# Auto-switch between discourse's light and dark theme

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/auto-switch-between-discourses-light-and-dark-theme/52448>\
**Category:** Meta Discussion\
**Tags:** discourse\
**Created:** [December 27, 2020, 11:01am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/auto-switch-between-discourses-light-and-dark-theme/52448 "2020-12-27T11:01:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carstenbauer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/carstenbauer/32/4981_2.png) [@carstenbauer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/carstenbauer)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 11:01am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/auto-switch-between-discourses-light-and-dark-theme/52448/1 "2020-12-27T11:01:18Z")

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Is it somehow possible to auto-switch between the light and dark theme of our discourse depending on my macOS light/dark mode? That would be awesome… Manual switching takes way too many clicks (7-8).

Alternatively, it would be great to have a quick toggle button somewhere. For example next to the search/profile icons in the top right corner.

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**Author:** ![carstenbauer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/carstenbauer/32/4981_2.png) [@carstenbauer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/carstenbauer)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/auto-switch-between-discourses-light-and-dark-theme/52448/2 "2020-12-27T14:52:09Z")

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I found

> **[Dark Mode Automatic Theme Switcher](https://meta.discourse.org/t/dark-mode-automatic-theme-switcher/112071)**
>
> ⚠ Discourse now supports Automatic Dark Mode color scheme switching in core, this component is now deprecated and should no longer be used. Repository: https://github.com/pmusaraj/discourse-dark-mode Installation instructions: How do I install...

So apparently there is a way to get exactly what I’m looking for. Would be great if we could enable this here.

Update: Ok, apparently this is the default now. But I don’t find it in my settings. Would be great if an admin here could investigate this.

> **[Automatic Dark Mode color scheme switching](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatic-dark-mode-color-scheme-switching/161593)**
>
> You can now set up your Discourse site to automatically switch color schemes when the user’s device is in dark mode. For a quick preview, head over to the try.discourse.org instance and toggle your device’s dark mode on and off to see this new...

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**Author:** ![carstenbauer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/carstenbauer/32/4981_2.png) [@carstenbauer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/carstenbauer)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/auto-switch-between-discourses-light-and-dark-theme/52448/3 "2020-12-27T14:57:44Z")

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I went to [https://try.discourse.org](https://try.discourse.org) and if I toggle my (macOS) system light/dark mode the website changes appropriately. In contrast, nothing happens for our discourse here.

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**Author:** ![mbauman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mbauman/32/31082_2.png) [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/auto-switch-between-discourses-light-and-dark-theme/52448/4 "2020-12-29T17:16:04Z")

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Ah, interesting. There’s a site-wide setting for the “default dark mode theme” that — by default — is simply disabled. I’ve now changed that to use the dark theme.

With an account, of course, you can always choose your own theme (which should override this default).

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**Author:** ![carstenbauer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/carstenbauer/32/4981_2.png) [@carstenbauer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/carstenbauer)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/auto-switch-between-discourses-light-and-dark-theme/52448/5 "2020-12-29T20:37:38Z")

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Thanks, that did it. I can now enable automatic toggling in the interface preferences:

![Screenshot 2020-12-29 at 21.36.31](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/0/3/036ce23a288cb399c76d6e46bb32c3f814c8a8b1.png)