Ghostty Dynamic Themes

AI Agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.): Do NOT run printf '\033]...' directly — your Bash tool's stdout is captured and escape sequences never reach the terminal. See AGENTS.md for full instructions. Quick version:

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CharlieGreenman/ghostty-dynamic-themes/main/apply-theme.sh) "Theme Name" --tty

Dynamically switch between all 463 built-in Ghostty themes at runtime using ANSI/OSC escape sequences — no config file changes, no restart required.

Why?

Ghostty doesn't support per-tab theming. This repo turns your shell into the theme engine by setting colors via escape sequences. This means you can:

• Switch themes instantly in any open terminal
• Set different themes per tab, pane, or tmux window
• Auto-theme based on directory, environment, or SSH context
• Point an LLM at themes.md and ask it to apply any Ghostty theme by name

What's in themes.md

A single markdown file containing a shell function for every built-in Ghostty theme (463 total). Each function sets:

Escape Sequence	Purpose
\033]4;N;#HEX\007	Palette color N (0-15)
\033]10;#HEX\007	Foreground
\033]11;#HEX\007	Background
\033]12;#HEX\007	Cursor color

These OSC sequences work in Ghostty, iTerm2, kitty, WezTerm, foot, and most modern terminals.

Usage

1. Copy-paste a single theme

Open themes.md, find a theme, and paste the function into your terminal:

catppuccin_frappe() {
  printf '\033]4;0;#51576d\007'
  # ... (full palette)
  printf '\033]10;#c6d0f5\007'
  printf '\033]11;#303446\007'
  printf '\033]12;#f2d5cf\007'
}
catppuccin_frappe

2. Source themes from a script

Extract the functions you want into a .sh file and source it:

source ~/ghostty-dynamic-themes/my-themes.sh
gruvbox_dark

3. Auto-apply by context

Add to your .zshrc or .bashrc:

# Theme by directory
if [[ "$PWD" == *"prod"* ]]; then
  gruvbox_dark
elif [[ "$PWD" == *"dev"* ]]; then
  tokyo_night
fi

# Theme by environment
if [[ "$ENV" == "production" ]]; then
  rose_pine
fi

# Theme when SSH'd into a remote machine
if [[ -n "$SSH_CONNECTION" ]]; then
  dracula
fi

4. Apply with the helper script

./apply-theme.sh "Catppuccin Frappe"
./apply-theme.sh "Gruvbox Dark"
./apply-theme.sh "Afterglow"

5. Install as a Claude Code Plugin

Install directly from GitHub:

/plugin install github:CharlieGreenman/ghostty-dynamic-themes

Once installed:

• No theme is applied automatically when you start a Claude Code session
• /ghostty-dynamic-themes:apply-theme Catppuccin Frappe — apply a specific theme
• /ghostty-dynamic-themes:random-theme — switch to a random theme

6. Use with Codex

Codex CLI

Codex CLI v0.128.0 loads local skills from ~/.codex/skills, but it does not expose custom marketplace slash commands in the / menu. Install the generated skills directly:

tmpdir="$(mktemp -d)"
git clone https://github.com/CharlieGreenman/ghostty-dynamic-themes.git "$tmpdir/ghostty-dynamic-themes"
mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills
rm -rf ~/.codex/skills/apply-theme ~/.codex/skills/random-theme
cp -R "$tmpdir/ghostty-dynamic-themes/skills/apply-theme" ~/.codex/skills/apply-theme
cp -R "$tmpdir/ghostty-dynamic-themes/skills/random-theme" ~/.codex/skills/random-theme

Restart Codex, then use the $ skills picker or invoke the skills directly:

$apply-theme "Catppuccin Frappe"
$random-theme

You can also ask Codex naturally:

"Use the apply-theme skill to switch Ghostty to Catppuccin Frappe"

To update later, run the same install commands again.

Codex Plugin Marketplace

This repository also includes a canonical Codex plugin bundle at plugins/ghostty-dynamic-themes, referenced by .agents/plugins/marketplace.json. Add it as a marketplace with:

codex plugin marketplace add CharlieGreenman/ghostty-dynamic-themes

On Codex surfaces that expose custom marketplace plugin commands, use:

• /ghostty-dynamic-themes:apply-theme Catppuccin Frappe — apply a specific theme
• /ghostty-dynamic-themes:random-theme — switch to a random theme

If codex plugin marketplace add says the marketplace already exists, update it:

codex plugin marketplace upgrade ghostty-plugins

7. Use with an AI Agent (Claude Code, Codex, etc.)

Ask your AI agent:

"Switch my terminal to Ardoise"

See AGENTS.md for full AI agent instructions. The short version:

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CharlieGreenman/ghostty-dynamic-themes/main/apply-theme.sh) "Ardoise" --tty

Why not just printf? AI agent Bash tools capture stdout — escape sequences never reach the terminal. The --tty flag writes directly to the parent TTY device, bypassing the capture. Theme names are case-sensitive and match ghostty +list-themes output exactly.

Agent Harnesses

Agent-facing instructions and commands are authored once in iso/ and generated with @razroo/iso-harness:

npm install
npm run build:harnesses

This keeps AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, Cursor rules, Claude commands, OpenCode skills, Pi prompts, and the shared plugin skills/ and commands/ directories in sync. The Claude and Codex plugin marketplace metadata in .claude-plugin/, .codex-plugin/, and .agents/plugins/ is still maintained separately because plugin metadata and hooks are outside iso-harness v1.

Best Practice: Color as Meaning

Use themes to encode context, not just aesthetics:

Color Tone	Meaning
Red-tinted	Production
Yellow-tinted	Staging
Blue-tinted	Development
Green-tinted	Local

Limitations

• Does not persist across new terminal windows (re-apply on shell init)
• Some TUI apps override terminal colors while running
• Only sets the 16-color palette + fg/bg/cursor (not extended 256-color)

How This Was Generated

All 463 themes were scraped from Ghostty's built-in theme files (/Applications/Ghostty.app/Contents/Resources/ghostty/themes/) and converted to shell functions using OSC escape sequences.

License

The theme color values originate from the Ghostty project. This repo simply reformats them as escape sequences for dynamic use.