Last updated: July 2025
Built-in Themes
To change your GitKraken Desktop theme:
- Go to Preferences UI Customization
- Or open the Command Palette and type
switch theme

Sync with System Theme
If your OS supports theme switching, GitKraken Desktop can follow your system’s light/dark setting. Enable this from Preferences > UI Customization.
Custom Themes
GitKraken Desktop supports user-defined themes. To create a custom theme:
Locate Theme Files
Theme files live in:
~/.gitkraken/themes/
You can open this folder from Preferences > UI Customization > Theme. Each .jsonc-default
file is a template.
Create Your Custom Theme
- Copy a
.jsonc-default
file you want to base your theme on. - Rename the file (e.g.,
MyCustomTheme.jsonc
). - Open it in a text editor.
- Set a unique value for
meta.name
. This is the theme name shown in GitKraken. - Define your theme’s
scheme
as eitherlight
ordark
. - Save your file and return to GitKraken.
Your custom theme will appear under Preferences > UI Customization > Theme.
Live Theme Editing
Changes to your theme file take effect immediately—no need to restart GitKraken. If the file contains invalid syntax, GitKraken will revert to the default dark theme.
Note: Theme files must follow correct JSONC formatting. Invalid files will be skipped and replaced by the default theme until corrected.
Supported Functions
CSS Functions
GitKraken supports these CSS functions:
calc
hsl
/hsla
max
,min
rgb
/rgba
var
See CSS functions for reference.
LESS Functions
Supported LESS functions include:
darken
,lighten
,fade
saturate
,desaturate
mix
,mixLess
See LESS functions for full documentation.
Community Themes
Looking for inspiration? Some users share their custom themes online, such as the collection at jonbunator.github.io/gitkraken-custom-themes.
Please note that this site is not affiliated with GitKraken, and we do not provide support for external or user-generated themes.