diff --git a/lib/WiFiManager/include/WiFiManagerHandlers.h b/lib/WiFiManager/include/WiFiManagerHandlers.h
index e955c61..790c3db 100644
--- a/lib/WiFiManager/include/WiFiManagerHandlers.h
+++ b/lib/WiFiManager/include/WiFiManagerHandlers.h
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ class WiFiManagerHandlers {
     String getHTTPHead(String title, String classes = "");
     String getHTTPEnd();
     String getMenuOut();
+    String getMenuOut(String* outOpt);
     String getScanItemOut();
     String getParamOut();
     String getStaticOut();
diff --git a/lib/WiFiManager/include/WiFiManagerServer.h b/lib/WiFiManager/include/WiFiManagerServer.h
index 5983b54..d77bd22 100644
--- a/lib/WiFiManager/include/WiFiManagerServer.h
+++ b/lib/WiFiManager/include/WiFiManagerServer.h
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 #include <functional>
 #include <memory>
 
+// DFTE (template engine)
+#include <TemplateEngine.h>
+
 // Forward declarations
 class WiFiManager;
 
@@ -46,8 +49,21 @@ const char R_updatedone[]         PROGMEM = "/u";
 
 class WiFiManagerServer {
   public:
+    // Singleton access
+    static WiFiManagerServer* instance();
+    
     WiFiManagerServer(WiFiManager* wm);
     
+    // Template engine setup and access
+    void setupTemplateEngine();
+    PlaceholderRegistry* getPlaceholderRegistry() { return _tplRegistry.get(); }
+    
+    // Static zero-arg getters for DFTE RAM placeholders
+    static const char* tplGetPageTitle();
+    static const char* tplGetSubtitle();
+    static const char* tplGetMenu();
+    static const char* tplGetStatus();
+    
     // Create server instance
     void createServer(uint16_t port);
     
@@ -74,6 +90,12 @@ class WiFiManagerServer {
     std::unique_ptr<WiFiManagerHandlers> _handlers;
     std::unique_ptr<AsyncWebServer> server;
     std::unique_ptr<DNSServer> dnsServer;
+    
+    // Shared DFTE placeholder registry
+    std::unique_ptr<PlaceholderRegistry> _tplRegistry;
+    
+    // Singleton instance
+    static WiFiManagerServer* s_instance;
 };
 
 // Include WiFiManagerHandlers.h after class definition to provide full definition
diff --git a/lib/WiFiManager/include/templates/Root.h b/lib/WiFiManager/include/templates/Root.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a2b198
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/WiFiManager/include/templates/Root.h
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/**
+ * Root.h
+ * Whole-document root template for WiFiManager using DFTE placeholders
+ */
+
+#ifndef _WM_ROOT_TEMPLATE_H_
+#define _WM_ROOT_TEMPLATE_H_
+
+#include <Arduino.h>
+
+// Whole document template:
+// - Injects %SCRIPTS% and %STYLES% (these already include <script>/<style> tags)
+// - Mirrors existing structure: body class "home" and wrapper div.wrap
+// - Renders title/subtitle, then menu and status
+const char WM_ROOT_TEMPLATE[] PROGMEM =
+"<!DOCTYPE html>"
+"<html lang='en'>"
+"<head>"
+"<meta name='format-detection' content='telephone=no'>"
+"<meta charset='UTF-8'>"
+"<meta name='viewport' content='width=device-width,initial-scale=1,user-scalable=no'/>"
+"<title>%PAGE_TITLE%</title>"
+"%SCRIPTS%"
+"%STYLES%"
+"</head>"
+"<body class='home'>"
+"<div class='wrap'>"
+"<h1>%PAGE_TITLE%</h1>"
+"<h3>%SUBTITLE%</h3>"
+"%MENU%"
+"%STATUS%"
+"</div>"
+"</body>"
+"</html>";
+
+#endif // _WM_ROOT_TEMPLATE_H_
+
+
diff --git a/lib/WiFiManager/src/WiFiManagerHandlers.cpp b/lib/WiFiManager/src/WiFiManagerHandlers.cpp
index 84a0405..792fccc 100644
--- a/lib/WiFiManager/src/WiFiManagerHandlers.cpp
+++ b/lib/WiFiManager/src/WiFiManagerHandlers.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 #include "templates/HTML.h"
 #include "templates/CSS.h"
 #include "templates/JS.h"
+#include "templates/Root.h"
+#include <TemplateEngine.h>
 
