theme-authoring

by microsoft

Add a new color theme to the Ontology Playground. Use when someone wants to create, author, or plug in a theme, palette, color scheme, dark mode, or light…

npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/ontology-playground --skill theme-authoring

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Theme Authoring Skill

Goal

Plug a new color theme into the Playground so it appears in the header theme picker, is remembered across sessions, and themes every surface (main graph, designer preview, learn pages) — with no component or graph-rendering edits.

Read First

docs/theme-authoring-guide.md — full architecture, token table, gotchas, worked example.
src/store/appStore.ts — ThemeId, THEME_OPTIONS, DARK_BASED_THEMES, isDarkTheme, themeClass.
src/styles/app.css — the :root / .light-theme / .theme-aurora / .theme-crimson token blocks (copy the nearest one).

Intake Questions

Ask the user:

Theme id (lowercase, e.g. indigo) and display label (e.g. Indigo)?
Dark-based or light-based? (Determines DARK_BASED_THEMES membership and which block to copy.)
Accent / signature color (used for the picker swatch and --ms-blue* / --info)?
Any specific surface, text, or graph colors, or should they be derived from the accent?

Procedure

Make all edits in src/store/appStore.ts and src/styles/app.css. The guide's "Add a theme in six steps" section has copy-paste snippets.

Add the id to the ThemeId union.
Add a THEME_OPTIONS entry: { id, label, swatch } (swatch = accent hex).
If dark-based, add the id to DARK_BASED_THEMES. If light-based, leave it out.
Add a themeClass() case:
- dark-based → return 'theme-<id>';
- light-based → return 'light-theme theme-<id>'; (layer over the light base).
Add a .theme-<id> block in app.css by copying .theme-aurora (dark) or .theme-crimson (light) and retuning the tokens.
Verify (see below).

Critical Rules

Opaque canvas base for light themes. --chess-square-light is the graph canvas's solid backdrop. The theme class sits on .app-container, not <body>, and <body> stays dark (#1B1B1B). A translucent --chess-square-light lets the dark body bleed through → dark canvas + unreadable labels. Use an opaque light color (e.g. #FBF7F8), not rgba(..., 0.03). (Guide → Gotcha 1.)
Graph colors are CSS-driven. Define --graph-bg, --graph-node-text, --graph-edge-color, --graph-edge-text, --graph-edge-label-bg in the block; the graph and designer read them at runtime. No .tsx edits.
Meet WCAG 2.1 AA contrast. Text and labels need 4.5:1; graph edge lines and other non-text need 3:1. Set --on-accent (label color on accent fills) to a dark value for a light accent (white fails on Aurora's mint) and white for a dark accent. Edge text must clear 4.5:1 against --graph-edge-label-bg. Stat-tile icons/values (--stat-blue/green/purple) need 3:1 over the tint and cascade automatically (bright from :root, dark from .light-theme). Amber text/icons use --ms-yellow-fg (bright #FFB900 on dark, dark gold #8A6A00 on light); the .progress-fill stops --progress-from/--progress-to each need 3:1 on the --bg-tertiary track. npm run test:a11y enforces this for every theme. (Guide → Accessibility.)
Register dark themes in DARK_BASED_THEMES so darkMode is correct (graph fallback, label backplate, PNG export bg).
Don't introduce brand names in ids, labels, comments, or commits. Use generic palette names (e.g. Aurora, Crimson, Indigo, Sand).

Person Names

If any example data, docs, or sample instances need person names, use the name-generator skill — do not invent names.

Validate

npm run dev          # switch to the theme in the header; check graph, designer, learn pages
npm run test:a11y    # WCAG 2.1 AA contrast for every theme (also a CI gate)
npx tsc --noEmit     # the ThemeId union change is type-checked here
npm run build        # full build

If npm run build only changed public/learn.json (a timestamp), revert it: git checkout -- public/learn.json.

Done Criteria

New swatch + label appear in the picker; selection check mark tracks state.
Theme persists across reload (localStorage['theme']).
Main graph, designer preview, and learn pages are legible in the new theme; the graph canvas backdrop matches the theme (Gotcha 1 satisfied).
Dark, Light, Aurora, Crimson unchanged.
npm run test:a11y passes (WCAG 2.1 AA contrast for the new theme).
tsc --noEmit and npm run build pass; no brand references introduced.