Atomic can create themes. Ask it to build one for your setup.

Themes

Themes are JSON files that define colors for the TUI.

Locations
Selecting a Theme
Creating a Custom Theme
Theme Format
Color Tokens
Color Values
Tips

Locations

Atomic loads themes from:

Built-in: dark, light, catppuccin-frappe, catppuccin-latte, catppuccin-macchiato, catppuccin-mocha
Global: ~/.atomic/agent/themes/*.json (legacy ~/.pi/agent/themes/*.json)
Project: .atomic/themes/*.json (legacy .pi/themes/*.json)
Packages: themes/ directories, atomic.themes, or legacy pi.themes entries in package.json
Settings: themes array with files or directories
CLI: --theme <path> (repeatable)

Disable discovery with --no-themes.

Selecting a Theme

Select a theme via /settings or in settings.json:

{
  "theme": "my-theme"
}

On first run, Atomic detects your terminal background and defaults to dark or light.

Creating a Custom Theme

Create a theme file:

mkdir -p ~/.atomic/agent/themes
vim ~/.atomic/agent/themes/my-theme.json

Define the theme with all required colors (see Color Tokens):

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bastani-inc/atomic/main/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/interactive/theme/theme-schema.json",
  "name": "my-theme",
  "vars": {
    "primary": "#00aaff",
    "secondary": 242
  },
  "colors": {
    "accent": "primary",
    "border": "primary",
    "borderAccent": "#00ffff",
    "borderMuted": "secondary",
    "success": "#00ff00",
    "error": "#ff0000",
    "warning": "#ffff00",
    "muted": "secondary",
    "dim": 240,
    "text": "",
    "thinkingText": "secondary",
    "selectedBg": "#2d2d30",
    "userMessageBg": "#2d2d30",
    "userMessageText": "",
    "customMessageBg": "#2d2d30",
    "customMessageText": "",
    "customMessageLabel": "primary",
    "toolPendingBg": "#1e1e2e",
    "toolSuccessBg": "#1e2e1e",
    "toolErrorBg": "#2e1e1e",
    "toolTitle": "primary",
    "toolOutput": "",
    "mdHeading": "#ffaa00",
    "mdLink": "primary",
    "mdLinkUrl": "secondary",
    "mdCode": "#00ffff",
    "mdCodeBlock": "",
    "mdCodeBlockBorder": "secondary",
    "mdQuote": "secondary",
    "mdQuoteBorder": "secondary",
    "mdHr": "secondary",
    "mdListBullet": "#00ffff",
    "toolDiffAdded": "#00ff00",
    "toolDiffRemoved": "#ff0000",
    "toolDiffContext": "secondary",
    "syntaxComment": "secondary",
    "syntaxKeyword": "primary",
    "syntaxFunction": "#00aaff",
    "syntaxVariable": "#ffaa00",
    "syntaxString": "#00ff00",
    "syntaxNumber": "#ff00ff",
    "syntaxType": "#00aaff",
    "syntaxOperator": "primary",
    "syntaxPunctuation": "secondary",
    "thinkingOff": "secondary",
    "thinkingMinimal": "primary",
    "thinkingLow": "#00aaff",
    "thinkingMedium": "#00ffff",
    "thinkingHigh": "#ff00ff",
    "thinkingXhigh": "#ff0000",
    "bashMode": "#ffaa00"
  }
}

Select the theme via /settings.

Hot reload: When you edit the currently active custom theme file, Atomic reloads it automatically for immediate visual feedback.

Theme Format

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bastani-inc/atomic/main/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/interactive/theme/theme-schema.json",
  "name": "my-theme",
  "vars": {
    "blue": "#0066cc",
    "gray": 242
  },
  "colors": {
    "accent": "blue",
    "muted": "gray",
    "text": "",
    ...
  }
}

name is required and must be unique.
vars is optional. Define reusable colors here, then reference them in colors.
colors must define all 51 required tokens.

The $schema field enables editor auto-completion and validation.

Color Tokens

Every theme must define all 51 color tokens. There are no optional colors.

