diff --git a/hosts/ocaml/bin/sx_server.ml b/hosts/ocaml/bin/sx_server.ml
index 805918f9..ccc40be1 100644
--- a/hosts/ocaml/bin/sx_server.ml
+++ b/hosts/ocaml/bin/sx_server.ml
@@ -1749,6 +1749,9 @@ let url_decode s =
         Buffer.add_char buf (Char.chr (int_of_string ("0x" ^ hex)))
       with _ -> Buffer.add_char buf s.[!i]);
       i := !i + 3
+    end else if s.[!i] = '+' then begin
+      Buffer.add_char buf ' ';
+      i := !i + 1
     end else begin
       Buffer.add_char buf s.[!i];
       i := !i + 1
diff --git a/sx/sx/app-config.sx b/sx/sx/app-config.sx
index 86579a23..95aba90a 100644
--- a/sx/sx/app-config.sx
+++ b/sx/sx/app-config.sx
@@ -1 +1,6 @@
 (define __app-config {:handler-prefixes (list "handler:ex-" "handler:reactive-" "handler:") :shell "~shared:shell/sx-page-shell" :inner-layout "~layouts/doc" :outer-layout "~shared:layout/app-body" :css-files (list "basics.css" "tw.css") :warmup-paths (list "/sx/" "/sx/(geography)" "/sx/(language)" "/sx/(applications)" "/sx/(geography.(reactive.(examples)))" "/sx/(applications.(sxtp))" "/sx/(geography.(cek))" "/sx/(geography.(reactive))" "/sx/(geography.(hypermedia))") :batchable-helpers (list "highlight" "component-source") :title "SX" :init-script :default :home-path "/sx/" :path-prefix "/sx/" :client-libs (list "tw-layout.sx" "tw-type.sx" "tw.sx")})
+
+(dict-set!
+  __app-config
+  "handler-prefixes"
+  (append (get __app-config "handler-prefixes") (list "handler:hs-")))
diff --git a/sx/sx/handlers/hyperscript-api.sx b/sx/sx/handlers/hyperscript-api.sx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5f9acffa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sx/sx/handlers/hyperscript-api.sx
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+;; _hyperscript playground API handler
+;; Compiles hyperscript source and returns the AST + SX output as HTML
+
+(defhandler
+  hs-compile
+  :path "/sx/(applications.(hyperscript.(api.compile)))"
+  :method :post
+  :csrf false
+  :returns "element"
+  (&key source)
+  (if
+    (or (nil? source) (empty? source))
+    (p
+      (~tw :tokens "text-sm text-gray-400 italic")
+      "Enter some hyperscript and click Compile.")
+    (let
+      ((ast (hs-compile source)) (sx (hs-to-sx-from-source source)))
+      (div
+        (~tw :tokens "space-y-4")
+        (div
+          (h4
+            (~tw
+              :tokens "text-xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500 mb-2")
+            "Compiled SX")
+          (pre
+            (~tw
+              :tokens "bg-gray-900 text-green-400 p-4 rounded-lg text-sm overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap font-mono")
+            (sx-serialize sx)))
+        (div
+          (h4
+            (~tw
+              :tokens "text-xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500 mb-2")
+            "Parse Tree")
+          (pre
+            (~tw
+              :tokens "bg-gray-900 text-amber-400 p-4 rounded-lg text-sm overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap font-mono")
+            (sx-serialize ast)))))))
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sx/sx/hyperscript.sx b/sx/sx/hyperscript.sx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6b6d702b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sx/sx/hyperscript.sx
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+;; _hyperscript Playground
+;; Lives under Applications: /sx/(applications.(hyperscript))
+
+;; ── Compile result component (server-side rendered) ─────────────
+sx-serialize
+
+;; ── Compile handler (POST endpoint) ─────────────────────────────
+(defcomp
+  ~hyperscript/example
+  (&key source description)
+  (div
+    :class "border border-gray-200 rounded-lg p-4 space-y-3"
+    (when description (p :class "text-sm text-gray-600" description))
+    (div
+      (h4
+        :class "text-xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wider text-gray-500 mb-1"
+        "Source")
+      (pre
+        :class "bg-gray-50 text-gray-900 p-3 rounded text-sm font-mono"
+        (str "_=\"" source "\"")))
+    (~hyperscript/compile-result :source source)))
+
+;; ── Pipeline example component ──────────────────────────────────
+(defcomp
+  ~hyperscript/playground
+  ()
+  (div
+    (~tw :tokens "space-y-4")
+    (form
+      :sx-post "/sx/(applications.(hyperscript.(api.compile)))"
+      :sx-target "#hs-playground-result"
+      :sx-swap "innerHTML"
+      (div
+        (label
+          (~tw :tokens "block text-sm font-medium text-gray-700 mb-1")
+          "Hyperscript source")
+        (textarea
+          :name "source"
+          :class "w-full h-24 font-mono text-sm p-3 border border-gray-300 rounded-lg bg-white focus:ring-2 focus:ring-violet-500 focus:border-violet-500"
+          "on click add .active to me"))
+      (div
+        (~tw :tokens "mt-2")
+        (button
+          :type "submit"
+          (~tw
+            :tokens "px-4 py-2 bg-violet-600 text-white rounded-lg hover:bg-violet-700 text-sm font-medium")
+          "Compile")))
+    (div
+      :id "hs-playground-result"
+      (~hyperscript/compile-result :source "on click add .active to me"))))
+
+;; ── Playground island ───────────────────────────────────────────
+(defcomp
+  ~hyperscript/live-demo
+  ()
+  (div
+    :class "space-y-4"
+    (p
+      :class "text-sm text-gray-600"
+      "These buttons have actual hyperscript compiled to SX. Click them to see the behavior.")
