Tell board owners a firmware exists that their board cannot

web/src/app/community/layout.tsx

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import AuthStatus from "@/components/community/AuthStatus";
 import CommunityNav from "@/components/community/CommunityNav";
 import DeckDock from "@/components/community/DeckDock";
 import DeckPanel from "@/components/community/DeckPanel";
+import FirmwareNotice from "@/components/community/FirmwareNotice";
 import MobileTabBar from "@/components/community/MobileTabBar";
 import styles from "@/components/community/Community.module.css";
 
@@ -66,6 +67,10 @@ export default async function CommunityLayout({ children }: { children: React.Re
   return (
     <main className={styles.page}>
       <div className={styles.inner}>
+        {/* Above the header on purpose. A board owner needs to see this once;
+            putting it below the nav would let it sit under the fold on the
+            page they actually came for. */}
+        <FirmwareNotice />
         <header className={styles.pageHeader}>
           <div className={styles.brandBlock}>
             <Link href="/" className={styles.brand}>

web/src/components/community/Community.module.css

@@ -2873,6 +2873,79 @@
   pointer-events: none;
 }
 
+/* ── Firmware notice ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+   A thin strip above the header. Deliberately quiet: it is news, not an
+   error, and the person reading it came here to look at patterns. It uses
+   the LED accent only on the tag and the link, so it registers without
+   turning the top of every page into a warning. */
+.fwNotice {
+  display: flex;
+  flex-wrap: wrap;
+  align-items: center;
+  gap: 10px;
+  padding: 9px 12px;
+  margin-bottom: 14px;
+  border: 1px solid rgba(255, 92, 46, 0.28);
+  background: rgba(255, 92, 46, 0.06);
+  font-size: 12.5px;
+}
+
+.fwNoticeTag {
+  font-family: var(--pf-mono, monospace);
+  font-size: 10px;
+  letter-spacing: 0.08em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  color: var(--pfc-led);
+  flex: none;
+}
+
+.fwNoticeText {
+  color: var(--pfc-ink-muted);
+  min-width: 0;
+}
+
+.fwNoticeText strong {
+  color: var(--pfc-ink);
+  font-weight: 600;
+}
+
+.fwNoticeLink {
+  color: var(--pfc-led);
+  text-decoration: none;
+  white-space: nowrap;
+  flex: none;
+}
+
+.fwNoticeLink:hover {
+  text-decoration: underline;
+}
+
+.fwNoticeClose {
+  appearance: none;
+  border: 0;
+  background: none;
+  color: var(--pfc-ink-faint);
+  font-size: 13px;
+  line-height: 1;
+  padding: 4px;
+  cursor: pointer;
+  margin-left: auto;
+  flex: none;
+}
+
+.fwNoticeClose:hover {
+  color: var(--pfc-ink);
+}
+
+@media (max-width: 640px) {
+  /* The close button keeps its place; the link drops below the text rather
+     than squeezing it to two words a line. */
+  .fwNoticeText {
+    flex: 1 1 100%;
+    order: 3;
+  }
+}
+
 /* ── Share panel ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    The link is shown, not just copied: a button that says "Copied" about an
    address you never saw asks for trust it has not earned, and the field is

web/src/components/community/FirmwareNotice.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+"use client";
+
+import Link from "next/link";
+import { useSyncExternalStore } from "react";
+import manifest from "../../../public/flash/manifest.json";
+import styles from "./Community.module.css";
+
+// "There is a new firmware" — said here, because there is nowhere else to say
+// it.
+//
+// A board checks for updates from its own console, and that check only exists
+// in v3.4.0 and later. Everyone on an earlier build sees nothing: the banner
+// telling you to update is in the update you have not installed. Nor can this
+// site read their version to find out — patternflow.work is https and a board
+// is http, and a browser will not let an https page fetch http at all. The
+// direction only runs the other way, which is why every device flow works by
+// navigating TO the board rather than reaching into it.
+//
+// So the only place left to mention it is a page they already visit, which is
+// this one: the community is where somebody who owns a Patternflow goes.
+//
+// Dismissal is per version, not forever. Dismiss this and it stays gone until
+// there is a different release to mention — it cannot know whether you updated
+// (see above), so the honest fallback is to ask once per version and drop it.
+
+const LATEST = manifest.version;
+const KEY = "pf-firmware-notice";
+
+/** Read once per render from localStorage, with a server snapshot of "not
+ *  dismissed" so the markup matches and the banner never flashes in late. */
+function useDismissed(): boolean {
+  return useSyncExternalStore(
+    (onChange) => {
+      window.addEventListener("storage", onChange);
+      return () => window.removeEventListener("storage", onChange);
+    },
+    () => {
+      try {
+        return window.localStorage.getItem(KEY) === LATEST;
+      } catch {
+        return false; /* private mode */
+      }
+    },
+    () => true, // server: assume dismissed, so nothing appears before hydration
+  );
+}
+
+export default function FirmwareNotice() {
+  const dismissed = useDismissed();
+  if (dismissed) return null;
+
+  const dismiss = () => {
+    try {
+      window.localStorage.setItem(KEY, LATEST);
+    } catch {
+      /* private mode — it will ask again, which is the lesser failure */
+    }
+    window.dispatchEvent(new Event("storage"));
+  };
+
+  return (
+    <div className={styles.fwNotice}>
+      <span className={styles.fwNoticeTag}>Firmware</span>
+      <span className={styles.fwNoticeText}>
+        <strong>{LATEST}</strong> is out — patterns install from a link, and a set now ships with
+        the board.
+      </span>
+      <Link href="/update" className={styles.fwNoticeLink}>
+        Update over Wi-Fi →
+      </Link>
+      <button
+        type="button"
+        className={styles.fwNoticeClose}
+        onClick={dismiss}
+        aria-label="Dismiss until the next release"
+      >
+        ✕
+      </button>
+    </div>
+  );
+}