---
# claudbg-d8ht
title: Color-coded transcript output in CLI
status: completed
type: task
priority: normal
created_at: 2026-03-31T00:32:52Z
updated_at: 2026-03-31T04:28:11Z
parent: claudbg-qpfe
---

Apply ANSI colors to transcript output in `sessions transcribe` and `agents transcribe`:
- `[assistant]` → orange
- `[user]` → grey
- `[tool: Foo]` → blue
- `[tool_result]` → green
- `[tool_result (error)]` → red

Colors are enabled by default in interactive terminals (isatty check). Controlled by the --[no-]color flag and NO_COLOR env var.

## Summary of Changes

Added ANSI color support to transcript output in both `sessions transcribe` and `agents transcribe`.

### New file: `src/output/color.rs`
A small color helper module with five functions — `orange`, `grey`, `blue`, `green`, `red` — each taking a `&str` and a `color_enabled: bool` flag. When disabled the string is returned unchanged; when enabled the string is wrapped with the appropriate ANSI 256-color (or standard) escape code followed by `\x1b[0m` reset. Includes 3 unit tests.

### Modified: `src/output/mod.rs`
Declared and exported the new `color` sub-module.

### Modified: `src/commands/sessions.rs` and `src/commands/agents.rs`
Updated `render_entry_text` in both files (they are independent copies) to:
- Call `opts.color_enabled()` once and pass the flag to color helpers.
- Color `[assistant]` labels orange (`\x1b[38;5;208m`).
- Color `[user]` labels grey (`\x1b[38;5;245m`).
- Color `[tool: X]` labels blue (`\x1b[38;5;33m`).
- Color `[tool_result]` labels green (`\x1b[32m`).
- Color `[tool_result (error)]` labels red (`\x1b[31m`).

Only the label prefix is colored; the message body is left plain. No new crate dependencies were added.