Headings: Color picker custom colors no longer applied

[burtrw]

Description

With Gutenberg activated, the color picker no longer works for headings.

The color picker works as expected with Gutenberg deactivated.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions

Add a heading to any page. Use the color picker to change the color of the block text. The color does not change.

Screenshots, screen recording, code snippet

Environment info

WordPress 6.9.1
Gutenberg 22.5.0
Playground

Please confirm that you have searched existing issues in the repo.

• Yes

Please confirm that you have tested with all plugins deactivated except Gutenberg.

• Yes

Please confirm which theme type you used for testing.

• Block
• Classic
• Hybrid (e.g. classic with theme.json)
• Not sure

[prasadkarmalkar]

I can replicate the issue in the local environment with the latest Gutenberg trunk branch

Screen.Recording.2026-02-05.at.11.14.19.AM.mov

[Mamaduka]

I'm having trouble replicating the issue on the latest trunk. I haven't tested it in Playground, but if the bug only occurs there, it could be an environment issue.

If I'm missing any steps, please share the full reproduction guide.

Screencast

CleanShot.2026-02-05.at.09.48.02.mp4

[prasadkarmalkar]

@Mamaduka , Selecting the default colors from the theme works fine, but selecting a custom color via the color picker does not reflect the changes.

Screen.Recording.2026-02-05.at.11.39.27.AM.mov

[Mamaduka]

Thanks for the additional context, @prasadkarmalkar! I can confirm the issue now. This seems only to affect the Heading block; the Paragraph works just fine.

Update

This looks like a recent regression. I can see attributes.styles being updated, but colors never apply to the block. I think the bug was introduced in Gutenberg 22.5; it seems to be working with commits in 22.4.

[Mamaduka]

I believe this regression is caused by #74383. If you check out the previous commit, custom colors are working correctly.

cc @shimotmk, @t-hamano