diff --git a/packages/engine/ui/document.h b/packages/engine/ui/document.h
index e92f69a..d238473 100644
--- a/packages/engine/ui/document.h
+++ b/packages/engine/ui/document.h
@@ -97,5 +97,12 @@ void endStyleMountBatch();
 // presents to the panel would show unstyled content; the render path uses this to
 // suppress that flush until styles land. Defined in style.cpp.
 bool styleMountBatchActive();
+// Queues the class styles of a newly mounted root. The mounted root is what
+// `:root` matches and where a stylesheet's custom properties live, but nothing
+// in building it (createView + an id attribute) queues its own recompute, so
+// `:root { --x: ... }` never landed and every var(--x) below resolved to
+// nothing. Deferred and coalesced under an open batch, where it becomes the
+// one top-most root; immediate otherwise. Defined in style.cpp.
+void noteMountedRootStyle(int root);
 
 }  // namespace gea::embedded::ui
diff --git a/packages/engine/ui/layout.cpp b/packages/engine/ui/layout.cpp
index c03a8fc..12be080 100644
--- a/packages/engine/ui/layout.cpp
+++ b/packages/engine/ui/layout.cpp
@@ -1129,8 +1129,15 @@ class FlexLayoutPass {
 			}
 			pen += gap + marginL + cn.layout.width + marginR;
 
-			if (soleRun && cn.type == NodeType::Text && !hasExplicitWidth(cn)) {
-				// text-align needs a box as wide as the line box to align inside.
+			// text-align needs a box as wide as the line box to align inside — but
+			// ONLY the alignments that actually consume the extra width. `start`
+			// (alignedOffset's 0 case) draws at the box's left edge either way, so
+			// widening is invisible, while the widened box becomes the run's
+			// layout.width and feeds the parent's shrink-to-fit: a `<button>Hours`
+			// with no width stopped hugging its label and took the whole row (the
+			// weather forecast tabs, which then pushed `Days` off-screen).
+			const bool alignmentNeedsLineBox = cn.style.text_align == 1 || cn.style.text_align == 2;
+			if (soleRun && cn.type == NodeType::Text && alignmentNeedsLineBox && !hasExplicitWidth(cn)) {
 				const int full = contentW - marginL - marginR;
 				if (full > cn.layout.width) cn.layout.width = clampInt16(full);
 			}
diff --git a/packages/engine/ui/style.cpp b/packages/engine/ui/style.cpp
index ead3ec8..255f1c1 100644
--- a/packages/engine/ui/style.cpp
+++ b/packages/engine/ui/style.cpp
@@ -2766,6 +2766,22 @@ CssRule makeStaticCompiledCssRule(StaticStyleSelectorKind selectorKind,
 	return rule;
 }
 
