diff --git a/keybind-cheatsheet/plugin.toml b/keybind-cheatsheet/plugin.toml
index 9f588e86..1c3c3a70 100644
--- a/keybind-cheatsheet/plugin.toml
+++ b/keybind-cheatsheet/plugin.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 id = "kenn/keybind-cheatsheet"
 name = "Keybind Cheatsheet"
-version = "0.2.6"
+version = "0.2.7"
 plugin_api = 9
 author = "kenn"
 license = "MIT"
diff --git a/keybind-cheatsheet/service.luau b/keybind-cheatsheet/service.luau
index 69134f71..2bbf83dd 100644
--- a/keybind-cheatsheet/service.luau
+++ b/keybind-cheatsheet/service.luau
@@ -1056,35 +1056,50 @@ local function modifiersFromMask(mask)
   return result
 end
 
-local function parseHyprJson(raw, rules)
+local function hyprBindingFromEntry(entry)
+  if type(entry) ~= "table" then return nil end
+  local description = entry.has_description == false and "" or (entry.description or "")
+  local key = entry.key or ""
+  if key == "" and tonumber(entry.keycode) ~= nil and tonumber(entry.keycode) ~= 0 then
+    key = "code:" .. tostring(entry.keycode)
+  end
+  local dispatcher = entry.dispatcher or ""
+  local argument = entry.arg or ""
+  if key == "" or dispatcher == "" then return nil end
+  local binding = {
+    compositor = "hyprland",
+    bindingType = entry.mouse == true and "bindm" or "bind",
+    modifiers = modifiersFromMask(entry.modmask),
+    key = key,
+    action = trim(dispatcher .. " " .. argument),
+    description = description,
+    category = "",
+    sourceFile = "hyprctl binds -j",
+    sourceLine = 0,
+    submap = entry.submap or "",
+  }
+  addBinding({}, binding)
+  return binding
+end
+
+local function parseHyprJsonEntries(raw)
   local decoded, err = noctalia.json.decode(raw)
   if type(decoded) ~= "table" then
     return nil, err or "Invalid hyprctl JSON"
   end
+  return decoded, nil
+end
+
+local function parseHyprJson(raw, rules)
+  local decoded, err = parseHyprJsonEntries(raw)
+  if decoded == nil then return nil, err end
   local result = {}
   for _, entry in ipairs(decoded) do
-    if type(entry) == "table" then
-      local description = entry.has_description == false and "" or (entry.description or "")
-      local key = entry.key or ""
-      if key == "" and tonumber(entry.keycode) ~= nil and tonumber(entry.keycode) ~= 0 then
-        key = "code:" .. tostring(entry.keycode)
-      end
-      local dispatcher = entry.dispatcher or ""
-      local argument = entry.arg or ""
-      if key ~= "" and dispatcher ~= "" then
-        addBinding(result, {
-          compositor = "hyprland",
-          bindingType = entry.mouse == true and "bindm" or "bind",
-          modifiers = modifiersFromMask(entry.modmask),
-          key = key,
-          action = trim(dispatcher .. " " .. argument),
-          description = description,
-          category = description ~= "" and categoryFromHyprRules(description, rules) or "",
-          sourceFile = "hyprctl binds -j",
-          sourceLine = 0,
-          submap = entry.submap or "",
-        })
-      end
+    local binding = hyprBindingFromEntry(entry)
+    if binding ~= nil then
+      binding.category = binding.description ~= "" and categoryFromHyprRules(binding.description, rules) or ""
+      binding.baseCategory = binding.category
+      table.insert(result, binding)
     end
   end
   return result, nil
@@ -1477,29 +1492,147 @@ noctalia.state.watch(PARSE_STEP_KEY, function(value)
   parseStep()
 end)
 
