`themvora generate`

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• Project with @themvora/cli installed or npx access

Generate a complete theme from one of three sources: a seed color, a canonical preset, or a brand-inspired brand recipe. By default it derives a light + dark pair; --mode light|dark writes a single theme.

Synopsis — Generate a theme from a seed, preset, or brand

Usage:
  themvora generate [options]

Options

Exit codes

Examples

themvora generate --seed "#6366f1"
themvora generate --preset mint
themvora generate --brand apple --output theme.json
themvora generate --seed "#6366f1" --style editorial --mode light

Generated from packages/cli/src/command-schema.json — the same contract themvora --help renders.

The CLI requires a hex seed (#rrggbb), e.g. #6366f1. In bash, zsh, and PowerShell the leading # starts a comment, so always quote the seed in a terminal: --seed "#6366f1". Package managers (npm, pnpm, yarn) also run package.json scripts through a shell, so keep the quotes there too — the quotes are a shell concern, not part of the flag itself.

Three sources

Exactly one source may be given per invocation. They are mutually exclusive, and supplying two is a usage error (2) rather than a silent winner.

With no source at all, generate keeps its original behaviour: it derives from the default seed #6366f1.

themvora generate --seed "#6366f1"
themvora generate --preset mint
themvora generate --brand apple

Run themvora list presets / themvora list brands to see the identifiers.

Presets and brands are not re-derived

--preset and --brand read the resolved theme from the canonical catalog, so the output is byte-for-byte the preset the documentation shows. The CLI never re-runs a recipe, which is why a preset can never drift from its docs page.

themvora generate --preset mint --mode light

{
  "name": "mint-light",
  "meta": {
    "family": "mint",
    "mode": "light",
    "label": "Mint Light",
    "generation": { "algorithm": "semantic-v2", "seed": "#059669", "style": "soft" }
  }
}

Seed-only options

A recipe pins its own family, style and curated tokens. Combining --preset or --brand with --style, --code, or --family is rejected with an explanation rather than silently ignored — the options below apply to seed generation only.

Unknown values

An unknown id exits 2 and names the registry to consult. A near miss is corrected:

$ themvora generate --brand appple
Usage: themvora generate [options]
unknown brand "appple" — did you mean "apple"? — run "themvora list brands" to see the available brands

Writing to a file

--output <file> writes the JSON to a file. The confirmation line goes to stderr, so stdout stays free for a payload and the command can be piped.

--dry-run performs no write at all: it reports what would happen on stderr and still prints the payload to stdout, so the result is inspectable without touching the filesystem.

themvora generate --preset mint --output theme.json --dry-run
# stderr: would write theme.json (2894 bytes, preset "mint" (style soft))

What the generator derives

Given a seed, generate (via generateTheme) derives the full semantic color set: background, foreground, card, popover, primary, primaryForeground, secondary, muted, accent, destructive (with their foregrounds), border, input, ring, plus a radius.lg scale. The same model that builds the default presets is exposed here, so a generated family fits the rest of Themvora.

Light + dark pair (default)

themvora generate --seed "#6366f1" --family indigo --output theme.json

Writes:

{
  "light": {
    "name": "indigo-light",
    "meta": {
      "family": "indigo",
      "mode": "light",
      "label": "Indigo Light",
      "order": 10
    },
    "tokens": {
      "colors": {
        "background": "#f8fafc",
        "foreground": "#0f172a",
        "card": "#ffffff",
        "cardForeground": "#0f172a",
        "popover": "#ffffff",
        "popoverForeground": "#0f172a",
        "primary": "#6366f1",
        "primaryForeground": "#ffffff",
        "secondary": "#e4e4f1",
        "secondaryForeground": "#0f172a",
        "muted": "#efeff5",
        "mutedForeground": "#64748b",
        "accent": "#c6c6ec",
        "accentForeground": "#0f172a",
        "destructive": "#ef4444",
        "destructiveForeground": "#ffffff",
        "success": "#22c55e",
        "successForeground": "#ffffff",
        "border": "#d9d9e8",
        "input": "#d9d9e8",
        "ring": "#6366f1"
      },
      "radius": {
        "lg": "8px"
      }
    }
  },
  "dark": {
    "name": "indigo-dark",
    "meta": {
      "family": "indigo",
      "mode": "dark",
      "label": "Indigo Dark",
      "order": 20
    },
    "tokens": {
      "colors": {
        "background": "#020617",
        "foreground": "#f8fafc",
        "card": "#0f172a",
        "cardForeground": "#f8fafc",
        "popover": "#0f172a",
        "popoverForeground": "#f8fafc",
        "primary": "#9596ea",
        "primaryForeground": "#020617",
        "secondary": "#060846",
        "secondaryForeground": "#f8fafc",
        "muted": "#050638",
        "mutedForeground": "#94a3b8",
        "accent": "#151651",
        "accentForeground": "#f8fafc",
        "destructive": "#f87171",
        "destructiveForeground": "#020617",
        "success": "#4ade80",
        "successForeground": "#020617",
        "border": "#080a5e",
        "input": "#080a5e",
        "ring": "#9596ea"
      },
      "radius": {
        "lg": "8px"
      }
    }
  }
}

A single mode

themvora generate --seed "#6366f1" --family indigo --mode light \
  --output indigo-light.json

Code tokens (opt-in)

Not every theme needs a syntax-highlighting palette. Pass --code to also generate a tokens.code block — a cohesive set of --theme-code-* variables (keyword, string, number, function, type, comment, …) derived from the seed hue, with distinguishable light/dark variants:

themvora generate --seed "#6366f1" --family indigo --code \
  --output indigo.json

The generated light.tokens.code (dark mirrors it with inverted colors):

"code": {
  "background": "#ffffff",
  "foreground": "#0f172a",
  "keyword": "#1b1ebc",
  "string": "#1c7d33",
  "number": "#a04a00",
  "function": "#1641d0",
  "type": "#0e6f73",
  "comment": "#64748b"
}

Without --code no code block is emitted, so themes stay lean.

Print to stdout

themvora generate --seed "#10b981" --family mint

Exit codes

Next Steps

• Validate generated themes
• Inspect theme output
• Export as CSS or JSON
• CLI reference

Related

• Themvora Quick Start
• Custom Themes
• API Reference

Next: validate.