Varna (वर्ण) is Sanskrit for "colour".
A Linux desktop is a dozen programs, each with its own colour settings in
its own format: hex codes in sway's config, CSS in waybar, #{} formats in
tmux, a colour table in kitty, Lua in Neovim. Changing the look means
editing all of them, and they drift apart. varna keeps one theme (a
small TOML file of named colours) and writes each tool's colours from it,
into a file the tool's config includes. Switch the theme and every tool
changes within a second, reloaded in place.
Contents
Features
- Thirteen tools from one theme: sway (borders, gaps, corners), waybar,
tmux (bar, borders, popups, copy mode), kitty, mako, Vyom panels, Neovim,
powerlevel10k, fzf, lazygit, swaylock, btop, zathura and GTK apps, plus a JSON palette any
program can read.
- Live: every running tool reloads in place (sway, waybar, every tmux
server, every kitty window, every Neovim through its socket, mako, Vyom).
- Your configs stay yours: each tool includes one generated file;
nothing else in its config is touched, and without varna it keeps working
on its own values.
- Per-tool themes:
varna tool nvim tokyo-night gives one tool its own
theme while the rest follow the desktop.
- Ten themes to start: Vayu, Catppuccin Mocha and Latte, Rosé Pine and
Dawn, Tokyo Night, Gruvbox, Nord, Kanagawa, Everforest; light/dark twins
switch with
varna mode toggle.
- Your own themes:
varna new "Rose Dusk" --from nord, then edit the
colours (or use vinyasa's editor).
- Any file:
varna template add themes any config with {{accent}}-style
placeholders.
- Safe: a typo in a template is an error, never a silently broken colour;
a throwaway
HOME never restyles the running desktop.
- No dependencies beyond Python 3.11's standard library.
Install
With kosha: kosha install varna.
Or the installer (clones into ~/.local/share/varna, links ~/.local/bin/varna, no root):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Theyashsawarkar/varna/main/install.sh | bash
Or by hand: git clone https://github.com/Theyashsawarkar/varna ~/.local/share/varna && ln -s ~/.local/share/varna/bin/varna ~/.local/bin/varna.
Getting started
varna doctor # what each tool's config needs to include (one line each)
varna apply # write and reload every tool with the current theme (Vayu)
varna apply rose-pine # switch
varna set accent blue # keep the theme, change the accent
varna mode toggle # its light / dark twin
vinyasa, Vayu's settings app, is a
window over all of this: theme cards, accent swatches, a theme editor, and a
per-tool page.
Themes
| Theme | Variant | Accent |
|---|
vayu | dark | mauve, with rose borders: Vayu's own look |
catppuccin-mocha / catppuccin-latte | dark / light | mauve |
rose-pine / rose-pine-dawn | dark / light | iris |
tokyo-night | dark | blue |
gruvbox | dark | yellow |
nord | dark | frost |
kanagawa | dark | violet |
everforest | dark | green |
varna show <theme> prints its palette and roles as swatches.
Commands
| Command | Does |
|---|
varna / varna status | The desktop's theme, accent and each tool's pick |
varna list | Every theme with its colours (--json) |
varna apply [theme] | Switch (or re-apply) and reload every tool (--only tmux,kitty, --no-reload) |
varna mode dark|light|toggle | The theme's light or dark twin |
varna set <setting> <value> | accent, gtk on|off, ui.opacity, ui.glass, ui.gaps, ui.radius, ui.border_width, ui.font, ui.mono, ui.size, ui.mono_size |
varna show [theme] [--tool t] | Palette and roles as swatches |
varna tool <tool> [theme|follow] | One tool's own theme |
varna tools | Every tool, its theme, and whether its config includes varna |
varna new <name> [--from theme] | A theme of your own |
varna edit <theme> | Open it in $EDITOR (a shipped theme is copied first) |
varna delete <theme> | Delete a theme of yours |
varna template add|remove|list | Theme any file |
varna palette [--tool t] | The resolved colours as JSON |
varna ensure | Write any missing file without reloading (run at login) |
varna doctor | Check every theme and every tool's hook |
Shorthand: varna nord = varna apply nord.
Hooking up each tool
Each tool's config includes varna's file once. varna doctor checks every
one and prints the line that's missing; put your current colours in the
config before the include, and they become the fallback.
