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Theming

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Using CSS variables and theme tokens.

Want to build your theme visually? Use shadcn-templ Create to preview colors, radius, fonts, and icons, then generate a preset for your project.

We use and recommend CSS variables for theming.

This gives you semantic theme tokens like background, foreground, and primary that components use by default. Override those tokens in your CSS to change the look of your app without rewriting component classes.

<div class="bg-background text-foreground"></div>

To use CSS variables for theming, set tailwind.cssVariables to true in your components.json file. This is the default.

components.json
{  "style": "base-nova",  "tailwind": {    "css": "assets/css/globals.css",    "baseColor": "neutral",    "cssVariables": true  }}

Tailwind maps these tokens into utilities like bg-background, text-foreground, border-border, and ring-ring.

Dark mode works by overriding the same tokens inside a .dark selector. See the dark mode docs for adding the theme script and toggling the .dark class.

Token Convention

We use semantic background and foreground pairs. The base token controls the surface color and the -foreground token controls the text and icon color that sits on that surface.

The background suffix is omitted for the surface token. For example, primary pairs with primary-foreground.

Given the following CSS variables:

--primary: oklch(0.205 0 0);--primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);

The background color of the following component will be var(--primary) and the foreground color will be var(--primary-foreground).

<div class="bg-primary text-primary-foreground">Hello</div>

Theme Tokens

These tokens live in your CSS file under :root and .dark.

Token What it controls Used by
background / foreground The default app background and text color. The page shell, page sections, and default text.
card / card-foreground Elevated surfaces and the content inside them. Card, dashboard panels, settings panels.
popover / popover-foreground Floating surfaces and the content inside them. Popover, DropdownMenu, ContextMenu, and other overlays.
primary / primary-foreground High-emphasis actions and brand surfaces. Default Button, selected states, badges, and active accents.
secondary / secondary-foreground Lower-emphasis filled actions and supporting surfaces. Secondary buttons, secondary badges, and supporting UI.
muted / muted-foreground Subtle surfaces and lower-emphasis content. Descriptions, placeholders, empty states, helper text, and subdued surfaces.
accent / accent-foreground Interactive hover, focus, and active surfaces. Ghost buttons, menu highlight states, hovered rows, and selected items.
destructive Destructive actions and error emphasis. Destructive buttons, invalid states, and destructive menu items.
border Default borders and separators. Cards, menus, tables, separators, and layout dividers.
input Form control borders and input surface treatment. Input, Textarea, Select, and outline-style controls.
ring Focus rings and outlines. Buttons, inputs, checkboxes, menus, and other focusable controls.
chart-1 … chart-5 The default chart palette. Charts and chart-driven dashboard blocks.
sidebar / sidebar-foreground The base sidebar surface and default sidebar text. The Sidebar container and its default content.
sidebar-primary / sidebar-primary-foreground High-emphasis actions inside the sidebar. Active items, icon tiles, badges, and sidebar CTAs.
sidebar-accent / sidebar-accent-foreground Hover and selected states inside the sidebar. Sidebar menu hover states, open items, and interactive rows.
sidebar-border Sidebar-specific borders and separators. Sidebar headers, groups, and internal dividers.
sidebar-ring Sidebar-specific focus rings. Focused controls inside the sidebar.
radius The base corner radius scale. Cards, inputs, buttons, popovers, and the derived radius-* tokens.

The chart tokens are covered in more detail in the Chart theming docs.

Radius Scale

--radius is the base radius token for your theme.

We derive a small radius scale from it so components can use consistent corner sizes while still sharing a single source of truth.

assets/css/globals.css
@theme inline {  --radius-sm: calc(var(--radius) * 0.6);  --radius-md: calc(var(--radius) * 0.8);  --radius-lg: var(--radius);  --radius-xl: calc(var(--radius) * 1.4);  --radius-2xl: calc(var(--radius) * 1.8);  --radius-3xl: calc(var(--radius) * 2.2);  --radius-4xl: calc(var(--radius) * 2.6);}

This means:

  • radius-lg is the base value.
  • Smaller radii scale down from --radius.
  • Larger radii scale up from --radius.
  • Changing --radius updates the entire radius scale.

Adding New Tokens

To add a new token, define it under :root and .dark, then expose it to Tailwind with @theme inline.

assets/css/globals.css
:root {  --warning: oklch(0.84 0.16 84);  --warning-foreground: oklch(0.28 0.07 46);} .dark {  --warning: oklch(0.41 0.11 46);  --warning-foreground: oklch(0.99 0.02 95);} @theme inline {  --color-warning: var(--warning);  --color-warning-foreground: var(--warning-foreground);}

You can now use bg-warning and text-warning-foreground in your components.

