theme-switcher.sh

Overview

The theme-switcher.sh script provides an interactive theme switcher for Sway using Rofi. It displays available themes with wallpaper previews and applies comprehensive theme changes including Kitty terminal colors, Waybar styling, Rofi colors, Sway window decorations, and wallpapers.

Themes are stored in ~/.config/themes/ with each theme in its own directory containing configuration files and wallpapers.

Location

~/.config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh

Usage

Interactive Mode

~/.config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh

Launches Rofi with theme previews for selection.

Direct Application

~/.config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh <theme-name>

theme-name

string

Name of the theme directory in ~/.config/themes/ to apply directly (skips Rofi selection)

What It Does

Step-by-Step Execution

Theme Discovery
- Scans ~/.config/themes/ for theme directories
- Looks for wallpaper previews (.jpg, .png, .webp)
- Builds Rofi menu with theme names and preview icons
Theme Selection
- Displays interactive Rofi menu (if no theme specified)
- Shows wallpaper preview thumbnails for each theme
- Uses custom Rofi theme: ~/.config/rofi/styles/_core/theme-switcher.rasi
Backup Creation
- Creates timestamped backups of existing configurations
- Format: original.bak-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
- Backs up before each component is modified
Kitty Configuration
- Copies theme’s kitty/ directory to ~/.config/kitty
- Applies color scheme and terminal styling
Waybar Configuration
- Copies colors.css and style.css to ~/.config/waybar
- Converts Hyprland-specific config to Sway format
- Generates config-sway.jsonc with module replacements:
  - hyprland/workspaces → sway/workspaces
  - hyprland/window → sway/window
  - Special workspace toggle → kitty -e btop
Sway Window Theme
- Applies sway/theme.conf for window decorations
- Sets border colors, title bar colors, and fonts
Rofi Color Palette
- Uses theme’s rofi-style/_core/palette.rasi if available
- Otherwise, auto-generates from sway/theme.conf variables:
  - Extracts $bg, $fg, $active, $inactive colors
  - Extracts font configuration
  - Creates ~/.config/rofi/styles/_core/palette.rasi
Wallpaper Application
- Finds wallpaper file (wallpaper.jpg, .png, or .webp)
- Saves path to ~/.config/sway/wallpaper
- Kills existing swaybg process
- Launches new swaybg with selected wallpaper
Service Reloads
- Restarts Waybar with new configuration
- Reloads Sway to apply theme changes
- Sends desktop notification on completion

Theme Structure

Each theme directory should follow this structure:

~/.config/themes/
└── theme-name/
    ├── wallpaper.jpg          # Required: Theme wallpaper (jpg/png/webp)
    ├── kitty/                 # Optional: Kitty terminal theme
    │   ├── current-theme.conf
    │   └── ...
    ├── waybar/                # Optional: Waybar theme
    │   ├── colors.css
    │   ├── style.css
    │   └── config.jsonc
    ├── sway/                  # Optional: Sway window theme
    │   └── theme.conf
    └── rofi-style/            # Optional: Rofi theme
        └── _core/
            └── palette.rasi

Required Files

wallpaper.jpg|png|webp

file

required

Theme wallpaper image. At least one format must be present.

Optional Files

kitty/

Sway Theme Configuration Format

Example sway/theme.conf:

# Color variables
set $bg #1e1e2e
set $fg #89b3fa
set $active #89b3fa
set $inactive #242438

# Font
font pango:JetBrains Mono Nerd Font 12

# Window borders
client.focused          $active $active $bg $active $active
client.focused_inactive $inactive $inactive $fg $inactive $inactive
client.unfocused        $inactive $inactive $fg $inactive $inactive

Auto-Generated Rofi Palette

When no custom Rofi palette is provided, the script generates one from Sway theme variables:

/* Paleta de colores (auto) - Tema: theme-name */

* {
    font:                  "JetBrains Mono Nerd Font 14";
    background:            #1e1e2e;
    background-alt:        #242438;
    foreground:            #89b3fa;
    selected:              #89b3fa;
    active:                #89b3fa;
    urgent:                #89b3fa;
}

Current Theme Tracking

The currently active theme is saved to:

~/.config/themes/.current

This file contains the theme name and can be read by other scripts.

Notifications

The script sends desktop notifications using notify-send:

Success

Title: Theme Switcher (Sway)
Message: Tema aplicado: theme-name

Errors

Title: Theme Switcher (Sway)
Message: Error description
Urgency: critical

Error Handling

Themes Directory Missing

Error: No existe: ~/.config/themes

Create the themes directory and add theme subdirectories.

Rofi Not Found

Error: Falta rofi

Install rofi: sudo pacman -S rofi

No Themes Available

Error: No hay temas en ~/.config/themes

Add at least one theme directory.

Theme Not Found

Error: Tema no encontrado: theme-name

The specified theme directory doesn’t exist.

