diff --git a/.local/bin/tmux-window-icons b/.local/bin/tmux-window-icons
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..14d55b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.local/bin/tmux-window-icons
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Stamp every window with its circled-number icon as a WINDOW-level user option.
+#
+# Why not do this in the format string: the obvious approach nests ten
+# #{?#{==:#{window_index},N},...} conditionals, which tmux re-evaluates for
+# every window on every redraw -- and redraws are driven by PANE ACTIVITY, so a
+# busy pane re-runs all ten per window, several times a second.
+#
+# Here the work happens ONCE per window change (driven by hooks) and the render
+# path becomes #{@icon}: a plain variable lookup, no conditionals, no forks.
+#
+# Do NOT call this from the status format itself -- that would make it a #()
+# job, which renders EMPTY while restarting and is the original bug.
+symbols=(❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ ❻ ❼ ❽ ❾ ❿)
+while IFS= read -r w; do
+    idx=${w##*:}
+    [[ $idx =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || continue
+    if (( idx >= 1 && idx <= ${#symbols[@]} )); then
+        icon=${symbols[idx-1]}
+    else
+        icon=$idx
+    fi
+    tmux set -w -t "$w" @icon "$icon" 2>/dev/null
+done < <(tmux list-windows -a -F '#{session_name}:#{window_index}' 2>/dev/null)