diff --git a/internal/picker/layout.go b/internal/picker/layout.go
index 0cd0c03..aba67ad 100644
--- a/internal/picker/layout.go
+++ b/internal/picker/layout.go
@@ -15,14 +15,20 @@ const previewFloor = 30
 // caretWidth is the fixed-width caret/gutter column ("   " or " › ").
 const caretWidth = 3
 
+// statusReserve is the width the status column is held at from the first
+// frame, wide enough for "✓ ? ↑1↓1". Row statuses land one at a time while
+// the Picker is already on screen, and a column sized to whichever of them
+// have arrived would widen under the user as the rest do.
+const statusReserve = 8
+
 // Layout is the Picker's per-frame sizing, recomputed from every
 // tea.WindowSizeMsg without losing any Model state.
 type Layout struct {
 	// NameWidth is the column width for a Project name, after any
 	// truncation.
 	NameWidth int
-	// StatusWidth is the column width for the status glyph cluster. It
-	// never shrinks.
+	// StatusWidth is the column width for the status glyph cluster, never
+	// narrower than statusReserve.
 	StatusWidth int
 	// TimeWidth is the column width for the relative last-visit time.
 	TimeWidth int
@@ -55,11 +61,12 @@ type Layout struct {
 // previewFloor columns for the preview, the preview is dropped and the list
 // takes the full width. Within the list's own budget, relative time
 // compresses to its short form first, then names truncate with "…" down to
-// nameFloor; the status cluster never shrinks and there is no hard minimum.
+// nameFloor; the status cluster is never narrower than statusReserve and
+// there is no hard minimum.
 func ComputeLayout(longestName, widestStatus int, times []time.Time, now time.Time, width, height int) Layout {
 	l := Layout{
 		NameWidth:   longestName,
-		StatusWidth: widestStatus,
+		StatusWidth: max(widestStatus, statusReserve),
 		TimeWidth:   widestTime(times, now, false),
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/picker/layout_test.go b/internal/picker/layout_test.go
index 81d8651..7477893 100644
--- a/internal/picker/layout_test.go
+++ b/internal/picker/layout_test.go
@@ -95,3 +95,36 @@ func TestComputeLayout_FooterLines(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+// TestComputeLayout_StatusColumnHoldsItsWidthWhileLoading pins the Layout
+// computed while every row still reads "…" to the one computed once real
+// clusters have landed. Statuses arrive a row at a time with the Picker
+// already on screen, and a column sized to the ones that have arrived
+// shifted the names, the times and the preview's edge as the rest did.
+func TestComputeLayout_StatusColumnHoldsItsWidthWhileLoading(t *testing.T) {
+	now := time.Date(2026, 9, 17, 12, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+	times := []time.Time{now.Add(-2 * time.Hour), now.Add(-3 * 24 * time.Hour)}
+
+	// 1 is the width of the "…" placeholder every row reports before its
+	// status lands; 6 is "✓ ? ↑1", a loaded cluster.
+	loading := picker.ComputeLayout(20, 1, times, now, 120, 24)
+	loaded := picker.ComputeLayout(20, 6, times, now, 120, 24)
+
+	if loading != loaded {
+		t.Errorf("layout while loading = %+v, want it identical to the loaded layout %+v", loading, loaded)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestComputeLayout_StatusColumnGrowsPastTheReserve verifies that a cluster
+// wider than the reserve still gets its room: the reserve is a floor, not a
+// cap.
+func TestComputeLayout_StatusColumnGrowsPastTheReserve(t *testing.T) {
+	now := time.Date(2026, 9, 17, 12, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+	times := []time.Time{now.Add(-2 * time.Hour)}
+
+	lay := picker.ComputeLayout(20, 12, times, now, 120, 24)
+
+	if lay.StatusWidth != 12 {
+		t.Errorf("StatusWidth = %d, want 12 (the widest cluster, wider than the reserve)", lay.StatusWidth)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/picker/model.go b/internal/picker/model.go
index 8f231a8..9d13c21 100644
--- a/internal/picker/model.go
+++ b/internal/picker/model.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package picker
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"time"
 
