diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8059642..5992133 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1434,6 +1434,20 @@ Things I chose while building, with the reasoning:
     (measured: 268..1280 at a 1280 window) — a flat pane floating 40px inside the scene read as
     "cut off next to the sidebar".
 
+94. **Aero glass goes back to glass (the "even wash" read as a white pane).** The uniform wash
+    (`background-glass.webp`) from decisions 91/93 made the rail and the chat chrome nearly
+    opaque: "why is the sidebar so white and non-translucent on the frutiger theme now? and the
+    chat mode looks even worse... its supposed to be translucent and blurry!". The rail, the chat
+    header, the welcome card and the composer now use the *same* recipe as every other surface in
+    the app — `background-blur.webp` under the shared gloss + veil + `--glass-bg`, exactly what
+    the deck cards do — and the dedicated wash asset is deleted. Measured on the pixels: the rail
+    runs from `181,229,241` over the sky to `133,174,75` over the grass (Δ166, unmistakably
+    translucent), while the chat and library screens still scan at 0 below-minimum text-contrast
+    findings in all three themes (Aero's near-black text tokens carry the thin glass). The chat
+    suite pins both halves of that: the shared recipe on all four panels *and* a translucency
+    check that the rail's tint follows the scene, so a future "make it uniform" pass cannot
+    quietly reintroduce an opaque panel. Phone touch keeps the flat 32% Ask-pill glass from 93.
+
 93. **Phone Aero glass, and a timed run you can actually see.** Two follow-ups from a phone.
     - *The chat read as a white pane.* On touch devices the chat header, welcome card and composer
       carried a 55% flat white veil while every other surface in the app used the thin 32%
diff --git a/app/globals.css b/app/globals.css
index f7f6c22..74deede 100644
--- a/app/globals.css
+++ b/app/globals.css
@@ -452,6 +452,7 @@
 .aero .btn-secondary,
 .aero .chat-header,
 .aero .chat-empty,
+.aero .chat-composer-band,
 .aero .segmented,
 /* Hand-rolled frost fills in the study, exam, chat and homework flows:
    white/xx utilities and the surface tokens — without this they render as
@@ -564,15 +565,14 @@
 /* Chat: the longest text in the app sits straight on the wallpaper. The
    assistant answers are deliberately bubble-less in the flat themes, and the
    user bubble's thin tint washes out over the bright parts of the scene — in
-   Aero both get a real pane: the same even wash as the chrome, a touch more
-   opaque (this is where the reading happens), so an answer reads as its own
-   bubble and its colour does not drift with the photo behind it. */
+   Aero both get a real pane: the shared blurred wallpaper under a veil thick
+   enough for reading, still translucent enough to read as glass. */
 .aero .chat-bubble,
 .aero .chat-answer {
   border-color: rgb(255 255 255 / 0.85);
   background-image:
-    linear-gradient(rgb(255 255 255 / 0.6), rgb(255 255 255 / 0.6)),
-    url("/aero/background-glass.webp?v=4");
+    linear-gradient(rgb(255 255 255 / 0.3), rgb(255 255 255 / 0.3)),
+    url("/aero/background-blur.webp?v=4");
   background-size: 100% 100%, cover;
   background-position: 0 0, center 42%;
   background-attachment: scroll, fixed;
@@ -604,31 +604,6 @@
   background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat;
 }
 
