Theme switcher: noir / claude-dark / claude-light across kitty, niri, herdr, nvim, fish, GTK; Imagine wallpaper accents

.gitignore

@@ -19,13 +19,3 @@ plaintext/
 /result
 .wrangler/
 
-# cliamp's runtime files. Since 2026-09-13 ~/.config/cliamp is a real directory
-# with only config.toml and themes/ linked in (home/home.nix), so these no
-# longer land here; the lines stay so a stale checkout or a revert cannot
-# commit them again. resume.json carries a Navidrome stream URL with a Subsonic
-# token — never track it.
-home/dot_config/cliamp/cliamp.log
-home/dot_config/cliamp/cliamp.sock
-home/dot_config/cliamp/cliamp.sock.pid
-home/dot_config/cliamp/history.toml
-home/dot_config/cliamp/resume.json

docs/theme-switcher-2026-09-17.md

@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+# Theme switcher: noir, claude-dark, claude-light (2026-09-17)
+
+Three hand-curated themes, one palette source of truth in Nix, one symlink flipped
+at runtime. No palette generation from wallpapers (matugen/pywal), no Home Manager
+specialisations — see "Why not" below. Research report with the full option
+analysis and the light-theme ANSI derivation: `~/colors/theme-switcher-design.md`
+(not in this repo; ~/colors holds the colour investigation).
+
+## The three themes
+
+| theme | ground (terminal) | desktop | accents | source |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| `noir` | `#000000` | `#000000` | Claude Dark's 12-role syntax palette | Tom's catppuccin-noir; accents matched claude.ai's bundle bit for bit |
+| `claude-dark` | `#1A1A1A` (code-block ground) | `#20201F` (`--bg-000`) | same as noir | `~/colors/waves/capture/claude-code-theme/claude-tokens-dark.json` |
+| `claude-light` | `#F9F9F7` (`--bg-100`) | `#F0EFEC` (`--bg-300`) | Claude Light's 12-role palette | `claude-themes-SOURCE.json`, `claude-tokens-light.json` |
+
+noir and claude-dark differ only in grounds (`home/themes/claude-dark.nix` is
+`noir // { ground; muted; … }`). Claude ships no 16-slot ANSI palette, so
+claude-light's is designed: roles fill slots 1–6, `--warning-100` fills the yellow
+Claude has no role for, and `color0/7/15` are dark (punctuation / text-secondary /
+fg) because herdr's `terminal` theme uses `White`/`Gray` as foregrounds. Every slot
+passes WCAG AA on white. It is a proposal to tune in `~/colors/colorlab`.
+
+## How it is wired
+
+```
+home/themes/{noir,claude-dark,claude-light}.nix   palettes, keyed by ROLE
+home/themes/default.nix                            render: palette -> per-app fragments
+home/theme.nix                                     HM: ~/.config/themes/<name>/{kitty.conf,niri.kdl,colors.fish,theme.lua,meta}
+                                                       + activation: bootstrap/heal ~/.config/theme
+~/.config/theme  ->  ~/.config/themes/<name>       the pointer; the ONLY runtime state
+home/dot_local/bin/theme                           flip the pointer, fire reloads
+```
+
+Every RAW config keeps its body raw and joins its fragment through the app's own
+include of `~/.config/theme/<fragment>` — the same move as `kitty-scrollback-nix.conf`
+and `niri-local.kdl` (generated files at a neutral path, included from inside a
+whole-dir RAW symlink). Home Manager owns `themes/` (plural); the switcher owns
+`theme` (singular). Switching needs no rebuild; adding a theme or changing a
+palette value does.
+
+| consumer | joins via | live reload on `theme <name>` |
+|---|---|---|
+| kitty | `include ${HOME}/.config/theme/kitty.conf` (kitty.conf) | `kitten @ --to unix:@kitty-<pid> load-config` per instance (sockets from `/proc/net/unix`) |
+| niri | `include optional=true "~/.config/theme/niri.kdl"` LAST in config.kdl; sections merge, later wins | `niri msg action load-config-file` |
+| herdr | `[theme] name = "terminal"`: every token is an ANSI slot | nothing — kitty reports the bg change via DEC 2031 (`CSI ?997;n`), herdr re-queries OSC 10/11/4 and repaints chrome + every pane |
+| nvim | `lua/theme.lua` dofile()s `theme.lua`; catppuccin/bufferline/lualine read it | `nvim --server <sock> --remote-expr` → `require('theme').reload()` per instance |
+| fish | `conf.d/colors.fish` sources the fragment; re-sources at the next prompt when the pointer moved | automatic (no universal variables: `fish_variables` is tracked) |
+| starship | already ANSI-named; the one `#F47B85` became `red` | follows kitty |
+| Claude Code | `theme` key in `~/.claude.json` ← `meta` `claude_code=` | written tmp+rename; takes effect on next start |
+| GTK3 | `gsettings gtk-theme` (`theme apply`) → MacTahoe-Dark-grey / MacTahoe-Claude-{Dark,Light}-orange | live: GTK3's Wayland backend reads org.gnome.desktop.interface from dconf and follows "changed". Needs the schema on XDG_DATA_DIRS (modules/common.nix) and no `GTK_THEME` env — both fixed in this PR |
