diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cd7f0a5c..483a279b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ add_executable(decawm_mode_test experiments/core/decawm_mode_test.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(decawm_mode_test PRIVATE termforge_core)
 termforge_warnings(decawm_mode_test)
 
+add_executable(view_mapping_test experiments/core/view_mapping_test.cpp)
+target_link_libraries(view_mapping_test PRIVATE termforge_core)
+termforge_warnings(view_mapping_test)
+
 add_executable(reply_test experiments/core/reply_test.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(reply_test PRIVATE termforge_core)
 termforge_warnings(reply_test)
@@ -325,6 +329,7 @@ if(BUILD_TESTING)
   add_test(NAME search_reorder_core COMMAND search_reorder_test)
   set_tests_properties(search_reorder_core PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 10)
   add_test(NAME buffer_state_core COMMAND buffer_state_test)
+add_test(NAME view_mapping_core COMMAND view_mapping_test)
   add_test(NAME alternate_mode_core COMMAND alternate_mode_test)
   add_test(NAME decawm_mode_core COMMAND decawm_mode_test)
 add_test(NAME reply_core COMMAND reply_test)
diff --git a/experiments/core/view_mapping.hpp b/experiments/core/view_mapping.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..32fa6ea2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/experiments/core/view_mapping.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+// Value-only source coordinates published with one immutable display page.
+#pragma once
+#include "text_document.hpp"
+
+namespace termforge {
+enum class ViewAffinity { leading, trailing };
+struct ViewCellSpan {
+    size_t row = 0, column_begin = 0, column_end = 0;
+};
+struct ViewSourceSpan {
+    size_t row = 0, column_begin = 0, column_end = 0;
+    TextRange source;
+};
+
+class ViewMapping {
+    size_t columns_ = 0;
+    std::vector<ViewSourceSpan> sources_;
+
+    // Identities do not order the document: retained sequence does. Document
+    // order therefore comes from TextDocument::compare, which stays correct for
+    // reordered rows and rejects positions captured at an older buffer epoch.
+    static bool before(const TextDocument& document, TextPosition a, TextPosition b) {
+        const auto order = document.compare(a, b);
+        return order.has_value() && *order < 0;
+    }
+    bool valid(const TextDocument& document, const ViewSourceSpan& span) const {
+        return span.column_begin <= span.column_end && span.column_end <= columns_ &&
+            span.source.begin.line_id == span.source.end.line_id &&
+            span.source.begin.version == span.source.end.version &&
+            span.source.begin.column <= span.source.end.column &&
+            document.valid(span.source.begin) && document.valid(span.source.end);
+    }
+public:
+    ViewMapping() = default;
+    ViewMapping(size_t columns, std::vector<ViewSourceSpan> sources)
+        : columns_(columns), sources_(std::move(sources)) {}
+
+    std::optional<TextPosition> hit(const TextDocument& document, size_t row, size_t column,
+                                    ViewAffinity affinity) const {
+        if (column > columns_) return std::nullopt;
+        const ViewSourceSpan* first = nullptr;
+        const ViewSourceSpan* previous = nullptr;
+        for (const auto& span : sources_) {
+            if (span.row != row) continue;
+            if (!valid(document, span)) return std::nullopt;
+            if (!first) first = &span;
+        }
+        if (!first) return std::nullopt;
+        for (const auto& span : sources_) {
+            if (span.row != row) continue;
+            if (column <= span.column_begin) {
+                if (previous && affinity == ViewAffinity::trailing) return previous->source.end;
+                return span.source.begin;
+            }
+            if (column < span.column_end) {
+                auto result = span.source.begin;
+                const auto source_width = span.source.end.column - result.column;
+                const auto display_width = span.column_end - span.column_begin;
+                // Ordinary wide-cell interiors keep their physical boundary.
+                // TextDocument normalizes a complete drag range afterward.
+                if (source_width == display_width) {
+                    result.column += column - span.column_begin;
+                    return result;
+                }
+                return affinity == ViewAffinity::leading ? span.source.begin : span.source.end;
+            }
+            if (column == span.column_end && affinity == ViewAffinity::trailing) return span.source.end;
+            previous = &span;
+        }
+        // Synthetic trailing padding has no independent source coordinates.