-/* Chat chrome and the rail: one even frosted recipe. The pre-blurred,
-   extra-soft wash of the wallpaper (background-glass) sits under a uniform
-   white veil, so the surface colour cannot drift with the photo behind it —
-   the rail used to run from clear blue into a muddy green smear, the composer
-   picked up the river's teal and the header a saturated stripe of sky. */
-.aero .sidebar-surface,
-.aero .chat-header,
-.aero .chat-empty,
-.aero .chat-composer-band {
-  background-image:
-    linear-gradient(
-      180deg,
-      rgb(255 255 255 / 0.3) 0%,
-      rgb(255 255 255 / 0.1) 46%,
-      rgb(255 255 255 / 0.05) 53%,
-      rgb(255 255 255 / 0.12) 100%
-    ),
-    linear-gradient(rgb(255 255 255 / 0.46), rgb(255 255 255 / 0.46)),
-    url("/aero/background-glass.webp?v=4");
-  background-size: 100% 100%, 100% 100%, cover;
-  background-position: 0 0, 0 0, center 42%;
-  background-attachment: scroll, scroll, fixed;
-  background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat;
-}
-
 /* The chat welcome (title, subtitle, suggestion chips): a card like the
    library's, stretched across the conversation column so it lines up with the
    floating header above and composer below it. */
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a102cc5..663bc8a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "freezmo",
-  "version": "0.6.2",
+  "version": "0.6.3",
   "private": true,
   "license": "GPL-3.0-only",
   "scripts": {
diff --git a/public/aero/background-glass.webp b/public/aero/background-glass.webp
deleted file mode 100644
index e7a0754..0000000
Binary files a/public/aero/background-glass.webp and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/public/sw.js b/public/sw.js
index 9296924..f8f9b0e 100644
--- a/public/sw.js
+++ b/public/sw.js
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
  *
  * Bumping CACHE_VERSION is how a new deploy invalidates old assets.
  */
-const CACHE_VERSION = "freezmo-v84";
+const CACHE_VERSION = "freezmo-v85";
 const SHELL_CACHE = `${CACHE_VERSION}-shell`;
 const ASSET_CACHE = `${CACHE_VERSION}-assets`;
 
diff --git a/tests/chat-test.mjs b/tests/chat-test.mjs
index 38fa311..a146c75 100644
--- a/tests/chat-test.mjs
+++ b/tests/chat-test.mjs
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ try {
           bl: style.borderBottomLeftRadius,
           br: style.borderBottomRightRadius,
           border: style.borderTopWidth,
-          wash: style.backgroundImage.includes("background-glass"),
+          wash: style.backgroundImage.includes("background-blur"),
         };
       };
       return {
@@ -354,8 +354,43 @@ try {
         ),
       JSON.stringify(chrome),
     );
+    /* Translucency, measured on the pixels: an opaque (or near-opaque) panel
+       reads nearly the same colour over the bright sky and over the dark
+       grass; glass follows the scene behind it. */
+    const railShot = await aero.page.screenshot({ type: "png", scale: "css" });
+    const railData = `data:image/png;base64,${railShot.toString("base64")}`;
+    const railTint = await aero.page.evaluate(async ({ dataUrl }) => {
+      const image = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        const img = new Image();
+        img.onload = () => resolve(img);
+        img.onerror = reject;
+        img.src = dataUrl;
+      });
+      const canvas = document.createElement("canvas");
+      canvas.width = image.width;
+      canvas.height = image.height;
+      const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
+      ctx.drawImage(image, 0, 0);
+      const strip = (y) => {
+        const data = ctx.getImageData(30, y, 200, 12).data;
+        let r = 0, g = 0, b = 0, n = 0;
+        for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i += 4) {
+          r += data[i]; g += data[i + 1]; b += data[i + 2]; n += 1;
+        }
+        return [Math.round(r / n), Math.round(g / n), Math.round(b / n)];
+      };
+      return { upper: strip(440), lower: strip(680) };
+    }, { dataUrl: railData });
+    const tintDistance = Math.max(
+      ...[0, 1, 2].map((index) => Math.abs(railTint.upper[index] - railTint.lower[index])),
+    );
     check(
-      "desktop: the rail and the chat chrome share one even wash",
+      "desktop: the rail is still translucent (its tint follows the scene)",
+      tintDistance >= 30,
+      `${railTint.upper.join(",")} → ${railTint.lower.join(",")} (Δ${tintDistance})`,
+    );
+    check(
+      "desktop: the rail and the chat chrome share the app's glass recipe",
       chrome !== null && [chrome.card, chrome.header, chrome.empty, chrome.band].every((panel) => panel.wash),
       chrome ? [chrome.card.wash, chrome.header.wash, chrome.empty.wash, chrome.band.wash].join(",") : "missing",
     );