diff --git a/core/config/sharedConfig.ts b/core/config/sharedConfig.ts
index 87306a2aed8..ca72c84704d 100644
--- a/core/config/sharedConfig.ts
+++ b/core/config/sharedConfig.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ export const sharedConfigSchema = z
     displayRawMarkdown: z.boolean(),
     showChatScrollbar: z.boolean(),
     continueAfterToolRejection: z.boolean(),
+    rainbowEffectEnabled: z.boolean(),
 
     // `tabAutocompleteOptions` in `ContinueConfig`
     useAutocompleteCache: z.boolean(),
@@ -140,6 +141,10 @@ export function modifyAnyConfigWithSharedConfig<
     configCopy.ui.showChatScrollbar = sharedConfig.showChatScrollbar;
   }
 
+  if (sharedConfig.rainbowEffectEnabled !== undefined) {
+    configCopy.ui.rainbowEffectEnabled = sharedConfig.rainbowEffectEnabled;
+  }
+
   if (sharedConfig.allowAnonymousTelemetry !== undefined) {
     configCopy.allowAnonymousTelemetry = sharedConfig.allowAnonymousTelemetry;
   }
diff --git a/core/config/types.ts b/core/config/types.ts
index 2500042e887..1c784ca53ca 100644
--- a/core/config/types.ts
+++ b/core/config/types.ts
@@ -1039,6 +1039,7 @@ declare global {
     displayRawMarkdown?: boolean;
     showChatScrollbar?: boolean;
     codeWrap?: boolean;
+    rainbowEffectEnabled?: boolean;
   }
   
   interface ContextMenuConfig {
diff --git a/core/index.d.ts b/core/index.d.ts
index bec3e0e0ff8..4899ebb3547 100644
--- a/core/index.d.ts
+++ b/core/index.d.ts
@@ -1453,6 +1453,7 @@ export interface ContinueUIConfig {
   codeWrap?: boolean;
   showSessionTabs?: boolean;
   continueAfterToolRejection?: boolean;
+  rainbowEffectEnabled?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface ContextMenuConfig {
diff --git a/gui/src/components/mainInput/ContinueInputBox.tsx b/gui/src/components/mainInput/ContinueInputBox.tsx
index c57dbd9d009..8caf651c99e 100644
--- a/gui/src/components/mainInput/ContinueInputBox.tsx
+++ b/gui/src/components/mainInput/ContinueInputBox.tsx
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ function ContinueInputBox(props: ContinueInputBoxProps) {
   );
   const isInEdit = useAppSelector((store) => store.session.isInEdit);
   const editModeState = useAppSelector((state) => state.editModeState);
+  const rainbowEffectEnabled = useAppSelector(
+    (state) => state.config.config.ui?.rainbowEffectEnabled ?? true,
+  );
 
   const filteredSlashCommands = useMemo(() => {
     if (isInEdit) {
@@ -107,6 +110,8 @@ function ContinueInputBox(props: ContinueInputBoxProps) {
 
   const { appliedRules = [], contextItems = [] } = props;
 
