Themes

Customize lla's appearance with themes.

Crafting Your Perfect Theme

lla's theming system empowers you to create a file explorer that matches your aesthetic preferences and enhances your workflow. Through thoughtfully designed TOML configuration files, you can customize every aspect of your file listings, from basic colors to intricate pattern matching.

theme

Theme Organization

Your themes live in ~/.config/lla/themes/ with a .toml extension:

~/.config/lla/themes/
├── dark.toml
├── light.toml
├── poimandres.toml
└── custom.toml

Themes Installation

lla ships with a default theme collection, you can pull all builtin themes with the following command:

lla theme pull # pull all builtin themes

you can also install custom themes using the following command:

lla theme install /path/to/theme.toml
# or a directory with multiple themes
lla theme install /path/to/themes/

Theme Architecture

Every theme consists of carefully organized sections:

# Theme metadata
name = "my_theme"
author = "Your Name"
description = "A description of your theme"
 
# Core colors for basic elements
[colors]
file = "#FFFFFF"
directory = "#89AFFF"
...
 
# Special file rules
[special_files]
...
 
# Extension-based colors
[extensions]
...

Color Expression

lla embraces flexibility in color definition:

[colors]
# 1. Named Colors (Basic terminal colors)
file = "white"
directory = "blue"
symlink = "bright_cyan"
 
# 2. RGB Format
file = { r = 255, g = 255, b = 255 }
directory = { r = 81, g = 154, b = 255 }
 
# 3. Hex Format
file = "#FFFFFF"              # 6-digit hex
directory = "#89F"           # 3-digit hex
symlink = "#89DBFFFF"       # 8-digit hex (alpha ignored)
 
# 4. HSL Format (h: 0-360, s: 0-1, l: 0-1)
directory = { h = 180, s = 0.5, l = 0.6 }
 
# 5. No Color
disabled = "none"

Available Named Colors

Basic Colors:

  • black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white

Bright Variants:

  • bright_black (or gray/grey)
  • bright_red, bright_green, bright_yellow
  • bright_blue, bright_magenta, bright_cyan, bright_white

Additional Colors:

  • navy, teal, maroon, purple, olive, silver

Core Elements

Define your foundation colors:

[colors]
# Core UI Elements
file = "#FFFFFF"        # Regular files
directory = "#89AFFF"   # Directories
symlink = "#89DBFF"     # Symbolic links
executable = "#5DE4B3"  # Executable files
 
# Metadata
size = "#5DE4B3"       # File sizes
date = "#FCBCFA"       # Timestamps
user = "#D0679D"       # User names
group = "#8A9092"      # Group names
 
# Permissions
permission_dir = "#89AFFF"   # Directory permission
permission_read = "#5DE4B3"  # Read permission
permission_write = "#FFFFC2" # Write permission
permission_exec = "#D0679D"  # Execute permission
permission_none = "#282E30"  # No permission

Special File Handling

Create sophisticated rules for specific files and patterns:

1. Custom Folders

[special_files.folders]
# Exact folder names
"node_modules" = "#666666"  # Dim gray for node modules
"target" = "#444444"        # Dark gray for build outputs
".git" = "#FF6B6B"          # Red for git directory
 
# Folder patterns
"build*" = "#444444"        # Any folder starting with "build"
"*.cache" = "#666666"       # Any folder ending with ".cache"
"*-env" = "#5DE4B3"        # Any folder ending with "-env"

2. Dotfiles

[special_files.dotfiles]
".gitignore" = "#89DBFF"
".env" = "#FFFFC2"
".dockerignore" = "#89DBFF"

3. Exact Matches

[special_files.exact_match]
"Dockerfile" = "#89DBFF"
"Makefile" = "#D0679D"
"README.md" = "#FFFFC2"

4. Pattern Matches

[special_files.patterns]
"*rc" = "#89DBFF"         # Files ending in "rc"
"*.min.*" = "#282E30"     # Minified files
"*.test.*" = "#5DE4B3"    # Test files

Extension System

Create logical groups of related file types:

1. Extension Groups

[extensions.groups]
# Group multiple extensions
rust = ["rs", "toml"]
web = ["html", "css", "js"]
docs = ["md", "rst", "txt"]
 
# Define colors for groups
[extensions.colors]
rust = "#FF5733"    # All rust-related files
web = "#61AFEF"     # All web files
docs = "#98C379"    # All documentation files
 
# Override specific extensions
rs = "#FF0000"      # Override just .rs files

Color Resolution Logic

lla follows a careful priority system when determining colors:

  1. For Directories:

    • Exact folder name match
    • Folder pattern match
    • Default directory color

  2. For Files:

    • Exact filename match
    • Dotfile match
    • Pattern match
    • Extension-specific color
    • Extension group color
    • Default file color

Built-in Theme Collection

lla ships with carefully crafted themes for every preference:

  • default: Traditional terminal colors with carefully selected colors for optimal visibility
  • dark: Modern dark theme with enhanced visibility and rich colors for dark terminals
  • light: Clean theme optimized for light terminals with maximum readability
  • ayu_dark: Dark theme inspired by the Ayu Dark color scheme, featuring deep backgrounds and vibrant accents
  • ayu_light: Light theme with carefully selected colors for optimal readability
  • ayu_mirage: Refined dark theme with muted colors and soft contrasts
  • catppuccin_mocha: A soothing pastel theme for the high-spirited, featuring warm, cozy colors
  • dracula: Classic Dracula color scheme with vibrant colors and high contrast
  • gruvbox_dark: Retro groove color scheme with warm, earthy tones and high contrast
  • material_ocean: Deep blue theme based on Material Design, featuring oceanic colors
  • nord: Arctic, north-bluish color palette with elegant pastel colors
  • one_dark: Dark theme inspired by Atom, featuring a perfect balance of cool and warm colors
  • poimandres: Deep space aesthetic with vibrant accents
  • tokyo_night: Dark theme inspired by the vibrant lights of Tokyo at night
  • vesper: Minimalist dark theme with warm accents

Theme Application

Apply your chosen theme through configuration, the chosen theme should be available in the ~/.config/lla/themes/ directory:

# In ~/.config/lla/config.toml
theme = "dark"  # Without .toml extension

Or via command line:

# use the lla theme command for an interactive selection
lla theme
 
# or via config
lla config --set theme dark

Disable theming when needed:

lla config --set theme none

For a completely color-free experience:

lla --no-colors # works with all listing commands