iris/android: composing text sync, tap-vs-swipe focus, composer rebuild, atlas reset on app-switch

Four fixes from Iris's phone report on the dc01f88 build, plus her same-day
follow-up on swipe-vs-tap:

- android/ime.rs: InputConnection now calls InputMethodManager.updateSelection
  after every edit (new update_ime_selection, called from after_input) -- Gboard
  was holding keystrokes back with nothing telling it the app's selection/
  composing region had moved, which read as "doesn't enter it until I hit
  space, doesn't move the caret". New unit tests in widget/text/edit.rs cover
  the buffer-level composing/commit/delete/selection operations directly.

- attr.rs: Selector/Selectable rewritten around a shared on_press dispatcher
  over PressStart/Pressing/PressEnd instead of click_or_drag(), so a field
  that isn't already focused only grants focus (and requests the IME) on a
  completed tap -- press and release with no frame past DRAG_SLOP. A drag
  is never consumed, so whatever is behind the field still sees it. New
  FocusHost::is_focused (both platform impls) and TextEdit::press_origin
  back this. Verified on the emulator: dumpsys input_method's mInputShown
  stays false after a swipe over the composer, true after a tap.

- iris_core: GlyphAtlas::clear()/Textures::reset(), called together from
  android/view.rs's surface_changed exactly when a genuinely new renderer is
  built (app-switch, not the keyboard-resize path that already reuses the
  renderer) -- both CPU-side caches otherwise kept pointing at the old,
  destroyed device's textures. Verified on the emulator: home, reopen, every
  glyph still on screen.

- transcript-ui/composer.rs: rebuilt as one widget (unchanged Stack{rect,
  span} idiom, capped at ~6 lines via MaxSize + .scrollable(), wrapped in one
  Pad whose bottom Composer::set_bottom_inset rewrites in place so the bar
  sits on the IME or nav-bar inset with no rebuild -- rebuilding would drop
  focus/selection/in-progress text). Wired from bench_client.rs's existing
  on_insets_changed.

A second, deeper bug found while verifying the composing fix is NOT fixed
this pass: composed text never becomes visible at all. A new layout_tests.rs
test proves the widget tree's own region math is correct across a keyboard
resize, ruling that out; RUST.md's P0 box has the full writeup and what to
check next (UiRenderState::redraw's single-widget path, or something
force-gles-specific -- this AVD has no Vulkan adapter to rule that out with).

cargo fmt/clippy/test --workspace and cargo ndk clippy all clean.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>

iris/android-app/src/bench_client.rs

@@ -272,6 +272,18 @@ impl AndroidAppState for BenchClient {
         let controls = bench_controls(rsc, insets.top);
         (self.top_bar)(rsc).set(controls);
 
+        // The composer bar sits directly on whichever of the IME or the
+        // navigation bar is currently the bottom of usable space -- see
+        // `transcript_ui::composer::Composer::set_bottom_inset`'s doc.
+        // `ime_bottom` already exceeds the plain nav-bar inset whenever the
+        // keyboard covers it, so the larger of the two is always the right
+        // answer without needing to know which is currently showing.
+        if let Some(screen) = &self.screen {
+            screen
+                .composer
+                .set_bottom_inset(rsc, insets.bottom.max(insets.ime_bottom));
+        }
+
         let ime_visible = insets.ime_bottom > 0.0;
         if ime_visible && !self.keyboard_was_visible {
             self.keyboard_was_visible = true;

iris/core/src/primitive/texture.rs

@@ -141,6 +141,27 @@ impl Textures {
         self.updates.push(Update::Patch(handle.slot, rect));
     }
 
+    /// Forget every image, page and pending update -- what a genuinely new
+    /// GPU device needs alongside [`crate::render::atlas::GlyphAtlas::
+    /// clear`], which this module's own doc references: every slot number
+    /// and every queued [`Update`] here describes the *old* device's
+    /// textures (an `Update::Push`/`Update::Patch` already drained into a
+    /// renderer that no longer exists is gone for good, and a fresh
+    /// `UiRenderNode`'s own texture manager starts with none of them
+    /// applied), so nothing is lost by starting this bookkeeping over too.
+    /// Any `TextureHandle` a caller still holds across the reset (none in
+    /// the transcript screen this reset is wired up for today -- confirmed
+    /// by grep, the only standalone (non-atlas) image anywhere in this
+    /// workspace is `iris/widget/image.rs`'s `Image`, used by the separate
+    /// `tabs-ui` example) is left pointing at a slot this instance no
+    /// longer recognises and needs reinserting via `add`/`add_page` again
+    /// -- the same pre-existing gap a renderer restart already left for
+    /// such a handle before this method existed, just named rather than
+    /// silent now.
+    pub fn reset(&mut self) {
+        *self = Self::new();
+    }
+
     pub fn free(&mut self) {
         for (kind, idx) in self.recv.try_iter() {
             self.images[idx as usize] = None;

