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terminal.background in workbench.colorCustomizations ignored for light-base themes in 1.111.0 on macOS #303246

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terminal.background in workbench.colorCustomizations ignored for light-base themes in 1.111.0 on macOS#303246
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anthonykim1
@zachcasper

Description

@zachcasper
zachcasper
opened on Mar 19, 2026

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

Bug: terminal.background in workbench.colorCustomizations ignored for light-base themes in 1.111.0 on macOS

VS Code version: 1.111.0 (broken), 1.110.0 (works correctly)
OS: macOS (Apple Silicon / arm64)
Theme: Default Light Modern

Description

terminal.background set via workbench.colorCustomizations is ignored when using Default Light Modern (or any light-base theme) in VS Code 1.111.0 on macOS. The same configuration works correctly in 1.110.0. Downgrading to 1.110.0 resolves the issue.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install VS Code 1.111.0 on macOS Apple Silicon
  2. Set theme to Default Light Modern
  3. Add the following to settings.json:
"workbench.colorCustomizations": {
  "[Default Light Modern]": {
    "terminal.background": "#282935",
    "terminal.foreground": "#efefeb",
    "panel.background": "#282935"
  }
}
  1. Reload window, open a new terminal

Expected: Terminal background renders as #282935
Actual: Terminal background renders as the theme default (~#F8F8F8)

Confirmed Not Caused By

  • Workspace-level .vscode/settings.json override (none exists)
  • Extension conflict (all extensions checked — none touch terminal colors)
  • JSON syntax errors in settings.json (file verified correct on disk via cat)
  • terminal.integrated.gpuAcceleration setting ("off", "canvas", and "on" all tested)
  • Theme scoping (both scoped [Default Light Modern] and global workbench.colorCustomizations tested)

Additional Debugging Performed

  • VS Code Developer Tools confirmed --vscode-terminal-background: #282935 is correctly registered as a CSS variable on <body> — the color token is set correctly but the terminal canvas ignores it
  • Created a custom theme extension with terminal.background: #282935 baked directly into the theme JSON with the include chain severed — terminal still rendered light
  • Switching to Default Dark Modern and setting terminal.background works correctly in 1.111.0 — the bug is specific to light-base (uiTheme: "vs") themes
  • Downgrading to 1.110.0 resolves the issue with identical settings

Workaround

Downgrade to VS Code 1.110.0.

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