Linux: terminal always in light mode

[Weathercold]

When both light and dark themes are set, the terminal is always in light theme, while the GUI (tab bar, notification popup, etc.) is in system theme.

I'm unsure whether this issue always exists or is new.

Environment: Hyprland on NixOS unstable using https://github.com/catppuccin/nix

Log:

info: ghostty version=1.1.2
info: ghostty build optimize=ReleaseFast
info: runtime=apprt.Runtime.gtk
info: font_backend=font.main.Backend.fontconfig_freetype
info: dependency harfbuzz=10.1.0
info: dependency fontconfig=21500
info: renderer=renderer.OpenGL
info: libxev backend=main.Backend.io_uring
info(os): setlocale from env result=LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8;LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8;LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8;LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8;LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8;LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8;LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8;LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8;LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8;LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8;LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8;LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
info(gtk): GTK version build=4.16.12 runtime=4.16.12
info: reading configuration file path=/home/weathercold/.config/ghostty/config
warning(gtk): setting GDK_DEBUG=gl-no-fractional
warning(gtk): setting GDK_DISABLE=gles-api,color-mgmt,vulkan
warning(gtk): setting GSK_RENDERER=opengl
Unrecognized value "color-mgmt". Try GDK_DISABLE=help
info(gtk): libadwaita version build=1.6.4 runtime=1.6.4
info(grid): loaded OpenGL 4.6
info(font_shared_grid_set): font regular: Iosevka Inconsolata
info(font_shared_grid_set): font bold: Iosevka Inconsolata Bold
info(font_shared_grid_set): font italic: Iosevka Inconsolata Italic
info(font_shared_grid_set): font bold_italic: Iosevka Inconsolata Bold Italic
info(io_exec): found Ghostty resources dir: /nix/store/ws0jgcxdrcgfyhccljy42db5yaqjd3j7-ghostty-1.1.2/share/ghostty
warning(io_exec): shell could not be detected, no automatic shell integration will be injected
warning(gtk): unimplemented action=apprt.action.Action.Key.cell_size
info(io_exec): started subcommand path=/bin/sh pid=52625
info(io_exec): subcommand cgroup=-
warning(gtk): unable to get current color scheme: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: No such interface “org.freedesktop.portal.Settings” on object at path /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop

(process:52588): Gtk-WARNING **: 12:32:49.274: AdwGizmo 0x5b994145bcc0 (tabboxchild) reported min width -4, but sizes must be >= 0

(process:52588): Gdk-WARNING **: 12:32:49.301: ../gdk/wayland/gdkcursor-wayland.c:210 cursor image size (64) not an integer multiple of theme size (48)

(process:52588): Gdk-WARNING **: 12:32:49.301: ../gdk/wayland/gdkcursor-wayland.c:210 cursor image size (64) not an integer multiple of theme size (48)
info(grid): reallocating GPU buffer old=0 new=8
info(grid): reallocating GPU buffer old=8 new=20

(process:52588): Gtk-WARNING **: 12:32:49.397: AdwGizmo 0x5b994145bcc0 (tabboxchild) reported min width -4, but sizes must be >= 0

Config:

adjust-cursor-thickness = 4
command = nu
cursor-style = bar
font-family = Iosevka Inconsolata
font-size = 13
theme = light:catppuccin-latte, dark:catppuccin-macchiato
window-padding-balance = true
window-padding-color = extend
window-padding-x = 8
window-padding-y = 8

[pluiedev]

You don't have xdg-desktop-portal-gtk installed, and therefore Ghostty can't ask the system which color scheme it prefers.

[pluiedev]

Try also installing the GNOME portal too, if that doesn't help. Either way your portal is broken.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Hyprland has its own portal too. Maybe you need that.

[Weathercold]

I'm configuring Hyprland through home-manager, but I have it enabled in NixOS as well for UWSM. I'm configuring portals in NixOS, but the Hyprland home-manager module enables portals in home-manager automatically, and I don't have xdg-desktop-portal-gtk installed in home.

Upon further investigation,

• Without any changes, all applications use system theme. ghostty's terminal doesn't use system theme while its UI does. ghostty shows the warning.
• If I disable portal in home, some applications use system theme (nautilus, solanum) while others don't (vscode, zen). ghostty has the same behavior, but doesn't show the warning.
• If I install xdg-desktop-portal-gtk in home, the behavior is the same as if I disable portal in home.
  • If I set xdg.portals.config.common."org.freedesktop.portal.Settings" = [ "gtk" ];, the behavior is the same as without any changes.

I don't think it's an issue with my current configuration. If even ghostty's UI uses system theme, why doesn't it switch terminal theme based on the UI?

[pluiedev]

You can choose to switch between two terminal themes based on system dark mode preferences by doing theme=light:<some light theme>,dark:<some dark theme>. This is not enabled by default since Ghostty doesn't have a default light theme, as we haven't found one that complements the default dark theme.

If the "UI" (aka everything surrounding the terminal itself) reacts correctly to theme settings then your setup is behaving correctly.

[Weathercold]

I did set light and dark terminal themes, but the terminal doesn't respect that, see my config above

[pluiedev]

You can always force it to light by doing window-theme = light. Either way, something about your portal is broken, and since I no longer use Hyprland myself I can't help you further to debug the issue. Perhaps you could try the latest commit and see if that fixes anything? We no longer connect to the portal ourselves and that might work better.