diff --git a/modules/xorg/README.md b/modules/xorg/README.md
index 226282b2..6893e852 100644
--- a/modules/xorg/README.md
+++ b/modules/xorg/README.md
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ which is a cpp directive error under plain `xrdb -merge` but is skipped here.
 | `xorg_input_devices` | r | the input devices, and each pointer's libinput settings |
 | `xorg_input_set` | a | tap, tap drag, natural scroll, disable while typing, left handed, middle emulation, enabled, acceleration, by device id or name |
 | `xorg_keyboard` | r/a | the XKB map; set layout, variant, model, options |
-| `xorg_screenshot` | d | a PNG of the screen, one output or one window, inside the home (default `~/Pictures/Screenshots/`); with `inline`, the PNG in the answer as base64 (at most 4 MiB) |
+| `xorg_screenshot` | d | a PNG of the screen, one output or one window, inside the home (default `~/Pictures/Screenshots/`); with `inline`, the PNG in the answer as base64 (at most 700 KiB; a larger one is halved in size until it fits, and `inline_scale` says so). A window that is not viewable is refused |
 | `xorg_windows` | r | the windows as the X server knows them, managed or not: id, name, instance and class, size and place; with a class or name filter (or `detail`), each one's depth (`argb`), visual, map state, override-redirect, types, states, role and own opacity |
 | `xorg_x_log` | r | the X server's log for the running session: version, start, errors (and warnings) |
 
@@ -95,8 +95,11 @@ into a PNG itself. **A window is cut from the dump of the whole screen** at the
 never dumped by its id: `xwd -id` asks the server for the window's colormap entries, which a window of
 a 32-bit (alpha) visual refused with `BadColor (X_QueryColors)` on a workstation (2026-10-09), and the
 cut shows the window as the compositor shows it, which is what a question about a window that looks
-wrong needs. A window under another one shows what covers it. `inline` answers the image itself, for a
-session that cannot read the machine's files.
+wrong needs. A window under another one shows what covers it, and a window that is not viewable (unmapped, or on a
+workspace not shown) is refused rather than photographed as whatever is at its place. `inline` answers
+the image itself, for a session that cannot read the machine's files: a tool's answer crosses the bus,
+whose largest message is NATS's default of 1 MiB (the `nats` module sets no other), so the PNG is held to
+700 KiB (about 935 KiB as base64) and halved in size until it fits.
 
 `xorg_windows` exists because a window manager lists only the windows it manages, and says nothing a
 compositor goes by. A window of depth 32 has an alpha channel: the compositor blends it with what is
diff --git a/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/main.go b/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/main.go
index 56e95f5b..14736d05 100644
--- a/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/main.go
+++ b/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/main.go
@@ -146,12 +146,13 @@ func tools(d desktop.Desk) []stdio.Tool {
 			Description: "Take a screenshot to a PNG file: the whole screen, one output, or one window by its X id " +
 				"(cut from the screen as the compositor shows it, so a see-through window shows what is behind it). " +
 				"Written under the account's home (default ~/Pictures/Screenshots/screenshot-<time>.png). Answers " +
-				"the path, size and bytes; with inline, also the PNG itself as base64 (at most 4 MiB).",
+				"the path, size and bytes; with inline, also the PNG itself as base64 (at most 700 KiB, halved in size until it " +
+				"fits; inline_scale says so). A window that is not viewable (unmapped, or on a workspace not shown) is refused.",
 			Input: desktop.Schema(map[string]any{
 				"output": desktop.Str("only this output (optional)"),
 				"window": desktop.Str("only this window, by its X id, e.g. 0x3a00007 (optional)"),
 				"path":   desktop.Str("where to write it, inside the home (optional)"),
-				"inline": desktop.Flag("also answer the PNG as base64, for a session that cannot read the file (default false)"),
+				"inline": desktop.Flag("also answer the PNG as base64, at most 700 KiB, for a session that cannot read the file (default false)"),
 			}),
 			Run: call(x.screenshot),
 		},
diff --git a/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/tools.go b/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/tools.go
index 9d4a3b12..12e441ad 100644
--- a/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/tools.go
+++ b/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/tools.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"fmt"
 	"image"
+	"image/color"
 	"image/draw"
 	"image/png"
 	"os"
@@ -495,8 +496,28 @@ func (x xorg) keyboard(ctx context.Context, a desktop.Args) (any, error) {
 
 var windowID = regexp.MustCompile(`^(0x[0-9a-fA-F]{1,8}|[0-9]{1,10})$`)
 
