diff --git a/DESIGN.md b/DESIGN.md
index 4b633cd..2a4d86c 100644
--- a/DESIGN.md
+++ b/DESIGN.md
@@ -398,6 +398,22 @@ rather than inert". It was coherent and it cost the product its one authored rec
 Logbook, on `/space`, there was no ⊕ and so no way to write down the thing you had just thought of. The
 goal is now the constant and the list's own item is the variable.
 
+### The ask bar
+A label — **Ask an agent for** — and one default button per registry type of the page's own scope, each
+with the type's 15px glyph in `stroke` that goes accent on hover, sitting under the title where the
+compose card opens: goal-scoped types on a goal, project-scoped ones on System. It is the ⊕'s request
+section as a control in the page, generated from the same registry records, and it exists because those
+two surfaces were the only ways in: a floating disc in the corner, and a button in a drawer under an
+artifact that already landed — which is no help at all on the page that has none, the one place where
+asking is the whole of what there is to do. A human initiating is the first move of the product's loop,
+so it is a thing you can see rather than a menu you have to find.
+
+Nothing in it is primary and nothing is ordered by anything but the registry's own alphabet: which type
+to ask for next is the human's judgement, and an accent-filled "Request plan" would be the UI making it
+for them. It stays put while its card is open — that is where Escape hands focus back, and it is how the
+reader changes their mind about which type they are asking for — which is also the difference between it
+and a ⊕ menu item, since a menu is a surface and this is a place.
+
 ### The keyboard map
 `/` puts the caret in quick find, `n` writes a goal from anywhere — in the project the view is of, where
 it is of one — `⌘N` is the ⊕ of the view being shown, Escape closes one layer per press — and `?` draws
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/app.css b/packages/ui/src/app.css
index 022e786..1a19369 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/app.css
+++ b/packages/ui/src/app.css
@@ -543,6 +543,18 @@ a.btn { text-decoration: none; color: var(--ink); display: inline-block; }
 .btn-bad:hover { background: var(--bad-wash); border-color: var(--bad); }
 .acts .gap { width: 1px; height: 20px; background: var(--line); margin: 0 3px; }
 
+/* ─── the ask bar ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
+/* The registry's request buttons, standing on the goal they are asked against (`RequestBar.svelte`).
+   A plain row of controls with no box, no rule and no fill: the ask is the reader's next move, not a
+   call to action shouted at them, and one accent-filled button here would be the UI ranking the
+   registry's types on their behalf. It occupies the compose card's own slot, so pressing a button
+   swaps the row for the card in place rather than moving the page under the reader. */
+.askbar { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: center; gap: 7px; margin: 2px 0 16px; }
+.askbar .asklead { font-size: 12px; font-weight: 600; color: var(--ink-2); margin-right: 1px; }
+.askbtn { display: inline-flex; align-items: center; gap: 7px; }
+.askbtn .g { display: grid; place-items: center; color: var(--stroke); }
+.askbtn:hover .g, .askbtn:focus-visible .g { color: var(--accent); }
+
 .softwarn {
   display: flex; align-items: flex-start; gap: 8px;
   font-size: 12.5px; line-height: 1.45; color: var(--warn);
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/lib/components/RequestBar.svelte b/packages/ui/src/lib/components/RequestBar.svelte
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb18a61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui/src/lib/components/RequestBar.svelte
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+<script lang="ts">
+  import { openDraft } from '$lib/compose.svelte.js'
+  import { requestableTypes } from '$lib/requests.js'
+  import type { Space } from '$lib/space.js'
+  import { typeLabel } from '$lib/units.js'
+  import Glyph from './Glyph.svelte'
+
+  // The ask, as a control on the thing being asked about.
+  //
+  // Requesting an artifact used to be reachable exactly two ways, and neither of them looks like a
+  // way in: the ⊕ floating in the corner of the pane, and a button in a drawer under an artifact
+  // that already landed — which is no help at all on a goal or a System page that has none, the one
+  // place where asking is the whole of what there is to do. A human initiating is the first move of
+  // the entire product loop (design §1), so it gets a visible control where the work lands rather
+  // than a menu the reader has to find first.
+  //
+  // Generated from the registry and from nothing else, exactly like the ⊕ menu it doubles
+  // (`requestableTypes`, scoped by the view): an admin writes one `artifactType` record and a button
+  // appears here too, with no deploy and no branch in this file. Nothing is ranked and nothing is
+  // primary — which type to ask for next is a judgement the human makes, not one the registry's
+  // alphabetical order makes for them, which is the same rule the drawer's buttons follow.
+  interface Props {
+    space: Space
+    /** The goal or project the request hangs off — what `--goal` / `--project` names. */
+    target: string
+    scope: 'goal' | 'project'
+  }
+  const { space, target, scope }: Props = $props()
+
+  const offered = $derived(requestableTypes(space.index, scope))
+</script>
+
+<!-- No sign-in gate and no fixture gate, for the reason the compose card gives: the card opens and
+     says why it cannot be filled in, where hiding the buttons would leave the view with no visible
+     way to ask for anything at all. -->
+{#if offered.length > 0}
+  <div class="askbar" role="group" aria-label="Request an artifact">
+    <span class="asklead">Ask an agent for</span>
+    {#each offered as { name, value } (name)}
+      <button
+        class="btn askbtn"
+        type="button"
+        aria-label="Request {typeLabel(name)}"
+        title={value.outputSpec.description}
+        onclick={() => openDraft({ kind: 'request', target, scope, type: name })}
+      >
+        <span class="g"><Glyph {name} /></span>
+        {typeLabel(name)}
+      </button>
+    {/each}
+  </div>
+{/if}
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/routes/g/[did]/[rkey]/+page.svelte b/packages/ui/src/routes/g/[did]/[rkey]/+page.svelte
index 5f26bab..0fad18d 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/routes/g/[did]/[rkey]/+page.svelte
+++ b/packages/ui/src/routes/g/[did]/[rkey]/+page.svelte
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   import GoalActions from '$lib/components/GoalActions.svelte'
   import NewRequest from '$lib/components/NewRequest.svelte'
   import Pie from '$lib/components/Pie.svelte'
+  import RequestBar from '$lib/components/RequestBar.svelte'
   import Thread from '$lib/components/Thread.svelte'
   import UnitRow from '$lib/components/UnitRow.svelte'
   import UriChip from '$lib/components/UriChip.svelte'
@@ -88,6 +89,12 @@
     {/if}
   </div>
 
