bug: Double border when `Base` style has a border and textarea shows placeholder

[Acksell]

Describe the bug

When setting a Border on the textarea's styles.Focused.Base (or Blurred.Base), the border is rendered twice while the placeholder is visible (empty textarea). Once the user types any text, the double border disappears and only a single border is shown.

The inner border appears shifted by the border + padding offset, producing a nested-box effect.

Setup
Please complete the following information along with version numbers, if applicable.

• OS: macOS
• Shell: zsh
• Terminal Emulator: Ghostty
• Terminal Multiplexer: N/A

To Reproduce
Run the following code snippet below

Source Code

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"

	"charm.land/bubbles/v2/textarea"
	tea "charm.land/bubbletea/v2"
	"charm.land/lipgloss/v2"
)

type model struct {
	ta textarea.Model
}

func initialModel() model {
	ta := textarea.New()
	ta.Placeholder = "Type something..."
	ta.ShowLineNumbers = false
	ta.Prompt = ""
	ta.SetHeight(5)

	// Set a border on Base — this triggers the double-render bug.
	styles := ta.Styles()
	styles.Focused.Base = lipgloss.NewStyle().
		Border(lipgloss.RoundedBorder()).
		BorderForeground(lipgloss.Color("63")).
		Padding(0, 1)
	styles.Blurred.Base = styles.Focused.Base
	styles.Focused.CursorLine = lipgloss.NewStyle()
	ta.SetStyles(styles)

	ta.Focus()
	return model{ta: ta}
}

func (m model) Init() tea.Cmd {
	return m.ta.Focus()
}

func (m model) Update(msg tea.Msg) (tea.Model, tea.Cmd) {
	switch msg := msg.(type) {
	case tea.KeyPressMsg:
		if msg.String() == "ctrl+c" {
			return m, tea.Quit
		}
	case tea.WindowSizeMsg:
		m.ta.SetWidth(msg.Width)
	}
	var cmd tea.Cmd
	m.ta, cmd = m.ta.Update(msg)
	return m, cmd
}

func (m model) View() tea.View {
	return tea.NewView(fmt.Sprintf("\n%s\n\nctrl+c to quit\n", m.ta.View()))
}

func main() {
	p := tea.NewProgram(initialModel())
	if _, err := p.Run(); err != nil {
		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "error: %v\n", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}
}

Expected behavior
No inner or double border, just a single border in the textarea, regardless of if text is in the box or not.

Screenshots
See above

Additional context
This report is largely AI generated.

go mod:

module test

go 1.26.0

require (
	charm.land/bubbles/v2 v2.0.0
	charm.land/bubbletea/v2 v2.0.2
	charm.land/lipgloss/v2 v2.0.2
)

require (
	github.com/atotto/clipboard v0.1.4 // indirect
	github.com/charmbracelet/colorprofile v0.4.2 // indirect
	github.com/charmbracelet/ultraviolet v0.0.0-20260205113103-524a6607adb8 // indirect
	github.com/charmbracelet/x/ansi v0.11.6 // indirect
	github.com/charmbracelet/x/term v0.2.2 // indirect
	github.com/charmbracelet/x/termios v0.1.1 // indirect
	github.com/charmbracelet/x/windows v0.2.2 // indirect
	github.com/clipperhouse/displaywidth v0.11.0 // indirect
	github.com/clipperhouse/uax29/v2 v2.7.0 // indirect
	github.com/lucasb-eyer/go-colorful v1.3.0 // indirect
	github.com/mattn/go-runewidth v0.0.20 // indirect
	github.com/muesli/cancelreader v0.2.2 // indirect
	github.com/rivo/uniseg v0.4.7 // indirect
	github.com/xo/terminfo v0.0.0-20220910002029-abceb7e1c41e // indirect
	golang.org/x/sync v0.19.0 // indirect
	golang.org/x/sys v0.42.0 // indirect
)

[Acksell]

Root cause and suggested fix

Root cause

placeholderView() returns the result of styles.Base.Render(m.viewport.View()) — it applies Base (with the border) to the viewport output:

// textarea.go:1556-1557
m.viewport.SetContent(s.String())
return styles.Base.Render(m.viewport.View())

But View() calls m.view() (which delegates to placeholderView() when the textarea is empty), feeds that already-bordered string back into the viewport, and then wraps it with Base.Render() again:

// textarea.go:1415-1423
func (m Model) View() string {
    m.viewport.SetContent(m.view())   // m.view() → placeholderView() → Base.Render(...)
    view := m.viewport.View()          // viewport now contains bordered content
    styles := m.activeStyle()
    return styles.Base.Render(view)    // second Base.Render wraps the already-bordered content
}

The normal text path (view() when Value() != "") returns raw line content without calling Base.Render(), so only the single Base.Render() in View() applies. The asymmetry between placeholderView() and the normal view() path is the bug.

Suggested fix

Remove the styles.Base.Render(...) call from placeholderView() and return the raw viewport output instead, matching what the normal view() path does:

- m.viewport.SetContent(s.String())
- return styles.Base.Render(m.viewport.View())
+ m.viewport.SetContent(s.String())
+ return m.viewport.View()

Alternatively, have placeholderView() return just the string content (like the normal view() does) without touching the viewport at all, and let View() handle both the viewport and the Base.Render() wrapping uniformly.

[Acksell]

Workaround

Render the border externally instead of on Base:

// Leave Base with no border:
styles.Focused.Base = lipgloss.NewStyle()

// Wrap the textarea output yourself:
borderStyle := lipgloss.NewStyle().
    Border(lipgloss.RoundedBorder()).
    BorderForeground(lipgloss.Color("63")).
    Padding(0, 1)

// In View():
borderStyle.Render(m.ta.View())

// In SetWidth():
m.ta.SetWidth(width - borderStyle.GetHorizontalFrameSize())