[Feature/UX] Yellow notification dot never clears on read + no way to configure dot behaviour

[bigmichcio]

What happened

In the Claude Code UI, sessions/messages show notification dots in two colours:

• Blue dot = unread message. Works perfectly: it disappears once I open and read the message.
• Yellow dot = appears to mean "session pending / awaiting input". Problem: it does NOT clear when I click into and read the message. It stays indefinitely.

There is no documented way to clear a yellow dot, and no setting to control its behaviour. I confirmed via the docs that the dot colour mechanism is not documented anywhere (settings, hooks, env vars).

Why this is a problem

The persistent yellow dot is permanent visual noise. I can never bring my session list to a clean "all read" state. Blue dots behave intuitively (clear on read); yellow ones don't, and I have zero control over them. Over many sessions this is genuinely irritating and makes the unread-tracking useless because I can't trust the dots anymore.

What I'd like (either is fine)

1. Make the yellow dot clear on read — when I click into / open that session or message, the yellow dot should clear, same as the blue dot does.
2. OR make the dot behaviour configurable — e.g. a settings.json key / toggle to disable the persistent "pending" marker, or to control when dots clear. Documenting what each colour means would also help.

Environment

• Claude Code on Windows 11 (native desktop build)

Related

• What do the colored dots (green/yellow) mean in Worktree Tabs panel? #42642 ("What do the colored dots (green/yellow) mean in Worktree Tabs panel?") — closed/stale, never explained or made configurable.
• [BUG] Cowork Desktop (macOS): AskUserQuestion card never reaches renderer; yellow-dot badge shows pending but no UI; on app quit, pending request silently resolves as "Dismissed" #58750 — yellow-dot badge on macOS Cowork, different root cause but same underlying marker.

This small UX gap affects real day-to-day use. Thanks for considering it.

[github-actions]

Found 2 possible duplicate issues:

1. [BUG] Sessions stay marked unread in Desktop app after being viewed (macOS) #51831
2. [FEATURE] Allow users to manually dismiss "Needs input" state in Claude Code Desktop #59740

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[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically closed as a duplicate of #51831.

If this is incorrect, please re-open this issue or create a new one.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.