The following example shows that code model erroneously distinguishes structs and classes. There is a slight inconsistency in code: traits sometimes is class and sometimes is struct. But from C++ point of view it's ok. It compiles without warnings and works well. However IDE does not show traits<Function>  and traits<Variable> in the list of specializations.

That's because their kinds are different => they can not be properly found in code model maps. Sure this fact has more consequences.

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

class Function {};
class Variable {};

// has a gray "T" but navigates ONLY to the line 16
template <typename NodeTy> struct traits {
public:
    static void echo() { cout << "Generic" << endl; }
};

template<typename NodeTy> class list {
public:    
  friend struct traits<NodeTy>;
  void some_other_stuff();
};

template <> class traits<Function> { // has a green "T"
public:    
    static void echo() { cout << "Function" << endl; }
};

template <> class traits<Variable> { // has a green "T"
public:    
    static void echo() { cout << "Variable" << endl; }
};

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    traits<int>::echo();
    traits<Function>::echo();
    traits<Variable>::echo();
    return 0;
}