 	tea "charm.land/bubbletea/v2"
 	"github.com/sahilm/fuzzy"
@@ -42,7 +43,11 @@ type Model struct {
 
 	width, height int
 	dark          bool
-	themeSet      bool
+
+	// paletteSettled reports whether the terminal has had its say about
+	// its background colour, one way or the other. Nothing is drawn until
+	// it has.
+	paletteSettled bool
 
 	chosen    bool
 	chosenRow Row
@@ -68,6 +73,11 @@ func NewModel(rows []Row, status StatusFunc, opts Options) Model {
 		query:    opts.Query,
 		focus:    f,
 		statuses: make(map[string]git.Status, len(rows)),
+
+		// Dark until the terminal says otherwise, as lipgloss itself
+		// assumes: Run settles it before the first frame, and a light
+		// terminal that answers neither query is rarer than a dark one.
+		dark: true,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -86,14 +96,27 @@ type statusResultMsg struct {
 	status git.Status
 }
 
+// paletteDeadline is how long the first frame waits on the terminal's
+// background colour before being drawn in the dark palette anyway. A
+// terminal answers in a few milliseconds; one that never answers must not
+// hold the Picker off the screen.
+const paletteDeadline = 50 * time.Millisecond
+
+// paletteDeadlineMsg says the terminal has had long enough to report its
+// background colour.
+type paletteDeadlineMsg struct{}
+
 // Init fires one command per row that fetches its git status, fanned out
 // through tea.Batch and bounded by a semaphore so a large History does not
 // spawn unbounded concurrent git processes. It also requests the terminal
-// background colour, used to pick the light or dark palette.
+// background colour, which the first frame waits on, and starts the
+// deadline that wait is given.
 func (m Model) Init() tea.Cmd {
 	sem := make(chan struct{}, concurrency)
-	cmds := make([]tea.Cmd, 0, len(m.rows)+1)
-	cmds = append(cmds, tea.RequestBackgroundColor)
+	cmds := make([]tea.Cmd, 0, len(m.rows)+2)
+	cmds = append(cmds, tea.RequestBackgroundColor, tea.Tick(paletteDeadline, func(time.Time) tea.Msg {
+		return paletteDeadlineMsg{}
+	}))
 	for _, r := range m.rows {
 		cmds = append(cmds, statusCmd(m.status, r.Project.Path, sem))
 	}
diff --git a/internal/picker/palette_test.go b/internal/picker/palette_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b13ea8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/picker/palette_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package picker
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+
+	tea "charm.land/bubbletea/v2"
+	"charm.land/lipgloss/v2"
+
+	"github.com/kryft-dev/cdd/internal/git"
+)
+
+// paletteModel is a Model sized to a terminal but told nothing yet about
+// its background colour: the state the Picker opens in.
+func paletteModel() Model {
+	rows := []Row{{Project: Project{Kind: "work", Name: "alpha", Path: "/root/work/alpha"}}}
+	m := NewModel(rows, func(context.Context, string) git.Status { return git.Status{} }, Options{})
+	next, _ := m.Update(tea.WindowSizeMsg{Width: 110, Height: 30})
+	return next.(Model)
+}
+
+// TestModel_View_HoldsTheFrameUntilThePaletteSettles verifies that nothing
+// is drawn before the terminal reports its background colour, and that the
+// deadline releases the frame regardless. Drawing first and asking after
+// meant the whole Picker repainted in the other palette a moment into its
+// life, which is the flash a user sees on launch.
+func TestModel_View_HoldsTheFrameUntilThePaletteSettles(t *testing.T) {
+	m := paletteModel()
+	if content := m.View().Content; content != "" {
+		t.Errorf("View() before the background report drew %q, want nothing yet", content)
+	}
+
+	next, _ := m.Update(paletteDeadlineMsg{})
+	if content := next.(Model).View().Content; content == "" {
+		t.Errorf("View() after the deadline drew nothing; a silent terminal must not hold the frame")
+	}
+}
+
+// TestModel_View_DeadlineDrawsTheDarkFrame pins the frame a silent
+// terminal gets to the one a dark terminal gets: dark is the assumption
+// lipgloss itself makes, and the one a terminal that will not answer is
+// most likely to want.
+func TestModel_View_DeadlineDrawsTheDarkFrame(t *testing.T) {
+	timedOut, _ := paletteModel().Update(paletteDeadlineMsg{})
+	reported, _ := paletteModel().Update(tea.BackgroundColorMsg{Color: lipgloss.Color("#0D1117")})
+
+	if silent, dark := timedOut.(Model).View().Content, reported.(Model).View().Content; silent != dark {
+		t.Errorf("the frame drawn on the deadline is not the dark frame:\ndeadline:\n%s\ndark:\n%s", silent, dark)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/picker/update.go b/internal/picker/update.go
index 15b4459..236568c 100644
--- a/internal/picker/update.go
+++ b/internal/picker/update.go
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 // Update handles one message: a key press, a status result landing, a
-// terminal resize, or the background colour report. It never blocks and
-// never loses state (query, cursor, loaded statuses) across a resize.
+// terminal resize, the background colour report, or the deadline the first
+// frame gives that report. It never blocks and never loses state (query,
+// cursor, loaded statuses) across a resize.
 func (m Model) Update(msg tea.Msg) (tea.Model, tea.Cmd) {
 	switch msg := msg.(type) {
 	case statusResultMsg:
@@ -15,7 +16,11 @@ func (m Model) Update(msg tea.Msg) (tea.Model, tea.Cmd) {
 
