diff --git a/features/steps/actor_cli_steps.py b/features/steps/actor_cli_steps.py
index 57c270124..a6d53301c 100644
--- a/features/steps/actor_cli_steps.py
+++ b/features/steps/actor_cli_steps.py
@@ -1085,11 +1085,15 @@ def step_impl(context):
 
 @then("the actor command should fail with bad parameter")
 def step_impl(context):
+    import re
+
     assert context.result.exit_code != 0
     expected = getattr(context, "expected_error", None)
     if expected:
-        # Normalize whitespace to handle Rich text wrapping in narrow terminals
-        normalized = " ".join(context.result.output.split())
+        # Strip ANSI escape codes and normalize whitespace to handle
+        # Rich formatting and text wrapping in narrow CI terminals
+        raw = re.sub(r"\x1b\[[0-9;]*[a-zA-Z]", "", context.result.output)
+        normalized = " ".join(raw.split())
         assert expected in normalized, f"Expected '{expected}' in output: {normalized}"
 
 
diff --git a/features/steps/auto_debug_cli_coverage_steps.py b/features/steps/auto_debug_cli_coverage_steps.py
index 8d72e0324..90851c6ae 100644
--- a/features/steps/auto_debug_cli_coverage_steps.py
+++ b/features/steps/auto_debug_cli_coverage_steps.py
@@ -319,9 +319,13 @@ def step_assert_command_aborted(context):
 
 @then('the output should contain "{text}"')
 def step_assert_output_contains(context, text):
+    import re
+
     output = _capture_output(context)
-    # Normalize whitespace to handle Rich text wrapping in narrow terminals
-    normalized = " ".join(output.split())
+    # Strip ANSI escape codes and normalize whitespace to handle
+    # Rich formatting and text wrapping in narrow CI terminals
+    raw = re.sub(r"\x1b\[[0-9;]*[a-zA-Z]", "", output)
+    normalized = " ".join(raw.split())
     assert text in normalized, f"Expected to find '{text}' in CLI output: {output}"