@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ A layered, dockable workspace: nine panels over a layer-stack project. A panel i
 | :--- | :--- | :--- |
 | Preview, Layers, Code, Knobs, Color Ramp | `panels/` | The editor proper. Layers are code (JS), pixel (RGBA buffer, edited in place and versioned by `rev`) or text; ramps are per code or text layer, knobs are one shared set |
 | Pixel | `panels/PixelPanel.tsx` + `panels/pixel/` + `lib/lab/pixelTools.ts` | Pixel-art editor. The panel composes one hook per concern (`usePixelToolState`, `usePixelSelection`, `usePixelViewport`, `usePixelCanvases`, `usePixelPointer`, `usePixelKeyboard`) and two toolbar components; `pixelToCode.ts` turns a sprite into standalone pattern code |
-| Text | `panels/TextPanel.tsx` + `lib/lab/text.ts`, `textRaster.ts`, `textFonts.ts` | Text layers. Words, size, place, alignment and font are drawn into the same RGBA buffer a pixel layer holds on every change, so the engine, masks, Graphic Export and both exports read a bitmap and never the font. Fonts are the site's own, the device's generic families, or a file the person picks, read with `FontFace` and kept in this browser's IndexedDB (`patternflow_lab_fonts_v1`) only when they ask. Drag on Preview moves the selected text |
+| Text | `panels/TextPanel.tsx` + `lib/lab/text.ts`, `textRaster.ts`, `textFonts.ts` | Text layers. Words, size, place, alignment and font are drawn into the same RGBA buffer a pixel layer holds on every change, so the engine, masks, Graphic Export and both exports read a bitmap and never the font. Fonts are the site's own, the device's generic families, or a file the person picks, read with `FontFace` and kept in this browser's IndexedDB (`patternflow_lab_fonts_v1`) only when they ask. Drag on Preview moves the selected text. Copy as code hands the drawn letters out as a pattern that needs no font, through Pixel's `lib/lab/pixelToCode.ts`. `lib/lab/textExport.test.ts` compiles the To hardware header with the host's C++ compiler and checks it against the preview |
 | Graphic Export | `panels/CapturePanel.tsx` + `lib/lab/capture/` | Stills and clips at print sizes, rendered by a second engine in a Web Worker (WebCodecs + `mediabunny`, all client-side), plus a GLSL shader twin for posters. `probe.ts` decides whether a pattern can be re-rendered at another size or must be upscaled |
 | Director | `panels/DirectorPanel.tsx` + `panels/director/` + `lib/lab/director/` | Knob automation over time — keyframes, bezier eases — baked to `.pfs` show files (`src/lib/pattern/pfst.ts` is the codec) and exported as MIDI. The panel composes `useTransportView`, `useTimelineZoom`, `useShowEditing`, the file helpers and two bars; the lanes are `DirectorLanes.tsx` |
 
 
@@ -155,6 +155,38 @@ describe("HardwareModal", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  // Text and pixel layers are in the scaffold as pixels, so with no code
+  // layer the header is whole. The window used to count "0 layers to
+  // translate — 0 done" and send the person to a model anyway.
+  it("a stack of text alone is a finished header, with no model to ask", async () => {
+    const lab = useLabStore.getState();
+    const starter = lab.layers[0].id;
+    lab.addTextLayer();
+    useLabStore.getState().removeLayer(starter);
+    expect(useLabStore.getState().layers.map((layer) => layer.type)).toEqual(["text"]);
+    const writeText = vi.fn<(text: string) => Promise<void>>(() => Promise.resolve());
+    Object.defineProperty(navigator, "clipboard", { configurable: true, value: { writeText } });
+    try {
+      render(<Lab />);
+      expect(screen.getByText(/Nothing here needs a model/)).toHaveTextContent("The board needs no font for the letters.");
+      expect(screen.queryByText(/to translate/)).toBeNull();
+      expect(screen.queryByText(/Translating it is a model/)).toBeNull();
+      expect(screen.queryByText("Copy prompt")).toBeNull();
+
+      fireEvent.click(screen.getByText("Copy .h"));
+      expect(await screen.findByText("Copied ✓")).toBeTruthy();
+      const header = String(writeText.mock.calls[0][0]);
+      expect(header).toMatch(/^#pragma once$/m);
+      expect(header).toContain('"Text 1": text as drawn, RLE');
+      expect(header).not.toContain("TRANSLATION BEGIN");
+
+      fireEvent.click(screen.getByText("Next →"));
+      expect(screen.getByText("On to hardware")).toBeTruthy();
+    } finally {
+      delete (navigator as { clipboard?: unknown }).clipboard;
+    }
+  });
+
   it("Esc over the Publish modal closes Publish alone and keeps the header", async () => {
     render(<Lab />);
     pasteHeaderAndContinue();
 
