---
title: Theming
description: Use Twenty UI theme tokens and scope theme overrides to part of your application.
---

Twenty UI components read public CSS custom properties prefixed with `--t-`. Prefer semantic tokens such as `background.secondary` and `font.color.primary` when styling your own components; these values adapt to the active palette.

## Use tokens in styles

`themeCssVariables` maps token paths to CSS variable references. Use it for values that CSS resolves:

```tsx
import { themeCssVariables } from 'twenty-ui/theme-constants';

export const Summary = () => (
  <section
    style={{
      background: themeCssVariables.background.secondary,
      color: themeCssVariables.font.color.primary,
      padding: themeCssVariables.spacing[4],
      borderRadius: themeCssVariables.border.radius.md,
    }}
  >
    Three tasks are due today.
  </section>
);
```

The equivalent CSS uses variables directly:

```css
.summary {
  background: var(--t-background-secondary);
  color: var(--t-font-color-primary);
  padding: var(--t-spacing-4);
  border-radius: var(--t-border-radius-md);
}
```

## Read resolved values

`useTheme()` reads the active provider's computed tokens. Use it when a component expects a JavaScript number, such as an icon size. The provider needs the theme stylesheet to be loaded in the browser to resolve CSS variables.

```tsx
import { IconCheck } from 'twenty-ui/icon';
import { useTheme } from 'twenty-ui/theme-constants';

export const CompleteIcon = () => {
  const theme = useTheme();

  return <IconCheck size={theme.icon.size.md} aria-hidden />;
};
```

Every entry in `themeCssVariables` is a CSS reference string, including numeric tokens. Do not perform arithmetic on those strings. On the server, resolved browser values are unavailable; see [Server rendering](/ui/ssr).

## Scope an override

Pass `applyToRoot={false}` to apply a theme to a subtree. Override public CSS variables by their full name:

```tsx
import { type ReactNode } from 'react';
import { ThemeProvider } from 'twenty-ui/theme-constants';

export const EmbeddedPanel = ({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) => (
  <ThemeProvider
    colorScheme="light"
    applyToRoot={false}
    overrides={{ '--t-background-secondary': '#f4f6ff' }}
  >
    {children}
  </ThemeProvider>
);
```

A scoped provider adds a wrapper with `display: contents`; it does not create a layout box. It also supplies a container for components that support themed portals. Portals created by other libraries need their own container configuration.

Variables prefixed with `--tw-` are private component details. Use public props and `--t-` tokens instead of depending on those variables.

See the [token reference](/ui/tokens) for the available names and palette values.