[teamleaderleo]

On the Grass and Hot Dog Stand themes, every floating glass card (hover cards, popovers, the palette, the update card) drew an opaque fill, and its text still missed 4.5:1. CardMaterial lays the card fill on the glass at the least alpha below 1 that keeps primary and secondary text at 4.5:1 over black and over white. When no alpha does, it falls back to exactly 1, and the glass turns solid. Glass is never opaque, and card text keeps WCAG AA (Lawrence, 2026-10-20). This follows #23366 (the no-opaque-glass guard) and covers every theme cmux ships.

The cause was in ThemeTokens.derive. When a foreground didn't read, the code walked it toward white or toward black, picking by a 0.18 luminance cutoff of the pressed row, and checked the result only on that row.

• Grass (#FFF0A5 on #13773D): the walk went to near-black, which reads on the pressed row but gets 3.73:1 on the background and on the card.
• Hot Dog Stand (white on #EA3323): the text became a dark grey that held on the lighter pressed row but not on the red. White itself only reaches 4.20:1 on that red.

Two fixes:

• Ink choice (ThemeTokens.inks): a foreground that already reads keeps its color. Otherwise it is walked toward both white and black until it reads on the pressed row and on the background, and the candidate whose primary and secondary text keep the higher least contrast wins. The score is capped at 4.5:1, so when both candidates read, the one toward the pole that reads better on the pressed row stays first. Grass now takes white and Hot Dog Stand dark text.
• Card lift (opaqueOverlayFill): a dark theme's card fill was lifted toward its text. With dark text that darkens the card, so when the text is darker than the page the fill now lifts toward white, as on a light theme.

CardMaterial's opacity rule, ChromeTunables, theme files and ChiefPetBubble.swift are unchanged.

What changes among the 622 bundled themes: only Grass (ink, and so its card fill, through the unchanged dark lift) and Hot Dog Stand (ink, and its card fill through the white lift). onlyGrassAndHotDogStandChange re-derives every theme with the previous rule and asserts that this is the whole changed set.

One exemption: Grass's pressed and selected rows keep 4.41:1. No single ink reads on both its background and its pressed rows: white gets 5.62:1 on the background and 4.41:1 on a pressed row, black 4.76:1 on a pressed row and 3.73:1 on the background. The test exempts Grass by name at that measured ratio.

Tests

CardNeverOpaqueTests (CmuxNextDesignTests) reads every theme file the app bundles (Resources/ghostty/themes, Resources/cmux-themes) and checks:

• the card stays below alpha 1;
• primary and secondary text keep 4.5:1 on the card over the worst backdrop (TooltipSurface.worstContrast, as CardMaterial measures) and on the pressed row, with the one Grass exemption;
• only Grass and Hot Dog Stand change, against the previous rule;
• the ink choice on the two fills (Grass light, Hot Dog Stand dark, with their ratios);
• Hot Dog Stand's white lift;
• a grey-on-grey fixture that the checker must report, so the sweep can't pass by checking nothing.

Command (fleet):

cmux-ci run --class light --script scripts/ci/package-test-lane.sh --ref <sha> [--red] \
  --arg=suite --arg=Packages/macOS/CmuxNext --arg=CmuxNextDesignTests.CardNeverOpaqueTests \
  --env CMUX_CI_XCODE_APP=/Applications/Xcode_26.6.app

Red at the test commit, green at head

• Red at the test commit 86316da761b7 (fleet step 44b8003d6f549348e6f4e45c, --red, CardNeverOpaqueTests): 4 of 5 tests fail; the fixture test passes. Failure lines:
  • opaque → ["Resources/ghostty/themes/Grass [dark] (fill #13773D, opacity 1.0)", "Resources/ghostty/themes/Hot Dog Stand [dark] (fill #EA3323, opacity 1.0)"]).isEmpty → false
  • cardInk → [Grass primary 3.53, Grass secondary 3.53, Hot Dog Stand primary 3.94, Hot Dog Stand secondary 3.89]
  • changed → [:]: at this commit the test's copy of the previous rule matches derive exactly on all 622 themes, which is what the green changed-set check is measured against.
  • grass.textPrimary.relativeLuminance → 0.0029 > 0.1367 (Grass's text was near-black), and hotDog.opaqueOverlayFill → #EA3323 where the white lift gives #ED5042.
• Green at head 50ea1b1f6c6d (fleet step 92ab4af6606130e29bc68d3d): all 20 suites passed, listed below.
  • The new suite: CardNeverOpaqueTests.
  • Card, popup and tooltip contrast: CardMaterialLegibilityTests, WebCardMaterialTests, PopupSurfaceTests, SeeThroughInkTests, ReadabilityOverArtTests, TooltipSurfaceTests.
  • Web theme: WebThemeSolidSurfaceTests, WebThemeCaretSelectionTests, WebThemeTerminalTests.
  • Theme and accent: BundledCmuxThemesTests, ThemeAccentEditTests, GroupHeaderThemeLookTests.
  • Glass, selection and cards: FocusedPaneTabCueTests, WindowGlassTests, DragGlassTests, SidebarSelectionLookTests, UpdateFeedCardTests.
  • Palette chips: PaletteScopeChipContrastTests, PaletteScopeChipSnapshotTests.
• Fleet compile check at head: success, https://github.com/manaflow-ai/cmux/actions/runs/39609156884.

