diff --git a/.claude/skills/testing/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/testing/SKILL.md
index 840ee9ac..85c8caa5 100644
--- a/.claude/skills/testing/SKILL.md
+++ b/.claude/skills/testing/SKILL.md
@@ -171,10 +171,20 @@ Scope notes:
only exclusion. `commander` uses `.exitOverride()` so a parse error throws
instead of tearing down the test worker.
- **TUI** covers **all of `src/**`, React surface included**. Components mount
- through `ink-testing-library` with the passthrough doubles in
- `__tests__/helpers/`; keypresses are driven through stdin. The only exclusion
- is `src/tui-servers.ts` (a pure re-export, excluded so it doesn't surface as a
+ through `__tests__/helpers/renderTui.tsx` — `ink-testing-library`'s `render`
+ with every frame ANSI-stripped — alongside the passthrough doubles in the same
+ directory; keypresses are driven through stdin. The only exclusion is
+ `src/tui-servers.ts` (a pure re-export, excluded so it doesn't surface as a
misleading 0/0 row).
+ ⚠️ **Import `render` from that helper, not from `ink-testing-library`.** Ink
+ writes styling *inside* the styled run, so `Info`
+ reaches the frame buffer with escapes between `I` and `nfo` and a plain
+ `toContain("Info")` fails against a component that is rendering correctly. It
+ only shows up where chalk emits color — a developer whose shell exports
+ `FORCE_COLOR` — so CI, which has no TTY, stays green on a suite that is red
+ for them (#2207). If a frame assertion fails on a string you can plainly see
+ in the printed diff, that is the tell. Reach `stdout.lastFrame()` on the
+ returned instance for the raw bytes.
### When a `v8 ignore` is justified
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index a416da3f..a42c9669 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -386,6 +386,7 @@ diagnose a failing gate — is the `testing` skill. These are the rules.
- **`clients/web`**: `.test.tsx` **next to the source** — components, hooks, `lib/`, `utils/`. A web-owned test living under `src/test/` instead is a bug. `src/test/` is for the three things that cannot be co-located: tests of the repo-root **`core/`** package (`src/test/core/…`, mirroring the `core/` layout — it lives outside `clients/web/` and has no harness of its own); the **`integration`** project (`src/test/integration/…` — _placement is the manifest_, picked up by a folder glob, with no enumeration to keep in sync); and **shared test infrastructure** (`renderWithMantine.tsx`, `setup.ts`, `fixtures/`).
- **`clients/cli`, `clients/tui`, `clients/launcher`**: **all** tests in a top-level **`__tests__/`**, not beside their source. Their `tsconfig.json` excludes `**/*.test.*`, so a co-located test lands in **no** tsconfig project and fails `npm run verify:typecheck-coverage`.
- **Root tooling**: a `scripts/*.mjs` helper with pure logic gets a sibling `*.test.mjs`. Keep that exact filename — `node --test` silently _skips_ a file its glob misses and still exits 0.
+- **Render Ink components through the TUI's own `render`** (`clients/tui/__tests__/helpers/renderTui.tsx`), never `ink-testing-library`'s directly. It is the same function with every frame ANSI-stripped, which is what keeps an assertion on styled text from depending on the ambient environment: Ink writes styling *inside* the styled run, so `Info` reaches the frame buffer with escapes between `I` and `nfo` and `toContain("Info")` fails. It only bites where chalk emits color — a developer whose shell exports `FORCE_COLOR` — so CI is green on a suite that is broken for them (#2207). A test that genuinely needs the raw bytes reads `stdout.lastFrame()` off the returned instance.
- **Render React components through `renderWithMantine`** (`src/test/renderWithMantine.tsx`); do not hand-roll a bare `MantineProvider`, which skips the project theme and the helper's options and drifts from every other test. Pass the `colorScheme` option to exercise a forced scheme rather than hand-rolling `defaultColorScheme`. Use `renderWithMantineTransitions` **only** when a test must assert mid-flight transition state, and read the long comment on the helper before changing anything about it.
