NAME¶

rofi-theme - Rofi theme format files

GETTING STARTED WITH THEMING¶

The easiest way to get started theming rofi is by modifying your existing theme.

Themes can be modified/tweaked by adding theming elements to the end of the
config file. The default location of this file is ~/.config/rofi/config.rasi, if the file does not exists, you can create it.

A basic config:

configuration {


  modes: [ combi ];


  combi-modes: [ window, drun, run ];
}
@theme "gruvbox-light"


 
/* Insert theme modifications after this */

For example if we want to change the Type to filter text in the entry box we append the following:

entry {


    placeholder: "Type here";
}

In the above section, entry indicates the widget, placeholder is the property we want to modify and we set it to the string "Type here". To find the commonly available widgets in rofi, see the 'Basic structure' section.

To change the mouse over cursor to a pointer, add:

entry {


    placeholder: "Type here";


    cursor: pointer;
}

For the next modification, we want to add the icon after each text element and increase the size. First we start by modifying the element widget:

element {


  orientation: horizontal;


  children: [ element-text, element-icon ];


  spacing: 5px;
}

Resulting in the following packing:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ 
│ element                                                             │ 
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │ 
│ │element─text                                 │ │ element─icon    │ │ 
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │ 
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 

The element (container) widget hold each entry in the listview, we add the two pre-defined children in the order we want to show. We also specify the packing direction (orientation) and the spacing between the children (spacing). We specify the space between the two children in absolute pixels (px).

To increase the icon-size, we need to modify the element-icon widget.

element-icon {


    size: 2.5em;
}

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ 
│ element                                                             │ 
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │ 
│ │element─text                                 │ │    element      │ │ 
│ │                                             │ │       ─         │ │ 
│ │                                             │ │     icon        │ │ 
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │ 
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 

In this example we specify the size in the em ⟨https://www.w3.org/Style/LieBos3e/em⟩ unit.

Now lets change the text color of both the entry and the element-text widget to red and background to blue.

entry, element-text {


  text-color: red;


  background-color: rgb(0,0,255);
}

Here we use two different methods of writing down the color, for text-color we used a named color, for background-color we specify it in rgb. We also specify the property for multiple widgets by passing a comma separated list of widget names.

If you want to center the text relative to the icon, we can set this:

element-text {


    vertical-align: 0.5;
}

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ 
│ element                                                             │ 
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │ 
│ │                                             │ │    element      │ │ 
│ │element-text                                 │ │       ─         │ │ 
│ │                                             │ │     icon        │ │ 
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │ 
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 

If you want to see the complete theme, including the modification you can run:

rofi -dump-theme

DEFAULT THEME LOADING¶

By default, rofi loads the default theme. This theme is always loaded. The default configuration contains:

@theme "default"

To unload the default theme, and load another theme, add the @theme statement to your config.rasi file.

If you have a theme loaded via @theme or use the default theme, you can tweak it by adding overriding elements at the end of your config.rasi file.

For the difference between @import and @theme see the Multiple file handling section in this manpage.

To see the default theme, run the following command:

rofi -no-config -dump-theme

DESCRIPTION¶

The need for a new theme format was motivated by the fact that the way rofi handled widgets has changed. From a very static drawing of lines and text to a nice structured form of packing widgets. This change made it possible to provide a more flexible theme framework. The old theme format and config file are not flexible enough to expose these options in a user-friendly way. Therefore, a new file format has been created, replacing the old one.

FORMAT SPECIFICATION¶

Encoding¶

The encoding of the file is UTF-8. Both unix (\n) and windows (\r\n) newlines format are supported. But unix is preferred.

Comments¶

C and C++ file comments are supported.

Comments can be nested and the C comments can be inline.

The following is valid:

// Magic comment.
property: /* comment */ value;

However, this is not:

prop/*comment*/erty: value;

White space¶

White space and newlines, like comments, are ignored by the parser.

This:

property: name;

Is identical to:

     property             :
name
;

File extension¶

The preferred file extension for the new theme format is rasi. This is an abbreviation for rofi advanced style information.

Basic Structure¶

Each element has a section with defined properties. Global properties can be defined in section * { }. Sub-section names begin with an optional hash symbol #.

It is advised to define the global properties section on top of the file to make inheritance of properties clearer.

