Merge claude/display-service-arch-a42261: display service v1 — framebuffer compositor (D1-D5)

A user-space display service: owns the write-combining framebuffer, composites a
z-ordered layer stack into a cacheable back buffer, presents only the damaged
region, and is driven over IPC by runtime.display. Proven end to end by the
display-demo client. Kernel changes: a display device node + write-combining
mmio_map, and a page-by-page mmap that lifts the 1 MiB per-call cap. Deferred by
design: shared-memory client surfaces, a native mode-setting backend, and vsync.

build.zig

@@ -348,6 +348,13 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
     // The block protocol, so runtime.block (the block-device client) can speak it.
     runtime_module.addImport("block-protocol", block_protocol_module);
 
+    // The display protocol, so runtime.display (the compositor client) and the display
+    // service both speak it through the runtime, like the other protocol modules.
+    const display_protocol_module = b.addModule("display-protocol", .{
+        .root_source_file = b.path("system/services/display/protocol.zig"),
+    });
+    runtime_module.addImport("display-protocol", display_protocol_module);
+
     // The power protocol: system power's domain-named surface (docs/power.md).
     const power_protocol_module = b.addModule("power-protocol", .{
         .root_source_file = b.path("system/services/power/protocol.zig"),
@@ -459,6 +466,8 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
     // The FAT filesystem server: mounts the block device and serves it into the VFS
     // at /mnt/usb. Its engine (engine.zig / on-disk.zig) is imported relatively.
     const fat_exe = addUserBinary(b, kernel_target, runtime_module, mmio_module, xkeyboard_config_module, acpi_ids_module, "fat", "system/services/fat/fat.zig");
+    const display_exe = addUserBinary(b, kernel_target, runtime_module, mmio_module, xkeyboard_config_module, acpi_ids_module, "display", "system/services/display/display.zig");
+    const display_demo_exe = addUserBinary(b, kernel_target, runtime_module, mmio_module, xkeyboard_config_module, acpi_ids_module, "display-demo", "system/services/display-demo/display-demo.zig");
     const fat_test_exe = addUserBinary(b, kernel_target, runtime_module, mmio_module, xkeyboard_config_module, acpi_ids_module, "fat-test", "system/services/fat/fat-test.zig");
     const pci_bus_exe = addUserBinary(b, kernel_target, runtime_module, mmio_module, xkeyboard_config_module, acpi_ids_module, "pci-bus", "system/drivers/pci-bus/pci-bus.zig");
     // The PCI bus driver decodes each function's class triple to human names in its
@@ -526,6 +535,10 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
     mk_run.addFileArg(fat_exe.getEmittedBin());
     mk_run.addArg("fat-test");
     mk_run.addFileArg(fat_test_exe.getEmittedBin());
+    mk_run.addArg("display");
+    mk_run.addFileArg(display_exe.getEmittedBin());
+    mk_run.addArg("display-demo");
+    mk_run.addFileArg(display_demo_exe.getEmittedBin());
     mk_run.addArg("pci-bus");
     mk_run.addFileArg(pci_bus_exe.getEmittedBin());
     mk_run.addArg("crash-test");
@@ -563,6 +576,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
         .{ usb_hid_mouse_exe, "system/drivers" },
         .{ usb_storage_exe, "system/drivers" },
         .{ fat_exe, "system/services" },
+        .{ display_exe, "system/services" },
         .{ log_flush_exe, "system/services" },
     }) |entry| {
         const step = b.addInstallArtifact(entry[0], .{ .dest_dir = .{ .override = .{ .custom = entry[1] } } });
@@ -759,6 +773,8 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
         "system/services/vfs/protocol.zig", // NodeKind / DirectoryEntry sizes + op values
         "system/services/fat/on-disk.zig", // FAT on-disk struct sizes + type detection
         "system/services/fat/engine.zig", // FAT read/write over a RAM-backed image
+        "system/services/display/compositor.zig", // Rect math + fill/composite/blit-tile
+        "system/services/display/protocol.zig", // pack(): native pixel encoding per format
     }) |root| {
         const mod_tests = b.addTest(.{
             .root_module = b.createModule(.{

docs/README.md

@@ -69,7 +69,12 @@ rather than restate it. Roughly in the order things happen at runtime:
     mouse, joystick): why a synchronous rendezvous can't fan out to many listeners, the
     asynchronous `ipc_send` primitive built to fix it, and the per-device subscribe/publish
     service layered on top.
-19. **[halting.md](halting.md) — halting.** Why a kernel can't just "exit", and
+19. **[display.md](display.md) — the display service.** The display half of the GUI
+    track: a user-space compositor that owns the framebuffer, composes a layer stack into
+    a double buffer, and presents it. Why GOP and the PCI display device are two views of
+    one controller, the device-node + write-combining handoff, and what flicker-free buys
+    that tear-free doesn't. Plan: [display-plan.md](display-plan.md).
+20. **[halting.md](halting.md) — halting.** Why a kernel can't just "exit", and
     how `while (true) hlt` parks the CPU safely once there's nothing left to do.
 
 Start with the north star:

docs/display-plan.md

@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+# Display service — build plan (v1: the dumb-framebuffer compositor)
+
+The ordered, checkpointable build-out for [display.md](display.md). Each milestone is
+small, lands on its own, and ends in a **verifiable gate** — shaped for a `/loop` run.
+Read [display.md](display.md) first for the *why*; this is the *what* and the *order*.
+
+## Locked decisions (do not relitigate)
+
+- **Handoff = device node + write-combining `mmio_map`.** The kernel seeds a synthetic
+  `display0` node from `BootInformation.framebuffer`; the service claims + WC-maps it.
+  (Not a bespoke `framebuffer_map` syscall — the device route inherits ownership,
+  release-on-death, and re-claim-on-restart.)
+- **v1 = the full compositor pipeline on the dumb framebuffer.** One `display` service
+  owns the LFB + a cacheable back buffer + a layer stack; double-buffer + damage-driven
+  present; clients draw via server-side commands. **No** runtime mode-setting, **no**
+  shared-memory surfaces — both deferred (see display.md, "What v1 does not do").
+
+## Conventions
+
+Follow [coding-standards.md](coding-standards.md): spell out non-acronym abbreviations in
+full, kebab-case file names, no `Co-Authored-By` trailers on commits. New user binaries
+go through `addUserBinary` in [build.zig](../build.zig) and get packed into the
+initial-ramdisk; protocols are `b.addModule("…-protocol", …)` and imported into the
+`runtime` module.
+
+## How to verify along the way
+
+- `zig build test` — host unit tests (compositor math: layer clipping, damage merge,
+  pitch/format blits are all host-testable with a fake framebuffer).
+- `python3 test/qemu_test.py <case>` — boots the real kernel in QEMU; assert on the
+  serial log ([tests.zig](../system/kernel/tests.zig) is the registry).
+- The `run-efi` target renders to QEMU's display (`-device VGA,edid=on,xres=1280,yres=720`)
+  — a screenshot confirms pixels for the milestones whose gate is visual.
+
+---
+
+## D1 — The handoff primitive (kernel) ✅
+
+Make the boot framebuffer reachable and mappable **write-combining** from user space.
+
+- [x] [device-abi.zig](../system/devices/device-abi.zig): added `DeviceClass.display`; a
+      `DisplayInfo{ width, height, pitch, format }` carried on the descriptor; a
+      `flags` field on `ResourceDescriptor` + `resource_flag_write_combining`.
+- [x] [devices-broker.zig](../system/kernel/devices-broker.zig): `seedDisplay(base, w, h,
+      pitch, format)` publishes a root-level `display` node with one WC-flagged `memory`
+      resource `[base, height*pitch]` + the `DisplayInfo`; `displayDevice()` /
+      `displayClaimed()`. Seeded from `kmain` after `devices_broker.init`.
+- [x] [process.zig](../system/kernel/process.zig) `systemMmioMap` + paging
+      (`mapUserDeviceInto` gains a `write_combining` bool): a resource's WC flag maps it
+      through the WC PAT slot (`setupPat`) instead of strong-uncacheable.
+- [x] [console.zig](../system/kernel/console.zig): `setSuppressed` quiesces `write` while
+      the display device is claimed (driven from `systemDeviceClaim` / release); the
+      terminal panic + exception paths clear it first so a dying machine still draws.
+
+**Gate (met, automated):** the `display` kernel test (`python3 test/qemu_test.py display`,
+`displayTest` in [tests.zig](../system/kernel/tests.zig)) asserts the seeded node's shape
+and geometry, then walks the real claim + `mmio_map` path into a throwaway address space
+and verifies the leaf is **write-combining** (PAT entry 4: PAT bit set, PCD/PWT clear) —
+with an uncacheable-still-uncacheable regression guard. Chosen over the original
+screenshot-of-a-fill gate because it proves the *actual* WC property headlessly; the
+visible fill folds into D2's gate (the service clears the screen through the back buffer).
+Regression-checked: `discovery`, `ioport`, `claim-release`, `supervision`, `device-list`,
+`device-manager` all still pass with the +1 device in the table.
+
+## D2 — Service skeleton, protocol, runtime module ✅
+
+Stand up the named service and the double-buffer, no layers yet.
+
+- [x] `system/services/display/protocol.zig`: `Operation{ info, create_layer,
+      configure_layer, destroy_layer, fill_rect, blit_tile, damage, present }`; `extern`
+      `Request`/`Reply`; size + `maximum_payload` consts. (Model: block/protocol.zig.)
+- [x] [abi.zig](../system/abi.zig): `ServiceId.display = 9`.
+- [x] `system/services/display/display.zig`: `main` → enumerate + claim + WC-map the LFB
+      (front) → `mmap` a cacheable back buffer of `height*pitch` → `runtime.service.run`.
+      `info` and a whole-screen `present` (back → front) are live; layer ops fail-stub
+      until D3. Init clears the back buffer and presents it — the double-buffer path.
+- [x] [library/runtime/display.zig](../library/runtime/runtime.zig) (+ barrel export of
+      `display` and `display_protocol`): `info()` and `present()`, cached `.display`
+      lookup with retry (model: block.zig).
+- [x] [init.zig](../system/services/init/init.zig): `"display"` added to `boot_services`.
+- [x] [build.zig](../build.zig): `display-protocol` module on the runtime; `display` exe
+      via `addUserBinary`; packed into the initial-ramdisk; installed to
+      `/system/services/display`.
+- [x] **Kernel fix the back buffer surfaced:** `mmap` was capped at 256 pages (1 MiB) by
+      a fixed kernel-stack `frames` array. Rewrote `systemMmap` to map page-by-page with
+      rollback (no scratch array) and raised the cap to 8192 pages (32 MiB) — enough for a
+      4K back buffer. A real limitation met, exactly the kind this project chases.
+
+**Gate (met, automated):** `python3 test/qemu_test.py display-service` spawns the
+compositor and matches its own serial heartbeats — `display: online {w}x{h} pitch …`
+followed by `display: presented frame 0` — which it prints only after the whole
+claim → WC-map → back-buffer → clear → present chain succeeds (matched on serial like the
+fault cases, since a lone blocking service can't reschedule the in-kernel test context to
+poll). Regression-checked: `usermem`, `heap` (the `mmap` rewrite), `init` (the boot-list
+addition), and D1's `display` all still pass.
+
+## D3 — Layer stack + compositor + damage present ✅
+
+The heart: composite an ordered layer stack, present only what changed.
+
+- [x] A layer table (16 slots): each `Layer` = position, z, visible, a server-owned
+      `mmap`'d surface (freed on `destroy_layer`). `damage` accumulates the dirty screen
+      region since the last present.
+- [x] `create_layer` / `configure_layer` (damages old + new footprints) / `destroy_layer`,
+      `fill_rect`, `blit_tile` (reads the inline tile from the IPC payload, unaligned-safe),
+      `damage`, `present`.
+- [x] Pure, host-tested [compositor.zig](../system/services/display/compositor.zig): `Rect`
+      (intersect/unite), `Surface`, `fillRect`, `composite` (opaque, clipped to a damage
+      rect), `blitTile`. `present` clears the damaged region to the wallpaper, paints the
+      visible layers bottom-to-top (z-sorted), and flushes just that rect back → front (WC).
+      Colour packing (rgbx/bgrx) is `protocol.pack`, also host-tested.
+- [x] Host tests (`zig build test`, green): rect intersect/unite, `fillRect` clipping +
+      `stride > width` padding, `composite` overlap-shows-top + damage clipping, `blitTile`
+      unaligned read + clipping, and `pack` for both pixel formats.
+
+**Gate (met):** `zig build test` green for the compositor + pack unit tests, **and** the
+`display-service` case's startup self-check composites two overlapping layers on the real
+framebuffer and reads back the composited pixels — overlap = top layer, outside = bottom
+layer — logging `display: compositor self-check ok` (matched by the harness).
+
+## D4 — Client API + the demo client ✅
+
+Prove the pipeline end-to-end from a separate process.
+
+- [x] Finished [runtime/display.zig](../library/runtime/runtime.zig): a `Layer` handle with
+      `fill` / `blitTile` (inline tile) / `configure` (move/restack/show) / `damage` /
+      `destroy`, `createLayer`, and a `color(r,g,b)` helper (caches the mode, packs via
+      `protocol.pack`). Coordinates are signed over the wire (`@bitCast` both ways).
+- [x] `system/services/display-demo/`: a hardware-free client (the `input-source` analog)
+      — a full-screen wallpaper layer, a rectangle that slides back and forth (moved by
+      `configure` each frame, so the compositor repaints old + new), and a cursor layer;
+      presents in a loop paced by `runtime.time`. Wired into build + initial-ramdisk.
+- [x] **Bug this surfaced:** `protocol.message_maximum` was 4096, but the kernel caps
+      every IPC message at `MESSAGE_MAXIMUM` = 256 — so `replyWait` rejected the oversized
+      receive buffer with `-E2BIG` and the serve loop had been *spinning* since D2 (unseen,
+      as D2/D3 matched init-time heartbeats). Set it to 256; `blit_tile` is now explicitly
+      a small-tile path (≤ 54 px inline), larger bitmaps being the deferred shm surface.
+
+**Gate (met):** `python3 test/qemu_test.py display-demo` spawns the service + `display-demo`;
+the demo drives a run of frames of motion through the layer client API and logs
+`display-demo: ok` (the visible motion is a screenshot via `zig build run-x86-64`).
+Regression-checked: `zig build test`, `display` (D1), and `display-service` (D2/D3) all
+still pass, and the default `zig build` is clean.
+
+## D5 — Test cases + docs ✅
+
+- [x] The three integration cases exist and pass: `display` (D1 handoff, kernel),
+      `display-service` (D2/D3 compositor + self-check), and `display-demo` (D4 full
+      pipeline: spawn `display` + `display-demo`, match `display-demo: ok`) —
+      [tests.zig](../system/kernel/tests.zig) + [qemu_test.py](../test/qemu_test.py). Plus
+      the pure host tests (`zig build test`).
+- [x] [display.md](display.md) updated to the built state (the "Verifying it" section names
+      the real cases); [README index](README.md) entry present (#19); the `display-track`
+      memory marked DONE with the commits.
+
+**Gate (met):** `python3 test/qemu_test.py display display-service display-demo` all pass,
+`zig build test` is green, and the default `zig build` is clean.
+
+---
+
+## v1 status: complete
+
+D1–D5 done. The display service is a working framebuffer compositor: it owns the
+framebuffer (write-combining), composites a z-ordered layer stack into a cacheable back
+buffer, presents only the damaged region, and is driven over IPC by the `runtime.display`
+client — proven end-to-end by a separate demo process. Two limitations are deliberate and
+documented (docs/display.md): no runtime mode-setting (native backend) and no true vsync
+(no vblank on a dumb framebuffer). Next steps are the Deferred items below.
+
+---
+
+## Deferred (explicitly not in this plan)
+
+- **Shared-memory surfaces** — generalize M13 capability passing to memory objects
+  (`shm_create`/`shm_map`), so bitmap clients hand the compositor a rendered surface
+  instead of drawing commands. The compositor's layer model already anticipates it.
+- **Native backend (Bochs DISPI, then virtio-gpu)** — behind the same internal backend
+  interface as the dumb framebuffer: EDID mode list + runtime resolution/bpp change +
+  (eventually) a vblank/flip path for true vsync.
+- **Driver/compositor process split** — only when a second backend or a second head makes
+  the abstraction pay for itself.

