diff --git a/docker/frontend/shared/utils/gradientMask.ts b/docker/frontend/shared/utils/gradientMask.ts
index 34a09ac..f2a0b35 100644
--- a/docker/frontend/shared/utils/gradientMask.ts
+++ b/docker/frontend/shared/utils/gradientMask.ts
@@ -145,16 +145,19 @@ export function maskUniforms(
   return u;
 }
 
-// The colour inside a mask, in the spec's own order and its own formulas:
-// exposure first (a power of two, so a stop is a stop), then contrast about the
-// middle, then saturation as a mix away from the pixel's own REC-709 luma. Then
-// the spec's section 2 and 3 on top — HIGHLIGHT and SHADOW through the two
-// smoothstep soft masks its own formula names (`M_shadow = 1 - smoothstep(0,
-// 0.5, L)`, `M_highlight = smoothstep(0.5, 1, L)`), WHITE and BLACK as a gain on
-// the end each one owns, and the two spatial ones against the blurred reference
-// the caller hands in. The result is clamped to the range a file can hold — the
-// spec's own guard, and it is `mix`ed back over the base by the mask's alpha, so
-// a mask at half strength is half of the move rather than the whole of it.
+// The colour inside a mask, in the spec's own order and, for the knobs the app
+// also has frame-wide, in the app's own formulas: exposure first (a power of
+// two, so a stop is a stop), then contrast about the middle, then saturation as
+// a mix away from the pixel's own REC-709 luma. Then the spec's section 2 and 3
+// on top — HIGHLIGHT and SHADOW through the two smoothstep soft masks its own
+// formula names, WHITE and BLACK as the per-channel point moves TONE_SKSL
+// makes, and the two spatial ones against the blurred reference the caller hands
+// in. Every one of them means inside the mask what it means on the whole frame
+// (toneShader.ts is the reference the four tonal ones are written from), because
+// the same name on the same knob should not be two different moves. The result
+// is clamped to the range a file can hold — the spec's own guard, and it is
+// `mix`ed back over the base by the mask's alpha, so a mask at half strength is
+// half of the move rather than the whole of it.
 //
 // `blur` is the frame's bilateral reference (the same one CLARITY and DEHAZE use
 // frame-wide) and `air` the atmospheric light; both are the constants 0 when the
@@ -166,23 +169,29 @@ half3 maskAdjust(half3 c, float4 a, float4 tone, float4 fx${spatial ? ', half3 b
   c = c * half(pow(2.0, a.x));
   c = (c - half(0.5)) * half(1.0 + a.y) + half(0.5);
   half l = dot(clamp(c, half3(0.0), half3(1.0)), half3(0.2126, 0.7152, 0.0722));
-  // The spec's soft masks, computed in float and narrowed: smoothstep on half
-  // is one more type the shader does not have to guess at.
+  // The tonal four, in TONE_SKSL's own formulas: a mask's HIGHLIGHT is meant to
+  // be the same move as the whole-frame HIGHLIGHT on a smaller area, not a
+  // second opinion about what the name means. HIGHLIGHT and SHADOW are additive
+  // shifts of the luma, HIGHLIGHT weighted by the headroom left (1 - l) so it
+  // cannot drag a blown white to grey, and the colour difference rides along at
+  // a damped gain (TONE_SKSL's own cg) so a lift or a pull cannot collapse a
+  // colour. WHITE and BLACK are per-channel point moves, cubic in each channel's
+  // own distance from the end it owns: the toe and the shoulder move, the
+  // midtones do not, and a white that is lowered stays white.
+  // The spec's soft masks, computed in float and narrowed: smoothstep on half is
+  // one more type the shader does not have to guess at.
   float lf = clamp(float(l), 0.0, 1.0);
-  float ms = 1.0 - smoothstep(0.0, 0.5, lf);
-  float mh = smoothstep(0.5, 1.0, lf);
-  // Half a stop of tone at the knob's own ceiling, the weight the frame-wide
-  // HIGHLIGHT/SHADOW pass uses; + lifts, - pulls back, and the two masks cannot
-  // both be 1 at the same pixel.
