[accessibility, dyslexia & ADHD] Per project theme / colors so I can tell my windows apart

[CaptainCodeAU]

Reproduction steps

I know there are already a few issues about this (#24010, #13300, #19503, #19510, #32293) and this might get closed as a dupe, that's fine. I'm adding more noise on purpose, because I don't think the accessibility angle has really been said out loud yet.

Quick version: please let me set theme_overrides, or even just a couple of the chrome colors, in the project level .zed/settings.json. Right now you can type those keys in there and it even shows the tooltips, but the values just get ignored. So close.

Here's the actual problem. These days I never have just one window open. It's usually 4-5 projects at once, plus agents running. And every Zed window looks exactly the same. Same title bar, same tabs, same everything. There's nothing to grab onto.

I'm dyslexic and have ADHD. Color isn't a nice extra for me, it's how I find things. Text labels in a title bar are the exact thing my brain slides off of, I don't really read them, but a block of color I lock onto instantly. So when every window is identical I keep tabbing into the wrong project, start editing the wrong repo, lose my place, and waste a lot of focus throughout the day just working out which window I'm even looking at. A different title bar color per project would basically kill that whole problem.

And this already works fine in vscode and cursor. I drop workbench.colorCustomizations into the workspace settings, or use peacock, and every project has its own color in about 10 seconds. Honestly it's one of the few things that keeps pulling me back to cursor when I'd rather be in Zed.

The ask:

• let project .zed/settings.json override at least these:
  • title_bar.background, title_bar.inactive_background
  • tab_bar.background, tab.inactive_background
  • status_bar.background
  • border, panel.focused_border
• precedence project > user > base theme, shallow merge, ignore unknown keys
• applied per window based on that window's project root
• theme selection can stay global, I only need the overrides per project
• nothing changes if a project has no overrides set

Even just title_bar.background on its own would be huge. I'm not asking for full per project themes, just enough color to tell my windows apart.

This is a real accessibility thing for some of us, not just a cosmetic preference.

Current vs. Expected behavior

current: I open the .zed/settings.json that lives in my project and add the theme override keys, title_bar.background and a few others. Zed clearly recognizes them, it even shows the tooltips when I hover. But nothing happens. The title bar stays the default color. The keys just get silently dropped, because theme settings only apply at the user level. No warning, no error, it just ignores them. So every window stays identical no matter what I put in the project file.

expected: the override actually applies to that window. If project A has title_bar.background set to one color and project B has another, the two windows show up in those colors and I can tell them apart at a glance. User settings stays the global default, and the project file just overrides a few chrome colors for that window's project. Basically what workbench.colorCustomizations does per workspace in vscode/cursor.

Zed version and system specs

Zed Preview 1.5.3
Commit: ddf89f7
Version: 1.5.3+preview.296.ddf89f77ef37fa2ae90aa8725dafc2566745fbb4
OS: macOS Tahoe 26.5
Machine: M4 Mac mini, 32GB

Attach Zed log file

Zed.log

Relevant Zed settings

settings.json

Relevant Keymap

keymap.json

(for AI issues) Model provider details

No response

If you are using WSL on Windows, what flavor of Linux are you using?

None

[zed-community-bot[bot]]

Additional recent context for triagers

Recently closed, possibly the same bug:

• Allow per-project (worktree) theme overrides for Peacock-style window tinting #57311 — This closed issue requested the exact same feature and was marked as 'completed'. The reporter should test whether their use case is now supported in the latest version.

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_{This is an automated analysis and might be incorrect.}