CLI Quick Start

1. Install

bash

npm install -g @theme-kit/cli
# or, without installing:
npx --yes @theme-kit/cli ...

2. Generate

Derive a complete light + dark pair from one seed color:

bash

theme-kit generate \
  --seed "#6366f1" \
  --family indigo \
  --output theme.json

--family becomes the theme name and label prefix (indigo-light, indigo-dark). The generator also derives the secondary, muted, accent, border, ring, destructive, and background/foreground colors from the seed.

Omit --output to print the JSON to stdout, or ask for one mode only:

bash

theme-kit generate --seed "#6366f1" --mode light --output light.json
theme-kit generate --seed "#6366f1" --mode dark  --output dark.json

The default --mode both writes a { light, dark } pair.

3. Validate

bash

theme-kit validate theme.json
# ✓ Theme is valid: indigo-light + indigo-dark

validate checks the schema, required semantic tokens, inheritance, references, and contrast. It returns exit code 3 when validation fails:

bash

theme-kit validate theme.json
# ✗ Theme is invalid: indigo-dark
#   - Missing token: `colors.primary`

4. Inspect

bash

1theme-kit inspect theme.json
2# Theme 1: indigo-light
3# Mode: light
4# Family: indigo
5# Tokens:
6#   colors: 21 items

5. Export for another system

bash

theme-kit export theme.json --format css --output theme.css

css

:root {
  --theme-color-background: #f8fafc;
  --theme-color-primary: #6366f1;
}

6. Bring the theme into your app

The JSON the CLI writes is exactly what a provider consumes:

tsx

1// React / Next.js
2import { ThemeProvider } from "@theme-kit/react";
3import raw from "./theme.json";
4
5const themes = raw.light ? [raw.light, raw.dark] : [raw];
6
7export function App() {
8  return <ThemeProvider themes={themes} defaultTheme="light">{/* UI */}</ThemeProvider>;
9}

See Commands for each command's options, or Workflows for a full authoring loop.