iris/core/src/render/atlas.rs

@@ -173,6 +173,25 @@ impl GlyphAtlas {
     pub fn glyph_count(&self) -> usize {
         self.entries.len()
     }
+
+    /// Forget every page and every rasterised entry -- what a genuinely new
+    /// GPU device needs (`android::view::IrisViewPeer::surface_changed`'s
+    /// "not already live" branch, e.g. after backgrounding): the pages this
+    /// atlas remembers are `TextureHandle`s into the *old* device's
+    /// textures, which no longer exist, and every `GlyphEntry`'s `uv_min`/
+    /// `uv_max`/`layer` point into them. Without this, a glyph already
+    /// cached here is treated as "already placed" and never re-inserted
+    /// into the fresh (empty) atlas the new renderer actually has --
+    /// exactly the "rectangles stay, glyphs disappear" bug the resize path
+    /// (`AndroidRenderer::resize`) was built to avoid for the reuse case;
+    /// this is its counterpart for the case where the renderer really is
+    /// new. Dropping `pages` also drops its `TextureHandle`s, which send a
+    /// free message back through their `Textures`; see `Textures::reset`'s
+    /// doc for why that is harmless here.
+    pub fn clear(&mut self) {
+        self.pages.clear();
+        self.entries.clear();
+    }
 }
 
 fn fits(page: &Page, need_w: u32, need_h: u32) -> bool {

iris/src/android/attr.rs

@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ impl<T: HasAndroidUiState> FocusHost for T {
         self.android_state_mut().focus = id;
     }
 
+    fn is_focused(&self, id: WeakWidget<TextEdit>) -> bool {
+        self.android_state().focus == Some(id)
+    }
+
     fn focus_gained(&mut self, region: Option<PixelRegion>) {
         // Showing the keyboard is a JNI call (`InputMethodManager.showSoftInput`),
         // and this runs deep inside the platform-agnostic sensor dispatch

iris/src/android/ime.rs

@@ -49,6 +49,52 @@ impl<State: AndroidAppState> IrisViewPeer<State> {
     fn focus(&self) -> Option<WeakWidget<TextEdit>> {
         self.state.android_state().focus
     }
+
+    /// Tell Gboard where the caret/selection and the composing region
+    /// actually are, via `InputMethodManager.updateSelection` -- every one
+    /// of android-view's own demo's `set_composing_text_internal`/`render`
+    /// calls this, and this bridge never did, which is what left Gboard's
+    /// own model of the field diverging from `TextEdit`'s real one after
+    /// the very first edit (RUST.md's P0 box, "doesn't enter it until I
+    /// hit space, and also doesn't move cursor forward" -- Gboard holds
+    /// its composing keystrokes back until it believes the app has caught
+    /// up, and without this call it never does). Called from
+    /// [`IrisViewPeer::after_input`], the one tail every touch/key/IME
+    /// callback already runs through, rather than duplicated at each of
+    /// this file's mutating methods.
+    ///
+    /// `candidates_start`/`candidates_end` report the composing region;
+    /// `-1, -1` when nothing is composing, matching `EditorInfo`'s own
+    /// convention. `compose_len` is tracked in `char`s (this module's doc
+    /// comment), so this reports it as that many UTF-16 units back from the
+    /// caret -- exact for the common BMP case, the same approximation
+    /// `set_composing_text` already makes.
+    pub(super) fn update_ime_selection(&mut self, ctx: &mut CallbackCtx) {
+        let Some(focus) = self.focus() else { return };
+        let text = &self.rsc[focus];
+        let Some(sel) = text.selection_range() else {
+            return;
+        };
+        let content = text.text();
+        let sel_start = byte_to_utf16(content, sel.start) as i32;
+        let sel_end = byte_to_utf16(content, sel.end) as i32;
+        let compose_len = self.state.android_state().compose_len;
+        let (comp_start, comp_end) = if compose_len > 0 {
+            let caret = byte_to_utf16(content, text.caret().unwrap_or(sel.end)) as i32;
+            (caret - compose_len as i32, caret)
+        } else {
+            (-1, -1)
+        };
+        let imm = ctx.view.input_method_manager(&mut ctx.env);
+        imm.update_selection(
+            &mut ctx.env,
+            &ctx.view,
+            sel_start,
+            sel_end,
+            comp_start,
+            comp_end,
+        );
+    }
 }
 
