diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
index 2ac2e6373..3a441ca01 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@
 - Added env-driven OpenTelemetry trace export. When `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT` (or `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT`) is set, `omp` registers a global OTLP/proto trace exporter and switches on the agent loop's telemetry, so the `invoke_agent` / `chat` / `execute_tool` spans actually reach a collector instead of a no-op tracer. Honors the standard `OTEL_*` env contract (endpoint, headers, `OTEL_SERVICE_NAME`, `OTEL_SDK_DISABLED` and `OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER=none` parsed case-insensitively) and the `OTEL_INSTRUMENTATION_GENAI_CAPTURE_MESSAGE_CONTENT` capture toggle; it is a no-op when no endpoint is configured. Only the `http/protobuf` transport is supported — a `grpc` or `http/json` `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP*_PROTOCOL` declines rather than misrouting spans. This makes the existing telemetry usable from headless hosts that run `omp` as a spawned child process, where an in-process `TracerProvider` registered by the parent can't reach the child. Uses the `@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-proto` 2.x line, which exports cleanly under Bun.
 ## Fixed
 
+- Fixed paste and image placeholders crashing when the editor renders before theme initialization.
 - Fixed the status line session name (and the editor border / status-line gap fill) being nearly illegible on light themes.
 - Added `IndexedSessionStorage` and `SessionStorageBackend` exports to support shared metadata-indexed session backends
 - Added the `tui.maxInlineImages` setting (default `8`) capping how many inline images render as live terminal graphics. Once a new image pushes the count past the cap, the oldest images are hidden via a full redraw — replaced by their `[Image: …]` text placeholder and purged from the terminal's graphics store — so long sessions with many screenshots/diagrams stop piling up images (and, on Kitty, stop leaving scrollback ghosts). Set to `0` to keep every image inline.
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/custom-editor.test.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/custom-editor.test.ts
index 979d29dc0..71d50cfa0 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/custom-editor.test.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/custom-editor.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeAll, describe, expect, it, vi } from "bun:test";
+import { $ } from "bun";
 import { getEditorTheme, initTheme } from "../theme/theme";
 import { CustomEditor, SPACE_HOLD_RELEASE_MS, SPACE_HOLD_THRESHOLD } from "./custom-editor";
 
@@ -15,6 +16,32 @@ function holdSpace(editor: CustomEditor, count: number): void {
 	for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) editor.handleInput(" ");
 }
 
+async function decorateInFreshProcess(text: string): Promise<string> {
+	const customEditorUrl = new URL("./custom-editor.ts", import.meta.url).href;
+	const script = `
+import { CustomEditor } from ${JSON.stringify(customEditorUrl)};
+const editor = new CustomEditor({});
+process.stdout.write(editor.decorateText(${JSON.stringify(text)}));
+`;
+	const child = await $`bun -e ${script}`.quiet().nothrow();
+	const stdout = child.stdout.toString();
+	const stderr = child.stderr.toString();
+	if (child.exitCode !== 0) throw new Error(stderr || stdout || `decorate subprocess exited with ${child.exitCode}`);
+	return stdout;
+}
+
+describe("CustomEditor placeholder decoration", () => {
+	it("renders paste placeholders before theme initialization", async () => {
+		const output = await decorateInFreshProcess("[Paste #1, +30 lines]");
+		expect(output).toBe("[Paste #1, +30 lines]");
+	});
+
+	it("renders image placeholders before theme initialization", async () => {
+		const output = await decorateInFreshProcess("[Image #1]");
+		expect(output).toBe("[Image #1]");
+	});
+});
+
 describe("CustomEditor space-hold push-to-talk", () => {
 	beforeAll(async () => {
 		await initTheme();
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/custom-editor.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/custom-editor.ts
index 501b2a3f6..df111f0f1 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/custom-editor.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/custom-editor.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import type { AppKeybinding } from "../../config/keybindings";
 import { isSettingsInitialized, settings } from "../../config/settings";
 import { imageReferenceHyperlink, PLACEHOLDER_REGEX, renderPlaceholders } from "../image-references";
 import { hasMagicKeyword, highlightMagicKeywords } from "../magic-keywords";
-import { theme } from "../theme/theme";
+import { fgOrPlain } from "../theme/theme";
 
 type ConfigurableEditorAction = Extract<
 	AppKeybinding,
@@ -178,9 +178,9 @@ export class CustomEditor extends Editor {
 			renderReference: (value, kind, index) =>
 				kind === "image"
 					? imageReferenceHyperlink(value, index, this.imageLinks, label =>
-							theme.fg("accent", `\x1b[1m\x1b[4m${label}\x1b[24m\x1b[22m`),
+							fgOrPlain("accent", label, `\x1b[1m\x1b[4m${label}\x1b[24m\x1b[22m`),
 						)
-					: theme.fg("accent", `\x1b[1m${value}\x1b[22m`),
+					: fgOrPlain("accent", value, `\x1b[1m${value}\x1b[22m`),
 		});
 	};
 
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/theme/theme.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/theme/theme.ts
index 130f09b03..7ab65b264 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/theme/theme.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/theme/theme.ts
@@ -2098,6 +2098,11 @@ var currentThemeName: string | undefined;
 export function getCurrentThemeName(): string | undefined {
 	return currentThemeName;
 }
+
+/** Returns unstyled `text` before `initTheme()` assigns the global theme; use only for early-render paths. */
+export function fgOrPlain(color: ThemeColor, text: string, styledText: string = text): string {
+	return typeof theme === "undefined" ? text : theme.fg(color, styledText);
+}
 var currentSymbolPresetOverride: SymbolPreset | undefined;
 var currentColorBlindMode: boolean = false;
 var themeWatcher: fs.FSWatcher | undefined;