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diff --git a/tools/map_spellbook.py b/tools/map_spellbook.py
index b856080..d1d84ab 100644
--- a/tools/map_spellbook.py
+++ b/tools/map_spellbook.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ answers the question directly instead of inferring it.
 
 import argparse
 import difflib
+import glob
 import os
 import re
 import sys
@@ -58,10 +59,24 @@ from utils.misc import focus_d2r_window
 CELL0 = (683, 410)      # centre of the top-left cell
 CELL_W = 46.5
 CELL_H = 45.0
-CELL_HALF = 22          # half-width of the icon box around a centre
+CELL_HALF = 24          # half-width of the icon box around a centre
 
-# The hotkey label sits in this box, relative to a cell's top-left corner.
-CORNER = (26, 2, 22, 16)          # x, y, w, h
+# The hotkey label box, relative to a cell's top-left corner (cell is
+# 2*CELL_HALF square). This is both the region blanked from saved templates and
+# the region searched for the binding.
+CORNER = (24, 2, 24, 16)          # x, y, w, h
+
+# The label is read by TEMPLATE MATCH, not OCR. It is ~20x12px of white glyph
+# over whatever icon happens to be behind it; brightness thresholding cannot
+# separate the two when the icon is also bright (F4's swirl, the row-4
+# weapons), and OCR managed only 4/8. A top-hat isolates small bright features
+# regardless of background, and the glyphs are a fixed UI font.
+BIND_TEMPLATE_DIR = os.path.join("assets", "templates", "skill_binds")
+BIND_MIN = 0.70
+# Search slack. Matching a same-sized crop is 1px-brittle: int() rounding in the
+# grid geometry lands a pixel off the measured centre and the score collapses
+# from ~1.0 to ~0.4. With slack, 8/8 matched at every threshold 0.60-0.78.
+BIND_PAD = 4
 
 # The tooltip renders directly ABOVE the hovered cell and grows upward, so its
 # position moves with the row. A fixed ROI reads the game world instead — the
@@ -80,6 +95,16 @@ KNOWN_SKILLS = [
 ]
 MATCH_MIN = 0.72
 
+# The bind screen shows this hint along the bottom. It is how we tell whether
+# the grid is ALREADY open — pressing the key blindly toggles an open grid
+# CLOSED, which is exactly how the first live run came back with 0 skills.
+# Matched fuzzily: Tesseract reliably renders this as
+# "PRESS FI-F8 TO BIRD A SKIN" (BIND->BIRD, SKILL->SKIN), so an exact compare
+# never fires. Closed, the same ROI yields "" or "7," — the gap is wide.
+HINT_ROI = (450, 620, 400, 25)        # x, y, w, h
+HINT_TEXT = "PRESS F F TO BIND A SKILL"
+HINT_MIN = 0.55
+
 ASSET_DIR = os.path.join("assets", "templates", "skills_spellbook")
 
 # config key -> the name D2R shows in the tooltip
@@ -97,6 +122,18 @@ CONFIG_SKILL_NAMES = {
 }
 
 
+def grid_is_open(img=None) -> bool:
+    """True when the skill-bind grid is showing."""
+    img = screen.grab() if img is None else img
+    x, y, w, h = HINT_ROI
+    crop = cv2.resize(img[y:y + h, x:x + w], None, fx=2.5, fy=2.5)
+    text = re.sub(r"[^A-Z ]", " ", _ocr(crop, psm=7).upper())
+    text = re.sub(r"\s+", " ", text).strip()
+    if not text:
+        return False
+    return difflib.SequenceMatcher(None, HINT_TEXT, text).ratio() >= HINT_MIN
+
+
 def _cell_centre(col: int, row: int) -> tuple[int, int]:
     return int(CELL0[0] + CELL_W * col), int(CELL0[1] + CELL_H * row)
 
@@ -111,19 +148,45 @@ def _ocr(img, psm: int = 6) -> str:
         return ""
 
