Super+Tab opens the WRONG overview (Ambxst 2x5 window cards instead of hyprexpo 3x3 workspace grid)

[nethum529]

Extends #9 with the exact symptom seen on the ported machine, screenshot-confirmed 2026-08-09. Requires main @ PR #15 (a stale comment that caused this was fixed).

The symptom, precisely

• Laptop (correct): Super+Tab → hyprexpo — a 3x3 grid of NUMBERED WORKSPACES showing live wallpaper + window content; arrows navigate; releasing Super confirms.
• PC (wrong): Super+Tab → Ambxst's own overview — 2 rows x 5 columns of WINDOW cards with a 'Search windows…' box. That layout is literally ~/.config/ambxst/config/overview.json (rows: 2, columns: 5). Different feature entirely.

Why this happens (the nuance)

Super+Tab has exactly ONE owner on the laptop, and it is NOT Ambxst:

1. ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf (stowed by this repo) carries ALL of it:
   bind = $mod, Tab, hyprexpo:expo, toggle + bind = $mod, Tab, submap, expo
   • the plugin { hyprexpo { columns = 3 … } } block + the expo submap
     (arrow nav, Super+Tab step, bindr SUPER, Super_L release-to-confirm).
2. binds.json intentionally contains NO Tab entry (verified:
   grep '"Tab"' ~/.config/ambxst/binds.json → nothing). Upstream Ambxst's
   DEFAULT binds include Super+Tab → its own overview — that default was
   deleted on the laptop. A ported machine shows the wrong overview when the
   Ambxst layer still carries that default: the stowed binds.json isn't the
   one in effect (stow conflict left the packaged default in place), or Ambxst
   regenerated defaults into ~/.local/share/ambxst/ before the real
   binds.json existed, or the agent added a Tab bind while debugging.
3. A now-fixed comment in hyprland.conf CLAIMED Super+Tab lives in binds.json.
   If the agent followed it and created one: that is the bug. Remove it.

DO NOT DOUBLE-BIND SUPER+TAB

Never have a Tab bind in both layers. Hyprland dispatches every matching bind:
one press would toggle the hyprexpo grid AND open the Ambxst overview on top
— flicker, focus fights, 'sometimes works'. And the Ambxst side re-applies
its binds at runtime via axctl, so deleting only from hyprland.conf does not
stick; the fix must be on the binds.json side.

Fix procedure

cd ~/linux-setup && git pull                       # includes PR #15
# 1. confirm the stowed binds.json is live and Tab-free:
readlink ~/.config/ambxst/binds.json               # should point into ~/linux-setup
grep -c '"Tab"' ~/.config/ambxst/binds.json      # 0
# 2. purge any Tab bind from the generated layer, then reload Ambxst binds:
grep -n 'Tab' ~/.local/share/ambxst/hyprland.conf  # expect NOTHING
#    if found: your binds.json is not the repo one — restow, then Super+Alt+B
#    (or restart ambxst) so axctl regenerates from the correct binds.json
# 3. hyprexpo must be installed+enabled (issue #9) or Super+Tab enters a dead
#    submap: hyprpm list → hyprexpo enabled: true; relog after enabling

Known trap: plugin missing but submap present

With hyprexpo absent, bind = $mod, Tab, submap, expo still fires: the
keyboard enters the expo submap with nothing on screen and most keys dead
until Escape. If the machine 'locks up' on Super+Tab, that is this; it means
the plugin isn't loaded, not that the binds are wrong.

Verify correctness (expected laptop values)

hyprctl binds | grep -A3 ', TAB'      # SUPER+TAB entries: hyprexpo:expo + submap ONLY
                                       # (plus ALT+TAB cyclenext; NO exec/overview line for SUPER+TAB)
grep -c '"Tab"' ~/.config/ambxst/binds.json          # 0
grep -c Tab ~/.local/share/ambxst/hyprland.conf        # 0
hyprpm list                                            # hyprexpo enabled: true
hyprctl dispatch hyprexpo:expo toggle                  # 3x3 numbered grid opens

Functional: Super+Tab shows a 3x3 grid of numbered workspaces (NOT window
cards, NO search box); holding Super and tapping Tab steps through them
alt-tab style; releasing Super lands on the selected workspace; Escape
cancels. Ambxst's 2x5 window overview must NOT appear on Super+Tab (it stays
reachable through Ambxst's own UI, unbound from this key).

[nethum529]

Hit this on the ported PC, but with the opposite symptom: Super+Tab did nothing at all — no hyprexpo grid, and no Ambxst overview either.

Every contamination check passes; the bind just doesn't exist

Check	Expected	Measured (before fix)
readlink ~/.config/ambxst/binds.json	into ~/linux-setup	✅ stowed symlink
grep -c '"Tab"' binds.json	0	✅ 0
grep -c Tab ~/.local/share/ambxst/hyprland.conf	0	✅ 0
hyprpm list	enabled: true	✅ true
SUPER+TAB in hyprctl binds	hyprexpo:expo + submap	❌ absent entirely

The only Tab binds loaded were modmask: 8 — ALT+Tab cyclenext/alterzorder. So none of the three contamination paths in the issue applied: binds.json was clean, the generated layer was clean, and nothing had added a stray Tab bind.

Cause: the hyprexpo block was commented out locally

The machine's hyprland.conf had the whole block — bind = $mod, Tab, hyprexpo:expo, toggle, bind = $mod, Tab, submap, expo, the plugin { hyprexpo { … } } config, and the entire expo submap — commented out, under a note reading:

hyprexpo is DISABLED on this machine … hyprexpo was dropped. hyprpm add builds the four that remain and hyprpm enable hyprexpo answers "Couldn't enable plugin (missing?)"

Accurate when written, and obsolete now: parity/install-parity.sh installs the sandwichfarm fork, which builds and enables fine against 0.56.2. So the plugin was present and enabled while every bind that uses it stayed commented.

Worth noting this is a third distinct failure state for Super+Tab, alongside the two already documented:

1. Wrong overview — Ambxst's default Tab bind still live (this issue)
2. Dead submap — plugin missing, submap, expo still fires (the "known trap")
3. Silent no-op — plugin installed and enabled, but the binds commented out

Only #1 and #2 are detectable from binds.json and hyprpm list. #3 needs hyprctl binds to actually be checked for a SUPER+Tab entry — the verification block's grep -A3 ', TAB' does catch it, provided you read absence as failure rather than as "no contamination."

Resolved by pulling to ecf54a7

origin/main already carries the block uncommented plus PR #15's corrected comment. After the pull and hyprctl reload:

dispatcher: hyprexpo:expo   arg: toggle    modmask: 64
hyprexpo:kb_focus right/left/up/down       (expo submap)
general:layout → scrolling
hyprctl binds | grep -c workspace → 58     (was 48; the stale checkout was missing
                                            the static $mod,1..5 block)
configerrors → empty;  1 qs, 1 axctl daemon

No double-bind: binds.json still has 0 Tab entries and the generated layer still has 0, so hyprexpo owns Super+Tab alone.

Suggestion: the stale "hyprexpo is DISABLED / was dropped" comment is what made this expensive to diagnose — it reads as a deliberate, current decision. Since parity now installs the fork successfully, that comment shouldn't survive anywhere it can be re-copied onto another machine.