| Tool | Add to | Line |
|---|
| sway | ~/.config/sway/config, at the end | include ~/.local/state/varna/sway*.conf |
| waybar | ~/.config/waybar/style.css, at the top | @import "varna.css"; then use @accent, @base, alpha(@red, 0.4)... |
| tmux | ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf, at the end | source-file -q ~/.local/state/varna/tmux.conf (formats can use #{@accent}, #{@ink}...) |
| kitty | ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf, at the end | include ~/.local/state/varna/kitty.conf |
| mako | ~/.config/mako/config, before the first [section] | include=~/.local/state/varna/mako.conf |
| Vyom | ~/.config/vyom/config.toml, [vyom] | css = ["~/.local/state/varna/vyom.css"] |
| Neovim | lua/varna.lua | reads ~/.local/state/varna/nvim.lua into catppuccin's color_overrides (example) |
| powerlevel10k | ~/.zshrc, after ~/.p10k.zsh | source ~/.local/state/varna/p10k.zsh |
| fzf | ~/.zshrc | source ~/.local/state/varna/fzf.sh (sets FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS, $VARNA_FZF_COLORS and $VARNA_RGB_ACCENT, $VARNA_RGB_FG... for scripts' own colours) |
| lazygit | ~/.zshrc | export LG_CONFIG_FILE="$HOME/.config/lazygit/config.yml,$HOME/.local/state/varna/lazygit.yml" |
| swaylock | your lock command | swaylock $(cat ~/.local/state/varna/swaylock.args) |
| btop | your btop command | btop -c ~/.local/state/varna/btop.conf (varna sets its theme there; btop keeps its other settings in it) |
waybar and mako refuse to start when an included file is missing: run
varna ensure before them at login.
A tool with its own theme
varna tool nvim tokyo-night # Neovim alone uses Tokyo Night
varna tool nvim follow # back to the desktop's theme
varna tools # who uses what
~/.config/varna/varna.toml (written by varna and vinyasa; edit freely):
theme = "rose-pine"
accent = "iris" # optional: a palette name or a hex
gtk = true
[ui]
gaps = 8
opacity = 0.9 # the terminal's background
glass = 0.55 # every floating panel's: Vyom, nāda, vinyasa, notifications (one look)
[tools]
nvim = "tokyo-night"
kitty = { opacity = 0.95 } # or just tweak one value for one tool
Making a theme
varna new "Rose Dusk" --from vayu # ~/.config/varna/themes/rose-dusk.toml
varna edit rose-dusk
varna apply rose-dusk
[meta]
name = "Rose Dusk"
variant = "dark" # "light" for a light theme
light = "rose-dawn" # optional: its twin, for `varna mode`
[palette] # these 26 names (Catppuccin's), all #rrggbb
crust = "#11111b" mantle = "#181825" base = "#1e1e2e" # ... text, red, green, blue, mauve ...
[roles] # optional: a palette name, another role, or a hex
accent = "mauve" # the active workspace, tmux session, selections
accent2 = "pink" # popup and pane borders
border = "accent" # the focused window
urgent = "red"
ink = "crust" # text on a coloured capsule
[ui] # optional
radius = 12
gaps = 4
[tools.tmux] # optional: extra colours one tool's template asks for
window_idle = "#9a9faa"
Roles not set take their defaults (varna show lists them all).
Theming any file
Any file can be a template: {{accent}} and friends are replaced on every
apply.
varna template add ~/.config/foo/config.varna ~/.config/foo/config --tool foo
| Write | Get |
|---|
{{accent}} | #cba6f7 |
{{accent:upper}} / {{accent:bare}} | #CBA6F7 / cba6f7 |
{{base:a=0.35}} | #1e1e2e59 (with alpha) |
{{red:rgb}} / {{red:rgba=0.4}} | 243, 139, 168 / rgba(243, 139, 168, 0.4) |
{{red:semi}} | 243;139;168 (for terminal colour codes) |
{{red:alpha=0.4}} | alpha(#f38ba8, 0.4) (GTK CSS) |
{{peach:mix=base:0.3}} | peach blended 30 % toward base |
{{window_idle|overlay1}} | a fallback when the theme lacks a name |
{{gaps}}, {{font}}, {{theme_name}} | ui values and the theme's name |
?swayfx corner_radius 12 | the line only on SwayFX |
An unknown name is an error, so a typo never ships a broken colour.
For tool authors
~/.local/state/varna/palette.json has the desktop's colours, roles and ui
values, and a tools table with each tool's own pick. Read it at start, and
watch its modification time to recolour live:
import json, os
p = os.path.expanduser("~/.local/state/varna/palette.json")
try:
data = json.load(open(p))
colors = data.get("tools", {}).get("mytool", data)["colors"] # my own pick, else the desktop's
except (OSError, ValueError, KeyError):
colors = {} # no varna: keep my defaults
accent = colors.get("accent", "#cba6f7")
Troubleshooting
- A tool didn't change:
varna tools shows whether its config includes
varna; varna doctor prints the line to add.
- waybar or mako won't start: their included file is missing;
varna ensure.
- The prompt, fzf, lazygit or lock screen didn't change: they take it on
their next start (a new shell, the next lock).
- GTK apps keep their old look:
varna set gtk on; apps that ignore
gtk.css still get the dark/light signal.
Contributing
New themes, tool templates and fixes are welcome: see
CONTRIBUTING.md. Design decisions are in docs/adr.
License
MIT. The shipped themes' palettes are from their projects
(credited in each file), all MIT or Apache-2.0.