Observed / Not run

• Observed: the fleet runs above, and both captures below (each read before upload).
• Not run: the full CmuxNext package test suite. Only the 20 suites listed ran. The previous-rule comparison covers inks and card fills only; it does not compare derived colors that depend on the primary ink, such as highlightText and onAccent.
• For a user theme (not bundled), the ink choice can now land on the other pole when that pole reads on both the pressed row and the background and the old pole doesn't. That is intended. Among bundled themes, the changed-set check shows it happens only for Grass and Hot Dog Stand.

Changelog

• Fixed: text on the Grass and Hot Dog Stand themes' glass cards now meets contrast and the card stays translucent.

Captures

The tab hover-card gallery (debug.hover_cards gallery tabs) at head, with appearance.theme set to each theme. Both theme names are single themes, so the light and dark stills show the same theme. The sidebar gallery was refused by the privacy check, because one of its fixture cards names a real machine.

Grass:

Capture steps-8a83f81d4d at 50ea1b1f6c6d (fleet build, capture mini, text checked for private data)

Light	Dark

Hot Dog Stand:

Capture steps-007fc7d0ba at 50ea1b1f6c6d (fleet build, capture mini, text checked for private data)

Light	Dark

Agent session: cosmic-gray

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[teamleaderleo]

Owned by palette-audit on cosmic-gray · session

[github-actions]

cmux status _{(one comment, edited in place; each line is updated by the job that owns it)}

Review 50ea1b1: HQ feed card · gallery before/after runs · checks

App of this head (app.zip, kept 1 day)

gh workflow run reload-build.yml -R manaflow-ai/cmux --ref feat-cmux-next -f tag=pr23441 -f ref=cmux/card-never-opaque -f platform=macos -f backend_mode=local

Tour of 50ea1b1f6c (run)

The path-selected recorder failed for core; see the run artifact and failed manifests.

Path-selected interactions

Interaction	Changed paths
core	Packages/macOS/CmuxNext/Sources/CmuxNextDesign/OverlayMaterial.swift Packages/macOS/CmuxNext/Tests/CmuxNextDesignTests/CardNeverOpaqueTests.swift

Core UI (before): PASS — 19 ok

Video (mp4)

#	Step	Result	Command
1	Launch	ok
2	New workspace	ok	cmux workspace new --name Tour
3	Type in the terminal	ok	cmux workspace name:Tour screen current pane current tab current terminal current write --text "echo hello from the cmux-next tour\r"
4	A command reports progress: tab loading spinner	ok	cmux workspace name:Tour screen current pane current tab current terminal current write --text "clear; printf '\\033]9;4;3\\007'; sleep 900\r"
5	Split right	ok	cmux action run splitRight
6	Split down	ok	cmux action run splitDown
7	New terminal tab	ok	cmux action run newSurface
8	Browser tab	ok	cmux tab new-browser --url https://example.com
9	Hide the sidebar	ok	cmux action run toggleSidebar
10	Show the sidebar	ok	cmux action run toggleSidebar
11	Notification	ok	cmux notify --title Tour --body "Hello from CI"
12	Notifications panel	ok	cmux action run showNotifications
13	Agent chat	ok	cmux agent new-chat
14	Agent workspace	ok	cmux workspace new --name Agent
15	Agent starts	ok	cmux workspace name:Agent screen current pane current tab current terminal current write --text "clear; printf '\\033]7501;state=working\\033\\\\'; sleep 8; printf '\\033]7501;state=done\\033\\\\'; sleep 900\r"
16	An agent works: row working spinner	ok	cmux workspace new --name Notes
17	The agent finishes: done mark in the spinner's place	ok
18	Session tree: keycaps on the first rows	ok	cmux settings set sidebar.sessionTree true
19	Session tree back off for later tours	ok	cmux settings set sidebar.sessionTree false