 
-def read_bound_key(cell_img) -> str | None:
-    """OCR the upper-right corner -> 'f5', or None when unbound."""
+def _isolate_glyph(bgr):
+    """Top-hat: keeps small bright features, drops whatever is behind them."""
+    g = cv2.cvtColor(bgr, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY).astype("float32")
+    k = cv2.getStructuringElement(cv2.MORPH_RECT, (9, 9))
+    th = cv2.morphologyEx(g, cv2.MORPH_TOPHAT, k)
+    return cv2.normalize(th, None, 0, 255, cv2.NORM_MINMAX).astype("uint8")
+
+
+_BIND_TEMPLATES: dict | None = None
+
+
+def _bind_templates() -> dict:
+    global _BIND_TEMPLATES
+    if _BIND_TEMPLATES is None:
+        _BIND_TEMPLATES = {}
+        for path in glob.glob(os.path.join(BIND_TEMPLATE_DIR, "*.png")):
+            im = cv2.imread(path)
+            if im is not None:
+                _BIND_TEMPLATES[os.path.basename(path)[:-4].lower()] = _isolate_glyph(im)
+    return _BIND_TEMPLATES
+
+
+def read_bound_key(img, cx: int, cy: int) -> str | None:
+    """Template-match the hotkey label -> 'f5', or None when unbound."""
     x, y, w, h = CORNER
-    corner = cell_img[y:y + h, x:x + w]
-    if corner.size == 0:
+    x0 = cx - CELL_HALF + x
+    y0 = cy - CELL_HALF + y
+    win = img[y0 - BIND_PAD:y0 + h + BIND_PAD, x0 - BIND_PAD:x0 + w + BIND_PAD]
+    if win.size == 0 or win.shape[0] < 10:
         return None
-    corner = cv2.resize(corner, None, fx=4.0, fy=4.0, interpolation=cv2.INTER_CUBIC)
-    text = _ocr(corner, psm=7).upper().replace(" ", "")
-    m = re.search(r"F\s*(\d{1,2})", text)
-    if not m:
-        return None
-    n = int(m.group(1))
-    return f"f{n}" if 1 <= n <= 12 else None
+    g = _isolate_glyph(win)
+    best, score = None, 0.0
+    for name, tpl in _bind_templates().items():
+        if g.shape[0] < tpl.shape[0] or g.shape[1] < tpl.shape[1]:
+            continue
+        s = cv2.matchTemplate(g, tpl, cv2.TM_CCOEFF_NORMED).max()
+        if s > score:
+            best, score = name, s
+    return best if score >= BIND_MIN else None
 
 
 def icon_without_corner(cell_img):
@@ -173,7 +236,7 @@ def map_grid(cols: int, rows: int, save_assets: bool) -> list[dict]:
             if not name:
                 continue                    # empty cell — no tooltip appeared
             cell = img[cy - CELL_HALF:cy + CELL_HALF, cx - CELL_HALF:cx + CELL_HALF]
-            key = read_bound_key(cell)
+            key = read_bound_key(img, cx, cy)
             found.append({"name": name, "key": key, "col": col, "row": row})
             print(f"  ({col},{row})  {name:<24} {key or '-'}", flush=True)
 
@@ -247,9 +310,22 @@ def main() -> int:
         return 2
 
     time.sleep(0.5)
-    if not args.no_open:
+    # Detect, do not assume. Toggling an already-open grid closes it.
+    opened_by_us = False
+    if not grid_is_open():
+        if args.no_open:
+            print("map_spellbook: --no-open was given but the bind grid is not "
+                  "open. Open it and re-run, or drop --no-open.")
+            return 2
         keyboard.send(args.key)
         time.sleep(1.0)
+        opened_by_us = True
+        if not grid_is_open():
+            print(f"map_spellbook: pressed {args.key!r} but the bind grid did not "
+                  f"open. Use --key <k> if your bind screen is on another key.")
+            return 2
+    else:
+        print("Bind grid already open — leaving it as found.")
 
     print(f"Scanning {args.cols}x{args.rows} bind grid...", flush=True)
     found = map_grid(args.cols, args.rows, args.assets)
@@ -270,8 +346,8 @@ def main() -> int:
     print(f"\nFound {len(found)} skills, {bound} of them bound.")
     problems = compare_with_config(found)
 
-    if not args.no_open:
-        keyboard.send(args.key)      # close the grid we opened
+    if opened_by_us:
+        keyboard.send(args.key)      # close it only if we opened it
 
     if problems:
         print(f"\n{problems} mismatch(es). Fix the binds in game or the keys in "