.dotfiles

Automatic Theme System

Seamless light/dark mode synchronization across your entire development environment

Source Code

Overview

The theme system automatically synchronizes your development environment with macOS appearance settings. When you switch between light and dark mode, all tools update instantly:

• Alacritty - Terminal colors and background
• tmux - Status bar and window styling
• Starship - Prompt colors and symbols
• Neovim - Editor colorscheme (TokyoNight variants)

How It Works

Automatic Detection

The system uses a LaunchAgent that monitors macOS appearance changes:

# Check current macOS appearance
defaults read -g AppleInterfaceStyle 2>/dev/null || echo "Light"

Theme Mapping

macOS Mode	Terminal Theme	Neovim Theme
Light	tokyonight_day	tokyonight-day
Dark	tokyonight_night	tokyonight-night

File Updates

When switching themes, the system atomically updates:

• ~/.config/alacritty/theme.toml - Alacritty colors
• ~/.config/tmux/theme.conf - tmux status bar styling
• ~/.config/starship.toml - Starship prompt colors

Manual Theme Control

Command Line Interface

# Auto-detect and apply system theme
theme

# Force specific theme
theme light
theme dark

# Use custom theme variant
theme tokyonight_storm
theme tokyonight_moon

Available Themes

Light Variants:

• tokyonight_day - Bright, high contrast

Dark Variants:

• tokyonight_night - Deep blue darkness
• tokyonight_storm - Softer dark variant (default)
• tokyonight_moon - Purple-tinted darkness

In Neovim

" Check current theme
:colorscheme

" Manual theme switching (overrides auto-sync)
:colorscheme tokyonight-day
:colorscheme tokyonight-night
:colorscheme tokyonight-storm
:colorscheme tokyonight-moon

Configuration

Theme Preferences

Set your preferred themes in shell configuration:

# In ~/.dotfiles.private/exports.zsh
export THEME_LIGHT="tokyonight_day"
export THEME_DARK="tokyonight_storm"  # Custom dark variant

Timing Controls

# Check interval (how often to check macOS appearance)
export THEME_CHECK_INTERVAL=3  # seconds

# Debounce period (prevent rapid switching)
export THEME_DEBOUNCE=5  # seconds

Custom Themes

Create your own theme variants:

# 1. Create theme directory
mkdir ~/.dotfiles/src/theme/my_custom_theme

# 2. Add theme variant files following existing theme structure

# 3. Regenerate configs
~/.dotfiles/src/theme/regenerate-all.sh

# 4. Use your theme
theme my_custom_theme

Installation Status

Verify Theme Scripts

# Check theme scripts exist
ls ~/.dotfiles/src/theme/*.sh

# Validate theme configurations
~/.dotfiles/src/theme/validate-themes.sh

Manual Theme Switch

# Run theme switcher directly
~/.dotfiles/src/theme/switch-theme.sh

# Or use the theme alias
theme         # Auto-detect from macOS
theme day     # Light theme
theme night   # Dark theme

Troubleshooting

Theme Not Switching

Run manually to check for errors:

~/.dotfiles/src/theme/switch-theme.sh auto 2>&1

Check lockfile (if switching seems stuck):

ls -la /tmp/theme-switch.lock

Manual Override

Force theme update:

~/.dotfiles/src/theme/switch-theme.sh auto

Reset to system default:

rm ~/.config/theme/current-theme
theme

Colors Not Updating

Restart applications:

# Reload tmux config
tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

# Restart Alacritty
# Close and reopen terminal

# Reload Neovim theme
# In Neovim: :source ~/.config/nvim/init.lua

Logs and Debugging

View detailed logs:

# Manual switching logs
~/.dotfiles/src/theme/switch-theme.sh auto 2>&1

Reset all state:

rm -rf ~/.cache/theme
rm -rf ~/.config/theme
theme  # Reinitialize

Advanced Usage

Custom Theme Integration

Add support for new applications:

1. Create theme files in src/theme/[theme-name]/ and src/theme/templates/
2. Update switch-theme.sh to copy your files
3. Add application restart logic

Example for adding VSCode theme:

# In src/theme/tokyonight_night/vscode.json
{
  "workbench.colorTheme": "Tokyo Night"
}

# In switch-theme.sh, add:
if [[ -f "$theme_dir/vscode.json" ]]; then
    cp "$theme_dir/vscode.json" "$HOME/.config/Code/User/settings.json"
fi

Work-Specific Themes

Override themes for work environments:

# In ~/.dotfiles.private/work/theme.zsh
if [[ "$PWD" == *"/work/"* ]]; then
    export THEME_LIGHT="tokyonight_day"
    export THEME_DARK="tokyonight_storm"
fi

Conditional Theme Logic

Time-based theme switching:

# In ~/.dotfiles.private/functions.zsh
work_theme() {
    local hour=$(date +%H)
    if [[ $hour -lt 9 || $hour -gt 18 ]]; then
        theme dark
    else
        theme light
    fi
}

File Structure

src/theme/
├── switch-theme.sh           # Main theme switching logic
├── generate-theme.sh         # Theme configuration generator
├── validate-themes.sh        # Theme validation utility
├── regenerate-all.sh         # Regenerate all theme configs
├── templates/                # Theme templates (Alacritty, etc.)
├── tokyonight/               # TokyoNight theme variants
├── catppuccin/               # Catppuccin theme variants
├── dracula/                  # Dracula theme
├── nord/                     # Nord theme
└── [other-themes]/           # Additional theme directories

Performance Notes

• Lightweight monitoring - Checks every 3 seconds, minimal CPU usage
• Atomic updates - File operations are crash-safe
• Debounced switching - Prevents rapid theme changes
• Automatic cleanup - Log rotation prevents disk usage issues

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Pro Tip: The theme system works best when you let it handle everything automatically. Set your preferred light/dark themes once and enjoy seamless switching as you work throughout the day!

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