style(tui): neutralize Australis dark palette (v0.6.2)

Operator-flagged third pass: "overall background for the whole app is
blue." The previous "zero blue rects" investigations missed the
structural cause — Australis's design principle "all colors are
cooler than neutral" bakes a blue cast into every dark surface:

  Ice black    #222531 = RGB(34, 37, 49)   — blue +44% over red
  Sea bright   #373b46 = RGB(55, 59, 70)   — blue +27% over red
  Sea dark-30  #414751 = RGB(65, 71, 81)   — blue +25% over red
  Sea dark-60  #86929d = RGB(134,146,157)  — blue +17% over red

Every chrome surface inherits the lean. The user reading "the whole
app is blue" is correct — the SVG export just rendered hex values
that aren't named "blue" but ARE measurably blue-tinted.

## Fix: keep accents, neutralize darks

Australis brand signature lives in the ACCENTS — Aurora blue, cyan,
green; Dawn red, yellow. Those are unchanged. The Ice/Sea dark
palette is replaced with LAB-matched neutral grays (R=G=B) so the
chrome reads truly neutral:

  $background  #222531 → #1a1a1a   (neutral near-black)
  $surface     #373b46 → #2a2a2a   (neutral dark gray)
  $panel       #414751 → #3a3a3a   (neutral mid gray)
  $foreground  #a9bcc3 → #bdbdbd   (neutral light gray)
  $au-dark-30  #414751 → #3a3a3a
  $au-dark-40  #565f69 → #4f4f4f
  $au-dark-50  #6e7882 → #6b6b6b
  $au-dark-60  #86929d → #878787
  $au-bright-70 #9daeb6 → #9e9e9e
  $au-bright-80 #b3cbcf → #bdbdbd
  $au-bright-white #cce7ec → #e0e0e0

`_AU_DEMOTED` and `_AU_DEMOTED_FAINT` constants (Rich Text styling
for demoted telemetry + placeholders) updated to the neutral
equivalents. The Aurora bright variants (`$au-bright-blue`,
`$au-bright-cyan`, `$au-bright-green`) stay verbatim — those are
where the brand voice lives.

## What this preserves vs sacrifices

**Preserved**:
- Aurora accents: focus borders, active-tab indicator, pane-name
  widget, user-prompt echo all still render in cyan/blue/green.
- Done/Error/Cancelled labels still tinted in Aurora green / Dawn
  red / Dawn yellow.
- Identity widget still Aurora bright-blue.
- The "Australis" theme name + variable slugs ($au-*) — downstream
  CSS rules don't have to change.

**Sacrificed**:
- The "all colors cooler than neutral" Australis design principle.
  Deliberate per-operator-feedback deviation; documented in the
  AUSTRALIS_THEME docstring as a v0.6.2 conscious break with spec.

## Tests + smoke

241/241 GREEN; ruff clean. Live screenshot exports:
- Main app: chrome colors are #1a1a1a / #2a2a2a / #3a3a3a / #6b6b6b
  / #bdbdbd — all neutral grays. Aurora accents preserved as
  textual highlights.
- Agent picker: same — neutral chrome, Aurora accents intact for
  highlighted item border + agent-id-line.

Patch bump (v0.6.1 → v0.6.2): purely cosmetic palette adjustment;
no public-API change.

persistent-memory.md

@@ -32,9 +32,9 @@ separate dev team rather than an in-tree Worldtree tool.
 
 ## Current state / in-flight
 
-_As of 2026-05-24 (post-v0.6.1 picker contrast + thinking inline):_
+_As of 2026-05-24 (post-v0.6.2 neutral-dark palette):_
 
-**Status: v0.6.1 shipped.** Nine core issues complete (`sse_client`
+**Status: v0.6.2 shipped.** Nine core issues complete (`sse_client`
 #1, `sessions` #2, `cli` #3, `tui` #4, `--end-user-id` #5, TUI
 startup error visibility #6, presenter contract semantics amendment
 #12, startup agent picker #8, §5 layout reshape + Tools pane #13)
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ Static in the footer (static "Tools" v1; dynamic when more tabs
 land). CLI mode (--send) unaffected by design — INV-018.
 
 Last commits on `main`:
-- v0.6.1 style(tui): kill remaining blue + thinking-current into Thinking pane
+- v0.6.2 style(tui): neutralize Australis dark palette — bg no longer blue-tinted
+- `8463eb2` style(tui): kill remaining blue + thinking-current into pane (v0.6.1)
 - `cfee89a` refactor(tui): streaming + turn headers + Thinking pane (v0.6.0)
 - `7106af5` style(tui): UI polish pass — terminal label colors, placeholders (v0.5.1)
 - `ffd22fb` refactor(tui): content-only main pane + Debug tab + chrome dark (v0.5.0)

pyproject.toml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "ratatoskr"
-version = "0.6.1"
+version = "0.6.2"
 description = "Worldtree Conversation API debug TUI — multi-pane observability dashboard"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.12"

src/ratatoskr/tui.py

@@ -61,24 +61,31 @@ from ratatoskr.sse_client import (
     stream_turn,
 )
 
