diff --git a/src/features/todo/PreviewEditor.test.tsx b/src/features/todo/PreviewEditor.test.tsx
index 5653cf0e6..b0c95ecb6 100644
--- a/src/features/todo/PreviewEditor.test.tsx
+++ b/src/features/todo/PreviewEditor.test.tsx
@@ -51,6 +51,18 @@ describe("PreviewEditor", () => {
     expect(document.querySelector(".cm-content")?.textContent).toContain("TODO: fix");
   });
 
+  it("colours TODO comments like the editor tabs", async () => {
+    const docs = new Map([["/p/c.js", { text: "// TODO: fix\nconst x = 1;\n" }]]);
+    stubAttacher(docs);
+    render(<PreviewEditor path="/p/c.js" line={0} col={3} fallbackLoad={previewText} />);
+    const todo = await waitFor(() => {
+      const el = document.querySelector(".cm-openidea-todo");
+      expect(el).toBeTruthy();
+      return el!;
+    });
+    expect(todo.textContent).toBe("TODO: fix");
+  });
+
   it("moves the caret to another item of the same file without a new view", async () => {
     const docs = new Map([["/p/two.ts", { text: "// TODO: one\nconst x = 1;\n// TODO: two\n" }]]);
     stubAttacher(docs);
diff --git a/src/features/todo/PreviewEditor.tsx b/src/features/todo/PreviewEditor.tsx
index a2c634bd4..dfb951a3d 100644
--- a/src/features/todo/PreviewEditor.tsx
+++ b/src/features/todo/PreviewEditor.tsx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import { openideaHighlightStyle } from "@/editor/core/cm/highlight";
 import { findLanguageDescription, loadSupport } from "@/editor/core/cm/languages";
 import { attachDocument, embeddedEditorExtensions, type DocumentAttachment } from "@/editor/api";
 import { SourcePreview, T, type SourceHighlight } from "@/ui";
+import { todoHighlightExtension } from "./highlight";
 import styles from "./TodoView.module.css";
 
 /** Dirty attachments kept alive after their view unmounted (see header note). */
@@ -95,6 +96,7 @@ export function PreviewEditor({
               keymap.of([...historyKeymap, ...searchKeymap, ...defaultKeymap]),
               att.extension,
               embeddedEditorExtensions(path),
+              todoHighlightExtension(),
               language.of([]),
             ],
           }),
diff --git a/src/features/todo/highlight.ts b/src/features/todo/highlight.ts
index 7fdafd962..d54603872 100644
--- a/src/features/todo/highlight.ts
+++ b/src/features/todo/highlight.ts
@@ -90,6 +90,16 @@ const theme = EditorView.baseTheme({
 });
 
 export function todoEditorExtension(ctx: EditorDocContext): Extension {
+  return todoPlugin(ctx);
+}
+
+/** The colouring alone, for views outside the editor tabs (the TODO tool window's preview). */
+export function todoHighlightExtension(): Extension {
+  return todoPlugin(null);
+}
+
+/** `ctx` given: also reports the document's live TODO items to the tool window. */
+function todoPlugin(ctx: EditorDocContext | null): Extension {
   const plugin = ViewPlugin.fromClass(
     class {
       decorations: DecorationSet;
@@ -112,7 +122,7 @@ export function todoEditorExtension(ctx: EditorDocContext): Extension {
         if (u.docChanged) this.scheduleLive(400);
       }
       scheduleLive(delay: number) {
-        if (!ctx.path || ctx.virtual) return;
+        if (!ctx?.path || ctx.virtual) return;
         if (this.timer) clearTimeout(this.timer);
         this.timer = setTimeout(() => {
           this.timer = null;