[Feature/UX] Yellow notification dot never clears on read + no way to configure dot behaviour
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)
- 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.
- OR make the dot behaviour configurable — e.g. a
settings.jsonkey / 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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