diff --git a/src/lib/internal.h b/src/lib/internal.h
index ca1497a4b..a62febde8 100644
--- a/src/lib/internal.h
+++ b/src/lib/internal.h
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ typedef struct ncplane {
   int margin_b, margin_r;// bottom and right margins, stored for resize
   bool scrolling;        // is scrolling enabled? always disabled by default
   bool fixedbound;       // are we fixed relative to the parent's scrolling?
+
+  // we need to track any widget to which we are bound, so that (1) we don't
+  // end up bound to two widgets and (2) we can clean them up on shutdown
+  // (assuming they weren't explicitly cleaned up by the client).
+  void* widget;            // widget to which we are bound, can be NULL
+  void(*wdestruct)(void*); // widget destructor, NULL iff widget is NULL
 } ncplane;
 
 // current presentation state of the terminal. it is carried across render
@@ -428,7 +434,25 @@ ncplane_stdplane_const(const ncplane* n){
   return notcurses_stdplane_const(ncplane_notcurses_const(n));
 }
 
-// initialize libav
+// set the plane's widget and wdestruct fields, returning non-zero if they're
+// already non-NULL (i.e. if the plane is already bound), unless we pass NULL
+// (which ought be done from the widget destructor, to avoid corecursion).
+static inline int
+ncplane_set_widget(ncplane* n, void* w, void(*wdestruct)(void*)){
+  if(n->widget){
+    if(w){
+      logerror("plane is already bound to a widget\n");
+      return -1;
+    }
+  }else if(w == NULL){
+    return -1;
+  }
+  n->widget = w;
+  n->wdestruct = wdestruct;
+  return 0;
+}
+
+// initialize visualization backend (ffmpeg/oiio)
 int ncvisual_init(int loglevel);
 
 static inline int
diff --git a/src/lib/menu.c b/src/lib/menu.c
index a24c713b6..18152a908 100644
--- a/src/lib/menu.c
+++ b/src/lib/menu.c
@@ -412,6 +412,7 @@ ncmenu* ncmenu_create(ncplane* n, const ncmenu_options* opts){
       };
       ret->ncp = ncplane_create(n, &nopts);
       if(ret->ncp){
+        ncplane_set_widget(ret->ncp, ret, ncmenu_destroy);
         ret->unrolledsection = -1;
         ret->headerchannels = opts->headerchannels;
         ret->dissectchannels = opts->headerchannels;
@@ -769,7 +770,9 @@ int ncmenu_destroy(ncmenu* n){
   int ret = 0;
   if(n){
     free_menu_sections(n);
-    ncplane_destroy(n->ncp);
+    if(ncplane_set_widget(n->ncp, NULL, NULL) == 0){
+      ncplane_destroy(n->ncp);
+    }
     free(n);
   }
   return ret;
diff --git a/src/lib/notcurses.c b/src/lib/notcurses.c
index 0662d0d5f..fdd0a0831 100644
--- a/src/lib/notcurses.c
+++ b/src/lib/notcurses.c
@@ -346,6 +346,13 @@ ncpile_destroy(ncpile* pile){
 
 void free_plane(ncplane* p){
   if(p){
+    if(p->widget){
+      void* w = p->widget;
+      void (*wdestruct)(void*) = p->wdestruct;
+      p->widget = NULL;
+      p->wdestruct = NULL;
+      wdestruct(w);
+    }
     // ncdirect fakes an ncplane with no ->pile
     if(ncplane_pile(p)){
       notcurses* nc = ncplane_notcurses(p);
@@ -444,6 +451,8 @@ ncplane* ncplane_new_internal(notcurses* nc, ncplane* n,
   }
   p->scrolling = false;
   p->fixedbound = nopts->flags & NCPLANE_OPTION_FIXED;
+  p->widget = NULL;
+  p->wdestruct = NULL;
   if(nopts->flags & NCPLANE_OPTION_MARGINALIZED){
     p->margin_b = nopts->margin_b;
     p->margin_r = nopts->margin_r;
diff --git a/src/poc/procroller.c b/src/poc/procroller.c
index d947a8c6c..36d822a94 100644
--- a/src/poc/procroller.c
+++ b/src/poc/procroller.c
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv){
   struct ncplane* std = notcurses_stdplane(nc);
   ncplane_set_scrolling(std, true);
   ncsubproc_options nopts = {};
-  struct ncsubproc* nsproc = ncsubproc_createvp(std, &nopts, *argv, argv, cb, eofcb);
+  struct ncsubproc* nsproc = ncsubproc_createvp(std, &nopts, *argv,
+                              (const char* const*)argv, cb, eofcb);
   if(nsproc == NULL){
     notcurses_stop(nc);
     return EXIT_FAILURE;
diff --git a/src/tests/menu.cpp b/src/tests/menu.cpp
index c7416a11b..b24d66417 100644
--- a/src/tests/menu.cpp
+++ b/src/tests/menu.cpp
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ TEST_CASE("Menu") {
     ncmenu_destroy(ncm);
   }
 
-  // don't call ncmenu_destroy(), invoking destruction in notcurses_stop()
+  // don't call ncmenu_destroy(), invoking destruction in notcurses_stop().
   SUBCASE("MenuNoFree") {
     struct ncmenu_item file_items[] = {
       { .desc = "I would like a new file", .shortcut = ncinput(), },