# Anyone suggest on Xcode themes?

**URL:** <https://forums.swift.org/t/anyone-suggest-on-xcode-themes/87968>\
**Category:** Using Swift\
**Tags:** swift, xcode\
**Created:** [July 3, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/anyone-suggest-on-xcode-themes/87968 "2026-07-03T16:53:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mub](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/mub/32/45794_2.png) [@mub](https://forums.swift.org/u/mub)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/anyone-suggest-on-xcode-themes/87968/1 "2026-07-03T16:53:57Z")

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Just saw the new Xcode 27 beta and tried it out, and then saw themes. Didn’t we already have themes?

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**Author:** ![Jon\_Shier](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/jon_shier/32/921_2.png) [@Jon\_Shier](https://forums.swift.org/u/Jon_Shier)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/anyone-suggest-on-xcode-themes/87968/2 "2026-07-03T18:21:06Z")

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Xcode 27's theming seems a little more powerful than before, with a bit better UI and a preview view where you can see changes in realtime without having a project open. Still not really detailed enough for truly great themes.

I miss the days of the Alcatraz Xcode plugin manager, which had an online service for themes you could download and integrate in a single click.

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**Author:** ![mikaelacaron](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/mikaelacaron/32/16601_2.png) [@mikaelacaron](https://forums.swift.org/u/mikaelacaron)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/anyone-suggest-on-xcode-themes/87968/3 "2026-07-03T18:42:02Z")

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but also they're themes like the whole window, including the sidebar changing colors, rather than just where the code is at (main editor) portion

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**Author:** ![Jon\_Shier](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/jon_shier/32/921_2.png) [@Jon\_Shier](https://forums.swift.org/u/Jon_Shier)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/anyone-suggest-on-xcode-themes/87968/4 "2026-07-03T18:46:16Z")

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True, that part seems to be fully new. Ironically, the setting screen where you choose a theme doesn't apply that background color like the editor does, so you need to have a project open to actually see how it applies to projects as a whole.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mub](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/mub/32/45794_2.png) [@mub](https://forums.swift.org/u/mub)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 5:06pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/anyone-suggest-on-xcode-themes/87968/5 "2026-07-06T17:06:48Z")

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Me too.

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**Author:** ![AhmedAli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@AhmedAli](https://forums.swift.org/u/AhmedAli)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/anyone-suggest-on-xcode-themes/87968/6 "2026-09-20T19:54:51Z")

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While the idea of changing the whole ide colors to be balanced with the editor is great, the non-deterministic palette is irritating more than useful for anyone with sight sensitivity towards certain colors. Even when setting all the colors one-by-one to static hex value, they remain inconsistent. Some inconsistencies are likely bugs (like different editor colors than what in the appearance preview) and others are due to the fact that design system factor in many variables that aren't visible or customizable through the appearnce settings