diff --git a/tools/server/public_simplechat/readme.md b/tools/server/public_simplechat/readme.md
index a29da6b09f..e1c952e14b 100644
--- a/tools/server/public_simplechat/readme.md
+++ b/tools/server/public_simplechat/readme.md
@@ -699,6 +699,12 @@ sliding window based drop off or even before they kick in, this can help in many
   * ALERT: ON-DISK-STORAGE structure of chat sessions have changed wrt tool responses. So old saves will
     no longer work wrt tool responses
 
+* UI updates
+  * update logic to allow empty tool results to be sent to ai engine server
+  * css - when user input textarea is in tool result mode (ie wrt TOOL.TEMP role), change the background
+    color to match the tool role chat message block color, so that user can easily know that the input
+    area is being used for submitting tool response or user response, at any given moment in time.
+
 
 #### ToDo
 
diff --git a/tools/server/public_simplechat/simplechat.css b/tools/server/public_simplechat/simplechat.css
index b0edd777da..b6054e678c 100644
--- a/tools/server/public_simplechat/simplechat.css
+++ b/tools/server/public_simplechat/simplechat.css
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@
     flex-shrink: 1;
     min-height: 40vh;
 }
+#user-in[data-role="TOOL.TEMP"] {
+    background-color: lightyellow;
+}
 button {
     padding-inline: 2vmin;
 }