diff --git a/ui-tui/src/app/useMainApp.ts b/ui-tui/src/app/useMainApp.ts
index c97fde79b..d1ac42f5d 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/app/useMainApp.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/app/useMainApp.ts
@@ -130,6 +130,13 @@ export function useMainApp(gw: GatewayClient) {
   const hasSelection = useHasSelection()
   const selection = useSelection()
 
+  // Bind a uniform selection bg so drag-to-select shows one solid color
+  // across the whole range instead of SGR-inverse (which swaps each cell's
+  // fg → bg and fragments over amber/gold/dim text). Re-fires on skin swap.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    selection.setSelectionBgColor(ui.theme.color.selectionBg)
+  }, [selection, ui.theme.color.selectionBg])
+
   const composer = useComposerState({
     gw,
     onClipboardPaste: quiet => clipboardPasteRef.current(quiet),
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/theme.ts b/ui-tui/src/theme.ts
index 48b739972..d1f4aaa4b 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/theme.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/theme.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ export interface ThemeColors {
   statusBad: string
   statusCritical: string
 
+  selectionBg: string
+
   diffAdded: string
   diffRemoved: string
   diffAddedWord: string
@@ -94,6 +96,11 @@ export const DEFAULT_THEME: Theme = {
     statusBad: '#FF8C00',
     statusCritical: '#FF6B6B',
 
+    // Uniform selection bg — matches the muted navy of the status bar so
+    // gold/amber fg stays readable and the highlight doesn't fragment per
+    // fg color the way SGR-inverse does.
+    selectionBg: '#3a3a55',
+
     diffAdded: 'rgb(220,255,220)',
     diffRemoved: 'rgb(255,220,220)',
     diffAddedWord: 'rgb(36,138,61)',
@@ -149,6 +156,8 @@ export function fromSkin(
       statusBad: d.color.statusBad,
       statusCritical: d.color.statusCritical,
 
+      selectionBg: c('selection_bg') ?? d.color.selectionBg,
+
       diffAdded: d.color.diffAdded,
       diffRemoved: d.color.diffRemoved,
       diffAddedWord: d.color.diffAddedWord,