diff --git a/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/AppDelegate.swift b/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/AppDelegate.swift
index 9c5248ca8..424a33ed9 100644
--- a/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/AppDelegate.swift
+++ b/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/AppDelegate.swift
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, NSMenuDelegate {
     /// tick so the bg alternates between its base and pulse palettes.
     private var blinkTimer: Timer?
     private var blinkPhase: Bool = false
+    /// Live-updates the pop-render progress bars while the menu is open.
+    /// Re-reads ~/.ac-pop-renders/ (cheap — small dir of small JSON files)
+    /// and rewrites each tagged row's title in place. Scheduled in
+    /// `.common` mode so it actually fires while NSMenu tracks events;
+    /// invalidated in `menuDidClose`.
+    private var popRenderTimer: Timer?
     /// `sessionId → "<state>|<subject>"` of the last theme/title we pushed
     /// to Terminal, so the per-tick refresh only fires osascript when
     /// something actually changed.
@@ -190,6 +196,36 @@ final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, NSMenuDelegate {
         )
     }
 
+    /// Once the menu is on screen, tick the pop-render progress bars
+    /// live. NSMenu's default mode pauses Timers (and `menuNeedsUpdate`
+    /// only fires once per open), so we add this one to `.common` modes
+    /// and rewrite titles in place rather than restructuring the menu.
+    func menuWillOpen(_ menu: NSMenu) {
+        guard menu === self.menu else { return }
+        popRenderTimer?.invalidate()
+        guard !state.popRenders.isEmpty else { return }
+        let t = Timer(timeInterval: 0.5, repeats: true) { [weak self] _ in
+            self?.tickPopRenders()
+        }
+        popRenderTimer = t
+        RunLoop.main.add(t, forMode: .common)
+    }
+
+    func menuDidClose(_ menu: NSMenu) {
+        guard menu === self.menu else { return }
+        popRenderTimer?.invalidate()
+        popRenderTimer = nil
+    }
+
+    private func tickPopRenders() {
+        // Cheap pop-only refresh: skip the full gather() (ioreg / pmset /
+        // tailscale) and just re-read the heartbeat dir. Safe on main —
+        // a few KB of JSON in a tiny directory.
+        let fresh = StateSnapshot.readPopRenders()
+        state.popRenders = fresh
+        MenuBuilder.updatePopRenders(in: menu, state: state)
+    }
+
     private func updateIcon() {
         guard let button = statusItem.button else { return }
         // Don't tint our color image — contentTintColor would otherwise
diff --git a/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/MenuBuilder.swift b/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/MenuBuilder.swift
index 08873814e..f1ef11ac4 100644
--- a/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/MenuBuilder.swift
+++ b/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/MenuBuilder.swift
@@ -92,9 +92,22 @@ enum MenuBuilder {
         return it
     }
 
+    /// Identifier prefix used to tag each pop-render NSMenuItem so
+    /// `updatePopRenders(in:state:)` can find and rewrite it in place
+    /// while the menu is open. Full identifier = prefix + heartbeat id.
+    static let popRenderItemIDPrefix = "pop-render:"
+
+    /// Monospaced font used for both initial build and live updates so
+    /// the bar/cell widths stay aligned tick-to-tick.
+    private static let renderFont = NSFont.monospacedSystemFont(ofSize: 11, weight: .regular)
+
     /// Temporary progress bars — one monospaced row per live /pop render
     /// heartbeat (audio / illy / video). Present only while a render is
     /// running; the rows vanish when the heartbeat files are gone.
+    ///
+    /// Each row is tagged with `pop-render:<id>` so
+    /// `updatePopRenders(in:state:)` can rewrite its title in place while
+    /// the menu is on screen, without restructuring the menu mid-tracking.
     private static func appendPopRenders(to menu: NSMenu, state: StateSnapshot) {
         guard !state.popRenders.isEmpty else { return }
         let n = state.popRenders.count
@@ -102,14 +115,38 @@ enum MenuBuilder {
         for r in state.popRenders {
             let it = NSMenuItem(title: renderLine(r), action: nil, keyEquivalent: "")
             it.isEnabled = false
+            it.identifier = NSUserInterfaceItemIdentifier(popRenderItemIDPrefix + r.id)
             it.attributedTitle = NSAttributedString(
                 string: renderLine(r),
-                attributes: [.font: NSFont.monospacedSystemFont(ofSize: 11, weight: .regular)])
+                attributes: [.font: renderFont])
             menu.addItem(it)
         }
         menu.addItem(.separator())
     }
 
+    /// Rewrite the title of each pop-render row from the latest snapshot.
+    /// Called from a fast `.common`-mode timer started in `menuWillOpen`,
+    /// so the bars tick live while the dropdown is open. Pure title
+    /// mutation — never adds or removes items mid-tracking (that's the
+    /// historical sharp edge); rows that disappear from the heartbeat
+    /// dir just stop updating until the menu next opens.
+    static func updatePopRenders(in menu: NSMenu, state: StateSnapshot) {
+        guard !state.popRenders.isEmpty else { return }
+        var byID: [String: PopRender] = [:]
+        for r in state.popRenders { byID[r.id] = r }
+        for item in menu.items {
+            guard let raw = item.identifier?.rawValue,
+                  raw.hasPrefix(popRenderItemIDPrefix) else { continue }
+            let id = String(raw.dropFirst(popRenderItemIDPrefix.count))
+            guard let r = byID[id] else { continue }
+            let line = renderLine(r)
+            if item.attributedTitle?.string == line { continue }
+            item.attributedTitle = NSAttributedString(
+                string: line,
+                attributes: [.font: renderFont])
+        }
+    }
+
     /// `illy   ▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░  58%  142/240  helpabeach-p`
     private static func renderLine(_ r: PopRender) -> String {
         let width = 12
diff --git a/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/StateSnapshot.swift b/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/StateSnapshot.swift
index 00193d618..0f9714c45 100644
--- a/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/StateSnapshot.swift
+++ b/slab/menubar-swift/Sources/SlabMenubar/StateSnapshot.swift
@@ -74,7 +74,10 @@ struct StateSnapshot {
     /// Cheap — a small dir of tiny JSON files — and gather() already
     /// runs off the main tick. Sweeps stale files (writer pid gone, or
     /// heartbeat older than 120 s) so a crashed render leaves no ghost.
-    private static func readPopRenders() -> [PopRender] {
+    ///
+    /// Internal (not private) so AppDelegate can do a fast pop-only
+    /// re-poll while the menu is open without paying for a full gather().
+    static func readPopRenders() -> [PopRender] {
         let dir = FileManager.default.homeDirectoryForCurrentUser
             .appendingPathComponent(".ac-pop-renders")
         guard let entries = try? FileManager.default.contentsOfDirectory(