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The shadcn/ui theming system is built on CSS variables and Tailwind CSS, providing a flexible and powerful way to customize your application’s appearance.

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Theming Approaches

You can choose between two approaches for theming:

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CSS Variables (Recommended)

<div className="bg-background text-foreground" />
To use CSS variables for theming, set tailwind.cssVariables to true in your components.json file.
components.json
{
  "style": "new-york",
  "rsc": true,
  "tailwind": {
    "config": "",
    "css": "app/globals.css",
    "baseColor": "neutral",
    "cssVariables": true
  },
  "aliases": {
    "components": "@/components",
    "utils": "@/lib/utils",
    "ui": "@/components/ui",
    "lib": "@/lib",
    "hooks": "@/hooks"
  },
  "iconLibrary": "lucide"
}

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Utility Classes

<div className="bg-zinc-950 dark:bg-white" />
To use utility classes for theming, set tailwind.cssVariables to false in your components.json file.
components.json
{
  "style": "new-york",
  "rsc": true,
  "tailwind": {
    "config": "",
    "css": "app/globals.css",
    "baseColor": "neutral",
    "cssVariables": false
  },
  "iconLibrary": "lucide",
  "aliases": {
    "components": "@/components",
    "utils": "@/lib/utils",
    "ui": "@/components/ui",
    "lib": "@/lib",
    "hooks": "@/hooks"
  }
}

​
Color Convention

We use a simple background and foreground convention for colors. The background variable is used for the background color of the component and the foreground variable is used for the text color.
The background suffix is omitted when the variable is used for the background color of the component.
Given the following CSS variables: 
--primary: oklch(0.205 0 0);
--primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
The background color of the following component will be var(--primary) and the foreground color will be var(--primary-foreground). 
<div className="bg-primary text-primary-foreground">Hello</div>

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Available CSS Variables

Here’s the complete list of CSS variables available for customization:
app/globals.css
:root {
  --radius: 0.625rem;
  --background: oklch(1 0 0);
  --foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);
  --card: oklch(1 0 0);
  --card-foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);
  --popover: oklch(1 0 0);
  --popover-foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);
  --primary: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --secondary: oklch(0.97 0 0);
  --secondary-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --muted: oklch(0.97 0 0);
  --muted-foreground: oklch(0.556 0 0);
  --accent: oklch(0.97 0 0);
  --accent-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --destructive: oklch(0.577 0.245 27.325);
  --destructive-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --border: oklch(0.922 0 0);
  --input: oklch(0.922 0 0);
  --ring: oklch(0.708 0 0);
  --chart-1: oklch(0.646 0.222 41.116);
  --chart-2: oklch(0.6 0.118 184.704);
  --chart-3: oklch(0.398 0.07 227.392);
  --chart-4: oklch(0.828 0.189 84.429);
  --chart-5: oklch(0.769 0.188 70.08);
  --sidebar: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --sidebar-foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);
  --sidebar-primary: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --sidebar-primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --sidebar-accent: oklch(0.97 0 0);
  --sidebar-accent-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --sidebar-border: oklch(0.922 0 0);
  --sidebar-ring: oklch(0.708 0 0);
}

.dark {
  --background: oklch(0.145 0 0);
  --foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --card: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --card-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --popover: oklch(0.269 0 0);
  --popover-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --primary: oklch(0.922 0 0);
  --primary-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --secondary: oklch(0.269 0 0);
  --secondary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --muted: oklch(0.269 0 0);
  --muted-foreground: oklch(0.708 0 0);
  --accent: oklch(0.371 0 0);
  --accent-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --destructive: oklch(0.704 0.191 22.216);
  --destructive-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --border: oklch(1 0 0 / 10%);
  --input: oklch(1 0 0 / 15%);
  --ring: oklch(0.556 0 0);
  --chart-1: oklch(0.488 0.243 264.376);
  --chart-2: oklch(0.696 0.17 162.48);
  --chart-3: oklch(0.769 0.188 70.08);
  --chart-4: oklch(0.627 0.265 303.9);
  --chart-5: oklch(0.645 0.246 16.439);
  --sidebar: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --sidebar-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --sidebar-primary: oklch(0.488 0.243 264.376);
  --sidebar-primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --sidebar-accent: oklch(0.269 0 0);
  --sidebar-accent-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --sidebar-border: oklch(1 0 0 / 10%);
  --sidebar-ring: oklch(0.439 0 0);
}

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Adding New Colors

To add new colors, add them to your CSS file under the :root and dark pseudo-classes, then use the @theme inline directive to make them available as CSS variables.
app/globals.css
:root {
  --warning: oklch(0.84 0.16 84);
  --warning-foreground: oklch(0.28 0.07 46);
}

.dark {
  --warning: oklch(0.41 0.11 46);
  --warning-foreground: oklch(0.99 0.02 95);
}

@theme inline {
  --color-warning: var(--warning);
  --color-warning-foreground: var(--warning-foreground);
}
You can now use the warning utility class in your components: 
<div className="bg-warning text-warning-foreground" />

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Base Color Palettes

Shadcn/ui provides several base color palettes to choose from:
The default neutral color palette with minimal hue.
app/globals.css
:root {
  --background: oklch(1 0 0);
  --foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);
  --primary: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  /* ... */
}

​
Color Formats

Shadcn/ui uses the OKLCH color format by default, which provides better perceptual uniformity than RGB or HSL. However, you can use any color format supported by Tailwind CSS. For more information on color formats, see the Tailwind CSS documentation.

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Border Radius

The --radius variable controls the default border radius for components: 
:root {
  --radius: 0.625rem; /* 10px */
}
You can adjust this value to change the roundness of all components globally.

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