diff --git a/shell/Commons/Color.qml b/shell/Commons/Color.qml
index d6cf9790..466a9158 100644
--- a/shell/Commons/Color.qml
+++ b/shell/Commons/Color.qml
@@ -173,12 +173,18 @@ QtObject {
     if (!foundMuted) muted = color8Value.length > 0 ? color8Value : foreground
   }
 
+  // Last theme-supplied and user-supplied shell.toml dicts, kept separate so
+  // either can be reloaded without re-reading the other. `shellValues` is
+  // always the merge of theme (base) and user (override) — see mergeShell.
+  property var themeShellValues: ({})
+  property var userShellValues: ({})
+
   // Single TOML walker for shell.toml. Both Color (surface roles) and Style
   // (typography, spacing, bar, control states) consume the resulting dict.
   // Accepts quoted strings, bare numeric values, bare width lists, and bare
   // role names; tolerates inline comments. Numbers are kept as strings here —
   // readers coerce when they pull a value.
-  function loadShell(raw) {
+  function parseShell(raw) {
     var parsed = {}
     var text = String(raw || "")
     if (text) {
@@ -198,8 +204,28 @@ QtObject {
         parsed[section + "." + kv[1]] = kv[2]
       }
     }
-    shellValues = parsed
-    Style.applyShellValues(parsed)
+    return parsed
+  }
+
+  // Re-derive `shellValues` from theme base + user override and push it to
+  // Style. User keys win, so a machine-level `~/.config/omarchy/shell.toml`
+  // survives theme switches (which replace only themeShellValues).
+  function mergeShell() {
+    var merged = {}
+    for (var tk in themeShellValues) merged[tk] = themeShellValues[tk]
+    for (var uk in userShellValues) merged[uk] = userShellValues[uk]
+    shellValues = merged
+    Style.applyShellValues(merged)
+  }
+
+  function loadShell(raw) {
+    themeShellValues = parseShell(raw)
+    mergeShell()
+  }
+
+  function loadUserShell(raw) {
+    userShellValues = parseShell(raw)
+    mergeShell()
   }
 
   // Startup load only. Runtime theme switches push the payload explicitly
@@ -219,4 +245,19 @@ QtObject {
     onLoaded: root.loadShell(text())
     onLoadFailed: root.loadShell("")
   }
+  // Machine-level override, layered on top of whatever theme is active. This
+  // is where `omarchy display text size` writes `[font] base-size`. Watched so the
+  // CLI takes effect live without restarting the shell; absent by default.
+  property FileView userShellFile: FileView {
+    id: userShellFile
+    path: root.home + "/.config/omarchy/shell.toml"
+    watchChanges: true
+    printErrors: false
+    onLoaded: root.loadUserShell(text())
+    // Re-read on change (including first creation) before loading — `text()`
+    // is stale in the change signal itself, so route both paths through reload
+    // → onLoaded to always parse fresh content.
+    onFileChanged: reload()
+    onLoadFailed: root.loadUserShell("")
+  }
 }