INFO: Jetbrains Runtime 21 has now an API to detect the OS theme

[bric3]

So this is not an issue report but more of a discussion or information.

It seems the latest JBR 21 build, has now an API to detect whether the OS is dark, that said, at this time the implementation seems to only support Linux.

            String[] themesOrder = {DARK_THEME_NAME, LIGHT_THEME_NAME, DARK_THEME_NAME};
            Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().addPropertyChangeListener("awt.os.theme.isDark", evt -> {
                currentTheme = currentTheme();
            });

https://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsRuntime/releases/tag/jbr-release-21.0.3b453.2
JetBrains/JetBrainsRuntime@16150a0
https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/JBR-6376

This is needed for Linux in the first place, but if the API can be made generic, some stuff from IDEA on macOS/Windows can be moved there as well.
See IJPL-54591 for the discussion and suggestions. There are plugins that implement this, for example, here: https://github.com/weisJ/auto-dark-mode/blob/master/linux/gtk/src/main/java/com/github/weisj/darkmode/platform/linux/gtk/GtkThemeMonitorService.kt

[weisJ]

Great to hear. Maybe there is a future where this plugin isn’t needed after all 👍🏼

[bric3]

Ideally this should be something in the the JDK upstream.

Like other window decorations like macos vibrancy, windows acrylic, etc. One can dream :)

[iDeaDe]

There is new VM option that enables built-in feature: -Dide.linux.color.scheme.sync.support=true
After restart you can choose the theme in Settings -> Appearance & Behavior -> Appearance -> Sync with OS
I tried it on Fedora and OpenSUSE with Wayland