The card window's ⌘V drops its picture branch — the attachments header now offers one instead

Raw image data on a card window's ⌘V was a keyboard shortcut with no visible
trigger; the sidebar's Attachments header now grows a quiet control — beside
the existing add affordance, present only while the pasteboard holds a
picture this card could take — that pastes it through the exact seam the
retired branch used (ClipboardStore.pasteImage(intoCard:in:), the board's
"Paste Image into Card" row's own call). The file-URL branch stays on ⌘V; a
Finder copy is still unambiguous. CardBodyTextView's paste-yield mechanism
needed no change at all — it forwards by capability, not by picture-specific
logic, so a screenshot ⌘V with the body editor focused is now a genuine
no-op there, served by the new control instead.

The pasteboard's re-read gains a fourth checkpoint — a window becoming key —
alongside menu-tracking, ⌘-down and app activation: a persistent visible
control has to read true continuously while its window is frontmost, not
only at the instant a menu or chord probes it.

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014PtZdPwqZuqEDLc6wZMtEy

Kanban/App/CardWindowHost.swift

@@ -495,11 +495,12 @@ struct CardWindowHost: View {
             .onChange(of: placement.card.hero.value, initial: true) { _, hero in
                 attachments.hero = hero
             }
-            // **⌘V in this window pastes onto this card** (04-interactions.md ▸ Clipboard's
+            // **⌘V in this window pastes a Finder-copied file onto this card** (04-interactions.md ▸
-            // image-data and file-URL branches). Here rather than inside `CardWindowView` because the
+            // Clipboard's file-URL branch; the image-data branch retired 2026-08-09 for the
-            // availability is the clipboard's observable reading and this is where a store, a card id
+            // attachments header's paste-image affordance, wired below through `configureAttachments`).
-            // and the app-wide clipboard are all in scope at once — the same join `configureAttachments`
+            // Here rather than inside `CardWindowView` because the availability is the clipboard's
-            // makes for the other two writes.
+            // observable reading and this is where a store, a card id and the app-wide clipboard are
+            // all in scope at once — the same join `configureAttachments` makes for the other writes.
             .cardWindowPaste(
                 store: store,
                 cardID: placement.card.id,
@@ -724,7 +725,9 @@ struct CardWindowHost: View {
         session.rawSourceIsActive = { [rawSource] in rawSource.isActive }
         session.rawSourceApply = { [rawSource] in rawSource.applyAndLeave() }
         session.rawSourceCancel = { [rawSource] in rawSource.cancel() }
-        Self.configureAttachments(attachments, store: store, cardID: cardID, undo: session.undo)
+        Self.configureAttachments(
+            attachments, store: store, cardID: cardID, undo: session.undo, clipboard: appModel.clipboard
+        )
         Self.configureComments(session.comments, store: store, cardID: cardID, on: session.undo)
     }
 