docs/display.md

@@ -0,0 +1,264 @@
+# The display service: a framebuffer compositor
+
+The [framebuffer](framebuffer.md) the loader hands over is a flat block of pixel
+memory, and the kernel's [bootstrap console](../system/kernel/console.zig) draws text
+into it directly. That console is a stop-gap. The **display service**
+(`system/services/display/`) is the real thing: an ordinary ring-3 process that *owns*
+the framebuffer, composes a stack of **layers** into an off-screen back buffer, and
+**presents** finished frames to the screen — the display half of the GUI track
+([vision.md](vision.md)), the sibling of the [input service](input.md).
+
+This note is the architecture and the reasoning behind it. The concrete build order
+lives in [display-plan.md](display-plan.md).
+
+## First, a distinction that shapes everything: GOP vs. the PCI device
+
+It is tempting to think "the GOP framebuffer" and "the VGA-compatible display
+controller in the PCIe tree" are two different things. They are not — they are **two
+interfaces to the same silicon, at different times and different levels**, and knowing
+which one you're holding decides what you can do.
+
+- **GOP is firmware's *temporary* driver** for the display controller. It gives you a
+  linear framebuffer pointer and can set video modes — but only until
+  `ExitBootServices`. The loader already leans on this: [`queryFramebuffer`](../boot/efi.zig)
+  reads the monitor's EDID, picks the native mode, and calls `set_mode` **before**
+  exiting ([gop.md](gop.md)). Once the kernel runs, GOP is **gone** — no `set_mode`, no
+  mode list, no EDID. What survives is the frozen snapshot in
+  [`BootInformation.framebuffer`](../system/boot-handoff.zig): `{base, width, height,
+  pitch, format}`, and nothing more.
+
+- **The PCI class-0x03 device is the raw controller** — BARs, config space, registers,
+  IO ports. It is what you actually *own* after boot. On QEMU's emulated adapter
+  ([`-device VGA,edid=on`](../build.zig), the Bochs VBE/DISPI model) the `base` GOP handed
+  you *is* that device's linear-framebuffer BAR — the same physical memory, seen through
+  a different door. On a real discrete GPU, GOP's `base` is an aperture inside the GPU's
+  VRAM BAR. danos already decodes this device
+  ([pci-class.zig](../system/devices/pci-class.zig) has the full `display` namespace, and
+  `pci-bus` already reports it to the [device manager](device-manager.md) with its class
+  triple) — but nothing binds it yet.
+
+What that difference costs you, concretely:
+
+| You want to…                              | Dumb GOP framebuffer (boot handoff) | Native device driver (PCI 0x03)          |
+|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
+| **Report** the current mode              | ✅ from the handoff                 | ✅                                        |
+| **Change resolution / bpp at runtime**   | ❌ GOP is gone                      | ✅ program DISPI regs / virtio-gpu queue  |
+| **Re-read EDID, enumerate monitor modes** | ❌                                  | ✅ the device exposes an EDID block       |
+| **Refresh rate**                         | ❌ (virtual anyway)                 | only a real KMS driver — far future       |
+| **vblank / tear-free present**           | ❌ no vblank signal                 | ✅ vblank IRQ + page-flip (real GPUs)     |
+| **Works on the Pi (no PCI VGA)**         | ✅ VideoCore hands a simple FB      | ✗ per-device                              |
+
+The lesson: the **portable base for the whole GUI stack is the GOP / boot-handoff linear
+framebuffer**. Runtime mode-setting is a *per-device upgrade* layered on top — and on
+the Raspberry Pis there is no PCI VGA at all, so the neutral framebuffer is the only
+thing all three target machines share. That is why the display service is built on the
+dumb framebuffer first, with the native backend as an optional module behind the same
+interface.
+
+## Two constraints this service exists to meet
+
+Like the input service — which existed partly to motivate the asynchronous
+[`ipc_send`](ipc.md) primitive — the display service runs straight into two limits the
+rest of the system hasn't had to face:
+
+1. **The framebuffer is kernel-only today.** It arrives through the boot handoff, is
+   mapped into the kernel's physmap, and is touched only by
+   [`console.zig`](../system/kernel/console.zig). It is *not* a
+   [devices-broker](../system/kernel/devices-broker.zig) node, so
+   `device.claim`/`mmio_map` cannot reach it, and there is no framebuffer
+   [syscall](syscall.md). A user-space display service needs a **new mechanism just to
+   touch the pixels**. (See "The handoff" below — this is built.)
+
+2. **danos has no cross-process shared memory.** The memory syscalls are `mmap`
+   (private, zeroed), `mmio_map` (a *claimed device's* MMIO), and `dma_alloc` (new
+   pinned physical). The block driver's "pass a buffer by physical address" trick
+   ([block/protocol.zig](../system/services/block/protocol.zig)) works *only because its
+   consumer is DMA hardware*. A compositor that CPU-reads and blends client layers can't
+   use it — it would have to *map* another process's memory, which nothing allows. This
+   is deferred (see "What v1 does not do"), because v1 sidesteps it entirely.
+
+## Architecture
+
+```
+  kernel  ── owns the boot framebuffer; bootstrap console only
+     │   seeds a "display0" device node from BootInformation.framebuffer
+     │   (ResourceKind.memory = [base, height*pitch], write-combining hint,
+     │    plus DisplayInfo{width, height, pitch, format})
+     ▼
+  display service   (system/services/display/, ServiceId.display)      ← the compositor
+     │   device.claim(display0) → mmio_map(WRITE-COMBINING) = FRONT buffer (the LFB)
+     │   mmap(cacheable) a BACK buffer of the same geometry
+     │   owns:  an ordered LAYER STACK  +  a per-frame DAMAGE list
+     │   loop:  composite dirty layers → back buffer → present dirty rects → front
+     │   backend is an INTERNAL interface: {gop-fb} today; {bochs-dispi, virtio-gpu} later
+     ▼   reached by name (ipc_lookup); clients drive it over the display protocol
+  ┌────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┐
+  drawing clients (v1)                  surface clients (deferred)
+  runtime.display commands:             runtime.display surfaces:
+    create_layer / configure_layer        shm_create → pass as a capability →
+    fill_rect / blit_tile / damage         the compositor maps & composites the
+    present                                client-rendered bitmap directly
+```
+
+The bring-up sequence mirrors a hardware driver's — it is the
+[`usb-xhci-bus` `initialise`](../system/drivers/usb-xhci-bus/usb-xhci-bus.zig) shape
+(claim → `mmio_map` → run loop) — and the request/reply service shell is the
+[FAT](../system/services/fat/fat.zig) / [input](../system/services/input/input.zig) shape
+([`runtime.service.run`](../library/runtime/service.zig) with a `protocol.zig` of
+`extern struct` messages and an `Operation` tag).
+
+**One process, for now.** v1 is a *single* service that both owns the framebuffer and
+composites — it does not split a "framebuffer driver" from a "compositor" the way input
+splits `ps2-bus` from the input service. The backend (dumb FB vs. a native GPU) is an
+*internal* interface, not a process boundary. That boundary earns its keep only when a
+second backend or a second monitor appears; until then it is complexity with no payoff.
+
+## The handoff: a device node + a write-combining map
+
+The framebuffer crosses into user space through the machinery that already exists for
+every other device, rather than a bespoke syscall — so it inherits ownership,
+release-on-death, and re-claim-on-restart for free (the [resilience](resilience.md)
+story: a crashed display service returns the LFB to the kernel, and its restart
+re-claims it).
+
+- The kernel seeds a synthetic **`display0`** node into the
+  [devices-broker](../system/kernel/devices-broker.zig) at init, from
+  `BootInformation.framebuffer`: one `ResourceKind.memory` resource spanning
+  `[base, height*pitch]`, tagged **write-combining**, plus a small
+  `DisplayInfo{width, height, pitch, format}` (the memory resource says *where* and *how
+  big*; `DisplayInfo` says how to *interpret* the bytes).
+- The service `device.claim`s it and `mmio_map`s the resource. The map is
+  **write-combining**, not the strong-uncacheable that `mmio_map` uses for register
+  MMIO. The kernel already programs a WC PAT slot for its own console
+  ([`setupPat`](../system/kernel/architecture/x86_64/paging.zig)); this reaches it from
+  the user mapping path. **This matters:** an uncacheable framebuffer makes the
+  back→front blit unusably slow.
+- On `claim`, the kernel's bootstrap console goes quiet, so the two never fight over the
+  LFB. A panic is the one exception — by then the service is likely dead anyway, and a
+  panic on screen wins.
+
+The display service is a **named boot service**: `init` spawns it by name alongside
+`vfs`/`input`/`device-manager` ([init.zig](../system/services/init/init.zig)), and it
+self-discovers `display0` with `device.enumerate`. The [device manager](device-manager.md)
+matching path (PCI class 0x03 → a driver) is reserved for the future *native* backend, not
+this singleton synthetic node.
+
+## Double buffering and the write-combining discipline
+
+Two buffers, with deliberately different memory types:
+
+- The **front buffer** is the LFB — **write-combining**: fast to *write*, slow to
+  *read*. The rule is therefore **never read the front buffer**. Only ever stream into
+  it, sequentially.
+- The **back buffer** is ordinary **cacheable** RAM (`mmap`), the same geometry. All
+  compositing happens here, where reads and read-modify-write blends are cheap.
+
+So a frame is: compose every dirty layer into the cacheable back buffer, then **present**
+— copy the changed regions back→front in sequential, WC-friendly writes. Two details the
+[framebuffer](framebuffer.md) note already establishes carry over: step rows by `pitch`,
+not `width*4`; and handle both `rgbx` and `bgrx` [pixel formats](gop.md).
+
+## Flicker vs. tearing — what double buffering does and doesn't buy
+
+These are two different artifacts, and the dumb framebuffer fixes exactly one of them:
+
+- **Flicker** is the user seeing intermediate, half-drawn states (a clear-then-redraw
+  flash). Double buffering **eliminates it completely** — the screen only ever receives
+  whole, finished frames.
+- **Tearing** is a present landing while the display's scanout beam is mid-frame, so the
+  top of the screen shows the new frame and the bottom the old. Avoiding it requires
+  presenting during the vertical blank (**vsync**) — which needs a vblank signal. **A
+  dumb GOP framebuffer has no vblank.**
+
+So v1 is **flicker-free**, and it *minimizes* the tear window by presenting only damaged
+rectangles (less to copy → a smaller window in which the beam can catch a half-updated
+frame), but it is **not tear-free**. Genuine vsync waits for a backend with a vblank IRQ
+or a flush/flip path — a native-device capability, not something the firmware
+framebuffer can offer. Stated plainly here so the limitation is understood, not
+discovered.
+
+## Layers and the client protocol
+
+The compositor holds an **ordered stack of layers**. Each layer has a rectangle, a
+z-order, a visibility flag, and a surface. Presenting walks the stack bottom-to-top,
+painting each dirty layer into the back buffer, then flushes the damage to the front.
+
+In v1 the surfaces are **server-owned**, and clients draw into them with a small
+immediate-mode command protocol — essentially the model early X used, and enough for a
+shell, a terminal, a cursor, and a wallpaper:
+
+| Operation          | Meaning                                                        |
+|--------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
+| `info`             | report `{width, height, pitch, format}` of the display        |
+| `create_layer`     | allocate a server-owned surface, return a layer handle        |
+| `configure_layer`  | set a layer's rect, z-order, visibility                       |
+| `destroy_layer`    | release a layer                                               |
+| `fill_rect`        | fill a rectangle of a layer with a colour                     |
+| `blit_tile`        | copy a small client-supplied pixel tile into a layer (inline) |
+| `damage`           | mark a region of a layer dirty                                |
+| `present`          | composite dirty layers and flush to the screen                |
+
+Text is intentionally *not* an operation — a client renders glyphs by blitting tiles
+(the [PSF font](../system/kernel/font.psf) path the console already uses can move into a
+client). Keeping the protocol to rectangles and tiles keeps the compositor small and the
+policy in the client.
+
+## `runtime.display`
+
+Clients speak the protocol through a new [`library/runtime/display.zig`](../library/runtime/runtime.zig),
+the [`runtime.block`](../library/runtime/block.zig) shape (a cached `.display` lookup
+with a boot-race retry): `display.info()`, a `Layer` handle with `fill` / `blitTile` /
+`damage`, and `present()`. Application code never issues the raw syscalls — it calls the
+runtime, as with every other danos service.
+
+## What v1 does not do (and why that's fine)
+
+Two capabilities are deliberately out of the first cut. Neither reshapes anything above;
+both are clean additions behind the interfaces v1 establishes.
+
+- **Client-rendered surfaces (shared memory).** The fast path for a bitmap-heavy app is
+  to render into its *own* buffer and hand the compositor a *reference*, not a stream of
+  commands. That needs the missing cross-process shared-memory primitive — best built as
+  the natural generalization of the existing M13 [capability passing](driver-model.md)
+  from *endpoints* to *memory objects* (`shm_create(len) → {cap, vaddr}`, pass `cap` on
+  an `ipc_call`, receiver `shm_map(cap) → vaddr`). v1 avoids it because server-owned
+  surfaces already prove the whole pipeline.
+
+- **Runtime mode-setting (a native backend).** Detecting the EDID mode list and changing
+  resolution / bpp at runtime needs the raw PCI device. The first native backend is
+  Bochs DISPI — the register interface QEMU's `-device VGA` exposes — behind the same
+  internal backend interface the dumb framebuffer sits behind. Refresh-rate and colour
+  management (a gamma LUT) are real-GPU-KMS territory, far beyond this.
+
+## Verifying it
+
+Three QEMU test cases ([tests.zig](../system/kernel/tests.zig), `python3
+test/qemu_test.py <case>`), each layering on the last:
+
+- **`display`** — the kernel handoff: the seeded `display` device is shaped correctly and
+  the claim → `mmio_map` leaf is genuinely **write-combining** (PAT entry 4), asserted at
+  the page-table level.
+- **`display-service`** — the compositor comes up: it claims the framebuffer, allocates
+  the cacheable back buffer, presents a cleared frame through the double-buffer path
+  (`display: online … / presented frame 0`), and a startup **self-check** composites two
+  overlapping layers on the real framebuffer and reads them back — overlap = the top
+  layer — logging `display: compositor self-check ok`.
+- **`display-demo`** — the full pipeline from a separate process: the hardware-free
+  [`display-demo`](../system/services/display-demo/) client (the
+  [`input-source`](../system/services/input-source/) analog) drives layers — a wallpaper, a
+  sliding rectangle, a cursor — through the layer client API and heartbeats
+  `display-demo: ok`, proving a frame travelled client → compositor → screen, exactly as
+  the [input test](input.md) proves an event travels source → service → subscriber. The
+  visible motion itself is a screenshot away via `zig build run-x86-64`.
+
+The compositor's pixel math (rectangle clipping, fill, composite, tile blit) and colour
+packing are additionally covered by pure host unit tests under `zig build test`.
+
+## See also
+
+- [framebuffer.md](framebuffer.md) — the linear framebuffer, pitch vs. width, `volatile`.
+- [gop.md](gop.md) — GOP, and why only linear RGBX/BGRX modes are paintable.
+- [input.md](input.md) — the sibling service; the async `ipc_send` fan-out.
+- [driver-model.md](driver-model.md) — claim / `mmio_map`, capability passing, the trust model.
+- [device-manager.md](device-manager.md) — matching and supervision (the native backend's route).
+- [display-plan.md](display-plan.md) — the ordered build-out.

