Theme Variables
This is a reference of commonly used theme variables in the beautiful module. For a tutorial on creating themes, see Theme Tutorial.
Core Colors
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
bg_normal | Default background color |
bg_focus | Background when focused |
bg_urgent | Background for urgent items |
bg_minimize | Background for minimized items |
fg_normal | Default text color |
fg_focus | Text color when focused |
fg_urgent | Text color for urgent items |
fg_minimize | Text color for minimized items |
Window Borders
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
border_width | Window border thickness |
border_color_normal | Unfocused window border |
border_color_active | Focused window border |
border_color_marked | Marked window border |
useless_gap | Gap between tiled windows |
Fonts
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
font | Default font (Pango format, e.g., "sans 10") |
hotkeys_font | Font for hotkeys popup |
hotkeys_description_font | Font for hotkeys descriptions |
notification_font | Font for notifications |
Cursors
Cursor names used during window operations. These accept standard X cursor names like "left_ptr", "fleur", "cross", "watch", etc.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
cursor_mouse_resize | "cross" | Cursor during window resize |
cursor_mouse_move | "fleur" | Cursor during window move |
wibar_cursor | (none) | Cursor when hovering wibar |
slider_handle_cursor | "fleur" | Cursor when grabbing slider handle |
enable_spawn_cursor | true | Show "watch" cursor during app startup |
Cursor Theme
The cursor theme can be set via environment variables before launching:
export XCURSOR_THEME="Adwaita"
export XCURSOR_SIZE="24"
somewm
Or changed at runtime (SomeWM-only):
root.cursor_theme("Adwaita")
root.cursor_size(32)
See Input Devices: Cursor Theming for details.
Wibar
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
wibar_bg | Wibar background |
wibar_fg | Wibar text color |
wibar_height | Wibar height |
wibar_border_color | Wibar border color |
wibar_border_width | Wibar border width |
Taglist
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
taglist_bg_focus | Focused tag background |
taglist_bg_occupied | Occupied tag background |
taglist_bg_empty | Empty tag background |
taglist_bg_urgent | Urgent tag background |
taglist_fg_focus | Focused tag text |
taglist_fg_occupied | Occupied tag text |
taglist_fg_empty | Empty tag text |
taglist_fg_urgent | Urgent tag text |
Tasklist
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
tasklist_bg_focus | Focused task background |
tasklist_bg_normal | Normal task background |
tasklist_fg_focus | Focused task text |
tasklist_fg_normal | Normal task text |
tasklist_disable_icon | Hide task icons (boolean) |
Notifications
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
notification_bg | Notification background |
notification_fg | Notification text color |
notification_border_color | Notification border |
notification_border_width | Border width |
notification_icon_size | Icon size |
notification_width | Notification width |
notification_max_width | Maximum width |
notification_max_height | Maximum height |
Hotkeys Popup
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
hotkeys_bg | Popup background |
hotkeys_fg | Popup text color |
hotkeys_border_color | Popup border |
hotkeys_border_width | Border width |
hotkeys_modifiers_fg | Modifier key color |
hotkeys_label_bg | Key label background |
hotkeys_label_fg | Key label text |
hotkeys_group_margin | Space between groups |
Menu
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
menu_bg_normal | Menu background |
menu_bg_focus | Focused item background |
menu_fg_normal | Menu text |
menu_fg_focus | Focused item text |
menu_height | Menu item height |
menu_width | Menu width |
menu_border_color | Menu border |
menu_border_width | Border width |
Wallpaper
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
wallpaper | Path to wallpaper image |
Shadows somewm-only
Compositor-level shadows for windows and wiboxes. See Shadows Reference for full documentation.
| Variable | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
shadow_enabled | boolean | false | Enable shadows globally for clients |
shadow_radius | integer | 12 | Blur radius in pixels |
shadow_offset_x | integer | -15 | Horizontal offset (negative = left) |
shadow_offset_y | integer | -15 | Vertical offset (negative = up) |
shadow_opacity | number | 0.75 | Shadow opacity (0.0-1.0) |
shadow_color | string | "#000000" | Shadow color as hex |
shadow_clip | boolean/string | true | Only show shadow on offset side |
shadow_drawin_enabled | boolean | (inherits) | Enable shadows for wiboxes |
shadow_drawin_radius | integer | (inherits) | Blur radius for wiboxes |
shadow_drawin_offset_x | integer | (inherits) | Horizontal offset for wiboxes |
shadow_drawin_offset_y | integer | (inherits) | Vertical offset for wiboxes |
shadow_drawin_opacity | number | (inherits) | Opacity for wiboxes |
shadow_drawin_color | string | (inherits) | Color for wiboxes |
Layout Icons
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
layout_tile | Tile layout icon |
layout_tileleft | Tile left icon |
layout_tilebottom | Tile bottom icon |
layout_tiletop | Tile top icon |
layout_floating | Floating layout icon |
layout_max | Maximized layout icon |
layout_fullscreen | Fullscreen layout icon |
layout_magnifier | Magnifier layout icon |
layout_fair | Fair layout icon |
layout_fairh | Fair horizontal icon |
layout_spiral | Spiral layout icon |
layout_dwindle | Dwindle layout icon |
layout_cornernw | Corner NW icon |
layout_cornerne | Corner NE icon |
layout_cornersw | Corner SW icon |
layout_cornerse | Corner SE icon |
See Also
- Theme Tutorial - Learn how to create themes
- beautiful (AwesomeWM docs) - Complete upstream reference
- Appearance (AwesomeWM docs) - All theme variables including cursors