feat: update defaults, schema, and installer for new capabilities

Configuration and deployment updates to match the new feature set.

defaults.json:
  - Dark theme palette switched from named ANSI to Dracula-inspired hex:
    success=#50fa7b, warning=#f1fa8c, danger=#ff5555, accent=#8be9fd,
    info=#bd93f9. Light theme unchanged (named ANSI with bold).
  - Glyph characters normalized to Unicode escapes (clean/ahead/behind).
  - Verbose layout (3 lines) reorganized:
    Line 1: model, provider, spacer, lines_changed, project, vcs, beads
    Line 2: context_bar, context_usage, cache_efficiency, spacer, cost,
             cost_velocity, cost_trend, duration
    Line 3: context_trend, tokens_raw, spacer, tools, turns, load,
             cloud_profile, k8s_context, python_env, toolchain
  - context_usage, cost_trend, context_trend now enabled by default.
  - Trend widths increased from 8 to 12 characters.
  - Context bar: bar_style=block, gradient=true.
  - Tools: show_breakdown=true, top_n=7.
  - New sections enabled: cloud_profile (P2), k8s_context (P3, ttl=30),
    python_env (P3), toolchain (P3).

schema.json:
  - Added $schema self-reference field for editor autocomplete.
  - Expanded colorName from fixed enum to freeform string with docs
    covering hex, bg:, modifiers, and palette refs.
  - New section schemas: trendSection, contextTrendSection with width,
    gradient, and threshold properties.
  - context_bar: added bar_style, gradient, fill_char, empty_char.
  - tools: added show_breakdown, top_n, palette array.
  - All section types: added background and placeholder properties.
  - Width description updated to clarify it's a max cap + fallback,
    not an override.
  - colorMatch additionalProperties relaxed from enum to string.

install.sh:
  Complete rewrite for Rust binary workflow:
  - Checks cargo and jq prerequisites.
  - Builds release binary via cargo build --release.
  - Installs to ~/.local/bin/claude-statusline with PATH check.
  - Creates/updates ~/.claude/settings.json with statusLine command
    (type: "command", --color=always, padding: 0).
  - Symlinks statusline.json config if present in project.
  - Removed all bash-script-era logic (symlinks, bash version checks).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

defaults.json

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   "version": 1,
   "global": {
     "separator": " | ",
+    "separator_style": "text",
     "justify": "space-between",
     "vcs": "auto",
     "cache_dir": "/tmp/claude-sl-{session_id}-{cache_version}-{config_hash}",
@@ -14,14 +15,14 @@
   },
   "colors": {
     "dark": {
-      "success": "green",
+      "success": "#50fa7b",
-      "warning": "yellow",
+      "warning": "#f1fa8c",
-      "danger": "red",
+      "danger": "#ff5555",
-      "critical": "red bold",
+      "critical": "#ff5555 bold",
       "muted": "dim",
-      "accent": "cyan",
+      "accent": "#8be9fd",
       "highlight": "bold",
-      "info": "blue"
+      "info": "#bd93f9"
     },
     "light": {
       "success": "green bold",
@@ -41,9 +42,9 @@
       "separator_alt": "",
       "branch": "",
       "dirty": "*",
-      "clean": "✓",
+      "clean": "\u2713",
-      "ahead": "↑",
+      "ahead": "\u2191",
-      "behind": "↓",
+      "behind": "\u2193",
       "folder": "",
       "clock": "",
       "dollar": ""
@@ -93,24 +94,33 @@
       [
         "model",
         "provider",
+        "spacer",
+        "lines_changed",
         "project",
         "vcs",
         "beads"
       ],
       [
         "context_bar",
-        "tokens_raw",
+        "context_usage",
         "cache_efficiency",
+        "spacer",
         "cost",
-        "cost_velocity"
+        "cost_velocity",
+        "cost_trend",
+        "duration"
       ],
       [
-        "lines_changed",
+        "context_trend",
-        "duration",
+        "tokens_raw",
+        "spacer",
         "tools",
         "turns",
         "load",
-        "version"
+        "cloud_profile",
+        "k8s_context",
+        "python_env",
+        "toolchain"
       ]
     ]
   },
@@ -167,6 +177,8 @@
       "flex": true,
       "min_width": 15,
       "bar_width": 10,
+      "bar_style": "block",
+      "gradient": true,
       "thresholds": {
         "warn": 50,
         "danger": 70,
@@ -174,7 +186,7 @@
       }
     },
     "context_usage": {
-      "enabled": false,
+      "enabled": true,
       "priority": 2,
       "capacity": 200000,
       "thresholds": {
@@ -210,14 +222,16 @@
       "priority": 3
     },
     "cost_trend": {
-      "enabled": false,
+      "enabled": true,
       "priority": 3,
-      "width": 8
+      "width": 12,
+      "gradient": true
     },
     "context_trend": {
-      "enabled": false,
+      "enabled": true,
       "priority": 3,
-      "width": 8,
+      "width": 12,
+      "gradient": true,
       "thresholds": {
         "warn": 50,
         "danger": 70,
@@ -237,6 +251,8 @@
       "priority": 2,
       "min_width": 6,
       "show_last_name": true,
+      "show_breakdown": true,
+      "top_n": 7,
       "ttl": 2
     },
     "turns": {
@@ -265,6 +281,23 @@
     "hostname": {
       "enabled": true,
       "priority": 3
+    },
+    "cloud_profile": {
+      "enabled": true,
+      "priority": 2
+    },
+    "k8s_context": {
+      "enabled": true,
+      "priority": 3,
+      "ttl": 30
+    },
+    "python_env": {
+      "enabled": true,
+      "priority": 3
+    },
+    "toolchain": {
+      "enabled": true,
+      "priority": 3
     }
   },
   "custom": []