library/runtime/display.zig

@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+//! User-space display client: talk to the display service (query the mode, and — from D3
+//! — create layers, draw, and present) without hand-rolling the IPC. The `runtime.block`
+//! shape: a cached `.display` lookup with a boot-race retry, then extern-struct request/
+//! reply marshalling. See system/services/display/ and docs/display.md.
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const ipc = @import("ipc.zig");
+const system = @import("system.zig");
+const protocol = @import("display-protocol");
+
+/// The display's current mode, as `info()` reports it.
+pub const Info = struct {
+    width: u32,
+    height: u32,
+    pitch: u32, // bytes per row (may exceed width*4; see docs/framebuffer.md)
+    format: u32, // a device-abi DisplayFormat value (0 = rgbx, 1 = bgrx)
+};
+
+/// The service endpoint, looked up once and cached.
+var handle: ?ipc.Handle = null;
+
+/// Look up the display service, retrying while it comes up (a client races its
+/// registration at boot). Returns the endpoint, or null if it never appears.
+fn service() ?ipc.Handle {
+    if (handle) |h| return h;
+    var attempts: usize = 0;
+    while (attempts < 100) : (attempts += 1) {
+        if (ipc.lookup(.display)) |h| {
+            handle = h;
+            return h;
+        }
+        system.sleep(50);
+    }
+    return null;
+}
+
+/// Send one request, receive its reply; true on a zero status. `out` receives the reply
+/// so callers can read `info`/`layer` fields on success.
+fn transact(request: protocol.Request, out: *protocol.Reply) bool {
+    const h = service() orelse return false;
+    var req = request;
+    var reply: [protocol.reply_size]u8 = undefined;
+    const len = ipc.call(h, std.mem.asBytes(&req), &reply) catch return false;
+    if (len < protocol.reply_size) return false;
+    out.* = std.mem.bytesToValue(protocol.Reply, reply[0..protocol.reply_size]);
+    return out.status == 0;
+}
+
+/// The display's current mode, or null if the service never came up.
+pub fn info() ?Info {
+    var reply: protocol.Reply = undefined;
+    if (!transact(.{ .operation = @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.info) }, &reply)) return null;
+    return .{ .width = reply.width, .height = reply.height, .pitch = reply.pitch, .format = reply.format };
+}
+
+/// Composite the dirty layers and flush the frame to the screen.
+pub fn present() bool {
+    var reply: protocol.Reply = undefined;
+    return transact(.{ .operation = @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.present) }, &reply);
+}
+
+/// The mode, cached after the first `info()` so `color()` doesn't round-trip per pixel.
+var mode: ?Info = null;
+
+fn cachedInfo() ?Info {
+    if (mode) |m| return m;
+    const i = info() orelse return null;
+    mode = i;
+    return i;
+}
+
+/// The native pixel value for an 8-bit-per-channel colour, in the display's format. A
+/// client packs colours through this so it never has to know the byte order itself.
+pub fn color(r: u8, g: u8, b: u8) u32 {
+    const format = if (cachedInfo()) |i| i.format else 0;
+    return protocol.pack(format, r, g, b);
+}
+
+/// A handle to a server-owned layer: a positioned, z-ordered surface the client draws
+/// into by command. Create with `createLayer`; drawing and moves take effect on the next
+/// `present`. Coordinates are signed (a layer may sit partly off-screen).
+pub const Layer = struct {
+    id: u32,
+
+    /// Fill a rectangle of this layer (layer-local coordinates) with a native `colour`.
+    pub fn fill(self: Layer, x: i32, y: i32, w: u32, h: u32, colour: u32) bool {
+        var reply: protocol.Reply = undefined;
+        return transact(.{
+            .operation = @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.fill_rect),
+            .layer = self.id,
+            .x = @bitCast(x),
+            .y = @bitCast(y),
+            .width = w,
+            .height = h,
+            .colour = colour,
+        }, &reply);
+    }
+
+    /// Copy a `w`×`h` tile of native pixels (row-major, little-endian bytes) into this
+    /// layer at (`x`, `y`). The tile rides inline in the request, so `w*h*4` must fit
+    /// `protocol.maximum_payload`.
+    pub fn blitTile(self: Layer, x: i32, y: i32, w: u32, h: u32, pixels: []const u8) bool {
+        var request = protocol.Request{
+            .operation = @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.blit_tile),
+            .layer = self.id,
+            .x = @bitCast(x),
+            .y = @bitCast(y),
+            .width = w,
+            .height = h,
+        };
+        const header = std.mem.asBytes(&request);
+        if (header.len + pixels.len > protocol.message_maximum) return false;
+        var buffer: [protocol.message_maximum]u8 = undefined;
+        @memcpy(buffer[0..header.len], header);
+        @memcpy(buffer[header.len..][0..pixels.len], pixels);
+        const h_svc = service() orelse return false;
+        var reply: [protocol.reply_size]u8 = undefined;
+        const len = ipc.call(h_svc, buffer[0 .. header.len + pixels.len], &reply) catch return false;
+        if (len < protocol.reply_size) return false;
+        return std.mem.bytesToValue(protocol.Reply, reply[0..protocol.reply_size]).status == 0;
+    }
+
+    /// Move / restack / show or hide the layer.
+    pub fn configure(self: Layer, x: i32, y: i32, z: u32, visible: bool) bool {
+        var reply: protocol.Reply = undefined;
+        return transact(.{
+            .operation = @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.configure_layer),
+            .layer = self.id,
+            .x = @bitCast(x),
+            .y = @bitCast(y),
+            .z = z,
+            .visible = if (visible) 1 else 0,
+        }, &reply);
+    }
+
+    /// Mark a rectangle of this layer (layer-local) dirty for the next present — for when
+    /// the layer's pixels changed without a drawing call the compositor already tracked.
+    pub fn damage(self: Layer, x: i32, y: i32, w: u32, h: u32) bool {
+        var reply: protocol.Reply = undefined;
+        return transact(.{
+            .operation = @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.damage),
+            .layer = self.id,
+            .x = @bitCast(x),
+            .y = @bitCast(y),
+            .width = w,
+            .height = h,
+        }, &reply);
+    }
+
+    /// Release the layer and its surface.
+    pub fn destroy(self: Layer) bool {
+        var reply: protocol.Reply = undefined;
+        return transact(.{ .operation = @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.destroy_layer), .layer = self.id }, &reply);
+    }
+};
+
+/// Create a server-owned layer of `w`×`h` pixels at screen (`x`, `y`) with stacking order
+/// `z` (higher is nearer the front), initially visible. Returns a handle, or null.
+pub fn createLayer(x: i32, y: i32, w: u32, h: u32, z: u32) ?Layer {
+    var reply: protocol.Reply = undefined;
+    if (!transact(.{
+        .operation = @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.create_layer),
+        .x = @bitCast(x),
+        .y = @bitCast(y),
+        .width = w,
+        .height = h,
+        .z = z,
+        .visible = 1,
+    }, &reply)) return null;
+    return .{ .id = reply.layer };
+}

library/runtime/runtime.zig

@@ -46,6 +46,12 @@ pub const usb = @import("usb.zig");
 /// usb-storage). See library/runtime/block.zig.
 pub const block = @import("block.zig");
 
+/// Display-service client: query the mode, and (from D3) create layers, draw, and
+/// present frames. See library/runtime/display.zig and system/services/display/.
+pub const display = @import("display.zig");
+/// The display wire protocol (shared with the display service and its clients).
+pub const display_protocol = @import("display-protocol");
+
 /// The danos-native file API (open/read/write/list over the user-space VFS) — the
 /// layer danos programs use directly, and where the operations that later become
 /// `std.os.danos` are staged. See docs/zig-self-hosting.md.

