diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e2746c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+## 2026-01-08 - Stack Allocation in Hot Path
+**Learning:** In C window managers, status bars are redrawn very frequently (every second or more). Allocating strings on the heap (`malloc`) for temporary buffers in these hot paths adds unnecessary overhead and fragmentation.
+**Action:** For bounded strings (like status text which is often limited to 1024 bytes), use stack allocation. It's faster, safer (no memory leaks), and removes failure paths (`die("malloc")`). Always check bounds with `strncpy`.
diff --git a/bar.c b/bar.c
index 8476144..e87ea24 100644
--- a/bar.c
+++ b/bar.c
@@ -50,18 +50,15 @@ int drawstatusbar(Monitor *m, int bh, char *stext) {
     int i;
     int w;
     int x;
-    int len;
     int cmdcounter;
     short isCode = 0;
-    char *text;
+    char text_buf[1024];
+    char *text = text_buf;
     char *p;
 
-    len = strlen(stext) + 1;
-    if (!(text = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * len))) {
-        die("malloc");
-    }
+    strncpy(text, stext, sizeof(text_buf));
+    text[sizeof(text_buf) - 1] = '\0';
     p = text;
-    memcpy(text, stext, len);
 
     /* compute width of the status text */
     w = 0;
@@ -194,7 +191,6 @@ int drawstatusbar(Monitor *m, int bh, char *stext) {
     }
 
     drw_setscheme(drw, statusscheme);
-    free(p);
 
     return ret;
 }