diff --git a/shell/plugins/bar/Bar.qml b/shell/plugins/bar/Bar.qml
index b1827e4a..78d50668 100644
--- a/shell/plugins/bar/Bar.qml
+++ b/shell/plugins/bar/Bar.qml
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ Item {
   // diagnostics; the built-in bar does not otherwise need it.
   property var manifest: null
   // Mirrors the on-disk `bar-off` flag so the user can hide the bar without
-  // killing the entire shell. Wired to BarPanel.visible below; updated by the
-  // FileView watcher further down.
+  // killing the entire shell. Hidden panels stay mapped but park off-screen
+  // without an exclusion zone; updated by the FileView watcher further down.
   property bool barHidden: false
   property string home: Quickshell.env("HOME")
   property string stateHome: home + "/.local/state"
@@ -956,13 +956,26 @@ Item {
   component BarPanel: PanelWindow {
     id: barWindow
 
-    visible: !root.barHidden && !remapGuard.remapping
+    // Hiding parks the bar just past its screen edge instead of unmapping it.
+    // Unmapping frees the layer surface and the whole scene graph, so every
+    // reveal has to rebuild them — new surface, re-shaped glyphs, re-uploaded
+    // textures — which measures ~150ms against ~20ms to tear down. Parking
+    // keeps the surface alive, so showing is only a margin change.
+    visible: !remapGuard.remapping
+    exclusionMode: root.barHidden ? ExclusionMode.Ignore : ExclusionMode.Auto
 
     ScreenMoveRemap {
       id: remapGuard
       window: barWindow
     }
 
+    margins {
+      top: root.barHidden && root.position === "top" ? -root.barSize : 0
+      bottom: root.barHidden && root.position === "bottom" ? -root.barSize : 0
+      left: root.barHidden && root.position === "left" ? -root.barSize : 0
+      right: root.barHidden && root.position === "right" ? -root.barSize : 0
+    }
+
     anchors {
       top: root.position === "top" || root.vertical
       bottom: root.position === "bottom" || root.vertical
diff --git a/test/acceptance.d/base-test.sh b/test/acceptance.d/base-test.sh
index eff2a52d..717007c9 100644
--- a/test/acceptance.d/base-test.sh
+++ b/test/acceptance.d/base-test.sh
@@ -79,6 +79,34 @@ layer_absent() {
   ! layer_present "$1"
 }
 
+# A layer can be mapped but parked off the monitor: the bar hides that way so
+# revealing it does not have to rebuild the surface. Assert on geometry when
+# what matters is that the user can actually see it. Layer boxes are local to
+# their monitor and in logical coordinates, so compare them with local bounds
+# derived from the monitor's scaled pixel size.
+layer_on_screen() {
+  local monitors
+  monitors=$(hyprctl -j monitors) || return 1
+
+  hyprctl -j layers | jq -e --arg ns "$1" --argjson monitors "$monitors" '
+    to_entries[]
+    | .key as $name
+    | .value as $levels
+    | ($monitors[] | select(.name == $name)) as $m
+    | (if ($m.transform // 0) % 2 == 1 then $m.height else $m.width end) / $m.scale | round as $width
+    | (if ($m.transform // 0) % 2 == 1 then $m.width else $m.height end) / $m.scale | round as $height
+    | [$levels | .. | objects | select(.namespace? == $ns)][]
+    | select(
+        .x + .w > 0 and .x < $width and
+        .y + .h > 0 and .y < $height
+      )
+  ' >/dev/null
+}
+
+layer_off_screen() {
+  ! layer_on_screen "$1"
+}
+
 # Close every window matching a class regex, by address so multi-window apps
 # are fully closed. Tries the quattro Lua dispatcher first, then classic.
 close_windows() {
diff --git a/test/acceptance.d/session-test.sh b/test/acceptance.d/session-test.sh
index 8d8f53b5..16c3171d 100644
--- a/test/acceptance.d/session-test.sh
+++ b/test/acceptance.d/session-test.sh
@@ -24,8 +24,25 @@ for plugin in \
 done
 
 # The bar and background are actually on screen
-wait_until "bar layer is on screen" 30 layer_present "omarchy-bar"
-wait_until "background layer is on screen" 30 layer_present "omarchy-background"
+wait_until "bar layer is on screen" 30 layer_on_screen "omarchy-bar"
+wait_until "background layer is on screen" 30 layer_on_screen "omarchy-background"
+
+# Hiding parks the bar off-screen without unmapping its layer surface, and
+# revealing brings that same surface back on-screen.
+restore_bar_visibility() {
+  omarchy-toggle-bar off >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+}
+trap restore_bar_visibility EXIT
+
+omarchy-toggle-bar on
+wait_until "hidden bar layer stays mapped" 15 layer_present "omarchy-bar"
+wait_until "hidden bar layer parks off screen" 15 layer_off_screen "omarchy-bar"
+screenshot "success-bar-hidden"
+
+omarchy-toggle-bar off
+wait_until "revealed bar layer returns on screen" 15 layer_on_screen "omarchy-bar"
+screenshot "success-bar-revealed"
+trap - EXIT
 
