Community Omarchy themes: inspect, install, compare and remove
Evaluate a theme repository, understand name collisions and version-specific staging, and retain a dependable route back.
Based on public documentation; not hardware-tested. Match the instructions to your version and hardware.
A community theme is maintained outside Omarchy’s bundled set. Being listed in a gallery does not make its screenshots current, its repository official, or every integration compatible with your installed version. Use the official community directory and our preview gallery for discovery; use the repository and your own application checks for the decision.
Read a theme repository in a useful order
Section titled “Read a theme repository in a useful order”| Question | Evidence to look for | Why a screenshot alone is insufficient |
|---|---|---|
| Who maintains this? | Repository owner, README, issue responses | A repost can hide the original source |
| Which Omarchy version? | Dated compatibility notes and file layout | Older instructions can refer to replaced configuration mechanisms |
| Which surfaces are shown? | Desktop, editor/terminal, and labels for unlock/lock images | One desktop image cannot prove every application matches |
| What supplies the palette? | colors.toml, application files and template assumptions |
Attractive wallpaper is not complete theme integration |
| What else gets changed? | Install script, hooks, executable config, dependencies | A command can do more than apply colors |
| May I reuse assets? | Code license and separate wallpaper/font terms | Repository visibility is not a blanket asset license |
An old commit date is not automatically a defect: a stable palette may need few changes. An unresolved report about your release’s theme format is more directly relevant. Likewise, popularity is not a substitute for reading installation instructions.
Protect your existing work before installation
Section titled “Protect your existing work before installation”Record the current theme and resolve the candidate’s local name. In the pinned installer, the repository basename is lowercased and the omarchy- prefix and -theme suffix are removed. For example, a fictional repository named omarchy-sample-theme would target ~/.config/omarchy/themes/sample.
The installer removes an existing target directory before cloning and immediately applies the new theme after a successful clone. A collision can therefore replace your edits, and a failed clone does not restore them. Copy an existing candidate directory outside the theme tree before proceeding. The example name above explains naming; it is not a repository to install.
Use Install → Style → Theme with the real repository URL after reviewing it. Do not run an additional README shell script automatically: first establish why it is needed and what it changes. Retain the previous built-in theme as your fallback.
Understand compatibility filtering, rather than bypass it
Section titled “Understand compatibility filtering, rather than bypass it”The pinned theming implementation treats a Git-cloned theme differently from a personal plain directory. At staging it excludes Lua, certain terminal configuration files, VS Code extension configuration and symlinks, then generates applicable files from templates. Color files can still contribute to the theme. An older README promising its own Neovim Lua customization may therefore not produce that result on this version.
This is a version-specific boundary, not a claim that all historical releases behave the same or that a theme is sandboxed. Do not remove .git or extract an archive by hand merely to bypass filtering: that changes the trust classification without making the files safer or more compatible. Keep the installer output, especially messages naming excluded files, when investigating a difference.
Evaluate the result with a small test scene
Section titled “Evaluate the result with a small test scene”Use the same code file, directory listing, selected paragraph and file-manager view as for your previous theme. Open a fresh terminal. Change the wallpaper only after comparing text and controls, so the image does not dominate the choice.
| Result | Interpretation and next step |
|---|---|
| Palette changes, editor scheme differs | Check staging messages, editor plugin and active colorscheme |
| New terminal matches, old one differs | Check the terminal’s reload behavior; do not edit generated files first |
| Wallpaper missing | Check repository assets and personal background paths |
| Theme absent from picker | Check clone success and target directory/name |
| Theme selected but not repository preview | Compare release, personal template overrides and actual source directory |
| Only one unsupported app differs | Use that application’s appearance settings; theme selection may not integrate it |
Continue with application-specific theming for tracing generated output. A useful compatibility report contains the repository commit, installed Omarchy version, changed surface and exact error, not just a screenshot saying “broken.”
Return to normal, then remove
Section titled “Return to normal, then remove”Select a known-working bundled theme first. Check a fresh terminal and the desktop shell. Back up any edits you made inside the community directory. In the pinned command set, run omarchy-theme-remove to open the user-theme removal picker and choose only the intended entry.
The removal helper removes a personal theme directory; it does not automatically select a replacement or undo arbitrary scripts/hooks. Wallpapers in a separate personal background folder are a separate decision. Avoid resetting all desktop configuration just to remove one theme.
For reproducibility, note repository URL, commit, installed version and any personal template changes. A later pull can change compatibility; update deliberately rather than assuming a previously working theme will remain identical forever.