+-- The Hyprland Lua refresh is staged across several state-watch callbacks:
+-- one ~25 ms Luau CPU budget cannot cover decoding the full `hyprctl binds -j`
+-- payload, building every binding, running the Lua category scan, categorizing,
+-- and writing the cache in a single callback — on mid-size configs the callback
+-- is killed mid-flight and the panel is left on "Reading keybinds..." forever
+-- (#606, #663). scheduleHyprStep pings HYPR_STEP_KEY after each phase (decode,
+-- each HYPR_BINDING_SLICE-sized build/categorize slice, scan, finish), and each
+-- state-watch callback continues the job with a fresh budget window.
+local HYPR_STEP_KEY = "keybind-cheatsheet.hypr-step"
+local HYPR_BINDING_SLICE = 16
+local hyprJob = nil
+local hyprStepCounter = 0
+
+local function scheduleHyprStep(job, raw)
+  hyprStepCounter += 1
+  local value = { generation = job.generation, request = job.request, step = hyprStepCounter }
+  if raw ~= nil then value.raw = raw end
+  noctalia.state.set(HYPR_STEP_KEY, value)
+end
+
+local function finishHyprJob(job)
+  if job.generation ~= refreshGeneration or hyprJob ~= job then return end
+  local scan = job.scan
+  local warnings = scan ~= nil and scan.warnings or {}
+  local sourceSnapshot = scan
+  local result = job.bindings or {}
+  local err = job.error
+  hyprJob = nil
+  noctalia.state.set(HYPR_STEP_KEY, nil)
+  finishRefresh(job.generation, job.request, result, warnings, err, sourceSnapshot)
+end
+
+local function hyprStep(value)
+  local job = hyprJob
+  if job == nil or type(value) ~= "table"
+    or value.generation ~= refreshGeneration
+    or value.generation ~= job.generation
+    or value.step ~= hyprStepCounter
+    or not requestsMatch(value.request, job.request) then
+    return
+  end
+
+  if job.phase == "decode" then
+    job.raw = value.raw or ""
+    if job.result.exitCode ~= 0 or job.result.timedOut then
+      job.error = trim(job.result.stderr)
+      if job.error == "" then job.error = tr("hyprctl_failed") end
+      job.phase = "scan"
+      scheduleHyprStep(job)
+      return
+    end
+    local decoded, err = parseHyprJsonEntries(job.raw)
+    if decoded == nil then
+      job.error = err
+      job.phase = "scan"
+      scheduleHyprStep(job)
+      return
+    end
+    job.entries = decoded
+    job.raw = nil
+    job.index = 1
+    job.bindings = {}
+    job.phase = "build"
+  end
+
+  if job.phase == "build" then
+    local limit = math.min(#job.entries, job.index + HYPR_BINDING_SLICE - 1)
+    while job.index <= limit do
+      local binding = hyprBindingFromEntry(job.entries[job.index])
+      if binding ~= nil then table.insert(job.bindings, binding) end
+      job.index += 1
+    end
+    if job.index <= #job.entries then
+      scheduleHyprStep(job)
+      return
+    end
+    job.phase = "scan"
+    scheduleHyprStep(job)
+    return
+  end
+
+  if job.phase == "scan" then
+    -- Whole-config scan gets its own budget window (this is what
+    -- blew up on large Lua configs in #606).
+    job.scan = scanHyprLua(job.request.root)
+    if job.error ~= nil then
+      job.bindings = {}
+      job.phase = "finish"
+      scheduleHyprStep(job)
+      return
+    end
+    job.index = 1
+    job.phase = "categorize"
+    scheduleHyprStep(job)
+    return
+  end
+
+  if job.phase == "categorize" then
+    local bindings = job.bindings or {}
+    local limit = math.min(#bindings, job.index + HYPR_BINDING_SLICE - 1)
+    while job.index <= limit do
+      local binding = bindings[job.index]
+      if binding ~= nil and binding.description ~= "" then
+        binding.category = categoryFromHyprRules(binding.description, job.scan.rules)
+        binding.baseCategory = binding.category
+      end
+      job.index += 1
+    end
+    if job.index <= #bindings then
+      scheduleHyprStep(job)
+      return
+    end
+    job.phase = "finish"
+    scheduleHyprStep(job)
+    return
+  end
+
+  if job.phase == "finish" then
+    finishHyprJob(job)
+  end
+end
+
+noctalia.state.watch(HYPR_STEP_KEY, hyprStep)
+
 local function refreshHyprLua(generation, request)
   if not noctalia.commandExists("hyprctl") then
     finishRefresh(generation, request, {}, {}, tr("hyprctl_missing"), nil)
     return
   end
 
+  -- The completion callback only stashes the raw output; parsing continues
+  -- in the staged HYPR_STEP_KEY callbacks above (fresh budget per phase).
   local accepted = noctalia.runAsync("hyprctl binds -j", function(result)
     if generation ~= refreshGeneration then return end
-    local scan = scanHyprLua(request.root)
-    if result.exitCode ~= 0 or result.timedOut then
-      local message = trim(result.stderr)
-      finishRefresh(
-        generation,
-        request,
-        {},
-        scan.warnings,
-        message ~= "" and message or tr("hyprctl_failed"),
-        scan
-      )
-      return
-    end
-    local parsed, err = parseHyprJson(result.stdout, scan.rules)
-    finishRefresh(generation, request, parsed or {}, scan.warnings, err, scan)
+    hyprJob = {
+      generation = generation,
+      request = request,
+      result = result,
+      phase = "decode",
+    }
+    scheduleHyprStep(hyprJob, result.stdout or "")
   end, 10000)
 
   if not accepted then