diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47158ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+## 2026-01-19 - [Stack Allocation in drawstatusbar]
+**Learning:** `drawstatusbar` in `bar.c` uses `malloc` for a temporary string buffer on every redraw. This is a hot path. The source string `stext` is a global fixed-size buffer of 1024 bytes.
+**Action:** Replace `malloc` with a stack buffer `char text[1024]` to avoid heap allocation overhead and potential fragmentation. This is safe because the input size is bounded by the global `stext` size.
diff --git a/bar.c b/bar.c
index 8476144..37eec5e 100644
--- a/bar.c
+++ b/bar.c
@@ -53,15 +53,16 @@ int drawstatusbar(Monitor *m, int bh, char *stext) {
     int len;
     int cmdcounter;
     short isCode = 0;
-    char *text;
-    char *p;
+    char text_buf[1024];
+    char *text = text_buf;
+    char *p = text_buf;
 
     len = strlen(stext) + 1;
-    if (!(text = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * len))) {
-        die("malloc");
+    if (len > sizeof(text_buf)) {
+        len = sizeof(text_buf);
     }
-    p = text;
     memcpy(text, stext, len);
+    text[sizeof(text_buf) - 1] = '\0';
 
     /* compute width of the status text */
     w = 0;
@@ -194,7 +195,6 @@ int drawstatusbar(Monitor *m, int bh, char *stext) {
     }
 
     drw_setscheme(drw, statusscheme);
-    free(p);
 
     return ret;
 }