-// mostInline is the largest PNG a screenshot carries in its answer.
-const mostInline = 4 << 20
+// mostInline is the largest PNG a screenshot carries in its answer. A tool's answer crosses the bus,
+// whose largest message is 1 MiB; 700 KiB is about 935 KiB as base64, which leaves room for the rest.
+const mostInline = 700 << 10
+
+// shrink averages each by×by block of an image into one pixel.
+func shrink(img image.Image, by int) *image.RGBA {
+	b := img.Bounds()
+	out := image.NewRGBA(image.Rect(0, 0, b.Dx()/by, b.Dy()/by))
+	for y := 0; y < out.Bounds().Dy(); y++ {
+		for x := 0; x < out.Bounds().Dx(); x++ {
+			var r, g, bl, n uint32
+			for dy := 0; dy < by; dy++ {
+				for dx := 0; dx < by; dx++ {
+					cr, cg, cb, _ := img.At(b.Min.X+x*by+dx, b.Min.Y+y*by+dy).RGBA()
+					r, g, bl, n = r+cr, g+cg, bl+cb, n+1
+				}
+			}
+			out.SetRGBA(x, y, color.RGBA{uint8(r / n >> 8), uint8(g / n >> 8), uint8(bl / n >> 8), 0xff})
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
 
 func (x xorg) screenshot(ctx context.Context, a desktop.Args) (any, error) {
 	inline, _, err := a.Bool("inline")
@@ -535,6 +556,12 @@ func (x xorg) screenshot(ctx context.Context, a desktop.Args) (any, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
+		// A window that is not viewable is not on the screen: its rectangle would show what is there
+		// instead, which is a picture of the wrong thing.
+		if g.Mapped != "" && g.Mapped != "IsViewable" {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("window %s is %s, not on the screen (IsUnMapped: not shown; IsUnviewable: "+
+				"its parent is not shown, e.g. on another workspace): bring it to the screen first", w, g.Mapped)
+		}
 		cut = &g
 	}
 	args := []string{"-silent", "-out", dump.Name(), "-root"}
@@ -593,11 +620,25 @@ func (x xorg) screenshot(ctx context.Context, a desktop.Args) (any, error) {
 	b := shot.Bounds()
 	answer := map[string]any{"session": s.Display, "path": path, "width": b.Dx(), "height": b.Dy(), "bytes": buf.Len()}
 	if inline {
-		// For a session that cannot read the machine's files: the image itself, within a bound.
-		if buf.Len() > mostInline {
-			answer["inline"] = fmt.Sprintf("not included: %d bytes is more than %d; take one output or one window", buf.Len(), mostInline)
+		// For a session that cannot read the machine's files: the image itself, within the bus's bound.
+		// An image larger than mostInline is halved until it fits, and the answer says by how much; the
+		// file keeps the full size.
+		small, scale := buf.Bytes(), 1
+		for len(small) > mostInline && shot.Bounds().Dx()/(scale*2) >= 64 {
+			scale *= 2
+			var b bytes.Buffer
+			if err := png.Encode(&b, shrink(shot, scale)); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			small = b.Bytes()
+		}
+		if len(small) > mostInline {
+			answer["inline"] = fmt.Sprintf("not included: %d bytes even at 1/%d; take one output or one window", len(small), scale)
 		} else {
-			answer["png_base64"] = base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(buf.Bytes())
+			answer["png_base64"] = base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(small)
+			if scale > 1 {
+				answer["inline_scale"] = fmt.Sprintf("1/%d of the file's size, to fit the bus", scale)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	return answer, nil
diff --git a/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/windows.go b/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/windows.go
index 64afbcba..1a87c695 100644
--- a/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/windows.go
+++ b/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/windows.go
@@ -219,8 +219,11 @@ func (x xorg) windowGeometry(ctx context.Context, env []string, id string) (imag
 	return ParseGeometry(r.Stdout)
 }
 
