Incorrect color rendering and yellow background in GNU Screen with gemini-cli

Anton Kratz <[email protected]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 13:04:36 +0900
Newsgroups gmane.comp.gnu.screen.user
Message-ID <CAAhY1SVX4Fwjgay_2hmOOg3wMxXFwpoF=8LtdBJ3C1g6QOZb7A@mail.gmail.com>
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Running a gemini (cli) that uses 24-bit TrueColor or 256 colors inside GNU
screen results in distorted colors. Lots of background highlighted in
yellow, overall weird colors. gemini-cli is very hard to use like this.

gemini works when I am not in a GNU screen session.

When inside the GNU screen, $TERM is `screen-256color`.

What I tried:

Verified TrueColor support inside GSC using a printf escape sequence; the
output correctly displays as orange.

Configured ~/.screenrc with the following parameters to enable TrueColor
and 256-color support:

altscreen on
defbce off
truecolor on
attrcolor b ".I"
termcapinfo * 'Co#256:AB=\E[48;5;%dm:AF=\E[38;5;%dm'
termcapinfo * 'truecolor@'
termcapinfo xterm*|putty*|rxvt*|konsole*|gnome-terminal*|xfce4-terminal*
'XT'
term screen-256color

These are my versions:

XFCE 4.20
openSUSE Tumbleweed, aarch64
GTK Version 3.24.51
X11, not wayland
Screen version 4.09.01 (GNU) 20-Aug-23

Anton

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div style=3D"font-size:small" class=3D"gmail_default">Run=
ning a gemini (cli) that uses 24-bit TrueColor or 256 colors inside GNU scr=
een results in distorted colors. Lots of background highlighted in yellow, =
overall weird colors. gemini-cli is very hard to use like this.</div><div s=
tyle=3D"font-size:small" class=3D"gmail_default"><br></div><div style=3D"fo=
nt-size:small" class=3D"gmail_default">gemini works when I am not in a GNU =
screen session.<br><br>When inside the GNU screen, $TERM is `screen-256colo=
r`.<br><br>What I tried:<br><br>Verified TrueColor support inside GSC using=
 a printf escape sequence; the output correctly displays as orange.<br><br>=
Configured ~/.screenrc with the following parameters to enable TrueColor an=
d 256-color support:<br><br>altscreen on<br>defbce off<br>truecolor on<br>a=
ttrcolor b &quot;.I&quot;<br>termcapinfo * &#39;Co#256:AB=3D\E[48;5;%dm:AF=
=3D\E[38;5;%dm&#39;<br>termcapinfo * &#39;truecolor@&#39;<br>termcapinfo xt=
erm*|putty*|rxvt*|konsole*|gnome-terminal*|xfce4-terminal* &#39;XT&#39;<br>=
term screen-256color<br><br>These are my versions:<br><br>XFCE 4.20<br>open=
SUSE Tumbleweed, aarch64<br>GTK Version 3.24.51<br>X11, not wayland<br></di=
v><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small">Screen version 4.0=
9.01 (GNU) 20-Aug-23<br><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"fon=
t-size:small">Anton</div></div>

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