fix: preserve explicit light/dark theme fallback

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- **PR #2317** (refs #2312) — Appearance boot reconciliation now treats explicit `light`, `dark`, and `system` localStorage theme values as user selections when a prior Settings autosave failed. Previously only `system` was considered explicit, so users who picked `light` on a server defaulted to `dark` (or vice versa) could still be reverted on refresh.
+
 - **PR #2275** by @ai-ag2026 — CLI/messaging continuation sessions (sessions stitched from a `parent_session_id` chain) now return their full transcript instead of an empty list. Pre-fix, `get_cli_session_messages()` called `_is_continuation_session()` while walking the parent chain, but `api/models.py` didn't import that helper. The exception was swallowed by `except Exception: return []`, so valid external sessions could fall through silently. Adds regression coverage that a stitched continuation chain returns a non-empty transcript.
 
 - **PR #2277** by @eleboucher — Rootless container runtimes (k8s `runAsNonRoot: true`, OpenShift restricted SCC, `docker --user`, rootless Podman) no longer hit a cascade of permission errors at startup. Pre-fix, the rootless branch skipped the root init phase entirely, but root init also did rsync, `/uv_cache` permissions, `~/hermeswebui` home directory creation, and `/workspace` writability. `docker_init.bash` now distinguishes "no root init available" from "root init available but skipped", running the work that doesn't need root in the rootless branch too.

static/boot.js

@@ -1409,15 +1409,16 @@ function applyBotName(){
     // localStorage into 'dark'/'default' BEFORE this code runs, so a truly
     // empty (new-browser) state is indistinguishable from a user who chose
     // the defaults.  To avoid blocking server→client sync on first visit we
-    // only let localStorage override the server when it carries a NON-DEFAULT
-    // skin or a non-dark/light theme value (i.e. the user explicitly picked
-    // something).  When localStorage is at the defaults, the server wins.
+    // only let localStorage override the server when it carries an explicit
+    // user-selectable theme value or a NON-DEFAULT skin.  That keeps the
+    // server in charge for empty first-visit state while preserving explicit
+    // light/dark/system choices after a failed autosave.
     const srvAppearance=_normalizeAppearance(s.theme,s.skin);
     const lsTheme=(localStorage.getItem('hermes-theme')||'').trim().toLowerCase();
     const lsSkin=(localStorage.getItem('hermes-skin')||'').trim().toLowerCase();
     const lsAppearance=_normalizeAppearance(lsTheme||null,lsSkin||null);
     const lsHasExplicitSkin=lsSkin&&lsSkin!=='default';
-    const lsHasExplicitTheme=lsTheme&&lsTheme==='system';
+    const lsHasExplicitTheme=lsTheme&&['system','light','dark'].includes(lsTheme);
     const theme=lsHasExplicitTheme?lsAppearance.theme:srvAppearance.theme;
     const skin=lsHasExplicitSkin?lsAppearance.skin:srvAppearance.skin;
     localStorage.setItem('hermes-theme',theme);

tests/test_batch_fixes.py

@@ -236,6 +236,13 @@ def test_theme_listener_cleanup_uses_stable_handler(self):
             "_applyTheme must remove the previous OS-theme listener before adding a new one"
         )
 
+    def test_boot_reconcile_treats_light_dark_as_explicit_theme_choices(self):
+        src = read("static/boot.js")
+        assert "['system','light','dark'].includes(lsTheme)" in src, (
+            "boot appearance reconciliation must preserve explicit light/dark/system "
+            "localStorage selections when a prior autosave failed"
+        )
+
     def test_panels_hydrates_appearance_before_models_fetch(self):
         src = read("static/panels.js")
         skin_idx = src.index("const skinVal=(settings.skin||'default').toLowerCase();")