diff --git a/HellionChat/Ui/StyleEngine/Widgets/ChannelHeader.cs b/HellionChat/Ui/StyleEngine/Widgets/ChannelHeader.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53c75df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/HellionChat/Ui/StyleEngine/Widgets/ChannelHeader.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+using System.Numerics;
+using Dalamud.Bindings.ImGui;
+using Dalamud.Interface;
+using HellionChat.Util;
+
+namespace HellionChat.Ui.StyleEngine.Widgets;
+
+// The band above the conversation: which channel you are in on the left, where
+// you are and what time it is on the right.
+//
+// Set apart by small caps with wide tracking rather than by size. That is a
+// deliberate departure from the mockup, which asks for one pixel smaller than
+// body text: one pixel would cost a whole additional font handle at full glyph
+// range, because tab names are free user input and can be CJK. Tracking carries
+// the same weight in every palette and costs nothing.
+//
+// The tab name draws in the body face for the same reason. Only the world and the
+// clock use the meta face, whose glyph range is ASCII plus a middle dot.
+internal static class ChannelHeader
+{
+    private const float InsetRaw = 14f;
+    private const float PadYRaw = 7f;
+    private const float TrackRaw = 1.8f;
+    private const float DetailTrackRaw = 0.9f;
+    private const float IconGapRaw = 8f;
+
+    // Measured, never a fixed 32px: the band has to hold a line of text, and the
+    // font comes from Config, which display scaling does not feed into.
+    internal static float Height =>
+        ImGui.GetTextLineHeight() + MathF.Round(PadYRaw * 2f * Metrics.Scale);
+
+    internal static void Draw(Tab tab, ChannelHeaderMode mode, FontManager fonts, string detail)
+    {
+        var scale = Metrics.Scale;
+        var width = ImGui.GetContentRegionAvail().X;
+        var height = Height;
+        var origin = ImGui.GetCursorScreenPos();
+
+        var theme = Plugin.Instance.ThemeRegistry.Active;
+        var surface = theme.Colors.Surface;
+
+        var name = tab.Name.ToUpperInvariant();
+        var track = TrackRaw * scale;
+        var detailTrack = DetailTrackRaw * scale;
+
+        // Measure before deciding, the way the status bar does. Icon and gap are
+        // part of the name run because they are dropped together with it.
+        float nameRun;
+        using (fonts.RegularFont!.Push())
+            nameRun = DrawListExtensions.MeasureTrackedText(name, track);
+
+        var iconWidth = MeasureIcon(fonts, Components.Sidebar.ResolveTabIcon(tab));
+        nameRun += iconWidth + IconGapRaw * scale;
+
+        float detailRun;
+        using (fonts.MetaFont!.Push())
+            detailRun = DrawListExtensions.MeasureTrackedText(detail, detailTrack);
+
+        var inset = InsetRaw * scale;
+        var plan = ChannelHeaderLayout.Plan(
+            mode,
+            width - inset * 2f,
+            ImGui.GetContentRegionAvail().Y - height,
+            nameRun,
+            detailRun
+        );
+
+        if (!plan.ShowHeader)
+            return;
+
+        var dl = ImGui.GetWindowDrawList();
+        var bottomRight = origin + new Vector2(width, height);
+        dl.AddRectFilled(origin, bottomRight, ColourUtil.RgbaToAbgr(surface));
+        dl.AddLine(
+            new Vector2(origin.X, bottomRight.Y - 1f),
+            new Vector2(bottomRight.X, bottomRight.Y - 1f),
+            ColourUtil.RgbaToAbgr(theme.Colors.Border),
+            MathF.Max(1f, scale)
+        );
+
+        var textY = origin.Y + MathF.Round(PadYRaw * scale);
+
+        if (plan.ShowName)
+        {
+            var accent = ColourUtil.RgbaToAbgr(
+                ColourUtil.EnsureContrast(theme.Colors.Accent, surface, 4.5f)
+            );
+            var x = origin.X + inset;
+
+            using (fonts.FontAwesome.Push())
+            {
+                var glyph = Components.Sidebar.ResolveTabIcon(tab).ToIconString();
+                dl.AddText(new Vector2(x, textY), accent, glyph);
+                x += ImGui.CalcTextSize(glyph).X + IconGapRaw * scale;
+            }
+
+            using (fonts.RegularFont.Push())
+                dl.DrawTrackedText(new Vector2(x, textY), name, accent, track);
+        }
+
+        if (plan.ShowDetail)
+        {
+            var muted = ColourUtil.RgbaToAbgr(
+                ColourUtil.EnsureContrast(theme.Colors.TextMuted, surface, 4.5f)
+            );
+
+            // The meta face is smaller, so it would hang from the top edge
+            // without the drop -- ImGui aligns by top, not by baseline.
+            float bodyAscent;
+            using (fonts.RegularFont.Push())
+                bodyAscent = ImGui.GetFont().Ascent;
+
+            float metaAscent;
+            using (fonts.MetaFont.Push())
+                metaAscent = ImGui.GetFont().Ascent;
+
+            var drop = BaselineMath.OffsetFor(bodyAscent, metaAscent, scale);
+
+            using (fonts.MetaFont.Push())
+                dl.DrawTrackedText(
+                    new Vector2(bottomRight.X - inset - detailRun, textY + drop),
+                    detail,
+                    muted,
+                    detailTrack
+                );
+        }
+
+        // ItemSize rather than a cursor move: it advances the cursor AND extends
+        // CursorMaxPos, which is what the enclosing layout measures.
