[Bug] AskUserQuestion title text is invisible (white-on-white) on light terminal themes

Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 14, 2026 by kaushalvivek

Summary

The AskUserQuestion tool's question title renders in near-white and is invisible against a light terminal background, even though Claude Code has correctly detected the light theme. Only the title is affected — the option labels, option descriptions, and the surrounding assistant text all render in dark, readable text.

This re-files a still-unfixed accessibility bug. The canonical issue #11371 was auto-closed as stale and is now locked; #38386 and #33524 were closed as duplicates of it. The bot on #11371 explicitly asks to open a new issue and reference it. Refs #11371, #38386, #33524.

Why this is a color bug, not a theme-detection bug

In the affected render, everything the tool draws except the title is correctly dark and readable:

  • option labels (bold) — dark, readable
  • option descriptions — dark, readable
  • the surrounding assistant message prose — dark, readable

Claude Code draws all of that from its active theme, so their being dark proves the light theme is active and the light background was detected correctly (this reproduces with theme = auto as well as light). The one element that stays white is the question title/prompt sitting above the options. So the fix is not in background detection — it's the specific foreground color assigned to the AskUserQuestion title in the light theme(s), which appears to be a near-white value that only has contrast on dark backgrounds.

Environment

  • Claude Code v2.0.23+ (observed on a light-background terminal)
  • Reproduced in cmux 0.64.10 (Ghostty-based terminal) in light mode; previously reported on iTerm2 Solarized Light (#38386) and macOS Terminal.app light backgrounds (#11371)
  • Theme: auto and light

Steps to reproduce

  1. Use a terminal with a light background (any light theme).
  2. Set the Claude Code theme to light or auto.
  3. Trigger an AskUserQuestion prompt (options with descriptions).
  4. The question title above the options renders white-on-white and is unreadable, while the option labels and descriptions in the same component render correctly in dark text.

Expected behavior

The AskUserQuestion title should use the light theme's dark foreground — the same color token already used for the option labels/descriptions in the same component — so it has sufficient contrast on light backgrounds.

Notes

Likely a one-line theme fix: point the title's color token at the readable text color the component already uses for option labels, rather than a fixed near-white. Areas: area:tui, area:a11y.

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