[Feature/UX] Yellow notification dot never clears on read + no way to configure dot behaviour

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened May 31, 2026 by bigmichcio Closed Jun 4, 2026

What happened

In the Claude Code UI, sessions/messages show notification dots in two colours:

  • Blue dot = unread message. Works perfectly: it disappears once I open and read the message.
  • Yellow dot = appears to mean "session pending / awaiting input". Problem: it does NOT clear when I click into and read the message. It stays indefinitely.

There is no documented way to clear a yellow dot, and no setting to control its behaviour. I confirmed via the docs that the dot colour mechanism is not documented anywhere (settings, hooks, env vars).

Why this is a problem

The persistent yellow dot is permanent visual noise. I can never bring my session list to a clean "all read" state. Blue dots behave intuitively (clear on read); yellow ones don't, and I have zero control over them. Over many sessions this is genuinely irritating and makes the unread-tracking useless because I can't trust the dots anymore.

What I'd like (either is fine)

  1. Make the yellow dot clear on read — when I click into / open that session or message, the yellow dot should clear, same as the blue dot does.
  2. OR make the dot behaviour configurable — e.g. a settings.json key / toggle to disable the persistent "pending" marker, or to control when dots clear. Documenting what each colour means would also help.

Environment

  • Claude Code on Windows 11 (native desktop build)

Related

  • #42642 ("What do the colored dots (green/yellow) mean in Worktree Tabs panel?") — closed/stale, never explained or made configurable.
  • #58750 — yellow-dot badge on macOS Cowork, different root cause but same underlying marker.

This small UX gap affects real day-to-day use. Thanks for considering it.

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