Personal Themes in the Control UI

v2026.9.6: you can create a personal theme. Themes are cosmetic. They apply to the Control UI, not the CLI or native apps. They do not rewrite command text, package paths, authentication, or legal notices. Official: theme tool and Control UI settings.

Personal theme definitions are saved on the authenticated Gateway profile and follow that person across browsers. Other people on the same Gateway keep their own appearance. An anonymous cold login cannot use someone else's theme until that profile and catalog have loaded.

Where to change it

  • Appearance in Control UI settings. Built-ins include Claw (default), Knot, Dash, Absolutely, Tide, Beacon, Phosphor, CRT, Manuscript, Rosé, and Miami. Plugin themes and agent-created personal themes sit in the same list.
  • Ask the agent. The theme tool shares that catalog. Typical flow: list, then set with an ID from the list. Plugin IDs look like space-pack/xenovessel. Personal IDs use user/<slug>.

Profile theme and mode override gateway-wide ui.prefs. Language and chat preferences still come from gateway config. Connections without a profile keep gateway-wide appearance.

Create a personal theme

import saves a definition. Slug: lowercase, up to 64 characters, letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores. Reimporting the same slug updates it. apply: true selects it in the same call (default is not to apply).

A definition needs a name, a short description, and at least one complete light or dark palette. Colors are ordinary CSS values (hex, rgb(), hsl(), oklch()). Font families must already exist on the machine; definitions cannot load external stylesheets. Optional fields include mascot (claw or none), brandName (display text only), brandIcon, workingIndicator, and up to 24 workingPhrases.

The tool is available in coding and messaging profiles and group:ui. It does not require a connected browser. Personal changes require a trusted participant profile.

tweakcn stays local

Appearance can import a tweakcn Share link or registry URL into a single browser-local slot. Those palettes are never uploaded automatically. Selecting that import never follows the profile to another device. If you want the same look on phone and desktop, use a personal theme via the agent (profile store), not the local tweakcn slot.

Plugins and live updates

Plugin theme additions, updates, and removals take effect after plugin hot reload without restarting the Gateway or reloading the browser. If a selected plugin theme disappears, Claw renders temporarily and the saved selection comes back when the plugin is available again. See plugin hot reload.

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