diff --git a/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/SKILL.md b/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/SKILL.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..92069ca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/SKILL.md
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+---
+name: aurora-performance
+description: Use when developing an OpenWrt LuCI theme — editing ucode (.ut) templates, adding or loading CSS/JS/font/image assets, writing CSS animations or menu/drawer interactions, reviewing a theme PR for performance, or measuring TTFB, transfer size, memory, or dropped frames on router-served pages.
+---
+
+# Aurora Theme Performance
+
+## Overview
+
+Two machines are involved, and they have almost nothing in common. The
+**server** is the router: 1–2 slow cores, 64–512 MB RAM, squashfs flash, a
+single-process `uhttpd` with no dynamic compression — every cycle you spend
+there repeats on every page view. The **client** is the browser, usually a
+phone on the router's own WiFi, doing the actual painting and animating. Both
+planes have budgets, and "it feels fine on my laptop" proves nothing on
+either of them. Every optimization claim needs a measurement, not a
+rationalization — "consistent with the existing pattern" is not a cost
+justification.
+
+## When to use
+
+- Editing a `.ut` template, or anything that adds a `ubus`/`uci`/`fs` call
+- Adding or changing what loads in `` — CSS, JS, fonts, images
+- Writing a CSS animation, transition, or JS-driven interaction
+- Reviewing a theme PR for performance impact
+- Measuring TTFB, transfer size, memory, or dropped frames
+
+Not for: pure content/copy changes with no runtime surface (rewording a
+label, fixing a typo, adjusting a translation string).
+
+## The three planes
+
+| Touching | Read |
+|---|---|
+| `.ut` templates, ubus/uci/fs calls, shipped file sizes | references/server.md |
+| `` links/scripts, assets, caching, compression | references/loading.md |
+| CSS animations, JS interactions, transitions | references/runtime.md |
+| Verifying/quantifying any of the above | references/measuring.md |
+
+## Non-negotiables (quick reference)
+
+- **S1** — Compute at build time, never at request time. → references/server.md
+- **S2** — Per-request ubus/uci/fs calls are a budget. → references/server.md
+- **S3** — Every byte sent is router CPU. → references/server.md
+- **S4** — Memory has a ceiling. → references/server.md
+- **L1** — Kill render-blocking requests. → references/loading.md
+- **L2** — Download once, cache forever. → references/loading.md
+- **L3** — Ship compressed. → references/loading.md
+- **R1** — Animate compositor properties only. → references/runtime.md
+- **R2** — JS must not force synchronous layout. → references/runtime.md
+- **R3** — Accessibility is functionality. → references/runtime.md
+
+## Budgets & ledger
+
+The reference files above are generic to any LuCI theme. The concrete numbers
+for THIS theme — budget table, optimization ledger, accepted exceptions — live
+in `references/aurora-budgets.md`. Consult it before declaring a budget met or
+re-proposing a previously rejected optimization. The measured baselines backing
+those numbers sit in `baselines/` (git-ignored: they record device model and
+LAN address, so they stay local). Porting this skill to another theme means
+swapping `references/aurora-budgets.md` and `baselines/`.
diff --git a/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/references/aurora-budgets.md b/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/references/aurora-budgets.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ac325352
--- /dev/null
+++ b/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/references/aurora-budgets.md
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# Performance — aurora budgets & ledger
+
+Methodology lives in this skill's reference files (`server.md`, `loading.md`,
+`runtime.md`, `measuring.md`, alongside this file). This file holds what is
+specific to THIS theme: budgets, the optimization ledger, and accepted
+exceptions. The measured baselines backing the numbers live in the skill's
+`baselines/` directory (git-ignored — they record device model and LAN
+address, so they stay local).