+        return previous ? std::optional<TextPosition>{previous->source.end} : std::nullopt;
+    }
+
+    std::vector<ViewCellSpan> project(const TextDocument& document, TextRange range) const {
+        const auto normalized = document.normalize(range);
+        if (!normalized || normalized->begin == normalized->end) return {};
+        std::vector<ViewCellSpan> result;
+        for (const auto& span : sources_) {
+            if (!valid(document, span)) return {};
+            if (!before(document, span.source.begin, normalized->end) ||
+                !before(document, normalized->begin, span.source.end))
+                continue;
+            if (span.column_begin == span.column_end) continue;
+            if (!result.empty() && result.back().row == span.row &&
+                result.back().column_end == span.column_begin) result.back().column_end = span.column_end;
+            else result.push_back({span.row, span.column_begin, span.column_end});
+        }
+        return result;
+    }
+};
+} // namespace termforge
diff --git a/experiments/core/view_mapping_test.cpp b/experiments/core/view_mapping_test.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..be8c3651
--- /dev/null
+++ b/experiments/core/view_mapping_test.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+// Display-page coordinates published beside one immutable view: a display row
+// is composed from source ranges, so hit-testing and range projection must map
+// back to document coordinates instead of assuming they are the same thing.
+#include "terminal.hpp"
+#include "text_document.hpp"
+#include "view_mapping.hpp"
+#include <iostream>
+#include <stdexcept>
+
+using namespace termforge;
+
+static void check(bool condition, const char* message) {
+    if (!condition) throw std::runtime_error(message);
+}
+
+static void interior_columns_map_by_offset() {
+    Parser parser(3, 4, 8);
+    parser.feed("ABCD\r\nEF");
+    const TextDocument document(parser.screen);
+    const auto begin = document.position(0, 0);
+    const auto end = document.position(0, 4);
+    check(begin.has_value() && end.has_value(), "source positions for the first row");
+
+    ViewMapping mapping(4, {ViewSourceSpan{0, 0, 4, TextRange{*begin, *end}}});
+    const auto hit = mapping.hit(document, 0, 2, ViewAffinity::leading);
+    check(hit.has_value() && document.valid(*hit) && hit->column == 2,
+          "an equal-width span maps a display column onto the same source column");
+
+    const auto projected = mapping.project(document, TextRange{*begin, *end});
+    check(projected.size() == 1, "one composed row yields one display span");
+    check(projected[0].row == 0 && projected[0].column_begin == 0 && projected[0].column_end == 4,
+          "projection returns the mapped display range");
+}
+
+static void trailing_padding_has_no_source_coordinates() {
+    Parser parser(3, 4, 8);
+    parser.feed("ABCD");
+    const TextDocument document(parser.screen);
+    const auto begin = document.position(0, 0);
+    const auto end = document.position(0, 4);
+    check(begin.has_value() && end.has_value(), "source positions for the padded row");
+
+    // Six display columns, but only the first four carry source coordinates.
+    ViewMapping mapping(6, {ViewSourceSpan{0, 0, 4, TextRange{*begin, *end}}});
+    const auto padded = mapping.hit(document, 0, 5, ViewAffinity::leading);
+    check(padded.has_value() && *padded == *end,
+          "synthetic padding reports the end of the last mapped source span");
+    const auto beyond = mapping.hit(document, 0, 7, ViewAffinity::leading);
+    check(!beyond.has_value(), "columns past the page width have no mapping");
+}
+
+static void stale_epoch_positions_do_not_hit() {
+    Parser parser(3, 4, 8);
+    parser.feed("ABCD");
+    const TextDocument current(parser.screen);
+    const auto begin = current.position(0, 0);
+    const auto end = current.position(0, 4);
+    check(begin.has_value() && end.has_value(), "source positions before the epoch change");
+
+    ViewMapping mapping(4, {ViewSourceSpan{0, 0, 4, TextRange{*begin, *end}}});
+
+    // Alternate-buffer activation advances the buffer epoch, so positions
+    // captured against the old page are stale even though the ids look usable.
+    parser.screen.activate_buffer(ScreenBuffer::alternate);
+    parser.feed("ALT");
+    const TextDocument refreshed(parser.screen);
+
+    const auto hit = mapping.hit(refreshed, 0, 2, ViewAffinity::leading);
+    check(!hit.has_value(), "a mapping captured at an older epoch must not resolve");
+    const auto projected = mapping.project(refreshed, TextRange{*begin, *end});
+    check(projected.empty(), "projection over stale coordinates returns nothing");
+}
+
+int main() {
+    try {
+        interior_columns_map_by_offset();
+        trailing_padding_has_no_source_coordinates();
+        stale_epoch_positions_do_not_hit();
+        std::cout << "view mapping checks passed\n";
+        return 0;
+    } catch (const std::exception& error) {
+        std::cerr << error.what() << '\n';
+        return 1;
+    }
+}