Navigation block inherits parent border color when no text color is defined #79349

Description

I'm currently developing a Full Site Editing (FSE) theme and noticed a behavior that may be worth discussing.

The Navigation block does not appear to have a default text color when neither the theme nor the user explicitly defines one.

For example:

• No text color is defined in theme.json
• No text color is selected by the user
• A Navigation block is placed inside a Group/Stack block
• The parent Group/Stack block receives a border color

Because Navigation items use:

.wp-block-navigation .wp-block-navigation-item__content.wp-block-navigation-item__content { color: inherit; }

the navigation links inherit the color from their parent context.

As a result, changing the border color of the parent block can indirectly affect the visible color of navigation links, even though no text color was intentionally configured.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a theme without defining a Navigation text color in theme.json.
2. Add a Group (or Stack) block.
3. Insert a Navigation block inside it.
4. Do not set any text color on the Navigation block.
5. Set a border color on the parent Group/Stack block.

Expected Behavior

Navigation links should retain a predictable default text color unless a text color is explicitly configured by the theme or user.

Actual Behavior

Navigation links may inherit colors from the parent context, causing the menu color to change unexpectedly when unrelated styling (such as border color) is modified.

Additional Context

Adding an explicit Navigation text color in theme.json resolves the issue:

{ "styles": { "blocks": { "core/navigation": { "color": { "text": "var(--wp--preset--color--contrast)" } } } } }

Because of that, I'm not sure whether this should be considered a bug or expected behavior. However, from a theme developer perspective, the lack of a default/fallback text color can lead to unexpected results when Navigation relies entirely on inherited colors.

Question

Is it intentional that Navigation relies entirely on inherited colors when neither the theme nor the user defines a text color?

From a theme developer perspective, this can produce unexpected menu color changes when parent blocks introduce styling that affects inherited colors.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions

1. Activate a block theme that does not define a Navigation text color in theme.json.

2. Create a new page or template in the Site Editor.

3. Add a Group (or Stack) block.

4. Insert a Navigation block inside the Group/Stack block.

5. Do not set any text color on the Navigation block.

6. Select the parent Group/Stack block.

7. Enable a border and set:

   • Border Width: 1px
   • Border Color: any visible color (for example, #E5E7EB)

8. Observe the Navigation links.

Expected behavior

Changing the border color of the parent block should only affect the border.

Actual behavior

The Navigation links inherit the parent color and their text color changes, even though no Navigation text color was explicitly configured by the theme or user.

Screenshots, screen recording, code snippet

Environment info

• WordPress Version 7.0 , Gutenberg Version 23.4.0, Theme - Custom Theme
• Google Chrome
• Windows 10

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