@@ -827,17 +830,23 @@ struct CardWindowHost: View {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Points the attachments section at its card — **the one place Add Attachment… and Remove
+    /// Points the attachments section at its card — **the one place Add Attachment…, Remove and the
-    /// learn which card they act on** (05-card-window.md ▸ Attachments).
+    /// paste-image affordance learn which card they act on** (05-card-window.md ▸ Attachments).
     ///
-    /// Both seams are the store's own bracketed methods, unchanged: `importAttachments(_:toCard:)`
+    /// Every seam is the store's or the clipboard's own bracketed method, unchanged:
-    /// is the *same* call the board window's Finder drop makes, so a file added through ⇧⌘A, through
+    /// `importAttachments(_:toCard:)` is the *same* call the board window's Finder drop makes, so a
-    /// the header's plus, through a drop anywhere in this window, and through a drop on the card's
+    /// file added through ⇧⌘A, through the header's plus, through a drop anywhere in this window, and
-    /// face on the board all take one path — one collision rename, one set of banners, one commit
+    /// through a drop on the card's face on the board all take one path — one collision rename, one
-    /// shape. There is deliberately no card-window import of its own to keep in step with it.
+    /// set of banners, one commit shape. `pasteImage`/`canPasteImage` are `ClipboardStore
+    /// .pasteImage(intoCard:in:)`/`.canPasteImage(intoCard:in:)` the same way — the exact seam the
+    /// retired ⌘V image branch used, and the board's "Paste Image into Card" context-menu row still
+    /// uses (`CardFaceView`). There is deliberately no card-window import or paste of its own to keep
+    /// in step with either.
     ///
-    /// The store is captured **weakly**, `configureSession`'s rule: a panel still running after the
+    /// The store and the clipboard are captured **weakly**, `configureSession`'s rule: a panel or a
-    /// board window has gone should write nothing rather than resurrect a released store.
+    /// paste still running after the board window has gone should write nothing rather than
+    /// resurrect a released store — and the clipboard is app-wide and always outlives any one window
+    /// in practice, but the same discipline costs nothing to apply uniformly.
     ///
     /// `static`, and taking every collaborator as a parameter, for `configureRawSource`'s reason:
     /// the target resolution is invisible in a running window until it is wrong, and this shape is
@@ -846,7 +855,8 @@ struct CardWindowHost: View {
         _ attachments: CardAttachments,
         store: BoardStore,
         cardID: ItemID,
-        undo: CardWindowUndo
+        undo: CardWindowUndo,
+        clipboard: ClipboardStore
     ) {
         attachments.importFiles = { [weak store] urls in
             store?.importAttachments(urls, toCard: cardID)
@@ -860,6 +870,18 @@ struct CardWindowHost: View {
         attachments.setHeroFile = { [weak store] name in
             store?.setHero(name, onCard: cardID, on: undo)
         }
+        // **The retired ⌘V image branch's seam, now the header's control's** (04-interactions.md ▸
+        // Clipboard, re-ruled 2026-08-09). No undo step here either, `setHeroFile`'s neighbor and an
+        // import's own reason: an attachment arrival is not on the stack (13-native-undo.md ▸ Out of
+        // scope).
+        attachments.pasteImage = { [weak store, weak clipboard] in
+            guard let store, let clipboard else { return }
+            clipboard.pasteImage(intoCard: cardID, in: store)
+        }
+        attachments.canPasteImage = { [weak store, weak clipboard] in
+            guard let store, let clipboard else { return false }
+            return CardPasteImageAffordance.isVisible(clipboard: clipboard, cardID: cardID, in: store)
+        }
     }
 
     /// Points the raw-source outlet at its card — the outlet's three seams (05-card-window.md ▸ Raw

