Custom Styles

Overview

Glow uses Glamour for markdown rendering, which supports custom styles defined in JSON format. Custom styles allow you to completely control how markdown is rendered in your terminal.

Built-in Styles

Before creating custom styles, you may want to try Glow’s built-in styles:

auto - Automatically adapts to your terminal’s background (dark or light)
dark - Optimized for dark terminals
light - Optimized for light terminals
pink - Pink color scheme
dracula - Dracula theme
tokyonight - Tokyo Night theme
notty - Plain text output for non-TTY environments

# Try different built-in styles
glow --style dark README.md
glow --style dracula README.md
glow --style pink README.md

Using Custom Styles

Via Command Line

Specify a path to your custom JSON style file:

glow --style ~/.config/glow/styles/custom.json README.md

Via Configuration File

Set the style path in your glow.yml:

style: "~/.config/glow/styles/custom.json"
width: 100

Paths starting with ~ are automatically expanded to your home directory, and environment variables are resolved.

Via Environment Variable

Use the GLAMOUR_STYLE environment variable:

export GLAMOUR_STYLE="~/.config/glow/styles/custom.json"
glow README.md

Style File Structure

Glamour styles are defined as JSON files following the ansi.StyleConfig schema. Here’s the basic structure:

{
  "document": {
    "color": "#FAFAFA",
    "margin": 2
  },
  "heading": {
    "color": "#E88388",
    "bold": true
  },
  "h1": {
    "color": "#F1FA8C",
    "bold": true,
    "prefix": "\n# "
  },
  "code_block": {
    "color": "#8BE9FD",
    "margin": 2
  }
}

Style Properties

Each element in your style can have these properties:

Color Properties

Property	Type	Description
`color`	String	Foreground color (hex or ANSI)
`background_color`	String	Background color (hex or ANSI)

Text Formatting

Property	Type	Description
`bold`	Boolean	Bold text
`italic`	Boolean	Italic text
`underline`	Boolean	Underlined text
`strikethrough`	Boolean	Strikethrough text
`faint`	Boolean	Dim/faint text

Layout Properties

Property	Type	Description
`margin`	Integer	Margin (in lines)
`indent`	Integer	Indentation (in spaces)
`prefix`	String	Text prefix
`suffix`	String	Text suffix

Styleable Elements

You can customize these markdown elements:

Document Structure

document - Root document styles
block_quote - Blockquote text
paragraph - Regular paragraphs

Headings

heading - All headings (inherited by h1-h6)
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 - Individual heading levels

Text Styles

text - Regular text
strong - Bold text (bold)
emph - Italic text (italic)
strikethrough - Strikethrough (~~text~~)

Code

code - Inline code
code_block - Code blocks

Lists

list - All lists
enumeration - Ordered lists
item - List items

Links and Images

link - Link text
link_text - Link label
image - Image elements
image_text - Image alt text

Tables

table - Table container
table_row - Table rows
table_cell - Table cells
table_header - Table headers

Other Elements

hr - Horizontal rule
html_block - HTML blocks
html_span - Inline HTML

Example Custom Styles

Minimalist Style

{
  "document": {
    "color": "#E0E0E0",
    "margin": 1
  },
  "heading": {
    "bold": true
  },
  "h1": {
    "color": "#FFFFFF",
    "prefix": "\n",
    "suffix": "\n"
  },
  "h2": {
    "color": "#F0F0F0",
    "prefix": "\n"
  },
  "code": {
    "color": "#A8A8A8",
    "background_color": "#2A2A2A"
  },
  "code_block": {
    "color": "#C0C0C0",
    "background_color": "#1A1A1A",
    "margin": 1
  },
  "link": {
    "color": "#8888FF",
    "underline": true
  }
}

High Contrast Style

{
  "document": {
    "color": "#FFFFFF"
  },
  "h1": {
    "color": "#FFFF00",
    "bold": true,
    "background_color": "#000080",
    "prefix": " ",
    "suffix": " "
  },
  "h2": {
    "color": "#00FFFF",
    "bold": true
  },
  "strong": {
    "color": "#FF0000",
    "bold": true
  },
  "code": {
    "color": "#00FF00",
    "background_color": "#000000"
  },
  "link": {
    "color": "#FF00FF",
    "bold": true
  }
}

