diff --git a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
index 1e8e4c214..2da498e3a 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
@@ -250,7 +250,9 @@ class TerminalController: BaseTerminalController {
         let backgroundColor: OSColor
         if let surfaceTree {
             if let focusedSurface, surfaceTree.doesBorderTop(view: focusedSurface) {
-                backgroundColor = OSColor(focusedSurface.backgroundColor ?? surfaceConfig.backgroundColor).withAlphaComponent(0.0)
+                // Similar to above, an alpha component of "0" causes compositor issues, so
+                // we use 0.001. See: https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/pull/4308
+                backgroundColor = OSColor(focusedSurface.backgroundColor ?? surfaceConfig.backgroundColor).withAlphaComponent(0.001)
             } else {
                 // We don't have a focused surface or our surface doesn't border the
                 // top. We choose to match the color of the top-left most surface.