diff --git a/.changeset/markdown-theme-rendering-fixes.md b/.changeset/markdown-theme-rendering-fixes.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cd93fb71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/markdown-theme-rendering-fixes.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@moonshot-ai/kimi-code": patch
+---
+
+Apply text color to plain markdown paragraphs and dim code blocks with unknown fence languages.
diff --git a/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/components/messages/assistant-message.ts b/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/components/messages/assistant-message.ts
index 1be89b2c..b770f900 100644
--- a/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/components/messages/assistant-message.ts
+++ b/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/components/messages/assistant-message.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * to align after the bullet.
  */
 
-import type { Component, MarkdownTheme } from '@earendil-works/pi-tui';
+import type { Component, DefaultTextStyle, MarkdownTheme } from '@earendil-works/pi-tui';
 import { Container, Markdown, visibleWidth } from '@earendil-works/pi-tui';
 import chalk from 'chalk';
 
@@ -19,25 +19,39 @@ export class AssistantMessageComponent implements Component {
   private bulletColor: string;
   private lastText = '';
   private showBullet: boolean;
+  private defaultTextStyle: DefaultTextStyle;
 
   constructor(markdownTheme: MarkdownTheme, colors: ColorPalette, showBullet: boolean = true) {
     this.markdownTheme = markdownTheme;
     this.bulletColor = colors.roleAssistant;
     this.showBullet = showBullet;
     this.contentContainer = new Container();
+    this.defaultTextStyle = { color: (text) => chalk.hex(colors.text)(text) };
   }
 
   setShowBullet(show: boolean): void {
     this.showBullet = show;
   }
 
+  applyTheme(markdownTheme: MarkdownTheme, colors: ColorPalette): void {
+    this.markdownTheme = markdownTheme;
+    this.bulletColor = colors.roleAssistant;
+    this.defaultTextStyle = { color: (text) => chalk.hex(colors.text)(text) };
+    if (this.lastText) {
+      this.contentContainer.clear();
+      this.contentContainer.addChild(
+        new Markdown(this.lastText.trim(), 0, 0, this.markdownTheme, this.defaultTextStyle),
+      );
+    }
+  }
+
   updateContent(text: string): void {
     const displayText = text;
     if (displayText === this.lastText) return;
     this.lastText = displayText;
     this.contentContainer.clear();
     if (displayText.trim().length > 0) {
-      this.contentContainer.addChild(new Markdown(displayText.trim(), 0, 0, this.markdownTheme));
+      this.contentContainer.addChild(new Markdown(displayText.trim(), 0, 0, this.markdownTheme, this.defaultTextStyle));
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/kimi-tui.ts b/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/kimi-tui.ts
index 68258aaa..96386933 100644
--- a/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/kimi-tui.ts
+++ b/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/kimi-tui.ts
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ import {
   type TUIStartupState,
 } from './types';
 import { createTUIState, type TUIState } from './tui-state';
-import { isExpandable, isPlanExpandable } from './utils/component-capabilities';
+import { isExpandable, isPlanExpandable, isThemeAware } from './utils/component-capabilities';
 import { isDeadTerminalError } from './utils/dead-terminal';
 import { formatErrorMessage } from './utils/event-payload';
 import { ImageAttachmentStore, type ImageAttachment } from './utils/image-attachment-store';
@@ -1486,6 +1486,11 @@ export class KimiTUI {
     this.state.theme.styles = nextTheme.styles;
     this.state.theme.markdownTheme = nextTheme.markdownTheme;
     this.setAppState({ theme });
+    for (const child of this.state.transcriptContainer.children) {
+      if (isThemeAware(child)) {
+        child.applyTheme(this.state.theme.markdownTheme, this.state.theme.colors);
+      }
+    }
     this.updateEditorBorderHighlight();
     this.state.ui.requestRender(true);
   }
diff --git a/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/theme/pi-tui-theme.ts b/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/theme/pi-tui-theme.ts
index dc3b1b9a..8d88eba4 100644
--- a/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/theme/pi-tui-theme.ts
+++ b/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/theme/pi-tui-theme.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ export function createMarkdownTheme(colors: ColorPalette): MarkdownTheme {
     linkUrl: (text) => muted(text),
     code: (text) => chalk.hex(colors.primary)(text),
     codeBlock: (text) => text,
-    codeBlockBorder: (text) => muted(text),
+    codeBlockBorder: (text) => dim(text),
     quote: (text) => dim(text),
     quoteBorder: (text) => dim(text),
     hr: (text) => border(text),
@@ -45,13 +45,16 @@ export function createMarkdownTheme(colors: ColorPalette): MarkdownTheme {
     highlightCode: (code: string, lang?: string) => {
       const normalizedLang = lang?.trim().toLowerCase();
       const language =
-        normalizedLang !== undefined && supportsLanguage(normalizedLang) ? normalizedLang : 'text';
-      try {
-        const highlighted = highlight(code, { language, ignoreIllegals: true });
-        return highlighted.split('\n');
-      } catch {
-        return code.split('\n');
+        normalizedLang !== undefined && supportsLanguage(normalizedLang) ? normalizedLang : undefined;
+      if (language) {
+        try {
+          const highlighted = highlight(code, { language, ignoreIllegals: true });
+          return highlighted.split('\n');
+        } catch {
+          // fall through to dim-styled fallback
+        }
       }
+      return code.split('\n').map((line) => dim(line));
     },
   };
 }
diff --git a/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/utils/component-capabilities.ts b/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/utils/component-capabilities.ts
index 5f1f0ba9..dd4672f4 100644
--- a/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/utils/component-capabilities.ts
+++ b/apps/kimi-code/src/tui/utils/component-capabilities.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+import type { MarkdownTheme } from '@earendil-works/pi-tui';
+
+import type { ColorPalette } from '#/tui/theme/colors';
+
 export interface Expandable {
   setExpanded(expanded: boolean): void;
 }
@@ -12,6 +16,19 @@ export interface Disposable {
   dispose(): void;
 }
 
