Show HN: Themes for Claude Code

A developer released Tessera, a free, open-source (MIT License) plugin offering 25 themes for the Claude Code desktop app, installable via the btahir/tessera marketplace. Each theme sets colors and, for most, an animated scene that moves only while Claude is working and stops when the answer lands; the collection enforces accessibility floors including 4.5:1 contrast for the faintest text (7:1 in high-contrast themes) and at least 30° of hue separation between danger, success and warning colors. Themes cannot change the app's fonts, layout or permission prompts, and users switch plates with commands such as /tessera cinis, /tessera still and /tessera music.

Twenty-five plates for the Claude Code desktop app Rooms to read in. Tessera is a free set of themes for Claude Code. Each one sets the colors, and most draw a quiet scene behind the conversation. The scene moves while Claude works. When the answer lands, it holds still. The collection Plates I to XXV Each plate hangs still, as it does while you read. Rest the pointer on one, or move to it with the keyboard, to see it move. Essentials Plates I to IX Clean defaults with little or no scenery. Bold Plates X to XV Graphic themes with attitude. Places Plates XVI to XXV Soft scenes behind the conversation. Principles Measured for reading A theme is a whole mood, and people read in it for hours. So every plate keeps the same floors, and each one chooses its own character above them. All 50 readings below come from the plates themselves. Floors every theme keeps 1. 4.8:1 the faintest text, at its lowest Timestamps and tool summaries stay readable: 4.5:1 or better on the page and on panels, 7:1 in a high contrast theme. Terminal themes often let comments fall under 3:1. 2. Still while you read A scene moves only while Claude is working. When the answer lands, it stops on the frame you were looking at. /tessera still keeps it still for good, and a system set to reduce motion gets none. 3. 1.6:1 the most contrast behind the words Art lives at the edges and corners. The middle of each scene stays within 1.6:1 of the page, and text keeps its floor over the brightest point of the scene, with the glass over it. 4. 20 s before a chime The chime plays only after a turn of 20 seconds or more, when you may have looked away. It is soft and lasts under a second and a half. /tessera quiet turns all sound off. 5. Opt in music while Claude works Type /tessera music and the room plays its own quiet loop while Claude works. Silence means the answer is ready. It is off until you ask for it. 6. 30° between any two roles Danger is a red, success a green, warning an amber, and their hues sit far enough apart to survive color blindness. Character each theme chooses 1. Three levels of contrast Low for calm themes, standard for most, high for stark ones. Two low contrast, measured at 8.4 to 9.6:1. Twenty-one standard contrast, measured at 10.3 to 13.2:1. Two high contrast, measured at 15.9 to 17.5:1. 2. 6 vivid and 19 with calm accents Calm accents stay soft on a dark page. Vivid ones go brighter for themes that want the color to speak. 3. A vibe in three or four words Plain, calm, exact. Every color, shape, word and sound in a theme answers to its words. What a theme cannot change The app's fonts, its layout and its permission prompts stay the app's own. A theme works with color, the scene behind the conversation, the frosting over it, the spinner's words, code highlighting and sound. Install Hang one in your app Free and open source under the MIT License. One plugin holds every plate, and you switch between them with a word. 1. 1 In the desktop app Click + next to the prompt box and choose Plugins. Add the marketplace btahir/tessera, then add the tessera plugin. btahir/tessera 2. 2 In a terminal session Paste this at the prompt. /plugin install tessera --marketplace btahir/tessera 3. 3 Ask Claude Send this sentence in any session. Install the tessera plugin from the btahir/tessera marketplace on GitHub. Then The tessera plugin holds all twenty-five plates. Type /tessera and a name, such as /tessera cinis , to change plates. /tessera still stops the motion. Sound has three levels: /tessera quiet is silence, /tessera sound is a chime after long turns the default , and /tessera music adds the room's own quiet loop while Claude works. Your choices are kept across sessions. One plate only Each plate also installs by its own name, and its commands use that name, such as /cinis still or /cinis music . /plugin install cinis --marketplace btahir/tessera Where it shows Themes appear in the Claude Code desktop and mobile apps. The terminal keeps its own colors. The chime plays on macOS only.