[FEATURE]: Light/Dark mode auto-switching

[samholmes]

Feature hasn't been suggested before.

• I have verified this feature I'm about to request hasn't been suggested before.

Describe the enhancement you want to request

I use a NightOwl app on macOS to switch between light/dark mode throughout the day. So far, all my apps support dynamically switching including Ghostty and Neovim (with the help of this plugin https://github.com/f-person/auto-dark-mode.nvim). But OC doesn't. Is it possible to have light/dark mode themes selected which are switched in real-time? The desktop app has this, but not the TUI.

[github-actions]

This issue might be a duplicate of existing issues. Please check:

• Different theme for light and dark mode #3244: Different theme for light and dark mode - requests the ability to use different themes based on system settings, which is closely related to your auto-switching feature request.

Feel free to ignore if none of these address your specific case.

[justinlevinedotme]

Hey, I'm happy to take this, as it is something I'd like too.

Proposed approach:

1. Add an "auto" option to the TUI theme mode (alongside "dark" / "light")
2. When set to "auto", detect OS appearance and listen for changes:

• macOS: Use defaults read -g AppleInterfaceStyle or the dark-mode-listener npm package
• Linux: Check $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP + gsettings or similar
• Windows: Registry check for AppsUseLightTheme

3. Store the user's preference (auto/dark/light) in KV storage
4. Update theme reactively when OS appearance changes

---

edit:
maybe do something like this instead?

Current: theme is a single string (e.g., "dracula"). Mode is detected once at startup from terminal background.

Proposed config schema:

// Simple (backwards compatible)
{ "theme": "dracula" }
// Advanced (new)
{
  "theme": {
    "light": "github",
    "dark": "dracula", 
    "mode": "auto"  // "auto" | "light" | "dark"
  }
}

When mode: "auto", detect OS appearance and switch between light/dark themes automatically.

Questions:

• Should "auto" be the default, or should users opt-in?
• Should this be something added to the config options? alongside separate "dark" and "light" themes? This would also handle Different theme for light and dark mode #3244
• Any concerns with adding a dependency like dark-mode-listener, or prefer a shell-based approach?

[ariane-emory]

@justinlevinedotme I think it should be opt-in, off by default.

Personally, I would suggest that instead of changing the shape/schema of the configuration file, the enabledness of the automatic switching mode (on or off/true or false) be toggled by a new menu item in the command_list menu and persisted to the kv.json file. There are numerous pre-existing toggleable items in the command_list menu whose implementations can serve as examples.