Screenshots (15)

1. Launch


2. New workspace


3. Type in the terminal


4. A command reports progress: tab loading spinner


5. Split right


6. Split down


7. New terminal tab


8. Browser tab


9. Hide the sidebar


11. Notification


12. Notifications panel


13. Agent chat


16. An agent works: row working spinner


17. The agent finishes: done mark in the spinner's place


18. Session tree: keycaps on the first rows

### Core UI \(after\): PASS — 19 ok

Video (mp4)

#	Step	Result	Command
1	Launch	ok
2	New workspace	ok	cmux workspace new --name Tour
3	Type in the terminal	ok	cmux workspace name:Tour screen current pane current tab current terminal current write --text "echo hello from the cmux-next tour\r"
4	A command reports progress: tab loading spinner	ok	cmux workspace name:Tour screen current pane current tab current terminal current write --text "clear; printf '\\033]9;4;3\\007'; sleep 900\r"
5	Split right	ok	cmux action run splitRight
6	Split down	ok	cmux action run splitDown
7	New terminal tab	ok	cmux action run newSurface
8	Browser tab	ok	cmux tab new-browser --url https://example.com
9	Hide the sidebar	ok	cmux action run toggleSidebar
10	Show the sidebar	ok	cmux action run toggleSidebar
11	Notification	ok	cmux notify --title Tour --body "Hello from CI"
12	Notifications panel	ok	cmux action run showNotifications
13	Agent chat	ok	cmux agent new-chat
14	Agent workspace	ok	cmux workspace new --name Agent
15	Agent starts	ok	cmux workspace name:Agent screen current pane current tab current terminal current write --text "clear; printf '\\033]7501;state=working\\033\\\\'; sleep 8; printf '\\033]7501;state=done\\033\\\\'; sleep 900\r"
16	An agent works: row working spinner	ok	cmux workspace new --name Notes
17	The agent finishes: done mark in the spinner's place	ok
18	Session tree: keycaps on the first rows	ok	cmux settings set sidebar.sessionTree true
19	Session tree back off for later tours	ok	cmux settings set sidebar.sessionTree false

Screenshots (15)

1. Launch


2. New workspace


3. Type in the terminal


4. A command reports progress: tab loading spinner


5. Split right


6. Split down


7. New terminal tab


8. Browser tab


9. Hide the sidebar


11. Notification


12. Notifications panel


13. Agent chat


16. An agent works: row working spinner


17. The agent finishes: done mark in the spinner's place


18. Session tree: keycaps on the first rows

_{Tours are data in scripts/cmux-next/media/tours: add a step or a tour file to show your feature.}

[blacksmith-sh]

Found 6 test failures on Blacksmith runners:

Failures

Test	View Logs
/tmp/tmp40rfq6c3/summary-missing.json (live):/summary-missing.json (live):	View Logs
/tmp/tmpgzdkcmza/summary-fail.json (live):/summary-fail.json (live):	View Logs
[new_workspaces] debug.new_workspace timed 0 of 50 new workspace rows/ [new_workspaces] debug.new_workspace timed 0 of 50 new workspace rows	View Logs
[new_workspaces] the window draws no frames/[new_workspaces] the window draws no frames	View Logs
[tabs] debug.tab_switch timed 0 of 40 switches/ [tabs] debug.tab_switch timed 0 of 40 switches	View Logs
[tabs] the window draws no frames/[tabs] the window draws no frames	View Logs

^{Need help on this PR? Tag @codesmith-bot with what you need.}

[teamleaderleo]

Bead cx-v98s7 created for this PR by the cmux coordinator.

[teamleaderleo]

cmux-next guards / defaults-snapshot is red on 19 of 20 fresh feat-cmux-next PR heads in the last 2:00:00, so it is most likely a base red, not this PR's. The base-reds lane has it; a base merge picks up the fix once it lands.

[github-actions]

Shipped in:

• cmux NEXT nightly 1.0.0-nightly.3962509665801 (ed547f0e27)
• cmux NEXT nightly 1.0.0-nightly.3962960774501 (913f2e6d53)