+| GTK4 / libadwaita | `~/.config/gtk-4.0/{gtk.css,gtk-dark.css,assets}` → `~/.config/theme/gtk-4.0/` (home/theme.nix); `color-scheme` via gsettings | color-scheme live (portal); gtk.css on next app start |
+| icons / folder colour | `gsettings icon-theme MacTahoe[-<accent>]-{dark,light}` (`theme icons`) | live; accent from the wallpaper, polarity from the theme |
+| Chrome | follows `color-scheme` through the portal | live |
+| qt6ct | not yet | — |
+
+**GTK themes.** `pkgs/mactahoe-gtk-theme.nix` builds MacTahoe from source per
+`variant`: `oled` (noir, the existing OLED-black substitutions) and `claude` (both
+the light and the dark branch of `src/sass/_colors.scss` recoloured to claude.ai's
+tokens — bg-000/100/200, text-000/200/400, links = accent-100 — with the `orange`
+accent slot set to Anthropic clay `#D97757`). Theme dirs: `MacTahoe-Claude-{Dark,Light}[-solid]-orange[-(x)hdpi]`.
+`GTK_THEME` is gone from `environment.sessionVariables`: it pinned one theme for
+the whole session and could not change live. It had been load-bearing only
+because `gsettings-desktop-schemas` was never on XDG_DATA_DIRS, so GTK fell back
+to `settings.ini`; verified with `gtk-query-settings` before and after.
+
+**Wallpaper accents and folder colours.** `wallpaper <accent>` sets one of the
+seven claude.ai/imagine grounds (oat olive cactus sky fig heather coral, all
+rendered at 5120x2880 from the recovered SVG), remembers it in
+`~/.local/state/wallpaper/accent`, and calls `theme icons`.
+`pkgs/mactahoe-icon-theme.nix` prebuilds `MacTahoe-<accent>{,-light,-dark}` for all
+seven — folders in the accent's darker ground (`--bg-primary-dark`) — so every
+combination is on the system already; everything but the folder SVGs dedupes.
+
+`F2` opens an fzf picker for the theme, `Shift+F2` one for the accent (wallpaper +
+folder colour), both in the F1/F9/F10 prompt style; `Mod+Shift+T` cycles. `theme` prints the current name; `theme list`,
+`theme apply` (re-fire hooks, also run at login from startup.kdl), `theme toggle`,
+`theme icons`.
+
+## Testing before a switch
+
+`home/themes/default.nix` is pure (`{ lib }`), so a preview renders without a
+generation:
+
+```sh
+nix eval --json --impure --expr 'let lib = (builtins.getFlake (toString ./.)).inputs.nixpkgs.lib; in (import ./home/themes { inherit lib; }).fragments' \
+  | python3 -c 'import json,sys,os; [ (os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(p:=os.path.expanduser("~/.cache/theme-preview/"+k.split("/",1)[1])),exist_ok=True), open(p,"w").write(v)) for k,v in json.load(sys.stdin).items() ]'
+ln -sfn ~/.cache/theme-preview/noir ~/.config/theme
+THEMES_DIR=~/.cache/theme-preview theme claude-dark
+```
+
+`home.activation.themePointer` re-targets a pointer left outside `~/.config/themes/`
+to the live theme of the same name on the next switch.
+
+## Why not
+
+- **Home Manager specialisations**: HM runs as a NixOS module here
+  (`flake.nix`, `home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager`), so the base generation
+  re-activates at every boot and a specialisation does not survive a reboot; and
+  out-of-store symlinks are theme-invariant by construction, so every themed file
+  would have to leave the RAW doctrine.
+- **matugen / pywal / wallust / stylix**: generators for palettes derived from a
+  wallpaper; three fixed palettes need only their *template + include + reload*
+  mechanics, which is what `default.nix` + `theme` are.
+- **darkman**: two states, no "noir vs claude-dark". Could later *schedule*
+  `theme claude-light` / `theme <dark>` by time of day.
+
+## Hazards
+
+- A symlink retarget fires no watcher event: the explicit kitty/niri/nvim reloads
+  in `theme` are load-bearing.
+- kitty's `dynamic_background_opacity` stays in the RAW kitty.conf: it cannot be
+  changed by reload and must be present at startup.
+- herdr's in-app settings overlay upserts `[theme] name` and `auto_switch = false`
+  into the tracked `config.toml`. Do not use it; `terminal` is the one setting.
+- `~/.claude.json` is rewritten by Claude Code itself: the switcher writes tmp+rename
+  and accepts a lost update against a running instance. Running agents keep their
+  theme until restarted.
+- Client laptop: `git pull` ahead of `nixos-rebuild switch` leaves kitty/niri/fish/nvim
+  including a pointer that does not exist yet. niri's include is `optional`, nvim's
+  loader falls back to noir, fish and kitty fall back to their defaults — degraded,
+  not broken — until the switch renders `~/.config/themes/`.
+- Kitty windows reload in place; agents' TUIs and GTK4 apps restart.
+- Fonts (Anthropic Sans/Serif/Mono from ~/colors) are NOT part of this: another
+  session owns that spec; they are proprietary brand faces and must follow the
+  NAS `requireFile` pattern of pkgs/sf-pro.nix, never land in git.

