---
title: "Themes for a Markdown editor on the Mac, and making your own"
author: Pedro Thomaz
source: https://coffeetext.app/blog/custom-themes-markdown-editor-mac
---

# Themes for a Markdown editor on the Mac, and making your own

> Checked November 2026 against [Typora's site](https://typora.io/) and its [theme gallery](https://theme.typora.io/). Coffee isn't affiliated with Typora.

You look at your editor for hours, so it's worth having it look right to you. Some people want warm paper, some want a dark room with one bright accent, and some just want the green their company uses.

Coffee has five themes, and you can make your own by picking a colour for each part of the app. A theme you like can be passed on as one line of text.

## The five themes

Choose one in Settings:

- **Coffee**, the one it starts with. It follows your appearance setting: Light, Dark, System, or a Schedule that switches at the times you set.
- **Espresso**, dark and brown, with a warm amber accent.
- **Matcha**, light, with soft greens.
- **Midnight**, dark blue, with a blue accent.
- **Paper**, light and cream, with a brick-red accent.

A theme other than Coffee sets light or dark itself, so Espresso and Midnight are always dark, and Matcha and Paper always light.

## Making your own

A theme is one colour for each of ten parts of the app, in this order:

1. Background
2. Panels
3. Text
4. Quiet text
5. Accent
6. Lines
7. Hover and controls
8. Highlight
9. Code background
10. Markdown marks

Each takes a hex colour, such as `#B4542D`, and everything else in the app is worked out from those ten. You also choose whether the theme sits on a light or a dark base.

A theme changes colours only. Font and column width are their own settings, and besides Coffee's own choices of font, Other uses any font family installed on your Mac.

## Sharing a theme as one line of text

Copy to Share puts the theme on the clipboard as a single line. Paper, for example, is:

```
coffee-theme:1:Paper:light:#FBF7EF,#FFFDF8,#2B2620,#7A7064,#B4542D,#EDE5D6,#F2EBDD,#F5DE8A,#F3ECDF,#BDB2A2
```

It's the name, light or dark, and the ten colours in the order of the list above. Send it in a message, put it in a post or keep it in a note. Whoever gets it copies the line and chooses Paste Theme in Settings, and has the same look. Coffee finds the line even if there's other text around it, so you can copy a whole message.

There's no file to download. A theme is ten colours and a name, and nothing else.

## How this compares

Typora's [themes are CSS](https://typora.io/), with [a gallery](https://theme.typora.io/) to choose from, so a theme there can change fonts, spacing and layout as well as colour. That's far more freedom, and it means writing CSS. Coffee's themes are colours you pick from a list, which is less you can change and less to get wrong. If you want to restyle the page itself, Typora is the better fit, as [Coffee vs Typora](https://coffeetext.app/blog/coffee-vs-typora) says.

## Questions

### How many themes does Coffee have?

Five: Coffee, Espresso, Matcha, Midnight and Paper. You can also make your own.

### Can I make a dark theme of my own?

Yes. Choose a dark base and a colour for each part. A theme other than Coffee sets light or dark itself.

### How do I share a Coffee theme?

Use Copy to Share in Settings, and send the line of text it copies. The other person chooses Paste Theme.

### Does the Coffee theme still follow my Mac's dark mode?

Yes. The Coffee theme follows the Light, Dark, System or Schedule setting. The other themes set light or dark themselves.

### Can a theme change the font?

No. A theme sets colours. The font is a separate setting, and Other lets you use any font family installed on your Mac.

Coffee is Mac only, with macOS 15 or later. It's free for 14 days without a card, then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates.

---

Written by Pedro Thomaz, who makes Coffee, a Markdown editor for the Mac on macOS 15 or later. It's free for 14 days with no card or account, then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates. More at https://coffeetext.app/llms-full.txt