Theme Gallery

Every theme currently shipping in Claude Themes, with the real inspiration, palette hex codes, and one-line guidance on when each reads best.

Screenshots are captured against the same claude.ai-shaped conversation so only the palette varies.

Amber

amber

IBM 5151 monochrome display (1981). The amber phosphor was marketed as “less fatiguing” than green for long sessions — a claim that’s half true and completely nostalgic.

Role	Hex	Swatch
Background	`#0a0500`
Raised surface	`#1a0d00`
Foreground	`#ffb000`
Dim	`#c88500`
Bright	`#ffd070`
Destructive	`#ff6030`

Best for: long writing sessions, late-night coding, anyone who has ever looked at a CRT past 2am. Inspiration: IBM 5151 datasheet + a photo of one running WordPerfect 4.2.

Green

green

Hercules Graphics Card / generic P1 phosphor. The color of every CS lab from 1982 to 1988.

Role	Hex	Swatch
Background	`#001a00`
Raised surface	`#002800`
Foreground	`#33ff33`
Dim	`#00cc00`
Bright	`#90ff90`
Destructive	`#ff5555`

Best for: code review, reading long responses, matrix-rain energy. Inspiration: Hercules HGC @ IBM 5151.

White

white

IBM Monochrome Display Adapter / paper-white phosphor. Closest to modern “light mode” but with a fixed-pitch heart.

Role	Hex	Swatch
Background	`#0a0a0a`
Raised surface	`#151515`
Foreground	`#e6e6e6`
Dim	`#a8a8a8`
Bright	`#ffffff`
Destructive	`#ff8080`

Best for: high-contrast daylight reading, screen-sharing, eye breaks from amber/green. Inspiration: MDA paper-white phosphor tubes.

CGA-4

cga

IBM CGA Palette 1 (high-intensity): black, white, cyan, magenta. The screen everyone’s grandparent shipped on.

Role	Hex	Swatch
Background	`#000000`
Foreground	`#ffffff`
Accent (cyan)	`#55ffff`
Destructive	`#ff55ff`

Semantic mapping: white = body, cyan = links/accents/borders, magenta = errors/destructive, black = bg. Best for: short bursts, “I need to be alert” sessions, King’s Quest energy. Inspiration: IBM CGA Technical Reference, 1984.

CRT

crt

Green phosphor + period-correct CRT effects: fixed scanline overlay, text-shadow phosphor glow, subtle brightness flicker, one-shot BIOS boot screen on page load.

Role	Hex	Swatch
Background	`#001a00`
Foreground	`#39ff55`
Dim	`#1ccc33`
Bright	`#b0ffc0`

Effects on top of the base green palette:

Scanlines: 1px alternating rows at 35% multiply opacity.
Phosphor glow: multi-layer text-shadow, 4–10px radii.
Flicker: ~3% brightness oscillation every 140ms + larger jolt every 8s.
Boot screen: AMI BIOS POST text fades out over 2.4s on first paint.

Best for: full immersion. Not for long sessions (the flicker is real). Great for demos and showing off. Inspiration: every 1987 CRT ever owned by anyone’s dad.

Synthwave

synthwave

The catalog’s only non-monochrome theme. Neon pink/cyan/magenta on a sunset-gradient sky, with a CSS-rendered perspective grid floor that animates toward the horizon and an outrun sun cut by masked horizontal stripes.

Role	Hex	Swatch
Sky top	`#0d0b1e`
Sky mid	`#5f0a87`
Horizon	`#ff2a6d`
Ground	`#05030a`
Cyan (body glow)	`#05d9e8`
Pink (accent)	`#ff2a6d`
Magenta	`#ff00e1`

Best for: when the product is a vibe. Ship it Friday afternoon with lo-fi in the background. Inspiration: early outrun aesthetic (Miami Vice title cards, Lazerhawk album covers, Kavinsky “Nightcall” music video).

Wishlist — themes we’d love PRs for

Vote / pick one by opening an issue, then a PR per CONTRIBUTING.md.

1980s hardware palettes

Apple II — green / black + Applesoft-era inverted brackets
Commodore 64 — pastel blue-on-blue (#7869C4 on #3F2D8B)
Atari ST — that unmistakable #00AAAA desktop gray + #FF0000 accents from GEM
NeXT Cube — blacks, grays, a single teal accent — the Jobs school
Macintosh Classic — pure 1-bit B&W + Chicago-bold headings
BBC Micro / Acorn Archimedes — mode 7 teletext colors

Classic developer palettes (community darlings)

Solarized Dark / Solarized Light
Dracula
Nord
Tokyo Night (storm variant)
Gruvbox
Catppuccin (mocha)
Rosé Pine
Everforest
One Dark / Atom
Monokai

Aesthetic categories

Cyberpunk 2077 — yellow-on-black, sharp angles, Night City HUD vibes
Blade Runner 2049 — amber + teal + fog overlay
Vaporwave (distinct from synthwave — pastel pink/blue, A E S T H E T I C)
Terminal Green (actually Matrix-flavored, with falling-character hero)
NES — red/white/gray with 8-bit bitmap font
WarGames — pure green WOPR — “Shall we play a game?”

Submit new palettes

Open an issue with:

Theme name
6–8 hex codes (bg, raised, inset, fg, fg-dim, fg-bright, accent, destructive)
One sentence on inspiration / source (datasheet, photo, album cover, color standard)
A mood screenshot from the inspiration

Then open a PR — see CONTRIBUTING.md.