JetBrains Theme Investigation

Investigate theme properties in the IntelliJ Platform source code to determine what is themeable via JSON vs hardcoded in source.

Prerequisites

IntelliJ Platform source code must be available at:

../../JetBrains/intellij-community

(Relative to current project directory)

If not cloned yet:

cd ~/Projects/github.com/JetBrains
git clone https://github.com/JetBrains/intellij-community

Quick Investigation Workflow

1. Search theme metadata first (what properties exist):

   grep -i "PropertyName" ../../JetBrains/intellij-community/platform/platform-resources/src/themes/metadata/*.json
   

2. Check reference themes (how properties are used):

   grep -r "PropertyName" ../../JetBrains/intellij-community/platform/platform-resources/src/themes/ --include="*.json"
   

3. Search JBUI.java for programmatic color access:

   grep -A3 "namedColor.*PropertyName" ../../JetBrains/intellij-community/platform/util/ui/src/com/intellij/util/ui/JBUI.java
   

4. Search source for hardcoded values if not found above:

   grep -rn "propertyName\|PROPERTY_NAME" ../../JetBrains/intellij-community/platform/platform-*/src --include="*.kt" --include="*.java"
   

Key Directories

| Path | Content | |-------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | platform/platform-resources/src/themes/metadata/ | Available theme properties (IntelliJPlatform.themeMetadata.json, JDK.themeMetadata.json) | | platform/platform-resources/src/themes/ | Reference themes (expUI, islands, darcula, HighContrast) | | platform/util/ui/src/com/intellij/util/ui/JBUI.java | CurrentTheme methods mapping to JSON keys | | platform/icons/src/ | SVG icons (check colors used) |

Detailed References

For specific subsystems, see:

• Icon colors: icon-colors.md - ColorPalette, stroke colors, named keys
• Tab system: tab-system.md - Tab gaps, insets, layouts
• Islands theme: islands-theme.md - Islands-specific properties
• Known limitations: limitations.md - What is NOT themeable
• Theme testing panel: theme-testing-panel.md - Dev-mode UI testing panel

Determining if Themeable

| Found In | Result | |--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------| | Theme metadata JSON | Themeable via JSON | | JBUI.java with namedColor/getInt | Themeable via JSON | | Source code with hardcoded values | NOT themeable (requires code change) |