 impl<State: AndroidAppState> InputConnection for IrisViewPeer<State> {

iris/src/android/view.rs

@@ -325,6 +325,13 @@ impl<State: AndroidAppState> IrisViewPeer<State> {
             show_soft_input(&mut ctx.env, &ctx.view);
         }
 
+        // RUST.md's P0 box, "doesn't enter it until I hit space, and also
+        // doesn't move cursor forward": Gboard needs `updateSelection`
+        // after every edit to keep its own model of the field in sync, or
+        // it holds keystrokes back rather than trusting a screen it
+        // believes is stale. See `update_ime_selection`'s own doc.
+        self.update_ime_selection(ctx);
+
         let ui_state = self.state.android_state_mut();
         ui_state.cursor.end_frame();
         if self.render.needs_redraw(&ui_state.root, self.rsc.widgets()) {
@@ -650,6 +657,22 @@ impl<State: AndroidAppState> ViewPeer for IrisViewPeer<State> {
         let content_scale = self.state.android_state().content_scale;
         match AndroidRenderer::new(window, width as u32, height as u32, content_scale) {
             Ok(renderer) => {
+                // A genuinely new renderer means a genuinely new GPU device
+                // and a fresh, empty glyph atlas -- the CPU-side glyph
+                // cache (`TextData::atlas`) and the texture bookkeeping it
+                // is built on (`UiData::textures`) both outlive `renderer`
+                // itself (they live on `self.rsc`, not on `AndroidRenderer`),
+                // so without this they would keep pointing at the *old*
+                // device's now-gone textures -- the app-switch counterpart
+                // to the keyboard-resize glyph wipe this same function's
+                // `already_live` branch above already fixed by reusing the
+                // renderer instead of rebuilding it. One mechanism either
+                // way: this call only runs on the branch that actually
+                // builds a new renderer, exactly where invalidation is
+                // needed, never on the reuse branch, where it would throw
+                // away perfectly valid GPU state for nothing.
+                self.rsc.ui.text.atlas.clear();
+                self.rsc.ui.textures.reset();
                 self.state.android_state_mut().renderer = Some(renderer);
                 self.render(ctx);
             }

iris/src/attr.rs

@@ -22,6 +22,13 @@ pub trait FocusHost {
     /// it was hit in (`None` when the widget could not be located, which
     /// happens for one it was just deselected from).
     fn focus_gained(&mut self, region: Option<PixelRegion>);
+    /// Whether `id` is the current focus target -- what [`select`] uses to
+    /// tell a fresh press (which must wait to see whether it becomes a tap
+    /// or a drag before focusing/showing the IME, Iris 2026-09-06: "if I
+    /// swipe over the input bar it brings up the keyboard") from a drag
+    /// continuing inside a field that was already focused (an ordinary
+    /// drag-to-select, unaffected).
+    fn is_focused(&self, id: WeakWidget<TextEdit>) -> bool;
 }
 
 /// Helper shared by every `FocusHost` impl, so the double-click window is
@@ -33,6 +40,17 @@ pub fn recent_click(last_click: &mut Instant) -> bool {
     recent
 }
 