+    (div
+      :class "flex gap-3 items-center"
+      (button
+        :class "px-4 py-2 border border-gray-300 rounded-lg text-sm transition-colors"
+        :_ "on click toggle .bg-violet-600 on me then toggle .text-white on me"
+        "Toggle Color")
+      (button
+        :class "px-4 py-2 border border-gray-300 rounded-lg text-sm"
+        :_ "on click add .animate-bounce to me then wait 1s then remove .animate-bounce from me"
+        "Bounce")
+      (span :class "text-sm text-gray-500" :id "click-counter" "0 clicks"))
+    (div
+      :class "mt-2"
+      (button
+        :class "px-4 py-2 border border-gray-300 rounded-lg text-sm"
+        :_ "on click increment @data-count on me then set #click-counter's innerHTML to my @data-count"
+        :data-count "0"
+        "Count Clicks"))))
+
+;; ── Live demo: actual hyperscript running ───────────────────────
+(defcomp
+  ~hyperscript/playground-content
+  ()
+  (~docs/page
+    :title "_hyperscript Playground"
+    (p
+      :class "text-lg text-gray-600 mb-6"
+      "Compile "
+      (code "_hyperscript")
+      " to SX expressions. "
+      "The same "
+      (code "_=\"...\"")
+      " syntax, compiled to cached bytecode instead of re-parsed every page load.")
+    (~docs/section
+      :title "Interactive Playground"
+      :id "playground"
+      (p
+        "Edit the hyperscript source and click Compile to see the tokenized, parsed, and compiled SX output.")
+      (~hyperscript/playground))
+    (~docs/section
+      :title "Pipeline"
+      :id "pipeline"
+      (p "Every hyperscript string passes through three stages:")
+      (ol
+        :class "list-decimal list-inside space-y-1 text-sm text-gray-700 mb-4"
+        (li
+          (strong "Tokenize")
+          " — source string to typed token stream (keywords, classes, ids, operators, strings)")
+        (li
+          (strong "Parse")
+          " — token stream to AST (commands, expressions, features)")
+        (li
+          (strong "Compile")
+          " — AST to SX expressions targeting "
+          (code "web/lib/dom.sx")
+          " primitives"))
+      (p
+        "The compiled SX is wrapped in "
+        (code "(fn (me) ...)")
+        " and evaluated with "
+        (code "me")
+        " bound to the element. Hyperscript variables are visible to "
+        (code "eval (sx-expr)")
+        " escapes."))
