diff --git a/dev/mock.ts b/dev/mock.ts
index bd72d79..5d4128d 100644
--- a/dev/mock.ts
+++ b/dev/mock.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,14 @@ export function mockScreen(options: { kitty?: boolean; W?: number; H?: number }
       }
       post?.(buf)
     },
+    // Same pass, but the caller paints every cell itself, so a test can hand the engine a full UI (a popup) with its
+    // own per-cell colors and see what the engine gives back.
+    ui(paint: (i: number, x: number, y: number, buffers: typeof buffers) => void) {
+      const buf = { width: w, height: h, buffers }
+      layer?.(buf)
+      for (let i = 0; i < w * h; i++) paint(i, i % w, (i / w) | 0, buffers)
+      post?.(buf)
+    },
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/dev/panels.ts b/dev/panels.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb269ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/panels.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Checks that the scene keeps out of a panel the UI draws over the page: with a dialog open, no cell of the dialog
+// window may get scene colors or glyphs, on any frame, including the surface recount every 10 frames.
+// bun dev/panels.ts [wallpaper]
+import { seed } from "./seed"
+import { H, W, mockScreen, session } from "./mock"
+import { wallpapers } from "./wallpapers"
+
+const id = process.argv[2] ?? "ocean"
+seed(1)
+const screen = mockScreen()
+screen.engine.start(wallpapers.find((w) => w.id === id)!, { activity: "calm", time: "day" })
+
+// A dark theme's own colors, all near-neutral like the ones isSurface accepts: the page, the dialog window over it, and
+// the dialog's dimmed backdrop around the window.
+const PAGE = [6, 35, 29]
+const DIALOG = [10, 45, 38]
+const SCRIM = [3, 17, 15]
+const win = { x0: Math.floor(W / 2) - 30, x1: Math.floor(W / 2) + 30, y0: Math.floor(H / 4), y1: H - Math.floor(H / 4) }
+const swin = { x0: win.x0 - 4, x1: win.x1 + 4, y0: win.y0 - 2, y1: win.y1 + 2 }
+const OPEN = 40
+const RUN = 40
+const cells = W * H
+const inWindow = (i: number) => {
+  const x = i % W
+  const y = (i / W) | 0
+  return x >= win.x0 && x < win.x1 && y >= win.y0 && y < win.y1
+}
+
+type Snap = { char: Uint32Array; bg: Uint16Array }
+const snaps: Snap[] = []
+for (let f = 0; f < OPEN + RUN; f++) {
+  if (f >= OPEN) {
+    screen.ui((i, x, y, buffers) => {
+      const inside = x >= win.x0 && x < win.x1 && y >= win.y0 && y < win.y1
+      const scrim = x >= swin.x0 && x < swin.x1 && y >= swin.y0 && y < swin.y1
+      buffers.char[i] = 32
+      buffers.bg.set([...(inside ? DIALOG : scrim ? SCRIM : PAGE), 255], i * 4)
+      buffers.fg.set([...PAGE, 255], i * 4)
+    })
+  } else screen.frame(session(W, H))
+  if (f >= OPEN) snaps.push({ char: new Uint32Array(screen.buffers.char), bg: new Uint16Array(screen.buffers.bg) })
+}
+screen.engine.stop()
+
+let repainted = 0
+let glyphs = 0
+let recounted = 0
+for (let s = 1; s < snaps.length; s++) {
+  const a = snaps[s - 1]
+  const b = snaps[s]
+  let frameRepaint = 0
+  for (let i = 0; i < cells; i++) {
+    if (!inWindow(i)) continue
+    let diff = a.char[i] !== b.char[i]
+    for (let c = 0; c < 3; c++) if (a.bg[i * 4 + c] !== b.bg[i * 4 + c]) diff = true
+    if (diff) frameRepaint++
+  }
+  repainted += frameRepaint
+  if ((OPEN + s) % 10 === 0) recounted += frameRepaint
+}
+const last = snaps[snaps.length - 1]
+for (let i = 0; i < cells; i++) if (inWindow(i) && last.char[i] !== 32) glyphs++
+
+const size = (win.x1 - win.x0) * (win.y1 - win.y0)
+console.log(`dialog window ${size} cells: ${glyphs} carry a scene glyph, ${repainted} cell repaints over the run (${recounted} of them on surface recounts)`)
+if (glyphs || repainted) {
+  console.log(`FAIL: the scene paints into the dialog window`)
+  process.exit(1)
+}
+console.log("ok")
diff --git a/src/engine.tsx b/src/engine.tsx
index 7468470..b20863c 100644
--- a/src/engine.tsx
+++ b/src/engine.tsx
@@ -742,6 +742,10 @@ export function createEngine(
     dump?: string
     // Writes the first frame past the middle of a crossfade, likewise.
     dumpFade?: string
+    // The theme's own page background: the color the UI paints where nothing covers it. Passed in rather than guessed,
+    // because the most common color in a frame is a widget's surface whenever a screenful of dialogs, messages or code
+    // covers the page, and painting the scene there is what makes those widgets flicker.
