qwen-code/docs/users/configuration/themes.md

Themes

Qwen Code supports a variety of themes to customize its color scheme and appearance. You can change the theme to suit your preferences via the /theme command or the "ui.theme" configuration setting.

Available Themes

Qwen Code comes with a selection of pre-defined themes, which you can list using the /theme command within the CLI:

• Dark Themes:
  • ANSI
  • Atom One
  • Ayu
  • Default
  • Dracula
  • GitHub
  • Qwen Dark
  • Shades Of Purple
• Light Themes:
  • ANSI Light
  • Ayu Light
  • Default Light
  • GitHub Light
  • Google Code
  • Qwen Light
  • Xcode

Changing Themes

1. Enter /theme into Qwen Code.
2. A dialog or selection prompt appears, listing the available themes.
3. Using the arrow keys, select a theme. Some interfaces might offer a live preview or highlight as you select.
4. Confirm your selection to apply the theme.

Note: If a theme is defined in your settings.json file (either by name or by a file path), you must remove the "ui.theme" setting from the file before you can change the theme using the /theme command.

Theme Persistence

Selected themes are saved in Qwen Code's configuration so your preference is remembered across sessions.

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Auto Theme Detection

When the theme is set to "auto" (or left unset), Qwen Code automatically detects whether your terminal uses a dark or light background and selects the matching Qwen theme (Qwen Dark or Qwen Light).

How to enable

Set the theme to "auto" in settings.json:

{
  "ui": {
    "theme": "auto"
  }
}

Or select Auto in the /theme dialog. This is the default behavior when no theme is explicitly configured.

Detection methods

Qwen Code uses multiple detection methods in a fallback chain. At startup (async path), the order is:

Priority	Method	Platform	How it works
1	COLORFGBG	All	Reads the COLORFGBG environment variable (set by terminals like iTerm2, rxvt, Konsole)
2	OSC 11	All (TTY)	Sends an ESC]11;? query to the terminal and parses the background color from the response (~200ms)
3	macOS system appearance	macOS only	Runs defaults read -g AppleInterfaceStyle to check if macOS Dark Mode is active
4	Default	All	Falls back to dark theme if no method succeeds

The first method that returns a result wins. The detected value is cached for the session so subsequent theme resolutions (e.g. reselecting Auto in the /theme dialog) stay consistent.

When to use Auto

• Most users — Auto works well if your terminal background matches your OS appearance or if your terminal sets COLORFGBG / supports OSC 11.
• tmux / screen users — OSC 11 may not pass through multiplexers. Detection falls back to COLORFGBG or macOS system appearance. If neither is available, the default dark theme is used. Set a specific theme if auto-detection gives the wrong result.
• SSH sessions — detection depends on the remote environment. If COLORFGBG is not forwarded and the remote terminal doesn't respond to OSC 11, the default dark theme is used.

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Custom Color Themes

Qwen Code allows you to create your own custom color themes by specifying them in your settings.json file. This gives you full control over the color palette used in the CLI.

How to Define a Custom Theme

Add a customThemes block to your user, project, or system settings.json file. Each custom theme is defined as an object with a unique name and a set of color keys. For example:

{
  "ui": {
    "customThemes": {
      "MyCustomTheme": {
        "name": "MyCustomTheme",
        "type": "custom",
        "Background": "#181818",
        ...
      }
    }
  }
}

Color keys:

• Background
• Foreground
• LightBlue
• AccentBlue
• AccentPurple
• AccentCyan
• AccentGreen
• AccentYellow
• AccentRed
• Comment
• Gray
• DiffAdded (optional, for added lines in diffs)
• DiffRemoved (optional, for removed lines in diffs)
• DiffModified (optional, for modified lines in diffs)

Required Properties:

• name (must match the key in the customThemes object and be a string)
• type (must be the string "custom")
• Background
• Foreground
• LightBlue
• AccentBlue
• AccentPurple
• AccentCyan
• AccentGreen
• AccentYellow
• AccentRed
• Comment
• Gray

You can use either hex codes (e.g., #FF0000) or standard CSS color names (e.g., coral, teal, blue) for any color value. See CSS color names for a full list of supported names.

You can define multiple custom themes by adding more entries to the customThemes object.

Loading Themes from a File

In addition to defining custom themes in settings.json, you can also load a theme directly from a JSON file by specifying the file path in your settings.json. This is useful for sharing themes or keeping them separate from your main configuration.

To load a theme from a file, set the ui.theme property in your settings.json to the path of your theme file:

{
  "ui": {
    "theme": "/path/to/your/theme.json"
  }
}

The theme file must be a valid JSON file that follows the same structure as a custom theme defined in settings.json.

Example my-theme.json:

{
  "name": "My File Theme",
  "type": "custom",
  "Background": "#282A36",
  "Foreground": "#F8F8F2",
  "LightBlue": "#82AAFF",
  "AccentBlue": "#61AFEF",
  "AccentPurple": "#BD93F9",
  "AccentCyan": "#8BE9FD",
  "AccentGreen": "#50FA7B",
  "AccentYellow": "#F1FA8C",
  "AccentRed": "#FF5555",
  "Comment": "#6272A4",
  "Gray": "#ABB2BF",
  "DiffAdded": "#A6E3A1",
  "DiffRemoved": "#F38BA8",
  "DiffModified": "#89B4FA",
  "GradientColors": ["#4796E4", "#847ACE", "#C3677F"]
}

Security Note: For your safety, Qwen Code will only load theme files that are located within your home directory. If you attempt to load a theme from outside your home directory, a warning will be displayed and the theme will not be loaded. This is to prevent loading potentially malicious theme files from untrusted sources.

Example Custom Theme

Using Your Custom Theme

• Select your custom theme using the /theme command in Qwen Code. Your custom theme will appear in the theme selection dialog.
• Or, set it as the default by adding "theme": "MyCustomTheme" to the ui object in your settings.json.
• Custom themes can be set at the user, project, or system level, and follow the same configuration precedence as other settings.

Themes Preview

Dark Theme	Preview	Light Theme	Preview
ANSI		ANSI Light
Atom OneDark		Ayu Light
Ayu		Default Light
Default		GitHub Light
Dracula		Google Code
GitHub		Xcode