diff --git a/ui/src/styles/chat/layout.css b/ui/src/styles/chat/layout.css
index 589b0b62d..bea14a243 100644
--- a/ui/src/styles/chat/layout.css
+++ b/ui/src/styles/chat/layout.css
@@ -344,6 +344,15 @@
   color: var(--text);
 }
 
+/* Active state for icon buttons in light mode — without this override the
+   white .btn--icon background (specificity) masks the generic .btn.active
+   orange tint, making on/off states visually identical.  See #2832. */
+:root[data-theme="light"] .btn--icon.active {
+  background: rgba(245, 159, 74, 0.18);
+  border-color: rgba(245, 159, 74, 0.5);
+  color: rgba(16, 24, 40, 0.9);
+}
+
 .btn--icon svg {
   display: block;
   width: 18px;
diff --git a/ui/src/styles/components.css b/ui/src/styles/components.css
index 27dfe62d1..2e227e4f6 100644
--- a/ui/src/styles/components.css
+++ b/ui/src/styles/components.css
@@ -510,6 +510,11 @@
   border-color: var(--accent);
 }
 
+:root[data-theme="light"] .btn.active {
+  background: rgba(245, 159, 74, 0.14);
+  border-color: rgba(245, 159, 74, 0.45);
+}
+
 /* ===========================================
    Utilities
    =========================================== */