diff --git a/packaging/macos/screenshot.sh b/packaging/macos/screenshot.sh
index e6e6684..9dcd4d8 100755
--- a/packaging/macos/screenshot.sh
+++ b/packaging/macos/screenshot.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-# Generated by ship; edit internal/generate/templates and run ship sync.
+# Generated by ship (58f1ad43); edit internal/generate/templates and run ship sync.
 # Photograph the application's own window at a size App Store Connect accepts.
 #
 # The counterpart of `packaging/windows/screenshot.ps1`, and written for the
diff --git a/packaging/macos/take-shots.sh b/packaging/macos/take-shots.sh
index d280df6..4f56616 100755
--- a/packaging/macos/take-shots.sh
+++ b/packaging/macos/take-shots.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-# Generated by ship; edit internal/generate/templates and run ship sync
+# Generated by ship (e7bbcdc2); edit internal/generate/templates and run ship sync
 #
 # The half of a macOS screenshot set that is the same in every repository.
 #
@@ -29,6 +29,21 @@
 #   EVERY_SHOT       actions run before every shutter, the reference frame
 #                    included, for state every coordinate is measured against
 #
+# WHAT THIS PROVIDES BACK
+#
+#   shot             one frame: a name, then the actions
+#   stage            the copy a frame opens, in a folder that reads like a
+#                    person's machine
+#   appearance       `appearance light` or `appearance dark`, set on the
+#                    desktop and read back
+#
+# LIGHT LEADS
+#
+# A listing's first picture is the one the product page shows largest, an
+# application that follows the system appearance is light on a fresh macOS
+# installation, and that is what most people see. So a set opens light, and
+# dark is worth a frame rather than half the set.
+#
 # and then, at the end:
 #
 #   . "$(dirname -- "$0")/take-shots.sh"
@@ -111,6 +126,41 @@ take_shots() {
     echo "shots.sh: ${taken} shot(s) in ${OUTDIR}"
 }
 
+# appearance sets the desktop's appearance and reads it back.
+#
+# Here rather than in each repository's recipe, where it was written once and
+# would have been written five more times. No control in a window changes it,
+# so it is set before a launch; the driver stops whatever is running and
+# launches again for every frame, so a value set here is read at the start it
+# belongs to.
+#
+# **Asked of System Events, and not written with `defaults`.** `defaults write
+# -g AppleInterfaceStyle Dark` writes the value and `defaults read` returns it,
+# because both go through the same preferences cache - and the window server is
+# never told, so an application launched afterwards still draws light. Measured
+# on 2026-09-17: the dark frame came back a pixel-for-pixel duplicate of its
+# light pair. System Events sets it the way the Settings pane does, and it is
+# already trusted for Accessibility on a runner, which the driver needs anyway.
+#
+# Read back for the same reason: a frame taken after an appearance that did not
+# take is a duplicate of its pair, and a duplicate is the sort of thing that
+# reaches a listing.
+appearance() {
+    case "$1" in
+        light) want=false ;;
+        dark) want=true ;;
+        *) echo "shots.sh: appearance is light or dark, not $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+    esac
+    osascript -e "tell application \"System Events\" to tell appearance preferences to set dark mode to ${want}" >/dev/null
+    sleep 1
+    got=$(osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell appearance preferences to get dark mode')
+    [ "$got" = "$want" ] || {
+        echo "shots.sh: asked for $1 and the desktop reads dark mode ${got}" >&2
+        exit 1
+    }
+    echo "shots.sh: desktop set to $1"
+}
+
 # stage copies what the shot opens somewhere that reads like a person's machine
 # rather than like a build: the path is in the frame, and photographing the
 # checkout put a /private/tmp workspace in the picture.
diff --git a/packaging/windows/screenshot.ps1 b/packaging/windows/screenshot.ps1
index 82e9067..b78402a 100644
--- a/packaging/windows/screenshot.ps1
+++ b/packaging/windows/screenshot.ps1
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Photograph an application's own window at a size the Microsoft Store accepts.
-# Generated by ship; edit internal/generate/templates and run ship sync.
+# Generated by ship (8001e560); edit internal/generate/templates and run ship sync.
 #
 # Screenshots were once listed as something no script could do, and that was an
 # assumption rather than a measurement. What a script cannot do is decide which
diff --git a/packaging/windows/take-shots.ps1 b/packaging/windows/take-shots.ps1
index 755f2ca..fc84994 100644
--- a/packaging/windows/take-shots.ps1
+++ b/packaging/windows/take-shots.ps1
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Take a set of store screenshots, given the recipes for them.
-# Generated by ship; edit internal/generate/templates and run ship sync.
+# Generated by ship (e5b476af); edit internal/generate/templates and run ship sync.
 #
 # `shots.ps1` beside this is the half that is a product's - which document,
 # which frames, and what has to happen in the window before each shutter. It