diff --git a/src/main/windows.ts b/src/main/windows.ts
index 56704ea..b416cf8 100644
--- a/src/main/windows.ts
+++ b/src/main/windows.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { app, BrowserWindow, Display, screen } from 'electron';
 import path from 'path';
-import type { StreamWindowBounds } from '../shared/types';
+import { DISPLAY_INFO_ARG_PREFIX, type DisplayInfo, type StreamWindowBounds } from '../shared/types';
 
 const isDev = !app.isPackaged && process.env.VITE_DEV_SERVER === '1';
 
@@ -51,9 +51,18 @@ export function createPanelWindow(): BrowserWindow {
   return win;
 }
 
+function toDisplayInfo(display: Display): DisplayInfo {
+  return {
+    id: display.id,
+    bounds: display.bounds,
+    scaleFactor: display.scaleFactor,
+  };
+}
+
 /** A transparent, click-through overlay covering one display. */
 export function createOverlayWindow(display: Display): BrowserWindow {
   const { x, y, width, height } = display.bounds;
+  const displayInfo = toDisplayInfo(display);
 
   const win = new BrowserWindow({
     x,
@@ -77,6 +86,15 @@ export function createOverlayWindow(display: Display): BrowserWindow {
       contextIsolation: true,
       nodeIntegration: false,
       sandbox: false,
+      // Hand the renderer its coordinate space up front. The IPC push
+      // below can land before React has attached its listener, so the
+      // overlay needs a value it can read synchronously on mount.
+      //
+      // Safe as plain JSON only because every DisplayInfo field is
+      // numeric, so the serialized value can never contain a space.
+      // Windows splits additionalArguments on spaces — if this type ever
+      // grows a string field (a display label, say), base64 it first.
+      additionalArguments: [DISPLAY_INFO_ARG_PREFIX + JSON.stringify(displayInfo)],
     },
   });
 
@@ -91,13 +109,13 @@ export function createOverlayWindow(display: Display): BrowserWindow {
 
   loadPage(win, 'overlay');
 
-  // Pass display info to overlay so it knows its coordinate space
-  win.webContents.once('did-finish-load', () => {
-    win.webContents.send('display-info', {
-      id: display.id,
-      bounds: display.bounds,
-      scaleFactor: display.scaleFactor,
-    });
+  // Belt-and-braces: the preload already reads this same snapshot out of
+  // argv on every load, including reloads, so this send is redundant
+  // rather than an update path. It stays as a cheap safety net in case
+  // the argv read ever fails. Bounds changes do NOT arrive here — the
+  // window is destroyed and recreated by rebuildOverlays instead.
+  win.webContents.on('did-finish-load', () => {
+    win.webContents.send('display-info', displayInfo);
   });
 
   return win;
diff --git a/src/preload/index.ts b/src/preload/index.ts
index 94fb8a5..d0420e0 100644
--- a/src/preload/index.ts
+++ b/src/preload/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } from 'electron';
-import { IPC } from '../shared/types';
+import { IPC, DISPLAY_INFO_ARG_PREFIX } from '../shared/types';
 import type {
   ApiKeyName,
   ClaudeModel,
@@ -19,9 +19,28 @@ import type {
   LocalConnection,
   OllamaModelInfo,
   OllamaPullProgress,
+  DisplayInfo,
 } from '../shared/types';
 import type { OllamaTestResult } from '../main/services/ollama-api';
 
+/**
+ * Display info handed to overlay windows via `additionalArguments`.
+ * Read once at preload time so the renderer never has to wait for IPC
+ * to learn its coordinate space.
+ */
+const initialDisplayInfo: DisplayInfo | null = (() => {
+  const arg = process.argv.find((a) => a.startsWith(DISPLAY_INFO_ARG_PREFIX));
+  if (!arg) return null;
+  try {
+    return JSON.parse(arg.slice(DISPLAY_INFO_ARG_PREFIX.length)) as DisplayInfo;
+  } catch (err) {
+    // Falling back to null silently would reproduce the exact bug this
+    // argument exists to fix, so make the failure visible.
+    console.warn('[Flicky] Could not parse display info from launch args:', err);
+    return null;
+  }
+})();
+
 const api = {
   // ── Settings ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   getSettings: (): Promise<FlickySettings> => ipcRenderer.invoke(IPC.GET_SETTINGS),
@@ -188,21 +207,14 @@ const api = {
 