install.sh

@@ -1,75 +1,109 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# install.sh — Set up claude-statusline symlinks
+# install.sh — Build and install claude-statusline (Rust binary)
 set -euo pipefail
 
 SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/.local/bin"
+BINARY_NAME="claude-statusline"
 CLAUDE_DIR="$HOME/.claude"
+SETTINGS="$CLAUDE_DIR/settings.json"
 
 echo "claude-statusline installer"
 echo "==========================="
 echo ""
 
-# Check dependencies
+# ── Check toolchain ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+if ! command -v cargo &>/dev/null; then
+  echo "ERROR: cargo (Rust toolchain) is required but not installed."
+  echo "  Install via: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh"
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "[ok] cargo found ($(cargo --version))"
+
 if ! command -v jq &>/dev/null; then
-  echo "ERROR: jq is required but not installed."
+  echo "ERROR: jq is required for settings.json updates."
   echo "  macOS:  brew install jq"
   echo "  Ubuntu: sudo apt install jq"
-  echo "  Fedora: sudo dnf install jq"
   exit 1
 fi
 echo "[ok] jq found"
 
-# Check bash version
+# ── Build release binary ─────────────────────────────────────────────
-if (( BASH_VERSINFO[0] < 4 )); then
+echo ""
-  echo "WARNING: bash 4+ recommended (you have ${BASH_VERSION})"
+echo "Building release binary..."
-  echo "  macOS ships bash 3. Install bash 4+:"
+(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR" && cargo build --release --quiet)
-  echo "    brew install bash"
+echo "[ok] Built: $(ls -lh "$SCRIPT_DIR/target/release/$BINARY_NAME" | awk '{print $5}')"
+
+# ── Install binary ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+mkdir -p "$INSTALL_DIR"
+cp "$SCRIPT_DIR/target/release/$BINARY_NAME" "$INSTALL_DIR/$BINARY_NAME"
+chmod +x "$INSTALL_DIR/$BINARY_NAME"
+echo "[ok] Installed to $INSTALL_DIR/$BINARY_NAME"
+
+# Verify it's on PATH
+if ! command -v "$BINARY_NAME" &>/dev/null; then
+  echo "[warn] $INSTALL_DIR is not on your PATH"
+  echo "  Add to your shell config:  export PATH=\"$INSTALL_DIR:\$PATH\""
 fi
 