- **The web coverage `include` is a whitelist.** It names `components`/`hooks`/`theme`/`lib`/`utils`/`server` plus the browser-consumed `core/*` runtime, so a module placed **outside** those directories falls out of the gate entirely, silently. Place new modules inside a gated directory. The documented exceptions — `src/App.tsx` and the `src/main.tsx` / `src/index.ts` bootstraps — are called out in a comment on the `include` array itself.
diff --git a/clients/tui/README.md b/clients/tui/README.md
index bab524ef..ee7da505 100644
--- a/clients/tui/README.md
+++ b/clients/tui/README.md
@@ -103,8 +103,10 @@ stricter react-hooks@7 rules are not enforced on the interim component surface
(#1501).
Tests live in `__tests__/`. The coverage gate covers **all of `src/**`**, React
-surface included — the Ink components mount through `ink-testing-library` (with
-the `ink-scroll-view` / `ink-form` passthrough doubles in `__tests__/helpers/`),
+surface included — the Ink components mount through
+`__tests__/helpers/renderTui.tsx`, `ink-testing-library`'s `render` wrapped so
+every frame it hands back is ANSI-stripped (with the `ink-scroll-view` /
+`ink-form` passthrough doubles in the same directory),
`App.tsx` mounts against a mock of the `@inspector/core` surface, and keypresses
are driven through stdin. The former interim exclusion of the components and
`App.tsx` was lifted in #1501; the only exclusion left in `vitest.config.ts` is
@@ -113,6 +115,16 @@ statements of its own (its logic is measured in `core/` via the web suite, and
`tui-servers.test.ts` still exercises it behaviorally — it is excluded only so it
doesn't surface as a misleading 0/0 row).
+**Import `render` from `__tests__/helpers/renderTui.tsx`, never from
+`ink-testing-library` directly.** Ink writes styling as escape sequences *inside*
+the styled run, so an accelerator underline splits the word it decorates —
+`Info` reaches the frame buffer with escapes between `I`
+and `nfo`, and `expect(frame).toContain("Info")` fails against a component that
+is rendering correctly. Because chalk only emits color when it detects a TTY,
+this is invisible in CI and hits exactly the developer whose shell exports
+`FORCE_COLOR` (#2207). The wrapper strips styling from `lastFrame()` and
+`frames`; the untouched bytes stay available as `stdout.lastFrame()`.
+
### Bundling: React-rendering dependencies must be inlined (#1952)
`tsup.config.ts` splits the TUI's dependencies into bundled (`noExternal`) and
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/App.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/App.test.tsx
index 3139174f..1d8faf7c 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/App.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/App.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
type RenderResult = ReturnType;
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/AuthTab.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/AuthTab.test.tsx
index 213416c5..4f462e48 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/AuthTab.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/AuthTab.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { OAuthConnectionState } from "@inspector/core/auth/types.js";
import type { InspectorClient } from "@inspector/core/mcp/index.js";
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/DetailsModal.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/DetailsModal.test.tsx
index 41689568..655041a4 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/DetailsModal.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/DetailsModal.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import { Text } from "ink";
// ScrollView: passthrough so `content` mounts and the imperative ref API
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/HistoryTab.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/HistoryTab.test.tsx
index 4710402d..6d872522 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/HistoryTab.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/HistoryTab.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { MessageEntry } from "@inspector/core/mcp/index.js";
// MUST mock ink-scroll-view: the real ScrollView renders a placeholder minimap
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/InfoTab.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/InfoTab.test.tsx
index 275cb586..099eee47 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/InfoTab.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/InfoTab.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
// MUST mock ink-scroll-view: the real ScrollView renders a placeholder minimap
// in the non-TTY test env and never mounts its children. This passthrough
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/NotificationsTab.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/NotificationsTab.test.tsx
index cd79c458..205a4cbf 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/NotificationsTab.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/NotificationsTab.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
// MUST mock ink-scroll-view: the real ScrollView renders a placeholder minimap
// in the non-TTY test env and never mounts its children. This passthrough
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/PromptTestModal.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/PromptTestModal.test.tsx
index d79e77be..6caba3e4 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/PromptTestModal.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/PromptTestModal.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi, afterEach } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { InspectorClient } from "@inspector/core/mcp/index.js";
import { AuthRecoveryRequiredError } from "@inspector/core/auth/challenge.js";
import type { Prompt } from "@modelcontextprotocol/client";