+
+## Budgets
+
+| Metric | Budget | Track | Source |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| main.css (gzip-transferred) | ≤ 30 KB | size | measured 2026-07 (28 KB) |
+| Per-page cold transfer (all theme assets, gzip) | ≤ 60 KB | size | sum of current gzip sizes + headroom |
+| Blocking requests before first paint | ≤ 4 | count | current waterfall |
+| Repeat-visit asset requests | ≈ 0 | count | target state; package-built CSS/JS URLs are versioned, but long-lived cache headers still need live verification |
+| TTFB, login page (device) | proposed: ≤ 130 ms | latency | local device baseline, 2026-07 |
+| LCP @ 4× CPU + Slow 4G | TBD — fill from baseline | latency | local baseline archive |
+| INP @ 4× CPU | TBD — fill from baseline | latency | local baseline archive |
+| uhttpd VmRSS during page load | proposed: ≤ 2050 kB | memory | local device baseline, 2026-07 |
+
+Budget revisions require a new baseline entry under `../baselines/`.
+
+## Optimization ledger
+
+### Landed
+(compositor animation rework; mega-menu idle pre-measurement; on-demand
+patches; `font-display: swap`)
+
+### Pending
+| Item | Principle | Estimated gain |
+|---|---|---|
+| Precompressed `.gz` assets | S1+L3 | ~260 KB → ~35 KB cold |
+| Terser `compress`+`mangle` in `vite.config.ts` | L3 | ~20 KB → ~10 KB |
+| Inline `@font-face` + preload woff2 | L1 | −1 blocking RTT |
+| SVGO `logo.svg` | L3 | 45 KB → est. < 20 KB |
+| Long-lived cache headers for versioned CSS/JS | L2 | after LuCI build-time `?v=$(PKG_VERSION)`, kills per-click 304s if headers permit disk/memory cache reuse |
+| `defer` head scripts | L1 | needs on-device timing verification |
+
+### Notes
+
+- **LuCI build-time asset versioning** — Source templates may show
+ `{{ media }}/main.css`, `{{ media }}/login.css`, or
+ `{{ resource }}/menu-aurora.js` without a query string. When packaged
+ through LuCI's `luci.mk`, quoted `{{ media }}/... .css` and
+ `{{ resource }}/... .js` links are rewritten to append
+ `?v=$(PKG_VERSION)`; for aurora 1.0.7 this yields
+ `/luci-static/aurora/main.css?v=1.0.7` and
+ `/luci-static/aurora/login.css?v=1.0.7`. Do not re-propose manual
+ cache-versioning for these links unless inspecting the installed package
+ or live HTML proves the rewrite did not happen.
+
+### Accepted exceptions
+
+- **`.cbi-progressbar` width transition** — the inner bar's `width` is set via
+ inline style by LuCI core's `Progressbar` widget, so a `transform: scaleX()`
+ swap would need a JS observer to mirror that value into a custom property
+ (plus RTL-aware `transform-origin`). Given the bar updates infrequently
+ (firmware/package install progress, not a 60fps animation), the single
+ explicit `transition-[width]` is left as-is rather than adding that
+ infrastructure.
+- **Per-request `lsdir()`** — `header.ut` calls `fs.lsdir()` at render time to
+ discover installed patches (see the on-demand third-party patches design).
+ Accepted per S1 because it's a single directory read on an already-dynamic
+ template render, not a hot loop, and it's what makes patches a drop-in
+ extension point without a build-time registry.
+- **`backdrop-blur` paint flashing** — elements with `backdrop-blur` (mega-menu
+ panel, modal scrim) **will** show some green flashing while animating —
+ that's the inherent cost of a blur layer, not a regression. Judge the
+ **reflow-class** animations (height / shadow) on whether they still flash,
+ *not* whether blur reaches zero flash.
+
+## Baselines
+
+Local baseline reports live in `../baselines/` when present. That directory is
+git-ignored because reports include device model and LAN address.
diff --git a/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/references/loading.md b/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/references/loading.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..209796e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/luci-theme-aurora/.claude/skills/aurora-performance/references/loading.md
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+# The Wire
+
+Between the router and the browser is a link that is usually the router's
+own WiFi radio to a phone — slower and less reliable than a wired desktop
+connection. Every request that has to happen before first paint is an RTT
+the user watches. The conventions in a typical LuCI theme (a single import
+manifest, no bundler) already steer you toward the right structural choice;
+the gap is almost always in *quantifying* what you added and *verifying* it
+with a waterfall, not in the structural decision itself.
+
+## L1 — Kill render-blocking requests
+
+**Why.** Each `` or synchronous `