What am I doing wrong with themes?

[jonathanthomas83]

Hi I'm new so excuse me...being new! :-)

I’ve run into a persistent issue on macOS when trying to apply a custom JSON style (specifically Tokyo Night) via either the GLOW_STYLE environment variable or the style: field in ~/.config/glow/glow.yml.

---

🧪 What I tried

✅ Confirmed the style file exists:

ls -l ~/.config/glow/styles/tokyo-night.json

✅ Clean config:

style: ~/.config/glow/styles/tokyo-night.json
mouse: true
pager: true
width: 80

and

style: /Users/myname/.config/glow/styles/tokyo-night.json"
mouse: true
pager: true
width: 80

✅ Set absolute path (not using ~)

export GLOW_STYLE="$HOME/.config/glow/styles/tokyo_night.json"
# also tried
export GLOW_STYLE="/Users/myname/.config/glow/styles/tokyo_night.json"

✅ Verified that echo $GLOW_STYLE returns the correct absolute path.

✅ Ran glow like this:

glow

and

glow README.md

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🔍 The Problem

• glow launches and enters TUI mode
• I can browse and select a file
• But then it just hangs at "loading document"
• If I change the style back to "auto" in the config, everything works again

EDIT: I also just noticed that v2 introduced glow -s "tokyo-night" but that doesn't work for me either.

---

💡 Summary

• JSON styles appear to be supported according to the README (style: field can be a path), but don’t function reliably on macOS — even when set via $GLOW_STYLE
• No feedback or error — just a silent hang at “loading document”

---

🙏 Question

Is support for custom JSON styles in glow TUI mode currently functional on macOS (15.4.1)? Or is this a known limitation/bug?

Happy to help test a fix or raise a formal issue if that’s preferred.

Thanks for your work on this awesome tool — really loving it otherwise!

[DevrMichael]

Two gotchas are likely causing the hang in TUI:

• GLAMOUR_STYLE vs GLOW_STYLE: In TUI, the env var is GLAMOUR_STYLE (not GLOW_STYLE). GLOW_STYLE only affects the CLI renderer. For TUI, set GLAMOUR_STYLE or put the style in your config.
• Tilde paths: In the current TUI, a path like ~/.config/... is validated but not expanded when rendering. That means the renderer can’t open the file and the UI sits at “Loading document…”.

What you can do:

• Use an absolute path in your config or env, e.g.:
  In config: style: "/Users/myname/.config/glow/styles/tokyo-night.json"
  Or env: export GLAMOUR_STYLE="/Users/myname/.config/glow/styles/tokyo-night.json"
• If you previously set GLOW_STYLE, unset it (or override with GLAMOUR_STYLE) so TUI picks up the right one.
• Double‑check the filename (tokyo-night.json, with a hyphen) and that the JSON is valid.
• Alternatively, use the built‑in: glow -s "tokyo-night" (no path), which should work without a custom file.

If it still hangs:

• Try disabling rendering to confirm it’s the style load: export GLOW_ENABLE_GLAMOUR=false; glow. If that opens immediately, the issue is definitely the style path/JSON.
• Share your exact style: line and OS/version so we can reproduce.