display: framebuffer handoff primitive + service design (D1)

Kick off the display service track (docs/display.md, docs/display-plan.md): a
user-space compositor that owns the framebuffer. GOP and the PCI display device
are two views of one controller; GOP dies at ExitBootServices, so the portable
base is the boot-handoff linear framebuffer.

D1 makes that framebuffer reachable from user space over the existing device
claim/mmio_map path rather than a bespoke syscall:

- device-abi: a `display` DeviceClass, a DisplayInfo{w,h,pitch,format} on the
  descriptor, and a flags field on resources with a write-combining bit.
- devices-broker: seedDisplay() publishes the loader's framebuffer as a
  root-level `display` node (one WC-flagged memory resource); kmain seeds it
  after discovery. displayDevice()/displayClaimed() track the claim.
- paging/mmio_map: mapUserDeviceInto gains a write_combining bool — a WC-flagged
  resource maps through PAT entry 4 instead of strong-uncacheable (an
  uncacheable framebuffer blit is glacial).
- console: falls silent while a display service holds the framebuffer, and is
  forced back on by the panic/exception paths.

Gate: the `display` kernel test asserts the seeded node's shape and that the
claim + mmio_map leaf is genuinely write-combining (PAT bit set, PCD/PWT clear).
Regression-checked discovery/ioport/claim-release/supervision/device-list/
device-manager with the +1 device in the table.

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 +1,146 @@
+# 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.
+
+- [ ] `system/services/display/protocol.zig`: `Operation{ info, create_layer,
+      configure_layer, destroy_layer, fill_rect, blit_tile, damage, present }`; `extern`
+      `Request`/`Reply`; `message_maximum`/`request_size`/`reply_size` consts. (Model:
+      [block/protocol.zig](../system/services/block/protocol.zig).)
+- [ ] [abi.zig](../system/abi.zig): `ServiceId.display = 9`.
+- [ ] `system/services/display/display.zig`: `main` → enumerate + claim + WC-map the LFB
+      (front) → `mmap` a cacheable back buffer of `height*pitch` → `runtime.service.run(
+      .{ .service = .display, .init, .on_message })`. Implement `info` and a whole-screen
+      `present` (back → front) first.
+- [ ] [library/runtime/display.zig](../library/runtime/runtime.zig) (+ export in
+      `runtime.zig`): `info()`, and a stub `present()`. Cached `.display` lookup with
+      retry (model: [block.zig](../library/runtime/block.zig)).
+- [ ] [init.zig](../system/services/init/init.zig): add `"display"` to `boot_services`.
+- [ ] [build.zig](../build.zig): `display-protocol` module; `display` exe via
+      `addUserBinary`; import the protocol into `runtime` and into the exe; pack into the
+      initial-ramdisk; install to `/system/services/display`.
+
+**Gate:** boot; `init` spawns `display`; it logs `display: online {w}x{h}` and clears the
+screen to a colour **through the back buffer → present path** (double buffering proven —
+no direct-to-LFB drawing). Screenshot confirms.
+
+## D3 — Layer stack + compositor + damage present
+
+The heart: composite an ordered layer stack, present only what changed.
+
+- [ ] A layer table (fixed capacity, like the input service's subscriber table): each
+      layer = rect, z-order, visible flag, a server-owned surface (`mmap` cacheable).
+- [ ] Implement `create_layer` / `configure_layer` / `destroy_layer`, `fill_rect`,
+      `blit_tile` (inline tile in the IPC message), `damage`.
+- [ ] `composite()`: walk layers bottom-to-top, paint dirty regions into the back buffer
+      (clip to layer rect ∩ damage; handle `rgbx`/`bgrx`; step by `pitch`).
+- [ ] `present()`: flush merged damage rects back → front (sequential WC writes).
+- [ ] Host tests (`zig build test`): layer clipping, damage-rect merge, and a
+      `blit`/`fill` against a fake in-memory framebuffer for both pixel formats and a
+      `pitch > width*4` case.
+
+**Gate:** `zig build test` green for the compositor unit tests; an in-service self-check
+composites two overlapping layers and the overlap shows the top layer's colour.
+
+## D4 — Client API + the demo client
+
+Prove the pipeline end-to-end from a separate process.
+
+- [ ] Finish [runtime/display.zig](../library/runtime/runtime.zig): a `Layer` handle with
+      `fill` / `blitTile` / `damage`, plus `present()`.
+- [ ] `system/services/display-demo/`: a hardware-free client (the
+      [`input-source`](../system/services/input-source/) analog) — a wallpaper layer, a
+      layer with a rectangle it moves each frame, and a small cursor layer; `present`s in
+      a loop paced by [`runtime.time`](../library/runtime/time.zig). Wire into build +
+      initial-ramdisk.
+
+**Gate:** run `run-efi`; a screenshot (or two, apart in time) shows the wallpaper, the
+cursor, and the rectangle in different positions — motion, from a client, through the
+compositor, on screen.
+
+## D5 — Test case + docs
+
+- [ ] `test/qemu_test.py display` + `displayTest` in
+      [tests.zig](../system/kernel/tests.zig): boot, spawn `display` + `display-demo`,
+      pass on `display: presented frame {N}` and `display-demo: ok` heartbeats.
+- [ ] Flip [display.md](display.md)'s status notes from "planned/built" as appropriate;
+      confirm the [README index](README.md) entry; update the `display-track` memory to
+      DONE with the commit.
+
+**Gate:** `python3 test/qemu_test.py display` passes in CI-equivalent local run.
+
+---
+
+## 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 +1,250 @@
+# 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
+
+A `display` test case ([tests.zig](../system/kernel/tests.zig), `python3
+test/qemu_test.py display`) boots the kernel, spawns the service and a synthetic
+`display-demo` client (the hardware-free analog of
+[`input-source`](../system/services/input-source/)) that drives layers — a wallpaper, a
+moving rectangle, a cursor. It passes on a serial heartbeat (`display: presented frame N`
+/ `display-demo: ok`), proving a frame travelled client → compositor → screen, exactly
+as the [input test](input.md) proves an event travels source → service → subscriber.
+
+## 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.

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");
@@ -301,12 +302,19 @@ 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 +349,10 @@ 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 +612,9 @@ 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)));

system/kernel/tests.zig

@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ 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, "clock")) {
         clockTest();
     } else if (eql(case, "smp")) {
@@ -2627,8 +2629,8 @@ 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 +2640,75 @@ 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");

test/qemu_test.py

@@ -165,6 +165,12 @@ 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"},
     # Monotonic clock (clock() syscall source): calibrated, advancing, never backwards.
     {"name": "clock",
      "expect": r"DANOS-TEST-RESULT: PASS",