GitKraken Desktop Themes | Customize Light, Dark & Custom UI

Last updated: June 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

1. Copy a .jsonc-default file you want to base your theme on.
2. Rename the file (e.g., MyCustomTheme.jsonc).
3. Open it in a text editor.
4. Set a unique value for meta.name. This is the theme name shown in GitKraken.
5. Define your theme’s scheme as either light or dark.
6. 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.

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.