Kanban/App/ClipboardStore.swift

@@ -48,9 +48,9 @@ import os
 ///
 /// `NSPasteboard.changeCount` is a machine-wide counter, so a value that moved without this store
 /// moving it means another app owns the pasteboard now. It is checked exactly where 04 says — menu
-/// validation, app activation, and before every paste — and nowhere else. `payload` is observable
+/// validation, app activation, before every paste, and a window becoming key — and nowhere else.
-/// state rather than a computed pasteboard read precisely so the menu items' enablement re-evaluates
+/// `payload` is observable state rather than a computed pasteboard read precisely so the menu items'
-/// when it changes rather than whenever SwiftUI happens to rebuild them.
+/// enablement re-evaluates when it changes rather than whenever SwiftUI happens to rebuild them.
 ///
 /// **"Menu validation" is two checkpoints here, not a hook**: the commands validate by conditional
 /// responder attachment (`ClipboardCommands` — availability *is* the handler's presence), which
@@ -62,6 +62,15 @@ import os
 /// screenshot hotkey, ⌃⇧⌘4 — would leave ⌘V dead until the next app switch, which is the image
 /// branch's headline gesture failing in the exact case it was built for. Both checkpoints are one
 /// `changeCount` read in the common case, which is why they can afford to fire on every ⌘-chord.
+///
+/// **A window becoming key is the fourth checkpoint** (widened 2026-08-09 for the card window's
+/// paste-image affordance, `CardPasteImageAffordance`): a visible control, unlike a menu item, has to
+/// read true continuously while its window is frontmost rather than only at the instant something
+/// probes it. Switching between two already-open windows of this app — no menu opened, no ⌘ pressed
+/// — crosses neither of the first two checkpoints and stays inside one app activation, so the third
+/// checkpoint misses it too; `NSWindow.didBecomeKeyNotification` is the moment that is left. Fired
+/// for every window rather than filtered to card windows, for the same cost reason: one more
+/// `changeCount` read on an already-cheap path.
 @MainActor
 @Observable
 public final class ClipboardStore {
@@ -196,6 +205,22 @@ public final class ClipboardStore {
         ) { [weak self] _ in
             MainActor.assumeIsolated { self?.refresh() }
         })
+        // **The fourth checkpoint** (type comment ▸ takeover, widened 2026-08-09 for the card
+        // window's paste-image affordance): any window becoming key. The first three checkpoints
+        // exist for *menu* validation, which only ever runs when something is about to fire — but a
+        // visible control has to read true continuously while its window is frontmost, not only at
+        // the moment a chord or a menu happens to probe it. Switching between two already-open
+        // windows of this app crosses neither of those moments and stays inside one activation, so it
+        // needed a trigger of its own. Every window, not just card windows: cheap (one `changeCount`
+        // read in the common case, `refresh()`'s own guarantee) and simpler than teaching this store
+        // which window kind is asking.
+        stalenessObservers.append(NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
+            forName: NSWindow.didBecomeKeyNotification,
+            object: nil,
+            queue: .main
+        ) { [weak self] _ in
+            MainActor.assumeIsolated { self?.refresh() }
+        })
         commandKeyToken = NSEvent.addLocalMonitorForEvents(matching: .flagsChanged) { [weak self] event in
             // Local monitors run on the main thread, before the event reaches its window
             // (`LocalModifierFlipWatch`'s note) — and the event is returned unchanged, always, for

Kanban/UI/Board/CardFaceView.swift

@@ -766,8 +766,9 @@ struct CardFaceView: View, Equatable {
     /// card I right-clicked, regardless of the live selection") turns out to be what was wanted.
     ///
     /// **Paste Image into Card is genuinely per-card** — "into card" is the row's own wording, and it
-    /// is `ClipboardStore.pasteImage(intoCard:in:)`, the *same* method the card window's own ⌘V
+    /// is `ClipboardStore.pasteImage(intoCard:in:)`, the *same* method the card window's own
-    /// already calls for its attachment branch. It always targets **this** card, never the widened
+    /// attachments-header affordance calls for its picture (the ⌘V image branch it once rode retired
+    /// 2026-08-09 for that visible control). It always targets **this** card, never the widened
     /// selection: like Open, Rename and Style's anchor, "single-card by nature" — the existing
     /// precedent this SCOPE asks new rows to follow for such rows. "… more tbd" is left as the SCOPE
     /// asks: one row today, the submenu built to grow.