+  const isLoading = isStreaming && (props.isLastUserInput || isInEdit);
+
   return (
     <div
       className={`${props.hidden ? "hidden" : ""}`}
@@ -115,12 +120,11 @@ function ContinueInputBox(props: ContinueInputBoxProps) {
       <div className={`relative flex flex-col px-2`}>
         {props.isMainInput && <Lump />}
         <GradientBorder
-          loading={isStreaming && (props.isLastUserInput || isInEdit) ? 1 : 0}
+          loading={isLoading ? 1 : 0}
           borderColor={
-            isStreaming && (props.isLastUserInput || isInEdit)
-              ? undefined
-              : vscBackground
+            isLoading && rainbowEffectEnabled ? undefined : vscBackground
           }
+          rainbowEffectEnabled={rainbowEffectEnabled}
           borderRadius={defaultBorderRadius}
         >
           <TipTapEditor
diff --git a/gui/src/components/mainInput/GradientBorder.test.tsx b/gui/src/components/mainInput/GradientBorder.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..43367b47f6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/src/components/mainInput/GradientBorder.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import { render } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { GradientBorder } from "./GradientBorder";
+
+// styled-components injects generated rules into document stylesheets,
+// so inspect the css rules matching the rendered element's class names
+// (whitespace stripped to tolerate cssText serialization differences)
+function getCssForElement(element: HTMLElement): string {
+  const classNames = Array.from(element.classList);
+  const cssTexts: string[] = [];
+  for (const sheet of Array.from(document.styleSheets)) {
+    let rules: CSSRuleList;
+    try {
+      rules = sheet.cssRules;
+    } catch {
+      continue;
+    }
+    for (const rule of Array.from(rules)) {
+      const styleRule = rule as CSSStyleRule;
+      if (
+        styleRule.selectorText &&
+        classNames.some((name) => styleRule.selectorText.includes(name))
+      ) {
+        cssTexts.push(styleRule.cssText);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return cssTexts.join("\n").replace(/\s+/g, "");
+}
+
+describe("GradientBorder", () => {
+  it("runs the rainbow animation while loading by default (no config provided)", () => {
+    const { container } = render(
+      <GradientBorder loading={1}>
+        <div>content</div>
+      </GradientBorder>,
+    );
+    const css = getCssForElement(container.firstChild as HTMLElement);
+    expect(css).toContain("infinite");
+    expect(css).not.toContain("animation-name:none");
+  });
+
+  it("runs the rainbow animation when loading and rainbowEffectEnabled is true", () => {
+    const { container } = render(
+      <GradientBorder loading={1} rainbowEffectEnabled={true}>
+        <div>content</div>
+      </GradientBorder>,
+    );
+    const css = getCssForElement(container.firstChild as HTMLElement);
+    expect(css).toContain("infinite");
+    expect(css).not.toContain("animation-name:none");
+  });
+
+  it("does not run the rainbow animation when rainbowEffectEnabled is false, even while loading", () => {
+    const { container } = render(
+      <GradientBorder loading={1} rainbowEffectEnabled={false}>
+        <div>content</div>
+      </GradientBorder>,
+    );
+    const css = getCssForElement(container.firstChild as HTMLElement);
+    expect(css).not.toContain("infinite");
+    expect(css).toContain("animation-name:none");
+  });
+
+  it("does not run the rainbow animation when not loading", () => {
+    const { container } = render(
+      <GradientBorder loading={0} borderColor="#1e1e1e">
+        <div>content</div>
+      </GradientBorder>,
+    );
+    const css = getCssForElement(container.firstChild as HTMLElement);
+    expect(css).not.toContain("infinite");
+    expect(css).toContain("animation-name:none");
+  });
+
+  it("still renders its children when the rainbow effect is disabled", () => {
+    const { getByText } = render(
+      <GradientBorder loading={1} rainbowEffectEnabled={false}>
+        <div>content</div>
+      </GradientBorder>,
+    );
+    expect(getByText("content")).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/gui/src/components/mainInput/GradientBorder.tsx b/gui/src/components/mainInput/GradientBorder.tsx
index c3b80ccca34..19a81be1802 100644
--- a/gui/src/components/mainInput/GradientBorder.tsx
+++ b/gui/src/components/mainInput/GradientBorder.tsx
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ export const GradientBorder = styled.div<{
   borderRadius?: string;
   borderColor?: string;
   loading: 0 | 1;
+  rainbowEffectEnabled?: boolean;
 }>`
   border-radius: ${(props) => props.borderRadius || "0"};
   padding: 1px;
@@ -29,7 +30,12 @@ export const GradientBorder = styled.div<{
       #331BBE 85%,
       #1BBE84 99%
     )`};
-  animation: ${(props) => (props.loading ? gradient : "")} 6s linear infinite;
+  animation-name: ${(props) =>
+    props.loading && props.rainbowEffectEnabled !== false ? gradient : "none"};
+  animation-duration: 6s;
+  animation-timing-function: linear;
+  animation-iteration-count: ${(props) =>
+    props.loading && props.rainbowEffectEnabled !== false ? "infinite" : "1"};
   background-size: 200% 200%;
   width: 100%;
   display: flex;
