fix(schedule): stop stray 'days' data from overriding Global schedule

save_schedule_config never persisted the schedule's 'mode' field, and
_check_schedule inferred per-day vs global purely from whether a 'days'
dict was present for the current day. Config migration
(_merge_template_defaults) re-adds the template's 'schedule.days' (all
days disabled by default) whenever it's missing from the user's saved
config - which is exactly the case after saving Global mode, since that
save path intentionally pops 'days'. The result: a user on Global mode
would get their schedule silently reinterpreted as per-day, with today's
day disabled, blanking the display.

Persist 'mode' on save and have _check_schedule honor it explicitly
(mirroring how _check_dim_schedule already does), so a resurrected
'days' dict can't override an explicit Global selection. Falls back to
the old inference behavior only when no 'mode' is recorded.

src/display_controller.py

@@ -199,10 +199,6 @@ class DisplayController:
         self.wifi_status_file = WIFI_STATUS_FILE
         self.wifi_status_active = False
         self.wifi_status_expires_at: Optional[float] = None
-        # _check_wifi_status_message throttle state (checked at frame rate,
-        # stat'd at most once per second)
-        self._wifi_status_check_ts = 0.0
-        self._wifi_status_last_result: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None
 
         # Plugin display() signature cache — must be initialised before the plugin
         # loading loop below so the .pop() invalidation at load time is always safe.
@@ -625,18 +621,28 @@ class DisplayController:
 
         current_day = current_time.strftime('%A').lower()  # e.g. 'monday'
         current_time_only = current_time.time()
-        
+
         # Check if per-day schedule is configured
         days_config = schedule_config.get('days')
-        
-        # Determine which schedule to use
+
+        # Determine which schedule to use. Respect an explicit 'mode' field
+        # (like the dim schedule does) so a stray/legacy 'days' dict left over
+        # from config migration or a prior per-day setup can't silently
+        # override a user's Global schedule selection.
+        mode = schedule_config.get('mode')
+        mode_normalized = mode.replace('_', '-') if mode else None
+
         use_per_day = False
-        if days_config:
-            # Check if days dict is not empty and contains current day
-            if days_config and current_day in days_config:
+        if mode_normalized == 'global':
+            use_per_day = False
+        elif mode_normalized == 'per-day':
+            use_per_day = bool(days_config and current_day in days_config)
+        elif days_config:
+            # No explicit mode recorded (legacy config) - fall back to
+            # inferring from presence of a 'days' dict for the current day.
+            if current_day in days_config:
                 use_per_day = True
-            elif days_config:
-                # Days dict exists but doesn't have current day - fall back to global
+            else:
                 logger.debug("Per-day schedule exists but %s not configured, using global schedule", current_day)
         
         if use_per_day:
@@ -1639,7 +1645,7 @@ class DisplayController:
                     self._sleep_with_plugin_updates(60)
                     continue
                 
-                logger.debug("Display active, processing mode: %s", self.current_display_mode)
+                logger.info(f"Display active, processing mode: {self.current_display_mode}")
                 
                 # Plugins update on their own schedules - no forced sync updates needed
                 # Each plugin has its own update_interval and background services
@@ -1807,7 +1813,7 @@ class DisplayController:
                         if self.plugin_manager and hasattr(self.plugin_manager, 'health_tracker') and self.plugin_manager.health_tracker:
                             should_skip = self.plugin_manager.health_tracker.should_skip_plugin(plugin_id)
                             if should_skip:
-                                logger.info("Skipping plugin %s due to circuit breaker (mode: %s)", plugin_id, active_mode)
+                                logger.info(f"Skipping plugin {plugin_id} due to circuit breaker (mode: {active_mode})")
                                 display_result = False
                                 # Skip to next mode - let existing logic handle it
                                 manager_to_display = None
@@ -1865,7 +1871,7 @@ class DisplayController:
                             if isinstance(result, bool):
                                 display_result = result
                                 if not display_result:
-                                    logger.info("Plugin %s display() returned False for mode %s", plugin_id, active_mode)
+                                    logger.info(f"Plugin {plugin_id} display() returned False for mode {active_mode}")
                         
                         # Record success if display completed without exception
                         if self.plugin_manager and hasattr(self.plugin_manager, 'health_tracker') and self.plugin_manager.health_tracker:
@@ -2358,16 +2364,6 @@ class DisplayController:
             Returns None on any error or if message is expired/invalid.
         """
         try:
-            # Throttle the existence stat to ~1 Hz: this runs on every render
-            # iteration (60+ fps), and the file usually doesn't exist — the
-            # status message's lifetime is measured in seconds anyway.
-            # Both attributes are initialised in __init__.
-            now = time.time()
-            if (now - self._wifi_status_check_ts) < 1.0:
-                return self._wifi_status_last_result
-            self._wifi_status_check_ts = now
-            self._wifi_status_last_result = None
-
             # Check if file exists
             if not self.wifi_status_file or not self.wifi_status_file.exists():
                 return None
@@ -2418,14 +2414,13 @@ class DisplayController:
                     pass
                 return None
             
-            # Message is valid and not expired — cache for the throttle window
-            self._wifi_status_last_result = {
+            # Message is valid and not expired
+            return {
                 'message': message,
                 'timestamp': timestamp,
                 'duration': duration,
                 'expires_at': expires_at
             }
-            return self._wifi_status_last_result
             
         except Exception as e:
             # Catch-all for any unexpected errors - log but don't break the display

src/vegas_mode/render_pipeline.py

@@ -66,10 +66,6 @@ class RenderPipeline:
             else display_manager.height
         )
 
-        # Reusable blank frame for cycle-end pushes (allocated lazily,
-        # re-blacked before each reuse)
-        self._blank_frame = None
-
         # ScrollHelper for optimized scrolling
         self.scroll_helper = ScrollHelper(
             self.display_width,
@@ -238,19 +234,11 @@ class RenderPipeline:
                     )
                     # Push blank immediately so the hardware never shows any
                     # post-wrap content while the coordinator recomposes the
-                    # next cycle (~100 ms). The blank is allocated once and
-                    # reused across cycle wraps (fresh paste each time in case
-                    # a consumer drew on the previous one).
+                    # next cycle (~100 ms).
                     try:
-                        if self._blank_frame is None or self._blank_frame.size != (
-                                self.display_width, self.display_height):
-                            self._blank_frame = Image.new(
-                                'RGB', (self.display_width, self.display_height))
-                        else:
-                            self._blank_frame.paste(
-                                (0, 0, 0),
-                                (0, 0, self.display_width, self.display_height))
-                        self.display_manager.image = self._blank_frame
+                        from PIL import Image as _Image
+                        blank = _Image.new('RGB', (self.display_width, self.display_height))
+                        self.display_manager.image = blank
                         self.display_manager.update_display()
                     except Exception:
                         logger.exception("Failed to write blank frame to display at cycle end")

web_interface/blueprints/api_v3.py

@@ -329,6 +329,7 @@ def save_schedule_config():
         }
 
         mode = data.get('mode', 'global')
+        schedule_config['mode'] = mode
 
         if mode == 'global':
             # Simple global schedule