Kanban/UI/Board/ClipboardCommands.swift

@@ -79,17 +79,24 @@ extension View {
 
 extension View {
 
-    /// **⌘V in a card window pastes onto that card** (04-interactions.md ▸ Clipboard, the image-data
+    /// **⌘V in a card window pastes a Finder-copied file onto that card** (04-interactions.md ▸
-    /// and file-URL branches; 05-card-window.md ▸ Attachments) — the file branch first, the picture
+    /// Clipboard, the file-URL branch; 05-card-window.md ▸ Attachments) — the board's own responder
-    /// branch behind it, `pasteAction`'s own precedence one window over.
+    /// shape, one window over.
     ///
-    /// The board's own responder shape, one window over and with two branches instead of three: there
+    /// **The image-data branch retired from here** (re-ruled 2026-08-09 — "instead of a special ⌘V
-    /// is no board payload a card window could paste — cards and lanes land on a *board* — so the card
+    /// handler at card window level, add a control that shows up when an image is detected in
-    /// window answers `paste:` only for the two attachment branches, and only while one of them has
+    /// pasteboard"): raw image data on this window's ⌘V is no longer implicitly an attachment. It
-    /// something to take. **One combined handler, not two `.onCommand`s for the same selector**: the
+    /// falls through to whatever the focused surface does natively — the body editor's own paste when
-    /// precedence has to be one expression for the same reason `pasteAction` is, and layering a second
+    /// it can read the pasteboard, nothing at all when it cannot (`CardBodyTextView`'s capability
-    /// responder over the same selector would leave the ordering to however SwiftUI happened to chain
+    /// yield, unchanged; a screenshot with the editor focused is now a genuine no-op there). The
-    /// them rather than to this file.
+    /// header's paste-image affordance is the one path left for the picture (`CardAttachments
+    /// .pasteImage`, wired in `CardWindowHost.configureAttachments`), and the board's own ⌘V and its
+    /// "Paste Image into Card" context-menu row are untouched — this file changes for the *card
+    /// window* only.
+    ///
+    /// There is no board payload a card window could paste — cards and lanes land on a *board* — so
+    /// the card window answers `paste:` only for the file branch, and only while it has something to
+    /// take.
     ///
     /// **A focused text field still wins, with nothing here doing the arithmetic.** `NSTextView`
     /// consumes `paste:` natively, so ⌘V in the body editor, the comment composer or an inline
@@ -101,13 +108,21 @@ extension View {
     func cardWindowPaste(store: BoardStore, cardID: ItemID, clipboard: ClipboardStore) -> some View {
         onCommand(
             #selector(NSText.paste(_:)),
-            perform: Self.cardWindowPasteAction(store: store, cardID: cardID, clipboard: clipboard)
+            perform: CardWindowPasteRouting.action(store: store, cardID: cardID, clipboard: clipboard)
         )
     }
+}
 
-    /// The card window's own `pasteAction` — the file branch outranking the picture branch, exactly
+/// The card window's own `pasteAction` — one clause, now that the picture branch answers to a
-    /// as `refresh()` orders them.
+/// control instead of to this selector (`CardPasteImageAffordance`, below).
-    private static func cardWindowPasteAction(
+///
+/// A free type rather than a `View` extension member, unlike `pasteAction` (above) staying where it
+/// is: this composition is *the* regression surface for "does ⌘V still auto-attach a picture in a
+/// card window", 04-interactions.md ▸ Clipboard's re-ruling, and a test needs to call it without a
+/// throwaway `View` conformer standing in for one.
+@MainActor
+enum CardWindowPasteRouting {
+    static func action(
         store: BoardStore,
         cardID: ItemID,
         clipboard: ClipboardStore
@@ -115,13 +130,32 @@ extension View {
         if clipboard.canPasteFiles(intoCard: cardID, in: store) {
             return { clipboard.pasteFiles(intoCard: cardID, in: store) }
         }
-        if clipboard.canPasteImage(intoCard: cardID, in: store) {
-            return { clipboard.pasteImage(intoCard: cardID, in: store) }
-        }
         return nil
     }
 }
 
+// MARK: - The card window's paste-image affordance
+
+/// **The image-data branch's replacement**: a visible control rather than a silent keyboard shortcut
+/// (04-interactions.md ▸ Clipboard, re-ruled 2026-08-09). The card window no longer answers `paste:`
+/// for raw image data at all (`CardWindowPasteRouting`, above); the attachments section header's
+/// button is the one path left for it (`CardAttachmentsSection`), and it takes exactly the seam the
+/// retired branch took — `ClipboardStore.pasteImage(intoCard:in:)`, through `CardAttachments
+/// .pasteImage`.
+///
+/// **The pure seam the control's visibility and its paste share**: `ClipboardStore
+/// .canPasteImage(intoCard:in:)` is already the whole predicate — the lock, the payload, and the
+/// card being on the board side — so this is a named alias for it rather than a second reading that
+/// could drift from what pressing the button actually does. Named on its own so a test can say what
+/// it is asserting ("the affordance shows") without borrowing a name that means "the paste would
+/// succeed", even though today the two answers are one call.
+@MainActor
+enum CardPasteImageAffordance {
+    static func isVisible(clipboard: ClipboardStore, cardID: ItemID, in store: BoardStore) -> Bool {
+        clipboard.canPasteImage(intoCard: cardID, in: store)
+    }
+}
+
 // MARK: - Edit ▸ Paste as Board Background
 
