diff --git a/packages/pen-core/src/__tests__/convert-stacked-overlay-to-absolute.test.ts b/packages/pen-core/src/__tests__/convert-stacked-overlay-to-absolute.test.ts
index cbb9362bd..09a3a86c5 100644
--- a/packages/pen-core/src/__tests__/convert-stacked-overlay-to-absolute.test.ts
+++ b/packages/pen-core/src/__tests__/convert-stacked-overlay-to-absolute.test.ts
@@ -123,6 +123,39 @@ describe('convertStackedOverlayToAbsolute', () => {
     expect((card as PenNode & { layout?: string }).layout).toBe('vertical');
   });
 
+  it("doesn't flip layout-less horizontal rows (Codex regression on pre-normalize timing)", () => {
+    // Codex flag: when the convert pass runs BEFORE normalizeTreeLayout
+    // (which is required to preserve child x/y offsets — see the
+    // "preserves child offsets" test below), a layout-less frame
+    // hasn't been classified yet. Earlier I accepted
+    // `layout === undefined` thinking inferLayout would say vertical,
+    // but inferLayout reads the children's shape and a row of side-
+    // by-side images / rectangles often resolves to horizontal.
+    // Treating layout-less containers as vertical-by-default would
+    // mis-flip those rows to absolute and the side-by-side images
+    // would collapse to overlapping at (0,0).
+    //
+    // Fix: only accept explicit `layout: 'vertical'`. Layout-less
+    // frames are left for normalize to classify; if a hero
+    // genuinely omits the keyword, that's an acceptable miss.
+    const layoutlessRow = frame({
+      id: 'maybe-row',
+      width: 'fill_container',
+      height: 200,
+      // NO layout field — model emitted a row of two equal-height
+      // images side by side and let inference figure it out.
+      children: [
+        image({ id: 'left', width: 'fill_container', height: 200 }),
+        image({ id: 'right', width: 'fill_container', height: 200 }),
+      ],
+    });
+    const root = frame({ id: 'root', children: [layoutlessRow] });
+    const changed = convertStackedOverlayToAbsolute(root);
+    expect(changed).toBe(false);
+    // Layout untouched — we leave classification to normalizeTreeLayout.
+    expect((layoutlessRow as PenNode & { layout?: string }).layout).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
   it('respects an explicit layout=horizontal (not the bug shape)', () => {
     // A horizontal-layout container with side-by-side image+overlay
     // is NOT the layered-hero pattern — the model likely meant a
diff --git a/packages/pen-core/src/layout/convert-stacked-overlay-to-absolute.ts b/packages/pen-core/src/layout/convert-stacked-overlay-to-absolute.ts
index afb32fe36..835dbe933 100644
--- a/packages/pen-core/src/layout/convert-stacked-overlay-to-absolute.ts
+++ b/packages/pen-core/src/layout/convert-stacked-overlay-to-absolute.ts
@@ -25,8 +25,18 @@ import type { PenNode } from '@zseven-w/pen-types';
  *
  * Pattern detection (conservative — false positives are worse than
  * misses):
- *   - The frame has `layout: 'vertical'` (or undefined, which
- *     `inferLayout` would also resolve to vertical).
+ *   - The frame has `layout: 'vertical'` EXPLICITLY. We do NOT
+ *     accept `undefined` here even though `inferLayout` would
+ *     usually resolve it to vertical: a layout-less frame may also
+ *     be the model's implicit way of saying "lay these out
+ *     horizontally" (a row of icons with no x/y), and we don't
+ *     want to flip those to absolute. Pre-`normalizeTreeLayout`
+ *     timing makes this critical — by the time normalize fills
+ *     in the inferred layout, this pass has already run, so we
+ *     can't rely on a normalized field. If `layout` isn't there,
+ *     we let normalize run first; the rare hero that omits the
+ *     explicit `layout: 'vertical'` keyword is an acceptable
+ *     miss.
  *   - The frame has a NUMERIC fixed height `H`.
  *   - At least 2 of the children are visually-large background-
  *     candidate types (`image`, `rectangle`, or `frame`) AND have
@@ -51,7 +61,7 @@ export function convertStackedOverlayToAbsolute(rootFrame: PenNode): boolean {
         height?: unknown;
         children?: PenNode[];
       };
-      if ((c.layout === 'vertical' || c.layout === undefined) && typeof c.height === 'number') {
+      if (c.layout === 'vertical' && typeof c.height === 'number') {
         const containerH = c.height;
         const children = Array.isArray(c.children) ? c.children : [];
         let bgLike = 0;