system/abi.zig

@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ pub const ServiceId = enum(u32) {
     usb_bus = 6, // the xHCI host-controller driver's transfer endpoint; USB class drivers look it up and `callCap`-open their device to get a private per-device transfer channel (docs/driver-model.md)
     block = 7, // a block-device driver (USB mass storage today): read/write of fixed-size blocks, the storage a filesystem sits on
     fat = 8, // the FAT filesystem server; the VFS mounts it and forwards paths under its mount point (/mnt/usb) to it
+    display = 9, // the display service: owns the framebuffer, composites a layer stack, presents frames (docs/display.md)
     _,
 };
 

system/devices/device-abi.zig

@@ -38,6 +38,13 @@ pub const DeviceClass = enum(u32) {
     /// resources; the (class, subclass, protocol) triple that says what it is
     /// travels in the bus report's identity, not here.
     usb_device,
+    /// A scanout framebuffer: a linear region of pixel memory the display service
+    /// claims and maps. Unlike the other classes this one is not firmware-discovered
+    /// — the kernel seeds it from the loader's [[boot-handoff]] framebuffer
+    /// (`devices_broker.seedDisplay`). Its one `memory` resource is the framebuffer,
+    /// flagged write-combining; the geometry to interpret it travels in
+    /// `DeviceDescriptor.display`.
+    display,
     unknown,
 };
 
@@ -59,10 +66,39 @@ pub const ResourceDescriptor = extern struct {
     kind: u64, // a ResourceKind value
     start: u64,
     len: u64,
+    /// A bitmask of `resource_flag_*` hints. Zero for a plain register/RAM window;
+    /// the kernel reads it when it maps the resource. Defaulted so every existing
+    /// literal (which never set flags) keeps compiling and lays out identically.
+    flags: u64 = 0,
 };
 
+/// `ResourceDescriptor.flags`: map this `memory` resource **write-combining** rather
+/// than strong-uncacheable — for a framebuffer, where batched bursts to pixel memory
+/// are the whole point (an uncacheable framebuffer blit is glacial). See
+/// `mmio_map` (system/kernel/process.zig) and `setupPat` (…/x86_64/paging.zig).
+pub const resource_flag_write_combining: u64 = 1 << 0;
+
 pub const maximum_device_resources = 8;
 
+/// The byte order of a display's pixels — mirrors the loader's `PixelFormat`
+/// ([[boot-handoff]]) with the same numeric values, but lives here so user space
+/// (which must never import the loader↔kernel handoff) can name it. Only the two
+/// linear 32-bpp layouts a console can paint into exist; see docs/gop.md.
+pub const DisplayFormat = enum(u32) {
+    rgbx = 0, // byte 0 = Red,  1 = Green, 2 = Blue,  3 = reserved
+    bgrx = 1, // byte 0 = Blue, 1 = Green, 2 = Red,   3 = reserved
+};
+
+/// The geometry of a `display` device's framebuffer, carried in its descriptor so a
+/// claiming driver knows how to interpret the pixel bytes its `memory` resource maps.
+/// `pitch` is bytes per row (may exceed `width * 4`; see docs/framebuffer.md).
+pub const DisplayInfo = extern struct {
+    width: u32 = 0, // visible pixels per row
+    height: u32 = 0, // visible rows
+    pitch: u32 = 0, // bytes from one row's start to the next
+    format: u32 = 0, // a DisplayFormat value
+};
+
 /// `DeviceDescriptor.parent` for a device with no parent — a root of the device tree.
 pub const no_parent: u64 = ~@as(u64, 0);
 
@@ -92,4 +128,9 @@ pub const DeviceDescriptor = extern struct {
     resource_count: u64,
     hid: [8]u8,
     resources: [maximum_device_resources]ResourceDescriptor,
+    // Framebuffer geometry, meaningful only when `class` is `DeviceClass.display`
+    // (zeroed otherwise). Kept here — a class-specific field on the shared descriptor —
+    // the same way `pci_class` is meaningful only for `pci_device` and `hid` only for
+    // `acpi_device`.
+    display: DisplayInfo = .{},
 };

system/kernel/architecture/x86_64/cpu.zig

@@ -168,10 +168,18 @@ pub fn mapUserPageInto(root: u64, virtual: u64, physical: u64, writable: bool, e
     paging.mapUserInto(root, virtual, physical, writable, executable);
 }
 
-/// Map a device MMIO window into address space `root`: strong-uncacheable, RW+NX,
-/// and marked so teardown won't free the MMIO frames as RAM. For IO passthrough.
-pub fn mapUserDeviceInto(root: u64, virtual: u64, physical: u64, len: u64) void {
-    paging.mapUserDeviceInto(root, virtual, physical, len);
+/// Map a device MMIO window into address space `root`: RW+NX, and marked so teardown
+/// won't free the MMIO frames as RAM. `write_combining` picks the cache type —
+/// false = strong-uncacheable (registers), true = write-combining (a framebuffer).
+/// For IO passthrough.
+pub fn mapUserDeviceInto(root: u64, virtual: u64, physical: u64, len: u64, write_combining: bool) void {
+    paging.mapUserDeviceInto(root, virtual, physical, len, write_combining);
+}
+
+/// Is the user leaf mapping `virtual` in address space `root` write-combining? Null if
+/// unmapped. For tests verifying the framebuffer map's cache type.
+pub fn userLeafIsWriteCombining(root: u64, virtual: u64) ?bool {
+    return paging.leafIsWriteCombining(root, virtual);
 }
 
 /// Map coherent DMA RAM into address space `root`: strong-uncacheable, RW+NX, but

system/kernel/architecture/x86_64/paging.zig

@@ -320,8 +320,12 @@ pub fn mapUserInto(pml4: u64, virtual: u64, physical: u64, writable_page: bool,
 /// RAM allocator (`freeSubtree`). RW + NX; the caller places `virtual` in a
 /// user-exclusive range (PML4[225]). Both `virtual` and `physical` are page-aligned by
 /// the caller; a sub-page `physical` offset is the caller's to re-apply.
-pub fn mapUserDeviceInto(pml4: u64, virtual: u64, physical: u64, len: u64) void {
-    const flags: u64 = present | user | writable | no_execute | pcd | pwt | device_grant;
+pub fn mapUserDeviceInto(pml4: u64, virtual: u64, physical: u64, len: u64, write_combining: bool) void {
+    // Registers are strong-uncacheable (PCD|PWT). A framebuffer instead wants
+    // write-combining — the PAT bit (bit 7 in a 4 KiB PTE) with PCD=PWT=0 selects PAT
+    // entry 4, which `setupPat` programs to WC — so pixel writes batch into bursts.
+    const cache: u64 = if (write_combining) pte_pat else (pcd | pwt);
+    const flags: u64 = present | user | writable | no_execute | device_grant | cache;
     const first = physical & ~@as(u64, page_size - 1);
     const last = (physical + (if (len == 0) 1 else len) - 1) & ~@as(u64, page_size - 1);
     var off: u64 = 0;
@@ -362,6 +366,33 @@ pub fn mapUserDmaInto(pml4: u64, virtual: u64, physical: u64, len: u64) void {
     }
 }
 
+/// The raw leaf entry mapping `virtual` in the address space rooted at `pml4`, or null
+/// if any level of the walk is absent. **Read-only** — never allocates or descends into
+/// a missing table (unlike the `map*` paths' `descendUser`). Stops at the first huge
+/// leaf. For tests and introspection that need a page's actual flag bits.
+pub fn leafEntryOf(pml4: u64, virtual: u64) ?u64 {
+    const l4 = tableAt(pml4)[(virtual >> 39) & 0x1FF];
+    if (l4 & present == 0) return null;
+    const l3 = tableAt(l4 & address_mask)[(virtual >> 30) & 0x1FF];
+    if (l3 & present == 0) return null;
+    if (l3 & page_size_bit != 0) return l3; // 1 GiB leaf
+    const l2 = tableAt(l3 & address_mask)[(virtual >> 21) & 0x1FF];
+    if (l2 & present == 0) return null;
+    if (l2 & page_size_bit != 0) return l2; // 2 MiB leaf
+    const l1 = tableAt(l2 & address_mask)[(virtual >> 12) & 0x1FF];
+    if (l1 & present == 0) return null;
+    return l1;
+}
+
+/// Is the 4 KiB leaf mapping `virtual` write-combining — the PAT bit set with PCD and
+/// PWT clear, which `setupPat` makes PAT entry 4 (WC)? Null if unmapped. The device
+/// mapping path (`mapUserDeviceInto`) always uses 4 KiB leaves, so bit 7 (`pte_pat`)
+/// is the PAT selector in play.
+pub fn leafIsWriteCombining(pml4: u64, virtual: u64) ?bool {
+    const e = leafEntryOf(pml4, virtual) orelse return null;
+    return (e & pte_pat != 0) and (e & pcd == 0) and (e & pwt == 0);
+}
+
 /// Create a new address space: a fresh PML4 with an empty user half and the
 /// kernel's higher half shared in (copying PML4[256..512), whose entries point
 /// at the kernel's PDPTs — pre-created at init and never restaled, so growth in

system/kernel/console.zig

@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ const boot_handoff = @import("boot-handoff");
 var con: Console = undefined;
 var con_present: bool = false;
 
+/// Set while a user-space display service owns the framebuffer: `write` falls silent so
+/// the kernel doesn't paint over the compositor. Driven by the display device's
+/// claim/release (system/kernel/process.zig). The terminal panic/exception paths clear
+/// it first (`setSuppressed(false)`) — a dying machine's message wins over any display.
+var suppressed: bool = false;
+
 /// Set up the console over `fb`, or mark it absent if there's no usable
 /// framebuffer. Clears the screen when present.
 pub fn init(fb: boot_handoff.Framebuffer) void {
@@ -41,13 +47,20 @@ pub fn present() bool {
     return con_present;
 }
 
-/// Output sink: draw `bytes` on screen. A no-op when no framebuffer is present,
-/// so it's always safe to call.
+/// Output sink: draw `bytes` on screen. A no-op when no framebuffer is present, or
+/// while a display service owns the screen (`suppressed`), so it's always safe to call.
 pub fn write(bytes: []const u8) void {
-    if (!con_present) return;
+    if (!con_present or suppressed) return;
     for (bytes) |c| con.putChar(c);
 }
 
+/// Quiesce (or resume) the bootstrap console. Set true when a display service claims the
+/// framebuffer; set false when that claim is released, or by the panic path to force a
+/// last message onto a screen a (now-irrelevant) service was holding.
+pub fn setSuppressed(value: bool) void {
+    suppressed = value;
+}
+
 /// The console font, embedded at compile time. cp850-8x16, PSF2 format:
 /// a 32-byte header, then 256 glyphs of 16 bytes each (one byte per 8-pixel
 /// row). We index glyphs straight by byte value, so ASCII maps 1:1.

system/kernel/devices-broker.zig

@@ -36,6 +36,11 @@ var devices: [maximum_devices]device_abi.DeviceDescriptor = undefined;
 var claimed: [maximum_devices]?u32 = .{null} ** maximum_devices; // owner task id, or null
 var count: usize = 0;
 
+/// The id of the seeded framebuffer node (`seedDisplay`), or null when the machine
+/// handed over no framebuffer. Lets the process layer recognise the display claim
+/// (to quiesce the bootstrap console) without threading the id through every caller.
+var display_device: ?u64 = null;
+
 /// Devices discovery found but the table had no room for. Non-zero means the machine
 /// is bigger than `maximum_devices` and some hardware is simply invisible to drivers —
 /// which would otherwise be an entirely silent failure. Logged at boot.
@@ -45,10 +50,55 @@ pub var dropped: usize = 0;
 pub fn init(device_tree: *const platform.DeviceTree) void {
     count = 0;
     dropped = 0;
+    display_device = null;
     for (&claimed) |*c| c.* = null;
     walk(device_tree.root, device_abi.no_parent);
 }
 
+/// Publish the loader's framebuffer as a `display` device — a root-level node with one
+/// write-combining `memory` resource over the linear framebuffer and its geometry in
+/// `.display`. The framebuffer is *not* firmware-discovered (it rides the
+/// [[boot-handoff]], not the device tree), so it is seeded explicitly, after `init`.
+/// Returns the new device id, or null when there is no framebuffer (headless) or the
+/// table is full. Idempotent-ish: only ever call once per boot.
+pub fn seedDisplay(base: u64, width: u32, height: u32, pitch: u32, format: u32) ?u64 {
+    if (base == 0 or width == 0 or height == 0) return null; // headless
+    if (count >= maximum_devices) {
+        dropped += 1;
+        return null;
+    }
+    var d = std.mem.zeroes(device_abi.DeviceDescriptor);
+    d.id = count;
+    d.parent = device_abi.no_parent;
+    d.class = @intFromEnum(device_abi.DeviceClass.display);
+    d.pci_class = device_abi.no_pci_class;
+    d.resource_count = 1;
+    d.resources[0] = .{
+        .kind = @intFromEnum(device_abi.ResourceKind.memory),
+        .start = base,
+        .len = @as(u64, height) * pitch,
+        .flags = device_abi.resource_flag_write_combining,
+    };
+    d.display = .{ .width = width, .height = height, .pitch = pitch, .format = format };
+    devices[count] = d;
+    display_device = d.id;
+    count += 1;
+    return d.id;
+}
+
+/// The id of the seeded framebuffer device, or null when none was seeded.
+pub fn displayDevice() ?u64 {
+    return display_device;
+}
+
+/// Whether the framebuffer device is currently claimed by some process. The bootstrap
+/// console uses this (via the process layer) to fall silent while a display service
+/// owns the screen, and to resume if that service dies and its claim is released.
+pub fn displayClaimed() bool {
+    const id = display_device orelse return false;
+    return ownerOf(id) != null;
+}
+
 /// Record `node` (unless it's the synthetic root) and recurse, threading the id we
 /// assigned it down to its children as their parent.
 fn walk(node: *platform.Device, parent_id: u64) void {

system/kernel/kernel.zig

@@ -195,6 +195,13 @@ fn kmain(boot_information: *const BootInformation) noreturn {
             log.print("/system/kernel: WARNING {d} device(s) dropped — table full\n", .{devices_broker.dropped});
         }
 