 /// **Edit ▸ Paste as Board Background** — the pasteboard's picture into the board folder, with

Kanban/UI/Card/CardAttachments.swift

@@ -76,6 +76,18 @@ public final class CardAttachments {
     /// gesture was issued on (13-native-undo.md ▸ Rules ▸ two levels).
     public var setHeroFile: ((String?) -> Void)?
 
+    /// **The header's paste-image affordance's write** — filled by the host with `ClipboardStore
+    /// .pasteImage(intoCard:in:)`, the same call the card window's own ⌘V used before the control
+    /// replaced it, and the board's "Paste Image into Card" context-menu row still uses
+    /// (04-interactions.md ▸ Clipboard, re-ruled 2026-08-09). One import path behind three pointers
+    /// at it now, none of them a second implementation.
+    public var pasteImage: (() -> Void)?
+
+    /// **Whether the affordance shows at all** — filled by the host with `CardPasteImageAffordance
+    /// .isVisible(clipboard:cardID:in:)`, read fresh on every view evaluation rather than cached, so
+    /// the control's presence and `pasteImage()`'s success can never disagree.
+    public var canPasteImage: (() -> Bool)?
+
     public init() {}
 
     // MARK: - Derived

Kanban/UI/Card/CardAttachmentsSection.swift

@@ -80,7 +80,14 @@ struct CardAttachmentsSection: View {
 
     var body: some View {
         VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: CardWindowMetrics.attachmentRowPadding(bodyPointSize: pointSize)) {
-            CardSidebarSectionHeader(title: "Attachments") { addAffordance }
+            CardSidebarSectionHeader(title: "Attachments") {
+                HStack(spacing: 8) {
+                    if attachments.canPasteImage?() == true {
+                        pasteImageAffordance
+                    }
+                    addAffordance
+                }
+            }
 
             if names.isEmpty {
                 emptyHint
@@ -96,6 +103,30 @@ struct CardAttachmentsSection: View {
 
     // MARK: - Header
 
+    /// **The paste-image affordance** — the ⌘V image-data branch's replacement (04-interactions.md ▸
+    /// Clipboard, re-ruled 2026-08-09): present only while the pasteboard holds a picture this card
+    /// could take, rather than a permanent row that would spend most of its life disabled. Its
+    /// visibility and its tap read and call the exact same seam, `CardAttachments.canPasteImage`/
+    /// `.pasteImage` — the header's own `CardPasteImageAffordance.isVisible` — so the button can never
+    /// promise a paste it does not deliver.
+    ///
+    /// **Present-or-absent, the hero rows' own posture** (below): a disabled picture-paste icon
+    /// sitting in this header the other 99% of the time a card window is open would be furniture
+    /// nobody reads, where "it showed up" is the whole point of the control replacing a keyboard
+    /// shortcut nobody could see.
+    private var pasteImageAffordance: some View {
+        Button {
+            attachments.pasteImage?()
+        } label: {
+            Image(systemName: "photo.badge.plus")
+                .font(.caption.weight(.semibold))
+                .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
+        }
+        .buttonStyle(.plain)
+        .help("Paste the copied picture as an attachment")
+        .accessibilityLabel("Paste Image as Attachment")
+    }
+
     /// The header's **quiet add affordance** — "a pointer twin of File ▸ Add Attachment…, no
     /// separate behavior" (11-command-nexus.md), which is why it calls the same method the menu row
     /// does rather than opening a panel of its own.

