diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d04f7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+## 2026-02-05 - Masked Global Variables in C
+**Learning:** The global variable `stext` is masked by a function argument of the same name in `drawstatusbar(..., char *stext)`. This requires careful inspection of variable scope when optimizing, as `sizeof(stext)` yields different results (pointer size vs array size) depending on the scope.
+**Action:** Always verify variable declarations and scope before applying size-based optimizations or `sizeof` checks in C codebases.
diff --git a/bar.c b/bar.c
index 8476144..95ba42b 100644
--- a/bar.c
+++ b/bar.c
@@ -56,8 +56,12 @@ int drawstatusbar(Monitor *m, int bh, char *stext) {
     char *text;
     char *p;
 
+    char buf[1024];
+
     len = strlen(stext) + 1;
-    if (!(text = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * len))) {
+    if (len < sizeof(buf)) {
+        text = buf;
+    } else if (!(text = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * len))) {
         die("malloc");
     }
     p = text;
@@ -194,7 +198,9 @@ int drawstatusbar(Monitor *m, int bh, char *stext) {
     }
 
     drw_setscheme(drw, statusscheme);
-    free(p);
+    if (p != buf) {
+        free(p);
+    }
 
     return ret;
 }