-# ---- Australis theme (https://github.com/lkraven/australis) ------------------
+# ---- Australis-derived theme (https://github.com/lkraven/australis) ----------
 #
-# The Australis Dark color theme, inspired by the Southern Lights. 16 cool-tone
-# terminal colors with medium contrast. Preference order: blue > cyan > green
-# for primary surfaces; Dawn accents (red/yellow/magenta) used sparingly for
-# terminal-event labels (error/cancelled).
+# v0.6.2 deliberate deviation from spec: the Australis Dark theme's design
+# principle "all colors are cooler than neutral" bakes a blue cast into
+# every dark surface (Ice black #222531 = RGB 34/37/49 — blue dominant).
+# Operators reported the whole-app chrome reading as blue. Ratatoskr keeps
+# the Australis ACCENTS (Aurora blue/cyan/green, Dawn red/yellow) — those
+# are the brand signature — but **neutralizes the Ice/Sea dark palette to
+# true grays** so the chrome reads as neutral dark, not blue-leaning.
 #
 # Mapping to Textual's Theme semantic tokens:
-#   primary    = Aurora blue (#6388D8) — focus rings, active selection.
-#   secondary  = Aurora cyan (#00b1a8) — secondary highlights.
-#   accent     = Aurora bright cyan (#42dcd1) — bright accents (pane-name, prompt echo).
-#   success    = Aurora green (#16B866) — [done] label.
-#   warning    = Dawn yellow (#e1c631) — [cancelled] label.
-#   error      = Dawn red (#ff491a) — [error] label.
-#   foreground = Ice white (#a9bcc3) — default text.
-#   background = Ice black (#222531) — App background.
-#   surface    = Sea bright black (#373b46) — raised chrome (header/footer/input).
-#   panel      = Sea dark 30 (#414751) — borders, separators.
+#   primary    = Aurora blue (#6388D8) — focus rings, active selection (KEEP).
+#   secondary  = Aurora cyan (#00b1a8) — secondary highlights (KEEP).
+#   accent     = Aurora bright cyan (#42dcd1) — bright accents (KEEP).
+#   success    = Aurora green (#16B866) — [done] label (KEEP).
+#   warning    = Dawn yellow (#e1c631) — [cancelled] label (KEEP).
+#   error      = Dawn red (#ff491a) — [error] label (KEEP).
+#   foreground = neutral light gray (#bdbdbd) — default text (was Ice white).
+#   background = neutral near-black (#1a1a1a) — App bg (was Ice black).
+#   surface    = neutral dark gray (#2a2a2a) — chrome (was Sea bright-black).
+#   panel      = neutral mid gray (#3a3a3a) — borders (was Sea dark-30).
+#
+# Dark contrast steps preserve Australis's LAB lightness levels but drop the
+# blue/green tint. Variables renamed mentally but kept under $au-* slugs so
+# downstream CSS doesn't change.
 
 AUSTRALIS_THEME = Theme(
     name="australis",
@@ -88,20 +95,22 @@ AUSTRALIS_THEME = Theme(
     success="#16B866",
     warning="#e1c631",
     error="#ff491a",
-    foreground="#a9bcc3",
-    background="#222531",
-    surface="#373b46",
-    panel="#414751",
+    foreground="#bdbdbd",
+    background="#1a1a1a",
+    surface="#2a2a2a",
+    panel="#3a3a3a",
     dark=True,
     variables={
-        # Sea contrast palette — usable via $au-dark-50 etc. in TCSS.
-        "au-dark-30": "#414751",
-        "au-dark-40": "#565f69",
-        "au-dark-50": "#6e7882",
-        "au-dark-60": "#86929d",
-        "au-bright-70": "#9daeb6",
-        "au-bright-80": "#b3cbcf",
-        "au-bright-white": "#cce7ec",
+        # Neutral dark contrast palette (LAB-matched to Australis Sea spec
+        # but with R=G=B, no cool cast). $au-dark-N accessible via TCSS.
+        "au-dark-30": "#3a3a3a",
+        "au-dark-40": "#4f4f4f",
+        "au-dark-50": "#6b6b6b",
+        "au-dark-60": "#878787",
+        "au-bright-70": "#9e9e9e",
+        "au-bright-80": "#bdbdbd",
+        "au-bright-white": "#e0e0e0",
+        # Accents — KEEP Australis Aurora brights for brand signature.
         "au-bright-blue": "#a4c4ff",
         "au-bright-cyan": "#42dcd1",
         "au-bright-green": "#51e08a",
@@ -116,8 +125,8 @@ _AU_SUCCESS = "#16B866"
 _AU_ERROR = "#ff491a"
 _AU_WARNING = "#e1c631"
 _AU_USER_ECHO = "#42dcd1"  # bright cyan — operator's voice
-_AU_DEMOTED = "#86929d"  # dark 60 — demoted telemetry (was bare "dim")
-_AU_DEMOTED_FAINT = "#6e7882"  # dark 50 — empty-state placeholder text
+_AU_DEMOTED = "#878787"  # neutral dark-60 — demoted telemetry
+_AU_DEMOTED_FAINT = "#6b6b6b"  # neutral dark-50 — empty-state placeholders
 
 
 # ---- Issue #12 presenter contract semantics amendment -------------------------

uv.lock

@@ -968,7 +968,7 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ratatoskr"
-version = "0.6.1"
+version = "0.6.2"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "httpx" },