From bf0223304d3ad1fb39332b9b5d428e8d0104e056 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: dxvid <juan.david.gamboa.18@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:17:18 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] fix(brightness): guard against null screen reference
 during disconnect

---
 services/Brightness.qml | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/services/Brightness.qml b/services/Brightness.qml
index c7bb6b9e1..c117545ed 100644
--- a/services/Brightness.qml
+++ b/services/Brightness.qml
@@ -79,11 +79,11 @@ Singleton {
 
         required property ShellScreen screen
         readonly property bool isDdc: {
-            const match = root.ddcMonitors.find(m => screen.model?.includes(m.model) && !root.monitors.slice(0, root.monitors.indexOf(this)).some(mon => mon.busNum === m.busNum));
+            const match = root.ddcMonitors.find(m => screen?.model?.includes(m.model) && !root.monitors.slice(0, root.monitors.indexOf(this)).some(mon => mon.busNum === m.busNum));
             return !!match;
         }
         readonly property string busNum: {
-            const match = root.ddcMonitors.find(m => screen.model?.includes(m.model) && !root.monitors.slice(0, root.monitors.indexOf(this)).some(mon => mon.busNum === m.busNum));
+            const match = root.ddcMonitors.find(m => screen?.model?.includes(m.model) && !root.monitors.slice(0, root.monitors.indexOf(this)).some(mon => mon.busNum === m.busNum));
             return match?.busNum ?? "";
         }
         property int rawMaxBrightness: 100

From c21434841c60425add3181a0bd48c29ae13ad8fc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: dxvid <juan.david.gamboa.18@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:01:06 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] fix(brightness): destroy stale monitor objects on screen
 disconnect

The optional-chaining guard stops the TypeError flood, but doesn't
address why it happened: monitors was a binding that recreated a
BrightnessMonitor for every screen on each Quickshell.screens change,
leaking the previous set (never destroyed, still parented to root,
Timers/Behaviors still running) since none of them get destroy()ed.
Each subsequent screen change added more zombies reacting to a dead
screen reference, which is what actually drove CPU/memory up.

Reconcile against the live screen list instead: reuse existing
monitors for screens that are still connected, and destroy() the
ones whose screen went away.
---
 services/Brightness.qml | 28 +++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/services/Brightness.qml b/services/Brightness.qml
index c117545ed..ce5b416a2 100644
--- a/services/Brightness.qml
+++ b/services/Brightness.qml
@@ -20,9 +20,31 @@ Singleton {
     signal brightnessChanged()
 
     property var ddcMonitors: []
-    readonly property list<BrightnessMonitor> monitors: Quickshell.screens.map(screen => monitorComp.createObject(root, {
-        screen
-    }))
+    property list<BrightnessMonitor> monitors: []
+
+    // Reconciles `monitors` against the live screen list instead of
+    // recreating every entry on each change: still-connected screens keep
+    // their existing BrightnessMonitor (and its running Timers/Processes),
+    // while ones whose screen disconnected are explicitly destroyed so they
+    // don't linger as zombie objects reacting to a dead `screen` reference.
+    function _syncMonitors() {
+        const next = Quickshell.screens.map(screen => root.monitors.find(m => m.screen === screen) ?? monitorComp.createObject(root, {
+            screen
+        }));
+        for (const m of root.monitors) {
+            if (!next.includes(m)) m.destroy();
+        }
+        root.monitors = next;
+    }
+
+    Component.onCompleted: root._syncMonitors()
+
+    Connections {
+        target: Quickshell
+        function onScreensChanged() {
+            root._syncMonitors();
+        }
+    }
 
     function getMonitorForScreen(screen: ShellScreen): var {
         return monitors.find(m => m.screen === screen);