+// A direct property rule is applied through its compiled value, so its
+// declaration only says which pass it belongs to. The font metrics are resolved
+// first, by a pass that picks its rules by declaration (setsFontMetrics), and
+// every later pass drops them as settled (setStyleValue's g_resolvedFontNode
+// guard). Registered as Ignored, a static `font-weight: 600` therefore never
+// landed anywhere: every node kept 400 on every target.
+CssDeclarationId declarationForDirectProperty(Property property)
+{
+	switch (property) {
+	case Property::FontId: return CssDeclarationId::FontFamily;
+	case Property::FontSize: return CssDeclarationId::FontSize;
+	case Property::FontWeight: return CssDeclarationId::FontWeight;
+	default: return CssDeclarationId::Ignored;
+	}
+}
+
 CssRule makeDirectPropertyCssRule(StaticStyleSelectorKind selectorKind,
                                   const char *selector,
                                   Property property,
@@ -2775,7 +2791,7 @@ CssRule makeDirectPropertyCssRule(StaticStyleSelectorKind selectorKind,
 	return makeStaticCompiledCssRule(selectorKind,
 	                                 selector,
 	                                 CssRuleProperty::Other,
-	                                 CssDeclarationId::Ignored,
+	                                 declarationForDirectProperty(property),
 	                                 storeDirectPropertyCompiledValue(property, value),
 	                                 media);
 }
@@ -2785,10 +2801,18 @@ CssRule makeDirectPropertyGroupCssRule(StaticStyleSelectorKind selectorKind,
                                        std::initializer_list<StaticStylePropertyValue> properties,
                                        const char *media)
 {
+	// A group that carries a font metric joins the font pass whole. Its other
+	// properties are plain values, so applying them early is harmless: the
+	// ordinary pass replays the cascade over them in order.
+	CssDeclarationId declaration = CssDeclarationId::Ignored;
+	for (const StaticStylePropertyValue &entry : properties) {
+		const CssDeclarationId candidate = declarationForDirectProperty(entry.property);
+		if (candidate != CssDeclarationId::Ignored) declaration = candidate;
+	}
 	return makeStaticCompiledCssRule(selectorKind,
 	                                 selector,
 	                                 CssRuleProperty::Other,
-	                                 CssDeclarationId::Ignored,
+	                                 declaration,
 	                                 storeDirectPropertyGroupCompiledValue(properties),
 	                                 media);
 }
@@ -5765,10 +5789,16 @@ ResolvedCssLength resolveCompiledLengthForNodeDetailed(const CssLengthSpec &leng
 	if (tryResolveStaticLengthExpressionCached(handle, expression, nodeId, axis, depth, cached)) return cached;
 	// The ordinary dynamic cache keys containing-block dimensions. Font metrics
 	// are another dependency, so never reuse that cache for font-relative input.
+	// A var() is a third: its value is an ancestor's custom property, and a
+	// node styled before it is parented (templates build children first)
+	// resolves to nothing under the same handle, basis and axis -- an entry
+	// that would then answer every later resolution, layout's included, and
+	// `.screen { padding: var(--safe-x) }` stayed at 0 that way.
 	const bool fontRelative = g_fontSizeBasisNode >= 0 || lengthDependsOnFont(length, nodeId);
-	if (!fontRelative && tryResolveDynamicLengthExpressionCached(handle, nodeId, axis, cached)) return cached;
+	const bool cacheable = !fontRelative && !compiledLengthSpecHasCustomRuntimeInputs(length, depth);
+	if (cacheable && tryResolveDynamicLengthExpressionCached(handle, nodeId, axis, cached)) return cached;
 	ResolvedCssLength resolved = resolveCompiledLengthExpressionForNode(expression, nodeId, axis, depth);
-	if (!fontRelative) storeDynamicLengthExpressionCached(handle, nodeId, axis, resolved);
+	if (cacheable) storeDynamicLengthExpressionCached(handle, nodeId, axis, resolved);
 	return resolved;
 }
 
@@ -8549,7 +8579,8 @@ bool propertyAffectsDescendantStyle(Property property)
 	       property == Property::LineHeight || property == Property::LineHeightExpression || property == Property::LineHeightMultiplier ||
 	       property == Property::TextAlign ||
 	       property == Property::TextTransform ||
-	       property == Property::WhiteSpace || property == Property::Visibility || property == Property::BorderWidth ||
+	       property == Property::WhiteSpace || property == Property::Visibility || property == Property::PointerEvents ||
+	       property == Property::BorderWidth ||
 	       (property >= Property::BorderTopWidth && property <= Property::BorderLeftWidth);
 }
 
@@ -8574,6 +8605,10 @@ void applyInheritedStyleDefaults(int node)
 	style.text_transform = parentStyle.text_transform;
 	style.white_space = parentStyle.white_space;
 	style.visibility = parentStyle.visibility;
+	// pointer-events inherits in CSS: `.overlay { pointer-events: none }` lets
+	// hits fall through its images too, which is how a decorative layer stays
+	// out of the way of what sits under it.
+	style.pointer_events = parentStyle.pointer_events;
 }
 
 bool applyNumberDeclarationWithSource(NodeHandle node,
@@ -14950,6 +14985,7 @@ struct ParentStyleSnapshot {
 	std::uint8_t text_transform;
 	std::uint8_t white_space;
 	std::uint8_t visibility;
+	std::int8_t pointer_events;
 	std::array<int, 4> border_widths;
 };
 