+  <!-- Directly above the card it opens, and it stays there while the card is up: the button that
+       opened a card is where Escape puts focus back, and it is also how the reader changes their mind
+       about which type they are asking for. Only the ⊕'s menu items go away when chosen, because a
+       menu is a surface rather than a place. -->
+  <RequestBar {space} target={goal.target.uri} scope="goal" />
+
   {#if drafting}
     <!-- Keyed on the draft itself: pressing a second button abandons the first card rather than
          carrying a brief written for one type into a request for another. -->
@@ -99,7 +106,6 @@
   {#if units.length === 0}
     <div class="empty">
       <p>Nothing requested against this goal yet.</p>
-      <p>Press ⊕ to ask an agent for a plan.</p>
     </div>
   {:else}
     {#each days as day (day.key)}
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/routes/p/[project]/system/+page.svelte b/packages/ui/src/routes/p/[project]/system/+page.svelte
index abeb8bf..77b87e3 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/routes/p/[project]/system/+page.svelte
+++ b/packages/ui/src/routes/p/[project]/system/+page.svelte
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
   import Badge from '$lib/components/Badge.svelte'
   import Glyph from '$lib/components/Glyph.svelte'
   import NewRequest from '$lib/components/NewRequest.svelte'
+  import RequestBar from '$lib/components/RequestBar.svelte'
   import UnitRow from '$lib/components/UnitRow.svelte'
   import { draftFor } from '$lib/compose.svelte.js'
   import { currentSpace } from '$lib/session.svelte.js'
@@ -67,6 +68,10 @@
     </p>
   </div>
 
+  <!-- The project-scoped half of the registry, on the page those records land in — the same control
+       the goal page carries, and it stays put while its card is open for the same reasons. -->
+  <RequestBar {space} target={project.target.uri} scope="project" />
+
   {#if drafting}
     {#key drafting}
       <NewRequest draft={drafting} {space} />
@@ -76,7 +81,12 @@
   {#if units.length === 0}
     <div class="empty">
       <p>{ui.query ? 'No system record matches that.' : 'This project has no system artifacts yet.'}</p>
-      <p>Press ⊕ to ask for one, or capture a goal artifact from its card.</p>
+      <!-- The other way one gets here, which no button on this page can show: a capture is asked for
+           from the goal artifact being distilled (§8). Not said while a query is filtering the list —
+           the records may exist and simply not match. -->
+      {#if !ui.query}
+        <p>One can also be captured from a goal artifact's own card.</p>
+      {/if}
     </div>
   {/if}