CSS theme variables - Configuration

A guide for configuring CSS theme variables in Material UI.

Customizing variable prefix

To change the default variable prefix (--mui), provide a string to cssVarPrefix property, as shown below:

createTheme({ cssVariables: { cssVarPrefix: 'any' } });

// generated stylesheet:
// --any-palette-primary-main: ...;

To remove the prefix, use an empty string as a value:

createTheme({ cssVariables: { cssVarPrefix: '' } });

// generated stylesheet:
// --palette-primary-main: ...;

Toggling dark mode manually

To toggle between modes manually, set the colorSchemeSelector with one of the following selectors:

createTheme({
  colorSchemes: { light: true, dark: true },
  cssVariables: {
    colorSchemeSelector: 'class'
  }
});

// CSS Result
.light { ... }
.dark { ... }

Then, use useColorScheme hook to switch between modes:

import { useColorScheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

function ModeSwitcher() {
  const { mode, setMode } = useColorScheme();

  if (!mode) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <select
      value={mode}
      onChange={(event) => {
        setMode(event.target.value);
        // For TypeScript, cast `event.target.value as 'light' | 'dark' | 'system'`:
      }}
    >
      <option value="system">System</option>
      <option value="light">Light</option>
      <option value="dark">Dark</option>
    </select>
  );
}

Determining the system mode

To determine if the system mode is light or dark, use the systemMode property:

const { mode, systemMode } = useColorScheme();

console.log(mode); // 'system'
console.log(systemMode); // 'light' | 'dark'

However, if the mode is not system, the systemMode will be undefined.

const { mode, systemMode } = useColorScheme();

console.log(mode); // 'light' | 'dark'
console.log(systemMode); // undefined

Preventing SSR flickering

For SSR (server-side rendering) applications, Material UI can not detected user-selected mode on the server, causing the screen to flicker from light to dark during the hydration phase on the client.

To prevent the issue, you need to ensure that there is no usage of theme.palette.mode === 'dark' in your code base.

If you have such a condition, replace it with the theme.applyStyles() function:

 import Card from '@mui/material/Card';

 function App() {
   return (
     <Card
-      sx={(theme) => ({
-        backgroundColor: theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? '#000' : '#fff',
-        '&:hover': {
-          backgroundColor: theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? '#333' : '#f5f5f5',
-        },
-      })}
+      sx={[
+        {
+          backgroundColor: '#fff',
+          '&:hover': {
+            backgroundColor: '#f5f5f5',
+          },
+        },
+        (theme) =>
+          theme.applyStyles('dark', {
+            backgroundColor: '#000',
+            '&:hover': {
+              backgroundColor: '#333',
+            },
+          }),
+      ]}
     />
   );
 }

Next, if you have a custom selector that is not media, add the InitColorSchemeScript component based on the framework that you are using:

The attribute has to be the same as the one you set in the colorSchemeSelector property:

createTheme({
  cssVariables: {
    colorSchemeSelector: 'class'
  }
})

<InitColorSchemeScript attribute="class" />

Next.js App Router

Add the following code to the root layout file:

app/layout.js

import InitColorSchemeScript from '@mui/material/InitColorSchemeScript';

export default function RootLayout(props) {
  return (
    <html lang="en" suppressHydrationWarning>
      <body>
        {/* must come before the <main> element */}
        <InitColorSchemeScript attribute="class" />
        <main>{children}</main>
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

Next.js Pages Router

Add the following code to the custom pages/_document.js file:

pages/_document.js

import Document, { Html, Head, Main, NextScript } from 'next/document';
import InitColorSchemeScript from '@mui/material/InitColorSchemeScript';

export default class MyDocument extends Document {
  render() {
    return (
      <Html>
        <Head>...</Head>
        <body>
          {/* must come before the <Main> element */}
          <InitColorSchemeScript attribute="class" />
          <Main />
          <NextScript />
        </body>
      </Html>
    );
  }
}

Gatsby

Place the script in your gatsby-ssr.js file:

import * as React from 'react';
import InitColorSchemeScript from '@mui/material/InitColorSchemeScript';

export function onRenderBody({ setPreBodyComponents }) {
  setPreBodyComponents([<InitColorSchemeScript attribute="class" />]);
}

Forcing a specific color scheme

To force a specific color scheme for some part of your application, set the selector to the component or HTML element directly.

In the example below, all the components inside the div will always be dark:

// if the selector is '.mode-%s'
<div className=".mode-dark">
  <Paper sx={{ p: 2 }}>
    <TextField label="Email" type="email" margin="normal" />
    <TextField label="Password" type="password" margin="normal" />
    <Button>Sign in</Button>
  </Paper>
  {/* other components */}
</div>

Disabling CSS color scheme

By default, createTheme() attaches a CSS color-scheme property based on the palette mode. You can disable this by setting disableCssColorScheme to true:

createTheme({
  cssVariables: { disableCssColorScheme: true },
});

The generated CSS will not include the color-scheme property:

 @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
   :root {
-    color-scheme: dark;
     --mui-palette-primary-main: #90caf9;
     ...
   }
 }

Instant transition between color schemes

To disable CSS transitions when switching between modes, apply the disableTransitionOnChange prop:

<ThemeProvider disableTransitionOnChange />

Disable transition