Core UI (11 colors)

Token	Purpose
`accent`	Primary accent (logo, selected items, cursor)
`border`	Normal borders
`borderAccent`	Highlighted borders
`borderMuted`	Subtle borders (editor)
`success`	Success states
`error`	Error states
`warning`	Warning states
`muted`	Secondary text
`dim`	Tertiary text
`text`	Default text (usually `""`)
`thinkingText`	Thinking block text

Backgrounds & Content (11 colors)

Token	Purpose
`selectedBg`	Selected line background
`userMessageBg`	User message background
`userMessageText`	User message text
`customMessageBg`	Extension message background
`customMessageText`	Extension message text
`customMessageLabel`	Extension message label
`toolPendingBg`	Tool box (pending)
`toolSuccessBg`	Tool box (success)
`toolErrorBg`	Tool box (error)
`toolTitle`	Tool title
`toolOutput`	Tool output text

Markdown (10 colors)

Token	Purpose
`mdHeading`	Headings
`mdLink`	Link text
`mdLinkUrl`	Link URL
`mdCode`	Inline code
`mdCodeBlock`	Code block content
`mdCodeBlockBorder`	Code block fences
`mdQuote`	Blockquote text
`mdQuoteBorder`	Blockquote border
`mdHr`	Horizontal rule
`mdListBullet`	List bullets

Tool Diffs (3 colors)

Token	Purpose
`toolDiffAdded`	Added lines
`toolDiffRemoved`	Removed lines
`toolDiffContext`	Context lines

Syntax Highlighting (9 colors)

Token	Purpose
`syntaxComment`	Comments
`syntaxKeyword`	Keywords
`syntaxFunction`	Function names
`syntaxVariable`	Variables
`syntaxString`	Strings
`syntaxNumber`	Numbers
`syntaxType`	Types
`syntaxOperator`	Operators
`syntaxPunctuation`	Punctuation

Thinking Level Borders (6 colors)

Editor border colors indicating thinking level (visual hierarchy from subtle to prominent):

Token	Purpose
`thinkingOff`	Thinking off
`thinkingMinimal`	Minimal thinking
`thinkingLow`	Low thinking
`thinkingMedium`	Medium thinking
`thinkingHigh`	High thinking
`thinkingXhigh`	Extra high thinking

Bash Mode (1 color)

Token	Purpose
`bashMode`	Editor border in bash mode (`!` prefix)

HTML Export (optional)

The export section controls colors for /export HTML output. If omitted, colors are derived from userMessageBg.

{
  "export": {
    "pageBg": "#18181e",
    "cardBg": "#1e1e24",
    "infoBg": "#3c3728"
  }
}

Color Values

Four formats are supported:

Format	Example	Description
Hex	`"#ff0000"`	6-digit hex RGB
256-color	`39`	xterm 256-color palette index (0-255)
Variable	`"primary"`	Reference to a `vars` entry
Default	`""`	Terminal’s default color

256-Color Palette

0-15: Basic ANSI colors (terminal-dependent)
16-231: 6×6×6 RGB cube (16 + 36×R + 6×G + B where R,G,B are 0-5)
232-255: Grayscale ramp

Terminal Compatibility

Atomic uses 24-bit RGB colors. Most modern terminals support this (iTerm2, Kitty, WezTerm, Windows Terminal, VS Code). For older terminals with only 256-color support, Atomic falls back to the nearest approximation. Check truecolor support:

echo $COLORTERM  # Should output "truecolor" or "24bit"

Tips

Dark terminals: Use bright, saturated colors with higher contrast. Light terminals: Use darker, muted colors with lower contrast. Color harmony: Start with a base palette (Nord, Gruvbox, Tokyo Night), define it in vars, and reference consistently. Testing: Check your theme with different message types, tool states, markdown content, and long wrapped text. VS Code: Set terminal.integrated.minimumContrastRatio to 1 for accurate colors.

Examples

See the built-in themes:

​Themes

​Table of Contents

​Locations

​Selecting a Theme

​Creating a Custom Theme

​Theme Format

​Color Tokens

​Core UI (11 colors)

​Backgrounds & Content (11 colors)

​Markdown (10 colors)

​Tool Diffs (3 colors)

​Syntax Highlighting (9 colors)

​Thinking Level Borders (6 colors)

​Bash Mode (1 color)

​HTML Export (optional)

​Color Values

​256-Color Palette

​Terminal Compatibility

​Tips

​Examples