flake.nix

@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@
     # piri — niri IPC extension daemon (github.com/Asthestarsfalll/piri): one
     # Rust daemon that tails niri's event stream and layers plugins on top —
     # scratchpads, marks, window/workspace rules. We use it for the "music"
-    # auto-scratchpad (Mod+M toggles a right-side SoundCloud/cliamp pane).
+    # auto-scratchpad (Mod+M toggles a right-side SoundCloud pane).
     # Third-party but consumed exactly like tally: flake input pinned in
     # flake.lock, follows nixpkgs so the Rust build resolves against our one pin.
     # piri ships packages.default + a NixOS module, but NOT a home-manager
@@ -660,6 +660,7 @@
             # requiring the binaries to be installed on the caller's PATH.
             local-models-prune
             mactahoe-gtk-theme
+            mactahoe-claude-gtk-theme
             mactahoe-icon-theme
             music-acquire
             sfmono-liga

home/dot_config/fish/conf.d/colors.fish

@@ -1,63 +1,28 @@
-# Color Palette (Claude-inspired, mapped from catppuccin mocha nvim overrides)
-set -l normal eaecf0
-set -l command 70b8ff
-set -l param 9be963
-set -l keyword f47b85
-set -l quote 9be963
-#set -l redirection f5c2e7 # catppuccin pink — no nvim override
-set -l end fbad60
-set -l comment 818898
-set -l error f47b85
-#set -l gray 6c7086 # catppuccin overlay0 — no nvim override
-#set -l selection 313244 # catppuccin surface0 — no nvim override
-#set -l search_match 313244 # catppuccin surface0 — no nvim override
-set -l option 9be963
-#set -l operator f5c2e7 # catppuccin pink — no nvim override
-#set -l escape eba0ac # catppuccin maroon — no nvim override
-#set -l autosuggestion 6c7086 # catppuccin overlay0 — no nvim override
-set -l cancel f47b85
-set -l cwd f9e2af
-set -l user 5eeded
-set -l host 70b8ff
-set -l host_remote 9be963
-#set -l status f38ba8
-#set -l pager_progress 6c7086 # catppuccin overlay0 — no nvim override
-#set -l pager_prefix f5c2e7 # catppuccin pink — no nvim override
-set -l pager_completion eaecf0
-#set -l pager_description 6c7086 # catppuccin overlay0 — no nvim override
-
-# Syntax Highlighting Colors
-set -g fish_color_normal $normal
-set -g fish_color_command $command
-set -g fish_color_param $param
-set -g fish_color_keyword $keyword
-set -g fish_color_quote $quote
-#set -g fish_color_redirection $redirection # no nvim override
-set -g fish_color_end $end
-set -g fish_color_comment $comment
-set -g fish_color_error $error
-#set -g fish_color_gray $gray # no nvim override
-#set -g fish_color_selection --background=$selection # no nvim override
-#set -g fish_color_search_match --background=$search_match # no nvim override
-set -g fish_color_option $option
-#set -g fish_color_operator $operator # no nvim override
-#set -g fish_color_escape $escape # no nvim override
-#set -g fish_color_autosuggestion $autosuggestion # no nvim override
-set -g fish_color_cancel $cancel
-set -g fish_color_cwd $cwd
-set -g fish_color_user $user
-set -g fish_color_host $host
-set -g fish_color_host_remote $host_remote
+# Colours come from the theme fragment ~/.config/theme/colors.fish, rendered by
+# home/theme.nix from home/themes/<name>.nix for whichever theme ~/.config/theme
+# points at (~/.local/bin/theme retargets it). This file only loads it — at
