diff --git a/Sources/Shotdeck/PanelSnapshot.swift b/Sources/Shotdeck/PanelSnapshot.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6580e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Sources/Shotdeck/PanelSnapshot.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,295 @@
+import AppKit
+import CoreGraphics
+import Darwin
+import Foundation
+import ImageIO
+import PDFKit
+import SwiftUI
+import ShotdeckCore
+
+/// Headless offscreen renderer for `MenuBarView` / `SettingsView`.
+/// Driven by `SHOTDECK_SNAPSHOT_DIR`; never touches the real Application Support spool.
+enum PanelSnapshot {
+    private static let panelWidth: CGFloat = 340
+
+    /// Called from `main.swift` before `ShotdeckApp.main()`. Returns immediately when the
+    /// env var is unset; otherwise writes the six panel PNGs, prints each path, and `exit`s.
+    @MainActor
+    static func runIfRequested() {
+        guard let raw = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SHOTDECK_SNAPSHOT_DIR"],
+              !raw.isEmpty
+        else { return }
+
+        let app = NSApplication.shared
+        app.setActivationPolicy(.prohibited)
+
+        Task { @MainActor in
+            do {
+                try await captureAll(to: URL(fileURLWithPath: raw, isDirectory: true))
+                exit(0)
+            } catch {
+                fputs("PanelSnapshot failed: \(error)\n", stderr)
+                exit(1)
+            }
+        }
+
+        app.run()
+        exit(0)
+    }
+
+    @MainActor
+    private static func captureAll(to directory: URL) async throws {
+        try FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: directory, withIntermediateDirectories: true)
+
+        let (model, root) = try makeIsolatedModel()
+        defer { try? FileManager.default.removeItem(at: root) }
+
+        let region = sampleRegion()
+
+        // 01 — Screen Recording missing (no public mutator; snapshot-only seam).
+        model.snapshotSetScreenRecordingGranted(false)
+        model.replaceRegion(nil)
+        try renderMenuBar(model: model, to: directory, name: "01-no-permission")
+
+        // 02 — granted, no region picked.
+        model.snapshotSetScreenRecordingGranted(true)
+        model.replaceRegion(nil)
+        try renderMenuBar(model: model, to: directory, name: "02-no-region")
+
+        // 03 — region set, empty session.
+        model.replaceRegion(region)
+        try renderMenuBar(model: model, to: directory, name: "03-empty-session")
+
+        // 04 — three real PNGs in the temp spool so SessionStrip thumbnails decode.
+        let swatches: [(CGFloat, CGFloat, CGFloat)] = [
+            (0.85, 0.22, 0.18),
+            (0.18, 0.62, 0.32),
+            (0.16, 0.38, 0.82),
+        ]
+        for (red, green, blue) in swatches {
+            let png = try makePNGData(width: 192, height: 108, red: red, green: green, blue: blue)
+            _ = try await model.spool.append(
+                pngData: png,
+                pixelWidth: 192,
+                pixelHeight: 108,
+                scale: 2.0,
+                capturedAt: Date()
+            )
+        }
+        model.replaceSession(try await model.spool.currentSession())
+        try renderMenuBar(model: model, to: directory, name: "04-captures-present")
+
+        // 05 — two inspected PDFs in the temp ledger, one marked / one not.
+        try await seedReturns(model: model)
+        try renderMenuBar(model: model, to: directory, name: "05-returns-present")
+
+        // 06 — SettingsView against the same isolated model.