-# Ensure ~/.claude exists
+# ── Configure Claude Code settings.json ──────────────────────────────
+echo ""
 mkdir -p "$CLAUDE_DIR"
 
-# Create symlinks
+BINARY_PATH="$INSTALL_DIR/$BINARY_NAME"
-create_link() {
+
-  local src="$1" dst="$2" name="$3"
+# The binary runs in a non-TTY context, so force color on.
-  if [[ -L "$dst" ]]; then
+STATUSLINE_CMD="$BINARY_PATH --color=always"
-    local existing
+
-    existing="$(readlink "$dst")"
+if [[ -f "$SETTINGS" ]]; then
-    if [[ "$existing" == "$src" ]]; then
+  # Update existing settings.json
-      echo "[ok] $name already linked"
+  CURRENT_CMD=$(jq -r '.statusLine.command // empty' "$SETTINGS" 2>/dev/null || true)
-      return
+  if [[ -n "$CURRENT_CMD" ]]; then
-    fi
+    echo "[info] Current statusLine command: $CURRENT_CMD"
-    echo "[update] $name: updating symlink"
-    ln -sf "$src" "$dst"
-  elif [[ -f "$dst" ]]; then
-    echo "[skip] $name: $dst exists as a regular file"
-    echo "  To use the symlink, rename or remove the existing file first."
-    return
-  else
-    ln -s "$src" "$dst"
-    echo "[ok] $name linked"
   fi
-}
 
-create_link "$SCRIPT_DIR/statusline.sh" "$CLAUDE_DIR/statusline.sh" "statusline.sh"
+  # Write updated settings
-
+  TMP="$SETTINGS.tmp.$$"
-# Optionally link user config if they want to start from an example
+  jq --arg cmd "$STATUSLINE_CMD" '.statusLine = {"type": "command", "command": $cmd, "padding": 0}' "$SETTINGS" > "$TMP"
-if [[ ! -f "$CLAUDE_DIR/statusline.json" ]]; then
+  mv "$TMP" "$SETTINGS"
-  echo "[info] No statusline.json found. You can copy an example from:"
+  echo "[ok] Updated statusLine in $SETTINGS"
-  echo "       $SCRIPT_DIR/examples/"
+else
+  # Create minimal settings.json
+  jq -n --arg cmd "$STATUSLINE_CMD" '{"statusLine": {"type": "command", "command": $cmd, "padding": 0}}' > "$SETTINGS"
+  echo "[ok] Created $SETTINGS"
 fi
 
+# ── Symlink config ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+CONFIG_SRC="$SCRIPT_DIR/statusline.json"
+CONFIG_DST="$CLAUDE_DIR/statusline.json"
+
+if [[ -f "$CONFIG_SRC" ]]; then
+  if [[ -L "$CONFIG_DST" ]]; then
+    EXISTING="$(readlink "$CONFIG_DST")"
+    if [[ "$EXISTING" == "$CONFIG_SRC" ]]; then
+      echo "[ok] Config already linked"
+    else
+      ln -sf "$CONFIG_SRC" "$CONFIG_DST"
+      echo "[ok] Config symlink updated (was: $EXISTING)"
+    fi
+  elif [[ -f "$CONFIG_DST" ]]; then
+    echo "[skip] $CONFIG_DST exists as a regular file"
+    echo "  To use the symlink, remove it first: rm $CONFIG_DST"
+  else
+    ln -s "$CONFIG_SRC" "$CONFIG_DST"
+    echo "[ok] Config linked: $CONFIG_DST -> $CONFIG_SRC"
+  fi
+else
+  echo "[info] No statusline.json in project. To customize, create:"
+  echo "  $CONFIG_SRC"
+  echo ""
+  echo "  Print defaults:  $BINARY_NAME --print-defaults"
+  echo "  Print schema:    $BINARY_NAME --config-schema"
+fi
+
+# ── Done ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 echo ""
-echo "Symlinks created. Now add the status line to your Claude Code settings."
+echo "Done. Restart Claude Code to see the status line."
 echo ""
-echo "Add this to ~/.claude/settings.json:"
+echo "Quick test:  $BINARY_NAME --test --color=always"
-echo ""
+echo "Debug:       $BINARY_NAME --test --dump-state=json"
-echo '  "statusLine": "'$CLAUDE_DIR'/statusline.sh"'
-echo ""
-echo "If ~/.claude/settings.json doesn't exist yet, create it:"
-echo ""
-echo '  {'
-echo '    "statusLine": "'$CLAUDE_DIR'/statusline.sh"'
-echo '  }'
-echo ""
-echo "Then restart Claude Code to see the status line."