+        ImGui.SetCursorScreenPos(origin);
+        ImGuiP.ItemSize(new Vector2(width, height - ImGui.GetStyle().ItemSpacing.Y));
+    }
+
+    private static float MeasureIcon(FontManager fonts, FontAwesomeIcon icon)
+    {
+        using (fonts.FontAwesome.Push())
+            return ImGui.CalcTextSize(icon.ToIconString()).X;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/HellionChat/Ui/StyleEngine/Widgets/ChannelHeaderLayout.cs b/HellionChat/Ui/StyleEngine/Widgets/ChannelHeaderLayout.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3e6a302
--- /dev/null
+++ b/HellionChat/Ui/StyleEngine/Widgets/ChannelHeaderLayout.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+namespace HellionChat.Ui.StyleEngine.Widgets;
+
+internal enum ChannelHeaderMode
+{
+    // Sidebar layout: nothing else on screen carries the tab name.
+    Full,
+
+    // Top-tab layout, and pop-outs with their title bar on. The name is already
+    // one line up; repeating it there is the defect that got an earlier header
+    // row removed.
+    DetailOnly,
+}
+
+internal readonly record struct ChannelHeaderPlan(bool ShowHeader, bool ShowName, bool ShowDetail);
+
+// TEST-MIRROR: Ui/ChannelHeaderLayoutTests.cs
+//
+// Two decisions, both arithmetic, both kept out of the draw call.
+//
+// Horizontally this follows the status bar: measure each part, then leave out
+// what will not fit rather than letting it run off the edge. The name has
+// priority over the trailing detail -- it is the reason the header exists.
+//
+// Vertically it can decide to disappear entirely, which the status bar never
+// does. The window minimum is 260px tall and already shared with the honorific
+// header, the input row and the status bar, and all of it scales together. A
+// header that leaves two readable lines of chat is worse than no header.
+internal static class ChannelHeaderLayout
+{
+    // Below this the message area stops being a conversation and starts being a
+    // peephole. Four body lines at a typical scale.
+    internal const float MinMessageAreaHeight = 90f;
+
+    internal static ChannelHeaderPlan Plan(
+        ChannelHeaderMode mode,
+        float availableWidth,
+        float availableHeight,
+        float nameWidth,
+        float detailWidth
+    )
+    {
+        if (availableHeight < MinMessageAreaHeight)
+            return new ChannelHeaderPlan(false, false, false);
+
+        var showName = mode is ChannelHeaderMode.Full;
+        var used = showName ? nameWidth : 0f;
+        var showDetail = used + detailWidth <= availableWidth;
+
+        return new ChannelHeaderPlan(true, showName, showDetail);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/HellionChat/Ui/Windows/WidgetGalleryWindow.cs b/HellionChat/Ui/Windows/WidgetGalleryWindow.cs
index 3d51571..a3ebd03 100644
--- a/HellionChat/Ui/Windows/WidgetGalleryWindow.cs
+++ b/HellionChat/Ui/Windows/WidgetGalleryWindow.cs
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ internal sealed class WidgetGalleryWindow : Window
     private readonly WidgetPalette _palette;
 
     private int _badgeCount = 3;
+    private Tab? _headerSample;
+    private int _headerMode;
     private bool _rowActive = true;
     private bool _toggleA = true;
     private bool _toggleB;
@@ -54,6 +56,40 @@ internal sealed class WidgetGalleryWindow : Window
         DrawPillSection(c);
         DrawIconButtonSection(c);
         DrawDividerSection(c);
+        DrawChannelHeaderSection(c);
+    }
+
+    // Unlike every other entry here the header is not a stateless primitive -- it
+    // needs a tab and the font handles. It is in the gallery anyway: this window
+    // exists because three style-engine pieces once shipped with no call site at
+    // all, and a header nobody can look at outside a live chat is exactly how
+    // that happens again.
+    private void DrawChannelHeaderSection(ThemeColors c)
+    {
+        ImGui.TextUnformatted("ChannelHeader");
+
+        var fonts = _plugin.FontManager;
+        if (fonts is null || !fonts.FontsReady)
+        {
+            ImGui.TextDisabled("fonts not ready");
+            return;
+        }
+
+        _headerSample ??= new Tab { Name = "General", Icon = "comment" };
+
+        ImGui.RadioButton("full##hdr", ref _headerMode, 0);
+        ImGui.SameLine();
+        ImGui.RadioButton("detail only##hdr", ref _headerMode, 1);
+
+        ImGui.SliderFloat("sender weight##hdr", ref FontManager.SenderWeight, 1.0f, 1.6f, "%.2f");
+        ImGui.SameLine();
+        if (ImGui.Button("apply##hdr-weight"))
+            fonts.RebuildDelegateFonts();
+
+        var mode = _headerMode == 0 ? ChannelHeaderMode.Full : ChannelHeaderMode.DetailOnly;
+        ChannelHeader.Draw(_headerSample, mode, fonts, "Ravana · 14:32");
+
+        ImGui.Spacing();
     }
 
     private void DrawRowSection(ThemeColors c)