-// image4 is a rectangle on the screen.
-type image4 struct{ X, Y, W, H int }
+// image4 is a rectangle on the screen, and the window's map state there.
+type image4 struct {
+	X, Y, W, H int
+	Mapped     string
+}
 
 // ParseGeometry reads the absolute corner and the size from `xwininfo -id`.
 func ParseGeometry(text string) (image4, error) {
@@ -231,6 +234,9 @@ func ParseGeometry(text string) (image4, error) {
 		for prefix, into := range map[string]*int{
 			"Absolute upper-left X:": &g.X, "Absolute upper-left Y:": &g.Y, "Width:": &g.W, "Height:": &g.H,
 		} {
+			if strings.HasPrefix(line, "Map State:") {
+				g.Mapped = strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(line, "Map State:"))
+			}
 			if strings.HasPrefix(line, prefix) {
 				if n, err := strconv.Atoi(strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(line, prefix))); err == nil {
 					*into = n
diff --git a/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/windows_test.go b/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/windows_test.go
index 6dff0601..3b1d27aa 100644
--- a/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/windows_test.go
+++ b/modules/xorg/cmd/xorg/windows_test.go
@@ -164,3 +164,59 @@ func TestAWindowsScreenshotIsCutFromTheScreenNotDumpedByItsID(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("no geometry is refused")
 	}
 }
+
+// screenFake is a desk whose xwd writes a w×h screen of noise and whose xwininfo
+// answers one window with the given map state.
+func screenFake(t *testing.T, w, h int, state string) desktop.Desk {
+	f := &fakeDesk{answers: map[string]desktop.Result{
+		"xwininfo -id 0x2a00221": {Stdout: "  Absolute upper-left X:  1\n  Absolute upper-left Y:  1\n  Width: 2\n  Height: 2\n  Map State: " + state + "\n"},
+	}}
+	d := f.desk(true)
+	run := d.Run
+	d.Run = func(ctx context.Context, env []string, stdin []byte, name string, args ...string) desktop.Result {
+		if name == "xwd" {
+			for i, a := range args {
+				if a == "-out" {
+					// Noise, which a PNG cannot compress: the worst case for the bound.
+					os.WriteFile(args[i+1], xwdOf(w, h, true, func(x, y int) (uint8, uint8, uint8) {
+						n := uint32(x)*2654435761 ^ uint32(y)*2246822519
+						n ^= n >> 13
+						n *= 3266489917
+						return uint8(n), uint8(n >> 8), uint8(n >> 16)
+					}), 0o644)
+				}
+			}
+			return desktop.Result{}
+		}
+		return run(ctx, env, stdin, name, args...)
+	}
+	return d
+}
+
+func TestAWindowThatIsNotViewableIsNotPhotographed(t *testing.T) {
+	home := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("MESH_OPERATOR_HOME", home)
+	for _, state := range []string{"IsUnMapped", "IsUnviewable"} {
+		_, err := byName(t, screenFake(t, 4, 3, state), "xorg_screenshot")(map[string]any{"window": "0x2a00221", "path": "~/s.png"})
+		if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), state) {
+			t.Errorf("%s: %v", state, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnInlineImageFitsTheBusAndIsScaledDownWhenItWouldNot(t *testing.T) {
+	home := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("MESH_OPERATOR_HOME", home)
+	got, err := byName(t, screenFake(t, 800, 600, "IsViewable"), "xorg_screenshot")(map[string]any{"path": "~/s.png", "inline": true})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	a := got.(map[string]any)
+	b64, _ := a["png_base64"].(string)
+	if b64 == "" || len(b64) > 1<<20-64<<10 {
+		t.Fatalf("an inline image within the bus's 1 MiB, with room for the answer: %d bytes; %v", len(b64), a["inline"])
+	}
+	if a["bytes"].(int) > mostInline && a["inline_scale"] == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a file larger than the bound is answered scaled down, and says so: %v", a["inline_scale"])
+	}
+}