schema.json

@@ -4,11 +4,12 @@
   "title": "Claude Code Status Line Configuration",
   "description": "Configuration for the claude-statusline status line script",
   "type": "object",
-  "required": [
-    "version"
-  ],
   "additionalProperties": false,
   "properties": {
+    "$schema": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "description": "JSON Schema reference for editor support"
+    },
     "version": {
       "type": "integer",
       "const": 1,
@@ -77,6 +78,15 @@
         "token_velocity": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/basicSection"
         },
+        "cost_trend": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/trendSection"
+        },
+        "context_trend": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/contextTrendSection"
+        },
+        "context_remaining": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/basicSection"
+        },
         "lines_changed": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/basicSection"
         },
@@ -154,9 +164,15 @@
       "properties": {
         "separator": {
           "type": "string",
-          "description": "Separator between sections on a line. When justify is 'left', this is used as-is. When justify is 'spread' or 'space-between', the non-space characters (e.g. '|') are kept as a visual anchor and extra space is added around them.",
+          "description": "Separator text between sections (used when separator_style is 'text'). When justify is 'spread' or 'space-between', the non-space characters are kept as visual anchors.",
           "default": " | "
         },
+        "separator_style": {
+          "type": "string",
+          "enum": ["text", "powerline", "arrow", "none"],
+          "description": "Separator style between sections. 'text': use the separator string. 'powerline': Nerd Font triangle (auto-falls-back to arrow if glyphs disabled). 'arrow': Unicode heavy angle quotation mark. 'none': spaces only.",
+          "default": "text"
+        },
         "justify": {
           "type": "string",
           "enum": [
@@ -181,7 +197,7 @@
         "width": {
           "type": "integer",
           "minimum": 40,
-          "description": "Explicit terminal width override. If omitted, auto-detection walks the process tree to find an ancestor with a real TTY, falling back to stty via /dev/tty, COLUMNS, tput cols, or 120."
+          "description": "Maximum terminal width cap and fallback. Dynamic sources (ioctl, process tree, stty) take priority when available."
         },
         "width_margin": {
           "type": "integer",
@@ -227,22 +243,11 @@
     },
     "colorName": {
       "type": "string",
-      "enum": [
+      "description": "Color specifier. Supports: named colors (red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white), modifiers (dim, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough), hex (#FF6B35, #F00), backgrounds (bg:red, bg:#FF6B35), palette refs (p:success). Multiple can be space-separated (e.g., '#FF6B35 bold')."
-        "red",
-        "green",
-        "yellow",
-        "blue",
-        "magenta",
-        "cyan",
-        "white",
-        "dim",
-        "bold"
-      ],
-      "description": "Named ANSI color"
     },
     "colorPalette": {
       "type": "object",
-      "description": "Semantic color palette for a theme",
+      "description": "Semantic color palette for a theme. Values support all colorName formats.",
       "properties": {
         "success": { "type": "string" },
         "warning": { "type": "string" },
@@ -343,6 +348,14 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -415,6 +428,14 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -475,6 +496,14 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -503,6 +532,25 @@
           "minimum": 3,
           "default": 10
         },
+        "bar_style": {
+          "type": "string",
+          "enum": ["classic", "block"],
+          "default": "block",
+          "description": "Bar rendering style. 'classic': = and - characters. 'block': Unicode block characters with optional gradient."
+        },
+        "gradient": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "default": true,
+          "description": "Enable per-character gradient coloring (green to yellow to red). Only applies when bar_style is 'block'."
+        },
+        "fill_char": {
+          "type": "string",
+          "description": "Override character for filled portion. Default: '=' (classic) or full block (block)."
+        },
+        "empty_char": {
+          "type": "string",
+          "description": "Override character for empty portion. Default: '-' (classic) or light shade (block)."
+        },
         "thresholds": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/thresholds"
         },
@@ -523,6 +571,14 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -563,6 +619,14 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -599,6 +663,14 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -633,6 +705,135 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
+        }
+      },
+      "additionalProperties": false
+    },
