diff --git a/src/util.cxx b/src/util.cxx
index 5e7cb57..00bc488 100644
--- a/src/util.cxx
+++ b/src/util.cxx
@@ -141,15 +141,14 @@ char const* ansi_color( Replxx::Color color_ ) {
 	} else if ( fg <= static_cast<int unsigned>( Replxx::Color::LIGHTGRAY ) ) {
 		pos = snprintf( colorBuffer, MAX_COLOR_CODE_SIZE, "\033[0;22;3%d%s%sm", fg, underline, bold );
 	} else if ( fg <= static_cast<int unsigned>( Replxx::Color::WHITE ) ) {
-#ifdef _WIN32
-		static bool const has256colorDefault( true );
-#else
-		static bool const has256colorDefault( false );
-#endif
-		static char const* TERM( getenv( "TERM" ) );
-		static bool const has256color( TERM ? ( strstr( TERM, "256" ) != nullptr ) : has256colorDefault );
-		static char const* ansiEscapeCodeTemplate = has256color ? "\033[0;9%d%s%sm" : "\033[0;1;3%d%s%sm";
-		pos = snprintf( colorBuffer, MAX_COLOR_CODE_SIZE, ansiEscapeCodeTemplate, fg - static_cast<int>( Replxx::Color::GRAY ), underline, bold );
+		/* Aixterm bright color codes (90-97) belong to the basic 16-color set and are supported
+		 * by virtually every terminal in use. Previously they were emitted only when TERM
+		 * contained "256" (they are unrelated to 256-color support), with a fallback to
+		 * bold + dark color otherwise. That broke bright colors on terminals with TERM values
+		 * like xterm-ghostty, xterm-kitty, alacritty or foot: modern terminals do not render
+		 * bold as bright by default, so e.g. GRAY (bold black) degraded to plain black,
+		 * invisible on a dark background. */
+		pos = snprintf( colorBuffer, MAX_COLOR_CODE_SIZE, "\033[0;9%d%s%sm", fg - static_cast<int>( Replxx::Color::GRAY ), underline, bold );
 	} else {
 		pos = snprintf( colorBuffer, MAX_COLOR_CODE_SIZE, "\033[0;38;5;%d%s%sm", fg, underline, bold );
 	}
diff --git a/tests.py b/tests.py
index 9fb83e1..1cd7d82 100755
--- a/tests.py
+++ b/tests.py
@@ -148,20 +148,20 @@
 	"\x1b[0;22;35m": "<magenta>",
 	"\x1b[0;22;36m": "<cyan>",
 	"\x1b[0;22;37m": "<lightgray>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;30m": "<gray>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;31m": "<brightred>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;32m": "<brightgreen>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;33m": "<yellow>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;34m": "<brightblue>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;35m": "<brightmagenta>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;36m": "<brightcyan>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;37m": "<white>",
+	"\x1b[0;90m": "<gray>",
+	"\x1b[0;91m": "<brightred>",
+	"\x1b[0;92m": "<brightgreen>",
+	"\x1b[0;93m": "<yellow>",
+	"\x1b[0;94m": "<brightblue>",
+	"\x1b[0;95m": "<brightmagenta>",
+	"\x1b[0;96m": "<brightcyan>",
+	"\x1b[0;97m": "<white>",
 	"\x1b[0;1m": "<bold>",
 	"\x1b[0;4m": "<underline>",
 	"\x1b[0;4;1m": "<bold_underline>",
 	"\x1b[0;22;31;1m": "<bold_red>",
 	"\x1b[0;22;31;4m": "<underline_red>",
-	"\x1b[0;1;31;1m": "<bold_brightred>",
+	"\x1b[0;91;1m": "<bold_brightred>",
 	"\x1b[0;22;31;4;1m": "<bold_underline_red>",
 	"\x1b[40m": "<bgblack>",
 	"\x1b[41m": "<bgred>",