Themes

Bundled themes

Twenty-three, in display order:

Family	Names
Built-in	dark, light
Ayu	ayu-light, ayu-mirage
One Dark	onedark
GitHub	github-light, github-dark
Catppuccin	catppuccin-latte, catppuccin-frappe, catppuccin-macchiato, catppuccin-mocha
Gruvbox	gruvbox-dark, gruvbox-light
Nord	nord-dark, nord-light, nord-dark-high-contrast, nord-light-high-contrast
Solarized	solarized-light, solarized-dark
Tokyo Night	tokyo-night-storm, tokyo-night-day
Everforest	everforest-dark, everforest-light

Selecting one

theme = "tokyo-night-storm"

Or pair a light and a dark variant and let appearance decide:

theme_dark = "catppuccin-mocha"
theme_light = "catppuccin-latte"
appearance = "system"          # dark | light | system

Per-invocation overrides:

mrman --theme gruvbox-dark
mrman --appearance light

Resolution order

First hit wins:

1. --theme
2. theme
3. theme_dark / theme_light, chosen by appearance
4. Whichever of those two is set, if only one is
5. --appearance
6. appearance
7. The bundled default

An invalid --theme exits — you asked for it explicitly, so mrman does not quietly substitute something else. An invalid configured theme warns and falls through to the next step, because a typo in a config file should not stop you reviewing code.

Bundled names win over local files of the same name.

Transparency

transparent_background = true   # default

Lets your terminal background show through instead of painting the theme’s panel background. Set it to false if your theme’s background is load-bearing — a high-contrast theme over a busy terminal background is worse than either alone.

Writing your own

A local theme is a flat TOML file at ~/.config/mrman/themes/<name>.toml with all 41 color slots present. Each value is either #RRGGBB or a named terminal color (red, brightblue, …). The file is validated against an embedded CUE schema, so a missing or malformed slot tells you which one.

~/.config/mrman/themes/mine.toml

panel_bg     = "#1a1b26"
bg_highlight = "#292e42"
fg_primary   = "#c0caf5"
fg_secondary = "#9aa5ce"
fg_dim       = "#565f89"
# ... and the rest
syntax_style = "nord"

Then theme = "mine".

The 41 slots

Group	Keys
Surfaces	panel_bg, bg_highlight, fg_primary, fg_secondary, fg_dim
Diff	diff_add, diff_add_bg, diff_del, diff_del_bg, diff_context, diff_hunk_header, expanded_context_fg
Syntax overlay	syntax_add_bg, syntax_del_bg
File status	file_added, file_modified, file_deleted, file_renamed
Review state	reviewed, pending
Comment types	comment_note, comment_suggestion, comment_issue, comment_praise
Chrome	border_focused, border_unfocused, status_bar_bg, cursor_color, cursor_line_bg, branch_name, help_indicator
Messages	message_info_fg, message_info_bg, message_warning_fg, message_warning_bg, message_error_fg, message_error_bg, update_badge_fg, update_badge_bg
Editor modes	mode_fg, mode_bg

syntax_add_bg and syntax_del_bg are the backgrounds composited under syntax-highlighted added and removed lines, which is why they are separate from diff_add_bg / diff_del_bg.

comment_* slots color the four default comment types. If you define your own comment types they carry their own color, and these remain the fallbacks.

Syntax highlighting

Diff bodies are highlighted with chroma. Two optional keys:

syntax_style = "nord"                          # any registered chroma style
syntax_style_file = "./my-style.xml"           # a chroma XML style file

syntax_style_file is resolved relative to the themes directory and wins when both are set — with a warning, so you know which one is in effect. An unknown syntax_style name warns and falls back to a light or dark default chosen by the lightness of panel_bg, which is nearly always what you wanted.

Colors that look wrong

Almost always the terminal, not the theme. Check that you are in truecolor mode (echo $COLORTERM should say truecolor or 24bit). Named terminal colors come from your terminal’s palette by design, so a theme built from them will follow your terminal’s scheme rather than overriding it — that is the point of allowing them, but it surprises people who expected #RRGGBB fidelity.