diff --git a/src/Surface.zig b/src/Surface.zig
index 7a70c09862c..394fafb3bd7 100644
--- a/src/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/Surface.zig
@@ -930,6 +930,7 @@ pub fn init(
             .size = size,
             .full_config = config,
             .config = try termio.Termio.DerivedConfig.init(alloc, config),
+            .color_scheme = self.config_conditional_state.theme,
             .backend = io_backend,
             .suppress_terminal_responses = if (comptime @hasDecl(apprt.runtime.Surface, "suppressTerminalResponses"))
                 rt_surface.suppressTerminalResponses()
@@ -6847,6 +6848,9 @@ pub fn colorSchemeCallback(self: *Surface, scheme: apprt.ColorScheme) !void {
 
     // Setup our conditional state which has the current color theme.
     self.config_conditional_state.theme = new_scheme;
+    // Reports must follow the surface even if a plain config has no conditional
+    // theme to reload, or the embedder coalesces the reload notification.
+    self.io.updateColorScheme(new_scheme);
     self.notifyConfigConditionalState();
 
     // If mode 2031 is on, then we report the change live.
diff --git a/src/terminal/formatter.zig b/src/terminal/formatter.zig
index 1b562eb565d..d578dd1982c 100644
--- a/src/terminal/formatter.zig
+++ b/src/terminal/formatter.zig
@@ -89,6 +89,11 @@ pub const Options = struct {
     /// screen contents as it is rendered on the page in the given size.
     unwrap: bool = false,
 
+    /// Preserve blank rows at the end of VT selections when the caller also
+    /// requests cursor/state restoration. Replay consumers need those rows to
+    /// keep the active screen anchored after retained scrollback.
+    preserve_trailing_blank_rows: bool = false,
+
     /// Trim trailing whitespace on lines with other text. Trailing blank
     /// lines are always trimmed. This only affects trailing whitespace
     /// on rows that have at least one other cell with text. Whitespace
@@ -335,7 +340,12 @@ pub const TerminalFormatter = struct {
             }
         }
 
-        var screen_formatter: ScreenFormatter = .init(self.terminal.screens.active, self.opts);
+        var screen_opts = self.opts;
+        screen_opts.preserve_trailing_blank_rows =
+            screen_opts.preserve_trailing_blank_rows or
+            (self.opts.emit == .vt and self.extra.screen.cursor);
+        var screen_formatter: ScreenFormatter =
+            .init(self.terminal.screens.active, screen_opts);
         screen_formatter.content = self.content;
         screen_formatter.extra = self.extra.screen;
         screen_formatter.pin_map = self.pin_map;
@@ -1428,6 +1438,40 @@ pub const PageFormatter = struct {
             }
         }
 
+        // Plain dumps intentionally omit trailing blank rows because their
+        // meaning cannot be recovered without the cursor. VT replay asks for
+        // cursor restoration, so preserve those physical rows before the
+        // terminal formatter emits the cursor and other state footer.
+        if (self.opts.preserve_trailing_blank_rows and blank_rows > 0) {
+            const sequence: []const u8 = switch (self.opts.emit) {
+                .plain => "\n",
+                .vt => "\r\n",
+                .html => "\n",
+            };
+            for (0..blank_rows) |_| try writer.writeAll(sequence);
+
+            if (self.point_map) |*map| {
+                const start: Coordinate = if (map.map.items.len > 0)
+                    map.map.items[map.map.items.len - 1]
+                else
+                    .{ .x = 0, .y = 0 };
+                map.map.appendNTimes(
+                    map.alloc,
+                    .{ .x = start.x, .y = start.y },
+                    sequence.len,
+                ) catch return error.WriteFailed;
+                for (1..blank_rows) |y_offset_usize| {
+                    const y_offset: size.CellCountInt = @intCast(y_offset_usize);
+                    map.map.appendNTimes(
+                        map.alloc,
+                        .{ .x = 0, .y = start.y + y_offset },
+                        sequence.len,
+                    ) catch return error.WriteFailed;
+                }
+            }
+            blank_rows = 0;
+        }
+
         // If the style is non-default, we need to close our style tag.
         if (!style.default()) try self.formatStyleClose(writer);
 
diff --git a/src/termio/Options.zig b/src/termio/Options.zig
index ffcbf517995..029144b5c7a 100644
--- a/src/termio/Options.zig
+++ b/src/termio/Options.zig
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ full_config: *const Config,
 /// The derived configuration for this termio implementation.
 config: termio.Termio.DerivedConfig,
 
