diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8124fa5..77e3092 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ for every approved plan. Desktop's version follows the engine generation, so it
   panel's few shades, rendered as amber phosphor, or laid down as two-ink halftone. On by default,
   with a switch in Settings → Appearance to keep the picture in full colour. It affects only those
   themes, and only when a background is set.
+- **A new background in the box, and it is what a fresh install opens on.** Settings → Appearance
+  gains **Midnight Ramen** — a rain-slicked night shot outside a 24-hour ramen shop on the Hakone
+  road — and it now leads the gallery, so someone opening MandoCode for the first time lands on it
+  instead of Golden Gate. The three existing backgrounds are all still there, one place further
+  down the list.
 - **The MandoCode wordmark has its own typeface.** The name in the top-left is now set in Permanent
   Marker, bundled with the app rather than fetched from a font service, so it renders identically
   offline. It takes each theme's accent colour, so it re-inks itself as you switch themes.
@@ -141,8 +146,17 @@ for every approved plan. Desktop's version follows the engine generation, so it
   rather than at save time. Two further actions on an agent's pane move settings between the two
   scopes: Apply Global Defaults replaces an agent's settings with the defaults and lets it follow
   them again, and Save to Global Defaults makes an agent's settings the starting point for new ones.
+- **`/compact` condenses a long conversation on demand.** A session filling its context window can
+  be compacted deliberately instead of waiting to be forced into it, and the compacted context is
+  persisted, so it survives a restart rather than being rebuilt on the next launch. `/clear` now
+  states plainly that it wipes context completely, so the two are not mistaken for each other.
 
 ### Changed
+- **The bundled backgrounds are renumbered to put the new default first.** Golden Gate, Sequoia
+  Trail, and Pismo Beach are unchanged and still in the gallery, but each has moved down one
+  position. If you had picked one of them, your background keeps working exactly as before — the
+  image lives in your own data folder — but its tile may no longer show as the selected one in
+  Appearance. Re-picking it restores the highlight.
 - **Completed turns now keep routine activity out of the conversation flow.** File operations,
   tool calls, and routine connection progress remain visible while work is running,
   then fold into an expandable Activity section when it completes. Assistant replies, warnings,
@@ -220,6 +234,14 @@ for every approved plan. Desktop's version follows the engine generation, so it
   a sticky header, or the suggestion list a field opens when it is filled.
 
 ### Fixed
+- **Deleting a snapshot, past conversation, or note no longer resets the list.** These panels
+  rebuilt themselves after every deletion, so the surviving cards slid back up and expanded project
+  groups collapsed — losing your place in the middle of tidying up. The lists now update in place:
+  the deleted card goes, everything else stays where it was, and group counts and "Delete all"
+  labels update immediately.
+- **Status, plan, approval, and recovery notices stay readable over a busy background.** These are
+  now drawn as high-contrast cards rather than plain text, so they survive a chat background set to
+  a high image opacity. Connection and status pills keep their existing coloured-dot treatment.
 - **The per-turn token count is readable in every theme.** It was faint text trailing at the right
   edge, which put the smallest, palest thing on screen in the exact corner where the themes that
   imitate a screen are darkest — measured at well under half the contrast it needed, and effectively
diff --git a/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/01-midnight-ramen.jpg b/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/01-midnight-ramen.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc06608
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/01-midnight-ramen.jpg differ
diff --git a/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/01-golden-gate.jpg b/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/02-golden-gate.jpg
similarity index 100%
rename from src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/01-golden-gate.jpg
rename to src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/02-golden-gate.jpg
diff --git a/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/02-sequoia-trail.jpg b/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/03-sequoia-trail.jpg
similarity index 100%
rename from src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/02-sequoia-trail.jpg
rename to src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/03-sequoia-trail.jpg
diff --git a/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/03-pismo-beach.jpg b/src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/04-pismo-beach.jpg
similarity index 100%
rename from src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/03-pismo-beach.jpg
rename to src/MandoCode.Desktop/Assets/images/backgrounds/04-pismo-beach.jpg