diff --git a/gui/src/pages/config/sections/UserSettingsSection.test.tsx b/gui/src/pages/config/sections/UserSettingsSection.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2261db88050
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/src/pages/config/sections/UserSettingsSection.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+import { fireEvent, render, screen } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { UserSettingsSection } from "./UserSettingsSection";
+
+// Same mock as renderWithProviders (headlessui needs ResizeObserver)
+global.ResizeObserver = vi.fn().mockImplementation(() => ({
+  observe: vi.fn(),
+  unobserve: vi.fn(),
+  disconnect: vi.fn(),
+}));
+
+const mockPost = vi.fn();
+const mockDispatch = vi.fn();
+
+// Mock the dependencies, same style as FindAndReplace.test.tsx
+vi.mock("../../../context/IdeMessenger", () => ({
+  IdeMessengerContext: {
+    _currentValue: { post: (...args: any[]) => mockPost(...args) },
+  },
+}));
+
+vi.mock("../../../redux/hooks", () => ({
+  useAppSelector: vi.fn(),
+  useAppDispatch: () => mockDispatch,
+}));
+
+vi.mock("../../../components/ui", async () => {
+  const actual = await vi.importActual<any>("../../../components/ui");
+  return {
+    ...actual,
+    useFontSize: () => 14,
+  };
+});
+
+import { useAppSelector } from "../../../redux/hooks";
+
+const mockUseAppSelector = useAppSelector as any;
+
+const mockConfig = {
+  ui: {} as Record<string, unknown>,
+  tabAutocompleteOptions: {},
+  experimental: {},
+  allowAnonymousTelemetry: true,
+  disableSessionTitles: false,
+};
+
+function renderSection() {
+  return render(<UserSettingsSection />);
+}
+
+function getRainbowToggle() {
+  // The toggle track (click target) is the sibling element of the setting title,
+  // the knob inside it carries the on/off styling
+  const title = screen.getByText("Enable Rainbow Effect");
+  const row = title.closest("div.gap-4") as HTMLElement;
+  const track = row.querySelector(".rounded-full") as HTMLElement;
+  const knob = track.querySelector("div") as HTMLElement;
+  return { track, knob };
+}
+
+describe("UserSettingsSection - Enable Rainbow Effect", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+    mockConfig.ui = {};
+    mockUseAppSelector.mockImplementation((selector: any) =>
+      selector({ config: { config: mockConfig } }),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("shows the toggle enabled by default when no config value is provided", () => {
+    renderSection();
+
+    expect(screen.getByText("Enable Rainbow Effect")).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(
+      screen.getByText(
+        "Show the animated rainbow border around the input box while Continue is processing.",
+      ),
+    ).toBeInTheDocument();
+
+    // Default true => toggle knob has the "on" styling
+    expect(getRainbowToggle().knob.className).toContain("brightness-150");
+  });
+
+  it("posts rainbowEffectEnabled: false to shared config when toggled off", () => {
+    renderSection();
+
+    fireEvent.click(getRainbowToggle().track);
+
+    expect(mockPost).toHaveBeenCalledWith("config/updateSharedConfig", {
+      rainbowEffectEnabled: false,
+    });
+    // Optimistic redux update is dispatched as well
+    expect(mockDispatch).toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("posts rainbowEffectEnabled: true when toggled back on", () => {
+    mockConfig.ui = { rainbowEffectEnabled: false };
+
+    renderSection();
+
+    fireEvent.click(getRainbowToggle().track);
+
+    expect(mockPost).toHaveBeenCalledWith("config/updateSharedConfig", {
+      rainbowEffectEnabled: true,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("reflects an existing disabled value from config", () => {
+    mockConfig.ui = { rainbowEffectEnabled: false };
+
+    renderSection();
+
+    // Default false => toggle knob has the "off" styling
+    expect(getRainbowToggle().knob.className).toContain("brightness-75");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/gui/src/pages/config/sections/UserSettingsSection.tsx b/gui/src/pages/config/sections/UserSettingsSection.tsx
index 0b5549f5a08..3f904159607 100644
--- a/gui/src/pages/config/sections/UserSettingsSection.tsx
+++ b/gui/src/pages/config/sections/UserSettingsSection.tsx
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ export function UserSettingsSection() {
     config.ui?.continueAfterToolRejection ?? false;
   const codeWrap = config.ui?.codeWrap ?? false;
   const showChatScrollbar = config.ui?.showChatScrollbar ?? false;
+  const rainbowEffectEnabled = config.ui?.rainbowEffectEnabled ?? true;
   const readResponseTTS = config.experimental?.readResponseTTS ?? false;
   const displayRawMarkdown = config.ui?.displayRawMarkdown ?? false;
   const disableSessionTitles = config.disableSessionTitles ?? false;
@@ -164,6 +165,15 @@ export function UserSettingsSection() {
                   min={7}
                   max={50}
                 />
+                <UserSetting
+                  type="toggle"
+                  title="Enable Rainbow Effect"
+                  description="Show the animated rainbow border around the input box while Continue is processing."
+                  value={rainbowEffectEnabled}
+                  onChange={(value) =>
+                    handleUpdate({ rainbowEffectEnabled: value })
+                  }
+                />
               </div>
             </Card>
           </div>