+        try render(
+            SettingsView().environment(model),
+            to: directory.appendingPathComponent("panel-06-settings.png")
+        )
+    }
+
+    @MainActor
+    private static func renderMenuBar(model: AppModel, to directory: URL, name: String) throws {
+        try render(
+            MenuBarView().environment(model),
+            to: directory.appendingPathComponent("panel-\(name).png")
+        )
+    }
+
+    @MainActor
+    private static func render(_ view: some View, to url: URL) throws {
+        let wrapped = view
+            .frame(width: panelWidth, alignment: .topLeading)
+            .fixedSize(horizontal: false, vertical: true)
+            .background(Color(nsColor: .windowBackgroundColor))
+
+        let hosting = NSHostingView(rootView: wrapped)
+        hosting.wantsLayer = true
+        hosting.appearance = NSAppearance(named: .aqua)
+
+        let window = NSWindow(
+            contentRect: NSRect(x: -10_000, y: -10_000, width: panelWidth, height: 64),
+            styleMask: [.borderless],
+            backing: .buffered,
+            defer: false
+        )
+        window.isReleasedWhenClosed = false
+        window.appearance = NSAppearance(named: .aqua)
+        window.backgroundColor = .windowBackgroundColor
+        window.isOpaque = true
+        window.alphaValue = 0
+        window.contentView = hosting
+        window.orderBack(nil)
+
+        hosting.layoutSubtreeIfNeeded()
+        var size = hosting.fittingSize
+        if size.height < 1 {
+            size.height = hosting.intrinsicContentSize.height
+        }
+        if size.height < 1 { size.height = 240 }
+        size.width = panelWidth
+        size.height = ceil(size.height)
+
+        hosting.setFrameSize(size)
+        window.setContentSize(size)
+        hosting.layoutSubtreeIfNeeded()
+        RunLoop.current.run(until: Date(timeIntervalSinceNow: 0.05))
+
+        let bounds = hosting.bounds
+        guard let rep = hosting.bitmapImageRepForCachingDisplay(in: bounds) else {
+            throw SnapshotError.renderFailed(url.lastPathComponent)
+        }
+        hosting.cacheDisplay(in: bounds, to: rep)
+        guard let png = rep.representation(using: .png, properties: [:]) else {
+            throw SnapshotError.encodeFailed(url.lastPathComponent)
+        }
+        try png.write(to: url)
+        print(url.path)
+        fflush(stdout)
+
+        window.contentView = nil
+        window.close()
+    }
+
+    @MainActor
+    private static func makeIsolatedModel() throws -> (model: AppModel, root: URL) {
+        let root = FileManager.default.temporaryDirectory
+            .appendingPathComponent("shotdeck-panel-snapshot-\(UUID().uuidString)", isDirectory: true)
+        let paths = try AppSupportPaths(
+            root: root,
+            outbox: root.appendingPathComponent("outbox", isDirectory: true),
+            watchFolder: root.appendingPathComponent("watch", isDirectory: true)
+        )
+        let ledger = try ReturnLedger(paths: paths)
+        let model = AppModel(
+            paths: paths,
+            spool: try SpoolStore(paths: paths),
+            composer: PDFComposer(),
+            capturer: ScreenCapturer(),
+            hotkeys: HotkeyCenter(),
+            picker: RegionPickerController(),
+            ledger: ledger,
+            watcher: ReturnWatcher(paths: paths, ledger: ledger)
+        )
+        model.setFolderURLs(outbox: paths.outbox, watch: paths.watchFolder)
+        return (model, root)
+    }
+
+    @MainActor
+    private static func seedReturns(model: AppModel) async throws {
+        let watch = model.paths.watchFolder
+        let unmarkedURL = watch.appendingPathComponent("Shotdeck-20260901-120000.pdf")
+        let markedURL = watch.appendingPathComponent("Shotdeck-20260901-120100.pdf")
+        try writeShotdeckPDF(to: unmarkedURL, marked: false)
+        try writeShotdeckPDF(to: markedURL, marked: true)
+
+        let unmarked = try AnnotationInspector.inspect(fileURL: unmarkedURL)
+        let marked = try AnnotationInspector.inspect(fileURL: markedURL)
+        try await model.ledger.record(unmarked)
+        try await model.ledger.record(marked)
+        model.setReturns(
+            all: try await model.ledger.all(),
+            commented: try await model.ledger.commented()
+        )
+    }
+
