diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/app/chat/chat-entries.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/app/chat/chat-entries.tsx
index 169099b68..d4d1cab63 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/components/app/chat/chat-entries.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/app/chat/chat-entries.tsx
@@ -243,8 +243,15 @@ function Avatar({
  * reads as one block.
  */
 export const POST_TINT: Record<PostAuthor["kind"], string> = {
-  user: "bg-primary/[0.06] hover:bg-primary/[0.09]",
-  peer: "bg-violet-500/[0.06] hover:bg-violet-500/[0.09]",
+  // Only the user's own posts get a fill. At 6% `primary` sat too close to the
+  // page background in several themes to notice; 10% reads everywhere.
+  //
+  // No left accent bar: a rule down the post's left edge competed with the
+  // connected-agent border the sidebar draws on the pane's left edge.
+  user: "bg-primary/[0.10] hover:bg-primary/[0.14]",
+  // Agent-to-agent traffic is a side conversation the user is overhearing, so
+  // it recedes — indent and muted body carry it, with no fill of its own.
+  peer: "hover:bg-muted/30",
   agent: "hover:bg-muted/40",
 };
 
diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/app/chat/chat-feed.test.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/app/chat/chat-feed.test.tsx
index ca40bd6f9..a4d64bedd 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/components/app/chat/chat-feed.test.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/app/chat/chat-feed.test.tsx
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {
   POST_BODY_MEASURE,
   SIDE_POST_INDENT,
   peerDirectory,
+  POST_TINT,
 } from "@/components/app/chat/chat-entries";
 import {
   ChatFeed,
@@ -512,8 +513,8 @@ describe("ChatFeed", () => {
       // Not in the list any more: the generic agent icon.
       "Agent agent",
     ]);
-    // Still a peer post: violet, with the sender's name.
-    expect(posts[0]!.className).toContain("bg-violet-500/[0.06]");
+    // Still a peer post: muted side-conversation treatment, sender's name.
+    expect(posts[0]!.className).toContain(POST_TINT.peer);
     expect(
       posts[0]!.querySelector('[data-testid="chat-post-author"]')?.textContent
     ).toBe("agt_kid");
@@ -704,18 +705,20 @@ describe("ChatFeed", () => {
     expect(agentPost!.getAttribute("data-rule")).toBeNull();
 
     expect(userOne!.getAttribute("data-author-kind")).toBe("user");
-    expect(userOne!.className).toContain("bg-primary/[0.06]");
+    expect(userOne!.className).toContain(POST_TINT.user);
+    // No accent bar: it competed with the sidebar's connected-agent border.
+    expect(userOne!.className).not.toContain("before:w-0.5");
     expect(userOne!.getAttribute("data-group-start")).toBe("true");
     expect(userOne!.getAttribute("data-rule")).toBe("true");
     expect(userOne!.className).toContain("border-t");
     // A grouped row keeps the tint (one block) but no boundary of its own.
-    expect(userTwo!.className).toContain("bg-primary/[0.06]");
+    expect(userTwo!.className).toContain(POST_TINT.user);
     expect(userTwo!.getAttribute("data-group-start")).toBeNull();
     expect(userTwo!.getAttribute("data-rule")).toBeNull();
     expect(userTwo!.className).not.toContain("border-t");
 
     expect(peer.getAttribute("data-author-kind")).toBe("peer");
-    expect(peer.className).toContain("bg-violet-500/[0.06]");
+    expect(peer.className).toContain(POST_TINT.peer);
     expect(peer.getAttribute("data-rule")).toBe("true");
 
     // Bodies stop at a reading measure; the row itself spans the pane.
@@ -1140,7 +1143,7 @@ describe("ChatFeed", () => {
       expect(post.getAttribute("data-side")).toBe("true");
       expect(post.className).toContain(SIDE_POST_INDENT);
       expect(post.className).not.toContain("px-4");
-      expect(post.className).toContain("bg-violet-500/[0.06]");
+      expect(post.className).toContain(POST_TINT.peer);
       const body = Array.from(post.querySelectorAll("div")).find((el) =>
         el.className.includes(POST_BODY_MEASURE)
       );
diff --git a/docs/chat-surface-plan.md b/docs/chat-surface-plan.md
index 50ad61d38..7e1ab669f 100644
--- a/docs/chat-surface-plan.md
+++ b/docs/chat-surface-plan.md
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ changes; the flag, routes and tools are unchanged.
   share a parent, otherwise **agent** — also the fallback when the sender is
   no longer in the list (generic bot icon). `agentRelation` in
   `lib/agent-lineage.ts`; the same chip sits on the Messages panel's thread
-  headers so the two agree. The violet tint and the outgoing "to <name>"
+  headers so the two agree. The muted side-conversation treatment and the outgoing "to <name>"
   line stay.
 - Entries that arrive after the feed first rendered — new posts, status
   lines, media, and posts edited in place — fade in (200 ms opacity with a