+    (~docs/section
+      :title "Examples"
+      :id "examples"
+      (~hyperscript/example
+        :source "on click add .active to me"
+        :description "Event handler: click adds a CSS class")
+      (~hyperscript/example
+        :source "on click toggle between .light and .dark on me"
+        :description "Toggle between two states")
+      (~hyperscript/example
+        :source "on click set my innerHTML to eval (str \"Clicked at \" (js-date-now))"
+        :description "SX escape: call SX functions from hyperscript, variables flow through")
+      (~hyperscript/example
+        :source "on click render ~card :title 'Hello' into #target"
+        :description "Render an SX component directly from a hyperscript handler")
+      (~hyperscript/example
+        :source "def double(n) return n + n end"
+        :description "Define reusable functions")
+      (~hyperscript/example
+        :source "on click for item in items log item end"
+        :description "Iteration over collections")
+      (~hyperscript/example
+        :source "behavior Draggable on mousedown add .dragging to me end on mouseup remove .dragging from me end end"
+        :description "Reusable behaviors — install on any element"))))
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sx/sx/nav-data.sx b/sx/sx/nav-data.sx
index 53a1f9e3..a948736c 100644
--- a/sx/sx/nav-data.sx
+++ b/sx/sx/nav-data.sx
@@ -741,6 +741,10 @@
 
 (define sx-nav-tree {:href "/sx/" :children (list {:href "/sx/(geography)" :children (list {:href "/sx/(geography.(reactive))" :children reactive-islands-nav-items :label "Reactive Islands"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(hypermedia))" :children (list {:href "/sx/(geography.(hypermedia.(reference)))" :children reference-nav-items :label "Reference"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(hypermedia.(example)))" :children examples-nav-items :label "Examples"}) :label "Hypermedia Lakes"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(scopes))" :summary "The unified primitive beneath provide, collect!, spreads, and islands. Named scope with downward value, upward accumulation, and a dedup flag." :label "Scopes"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(provide))" :summary "Sugar for scope-with-value. Render-time dynamic scope — the substrate beneath spreads, CSSX, and script collection." :label "Provide / Emit!"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(spreads))" :summary "Child-to-parent communication across render boundaries — spread, collect!, reactive-spread, built on scopes." :label "Spreads"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(marshes))" :children marshes-examples-nav-items :summary "Where reactivity and hypermedia interpenetrate — server writes to signals, reactive transforms reshape server content, client state modifies how hypermedia is interpreted." :label "Marshes"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(isomorphism))" :children isomorphism-nav-items :label "Isomorphism"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(cek))" :children cek-nav-items :label "CEK Machine"}) :label "Geography"} {:href "/sx/(language)" :children (list {:href "/sx/(language.(doc))" :children docs-nav-items :label "Docs"} {:href "/sx/(language.(spec))" :children specs-nav-items :label "Specs"} {:href "/sx/(language.(spec.(explore.evaluator)))" :label "Spec Explorer"} {:href "/sx/(language.(bootstrapper))" :children bootstrappers-nav-items :label "Bootstrappers"} {:href "/sx/(language.(test))" :children testing-nav-items :label "Testing"}) :label "Language"} {:href "/sx/(applications)" :children (list {:href "/sx/(applications.(sx-urls))" :label "SX URLs"} {:href "/sx/(applications.(cssx))" :children cssx-nav-items :label "CSSX"} {:href "/sx/(applications.(protocol))" :children protocols-nav-items :label "Protocols"} {:href "/sx/(applications.(sx-pub))" :label "sx-pub"} {:href "/sx/(applications.(sx-tools))" :label "SX Tools"} {:href "/sx/(geography.(reactive-runtime))" :children reactive-runtime-nav-items :label "Reactive Runtime"}) :label "Applications"} {:href "/sx/(etc)" :children (list {:href "/sx/(etc.(essay))" :children essays-nav-items :label "Essays"} {:href "/sx/(etc.(philosophy))" :children philosophy-nav-items :label "Philosophy"} {:href "/sx/(etc.(plan))" :children plans-nav-items :label "Plans"}) :label "Etc"}) :label "sx"})
 
+(let
+  ((apps (nth (get sx-nav-tree "children") 2)) (hs-entry {:href "/sx/(applications.(hyperscript))" :label "_hyperscript"}))
+  (dict-set! apps "children" (append (get apps "children") (list hs-entry))))
+
 (define
   has-descendant-href?
   (fn
@@ -812,5 +816,10 @@
               (find-loop (+ i 1))))))
       (find-loop 0))))
 
-(define sxtp-nav-items
+(define
+  hyperscript-nav-items
+  (list (dict :label "_hyperscript" :href "/sx/(applications.(hyperscript))")))
+
+(define
+  sxtp-nav-items
   (list (dict :label "SXTP Protocol" :href "/sx/(applications.(sxtp))")))
diff --git a/sx/sx/page-functions.sx b/sx/sx/page-functions.sx
index 46a96e60..24f4c751 100644
--- a/sx/sx/page-functions.sx
+++ b/sx/sx/page-functions.sx
@@ -708,6 +708,14 @@
   eval-rules
   (fn (&key title &rest args) (quasiquote (~geography/eval-rules-content))))
 
+(define
+  hyperscript
+  (make-page-fn
+    "~hyperscript/playground-content"
+    "~hyperscript/"
+    nil
+    "-content"))
+
 (define
   sxtp
   (make-page-fn