diff --git a/desktopenvs/hyprlua/hypr/layouts/columns.lua b/desktopenvs/hyprlua/hypr/layouts/columns.lua
index 429f3d3..94ba967 100644
--- a/desktopenvs/hyprlua/hypr/layouts/columns.lua
+++ b/desktopenvs/hyprlua/hypr/layouts/columns.lua
@@ -379,9 +379,14 @@ local function layout_msg(ctx, cmd)
                 hl.dispatch(hl.dsp.focus({ window = "address:" .. cols[nc][ni] }))
             end
         else
-            local ni = fi + (decrease(arg) and -1 or 1)
-            if cols[fc] and ni >= 1 and ni <= #cols[fc] then
-                hl.dispatch(hl.dsp.focus({ window = "address:" .. cols[fc][ni] }))
+            -- within-column step WRAPS at the ends (both keyboard focus u/d and the
+            -- mouse wheel, which forwards here too — see hypr-nav's scroll case).
+            local list = cols[fc]
+            if list and #list > 0 then
+                local n = #list
+                local step = decrease(arg) and -1 or 1
+                local ni = ((fi - 1 + step) % n + n) % n + 1
+                hl.dispatch(hl.dsp.focus({ window = "address:" .. list[ni] }))
             end
         end
     elseif verb == "move" then
diff --git a/desktopenvs/hyprlua/scripts/hypr-nav b/desktopenvs/hyprlua/scripts/hypr-nav
index 886e934..1abdc56 100755
--- a/desktopenvs/hyprlua/scripts/hypr-nav
+++ b/desktopenvs/hyprlua/scripts/hypr-nav
@@ -86,8 +86,17 @@ def active_layout_name(wsid) -> str | None:
                 return name
     except (FileNotFoundError, json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError):
         pass
+    # A workspace the user has never explicitly switched via the menu has no entry
+    # in STATE (write_state()/M.set only fires on a menu pick) — that's every fresh
+    # workspace at session start, since it's just inheriting the global default. Fall
+    # back to the raw Hyprland option, which for a custom Lua layout is the "lua:<name>"
+    # backend string (see layouts/init.lua's M.set_default), not the registry name — strip
+    # the prefix so this still compares equal to COLUMNS_LAYOUT below.
     opt = hypr_json("getoption", "general:layout")
-    return opt.get("str") if opt else None
+    raw = opt.get("str") if opt else None
+    if raw and raw.startswith("lua:"):
+        return raw[len("lua:"):]
+    return raw
 
 
 def tape_axis() -> str: