[Windows app] Light theme composer is cyan and selected text is unreadable
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
26.814.41957
What subscription do you have?
ChatGPT Plus
What platform is your computer?
Windows 10 Pro 22H2, OS Build 19045.7663, x64
What issue are you seeing?
Theme-related colors are rendered incorrectly in the Windows ChatGPT/Codex desktop app.
In Light theme, the entire message composer background becomes bright cyan. Changing the permission mode from “Approve for me” to “Ask for approval” does not change it.
Switching to Dark theme removes the cyan composer background. However, when text in a response is selected with the mouse, the selection background becomes dark navy or black and the selected text is also very dark, making it almost unreadable.
Copying with Ctrl+C still works, but the selected range cannot be visually confirmed.
Steps to reproduce:
- Open the ChatGPT/Codex desktop app on Windows.
- Set Appearance/Theme to Light.
- Open a chat and focus the message composer.
- Observe that the composer background is bright cyan.
- Change the permission mode between “Approve for me” and “Ask for approval”.
- Observe that the cyan background remains.
- Change the theme to Dark.
- Select part of a response by dragging the mouse.
- Observe that the selection background and text color have insufficient contrast and the selected text is unreadable.
<img width="849" height="747" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9e8e5239-6908-4041-9641-31b5774df476" />
<img width="840" height="279" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f7956edc-3b2b-4c8c-bb5d-bd94aa251803" />
What steps can reproduce the bug?
Feedback ID: 01a01a17-c6d2-7463-aa77-2d3daa2696fb
What is the expected behavior?
In Light theme, the message composer should use the normal white or light-gray background.
When response text is selected in either theme, the selection background and selected text should have sufficient contrast and remain readable.
Additional information
Windows package version: 26.814.5517.0
App release date: 2026-08-18
Troubleshooting already attempted:
- Updated the app to the latest available version
- Ran Windows “Repair”
- Switched between “Approve for me” and “Ask for approval”
- Switched between Light and Dark themes
The issue persists. Dark theme avoids the cyan composer background, but the text-selection contrast problem remains.
Reinstallation and Windows app reset have not been attempted.
3 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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This issue appears related to #39135.
I can reproduce the same bright cyan composer on Windows 10 Pro 22H2
(OS build 19045.7663) with app version 26.814.41957 and package version
26.814.5517.0.
I am not using Remote Desktop (RDP). In addition, selected text is
unreadable because of insufficient contrast. Switching to dark theme
removes the cyan composer background, but the text-selection contrast
problem remains.
I tested with Windows transparency effects (Aero) both enabled and disabled,
and the behavior did not change.
When scrolling, the shape of the cyan area changes and follows the contours
of the rendered text. This occurs regardless of the Windows transparency
setting.
Screenshots are attached.
<img width="881" height="453" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6bf246f4-4bde-4b17-b1ec-6dca9f3111e6" />
<img width="843" height="507" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f0c34bfb-6fde-4777-856e-38862fb749ae" />