+/// The surface's current runtime scheme. This is independent of whether the
+/// configuration contains any theme-conditional settings.
+color_scheme: @import("../config.zig").ConditionalState.Theme,
+
 /// The backend for termio that implements where reads/writes are sourced.
 backend: termio.Backend,
 
diff --git a/src/termio/Termio.zig b/src/termio/Termio.zig
index f02d9c4c388..3a9261e34aa 100644
--- a/src/termio/Termio.zig
+++ b/src/termio/Termio.zig
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ backend: termio.Backend,
 /// The derived configuration for this termio implementation.
 config: DerivedConfig,
 
+/// Runtime scheme used by CSI 996 queries and mode 2031 reports. Guarded by
+/// renderer_state.mutex; config swaps must never overwrite appearance state.
+color_scheme: configpkg.ConditionalState.Theme,
+
 /// The terminal emulator internal state. This is the abstract "terminal"
 /// that manages input, grid updating, etc. and is renderer-agnostic. It
 /// just stores internal state about a grid.
@@ -209,7 +213,6 @@ pub const DerivedConfig = struct {
     osc_color_report_format: configpkg.Config.OSCColorReportFormat,
     clipboard_write: configpkg.ClipboardAccess,
     enquiry_response: []const u8,
-    conditional_state: configpkg.ConditionalState,
 
     pub fn init(
         alloc_gpa: Allocator,
@@ -249,7 +252,6 @@ pub const DerivedConfig = struct {
             .osc_color_report_format = config.@"osc-color-report-format",
             .clipboard_write = config.@"clipboard-write",
             .enquiry_response = try alloc.dupe(u8, config.@"enquiry-response"),
-            .conditional_state = config._conditional_state,
 
             // This has to be last so that we copy AFTER the arena allocations
             // above happen (Zig assigns in order).
@@ -374,6 +376,7 @@ pub fn init(self: *Termio, alloc: Allocator, opts: termio.Options) !void {
         .alloc = alloc,
         .terminal = term,
         .config = opts.config,
+        .color_scheme = opts.color_scheme,
         .renderer_state = opts.renderer_state,
         .renderer_wakeup = opts.renderer_wakeup,
         .renderer_mailbox = opts.renderer_mailbox,
@@ -625,6 +628,14 @@ pub fn changeConfig(self: *Termio, td: *ThreadData, config: *DerivedConfig) !voi
     self.terminal.setKittyGraphicsLoadingLimits(.allWithTempDir(global.tmpDirPath()));
 }
 
+/// Update report state synchronously with the surface appearance callback.
+/// The IO thread reads it under the same lock when it handles a queued query.
+pub fn updateColorScheme(self: *Termio, scheme: configpkg.ConditionalState.Theme) void {
+    self.renderer_state.mutex.lockUncancelable(global.io());
+    defer self.renderer_state.mutex.unlock(global.io());
+    self.color_scheme = scheme;
+}
+
 /// Update only the terminal color defaults used by OSC resets.
 ///
 /// Manual-IO embedders call this on the same serial executor as processOutput.
@@ -972,7 +983,7 @@ pub fn colorSchemeReportLocked(self: *Termio, td: *ThreadData, force: bool) !voi
     if (!force and !self.renderer_state.terminal.modes.get(.report_color_scheme)) {
         return;
     }
-    const scheme: terminalpkg.device_status.ColorScheme = switch (self.config.conditional_state.theme) {
+    const scheme: terminalpkg.device_status.ColorScheme = switch (self.color_scheme) {
         .light => .light,
         .dark => .dark,
     };