theming

Theming System

When Modifying Theme Color Keys

Update ALL of these locations:

1. Specs/SettingsStore.schema.json - Validation + IntelliSense
2. Specs/Core/Core_SettingsStore.md - Durable format and resolution contract
3. Common/ThemeExpression.h / Common/Common/ThemeExpression.cpp - Shared source parser, resolver, and compiled dynamic evaluator
4. Common/ThemeDefinitionIo.h / Common/Common/ThemeDefinitionIo.cpp - Shared JSON5 reader/writer
5. RedSalamander/AppTheme.h / AppTheme.cpp - Defaults
6. Runtime override mappings in RedSalamander, RedSalamanderMonitor, and hot reload
7. Specs/Themes/*.theme.json5 - Shipped themes
8. Component specs and tests referencing the token
9. Public documentation in docs/Themes.md, docs/Preferences.md, docs/UserGuide.md, and docs/DeveloperGuide.md
10. Regenerated docs/res/theme-controls-*.png galleries and the theme distribution/gallery contract

Theme File Format (JSON5)

Location: Specs/Themes/ or Themes/ next to exe

{
  "formatVersion": 2,
  "id": "user/example",
  "name": "Example",
  "baseThemeId": "builtin/dark",
  "palette": {
    "background": "#1E1E1E",
    "foreground": "#D4D4D4",
    "accent": "#007ACC",
    "selection": "blend(palette.background,palette.accent,25%)"
  },
  "colors": {
    "app.accent": "ref(palette.accent)",
    "window.background": "ref(palette.background)",
    "folderView.itemBackgroundSelected": "ref(palette.selection)"
  }
}

formatVersion: 2 is mandatory. Do not add a legacy reader, accept a missing version, or flatten expressions on export. Palette names cannot contain .. Expressions are non-nested and use named palette or semantic references.

Use only the functions documented in Specs/Core/Core_SettingsStore.md. Parse and resolve with the shared Common APIs; do not add a consumer-local parser. Paint-time sources must be compiled at theme resolution and evaluated with EvaluateDynamicThemeColor; paint code must not parse, allocate, lock, or perform I/O.

Runtime Integration

Common::Settings::ResolvedThemeColors resolved;
auto context = Common::Settings::MakeSystemThemeResolutionContext(effectiveDark);
RETURN_IF_FAILED(Common::Settings::ResolveThemeDefinition(theme, context, resolved));
ApplyThemeOverrides(appTheme, resolved.colors);

Provide a base-color lookup when expressions may reference inherited semantic tokens. Keep builtin/rainbow as the application-wide Rainbow base; a static semantic override suppresses Rainbow only for that token. High Contrast always wins.

Best Practices

• Use semantic token names in colors and descriptive reusable names in palette
• Always provide fallback colors
• Test in both light and dark modes
• Validate contrast ratios for accessibility
• Add deterministic tests for missing references, cycles, event refresh, and seeded dynamic output
• Add exact upstream license text and update Specs/Themes/THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md for third-party palettes
• Regenerate the complete DxUi control gallery after adding, removing, renaming, or materially changing a shipped theme; keep separate deterministic Rainbow Light and Rainbow Dark galleries and remove stale gallery files
• Preserve authored intent in editing operations: palette rename rewrites references atomically, delete reports/block dependents, repeated literals can become one palette reference, and batch transforms create palette/function recipes instead of flattened hex values
• For resolver, preview, or paint-time changes, run theme_v2_runtime_resolution_and_dynamic_perf, archive the run under Specs/TestRuns/, and report p50/p95/max for theme.resolve_us and theme.dynamic.evaluate_us