feat: centralise theme logic

[srothgan]

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• I have searched all existing open AND closed issues and discussions and found none comparable to my request.

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Problem Description

Hey folks,

I’d like to work on a first theming cleanup PR and wanted to check whether this direction would be welcome before I start.

I saw the older custom themes issue (#316), and it looks like this has come up before. The interesting part to me is that the blocker does not seem to be “we need more theme CSS files” as much as “the current theme logic is not easy to extend without touching application code in several places.”

Right now theme handling seems to be split across initial page load, the settings dropdown, desktop theme updates, and special cases like oled-dark / her. There are also existing partial theme CSS files, but they do not seem to be connected through a stable central theming path.

Because of this, adding more bundled themes, community themes, or custom/admin-provided themes would likely require more ad hoc logic instead of using one predictable theme flow.

Proposed Solution

For a first step, I’d like to keep the scope focused:

• centralize the theme apply/remove logic
• keep the existing theme options and behavior working
• port the current built-in themes through that centralized logic
• make initial load, settings changes, and desktop theme:update use the same path

My goal would be a standalone PR that is useful on its own: after it lands, Open WebUI would have one stable central theming path instead of duplicated/special-case logic.

Longer term, this should make it much easier to add more bundled themes, community themes, or eventually some form of admin-provided/custom themes. But I’d treat those as follow-up discussions/PRs so this first step can stay small and reviewable.

Alternatives Considered

One option would be to add more theme CSS files directly and wire each one into the current logic. That would work short-term, but I think it would keep the same extensibility problem and make future themes harder to maintain.

Another option would be to introduce a full theme registry right away. I think that could be useful later, especially for theme libraries or uploaded themes, but it feels too broad for the first PR. I’d rather first centralize the existing theme behavior and leave registry/library support for a separate follow-up.

Additional Context

Related theme/custom-theme discussion:

• feat: custom themes #316
• 🌱 open-webui: feat: custom themes kubestellar/console-kb#1891

Would maintainers be okay with a PR in this direction?

[owui-terminator[bot]]

🔍 Related Issues Found

I found some existing issues that might be related. Please check if any of these are duplicates or contain helpful solutions:

1. 🟣 #316 feat: custom themes
   Directly about custom themes, which the new issue cites as the historical precursor and future motivation for centralizing theme logic.
   by ThatOneCalculator

2. 🟣 #3234 enh: Configurable default theme
   Requests a configurable default theme, which is part of the broader theme-handling flow the new issue wants to centralize and make extensible.
   by alexanderahrens

3. 🟣 #5522 Theme Doesn't Save All The Time
   Reports inconsistent theme persistence after login, indicating problems in the current theme apply/save flow that centralization aims to address.
   by stondino00

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💡 If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and add any additional details to the existing issue instead.

This comment was generated automatically. React with 👍 if helpful, 👎 if not.

[srothgan]

I re-opened this issue under my private account. #25819 is also from me, but by mistake opened from my work station.

[Classic298]

I believe this feature request is appropriately scoped for the Issues section as described above.

Belongs to discussions

Also this can be done with a plugin not sure why this needs a PR or changes to the core.

https://openwebui.com/posts/theme_designer_pro_49fac49a