+/// `PressStart`/`Pressing`/`PressEnd`, all for the left button -- what
+/// [`Selector`]/[`Selectable`] register instead of [`CursorSense::
+/// click_or_drag`], so their shared handler (`on_press`, below) sees every
+/// frame of a gesture and can tell a completed tap from a drag itself,
+/// rather than reacting to `PressStart` alone the way `click_or_drag`'s
+/// consumer used to (Iris, 2026-09-06: "if I swipe over the input bar it
+/// brings up the keyboard").
+fn press_track() -> CursorSenses {
+    CursorSense::click() | CursorSense::Pressing(CursorButton::Left) | CursorSense::unclick()
+}
+
 pub struct Selector;
 
 impl<Rsc: HasEvents, W: Widget + 'static> WidgetAttr<Rsc, W> for Selector
@@ -42,7 +60,7 @@ where
     type Input = WeakWidget<TextEdit>;
 
     fn run(rsc: &mut Rsc, container: WeakWidget<W>, id: Self::Input) {
-        rsc.register_event(container, CursorSense::click_or_drag(), move |ctx, rsc| {
+        rsc.register_event(container, press_track(), move |ctx, rsc| {
             let region = ctx.data.render.window_region(&id, &*rsc).unwrap();
             let id_pos = region.top_left;
             let container_pos = ctx
@@ -53,14 +71,14 @@ where
                 .top_left;
             let pos = ctx.data.pos + container_pos - id_pos;
             let size = region.size();
-            select(
+            on_press(
                 rsc,
                 ctx.data.render,
                 ctx.state,
                 id,
                 pos,
                 size,
-                ctx.data.sense.is_dragging(),
+                ctx.data.sense,
             );
         });
     }
@@ -75,31 +93,71 @@ where
     type Input = ();
 
     fn run(rsc: &mut Rsc, id: WeakWidget<TextEdit>, _: Self::Input) {
-        rsc.register_event(id, CursorSense::click_or_drag(), move |ctx, rsc| {
-            select(
+        rsc.register_event(id, press_track(), move |ctx, rsc| {
+            on_press(
                 rsc,
                 ctx.data.render,
                 ctx.state,
                 id,
                 ctx.data.pos,
                 ctx.data.size,
-                ctx.data.sense.is_dragging(),
+                ctx.data.sense,
             );
         });
     }
 }
 
-fn select(
+/// One press-track frame (`PressStart`, `Pressing` or `PressEnd`) over a
+/// selectable field. A field that is *already* focused behaves exactly as
+/// `click_or_drag` always did -- every frame updates the selection, which
+/// is what lets a finger already inside a focused field drag out a
+/// selection. A field that is **not** focused withholds `select`'s
+/// focus-granting side effects (and so the platform-specific `focus_gained`
+/// that shows the keyboard) until the press resolves as a tap: `PressEnd`
+/// with no frame in between having moved past [`DRAG_SLOP`] from where the
+/// press began. A drag recognised before release simply cancels the
+/// pending tap and does nothing further here -- it is not consumed, so
+/// whatever is behind the field (a list to pan) still sees every frame of
+/// it, the same as a drag that never touched a selectable field at all.
+fn on_press(
     rsc: &mut impl UiRsc,
     render: &UiRenderState,
     state: &mut impl FocusHost,
     id: WeakWidget<TextEdit>,
     pos: Vec2,
     size: Vec2,
-    dragging: bool,
+    sense: CursorSense,
 ) {
-    let recent = state.recent_click();
-    id.edit(rsc).select(pos, size, dragging, recent);
-    state.set_focus(Some(id));
-    state.focus_gained(render.window_region(&id, &*rsc));
+    if state.is_focused(id) {
+        let recent = matches!(sense, CursorSense::PressStart(_)) && state.recent_click();
+        id.edit(rsc).select(pos, size, sense.is_dragging(), recent);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    match sense {
+        CursorSense::PressStart(_) => {
+            id.edit(rsc).text.press_origin = Some(pos);
+        }
+        CursorSense::Pressing(_) => {
+            let ctx = id.edit(rsc);
+            if let Some(origin) = ctx.text.press_origin
+                && ((pos.x - origin.x).abs() > DRAG_SLOP || (pos.y - origin.y).abs() > DRAG_SLOP)
+            {
+                // Past the slop before release: this is a drag, not a tap
+                // -- give up the pending focus rather than granting it once
+                // the finger lifts wherever it happens to be by then.
+                ctx.text.press_origin = None;
+            }
+        }
+        CursorSense::PressEnd(_) => {
+            let was_tap = id.edit(rsc).text.press_origin.take().is_some();
+            if was_tap {
+                let recent = state.recent_click();
+                id.edit(rsc).select(pos, size, false, recent);
+                state.set_focus(Some(id));
+                state.focus_gained(render.window_region(&id, &*rsc));
+            }
+        }
+        _ => {}
+    }
 }

iris/src/default/attr.rs

@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ impl<T: HasDefaultUiState> FocusHost for T {
         self.default_state_mut().focus = id;
     }
 