-  c = clamp(c + half3(half(0.5 * (tone.y * ms - tone.x * mh))), half3(0.0), half3(1.0));
-  c = c * half(1.0 + 0.5 * tone.z * mh);
-  c = c * half(1.0 + 0.5 * tone.w * ms);
+  float mh = smoothstep(0.50, 1.00, lf);
+  float ms = 1.0 - smoothstep(0.00, 0.55, lf);
+  half lifted = half(clamp(lf + tone.x * mh * (1.0 - lf) + tone.y * 0.34 * ms, 0.0, 1.0));
+  half cg = clamp(lifted / max(l, half(0.0004)), half(0.55), half(1.35));
+  c = clamp(half3(lifted) + (c - half3(l)) * cg, half3(0.0), half3(1.0));
+  half3 dk = half3(1.0) - c;
+  c = clamp(c + half(tone.w * 0.18) * dk * dk * dk + half(tone.z * 0.18) * c * c * c, half3(0.0), half3(1.0));
   half nl = dot(clamp(c, half3(0.0), half3(1.0)), half3(0.2126, 0.7152, 0.0722));
   c = mix(half3(nl), c, half(1.0 + a.z));
-${spatial ? `  if (fx.x != 0.0) {
-    // CLARITY (doc section 3.1): the pixel against its own blurred surroundings.
-    c = clamp(c + half3(half(fx.x * ${CLARITY_GAIN.toFixed(1)})) * (c - blur), half3(0.0), half3(1.0));
-  }
+${spatial ? `  // DEHAZE before CLARITY, the frame-wide order and for the frame-wide reason:
+  // sharpening haze only makes it read as detail.
   if (fx.y != 0.0) {
     // DEHAZE (doc section 3.2): the dark channel of the patch is the haze.
     half3 aa = half3(half(max(air.x, 0.05)), half(max(air.y, 0.05)), half(max(air.z, 0.05)));
@@ -190,6 +199,19 @@ ${spatial ? `  if (fx.x != 0.0) {
     half t = clamp(half(1.0 - fx.y * ${DEHAZE_MAX_OMEGA} * clamp(dark, half(0.0), half(1.0))), half(${DEHAZE_FLOOR_T}), half(1.0));
     c = clamp((c - aa) / t + aa, half3(0.0), half3(1.0));
   }
+  // CLARITY (doc section 3.1): the pixel against its own blurred surroundings.
+  // Positive sharpens. Negative SOFTENS toward that same reference — a masked
+  // CLARITY -10 is a soften of the mask's own detail, which is the property the
+  // knob is named for, and not the inverted unsharp it used to be (that only
+  // sank the mask's whites and left its contrast where it was).
+  // ponytail: the reference is the bilateral one (CLARITY_BLUR_SPAN, 6% of the
+  // frame), not the frame-wide mist blur — the mask pass is not handed a second
+  // blurred child. Add one when a negative CLARITY wants a wider soften.
+  if (fx.x > 0.0) {
+    c = clamp(c + half3(half(fx.x * ${CLARITY_GAIN.toFixed(1)})) * (c - blur), half3(0.0), half3(1.0));
+  } else if (fx.x < 0.0) {
+    c = mix(c, blur, half(clamp(-fx.x, 0.0, 1.0)));
+  }
 ` : ''}  return clamp(c, half3(0.0), half3(1.0));
 }
 `;
diff --git a/docker/frontend/src/App.tsx b/docker/frontend/src/App.tsx
index a961d05..ecaac6b 100644
--- a/docker/frontend/src/App.tsx
+++ b/docker/frontend/src/App.tsx
@@ -2401,11 +2401,13 @@ export function Workspace() {
   // mask adds the feather it fades over — the percentage of its own axis the
   // alpha holds full before it dies at the rim.
   // The spec's section 4 knobs, one row each: HIGHLIGHT and SHADOW through the
-  // soft masks the shader builds from the pixel's own luma, WHITE and BLACK as a
-  // gain on the end each one owns, and the two spatial ones — CLARITY against the
-  // frame's blurred reference, DEHAZE through the dark channel. All six are the
-  // same -10..+10 row, so one factory builds them; DEHAZE is the one knob with
-  // nothing to do on the negative side.
+  // soft masks the shader builds from the pixel's own luma, WHITE and BLACK as
+  // the per-channel point moves the frame-wide rows make (the toe and the
+  // shoulder, not a gain on the whole pixel), and the two spatial ones — CLARITY
+  // against the frame's blurred reference, DEHAZE through the dark channel. Each
+  // one means inside the mask what the row of the same name means on the whole
+  // frame. All six are the same -10..+10 row, so one factory builds them; DEHAZE
+  // is the one knob with nothing to do on the negative side.
   const maskKnobRow = (
     key: 'highlights' | 'shadows' | 'whites' | 'blacks' | 'clarity' | 'dehaze',
     label: string