diff --git a/e2e-harness/tui-capture.ts b/e2e-harness/tui-capture.ts
index 0a7ac388..2df7bafd 100644
--- a/e2e-harness/tui-capture.ts
+++ b/e2e-harness/tui-capture.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import fsmod from 'fs';
 import pathmod from 'path';
 import * as pty from 'node-pty';
 import { createRequire } from 'module';
+import type { IBufferLine } from '@xterm/headless';
 
 // @xterm/headless ships CJS; its `module` field points at the full browser build,
 // so import the headless CJS entry directly to get a working Terminal in Node.
@@ -37,6 +38,8 @@ function ensureSpawnHelper(): void {
 export interface TuiCapture {
   /** The current rendered screen as clean text (trailing blank lines trimmed). */
   frame(): string;
+  /** The current screen serialized back to ANSI — colors and attributes kept. */
+  frameAnsi(): string;
   /** Fires after each chunk of terminal output is applied. */
   onData(cb: () => void): void;
   kill(): void;
@@ -44,6 +47,44 @@ export interface TuiCapture {
   exited: Promise<void>;
 }
 
+// Serialize one buffer row back to ANSI: re-emit SGR (colors + attributes) each
+// time the active style changes, then the cell's character. The inverse of
+// xterm's parse, so a captured frame reproduces the colored CLI, not plain text.
+function rowToAnsi(line: IBufferLine, cols: number): string {
+  let out = '';
+  let active = '';
+  for (let x = 0; x < cols; x++) {
+    const cell = line.getCell(x);
+    if (!cell || cell.getWidth() === 0) continue; // skip wide-char trailing cell
+    const codes: number[] = [];
+    if (cell.isBold()) codes.push(1);
+    if (cell.isDim()) codes.push(2);
+    if (cell.isItalic()) codes.push(3);
+    if (cell.isUnderline()) codes.push(4);
+    if (cell.isBlink()) codes.push(5);
+    if (cell.isInverse()) codes.push(7);
+    if (cell.isInvisible()) codes.push(8);
+    if (cell.isStrikethrough()) codes.push(9);
+    if (cell.isFgRGB()) {
+      const c = cell.getFgColor();
+      codes.push(38, 2, (c >> 16) & 255, (c >> 8) & 255, c & 255);
+    } else if (cell.isFgPalette()) codes.push(38, 5, cell.getFgColor());
+    if (cell.isBgRGB()) {
+      const c = cell.getBgColor();
+      codes.push(48, 2, (c >> 16) & 255, (c >> 8) & 255, c & 255);
+    } else if (cell.isBgPalette()) codes.push(48, 5, cell.getBgColor());
+    const sgr = codes.join(';');
+    if (sgr !== active) {
+      out += '\x1b[0m';
+      if (sgr) out += `\x1b[${sgr}m`;
+      active = sgr;
+    }
+    out += cell.getChars() || ' ';
+  }
+  if (active) out += '\x1b[0m';
+  return out;
+}
+
 export function captureTui(opts: {
   cmd: string;
   args: string[];
@@ -92,6 +133,22 @@ export function captureTui(opts: {
       while (lines.length && !lines[lines.length - 1].trim()) lines.pop();
       return lines.join('\n') + '\n';
     },
+    frameAnsi() {
+      const buf = term.buffer.active;
+      // Trailing blank rows trimmed by plain content (same shape as frame()).
+      let end = rows;
+      while (end > 0) {
+        const line = buf.getLine(end - 1);
+        if (line && line.translateToString(true).trim()) break;
+        end--;
+      }
+      const lines: string[] = [];
+      for (let i = 0; i < end; i++) {
+        const line = buf.getLine(i);
+        lines.push(line ? rowToAnsi(line, cols) : '');
+      }
+      return lines.join('\n') + '\n';
+    },
     onData(cb) {
       cbs.push(cb);
     },
diff --git a/scripts/tui-snapshots.no-jest.ts b/scripts/tui-snapshots.no-jest.ts
index 4c0ee881..c306fd01 100644
--- a/scripts/tui-snapshots.no-jest.ts
+++ b/scripts/tui-snapshots.no-jest.ts
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
  * Fixed-route snapshots of the REAL TUI (Node, single-stack).
  *
  * Spawns the real-TUI host (MODE=fixed) in a PTY, lets it self-drive the fixed
- * e2e profile through the real agent run, and writes the real rendered screen to
- * SNAP_OUT/NN-<screen>.txt at each key moment the host signals.
+ * e2e profile through the real agent run, and writes the real rendered screen —
+ * serialized back to ANSI, colors preserved — to SNAP_OUT/NN-<screen>.ans at
+ * each key moment the host signals.
  *
  *   SNAP_OUT=/tmp/snaps APP_DIR=/tmp/app POSTHOG_KEY_FILE=… PROJECT_ID=… \
  *     npx tsx scripts/tui-snapshots.no-jest.ts
@@ -43,8 +44,8 @@ async function drainCtrl() {
     if (!label) continue;
     await sleep(200); // let xterm apply the final writes for this screen
     seq += 1;
-    const fn = path.join(OUT, `${String(seq).padStart(2, '0')}-${label}.txt`);
-    fs.writeFileSync(fn, cap.frame());
+    const fn = path.join(OUT, `${String(seq).padStart(2, '0')}-${label}.ans`);
+    fs.writeFileSync(fn, cap.frameAnsi());
     // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
     console.log('snap ->', path.basename(fn));
   }