 # Audio stack is up
 wait_until "pipewire is running" 30 wpctl status
diff --git a/test/shell.d/acceptance-helpers-test.sh b/test/shell.d/acceptance-helpers-test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eb32953a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/shell.d/acceptance-helpers-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+source "$(dirname "$0")/base-test.sh"
+source "$ROOT/test/acceptance.d/base-test.sh"
+
+monitor_json='[
+  {"name":"DP-1","x":1920,"y":0,"width":3840,"height":2160,"scale":2},
+  {"name":"DP-2","x":-2560,"y":-1440,"width":2560,"height":1440,"scale":1},
+  {"name":"DP-3","x":0,"y":1080,"width":1920,"height":1080,"scale":1,"transform":1}
+]'
+layer_json='{
+  "DP-1":{"levels":{"2":[
+    {"x":0,"y":0,"w":1920,"h":26,"namespace":"visible-positive-offset"},
+    {"x":1920,"y":0,"w":26,"h":1080,"namespace":"parked-positive-offset"}
+  ]}},
+  "DP-2":{"levels":{"2":[
+    {"x":0,"y":0,"w":2560,"h":26,"namespace":"visible-negative-offset"},
+    {"x":-26,"y":0,"w":26,"h":1440,"namespace":"parked-negative-offset"}
+  ]}},
+  "DP-3":{"levels":{"2":[
+    {"x":0,"y":1500,"w":26,"h":26,"namespace":"visible-rotated"},
+    {"x":1080,"y":0,"w":26,"h":1920,"namespace":"parked-rotated"}
+  ]}}
+}'
+
+hyprctl() {
+  if [[ $2 == "monitors" ]]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$monitor_json"
+  elif [[ $2 == "layers" ]]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$layer_json"
+  else
+    return 1
+  fi
+}
+
+assert_layer_on_screen() {
+  local namespace="$1" description="$2"
+
+  layer_on_screen "$namespace" && pass "$description" || fail "$description"
+}
+
+assert_layer_off_screen() {
+  local namespace="$1" description="$2"
+
+  layer_off_screen "$namespace" && pass "$description" || fail "$description"
+}
+
+assert_layer_on_screen "visible-positive-offset" "visible layer is found on a positively offset monitor"
+assert_layer_off_screen "parked-positive-offset" "right-parked layer stays off a positively offset monitor"
+assert_layer_on_screen "visible-negative-offset" "visible layer is found on a negatively offset monitor"
+assert_layer_off_screen "parked-negative-offset" "left-parked layer stays off a negatively offset monitor"
+assert_layer_on_screen "visible-rotated" "visible layer uses the transformed monitor height"
+assert_layer_off_screen "parked-rotated" "parked layer uses the transformed monitor width"
diff --git a/test/shell.d/bar-test.sh b/test/shell.d/bar-test.sh
index ccac7fea..0dede450 100644
--- a/test/shell.d/bar-test.sh
+++ b/test/shell.d/bar-test.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,24 @@ const shellSource = fs.readFileSync(root + '/shell/shell.qml', 'utf8')
 
 assert(/function toggleBarTransparency\(\): string \{[\s\S]*?shell\.bar\.toggleTransparency\(\)/.test(shellSource), 'shell exposes the bar transparency toggle over IPC')
 
+// Hiding must not unmap the bar. An unmapped layer surface has to be rebuilt on
+// every reveal, which measured ~150ms against ~20ms to tear it down; parking it
+// past the screen edge keeps show and hide symmetric at ~12ms.
+assert(
+  /visible: !remapGuard\.remapping/.test(barSource),
+  'bar stays mapped while hidden so revealing it does not rebuild the surface'
+)
+assert(
+  /exclusionMode: root\.barHidden \? ExclusionMode\.Ignore : ExclusionMode\.Auto/.test(barSource),
+  'a hidden bar reserves no space for itself'
+)
+for (const edge of ['top', 'bottom', 'left', 'right']) {
+  assert(
+    new RegExp(`${edge}: root\\.barHidden && root\\.position === "${edge}" \\? -root\\.barSize : 0`).test(barSource),
+    `a hidden bar parks past the ${edge} edge`
+  )
+}
+
 // The center section declares two arrangements and shows one; the hidden one
 // must not build its modules or every center widget exists twice.
 const moduleList = barSource.slice(barSource.indexOf('component ModuleList'), barSource.indexOf('component ModuleSlot'))