diff --git a/.clang-format b/.clang-format
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2dd91a0f12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.clang-format
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+---
+# Deliberately minimal: every key below is here because leaving it at the
+# Google default (or at the value the earlier draft of this file used)
+# measurably increased the diff against WLED's existing code. Options that
+# already matched Google's default, or made no measurable difference, were
+# left out rather than spelled out for documentation's sake.
+#
+# Requires clang-format 16+ (AlignTrailingComments' Kind-based syntax below
+# needs it). Verified to parse cleanly on clang-format 16, 18 and 22.
+BasedOnStyle: Google
+ColumnLimit: 240                                     # WLED convention: wide lines, not the 80-col default
+AlignTrailingComments: Leave                         # preserves existing comment-column alignment; forcing "Never" re-collapses spacing on every touched line, breaking alignment with untouched neighbours
+AllowShortCaseLabelsOnASingleLine: true              # matches the `case X: doThing(); break;` style used throughout
+AllowShortFunctionsOnASingleLine: Inline             # keeps short wrapper/getter functions on one line, closer to existing code than Google's stricter default
+AllowShortIfStatementsOnASingleLine: AllIfsAndElse   # un-deprecates the old "Always" value used before; matches existing single-line if/else usage
+BreakConstructorInitializers: BeforeComma            # non-deprecated replacement for BreakConstructorInitializersBeforeComma
+InsertNewlineAtEOF: true                             # text files should end with a newline
+KeepEmptyLinesAtTheStartOfBlocks: true                # deliberately kept in its deprecated spelling: the modern nested "KeepEmptyLines" key errors out on clang-format 16 and 18, and CodeRabbit's suggested "KeepEmptyLinesAtTopOfFunctions" is an unknown key on 14/16/18/22 alike. This old alias parses cleanly on all of them.
+MaxEmptyLinesToKeep: 2                               # existing code frequently uses double blank lines; Google's default of 1 would touch far more of it
+ReflowComments: false                                # don't rewrap comment text/wording
+SortIncludes: Never                                  # WLED sometimes orders includes deliberately (platform/feature guards); alphabetising risks reordering them and breaking a build
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 62e72a9a0a..c1174f5e2c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 .cache
-.clang-format
 .direnv
 .DS_Store
 .idea
diff --git a/wled00/src/.clang-format b/wled00/src/.clang-format
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..339dac8712
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wled00/src/.clang-format
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+# This directory holds vendored third-party code (src/dependencies/*: json,
+# fastled_slim, espalexa, e131, dmx, ws2812fx, etc.) and generated font data
+# (src/font/*), none of which follows WLED's own style. A child .clang-format
+# fully replaces the parent's config for everything below it (no merging), so
+# this disables formatting entirely rather than letting the root .clang-format
+# reach in and reformat upstream/generated code.
+DisableFormat: true