Tahoe 26.3.1: managed windows appear faded / as if covered by a translucent overlay

[mufeiyu-ayu]

Tahoe 26.3.1: managed windows appear faded / as if covered by a translucent overlay

Checklist

• I am running the latest stable release
• I also tested the latest --HEAD
• I searched existing issues before opening this report

Description

On macOS Tahoe, when windows are managed by yabai, they appear visually wrong, as if a grey/translucent overlay is applied on top of them.

This is not the normal opacity feature:

• window_opacity is off
• window opacity reported by yabai -m query --windows is still 1.0
• the effect appears only when windows are actually managed/tiling-controlled by yabai

When yabai is stopped, or when I effectively stop yabai from managing windows, the problem goes away.

This does not look app-specific in my case. It affects my commonly used apps once they are managed by yabai.

Environment

• macOS: 26.3.1
• Build: 25D2128
• yabai stable tested: 7.1.17
• yabai --HEAD tested: HEAD-54728ce
  • note: yabai --version still prints 7.1.17, but Homebrew installed HEAD-54728ce
• skhd: 0.3.9
• Hardware: Apple Silicon (Homebrew prefix is /opt/homebrew)

Reproduction

1. Start yabai normally
2. Let yabai manage windows in bsp layout
3. Open or focus normal app windows
4. As soon as the windows are managed by yabai, they look faded / covered by a translucent grey layer

What I observed

• If I stop yabai entirely, the visual problem disappears
• If I keep yabai running but avoid managed tiling behavior, the problem is reduced / disappears
• yabai -m query --windows still reports:
  • "opacity": 1.0000
• So this does not seem to be caused by yabai's explicit opacity config

Current config details

Relevant config values I tested include:

window_opacity off
active_window_opacity 1.0
normal_window_opacity 1.0
window_animation_duration 0.0
window_shadow off

I also tested with the original values, including:

insert_feedback_color 0xff9dd274

What I already tried

• Reinstalled yabai
• Reinstalled scripting addition
• Rebuilt sudoers entry
• Switched to --HEAD
• Re-applied TCC permissions
• Restarted Dock / tccd / services
• Verified that the problem is triggered by yabai managing windows, not by SketchyBar/skhd
• Verified that window opacity reported by yabai remains 1.0

Possibly related issues

This may be related to:

• fix: insert_feedback overlay (red rectangle) gets stuck on screen during window destroy #2754 (insert_feedback overlay stuck on Tahoe)
• Rework window levels and opacity #1887 (managed windows at lower-than-standard level)
• Removal of window borders #1889 (WindowManager / z-order / visual issues)

My issue is not exactly a stuck red feedback overlay. In my case the whole managed window looks visually dimmed / greyed, like a translucent layer is covering it.

Additional notes

If useful, I can provide:

• screenshots
• full yabairc
• output of yabai -m query --windows
• output of yabai -m query --spaces