No Wallpaper

Error: Este tema no tiene wallpaper.* en la raíz: /path/to/theme

Each theme must have a wallpaper.jpg, wallpaper.png, or wallpaper.webp file.

Missing swaybg

Error: Falta swaybg (no se pudo aplicar el wallpaper)

Install swaybg: sudo pacman -S swaybg

Exit Codes

0: Success (theme applied) or cancelled by user
1: Error (missing dependencies, theme not found, or no wallpaper)

Examples

Interactive Theme Selection

~/.config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh

Displays Rofi menu with all available themes and wallpaper previews.

Apply Specific Theme

~/.config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh catppuccin-mocha

Directly applies the “catppuccin-mocha” theme without showing Rofi menu.

Keybinding in Sway

Add to ~/.config/sway/config:

# Theme switcher
bindsym $mod+Shift+t exec ~/.config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh

Create New Theme

# Create theme directory
mkdir -p ~/.config/themes/my-theme

# Add wallpaper
cp ~/Pictures/wallpaper.jpg ~/.config/themes/my-theme/

# Add Sway theme (optional)
mkdir ~/.config/themes/my-theme/sway
cat > ~/.config/themes/my-theme/sway/theme.conf << 'EOF'
set $bg #1a1b26
set $fg #c0caf5
set $active #7aa2f7
set $inactive #414868

font pango:JetBrains Mono Nerd Font 11

client.focused $active $active $bg $active $active
client.unfocused $inactive $inactive $fg $inactive $inactive
EOF

# Apply the theme
~/.config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh my-theme

Backup Management

Backups are created with timestamps. Clean old backups periodically:

# List backups
ls -ld ~/.config/kitty.bak-* ~/.config/waybar.bak-* ~/.config/sway/theme.conf.bak-*

# Remove backups older than 30 days
find ~ -maxdepth 1 -name '*.bak-*' -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} \;

Integration with Waybar

Example Waybar module for theme switching:

"custom/theme": {
    "format": "  {}",
    "exec": "cat ~/.config/themes/.current 2>/dev/null || echo 'none'",
    "interval": 3600,
    "on-click": "~/.config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh",
    "tooltip": false
}

wallpaper-switcher.sh - Change wallpaper without changing theme
update.sh - Sync configuration files from repository

Dependencies

rofi - Application launcher (for theme selection UI)
swaybg - Wallpaper utility (for applying wallpapers)
swaymsg - Sway IPC tool (for reloading configuration)
waybar - Status bar (optional, for bar theming)
notify-send - Desktop notifications (optional)

Notes

Themes are applied system-wide and persist across reboots
The script is designed to work with both Hyprland and Sway themes (auto-converts)
Backups are created automatically to prevent data loss
Rofi theme preview requires icons support (-show-icons flag)
The script uses set -euo pipefail for strict error handling

Source Code

View the full source: .config/rofi/scripts/theme-switcher.sh (186 lines) Author: Fravelz

Scripts

Themes

Overview

Location

Usage

Interactive Mode

Direct Application

What It Does

Step-by-Step Execution

Theme Structure

Required Files

Optional Files

Sway Theme Configuration Format

Auto-Generated Rofi Palette

Current Theme Tracking

Notifications

Success

Errors

Error Handling

Themes Directory Missing

Rofi Not Found

No Themes Available

Theme Not Found

No Wallpaper

Missing swaybg

Exit Codes

Examples

Interactive Theme Selection

Apply Specific Theme

Keybinding in Sway

Create New Theme

Backup Management

Integration with Waybar

Dependencies

Notes

Source Code

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Scripts

Themes

​Overview

​Location

​Usage

​Interactive Mode

​Direct Application

​What It Does

​Step-by-Step Execution

​Theme Structure

​Required Files

​Optional Files

​Sway Theme Configuration Format

​Auto-Generated Rofi Palette

​Current Theme Tracking

​Notifications

​Success

​Errors

​Error Handling

​Themes Directory Missing

​Rofi Not Found

​No Themes Available

​Theme Not Found

​No Wallpaper

​Missing swaybg

​Exit Codes

​Examples

​Interactive Theme Selection

​Apply Specific Theme

​Keybinding in Sway

​Create New Theme

​Backup Management

​Integration with Waybar

​Related Scripts

​Dependencies

​Notes

​Source Code

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Location

Usage

Interactive Mode

Direct Application

What It Does

Step-by-Step Execution

Theme Structure

Required Files

Optional Files

Sway Theme Configuration Format

Auto-Generated Rofi Palette

Current Theme Tracking

Notifications

Success

Errors

Error Handling

Themes Directory Missing

Rofi Not Found

No Themes Available

Theme Not Found

No Wallpaper

Missing swaybg

Exit Codes

Examples

Interactive Theme Selection

Apply Specific Theme

Keybinding in Sway

Create New Theme

Backup Management

Integration with Waybar

Related Scripts

Dependencies

Notes

Source Code