 	case tea.BackgroundColorMsg:
 		m.dark = msg.IsDark()
-		m.themeSet = true
+		m.paletteSettled = true
+		return m, nil
+
+	case paletteDeadlineMsg:
+		m.paletteSettled = true
 		return m, nil
 
 	case tea.WindowSizeMsg:
diff --git a/internal/picker/view.go b/internal/picker/view.go
index 87db00c..87af3d6 100644
--- a/internal/picker/view.go
+++ b/internal/picker/view.go
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ func (m Model) View() tea.View {
 	if m.quitting {
 		return tea.NewView("")
 	}
+	// Nothing is drawn until the terminal has reported its background
+	// colour or paletteDeadline has passed: a frame drawn in the wrong
+	// palette repaints in the right one a moment later, which is the
+	// flash a user sees on launch.
+	if !m.paletteSettled {
+		return fullScreen("")
+	}
 	if len(m.rows) == 0 {
 		return fullScreen(m.emptyHistoryView())
 	}
diff --git a/internal/picker/view_test.go b/internal/picker/view_test.go
index c7710e7..3d27159 100644
--- a/internal/picker/view_test.go
+++ b/internal/picker/view_test.go
@@ -17,11 +17,14 @@ import (
 // and windowing the body to the terminal.
 var bothLayouts = []picker.LayoutStyle{picker.LayoutGrouped, picker.LayoutList}
 
-// sizedModel builds a Model in the given layout and sends it one
-// tea.WindowSizeMsg, the state every View test starts from.
+// sizedModel builds a Model in the given layout, sends it one
+// tea.WindowSizeMsg and reports the terminal's background as dark: a sized
+// terminal with a settled palette is the state every View test starts
+// from, since nothing is drawn before the palette settles.
 func sizedModel(rows []picker.Row, layout picker.LayoutStyle, width, height int) picker.Model {
 	m := picker.NewModel(rows, noopStatus, picker.Options{Layout: layout})
 	next, _ := m.Update(tea.WindowSizeMsg{Width: width, Height: height})
+	next, _ = next.(picker.Model).Update(tea.BackgroundColorMsg{Color: lipgloss.Color("#0D1117")})
 	return next.(picker.Model)
 }