+        // Publish the loader's framebuffer as a claimable `display` device, so a
+        // user-space display service can take it over the same claim + mmio_map path as
+        // any other hardware (it is not firmware-discovered; it rides the boot handoff).
+        if (devices_broker.seedDisplay(fb.base, fb.width, fb.height, fb.pitch, @intFromEnum(fb.format))) |display_id| {
+            log.print("/system/kernel: framebuffer device {d} seeded ({d}x{d}, pitch {d}, write-combining)\n", .{ display_id, fb.width, fb.height, fb.pitch });
+        }
+
         // Install the device-IRQ trampolines, so a driver's irq_bind has vectors to
         // land on. Every line stays masked until something binds it (ioapic.init).
         irq.init();
@@ -479,6 +486,9 @@ fn onException(state: *const architecture.CpuState) noreturn {
     }
 
     log.checkpoint(cp_exception);
+    // The machine is going down: force the console back on even if a display service
+    // was holding the framebuffer, so the exception actually reaches the screen.
+    console.setSuppressed(false);
     const core = scheduler.currentCpuIndex();
     // A fault is user-facing enough to paint on screen too (via statusPrint), on
     // top of the diagnostic log.
@@ -501,6 +511,7 @@ pub const panic = std.debug.FullPanic(struct {
         _ = first_trace_address;
         log.checkpoint(cp_panic);
         log.recordPanic(message);
+        console.setSuppressed(false); // a panic outranks any display service holding the screen
         status("\nKERNEL PANIC: ");
         status(message);
         status("\n");

system/kernel/process.zig

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ const parameters = @import("parameters");
 const architecture = @import("architecture");
 const pmm = @import("pmm.zig");
 const scheduler = @import("scheduler.zig");
+const console = @import("console.zig");
 const sync = @import("sync.zig");
 const ipc = @import("ipc-synchronous.zig");
 const devices_broker = @import("devices-broker.zig");
@@ -80,9 +81,11 @@ pub const device_arena_end: u64 = device_arena_base + (4 << 30);
 pub const dma_arena_base: u64 = 0x0000_7200_0000_0000;
 pub const dma_arena_end: u64 = dma_arena_base + (256 << 20); // 256 MiB per process
 
-/// Largest single `mmap` grant, in pages (1 MiB). The user heap grows in small
-/// chunks, so this bound is generous; it also caps the frame scratch array below.
-const maximum_mmap_pages = 256;
+/// Largest single `mmap` grant, in pages (32 MiB). Big enough for a display service's
+/// back buffer at up to 4K (3840x2160x4 ≈ 8100 pages); the user heap otherwise grows in
+/// small chunks. `systemMmap` maps page by page with rollback, so this is only a sanity
+/// bound (and an overflow guard on the page count), not the size of any scratch array.
+const maximum_mmap_pages = 8192;
 
 /// Ceiling on a process's argv entries, including argv[0]. Arguments are spawn
 /// parameters ("you are the driver for device 12"), not bulk data — IPC carries
@@ -301,12 +304,19 @@ fn systemDeviceEnumerate(state: *architecture.CpuState) void {
 
 /// device_claim(id) -> 0/-1: take exclusive ownership of a device for this process.
 fn systemDeviceClaim(state: *architecture.CpuState) void {
+    const device_id = architecture.systemCallArg(state, 0);
     const claim_flags = sync.enter();
     defer sync.leave(claim_flags);
-    if (devices_broker.claim(architecture.systemCallArg(state, 0), scheduler.current().id))
-        architecture.setSystemCallResult(state, 0)
-    else
-        fail(state);
+    if (devices_broker.claim(device_id, scheduler.current().id)) {
+        // A display service just took the framebuffer — quiesce the bootstrap console
+        // so the kernel and the service don't scribble over each other's pixels. The
+        // claim releases (and the console resumes) automatically if the service dies;
+        // see releaseTaskResourcesLocked.
+        if (devices_broker.displayDevice()) |display_id| {
+            if (device_id == display_id) console.setSuppressed(true);
+        }
+        architecture.setSystemCallResult(state, 0);
+    } else fail(state);
 }
 
 /// mmio_map(device_id, resource_index) -> vaddr: map a claimed device's MMIO window into
@@ -341,7 +351,10 @@ fn systemMmioMap(state: *architecture.CpuState) void {
     const base_v = t.device_map_next;
     if (base_v + pages * page_size > device_arena_end) return fail(state);
 
-    architecture.mapUserDeviceInto(t.aspace, base_v, r.start, r.len);
+    // A framebuffer resource asks (via its flag) to be mapped write-combining rather
+    // than the strong-uncacheable default that register MMIO needs.
+    const write_combining = (r.flags & device_abi.resource_flag_write_combining) != 0;
+    architecture.mapUserDeviceInto(t.aspace, base_v, r.start, r.len, write_combining);
     t.device_map_next = base_v + pages * page_size;
     architecture.setSystemCallResult(state, base_v + (r.start & (page_size - 1))); // register base
 }
@@ -601,6 +614,9 @@ fn releaseTaskResourcesLocked(t: *scheduler.Task) void {
     recordExitLocked(t);
     irq.releaseOwner(t.id);
     devices_broker.releaseAllOwnedBy(t.id);
+    // If that dropped the framebuffer claim (this task was the display service), let the
+    // bootstrap console draw again — the screen is nobody's now, so panics/status land.
+    if (!devices_broker.displayClaimed()) console.setSuppressed(false);
     // The dying task's signal endpoint and one-shot timers go with it.
     if (t.signal_endpoint) |raw| {
         ipc.dropRef(@ptrCast(@alignCast(raw)));
@@ -1024,21 +1040,26 @@ fn systemMmap(state: *architecture.CpuState) void {
     const base = t.heap_next;
     if (base + pages * page_size > heap_arena_end) return fail(state); // arena exhausted
 
-    // Reserve all frames up front so a mid-way exhaustion rolls back cleanly
-    // (no partially-mapped grant leaks into the address space).
-    var frames: [maximum_mmap_pages]u64 = undefined;
-    var got: usize = 0;
-    while (got < pages) : (got += 1) {
-        frames[got] = pmm.alloc() orelse {
-            for (frames[0..got]) |f| pmm.free(f);
+    // Map page by page. On mid-way frame exhaustion, roll back the pages already mapped
+    // (unmap + free) so no partial grant leaks into the address space — the same
+    // all-or-nothing guarantee as before, but without a fixed scratch array, so the
+    // per-call size can be a multi-MiB framebuffer.
+    var mapped: usize = 0;
+    while (mapped < pages) : (mapped += 1) {
+        const frame = pmm.alloc() orelse {
+            var i: usize = 0;
+            while (i < mapped) : (i += 1) {
+                const va = base + i * page_size;
+                if (architecture.translate(t.aspace, va)) |physical| {
+                    architecture.unmapUserPageInto(t.aspace, va);
+                    pmm.free(physical);
+                }
+            }
             return fail(state);
         };
-    }
-
-    for (frames[0..pages], 0..) |frame, i| {
         const destination: [*]u8 = @ptrFromInt(boot_handoff.physicalToVirtual(frame));
         @memset(destination[0..page_size], 0); // hand out zeroed memory
-        architecture.mapUserPageInto(t.aspace, base + i * page_size, frame, true, false); // RW + NX
+        architecture.mapUserPageInto(t.aspace, base + mapped * page_size, frame, true, false); // RW + NX
     }
     t.heap_next = base + pages * page_size;
     architecture.setSystemCallResult(state, base);

system/kernel/tests.zig

@@ -95,6 +95,12 @@ pub fn run(case: []const u8, boot_information: *const BootInformation) void {
         iommuTest();
     } else if (eql(case, "ioport")) {
         ioPortTest();
+    } else if (eql(case, "display")) {
+        displayTest(boot_information);
+    } else if (eql(case, "display-service")) {
+        displayServiceTest(boot_information);
+    } else if (eql(case, "display-demo")) {
+        displayDemoTest(boot_information);
     } else if (eql(case, "clock")) {
         clockTest();
     } else if (eql(case, "smp")) {
@@ -2305,6 +2311,72 @@ fn inputTest(boot_information: *const BootInformation) void {
     result();
 }
 
+/// D2 — the display service comes up. Spawn it from the initial_ramdisk; it claims the
+/// framebuffer the kernel seeded (D1), maps it write-combining, allocates a cacheable
+/// back buffer, and proves the double-buffer path by clearing that buffer and presenting
+/// it. Its `display: online WxH` + `display: presented frame 0` heartbeats are the
+/// markers — seeing them proves a user-space compositor took the framebuffer and pushed
+/// a whole composed frame to the screen, without ever drawing straight to the LFB.
+fn displayServiceTest(boot_information: *const BootInformation) void {
+    log("DANOS-TEST-BEGIN: display-service\n", .{});
+    if (boot_information.initial_ramdisk_len == 0) {
+        check("bootloader handed over an initial_ramdisk", false);
+        result();
+        return;
+    }
+    const image = @as([*]const u8, @ptrFromInt(boot_handoff.physicalToVirtual(boot_information.initial_ramdisk_base)))[0..boot_information.initial_ramdisk_len];
+    const rd = initial_ramdisk.Reader.init(image) orelse {
+        check("initial_ramdisk image is valid", false);
+        result();
+        return;
+    };
+
+    // Spawn the compositor and hand it the core. Its own serial heartbeats — `display:
+    // online WxH` and `display: presented frame 0` — are what the harness matches (it
+    // reads serial directly, like the fault cases). We don't poll for them in-kernel: a
+    // single service that comes up and blocks doesn't reschedule this bring-up context
+    // (there is no other runnable task to bounce control back through), so the honest
+    // observation point is the service's output itself, not a check() proxy here.
+    if (!spawnNamed(rd, "display")) {
+        log("display-service: could not spawn the display service\n", .{});
+        result();
+        return;
+    }
+    scheduler.setPriority(1); // below the service, so it runs and comes up first
+    while (true) scheduler.yield();
+}
+
+/// D4 — a separate process drives the compositor. Spawn the display service and the
+/// hardware-free `display-demo` client, which creates a wallpaper, a moving rectangle,
+/// and a cursor and presents a run of frames. Its `display-demo: ok` heartbeat — printed
+/// only after it drove frames of motion through the layer client API and the compositor —
+/// is the harness's marker (the visible motion itself is a screenshot away via run-x86-64).
+/// The demo keeps presenting, so unlike a lone blocking service the scheduler stays busy;
+/// we still match on serial rather than poll, for consistency.
+fn displayDemoTest(boot_information: *const BootInformation) void {
+    log("DANOS-TEST-BEGIN: display-demo\n", .{});
+    if (boot_information.initial_ramdisk_len == 0) {
+        check("bootloader handed over an initial_ramdisk", false);
+        result();
+        return;
+    }
+    const image = @as([*]const u8, @ptrFromInt(boot_handoff.physicalToVirtual(boot_information.initial_ramdisk_base)))[0..boot_information.initial_ramdisk_len];
+    const rd = initial_ramdisk.Reader.init(image) orelse {
+        check("initial_ramdisk image is valid", false);
+        result();
+        return;
+    };
+
+    if (!spawnNamed(rd, "display")) {
+        log("display-demo: could not spawn the display service\n", .{});
+        result();
+        return;
+    }
+    _ = spawnNamed(rd, "display-demo");
+    scheduler.setPriority(1); // below the service + demo, so they run
+    while (true) scheduler.yield();
+}
+
 /// Process arguments, end to end: spawn args-echo bare (its argv[0] is the
 /// initial-ramdisk name). Instance 1 sees argc == 1 and respawns itself through
 /// `system_spawn` with the extra arguments "alpha beta-42" — the syscall argument
@@ -2627,8 +2699,8 @@ fn ioPassTest() void {
         result();
         return;
     };
-    // Map it the way mmio_map does (device grant), then tear the space down.
-    architecture.mapUserDeviceInto(aspace, process.device_arena_base, frame, abi.page_size);
+    // Map it the way mmio_map does (device grant, strong-uncacheable), then tear the space down.
+    architecture.mapUserDeviceInto(aspace, process.device_arena_base, frame, abi.page_size, false);
     architecture.destroyAddressSpace(aspace);
 