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/PromptsTab.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/PromptsTab.test.tsx
index c9adee62..3d7b4ba0 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/PromptsTab.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/PromptsTab.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { InspectorClient } from "@inspector/core/mcp/index.js";
import type { Prompt } from "@modelcontextprotocol/client";
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/RequestsTab.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/RequestsTab.test.tsx
index 35f59e88..63fcb12d 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/RequestsTab.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/RequestsTab.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { FetchRequestEntry } from "@inspector/core/mcp/index.js";
// MUST mock ink-scroll-view: the real ScrollView renders a placeholder minimap
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/ResourceTestModal.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/ResourceTestModal.test.tsx
index 525051a0..81614f95 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/ResourceTestModal.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/ResourceTestModal.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi, afterEach } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { InspectorClient } from "@inspector/core/mcp/index.js";
import { AuthRecoveryRequiredError } from "@inspector/core/auth/challenge.js";
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/ResourcesTab.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/ResourcesTab.test.tsx
index 952b21c8..ad1fa78d 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/ResourcesTab.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/ResourcesTab.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { InspectorClient } from "@inspector/core/mcp/index.js";
import type { Resource } from "@modelcontextprotocol/client";
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/SelectableItem.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/SelectableItem.test.tsx
index 395d6a98..b9222d90 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/SelectableItem.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/SelectableItem.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import { SelectableItem } from "../src/components/SelectableItem.js";
describe("SelectableItem", () => {
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/Tabs.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/Tabs.test.tsx
index cb3f27a6..e15df183 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/Tabs.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/Tabs.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import { Tabs } from "../src/components/Tabs.js";
const noop = () => {};
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/ToolTestModal.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/ToolTestModal.test.tsx
index 63c2100c..bf9af688 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/ToolTestModal.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/ToolTestModal.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi, afterEach } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { InspectorClient } from "@inspector/core/mcp/index.js";
import type { Tool } from "@modelcontextprotocol/client";
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/ToolsTab.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/ToolsTab.test.tsx
index 0c1913d6..2871ab63 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/ToolsTab.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/ToolsTab.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import type { Tool } from "@modelcontextprotocol/client";
// MUST mock ink-scroll-view: the real ScrollView renders a placeholder minimap
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/helpers/renderTui.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/helpers/renderTui.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c356ea22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/helpers/renderTui.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// A drop-in replacement for ink-testing-library's `render` that strips ANSI
+// styling from every frame the tests read back.
+//
+// Ink writes styling as escape sequences *inside* the styled run, so an
+// accelerator underline splits the word it decorates: `Info`
+// reaches the frame buffer as `ESC[4mI ESC[24m nfo` (without the spaces). A plain
+// `expect(frame).toContain("Info")` then fails against a component that is
+// rendering perfectly — and only for a developer whose shell exports
+// FORCE_COLOR, since CI has no TTY and chalk emits nothing there (#2207).
+//
+// Making every assertion read a stripped frame fixes the whole class rather
+// than the six assertions that happened to trip it, and keeps the suite
+// covering the styled path instead of pinning FORCE_COLOR=0 to hide it. No test
+// asserts on escape sequences; one that needs the raw bytes can reach
+// `stdout.lastFrame()` on the returned instance, which is left untouched.
+import { render as inkRender } from "ink-testing-library";
+import stripAnsi from "strip-ansi";
+import type { ReactElement } from "react";
+
+// ink-testing-library does not export its `Instance` type.
+type Instance = ReturnType;
+
+/** Strip ANSI styling from a frame, passing `undefined` through unchanged. */
+export const stripFrameStyling = (frame: string | undefined) =>
+ frame === undefined ? undefined : stripAnsi(frame);
+
+export const render = (tree: ReactElement): Instance => {
+ const instance = inkRender(tree);
+ return {
+ ...instance,
+ lastFrame: () => stripFrameStyling(instance.lastFrame()),
+ // Read through to the live array on each access — ink appends to it as the
+ // component re-renders, so a copy taken here would go stale.
