diff --git a/HellionChat/Ui/Components/Sidebar.cs b/HellionChat/Ui/Components/Sidebar.cs
index e52ec21..d30e197 100644
--- a/HellionChat/Ui/Components/Sidebar.cs
+++ b/HellionChat/Ui/Components/Sidebar.cs
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ internal sealed class Sidebar
     private static float PopOutHitWidth => Metrics.SidebarPopOutHitWidth;
     private static float GreetedHitWidth => Metrics.SidebarGreetedHitWidth;
 
+    // Counts rows that got the active surface this frame. At most one, but not
+    // exactly one: PickMainActiveTab returns null when every tab is popped out.
+    internal int LastRenderedActiveSurfaceCount { get; private set; }
+
     // B3-2 render observability: counts greeted glyphs actually drawn this frame.
     // Incremented ONLY in the real glyph branch in DrawRow; reset at Draw start.
     // The SelfTest reads it after driving the real Draw — no dead service roundtrip.
@@ -115,6 +119,7 @@ internal sealed class Sidebar
         LastRenderedGreetedGlyphCount = 0;
         LastRenderedUnreadDotCount = 0;
         LastDrawnSectionHeaderCount = 0;
+        LastRenderedActiveSurfaceCount = 0;
 
         if (!_fonts.FontsReady)
         {
@@ -150,6 +155,12 @@ internal sealed class Sidebar
         );
         var pinnedHeaderRendered = false;
         var unpinnedHeaderRendered = false;
+
+        // Rows carry their own full-height surface now, so the default gap
+        // between them would read as a stripe of window background. The section
+        // headers are unaffected: LineDivider brings its own padding.
+        using var rowSpacing = ImRaii.PushStyle(ImGuiStyleVar.ItemSpacing, Vector2.Zero);
+
         foreach (var i in renderOrder)
         {
             var tab = tabs[i];
@@ -226,7 +237,7 @@ internal sealed class Sidebar
         // Drop the row entirely when the sidebar is dragged below the width
         // of a single hit target. ImGui's InvisibleButton asserts on a
         // zero-width size, which crashes the whole window at min-drag.
-        if (avail < 2f)
+        if (avail < Metrics.SidebarMinDrawWidth)
         {
             ImGui.PopID();
             return;
@@ -266,19 +277,43 @@ internal sealed class Sidebar
             TabLifecycleHelpers.OnTabActivated(tab, previous);
         }
 
+        // Not IsItemHovered: the row button is up to two hit widths narrower than
+        // the row, so a full-width surface driven by it would flicker at the
+        // edges. AllowWhenBlockedByActiveItem keeps the surface while the button
+        // is held down; without it the fill vanishes on press.
+        var rowMax = origin + new Vector2(avail, RowHeight);
+        var surfaceHovered =
+            ImGui.IsMouseHoveringRect(origin, rowMax)
+            && ImGui.IsWindowHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags.AllowWhenBlockedByActiveItem);
+
         // GetID is seeded from the window's ID stack, so the same "row" literal
         // stays distinct per window and per PushID'd tab. The old interpolated
         // key allocated two strings per row per frame.
         var hoverId = ImGui.GetID("row"u8);
-        var hoverAmount = StyleEngine.HoverState.Query(hoverId, rowHovered);
-        dl.DrawHoverSheen(
+        var hoverAmount = HoverState.Query(hoverId, surfaceHovered);
+
+        var isActiveRow = ReferenceEquals(tab, activeTab);
+        if (isActiveRow)
+            LastRenderedActiveSurfaceCount++;
+
+        var colors = _themes.Active.Colors;
+        Row.Draw(
             origin,
-            origin + new Vector2(avail, RowHeight),
-            accentRgba,
-            hoverAmount,
-            rowHovered
+            new Vector2(avail, RowHeight),
+            new RowVisualState
+            {
+                IsActive = isActiveRow,
+                HoverAmount = hoverAmount,
+                SurfaceAbgr = _palette.Abgr(Token.SurfaceBase, colors),
+                SurfaceHoverAbgr = _palette.Abgr(Token.SurfaceHover, colors),
+                SurfaceActiveAbgr = _palette.Abgr(Token.SurfaceActive, colors),
+                AccentAbgr = _palette.Abgr(Token.AccentPrimary, colors),
+                BorderAbgr = _palette.Abgr(Token.Border, colors),
+            }
         );
 
+        dl.DrawHoverSheen(origin, rowMax, accentRgba, hoverAmount, surfaceHovered);
+
         var icon = ResolveTabIcon(tab);
 
         // Dim precedence (1.5.6): the active tab always keeps its regular
diff --git a/HellionChat/Ui/Components/TabContextMenu.cs b/HellionChat/Ui/Components/TabContextMenu.cs
index 738a6e7..27e1556 100644
--- a/HellionChat/Ui/Components/TabContextMenu.cs
+++ b/HellionChat/Ui/Components/TabContextMenu.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 using Dalamud.Bindings.ImGui;
 using Dalamud.Interface;
 using Dalamud.Interface.Utility;
+using Dalamud.Interface.Utility.Raii;
 using FFXIVClientStructs.FFXIV.Client.UI;
 using HellionChat.Resources;
 using HellionChat.Util;
@@ -39,6 +40,17 @@ internal static class TabContextMenu
             return;
         }
 
+        // The sidebar pushes ItemSpacing to zero so its rows sit flush, and style
+        // vars are a global stack the popup inherits. Without restoring a normal
+        // spacing here the menu entries would touch each other.
+        using var spacing = ImRaii.PushStyle(
+            ImGuiStyleVar.ItemSpacing,
+            ImGui.GetStyle().ItemSpacing with
+            {
+                Y = MathF.Max(ImGui.GetStyle().ItemSpacing.Y, 4f * ImGuiHelpers.GlobalScale),
+            }
+        );
+
         // Rename: focus the field the first frame the popup appears.
         if (ImGui.IsWindowAppearing())
             ImGui.SetKeyboardFocusHere();