     // The page tables were reclaimed; the device-granted frame must not have been.
@@ -2638,6 +2710,75 @@ fn ioPassTest() void {
     result();
 }
 
+/// D1 — the framebuffer handoff primitive. The kernel seeds the loader's framebuffer as
+/// a claimable `display` device with a write-combining `memory` resource; a display
+/// service reaches it over the ordinary claim + mmio_map path. Prove the whole chain:
+/// the node is present and correctly shaped, it maps, and — the point of D1 — the
+/// mapping is genuinely write-combining, not the strong-uncacheable default that would
+/// make a framebuffer blit glacial.
+fn displayTest(boot_information: *const BootInformation) void {
+    log("DANOS-TEST-BEGIN: display\n", .{});
+    const fb = boot_information.framebuffer;
+    if (!fb.present()) {
+        // Headless: nothing to seed. Not a failure of the mechanism, so pass cleanly.
+        log("display: no framebuffer (headless); skipping\n", .{});
+        result();
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // The kernel seeded a display device in kmain, right after devices_broker.init.
+    const display_id = devices_broker.displayDevice() orelse {
+        check("a framebuffer display device was seeded", false);
+        result();
+        return;
+    };
+    var buffer: [64]device_abi.DeviceDescriptor = undefined;
+    const n = @min(devices_broker.enumerate(&buffer), buffer.len);
+    check("the seeded display id is enumerable", display_id < n);
+    if (display_id >= n) {
+        result();
+        return;
+    }
+    const d = buffer[@intCast(display_id)];
+
+    check("the node is class display", d.class == @intFromEnum(device_abi.DeviceClass.display));
+    check("it carries the framebuffer geometry", d.display.width == fb.width and d.display.height == fb.height and d.display.pitch == fb.pitch);
+    check("it has exactly one resource", d.resource_count == 1);
+    const r = d.resources[0];
+    check("that resource is a memory window", r.kind == @intFromEnum(device_abi.ResourceKind.memory));
+    check("it spans the whole framebuffer", r.start == fb.base and r.len == @as(u64, fb.height) * fb.pitch);
+    check("it is flagged write-combining", (r.flags & device_abi.resource_flag_write_combining) != 0);
+
+    // Walk the real claim + map path a display service would, into a throwaway address
+    // space, and confirm the leaf's cache type. We never run this space (no CR3 load) —
+    // we only read back the page-table entries — so aliasing the same physical page at
+    // two cache types below is inert.
+    const aspace = architecture.createAddressSpace() orelse {
+        check("created a fresh address space", false);
+        result();
+        return;
+    };
+    defer architecture.destroyAddressSpace(aspace);
+
+    const page_base = fb.base & ~@as(u64, abi.page_size - 1);
+    architecture.mapUserDeviceInto(aspace, process.device_arena_base, page_base, abi.page_size, true);
+    check(
+        "the framebuffer maps write-combining (PAT entry 4: PAT bit set, PCD/PWT clear)",
+        architecture.userLeafIsWriteCombining(aspace, process.device_arena_base) == true,
+    );
+
+    // Regression guard: the strong-uncacheable default is still that, so WC is a real
+    // choice the flag makes, not the only behaviour.
+    architecture.mapUserDeviceInto(aspace, process.device_arena_base + abi.page_size, page_base, abi.page_size, false);
+    check(
+        "a register window still maps strong-uncacheable",
+        architecture.userLeafIsWriteCombining(aspace, process.device_arena_base + abi.page_size) == false,
+    );
+
+    log("display: mapped {d}x{d} pitch {d} (write-combining)\n", .{ fb.width, fb.height, fb.pitch });
+    result();
+}
+
 fn faultInvalidOpcode() void {
     log("DANOS-TEST-BEGIN: fault-ud\n", .{});
     asm volatile ("ud2");

system/services/display-demo/display-demo.zig

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+//! system/services/display-demo — a hardware-free client of the display service, the
+//! `input-source` analog for the compositor. It creates a wallpaper, a rectangle it moves
+//! each frame, and a small cursor, then drives the compositor in a present loop — proof
+//! that a *separate process* can compose a moving scene through the display service over
+//! IPC, exercising the layer client API and damage-driven present end to end
+//! (docs/display.md). It logs `display-demo: ok` once it has driven a run of frames.
+
+const runtime = @import("runtime");
+const display = runtime.display;
+const system = runtime.system;
+const time = runtime.time;
+
+pub fn main() void {
+    const mode = display.info() orelse {
+        _ = system.write("display-demo: no display service\n");
+        return;
+    };
+
+    // A full-screen wallpaper under everything.
+    const wallpaper = display.createLayer(0, 0, mode.width, mode.height, 0) orelse return createFailed();
+    _ = wallpaper.fill(0, 0, mode.width, mode.height, display.color(0x10, 0x18, 0x28));
+
+    // A rectangle that slides back and forth.
+    const box_w: u32 = 140;
+    const box_h: u32 = 100;
+    const box_y: i32 = 200;
+    const box = display.createLayer(0, box_y, box_w, box_h, 1) orelse return createFailed();
+    _ = box.fill(0, 0, box_w, box_h, display.color(0xE0, 0x60, 0x40));
+
+    // A little cursor on top.
+    const cursor = display.createLayer(40, 40, 12, 12, 2) orelse return createFailed();
+    _ = cursor.fill(0, 0, 12, 12, display.color(0xF0, 0xF0, 0xF0));
+
+    _ = display.present();
+    _ = system.write("display-demo: scene up; animating\n");
+
+    const span: i32 = @as(i32, @intCast(mode.width)) - @as(i32, @intCast(box_w));
+    var x: i32 = 0;
+    var dx: i32 = 8;
+    var frame: u32 = 0;
+    while (true) : (frame += 1) {
+        x += dx;
+        if (x <= 0) {
+            x = 0;
+            dx = -dx;
+        } else if (x >= span) {
+            x = span;
+            dx = -dx;
+        }
+        _ = box.configure(x, box_y, 1, true); // move it; the compositor repaints old + new
+        _ = display.present();
+        // A run of frames drawn through the compositor is the automated proof (the visible
+        // motion is a screenshot away via `zig build run-x86-64`).
+        if (frame == 20) _ = system.write("display-demo: ok\n");
+        time.sleep(time.Duration.fromMillis(30));
+    }
+}
+
+fn createFailed() void {
+    _ = system.write("display-demo: create failed\n");
+}
+
+pub const panic = runtime.panic;
+comptime {
+    _ = &runtime.start._start;
+}

system/services/display/compositor.zig

@@ -0,0 +1,192 @@
+//! The compositor's pure core: rectangle math and the three blitting primitives the
+//! display service composes frames from — fill a rectangle of a surface, composite one
+//! surface onto another clipped to a damage rectangle, and copy a client-supplied pixel
+//! tile in. Deliberately free of any syscall or `runtime` dependency (it takes plain
+//! pixel pointers), so it is host-tested under `zig build test`. The service
+//! (system/services/display/display.zig) wires real mmap'd surfaces and the framebuffer
+//! to it. Pixels are opaque native 32-bit values — v1 layers don't alpha-blend, and
+//! channel order (rgbx/bgrx) is the caller's concern (see protocol.pack).
+
+const std = @import("std");
+
+/// An axis-aligned rectangle in pixels. Signed, so a surface partly off-screen (a layer
+/// dragged past an edge) clips with plain arithmetic. Half-open: covers [x, x+w) × [y, y+h).
+pub const Rect = struct {
+    x: i32,
+    y: i32,
+    w: i32,
+    h: i32,
+
+    pub const empty = Rect{ .x = 0, .y = 0, .w = 0, .h = 0 };
+
+    pub fn init(x: i32, y: i32, w: i32, h: i32) Rect {
+        return .{ .x = x, .y = y, .w = w, .h = h };
+    }
+
+    pub fn isEmpty(r: Rect) bool {
+        return r.w <= 0 or r.h <= 0;
+    }
+
+    pub fn right(r: Rect) i32 {
+        return r.x + r.w;
+    }
+    pub fn bottom(r: Rect) i32 {
+        return r.y + r.h;
+    }
+
+    /// The overlap of two rectangles, or an empty rectangle if they don't touch.
+    pub fn intersect(a: Rect, b: Rect) Rect {
+        const x0 = @max(a.x, b.x);
+        const y0 = @max(a.y, b.y);
+        const x1 = @min(a.right(), b.right());
+        const y1 = @min(a.bottom(), b.bottom());
+        return .{ .x = x0, .y = y0, .w = x1 - x0, .h = y1 - y0 };
+    }
+
+    /// The bounding box of two rectangles. An empty operand contributes nothing (returns
+    /// the other), so folding damage rectangles with `unite` from `empty` yields their
+    /// bounding box.
+    pub fn unite(a: Rect, b: Rect) Rect {
+        if (a.isEmpty()) return b;
+        if (b.isEmpty()) return a;
+        const x0 = @min(a.x, b.x);
+        const y0 = @min(a.y, b.y);
+        const x1 = @max(a.right(), b.right());
+        const y1 = @max(a.bottom(), b.bottom());
+        return .{ .x = x0, .y = y0, .w = x1 - x0, .h = y1 - y0 };
+    }
+};
+
+/// A block of 32-bit pixels: `pixels` addressed row-major with `stride` pixels between
+/// row starts (≥ width — the framebuffer's stride is pitch/4, a layer's is its width).
+pub const Surface = struct {
+    pixels: [*]u32,
+    stride: u32, // pixels per row
+    width: u32,
+    height: u32,
+
+    pub fn bounds(s: Surface) Rect {
+        return .{ .x = 0, .y = 0, .w = @intCast(s.width), .h = @intCast(s.height) };
+    }
+
+    inline fn row(s: Surface, y: u32) [*]u32 {
+        return s.pixels + @as(usize, y) * s.stride;
+    }
+};
+
+/// Fill `rect` of `s` with the native pixel `colour`, clipped to `s`'s bounds.
+pub fn fillRect(s: Surface, rect: Rect, colour: u32) void {
+    const c = rect.intersect(s.bounds());
+    if (c.isEmpty()) return;
+    var y: i32 = c.y;
+    while (y < c.bottom()) : (y += 1) {
+        const r = s.row(@intCast(y));
+        var x: i32 = c.x;
+        while (x < c.right()) : (x += 1) r[@intCast(x)] = colour;
+    }
+}
+
+/// Composite the whole of `layer` onto `dst` with the layer's top-left at (`dx`, `dy`),
+/// painting only the pixels that fall inside `clip` (a `dst`-space rectangle) and inside
+/// `dst`. Opaque copy. This is the primitive `present` repeats over the visible layer
+/// stack, bottom to top, for each damaged region.
+pub fn composite(dst: Surface, dx: i32, dy: i32, layer: Surface, clip: Rect) void {
+    const on_screen = Rect{ .x = dx, .y = dy, .w = @intCast(layer.width), .h = @intCast(layer.height) };
+    const region = on_screen.intersect(clip).intersect(dst.bounds());
+    if (region.isEmpty()) return;
+    var y: i32 = region.y;
+    while (y < region.bottom()) : (y += 1) {
+        const src = layer.row(@intCast(y - dy));
+        const d = dst.row(@intCast(y));
+        var x: i32 = region.x;
+        while (x < region.right()) : (x += 1) {
+            d[@intCast(x)] = src[@intCast(x - dx)];
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Copy a `w`×`h` tile of native pixels from `src` (raw little-endian bytes, row-major,
+/// tightly packed) into `dst` at (`dx`, `dy`), clipped to `dst`'s bounds. `src` is read
+/// with `readInt` because it comes straight out of an IPC message buffer and carries no
+/// alignment guarantee. Returns without touching anything if `src` is short.
+pub fn blitTile(dst: Surface, dx: i32, dy: i32, src: []const u8, w: u32, h: u32) void {
+    if (src.len < @as(usize, w) * h * 4) return;
+    var ty: u32 = 0;
+    while (ty < h) : (ty += 1) {
+        const yy = dy + @as(i32, @intCast(ty));
+        if (yy < 0 or yy >= dst.height) continue;
+        const drow = dst.row(@intCast(yy));
+        var tx: u32 = 0;
+        while (tx < w) : (tx += 1) {
+            const xx = dx + @as(i32, @intCast(tx));
+            if (xx < 0 or xx >= dst.width) continue;
+            const off = (@as(usize, ty) * w + tx) * 4;
+            drow[@intCast(xx)] = std.mem.readInt(u32, src[off..][0..4], .little);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// --- tests ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+test "rect intersect: overlap and disjoint" {
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(Rect.init(5, 5, 5, 5), Rect.init(0, 0, 10, 10).intersect(Rect.init(5, 5, 10, 10)));
+    try std.testing.expect(Rect.init(0, 0, 10, 10).intersect(Rect.init(20, 20, 5, 5)).isEmpty());
+}
+
+test "rect unite: bounding box, empty is identity" {
+    const a = Rect.init(2, 2, 4, 4);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(Rect.init(2, 1, 10, 5), a.unite(Rect.init(10, 1, 2, 2)));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(a, a.unite(Rect.empty));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(a, Rect.empty.unite(a));
+}
+
+test "fillRect clips to surface and honours stride padding" {
+    // A 4×3 surface inside a 6-wide allocation (stride 6 > width 4), like pitch padding.
+    var mem = [_]u32{0} ** (6 * 3);
+    const s = Surface{ .pixels = &mem, .stride = 6, .width = 4, .height = 3 };
+    fillRect(s, Rect.init(-1, -1, 3, 3), 0xAB); // straddles the top-left corner
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0xAB), mem[0 * 6 + 0]);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0xAB), mem[1 * 6 + 1]);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0), mem[0 * 6 + 2]); // beyond the 2-wide fill
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0), mem[2 * 6 + 0]); // row 2 untouched
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0), mem[0 * 6 + 4]); // stride padding untouched
+}
+
+test "composite: overlap shows the top layer, clipped to damage" {
+    var back = [_]u32{0} ** (8 * 8);
+    const dst = Surface{ .pixels = &back, .stride = 8, .width = 8, .height = 8 };
+    var lo = [_]u32{0x11} ** (4 * 4);
+    var hi = [_]u32{0x22} ** (4 * 4);
+    const low = Surface{ .pixels = &lo, .stride = 4, .width = 4, .height = 4 };
+    const high = Surface{ .pixels = &hi, .stride = 4, .width = 4, .height = 4 };
+    composite(dst, 0, 0, low, dst.bounds()); // bottom at (0,0)
+    composite(dst, 2, 2, high, dst.bounds()); // top overlaps at (2,2)
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x11), back[0 * 8 + 0]); // bottom-only
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x22), back[3 * 8 + 3]); // overlap → top wins
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x22), back[5 * 8 + 5]); // top-only
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0), back[7 * 8 + 7]); // neither
+}
+
+test "composite honours the damage rectangle" {
+    var back = [_]u32{0} ** (8 * 8);
+    const dst = Surface{ .pixels = &back, .stride = 8, .width = 8, .height = 8 };
+    var fill = [_]u32{0x33} ** (8 * 8);
+    const layer = Surface{ .pixels = &fill, .stride = 8, .width = 8, .height = 8 };
+    composite(dst, 0, 0, layer, Rect.init(2, 2, 2, 2)); // only this damage region
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x33), back[2 * 8 + 2]);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x33), back[3 * 8 + 3]);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0), back[1 * 8 + 1]); // outside damage
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0), back[4 * 8 + 4]); // outside damage
+}
+
+test "blitTile copies a packed tile, clipping and reading unaligned bytes" {
+    var back = [_]u32{0} ** (4 * 4);
+    const dst = Surface{ .pixels = &back, .stride = 4, .width = 4, .height = 4 };
+    // A 2×2 tile in a byte buffer offset by one byte, so reads are unaligned.
+    var raw = [_]u8{0} ** (1 + 2 * 2 * 4);
+    const tile = raw[1..];
+    for (0..4) |i| std.mem.writeInt(u32, tile[i * 4 ..][0..4], @intCast(0xA0 + i), .little);
+    blitTile(dst, 3, 3, tile, 2, 2); // bottom-right corner; only (3,3) lands on-surface
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0xA0), back[3 * 4 + 3]);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0), back[0]); // nothing else touched
+}

