diff --git a/.github/workflows/install.yml b/.github/workflows/install.yml
index ab2171a..003cb47 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/install.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/install.yml
@@ -169,6 +169,13 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run test suite (minimal)
         run: su -s /bin/bash -c 'HOME=/home/testuser; export HOME; export TERM=xterm-256color; cd ~/dotfiles && bash test.sh minimal' testuser
 
+      - name: Readable colours on a terminal without truecolor (#53)
+        run: |
+          # The probe needs a PTY, so `script` must exist or the test would skip
+          # on every cell and prove nothing while still reporting a pass.
+          command -v script >/dev/null || { echo "script(1) missing - the colour test cannot run"; exit 1; }
+          su -s /bin/bash -c 'HOME=/home/testuser; export HOME; cd ~/dotfiles && bash tests/nvim-colour-fallback.sh' testuser
+
   git-partial-clone-gate:
     name: "git without partial clone @ Ubuntu 16.04"
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 9b3bcce..bcab5ec 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -87,6 +87,15 @@ on an nvim 0.11+ host with no build tools. Telescope's own sorter is the fallbac
 Same rule as the npm guard - do not remove it, and keep optional native extensions
 behind it.
 
+**`truecolor_ok`** gates `termguicolors` and the colorscheme choice. nightfly, like
+most modern schemes, sets only gui colours - measured 2026-09-18, its `Normal` and
+`Comment` carry no `ctermfg`/`ctermbg` at all - so forcing `termguicolors` on a
+terminal that cannot parse `38;2;R;G;B` left nothing readable and rendered near-black
+on near-black (#53). The gate fires only on positive evidence of a low-colour terminal,
+so 256-colour hosts are unchanged. **Keep any truecolor-only scheme behind it**, and
+keep the fallback list to schemes that really define cterm colours (habamax, desert -
+`default` and gruvbox do not). `tests/nvim-colour-fallback.sh` asserts both arms.
+
 **Version gates** - supported hosts run nvim 0.9-0.12. Options and plugins that need a
 newer nvim are gated (`vim.fn.has('nvim-0.X')`, lazy `cond`), because one invalid
 option value aborts the rest of init.lua. Parser installs are gated on nvim 0.12,
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 188c8de..a27d812 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [1.11.8] - 2026-09-18
+
+### Fixed
+- nvim rendered near-black on near-black on terminals without truecolor (#53). Such terminals now get `habamax` and `notermguicolors`; 256-colour terminals are unchanged. Force the old behaviour in `~/.config/nvim/local.lua`.
+
 ## [1.11.7] - 2026-09-17
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 29eb291..40faed9 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.11.7
+1.11.8
diff --git a/nvim/.config/nvim/init.lua b/nvim/.config/nvim/init.lua
index f92a42c..a9c67d4 100644
--- a/nvim/.config/nvim/init.lua
+++ b/nvim/.config/nvim/init.lua
@@ -25,6 +25,19 @@ end
 -- telescope key was dead on an nvim 0.11+ host with no build tools. Telescope's own
 -- sorter is the fallback.
 local fzf_ok = vim.fn.executable('make') == 1 and vim.fn.executable(cc) == 1
+-- nightfly, like most modern schemes, defines ONLY gui colours: measured 2026-09-18,
+-- its Normal and Comment carry no ctermfg/ctermbg at all. So forcing termguicolors on
+-- a terminal that cannot parse `38;2;R;G;B` leaves nothing readable behind, which is
+-- the near-black-on-near-black report (#53).
+-- This gate only fires on POSITIVE evidence of a low-colour terminal, so every host
+-- reporting 256 colours keeps nightfly and truecolor exactly as before. A capable
+-- terminal that advertises neither (ssh does not forward COLORTERM by default) lands
+-- on the readable fallback - visible and overridable, which is the safe direction.
+local _term         = (vim.env.TERM or ''):lower()
+local _colorterm    = (vim.env.COLORTERM or ''):lower()
+local truecolor_ok  = _colorterm == 'truecolor' or _colorterm == '24bit'
+    or _term:find('256', 1, true) ~= nil
+    or _term:find('direct', 1, true) ~= nil
 local lazypath = vim.fn.stdpath('data') .. '/lazy/lazy.nvim'
 if not (vim.uv or vim.loop).fs_stat(lazypath) then
   local clone = { 'git', 'clone', 'https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim.git', '--branch=stable', lazypath }
@@ -66,7 +79,16 @@ require('lazy').setup({
     lazy     = false,
     priority = 1000,
     config   = function()
-      vim.cmd.colorscheme('nightfly')
+      if truecolor_ok then
+        vim.cmd.colorscheme('nightfly')
+      else
+        -- Low-colour terminal: pick the first scheme that actually sets ctermfg/ctermbg.
+        -- Measured 2026-09-18 under notermguicolors: habamax Normal ctermfg=251/ctermbg=234,
+        -- desert 231/236, while nightfly, gruvbox and `default` set none at all.
+        for _, s in ipairs({ 'habamax', 'desert', 'default' }) do
+          if pcall(vim.cmd.colorscheme, s) then break end
+        end
+      end
     end,
   },
   -- Installed (available via <leader>cs - all load at VeryLazy):
@@ -672,7 +694,7 @@ opt.undofile      = true
 opt.undodir       = undodir
 opt.visualbell    = true
 opt.wildmode      = 'list:longest'
-opt.termguicolors = true
+opt.termguicolors = truecolor_ok -- see the truecolor_ok gate at the top of this file
 
