but tui light theme for diffs #13196

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1. Byron

   added

   TUIThe interactive terminal user interface via `but tui`The interactive terminal user interface via `but tui`

   on Apr 7, 2026
2. Byron commented on Apr 7, 2026

   

   Byron

   on Apr 7, 2026

   Last edited by Byron

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   Thanks for reporting! This might be already available or planned, but @davidpdrsn would know for sure.
3. davidpdrsn commented on Apr 7, 2026

   

   davidpdrsn

   on Apr 7, 2026

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   Oh yes we should definitely support this somehow!
4. slarse

   self-assigned this

   on Apr 22, 2026
5. slarse commented on Apr 22, 2026

   

   slarse

   on Apr 22, 2026

   Last edited by slarse

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   There is now an experimental light theme for but in the latest nightly release, which is primarily targeting the TUI but also improves the overall look of the but CLI. It includes Monokai Light for the diffs, but also makes the rest of the UI more readable on a light background. It was added with #13446.

   For those that want to try it out early, it can be activated by setting the environment variable EXPERIMENTAL_BUT_LIGHT_THEME to any value.

   The environment variable will go away at some point and be replaced with a better way of activation (guessing and global setting, probably). We'll keep this issue open until we get there!
6. slarse commented on May 29, 2026

   

   slarse

   on May 29, 2026

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   We've now solidified this and added in official support by setting the environment variable BUT_THEME=light (or dark, which is the default`.

   $ but help
   <snip>
   Environment variables:
     BUT_PAGER  Sets the pager for large outputs. [default: less]
     BUT_THEME  Sets the theme for but. Options: dark, light. [default: dark]

   The theme is applied to both TUI and CLI.
7. slarse

   closed this as completedon May 29, 2026