Features

Themes

Customize Arcana's terminal UI with 7 arcane themes and optional background images. Make the terminal feel like yours.

Updated · v0.3.15

Available themes

Arcana ships with 7 built-in themes. Switch themes at any time from the TUI or config file.

ThemeDescription
arcanaDefault — deep plum with lavender accents
bloodmoonDark crimson palette with warm highlights
covenDeep violet and purple tones
cryptStone gray and muted greens
dragonFiery orange and gold accents
lichEthereal blue-green phosphorescence
wraithSpectral white and silver on dark

Switching themes

In the TUI

Press ⛧ themes in the TUI to open the theme picker and preview each theme live.

Via config file

Set the theme in your TUI config at ~/.config/arcana/tui.json:

{
  "theme": "dragon"
}

Valid values: arcana, bloodmoon, coven, crypt, dragon, lich, wraith.

Background images

Set a custom full-screen background image for supported truecolor terminals (Kitty, iTerm2, WezTerm, Windows Terminal).

Configuration

{
  "theme": "dragon",
  "background": {
    "enabled": true,
    "image": "~/wallpapers/space.png",
    "opacity": 0.4,
    "fit": "cover"
  }
}
KeyTypeDefaultDescription
background.enabledbooleanfalseEnable background image
background.imagestring—Path to PNG or JPEG image (supports ~ expansion)
background.opacitynumber0.4Image opacity (0–1), dims the image so text stays readable
background.fitstring"cover"Image fit mode (cover, contain, stretch)

Terminal support

Background images require a terminal that supports the Kitty graphics protocol or inline images:

TerminalProtocolStatus
KittyKitty graphicsFull support
iTerm2Inline imagesFull support
WezTermKitty graphicsFull support
Windows TerminalVT sequencesPartial support
Alacritty—Not supported
tmux—Requires passthrough config
Fallback behavior

If your terminal does not support background images, Arcana falls back to the theme's solid color background. The image shows on the home screen and empty areas; text remains readable everywhere.

Theme structure

Each theme defines a set of semantic color tokens that control the entire TUI — text, borders, highlights, syntax highlighting, and status indicators. Themes are self-contained and can be previewed without restart.

~/.config/arcana/
  tui.json          # Theme selection + background config

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