+# startup, and again at the next prompt after the pointer has moved, so running
+# shells follow a `theme` switch too. No universal variables: `set -U` would
+# write fish_variables, which is tracked in this repo.
+#
+# The theme-independent bits stay here.
 set -g fish_color_cwd_root red
 set -g fish_color_history_current --bold
 set -g fish_color_match --background=brblue
 set -g fish_color_valid_path --underline
+set -g fish_pager_color_selected_background -r
 
-set -g fish_color_status f47b85
+function __theme_load --description 'source ~/.config/theme/colors.fish if the pointer moved'
+    set -l target (readlink ~/.config/theme 2>/dev/null)
+    if test -n "$target" -a "$target" != "$__theme_loaded"
+        set -g __theme_loaded $target
+        if test -r ~/.config/theme/colors.fish
+            source ~/.config/theme/colors.fish
+        end
+    end
+end
+__theme_load
 
-# Completion Pager Colors
-#set -g fish_pager_color_progress $pager_progress # no nvim override
-#set -g fish_pager_color_prefix $pager_prefix # no nvim override
-set -g fish_pager_color_completion $pager_completion
-#set -g fish_pager_color_description $pager_description # no nvim override
-set -g fish_pager_color_selected_background -r
+function __theme_on_prompt --on-event fish_prompt
+    __theme_load
+end

home/dot_config/fish/config.fish

@@ -54,24 +54,9 @@ alias cc3='env CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=$HOME/.claude-3 claude --dangerously-skip-permi
 alias cac3='env CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=$HOME/.claude-3 claude --continue --dangerously-skip-permissions'
 
 # ── Music ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-# The library lives on the NAS and is served by Navidrome; cliamp is the client.
-# `cliamp` here is the wrapper function in functions/cliamp.fish, which injects
-# the server and credentials from agenix — so bare cliamp opens straight into
-# the Navidrome browser with no argument needed. Inside the TUI: Shift+N opens
-# Browse (By Album / By Artist / By Artist-Album), Ctrl+F searches, Q quits.
-alias m='cliamp'                                 # open the library browser
-alias music='cliamp'                             # same, spelled out
-alias mshuffle='cliamp --shuffle --auto-play'    # open it with shuffle already on
-
-# Transport control from outside the TUI. cliamp registers MPRIS as
-# org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.cliamp, so -p cliamp addresses it specifically rather
-# than whatever player playerctl happens to enumerate first (Chrome also
-# registers, and would otherwise swallow these).
-alias mp='playerctl -p cliamp play-pause'        # play/pause  (F3 does this too)
-alias mn='playerctl -p cliamp next'              # next track
-alias mb='playerctl -p cliamp previous'          # back a track
-alias mnow='playerctl -p cliamp metadata --format "{{artist}} — {{title}}"'  # what's playing
-
+# The library lives on the NAS and is served by Navidrome (hosts/nas/media.nix).
+# The cliamp TUI client and its m/music/mp/mn/mb/mnow aliases were removed
+# 2026-09-17 (unused).
 alias mscan='navidrome-scan'                     # reindex after a beets pass (--full for tag-only edits)
 
 type -q atuin || exit