/* Global properties section */
* {


    // list of properties
}
/* Element theme section. */
{element path} {


    // list of properties
}
{elements... } {


    // list of properties
}

If there are multiple sections with the same name, they are merged. Duplicate properties are overwritten and the last parsed entry kept.

Global properties section¶

A theme can have one or more global properties sections. If there is more than one, they will be merged.

The global properties section denotes the defaults for each element. Each property of this section can be referenced with @{identifier} (See Properties section)

A global properties section is indicated with a * as element path.

Element theme section¶

A theme can have multiple element theme sections.

The element path can consist of multiple names separated by whitespace or dots. Each element may contain any number of letters, numbers and -'s. The first element in the element path can optionally start with a # (for historic reasons). Multiple elements can be specified by a ,.

This is a valid element name:

element normal.normal {


    background-color: blue;
}
button {


    background-color: blue;
}

And is identical to:

element normal normal, button {


    background-color: blue;
}

Each section inherits the global properties. Properties can be explicitly inherited from their parent with the inherit keyword. In the following example:

window {


 a: 1;


 b: 2;


 children: [ mainbox ];
}
mainbox {


    a: inherit;


    b: 4;


    c: 8;
}

The element mainbox will have the following set of properties (if mainbox is a child of window):

a: 1;
b: 4;
c: 8;

If multiple sections are defined with the same name, they are merged by the parser. If multiple properties with the same name are defined in one section, the last encountered property is used.

Properties Format¶

The properties in a section consist of:

{identifier}: {value};

Both fields are mandatory for a property.

The identifier names the specified property. Identifiers can consist of any combination of numbers, letters and '-'. It must not contain any whitespace. The structure of the value defines the type of the property. The current parser does not define or enforce a certain type of a particular identifier. When used, values with the wrong type that cannot be converted are ignored.

The current theme format supports different types:

Some of these types are a combination of other types.

String¶

A string is always surrounded by double quotes ("). Between the quotes there can be any printable character.

For example:

font: "Awasome 12";

The string must be valid UTF-8, special characters can be escaped:

text {


    content: "Line one\n\tIndented line two";
}

The following special characters can be escaped: \b, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v, \ and ".

Integer¶

An integer may contain any number.

For examples:

lines: 12;

Real¶

A real is an integer with an optional fraction.

For example:

real: 3.4;

The following is not valid: .3, 3. or scientific notation: 3.4e-3.

Boolean¶

Boolean value is either true or false. This is case-sensitive.

For example:

dynamic: false;

Image¶

rofi support a limited set of background-image formats.

Where the path is a string, and stop color is of type color.

Color¶

rofi supports the color formats as specified in the CSS standard (1,2,3 and some of CSS 4)

The white-space format proposed in CSS4 is also supported.

The different values are:

For example:

background-color: #FF0000;
border-color: rgba(0,0,1, 0.5);
text-color: SeaGreen;

or

background-color: transparent;
text-color: Black;

Text style¶

Text style indicates how the highlighted text is emphasized. None indicates that no emphasis should be applied.

The following options are available on pango 1.50.0 and up:

The following option is disabled as pango crashes on this if there is eel
upsizing or wrapping. This will be re-enabled once fixed:

Line style¶

Indicates how a line should be drawn. It currently supports:
* dash: a dashed line, where the gap is the same width as the dash
* solid: a solid line

Distance¶

A distance can be specified in 3 different units:

Distances used in the horizontal direction use the monitor width. Distances in the vertical direction use the monitor height. For example:

   padding: 10%;

On a full-HD (1920x1080) monitor, it defines a padding of 192 pixels on the left and right side and 108 pixels on the top and bottom.

width: calc( 100% - 37px );

width: calc( 20% min 512 );

Padding¶

If no unit is specified, pixels are assumed.

The different number of fields in the formats are parsed like:

Border¶

Borders are identical to padding, except that each distance field has a line style property.

Position¶

Indicate a place on the window/monitor.