+    "trendSection": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "description": "Sparkline trend visualization",
+      "properties": {
+        "enabled": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "default": true
+        },
+        "priority": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/priority"
+        },
+        "width": {
+          "type": "integer",
+          "minimum": 3,
+          "default": 8,
+          "description": "Number of sparkline characters"
+        },
+        "gradient": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "default": true,
+          "description": "Enable per-character gradient coloring based on value"
+        },
+        "flex": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "default": false
+        },
+        "min_width": {
+          "type": "integer",
+          "minimum": 0
+        },
+        "prefix": {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "suffix": {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "pad": {
+          "type": "integer",
+          "minimum": 1
+        },
+        "align": {
+          "type": "string",
+          "enum": ["left", "right", "center"],
+          "default": "left"
+        },
+        "color": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
+        }
+      },
+      "additionalProperties": false
+    },
+    "contextTrendSection": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "description": "Context usage sparkline trend with threshold coloring",
+      "properties": {
+        "enabled": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "default": true
+        },
+        "priority": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/priority"
+        },
+        "width": {
+          "type": "integer",
+          "minimum": 3,
+          "default": 8,
+          "description": "Number of sparkline characters"
+        },
+        "gradient": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "default": true,
+          "description": "Enable per-character gradient coloring based on value"
+        },
+        "thresholds": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/thresholds"
+        },
+        "flex": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "default": false
+        },
+        "min_width": {
+          "type": "integer",
+          "minimum": 0
+        },
+        "prefix": {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "suffix": {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "pad": {
+          "type": "integer",
+          "minimum": 1
+        },
+        "align": {
+          "type": "string",
+          "enum": ["left", "right", "center"],
+          "default": "left"
+        },
+        "color": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -656,6 +857,26 @@
           "type": "boolean",
           "default": true
         },
+        "show_breakdown": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "description": "Show per-tool breakdown in wide terminals (e.g. Bash: 84/Read: 35/Edit: 34)",
+          "default": true
+        },
+        "top_n": {
+          "type": "integer",
+          "minimum": 0,
+          "description": "Max number of tools to show in breakdown (0 = all). Adaptively reduced to fit terminal width.",
+          "default": 7
+        },
+        "palette": {
+          "type": "array",
+          "items": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "description": "Hex color string (#RRGGBB or #RGB)"
+          },
+          "description": "Rotating color palette for tool names. Override to customize; leave empty (default) to auto-detect from terminal config (WezTerm/Kitty/Alacritty) or fall back to built-in Dracula palette.",
+          "default": []
+        },
         "ttl": {
           "type": "number",
           "default": 2
@@ -677,6 +898,14 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -711,6 +940,14 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
@@ -747,26 +984,23 @@
         },
         "color": {
           "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName"
+        },
+        "background": {
+          "$ref": "#/$defs/colorName",
+          "description": "Background color for the section. Accepts named colors (green, red), hex (#50fa7b), or palette refs (p:success). Applied as a background wrap around the section output, preserving foreground colors."
+        },
+        "placeholder": {
+          "type": ["string", "null"],
+          "description": "Text shown when the section has no data (e.g. after /clear). Set to empty string or null to hide the section instead. Default: '--'."
         }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
     },
     "colorMatch": {
       "type": "object",
-      "description": "Map of output value to color name",
+      "description": "Map of output value to color specifier",
       "additionalProperties": {
-        "type": "string",
+        "type": "string"
-        "enum": [
-          "red",
-          "green",
-          "yellow",
-          "blue",
-          "magenta",
-          "cyan",
-          "white",
-          "dim",
-          "bold"
-        ]
       }
     },
     "customCommand": {