KanbanTests/CardAttachmentsTests.swift

@@ -66,6 +66,19 @@ private func purgeFromTrash(_ url: URL?) -> Bool {
     return true
 }
 
+/// A `ClipboardStore` for the tests below that only need to satisfy `configureAttachments`'s
+/// paste-image seam — the affordance itself is `PasteImageTests`' subject, not this file's. A
+/// `FakePasteboard` (`ClipboardTests.swift`'s double, never the machine's) and a throwaway staging
+/// directory the caller tears down alongside its board fixture.
+@MainActor
+private func makeScratchClipboard() throws -> (clipboard: ClipboardStore, staging: URL) {
+    let staging = FileManager.default.temporaryDirectory
+        .appendingPathComponent("CardAttachmentsTests-\(UUID().uuidString)", isDirectory: true)
+    try FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: staging, withIntermediateDirectories: true)
+    let clipboard = ClipboardStore(pasteboard: FakePasteboard(), stagingRoot: staging, observesActivation: false)
+    return (clipboard, staging)
+}
+
 /// The same, by name, for the paths that do not hand the resulting URL back (the store's).
 @discardableResult
 private func purgeFromTrash(named name: String) -> Bool {
@@ -246,9 +259,13 @@ struct AddAttachmentTargetTests {
         defer { sources.tearDown() }
         let shot = try sources.file("shot.png", Data([0x89, 0x50]))
         let store = try BoardStore(rootURL: fixture.root)
+        let (clipboard, staging) = try makeScratchClipboard()
+        defer { try? FileManager.default.removeItem(at: staging) }
 
         let attachments = CardAttachments()
-        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(attachments, store: store, cardID: card1, undo: CardWindowUndo())
+        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(
+            attachments, store: store, cardID: card1, undo: CardWindowUndo(), clipboard: clipboard
+        )
         attachments.importFiles?([shot])
 
         #expect(try fixture.data("\(Ident.lane1)/\(Ident.card1)/attachments/shot.png") == Data([0x89, 0x50]))
@@ -264,9 +281,13 @@ struct AddAttachmentTargetTests {
         try fixture.file("\(Ident.lane1)/\(Ident.card1)/attachments/\(doomed)", Data([0x01]))
         try fixture.file("\(Ident.lane1)/\(Ident.card2)/attachments/\(doomed)", Data([0x02]))
         let store = try BoardStore(rootURL: fixture.root)
+        let (clipboard, staging) = try makeScratchClipboard()
+        defer { try? FileManager.default.removeItem(at: staging) }
 
         let attachments = CardAttachments()
-        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(attachments, store: store, cardID: card1, undo: CardWindowUndo())
+        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(
+            attachments, store: store, cardID: card1, undo: CardWindowUndo(), clipboard: clipboard
+        )
         attachments.removeFile?(doomed)
 
         #expect(try fixture.entryNames("\(Ident.lane1)/\(Ident.card1)/attachments").isEmpty)
@@ -283,9 +304,13 @@ struct AddAttachmentTargetTests {
         defer { fixture.tearDown() }
         try fixture.file("\(Ident.lane1)/\(Ident.card1)/attachments/shot.png", Data([0x01]))
         let store = try BoardStore(rootURL: fixture.root)
+        let (clipboard, staging) = try makeScratchClipboard()
+        defer { try? FileManager.default.removeItem(at: staging) }
 
         let attachments = CardAttachments()
-        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(attachments, store: store, cardID: card1, undo: CardWindowUndo())
+        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(
+            attachments, store: store, cardID: card1, undo: CardWindowUndo(), clipboard: clipboard
+        )
         attachments.cardFolder = cardFolder(fixture)
         attachments.names = ["shot.png"]
 

KanbanTests/PasteImageTests.swift

@@ -547,17 +547,154 @@ struct SetAsHeroTests {
     /// ever crossed or the id captured from the wrong place.
     @Test("The attachment row's seam writes the window's own card")
     func theRowsSeam() throws {
-        let fixture = try makeClipboardBoard()
+        let harness = try makeClipboardHarness()
-        defer { fixture.tearDown() }
+        defer { harness.tearDown() }
-        let store = try BoardStore(rootURL: fixture.root)
 
         let attachments = CardAttachments()
         CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(
-            attachments, store: store, cardID: clipboardCard1, undo: CardWindowUndo()
+            attachments, store: harness.store, cardID: clipboardCard1, undo: CardWindowUndo(),
+            clipboard: harness.clipboard
         )
         attachments.setHeroFile?("photo.png")
 