┌─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┐
│ north west  │    north    │  north east │
├─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│   west      │   center    │     east    │
├─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ south west  │    south    │  south east │
└─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┘

Visibility¶

It is possible to hide widgets:

inputbar {


    enabled: false;
}

Reference¶

A reference can point to another reference. Currently, the maximum number of redirects is 20. A property always refers to another property. It cannot be used for a subpart of the property. For example, this is not valid:

highlight: bold @pink;

But this is:

* {


    myhigh: bold #FAA;
}
window {


    highlight: @myhigh;
}

A reference can point to another reference. Currently, the maximum number of redirects is 20. A property always refers to another property. It cannot be used for a subpart of the property.

Example:

window {


    width: var( width, 30%);
}

If the property width is set globally (*{}) that value is used, if the property width is not set, the default value is used.

Orientation¶

Specify the orientation of the widget.

Cursor¶

Specify the type of mouse cursor that is set when the mouse pointer is over the widget.

List of keywords¶

A list starts with a '[' and ends with a ']'. The entries in the list are comma-separated. The keyword in the list refers to an widget name.

List of values¶

An list starts with a '[' and ends with a ']'. The entries in the list are comma-separated.

Environment variable¶

This will parse the environment variable as the property value. (that then can be any of the above types). The environment variable should be an alphanumeric string without white-space.

* {


    background-color: ${BG};
}

This will parse the environment variable as the property value. (that then can be any of the above types). The environment variable should be an alphanumeric string without white-space. If the environment value is not found, the default value is used.

window {


    width: env(WIDTH, 40%);
}

If environment WIDTH is set, then that value is parsed, otherwise the default value (40%).

Inherit¶

Inherits the property from its parent widget.

mainbox {


    border-color: inherit;
}

ELEMENTS PATHS¶

Element paths exists of two parts, the first part refers to the actual widget by name. Some widgets have an extra state.

For example:

element selected {
}

Here element selected is the name of the widget, selected is the state of the widget.

The difference between dots and spaces is purely cosmetic. These are all the same:

element .selected {
element.selected {
}
element selected {
}

SUPPORTED ELEMENT PATH¶

Name¶

The current widgets available in rofi:

Note that these path names match the default theme. Themes that provide a custom layout will have different elements, and structure.

State¶

State: State of widget

Optional flag(s) indicating state of the widget, used for theming.

These are appended after the name or class of the widget.

nametotextbox selected.active {


    background-color: #003642;


    text-color: #008ed4;
}

SUPPORTED PROPERTIES¶

The following properties are currently supported:

  element-text {


    highlight: None;


  }

  element-text {


    highlight: underline red;


  }

Layout¶

The new format allows the layout of the rofi window to be tweaked extensively. For each widget, the themer can specify padding, margin, border, font, and more. It even allows, as an advanced feature, to pack widgets in a custom structure.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ window {BOX:vertical}                                                              │
│ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│ │ mainbox  {BOX:vertical}                                                       │  │
│ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │  │
│ │ │ inputbar {BOX:horizontal}                                                 │ │  │
│ │ │ ┌─────────┐ ┌─┐ ┌───────────────────────────────┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ │ │  │
│ │ │ │ prompt  │ │:│ │ entry                         │ │#fr│ │ / │ │#ns│ │ci │ │ │  │
│ │ │ └─────────┘ └─┘ └───────────────────────────────┘ └───┘ └───┘ └───┘ └───┘ │ │  │
│ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │  │
│ │                                                                               │  │
│ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │  │
│ │ │ message                                                                   │ │  │
│ │ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │  │
│ │ │ │ textbox                                                               │ │ │  │
│ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │  │
│ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │  │
│ │                                                                               │  │
│ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │  │
│ │ │ listview                                                                  │ │  │
│ │ │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │ │  │
│ │ │ │ element                                                             │   │ │  │
│ │ │ │ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │   │ │  │
│ │ │ │ │element─icon     │ │element─text                                 │ │   │ │  │
│ │ │ │ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │   │ │  │
│ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │ │  │
│ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │  │
│ │                                                                               │  │
│ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │  │
│ │ │  mode─switcher {BOX:horizontal}                                           │ │  │
│ │ │ ┌───────────────┐   ┌───────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ │ │  │
│ │ │ │ Button        │   │ Button        │  │ Button       │ │ Button        │ │ │  │
│ │ │ └───────────────┘   └───────────────┘  └──────────────┘ └───────────────┘ │ │  │
│ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │  │
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ window {BOX:vertical}                                                            │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│ │ error─message {BOX:vertical}                                                │  │
│ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │  │
│ │ │ textbox                                                                │  │  │
│ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │  │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

