# Cate Theme

Author or edit a Cate IDE theme, one data-driven theme covering app chrome colors, the...

- Repository: https://github.com/0-AI-UG/cate (2219 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add 0-AI-UG/cate --skill cate-theme -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add 0-AI-UG/cate --skill cate-theme -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add 0-AI-UG/cate --skill cate-theme -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add 0-AI-UG/cate --skill cate-theme -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Author or edit a Cate IDE theme, one data-driven theme covering app chrome colors, the terminal ANSI palette, and Monaco editor syntax tokens. Use when the user asks to create, customize, recolor, or generate a Cate theme, mentions a color scheme (Dracula, Nord, "make Cate look like X"), or wants a new light/dark theme.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Authoring Cate Themes

A Cate theme is ONE JSON object that styles the whole IDE:

- **app**, the window/panel chrome (CSS custom properties: surfaces, text, borders, accents)
- **terminal**, the xterm palette (background/foreground + the 16 ANSI colors)
- **editor**, the Monaco code editor (base + syntax token colors)

There is no separate terminal theme any more, one theme colors everything.

The canonical machine-readable schema is **`theme.schema.json`** in this skill
folder. Validate every theme against it before saving.

## Where themes live

User themes are stored in Cate's settings file under the `customThemes` array,
and the active theme is `activeThemeId`:

```
macOS:   ~/Library/Application Support/cate/config.json
Linux:   ~/.config/cate/config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/cate/config.json
```

## Schema

```jsonc
{
  "version": 1,
  "id": "midnight-ember",        // REQUIRED, unique kebab-case slug
  "name": "Midnight Ember",      // REQUIRED, display name
  "type": "dark",                // REQUIRED: "dark" | "light" (drives system light/dark auto-switch + editor base)
  "author": "You",               // optional
  "bootBackground": "#1a1714",   // optional, exact cold-launch window bg (defaults to surface-0)

  "app": {                       // app chrome, see "App colors" below. PARTIAL: omitted keys inherit the base.
    "surface-0": "#1a1714",
    "surface-1": "#221d18",
    "text-primary": "#e7ddd0",
    "text-muted": "#9b9186",
    "border-focus": "#e0683c",
    "focus-blue": "#e0683c",
    "agent-rgb": "224 104 60"
  },

The rest: https://github.com/0-AI-UG/cate/blob/HEAD/skills/cate-theme/SKILL.md