-        #expect(try heroKey(of: Ident.card1, lane: Ident.lane1, in: fixture).value == "photo.png")
+        #expect(try heroKey(of: Ident.card1, lane: Ident.lane1, in: harness.fixture).value == "photo.png")
+    }
+}
+
+// MARK: - The card window's paste-image affordance
+
+/// **The header's control, wired through `configureAttachments`** — replaces the retired ⌘V
+/// image-data branch (04-interactions.md ▸ Clipboard, re-ruled 2026-08-09). Driven through the real
+/// wiring, `theRowsSeam`'s own reason: the test breaks if the seam is ever crossed or the id captured
+/// from the wrong place.
+@MainActor
+@Suite("Paste ▸ the card window's paste-image affordance")
+struct PasteImageAffordanceTests {
+
+    private func attachments(_ card: String, in fixture: WriterFixture) throws -> [String] {
+        let model = try BoardLoader.load(boardRoot: fixture.root).model
+        for lane in model.lanes {
+            if let match = lane.cards.first(where: { $0.id.rawValue == card }) { return match.attachments }
+        }
+        return []
+    }
+
+    @Test("The button's write lands the pasteboard's picture on the window's own card")
+    func theButtonsWrite() throws {
+        let harness = try makeClipboardHarness()
+        defer { harness.tearDown() }
+        harness.pasteboard.seed([(UTType.png.identifier, encodedImage(.png))])
+        harness.clipboard.refresh()
+
+        let attachments = CardAttachments()
+        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(
+            attachments, store: harness.store, cardID: clipboardCard4, undo: CardWindowUndo(),
+            clipboard: harness.clipboard
+        )
+        #expect(attachments.canPasteImage?() == true)
+
+        attachments.pasteImage?()
+
+        #expect(try self.attachments(Ident.card4, in: harness.fixture) == ["Pasted Image.png"])
+    }
+
+    @Test("The button's visibility clears once the pasteboard no longer offers a picture")
+    func visibilityFollowsThePasteboard() throws {
+        let harness = try makeClipboardHarness()
+        defer { harness.tearDown() }
+
+        let attachments = CardAttachments()
+        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(
+            attachments, store: harness.store, cardID: clipboardCard1, undo: CardWindowUndo(),
+            clipboard: harness.clipboard
+        )
+        #expect(attachments.canPasteImage?() == false, "nothing on the pasteboard yet")
+
+        harness.pasteboard.seed([(UTType.png.identifier, encodedImage(.png))])
+        harness.clipboard.refresh()
+        #expect(attachments.canPasteImage?() == true)
+
+        // A Finder-copied file outranks the picture riding beside it — the same precedence ⌘V's own
+        // file branch reads (`PastedImage.flavor`'s clause order) — so the button goes quiet exactly
+        // where the file branch lights up instead.
+        harness.pasteboard.seedFileURLs(
+            [URL(fileURLWithPath: "/tmp/shot.png")], also: [(UTType.png.identifier, encodedImage(.png))]
+        )
+        harness.clipboard.refresh()
+        #expect(attachments.canPasteImage?() == false, "a file URL wins the precedence")
+    }
+
+    @Test("The button is absent under the read-only lock")
+    func lockedBoardsOfferNothing() throws {
+        let harness = try makeClipboardHarness()
+        defer { harness.tearDown() }
+        harness.pasteboard.seed([(UTType.png.identifier, encodedImage(.png))])
+        harness.clipboard.refresh()
+        harness.store.enterVanishedRootLock()
+
+        let attachments = CardAttachments()
+        CardWindowHost.configureAttachments(
+            attachments, store: harness.store, cardID: clipboardCard1, undo: CardWindowUndo(),
+            clipboard: harness.clipboard
+        )
+        #expect(attachments.canPasteImage?() == false)
+    }
+}
+
+// MARK: - The card window's ⌘V routing, image data retired
+
+/// **`CardWindowPasteRouting.action` keeps one clause** (04-interactions.md ▸ Clipboard, re-ruled
+/// 2026-08-09: "instead of a special ⌘V handler at card window level … add a control"). Driven
+/// directly rather than through `canPasteFiles`/`canPasteImage` on their own, because those two
+/// predicates staying correct says nothing about whether the *composition* still offers the retired
+/// branch — which is exactly the regression this suite exists to catch.
+@MainActor
+@Suite("Paste ▸ the card window's ⌘V, image data retired")
+struct CardWindowPasteRoutingTests {
+
+    private func attachmentNames(_ card: String, in fixture: WriterFixture) throws -> [String] {
+        let model = try BoardLoader.load(boardRoot: fixture.root).model
+        for lane in model.lanes {
+            if let match = lane.cards.first(where: { $0.id.rawValue == card }) { return match.attachments }
+        }
+        return []
+    }
+
+    @Test("Raw image data alone offers the card window's ⌘V nothing")
+    func imageDataAloneOffersNothing() throws {
+        let harness = try makeClipboardHarness()
+        defer { harness.tearDown() }
+        harness.pasteboard.seed([(UTType.png.identifier, encodedImage(.png))])
+        harness.clipboard.refresh()
+
+        #expect(
+            harness.clipboard.canPasteImage(intoCard: clipboardCard4, in: harness.store),
+            "the affordance would still show"
+        )
+        let action = CardWindowPasteRouting.action(
+            store: harness.store, cardID: clipboardCard4, clipboard: harness.clipboard
+        )
+        #expect(action == nil)
+        #expect(try attachmentNames(Ident.card4, in: harness.fixture).isEmpty)
+    }
+
+    @Test("A Finder-copied file still routes through the card window's ⌘V")
+    func fileURLsStillRoute() throws {
+        let harness = try makeClipboardHarness()
+        defer { harness.tearDown() }
+        let source = try WriterFixture()
+        defer { source.tearDown() }
+        let shot = try source.file("shot.png", Data([0x89, 0x50]))
+        harness.pasteboard.seedFileURLs([shot])
+        harness.clipboard.refresh()
+
+        let action = CardWindowPasteRouting.action(
+            store: harness.store, cardID: clipboardCard4, clipboard: harness.clipboard
+        )
+        #expect(action != nil)
+        action?()
+
+        #expect(try attachmentNames(Ident.card4, in: harness.fixture) == ["shot.png"])
     }
 }
 