textbox-custom {


  expand: false;


  content: "My Message";
}

icon-paste {


    expand: false;


    filename: "gtk-paste";


    size: 24;


    vertical-align: 0.5;


    action: "kb-primary-paste";
}

button-paste {


    expand: false;


    content: "My Clickable Message";


    vertical-align: 0.5;


    action: "kb-primary-paste";
}

inputbar {


  children: [prompt,entry,overlay,case-indicator];
}

* {


    background-color:      Black;


    text-color:            White;


    border-color:          White;


    font:            "Times New Roman 12";
}
window {


    anchor:     north;


    location:   north;


    width:      100%;


    padding:    4px;


    children:   [ horibox ];
}
horibox {


    orientation: horizontal;


    children:   [ prompt, entry, listview ];
}
listview {


    layout:     horizontal;


    spacing:    5px;


    lines:      10;
}
entry {


    expand:     false;


    width:      10em;
}
element {


    padding: 0px 2px;
}
element selected {


    background-color: SteelBlue;
}

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ margin                                                           │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │ border                                                     │  │
│  │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │  │
│  │ │ padding                                                │ │  │
│  │ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │  │
│  │ │ │ content                                            │ │ │  │
│  │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │  │
│  │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │  │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ┌────────┐ s ┌────────┐ s ┌────────┐  │
│ │ child  │ p │ child  │ p │ child  │  │
│ │        │ a │        │ a │        │  │
│ │        │ c │        │ c │        │  │
│ │        │ i │        │ i │        │  │
│ │        │ n │        │ n │        │  │
│ └────────┘ g └────────┘ g └────────┘  │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ┌───────────────┐  ┌────────┐  ┌───────────────┐  │
│  │ dummy         │  │ child  │  │ dummy         │  │
│  │ expand: true; │  │        │  │ expand: true; │  │
│  │               │  │        │  │               │  │
│  │               │  │        │  │               │  │
│  │               │  │        │  │               │  │
│  └───────────────┘  └────────┘  └───────────────┘  │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

DEBUGGING¶

To get debug information from the parser, run rofi like:

G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=Parser rofi -show run

Syntax errors are shown in a popup and printed out to command line with the above command.

To see the elements queried during running, run:

G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=Theme rofi -show run

To test minor changes, part of the theme can be passed on the command line, for example to set it to full-screen:

rofi -theme-str 'window { fullscreen:true;}' -show run

Another syntax to modify theme properties is:

rofi -theme+window+fullscreen true -show run

To print the current theme, run:

rofi -dump-theme

Media support¶

Parts of the theme can be conditionally loaded, like the CSS @media option.

@media ( min-width: 120 ) {
}

It supports the following keys as constraint:

@media takes an integer number or a fraction, for integer number px can be added.

@media ( min-width: 120 px ) {
}

@media ( enabled: env(DO_LIGHT, false ) {
}

Font Parsing¶

Rofi uses pango ⟨https://pango.gnome.org/⟩ for font rendering. The font should be specified in a format that pango understands. This normally is the font name followed by the font size. For example:

mono 18

Or

FontAwesome 22

Icon Handling¶

Rofi supports 3 ways of specifying an icon:

For the first two options, GdkPixbuf is used to open and render the icons. This in general gives support for most required image formats. For the string option it uses Pango to render the string. The string needs to start with a <span tag, that allows you to set color and font.

Markup string:

echo -en "testing\0icon\x1f<span color='red'>⏻</span>" | ./rofi -dmenu

Getting supported icon formats:

G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=Helpers.IconFetcher rofi

This uses the debug framework and prints out a list of supported image file extensions.

Multiple file handling¶

The rasi file format offers two methods of including other files. This can be used to modify existing themes, or have multiple variations on a theme.

Syntax:

@import "myfile"
@theme "mytheme"

The specified file can either by name, filename,full path.

If a filename is provided, it will try to resolve it in the following order:

A name is resolved as a filename by appending the .rasi extension.

EXAMPLES¶

Several examples are installed together with rofi. These can be found in {datadir}/rofi/themes/, where {datadir} is the install path of rofi data. When installed using a package manager, this is usually: /usr/share/.

SEE ALSO¶

rofi(1), rofi-script(5), rofi-theme-selector(1)