 opt.matchpairs:append('<:>')
 -- linematch realigns hunks for cleaner inline diffs. inline:word (changed words
diff --git a/nvim/.config/nvim/local.lua.example b/nvim/.config/nvim/local.lua.example
index 20a3667..0f331b1 100644
--- a/nvim/.config/nvim/local.lua.example
+++ b/nvim/.config/nvim/local.lua.example
@@ -5,6 +5,13 @@
 -- Override colorscheme
 -- vim.cmd.colorscheme('catppuccin')
 
+-- Force truecolor on a terminal that supports it but does not say so. init.lua
+-- drops to a 256-colour scheme unless TERM carries `256`/`direct` or COLORTERM is
+-- set, because a scheme with no cterm colours is unreadable when RGB does not
+-- arrive. ssh does not forward COLORTERM, so a capable remote host can land here.
+-- vim.o.termguicolors = true
+-- vim.cmd.colorscheme('nightfly')
+
 -- Machine-specific LSP extras (e.g. rust-analyzer only on dev machines)
 -- require('lspconfig').rust_analyzer.setup({})
 
diff --git a/tests/nvim-colour-fallback.sh b/tests/nvim-colour-fallback.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..593faa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/nvim-colour-fallback.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Assert the nvim config stays readable on a terminal that cannot carry truecolor.
+#
+# Issue #53: nightfly defines only gui colours (measured: Normal and Comment carry
+# no ctermfg/ctermbg at all), while init.lua forced `termguicolors` on. A terminal
+# that cannot parse `38;2;R;G;B` was then left with nothing to fall back to, which
+# renders as near-black text on a near-black background.
+#
+# Two arms, because a fix that made every host readable by downgrading everyone
+# would be a regression for the hosts that were fine:
+#   low colour  (TERM=xterm)          -> some scheme with real ctermfg AND ctermbg
+#   256 colour  (TERM=xterm-256color) -> nightfly and termguicolors, unchanged
+set -euo pipefail
+
+DOTFILES_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
+INIT="$DOTFILES_DIR/nvim/.config/nvim/init.lua"
+
+_fail=0
+_ran=0
+_err() { printf '  ERROR: %s\n' "$1"; _fail=1; _ran=$(( _ran + 1 )); }
+_ok()  { printf '  OK: %s\n' "$1"; _ran=$(( _ran + 1 )); }
+
+if ! command -v nvim >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "RESULT: SKIPPED and not verified - nvim is not installed"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+tmp=$(mktemp -d)
+# shellcheck disable=SC2064
+trap "rm -rf '$tmp'" EXIT
+
+cat > "$tmp/probe.lua" <<'LUA'
+local f = io.open(os.getenv('NVCOLOUR_OUT'), 'w')
+local h = vim.api.nvim_get_hl(0, { name = 'Normal' })
+f:write(string.format('scheme=%s tgc=%s ctermfg=%s ctermbg=%s\n',
+  tostring(vim.g.colors_name), tostring(vim.o.termguicolors),