+    fn is_focused(&self, id: WeakWidget<TextEdit>) -> bool {
+        self.default_state().focus == Some(id)
+    }
+
     fn focus_gained(&mut self, region: Option<PixelRegion>) {
         let state = self.default_state_mut();
         let Some(region) = region else { return };

iris/src/layout_tests.rs

@@ -183,3 +183,80 @@ fn a_mask_stays_put_while_its_scrolled_content_moves() {
     assert_eq!(mask_delta_before, [0.0, 0.0]);
     assert_eq!(mask_delta_after, [0.0, 0.0]);
 }
+
+/// Reproduces `transcript_ui::composer::build_composer`'s exact tree shape
+/// (a `Rect` background stacked behind a `Span::RIGHT`-wrapped, padded,
+/// `rest`-width `TextEdit`, itself the second child of an outer
+/// `Span::DOWN` beside a `rest(1)`-height sibling) without the event/
+/// resource plumbing `composer.rs`'s builders need, to isolate whether the
+/// bug Iris reported on 2026-09-06 ("text seems to not appear in box")
+/// is this crate's layout engine or something specific to the real
+/// composer/screen. `TextEditable::edit` only needs `UiRsc`, so a plain
+/// insert exercises the exact redraw path a keystroke does.
+fn composer_like_tree(rsc: &mut TestRsc) -> (WeakWidget<TextEdit>, StrongWidget) {
+    let field = wtext("")
+        .editable(EditMode::MultiLine)
+        .text_align(Align::LEFT)
+        .wrap(true)
+        .size(18)
+        .color(UiColor::WHITE)
+        .add(rsc);
+    let bar = (field.pad(dp(12)).width(rest(1)),)
+        .span(Dir::RIGHT)
+        .background(rect(UiColor::new(40, 40, 46, 255)))
+        .add(rsc);
+    let list_stand_in = rect(UiColor::BLACK).height(rest(1)).add(rsc);
+    let tree = (list_stand_in, bar).span(Dir::DOWN).add_strong(rsc).any();
+    (field, tree)
+}
+
+/// The reproduction itself. A window this tall stands in for the keyboard
+/// closed; the second, shorter `resize` stands in for `adjustResize`
+/// shrinking the surface when the IME opens -- exactly the sequence
+/// `IrisViewPeer::surface_changed` drives on a real keyboard open. Typing
+/// happens both before and after, since Iris's report was specifically
+/// that text typed *after* the keyboard was already up did not appear.
+#[test]
+fn composing_text_after_a_keyboard_resize_lands_in_the_bars_own_region() {
+    let mut rsc = TestRsc {
+        ui: UiData::default(),
+    };
+    let (field, root) = composer_like_tree(&mut rsc);
+    let mut render = UiRenderState::new();
+
+    render.resize((1080.0, 2298.0));
+    render.update(&root, &mut rsc);
+    field.edit(&mut rsc).insert("a");
+    render.update(&root, &mut rsc);
+
+    let before_px = render.window_region(&field, &rsc).unwrap();
+    // The field is one line plus 12dp of padding on a 2298-tall window --
+    // nowhere near the whole window's height, and anchored at the bottom.
+    assert!(
+        before_px.bot_right.y - before_px.top_left.y < 200.0,
+        "before a resize: {before_px:?}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        before_px.top_left.y > 1800.0,
+        "expected the bar near the bottom before a resize: {before_px:?}"
+    );
+
+    // The keyboard opens: a real `surface_changed`/`resize` to a shorter
+    // window, then a further keystroke -- the redraw that must land in the
+    // bar's new (also short) region, not whatever region a provisional
+    // measurement pass used along the way.
+    render.resize((1080.0, 1478.0));
+    render.update(&root, &mut rsc);
+    field.edit(&mut rsc).insert("b");
+    render.update(&root, &mut rsc);
+
+    let after_px = render.window_region(&field, &rsc).unwrap();
+    assert!(
+        after_px.bot_right.y - after_px.top_left.y < 200.0,
+        "after a resize + keystroke: {after_px:?}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        after_px.top_left.y > 1200.0,
+        "expected the bar near the bottom of the shorter window: {after_px:?}"
+    );
+}