@@ -14960,6 +14996,7 @@ ParentStyleSnapshot snapshotParentStyle(const ComputedStyle &s)
 	                       static_cast<std::int16_t>(s.line_height), s.line_height_multiplier,
 	                       static_cast<std::uint8_t>(s.text_align), static_cast<std::uint8_t>(s.text_transform),
 	                       static_cast<std::uint8_t>(s.white_space), static_cast<std::uint8_t>(s.visibility),
+	                       s.pointer_events,
 	                       {computedBorderWidth(s, 0), computedBorderWidth(s, 1), computedBorderWidth(s, 2), computedBorderWidth(s, 3)}};
 }
 
@@ -14968,7 +15005,8 @@ bool parentStylesDiffer(const ParentStyleSnapshot &a, const ParentStyleSnapshot
 	return a.text_color != b.text_color || a.text_alpha != b.text_alpha || a.font_id != b.font_id || a.font_size != b.font_size ||
 	       a.font_weight != b.font_weight || a.line_height != b.line_height || a.line_height_multiplier != b.line_height_multiplier ||
 	       a.text_align != b.text_align || a.text_transform != b.text_transform ||
-	       a.white_space != b.white_space || a.visibility != b.visibility || a.border_widths != b.border_widths;
+	       a.white_space != b.white_space || a.visibility != b.visibility || a.pointer_events != b.pointer_events ||
+	       a.border_widths != b.border_widths;
 }
 
 inline void listInsertUnique(CssAtomSmallList &v, CssAtomId s)
@@ -16217,6 +16255,17 @@ bool styleMountBatchActive()
 	return g_styleMountBatchActive;
 }
 
+void noteMountedRootStyle(int root)
+{
+	auto &state = treeState();
+	if (root < 0 || root >= state.nodeCount) return;
+	// Under the mount batch this only records the root as pending; being the
+	// ancestor of everything else queued, it subsumes them and the batch's
+	// incremental walk styles the root first, so its custom properties are in
+	// place before any descendant's var() is resolved.
+	recomputeSubtreeClassStyles(root);
+}
+
 void endStyleMountBatch()
 {
 	if (!g_styleMountBatchActive) return;
@@ -16262,7 +16311,28 @@ void endStyleMountBatch()
 				break;
 			}
 		}
-		if (!covered) topRoots.push_back(node);
+		if (covered) continue;
+		// The document root is created by Document, not by the app, so a mount
+		// never marks it pending — yet it is what :root matches, and :root is
+		// where custom properties are declared. Recomputing the app's subtree
+		// without it means every descendant var() resolves against a root that
+		// has no properties yet: the lookup misses, and a miss latches 0 into the
+		// computed style (a `padding: var(--safe-x)` silently became 0). Pull the
+		// root in, but only while it has never been styled — that is the first
+		// mount. Later incremental updates keep their narrow roots, so a theme
+		// switch does not turn into a whole-tree recompute.
+		int ultimate = node;
+		while (state.nodes[ultimate].parent >= 0) ultimate = state.nodes[ultimate].parent;
+		const bool rootNeedsFirstStyle =
+		    ultimate != node && ultimate >= 0 && ultimate < kMaxNodes && !g_nodeRefs[ultimate].tracked;
+		if (rootNeedsFirstStyle) {
+			if (!g_pendingRecomputeMark.contains(ultimate)) {
+				g_pendingRecomputeMark.insert(ultimate);
+				topRoots.push_back(ultimate);
+			}
+			continue;
+		}
+		topRoots.push_back(node);
 	}
 
 	// Incremental recompute: a near-root class change (e.g. a theme switch) only
diff --git a/packages/engine/ui/tree_render.cpp b/packages/engine/ui/tree_render.cpp
index dcc65cc..5dda90a 100644
--- a/packages/engine/ui/tree_render.cpp
+++ b/packages/engine/ui/tree_render.cpp
@@ -1626,9 +1626,14 @@ namespace gea::embedded::ui
 			return;
 		state.refreshSerial++;
 
+		const int previousRoot = state.mountedRoot;
 		state.mountedRoot = root;
 		state.mountedWidth = width;
 		state.mountedHeight = height;
+		// A root mounted for the first time has never had its class styles
+		// computed: `:root` rules (custom properties above all) apply to it and
+		// nowhere else. The styled re-mount at boot passes the same root again.
+		if (previousRoot != root) noteMountedRootStyle(root);
 
 		// While the initial style batch is open, per-node class styles haven't been
 		// applied yet, so laying out now produces UNSTYLED, content-sized boxes. That