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { buildCppPrompt } from "@/lib/lab/cppPrompt";
 import { currentPerformanceJson } from "@/lib/lab/director/publish";
 import { needsFlatten } from "@/lib/lab/flatten";
 import { labPatternName, useLabStore } from "@/lib/lab/store";
-import { isCodeLayer } from "@/lib/lab/types";
+import { isCodeLayer, isTextLayer } from "@/lib/lab/types";
 import styles from "./PatternLab.module.css";
 import local from "./HardwareModal.module.css";
 
@@ -94,6 +94,10 @@ export default function HardwareModal({
     [stacked, exportData.scaffold, pastes, single, name],
   );
 
+  // Text and pixel layers go into the scaffold as the pixels they show, so
+  // a stack with no code layer is the whole header, no model in the loop.
+  const nothingToTranslate = stacked && exportData.units.length === 0;
+
   const translated = exportData.units.filter(
     (unit) => (pastes[unit.index] ?? "").trim().length > 0 && cleanPastedUnit(pastes[unit.index] ?? "", unit.index) !== null,
   ).length;
@@ -186,8 +190,10 @@ export default function HardwareModal({
               <p className={styles.modalNote}>
                 The board runs C++, so everything below — building an image, installing a module,
                 publishing as hardware-ready — needs this pattern as a <code>.h</code> header
-                first. Translating it is a model&rsquo;s job: copy the prompt, paste what comes
-                back.
+                first.
+                {nothingToTranslate
+                  ? null
+                  : " Translating it is a model’s job: copy the prompt, paste what comes back."}
               </p>
 
               {stacked ? (
@@ -202,11 +208,19 @@ export default function HardwareModal({
                       spellCheck={false}
                     />
                   </label>
-                  <p className={styles.modalNote}>
-                    {exportData.units.length} layer{exportData.units.length === 1 ? "" : "s"} to
-                    translate — {translated} done. Untranslated layers keep a compiling stub, so a
-                    partial port still builds.
-                  </p>
+                  {nothingToTranslate ? (
+                    <p className={styles.modalNote}>
+                      Nothing here needs a model. Text and pixel layers go into the header as the
+                      pixels they show, so it is finished as it is.
+                      {layers.some(isTextLayer) ? " The board needs no font for the letters." : null}
+                    </p>
+                  ) : (
+                    <p className={styles.modalNote}>
+                      {exportData.units.length} layer{exportData.units.length === 1 ? "" : "s"} to
+                      translate — {translated} done. Untranslated layers keep a compiling stub, so a
+                      partial port still builds.
+                    </p>
+                  )}
                   {exportData.units.map((unit) => (
                     <div key={unit.index} className={local.hwUnit}>
                       <div className={local.hwUnitHead}>
 
@@ -72,14 +72,16 @@
   height: 32px;
 }
 
-.fontFile {
+.fontFile,
+.actions {
   display: flex;
   flex-wrap: wrap;
   align-items: center;
   gap: 6px 10px;
 }
 
-.fontFile button {
+.fontFile button,
+.actions button {
   min-height: 32px;
   border-radius: 4px;
   border: 1px solid rgba(23, 21, 18, 0.3);
@@ -90,7 +92,8 @@
   cursor: pointer;
 }
 
-.fontFile button:hover:not(:disabled) {
+.fontFile button:hover:not(:disabled),
+.actions button:hover:not(:disabled) {
   background: #171512;
   color: #f7f3ea;
 }
@@ -133,7 +136,8 @@
 @media (hover: none) {
   .field select,
   .field input[type="number"],
-  .fontFile button {
+  .fontFile button,
+  .actions button {
     min-height: 44px;
   }
 