+  tostring(h.ctermfg), tostring(h.ctermbg)))
+f:close()
+LUA
+
+# A PTY is required: without one nvim takes a different startup path entirely.
+_probe() { # $1 = TERM value, prints the probe line
+    local out="$tmp/out.$1"
+    NVCOLOUR_OUT="$out" TERM="$1" COLORTERM='' timeout 180 script -qec \
+        "nvim --clean -u '$INIT' -c 'luafile $tmp/probe.lua' -c 'qa!'" /dev/null \
+        >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+    [ -f "$out" ] && cat "$out" || echo "scheme=NONE tgc=? ctermfg=? ctermbg=?"
+}
+
+echo "arm 1: low-colour terminal (TERM=xterm)"
+low=$(_probe xterm)
+echo "  $low"
+case "$low" in
+    *"ctermbg=nil"*|*"ctermbg=?"*)
+        _err "no ctermbg on a low-colour terminal - the buffer has no readable background" ;;
+    *"ctermfg=nil"*)
+        _err "no ctermfg on a low-colour terminal - text falls back to the terminal default" ;;
+    *) _ok "low-colour terminal gets a scheme with real cterm colours" ;;
+esac
+case "$low" in
+    *"tgc=true"*) _err "termguicolors still on for a low-colour terminal - RGB it cannot parse" ;;
+    *)            _ok "termguicolors off for a low-colour terminal" ;;
+esac
+
+echo "arm 2: 256-colour terminal (TERM=xterm-256color) - must be unchanged"
+hi=$(_probe xterm-256color)
+echo "  $hi"
+_skipped=""
+_data=$(nvim --headless -c 'lua io.write(vim.fn.stdpath("data"))' -c 'qa!' 2>/dev/null || true)
+if [ -z "$_data" ]; then
+    # Never let a failed probe read as "nothing to check": that would skip arm 2
+    # on every run while the verdict still said PASSED.
+    _err "could not resolve nvim's data dir - cannot tell whether nightfly is installed"
+elif [ ! -d "$_data/lazy/nightfly" ]; then
+    # Arm 2 asserts the scheme is still nightfly, which needs the plugin on disk.
+    # Without it this arm would fail for a reason that is not the defect under test.
+    _skipped="arm 2 (the nightfly plugin is not installed)"
+    echo "  SKIP: $_skipped"
+else
+    case "$hi" in
+        *"scheme=nightfly"*) _ok "256-colour terminal keeps nightfly" ;;
+        *)                   _err "256-colour terminal no longer gets nightfly - this is a regression" ;;
+    esac
+    case "$hi" in
+        *"tgc=true"*) _ok "256-colour terminal keeps termguicolors" ;;
+        *)            _err "256-colour terminal lost termguicolors - this is a regression" ;;
+    esac
+fi
+
+echo
+_verdict=$([ "$_fail" -eq 0 ] && echo PASSED || echo FAILED)
+if [ -n "$_skipped" ]; then
+    printf 'RESULT: %s (%d checks ran), 2 checks SKIPPED and not verified - %s\n' \
+        "$_verdict" "$_ran" "$_skipped"
+else
+    printf 'RESULT: %s (%d checks ran, none skipped)\n' "$_verdict" "$_ran"
+fi
+exit "$_fail"