diff --git a/init.example.el b/init.example.el
index 5b90d92be..83871ee59 100644
--- a/init.example.el
+++ b/init.example.el
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
       ;tabbar            ; FIXME an (incomplete) tab bar for Emacs
        vi-tilde-fringe   ; fringe tildes to mark beyond EOB
        window-select     ; visually switch windows
+       posframe          ; use child frames where possible (Emacs 26+ only)
 
        :tools
        dired             ; making dired pretty [functional]
diff --git a/modules/ui/posframe/autoload.el b/modules/ui/posframe/autoload.el
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..45ecab756
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/ui/posframe/autoload.el
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+;;; ui/posframe/autoloads.el -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
+
+;;;###autoload
+(defun +posframe-ivy-display-at-frame-center-near-bottom (str)
+  "TODO"
+  (ivy-posframe--display str #'+posframe-poshandler-frame-center-near-bottom))
+
+;;;###autoload
+(defun +posframe-poshandler-frame-center-near-bottom (info)
+  "TODO"
+  (let ((pos (posframe-poshandler-frame-center info)))
+    (cons (car pos)
+          (truncate (* (cdr pos) 1.60)))))
diff --git a/modules/ui/posframe/config.el b/modules/ui/posframe/config.el
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a92eca480
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/ui/posframe/config.el
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+;;; ui/posframe/config.el -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
+
+(when (version< emacs-version "26")
+  (error "The :ui posframe module requires Emacs 26+"))
+
+
+(def-package! posframe
+  :defer t
+  :config
+  (setq posframe-inhibit-double-buffering t))
+
+
+(def-package! company-childframe
+  :when (featurep! :completion company)
+  :after company
+  :config
+  (company-childframe-mode 1)
+  (after! desktop
+    (push '(company-childframe-mode . nil) desktop-minor-mode-table)))
+
+
+(def-package! ivy-posframe
+  :when (featurep! :completion ivy)
+  :after ivy
+  :preface
+  ;; This function searches the entire `obarray' just to populate
+  ;; `ivy-display-functions-props'. There are 15k entries in mine! This is
+  ;; wasteful, so...
+  (advice-add #'ivy-posframe-setup :override #'ignore)
+  :config
+  ;; ... let's do it manually
+  (dolist (fn (list 'ivy-posframe-display-at-frame-bottom-left
+                    'ivy-posframe-display-at-frame-center
+                    'ivy-posframe-display-at-point
+                    'ivy-posframe-display-at-frame-bottom-window-center
+                    'ivy-posframe-display
+                    'ivy-posframe-display-at-window-bottom-left
+                    'ivy-posframe-display-at-window-center
+                    '+posframe-ivy-display-at-frame-center-near-bottom))
+    (push (list fn :cleanup 'ivy-posframe-cleanup) ivy-display-functions-props))
+
+  (push '(t . +posframe-ivy-display-at-frame-center-near-bottom) ivy-display-functions-alist)
+  (push '(swiper . nil) ivy-display-functions-alist)
+  (ivy-posframe-enable)
+
+  (setq ivy-height 16
+        ivy-fixed-height-minibuffer nil
+        ivy-posframe-parameters `((min-width . 90)
+                                  (min-height . ,ivy-height)
+                                  (internal-border-width . 10)))
+  (unless ivy-posframe-font
+    (setq ivy-posframe-font (font-spec :family (font-get doom-font :family) :size 18))))
+
+
+;; TODO helm-posframe?
diff --git a/modules/ui/posframe/packages.el b/modules/ui/posframe/packages.el
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5cf3c37dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/ui/posframe/packages.el
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+;; -*- no-byte-compile: t; -*-
+;;; ui/posframe/packages.el
+
+(when (featurep! :completion company)
+  (package! company-childframe))
+(when (featurep! :completion ivy)
+  (package! ivy-posframe))