<div class="bg-warning text-warning-foreground"></div>

Base Colors

tailwind.baseColor controls the default token values generated for your project when you run init or use a preset. Pick one on shadcn-templ Create to generate a theme with it.

The available base colors are: Neutral, Stone, Zinc, Mauve, Olive, Mist, and Taupe.

Default Theme CSS

The following is the full default neutral theme scaffold. Copy it into your global CSS file and adjust the tokens as needed.

assets/css/globals.css
@import "tailwindcss"; @custom-variant dark (&:is(.dark *)); @theme inline {  --color-background: var(--background);  --color-foreground: var(--foreground);  --color-card: var(--card);  --color-card-foreground: var(--card-foreground);  --color-popover: var(--popover);  --color-popover-foreground: var(--popover-foreground);  --color-primary: var(--primary);  --color-primary-foreground: var(--primary-foreground);  --color-secondary: var(--secondary);  --color-secondary-foreground: var(--secondary-foreground);  --color-muted: var(--muted);  --color-muted-foreground: var(--muted-foreground);  --color-accent: var(--accent);  --color-accent-foreground: var(--accent-foreground);  --color-destructive: var(--destructive);  --color-border: var(--border);  --color-input: var(--input);  --color-ring: var(--ring);  --color-chart-1: var(--chart-1);  --color-chart-2: var(--chart-2);  --color-chart-3: var(--chart-3);  --color-chart-4: var(--chart-4);  --color-chart-5: var(--chart-5);  --color-sidebar: var(--sidebar);  --color-sidebar-foreground: var(--sidebar-foreground);  --color-sidebar-primary: var(--sidebar-primary);  --color-sidebar-primary-foreground: var(--sidebar-primary-foreground);  --color-sidebar-accent: var(--sidebar-accent);  --color-sidebar-accent-foreground: var(--sidebar-accent-foreground);  --color-sidebar-border: var(--sidebar-border);  --color-sidebar-ring: var(--sidebar-ring);  --radius-sm: calc(var(--radius) * 0.6);  --radius-md: calc(var(--radius) * 0.8);  --radius-lg: var(--radius);  --radius-xl: calc(var(--radius) * 1.4);  --radius-2xl: calc(var(--radius) * 1.8);  --radius-3xl: calc(var(--radius) * 2.2);  --radius-4xl: calc(var(--radius) * 2.6);} :root {  --radius: 0.625rem;  --background: oklch(1 0 0);  --foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);  --card: oklch(1 0 0);  --card-foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);  --popover: oklch(1 0 0);  --popover-foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);  --primary: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --secondary: oklch(0.97 0 0);  --secondary-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --muted: oklch(0.97 0 0);  --muted-foreground: oklch(0.556 0 0);  --accent: oklch(0.97 0 0);  --accent-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --destructive: oklch(0.577 0.245 27.325);  --border: oklch(0.922 0 0);  --input: oklch(0.922 0 0);  --ring: oklch(0.708 0 0);  --chart-1: oklch(0.646 0.222 41.116);  --chart-2: oklch(0.6 0.118 184.704);  --chart-3: oklch(0.398 0.07 227.392);  --chart-4: oklch(0.828 0.189 84.429);  --chart-5: oklch(0.769 0.188 70.08);  --sidebar: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --sidebar-foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);  --sidebar-primary: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --sidebar-primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --sidebar-accent: oklch(0.97 0 0);  --sidebar-accent-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --sidebar-border: oklch(0.922 0 0);  --sidebar-ring: oklch(0.708 0 0);} .dark {  --background: oklch(0.145 0 0);  --foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --card: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --card-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --popover: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --popover-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --primary: oklch(0.922 0 0);  --primary-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --secondary: oklch(0.269 0 0);  --secondary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --muted: oklch(0.269 0 0);  --muted-foreground: oklch(0.708 0 0);  --accent: oklch(0.269 0 0);  --accent-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --destructive: oklch(0.704 0.191 22.216);  --border: oklch(1 0 0 / 10%);  --input: oklch(1 0 0 / 15%);  --ring: oklch(0.556 0 0);  --chart-1: oklch(0.488 0.243 264.376);  --chart-2: oklch(0.696 0.17 162.48);  --chart-3: oklch(0.769 0.188 70.08);  --chart-4: oklch(0.627 0.265 303.9);  --chart-5: oklch(0.645 0.246 16.439);  --sidebar: oklch(0.205 0 0);  --sidebar-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --sidebar-primary: oklch(0.488 0.243 264.376);  --sidebar-primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --sidebar-accent: oklch(0.269 0 0);  --sidebar-accent-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);  --sidebar-border: oklch(1 0 0 / 10%);  --sidebar-ring: oklch(0.556 0 0);} @layer base {  * {    @apply border-border outline-ring/50;  }   body {    @apply bg-background text-foreground;  }}
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