@@ -803,8 +940,15 @@ private final class PasteCatcher: NSView {
 }
 
 /// **`CardBodyTextView` yields a paste it cannot read** (05-card-window.md ▸ Attachments, ruled
-/// 2026-08-09) — the screenshot pasteboard reaches the window's attachment branch even while the
+/// 2026-08-09) — a screenshot pasteboard reaches *whatever responds behind the editor* even while
-/// editor holds the keyboard, and a text paste never leaves the editor.
+/// the editor holds the keyboard, and a text paste never leaves the editor. The mechanism is
+/// capability-based (`readablePasteboardTypes`), not a picture-specific rule, which is exactly what
+/// lets `CardWindowPasteRouting.action`'s image branch retire without touching this file at all
+/// (re-ruled 2026-08-09 — 04-interactions.md ▸ Clipboard): in the real app today nothing answers
+/// `paste:` behind the editor for an image-only pasteboard any more, so a screenshot ⌘V with the
+/// body editor focused is a no-op, served instead by the attachments header's control
+/// (`CardPasteImageAffordance`). `PasteCatcher` here stands for "something behind the editor still
+/// takes it" in the general case, which is the claim these tests actually pin.
 ///
 /// The pasteboard is a private named one through the view's `yieldPasteboard` seam, so the suite
 /// never reads the machine's — except through `super.paste`, which is AppKit's own and is exactly