system/services/display/display.zig

@@ -0,0 +1,397 @@
+//! /system/services/display — the display service (docs/display.md). A ring-3 process
+//! that claims the framebuffer the kernel seeded (docs/display-plan.md D1), owns it as a
+//! **write-combining front buffer**, composites an ordered stack of **layers** into a
+//! **cacheable back buffer**, and presents finished frames — the GUI track's compositor,
+//! the sibling of the input service. Reached by name over `ServiceId.display`.
+//!
+//! A layer is a server-owned surface (its own cacheable buffer) with a screen position,
+//! z-order, and visibility. Clients create layers and draw into them by command
+//! (`fill_rect`, `blit_tile`), mark `damage`, and ask for a `present`; the compositor
+//! repaints only the damaged region — clear it, paint the visible layers bottom-to-top,
+//! flush it to the screen. The pixel math lives in the pure, host-tested
+//! [compositor.zig](compositor.zig); this file wires real surfaces and the framebuffer to
+//! it. Shared-memory client surfaces are a later milestone (docs/display.md).
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const runtime = @import("runtime");
+const compositor = @import("compositor.zig");
+
+const protocol = runtime.display_protocol;
+const ipc = runtime.ipc;
+const system = runtime.system;
+const device = runtime.device;
+const Rect = compositor.Rect;
+const Surface = compositor.Surface;
+
+/// The claimed framebuffer and its off-screen twin. The front buffer is the LFB —
+/// write-combining, so it is **only ever written**, never read; all compositing happens
+/// in the cacheable back buffer, which is then streamed to the front (docs/display.md).
+const Display = struct {
+    device_id: u64,
+    front: [*]volatile u8, // the LFB (write-combining)
+    back: [*]u8, // cacheable, same geometry
+    width: u32,
+    height: u32,
+    pitch: u32, // bytes per row (shared by both buffers)
+    format: u32, // a device-abi DisplayFormat value
+    frames: u64 = 0,
+};
+
+var display: Display = undefined;
+
+/// The wallpaper the compositor clears damaged regions to before painting layers.
+var background: u32 = 0;
+
+/// The layer stack. A fixed table (a compositor has few top-level surfaces during
+/// bring-up); each used slot owns an mmap'd surface. `damage` accumulates the dirty
+/// screen region since the last `present`, so a present touches only what changed.
+const maximum_layers = 16;
+
+const Layer = struct {
+    used: bool = false,
+    x: i32 = 0,
+    y: i32 = 0,
+    z: u32 = 0,
+    visible: bool = false,
+    surface: Surface = undefined,
+    surface_len: usize = 0, // for munmap on destroy
+};
+
+var layers: [maximum_layers]Layer = [_]Layer{.{}} ** maximum_layers;
+var damage: Rect = Rect.empty;
+
+/// Enumeration buffer kept off the stack — a `DeviceDescriptor` is large, and this
+/// service only ever needs one scan.
+var device_table: [64]device.DeviceDescriptor = undefined;
+
+// --- geometry helpers -------------------------------------------------------
+
+fn screenRect() Rect {
+    return .{ .x = 0, .y = 0, .w = @intCast(display.width), .h = @intCast(display.height) };
+}
+
+fn backSurface() Surface {
+    return .{
+        .pixels = @ptrCast(@alignCast(display.back)),
+        .stride = display.pitch / 4, // pitch is bytes; a 32-bpp row is pitch/4 pixels
+        .width = display.width,
+        .height = display.height,
+    };
+}
+
+fn layerScreenRect(l: *const Layer) Rect {
+    return .{ .x = l.x, .y = l.y, .w = @intCast(l.surface.width), .h = @intCast(l.surface.height) };
+}
+
+/// Add `r` (screen coordinates) to the pending damage, clipped to the screen.
+fn addDamage(r: Rect) void {
+    damage = damage.unite(r.intersect(screenRect()));
+}
+
+// --- layer operations (called from onMessage and the self-check) ------------
+
+fn freeLayer() ?u32 {
+    for (&layers, 0..) |*l, i| {
+        if (!l.used) return @intCast(i);
+    }
+    return null;
+}
+
+/// A used layer by id, or null if the id is out of range or free.
+fn layerAt(id: u32) ?*Layer {
+    if (id >= maximum_layers or !layers[id].used) return null;
+    return &layers[id];
+}
+
+fn createLayer(x: i32, y: i32, w: u32, h: u32, z: u32, visible: bool) ?u32 {
+    if (w == 0 or h == 0) return null;
+    const slot = freeLayer() orelse return null;
+    const len = @as(usize, w) * h * 4;
+    const base = system.mmap(len, system.PROT_READ | system.PROT_WRITE);
+    if (system.mmapFailed(base)) return null;
+    layers[slot] = .{
+        .used = true,
+        .x = x,
+        .y = y,
+        .z = z,
+        .visible = visible,
+        .surface = .{ .pixels = @ptrFromInt(base), .stride = w, .width = w, .height = h },
+        .surface_len = len,
+    };
+    return slot;
+}
+
+fn fillLayer(id: u32, local: Rect, colour: u32) bool {
+    const l = layerAt(id) orelse return false;
+    compositor.fillRect(l.surface, local, colour);
+    // Damage in screen space = the fill, translated by the layer origin, within the layer.
+    const screen = Rect{ .x = l.x + local.x, .y = l.y + local.y, .w = local.w, .h = local.h };
+    addDamage(screen.intersect(layerScreenRect(l)));
+    return true;
+}
+
+fn blitLayer(id: u32, x: i32, y: i32, w: u32, h: u32, pixels: []const u8) bool {
+    const l = layerAt(id) orelse return false;
+    compositor.blitTile(l.surface, x, y, pixels, w, h);
+    const screen = Rect{ .x = l.x + x, .y = l.y + y, .w = @intCast(w), .h = @intCast(h) };
+    addDamage(screen.intersect(layerScreenRect(l)));
+    return true;
+}
+
+fn configureLayer(id: u32, x: i32, y: i32, z: u32, visible: bool) bool {
+    const l = layerAt(id) orelse return false;
+    addDamage(layerScreenRect(l)); // the old footprint must repaint
+    l.x = x;
+    l.y = y;
+    l.z = z;
+    l.visible = visible;
+    addDamage(layerScreenRect(l)); // and the new one
+    return true;
+}
+
+fn destroyLayer(id: u32) bool {
+    const l = layerAt(id) orelse return false;
+    addDamage(layerScreenRect(l));
+    _ = system.munmap(@intFromPtr(l.surface.pixels), l.surface_len);
+    l.* = .{};
+    return true;
+}
+
+// --- compositing + present --------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Repaint the damaged region `clip` of the back buffer: clear it to the background, then
+/// paint every visible layer that overlaps it, bottom to top (ascending z).
+fn compositeInto(clip: Rect) void {
+    const back = backSurface();
+    compositor.fillRect(back, clip, background);
+
+    // z-order the used, visible layers (n ≤ 16; a plain insertion sort of indices).
+    var order: [maximum_layers]u32 = undefined;
+    var n: usize = 0;
+    for (layers, 0..) |l, i| {
+        if (l.used and l.visible) {
+            order[n] = @intCast(i);
+            n += 1;
+        }
+    }
+    var a: usize = 1;
+    while (a < n) : (a += 1) {
+        const key = order[a];
+        var b: usize = a;
+        while (b > 0 and layers[order[b - 1]].z > layers[key].z) : (b -= 1) order[b] = order[b - 1];
+        order[b] = key;
+    }
+
+    for (order[0..n]) |i| {
+        const l = layers[i];
+        compositor.composite(back, l.x, l.y, l.surface, clip);
+    }
+}
+
+/// Stream the damaged rectangle from the cacheable back buffer to the write-combining
+/// front buffer, row by row (sequential writes — what WC memory wants; we never read the
+/// front buffer). Only the visible width of each row is touched.
+fn flushRect(rect: Rect) void {
+    const c = rect.intersect(screenRect());
+    if (c.isEmpty()) return;
+    var y: i32 = c.y;
+    while (y < c.bottom()) : (y += 1) {
+        const off = @as(usize, @intCast(y)) * display.pitch;
+        const src: [*]const u32 = @ptrCast(@alignCast(display.back + off));
+        const dst: [*]volatile u32 = @ptrCast(@alignCast(display.front + off));
+        var x: i32 = c.x;
+        while (x < c.right()) : (x += 1) dst[@intCast(x)] = src[@intCast(x)];
+    }
+}
+
+/// Composite and flush the accumulated damage, then clear it. A no-op when nothing is
+/// dirty. The frame counter advances regardless, so callers can name frames.
+fn present() void {
+    const dirty = damage.intersect(screenRect());
+    if (!dirty.isEmpty()) {
+        compositeInto(dirty);
+        flushRect(dirty);
+    }
+    damage = Rect.empty;
+    display.frames += 1;
+}
+
+// --- startup self-check -----------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Prove the compositor wiring on the real framebuffer: two overlapping opaque layers,
+/// composited, must show the top layer in the overlap and the bottom layer outside it.
+/// Exercises the whole path — mmap surfaces, the z-sort, damage, composite into the back
+/// buffer — and reads the composited result back. Cleans up after itself.
+fn selfCheck() void {
+    const red = protocol.pack(display.format, 0xC0, 0x20, 0x20);
+    const green = protocol.pack(display.format, 0x20, 0xC0, 0x20);
+    const bottom = createLayer(100, 100, 80, 80, 0, true) orelse return fail_check("create");
+    const top = createLayer(140, 140, 80, 80, 1, true) orelse return fail_check("create");
+    _ = fillLayer(bottom, Rect.init(0, 0, 80, 80), red);
+    _ = fillLayer(top, Rect.init(0, 0, 80, 80), green);
+    present();
+
+    const back = backSurface();
+    const overlap = back.pixels[@as(usize, 150) * back.stride + 150]; // in both layers → top
+    const bottom_only = back.pixels[@as(usize, 110) * back.stride + 110]; // bottom only
+
+    _ = destroyLayer(top);
+    _ = destroyLayer(bottom);
+    present(); // repaint the self-check region back to the background
+
+    if (overlap == green and bottom_only == red) {
+        _ = system.write("display: compositor self-check ok\n");
+    } else {
+        _ = system.write("display: compositor self-check FAILED\n");
+    }
+}
+
+fn fail_check(_: []const u8) void {
+    _ = system.write("display: compositor self-check FAILED (setup)\n");
+}
+
+// --- service ----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// The framebuffer node the kernel seeded (`DeviceClass.display`), or null if none.
+fn findDisplay() ?device.DeviceDescriptor {
+    const total = device.enumerate(&device_table);
+    const n = @min(total, device_table.len);
+    for (device_table[0..n]) |d| {
+        if (d.class == @intFromEnum(device.DeviceClass.display)) return d;
+    }
+    return null;
+}
+
+fn initialise(endpoint: ipc.Handle) bool {
+    _ = endpoint;
+
+    // Find the framebuffer, retrying while device discovery catches up with our spawn.
+    var tries: u32 = 0;
+    const found = while (tries < 100) : (tries += 1) {
+        if (findDisplay()) |d| break d;
+        system.sleep(50);
+    } else {
+        _ = system.write("display: no framebuffer device (headless?)\n");
+        return false; // clean exit: nothing to drive
+    };
+
+    if (!device.claim(found.id)) {
+        _ = system.write("display: could not claim the framebuffer\n");
+        return false;
+    }
+    // Resource 0 is the framebuffer memory window; the kernel maps it write-combining
+    // because the resource carries that flag (docs/display-plan.md D1).
+    const front_base = device.mmioMap(found.id, 0) orelse {
+        _ = system.write("display: could not map the framebuffer\n");
+        return false;
+    };
+
+    const geometry = found.display;
+    const size = @as(usize, geometry.height) * geometry.pitch;
+    const back_base = system.mmap(size, system.PROT_READ | system.PROT_WRITE);
+    if (system.mmapFailed(back_base)) {
+        _ = system.write("display: could not allocate the back buffer\n");
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    display = .{
+        .device_id = found.id,
+        .front = @ptrFromInt(front_base),
+        .back = @ptrFromInt(back_base),
+        .width = geometry.width,
+        .height = geometry.height,
+        .pitch = geometry.pitch,
+        .format = geometry.format,
+    };
+    background = protocol.pack(display.format, 0x20, 0x30, 0x48); // a dark slate wallpaper
+
+    // Clear the whole screen through the back buffer → present path (double buffering:
+    // no direct-to-LFB drawing).
+    addDamage(screenRect());
+    present();
+
+    var line: [96]u8 = undefined;
+    _ = system.write(std.fmt.bufPrint(&line, "display: online {d}x{d} pitch {d} format {d}\n", .{
+        display.width, display.height, display.pitch, display.format,
+    }) catch "display: online\n");
+    _ = system.write("display: presented frame 0\n");
+
+    selfCheck();
+    return true;
+}
+
+fn writeReply(reply: []u8, value: protocol.Reply) usize {
+    const bytes = std.mem.asBytes(&value);
+    @memcpy(reply[0..bytes.len], bytes);
+    return bytes.len;
+}
+
+fn ok(reply: []u8) usize {
+    return writeReply(reply, .{ .status = 0 });
+}
+
+fn fail(reply: []u8) usize {
+    return writeReply(reply, .{ .status = -1 });
+}
+
+fn onMessage(message: []const u8, reply: []u8, sender: u32, capability: ?ipc.Handle) usize {
+    _ = sender;
+    _ = capability;
+    if (message.len < protocol.request_size) return fail(reply);
+    const request = std.mem.bytesToValue(protocol.Request, message[0..protocol.request_size]);
+    const payload = message[protocol.request_size..];
+    // Switch on the raw operation value — an out-of-range one must fail cleanly, not
+    // panic an `@enumFromInt`.
+    switch (request.operation) {
+        @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.info) => return writeReply(reply, .{
+            .status = 0,
+            .width = display.width,
+            .height = display.height,
+            .pitch = display.pitch,
+            .format = display.format,
+        }),
+        @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.create_layer) => {
+            // x/y are signed coordinates carried in the u32 wire fields — reinterpret the
+            // bits (@bitCast), don't range-check (@intCast) which a negative would fail.
+            const slot = createLayer(@bitCast(request.x), @bitCast(request.y), request.width, request.height, request.z, request.visible != 0) orelse return fail(reply);
+            return writeReply(reply, .{ .status = 0, .layer = slot });
+        },
+        @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.configure_layer) => {
+            return if (configureLayer(request.layer, @bitCast(request.x), @bitCast(request.y), request.z, request.visible != 0)) ok(reply) else fail(reply);
+        },
+        @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.destroy_layer) => {
+            return if (destroyLayer(request.layer)) ok(reply) else fail(reply);
+        },
+        @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.fill_rect) => {
+            const local = Rect.init(@bitCast(request.x), @bitCast(request.y), @intCast(request.width), @intCast(request.height));
+            return if (fillLayer(request.layer, local, request.colour)) ok(reply) else fail(reply);
+        },
+        @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.blit_tile) => {
+            return if (blitLayer(request.layer, @bitCast(request.x), @bitCast(request.y), request.width, request.height, payload)) ok(reply) else fail(reply);
+        },
+        @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.damage) => {
+            const l = layerAt(request.layer) orelse return fail(reply);
+            const screen = Rect{ .x = l.x + @as(i32, @bitCast(request.x)), .y = l.y + @as(i32, @bitCast(request.y)), .w = @intCast(request.width), .h = @intCast(request.height) };
+            addDamage(screen.intersect(layerScreenRect(l)));
+            return ok(reply);
+        },
+        @intFromEnum(protocol.Operation.present) => {
+            present();
+            return ok(reply);
+        },
+        else => return fail(reply),
+    }
+}
+
+pub fn main() void {
+    runtime.service.run(protocol.message_maximum, .{
+        .service = .display,
+        .init = initialise,
+        .on_message = onMessage,
+    });
+}
+
+pub const panic = runtime.panic;
+comptime {
+    _ = &runtime.start._start;
+}