 #if defined(ESP8266) || defined(ESP32)
 
@@ -38,13 +40,30 @@ String WiFiManagerHandlers::getHTTPEnd() {
 }
 
 String WiFiManagerHandlers::getMenuOut(){
-  String page;
-  page += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[0]; // WIFI
-  page += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[2]; // INFO
-  page += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[6]; // EXIT
-  page += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[9]; // SEP
-  page += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[8]; // UPDATE
-  return page;
+  return getMenuOut(nullptr);
+}
+
+String WiFiManagerHandlers::getMenuOut(String* outOpt){
+  String local;
+  String &out = outOpt ? *outOpt : local;
+  out += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[0]; // WIFI (scan)
+  
+  // Show PARAM (Setup) when params are on their own page
+  if(!_wm->_paramsInWifi && _wm->_paramsCount > 0){
+    out += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[3]; // PARAM
+  }
+  
+  out += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[2]; // INFO
+  
+  // When captive/config portal is active, offer Close (keeps portal running)
+  if(_wm->configPortalActive){
+    out += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[4]; // CLOSE
+  }
+  
+  out += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[6]; // EXIT
+  out += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[9]; // SEP
+  out += HTML_PORTAL_MENU[8]; // UPDATE
+  return out;
 }
 
 String WiFiManagerHandlers::getScanItemOut(){
@@ -680,19 +699,25 @@ void WiFiManagerHandlers::handleRoot(AsyncWebServerRequest *request) {
   #endif
   if (captivePortal(request)) return;
   handleRequest(request);
-  String page = getHTTPHead(_wm->_title, FPSTR(C_root));
-  // Build root main HTML directly without tokens
-  page += F("<h1>");
-  page += _wm->_title;
-  page += F("</h1><h3>");
-  page += (_wm->configPortalActive ? _wm->_apName : (_wm->getWiFiHostname() + " - " + WiFi.localIP().toString()));
-  page += F("</h3>");
-  page += FPSTR(HTML_PORTAL_OPTIONS);
-  page += getMenuOut();
-  reportStatus(page);
-  page += getHTTPEnd();
-
-  request->send(200, FPSTR(HTTP_HEAD_CT), page);
+  
+  // Stream-render the root page using DFTE and the shared registry
+  TemplateContext ctx;
+  if (_wm->_serverManager && _wm->_serverManager->getPlaceholderRegistry()) {
+    ctx.setRegistry(_wm->_serverManager->getPlaceholderRegistry());
+  }
+  TemplateRenderer::initializeContext(ctx, WM_ROOT_TEMPLATE);
+  
+  // Keep context alive across chunk calls
+  auto ctxPtr = std::make_shared<TemplateContext>(ctx);
+  
+  AsyncWebServerResponse *response = request->beginChunkedResponse(String(FPSTR(HTTP_HEAD_CT)),
+    [ctxPtr](uint8_t *buffer, size_t maxLen, size_t /*index*/) -> size_t {
+      if (!ctxPtr) return 0;
+      size_t written = TemplateRenderer::renderNextChunk(*ctxPtr, buffer, maxLen);
+      return written;
+    }
+  );
+  request->send(response);
   if(_wm->_preloadwifiscan) _wm->WiFi_scanNetworks(_wm->_scancachetime);
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/WiFiManager/src/WiFiManagerServer.cpp b/lib/WiFiManager/src/WiFiManagerServer.cpp
index 8976335..df7679f 100644
--- a/lib/WiFiManager/src/WiFiManagerServer.cpp
+++ b/lib/WiFiManager/src/WiFiManagerServer.cpp
@@ -11,11 +11,78 @@
 #include "WiFiManagerServer.h"
 #include "WiFiManager.h"
 #include "WiFiManagerHandlers.h" // Full definition needed for unique_ptr
+#include "templates/CSS.h"
+#include "templates/JS.h"
+#include "templates/Root.h"
 
