green-200 text-green-800'"
+         :class="{
+             error: 'bg-red-50 border-red-200 text-red-800',
+             info: 'bg-blue-50 border-blue-200 text-blue-800',
+             warning: 'bg-yellow-50 border-yellow-200 text-yellow-800'
+         }[messageType] || 'bg-green-50 border-green-200 text-green-800'"
         class="mt-4 p-3 rounded border"
         x-cloak></div>
 </div>
@@ -214,6 +218,7 @@ function wifiSetup() {
            ap_mode_active: false,
            auto_enable_ap_mode: true  // Default: true (safe due to grace period)
        },
+        statusLoaded: false,
        networks: [],
        selectedSSID: '',
        manualSSID: '',
@@ -258,7 +263,15 @@ function wifiSetup() {
                const response = await fetch('/api/v3/wifi/status');
                const data = await response.json();
                if (data.status === 'success') {
+                    const firstLoad = !this.statusLoaded;
                    this.status = data.data;
+                    this.statusLoaded = true;
+                    // A failed attempt brings LEDMatrix-Setup back; tell the
+                    // user who rejoined it why.
+                    const attempt = data.data.last_connect_attempt;
+                    if (firstLoad && attempt && attempt.state === 'failed' && !data.data.connected) {
+                        this.showMessage(this.describeFailedAttempt(attempt), 'error');
+                    }
                } else {
                    this.showMessage(data.message, 'error');
                }
@@ -316,6 +329,10 @@ function wifiSetup() {

            this.connecting = true;
            this.message = '';
+            const viaSetupNetwork = this.status.ap_mode_active;
+            if (viaSetupNetwork) {
+                this.showMessage(this.handoffMessage(ssid.trim()), 'info');
+            }
            try {
                const response = await fetch('/api/v3/wifi/connect', {
                    method: 'POST',
@@ -327,7 +344,16 @@ function wifiSetup() {
                        password: this.password || ''
                    })
                });
-                
+
+                if (response.status === 202) {
+                    // Connecting in the background; the setup network is about
+                    // to go down and take this page's connection with it.
+                    this.password = '';
+                    this.showMessage(this.handoffMessage(ssid.trim()), 'info');
+                    this.pollConnectResult(ssid.trim());
+                    return;
+                }
+
                // Check if response is ok before parsing JSON
                if (!response.ok) {
                    // Try to parse error message from response
@@ -362,13 +388,56 @@ function wifiSetup() {
                    this.showMessage(data.message || 'Failed to connect to network', 'error');
                }
            } catch (error) {
-                console.error('WiFi connect error:', error);
-                this.showMessage('Failed to connect: ' + error.message, 'error');
+                if (viaSetupNetwork) {
+                    // The setup network went down mid-request: that is the
+                    // connection attempt happening, not a failure.
+                    this.showMessage(this.handoffMessage(ssid.trim()), 'info');
+                } else {
+                    console.error('WiFi connect error:', error);
+                    this.showMessage('Failed to connect: ' + error.message, 'error');
+                }
            } finally {
                this.connecting = false;
            }
        },

+        handoffMessage(ssid) {
+            return `Connecting to ${ssid}. LEDMatrix-Setup will turn off, so this page will stop responding. ` +
+                `If it works, the LED display shows the new address; rejoin your home WiFi and open it. ` +
+                `If it fails, LEDMatrix-Setup comes back within a few minutes: rejoin it and reopen this page to see why.`;
+        },
+
+        // Follow a background connect until its result lands or the setup
+        // network drops out from under this page.
+        async pollConnectResult(ssid, retriesLeft = 20) {
+            if (retriesLeft <= 0) return;
+            await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 3000));
+            try {
+                const response = await fetch('/api/v3/wifi/status');
+                const data = await response.json();
+                const attempt = data.data && data.data.last_connect_attempt;
+                if (attempt && attempt.ssid === ssid && attempt.state !== 'pending') {
+                    this.status = data.data;
+                    if (attempt.state === 'success') {
+                        this.showMessage(attempt.message || `Connected to ${ssid}`, 'success');
+                    } else {
+                        this.showMessage(this.describeFailedAttempt(attempt), 'error');
+                    }
+                    return;
+                }
+            } catch (error) {
+                return;  // Setup network is down; the handoff message already explains.
+            }
+            this.pollConnectResult(ssid, retriesLeft - 1);
+        },
+
+        describeFailedAttempt(attempt) {
+            const reason = attempt.error_type === 'wrong_password'
+                ? 'the password was incorrect'
+                : (attempt.message || 'unknown error');
+            return `Could not connect to ${attempt.ssid}: ${reason}.`;
+        },
+
        async disconnectFromNetwork() {
            if (!this.status.connected) {
                this.showMessage('Not connected to any network', 'warning');