Gitea Custom Themes Setup Instructions

Theme Files Created

Three custom themes have been created:

1. theme-black-on-white.css - Clean black text on white backgrounds
2. theme-white-on-black.css - Clean white text on black backgrounds
3. theme-green-on-black.css - Terminal-style green text on black backgrounds

Installation Steps

1. Copy Theme Files to Your Gitea Installation

# Copy the theme files to your Gitea custom directory
cp theme-*.css ./gitea/gitea/public/assets/css/

2. Update Your app.ini Configuration

Edit your ./gitea/gitea/conf/app.ini file and add/update the UI section:

[ui]
# Add your custom themes to the THEMES list
THEMES = gitea-light,gitea-dark,gitea-auto,black-on-white,white-on-black,green-on-black

# Set the default theme that new users will see (OPTIONAL)
DEFAULT_THEME = black-on-white

Default Theme Options:

• gitea-light - Original Gitea light theme
• gitea-dark - Original Gitea dark theme
• gitea-auto - Auto-switching theme
• black-on-white - Your custom black on white theme
• white-on-black - Your custom white on black theme
• green-on-black - Your custom green on black theme

3. Restart Your Gitea Container

docker-compose restart gitea

4. Verify Installation

1. Go to your Gitea site
2. Log in to your account
3. Go to Settings → Appearance
4. Check that the new themes appear in the Theme dropdown:
   • "Black on White"
   • "White on Black"
   • "Green on Black"

Theme Features

Black on White Theme

• Pure black text on white backgrounds
• Grayscale accent colors (no green highlights)
• Clean, high-contrast appearance
• Light theme with proper syntax highlighting

White on Black Theme

• Pure white text on black backgrounds
• Grayscale accent colors (no green highlights)
• Inverted color scheme
• Dark theme with emoji inversions for readability

Green on Black Theme

• Bright green text on black backgrounds
• Terminal/hacker aesthetic
• Dark theme optimized for green visibility
• Classic computer terminal look

Troubleshooting

Themes Not Appearing

• Ensure files are in the correct directory: ./gitea/gitea/public/assets/css/
• Check that file permissions allow reading by the Gitea process
• Verify the THEMES setting in app.ini includes your theme names
• Restart the Gitea container after making changes

Default Theme Not Working

• Make sure DEFAULT_THEME matches exactly one of the theme names in THEMES
• The theme name should match the filename without theme- prefix and .css suffix
• Example: theme-black-on-white.css → DEFAULT_THEME = black-on-white

Colors Still Show Green

• The themes have been updated to remove green highlights
• Clear your browser cache or hard refresh (Ctrl+F5) to see changes
• Some diff views may still show green for added lines (this is normal Git behavior)

File Structure

Your final directory structure should look like:

./gitea/
├── gitea/
│   ├── conf/
│   │   └── app.ini                           # Contains THEMES and DEFAULT_THEME settings
│   └── public/
│       └── assets/
│           └── css/
│               ├── theme-black-on-white.css  # Your custom theme
│               ├── theme-white-on-black.css  # Your custom theme  
│               └── theme-green-on-black.css  # Your custom theme
└── data/                                     # Gitea data directory

Notes

• All themes follow Gitea's standard theming structure
• Themes include proper syntax highlighting for code
• Dark themes include emoji inversions for better readability
• The green highlights have been removed from black-on-white and white-on-black themes
• Users can still individually select their preferred theme in their settings