diff --git a/console/src/main.ts b/console/src/main.ts
index 18fe630..ed19700 100644
--- a/console/src/main.ts
+++ b/console/src/main.ts
@@ -915,11 +915,13 @@ async function boot(): Promise<void> {
   if (themeBtn) initThemeToggle(themeBtn as HTMLButtonElement);
   setupUpdater();
   await startCore();
-  // Config tab: pin the oab-mcp target (cluster/profile/region → hermetic env);
-  // on save the backend reloads the core, so refresh the roster after.
+  // Debug drawer's Config tab: pin the oab-mcp target (cluster/profile/region →
+  // hermetic env); on save the backend reloads the core, so refresh the roster
+  // after.
   initConfigTab({ onSaved: () => void tick() });
-  // Compose tab: author the template/overlay/skills library + preview the
-  // composed bundle (agent-deployment ADR, slice 1). Self-contained; no polling.
+  // Compose (no longer a tab — an always-visible section, slice 6): author the
+  // template/overlay/skills library + preview the composed bundle
+  // (agent-deployment ADR, slice 1). Self-contained; no polling.
   initComposeTab();
   updateScreen();
   void refreshConfig();
diff --git a/console/src/styles.css b/console/src/styles.css
index ec341d7..3dccf77 100644
--- a/console/src/styles.css
+++ b/console/src/styles.css
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ body {
   padding: 12px 18px;
   border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);
   background: var(--panel);
+  /* Part E: "persistent chrome... spans every screen." Needs its own stacking
+     context + a z-index above the Debug drawer's (50) — the drawer is
+     `position: fixed; top: 0`, so without this it paints over the topbar's
+     right-side controls (cluster/poll status, theme/update buttons) instead of
+     sliding in below them. */
+  position: relative;
+  z-index: 60;
 }
 
 .brand {
@@ -238,6 +245,14 @@ body {
   padding: 12px 0 0;
   overflow: auto;
 }
+/* `display: flex` above and the `[hidden]` UA-stylesheet rule have equal
+   specificity — without this, the later (author) rule wins the cascade and
+   the drawer stays visible even with the `hidden` attribute set (found via a
+   Playwright check while self-reviewing: `#debug-drawer` rendered on top of
+   everything from first paint, before any `[⚙]` was ever clicked). */
+.debug-drawer[hidden] {
+  display: none;
+}
 .debug-head {
   display: flex;
   align-items: center;
@@ -253,12 +268,8 @@ body {
   flex: 1;
 }
 
-/* Two tabbed panes — the first display, so launch + core lifecycle and the raw
-   MCP interaction are one click apart and visible immediately. */
-.logs {
-  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);
-  background: var(--panel);
-}
+/* The tab strip — now only used inside the Debug drawer (`#debug-tabs`,
+   slice 6); the top-level `.logs` wrapper it used to live in is gone. */
 .tabs {
   display: flex;
   gap: 4px;