diff --git a/webview-ui/src/__tests__/ref-badge-contrast.test.ts b/webview-ui/src/__tests__/ref-badge-contrast.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4b93d5e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/webview-ui/src/__tests__/ref-badge-contrast.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+// Issue #80: a high-contrast light theme puts both `vscode-light` and
+// `vscode-high-contrast` on <body>. The high-contrast `.ref-badge` rule comes
+// last, so it wins the text color while the light rules above supply the pale
+// fills — a hardcoded white made tags/branches/stashes unreadable. The rule
+// must use a theme color that is white in HC dark and dark in HC light.
+//
+// happy-dom does not apply component <style> blocks, so these assertions read
+// the component source: they pin the exact declarations that caused the bug.
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+const COMPONENTS: Array<{ name: string; file: string }> = [
+  { name: 'CommitGraph', file: '../components/graph/CommitGraph.svelte' },
+  { name: 'CommitDetails', file: '../components/commit/CommitDetails.svelte' },
+];
+
+function escapeRegExp(value: string): string {
+  return value.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&');
+}
+
+function ruleBody(source: string, selector: string): string {
+  const pattern = new RegExp(`${escapeRegExp(selector).replace(/ /g, '\\s+')}\\s*\\{([^}]*)\\}`);
+  const match = source.match(pattern);
+  if (!match) throw new Error(`CSS rule not found: ${selector}`);
+  return match[1];
+}
+
+describe.each(COMPONENTS)('$name high-contrast ref badges (#80)', ({ file }) => {
+  const source = readFileSync(fileURLToPath(new URL(file, import.meta.url)), 'utf8');
+  const body = ruleBody(source, ':global(body.vscode-high-contrast) .ref-badge');
+
+  it('does not hardcode a white text color', () => {
+    expect(body).not.toMatch(/color:\s*(#fff\b|#ffffff\b|white\b)/i);
+  });
+
+  it('uses an adaptive theme foreground (white in HC dark, black in HC light)', () => {
+    expect(body).toMatch(/color:\s*var\(--vscode-strongForeground/);
+    expect(body).toContain('var(--vscode-foreground, #fff)');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/webview-ui/src/components/commit/CommitDetails.svelte b/webview-ui/src/components/commit/CommitDetails.svelte
index a9eb9b45..baf30899 100644
--- a/webview-ui/src/components/commit/CommitDetails.svelte
+++ b/webview-ui/src/components/commit/CommitDetails.svelte
@@ -1502,10 +1502,14 @@
     color: #000;
   }
 
-  /* High contrast overrides */
+  /* High contrast overrides. HC light themes put both vscode-light and
+     vscode-high-contrast on <body>, so this rule supplies the text color while
+     the light rules above supply pale fills — a hardcoded white was unreadable
+     there (#80). strongForeground is white in HC dark and black in HC light;
+     the foreground fallback covers VS Code builds without strongForeground. */
   :global(body.vscode-high-contrast) .ref-badge {
     background: transparent;
-    color: #fff;
+    color: var(--vscode-strongForeground, var(--vscode-foreground, #fff));
     border: 1px solid var(--badge-color);
   }
 
diff --git a/webview-ui/src/components/graph/CommitGraph.svelte b/webview-ui/src/components/graph/CommitGraph.svelte
index aa5d2742..eed852f1 100644
--- a/webview-ui/src/components/graph/CommitGraph.svelte
+++ b/webview-ui/src/components/graph/CommitGraph.svelte
@@ -2400,10 +2400,14 @@
     color: #000;
   }
 
-  /* High contrast overrides */
+  /* High contrast overrides. HC light themes put both vscode-light and
+     vscode-high-contrast on <body>, so this rule supplies the text color while
+     the light rules above supply pale fills — a hardcoded white was unreadable
+     there (#80). strongForeground is white in HC dark and black in HC light;
+     the foreground fallback covers VS Code builds without strongForeground. */
   :global(body.vscode-high-contrast) .ref-badge {
     background: transparent;
-    color: #fff;
+    color: var(--vscode-strongForeground, var(--vscode-foreground, #fff));
     border: 1px solid var(--badge-color);
   }