Creating Custom Themes

You can create a fully custom theme in about 2 minutes.

Step 1 — Create the JSON file

Save this to ~/.xshell/themes/mytheme.json
(or drop it in the project-local themes/ folder):

~/.xshell/themes/mytheme.json

{
  "name": "Cyberpunk",
  "description": "Neon on dark",
  "colors": {
    "background": "#0a0a0a",
    "foreground": "#e0e0e0",
    "prompt_user": "bright_magenta",
    "prompt_host": "bright_cyan",
    "prompt_cwd": "bright_yellow",
    "prompt_git": "bright_green",
    "error": "bright_red",
    "success": "bright_green",
    "info": "bright_cyan",
    "warning": "bright_yellow"
  },
  "prompt": {
    "format": "{default}"
  }
}

Step 2 — Activate it

theme list      # your new theme should appear
theme set cyberpunk

XShell scans the themes directory on startup and whenever theme list is called. No restart is needed after a fresh launch. If you add a new theme file while XShell is already running, restart the shell so it will be picked up.

Step 3 — Persist it

The theme set command saves your choice to ~/.xshell/config.json automatically. It will be restored on your next launch.

---

Named ANSI colors reference

Name	Appearance
black	Dark
red	Standard red
green	Standard green
yellow	Standard yellow / brown
blue	Standard blue
magenta	Purple/pink
cyan	Teal/aqua
white	Light grey
bright_black	Dark grey
bright_red	Bright red
bright_green	Bright green
bright_yellow	Bright yellow
bright_blue	Bright blue
bright_magenta	Bright purple/pink
bright_cyan	Bright teal
bright_white	Pure white

Custom prompt layout

You can fully control the prompt structure with the format string:

"prompt": {
  "format": "({user}) {cwd}{git} >"
}

This would produce:

(alice) ~/projects/xshell (main) >

Available placeholders: {user} {host} {cwd} {git} {$}

Sharing themes

To share your theme with other XShell users:

1. Place it in the project-local themes/ directory
2. Commit and push to your fork
3. Other users can drop the JSON into their ~/.xshell/themes/ without any code changes