+ get frames() {
+ return instance.frames.map(stripAnsi);
+ },
+ };
+};
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/renderTui.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/renderTui.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..24d0b2f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/renderTui.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import React from "react";
+import { Text } from "ink";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { render, stripFrameStyling } from "./helpers/renderTui";
+
+// The escape sequences ink emits for ``, spelled out here so
+// the assertions hold regardless of whether the ambient environment has
+// FORCE_COLOR set — chalk emits nothing without a TTY, which is exactly why
+// #2207 never reproduced in CI.
+const ESC = "\u001B";
+const UNDERLINE_OPEN = `${ESC}[4m`;
+const UNDERLINE_CLOSE = `${ESC}[24m`;
+const SPLIT_WORD = `${UNDERLINE_OPEN}I${UNDERLINE_CLOSE}nfo`;
+
+describe("stripFrameStyling", () => {
+ it("removes styling that splits a word", () => {
+ expect(stripFrameStyling(SPLIT_WORD)).toBe("Info");
+ });
+
+ it("leaves an unstyled frame untouched", () => {
+ expect(stripFrameStyling("Info")).toBe("Info");
+ });
+
+ it("passes undefined through", () => {
+ expect(stripFrameStyling(undefined)).toBeUndefined();
+ });
+});
+
+describe("render", () => {
+ it("strips styling from lastFrame", () => {
+ const { stdout, lastFrame } = render(placeholder);
+ stdout.write(SPLIT_WORD);
+ expect(lastFrame()).toBe("Info");
+ });
+
+ it("strips styling from frames, and keeps reading the live array", () => {
+ const instance = render(placeholder);
+ const before = instance.frames.length;
+ instance.stdout.write(SPLIT_WORD);
+ expect(instance.frames).toHaveLength(before + 1);
+ expect(instance.frames.at(-1)).toBe("Info");
+ });
+
+ it("leaves the raw bytes reachable through stdout", () => {
+ const instance = render(placeholder);
+ instance.stdout.write(SPLIT_WORD);
+ expect(instance.stdout.lastFrame()).toBe(SPLIT_WORD);
+ });
+
+ it("still exposes the rest of the ink-testing-library instance", () => {
+ const { rerender, lastFrame, unmount } = render(first);
+ expect(lastFrame()).toContain("first");
+ rerender(second);
+ expect(lastFrame()).toContain("second");
+ unmount();
+ });
+});
diff --git a/clients/tui/__tests__/useSelectableList.test.tsx b/clients/tui/__tests__/useSelectableList.test.tsx
index 132ed324..9ac86a9a 100644
--- a/clients/tui/__tests__/useSelectableList.test.tsx
+++ b/clients/tui/__tests__/useSelectableList.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import React from "react";
import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
-import { render } from "ink-testing-library";
+import { render } from "./helpers/renderTui";
import { Text, useInput } from "ink";
import {
useSelectableList,
diff --git a/clients/tui/package-lock.json b/clients/tui/package-lock.json
index 5c105f2f..d4907b51 100644
--- a/clients/tui/package-lock.json
+++ b/clients/tui/package-lock.json
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
"@types/react": "^19.2.14",
"eslint-plugin-react-hooks": "^7.1.1",
"ink-testing-library": "^4.0.0",
+ "strip-ansi": "^7.1.2",
"tsup": "^8.5.0",
"tsx": "^4.21.0",
"vite": "^8.1.5",
diff --git a/clients/tui/package.json b/clients/tui/package.json
index 94f74558..60fa4a95 100644
--- a/clients/tui/package.json
+++ b/clients/tui/package.json
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
"@types/react": "^19.2.14",
"eslint-plugin-react-hooks": "^7.1.1",
"ink-testing-library": "^4.0.0",
+ "strip-ansi": "^7.1.2",
"tsup": "^8.5.0",
"tsx": "^4.21.0",
"vite": "^8.1.5",