+export interface ThemeAwareComponent {
+  applyTheme(markdownTheme: MarkdownTheme, colors: ColorPalette): void;
+}
+
+export function isThemeAware(obj: unknown): obj is ThemeAwareComponent {
+  return (
+    typeof obj === 'object' &&
+    obj !== null &&
+    'applyTheme' in obj &&
+    typeof (obj as ThemeAwareComponent).applyTheme === 'function'
+  );
+}
+
 export function isExpandable(obj: unknown): obj is Expandable {
   return (
     typeof obj === 'object' &&
diff --git a/apps/kimi-code/test/tui/components/messages/assistant-message.test.ts b/apps/kimi-code/test/tui/components/messages/assistant-message.test.ts
index 47d0836a..8a7c4695 100644
--- a/apps/kimi-code/test/tui/components/messages/assistant-message.test.ts
+++ b/apps/kimi-code/test/tui/components/messages/assistant-message.test.ts
@@ -28,17 +28,54 @@ describe('AssistantMessageComponent', () => {
     expect(visibleWidth(lines[1] ?? '')).toBe(8);
   });
 
-  it('renders unknown markdown fence languages as plain text without stderr noise', () => {
+  it('renders unknown markdown fence languages without stderr noise', () => {
     const stderr = captureProcessWrite('stderr');
     try {
       const theme = createMarkdownTheme(darkColors);
-      expect(theme.highlightCode?.('hello\nworld', 'abcxyz')).toEqual(['hello', 'world']);
+      const result = theme.highlightCode?.('hello\nworld', 'abcxyz') ?? [];
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(2);
+      expect(strip(result[0])).toBe('hello');
+      expect(strip(result[1])).toBe('world');
       expect(stderr.text()).not.toContain('Could not find the language');
     } finally {
       stderr.restore();
     }
   });
 
+  it('renders headings without raw hash prefix', () => {
+    const component = new AssistantMessageComponent(createMarkdownTheme(darkColors), darkColors);
+    component.updateContent('# Heading 1\n## Heading 2\n### Heading 3');
+    const text = component.render(80).map(strip).join('\n');
+    expect(text).toContain('Heading 1');
+    expect(text).toContain('Heading 2');
+    expect(text).toContain('Heading 3');
+    expect(text).not.toContain('# Heading 1');
+    expect(text).not.toContain('## Heading 2');
+    expect(text).not.toContain('### Heading 3');
+  });
+
+  it('renders bold text without raw asterisks', () => {
+    const component = new AssistantMessageComponent(createMarkdownTheme(darkColors), darkColors);
+    component.updateContent('This is **bold** and __also bold__');
+    const text = component.render(80).map(strip).join('\n');
+    expect(text).toContain('bold');
+    expect(text).toContain('also bold');
+    expect(text).not.toContain('**bold**');
+    expect(text).not.toContain('__also bold__');
+  });
+
+  it('renders lists without raw dash markers', () => {
+    const component = new AssistantMessageComponent(createMarkdownTheme(darkColors), darkColors);
+    component.updateContent('- item 1\n- item 2\n- item 3');
+    const text = component.render(80).map(strip).join('\n');
+    expect(text).toContain('item 1');
+    expect(text).toContain('item 2');
+    expect(text).toContain('item 3');
+    expect(text).not.toContain('- item 1');
+    expect(text).not.toContain('- item 2');
+    expect(text).not.toContain('- item 3');
+  });
+
   it('preserves literal hook result XML in normal assistant text', () => {
     const component = new AssistantMessageComponent(createMarkdownTheme(darkColors), darkColors);