Default High Contrast — Agents chat links too dark; GitLens hover differs from VS Code

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Using built-in theme “Default High Contrast” with no workbench.colorCustomizations.

Issue 1 — Agents / Chat window links
Markdown links in the Agents (chat) sidebar render as very dark navy on a dark background. They are hard to see and do not match readable link contrast elsewhere in the workbench.

Issue 2 — GitLens commit hover (parity)
GitLens v18.0.0 commit hover in the editor does not match Visual Studio Code with the same theme, same GitLens version, and no color customizations. Menus/hover widget colors look inconsistent (e.g. menu vs hover panel). VS Code looks correct; Cursor does not.

Environment

  • Cursor IDE 3.6.21 (Stable), VS Code Extension API 1.105.1
  • Commit: e7a7e93f4d75f8272503ecf33cedbaae10114a10
  • Electron 39.8.1 / Chromium 142.0.7444.265 / Node 22.22.1
  • OS: macOS 26.2 (25C56), Darwin arm64 25.2.0
  • Theme: Default High Contrast
  • GitLens: 18.0.0
  • No workbench.colorCustomizations in user or profile settings

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install Cursor 3.6.21 and GitLens 18.0.0.
  2. Set color theme: Command Palette → “Preferences: Color Theme” → Default High Contrast.
  3. Ensure no workbench.colorCustomizations in Cursor user/profile settings (reload window).
  4. Agents links: Open Agents / Chat, get a reply that contains markdown links (e.g. file paths or URLs). Observe link color — very dark navy, low contrast on chat background.
  5. GitLens hover: Open a file with Git history, hover a GitLens inline commit / blame hover in the editor. Compare the same file/line/hover in VS Code with Default High Contrast, GitLens 18.0.0, and no color customizations.

Expected Behavior

Agents links: Links in the Agents chat should use theme-appropriate link colors with sufficient contrast on HC (similar to editor/workbench links — e.g. readable light blue/cyan on dark background per Default High Contrast).

GitLens hover: Commit hover and related menu/hover widget colors should match VS Code when using the same theme, GitLens version, and settings.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

screenshots.zip (957 KB)

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 3.6.21
VS Code Extension API: 1.105.1
Commit: e7a7e93f4d75f8272503ecf33cedbaae10114a10
Date: 2026-05-28T21:45:36.072Z
Layout: editor
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.8.1
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.220
OS: Darwin arm64 25.2.0

For AI issues: which model did you use?

N/A — UI/theme issue, not model-related.

Additional Information

  • Workspace profile: React/TS profile (if relevant for support).
  • Screenshots attached: (1) Agents panel showing dark navy links, (2) GitLens hover in Cursor, (3) same GitLens hover in VS Code for comparison.
  • Can provide DevTools console output from Help → Toggle Developer Tools if needed.
  • VS Code comparison: same macOS, Default High Contrast, GitLens 18.0.0, no color customizations — hover looks correct there; Agents UI is Cursor-only.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

5

Hey, thanks for the detailed report. The environment and steps are perfect.

Both issues are already known:

  1. Links in Agents/Chat on Default High Contrast fall back to a dark blue color, which is hard to read on a dark background. This is a bug on our side and we’re tracking it. Same issue here: Dark High Contrast theme Link Color Broken and [Bug] Undefined CSS variable --cursor-text-link causes hyperlinks to fall back to #0000EE — accessibility issue (Dark High Contrast).

  2. GitLens hover looks different from VS Code. This is also a known issue. It’s not a GitLens bug, it’s a CSS rule for hover tooltips on our side. Thread: All links and icons in hover tooltips use wrong color due to MAX MODE CSS rule.

I can’t share an ETA for fixes yet. I’ll post back once we have updates.

As a temporary workaround for readability, you can install an alternative high-contrast theme from the marketplace, for example GitHub Dark High Contrast. Links in chat usually have better contrast there.

One note: this thread includes two separate bugs. To track them more easily, it’d be best to split them into two threads. If you can, please create a separate thread for the GitLens hover issue, and we’ll keep this one for chat links.