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Automatic Theme Switching Setup

This setup automatically switches themes for WezTerm, Neovim, Git, k9s, and Fish based on your macOS system appearance (light/dark mode).

How It Works

  1. Theme Detection: scripts/theme-mode.sh detects the current macOS appearance
  2. WezTerm: Reads the system appearance natively and re-applies the scheme from its status-bar callback — no script involved
  3. Neovim: Switches between github_dark_dimmed and github_light on focus/startup
    • Lualine status bar: Automatically updates to match the theme
  4. Git: Repoints a config-theme symlink at the dark or light delta config
  5. k9s: Swaps the active skin
  6. Fish: Colors are universal variables, so already-running shells recolor

Files

.dotfiles/
├── scripts/
│   ├── theme-mode.sh          # Detects macOS appearance (dark/light)
│   ├── git-theme.sh           # Repoints config/git/config-theme
│   ├── k9s-theme.sh           # Swaps the k9s skin
│   ├── fish-theme.sh          # Recolors running fish shells
│   ├── update-themes.sh       # Master script to update all themes
│   └── theme-watcher.sh       # Background process to watch for changes
├── config/
│   ├── git/
│   │   ├── config-dark        # Dark delta/diff colors
│   │   └── config-light       # Light delta/diff colors
│   ├── k9s/skins/             # k9s skins (the config is k9s's own, untracked)
│   ├── wezterm/theme.lua      # Native appearance detection
│   ├── fish/functions/
│   │   └── update-themes.fish # Fish function for manual updates
│   └── launchd/
│       └── com.user.theme-watcher.plist  # Launch agent
└── config/nvim/lua/scrogson/plugins/
    ├── colorscheme.lua        # Updated with auto-detection
    └── lualine.lua            # Updated to sync with colorscheme

Setup Instructions

1. Run Initial Theme Update

~/.dotfiles/scripts/update-themes.sh

2. Enable Automatic Theme Switching

just theme-watcher

This symlinks the launch agent into ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ and bootstraps it. The recipe is re-runnable — it boots out any existing copy first. install.sh runs it for you on a new machine.

3. Neovim Setup

Neovim will automatically detect the theme on:

  • Startup
  • When gaining focus (FocusGained event)

No additional setup needed - it works automatically!

4. Manual Theme Update

You can manually trigger a theme update anytime:

# Using the Fish function
update-themes

# Or directly
~/.dotfiles/scripts/update-themes.sh

How Each Application Works

WezTerm

  • Auto-detection: Native, via wezterm.gui.get_appearance()
  • Configuration: config/wezterm/theme.lua
  • Update: config.color_scheme and the tab bar colors are only read when the config loads, and WezTerm does not reliably reload when macOS switches appearance on a schedule — which left the terminal background on the old scheme while the status bar, which redraws every second, tracked the switch. Touching the config file from outside did not trigger a reload either, so the update-right-status handler re-applies both via set_config_overrides() once the appearance no longer matches. Takes effect within a second.

Neovim

  • Auto-detection: On startup and when window gains focus
  • Themes: github_dark_dimmed (dark) / github_light (light)
  • Status bar: Lualine automatically updates when colorscheme changes
  • Configuration:
    • config/nvim/lua/scrogson/plugins/colorscheme.lua
    • config/nvim/lua/scrogson/plugins/lualine.lua

Git

  • Themes: config/git/config-dark / config/git/config-light
  • Mechanism: config/git/config-theme is a symlink repointed at the active one. It is generated and gitignored — machine state, not config — so it no longer shows up dirty after every switch. config/git/config includes it by path, and git ignores the include until the symlink exists. just link creates it on a new machine.
  • Update: Applies to the next git command

k9s

  • Themes: github-dark-dimmed / github-light skins
  • Skins: config/k9s/skins/, symlinked into the k9s config dir
  • Config location: $K9S_CONFIG_DIR, else the platform config dir — on macOS ~/Library/Application Support/k9s, not ~/.config/k9s. k9s-theme.sh writes the skin: key into whichever config k9s actually loads. The config itself is not tracked: k9s rewrites it on exit, and the copy the repo used to carry was symlinked to a path k9s never reads.
  • Update: Requires restarting k9s to apply

Fish

  • Themes: config/fish/github_dark_dimmed.fish / github_light.fish
  • Mechanism: the palettes set universal variables (set -U), which fish syncs across every running shell. scripts/fish-theme.sh just sources the right one from a throwaway fish process and the change lands everywhere. config.fish only picks a palette when $__theme_mode is unset, i.e. on a shell that has never had one applied — otherwise it would fight the watcher.
  • Update: Running shells recolor without a restart; the current line repaints on the next keystroke or prompt.

Troubleshooting

Check Current System Appearance

~/.dotfiles/scripts/theme-mode.sh

Check Theme Watcher Status

launchctl list | grep theme-watcher

View Theme Watcher Logs

tail -f /tmp/theme-watcher.log
tail -f /tmp/theme-watcher.err

Note that launchd runs the watcher with a bare PATH that omits Homebrew, so a script reaching for a tool installed there fails with command not found in theme-watcher.err while working fine by hand. The launch agent sets a PATH covering /opt/homebrew/bin; anything beyond that needs an absolute path.

Restart Theme Watcher

just theme-watcher

Disable Automatic Theme Switching

launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u)/com.user.theme-watcher
rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.theme-watcher.plist

Customization

Change Themes

  • WezTerm: Edit the scheme names in config/wezterm/theme.lua
  • Neovim: Modify config/nvim/lua/scrogson/plugins/colorscheme.lua
  • Git: Edit config/git/config-dark / config-light
  • k9s: Edit skin names in scripts/k9s-theme.sh

Change Detection Frequency

Edit scripts/theme-watcher.sh and change the sleep 5 value (in seconds).

Testing

  1. Change your macOS appearance:
    • System Settings > Appearance > Light/Dark/Auto
  2. WezTerm updates within a second, independently of the watcher
  3. For Neovim: Switch to an nvim window - it should update immediately
  4. For Git: Run any git diff - colors follow the new mode
  5. For k9s: Restart the session
  6. For Fish: Already-open shells recolor on their own

Enjoy seamless theme switching! 🎨