 #if defined(ESP8266) || defined(ESP32)
 
+WiFiManagerServer* WiFiManagerServer::s_instance = nullptr;
+
+WiFiManagerServer* WiFiManagerServer::instance() {
+  return s_instance;
+}
+
 WiFiManagerServer::WiFiManagerServer(WiFiManager* wm) 
   : _wm(wm), _handlers(std::make_unique<WiFiManagerHandlers>(wm)) {
+  s_instance = this;
+}
+
+// Static getters for RAM placeholders (registry requires zero-arg functions) using singleton
+const char* WiFiManagerServer::tplGetPageTitle() {
+  auto srv = WiFiManagerServer::instance();
+  if (!srv || !srv->_wm) return "";
+  return srv->_wm->_title.c_str();
+}
+
+const char* WiFiManagerServer::tplGetSubtitle() {
+  static String buf;
+  auto srv = WiFiManagerServer::instance();
+  if (!srv || !srv->_wm) { buf = ""; return buf.c_str(); }
+  WiFiManager* wm = srv->_wm;
+  if (wm->configPortalActive) {
+    buf = wm->_apName;
+  } else {
+    buf = wm->getWiFiHostname() + " - " + WiFi.localIP().toString();
+  }
+  return buf.c_str();
+}
+
+const char* WiFiManagerServer::tplGetMenu() {
+  static String buf;
+  auto srv = WiFiManagerServer::instance();
+  if (!srv || !srv->_handlers) { buf = ""; return buf.c_str(); }
+  buf = "";
+  srv->_handlers->getMenuOut(&buf);
+  return buf.c_str();
+}
+
+const char* WiFiManagerServer::tplGetStatus() {
+  static String buf;
+  auto srv = WiFiManagerServer::instance();
+  if (!srv || !srv->_handlers) { buf = ""; return buf.c_str(); }
+  buf = "";
+  srv->_handlers->reportStatus(buf);
+  return buf.c_str();
+}
+
+void WiFiManagerServer::setupTemplateEngine() {
+  // Initialize shared placeholder registry once
+  if (!_tplRegistry) {
+    _tplRegistry = std::unique_ptr<PlaceholderRegistry>(new PlaceholderRegistry(12));
+  } else {
+    _tplRegistry->clear();
+  }
+  
+  // Register PROGMEM assets
+  _tplRegistry->registerProgmemData("%STYLES%", CSS_STYLE);
+  _tplRegistry->registerProgmemData("%SCRIPTS%", JS_SCRIPT);
+  
+  // Register dynamic RAM getters
+  _tplRegistry->registerRamData("%PAGE_TITLE%", &WiFiManagerServer::tplGetPageTitle);
+  _tplRegistry->registerRamData("%SUBTITLE%", &WiFiManagerServer::tplGetSubtitle);
+  _tplRegistry->registerRamData("%MENU%", &WiFiManagerServer::tplGetMenu);
+  _tplRegistry->registerRamData("%STATUS%", &WiFiManagerServer::tplGetStatus);
 }
 
 void WiFiManagerServer::createServer(uint16_t port) {
@@ -38,6 +105,9 @@ void WiFiManagerServer::createServer(uint16_t port) {
   }
 
   server.reset(new AsyncWebServer(port));
+  
+  // Ensure template engine is ready whenever a server is (re)created
+  setupTemplateEngine();
 }
 
 void WiFiManagerServer::registerRoutes() {
@@ -48,6 +118,11 @@ void WiFiManagerServer::registerRoutes() {
     return;
   }
 
+  // Ensure template engine is initialized before routes use it
+  if (!_tplRegistry) {
+    setupTemplateEngine();
+  }
+  
   if (_wm->_webservercallback != NULL) {
     #ifdef WM_DEBUG_LEVEL
     _wm->DEBUG_WM(WM_DEBUG_VERBOSE, F("[CB] _webservercallback calling"));
@@ -164,6 +239,9 @@ void WiFiManagerServer::shutdownServer() {
     dnsServer->stop(); // free heap ?
     dnsServer.reset();
   }
+  
+  // Clear singleton on shutdown
+  if (s_instance == this) s_instance = nullptr;
 }
 
 #endif