Automatically switch between dark and light themes based on global operating system dark/light setting #9242

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opened 2026-01-31 01:49:30 +00:00 by claunia · 2 comments
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Originally created by @cdmihai on GitHub (Jun 24, 2020).

Description of the new feature/enhancement

To reduce eye strain, add a feature to Terminal to automatically change themes based on the global operating system dark/light theme setting.
Right now this is tedious and time consuming to do in Terminal, as it requires the user to manually edit the settings.json and alternate between two themes.

Working with a dark theme in a strongly lit environment, or with a light theme in a gloomy/dark environment puts a lot of strain on my eyes, as I have to squint a lot. Ideally I'd want dark themes on all the OS apps in dark environments, and light themes on all the OS apps in light environments.
Most of the places I work at transition from strong light to gloom throughout the day. I manually transition everything from dark to light and vice versa, as the light changes. This is tedious and time consuming, as very few apps change their theme based on the global OS setting. I change the OS, and then manually change VSCode, Visual Studio, Terminal, and Teams. It would be awesome if all of these automatically changed based on the OS, including Terminal.

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

Introduce another setting that chooses between two themes, based on the OS settings:

"switch.themes.based.on.os": "true",
"light.os.theme": "One Half Light",
"dark.os.theme": "Campbell"
Originally created by @cdmihai on GitHub (Jun 24, 2020). <!-- 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 I ACKNOWLEDGE THE FOLLOWING BEFORE PROCEEDING: 1. If I delete this entire template and go my own path, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 2. If I list multiple bugs/concerns in this one issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 3. If I write an issue that has many duplicates, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement (and without necessarily spending time to find the exact duplicate ID number). 4. If I leave the title incomplete when filing the issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 5. If I file something completely blank in the body, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. All good? Then proceed! --> # Description of the new feature/enhancement <!-- A clear and concise description of what the problem is that the new feature would solve. Describe why and how a user would use this new functionality (if applicable). --> To reduce eye strain, add a feature to Terminal to automatically change themes based on the global operating system dark/light theme setting. Right now this is tedious and time consuming to do in Terminal, as it requires the user to manually edit the settings.json and alternate between two themes. Working with a dark theme in a strongly lit environment, or with a light theme in a gloomy/dark environment puts a lot of strain on my eyes, as I have to squint a lot. Ideally I'd want dark themes on all the OS apps in dark environments, and light themes on all the OS apps in light environments. Most of the places I work at transition from strong light to gloom throughout the day. I manually transition everything from dark to light and vice versa, as the light changes. This is tedious and time consuming, as very few apps change their theme based on the global OS setting. I change the OS, and then manually change VSCode, Visual Studio, Terminal, and Teams. It would be awesome if all of these automatically changed based on the OS, including Terminal. # Proposed technical implementation details (optional) <!-- A clear and concise description of what you want to happen. --> Introduce another setting that chooses between two themes, based on the OS settings: ```json "switch.themes.based.on.os": "true", "light.os.theme": "One Half Light", "dark.os.theme": "Campbell" ```
claunia added the Issue-FeatureResolution-Duplicate labels 2026-01-31 01:49:30 +00:00
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@DHowett commented on GitHub (Jun 24, 2020):

Thanks for the request! This is being tracked in /dup #6491.

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Jun 24, 2020): Thanks for the request! This is being tracked in /dup #6491.
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@ghost commented on GitHub (Jun 24, 2020):

Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists on this Issue Tracker. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread. Thanks for your report!

@ghost commented on GitHub (Jun 24, 2020): Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists on this Issue Tracker. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread. Thanks for your report!
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Reference: starred/terminal#9242