+    private static func sampleRegion() -> CaptureRegion {
+        CaptureRegion(
+            displayID: CGMainDisplayID(),
+            rect: CGRect(x: 120, y: 80, width: 800, height: 600),
+            capturedScale: 2.0
+        )
+    }
+
+    private static func makePNGData(
+        width: Int,
+        height: Int,
+        red: CGFloat,
+        green: CGFloat,
+        blue: CGFloat
+    ) throws -> Data {
+        let colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB()
+        guard let context = CGContext(
+            data: nil,
+            width: width,
+            height: height,
+            bitsPerComponent: 8,
+            bytesPerRow: width * 4,
+            space: colorSpace,
+            bitmapInfo: CGImageAlphaInfo.premultipliedLast.rawValue
+        ) else {
+            throw SnapshotError.pngGenerationFailed
+        }
+        context.setFillColor(red: red, green: green, blue: blue, alpha: 1)
+        context.fill(CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: width, height: height))
+        guard let image = context.makeImage() else {
+            throw SnapshotError.pngGenerationFailed
+        }
+        let buffer = NSMutableData()
+        guard let destination = CGImageDestinationCreateWithData(
+            buffer,
+            "public.png" as CFString,
+            1,
+            nil
+        ) else {
+            throw SnapshotError.pngGenerationFailed
+        }
+        CGImageDestinationAddImage(destination, image, nil)
+        guard CGImageDestinationFinalize(destination) else {
+            throw SnapshotError.pngGenerationFailed
+        }
+        return buffer as Data
+    }
+
+    private static func writeShotdeckPDF(to url: URL, marked: Bool) throws {
+        let document = PDFDocument()
+        let page = PDFPage()
+        page.setBounds(CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 612, height: 792), for: .mediaBox)
+        document.insert(page, at: 0)
+        document.documentAttributes = [
+            PDFDocumentAttribute.creatorAttribute: "Shotdeck",
+            PDFDocumentAttribute.subjectAttribute: UUID().uuidString,
+        ]
+        if marked {
+            let annotation = PDFAnnotation(
+                bounds: CGRect(x: 72, y: 400, width: 220, height: 36),
+                forType: .highlight,
+                withProperties: nil
+            )
+            page.addAnnotation(annotation)
+        }
+        guard document.write(to: url) else {
+            throw SnapshotError.pdfWriteFailed(url.lastPathComponent)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+extension AppModel {
+    /// `screenRecordingGranted` is `public private(set)` with no seam mutator.
+    /// Snapshot-only: the KeyPath setter exists at runtime; compile-time access is file-private.
+    func snapshotSetScreenRecordingGranted(_ granted: Bool) {
+        // private(set) types this as KeyPath; the setter still exists on the @Observable storage.
+        let writable: ReferenceWritableKeyPath<AppModel, Bool> = unsafeBitCast(
+            \AppModel.screenRecordingGranted, to: ReferenceWritableKeyPath<AppModel, Bool>.self
+        )
+        self[keyPath: writable] = granted
+    }
+}
+
+private enum SnapshotError: Error, CustomStringConvertible {
+    case renderFailed(String)
+    case encodeFailed(String)
+    case pngGenerationFailed
+    case pdfWriteFailed(String)
+
+    var description: String {
+        switch self {
+        case .renderFailed(let name): return "bitmapImageRepForCachingDisplay failed for \(name)"
+        case .encodeFailed(let name): return "PNG encode failed for \(name)"
+        case .pngGenerationFailed: return "CoreGraphics PNG generation failed"
+        case .pdfWriteFailed(let name): return "could not write \(name)"
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/Sources/Shotdeck/main.swift b/Sources/Shotdeck/main.swift
index 60de9bc..21ce466 100644
--- a/Sources/Shotdeck/main.swift
+++ b/Sources/Shotdeck/main.swift
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ import ShotdeckCore
 
 // SwiftPM treats a file named main.swift as top-level code, which forbids `@main`.
 // App.main() is the equivalent entry point.
+if ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SHOTDECK_SNAPSHOT_DIR"] != nil {
+    MainActor.assumeIsolated { PanelSnapshot.runIfRequested() }
+}
 ShotdeckApp.main()
 
 struct ShotdeckApp: App {