Redesign Svalbard theme — fix washed-out arctic light surfaces

[gregpriday]

Summary

The Svalbard light theme is inspired by the Arctic archipelago — cool blue-grey surfaces, ice white panels, and cold northern light. The color direction is correct but the theme is visually flat: the cool blue-grey surfaces lack sufficient contrast between levels, borders disappear into the background, and it looks washed out in practice.

Problem Statement

Svalbard uses #E8EEF2 (canvas) and #D9E2E8 (sidebar) — cool blue-grey. The concept is clear but execution falls short:

• surface-panel: #F2F6F8 and surface-panel-elevated: #FFFFFF are very close together — the elevated state barely reads as distinct from the base panel.
• border-default: #BCC8D2 is a light blue-grey that provides minimal separation against the similarly-toned canvas and sidebar surfaces. The worktree sidebar sections become visually undifferentiated.
• surface-grid: #CDD7DF is only slightly darker than surface-canvas — the grid separator (the space between panels) doesn't clearly demarcate panel boundaries.
• The derived border-subtle, border-strong, and border-divider tokens from createCanopyTokens are opacity-layered over a cool grey text-primary (#253545). On Svalbard's pale surfaces these produce borders that are close to invisible (see issue Improve theme token coverage to fix washed-out light themes #3346).
• activity-active: #22c55e and activity-working: #22c55e are the dark-theme neon greens, which look incongruous against the cool arctic palette — a cold bright cyan or arctic blue would better fit the identity.
• activity-waiting: #B86000 is a warm amber. On cool arctic surfaces, this reads as correctly contrasting but thematically inconsistent — Svalbard has no warm tones anywhere else.
• The overall result is an interface that looks like it's been washed with cold water until the colors faded out.

Relevant code:

• shared/theme/themes.ts#L569-L631 — current Svalbard token definitions
• e2e/core/core-light-theme-smoke.spec.ts — smoke test with contrast checks
• Issue Improve theme token coverage to fix washed-out light themes #3346 — token coverage improvements (foundation)

Desired Behavior

Svalbard should feel like the arctic coast in clear weather: brilliant white ice, cold blue-grey fjord water, and the occasional flash of cold cobalt sky. Surfaces should have clear hierarchy — the sidebar should feel like blue-grey weathered rock, panels like ice-white, and the canvas like pale arctic sky. Specifically:

• Sidebar should clearly separate from canvas using surface values with enough lightness difference.
• Borders should be visible against their adjacent surfaces — they should guide the eye, not disappear.
• Activity indicators should use an arctic-appropriate cold palette rather than the warm Canopy defaults.
• Worktree sections should be clearly differentiated.

Verification Workflow

1. Apply: await setAppTheme(window, "svalbard").
2. Run getThemeChromeMetrics — verify smoke test checks pass.
3. Capture full-page and targeted screenshots (sidebar, worktree card, settings dialog).
4. AI visual evaluation: does the theme read as cold arctic? Are surfaces clearly differentiated? Does it look washed out?
5. Iterate; npm run check.

Acceptance Criteria

• E2E smoke test passes for Svalbard (worktreeSectionContrast ≥ 1.08, quickRunFieldBorderContrast ≥ 1.2).
• Canvas, sidebar, panel, and grid surfaces are visually distinct from each other.
• border-default is clearly visible against both the canvas and panel backgrounds.
• Screenshot evaluation confirms the theme reads as cold, clean, and arctic — not washed out.
• All E2E tests pass.

Dependencies

Depends on #3346 for improved border token overridability.

Edge Cases & Risks

• Terminal scheme pairing from PR feat(terminal): match terminal color scheme to app theme automatically #3345 — verify after changes.
• Svalbard uses #1B2838 as terminal-bright-white — a very dark blue, not a white. This is intentional for a light theme terminal but may need review in the context of the redesign.

[gregpriday]

Terminal color scheme — review as part of redesign

The APP_THEME_TERMINAL_SCHEME_MAP currently maps svalbard → atom-one-light (Atom One Light). As part of this theme redesign, review whether the terminal color scheme still pairs well with the updated app surfaces:

1. Evaluate the current pairing — after updating the surface/accent tokens, check whether Atom One Light still feels cohesive. If the surface palette shifts significantly, the terminal may look disconnected.
2. Research alternatives — search for well-known open-source terminal color schemes whose character matches the redesigned theme. Evaluate candidates for ANSI color legibility against the new surface background, not just aesthetic similarity.
3. Consider a bespoke scheme — if no existing scheme is a tight fit, create a dedicated one derived from the redesigned app tokens (like we did for Daintree via getTerminalThemeFromAppScheme). This gives the tightest visual integration.
4. Adapt rather than copy — if borrowing an open-source palette, adjust selection background, cursor, and bright variants so they harmonize with the app's surface/accent tokens.

Update APP_THEME_TERMINAL_SCHEME_MAP in src/config/terminalColorSchemes.ts and add any new scheme to the BUILT_IN_SCHEMES array. Update the test count in src/config/__tests__/terminalColorSchemes.test.ts if adding a new scheme.