**System details:** Omarchy `quattro` @ 7488eade (post-4.0.0), QEMU/KVM VM, Hyprland session. Found by an automated QA pass; reproduced on a disposable worker VM.

`shell/plugins/bar/README.md:17` invites users to hand-edit `~/.config/omarchy/shell.json`. If that file ever fails to parse, the next ordinary click overwrites it with the shipped defaults and the user's bar configuration is gone — no backup, no prompt, no notification.

`applyShellConfig()` at `shell/shell.qml:87` sets `shellConfig = user || defaults`, so an unparseable file leaves the *shipped defaults* in memory rather than the last known-good config. `mutateShellConfig()` at `shell/shell.qml:158` then clones whatever is in `shellConfig` and hands it to `persistShellConfig()`, which does an unconditional `userConfigFile.setText(...)` at `shell/shell.qml:112`. So right-clicking the clock, dragging a widget, double-clicking the bar, toggling a tray pin, or running `omarchy bar set` is enough to write the defaults over the user's file.

Reproduced with a customized config (`position: bottom`, `transparent: true`, a custom `myvpn` command module), then removing the final `}` — the classic hand-edit typo:

```
$ omarchy-shell shell listShellConfig | ...
position bottom transparent True left ['omarchy.menu', 'omarchy.workspaces', 'myvpn']

$ # drop the final brace
$ omarchy-shell shell listShellConfig | ...
position top transparent False left ['omarchy.menu', 'omarchy.workspaces']

$ # user right-clicks the clock. That is all.
$ omarchy-shell omarchy.clock cycleFormat

$ cat ~/.config/omarchy/shell.json
position top transparent False left ['omarchy.menu', 'omarchy.workspaces']   # now written to disk
```

The only trace is a `console.warn` in the journal: `shell.json parse failed, using defaults: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: Parse error`.

Keeping the last-good config in memory, or refusing to persist while the on-disk file is unparseable, would close it.