 
@@ -132,6 +132,56 @@ describe("TextPanel", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("Copy as code", () => {
+  function clipboard() {
+    const writeText = vi.fn<(text: string) => Promise<void>>(() => Promise.resolve());
+    Object.defineProperty(navigator, "clipboard", { configurable: true, value: { writeText } });
+    return writeText;
+  }
+
+  it("copies the letters as they are drawn now, and the new ones after an edit", async () => {
+    store().addTextLayer();
+    store().setTextSpec(text().id, { text: "ab", x: 2, y: 4 });
+    const writeText = clipboard();
+    render(<TextPanel />);
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Copy as code" }));
+    await act(async () => {});
+    expect(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Copied ✓" })).toBeTruthy();
+    const first = String(writeText.mock.calls[0][0]);
+    expect(first).toContain('// Text: "ab"');
+    // Two letters, a 2×2 block each: a 4 × 2 sprite.
+    expect(first).toContain("const SPRITE_W = 4, SPRITE_H = 2;");
+
+    fireEvent.change(screen.getByRole("textbox", { name: "Text" }), { target: { value: "abcd" } });
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Copied ✓" }));
+    const second = String(writeText.mock.calls[1][0]);
+    expect(second).toContain('// Text: "abcd"');
+    expect(second).toContain("const SPRITE_W = 8, SPRITE_H = 2;");
+  });
+
+  it("says so when no letter is on the frame", () => {
+    store().addTextLayer();
+    store().setTextSpec(text().id, { text: "" });
+    const writeText = clipboard();
+    render(<TextPanel />);
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Copy as code" }));
+    expect(writeText).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "No letters on the frame" })).toBeTruthy();
+  });
+
+  it("says so when the browser refuses the clipboard", async () => {
+    store().addTextLayer();
+    Object.defineProperty(navigator, "clipboard", {
+      configurable: true,
+      value: { writeText: () => Promise.reject(new Error("denied")) },
+    });
+    render(<TextPanel />);
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Copy as code" }));
+    await act(async () => {});
+    expect(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Copy failed" })).toBeTruthy();
+  });
+});
+
 describe("dragging text on Preview", () => {
   it("moves the selected text by whole LED pixels", () => {
     store().addTextLayer();
 
@@ -6,8 +6,13 @@
 //
 // Fonts come from the site, the device or a file the person picks
 // (lib/lab/textFonts.ts). A file is read in this browser and goes nowhere.
+//
+// Copy as code takes the letters as they are drawn now, the way Pixel's does
+// a drawing (lib/lab/pixelToCode.ts): a pattern that needs no font.
 
 import { useEffect, useRef, useState, type ChangeEvent } from "react";
+import { useResettingState } from "@/lib/hooks/useResettingState";
+import { buildPixelPatternCode } from "@/lib/lab/pixelToCode";
 import { useActiveLayer, useLabStore } from "@/lib/lab/store";
 import {
   FONT_FILE_ACCEPT,
@@ -32,6 +37,7 @@ import {
   type TextFill,
   type TextLayer,
 } from "@/lib/lab/types";
+import type { CodeCopyState } from "./pixel/PixelToolbars";
 import local from "./TextPanel.module.css";
 import dock from "../LabPanels.module.css";
 
@@ -49,6 +55,13 @@ const FILL_LABEL: Record<TextFill, string> = {
 
 const ALIGN_LABEL = { left: "Left", center: "Center", right: "Right" } as const;
 
+const COPY_LABEL: Record<CodeCopyState, string> = {
+  idle: "Copy as code",
+  copied: "Copied ✓",
+  empty: "No letters on the frame",
+  failed: "Copy failed",
+};
+
 /** The font picker's entries, kept up as fonts are added, remembered or arrive. */
 function useFontOptions(): FontOption[] {
   const [options, setOptions] = useState(fontOptions);
@@ -136,9 +149,22 @@ function TextEditor({ layer }: { layer: TextLayer }) {
   const [remember, setRemember] = useState(false);
   const [busy, setBusy] = useState(false);
   const [message, setMessage] = useState<string | null>(null);
+  const [codeCopy, flashCodeCopy] = useResettingState<CodeCopyState>("idle", 1400);
   const { spec } = layer;
   const set = (patch: Parameters<typeof setTextSpec>[1]) => setTextSpec(layer.id, patch);
 
+  const copyAsCode = () => {
+    const code = buildPixelPatternCode(layer);
+    if (!code) {
+      flashCodeCopy("empty");
+      return;
+    }
+    navigator.clipboard
+      .writeText(code)
+      .then(() => flashCodeCopy("copied"))
+      .catch(() => flashCodeCopy("failed"));
+  };
+
   const missing = resolveFont(spec.font).missing;
   const groups = (["site", "system", "file"] as const).map((group) => ({
     group,
@@ -318,6 +344,17 @@ function TextEditor({ layer }: { layer: TextLayer }) {
             ? "Drag the text in Preview to move it."
             : "Drag the text in Preview to move it. The colors are this layer's Color Ramp."}
         </p>
+
+        <div className={local.actions}>
+          <button
+            type="button"
+            onClick={copyAsCode}
+            title="Copy the letters as a standalone pattern (JS) that needs no font. Paste it into an AI chat and ask it to scroll, wave or twinkle them. The text layer stays as it is."
+          >
+            {COPY_LABEL[codeCopy]}
+          </button>
+          <span className={local.note}>The letters as pixels: the code needs no font. Change the words and copy again.</span>
+        </div>
       </div>
     </div>
   );