iris/src/widget/text/edit.rs

@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@ pub struct TextEdit {
     #[cfg_attr(target_os = "android", allow(dead_code))]
     history: Vec<(String, Option<Selection>)>,
     double_hit: Option<usize>,
+    /// Where an in-flight press over this field began, while it is still
+    /// undecided whether the gesture is a tap (focus/show the IME) or a
+    /// drag (attr.rs's `Selector`/`Selectable`, Iris 2026-09-06: a swipe
+    /// over the composer must not summon the keyboard). `None` both before
+    /// any press and once the gesture has been decided either way --
+    /// `attr.rs` is the only reader/writer, kept `pub(crate)` rather than
+    /// behind an accessor since it is pure bookkeeping with no invariant
+    /// beyond "some press is undecided," same shape as `double_hit` above.
+    pub(crate) press_origin: Option<Vec2>,
     pub mode: EditMode,
 }
 
@@ -48,6 +57,7 @@ impl TextEdit {
             selection: None,
             history: Default::default(),
             double_hit: None,
+            press_origin: None,
             mode,
         }
     }
@@ -698,6 +708,67 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(content(&t), "に");
     }
 
+    /// `android/ime.rs`'s `set_composing_text` calls `replace` and expects
+    /// the caret to land right after the inserted text, growing with it on
+    /// every re-send -- the buffer-level half of RUST.md's P0 box ("doesn't
+    /// enter it until I hit space, and also doesn't move cursor forward").
+    #[test]
+    fn composing_advances_the_caret_with_the_growing_text() {
+        let (mut t, mut d) = edit("", EditMode::SingleLine);
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).set_caret(0);
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).replace(0, "h");
+        assert_eq!(t.caret(), Some(1));
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).replace(1, "hi");
+        assert_eq!(content(&t), "hi");
+        assert_eq!(t.caret(), Some(2));
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).replace(2, "hit");
+        assert_eq!(content(&t), "hit");
+        assert_eq!(t.caret(), Some(3));
+    }
+
+    /// The IME's `commitText` (`android_view::InputConnection::commit_text`'s
+    /// default body): finish a composition in place, same as a real word
+    /// boundary (a space) landing after Gboard's composing span.
+    #[test]
+    fn committing_composed_text_leaves_it_in_place_with_the_caret_after_it() {
+        let (mut t, mut d) = edit("say ", EditMode::SingleLine);
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).set_caret(4);
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).replace(0, "hi");
+        assert_eq!(content(&t), "say hi");
+        // `finish_composing_text`/`commit_text` do not themselves touch the
+        // buffer -- only the IME's own `compose_len` bookkeeping resets, in
+        // `android/ime.rs`. Confirms the buffer already holds committed
+        // text as plain, uncomposed content: a further `replace(0, " ")`
+        // (the space that ends the word) appends rather than overwriting.
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).replace(0, " ");
+        assert_eq!(content(&t), "say hi ");
+        assert_eq!(t.caret(), Some(7));
+    }
+
+    /// `TextEditCtx::delete_byte_range` is `deleteSurroundingText`'s entry
+    /// point once `android/ime.rs` has converted UTF-16 code units to
+    /// bytes -- exercised directly here in bytes, since the UTF-16 math
+    /// itself is `android/ime.rs`'s own `byte_to_utf16`/`utf16_to_byte`,
+    /// outside this widget-only test module.
+    #[test]
+    fn delete_byte_range_removes_exactly_that_range() {
+        let (mut t, mut d) = edit("hello world", EditMode::SingleLine);
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).delete_byte_range(5, 11);
+        assert_eq!(content(&t), "hello");
+        assert_eq!(t.caret(), Some(5));
+    }
+
+    /// `set_cursor_byte` is `setSelection`'s entry point -- collapses to a
+    /// caret at the given byte offset regardless of any span that was there.
+    #[test]
+    fn set_cursor_byte_collapses_to_a_caret_there() {
+        let (mut t, mut d) = edit("hello world", EditMode::SingleLine);
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).select_all();
+        ctx(&mut t, &mut d).set_cursor_byte(5);
+        assert_eq!(t.selected_text(), None);
+        assert_eq!(t.caret(), Some(5));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn motion_moves_the_caret_and_shift_extends_a_span() {
         let (mut t, mut d) = edit("abc", EditMode::SingleLine);