system/services/display/protocol.zig

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+//! The display wire protocol — what a client says to the display service over its
+//! well-known `.display` endpoint. extern-struct messages with an `Operation` tag, the
+//! same shape as block/vfs/input protocols. The compositor owns the framebuffer and an
+//! ordered stack of **layers**; a client creates layers, draws into them with these
+//! operations, marks damage, and asks for a `present`. v1 surfaces are server-owned (a
+//! client draws by command); shared-memory surfaces are a later milestone (docs/display.md).
+
+const std = @import("std");
+
+pub const Operation = enum(u32) {
+    /// info() -> { width, height, pitch, format }: the display's current mode.
+    info = 0,
+    /// create_layer(x, y, width, height, z) -> { layer }: a new server-owned surface.
+    create_layer = 1,
+    /// configure_layer(layer, x, y, z, visible): move, restack, show, or hide a layer.
+    configure_layer = 2,
+    /// destroy_layer(layer): release a layer.
+    destroy_layer = 3,
+    /// fill_rect(layer, x, y, width, height, colour): fill a rectangle of a layer.
+    fill_rect = 4,
+    /// blit_tile(layer, x, y, width, height, <inline pixels>): copy a small pixel tile in.
+    blit_tile = 5,
+    /// damage(layer, x, y, width, height): mark a region dirty for the next present.
+    damage = 6,
+    /// present(): composite the dirty layers and flush to the screen.
+    present = 7,
+};
+
+/// The fixed request header. A `blit_tile`'s pixel payload (width*height 32-bit pixels)
+/// follows this header inline in the same message, up to `maximum_payload`.
+pub const Request = extern struct {
+    operation: u32,
+    layer: u32 = 0, // create/configure/destroy/fill/blit/damage: the target layer
+    x: u32 = 0,
+    y: u32 = 0,
+    width: u32 = 0,
+    height: u32 = 0,
+    z: u32 = 0, // create_layer / configure_layer: stacking order (higher = in front)
+    colour: u32 = 0, // fill_rect: the fill colour (native pixel value)
+    visible: u32 = 1, // configure_layer: 0 hides the layer
+    reserved: u32 = 0,
+};
+
+pub const Reply = extern struct {
+    status: i32, // 0 on success, negative on failure
+    reserved: u32 = 0,
+    // info():
+    width: u32 = 0,
+    height: u32 = 0,
+    pitch: u32 = 0,
+    format: u32 = 0, // a device-abi DisplayFormat value (0 = rgbx, 1 = bgrx)
+    // create_layer():
+    layer: u32 = 0,
+    reserved2: u32 = 0,
+};
+
+/// The IPC message size — the kernel caps every message at `MESSAGE_MAXIMUM` (256 bytes,
+/// system/kernel/ipc-synchronous.zig), so this matches it (a larger receive/reply buffer
+/// is rejected with -E2BIG). A `blit_tile` therefore carries only a *small* tile inline —
+/// `maximum_payload` bytes = up to 54 pixels, enough for a cursor or small sprite; larger
+/// bitmaps are the deferred shared-memory surface path (docs/display.md).
+pub const message_maximum: usize = 256;
+pub const request_size: usize = @sizeOf(Request);
+pub const reply_size: usize = @sizeOf(Reply);
+pub const maximum_payload: usize = message_maximum - request_size;
+
+/// Pack an 8-bit-per-channel colour into the display's native 32-bit pixel for `format`
+/// (a device-abi `DisplayFormat`: 0 = rgbx, 1 = bgrx). Shared so a `colour` in a
+/// `fill_rect` request means the same thing to the client that sends it and the
+/// compositor that paints it. Little-endian memory, reserved byte 0: rgbx puts red in
+/// the low byte, bgrx puts blue there.
+pub fn pack(format: u32, r: u8, g: u8, b: u8) u32 {
+    const rr: u32 = r;
+    const gg: u32 = g;
+    const bb: u32 = b;
+    return switch (format) {
+        1 => bb | (gg << 8) | (rr << 16), // bgrx
+        else => rr | (gg << 8) | (bb << 16), // rgbx
+    };
+}
+
+test "pack encodes native byte order for rgbx and bgrx" {
+    // rgbx: red in the low byte, blue in byte 2.
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x0000_00AA), pack(0, 0xAA, 0, 0));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x00AA_0000), pack(0, 0, 0, 0xAA));
+    // bgrx: blue in the low byte, red in byte 2.
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x0000_00AA), pack(1, 0, 0, 0xAA));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x00AA_0000), pack(1, 0xAA, 0, 0));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u32, 0x0000_3020), pack(0, 0x20, 0x30, 0)); // green in byte 1
+}

system/services/init/init.zig

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ const log_path = "/mnt/usb/DANOS.LOG";
 /// microkernel keeps such choices in user space, not the kernel. Drivers are absent
 /// on purpose: the device manager owns those. (A future init reads this from a
 /// manifest under /system/services instead of a hardcoded list.)
-const boot_services = [_][]const u8{ "vfs", "input", "device-manager", "fat" };
+const boot_services = [_][]const u8{ "vfs", "input", "device-manager", "fat", "display" };
 
 var children: [boot_services.len]u32 = .{0} ** boot_services.len;
 var child_count: usize = 0;

test/qemu_test.py

@@ -165,6 +165,26 @@ CASES = [
     {"name": "ioport",
      "expect": r"DANOS-TEST-RESULT: PASS",
      "fail":   r"DANOS-TEST-RESULT: FAIL"},
+    # Display handoff (D1): the kernel seeds the loader's framebuffer as a claimable
+    # `display` device with a write-combining memory resource; the claim + mmio_map path
+    # maps it, and the leaf is genuinely write-combining (PAT entry 4), not the UC default.
+    {"name": "display",
+     "expect": r"DANOS-TEST-RESULT: PASS",
+     "fail":   r"DANOS-TEST-RESULT: FAIL"},
+    # Display service (D2/D3): the user-space compositor claims the framebuffer, allocates
+    # a cacheable back buffer, clears it, and presents that composed frame (double-buffer
+    # path); then a startup self-check composites two overlapping layers and confirms the
+    # overlap shows the top layer (D3). Matched on the service's own heartbeats.
+    {"name": "display-service",
+     "expect": r"display: online \d+x\d+ pitch \d+[\s\S]*display: presented frame 0[\s\S]*display: compositor self-check ok",
+     "fail":   r"display: could not|self-check FAILED|CPU EXCEPTION|KERNEL PANIC"},
+    # Display demo (D4): a separate process (display-demo) drives the compositor over the
+    # layer client API — wallpaper + a moving rectangle + a cursor, presented in a loop.
+    # `display-demo: ok` is printed only after it drove a run of frames of motion through
+    # the service (the visible motion is a screenshot via `zig build run-x86-64`).
+    {"name": "display-demo",
+     "expect": r"display-demo: scene up[\s\S]*display-demo: ok",
+     "fail":   r"display-demo: (no display|create failed)|display: could not|CPU EXCEPTION|KERNEL PANIC"},
     # Monotonic clock (clock() syscall source): calibrated, advancing, never backwards.
     {"name": "clock",
      "expect": r"DANOS-TEST-RESULT: PASS",