bouk / dark-mode-notify

Run a script whenever dark mode changes in macOS

dark-mode-notify

This small Swift program will run a command whenever the dark mode status changes on macOS. You can use it to change your vim color config automatically for example.

Usage

Use make to compile the program, then run directly:

.build/release/dark-mode-notify <your-program>

Alternatively you can install it by doing make install.

The program will be run immediately when the command starts, and every time the OS goes from dark mode to light mode or back. The environment variable DARKMODE will be set to either 1 or 0.

Background agent

To keep this program running in the background, compile the binary to somewhere and create the following file at ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ke.bou.dark-mode-notify.plist. Don't forget to replace the arguments and the path to the logs (which comes in handy for debugging)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>ke.bou.dark-mode-notify</string>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>----Path to a location----/dark-mode-notify-stderr.log</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>----Path to a location----/dark-mode-notify-stdout.log</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
       <string>/usr/local/bin/dark-mode-notify</string>
       <string>--- Path to your script ---</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Then launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ke.bou.dark-mode-notify.plist will keep it running on boot.

Credit

This script is a lightly modified version of https://github.com/mnewt/dotemacs/blob/master/bin/dark-mode-notifier.swift

dark-mode-notify's Issues

Fails to build: error: no such module 'PackageDescription'

I get this when trying to build:

 make install
swift build -c release --disable-sandbox
error: 'dark-mode-notify': Invalid manifest
/Users/bart/src/dark-mode-notify/Package.swift:2:8: error: no such module 'PackageDescription'
import PackageDescription
       ^
make: *** [build] Error 1

Monitor "Auto" appearance

TL;DR

It would be great if we can find out if the appearance is in auto appearance mode or not.

DARKMODE seems to be wrong if the state changes while the computer is shut down

1. Let macOS auto-switch to dark-mode (via the Night Shift schedule)
2. Shut down the computer
3. Shut down your mind and go to bed
4. Wake up and wake your computer, at a time when the Night Shift schedule would have switched macOS to light mode.
5. dark-mode-notify still returns DARKMODE=1

How to best go about conditional execution based on current theme

Hey there, nice little tool you got here, I'm hoping to get it working for my use case as I have been looking for something to accomplish this for a while.

I'm running it as a service in the way you describe. I am pointing to a simple bash script to be run on a system theme change. I am piping the output of my script to the same log files I use for the service. When I change the system appearance, it doesn't seem to run my script.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Publish the binary on Homebrew

So, "compile the binary and save it somewhere," while totally making sense for a little one-off throwaway script, ain't great for reproducible / stable system configuration that lasts past the current machine's lifetime. :P

Any chance you're willing to see this shipped to Homebrew or similar, as simple as it is?

Doesn't update $DARKMODE when appearance is changed with Shortcuts

TL;DR

If I change appearance using a shortcut defined in Shortcuts, the DARKMODE variable doesn't update.

To reproduce, set the shortcut like so:

Try running the app and displaying the $DARKMODE variable.

Expected behavior

$DARKMODE variable is updated accordingly.

Observed behavior

$DARKMODE variable is retains its previous value and ignores system changes.

Terraform Configuration

I don't know how to do this.

Terraform Version

I don't know how to do this.

Additional information

No response