iris/transcript-ui/src/composer.rs

@@ -8,14 +8,58 @@
 //! measures whatever vertical space is left each frame -- nothing here
 //! computes a height by hand, and growing this field is exactly the
 //! O(1)-move-chain case LAYOUT.md and I3's benchmark already measured.
+//!
+//! **Rebuilt 2026-09-06** (Iris's phone report on the dc01f88 build: the
+//! grey bar drawn as a short, fixed strip with the typed text ~150px below
+//! it on black, and empty black between the bar and the keyboard). One
+//! widget now, top to bottom: an opaque background sized to its content
+//! (`.background`, the same `Stack` idiom the header row's `HEADER_SURFACE`
+//! already uses), the field inside `dp` padding and capped at
+//! [`MAX_LINES`] before it scrolls instead of growing forever, and an
+//! outer [`Pad`] whose `bottom` [`TranscriptScreen::set_bottom_inset`]
+//! rewrites in place whenever the keyboard opens/closes -- never rebuilt,
+//! since `field` is strongly owned inside this tree and this crate's
+//! widgets cannot be re-parented once added (this module's own comment
+//! below on why `build_composer` hands back a **weak** id).
 
 use iris::prelude::*;
 
+/// Caps the field's growth at roughly six lines of its own 18px text
+/// before it scrolls instead of consuming the whole screen -- an
+/// approximation (line-height and padding folded into one round `dp`
+/// number) rather than a value derived from the font's real metrics,
+/// which nothing in this crate exposes to a caller today.
+const MAX_LINES: f32 = 6.0;
+const APPROX_LINE_HEIGHT_DP: f32 = 24.0;
+const FIELD_PAD_DP: f32 = 12.0;
+
 /// `field` is exposed so the caller can read its content on submit
 /// (`field.edit(rsc).text()`) and clear it afterward
 /// (`field.edit(rsc).set("")`).
 pub struct Composer {
     pub field: WeakWidget<TextEdit>,
+    /// The bar's own outer padding -- only `bottom` is ever changed, by
+    /// [`Self::set_bottom_inset`]. A `Pad` around the whole bar rather than
+    /// a rebuilt tree, because `field` lives inside it and cannot be
+    /// re-added to a new wrapper once it is strongly owned here.
+    outer_pad: WeakWidget<Pad>,
+}
+
+impl Composer {
+    /// Called by the platform shell (Android's `on_insets_changed`, e.g.)
+    /// whenever the space below the bar changes: the IME's own inset while
+    /// it is open, the navigation-bar inset otherwise. Takes a plain
+    /// `f32` in the caller's own physical-pixel units rather than an
+    /// Android-specific insets type, so this crate stays usable from the
+    /// winit backend too, which has no navigation bar to report.
+    /// Rewrites the existing `Pad` in place (marking it dirty through the
+    /// ordinary `Widgets::get_mut` path) instead of swapping in a new one,
+    /// so the field's focus, selection and in-progress text are untouched.
+    pub fn set_bottom_inset(&self, rsc: &mut impl UiRsc, inset: f32) {
+        if let Some(pad) = rsc.ui_mut().widgets.get_mut(&self.outer_pad) {
+            pad.padding.bottom = Len::abs(inset);
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 /// Returns the composer plus its own bar as a **weak** id -- the caller
@@ -39,10 +83,20 @@ where
         .label("Message")
         .add(rsc);
 
-    let bar: WeakWidget = (field.pad(dp(12)).width(rest(1)),)
-        .span(Dir::RIGHT)
+    // One widget: an opaque bar sized to its own content (`.background`'s
+    // `Stack{child: 1}`, the header row's own idiom) wrapping the padded,
+    // height-capped field -- not a background rect and a field drawn as
+    // two independent siblings, which is what let the two disagree on
+    // where the bar actually was.
+    let content = field
+        .pad(dp(FIELD_PAD_DP))
+        .max_height(dp(APPROX_LINE_HEIGHT_DP * MAX_LINES + FIELD_PAD_DP * 2.0))
+        .scrollable()
+        .width(rest(1))
         .background(rect(UiColor::new(40, 40, 46, 255)))
         .add(rsc);
 
-    (Composer { field }, bar)
+    let outer_pad: WeakWidget<Pad> = content.pad(Padding::ZERO).add(rsc);
+
+    (Composer { field, outer_pad }, outer_pad)
 }