+    background?: RGB
     layer?: (renderer: Context["renderer"], draw: (buffer: OptimizedBuffer) => void) => { dispose(): void }
   } = {},
 ): Engine {
@@ -767,6 +771,9 @@ export function createEngine(
   let dumped = false
   let fadeDumped = false
   let base = -2
+  // The theme's page background, when the caller knows it: the scene paints only where the UI used it, so a dialog,
+  // a menu, a message or a code block keeps its own surface. -2 means "not known", and the most common color is used.
+  const pageBase = options.background ? ((options.background[0] & 255) << 16) | ((options.background[1] & 255) << 8) | (options.background[2] & 255) : -2
   let mask = new Float32Array(0)
   const quad = new Float32Array(24)
   const order = new Uint8Array(8)
@@ -1112,13 +1119,17 @@ export function createEngine(
         const k = key(bg, i * 4)
         counts.set(k, (counts.get(k) ?? 0) + 1)
       }
-      base = -2
-      let best = 0
-      for (const [k, n] of counts) if (n > best) ((best = n), (base = k))
+      const known = pageBase !== -2
+      base = known ? pageBase : -2
+      if (!known) {
+        let best = 0
+        for (const [k, n] of counts) if (n > best) ((best = n), (base = k))
+      }
       surfaces.clear()
       tints.clear()
       surfaces.add(base)
-      for (const [k, n] of counts) if (k !== base && n > cells * 0.002 && isSurface(k, light)) surfaces.add(k)
+      // When the page color is known, every other surface is a widget's, not the page: none of them shows the scene.
+      if (!known) for (const [k, n] of counts) if (k !== base && n > cells * 0.002 && isSurface(k, light)) surfaces.add(k)
     }
     const look = LEVELS[settings!.brightness ?? "normal"]
     const curve = light ? look.light : look.dark
@@ -1139,9 +1150,12 @@ export function createEngine(
     for (let i = 0; i < cells; i++) {
       const k = key(bg, i * 4)
       const tint = tintOf(k)
-      const on = tint !== NO_TINT
+      // The scene shows only where the UI painted the page's own background. A cell whose background is some other
+      // color - a dialog, a menu, a message or tool block, the prompt - belongs to the UI, and tinting it or fitting
+      // scene glyphs into it makes the wallpaper show through that widget and flicker as the scene moves.
+      const on = tint !== NO_TINT && k === base
       surface[i] = on ? 1 : 0
-      cellTint[i] = tint
+      cellTint[i] = on ? tint : NO_TINT
       // 1 for text, 2 for a blank cell of a panel (a surface other than the base, such as a dialog), else 0.
       const shape = !on ? 0 : char[i] !== SPACE && !(isBlock(char[i]) && tintOf(fgKey(fg, i * 4)) !== NO_TINT) ? 1 : k !== base && tint === TINT_ZERO ? 2 : 0
       if (shapes[i] !== shape) ((shapes[i] = shape), (reshaped = true))
diff --git a/tui.tsx b/tui.tsx
index ab08bf6..46f004f 100644
--- a/tui.tsx
+++ b/tui.tsx
@@ -16,7 +16,14 @@ export default Plugin.define({
     if (external.skipped.length) context.ui.toast.show({ message: `Skipped wallpapers:\n${external.skipped.join("\n")}`, variant: "error" })
     const wallpapers = [...WALLPAPERS, ...external.wallpapers]
     const collections = [...new Set(wallpapers.map(collectionOf))]
-    const engine = createEngine(context, { dump: process.env.WALLPAPER_DUMP, dumpFade: process.env.WALLPAPER_DUMP_FADE })
+    // The theme's own page color: what the UI paints where nothing covers it, so the scene can leave every other
+    // surface - a dialog, a menu, a message or a code block - to the UI.
+    const page = context.theme.background.base
+    const engine = createEngine(context, {
+      dump: process.env.WALLPAPER_DUMP,
+      dumpFade: process.env.WALLPAPER_DUMP_FADE,
+      background: page ? [page.r, page.g, page.b] : undefined,
+    })
     // Environment overrides for development; they win over the stored choice.
     const pinned = process.env.WALLPAPER
     const pinnedActivity = process.env.WALLPAPER_ACTIVITY