Solarized Dark Style

{
  "document": {
    "color": "#839496",
    "margin": 2
  },
  "h1": {
    "color": "#268BD2",
    "bold": true
  },
  "h2": {
    "color": "#2AA198",
    "bold": true
  },
  "code": {
    "color": "#93A1A1",
    "background_color": "#073642"
  },
  "code_block": {
    "color": "#93A1A1",
    "background_color": "#002B36",
    "margin": 2
  },
  "emph": {
    "color": "#B58900",
    "italic": true
  },
  "strong": {
    "color": "#CB4B16",
    "bold": true
  },
  "link": {
    "color": "#6C71C4",
    "underline": true
  }
}

Style File Locations

Recommended Directory Structure

~/.config/glow/
├── glow.yml
└── styles/
    ├── custom.json
    ├── work.json
    └── presentation.json

Platform-Specific Paths

Linux
macOS
Windows

~/.config/glow/styles/

~/Library/Application Support/glow/styles/

%APPDATA%\glow\styles\

Testing Custom Styles

Quick Test

Test your style without modifying your config:

glow --style path/to/style.json README.md

Create a Test Document

Create a markdown file with various elements to test:

test.md

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3

Regular paragraph with **bold** and *italic* text.

`inline code` and code blocks:

```bash
echo "Hello, World!"

List item 1
List item 2
- Nested item

Ordered item
Another item

Blockquote text

Link text

Table:

Column 1	Column 2
Data 1	Data 2

Then test:

```bash
glow --style your-style.json test.md

Auto Style Behavior

When using style: "auto", Glow automatically selects the appropriate style:

utils/utils.go

case styles.AutoStyle:
    if lipgloss.HasDarkBackground() {
        styleConfig = styles.DarkStyleConfig
    } else {
        styleConfig = styles.LightStyleConfig
    }

This detection happens at runtime based on your terminal’s background color.

Glamour Documentation

For complete documentation on Glamour styles, including advanced features and the full schema:

Glamour Styles

Official Glamour style reference with complete examples and schema documentation

Troubleshooting

Style Not Loading

Verify the JSON syntax is valid:
```
python -m json.tool < your-style.json
```
Check the file path is correct and accessible
Use an absolute path if relative paths aren’t working:
```
glow --style /full/path/to/style.json README.md
```

Colors Not Displaying

Ensure your terminal supports 24-bit color (true color)
Try using ANSI color codes instead of hex values
Check your $TERM environment variable

Style Validation

Glow validates the style file on load. If there’s an error:

glow --style broken-style.json README.md
# Error: specified style does not exist: broken-style.json

Common issues:

File doesn’t exist
Invalid JSON syntax
Incorrect file permissions

Tips and Best Practices

Start with a built-in style - Copy and modify an existing Glamour style
Test incrementally - Make small changes and test frequently
Use semantic colors - Keep related elements visually similar
Consider accessibility - Ensure sufficient contrast
Document your style - Add comments in a separate README file
Version control - Keep your styles in a git repository

Get Started

Usage

Features

Advanced

​Overview

​Built-in Styles

​Using Custom Styles

​Via Command Line

​Via Configuration File

​Via Environment Variable

​Style File Structure

​Style Properties

​Color Properties

​Text Formatting

​Layout Properties

​Styleable Elements

​Document Structure

​Headings

​Text Styles

​Code

​Lists

​Links and Images

​Tables

​Other Elements

​Example Custom Styles

​Minimalist Style

​High Contrast Style

​Solarized Dark Style

​Style File Locations

​Recommended Directory Structure

​Platform-Specific Paths

​Testing Custom Styles

​Quick Test

​Create a Test Document

​Auto Style Behavior

​Glamour Documentation

Glamour Styles

​Troubleshooting

​Style Not Loading

​Colors Not Displaying

​Style Validation

​Tips and Best Practices

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Built-in Styles

Using Custom Styles

Via Command Line

Via Configuration File

Via Environment Variable

Style File Structure

Style Properties

Color Properties

Text Formatting

Layout Properties

Styleable Elements

Document Structure

Headings

Text Styles

Code

Lists

Links and Images

Tables

Other Elements

Example Custom Styles

Minimalist Style

High Contrast Style

Solarized Dark Style

Style File Locations

Recommended Directory Structure

Platform-Specific Paths

Testing Custom Styles

Quick Test

Create a Test Document

Auto Style Behavior

Glamour Documentation

Troubleshooting

Style Not Loading

Colors Not Displaying

Style Validation

Tips and Best Practices