   // ── Audio Capture (overlay ↔ main) ──────────────────────────────────
   // ── Overlay / display info ────────────────────────────────────────
-  onDisplayInfo: (
-    cb: (info: {
-      id: number;
-      bounds: { x: number; y: number; width: number; height: number };
-      scaleFactor: number;
-    }) => void,
-  ) => {
-    const handler = (
-      _e: Electron.IpcRendererEvent,
-      info: {
-        id: number;
-        bounds: { x: number; y: number; width: number; height: number };
-        scaleFactor: number;
-      },
-    ) => cb(info);
+  /**
+   * The overlay's display, available synchronously on first paint.
+   * Null in windows that aren't overlays.
+   */
+  getDisplayInfo: (): DisplayInfo | null => initialDisplayInfo,
+
+  onDisplayInfo: (cb: (info: DisplayInfo) => void) => {
+    const handler = (_e: Electron.IpcRendererEvent, info: DisplayInfo) => cb(info);
     ipcRenderer.on('display-info', handler);
     return () => ipcRenderer.removeListener('display-info', handler);
   },
diff --git a/src/renderer/components/OverlayApp.tsx b/src/renderer/components/OverlayApp.tsx
index 73fe5da..50c7cfe 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/OverlayApp.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/OverlayApp.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { useState, useEffect, useRef, useCallback } from 'react';
-import type { VoiceState, DetectedElement } from '../../shared/types';
+import type { VoiceState, DetectedElement, DisplayInfo } from '../../shared/types';
 import { Waveform } from './Waveform';
 
 // Offset the companion cursor ~1/5 inch (≈19px at 96dpi) down-right
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ export function OverlayApp() {
   const [cursorMode, setCursorMode] = useState<CursorMode>('following');
   const [companionPos, setCompanionPos] = useState({ x: 0, y: 0 });
   const [isCursorOnThisDisplay, setIsCursorOnThisDisplay] = useState(false);
-  const displayRef = useRef<{ id: number; bounds: { x: number; y: number; width: number; height: number } } | null>(null);
+  // Seeded synchronously from the window's launch arguments so the first
+  // cursor-position message already has a coordinate space to map into.
+  const displayRef = useRef<DisplayInfo | null>(window.flicky.getDisplayInfo());
   const holdTimerRef = useRef<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null>(null);
   const returnAnimRef = useRef<number | null>(null);
   const cursorPosRef = useRef({ x: 0, y: 0 });
@@ -195,7 +197,7 @@ export function OverlayApp() {
 
   useEffect(() => {
     const unsubDisplayInfo = window.flicky.onDisplayInfo((info) => {
-      displayRef.current = { id: info.id, bounds: info.bounds };
+      displayRef.current = info;
     });
 
     const unsubs = [
diff --git a/src/shared/types.ts b/src/shared/types.ts
index b20a7b7..05243af 100644
--- a/src/shared/types.ts
+++ b/src/shared/types.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,21 @@ export interface TranscriptionResult {
   isFinal: boolean;
 }
 
+// ── Overlay / Displays ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+export interface DisplayInfo {
+  id: number;
+  bounds: { x: number; y: number; width: number; height: number };
+  scaleFactor: number;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Prefix used to hand an overlay window its display info through
+ * `webPreferences.additionalArguments`, so the renderer can read it
+ * synchronously at startup instead of racing an IPC message.
+ */
+export const DISPLAY_INFO_ARG_PREFIX = '--flicky-display-info=';
+
 // ── Screen Capture ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 export interface ScreenCapture {