Themes

Quick startLink to this section

Run /theme, or press Ctrl+K and search for "theme", to open the theme picker. The app changes color as you move through the list, so you can see each theme before you choose it.

Default: proxysoul-undertowLink to this section

Empryo uses the ProxySoul Undertow theme by default, in both the terminal UI and the desktop app.

To follow your system's light or dark mode instead, pick system. It uses proxysoul-undertow when your system is dark and proxysoul-undertow-light when it is light.

To decide between light and dark, Empryo first checks your terminal's background color. If it cannot tell, it uses your operating system's setting (macOS appearance, the Windows app theme, or the GNOME color scheme). To force one, set EMPRYO_APPEARANCE=dark or EMPRYO_APPEARANCE=light.

Picking any other theme turns off the automatic switching.

Builtin themesLink to this section

DarkLink to this section

LightLink to this section

The old theme ids dark, light, pastel-dusk and pastel-dawn still work. They now point to the Undertow themes, so an older config does not break.

ConfigLink to this section

Your theme is saved for all projects in ~/.empryo/config.json:

{
  "theme": {
    "name": "catppuccin",
    "transparent": true,
    "userMessageOpacity": 70,
    "diffOpacity": 30,
    "borderStrength": "strong"
  }
}

Theme picker controlsLink to this section

These keys work in the terminal UI theme picker:

Custom themesLink to this section

To make your own theme, add a JSON file to ~/.empryo/themes/:

mkdir -p ~/.empryo/themes

ExampleLink to this section

~/.empryo/themes/my-theme.json:

{
  "_extends": "dark",
  "_label": "My Theme",
  "_description": "A custom dark theme",
  "_variant": "dark",
  "brand": "#ff6600",
  "brand-secondary": "#ff0040",
  "bg-primary": "#1a1a2e",
  "bg-elevated": "#16213e",
  "text-primary": "#e0e0e0",
  "success": "#00ff88",
  "error": "#ff4444"
}

The file name without .json becomes the theme id. This one is my-theme.

Metadata fieldsLink to this section

Token referenceLink to this section

Write color names in kebab-case, like bg-primary:

• Brand: brand, brand-secondary, brand-dim, brand-alt
• Text: text-primary, text-secondary, text-muted, text-dim, text-faint, text-subtle
• Backgrounds: bg-app, bg-primary, bg-secondary, bg-elevated, bg-popup, bg-popup-highlight, bg-overlay, bg-input, bg-banner, bg-banner-error, bg-user
• Borders: border, border-focused, border-active, border-slash
• Status: success, error, warning, info, amber
• Diff: diff-added-bg, diff-removed-bg, diff-added-sign, diff-removed-sign
• Accents: accent-user, accent-assistant, accent-system

Legacy formatLink to this section

You can also put several themes in one file, ~/.empryo/themes.json:

{
  "my-theme": {
    "_extends": "dark",
    "brand": "#ff6600"
  },
  "another-theme": {
    "_extends": "light",
    "brand": "#0066ff"
  }
}

Hot reloadLink to this section

Empryo watches your theme files. When you save a change to a custom theme, the app updates right away. You do not need to restart.